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The proverbial “jinn” thatRJD chief Lalu Prasad used

to refer to back in 90s, virtuallycame out of the EVMs onMonday and shattered thedreams of BJP to retain powerin Jharkhand. The BJP’s defeatwas so comprehensive that ChiefMinister Raghubar Das himselflost the elections from a seatwhich was his fortress.

The JMM-Congress-RJDalliance comfortably crossed thehalfway mark in the 81-memberAssembly, sweeping the tribal-dominated Santhal Parganaregion and snatching severalseats from the BJP in its tradi-tional stronghold.

The JMM-led alliance won47 seats, 6 more than the num-ber required to prove majori-ty in the House. Raghubarconceded defeat.

JMM leader Hemant Soren,the son of Jharkhand architectShibu Soren, is set to take up thereins of the State for a secondterm as the Opposition coali-tion comprising the party,Congress and RJD surgedahead of the BJP. His first stintas Chief Minister of the tribalState had lasted for just about14 months since July 15, 2013.

The BJP won 25 seats,while the JMM won 30 seats.

The Congress won 16 seats,while the RJD won 1 seat,though it was leading on fiveseats earlier.

The AJSU party that hadparted ways with its long timeally BJP and had fielded 53 can-didates could secure only twoseats. The Jharkhand VikasMorcha (Prajatantrik) led byformer CM Babulal Marandithat was the only party con-testing from all 81 seats could

win three seats. TwoIndependents and one memberof the CPI (ML) won the polls.The NCP also won one seat.

The JVM(P) chief BabulalMarandi finally won an elec-tion this time from Dhanwarconstituency after losing fourelections in a row and similarwas the case of AJSU PartyChief Sudesh Mahto, who wonhis traditional seat Silli afterlosing three elections in a row.

JMM executive presidentHemant Soren won from bothDumka and Barhait seats,while JPCC presidentRameshwar Oraon won fromLohardaga seat.

The BJP faced humiliatingdefeat in Kolhan area whereRaghubar was defeated by rebel

BJP leader Saryu Roy. Roy wasdenied ticket from the partyand he chose to fight againstthe incumbent CM as anIndependent candidate. StateBJP president Laxman Giluawas also defeated by JMM’sSukhram Oraon.

Continued on Page 4

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The three southern States of Kerala,Karnataka and Tamil Nadu por-

trayed the image of a cauldron onMonday as thousands of peoplemarched on the streets to hold ralliesand demonstrations against theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterJagan Mohan Reddy joined the list ofStates opposing the proposedimplementation of the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC).

Tens of thousands of peo-ple gathered at Bengaluru’sQuddus Saheb Edigah groundson Monday to protest againstthe CAA and the NRC. Formerbureaucrats and judges ofSupreme Court addressed thegathering. At the massive gath-ering, protesters called for acivil disobedience movement

against the CAA and NRC.Retired SC Judge Gopal Gowda,

who was also present at the protest, readout the Preamble of the Constitution,along with several lawyers. JusticeGowda said Prime Minister NarendraModi and Union Home Minister AmitShah must clarify people’s doubts andState conclusively whether the CAA andNRC would be implemented.

Continued on Page 4

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In a tragic incident, nine peo-ple, including three children,

were killed after a massive firebroke out in a three storey res-idential-cum-commercialbuilding in outer Delhi’s Kirariarea. The incident occurred onwee hours of Monday.

The issue of illegal com-mercial cum residential house

has once again raised a ques-tion on functioning of thecivic agencies. Meanwhile,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalannounced a compensation of�10 lakh to the next of kin ofthose who died in the fire. The

Delhi Government has alsoordered a magisterial probe tofix the responsibility.

According to a senior DelhiFire Services (DFS) official,call regarding the blaze wasreceived around 12:20 am onMonday following which eightfire tenders and DFS teamswere dispatched for the spot.

“The blaze was broughtunder control by 3:50 am.During initial investigation itwas revealed that the house hada clothes godown on groundfloor plus two upper residentialfloor building.

Continued on Page 4

New Delhi: Top Congress lead-ership, led by party Chief SoniaGandhi, sat on a “Satyagrahafor Unity” at MahatmaGandhi’s memorial Rajghat onMonday, demanding protec-tion of the rights of people asenshrined in the Constitution.

Congress leaders, includingformer Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, formerparty chief Rahul Gandhi andgeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra, participated inthe “Satyagraha”, which wasalso meant to express solidar-ity with the youth and studentsprotesting against the amend-ed Citizenship Act and the pro-posed countrywide NRC aswell as against the police “atroc-

ities” on protesters. Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan

Singh and Rahul Gandhi readout the Preamble to theConstitution of India as part ofthe “Satyagraha” protest. Theparty members also observeda one-minute silence in supportof their cause and against theBJP-led Government’s policies.Sonia Gandhi, however leftafter about an hour while otherleaders continued.

After reading out thePreamble in Hindi, PriyankaGandhi Vadra said in thenames of all those “martyred”during the anti-CAA protests,her party resolved to protectthe Constitution.

Continued on Page 4

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The Bengal BJP on Monday took outa massive pro-CAA and NRC rally

in Kolkata from where senior BJPleader and MP JP Nadda launched astringent attack on the Congress andsubsequently Trinamool Congress fordividing the country along two-nationtheory but failing to provide citizenshipto the lakhs of persecuted members of

the minority Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, as alsoDalit communities who migrated toIndia from neighbouring Afghanistan,Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Launching a no-holds-barred attackon the Congress, he said the party hadeven “defied Mahatma Gandhi whoproposed providing citizenship to thepersecuted people in these neighbour-ing countries… Narendra Modi hascomplied with the instructions of

Mahatma Gandhi after somany years and now they(Congress) are condemninghim.”

On India’s tolerant culture,he said, “After the Partition wemade India a secular country.But Pakistan and Bangladeshbecame Islamic republics. Eventhe promises made in Nehru-Liaquat pact to protect theminorities of each country was

Continued on Page 4

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The Calcutta High Courthas restrained Mamata

Banerjee Government fromairing advertisements reject-ing the CitizenshipAmendment Act and National

Register for Citizens.Hearing a cluster of peti-

tions challenging Government-run advertisements discard-ing an Act of Parliament, theDivision Bench of Chief JusticeTB Radhakrishnan on Mondaybarred the State Government

from emitting the advertise-ment, said sources, addingAdvocate General Kishor Duttahad assured the Court onbehalf of the Government thatthe said ads had been with-drawn from air.

Continued on Page 4

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Abki bar 65 par, the BJP setoff its Jharkhand cam-

paign for the 81-memberAssembly election with thishighly ambitious slogan, whicheven the hard core cadresfound difficult to swallow ordigest. After all, the party wasled by a Chief Minister whoseunpopularity weighed heavilyon its poll prospects.

His arrogance had alienat-ed the cadres and his land rightrelated moves upset the tribals.The stage was set for a contestwith a foregone conclusion.

But the BJP leadershipcounted on the charisma ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi.He was the man who could sin-gle-handedly turn a defeat intotriumph, woo even the mostdisenchanted voters, and playup national issue in a way thatpeople would forget the story oftheir day-to-day survival,unemployment, poverty, back-wardness, corruption, fear oflosing their lands, etc.

The PM and his second-in-command Amit Shahunleashed an aggressive cam-paign that centered onCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA), Ram temple, scrappingof Article 370 etc., and hopedto bury anti-incumbencyunder the heap of polarisingnationalistic sloganeering.

The duo left nothing to

chance and addressedmore than 15 ralliestogether, reaching outto voters in evenremote places. Butthey failed miserably.

For example, the PMaddressed rallies in bothDumka and Barhait from whereOpposition Chief Ministerialcandidate Hemant Soren was inthe fray. Both the seats fall intribal-dominated SanthalPargana regions with sizeablesection of minority voters, too.

The fact that Hemant wonfrom both the places reflectsthe failure of the duo in hyp-notising the masses by evokingthe appeal of religion andnationalism. This is one aspectof the Jharkhand verdictwould trouble the BJP formonths to come.

The BJP leadership musttake the blame for the defeat. Itsquarely overlooked the red flagraised by the State leadersagainst Raghubar Das’ style offunctioning and corruption.Leaders like Saryu Roy had metthe PM twice and pleaded that

in the interest ofthe party, Dasmust go. ButDas remainedfirm in his sad-

dle and Roy was shown thedoor in a party that harped somuch on fighting corruption.

The BJP leaders placedtheir bets firmly on Das hop-ing that he could help the partyreturn to power by attractingnearly 47 OBC voters. Thisdidn’t happen because Daswas so unpopular that even hiscaste men were not ready tovote for him. On the otherhand, his abortive attempt totinker with land rights of thetribals invited sharp backlash.No surprise that the JMMswept the tribal dominatedseats of the State. Soren and Co.reminded the BJP that justlike Maharashtra and Haryanathe ploy to pit dominant sec-tion/caste (in case ofJharkhand, tribals) against therest had its own pitfalls.

The BJP also paid the pricefor Das’ administrative lapses.

Continued on Page 4

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Bachan Singh, the oldestvoter in Delhi who hogged

headlines in May when hevoted in the Lok Sabha election,passed away on Monday, Hewas 111.

Singh died around 6.30am. He had not been eatingproperly for the past three-fourdays, his grandson Sonu Singhsaid.

A paralysis attack around11 months ago had renderedthe centenarian bedridden. Hehad grown frail, according to

his family.Bachan Singh has never

missed out on voting in an elec-tion since 1951, his youngestson, Jasbeer Singh, 63, said.

Delhi Chief ElectoralOfficer Ranbir Singh had felic-itated Bachan Singh and invit-ed him to vote in the generalelection.

Till the 2015 Assemblyelection, the centenarian cycledto the polling booth to cast hisvote. This year, he reached thebooth in a car along with pollofficers in full media glare. Hewas later wheeled inside thepolling both at Tilak Viharusing a chair.

“I will vote for those whoworked for us,” Bachan Singhhad told PTI before casting hisvote .

“For him, every electionwas a contest between the BJPand the Congress,” his sonsaid.

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In a major operation, a totalof nine women from

Turkmenistan were arrestedfor allegedly trying to smuggleout of the country foreign cur-rencies worth around �3.83crore at Indira GandhiInternational (IGI) Airport,officials said on Monday.

Customs officials said thatfollowing the specific inputs, atotal of 105 people were inter-cepted — 59 women and 46men — when they were trav-elling to Turkmenistan onWednesday.

“Personal and baggagesearch of the 88 passengers andrummaging of flight resulted inthe recovery of foreign cur-rency $7,98,840 equivalent to`5.64 crore,” said Manish

Kumar, Commissioner ofCustoms.

“Further, 48 passengerswere released along with theirforeign currency, as they werecarrying foreign currencyunder permissible limit.Furthermore, remaining for-eign currency, that is,�5,41,961, equivalent to �3.83

crore was seized under therelevant provisions of theCustoms Act,” said Kumar.

“Out of the remaining 40passengers, nine of them — allwomen were placed underarrest. The accused toldCustoms officials that themoney that they were trying totake out of Delhi could be forgold smuggling,” said an offi-cial.

“There is a group of foreign nationals who smuggleinto the country gold from out-side and sell the yellow metalhere using their contacts. Themoney that they get out of it,they try to take it out of India,usually in cash,” a customs official added while explaining the case. Furtherinvestigations are underprogress, they said.

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Delhi Lieutenant Governor(L-G), Anil Baijal in a

monthly review meeting withthe Delhi Police on Mondaydirected the force to prepare adatabase and analyse in detailvarious types of cyber crimes sothat the cases may be cate-gorised and effective actionmay be undertaken to preventthe cyber crimes.

The meeting was held atRaj Niwas where NeerajThakur, the JointCommissioner of Police(Special Cell), A K Mahapatra,the Chief TechnologicalAdviser of police, Prem Nath,the Additional Commissionerof Police (Cyber andTechnology Cell) and AnyeshRoy, the Deputy Commissioner

of Police (Cyber Cell) were pre-sent.

A detailed presentationwas made by Prem Nath, theAdditional CP (Cyber andTechnology Cell) regarding thestructure, mandate, existingfacilities, education and aware-ness efforts and notableachievements of CyPAD.

“L-G was apprised aboutthe existing forensic facilitiessuch as Memory Forensics Lab,Network Forensics Lab,Advanced Mobile ForensicsLab, Malware Forensics Lab,Cloud-Forensics Tool andCrypto currency Forensics

Tool. It was further informedthat CyPAD identifies andresolves security issues in dig-ital ecosystem and participatesin policy formulation regardingcyber space,” said Anil Mittal,the Additional Public RelationOfficer (APRO), Delhi Police.

L-G was briefed about var-ious kinds of cases being dealtby CyPAD and the actionstaken both at the level of inves-tigation as well as educationalefforts. L-G observed that com-bating and containing cybercrimes by equipping police isthe need of hour.

He further directed to pre-pare a database and analyze indetail various types of cybercrimes so that the cases may becategorized and effective actionmay be undertaken to preventthe cyber crimes. He furtherasked to explore synergy interms of resources and exper-tise between Forensic ScientificLaboratory (FSL) and CyPADfor optimum utilization ofresources.

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ADelhi court on Mondaydismissed bail pleas of 15

people arrested in connectionwith the violence in Delhi’sDaryaganj area and extendedtheir judicial custody by twoweeks.

Metropolitan MagistrateKapil Kumar dismissed thebail applications, saying therewas no sufficient ground togrant them the relief.

The court passed theorder after they were pro-duced before it on expiry oftheir two-day judicial custody(JC).

On court query that onwhat basis the accused werearrested, the police said thatthey had pelted stones and adeputy commissioner ofpolice was injured amongothers.

While seeking bail, senior advocate Rebecca Johnsaid that the accused shouldnot be kept behind bars since

police did not have CCTVfootage or any other evidenceagainst them.

“Section 436 (mischief byfire or explosive substance withintent to destroy house, etc) ofIPC does not apply. Do theyhave any proof, CCTV footageetc. Against them,” John asked.

The court on Saturday hadsent them to two days’ judicialcustody till today. One of thosearrested had claimed he was ajuvenile. However, the policesaid he told them he was 23.

Violence broke out in thearea on December 20 when agroup of agitating demonstra-tors resorted to stone-peltingafter police tried to forcefullyevict them.

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Renowned faces across thecity have joined the Aam

Aadmi Party (AAP), eyeing theDelhi Assembly Elections 2020.Continuing the wave of thejoining, on Monday, Jamaat-e-Siddiqui of India’s Nationalpresident Mohammad ShahidSiddiqui, Vice PresidentMohammad Ishrat Siddiqui,General Secretary TahirSiddiqui and Deputy GeneralSecretary Mohammad Alialong with hundreds of sup-porters joined the AAP inpresence of Rajya Sabha MPand Delhi election in-chargeSanjay Singh.

Mohammad ShahidSiddiqui is well known for his

constant struggle for the uplift-ment of the Siddiqui commu-nity and has been one of themost prominent faces in Delhifighting for the right of peoplefrom Siddiqui community. Hegot influenced by the develop-ment works done by DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalfor the people of Delhi acrossevery religion, section andcaste. Thereafter he decided tojoin the AAP to strengthen theparty.

“The way the KejriwalGovernment has worked inthe last 5 years has beenremarkable. The AAPGovernment has worked forthe poor people of Delhi, there-fore, people from every reli-gion, section, and caste have

received equal benefitsfrom this government.Looking at the unprece-dented work done bythe Kejriwal govern-ment, we decided tojoin the party and I willensure that we will carryforth this developmentwork ahead in the com-ing days,” saidMohammad ShahidSiddiqui.

He also said that thebefore in Delhi people

used to make fun of theGovernment schools but nowunder the Kejriwal Governmentstudents from private schoolsare opting to join theGovernment schools. “The waythis Government has worked ineducation, health and sectors arebeing discussed worldwide.Students from the Governmentschools are performing muchbetter than that of the privateschool. We want to be a part ofthis revolutionary work of theAAP Government,” he said.

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Amassive fire rippedthrough a three-storey res-

idential-cum-commercialbuilding in outer Delhi's Kirariarea, killing at least nine peo-ple, including three children,the Delhi Fire Services (DFS)said on Monday.

A 24 year-old Pooja, whoalong with her three-year-olddaughter and niece escaped thedeath narrowly said that if shehad not rushed to the topfloor and cried for help shewould not be alive today.

Narrating her ordeal, Pooja

said that she was sleeping whenshe saw smoke coming in herroom.

"At that time, I went to theterrace and cried for help andthankfully my neighboursheard my cries and they got awooden ladder to rescue me,my daughter and Saumya (herniece, aged 10)," said Poojaadding that Saumya sustained15 per cent burn injuries.

"My in-laws were old andthey could not come to the ter-race to save their lives. WhenI reached the terrace, peoplewere shouting and asking eachother to call police and firebrigade," she said.

Pooja's husbandAmarnath Jha was not inDelhi when the fire rippedthrough the house. He hadleft for Haridwar to take a dipin river Ganga.

As soon as Pooja calledher husband who could nothear her properly over phonebut after learning that a firehad broken out at his house,he rushed to Delhi to bewith his family members.

"I had lost my elderbrother Vaidyanath inJanuary this year and nowanother tragedy has hap-pened with my family. I wentto Haridwar to take a holybath in Ganga river after mybrother died due to cancer.Pooja called me, but her voicewas not clear. Later, my otherrelatives informed me aboutthe incident," said Jha.

The cause behind the fireis being investigated. It issuspected that the fire brokeout due to a short-circuitwhich led to a cylinder blastand the subsequent collapseof a wall of the building.

Those killed were identi-fied as Ram Chandra Jha (65),the building's owner, Sudariya

Devi (58), Sanju Jha (36),Guddan and Uday Chaudhary(33) and his wife Muskan (26),

their children Anjali (10),Adarsh (7) and six-month-oldTulsi.

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With the arrest of three per-sons, the Gurugram

police on Monday claimed tohave cracked the murder mys-tery of a taxi driver, who waskilled a month ago. The victim,Jaipal’s, body was recoveredfrom the road approachingShankar Chowk in Gurugram.To evade police arrest theaccused had covered the bodywith stones.

The accused have beenidentified as Sakib Ansari, aresident of Uttar Pradesh’sMuzzafarnagar (26) who is aB.Sc graduate, Pankaj Singh(24), a resident of Almora inUttrakhand, and Prince Pal(23) of Uttar Pradesh’sMuzzafarnagar.

Police said that the trio hasa criminal background. Anattempt to murder, loot, kid-napping and Arms Act caseswere registered against them inUttar Pradesh.

According to police, all

the accused were arrested bythe Uttar Pradesh Police onDecember 7 and later on, theywere handed over to the districtpolice on December 19.

Interestingly, two of theaccused had left their jobsthree-four days before com-mitting the crime while Sakibtook leave from his companyon the day of the incident.

During preliminary inter-rogation, the accused con-fessed that on November 21,2019, they had sought a liftfrom a car driver from the areaof Palam Vihar.

“After taking the lift fromthe car driver, they attackedhim with a blade on his throatand strangled him with a blan-ket and killed him. After that,the deceased put them in thebushes along the road fromShankar Chowk to Hanumantemple and covered it withstones. After that, they robbedthe deceased’s mobile and hiscar and went away,” said PreetPal Singh Sangwan, ACP(crime).

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The Delhi Cabinet onMonday approved the

Electric Vehicle Policy withan aim to check vehicular pol-lution in the national Capital.

Under this policy, subsidywill be given to the vehicles forpurchasing E-vehicles. It willalso generate employment inthe transportation sector.

Under the EV Policy, theDelhi Government is providinga subsidy of �5,000 per KW ofbattery capacity on the pur-chase of two-wheelers.Scrapping incentive up to�5,000 will be offered for thescrapping of a non-electrictwo-wheeler vehicle andswitching to an electric vehicle.

The first draft of the DelhiEV Policy was released inNovember 2018 last year andwas put on the public domain

to invite suggestions. "Wereceived comments from var-ious associations such as theUnited Nations EnvironmentProgram, International Councilon Clean Transport, and indus-try bodies such as CII, andSociety of Manufacturers ofElectric Vehicles and non-prof-it organisations such as CSE,etc. The comments were takeninto purview and incorporatedin the formulation of the pol-icy," said the CM.

As per the officials, thebiggest source of pollution inthe National are vehicles whichamount to 40 per cent of PM2.5 air pollution levels and 80per cent of carbon monoxide inthe air.

Delhi Electric VehiclePolicy 2019 aims to inductelectric vehicles which shallcontribute to 25 per cent of thenewly registered vehicles across Delhi.

"Along with reducing pol-lution levels in the city, the pol-icy also aims to generateemployment in the transportsector. The maximum empha-sis is laid on two-wheelers, pub-

lic transport and shared vehi-cles, and goods-carriers," saidKejriwal.

Currently, the percentagestrength of electric two-wheel-ers in national capital is lessthan 0.2 per cent and three-wheelers is almost zero. Withgiving approval to the policythe government is aiminginductions of about 35,000electric vehicles by next year.The Government is also work-ing with the municipal corpo-rations of Delhi to install andconstruct 250 e-charging sta-tions across the city.

"We also hope that withinthe next five years, five lakhelectric vehicles will be regis-tered in Delhi. Over their life-time, these electric vehiclesare estimated to save approxi-mately �6,000 crores worth ofoil and liquid natural gas con-sumption. They will also avoidemissions of 4.8 million tonnesof CO2 (carbon dioxide) emis-sions, which is equivalent toavoiding CO2 emissions fromnearly one lakh petrol carsover their lifetime. They willalso help avoid about 159

tonnes of PM 2.5 emissions," headded.

Besides, the Governmenthas also made a special provi-sion to for aggregator basedcabs such as Ola and Uber,wherein they will be allowed tooperate electric two-wheelertaxis. All two-wheelers engagedin last-mile deliveries, such asfood delivery vehicles, courierservices, and e-commercelogistics, will be expected totransition 50% of their fleet toelectric by March 2023, and100% of their fleet to electric byMarch 2025. Likewise, the pur-chase subsidy on electric autos,e-rickshaws, and e-carriers isup to Rs.30000 and loans on asubsidy of 5% will be provid-ed to them.

The Chief Minister addedthat, "All leased/hired carsused for the commute ofGNCTD officers will be tran-sitioned to electric vehicleswithin a period of one year.The Delhi Government alsoaims to transition 50% of thenewly purchased buses intoelectric buses by the year 2024and 100 per cent by the year

2030. There will be no road taxon registration fees on electricvehicles."

Further, a special dedicat-ed Electric Vehicle (EV) cellwill be established within theTransport Department for theeffective day-to-day imple-mentation of the Delhi State EVPolicy. Funding for the variousincentives under Delhi EVPolicy will be obtained frommultiple sources such asPollution/Diesel Cess, RoadTax, and EnvironmentCompensation Charge (ECC)and so on, which will be mon-itored under the newly estab-lished 'State EV Fund'. A StateEV Board will also be createdas the apex body for the effec-tive implementation and mon-itoring of Delhi EV Policy2019, said the officials.

Meanwhile the Cabinetalso approved transportallowances of �4,000 per monthfor the regular employees of theDelhi Transport Corporation(DTC). Till now, the benefitwas only availed by theemployees of TransportDepartment.

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In an unique initiative forwomen safety, over 22 lakh

students in Delhi's private andGovernment schools adminis-tered oath that they will respectwomen and not violate theirdignity.

"Today a campaign forwomen security was startedalong with 22 lakh students.CCTV cameras and streetlights are also being installed.But the ideology of the societyneeds to be changed. We haveto make Delhi a place wherewomen are not scared of step-ping out at night," Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwaltweeted.

"Boys took oath that theywill respect women and willnot misbehave with them. Girlswill administer the same oathto their brothers at home andwarn them of breaking ties ifthey will not treat womenwell," he added.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Monday said

the Jharkhand Assembly pollresults appeared to be a verdictagainst the NationalRegistration of Citizen (NRC)and Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) and reflects thepublic reaction to the "arro-gance" of the BJP visible acrossthe country.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) convener said, "BJPleaders had aggressively cam-paigned in the last two phasesof the Jharkhand Assemblypolls, raising the issues relatedto the Citizenship

(Amendment) Act (CAA) andNRC." "So it appears that thepeople of at least one State haveconclusively given their verdictthat they do not want it (CAAand NRC)," Kejriwal added.

He alleged that the resultreflected public reaction to thearrogance of the BJP visibleacross the country.

He also congratulatedJharkhand Mukti Morcha's(JMM) Hemant Soren for thepoll victory and said the BJP'selectoral loss meant that itsGovernment did not performwell in Jharkhand. "Peoplewant to vote for performance,apparently they (BJPGovernment) did not work,"Kejriwal said.

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The national Capital maywitness a cold wave on

December 28 and 29 as the min-imum temperature is likely todrop to 4 degrees Celsius,Regional Weather Centre forDelhi said.

In unusual winter, Delhiwill witness extreme cold cli-mate in the year end. Whilemaximum temperature willoscillate between 15 degreeCelsius and 18 degree Celsius,the minimum temperature willbe recorded between eightdegree Celsius and four degreeCelsius in this entire week.

The Indian MetrologicalDepartment (IMD) forecastmoderate to dense fog forDecember 26 and December 27while the maximum tempera-

ture will be 13 degree Celsius. MeT has predicted cold

wave for December 23, 24 andDecember 25. "After a briefrelief on December 26 and 27,the local climate will againremain cold till December 30whereas December 28 and 29th,minimum temperature will berecorded four degree Celsius,"MeT forecast.

Meanwhile on Monday,Delhiites woke up to a coldMonday with the minimumtemperature settling at 8.3degrees Celsius, normal for thistime of the year. Humidity wasrecorded at 97 per cent. Theweatherman has forecast main-ly clear skies for the day withmoderate fog on Tuesday morn-ing.

Severe cold wave conditionsare likely in some parts of the

national capital through theday and the maximum temper-ature may hover around 15degrees Celsius, according to theMeteorological Department.

The visibility was 1,000metres at 5.30 am in Safdarjungand was reduced to 600 metresby 8.30 am. At Palam, the visi-bility was 700 metres at 5.30 amand had dropped to 500 metresby 8.30 am.The Air QualityIndex (AQI) in the city at 9.44am was recorded at 310, which

falls in the "very poor" catego-ry.

An AQI between 0-50 isconsidered "good", 51-100 "sat-isfactory", 101-200 "moderate",201-300 "poor", 301-400 "verypoor" and 401-500 "severe". AnAQI above 500 falls in the"severe plus" category.

On Sunday, Delhi recordeda high of 14.6 degrees Celsiusand a low of 7.4 degrees Celsius.

Railways said 12 trains weredelayed due to weather condi-tions in the northern region asthey were running late by 1:45hours to 6:45 hours.

Trains like SachkhandExpress from Nanded toAmritsar was running late byalmost seven hours while theDibrugarh Express fromDibrugarh to Delhi was runninglate by three hours.

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Delhi Transport MinisterKailash Gahlot along with

the Amal Sinha, CEO BRPLand BSES Rajdhani PowerLimited (BRPL) has laid foun-dation stone for the state-of-theGrid sub-station at Najafgarharea on Monday.

The grid will benefitaround 1.5 lakh residents andis also expected to cater to theneeds of the three upcomingElectric Vehicle (EV) busdepots at Villages Mundella,Dichaon and Ghummanhera.

“We are committed topowering Delhi and empow-ering all our consumers.Commensurate with Delhi’sgrowing appetite for power, itselectricity infrastructure mustalso keep pace. BRPL will con-tinue to successfully meet theever increasing power demandand as always, be an active part-ner in the future developmentof the city. With the commis-sioning of this Grid Sub-sta-

tion, the installed capacity ofWest Delhi will increase to2,628 MVA and of South Delhito around 3,406 MVA makinga total of 6,034 MVA in BRPLArea,” said Sinha.

Being constructed at a totalcost of around �40 crore, this66/11 KV — 60 MVA MitraonGrid Sub Station — is beingconstructed in two phases. Thefirst phase of 20 MVA will becommissioned in the recordtime of three-months and thesecond phase of additional 40

MVA will come thereafter. Postits commissioning, it will fur-ther improve the power supplyin areas like Gopal Nagar,Vinobha Enclave, AdiwasiColony, Mitraon Extension,Prem Nagar,Sainik Enclave,Naveen Place, Krishna Viharand Surakhpur Road, said theofficials.

This Grid Sub-station isequipped with the next gener-ation distribution technolo-gies and conforms to stringentinternational standards. TheGrid Sub-station will beunmanned and will be remote-ly controlled from theSupervisory Control and DataAccess (SCADA).

The present network capac-ity in the area is 80 MVA. Postcomplete commissioning of thegrid, it will increase by 60MVA to 140 MVA — enough topower the present and thefuture needs of the area. Size ofthe Grid Sub-station can begauged from the fact thataround 14 Kms of cable will belaid during its construction.

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With the JharkhandAssembly election results

showing a clear victory forJharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM)-led alliance, it is evidentthat Hemant Soren is poised tobecome the next Chief Ministerof State. The junior Soren will bedonning chief ministerial chairfor the second time.

As the trends favoured JMMalliance leading on 45 seats in the81-member JharkhandAssembly, Hemant who hadinherited his father Shibu Soren’slegacy first drove down tofather’s residence at Morhabadihardly a kilometer away from hisofficial residence. Hemant tak-ing blessings of his father ShibuSoren and mother Roopi Sorenhad a chat with his father about

election results and then rodethe bicycle in the campus.

Soren, 44, a tribal leader,who is one of the giants ofJharkhand’s struggle for state-hood and a former chief minis-ter himself had taken admissionat the prestigious engineeringcollege BIT, Mesra, but could notcomplete his graduation rathertaking up his father’s politicallegacy. He was elected as MLAfrom Dumka Assembly con-stituency in 2009.

The junior Soren had pulleddown the Arjun Munda gov-ernment in 2013 to become theChief Minister, then State’s andthe country’s youngest. It waspractically under his leadershipthat the JMM delivered its high-est ever tally of 19 seats in 2014.In 2014 he contested the electionfrom two seats Dumka and

Barhait, but lost to LouisMarandi of BJP from Dumka.Soren is currently the executivepresident of JMM, currentlyrepresenting Barhait Assemblyunder Dumka district in SanthalPargana region in Jharkhand.

Hemant has the experienceof not only serving StateAssembly, but was elected toRajya Sabha from Jharkhandbetween 2009 and 2010. Hemanthad also held the post of DeputyChief Minister of Jharkhandbetween 2009 and 2013.

Hemant was born in

Nemara in Ramgarh district toRoopi and Shibu Soren. Hemanthas two brothers and a sister. Hedid his schooling from PatnaHigh School and also pursuedengineering from BIT Mesra,Ranchi in MechanicalEngineering.

In his brief stint as a ChiefMinister, Hemant had broughtin progressive policies like reser-vation of 50 per cent of govern-ment jobs for women and alsoplayed an instrumental part intackling the Maoist insurgencyin Saranda, West Singhbhumthrough a mix of developmentinitiatives and security measures.

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From Page 1Upping the ante against

Prime Minister, Rahul accusedModi of trying to spread hatredand break the country, butwarned that the people will notlet him attack the Constitutionand suppress the voice of“Bharat Mata”. The Gandhiscion said Modi’s organisationhas taught him how to breakthe country and spread hatredand he was “number one indoing so”.

He alleged that PM Modishould tell the country why heis suppressing voice of studentsand why they are not gettingjobs. “What our enemies couldnot do, is now being done byNarendra Modi to stall thecountry’s progress. You couldnot provide jobs and destroyedthe economy, which was ourstrength, and that is why youare hiding behind hate,” Rahulsaid while hitting out at PMModi. “Country will not let youattack Constitution, suppressvoice of ‘Bharat Mata’,” he saidwhile taking a dig at PM Modi.

Congress Chief MinistersAshok Gehlot, Kamal Nath,senior party leaders A KAntony, Ahmed Patel, GhulamNabi Azad, MallikarjunKharge, Anand Sharma,Digvijaya Singh, MukulWasnik, K C Venugopal, Meira

Kumar, besides CongressWorking Committee (CWC)members, All India CongressCommittee (AICC) generalsecretaries and the party’s Statein-charges took part in the“Satyagraha”.

Gehlot and Kamal Nathasserted that theirGovernments will not imple-ment the amended CitizenshipAct in the Congress-ruledStates as it was against the basicprinciples of the Constitution.Chhattisgarh Minister T SSingh Deo, on behalf of ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel, saidthe CAA and NRC will not beimplemented in his State either.Congress had on Friday saidthe “unconstitutional” legisla-tion will not be implemented inthe party-ruled States.

Hitting out at PM forclaiming his Government neverdiscussed the NRC, the partyalleged that the BJP is trying tofool the country. The BJP in itsJharkhand Assembly electionmanifesto has claimed it willimplement the NRC and UnionHome Minister Amit Shah hassaid it will be implementedacross the country, but thePrime Minister is now claim-ing just the opposite, theCongress said. In a rally onSunday, Modi sought to allayapprehensions, especiallyamong Muslims, on the NRC,saying his Government hasnever discussed it since com-ing to power for the first timein 2014. It has been discussedneither in Parliament nor in theCabinet, the Prime Ministerhad said. PNS

From Page 1In Hyderabad, Reddy said,

“ Our deputy CM, who is alsoa minority leader, said recent-ly that we will oppose theNRC. He spoke to me beforemaking that statement. I wantto make it clear that we wouldstick to it and oppose (imple-mentation of) the NRC.”

Kochi in Kerala witnesseda glamour filled rally as manytop movie makers likeKamaluddeen, Ashiq Abu,Reema Abu, Rajiv Ravi, ShineNigam, TV anchorpersonRanjini Haridas, AAP leader CR Neelakantan , poetess V MGirija and Marxist theoreticianN M Pearson walked the 5 kilo-metre stretch in the cityexpressing their resentmentagainst the Act.

In a related developmentGovernor Arif MohammedKhan , who had been invited byLeader of Opposition RameshChennithala to be the chiefguest of K KarunakaranMemorial Day atThiruvananthapuram onMonday was asked by theorganisers of the meeting notto attend the event. Though noreasons have been given, it isunderstood that the Governor’sstand supporting the CAA2019 provoked KMuraleedharan MP, son of thelate leader and this is beingseen as the reason for keepingthe former away.

Tamil Nadu saw the begin-ning of a new and rejuvenatedfront, nay, a battle front under

the DMK taking shape onMonday with the staging of amassive rally in Chennaiagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act 2019.

M K Stalin, the DMK pres-ident who led the rally featur-ing leaders of all constituentparties in the UPA, describedit as a battle front against thecommunal, divisive policiespursued by the BJP govern-ment at the Centre. “This bat-tle will continue till the CAA iswithdrawn,” declared Stalinwhile addressing the partici-pants of the rally.

Nearly a lakh people,including women and students,took part in the rally which lit-erally paralysed the capital city.No untoward incidents havebeen reported though therally was staged amidst denialof permission by the City PoliceCommissioner.

The Madras High Court ina special sitting held lateSunday night asked theChennai City Police to deploydrones and video record therally to find out persons whoperpetrate violence and createlaw and order problems.

“More than 10,000 copshad been deployed by theauthorities to maintain lawand order. But the participantsthemselves ensured that therally took place in a smoothand peaceful manner,” saidStalin at the conclusion of therally.

Stalin along with formerunion minister and Congress

strongman P Chidambaram,TNCC president K S Alagiri,leaders of the CPI(M), CPI,VCK and the entire leadershipof Tamil Nadu MuslimMunnetra Kazhakam , SDPIand WPI and Bishop EzraSurgunam, the DMK’s spiritu-al head led the rally.Interestingly, the leaders of allpolitical parties includingC h i d a m b a r a m ,Vaiko, Alagiri andThirumavalavan raised sloganspraising Stalin for his effectiveleadership.

“This is not just a rally. Itis a new battlefront whichwould fight the CAA 2019 tillthe Centre withdraws it,”declared Stalin. He said therally was just a beginning andnew and innovative demon-strations against the CAA wereon the anvil. The news fromJharkhand about the electoralgains made by the Congress inthe assembly elections added tothe enthusiasm of therallyists.

An interesting feature ofthe rally was the placardswaved by the participants. Allplacards had anti-BJP and anti-RSS slogans displayed promi-nently. Other than this, the ral-lyists were seen waving thepictures of Stalin and his sonUdhayanidhi making it clearthat the latter is the chosen heirof the DMK president. Postersand pictures of Kanimozhi andother senior leaders of theDMK were conspicuous bytheir absence.Stalin also

declared that he would soonannounce the net course of agi-tation after discussions withleaders of the constituent par-ties. “But I assure you that moreparties and organisationswould join the next round ofagitation,” he said.

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From Page 1Gilua was also defeated in

the Lok Sabha elections fromChaibasa constituency.

Interestingly, the BJP couldnot save its face in the electionsdespite Prime MinisterNarendra Modi holding sixrallies, party’s national presi-dent and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah holdingover dozens of rallies and sev-eral star campaigners of theparty, including BJP nationalExecutive president JP Naddacamping in the State for sever-al weeks to campaigning for theparty.

The alliance this time madeinroads in many areas thatwere held by BJP and its allyAJSU Party.

The BJP faced setbackmainly in Kolhan, Dhanbad-Bokaro area and SanthalPargana, which it considered tobear fruits after benefittingpeople with schemes likeUJJWALA Yojna, PMKSN,MMKAY, PMAY, SBM etc.

JMM executive presidentHemant Soren, who was decid-ed to be the Chief Minister’s face long before LokSabha elections by the alliance,is set to become the 11th ChiefMinister of Jharkhand. Holdinga press conference after the

alliance’s win Hemantsaid that they have bagged 47

seats.“We had made a fool proof

strategy this time and we coulddefeat the BJP just because ofthe unity in the alliance and ourstrategy. We will form a stronggovernment coalition govern-ment that will fulfil the aspira-tions of the people,” saidHemant adding that the dis-cussions on government for-mation will take place soon inthe alliance.

The JMM executive presi-dent also praised rebel BJPleader Saryu Roy and said,“Saryu Roy ji has taken a bravestep and he supported us atmany instances. I extend greet-ings to him for his win. Anypolitical alliance with him willbe discussed later,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterRaghubar Das tendered hisresignation to GovernorDroupadi Murmu in theevening. “I have submitted myresignation to the Governor,who has asked me to remaincaretaker CM till the next gov-ernment is formed. I acceptpeople’s verdict and congratu-late Honourable Hemant Ji forhis win. We hope that theprocess of development that westarted in the State will gainpace with the new govern-ment,” said Das.

Sources said that the newgovernment will be formed infew days and it is likely that Hemant will besworn in as the new ChiefMinister of Jharkhand onDecember 27.

��777From Page 1

not fulfilled as a result ofwhich the number of Hindus inPakistan dwindled from 23 percent to 3 per cent; where as inIndia the number of minoritieswent up from 11per cent in 1951to 14.5 per cent. Is it not a signof a tolerant culture?”

The CM had sought theblessings of the Matua, Rajbanshiand other communities that hadmigrated from Bangladesh but“she has never bothered to pro-vide them the right to citizenship.And today she is opposing theAct that is completing her unful-filled promise. We want to ask inwhose interest she is doing this?”he said. On the CAA Nadda saidthat the new Act “does notspeak of taking away citizenshipbut providing it he said won-dering why. But MamataBanerjee has made it a point tooppose it. In fact she has madeit a point to oppose every deci-sion taken by the ModiGovernment. She opposed,Triple Talaq Act, she opposedabrogation of Article, she isopposing CAA.

“We want to ask why is sheplaying to the gallery of a par-ticular section of the people? Wewant to ask why she is playingthe vote bank politics?” Sayingthat Bengal would give a befit-ting reply to the CM for her votebank politics he said in 2019 gen-eral elections his party got 18 outof 42 Parliamentary seats whichwill translate into a victory for thesaffron outfit in the 2021Assembly elections.

From Page 1The Chief Minister who

was seen appealing to thepeople for peace and tellingthem not to worry about theCAA and NRC as the samewould not be implemented inBengal had for the past several days been protestingthrough public rallies the

enactment of what she calleda “discriminatory law” thatwent against the “basic featureof the Constitution.”

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister was among thefirst to tweet a congratulato-ry message to the Congress,Jharkhand Mukti Morcha

and Rashtriya Janata Dal forpulling off a “significant vic-tory” at a time when thenation was in the midst ofprotests against theCitizenship Amendment Act.

Even as the trends showedthat the JMM-Congress-RJDalliance were heading towardsa comfortable victory takinga lead in 46 out of 81 seats pushing the BJPdown to 25 — 16 short of themajority mark Banerjeetweeted “CongratulationsHemant Soren (JMM), RJD and INC onwinning.”

Insisting that the victoryfor the JMM-Congress-RJDalliance in Jharkhand wassymbolic in the sense that ithad come at a time when theentire nation was organizingprotest movements againstthe Citizenship

Amendment Act andNational Register for

Citizens Baner jee said“People of Jharkhand haveentrusted you to fulfill theiraspirations. My good wishesto all the brothers/sisters inJharkhand. Elect ions were held during the CAA-NRC protests . This is a verdict in favor ofcitizens.”

In a prompt reply to hermessage Soren thanked hersaying the election has been abattle to establish a democ-ratic will and socially inclu-sive Jharkhand.

“Thank you Mamata Didifor your wishes. This hasbeen a batt le to establish democratic will &socially inclusive Jharkhand.I dedicate this victor y to the people of J h a r k h a n d , ”Soren wrote.

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From page 1Take the example of imple-

mentation of Swachchh Bharatscheme.

The State Governmentbuilt nearly 2,00,000 toilets inDumka and adjoining districtsat the expense of �182 cr, butnone of them are today oper-ative in the absence of watersupply.

“All the toilets are closed.It’s a monumental waste of

money because the toilets arewithout water,” says BrajeshVerma , a Dumka-based jour-nalist.

During Das’ five-yeartenure the State Governmentcould not move ahead withmany mega industrial projectsbecause of his failure to con-vince the tribals to part withtheir land to ushers in devel-opment.

The State also remainedsecond from last in the pover-ty index in the country. Allother human developmentindices were equally dismal.

Jharkhand may have been aRSS stronghold where theSangh Parivar did a lot ofground work and made deepinroads into tribal heartlandwith its Eklavya schools, but theresult shows the limitations ofthe Hindutava politics.

From the Oppositionpoint of view, the verdict is abig booster. Now that theOpposition rules both the mineand mineral rich States ofJharkhand and Chhattisgarh ,the fund-starved Oppositioncan hope to see better days. It’salso significant that majority of

the industrial houses have theirheadquarters in Mumbai wherethe Opposition has wrestedpower from the BJP.

Besides addressing theaspect of resource mobilisa-tions, the verdict also showsthat the BJP and its emotiveagenda could be conquered ifthe Opposition put up a jointfront and highlights the issueswhich touch the lives of thecommon man. After Jharkhandverdict, the BJP’s presence hasshrunk considerably on thepolitical map of India.

In March 2018, the BJP

ruled 13 States across the coun-try on its own and six otherStates in alliance with otherparties.

After its loss on Monday,the BJP now rules only eightstates on its own. Out of theseeight states, only five Stateshave Lok Sabha seats in doubledigit numbers.

The message is clear. If theeconomy continued to slide,then the BJP will be up againstan aggressive Opposition anddisenchanted supporters, whomay ask for more than sloganof acche din!

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Monday empha-

sized on securing the country'sland and maritime borders,which he listed as challenges inthe coming years in achievingIndia's dream of becoming a 5-trillion dollar economy.

Shah also asked the secu-rity agencies to identify solu-tions to these challenges andlook for ways to counter them.Shah was speaking at the 32ndEndowment Lecture of theIntelligence Bureau.

The Modi Government iscommitted to completely wipeout terrorism, left-wing extrem-ism and insurgency in the NorthEast in the next five years, theHome Minister further said.

Lauding the IB for ablytackling the challenges ofnational security, the HomeMinister made special note ofthe work done by the agency inbusting terror modules in thelast five years and appreciated

the covert body for havingtackled North East insurgencyvery effectively over the years.

While listing out nationalsecurity challenges in the com-ing years, especially against thebackdrop of the nation's aim ofbecoming a $5 trillion econo-my, Shah sought to encouragethe personnel to identify solu-tions to these challenges andlook for new ways to counterthem. He asked the securityofficials to change theirapproach to be more effective.

He also saluted IB personnelwho work tirelessly and anony-mously for national security andunderscored their contributionin helping the country emergestronger. Calling IB as the 'brain'of the national security appara-

tus, the Home Minister said thatthey have always helped toensure Zero Tolerance toTerrorism and Naxalism.

In his speech, he alsopointed to the interlinked chal-lenges of human and weaponstrafficking, cross-border infil-tration, fake Indian currencynotes (FICN), hawala transac-tions, drug trafficking as well asCyber threats. Emphasising onthe need for a special initiativeto tackle these challenges, hestressed on the need to co-optprofessional experts in specif-ic fields, like Cyber Security.

Underscoring the impor-tance of coordination betweendifferent security and intelli-gence agencies, Shah exhortedthe personnel for sharper intel-ligence analysis, along with aprompt phase-wise and time-bound strategy to addressnational security challenges.

The Home Minister alsoappreciated and acknowledgedthe hard work and expertise ofIB personnel.

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Laying stress on inductingtechnology in the rapidly

changing way of fighting mod-ern day war, Army ChiefGeneral Bipin Rawat said onMonday the Army has toremain in forefront of techno-logical embrace and non-con-tact warfare will help in gain-ing advantage over the adver-sary in future.

Addressing a defence sem-inar here, he said necessity wasno longer the need for inven-tion and innovations were dri-ving technological advance-ment. He also said the Armyhas to remain at the forefrontof technological embrace, hesaid.

"Non-contact warfare isgaining relevance in futurewars. That is not to say that theman on the ground...With arifle in his hand will no longerremain relevant. They willremain relevant all throughthe ages," Rawat said.

He observed that non-con-tact warfare will help us ingaining advantage over the

adversary in future.Therefore, it is important tounderstand the context in

which we need to move for-ward in this direction, theArmy chief added. He alsohighlighted the importance ofquantum technology, cyberspace and above all artificialintelligence and said these needto be leveraged.

The seminar was orga-nized by the Army on thetheme 'Technologies for NonContact Warfare.' Besides theArmy chief, Principal ScientificAdvisor to governmentProfessor K Vijay Raghavanand Vice Chief of ArmyLieutenant General MMNaravane also participated inthe event.

The seminar brought mil-itary, academia and industrytogether on a single platform toprovide an in depth perspectiveon the available and emergingtechnologies, which could have an impact on warfighting in the non contactdomain.

Rawat also stressed theneed of dual use technologiesfor the future. Towards this,Indian Army has endeavouredto be more open towards theindustry and has convertedstringent military specifica-tions for number of its equip-ment into commercial gradespecifications, he said.

��

The CPI(M) on Mondayalleged that Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's speech atRamlila on CAA and NRCwere a bundle of untruthsaimed to mislead the people.Listing out the "lies", the partyPolit Bureau in a statement saidthat BJP's 2019 election mani-festo promised implementingNRC throughout the countryand Government has alreadyinformed courts andParliament about the existence

of detention centers .The Left party also pointed

out that Home Minister AmitShaha many times reiteratedabout implementation of NRC."Clearly rattled by the intensityof popular protests across thecountry against theCAA/NRC/NPR and the decla-ration by at least ten ChiefMinisters that they will notimplement the NRC, PM Modiunleashed yesterday at Delhi abundle of untruths aimed at mis-leading the people," said CPI(M).

"Minister of State for Home

Affairs answered a question inthe Rajya Sabha on December11 and said that instructionshave been issued to all states forsetting up detention centres todetain illegal migrants or con-victed foreigners pendingdeportation. The CentralGovernment on 9.1.2019 sentconsolidated instructions forthe construction of detentioncentres to all state/union admin-istrators. Central governmenttold the Karnataka High Courton November 28, "We havewritten to all state governments

in 2014 and follow-up letter in2018 to have detention centresto house foreign nationals ille-gally staying in India.

"In November 2019,Minister of State for HomeAffairs replied to a question inthe Rajya Sabha that 28 peoplehave died in Assam's detentioncamps where suspected immi-grants are confined. He dis-closed that 988 "foreigners"were lodged in six detentioncentres in Assam," said CPI(M)rebutting Modi's claim thatthere is no detention centers.

��

With incumbent AshrafGhani on course for a

second five-year term as perinitial results of theAfghanistan presidential elec-tions, India on Monday wel-comed the outcome and said itexpects that the complaintsrelated to the election processwould be addressed throughthe prescribed legal proceduresso that final results are declaredin a timely manner.

Afghan election officials onSunday announced that Ghanisecured 50.64 per cent votesamid allegations of fraud andmalpractice in the September 28election. Ghani's rival AbdullahAbdullah has rejected the resultand announced to challenge it.

Lauding the outcome ofpreliminary results, ExternalAffairs Ministry spokespersonRaveesh Kumar said here Indiaexpects that the complaintswould be addressed throughthe prescribed legal processes.

He said India remainedcommitted to work with thepeople and Government ofAfghanistan in its fight against

terrorism and its pursuit ofsocio-economic development.

"We welcome theannouncement of the prelimi-nary results of the Presidentialelection of Afghanistan held on28 September and commendall the leaders and institutionsfor their hard work to preserveand strengthen democracy inthe country," Kumar said.

"We expect that the com-plaints would be addressedthrough the prescribed legalprocesses so that the final resultsare declared in a timely man-ner," he said responding to aquery on the election outcome.India has been a key stakeholderin Afghanistan and has alreadyspent around USD 3 billion inreconstruction of the war-rav-aged country. India was strong-ly pushing for holding presidential elections in thecountry.

"We hope that the Afghanleaders and other stakeholderswill work together to furtherstrengthen the democratic poli-ty and to fight the seriouschallenges of terrorism facingthe country," the spokespersonsaid.

��

Brace up for bone-chillingcold conditions after

Christmas. The IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) on Monday predictedthat cold wave condition willdevelop over Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Delhi,Rajasthan, Uttarakhand,Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Bihar and JammuKashmir from December 28due to dry chilly winds comingfrom Afghanistan and Pakistan.As a result, the night temper-ature is expected to decrease by2-4 degrees in north and north-western region of the country.

"The severe cold day con-dition will continue till Friday.After that cold wave conditionwill develop from over north,northwest and central and east-ern parts of the country. Theweather is likely to be dry as thewind condition has beenchanged," the IMD said. Dueto cold wave, both maximumand minimum temperaturewill fall," said Dr KuldeepSrivastava, scientist of IMD.

As per the norms, , theIMD declares ' a cold wave'when a meteorological subdi-vision (Haryana, Delhi andChandigarh) witness a mini-mum temperature of less than4.4 degrees celsius below nor-mal in at least two stations fortwo days. The "severe coldwave" is declared when thedeparture for minimum tem-

perature is less than 6.4 degreescelsius and the rest of theparameters are also met. "Whilea "severe cold day" is declaredwhen the minimum tempera-ture drops to less than 10degrees celsius and the maxi-mum temperature is at least 6.4degrees celsius below normal.During a "cold day", the min-imum temperature is less than10 degrees celsius and themaximum is 4.4 degrees celsiusbelow normal.

The IMD predicted denseto very dense fog is also expect-ed over Bihar, Sub-HimalayanWest Bengal & Sikkim, Assam,Meghalaya, Manipur, andTripura during the next twodays. In Uttar Pradesh as well,a similar condition is expectedto prevail during the next fivedays. Other than the dense fog,cold to severe cold conditions isexpected at many places overPunjab, Haryana, Chandigarhand Delhi during next two daysand at isolated to few places forthe subsequent three-four days.A western disturbance has justpassed bringing snowfall in theupper reaches of HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand andJammu and Kashmir in the pastcouple of days.

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The first consignment ofimported onion weighing

790 tonnes has reached Indiaand some quantities are beingdistributed to Delhi, Kerala,Telangana, Karnataka andAndhra Pradesh at a landingcost of �57-60/kg.

As per the consumer affairsministry, over 30,000 toneshave been arrived in the coun-try so far. Besides, 12,000-tonne of onion shipment isexpected to arrive by end ofDecember. Retail onion pricesare ruling at an average �100per kg in major cities, butrates are as high as �140 per kgin some parts of the country.After the arrival of importedonion, the prices are likely to bebetween Rs 70 and �80 per kgacross the country.

According to officials of theMinistry of Food andConsumer Affairs, the twoconsignments comprising 290tonne and 500 tonne each hasalready reached Mumbai. "Weare offering this onion at alanded cost of �57-60/kg tostate governments. AndhraPradesh and DelhiGovernments have alreadyplaced their demands and havestarted lifting imported onions',officials said. The Ministry hasasked Kendriya Bhandar out-lets to sell it �60-65 a kg.

"The country had lastimported 1,987 tonnes of onionway back in 2015-16 whenprice has shot up significantly.

More consignments areunderway which shouldimprove the domestic supplies,officials added.

The Government had alsoplaced orders to import thevegetable from theNetherlands, Egypt, Iran,Turkey and Russia. InNovember, the governmenthad decided to import 1.2 lakhMT of onions from variousparts of the world to tide overthe crisis. But the MMTC hasmanaged to float tenders toprocure approximately 40,000MT (including the 11,000 MTordered last week) so far. Ofthis, only 290 MT of onionshave arrived at Indian ports.Officials blamed excess rains inthe two key onion growingstates of Maharashtra andGujarat for its low supply.

Onion prices have shot upsharply due to estimated 25 percent fall in kharif production of2019-20 crop year (July-June)compared to the previous yearbecause of late monsoon andeventual excess rains in themajor producing states. Onionprices have failed to cool downdespite several governmentmeasures in the last few weeks.The government has alreadybanned export of onion,imposed stock limits on tradersand is also supplying bufferstock at a cheaper rate. Tradersand experts are of the view thatonion prices will continue toremain firm till January whenlate kharif crop will start hittingthe market.

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Stressing that the CitizenshipAmendment Act(CAA) is

an internal matter of India,Russia on Monday said if thereare any issues, it should beresolved through dialogue"without escalation."

Making this observationhere, Russian Deputy Chief ofMission Roman Babushkinsaid "this is a domestic policyof India and we are not inter-fering." He also said "howev-er if there are any issues, itshould be resolved based ondialogue without escalation."

Last week France had also

aired similar views and saidthere are institutions in Indiawhere any grievances againstthe CAA can be addressed.Asserting this, FrenchAmbassador EmmanuelLenain had said the CAA is an"internal matter"" of India and""we respect that."" He also saidhis country believes in freedomof religion.

Interacting with reporters,the French envoy had said it isnot correct to issue any publiccomment on an internal mat-ter. "India is a democracy andwhen there are conflicts inviews of people then they canapproach institutions like the

Supreme Court which cancompetently take a decision. Idon't think it is apt for anycountry to comment on thedomestic matter of India. Webelieve in freedom of religionand it is not for us to commenton the matter," he said.

Meanwhile, Russian envoyto India Nikolay Kudashevsaid here on Monday Russiaand India will further developnext year a military dialogueand deepen counter terrorismcooperation bilaterally and inthe frameworks of BRICS, SCOand RIC-like formats.

His remarks came in thebackdrop of recently conclud-

ed second joint tri-serviceexercise INDRA in India. TheArmy, Navy and Air Forcecontingents of the two longterm strategic partners partic-ipated in the exercise.

Talking to reporters,Kudashev also said Russiahopes the Free TradeAgreement between EurasianEconomic Union and Indiacomes to an early conclusion.He said constructive dialoguebetween India and Russia is thebasis of commonly recognisedprinciples of internationalbehaviour, such as "non-inter-ference in domestic affairs andmutual respect."

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The Home Ministry releasedtwo video clips on Monday

to clarify the "misinformationcampaign" on the amendedCitizenship Act, saying it is a liethat the law is connected withthe NRC. First video clip clar-ifies that CAAhas become a lawafter being passed byParliament and receiving thePresident's assent, there is noannouncement on the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC)and the modalities of the doc-

ument are yet to be decided.The other video gives the

viewpoint of the refugees fromPakistan, Bangladesh andAfghanistan getting benefit-

ted from the new provisionsgranting them citizenship. TheCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) is relevant only for theHindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist,

Parsi and Christian foreigners,who migrated from Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan toIndia on account of persecutionfaced by them due to their reli-gion, and it is a lie that it affectsIndian Muslims, one of thevideo clips said.

Last week, the ministryhad issued Frequently AskedQuestions (FAQs) on the CAA,which said all Indian citizensenjoy the fundamental rightsguaranteed by the Constitutionand there is no change in itafter the CAA.

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Jammu: The Jammu &Kashmir unit of the Congresshit out at the BJP on Mondayciting the widespread protestsagainst the amendedCitizenship Act and said peo-ple have understood the “false-hood and diversionary tactics”of the saffron party which isloosing State elections one afterthe other.

It termed the BJP's chargethat the Congress was insti-gating protesters on the issue ofCAA “totally false and politi-cally motivated” and said theparty always stood for respect-ing the foundational values ofthe Constitution.

“Before questioning theCongress, the BJP shouldexplain the reservations shownby their own allies about theCA,”JKPCC spokespersonRavinder Sharma told. PTI

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Republican Party of India (A)chief and Union Minister

Ramdas Athawale on Monday saidthe NRC was only for Assam and notfor the whole country and indicat-ed that the Government was open tosuggestions in effecting changes inimplementing CAA if there areproblems.

“NRC is only for Assam, it is notall over India. Now theGovernment of India has also saidthat any suggestions from anywherecan be conveyed to them in thisregard....

My party also supports the NRCand CAA. But if there are any prob-lems, definitely the Government ofIndia should think at amendingsome things in (implementing) thislaw “ Athawale said.

His comments came a day after

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inNew Delhi sought to allay fears,especially among Muslims, on theNRC, saying his Government hasnever discussed it since coming topower for the first time in 2014.

The issue was neither discussedin Parliament nor came up in thecabinet, the Prime Minister had said.

Assuring the Muslim commu-nity that the law was not againstthem, Athawale said theGovernment wanted unity amongHindus, Muslims and other com-munities in the country.”PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has clear-

ly said that we are not against theMuslim community.

Many programmes of his gov-ernment like Ujwala and Jan Dhan,among others, have not differenti-ated between Hindus andMuslims....Muslims are also benefi-ciaries of several such programmes.

NDA Government fully sup-ports the Muslim community.”Athawale alleged that the Congress,Left parties, the Samajawadi Party,Trinamool Congress were misguid-ing the Muslim community as theyare worried over Narendra Modi'sre-election and were hence trying tocreate problems to destabilize theGovernment.

Different parts of the countryhave been witnessing violent protestsagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill which was passedby Parliament and given assent bythe President recently.

Guwahati: AssamGovernment on Monday saidthere will be no need for theState to be a part of the pro-posed nationwide NRC, if theSupreme Court allows re-ver-ification of its 20 per cent names from theborder districts.

The State Government does notaccept the existing National Register ofCitizens (NRC), the final version ofwhich was published on August 31 withover 19 lakh exclusions, Finance MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma told a press con-ference.

“If the Supreme Court accepts ourdemand of 20 per cent re-verification in

border districts, we (Assam)don't need a national one. We aresure lots of mistakes will befound out in the re-verificationprocess,” he said. The AssamGovernment had earlier submit-

ted an affidavit in the apex court prayingfor re-verification of 20 per cent names inthe draft NRC in border districts, but theplea was denied. “The PM yesterday saidthere is no plan for a nation-wide NRC.So we have to pursue only in the SupremeCourt. If it does not listen to us, we willhave to approach the Government ofIndia. The NRC was published under thesupervision of the Supreme Court. PTI

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Protests against the contentious citizenship lawcontinued in Assam with agitators staging sit-

ins across the State on Monday. However, no vio-lence from anywhere in the State was reported.

Former Chief Minister Prafulla KumarMahanta, who was the founder of the Asom GanaParishad which is an alliance partner of the rulingBJP in the State, joined a sit-in at the GandhiMandap, a memorial for Mahatma Gandhi atop theSarania Hill in Guwahati with his party colleaguesto protest against the Citizenship (Amendment)Act.

As a part of the series of programmes,announced by the All Assam Students' Union(AASU) for the week, litterateurs, people from dif-ferent walks of life, social activists took part in a protest programmeat the Latasil field in the city. Protests were alsostaged in different parts of the state where peopleheld up the symbol of Assamese culture —Gamosa — with 'No CAB' and 'We oppose CAB'written on them.

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Parishad (KMSS)also held a demonstration at Chachal in the cityagainst the legislation and demanded release of theirleader and RTI activist Akhil Gogoi who was arrest-ed on December 17 by NIA.

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NCP chief Sharad Pawar onMonday said he was sur-

prised by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's comment thathis Government never dis-cussed a nationwide NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC).

Pawar said President RamNath Kovind had talked aboutthe Government's plan toimplement NRC across thecountry in his joint address toParliament.

Even Home Minister AmitShah had also spoken on thisissue in Rajya Sabha, Pawar toldreporters here.

Modi on Sunday said thenationwide NRC has not beendiscussed by his Governmentand noted that it has been car-ried out only in Assam so farfollowing the apex court'sorder.

Pawar said he was sur-prised by Modi's comments,made during a rally at RamlilaMaidan in Delhi.

“When a major policy isbrought, a discussion takesplace at the government level.Such a policy will not comebefore the country withoutthat. Secondly, the country'shome minister had said inParliament that they will bringNRC across the country,” Pawarsaid.

He recalled the Presidenttoo had talked about imple-menting the NRC across thecountry.

The President's speechreflects the government's pol-icy, Pawar said.

Srinagar: The National Conference (NC)held its provincial-level meeting here onMonday and passed two resolutions con-demning the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and demand-ing immediate release of the detained politi-cal leaders and civil society members inKashmir.

The meeting was held at the NC head-quarters, Nawa-i-Subah, and the party'sprovincial body of Kashmir and the youth andwomen's wing attended it, NC spokespersonImran Dar told PTI.

He said the meeting was chaired by NCprovincial secretary, Kashmir, ShowkatAhmad. PTI

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In a grim reminder of what hap-pened on September 19 when

students of prestigious JadavpurUniversity gheraoed and con-fined Union Minister BabulSupriyo for more than eighthours the students and a sectionof the staff of the same universi-ty on Monday black-flaggedGovernor Jagdeep Dhankhareven as he went there to attend ameeting as its Chancellor.

Even as the Governor wasstuck for around 30 minutesamid the protests by CPI(M)-backed SFI, Arts Faculty StudentsUnion (AFSU), AISA and FETSUas also TMC-backed employeesunion Siksha Bandhu, the agita-

tors raised slogans against theCitizenship Amendment Act andNational Register for Citizenswondering whether he personally was in favour of thenew law.

Dhankhar was visiting thecampus to attend a meeting of theJU's court — the highest decision-making body of the university.

Even as he left the meetingmidway reportedly after beingadvised by the security officersthe students blocked his wayand asked him questions on hisfeelings about the students ofJamia Milia Islamia being beatenup by the police. The Governor however said hewould “make no comments onincidents outside my own State of

Bengal.”Dhankhar also said that he

was visiting the University not asa Governor but as the Chancellorwho would always like to listen tothe students’ issues and assertedthat he believed in autonomy ofeducational institutes.

He would never work in thebehest of any political party hesaid.

Late alleging that the stateadministration was “not at allresponsive” regarding his visit tothe varsity he said how “was atJadavpur University for twohours” and how he “had interac-tion with agitated students onvarious issues” adding he was“keen to connect with them fur-ther at Raj Bhawan.”

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Amid continued protests inseveral Indian cities against

the Citizenship AmendmentAct(CAA), a Pakistani nation-al, living in Poonch for overthree decades since her mar-riage, has been finally grantedIndian citizenship.

Deputy CommissionerPoonch, Rahul Yadav, Mondayhanded over a certificate of reg-istration granting IndianCitizenship to Khatija Praveenw/o Mohammad Taj in hisoffice chamber.

Official sources said,Khatija Praveen is mother ofthree children and staying inPoonch for over 36 years now.She had applied for citizenship in 2000 and was

passionately pursuingher case.

According to the officialspokesman, “Khatija Praveenwho was born in Pakistan wasgranted Indian Citizenship onthe basis of marriage to anIndian under section 5(1)(c) of

the Citizenship Act, 1955”.Khatija Praveen along with

her husband expressed greathappiness and gratitude forreceiving the Certificate ofRegistration from GOI,Ministry of Home Affairs,NewDelhi.

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Kolhapur: Former Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis on Mondaysaid a “deliberate” attempt was being madeto spread rumours and create a divide insociety over the Citizenship (Amendment)Act.

Without naming any party, he said somepolitical outfits were trying to disrupt har-mony in society, and asserted that minori-ties in the country were safe.

“Rumours are being spread about theCitizenship (Amendment) Act. There is adeliberate attempt to create a divide in soci-ety and it is condemnable,” Fadnavis told. PTI

Jammu: A body representing the displaced peo-ple of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir(POJK) on Monday held a demonstration herein support of the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and the National Register of Citizens(NRC).

Led by POJK Displaced Peoples' Frontchairman Capt (retd) Yudhvir Singh Chib, hun-dreds held the demonstration at Maheshpurachowk in Jammu city.

They alleged that some political parties areinstigating people to trigger violent protests andcreate law and order situation across the country. They raised slogans in support of theCAA and the NRC and against those who areinstigating violence and opposing it.

“We have come out in support of CAA andNRC. We hail the Government for such a move”,Chib told reporters here. He lashed out at thoseinstigating people to carry out violence againstthe Act for their vested political interests. PTI

Jaipur: A day after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi soughtto allay apprehensions on theNational Register of Citizens, asenior BJP leader on Mondaysaid a nationwide NRC will beimplemented but only after“detailed discussions”.

At a press conference inJaipur, BJP national vice presi-dent Shivraj Singh Chouhanalleged that the Congress wastrying to create confusionamong people over theCitizenship (Amendment) Actand NRC.

“Discussions about theNRC are going on and sugges-tions have been sought but

confusion is being created. TheNRC will also be implementedbut after detailed discussions,”he said. On Sunday, PM Modihad said at a rally in Delhi,“Since my Government firstcame to power in 2014, I wantto tell 130 crore countrymen,there has never been a discus-sion on this NRC.”

The Prime Minister hadnoted that the exercise wasdone only in Assam due to aSupreme Court order.

Congratulating the primeminister on the passage of CAAin Parliament, the formerMadhya Pradesh chief ministercompared Modi to “God” for

the persecuted migrants fromPakistan. He said, “Modi hascome as God for migrantswhose lives were not safe, wholived in an environment ofinstability and who used to saythat they will die but will notreturn to Pakistan. They havegot a new lease of life.”

Targeting Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot for hisannouncement that theGovernment will not imple-ment CAA in the state,Chouhan said that all states willhave to implement the Actbecause it was a subject comingunder the Union List (of theConstitution). PTI

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Kolkata: Stating that democracyin India is under threat from theBJP-led Government at the Centre,West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Mondaywrote to chief ministers and seniorleaders belonging to Oppositionparties urging to them to unite andchalk out a plan to save the coun-try.

Banerjee described the currentsituation arising out of protests inthe country against the CitizenshipAmendment Act and the pro-posed NRC as serious and urgedall the non —BJP parties to cometogether and rise against the dra-conian regime of the central gov-ernment.

Sources in the ruling TMC, ofwhich Banerjee is the supremo,said that the letter was sent to

Congress president Sonia Gandhi,NCP chief Sharad Pawar, NationalConference leader FarooqAbdullah among others.

Her appeal to the oppositionparties came on a day when BJPworking president JP Nadda helda rally in the city and accused TMCof misleading masses on theCitizenship Amendment Act.

At the rally, held insupport of CAA, Naddaclaimed that Banerjeehas always prioritizedpolitics over nationalinterests and pro peoplepolicies.

Today, I write thisletter to you with graveworries in my mind.The citizens of thiscountry irrespective of

caste and creed, particularly thewoman and children, farmers,workers and members of sched-uled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCsand minorities are in the grip offear and panic for the CitizenshipAmendment Act and the pro-posed nationwide NRC. The situ-ation is very serious, Banerjee's let-ter said. PTI

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ALashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) ter-rorist and three terrorist asso-

ciates of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit werearrested in two separate opera-tions in Baramulla and Shopiandistricts of Jammu & Kashmir,police said on Monday.

Acting on a credible input,Saddam Hussain Mir, a residentof Brath Kalan and affiliated withthe banned LeT outfit, was arrest-ed in an overnight operationfrom a village in the Soporetownship of north Kashmir, apolice spokesperson said.

He added that incriminatingmaterial, including arms andammunition, were recovered fromthe possession of the active ter-rorist.

"All the incriminating mate-rial have been taken on record by

police in order to probe his com-plicity in terror crimes," the policespokesperson said, adding thatMir was operating in Sopore andBaramulla.

In another operation, thepolice arrested three terroristassociates of proscribed terroroutfit JeM from Shopian districtof south Kashmir on Monday, thepolice spokesperson said.

He identified the arrestedpersons as Idrees Ahmed Mir,Mudassir Ahmed Tantray, bothresidents of Waripora village ofKulgam, and Shahid Nazir Waniof Kutpura village of Shopian.

"Incriminating material havebeen recovered from their pos-session.... As per police records,they were involved in providinglogistic support and assistance tothe JeM terrorists operating inKulgam and Shopian districts," headded.

Jammu: The Pakistan Army ismaking all efforts to help ter-rorists infiltrate Jammu &Kashmir under the cover ofceasefire violations, DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) DilbagSingh said on Monday.

He said that the situation atthe Line of Control (LoC) iscompletely under control andsecurity forces are effectivelythwarting the infiltration bids.

"The Pakistan Army ismaking a lot of attempts to

send terrorists towards thisside and they also resort toceasefire violations," Singh toldreporters at a function in PoliceTechnical Training Institute(PTTI) at Vijaypur belt ofSamba district.

"They bring terrorists tolaunch pads and resort toceasefire violation, causing lossto civilians and troops", hesaid, they are being given abefitting reply by Indian troops. PTI

Jammu/Srinagar: The PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) onMonday held a meeting inSrinagar, the first after theCentre abrogated Article 370,to take stock of the the situation in the valley andarrangements being made toobserve the fourth deathanniversary of party's founderMufti Mohammad Sayeed onJanuary 7.

In another meeting held inJammu, the party soughtimmediate release of alldetained political leaders,including its president and for-mer Chief Minister MehboobaMufti.

In Jammu, the meetingwas presided over by PDP gen-eral secretary and former MLCSurinder Chowdhary who

termed the prolonged incar-ceration of politicians inJammu & Kashmir as "unjusti-fied and uncalled for", a partyspokesperson said.

"The prolonged incarcera-tion is deeply perturbing forany democratic setup and theGovernment of India mustcontemplate that such an actionis not helping it in any way inrestoration of normalcy inJammu & Kashmir," thespokesman said quotingChowdhary.

Highlighting the role of thePDP in making peace initia-tives successful in the erstwhilestate, Chowdhary said the partyhas always been at the forefrontin making hectic and earnestefforts for the prevalence ofpeace in the region. PTI

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Exposing direct involvement oftwo former chairmen of J&K

Bank in illegal appointments case,Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) onMonday filed first chargesheetagainst them along with 15 othersenior bank employees beforeSpecial Judge, Anti-Corruption,Srinagar.

According to a press statementreleased by the Anti CorruptionBureau, "from the year 2011onwards Chairmen of the timehave made around 2500 backdoorappointments illegally and fraud-ulently, consequently a thoroughprobe was ordered to unearth thisillegal appointment scam so thatcorrective measures are taken bythe bank to put an end to such ille-gal practice."

The statement further said,"During the course of investigationof voluminous records, seized bythe sleuths of ACB from the dif-

ferent wings of J&K Bank head-quarters, allegations of illegalappointments were establishedagainst the bank officials whichincluded 2 Ex Chairmen, MushtaqAhmad Sheikh and ParvezNengroo".

Initially, ACB had receivedcomplaints that top managementof the bank was behind illegalappointments of their kiths andkins contrary to rules and norms.

Following these serious alle-gations FIR No. 10/2019 in P/SACB Srinagar was registered andinvestigations were launched in thecase.

During the course of investi-gation, searches were conducted inCorporate Headquarters of J&KBank on 8-6-2019 to lay hands onthe various documents related toillegal and fraudulentappointments to avoid inordinatedelay and tampering of records bythe accused officers/officials of

J&K Bank.During search, documents

pertaining to the illegal appoint-ments were seized from varioussections of the bank i.e HumanResources Section, Recruitment Section, other relat-ed offices of recruitment sectionand office of ChairmanJ&K Bank.

On conclusion of investigationof the case, allegations were estab-lished against the bank officialswhich included 2 Ex Chairmanand other employees. Accordinglythe case was sent to Governmentfor accord of prosecution sanctionwhich was received against 12 INservice employees.

Apart from these employees,case of illegal appointment hasbeen proved against 5 retiredemployees which include twochairmen.

ACB has also identified atleast 6 beneficiaries during thecourse of investogation.

Puducherry: President Ram Nath Kovind onMonday paid compliments on the academicexcellence of girls for outnumbering boys in bag-ging gold medals in their respective disciplines.

Delivering his address at the 27th convocationof the Pondicherry Univesity here, the President,also the Visitor of the university under the pro-visions of the Act through which the varsity wasestablished in 1985, presented gold medals to atoken number of graduates.

He said, "I had the privilege of presenting thegold medals to only 10 students and I noticed thatnine of them were girls."

Of the total 189 students who had bagged goldmedals in different disciplines, there were 137 girlswhile the remaining 52 were boys, he said. "Thiswonderful happening reflects the future of ourcountry and it also reflects the leadership quali-ties of our daughters. I extend my best wishes tothem," he said.

The President delivered a brief address last-ing just 10 minutes."Whether it is a university orany other entity, finally we all are part of societyand we all have our responsibility towards it," hesaid stating that the concept of corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) encouraging corporate firmsto spend a part of their profits for society throughCSR should be extended to the universities. PTI

Mumbai: Persons accused ofsexual offences against minorvictims should be "mercilesslyand inexorably punished", theBombay High Court said whileupholding the conviction of a29-year-old man for raping afive-year-old girl.

A single bench of JusticePrithviraj Chavan on Fridaydismissed an appeal filed bySagar Dhuri, challenging a spe-cial court order of June 2018convicting him for sexuallyassaulting the victim and sen-tencing him to ten years in jail.

"The dicta is loud and clearas to how such offences arerequired to be dealt with. Suchpersons are a menace to thecivilized society and, there-fore, they should be merciless-ly and inexorably punished,"the court said.

"This is a case in whichthere is no question of refor-

mation of the appellant as hewas quite a grown up male whoknew the consequences of hisact," Justice Chavan noted.

According to the prosecu-tion, Dhuri, who used to live inthe same neighbourhood as thevictim in Thane district, calledthe girl to his house in April2015 under the pretext ofshowing her songs on hismobile phone and sexuallyassaulted her.

The victim'sfriend, who was look-ing for her to playwith, found her in theconvict's house andinformed a womanresiding in the neigh-bourhood.

The womanpeeped through a holeon the convict's doorand found the girllying down and the

convict on top of her followingwhich she called the victim out and took her to hermother and narrated the inci-dent.

A police complaint wasthen lodged and the accusedwas taken into custody. Thehigh court, while upholdingDhuri's conviction and sen-tence, relied on the statementsof witnesses and also the evi-dence given by the victim. PTI

Banihal/Jammu: The 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway was clearedon Monday after remaining closed forover 42 hours following a massivelandslide in Ramban district which hadleft thousands of vehicles stranded, traf-fic department officials said.

However, no fresh vehicular trafficwas allowed from either Jammu orSrinagar for the third consecutive dayto facilitate smooth movement of thou-sands of stranded commuters, they said.

A massive landslide struck thehighway at Digdole on Saturdayevening, blocking the only all weatherroad linking Kashmir with rest of thecountry and leaving thousands of vehi-cles, mostly trucks, stranded.

After hectic efforts by the road

clearance agencies spanning over 42hours, the road was cleared of the land-slide debris and made traffic worthy thismorning to allow the movement ofstranded vehicles, officials said.

They said a decision to allow freshtraffic from either Srinagar or Jammuwill be decided later in the day.

The traffic on the highway isrestricted to one-way during thewinter months and plies alternative-ly from Srinagar and Jammu toavoid traffic jam due to ongoing four-laning work.

Fresh snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel-- the gateway to Kashmir -- and mul-tiple landslides between Ramsooand Panthiyal in Ramban districtforced closure of the highway on

Friday evening. The highway was cleared on

Saturday but a fresh landslide at Digdoleagain disrupted the traffic.

Meanwhile, severe cold conditionsreturned to Jammu region on Mondayafter the night temperature plummet-ed again.

The residents of Jammu city wokeup to a chilly morning with minimumtemperature settling two degrees belowthe season's average at 6.2 degreesCelsius, down by 2.5 notches against theprevious night's 8.7 degrees Celsius, anofficial of the meteorological depart-ment said.

Katra, which serves as the basecamp for the pilgrims visiting MataVaishno Devi Shrine in Reasi district,recorded a minimum of 5.7 degreesCelsius against the previous night's 6.2degrees Celsius, the official said.

He said the snow-boundBhaderwah town in Doda district wasthe coldest recorded place in Jammuregion with a low of minus 1.8 degreesCelsius. PTI

Srinagar: The minimum tem-perature across Kashmir andLadakh decreased on Mondaybut in some respite to the res-idents, the weather remaineddry and clouds made wayfor sunshine, a Meteorological Departmentofficial said.

The weather remained dryin Kashmir and the night tem-perature went down across thevalley and the Ladakh region,the MeT official said here,adding the cloud cover reced-ed, allowing sunlight to reach the ground in themorning. He said Srinagarrecorded the minimum tem-perature of 0.8 degree Celsiuson Sunday night – down from1.2 degrees Celsius the previousnight. PTI

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The much-awaited expan-sion of Maharashtra

Cabinet is likely to be delayedfurther to December 30, anNCP leader said on Mondaynight, adding that senior leaderAjit Pawar could make a come-back as a deputy Chief Ministerin the Uddhav Thackeray-ledGovernment.

Amid talks of imminentexpansion of the cabinet, ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayand NCP president SharadPawar held discussions fornearly one hour at the SahyadriGuest House here in evening.

No leader of the allyCongress was present at themeeting, NCP sources said.

When asked about theexact date of the cabinet expan-sion, the NCP leader told PTI:"It is likely to happen onDecember 30. And Ajit Pawaris expected to take oath asdeputy chief minister".

He said the exercise will becarried out after holding dis-cussions with the Congress.

Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCPchief Sharad Pawar, had servedas deputy chief minister for twotruncated terms when theCongress-NCP was in powerbefore 2014.

He had pulled off a coup byjoining hands with the BJP onNovember 23 this year and tak-ing oath as dy CM under theleadership of DevendraFadnavis, who was sworn in asthe CM.

However, the Governmentlasted for barely 80 hours, afterAjit resigned as deputy chiefminister citing personal rea-sons.

Though senior Pawar hadhinted that his nephew's polit-ical rehabilitation could be along-drawn process, a sectionof leaders in the NCP and partyworkers had rooted for AjitPawar to join the Thackeraygovernment.

The Sena, NCP and theCongress are constituents of theMaharashtra Vikas Aghadi(MVA) Government that cameto power on November 28 thisyear. On the same day, six min-isters from all the three parties,apart from Thackeray whotook oath as the CM, wereadministered the oath of theoffice.

Asked about the meeting,Shiv Sena leader and HomeMinister Eknath Shinde toldMarathi news channel 'ABPMajha' that the Chief Ministerwill give official informationabout the Cabinet expansion.

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The demonstrations in sever-al cities since the passage ofthe Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) are highly coor-dinated, with agitators con-

nected to groups in different parts ofthe same city, having transport for rapidmovement from one spot to another,given contact numbers to access emi-nent lawyers, taught to access offlinecommunication during internet shut-downs and armed with protest tools.Their slogans are fairly uniform, polit-ical parties and groups behind them arethe same and now, an eminent E-zinehas issued an “advisory” for political-ly correct coverage of the rallies.

With violence exceeding one week(and likely to continue after aChristmas break), there is an urgentneed to delink the CAA from the non-existent National Register of Citizens(NRC) that is being misused to prop-agate a nationwide hunt to weed outone community. The Centre should,therefore, state that it is continuing for-mer Union Home Minister PChidambaram’s National PopulationRegister (NPR), for which enrolmentbegan alongside Aadhaar in 2010.(This writer was enrolled vide formnumber 02046115, household block no.0021, household number 128). Therules framed then should be made pub-lic and amendments invited.

The CAA logically follows thedefanging of Article 370 of theConstitution and scrapping of a Statesubject. Hence, the need for a law toprovide citizenship to Hindu refugees,who came to Jammu & Kashmir in1947, unaware that the then PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru was busyoverthrowing the benign king and cre-ating a veritable hell for non-Muslimsin Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Itmade sense to cover all persecutedminorities from Pakistan, Bangladeshand Afghanistan — all of which areIslamic Republics.

Afghanistan had a sizeable Sikhand Hindu population under the king-dom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh; it slow-ly migrated to India, especially after theassassination of former PresidentsMohammed Daoud Khan (1978) andMohammad Najibullah (1996), and therise of the Pakistan-backed Taliban.Hence, Afghan minorities deserve thesame consideration as those fromPakistan and Bangladesh.

As Union Home Minister AmitShah stated in Parliament (December9 and 11), the Nehru-Liaquat Pact of1950 failed abysmally to protectminorities in Pakistan. Its first LawMinister, Jogendra Nath Mandal, whohelped the Muslim League wrest Sylhetfrom Assam, fled to West Bengal the

same year. Similarly, theChristian community thatworked actively for Pakistan,fared poorly in the IslamicRepublic and has been includ-ed in the ambit of the new Act.Muslims are free to seek citi-zenship on individual basisunder existing laws (given to2,830 from Pakistan, 912 fromAfghanistan and 172 fromBangladesh in the last sixyears).

The Cabinet Mission Planclubbed Assam with Bengal inGroup C to create a predomi-nantly Muslim zone in easternIndia, like the one proposed inwestern India. GopinathBardoloi retained Assam forIndia but ConstituentAssembly member RohiniKumar Chaudhary warned thatat least three lakh Muslims hadentered India illegally.

Thereafter, the interimParliament passed theImmigrants (Expulsion fromAssam) Act, 1950, to enable theCentral Government to removeoutsiders whose “stay in Assamis detrimental to the interests ofthe general public of India orof any section thereof or of anyScheduled Tribe in Assam.”Hindu refugees were exempt-ed. However, as the North-east-ern States expressed anxieties,special provisions were invoked

to protect their social and lin-guistic uniqueness. Therefugees in Bengal are mainlyMatua (Namashudra), whokept the communists in powerfor nearly three decades andthen ensured the TrinamoolCongress’ victory. Before inde-pendence, Mahatma Gandhi(Delhi prayer meeting, July16, 1947) said if minorities wereunable to live in Pakistan, “theduty of the adjoining provinceon this side of the border willbe to accept them with botharms and extend to them alllegitimate opportunities.”

In a letter to Sri KrishnaDas (July 21, 1947), he said,“The poor Hindus, who willmigrate owing to oppression,will certainly be accommo-dated in India.” On November5, 1950, Jawaharlal Nehruassured the Parliament, “Thereis no doubt, of course, thatthose displaced persons, whohave come to settle in India, arebound to have the citizenship.If the law is inadequate in thisrespect, the law should bechanged.” Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel promised vigilance for thewelfare of the minorities inPakistan.

In March 1964, the thenUnion Home MinisterGulzarilal Nanda said if thehonour and lives of Hindus

are not safe, “the door has tobe kept open…”, a sentimentechoed by Communist Partyof India (CPI) MP BhupeshGupta. After the emergence ofBangladesh, CPI(M) leaderGautam Deb observed thatreligious persecution ofHindus continued after theassassination of MujiburRahman.

On April 20, 2010, formerAssam Chief Minister TarunGogoi urged the then PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh togrant citizenship to those whofled religious persecution atPartition. CPI(M) MP BasudebAcharia (Lok Sabha, April 25,2012) demanded amendmentof the citizenship Act to grantcitizenship to Bengali refugees,who migrated even before theIndira-Mujib agreement. Hewas supported by PL Punia andKhagen Das in the Lok Sabhaand Shyamal Chakraborty andPrasanta Chatterjee in theRajya Sabha. The 20thCongress of the CPI(M) passeda resolution, demanding rightsfor Bengali refugees (April2012).

In 2003, the Atal BihariVajpayee Government gavespecial powers to some borderdistricts of Rajasthan andGujarat to grant citizenship toHindu and Sikh refugees from

Pakistan and Bangladesh.Manmohan Singh urged amore liberal approach towardsrefugees after Partition. InJune 2012, CPI(M) generalsecretary Prakash Karat wroteto Singh about the plight ofBengali refugees: “Their situ-ation is different from thosewho have come to India dueto economic reasons.” Karatsaid lakhs of families fromScheduled Caste communitieslike Namashudra, PondraKhatriya, Majhi were affected.

Finally, there is no “rightto infiltrate.” Every nationprotects its borders, distin-guishes between refugees andintruders and makes laws toconfer citizenship on foreign-ers. When Jews came to Keralaafter the destruction of theTemple of Solomon (70 AD),descendants of the Prophet toSindh after Karbala (680 AD),Parsis to Sanjan (8th century),all sought permission fromlocal rulers. Post-1947,Tibetans, Baha’i and otherswere given refuge. But sneak-ing into the country andacquiring voter and rationcards by stealth is neitherlegal nor acceptable.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary. Views expressed arepersonal)

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Sir — Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UnionHome Minister Amit Shahseem to be talking in differentvoices, adding to the alreadylingering confusion over theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC). Infact, Prime Minister Modiseemed to be doing a somer-sault on what his trusted lieu-tenant Shah had said insideand outside Parliament.

Addressing a rally inDelhi’s Ramlila Maidan, evenas protests continued to rageacross the country, PrimeMinister Modi declared thathis Government had neverdiscussed the nationwideNCR, except for the one inAssam on the orders of theSupreme Court. The PrimeMinister also asserted that theGovernment has thus far not dis-cussed it either in Parliament orCabinet. But interestingly, hiscolleague Shah is on record hav-ing promised on several occa-sions the introduction of theNRC in West Bengal and acrossthe country to ferret out illegal

immigrants.I remember Shah had also

said unequivocally that the ModiGovernment will definitelyimplement the NRC across thecountry and when that is done,not a single illegal intruder willremain. We have to come to

terms with the reality, that is,those already in the countryillegally cannot be deported. Anold saying is most relevant herethat “which cannot be curedmust be endured.”

P ArihanthSecunderabad

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Sir — It is a matter of concern thatefforts are on to give the demon-strations against CAA and theNRC a bad name. AbhishekSarkar, a youth known locally as

a BJP worker, and five of his asso-ciates were allegedly seen chang-ing clothes near railway tracks atRadhamadhabtala village in WestBengal’s Murshidabad district.They were then seen throwingstones at a passing train enginewhen local people caught themand handed them over to thepolice. This showcases the danger-ous design to add communalcolour and violent viciousness tothe protests and foment riots.

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — Though the CAA isalleged to be anti-Muslim, thesolidarity shown by Indiansseeking cancellation of the Actis amazing. We have witnessedthe avowed principle of ournation, “unity in diversity”, in thespontaneous agitations againstthe Act. It is time theGovernment understood thesentiment and mood of the peo-ple and rescinded the Act.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Last week, we saw several leadingeconomists argue against thereduction in personal incometax while others warned about theconsequences of a likely deviation

from the fiscal targets. This discussion wasreignited by former Chief EconomicAdvisor when he presented his assessmentin Bengaluru and strictly opposed a per-sonal income tax cut. The Chief Economistof the International Monetary Fund, GitaGopinath, too, echoed a similar viewwhen she categorically advised against devi-ating from the fiscal deficits.

These views are important for the sim-ple reason that they are coming from suchdistinguished academics. However, theproblem is that they underscore the extentof India’s current demand slowdown. Anypolicy prescription is given after a soundprognosis of the problem. The suggestionagainst a fiscal stimulus comes from anunderstanding that the slowdown is like-ly to be more structural than cyclical.

However, the recent weakness ingrowth statistics, which continued tillNovember, indicates that the extent of cycli-cal slowdown is far greater than what wasoriginally anticipated. There is indeed aslowdown in demand, which has resultedin unutilised capacities, thereby curtailingprivate investment. Reduced investmentshave further resulted in lower growth andthe cycle continues. It is, therefore, impor-tant to break this cycle rather than keepwaiting for it to turn itself.

The most effective way to break thiscycle is through the revival of demand,which has already shown signs of improve-ment. There are three main components ofdemand — for domestic goods and servicesby external sector (exports), private andGovernmental. As is known, exportsdepend on a variety of factors such as glob-al growth, trade environment and domes-tic competitiveness. The Government canonly affect the latter. The HLAG hasalready proposed bold reforms, some ofwhich have been implemented by theGovernment. Private demand, on theother hand, depends on overall growth.And Government demand is always animportant aspect during an economicslowdown. This thought may appear to beKeynesian but it is a proven and effectivestrategy to address a slowdown.

During the 2008 recession, the US wit-nessed a substantial increase in its deficiteven as the Federal Reserve System kept onexpanding its balance sheets aggressively.Both these moves were important toaddress the economic slowdown, whichoriginated from the financial crisis.

Therefore, India, too, needs to look atways that can revive demand to break thecycle. The easiest way to achieve the sameis for the Government to start clearing itsdues on time. The Government knows thiswell and the same is a work-in-progress.The other methodology is to rationalisetaxes as a part of a larger taxation reform,

as envisaged in the Direct Tax Committeereport. Whether this happens or not isanother matter but it is definitely impor-tant to revive private demand. A reduc-tion in the contribution to the EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation (EPFO) andother social security schemes can also helpthe Government achieve the goal.

The third aspect, of course, is to boostGovernment expenditure to ensure robustdemand. This expansion should ideallycome in the form of investments ratherthan simple unconditional cash transfers.An extensive cash transfer scheme isindeed needed. However, it must come asan alternative to our current poverty alle-viation programmes rather than as a sup-plement to them.

India does have several opportunitiesfor public investment — in roads, railwaysand the development of urban infrastruc-ture. Moreover, a lot more can be done toaugment social infrastructure by invest-ments in healthcare and education. Theseare the areas that are likely to drive futuregrowth. While the multiplier for invest-ments in these areas may not be as highin the short run, it will yield rich dividendsover a period of time.

As far as consolidation of poverty alle-viation programmes is concerned, now isindeed the right time to evaluate theimpact of associated schemes and discusswhether a direct cash transfer module canbe more effective. This exercise is impor-tant as India is a capital constraint econ-omy and, thus, the prudent use of publicfinances can help meet some of its urgentinvestment needs.

In an exercise undertaken under theguidance (and jointly with him) of SurjitS Bhalla, it was found that the recent assettransfer by the Modi Government didamplify India’s already good record ofpoverty alleviation. This suggests that wecan move towards an innovative approachfor our poverty alleviation programmes

using an unconditional cash transferscheme as a substitute for food, fuel andfertiliser subsidies and MGNREGA. Sucha cash transfer programme can prove tobe far more effective over the coming yearsgiven that it will be well targetted, thanksto the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity.Over time, it may be fiscally efficient,thereby reducing the burden of these pro-grammes on the exchequer. A case inpoint is the food subsidy Bill, which hasnearly doubled between 2013 and 2019.This shows the extent of the Government’scommitment towards these programmes.

A key question when one talks aboutthe fiscal deficit is to do with its financ-ing. Many talk about the limited fiscalspace. Indeed, this is true but a major com-ponent of the fiscal deficit at present is theinterest rate on previous borrowings. Thisis where the role of the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) becomes important. TheCentral Bank needs to urgently interveneto reduce the yield on GovernmentSecurities (GSecs). Reducing the yield canfree up further fiscal space for theGovernment to provision for a fiscal stim-ulus in the coming financial year. The fis-cal stimulus is unlikely to be inflationary,given that our growth rate is significant-ly below the potential and, therefore, ratecuts should continue while the RBIshould keep on intervening to ensure thatreal GSec yields reduce. Perhaps, it shouldalso redefine the real GSec yields by tak-ing non-food CPI as the appropriate indi-cator for inflation.

Another important decision wasannounced in the previous Budget but isyet to take off and this is to so with sov-ereign bonds. In principle, the idea is goodand helps resolves many problems on thefiscal front. The only concern has beenthat low cost may induce the Governmentto borrow excessively from abroad, there-by resulting in unsustainable build-up ofpublic debt. Tweaking the Fiscal

Responsibility and Budget Managementrules to limit the extent of foreign borrow-ings can resolve this problem. Notexploring sovereign bonds will only putus at a disadvantage. The fact remains thatIndia is a capital deficient nation and sov-ereign bonds are a good way to ensureadequate funds for fiscal needs. Moreover,this will ensure that our domestic savingscan be utilised by the private sector andcost of borrowing will go down, therebymaking them more competitive.

India’s medium-term potential con-tinues to be great despite the current eco-nomic slowdown. However, getting out ofthe slump should be a priority given therisks it poses to our growth ambitions. Itis evident that fiscal perma-hawks areagainst a slippage, but then, evidence fromthe last five decade shows that fiscal expan-sions are indeed effective when it comesto revival of growth. At a time when ourexposure to foreign debt is low and infla-tion is muted, we do have a significantopportunity to take necessary bold mea-sures to move closer to our potential.Failure to do so would be a waste of thework done over the last five years to ensuresuch stable fundamentals.

While many would continue to argueagainst a fiscal expansion, it appears to bethe best way to break the cycle. Therefore,augmentation of Government demand inthe right area should be the way forwardrather than continuing with the fiscal con-solidation path. However, in the event ofdeviation from the target, the Governmentmust come clear on its future fiscal con-solidation path and commit to factor mar-ket reforms over the next couple ofmonths. Doing so will revive the senti-ment and sending a signal to the interna-tional community that India means seri-ous business and is committed to its fis-cal consolidation targets.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy researcher)

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All Constitutions authored bynation-states from the 18thcentury onwards have their

roots in what is often referred, bypolitical scientists, as the “enlight-ened Constitution model.” It islargely based on the ideas of sever-al 17th and 18th century Europeanphilosophers, especially ThomasHobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Even though various forms ofcodified Constitutions have existedbefore the 18th century, it is the“enlightened model” that continuesto shape Constitutions to this day.Therefore, a Constitution of anycountry is understood to be inher-ently pluralistic, setting guidelines forGovernments to legislate laws thatwould ensure socio-political andeconomic stability and repulse dis-

cord and turmoil in society.The “enlightened model” sup-

ports robust debate and an equallyvigorous process of tabling a Billbefore it is passed as law or anamendment. The idea is to achieveas wide a consensus as possibleamong all branches of the legislature,the executive and the polity. Yet, onehas often seen how fast sometimesmajorities in a Parliament havepassed Bills and made amendmentswithout much debate or input fromstakeholders.

Recently, a controversial Act inthe Indian Parliament was passed injust one day. The Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA) was intro-duced by the BJP Government onDecember 9 and passed the verynext day. Denounced by theOpposition and human rightsgroups as being “anti-Muslim” andagainst the “secular spirit of theIndian Constitution”, the passage ofthis Act has triggered widespreadriots in India.

This is a stark example of anamendment staining a documentthat was originally constructed onthe pluralistic pillars of the enlight-ened Constitutional model. An

amendment made in bad faith thatcreates discord in the polity can beproblematic. Certain Constitutionalamendments, which trigger discordin society, become rather tough toreverse, especially when theybecome political tools in the handsof strong lobbies.

Take, for instance, the SecondAmendment in the USConstitution. Ratified in 1791, itgives US citizens the right to beararms. The amendment becamecontroversial in the latter half of the20th century when there was analarming increase in cases of youthindiscriminately gunning downfellow students in schools.

Despite massive rallies calling torepel the amendment, AmericanGovernments have found it tough todo so because the amendment issupported by the powerful andfinancially strong “gun lobby” and bysegments of the polity in the moreconservative Southern States. Bothgroups have an impact on the elec-toral careers and fortunes of a num-ber of members of the US Congressand Governors.

The Second Amendment inthe Constitution of Pakistan is

another interesting case in point.Unlike the 1986 Article 295-C thatintroduced the death penalty in thecountry’s blasphemy laws, the sec-ond amendment in the country’sConstitution was not enacted in ahurry or without debate. A robustdebate did take place. MahboobHussain’s book, The Parliament ofPakistan, provides a detailedaccount of how this amendment,which ousted a community fromthe fold of Islam, managed tobecome part of a Constitution builton the enlightened model.

In May 1974, a clash took placebetween a group of Ahmadiyyayouth and members of the student-wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) inthe city of Rabwah. A week later, theLeader of the Opposition in thePunjab Assembly demanded that theAhmadiyya be declared a minority.Soon, the Opposition in the NationalAssembly moved a motion to discussthe incident in Parliament. The lawMinister refused the motion statingthat the issue was provincial.

Until June 4, 1974 theGovernment used various tactics tokeep the debate on the issue awayfrom the Parliament. The then

Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,maintained that the “90-year-oldquestion” (of whether theAhmadiyya were Muslim or not)was a theological one and, thus,could not be discussed in Parliament.According to Hussain, the PrimeMinister asked religious parties thatif this issue was so important, whyhad they not discussed it when theConstitution was being framed (withtheir input) in 1973. The speaker ofthe National Assembly stated that nodebate can take place on the matterbecause the Constitution had alreadydefined the minorities. On June 14,the Opposition called for a generalstrike. The strike turned violent inPunjab, killing dozens.

After threatening to use themilitary against the rioters, thePrime Minister finally appeared onTV and promised that he wouldallow the issue to be discussed inParliament. In his book, Hussainwrites that the fact that the militarywas already engaged in fighting aninsurgency in Balochistan, and themanner in which certain Ahmadiyyaleaders based out of Pakistan begansuggesting (via foreign media) thatthe Bhutto regime was incompetent,

forced the Prime Minister to allowa debate. A special parliamentarycommittee was formed to investigatethe Opposition’s demands.Theological experts from all Muslimsects in Pakistan, including thosefrom the Ahmadiyya community,were invited for in-camera sessionswith the committee.

Bhutto’s party, the PakistanPeoples Party (PPP), had been over-whelmingly supported by theAhmadiyya during the 1970 election.In 1972, Bhutto had even appoint-ed new chiefs of Air Force and Navy,both of whom were Ahmadiyya.According to Hussain, Bhutto con-tinued efforts to neutralise the situ-ation but since Punjab was thePPP’s electoral bastion, violence inthe province threatened his regimeat the centre.

Rafi Raza, one of the authors ofthe 1973 Constitution, wrote in his1997 book, ZA Bhutto andPakistan, that many members ofPPP’s Punjab Assembly agreed tosupport the Opposition on theissue after portions of the specialcommittee’s report were “leaked.”Raza wrote that certain “controver-sial statements” made by the

Ahmadiyya figureheads duringtheir meeting with the committeeturned the tide in the Opposition’sfavour. He didn’t mention exactlywhat these statements were.

After four months of debatesand commotion, the Bill to declarethe Ahmadiyya a minority wasallowed to be tabled. On September7, 1974, it was passed. All parties —religious and secular — in theAssemblies and the senate voted inits favour. Editorials of almost allnewspapers commended theParliament for resolving the issue“peacefully.”

Yet, even though theGovernment and the Oppositiondeclared that a 90-year-old issue hadbeen resolved through democraticconsensus, the fact is, this “resolu-tion” ended up opening a Pandora’sBox that the State and polity ofPakistan are still trying to shut. Thiswas a box from which sprang out notonly religious and sectarian mon-strosities but also the question:Exactly how adjustable should aConstitution based on the “enlight-ened model” be? Is this adjustabili-ty actually a vulnerability?

(Courtesy: The Dawn)

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The Finance Ministry hasdeclined to share Swiss

bank accounts details ofIndians saying it is coveredunder “confidentiality provi-sions” of a tax treaty signedbetween India and Switzerland.

In reply to an RTI query,the Ministry also refused to dis-close the details of black moneyreceived from other foreigncountries.

“Information exchangedunder such tax agreements iscovered under confidentialityprovisions of respective agree-ments. Thus, disclosure of taxrelated information and infor-mation sought/obtained fromforeign governments is exempt-ed under section 8 (1) (a) and8 (1) (f ) of the Right toInformation (RTI) Act,” it saidin response to the RTI appli-cation filed by this PTI jour-nalist.

The section 8 (1) (a) bars

disclosure of information“which would prejudiciallyaffect the sovereignty andintegrity of India, the security,strategic, scientific or economicinterests of the State, relationwith foreign State or lead toincitement of an offence”.

The other section exemptsdisclosure of “informationreceived in confidence fromforeign Government”.

The Ministry was asked toprovide the details of informa-tion received from Switzerlandrelated to accounts of Indiansin banks there. It was also askedto provide the details of infor-mation received from foreigncountries on black money,including details of such casesshared with India.

India had in September gotthe first set of Swiss bankaccount details of its nationalsunder a new automatic infor-mation exchange pact.

India is among 75 coun-tries with which Switzerland’s

Federal Tax Administration(FTA) has exchanged infor-mation on financial accountswithin the framework of glob-al standards on AEOI orAutomatic Exchange ofInformation.

It is feared that manyIndians might have closed theiraccounts after a global crack-down on black money led toSwitzerland buckling underinternational pressure to openits banking sector for scrutinyto clear the long-held percep-tion of Swiss banks being safehaven for undisclosed funds.

Switzerland agreed toAEOI with India after a longprocess, including review ofnecessary legal framework inIndia on data protection andconfidentiality.

The National Council ofApplied Economic Research(NCAER), that was one of thethree institutes commissionedin 2011 by the then UPA gov-ernment to conduct a study on

black money, has estimatedwealth accumulated outsideIndia between USD 384 billionand USD 490 billion during theperiod 1980 to 2010.

Another institute —National Institute of FinancialManagement (NIFM) — had inits findings said the results ofestimation suggest that totalillicit outflow at the presentvalue (including opportunitycost) from India in the reform

period (1990-2008) is �9,41,837crore ($216.48 billion).

Importantly, illicit outflowsfrom the country are estimat-ed on average to 10 per cent ofthe estimated unaccountedincome.

During the period 1997-2009, illicit financial flows outof the country have been in therange of 0.2 per cent to 7.4 percent of GDP, according to theNational Institute of Public

Policy and Finance (NIPFP).These study reports of the

NIPFP, NCAER and NIFMwere received by the govern-ment on December 30, 2013,July 18, 2014, and August 21,2014, respectively.

The findings of thesereports were made public bythe Standing Committee onFinance in its preliminaryreport submitted in theParliament in March this year.

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The newly formed CabinetCommittee on Investment

and Growth held its first meet-ing on Monday as the govern-ment looked at boosting spend-ing to bring back a sputteringeconomy on track.

Sources said PrimeMinister Narendra Modichaired the first meeting of theCCIG, which was set up in Juneafter the BJP won a secondterm in office.

No details of the decisionstaken at the meeting wereimmediately known.

The panel has four othermembers -- Home MinisterAmit Shah, Highways andMSME Minister Nitin Gadkari,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman and Commerce &Railways Minister PiyushGoyal.

The meeting came againstthe backdrop of GDP growthslowing to a six-year low of 4.5per cent in the July-Septemberquarter as the twin engines ofinvestment and exports sput-tered. Adding to the woes is aslowdown in consumption.

This was the sixth consec-utive quarter when the growthrate fell. Alongside CCIG, aCabinet Committee on

Employment & SkillDevelopment headed by Modiwas also constituted in June. Ithas 10 members and, apartfrom Shah, Sitharaman andGoyal, they include AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar, Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan, SkillDevelopment MinisterMahendra Nath Pandey,Labour Minister SantoshKumar Gangwar, Housing andUrban Development MinisterHardeep Singh Puri and HRDminister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

The Cabinet committeeswere in response to growthslowing down and a rise inunemployment. The PeriodicLabour Force Survey of theNational Sample Survey Officehad shown that the unem-ployment rate in the countrywas 5.3% in rural India and7.8% in urban India, resultingin an overall unemploymentrate of 6.1% during 2017-18.

In response to economicgrowth decelerating since mid-2018, the government hasannounced fiscal measuresincluding a cut in the corporatetax rate, bank recapitalisation,infrastructure spending plans,support for the auto sector andothers. But some expertsbelieve these do not directly

address widespread weaknessin consumption demand,which has been the chief dri-ver of the economy.

In addition, interest ratecuts by the Reserve Bank ofIndia are not being adequate-ly transmitted to lending ratesbecause of the credit squeezecaused by a disruption in thenon-bank financial sector.

Last week, Fitch Ratingscut its growth forecast for Indiato 4.6 per cent for 2019-20 fis-cal on significant decelerationin the past few quarters due tocredit squeeze and deteriora-tion in business and consumerconfidence. Moody’s has put2019-20 growth at 4.9 per centand the Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) estimates it at 5.1per cent.

The meeting comes at atime when the government isbusy preparing the secondbudget of Modi-2.0 regime.Sitharaman is to present hersecond budget on February 1.

The government has indi-cated that its corporate taxrate cut could lower revenue by0.7 per cent of GDP in FY2019-20 and hopes to finance spend-ing by more aggressive assetdivestments, including AirIndia and Bharat PetroleumCorporation Ltd (BPCL).

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In a new twist to the Tata-Mistry saga, the Registrar of

Companies under the corpo-rate Affairs Ministry onMonday moved the NCLATseeking to implead it as a partyin the dispute between the twoand sought certain modifica-tion in the order passed by thetribunal last week.

The Registrar ofCompanies has sought deletionof the words “illegal” and “withthe help of the RoC” used bythe NCLAT in its last weekorder, reinstating Cyrus Mistryas the executive chairman ofthe USD 110-billion Tatagroup.

The tribunal had termedthe appointment of NChandrasekaran, as ‘illegal’ fol-lowing the October 2016 sack-ing of Mistry as Tata Sons’

executive chairman. It had alsodirected the RoC to reverseTata Sons’ status from a ‘privatecompany’ to a ‘public compa-ny’.

According to the officialsfrom the Ministry of CorporateAffairs, the application filed byRoC Mumbai has been admit-ted by the NCLAT and isexpected to be listed on January2, 2020 for hearing, the first daywhen the quasi-judicial bodyopens after winter vacation.

In its urgent application,filed five days after theNCLAT’s judgement, RoCMumbai has asked the appel-late tribunal “to carry out req-uisite amendments” in Para 186and 187 (iv) of its judgement“to correctly reflect the conductof the RoC, Mumbai as notbeing illegal and being as perthe provisions of theCompanies Act”.

Besides, it has also urged“to delete the aspersions maderegarding any hurried helpaccorded by the RoC Mumbaito Tata Sons, except what wasstatutorily required” in para181 of the order.

“The instant application isbeing filed for seeking implead-ment of the applicant (RoC) incompany appeal.., and for fur-ther seeking amendments inthe judgement dated December18, 2019 passed there in by thisappellate tribunal due to factualand legal errors, which areapparent in the body of theaforementioned judgement,”the petition said.

Passing 172-page-longorder on December 18, theNational Company LawAppellae Tribunal (NCLAT)had directed for the reinstate-ment of ousted Cyrus Mistry asChairman of Tata Sons.

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Benchmark equity indiceson Monday paused to catch

some breath after their four-session record run as investorspreferred to sit on the sidelinesand wait for fresh cues aheadof holidays.

At the closing bell, theBSE gauge Sensex was down38.88 points or 0.09 per cent at41,642.66; while the NSEbarometer Nifty was lower by9.05 points or 0.074 per cent at12,262.75.

Index heavyweightReliance Industries, whichslipped 1.78 per cent on theSensex, was a top drag after thegovernment sought to blockthe company’s plan to sell staketo Saudi Aramco.

In percentage terms, NestleIndia was the top loser in the

Sensex pack, shedding 2.20per cent, on its first day as partof the index.

Other major laggards wereSBI, Tech Mahindra, ITC andMahindra and Mahindra. Onthe other hand, gains in Maruti,Hero MotoCorp, Kotak Bank,Bajaj Auto and Bajaj Financerestricted the losses on theindex.

Traders said the Sensexreshuffle led to some pricemovements as fund managersadjusted their portfolios.

Yes Bank, Vedanta, TataMotors and Tata Motors DVRhave exited the index to makeway for Titan Company,UltraTech Cement and NestleIndia.

Sectorally, BSE energy,realty, FMCG, power and util-ities indices fell up to 1.33 percent.

Geneva: An internal CreditSuisse probe confirmed onMonday that a second execu-tive had been spied on, fol-lowing earlier revelations thatthe bank’s former head ofwealth management was tailedby private investigators.

But Switzerland’s numbertwo bank maintained that justone senior leader, who has sincebeen forced out, was entirely toblame for both incidents andthat rest of the top brass had notbeen aware of the activities.

Releasing the investigationconducted by the Homburgerlaw firm, Credit Suisse said that“it has been confirmed thatPeter Goerke, who was aMember of the ExecutiveBoard at the time, was placedunder observation by a third-party firm on behalf of CreditSuisse for a period of severaldays in February 2019”.

The probe was launchedfollowing media reports lastweek that spying at CreditSuisse ran deeper than onecase.

The banking giant wasshaken by the discovery lastSeptember that surveillancehad been ordered on starbanker and former wealthmanagement chief Iqbal Khan.

AFP

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank onMonday purchased �10,000crore worth of long-termGovernment securities andsold �6,825 crore of four short-term securities through thespecial open market opera-tions (OMOs).

Last week, the RBI hadannounced simultaneous pur-chase and sale of governmentsecurities under OMOs for�10,000 crore each.

In the OMO purchase of6.45 per cent GS 2029, whichis a benchmark security, theRBI received �20,826 croreworth of bids from the partic-ipants but accepted �10,000crore of bids.

“The RBI offered to pur-chase the 10-year benchmarksecurity which is liquid andhighly traded in the secondarymarket. The outstanding stockof this bond is around�67,447.851 crore. This wouldhave attracted the bidders tobuy it through OMO pur-chase,” said a bank treasurer ata state-run bank. PTI

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Food regulator FSSAI is like-ly to finalise within the

next two months its proposedregulations to ban sale as wellas advertisements of junk foodsin school canteens and within50 metres of school campuses,its CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwalsaid on Monday.

The Food and StandardsAuthority of India (FSSAI)had in November issued draft‘Food Safety and Standards(Safe Food and healthy diets forSchool Children) Regulations,2019’. It had sought commentsfrom stakeholders in 30 days.

“We have received com-

ments from various stakehold-ers and we are now compilingthese suggestions. A technicalcommittee will look into theserecommendations,” Agarwalsaid.

He said it would takearound 1-2 months to finalisethe regulations and then thesame would be sent to thehealth ministry for the finalapproval.

In its draft regulations, theFSSAI had said that “foodswhich are referred to as foodshigh in fat, salt and sugar(HFSS) cannot be sold toschool children in school can-teens or mess premises or hos-tel kitchens or within 50 metres

of the school campus”.The food business opera-

tors (FBOs) manufacturingHFSS food products would bebarred from advertising suchfoods in school premises orwithin 50 metres of the schoolcampus, it added.

The school authority itselfor food business operators(FBOs) contracted by it andFBOs contracted byDepartment of SchoolEducation for operation of themid-day meal scheme will haveto “obtain a registration orlicence” as applicable and com-ply with the requirements ofsanitary and hygienic prac-tices specified under the food

safety law. The FSSAI has pro-posed that school authoritieswill have to adopt a compre-hensive programme for pro-moting safe food and healthydiets among school children.The school campus should beconverted into ‘Eat RightSchool’ focusing safe andhealthy food, local and seasonalfood and no food waste as per the specifiedbenchmarks.

“Encourage school author-ities to promote consumptionof a safe and balanced diet inthe school as per the guidelinesissued by the National Instituteof Nutrition (NIN),” the draftregulation said.

New York: Boeing on Mondayreplaced its embattled chiefexecutive, Dennis Muilenburg,saying a change was needed asit attempts to restore its repu-tation amid the protracted 737MAX crisis.

Boeing named ChairmanDavid Calhoun as its chiefexecutive, saying the companyneeded to “restore confidence”and “repair relationships withregulators, customers and allother stakeholders.”

The company pledged to“operate with a renewed com-mitment to full transparency,including effective and proac-tive communication with theFAA, other global regulatorsand its customers.” The aero-space giant’s financial pictureremains clouded following theglobal grounding of the MAXin March after two deadlycrashes. AFP

Hong Kong: Asian marketsfluctuated on Monday withactivity thinning out as investorswind down for the Christmasbreak, while confidence remainsbuoyed by relief at the China-US trade deal. Global equitiesare enjoying a flourish at the endof the year, having been on aroller-coaster ride for 12 monthsowing to the long-running traderow and Brexit.

And observers say thatwith those two major issuescleared up for now, 2020 couldsee a healthy run-up in prices,boosted by looser central bankmonetary policy as well assigns of improvement ineconomies around the world.

Wall Street provided yetanother record-breaking leadafter data confirmed the USeconomy enjoyed reasonablegrowth in the third quarter,while other reports showedpersonal income and consumer confidence improving. AFP

New Delhi: Capital marketsregulator Sebi on Mondayimposed �5 lakh fine on KarvyFinancial Services Ltd for mak-ing requisite disclosures after adelay of nearly seven years.

Sebi found that three pro-moters of Regalia Realty inorder to obtain a project loanfor the company, createdencumbrance on the sharesheld by them by way of apledge in favour of KarvyFinancial Services to securerepayment of the loan.

Karvy Financial Serviceswas required to disclose cre-ation of pledge to the compa-ny as well as the BSE in accordance with the marketnorms.

Thereafter, the pledge cre-ated over the shares of the pro-moters of the company wasinvoked by Karvy FinancialServices and subsequently, sharesof the firm amounting to 55.56per cent of its total share capital

were transferred in its favour.“By virtue of the pledge

being invoked, Noticee share-holding in Regalia Realtyincreased from 0 per cent to55.56 per cent and the said dis-closure under Regulation 29(1)of SAST Regulation andRegulation 13(1) of PITRegulation was made onDecember 26, 2018 to compa-ny and stock exchange i.E. Aftera delay of 6 years and 11months,” Sebi said. The regula-tor thus imposed the monetarypenalty on Karvy FinancialServices for violating SubstantialAcquisition of Shares andTakeovers (SAST) norms.

Besides, through two sep-arate orders, Sebi levied a fineof �2 lakh each on DivineWaters Pvt Ltd and SoniaFinvest Pvt Ltd for failing tomake timely disclosures withrespect to reduction in theirshareholding in Secure EarthTechnologies Ltd. PTI

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India is a land of cultural diversity which gives us the oppor-tunity of enjoying so many festivals throughout the year. With

Christmas and New Year’s Eve are just around the corner, we canalready smell all the sweet delicacies being prepared everywhere.After all, what much is left in a festival if it’s not mostly aboutthe variety of food each festival has to offer. It is a time, duringwhich we often get carried away by the temptation of consum-ing much more food than what we usually do. No matter whatage group we belong to, it is not easy to resist the urge of eatingcakes, sweets, and chocolates during festivals. Is it?

People keep on eating without thinking much of the conse-quences. Sweets are the most favourite part of any festivity andto resist them is next to impossible. But no matter how tempt-ing it gets, devouring on sweets and spicy food needs to be con-trolled, especially for the kids. They have very active taste buds,and often their preferred foods are the ones that are unhealthyfor them. With the festivals often come health issues that appeardue to our negligence on what to eat and what not to eat. People,especially kids, are the first ones to fall ill due to festive celebra-tions.

Gorging on cakes, chocolates, and wine during the festivalseason can harm our body in so many ways. But, what exactlyare the ways in which it can harm our bodies? Let us know:

Overeating can lead to gastritis and constipationFoods prepared during festivals are often too sweet or spicy

and are prepared with ingredients that are either unhealthy orover nutritious. Excess intake of such foods can lead to healthproblems like gastritis and constipation. So, it is wise to stay awayfrom food prepared with a high amount of sugar and maida

because these things areun-healthy if not taken sensibly orin the appropriate quantity.Sweets are generally made withthese ingredients. So we shouldlimit our consumption of sweetsto avoid gastritis and constipa-tion.

Weight gainThe most annoying after-

effect of overeating is weightgain. Even if it is for just a cou-ple of days during the festival,people come to gain kilos due toovereating. It is because of theexcessive use of oil, sugar andmaida in preparation of festivalfoods. When it is so easy to gainweight through overeating, it is

equally difficult to lose those stubborn kilos and get back intoshape.

CavitySweets prepared in the shops contain a lot of artificial sweet-

eners. Excessive consumption of such sweets can affect the gumsand teeth negatively. The sugar content and artificial sweeten-ers in sweets are the reason for bacterial growth in teeth whichcauses cavities and gum problems.

Risk of DiabetesIf you are above 40 and you have a history of Diabetes in

your family, it is safe to stay far, far away from sweets and otherfoods that are made of ingredients that are known to cause dia-betes. Even if it is for a few days, it can harm you in a perma-nent way. Sweets are known to be a factor that affects the pro-duction of insulin in your body that causes Diabetes later on.

Increase in cholesterol levelsOverconsumption of sweets and foods are not advisable dur-

ing festivals because they can increase the cholesterol levels ofthe body. It is dangerous for human bodies and it is also one ofthe main reasons for heart diseases in people.

Apart from the health issues mentioned above, binge eatingcan also be the reason for various problems. Doctors opine thatwe should stay away from packaged food as much as possiblebecause most of the outdoor food is prepared with unhealthyingredients. Parents should also educate children about healthyfood habits and how overeating can make them dull & clumsy.

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&$��.� Cloves are thearomatic flower buds of

the tree. Found in bothwhole and ground forms,this versatile spicecan be used toseason potroasts, addflavour to hotbeverages andbring spicywarmth tocookies andcakes. Inaddition to theirsweet, aromaticflavor, cloves areknown for their potentmedicinal properties.They’re most effective whenincluded as part of a healthyand balanced diet.

They are rich in fiber,manganese,Vitamin K and

Vitamin C.Fiber can help prevent

constipation and promote reg-ularity, Vitamin C may

help strengthen yourimmune system

and Vitamin Kis an impor-tant nutrientfor bloodc l o t t i n g .Manganese isan essentialmineral for

maint a in ingbrain function

and buildingstrong bones. Cloves

are rich in antioxidants.Antioxidants plays a signifi-cant role in damaging cellsthat could lead to Cancer.They also have a potentialeffect on obesity.

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Men are twice aslikely as womento consider

themselves to be good atlying and getting away withit, researchers have found.

The study, published in the journalPLOS ONE, revealed that expert liars alsoprefer to lie face-to-face, rather than viatext messages, and social media was theleast likely place where they'd tell a lie.

“We found a significant link betweenexpertise at lying and gender. Men weremore than twice as likely to considerthemselves expert liars who got away withit,” said study researcher Brianna Veriginfrom the University of Portsmouth in theUK.

The study found one of the keystrategies of liars is to tell plausible lies thatstay close to the truth, and to not give awaymuch information. And the better some-one thinks they are at lying, the more liesthey will tell.

The most commonly used strategyamong all those who admitted to lying,whether experts or poor liars, was to leaveout certain information. But expert liarsadded to that an ability to weave a believ-able story embellished with truth, mak-ing the lies harder to spot.

In contrast, those who thought theywere not good at lying resorted, when theydid lie, to being vague. Most people choseto lie face-to-face, then via text message,a phone call, email, and last, via socialmedia.

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Dandruff is a very com-mon problem thatalmost all of us have suf-

fered especially during wintermonths. While there are veryproducts in the market,one doesn’t knowwhether they arenatural andhence can causemore harmthan do good.Here are a fewhome remediesthat can help.

A mix ofcoconut oil and lemonjuice can do wonders. Coconutoil nourishes the hair and thelemon juice helps to treat dan-druff without using harmfulchemicals. All one has to do isheat some coconut oil withequal amounts of lemon juiceand massage the scalp gently.Leave it on for 20 minuteswashing with shampoo.

Use curd. While it can bea tad messy for treating dan-druff, it is very effective. Applycurd (dahi) in the hair andscalp and leave it on for an

hour. Wash off with amild a shampoo.

Believe it ornot baking soda isgreat for treatingdandruff. Wetthe hair and ruba teaspoon of

baking soda in thescalp. Leave it for

not more than 60 sec-onds. Wash off immedi-

ately.Another kitchen item that

works wonders is apple cidervinegar. Mix equal parts ofapple cider vinegar and water.After a regular shampoo, applythe mixture on the wet hair.Massage the scalp well with themixture and and leave it on for15 minutes and wash off.

Dandruff is common in wintersespecially for those who have dryskin. It is not something that you

want since it leads to an itchyscalp. Following a few simple

remedies at home can help get ridof it, says ROSHANI DEVI

Ateam of researchers from LovelyProfessional University (LPU) have

developed a novel method to prepare sugar-free Asava formulation a well-known tra-ditional fermented biomedicine fortreating human body systemslike nervous system, bloodcirculatory system and res-piratory system. Theresearch was conducted byBarinder Kaur, a PhDScholar under the guidanceof Dr Saurabh Singh,Associate Professor, AyurvedicPharmacy Department, LPU.

The process of fermentation of Asavaformulation and composition is complete-ly different from traditional Asava’s. Thesugar-free Asava formulation has been pre-pared using anti-Diabetic herbs as its fer-menting initiators which makes it safe forconsumption by Diabetics. The formula-

tion is beneficial for the management ofDiabetes and other associated problems likeweakness, fever, cough, cold and headache.The solution can be directly consumed by

the patients with or without water.The research team took about

three years to complete thisproject and it has been patent-ed under India Patent Office.The team has also developedthe product prototype andsuccessfully conducted pre-

clinical trials using streptozo-tocine induced anti-diabetic

model. Dr Singh said: “The new Asava formu-

lation can be safely consumed by those suf-fering with Diabetes. It maintains theinsulin level and reduces the side effects ofanti-Diabetic drugs like dizziness, drowsi-ness, heartburn, stomach pain, constipationand frequent urination in the patients.”

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There are certain things that can never bereplaced in the Indian kitchen. Not only they

are vital in creating several regional delicacies buttheir uses are also diversified and extendedbeyond the arena of the kitchen. One suchinstance is mustard oil.

While it does take some time getting used toit with the pungency once get past it, you will soonlearn to appreciate its unique flavour. In Easternand North-Eastern India, it is almost impossibleto imagine life without a bottle of mustard oil athome. It is known to have miraculous qualities, andtherefore is used as a remedy to treat cold, improvesimmunity, encourage hair growth, provide nour-ishment to the skin (particularly in case of babieswho are massaged with mustard oil during win-ters and made to sunbathe for a dose of VitaminD, also strengthens the bones).

Mustard oil or sarson ka tel is extracted frommustard seeds (black, brown and white), and is usu-ally, reddish-brown or amber in colour. It has beenmostly used in North and East India since ancienttimes and comes with a bevy of health benefits.

��&�� ' �Mustard oil is greatly recommended for the

reason that it is rich in monounsaturated fattyacids. Your body needs oil in the ratio of 3:1, threeparts of polyunsaturated fatty acids and one partof saturated fatty acids. Monounsaturated fattyacids (MUFA) come under polyunsaturated.Mustard oil is a potent source of MUFA which isvery important for your health. It is good for theheart, lightens skin, assists in hair growth, and pre-vents premature greying of hair.

��'��$��Including mustard oil in your daily diet can

prove to be beneficial to your heart health. Beinga good source of MUFA, it reduces bad choles-terol in the body, thus keeping a check on bloodfat levels and aids in circulation.

��&�� &��Mustard oil contains anti-bacterial, anti-fungal

and anti-viral properties. It’s external and internalusage is known to help in several ways to fight againstinfections, including digestive tract infections.

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For many cracked heels is a troublesome prob-lem during monsoon and winters. One can use wastecandles to say goodbye to cracked heels. Just makea mixture by heating the candle wax with an equalquantity of mustard oil so that it becomes thick. Fillyour cracked heels with this mixture and sleep wear-ing cotton socks.

Mustard oil can also be applied to the nails. Itis, in fact, better than coconut and almond oil in termsof benefits. It has the ability to lubricate the nail bedand be easily absorbed to bring about nourishment.

��$��($��&��&$��As per the Ayurveda, applying mustard oil for

body massage improves blood circulation, skin tex-ture and frees muscular tension. It also activates thesweat glands and helps in throwing out toxins fromthe body. In other words, it acts as a natural cleanser.

��$�� '�&��&�$�Mustard oil has been an ageold remedy for

curing cough and cold. It is because of its heat-ing property that assists in clearing congestionfrom the respiratory tract. Mustard oil steam treat-ment is recommended as a home remedy, and youcan also rub about a teaspoon of it on your chestbefore going to sleep and let it work its magic. Itis probably the pungency that helps in clearingsinuses.

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Like many hospitals across theworld, Vellore-based ChristianMedical College (CMC) too is

grappling with infectious bacteria(Supebugs) that resists anti-biotics.

The doctors at the CMC hospi-tals have decided to try Phage ther-apy, wherein nature’s anti-biotics —Bacteriophages are used to infect andkill pathogenic multidrug-resistant(MDR) bacteria. The therapy isalready in use in various countrieslike Russia and Georgia but in Indiathere is no regulatory framework.

“Every year we are losing at least30-40 per cent of our patients to theSuperbug. Since there is no regula-tion for Phage therapy here, we willapproach regulatory bodies — IndianCouncil of Medical Research (ICMR)and Drug Controller General ofIndia (DCGI) to conduct clinical trialon our patients suffering with bac-terial infections to ascertain thera-peutic potential of Bacteriophages onbacteria like escherichia coli, klebsiel-la pneumonia and enterobacter cloa-cae,” Dr Biju George, Professor ofHematology, CMC says.

“We plan to collaborate with theVellore Institute of Technology(VIT), Vellore,” says Dr George.However, CMC hospital is not theonly medical institute that is tryingto explore Phage therapy to savepatients afflicted with drug-resistantbacteria. Scientists and researchersare conducting trials at the instituteand university level on Phage ther-apy as an alternative to antibiotics.

In India resistant infectionscaused by these bacteria is expectedto kill over 2 million people by 2050.“Phage therapy has huge potential inview of escalating AMR cases,”asserts Urmi Bajpai, AssociateProfessor, Biomedical Science atAcharya Narendra Dev College,Delhi University.

Found in the wastewater treat-ment plants as well as in sewageswhere bacteria also harbour, Phagesare the only therapeutic agent thatamplifies itself at the sites of infec-tion and is cleared when the infec-tious bacteria have been killed.

“We are excited about this ther-apy. We need to have national repos-itories of diverse and well-charac-

terised virulent Bacteriophages thatcan kill drug-resistant clinical isolatesand purify them for therapeuticstandards and do clinical trials.Phage-derived enzymes (lysins) arealso being developed as promisingantimicrobials,” she says adding thatconcerted efforts are required fromall the stakeholders to understand thechallenges and to begin with, facili-tate this therapy for those patientswho don’t respond to antibiotics any-more.

Dr Gopal Nath from theMicrobiology Department at theBanaras Hindu University (BHU)has used Bacteriophages to treatchronic wounds that don’t respondto standard treatment. “The creationof a biofilm by the bacterium is theproblem as this does not allow theantibiotic to penetrate the wound. Towork around this, we used a cock-tail of customised Bacteriophageseffective on Escherichia coli,Staphylococcus aureus, andPseudomonas aeruginosa isolatedfrom the wounds of 20 patientsbetween the ages of 12 and 60,” heexplains.

Ramesh Nachimuthu, AssistantProfessor at the VIT says, Phage ther-apy is not a new phenomenon. It wasfirst explored more than a centuryago and is still used in Russia,Georgia and other European coun-

tries. The developed nations like theUS and the UK ditched it in favourof antibiotics. However, with AMRbecoming a tough nut to crack, thewestern world too is showing inter-est in this new weapon against thebacteria.

Last year, Belgium and Francealso took a decision by permittingthe Bacteriophages as antibiotictreatment isn’t getting anywherefor the pharma companies not muchresearch is going on in the sector.

“It is time to turn to Phage ther-apy. But unless we have a clearerlegal framework in India, all theresearch work will remain confinedwithin the labs only,” Nachimuthusays.

Talking about how the Phageworks, he explains that by makinga cocktail of Phages, it would becomeeasy to treat a wide variety of bac-terial infections that are otherwiseresistant to the latest generations ofantibiotics. At the same time the ver-satility of Phages would allow us touse the antibodies against the bac-teria that have been displayed on thePhage surface.

Similarly a protective antigencould be delivered as a DNA orPhage display vaccine. So, a mixtureof Phages that are modified geneti-cally would be more helpful inaddressing all these problems.

Pranav Johiri who is the firstIndian to have undertaken treatmentof Bacteriophages in Georgia has setup Vitalis Phage Therapy in partner-ship with the Eliava Phage TherapyCenter to help people get this ther-apy when anti-biotics fail.

“We are also working towardstying up with local diagnostic lab-oratories to conduct Phage sensitiv-ity tests on bacterial cultures. Thiswill reduce the time taken for test-ing and make it easier for patientssuffering from bacterial infections totake Phage therapy,” he says and tellsyou that they have facilitated bothways of treatment for Indian patients— in-clinic as well as distance.

The cost of the treatment isalmost equivalent to the amountspent on anti-biotic treatment.

Dr Nath opines that more doc-tors should come forward to acceptthe phase therapy for the benefit oftheir patients suffering with bacte-rial infections.

Shrikant Pawar, scientist fromPune based National Centre forMicrobial Resource which has beengiven the mandate to implement theNational Mission on AMR on behalfof the Science and TechnologyMinistry, terms the Bacteriophagesas a promising technology as it canget rid of resistance culture thatmight be residing in someone’sbody. People suffering from urinarytract infections, kidney infectionsand prostatitis have taken Phagetherapy and have seen successfuleradication of their infections.

Besides, there are some concernsabout its use such as safety and effi-cacy issues, as well as immuneresponse to the administered Phages.Growth optimisation and purifica-tion strategies of Phages are alsosome issues that needs to beaddressed.

But that will be possible only ifwe start working on this importanttherapy that have enormous poten-tial to give relief to the patientsinfected with deadly bacteria, say thescientists.��&�� &�� #�� '��!��-�� =A>2�&��C�� D)��'��

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Syrian anti-aircraft defenseon Sunday fired on Israeli

missiles, shooting down onethat fell outside Damascus, theofficial Syrian news agencySana reported.

The “hostile missiles camefrom the Occupied Territories,”Sana said, referring to Israel,adding that one missile camedown in Aqraba, a suburb ofDamascus.

An Israeli Army spokes-woman contacted by AFP saidIsrael does not comment onreports in foreign media.

According to the UK-basedSyrian Observatory for HumanRights, there were three explo-sions in the Damascus suburbsafter the missiles targeted“Syrian regime and Iranianpositions.”The Observatorycould not immediately providemore details.

Since the beginning of the

Syrian conflict in 2011, theIsraeli army has made hun-dreds of strikes on Syrian ter-ritory against Iranian targetsand pro-Tehran militias, whoare allied with the Damascusregime of Syrian PresidentBashir al-Assad.An Israelistrike on November 20 killed21 pro-regime fighters, includ-ing 16 foreigners and also twocivilians.

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AUS budget official told thePentagon to “hold off” on mil-

itary aid to Kiev 90 minutes after acontroversial phone call betweenPresident Donald Trump and hisUkrainian counterpart VolodymyrZelensky, according to an internalemail.

The email was part of a seriespublished by the investigative non-profit Center for Public Integrity.

Trump is accused of withhold-ing $400 million in assistance toUkraine to push Kiev to investigatehis political rival Joe Biden.

“Based on guidance I havereceived and in light of theAdministration’s plan to review assis-tance to Ukraine... Please hold off onany additional DoD obligations ofthese funds,” Office of Managementand Budget official Michael Duffywrote in an email to Pentagon offi-cials.

The email is time-stamped 11:04am -- an hour and 31 minutes afterTrump’s controversial July 25 phonecall with Zelensky ended, according

to a summary of the conversationreleased by the White House.

“Given the sensitive nature of therequest, I appreciate your keepingthat information closely held tothose who need to know,” Duffeyadded.

Republicans defended the movein a December 2 House ofRepresentatives staff report, sayingit was “not unusual” for foreign aidto be delayed, the Center for PublicIntegrity noted.

And Republican Senator RonJohnson on Sunday told ABC’s“This Week” that the “new emailsdon’t shed any new light” on Trump’srationale for withholding aid toUkraine.

“The president was concernedabout whether or not America’shard-earned taxpayer dollars shouldbe spent into a country where there’sbeen proven cases of corruption,” hesaid.

Top Senate Democrat ChuckSchumer meanwhile called theemails “explosive” in a tweet Sunday,denouncing Trump’s refusal to letcertain White House officials testi-

fy.“If nothing is wrong with with-

holding the aid, why didn’t MichaelDuffey want anyone to know aboutwhat he was doing?” Schumer wrote.

The email “is all the more rea-son why we need Duffey and othersto testify in a Senate trial.”

Democratic Senator AmyKlobuchar echoed Schumer’s senti-ment on CNN’s “Face the Nation”Sunday.

“If the president is so innocentand shouldn’t be impeached, why ishe afraid to have these people comeforward?” the presidential hopefulsaid.

Trump was impeached by theHouse of Representatives for abuseof power and obstruction ofCongress on December 18.Despitetestimony from 17 officials thatTrump leveraged his office for polit-ical gain, the president has main-tained his innocence throughout theimpeachment inquiry -- denouncingit as an “attempted coup” and an“assault on America.” He faces a trialin the Senate, possibly in January.

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan has warned

that his country cannot handlea “new refugee wave” fromSyria, adding that the freshinflux would be “felt by allEuropean countries”.

Speaking at an awards cer-emony here on Sunday,Erdogan said more than 80,000people from Idlib had fled toareas near the Turkish borderamid heightened bombard-ments from Syrian and Russianforces, reports the BBC.

“If the violence towards thepeople of Idlib does not stop,this number will increase even

more. In that case, Turkey willnot carry such a migrant bur-den on its own,” he said.

“The negative effects ofthis pressure on us will be anissue felt by all European coun-tries, especially Greece,” headded.

Turkey already hosts some3.7 million Syrian refugees - thelargest refugee population inthe world.Erdogan warned of arepeat of the 2015 migrantcrisis, when more than a mil-lion people fled to Europe, ifthe violence did not end.Hesaid a Turkish delegation wasslated to travel to Moscow onMonday to discuss the situa-tion.

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At least 18 inmates were killed in a clash between rivalgangs inside a jail near the Honduran capital of

Tegucigalpa, just two days after 18 prisoners were killedin a shooting in another prison. Interinstitutional SecurityForce (Fusina) spokesman Jose Coello told the mediathat the 18 prisoners — raised from an earlier toll of 16— died on Sunday in the jail located in the municipal-ity of El Porvenir, in Francisco Morazan department,reports Efe news.

Two other prisoners sustained knife injuries and weretaken to the Tegucigalpa School Hospital, where one ofthem reportedly died, which is yet to be confirmed bythe authorities.

The killings, the second in 48 hours in Honduranprisons and the causes of which remain unknown,occurred despite an intervention commission taking overthe prison last week after the government declared a stateof emergency in the penitentiary system.On Friday, 18inmates were killed and more than a dozen otherswounded in a shootout in Tela Jail, in Atlantis depart-ment.Made up of some 30 jails, the Honduran prisonsystem has some 22,000 inmates, when their maximumcapacity is 8,000, and less than half of the prisoners havebeen convicted.

Prisons in the country are considered “time bombs”,because of overcrowding, infrastructure problems andthe number of prisoners in preventive detention.

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Five people have been sen-tenced to death over the

murder of journalist JamalKhashoggi, but two top figuresinvestigated over the killinghave been exonerated, SaudiArabia’s public prosecutor saidon Monday.

“The court issued deathsentences on five men whodirectly took part in the killing,”the prosecutor said in a state-ment.

Saudi prosecutors had saiddeputy intelligence chiefAhmed al-Assiri oversaw theWashington Post columnist’skilling in the kingdom’sIstanbul consulate in October2018 and that he was advised by the royalcourt’s media czar Saud al-Qahtani.

However, Qahtani wasinvestigated but not indicted“due to insufficient evidence”and Assiri was investigatedand charged but eventuallyacquitted on the same grounds,

the statement said.Of the 11 unnamed indi-

viduals indicted in the case, fivewere sentenced to death, threeface jail terms totalling 24years, and the others wereacquitted.

The prosecutor said thatthe Riyadh court hearing thecase held a total of nine sessionsattended by representatives ofthe international community aswell as Khashoggi’s relatives.

“We found thatKhashoggi’s murder was notpremeditated,” the statementsaid.

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An American service memberwas killed in combat on

Monday in Afghanistan, the USmilitary said, without providingfurther details, while the Talibanclaimed they were behind aroadside bombing in northernKunduz province that killed theUS soldier.

The latest fatality brings thenumber of US deaths inAfghanistan this year to 20. There have also been three non-combat deaths in 2019.

More than 2,400 Americanshave died in the nearly 18-year

conflict.The Taliban now control or

hold sway over practically half ofAfghanistan but continue tostage near-daily attacks targetingAfghan and US forces, as well asgovernment officials — even asthey hold peace talks with a USenvoy tasked with negotiating anend to what has becomeAmerica’s longest war. Scores ofAfghan civilians are also killed inthe crossfire or by roadsidebombs planted by militants.

Monday’s US military state-ment did not identify the US sol-dier or say where in Afghanistanthe service member was killed.

Seoul: The US flew anothersurveillance aircraft over theKorean Peninsula, an aviationtracker said on Monday, the lat-est in a series of flights to mon-itor North Korea amid growingconcerns Pyongyang couldlaunch long-range missiles.

The US Air Force RC-135W Rivet Joint was spottedflying over the peninsula at31,000 feet, Aircraft Spots saidwithout specifying the exacttime of the operation, reportsYonhap News Agency.Thesame type of surveillance air-craft made a flight over thepeninsula over the weekend,the aviation tracker tweeted onSunday. AFP

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Beijing warned on Mondaythat the US was turning the

cosmos into a “battlefield”, afterWashington announced a newmilitary arm called the SpaceForce.

Following concerns thatChina and Russia are chal-lenging its position in space, USPresident Donald Trumpsigned the 2020 NationalDefense Authorization Act onFriday — which created a newbranch of the US military.Beijing responded by accusingthe US of “pursuing theweaponisation of outer space”.These actions from the USstrongly violate the interna-tional consensus

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Catastrophic bushfiresdestroyed some 100 hous-

es in the Australian State ofNew South Wales (NSW) overthe weekend, with one smalltown described by NSWPremier Gladys Berejiklian as“all but wiped out”.

Particularly hard hit wasthe iconic Blue Mountains westof Sydney, reports Xinhua newsagency.Berejiklian touredimpacted communities onMonday, taking toll of the dam-age which followed a weekendof highly adverse firefightingconditions including searingtemperatures and strong winds.

NSW Rural Fire Servicedeputy Commissioner RobRogers told reporters that whileaccurate numbers were yet to beestablished, an estimated 100

homes had been lost to the firessince Friday.

Southwest of Sydney, thesmall town of Balmoral wasreported to have lost 18 homes,while roughly 90 per cent of itssurrounding bushland wasturned to ash.

“We’ve got the devastatingnews there’s not much left in thetown of Balmoral,” Berejikliansaid.

She described the experi-ence of visiting fire affectedcommunities as “sobering” andsaid that in many cases it wouldtake years to rebuild.

Meanwhile, the NSW RuralFire Service (RFS) continuedthe fight to save homes asflames spread throughout theBlue Mountains region withfears that two giant megafirescould join.

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One person has beencharged in connection

with a shooting on Sunday ata house party that left 13 peo-ple wounded, four of them crit-ically, Chicago police said.

The shooting stemmedfrom a dispute at the memor-ial party, Chief of Patrol Fred Waller said at a news conference.

He said shots were firstfired just after 12:30 am.

The party was being heldin honour of someone who waskilled in April.

Chicago police announcedSunday evening that MarcianoWhite, 37, was charged withunlawful use of a weapon by afelon.

White was arrested a shortdistance from where the partywas being held, authoritiessaid.

The victims range in agefrom 16 to 48 and suffered “different and various gunshotwounds to their bodies.”

Waller said police recov-ered a revolver.

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Awar monitor said onMonday that air raids in

Syria the previous night,blamed on Israel, killed at least three foreign pro-regimefighters south of the war-torncountry’s capital.

The Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rightssaid Sunday night’s attack hitSyrian regime and Iranian posi-tions south of Damascus.

It said three non-Syrianloyalist fighters were killed bya rocket blast between the sub-urb of Aqraba and the nearby Sayyida Zeinab neigh-bourhood, home to a shrinerevered by Shiite Muslims.

It did not specify theirnationality but said they werelikely Iranian.

Syrian state news agencySANA reported the attack just before midnight onSunday.

It said Syrian air defencesfired on “hostile missiles” com-ing from “the OccupiedTerritories”, referring to Israel.

It said one missile came down in Aqraba, south-east.

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This year has been a landmark onefor mobile gaming, with more bat-

tle royale games like Free Fire and Callof Duty: Mobile coming to the smallscreen right in your palm. Free Firewas the most downloaded game of2019, according to mobile market dataand analytics firm App Annie.

The top downloaded games of2019 included the hyper-casual titleFun Race 3D, as well as SubwaySurfers which has also become themost downloaded game of the decade.

“This was the year for online gam-ing as it saw an accelerated growthwith large audience participation.The exponential rise in online gam-ing was all because of smartphoneadoption since smartphone usersreached an all-time high of 3.3 billionworldwide,” said John Dong, Director,Tenda, a leading provider of network-ing devices.

Let us delve deeper into the topfive mobile games this year.

PUBG MOBILE: Tencent’s PUBGMobile has become the world’s top-grossing smartphone game, dethron-ing Arena of Valor. According to a lat-est data from Sensor Tower, PUBGMobile revenue spiked 652 per centyear-on-year, grossing $496 millionfor the period.

The company also launched thelighter version of the same — PUBGMobile Lite. It is the toned-down ver-sion of PUBG Mobile that hit theIndian market in July this year. It fea-tures a smaller map made for 60 play-ers, which means faster-paced gamesthat last 10 minutes while still keep-

ing the traditional PUBG style of play.With an installation pack of just

400MB and built for devices havingless than 2GB RAM, the lite versionaims to run smoothly for all players.

FREE FIRE: Free Fire is the ulti-mate survival shooter game availableon mobile. Each 10-minute gameplaces you on a remote island whereyou are pitted against 49 other play-ers, all seeking survival. Players freelychoose their starting point with theirparachute, and aim to stay in the safezone for as long as possible.

Drive vehicles to explore the vastmap, hide in trenches or becomeinvisible by proning under grass.Ambush, snipe, survive, there is onlyone goal: to survive and answer thecall of duty.

SUBWAY SURFERS: Boastingover 2.7 billion downloads around theworld, Subway Surfers was named themost downloaded mobile game of thedecade by App Annie. It is an endlessrunner mobile game co-developed byKiloo and SYBO Games, private com-panies based in Denmark.

Subway Surfers, in which playersescape a security guard, collect coins

and dodge obstacles, is known for itsregular updates, each one themedafter a different world city. It is avail-able on Android, iOS, Kindle, andWindows Phone platforms and usesthe Unity game engine. Special events,

such as the Weekly Hunt, can resultin in-game rewards and characters.

COLOR BUMP 3D: It is an arcadegame with retro graphics and brightvibrant colours. The game wasreleased in December 2018 onAndroid and January 2019 on iOS aswell as WebGL. In this game, oneneeds to control the ball and try toavoid hitting any objects that are notthe same colour as the ball.

According to crazygames.com,the speed starts off slowly but as youprogress it becomes quicker — youmust have great reactions and useswiping actions to move the ball. Thephysical element of the game is inter-esting — you can use the colouredobjects to knock other shapes out ofthe way. There is a plethora of levelsto play, each with a different challengeand configuration of shapes.

FUN RACE 3D: It is a famousAPK (Android Package) game. In thisgame a player competes on challeng-ing tracks with your opponents. Everylevel brings a new unique fun expe-rience and it’s easy to play. Race withothers, achieve levels and unlocknew characters.

“For 2020, online gaming we’ll seesome interesting technologicaladvancements such as Virtual Reality,Augmented Reality and more in thegameplay itself. Besides this, storagefor these games will be more on cloudnot on any physical disks reducingtheir reliance on physical devices,” saidDong.

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The familiar smell of a cake bakingin the oven wafts through the air.There is a Christmas tree decked up

with glittering ornaments lighting up acorner of the living room. But the ques-tion is what goes inside the boxes at thebottom of the tree? Shoppers who arelooking for last-minute gifts, stockingstuffers and secret Santa don’t have to lookfurther as we have everything coveredfrom luxury bags, lamps, golden confet-ti champagne glasses, eyewear pieces tovibrant jewellery and much more. Thisguide will bypass the incessant search forgifts around shops.

Garner the compliments of everyonearound you wearing this vibrant red jack-

et by Mufti. Fashioned for men, with a highneck and front zipper closure, it has two high-ly functional welted side pockets and broadmulti coloured stripes on long sleeves andright chest.

Filmmaker Karan Johar describes the lateBollywood superstar Sridevi as the best mimic

in the world.“Sridevi was an actor by observation. She was

incredible. She had that potentiality of observingand absorbing the body languages of others. Shewas the best mimic in the world. She could justmimic anything and anything at all, and it was alldue to observation. She was the only actor of theeighties and the nineties who upped her craftthrough observation. She absorbed the syntax ofcinema of the time,” said Johar, while launchingthe book, Sridevi: The External Screen Goodess, bySatyarth Nayak, a few days after the book's Delhilaunch by Deepika Padukone.

Johar recalled how, when Sridevi came backfrom her self-imposed sabbatical of over a decade,she had lost none of her charm and confidence.“She did the film English Vinglish after a gap of 15years in 2012, and she knew how to face the cam-era. I would go as far as to say that Sridevi was agenius artist because it takes lots of genius to gothrough what she did in so many films. Sridevi wasa rare actor, who was (at the) top of her game inall the languages at the same time. Whether it wasTamil, Telugu or Hindi, she was on top. I must say(this is) a feat no other actor in India hasachieved.”

Nayak’s book is based on the life of theBollywood icon who is regarded as a female super-star in Indian Cinema. Snubbing the notion thatSridevi was an “ask mother” actress, Karan said,“I think this was blown out of proportion, becausein one interview she just said ‘ask mother’ andmedia titled her as ‘ask mother’. She didn’t like tocommunicate with anyone and didn’t like to dointerviews. She pretty much knew on her own whatshe was doing.”

Sridevi was found unconscious in her bathtubin Dubai on February 24 by her husband BoneyKapoor. The death certificate said she had passedaway due to accidental drowning.

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Christian Louboutinhas a special bag col-

lection, Elisa, which isinspired by AncientEgypt. But men needn’tfeel left out as the brandhas on offer its latestSS’20 sneaker collection, Happy Rui.

The new range of Elisa cross body bags areavailable in a range of new colours designedto match every skin type. But what makes themspecial is that the bags are accentuated withdesign elements ranging from leopard torhinestones making them the go-to luxury bag.

The Happy Rui mixesmaterials and texturesincluding suede, laméleather and a shimmeringsequin body, whilst someversions also come withits signature spike-adorned a toe cap. With anew, specially-developedrubber platform outsoleand a singular upper, theHappy Rui low-top sneak-er is stylish and easy-to-wear.

Keeping in mind the gala vibe of Christmas,footwear brand Alberto Torresi brings its

quixotic range of gifting options — Christmas Hymncollection. Cumulates the sumptuous lace-up formalshoes, noble high-top boots and majestic loafers inthe rich tone of red.

From office look to a casual get together to eveningparties, Beau Monde has a bag for every occasion. Rich

embellishments of jewelled pieces, Swarovski crystal stones andbeadwork are interwoven with use of materials such as digital printed fabrics,leather, silk, satin, lace and linen, among others to create a collection of exquis-ite clutches using vibrant colours, perfect stylisation and providing the finest qual-ity and finish.

Celebrate this Christmas with TheAshok Hotel by digging into some

famous traditional food, tattoo art andour in-house Santa Claus. There is alsoan assured surprise gift on a minimumbilling of �1,000. It has on offer an arrayof special X-Mas goodies includingRich Plum Cake, Plum Pudding,Snowball, Snowman, Star Cookies,X-Mas Pastry and Mince Pie at TheAshok Cake Shop.

Bent Chair — which is known forits eclectic, kitschy collection —

has golden confetti champagne glass-es that are embellished with a pattern.Drink up your sangria with theseconfetti wine glasses. Price: �1,981.

The groggy face table light byBent Chair which creates a

funny surrealistic look is idealfor adding a quirky element tomodern decor. Price: �6,411.

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Enriched with organicalmond milk and honey,

this premium bath and bodycare gift set by Body Shop ispacked with a full-sized luxu-riously soothing shower cream,body butter, cream scrub andhand cream. Price: �2055

Celebrate the joy of hampersfrom La Baguette, The

Imperial. It includes chocolatebox, Christmas cake, stollenbread, mince pie, La MolisanaSpaghetti, balsamic vinegar,extra virgin olive oil, marshmal-low, dry nuts, Organic India teas,chocolate Santa and pringles, allto make your Christmas simplydelectable.

Ray-Ban presents the legendarysquare frames of the RB1973,

the true originals. Their oversized

square lenses in an I-shape standout, always and are somethingthat will be much-loved.

Featuring a fine, geometricshape in trendy copper,

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Keeping up with the latest trends andfashion, Cantabil’s autumn-winter col-

lection’19 offers an array of jackets, longcoats, caps and scarves. The collection fea-tures a variety of bold colours like bottlegreen, red, mustard, teal, rust, dusty pinkand black, which are perfect for aChristmas outfit.

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Aphotograph is worth a thousandwords and a painting compels you

to read between the lines. However,what has been considered historical-ly as two competing forms of art isnow becoming an alliance of visionwith each art form influencing theother in myriad ways. Artist RitaJhunjhunwala and photographerShreekant Somany collaborate to pro-duce an evocative show titled Shunya— A Journey. Celebrating the five ele-ments — earth, water, fire, air andether — the show will include morethan 60 exhibits showcasingJhunjhunwala’s mixed media works onpaper inspired by Benaras andSomany’s photographs shot in Ladakh,Tibet and all across the Pamir.

“I first visited Benaras when I was19 and have been going back eversince. Even for a tourist, the city is adelight for the senses. And as an artist,I have never ceased to be amazed athow it makes me think about the cycleof birth and death every time. The phi-losophy of the city appeals to mebecause it compels me to think of usas part of the much bigger cosmos andhow minuscule we are in comparison.Any imagination falls short of expe-riencing Benaras in reality — the citywhere the panchbhutas or five ele-ments conspire to overwhelm thesenses with an incredible force. Thatis why painting on the five elementswas the most natural choice,” saysJhunjhunwala, 63.

Somany, an industrialist by pro-fession, whose experience of trekkingin the mountains and love for naturecombined with a childhood passionfor photography have led him to makea formal art debut with this show,

shares a similar sentiment.“Meandering my way through therugged landscapes of mountains offersme an innumerable number of pic-turesque opportunities. The sheerpristine and unseen magnificence ofnature is a photographer’s paradise.How else could I show that we belongto nature and not vice versa if notthrough the five elements? My pho-tographs in this show reveal hownature appears in its most mysticalform on a daily basis,” says he. Indeed,the works reveal that we all have toundertake a journey of going from‘being nothing to arriving at nothing-ness’, one that begins with shunya andaspires to end with it too.

Take, for instance, the photographtitled Air. “On the way from Darchento Ali in Tibet, I saw the majestic peakthrough the eye of a brewing storm.It was a phenomenon worth stoppingfor and capturing,” says Somany.Jhunjhunwala, a recipient of the SovietLand Nehru Award, depicts the move-ment of air in her painting by the sametitle through a sky brimming with thechatter of seagulls hovering aroundcrowded boats and the floating scentof fresh marigolds and jasmines. Infact, both agree that the hardest ele-ment to portray was air and it is sheerimagination that brought this elementto life.

The photograph Fire was shot ona winter morning flight to Leh. “I waslooking at the hues of dawn, when thesun peeped from behind Nanda Devi,and all of a sudden the sky was sprayedwith rays of eternal fire as thoughcleansing the environment,” recallsSomany. Fire, for Jhunjhunwala, isdepicted through the consecrated

flames of the huge oil lamps that cir-cle around the priests in a holy danceamid ringing of bells and chanting ofmantras.

The painting Water is naturallyabout the Ganga. “In this work, themighty Ganga flows placidly past thebusy ghats, pilgrims stand still withfolded hands, doing their rituals. Theboats and barges glide lazily upon itsmighty expanse, matching its ebb andflow. This element is my favourite asthere is so much serenity and calm inthis experience,” says Jhunjhunwala.Somany’s photograph Water has beencaptured on the shores of theMansarovar lake. “Water is the veryelement of our existence and salvationand the flight of this bird caught myframe symbolising peace and nirvana,”he says.

Earth depicts the rugged land-

scape of the greater Himalayas, majes-tic in its sculptured troughs and val-leys with dry river beds, reminiscentof the earth’s existence through timewhile Ether depicts the mysteries ofspace. “To capture a monastery in thebackdrop of the Milky Way in Tibetsymbolises the connection of humansto ether and the unknown — the shun-ya,” says Somany. Earth forJhunjhunwala is about the multi-hued landscape of Benaras whileether depicts the blue mist of the earlymorning sky. “Before turning vermil-lion, the misty blue mornings dream-ily merge with the ethereal horizon tobecome one,” she explains.

Another highlight of the show areSomany’s portraits of an elderly manand woman shot in Kohima. Thesetwo have been also depicted throughpaintings by Jhunjhunwala, capturingintricately each crooked line andcrevice of these faces. As Somany says,“Images through the lens are creativeexpressions reminiscent of a painter’scanvas. For the painter, the brush; forthe photographer, the lens.” Indeed, theartists’ tools may vary, but the kalei-doscopic landscape of life provides anendless canvas of inspiration waitingto be expressed.”

(The exhibition will take place onJanuary 4 till January 7 at BikanerHouse Art Gallery, Pandara Road.)

The fog enveloping the pic-turesque mausoleum of

Tansen in the background, andsome fine Indian and internation-al musicians from Greece, Israel,the US, Iran and Belgium spell-binding an audience cuttingacross class lines. This was per-haps the most striking aspect ofthe Tansen Samaroh which cele-brated its 95th year this time, thatended recently, — the young andthe elderly sitting down on mat-tresses and listening to classicalmusic, withstanding intense chillto enjoy music even after theshades of dusk had fallen.

The festival began with aDhrupad presentation by TansenMusic College in Raag Yaman,Chautaal and Nibbidh Bandish.Noteworthy was the Mridangpresentation by SivaramanUmayalpuram, a PadmaVibhushan recipient.

Interestingly, Carnatic musicwas also included in the festival.Shivaraman played Adi Taal indifferent dimensions, besides TeenMatra Roopak, Saat MaatraMishra, and Paanch MaatraKhand taal.

The third-day witnessed AjayPohankar and NityanandHaldipurkar presenting Indian

classical music while artistes fromIran enthralled the audienceswith traditional music from theirland.

The evening started with aDhrupad performance by SankarGandharv SangeetMahavidyalaya, Gwalior, and laterIranian artistes Pedram KhavarZamini and Aamir Khari per-formed on their traditional instru-ment, Tumbak.

The highlight of the eveningwas Ajay Pohankar, who hadchosen Raag Rageshri. He per-formed Rakho Pat Mori and SajanBin Sooni. He also played Thumriin Mishr Pahadi Raag, and con-cluded with the ghazal, AyeMohabbat Tere Anjaam Pe.

A photo exhibition of latesitar maestro Ravi Shankar underthe section Pranti, which show-cased and celebrated the glory ofthe musician, was also organisedduring the festival.

The concluding part of thefestival was held at musicianTansen’s birthplace, Behat, locat-ed 45 km from Gwalior on thebanks of river Jhilmil.

Madhya Pradesh’s associa-tion with music can be traced tomedieval times. Two of medievalIndia’s most well-known singers,

Tansen and Baiju Bawra, werefrom Gwalior. Tansen is alsocredited as the founder of GwaliorGharana.

Rahul Rastogi, deputy directorof Ustad Allaudin Khan SangeetKala Akademi, said that the num-ber of youngsters in the audiencehas increased in the last five years.“Gwalior has always been knownfor a very receptive audience.Watching an increased number ofyoung people gives us immense joyand hope for the future,” Rastogisaid.

Talking about the value addi-tions made to the festival duringthe past few years, he said, “Wehave given more character to thestage ensuring that it is not a blandone. Also, as opposed to three days,the festival now runs for six days.”

Wanting to go beyond thehardcore performance character ofthe festival, the department has alsoadded a Vadi Samvadi, a lectureand discussion element, whichaims to raise awareness about theIndian musical heritage. “Thisyear, sitarist Shubhendu Rao andDhrupad singer Umakant andRamakant Anant Gundecha deliv-ered the lectures,” concludedRastogi.

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We take a thousand pictureswith our smartphonestoday. But do we still

cherish them? For AjeeshPuthiyadath, photos have been animportant part of his life as theyhave always triggered nostalgia. “Ihave safely kept all my photoalbums, starting from my nurserydays to now. They are a very impor-tant part of my life. Photos take youback to that particular moment thatyou had once lived. It’s, after all, amemory. Simply gazing at pho-tographs brings those places alive forsomebody who hasn’t physically vis-ited them,” says Qatar-based Indianphotographer Ajeesh, whose seriesof photographs has been featured atthe Where Cultures Meet photogra-phy exhibition.

The show gathers two photog-raphers from Qatar, Hamad AlShamari and Aisha Al Sadah, whowent to the Himalayan region ofLadakh in India to capture its localculture and traditions, and twoIndian photographers based inDoha, who have been picturing “lifein Qatar.” The photographers haveworked on themes like architecture,landscape, portraits and street life todiscover the similarities and differ-ences between both nations and cul-tures.

So what was Ajeesh’s approach?He says that everyday things fasci-nate him a lot and they were hismain inspiration. He adds, “I shooteverywhere. I am a street photogra-pher. I am always carrying a cam-era. So when we were told about thisexhibition, they asked us to capturethe life and traditions in Qatar. Ialready had some photos and trav-elled around to click more.”

Salim Abdulla, another Qatar-based Indian photographer, is alsoa painter and travelled to key land-

marks of the country. He believesthat the idea behind showcasing thetwo nations through photographswill not only help people realise thesimilarities and the differencesbetween the nations but also look atthe bonding that the two share. “Thephotographers who travelled toIndia have captured various placesand moments in every day lives ofthe people of Ladakh. They havealso captured a regional festival thateven Indians outside of Ladakh donot know about. So it’s great fortourism and awareness as well.Also, a large part of workforcefrom India lives in Qatar,” saysSalim.

While the photos from Ladakh

show a remote land tucked in thevalleys among barren mountainsand where communities are knownfor their tolerance and their harmo-nious living, photos from Qatar shedlight on the bustling metropolis ofDoha, made up of century-old mar-kets, futuristic buildings and archi-tecture that line its waterfront.

Ajeesh, who originally comesfrom Kerala, says that the sea inQatar reminds him of Kerala’s coast-line. “Since Gulf countries have animmeasurable coastline, I have cap-tured the sea-side moments andpeople enjoying their time there,”says he. He highlights the samething while talking about the othertwo photographers who travelled to

India. “Ladakh is a difficult terrain,especially for those who live in acoastal area. The climatic conditionsare so different. The altitude andtemperatures are very high there. Soit was quite difficult for them to sur-vive there but what they havebrought out is beautiful. I just feelthat they should have spent moretime in India and explored its dif-ferent cities as that would have high-lighted its true colours and tradi-tions since it is a hub of cultures,”says Ajeesh.

While Ajeesh finds the ocean asthe element of similarity, Salimsays that both the countries havehuge deserts and are going throughrapid urbanisation. “Qatar is becom-ing more of a sports-oriented coun-try. And even though both thenations are becoming modern, theirdifferent ways of functioning iswhat I have tried to highlight in myphotos.”

(The show is on till January 12at the India Habitat Centre, centralatrium.)

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Lazio won the Italian Super Cup fora fifth time on Sunday, defeating

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus 3-1 in agame played in the Saudi Arabia cap-ital of Riyadh.

“We did something magicaltonight,” said Lazio coach SimoneInzaghi.

Lazio, the only team to havedefeated Juve in Serie A this season,were in front through Luis Albertoafter 16 minutes.

Paulo Dybala levelled just beforethe break after a shot from Ronaldowas parried into his path by Lazio’sAlbanian goalkeeper ThomasStrakosha.

Despite boasting the attacking tal-ents of Ronaldo, Dybala and GonzaloHiguain, it was the Roman side wholooked more likely the next to score.

Bosnian international Senad Lulicrestored Lazio’s advantage in the73rd minute with an impressive vol-ley. Danilo Cataldi added a third inthe fourth minute of stoppage timefrom a free kick after Juve’s Uruguayanmidfielder Rodrigo Bentancur hadbeen sent off.

Lazio had already defeated Juve3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico in SerieA two weeks ago — until Sunday thatwas the only defeat suffered byMaurizio Sarri in his time as coachof the Italian champions.

“We did something magical —to beat Juve twice in two weeks is

incredible,” Inzaghi told Rai Sport.“I think this was another

deserved victory for a strong teamthat always believed in our ideas.”

Their Serie A meeting in Romewas a world away from Sunday’s pro-ceedings in the King Saud UniversityStadium where women supporters

were allowed to attend.Ronaldo was the main reason the

fans came to watch and Juve obvious-ly took the occasion on board withtheir famed black and white shirtssporting Arabic designs.

“We are sorry we lost a trophy,but we still have many competitions

at stake in the next five months,” saidSarri.

“There is anger but crying overit does not solve the problems.” Juveare no strangers to Saudi Arabia hav-ing won the Super Cup in Jeddah inJanuary this year, beating AC Milan1-0.

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Real Madrid were left to ruea series of near misses

Sunday as they stumbled to a 0-0 home draw with AthleticBilbao, dropping two pointsadrift of Barcelona in a tightSpanish title race.

Real also drew 0-0 in mid-week at Barcelona but Sunday’sresult leaves Madrid on 37 pointsat the half-way stage of the sea-son, two points off Barcelonawho top the table on 39.

Toni Kroos hit the bar,Karim Benzema saw an effortcleared off the line with a back-heel and both Rodrygo andVincius Junior forced snap saveson a frustrating night forMadrid.

Real defender Eder Militaowas forced off after being pokedin the eye and his replacementNacho Fernandez also hit thjewoodwork.

Coach Zinedine Zidanebrought on Gareth Bale andLuka Jovic, but Madrid failed tofind a winner.

“It was neither bad lucknor complacency,” Zidane saidafter the game.

“There’s no reason to getdepressed about this, we need tokeep calm and keep our headsup.”

“We created lots of chancesand if we keep going then they’ll

start going in.“I feel sorry for the players.

It would have been nice for themto get more; three points fromthree games isn’t great.”

For Bilbao, Kenan Kodro’sthunderbolt shot was ruled outfor off-side in the first halfwhile the Santiago Bernabeulived on its nerves when Athleticflooded forward deep into addedtime with Asier Villalibre almostclinching a winer at the death.

Sevilla are third on 34 pointsafter their 2-0 win at RealMallorca.

Earlier Sunday Angel Correacame off the bench to score oneand make another as AtleticoMadrid climbed back into thetop four with a 2-1 win at RealBetis.

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What are the top elements whichmake the game of football so

interesting and appealing that evencountries like India, which isn’t apowerhouse in the sport and is farfrom Europe as well have such a hugefan base and passion for the sport?

Is it because of the presence ofstar players and the successful tacti-cians that the European footballattracts a majority of the world’s audi-ence or is it the club’s history and everso supportive passionate fans thatstand them out of the rest?

Well, some might argue on eitherof them being the top priority stuffbut one can’t disagree that it is thecompetitiveness in the sport and themedium through which it is present-ed that put it in a different context ofits own. After all who doesn’t wantto watch the cliffhanger where every-thing is possible until the final whis-tle is blown and even the bottom-placed team is capable enough to sur-

prise the top side.However over the last decade in

Europe, barring Premier League,where there’s has been a trend of newchampions every time, the competi-tion often looks limited and barringsome unexpected results in a coupleof games over the season, big teamslike Juventus, Bayern Munich, ParisSaint-Germain, Barcelona and RealMadrid have established supremacyin their respective league.

There is always a debate over

which league is the best in the worldor so among fans but in terms of theresults, the intensity, the charismaand the audience reception, PremierLeague by far has widely establisheditself as the most followed league inIndia and the proof of which is then number of fan clubs in the coun-try, majority of which belongs to thePremier League sides.

Speaking about what makesEnglish top-flight tournament sopopular and widely accepted in

India, Pushpdant, the vice-presidentof The Capital Blues which is ChelseaFC’s official representative group inDelhi says that it’s the competitive-ness of the Premier League whichmakes it far more interesting than anyother league in the world.

“I found the competitiveness ofthe league so interesting. Becauseeven when the lower teams play inthe competition the results of thatmatch even has a big say in the finaltally of the season which is differentfrom the other top leagues wherethere is a monopoly by a couple of bigteams,” he said.

“The physicality and technicali-ty have also enhanced. And there youcan see top managers, big qualityplayers, lots of money. So everythingis coming together and forming thebest league,” he added.

“In addition to all such there’srivalry, history, unique fan base andmost importantly tussle for singlepoints as well.”

The English top division games

are telecasted live on Star Sports Selectwhich is something according toPushpdant has turned out to be amajor factor in the rise of PL in India.

“Star Sports has played a big rolebecause they do air a lot of matcheswhen timings are the same and nowin Hotstar we can watch online aswell. Also, the fan shows, pre andpost-match analysis have made it eas-ier to reach.”

Over the years Premier Leaguehas seen the rise of many clubs frombeing the mid-table teams to becomethe dominant force in the tourna-ment, the prime example of which istwo times defending championManchester City, who hasn’t onlyestablished multiple records in thisdecade but also possess the likes ofone of the best managers in worldfootball in form of Pep Guardiola andthen to challenge him is the currentleague leaders Liverpool, whichunder Jurgen Klopp won UEFAChampions League, Super Cup andClub World Cup in 2019.

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Monegasque driver CharlesLeclerc confirmed on

Monday he has extended hiscontract with Ferrari until 2024.

“Extremely happy toannounce that I will be stayingwith Scuderia Ferrari for fivemore years,” the 22-year-oldsaid on Twitter.

The 22-year-old, who joinedFerrari in 2016, has impressedin his first season alongsidefour-time world championSebastian Vettel.

Leclerc had seven pole posi-tions and two wins at the Belgianand Italian Grand Prix.

“I’m so grateful to be drivingfor such a team,” said Leclerc.

“I’ve learnt so much duringthis first year with the team andit is a great starting point to builda strong relationship for theyears ahead.”

Leclerc came through the

Ferrari Driver Academy and isthe junior driver to GermanVettel, whose contract at Ferrariends after the 2020 season.

“With each passing racethis year, our wish to extend ourcontract with Charles becameever more self-evident and thedecision means he will now bewith us for the next five seasons,”said Ferrari team principalMattia Binotto.

“It demonstrates thatCharles and the Scuderia havea firm future together.

“Charles has been part ofour family since 2016 and we aremore than proud of the resultswe are achieving with ourAcademy.

“We are therefore verypleased to be able to announcethat he will be with us for manyyears to come and I’m sure thattogether, we will write many newpages in the history of thePrancing Horse.”

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Kim Clijsters, who retiredfor a second time in 2011,

confirmed on Monday thatshe will be making a comebackstarting in Mexico in March.

“A few more weeks ofpatience and I’ll be ready to go,”the Belgian four-time majorwinner said in a video postedon social media. “The absencehas been long enough.”

Clijsters first retired inMay 2007, before returning inAugust 2009 after giving birthto her first child.

The 36-year-old originallyplanned to return to competi-tion in time to play in Januaryat the Australian Open, aGrand Slam she won in 2011.But she was held up by a kneeinjury.

She said on Monday thatthe problem “wasn’t fullyhealed yet” but in “a few moreweeks... I’ll be ready to go”.

Clijsters indicated that sheplanned to return in Monterrey(March 2-8) and then play

Indian Wells (March 11-22)and Charleston (April 4-12).

Clijsters has twice won theIndian Wells tournament (2003and 2005).

She has 41 career titles,including three US Open(2005, 2009 and 2010) and oneAustralian Open. She turnedprofessional in 1997 andreached the world No 1 rank-ing the first time in 2003 andmost recently in February 2011during her first comeback.

��. Kylian Mbappe is putting himself for-ward for the French team at next summer’sTokyo Olympics, while adding that he wouldnot want to fight his club Paris Saint-Germainover participation.

“Playing in the Olympics, I don’t controleverything,” he told France Football magazine.“Of course I want to go, but if my club, whichis my employer, doesn’t want me to go, I won’tforce a clash.

“We’ll soon talk about it,” said the 21-year-old, who already has a World Cup winner’smedal.

Mbappe had already dropped an Olympichint when he responded to the French team’squalification in June with a ‘TOKYO 2020’tweet accompanied by a flashing emoticon anda French flag.

Olympic football at Tokyo, an under-23tournament with each side allowed three over-age players, runs from July 22 to August 8,which is also the scheduled date of the startof the French season. Mbappe is also due toplay for France at the Euros which run fromJune 12 to July 12.

The striker said he had discussed a pos-sible appearance at the Games with Francesenior coach Didier Deschamps.

“The coach was adamant that it wouldnever be to the detriment of the Euro,” Mbappesaid. “I reassured him by telling him that I alsowanted to play in the Euro, and he said: ‘Soit’s up to you to deal with the people it con-cerns’.

“If I don’t manage to go in 2020, I’ll stillhave 2024 left, in Paris,” Mbappe said. “I’d real-ly like to do the Olympics at least once in mycareer.” AFP

� ��

Pakistan celebrated the return ofTest cricket for the first time in

over 10 years with a convincing 263-run win over Sri Lanka in the sec-ond Test in Karachi on Monday,taking the series 1-0.

It took just 14 minutes and 16ball for Pakistan to wrap up the winon the fifth morning as they tookSri Lanka’s last three wickets with-out any addition to their overnight212.

Pakistan had set a daunting476-run target on Sunday andreduced the tourists to 212-7 at theclose.

Teenage quick bowler NaseemShah at 16 years and 307 daysbecame the second youngest bowlerto take five wickets in a Test inningsas he bowled an express spell to fin-ish with 5-31.

Fellow Pakistani and left-armspinner Nasim-ul-Ghani holds therecord and was just four daysyounger when he completed the featagainst the West Indies atGeorgetown in a 1957-58 series.

'A SPECIAL TALENT'Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali

thanked Sri Lanka for their part inallowing Test cricket to return.

“Special thanks to Sri Lankafrom the bottom of our hearts,” saidAzhar. “They have given usimmense happiness by playing inPakistan, it was pretty emotional.

“Naseem is a special talentand we can build on our bowlingattack in the years to come.”

Sri Lankan skipper DimuthKarunaratne praised Pakistan.

“We dominated the first twodays and then they batted very welland put pressure back on us andoutplayed us. We couldn’t buildpressure with the ball despite tak-

ing a lead of 80,” said Karunaratne.Pakistan turned the match on

its head with a huge second innings555-3 declared on Sunday, with 174from man-of-the match and man-of-the series Abid Ali, 135 fromShan Masood, 118 from Azhar and

100 not out from Babar Azam as thetop four all reached three figures.

The final day began in a dra-matic manner when Naseem dis-missed Lasit Embuldeniya off thefirst ball, catching his gloves on theway to wicketkeeper Mohammad

Rizwan.From

the other endleg-spinnerYasir Shah hadOshada Fernandocaught in the slip forhis overnight score of102 after a 180-ball knockthat contained 13 bound-aries.

Naseem wrapped upthe match by trappingVishwa Fernando with thefifth ball of the next over,triggering jubilationamong the Pakistan playerswho were all playing intheir first Test series athome.

It is Pakistan’s firstseries win at home againstSri Lanka since 1992.

The win lifts Pakistanto third in the World TestChampionship tablewith 80 points.Pakistan got 60 pointsfrom the win and 20from the first Testdraw.

India (360) andAustralia (216) arecurrently first andsecond.

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Senior pacer IshantSharma and veteran

opener ShikharDhawan will turn upfor the beleagueredDelhi side in their nextRanji Trophyencounter againstHyderabad startingtomorrow.

Ishant was givenrest for a couple ofRanji Trophy games

as a part of BCCI’s workload management pro-gramme and he will now try to get back into thegroove before the New Zealand Test tour.

As far as Dhawan is concerned, he had a deepgash on his knee while playing in the Syed SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy and had to get 25 stitches. Theleft-hander has now been declared fit by theNational Cricket Academy (NCA) and will getsome game-time before the international games.

“Ishant and Shikhar will be playing for Delhi.My colleague Sarandeep Singh will be watching thatmatch,” said Prasad, who is flying to Surat todayto watch Jasprit Bumrah’s comeback to competi-tive cricket.

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Afit-again Jasprit Bumrah willheadline India’s pace attack inthe limited-overs series

against Sri Lanka (T20) andAustralia (ODIs) in January nextyear while vice-captain RohitSharma was on Monday rested fromthe series versus the islanders.

Bumrah was out with a stressfracture but has now got the goahead of Indian team physio NitinPatel to play Gujarat’s next RanjiTrophy game in Surat. Senior open-er Shikhar Dhawan is also back inboth the squads, while pacerMohammed Shami got a break fromthe T20 series.

“Jasprit Bumrah is back in boththe teams for Sri Lanka and Australiaand we have rested Rohit Sharmaand Mohammed Shami for the SriLanka T20s. Shikhar Dhawan alsocomes back and Sanju Samson willbe the back-up opener in T20s,”chairman of selectors MSK Prasadtold reporters after squad selection.

India will take on Sri Lanka inthree T20 Internationals fromJanuary 5, followed by three ODIsagainst Australia from January 14.

However, it was bad news for thefast-rising Deepak Chahar, who hasaggravated his back injury and willbe out till the start of next year’s IPL.Is injury means that Navdeep Sainiwill continue to be in the squad.

“Against Australia, we have allthree openers available — Shikhar,Rohit and KL Rahul,” Prasad said.

Rohit has appeared in 47 match-es across formats this year, threemore than even skipper Virat Kohliand a break was long on the cards.

While talented opener PrithviShaw, back in the mix after servingan eight-month doping ban, will begoing to New Zealand with India A,there is still some time before HardikPandya recovers from his backsurgery.

“(As for) Hardik, we will have alook at him in the third week ofJanuary,” Prasad said, indicatingthat the all-rounder could only beavailable in the second half of NewZealand tour.

The tour comprising, five T20Internationals, three ODIs and twoTest matches, gets underway fromJanuary 24.

Prasad, however, was tight-lipped when asked if Mahendra

Singh Dhoni would be available forselection anytime soon.

“I can’t comment on that. Mahihas to first play to be available forselection,” said Prasad.

Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar isnursing a sports hernia and Chaharis out till April, but Prasad said thereis no cause of concern.

“Deepak was doing well as heplayed the Vijay Hazare Trophyand suddenly he aggravated hisback in the second ODI inVisakhapatnam,” he said.

Asked who will be the swingbowler, Prasad said the selectors arebanking on Shardul Thakur, whocan swing the ball at a decent pace.

“We have created enough backup and we have a good talent poolof fast bowlers. We also have Khaleel(Ahmed), who is playing RanjiTrophy and Navdeep (Saini) willreplace Shami in T20s,” he added.

SQUADST20Is against Sri Lanka: ViratKohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan,KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube,Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav,Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini,Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey,Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson.ODI vs Australia: Virat Kohli (cap-tain), Shikhar Dhawan, RohitSharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer,Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk),Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube,Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav,Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini,Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah.

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Seasoned South Africa pacerVernon Philander will retire

from international cricket follow-ing the upcoming Test seriesagainst England, announcedCricket South Africa on Monday.

Philander was an importantpart of the Proteas pace troika,comprising Dale Steyn andMorne Morkel, both of whomhave retired from Tests.

Philander, 34, mainly repre-sented South Africa inthe longest format,and has played 60Tests in compari-son to 30 ODIsand seven T20Is.He has taken 216wickets at an impressiveaverage of 22.16, including13 five-wicket hauls.

“Proteas all-rounderVernon Philander has calledtime on an exemplary inter-national career with theannouncement of his retire-ment from all forms of inter-national cricket at the end ofthe Test series against England

in January 2020,” read a tweetfrom the official handle of CricketSouth Africa.

Philander did not have thepace of Morkel and Steyn buttroubled the batsmen by swing-ing the ball both ways.

He also took a record-break-ing 51 wickets in his first sevenTest matches which earned himthe 2012 SA Cricketer of the Yearaccolade.

“One of the many thingsthat have stood out for me withVern is his character, his determi-nation and the way that he hasalways been up for a fight anda challenge has shown the heart

of the man,” said CSADirector of Cricket andhis former captainGraeme Smith.

“He has reallydone himself and hisfamily proud and Ihope he can finish hisfinal series for SouthAfrica with the samecharacter and flairthat has become syn-onymous with him,”

Smith added.

��

Two time World Cup winningformer India captain MS

Dhoni on Monday completed 15years in international cricket, amilestone that has come at a timewhen he is on a sabbatical fromthe game.

The dasher from Ranchi,who made his debut againstBangladesh under SouravGanguly’s captaincy in 2004, hasbeen one of country’s mostimpactful cricketers with 17266

runs across all formats for India.The 38-year-old wicketkeep-

er turned up for the country in350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20Internationals while affecting astaggering 829 dismissals behindthe stumps.

His career is studded withseveral milestones including lead-ing India to victory in the 2011World Cup where finished thematch with a six to help the Menin Blue lift the coveted trophy.

Under Dhoni India trans-formed into one of the most suc-cessful limited-overs sides inworld cricket and he is the onlyIndian captain to have won all thethree major ICC trophies — theWorld Cup in 2011, the T20World Cup in 2007, theChampions Trophy in 2013. Healso led Team India to the num-ber one spot in ICC Rankings inTest and ODIs.

He also led his IPL franchiseChennai Super Kings to threetitles and two Champions LeagueTwenty victories.

However, the past fewmonths have been marred byspeculations of his retirement.

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England fast bowlersStuart Broad and Jofra

Archer bowled at full pacein the nets on Monday, rais-ing hopes that they wouldboth be fit for the first Testagainst South Africa, start-

ing at SuperSport Park onThursday.

“They’re exactly wherewe hoped they would be,”said England coach ChrisSilverwood, who said bothbowlers would be consid-ered for selection if theycontinued to make progress.

Broad, Archer and left-arm spinner Jack Leachhave yet to bowl in a matchsituation on the tour afterfalling ill and missing boththe touring team’s warm-upmatch.

Leach also bowled inthe nets but may miss outon selection if Englanddecide to field an all-seamattack on a ground whichhas not been receptive tospin in recent years.

Broad and Archer bothbowled five overs at full pacein an optional practiceattended by the three recov-ering bowlers as well asCraig Overton and DomBess, who arrived in SouthAfrica on Saturday to be onstandby in case the original-ly-selected players were notfit.

Silverwood said he didnot believe it would be agamble to pick Broad andArcher, provided they camethrough the next two daysin good health.

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Not being able to win the ODI World Cupis Rohit Sharma’s sole regret in a phe-

nomenal 2019 during which he “understood”his batting better than ever.

This was also the year when Rohit redis-covered himself as a Test opener with a fab-ulous series against South Africa.

“Extremely grateful for the year I havehad. A World Cup victory would have beennice but as a team, throughout the year,whether red ball or white ball cricket, theteam came together really well,” said Rohit,who won another Man of the Series awardfor his aggregate of 258 runs in three ODIsagainst the West Indies.

“Personally, I have enjoyed batting, butthere’s no way I’m stopping. There’s an excit-ing year coming up,” Kohli’s deputy sound-ed upbeat about 2020 when India travel toplay a challenging Test series against NewZealand first up.

With a record five centuries in the WorldCup and a double century on ‘Test openingdebut’, Rohit is in a happy space right now.

“I understand my batting really well. Iwant to play within my limits, knowing thegameplan you want to execute is veryimportant.”

He acknowledged that there are chal-lenges ahead but the team is confident of win-ning games and staying on top of the table.

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The unbeaten 39 ina high-scoring

series-decider earnedhim plaudits but forIndia all-rounderRavindra Jadeja, it wasmore about proving apoint to himself ratherthan the world that heis still a good enoughplayer in limited-oversformat.

Jadeja wasn’t a reg-ular part of the white-ball set-up but cameinto the scheme ofthings closer to theODI World Cup inEngland. After formerIndia cricketer-turned-commentator SanjayManjrekar termed him a ‘bits and pieces’ player henearly pulled it off for India in the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand with a brilliant 77 off 59balls.

“I needed to prove to myself that I am still capa-ble of playing limited-overs cricket. I need not proveto anybody else in the world, just needed to proveto myself,” the 31-year-old said after he played a cru-cial knock in India’s successful 316-run chase in thethird ODI.

“It was a very crucial innings as it came in aseries-decider. The wicket was so good to bat on,we could just played with singles. We just neededto play according to the merit of the ball.

“I didn’t play too much ODI cricket (this year).I tried and gave my best be it in bowling, batting orfielding whenever I got an opportunity,” Jadeja, whoplayed 15 of India’s 28 ODI matches this year, said.

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The in-form Prithvi Shaw onMonday took another step

towards an India comeback afterbeing named in the A squad for thetour of New Zealand.

The 20-year-old has beennamed in the squad for three one-day games as well two four-daygames.

Shaw has been in sublime

touch since returning from aneight-month doping ban lastmonth. The youngster made aspectacular double hundred inMumbai’s Ranji Trophy-openeragainst Baroda.

Though India have a settledopening pair in Rohit Sharma andMayank Agawal, Shaw could makethe Test squad for the New Zealandseries as a reserve opener.

After picking the India A squadfor the tour of New Zealand, selec-tion committee chairman MSKPrasad made it clear that theywant Shaw to get as much “gametime as possible”.

Hanuma Vihari will captainIndia in the first-class games in NewZealand and Shubman Gill in the50-over format.

Test specialists like R Ashwin,Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav andIshant Sharma will get much need-ed match time in New Zealandahead of the two-Test series, begin-ning in Wellington on February 21.The second Test will be played inChristchurch from February 29.

Agarwal has been picked forboth one-dayers as well the twofour-day matches.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya,who has been recovering from hisback surgery, has been named in theone-day squad and is expected tomake a national comeback duringthe tour of New Zealand.

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Aspecialist will be employed tohelp embattled India cricketer

Rishabh Pant improve his wicket-keeping skills, chief selector MSKPrasad said here on Monday.

Not long ago, Pant had workedunder former India keeper KiranMore, seeking to improve his glove-work.

The 22-year-old was slammedby fans for spilling a few chances inthe third and final ODI against WestIndies.

“Pant needs to improve his

keeping skills. We will have himwork under a specialist wicket-keep-ing coach,” Prasad told reporters.

While he has received unflinch-ing backing from the team manage-ment, it has come to the conclusionthat Pant needs special attention.

Pant has also be criticised for hisfailure to perform consistently at thetop level.

Home crowds chanted MSDhoni’s name when Pant had anordinary outing behind the wicketsin the recently-concluded seriesagainst Bangladesh and the WestIndies.

Pant, though, also found sup-port from some quarters, includingthe legendary Brian Lara.

“As a 21 (22) year-old, RishabhPant has a lot of unnecessary pres-sure. When I was 21, I did not havethat much pressure. I was sittingdown on the bench... You know...Cleaning Sir Vivian Richard’s bootsor doing something... Getting readyto play international cricket,” Larahad said.

“I think the burden is unneces-sary. He should be allowed to playand allowed to express himself.Don’t feel it’s a do-or-die situation.

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India skipper ViratKohli and his limited

overs deputy RohitSharma will end 2019 asnumber one and two inthe ICC ODI rankingsfor batsmen, havingmaintained their placesfollowing a fine showingagainst the West Indies.

Kohli amassed 2455runs across formatswhile Rohit aggregated2442 runs. Rohit alsosmashed as many as fivehundreds in the WorldCup.

Other Indian bats-men, Lokesh Rahul andShreyas Iyer, have madenotable gains in therankings. Rahul’s 185runs in the series havelifted him 17 places to71st place while Iyer’s130-run aggregate seeshim move from 104th to81st.

West Indies openerShai Hope has enteredthe top 10 after showingfine form in the three-match series in India.

The wicketkeeper-batsman has gained fiveplaces to reach ninthposition after scoring222 runs in the series,including an unbeaten102 in the openingmatch in Chennai,which his side wonbefore going down inVisakhapatnam andCuttack.

Also moving up inthe batting rankings arehis teammates ShimronHetmyer (up six placesto 19th) and NicholasPooran (up 33 places to30th). Fast bowlersSheldon Cottrell (up sixplaces to 30th) andKeemo Paul (up 35places to 104th) havealso gained in the latestrankings update.

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“Even in the red ball format, against SouthAfrica, it was going to be challenging. Oncewe start travelling, we want to win games andstay on top of the table.”

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��#��$��. BCCI presi-dent Sourav Gangulysays Ravindra Jadeja’simproved batting will bevery important for theIndian team going intothe future after the all-rounder played a crucialcameo in the third ODI.

“Another win@bcci... Congratulations..Good performances withthe bat in a pressuregame.. Jadeja’s improve-ment with the bat soimportant ...” Gangulytweeted. PTI

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