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1Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019

Voice of South Asian Community Since March 2002

Vol. 16 Issue 06 Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 $ 1 www.thesouthasianinsider.com

Trump hails US militaryin 4th of July address

Is this the end of the Gandhi dynasty?

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Congress faces uncertainty after Rahul Gandhi's exit as party chief

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2Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 TRI STATE COMMUNITY

Tirlok Malik Launches Happy LifeYoga, A New Educational Platform(Our Staff Reporter) In honor of InternationalYoga Day 2019, HAPPY LIFE YOGAlaunched on June 29th. In a packedauditorium at the Goddard Riverside'sBernie Wohl Center, the curtain raiser event

for this educational platform wasinaugurated by New York Deputy ConsulGeneral of India Shatrughna Sinha.Manhattan Borough President Gale A.Brewer, who was the Chief Guest,participated in the workshop and spoke insupport of the initiative. Many other VIPswere in attendance as well. The event washosted by The Indian Panorama and IndianAmerican Forum. HAPPY LIFE YOGA isthe creation of Tirlok Malik and theAyurveda Cafe team. Tirlok Malik is arestaurateur, happy lifestyle speaker, New

York Emmy Nominated Filmmaker, and aproud Upper Westsider. He has promotedAyurveda on the Upper West Side for thelast 20 years and now he and the teambring you the gifts of India through HAPPY

LIFE YOGA. This intriguing,interactive, and entertainingexperience included a paneldiscussion on topics such as how touse Ayurveda in every day life, theplace of Western Medicine in holisticwellness, and the benefits of Yoga.Speakers included the esteemed Dr.Bhupendra Patel, M.D., Ayurvedic Dr.Bhaswati Bhattacharya, and LongIsland yoga teacher Ranju Narang.HAPPY LIFE YOGA is the yoga oflife. This educational platform offersa unique holistic approach to healthand happiness using tools fromAyurveda, Indian Philosophy, and

Yoga to help better manage modern daychallenges such as work, finances,relationships, family and other socialpressures and ultimately guides youtowards a happier life. Tirlok Malik believesIndia has always been a spiritual teacherof the world and that Indian Philosophyprovides the blueprint of how to live ahappy life. Indian Philosophy teaches thatwe must practice balance in all four aimsof human life: Artha, Dharma, Kama andMoksha. These philosophical conceptscan be applied to all cultures.

3Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 SPECIAL FEATURE

The greatest show on EarthU.S. celebrates Fourth of July with spectacular fireworks as

nation marks 236 years of independence

(News Agencies)- Americans welcomed236 years of independence in spectacularstyle on Wednesday with dazzlingdisplays of fireworks held across thecountry.Though many of the festivities werecancelled or scaled down due to weather-related power outages and wildfireconcerns, it was business as usual inNew York as the Manhattan skyline waslit up to the delight of the thousands wholined teh streets and millions watchingat home.Despite a day-long heat warning,thousands of revellers flocked toManhattan’s west side to view theincredible Macy’s fireworks display,where a feat of pyrotechnics erupted overthe Hudson River.Meanwhile, millions at home watchedKaty Perry give a star-spangledperformance in the Brooklyn Navy Yard,donning her uniform of a purple ponytailand an American flag mini-dress andsinging the aptly named hit Firework.Country music sensation Kenny Chesneyalso performed.Both performances were pre-recorded soas to avoid any snafus with inclementweather. The night’s events were MC’dby none other than Regis Philbin, whohas been in retirement from Live WithRegis and Kelly. Crowds lined up earlyin the day along FDR Drive on

Manhattan’s west side, despite a heatadvisory and the promise ofthunderstorms. But the weather held fast,and by sundown, temperatures were downto a cooler 86 degrees.

Viewers along 12th Avenuewitnessed as 40,000 fireworks in 15dazzling colours and 30 separate shapesfil led the sky in the half-hourspectacular.But the storms had to gosomewhere, and headed north to Boston.According to CBS Boston, the Esplanadewas evacuated during the annual BostonPops Fireworks Spectacular due tosevere thunderstorms. Jennifer Hudsonwas among those performing. The stationnotes that people were evacuated rightbefore the 1812 Overture.

Hundreds of thousands from theMidwest to the Mid-Atlantic are spendingthe Fourth of July like America’s foundersdid in 1776: Without the conveniencesof electricity and air conditioning.fireworks on the National Mall inWashington are planned to go forward,and in New York City, huge crowds linedthe Hudson River to view the 36th annualMacy’s fireworks show.

In the nation’s capital, fireworksbegan shortly after 9pm on the WestLawn. Entertainment was provided byMatthew Broderick, who performed twosongs from the Broadway musical NiceWork If You Can Get It with Tony-

nominated actress KeliO’Hara. It was a mix ofpop and classical inWashington, as theNational SymphonyOrchestra entertainedwith American classicslike Tchaikovsky’s 1812Overture with livecannon fire.InPhiladelphia, a dazzlingfireworks show followeda 5,000-participant parade.

Singer Lauryn Hill performeddays after pleading guilty to tax evasion,and the Roots also gave a rousingperformance. Also performing wereQueen Latifah, Common, and Joe Jonasof the Jonas Brothers. Following theperformances, fireworks were launchedover the Philadelphia Museum of Art.president Obama marked the Fourth ofJuly by thanking service members andtheir families, who he said 'represent whatis best in America.' The president,accompanied by first lady MichelleObama, hosted a barbecue and concertWednesday for the families on the WhiteHouse South Lawn. Mr Obama saluted'this generation of heroes' for their serviceand sacrifice to defend Americanfreedoms, specifically thanking them forbringing Osama bin Laden to justice andworking to get out of Afghanistan. He said

the nation 'will always be there for you,just as you've been there for us.' He saidit was his promise, and America'spromise.

Afterward, the Obamas shookhands and posed for pictures with eagervisitors. The U.S. Marine Band andcountry singer Brad Paisley performed.Presumpt ive GOP pres ident ia lcandidate Mitt Romney has spentmost of the week off the campaign trailwith his family in in Wolfeboro, NewHampshire, but took time Wednesdayto march in the town's Fourth of Julyparade. He was joined by his wife Ann;the two o f them were seenparticipating in the parade, riding introlleys, and greeting the crowds. Theformer Massachusetts governor has beenon vacation at his lake house -estimatedto be worth over $10million - for the betterpart of the week.

4Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 FROM FRONT PAGE

(SAI Bureau) New Delhi:Uncertainty stares at theCongress with Rahul Gandhiquitting as president of the partywhich is struggling to get backon its feet fol lowing twosuccessive Lok Sabha electiondefeats.

With assembly elections tostates l ike Maharashtra,Jharkhand and Delhiapproaching, many in the partyfeel the Congress has beenthrust in a "blind spot" due tothe leadership crisis.

Polit ical commentators,however, say the step will augurwell for the grand old party thatneeds to reinvent itself andpresent a clear vision before thepublic to again emerge as acredible alternative.

The Congress party's futurewould be chalked out at themeeting of the CongressWorking Committee, the highestdecision making body of theparty, which is likely to meetearly next week.

The names of seniorCongress leaders SushilkumarShinde, Mallikarjun Kharge,Ashok Gehlot and Motilal Vorawere doing the rounds aspossible candidates for the partypresident's post, but a decisionwould be made only after themeeting of the CWC.

Rahul Gandhi has resignedas leader of India's mainopposition Congress party,ending weeks of speculation.

In his resignation letter,which he tweeted onWednesday, he tookresponsibility for the party'sdefeat in the recent generalelection.

He had already announcedhis intention to resign, but partyleaders had hoped to changehis mind.

Mr Gandhi's father,grandmother and greatgrandfather were all former primeministers.

In the letter he added thatwhile he had no "hatred or anger"towards India's ruling BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), "every livingcell in my body instinctivelyresists their idea of India" whichhe said was based ondifferences and hatred.

He also called theimpartiality of the election intoquestion, saying that "we didn'tfight a political party... we foughtthe entire machinery of the Indianstate".

The BJP led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi stormedto victory in the election, winninga massive mandate.

The scale of victory stunnedthe opposition and pundits, who

were expecting a much closerrace.

Mr Gandhi was also the faceof Congress when it suffered itsworst defeat in 2014, winningjust 44 of India's 543 seats. Thisyear it did marginally better with52 seats, but many still calledit a "humiliating performance".

Mr Gandhi also lost his ownseat in his family constituencyof Amethi in the northern stateof Uttar Pradesh, though he isstill a MP because he won asecond seat in the southernstate of Kerala. Since it cameto power, the BJP has beenaccused of targeting minoritiesand weakening state institutionsunder Mr Modi's powerfulleadership. It has consistentlydismissed such allegations.

Mr Gandhi's letter has madeheadlines across the countryand #RahulGandhi has beguntrending on Twitter in India.

The tweets range fromsadness and anger at hisdecision to outright mockery.Others have begun wonderingwhat this could mean for thefuture of the Congress party.

"The Congress faces anexistential crisis in the absenceof clear leadership and such asituation does not bode well forthe party which faces assemblyelections in three states just afew months later," said a partyleader. Another veteranCongress leader said the partycan remain united only underthe Gandhi family umbrella andif anyone outside the familyleads the party, i t wouldincrease dissensions.

Political commentatorSushila Ramaswamy, whoteaches in Delhi University, saidthe Congress party should comeout of the Gandhi family'sshadow.

"To think that without theGandhi family, the party cannothold ground is unacceptable.Everyone has the right to go tothe top and it seemed that theCongress was currently undermonarchic rule. All this is badand does not augur well for theoldest political party in thecountry," she said.

Director Sanjay Kumar ofCSDS said it is not fair to thinkthat the Congress will face acrisis if the party president is notfrom the Gandhi family.

"The party might get a newform with his resignation. He

should continue to remain activein the party, which will help himemerge as a popular leader infuture.

"It is hoped that theCongress accepts the newleader who might give newshape to the party's future," hesaid.

However, Ramaswamy saidthe entire Gandhi family shouldstep aside and bring in newleadership.

"People get fed up of seeingthe same faces in a democracyand alternatives need to be givenjust as in other evolveddemocracies in the world," shesaid.

She also lauded RahulGandhi for taking the initiativeand allowing the party toreinvent itself.

"Nothing lasts forever, let itreinvent i tself. I t is notacceptable in a true democraticset up. The party will have toinvent itself if it has to come upas an alternative.

"They should realise thatcoalitions have been rejected bythe electorate in the country anda party should have a clearvision and leadership for it toemerge as a credible alternativeto the ruling party. This will alsohelp to keep the ruling party incheck," Ramaswamy said.

She said the Congressshould show that it is better thanthe ruling party to emerge as acredible alternative.

"In fact, even Sonia Gandhishould step down as leader ofthe Congress ParliamentaryParty and pave the space forsomebody else to take over. Theentire Gandhi family should stepaside and bring in newleadership," she said.

The political analyst said theCongress party should havereinvented itself periodically, butit has not happened.

It is late, but should be done,she said and added RahulGandhi should be given credit bythe party that he has "seen thewriting on the wall and steppedaside".

Rahul Gandhi: Is this theend of the Gandhi dynasty?

On Thursday when IndianPM Narendra Modi won alandslide victory in the Indianelections, Rahul Gandhi, thescion of the Nehru-Gandhidynasty and leader of India'sCongress party, emerged at the

other end, battered and mauled.He is the primary heir to the

ultimate political dynasty. Hisgreat-grandfather, JawaharlalNehru, was the first and longest-serving prime minister of India.His grandmother, Indira Gandhi,was the first female primeminister of the country, and hisfather was India's youngestprime minister.

If the 2014 election wasCongress' worst polit icalshowing ever, Thursday's polldelivered a double blow to MrGandhi. Congress won just over50 seats against the 300 plusthat Mr Modi's BJP got; and ifthat was not bad enough, helost his own seat in the familybastion of Amethi in UttarPradesh.

He wil l st i l l sit in theparliament though because thistime he contested from asecond seat - Wayanad inKerala - which he won.

However, Amethi was aprestige battle. It was the seatfrom where both his parents -Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi - hadcontested and won and hehimself had held it for the past15 years. Even an emotionalletter delivered to every housein Amethi - addressed to "MeraAmethi Parivar" - was notenough to spare him a ballot boxhumiliation at the hands of theBJP's Smriti Irani, a high profileactress-turned-politician.

It sits in the heart of UttarPradesh - India's mostpopulous state - which isconsidered the ground zero ofpolitics. It's generally believedthat whoever wins the staterules the country.

Eight of 14 Indian primeministers - including MrGandhi's great grandfather,grandmother and father - werefrom the state, which elects thelargest number of MPs - 80 outof a 545-member lower house.Even Narendra Modi, who isoriginally from Gujarat, choseUttar Pradesh to make his debutas an MP in 2014 when hecontested from the ancient cityof Varanasi.

Not many were expecting anoutright win for the Congress,but they were definitely expectedto do better than 2014. That'swhy Thursday's results havestunned many inside andoutside the party. Congressmay limp on in parliament, but

Is this the end of the Gandhi dynasty?Congress faces uncertainty after Rahul Gandhi's exit as party chief

With assembly elections approaching many in the party feel the Congress has been thrust in a "blind spot" due to the leadership crisisThe Congress party's future would be chalked out at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee which is likely to meet early next week

5Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019

the question many people are asking isif this means the Gandhi era is over - orwhether it should be ended to revive theparty's fortunes.

On Thursday evening, Mr Gandhiaddressed a press conference in Delhiwhere he conceded the election to MrModi, saying the people had given theirmandate and chosen the BJP. He alsotook full responsibility for the Congressparty's defeat.

And even though counting was notover in Amethi with more than 300,000votes yet to be counted, he concededthe constituency to Smriti Irani.

"I want to congratulate her. She haswon, it's a democracy and I respect thedecision of people," he said.

Refusing to give further details aboutthe Congress performance or whatwould come next, Mr Gandhi said itwould all be discussed in the meetingof the Congress Working Committee, theparty's top decision-making body.

He also told the Congress workers,the ones who lost and the ones who won,not to lose hope. "There is no need tobe afraid. We will continue to work hardand we will eventually win."

But at the Congress off ice inLucknow, the future victory that MrGandhi promised seemed like a distantdream to the handful of despondent partyworkers, glued to a TV screen, watchingthe bloodbath unfold as several partyveterans lost their seats.

"Our credibility is very low. Peoplehave no faith in our promises. They arenot trusting what we are saying," oneparty official who didn't want to be namedtold me.

"Mr Modi fai led to fulf i l thecommitments he made, but people stillbelieve him."

I ask him why?"Even we can't understand why!" he

says.The dismal performance of the

Congress is bound to raise questionsover Mr Gandhi's leadership and manyanalysts are already calling for achange, demanding that he step downfrom the top party post. But all such

calls, like in the past, have come fromoutside the party and are likely to berejected by its leadership.

As rumors swirled around Delhi thatMr Gandhi had offered to quit, Congresspolitician Mani Shankar Aiyar told BBCHindi that "Congress will not questionits leadership and [will] not accept MrGandhi's resignation were he to offer it".

He added that the leadership was notthe reason for the party's resoundingdefeat. "It's the other reasons we needto work on," he said.

A local party spokesman in Lucknow,Brijendra Kumar Singh, explained that,in their view, the problem was not withGandhi power, but with party infightingand poor campaign choices.

"There are weaknesses in the partystructure, there's infighting within theranks, we were late getting off theground with our campaign, and ourattempts - though unsuccessful - to jointhe alliance of regional parties in UttarPradesh and Bihar were a bad idea."

Congress leadership is - so far - notlaying this defeat at the feet of MrGandhi, but in the organisation andcampaign strategy of the party as awhole.

Many Congress analysts mightprivately admit that Rahul Gandhi wason the losing side of an unwinnablepersonality contest. The biggestroadblock in their way, everyone agrees,was "Brand Modi".

"Even though the prime ministerfailed to fulfil the promises he made inthe last election, he's still able toconvince people about the policies of hisgovernment," Mr Singh says.

This is not the first time Mr Gandhihas received such a battering at MrModi's hands - he was all but written offafter the party's worst ever performancein the 2014 elections when they wononly 44 seats.

Subsequently, the party also lostseveral state elections and Mr Gandhiwas criticized for being "remote andinaccessible" and was ridiculed onsocial media as a bumbling, cluelessleader prone to gaffes.

He was also criticized by many forhis dynastic links to the Nehru-Gandhifamily and PM Modi, who comes from ahumble background, has repeatedly saidthat Mr Gandhi had risen to the top noton merit, but because of familyconnections.

In private conversations, partyworkers describe Mr Gandhi as a"simple" man who lacks the "wilinessand cunning of his rival". So is this seenas a failure of the man or the Gandhibrand?

The illustrious family name has lostsome sheen in recent years, especiallywith urban voters and the aspirationalyouth for whom the contributions ofNehru and Indira are things thathappened in the distant past, and areno longer relevant to them.

Their reference point is more recent- the 10 years of the Congress rule from2004 to 2014 when the government wasmired in controversies and corruption.Thursday's mauling shows that voterconfidence in Congress is still low andMr Gandhi failed to sell his vision tothem.

Gandhis rebornBut the party machinery does not

blame him or his name for their loss.One party worker suggested what MrGandhi needs is an "Amit Shah" - areference to the BJP party presidentwho's helped craft Mr Modi's winningstrategy and has been given credit forthe party's victory - first in Gujarat andnow in Delhi.

It's unlikely that they will blame MrGandhi - at least openly - for the debacle.If the past is any indication, they willrally behind him.

In the past two years Mr Gandhi'scareer graph had also begun to improve:he'd emerged from the shadows and waswearing his political skin with moreease. His social media campaignsbecame smarter and he began arguingconvincingly about the government'scontroversial currency ban, a lack ofemployment opportunities, growingintolerance in the country and theslowdown in the economy.

He was increasingly seen as settingthe agenda with a combative campaignand in December when he led theCongress to victory in important stateelections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh, many said he hadbrought the party back into thereckoning. And then in February, whenhis charismatic sister Priyanka Gandhijoined him in Uttar Pradesh, it seemedlike the Gandhis were on to something.

here has long been a school ofthought among some Congressenthusiasts that Priyanka might be theGandhi to save the political dynasty. Forwhatever reason, she has been reluctantto take on that mantle. The siblings arebelieved to be close and it is unlikelyshe will be part of any plan that wouldsee him pushed out. But she may welltake on a bigger role in working with andsupporting him.

In the end, this is being seen inCongress as a broad failure of partyvision, an inability to connect with anIndia that Mr Modi has both defined andtaken the pulse of.

"If you look at our manifesto, it's thebest. The policies we had announced,the promises we made were top notch.But what we had hoped for from thevoters, the support we had hoped for,that didn't happen," says state partyofficial Virendra Madan.

Mr Madan says the party leadershipin Delhi - as well as the state level - willhold meetings in the next few days tofigure out what went wrong. "It's time forsoul searching. To assess where wewent wrong."

But, he says, that no matter howdecisive the election result, there's noquestion of the party not standing by itsleadership.

"It's not just Mr Gandhi who has lost.Lots of other leaders also did not win.And elections come and go, you winsome and you lose some. Rememberin 1984, BJP was down to just twoseats? Didn't they make a comeback?We will also come back," he says.

FROM FRONT PAGE

6Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 EDITORIAL

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Blue State Blues: Trump's Fourth of JulySpeech Was Patriotism over Politics

Pay heed to the PM's message

President Donald Trump did more thandefy his critics with his memorable Fourthof July address from the LincolnMemorial on Thursday evening.He likely established what will becomean annual tradition - one laterpresidents, decades from now, willcontinue to observe.And he gave theAmerican people the tribute that we havelong deserved, but which we havesomehow been unable, until now, to giveourselves, too afraid to pass along to thenext generation.The president'sopponents said that his revamped Fourthof July celebrations smacked ofauthoritarianism. They said that theceremonial use of tanks in a parade, aswell as the flyovers from every branch ofthe U.S. armed forces, were somehowun-American - even though they hadcertainly been used before.They said it was the height of narcissismfor Trump to deliver a speech onIndependence Day, that he would beturning the day into campaigncommercial.Former vice president JoeBiden said, prior to the speech, that theevent had been "designed more to strokeTrump's ego than celebrate Americanideals." (This from a politician who servedunder Barack Obama, who not onlymade virtually every speech abouthimself, but dared to re-design thepresidential seal in his own image.)Biden could not have been more wrong.Trump's speech was all about thecountry - its heroes, its people, and itsdemocratic ideals. Trump, in the rain,addressed the nation and re-told theheroic story of its founding. "With a

single sheet of parchment, and 56signatures, America began thegreatest political journey in humanhistory," Trump said, recalling thebattles that followed to secure thefreedom for which the Founders hadfought. He went on to tell the story ofAmerican success - not just in politicsand war, but also in science, medicine,technology, industry, exploration,culture, and civil rights. Trump boldlyspoke the truths that have beensuppressed in our media and on ourcampuses. His speech was not onlymoving, but necessary. The history herelated, and the achievements hecelebrated, are unknown to ageneration raised to see our countryas flawed, if not evil. The New YorkTimes declares today that Americais not the "greatest," but "just OK";Vice tells readers America "hasalways been bad." That is the newpoisonous or thodoxy; Trumpprovided the antidote. More thanthat, Trump celebrated the ordinarypeople who constantly renew ourcount ry 's potent ia l . Heacknowledged T ina "Angel "Belcher, who "turns her tiny kitcheninto a disaster relief center" forhurricane victims; he thanked SisterDeidre Byrne for a id ing thewounded on September 11, 2001;he honored Clarence Henderson,who led the historic sit-in at theWoolwor th 's lunch counter inGreensboro, North Carolina, in1960; he a lso pra ised thesuffragette movement.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modispoke to the newly-elected Members ofParliament from the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) on Tuesday, he sent out astern message. Just last week, AkashVijayvargiya -- a MLA in Madhya Pradesh,and the son of the influential party generalsecretary and West Bengal in-charge,Kailash Vijayvargiya -- was captured oncamera hitting an Indore municipal officialwith a bat. He was unrepentant, andsupporters lauded him as a hero. But thePM was not happy. And he made it clearat the parliamentary party meeting, linkingthe incident to the larger issues of partydiscipline, civil behaviour, and the needto meet responsibilities.Mr Modi made three categorical points.On the Indore incident itself, he said thiskind of behaviour was unacceptable; itdeserved the harshest condemnation, andthe lineage of the person committing theact did not matter. He even hinted atdisciplinary action. Two, Mr Modi had amessage for the party workers whocheered Mr Vijayvargiya on. The PMemphasised that if a mistake had beenmade, it needed to be accompanied withregret rather than jubilation. Three, MrModi went beyond the incident to remindthe MPs of their own duties. During thefirst session of the 17th Lok Sabha, manyparty MPs skipped parliamentaryproceedings -- this, Modi said, pained him

deeply. And he told them that this kindof behaviour would be counterproductive, for ministerial selection isdone on the basis of merit, whereperformance in parliament is aparameter.Mr Modi's speech must be seen alongwith his first address toparliamentarians of the NationalDemocratic Alliance when he waselected the leader of the coalition soonafter the results. Then, he highlightedthe need for responsible behaviour,warned against brash utterances, andtold the MPs to avoid getting enmeshedwith murky power dealings in Delhi. Puttogether, it is clear that the PM doesnot want a repeat of some of themistakes committed by the party rankand file during his first term in office.Given the huge mandate the BJP haswon this time, there is a real danger ofarrogance seeping in. The election waswon on Mr Modi's name. And he isacutely aware that any misbehaviourwill reflect poorly on his leadership. Thefact that he is investing political capitalin instilling a sense of discipline in theparty is laudable. But warningsthemselves are not enough. Modi mustwalk the talk and ensure action whenredlines are crossed -- be it in cases ofviolent behaviour or provocative speech-- for that will be the big deterrent.

Gandhi departs but uncertaintyin the Congress persists

Rahul Gandhi formally announced hisresignation publicly as the president ofthe Congress on Wednesday. In a farewellnote, posted on Twitter, Mr Gandhi saidthat he is stepping down, takingresponsibility for the party's loss in the2019 Lok Sabha elections. He had, soonafter the polls, told the Congress WorkingCommittee of his intent to resign. But theCWC passed a resolutionurging him to stay on.Other Congress leadershave tried hard to persuadehim to change his mind,but Mr Gandhi has stayedfirm.Opting out of partypresidency is Mr Gandhi'scall. But what is disturbingin the note is a reluctance to introspect,candidly, about the reasons for theelectoral loss. He seems to suggest thatvictory of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) is a result of (only) misuse ofinstitutions and tremendous financialresources. This newspaper has beencritical of the Election Commission'sconduct during the polls. But it is hard todeny that the election outcome reflectedthe deep faith a large section of the

electorate had in Narendra Modi; thesuccess of his welfare schemes andnarrative of nationalism; the inability ofthe opposition to mount a counternarrative that resonated with citizens andits organisational hollowness andoutmoded categories of politics. Theseare the areas the Congress will have towork on if it wants to mount a challenge.

A wrong diagnosis willnot lead to the correctprescription.Mr Gandhi can have hisassessment of what hesees as the dangers ofthe BJP's rule - but thenshould he not have ledfrom the front? It is alsonot clear what Mr

Gandhi's role will be in the future partyset up. He makes it clear that he willcontinue to fight for his idea of India asa soldier of the Congress. But given hispre-eminent status - even without aformal office - will it not result in theemergence of multiple power centres inthe party? The resignation may haveended one phase in Congress' turbulentpolitics, but the next phase may well bemore challenging.

7Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 OP-ED

Trump and Kim have opened a door on North KoreaThe roller coaster thatpasses for the diplomaticnegotiations between theUnited States and NorthKorea is moving again.President Donald Trumpand his North Koreancounterpart, Kim Jong-un, agreed to restartnegotiations. Summitrywith President Trump hasa large similarity toquantum uncertainty. Themeeting of the two inSingapore went well; theirlast meeting in Hanoi wasa disaster. Mr Trump haskicked off this round,becoming the first servingUS president to set footon North Korean soil.Mr Trump deserves somecredit for his unorthodox

diplomacy. The traditionalprocess of protractednegotiations and involvingfour other countries hadaccomplished nothing foryears. Mr Kim, on theother hand, was notprepared to accept thestatus quo. Hisprovocations during thespring of last year -personally abusing MrTrump, threatening to firemissiles at the US - ledmany in Northeast Asia tobelieve war was imminent.But the North Koreanleader's out-of-the-boxways seem to haveconverged with Mr Trump'sdislike for the establishedway of doing things andconfidence in his own

personal charm.The Hanoi summit failedbecause Mr Trumpdemanded North Koreacommit to denuclearisationbefore the US would liftsanctions. Mr Kim,unsurprisingly, rejected theoffer. Presumably, the twosides will now movetowards making calibratedsets of concessions,though the fundamentaldifference over what a"denuclearised" NorthKorea remains. This is notdissimilar to whatconventional negotiationswould have looked like. Butthis remains diplomacyfrom the top and bothleaders should be carefulto not let the process

And they need to keep it ajar for enough time for a real road map to be drafted

Amit Shah brings a new perspective on KashmirBut the state needs a combination

of development and justiceOver the past week, bothhouses of Parliament havewitnessed a spirited,robust debate on Jammuand Kashmir. The contextwas the decision to extendPresident's Rule in thestate by six more months(which needed legislativesanction) and theextension of reservationsto citizens living near theinternational border in thestate. But this became anopportunity for a widerdebate on the particularsituation in Jammu andKashmir - its history; itsrelationship with the IndianUnion; violence andterrorism; the role ofPakistan; New Delhi'smistakes; the alienation inthe valley; the diversitywithin the state; anddemocratic practice in thestate.The most importantintervention came fromhome minister Amit Shah.Irrespective of whether oneagreed or disagreed, therewas little doubt that MrShah spoke with utmostclarity and conviction, and

laid out the Centre'sthinking on Jammu andKashmir. He reiterated thatthe state was an integralpart of India, a positioneveryone in both housesagreed with. He articulateda tough line on terror andsaid that the Centre wouldnot spare any elementwhich sought to engineerviolence Kashmir, includingby going across the borderif necessary. This was inline with the approach ofthe Narendra Modigovernment in its first term.He then expanded thedefinition of democracy,and said that by holdingelections at the panchayatlevel, the Centre hadempowered the grassroots.He also sought to assuageapprehensions that theextension of President'sRule was a plot to rule thestate, without polls.But it was the largerideological approach thatdistinguished Mr Shah.Unlike the Congress andcertain other politicalparties, which arecomfortable with treating

Jammu and Kashmir as aspecial case, theBharatiya Janata Party hasalways pushed for a moreintegrationist approach thatentails treating it as justanother state of the Union.This is why it is againstspecial provisions, whichMr Shah reiterated were"temporary". The seconddistinction is that Mr Shahheld the Congressresponsible for the situationin the Valley, including thereluctance to push acrosswhat is now the Line ofControl back in 1948 andaccepting a ceasefire,

going to the United Nationsand rigging elections. Eachof Mr Shah's points caninvite a counter. A toughpolicy must not mean alicence to security forces tocommit human rightsviolations. The call to take

become hostage to theirpersonal concerns. MrTrump, for example, isimpatient for a successbecause of his approachingre-election. The stakes arehigh. The Korean peninsula

is a real nuclear flashpointand its primarydestabiliser, North Korea,is not prepared to let thingslie. If the present talks fail,Mr Kim will return to firingmissiles and detonating

nuclear bombs. The twoleaders have opened adoor that wasn't therebefore; they need to keepit ajar for enough time fora real road map to bedrafted.

power away from "threefamilies" must not underminethe National Conferenceand Peoples DemocraticParty, both of which havespoken for India at a difficulttime. The focus on onlydevelopment cannot be a

substitute to the issues ofjustice. But it is clear thatMr Shah will remain deeplyinvested in the state, andfinding a lasting solution tothe Kashmir issue maywell be a part of what hesees as his legacy.

With tanks and jets, Donald Trump celebrates US Independence DayUS President

Donald Trump on Thursdaycelebrated America'sIndependence Day with anunprecedented display ofcountry's military might ata parade in the nationalcapital. Trump became thefirst US President in over70 years to deliver anIndependence Day addresswhich the OppositionDemocratic leaderscriticised for what they

alleged politicisation of thecountry's declaration ofindependence from Britain onJuly 4, 1776. Joined by FirstLady Melania Trump, VicePresident Mike Pence, hiscabinet colleagues and topmilitary leadership, Trump inhis address to thousands ofpeople said this was anoccasion to salute the USsoldiers and generals."Todaywe come together as onenation. With this very

special salute to America.We celebrate our historyby people, and the heroeswho proudly defend ourflag, the brave men andwomen of the UnitedStates military," said theUS President. In his 'Saluteto America' address, Trumpsaid the same American spiritthat emboldened country'sfounders has kept itspeople strong throughoutits history. "To this day that

spirit runs through the veinsof every American patriot.It lives on in each and everyone of you here today. It isthe spirit, daring anddefiance, excellence andadventure, courage andconfidence, loyalty and lovethat built this country intothe most exceptionalnation in the history of theworld, and our nation isstronger today than it everwas before.

8Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 OPINION

Gandhi departs but uncertainty in the Congress persistsRahul Gandhi formallyannounced his resignationpublicly as the president of theCongress on Wednesday. In afarewell note, posted on Twitter,Mr Gandhi said that he isstepping down, takingresponsibility for the party's lossin the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.He had, soon after the polls, toldthe Congress WorkingCommittee of his intent to resign.But the CWC passed a resolutionurging him to stay on. OtherCongress leaders have tried hardto persuade him to change hismind, but Mr Gandhi has stayedfirm.Opting out of party

presidency is Mr Gandhi's call.But what is disturbing in the noteis a reluctance to introspect,candidly, about the reasons forthe electoral loss. He seems tosuggest that victory of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) isa result of (only) misuse ofinstitutions and tremendousfinancial resources. Thisnewspaper has been critical ofthe Election Commission'sconduct during the polls. But itis hard to deny that the electionoutcome reflected the deep faitha large section of the electoratehad in Narendra Modi; thesuccess of his welfare schemes

and narrative of nationalism; theinability of the opposition tomount a counter narrative thatresonated with citizens and itsorganisational hollowness andoutmoded categories of politics.These are the areas theCongress will have to work on ifit wants to mount a challenge. Awrong diagnosis will not lead tothe correct prescription.Mr Gandhi can have hisassessment of what he sees asthe dangers of the BJP's rule -but then should he not have ledfrom the front? It is also not clearwhat Mr Gandhi's role will be inthe future party set up. He makes

What India must do to promote national securityWith the din of elections over andIndia having a new government,there could not be a moreopportune time for the newdispensation to ensure thatimportant pointers fromtransborder actions like Balakotdo not get obliterated but areacted upon - after all, they givean even handed political heft toall. It could indeed serve as anoutline of a blueprint for thefuture.First, while it was heartening tosee everyone praise the IndianAir Force after Balakot, the bitterwar of chest-thumping and creditcapturing between politicalparties that followed, with someeven questioning whether thestrike had taken place at all, wasmost unfortunate. Such eventsdo propel security dialogue to theforefront, but military operationsremain the preserve of the

government for ordering them andthe armed forces for carryingthem out. They cannot bepoliticised by any political partyclaiming ownership to garnervotes or worse, glorification ofpersonalities. This has graveramifications. It distorts theapolitical fibre of our armed forcesand is a dangerous portent fornational security. Let our politicalbrethren not forget that apoliticalarmed forces are the strongestsupport to the edifice ofdemocracy.Second, while the government'sdecision to strike and effectivelycombat Pakistan retaliation wasthe right one, between 2015 and2018, Gurdaspur, Pathankot,Nagrota and Sunjuwan terrorattacks went without a responseand?accountability. Is there aninstitutionalised decision makingmechanism in place at all? India

is perhaps the only majordemocracy where the armedforces headquarters are outsidethe apex governmental structureand, therefore, not institutionallypart of the decision makingprocess. It is imperative that wehave an Act of Parliament whichmandates the creation of apermanent Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), thereby making thearmed forces a part of thedecision making mechanism forcogent single point military adviceto the government. It must beunderlined that the DefencePlanning Committee recentlycreated under the chairmanshipof National Security Adviser(NSA) has been establishedthrough an administrative orderand thus remains unaccountableto Parliament. But it cannotreplace the idea of a permanentCDS created by statute.

it clear that he will continue tofight for his idea of India as asoldier of the Congress. But givenhis pre-eminent status - evenwithout a formal office - will it notresult in the emergence of

multiple power centres in theparty? The resignation mayhave ended one phase inCongress' turbulent politics, butthe next phase may well bemore challenging.

Third, the climate of electionspushed national security to thefore as an electoral issue, ifrhetoric and party manifestoswere anyth ing to go by.Political parties need to takenote that having spelt out bigticket plans and promises,public discourse is going toget sharper and better informed.

If their manifestos offer to "speedup purchase of outstandingdefence equipment andweapons or ensure defencespending is increased to meetthe requirement of the armedforces, " then quest ionsregarding the time plot forimplementation and budgetarysupport cannot be faulted.

Modi must walk the talk on water conservationIn the first Mann Ki

Baat programme af terassuming office in his secondterm, Pr ime Min is terNarendra Modi on Sundayspoke on one of the biggestcha l lenges fac ing Ind iatoday: an acute water crisis.There are three key points totake away from his speech.One, people must help thegovernment in i ts waterconservation efforts. Second,experts should share theknowledge of t rad i t iona lmethods o f waterconservation. And third, thereis no one-size-fits-all methodfor conserving water. The PM

added that he has written toall gram pradhans (vil lagechiefs) on the importance ofwater conservation and how totake s teps to c reateawareness on the subjectacross rural India. The PM'sspeech was perfectly timed.India is facing a grave watercrisis and the situation maydeteriorate if the monsoon isinadequate. Th is is anappropriate time to impressupon our citizens the need toconserve water. According tothe Ind ia Meteoro log ica lDepartment, the country hadits driest June in five yearsbecause the monsoon rains

were delayed. The impact of abad monsoon will be disastrous.About 55% of India's arable landis rain-fed, and agriculture makesup about 15% of Asia's third-largest economy. Farmers hadplanted crops on 14.7 millionhectares as on June 28, downalmost 10% from the previousyear, the farm ministry's datashowed.This crisis, however,is not new; it has been brewingfor years: According to a 2018NITI Aayog report, 600 millionIndians already face high toextreme water stress andabout 200,000 people die everyyear because of inadequateaccess to safe water. By 2030,

the country's water demand isprojected to be twice theavailable supply, implyingsevere water scarc i ty formillions and an eventual 6%loss in the country's grossdomest ic product (GDP).

Whi le the Cent re hasannounced the creation of anew minis t ry (Jal Shaktiministry) to streamline water-related issues, it must act ontwo other projects withoutdelay to tackle the crisis:

9Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 OPINION

What the US-Iran tensions mean for IndiaThe recent spike in

tensions between the UnitedStates (US) and Iran has afamiliar ring to it. But that doesnot reduce the risks for the twoparties as well as the othercountries in the region andbeyond it. Hydrocarbon flowsthrough the Strait of Hormuzand the Persian or Arabian Gulfhave been a permanent causeof worry when the US-Iranrelations have moved into thehigh-tension zone. The USaccusation that Iran hadcaused or inspired attacks onoil tankers, its announcementof additional naval deployment,and the shooting down of a USpilotless aircraft by Iran makethe situation far more tensethan it has ever been in therecent past.The recent round of joustingbetween the US and Iran is thelatest in the chain of eventsthat began with Washington'swithdrawal from the JointComprehensive Programme ofAction (JCPOA), an agreementthat Iran had reached with the

P5+1 (China, France, Russia,the United Kingdom, UnitedStates and Germany) on July 14,2015. The agreement was thehigh point of US-Iran efforts torepair their historically flawedrelationship. Under the JCPOA,Iran had committed to limit itsnuclear programme and relatedactivities. The US, in turn, easedsanctions. Moderates in bothcapitals prevailed over thehardliners. But this changed withthe election of President DonaldTrump. His decision to withdrawfrom the JCPOA and the reinstatesanctions on Iran in May 2018marked the end of that process.For the US and its allies in theregion - particularly Saudi Arabiaand Israel - containment of Iranis the key to regional stability.For Iran's leadership, the currentsituation is only a replay of thepressures they have faced since1979 with regional and non-regional players acting togetherto roll back the gains of theIranian revolution.To the US and its allies, theconsolidation of the Hizbullah in

Lebanon, the emergence of thefirst major Shia State in the Arabworld in almost a millennium(Iraq), Syria's resistance (withRussian help) to ward off thepressure for a regime change,and Saudi Arabia's longest-evermilitary engagement in Yemenexemplify Iran's expandinginfluence in the Arab world. Eachof these Iranian geopolitical gainshas been achieved in the face ofdetermined opposition and alsoas a consequence of policyfailures or misjudgments by theUS and its allies.In Trump's worldview, the JCPOAwas a flawed effort and Iran'scapacity to harness technologyfor its nuclear weaponsprogramme will give to theTehran-led Shia crescent anunstoppable momentum andpower.For Iran, the issues are equallygeneric: the intrinsichegemonism of the US in Westand South West Asia and Iran'straditional enemies using this tosettle regional scores. In Tehran'sworldview, Washington's

unwillingness to accept therevolution of 1979 is thefundamental cause of the latestand also the earlier crisisconcerning Iran. The fact thatUS?unilaterally has walked outof the nuclear agreement hasalso hardened attitudes in Iran.And the US sanctions do hurt,particularly Washington's recentdecision to impose sanctions oncountries that import Iraniancrude oil.The central question for India ishow to navigate through these

countervailing demands andprotect its own interests.Maintaining good relations withIran and prioritising our energysecurity is one pole. The otheris balancing this with our vitalstakes with the Arabian Gulfstates and the US. The currentsituation reflects the dilemmasIndia faces in the absence of alarger cooperative frameworkamong the countries in theArabian Sea littoral, which ishome to so many of our vitalinterests.

10Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 VIEWPOINT

India should aim for a digital non-alignmentCountries like India should explore the combination of a geopolitical approach of digital non-alignment, with a practical one ofdiligently promoting open digital value chains. Digital non-alignment implies deliberate economic and political investments to

avoid getting too closely hooked to either of the digital superpower’s digital products and services

(News Agencies)--TheUnited States' blacklisting of theChinese company Huawei -since reversed - represents animportant milestone as the worldsplits digitally around its twodigital superpowers, the US andChina. Last year, the USdisallowed Alibaba's takeover ofMoneygram and later embargoedUS supplies to the mobilecompany ZTE. Amazon andGoogle recently affirmed theirloyalty to the US military.China's corporations in any caseclosely follow the State'sdirections.The digital world's centre ismostly taken to be the US. Butaccording to a leaked USgovernment document, if Chinadominates telecommunicationglobally - and Hauwei indeed topsin 5G technology, it "will winpolitically, economically, andmilitarily". China is also closingin on the Artificial Intelligence (AI)gap, as reports emerge that notonly China produces more AIresearch, its quality is also set

to soon surpass that of the US's.Not just geopolitical rivals, evenbig digital corporations try to avoiddepending on another companyfor crucial digital supplies. Globaldigital value chains are thereforegetting vertically consolidated, asAI companies begin to evenmake their own chips.Global digital offerings wouldincreasingly organise, and split,around the two global digital polesof US and China. They are alsobecoming more integrated rightfrom computing chips, networkequipment and user devices tosoftware, applications and AI.Every other country will have tochoose between the two digitalsuperpowers as its primary digitalsupplier, and get increasinglylocked into it.It is scary to imagine such adigitally split world. Countries willface acute digital dependencieson their respective digital overlord(US or China), as the lattercontrols data-driven digitalintelligence running their varioussectors. With the outlook being

so dismal, countries like Indiashould explore the combinationof a geopolitical approach ofdigital non-alignment, with apractical one of diligentlypromoting open digital valuechains.Digital non-alignment impliesdeliberate economic and politicalinvestments to avoid getting tooclosely hooked to either of thedigital superpower's digitalproducts and services. Itstechnical, policy-legal andbusiness model complement isto establish open digital valuechains.Vertical integrations must bechecked through open technicalstandards, strong competitionregulation, and other policies likemandating data sharing. This willrequire close cooperation amongthe digitally non-alignedcountries, including, hopefully,European ones.But most importantly, Indianeeds a strong domestic digitalindustry in most, if not all, keylinks of the digital value chain.

We are increasingly being leftwith digital economy's physicalelements - cars, drivers,logistics, manufacturing,hospitals, schools, and so on.The data driven digital brain atthe top of the digital valuechain in every sector is eitherin the US (largely) or China.Just th ink o f the Uberappl icat ion extract ing ourdata , us ing i t to cont ro linteractions between our cardrivers and commuters, andmaking a neat 25% cut on allpayments, without actually evenhaving to to be in India. Similar

will be repeated in every singlesector. Our much vaunted IT ordigital strength is contributory- and up for sale - and notcont ro l l ing , whether assoftware coders or digital start-ups eager for US or Chinesebuyouts.What is required is a strongand c lear -headed d ig i ta lindustrial policy, which aimsforemost a t the layer o fhighest value: data. After all,the most impor tant dataneeded to manage varioussectors in India is local - arisingfrom us and about us.

(News Agencies)-TheUnited States and Iran appear tobe recalibrating their positionsafter edging closer to the brinkover the past few weeks andstoking fears of a conflict thatwould only exacerbate thealready fraught situation in WestAsia. Following the attacks onsix tankers in regional waters andthe shooting down of a US drone,President Donald Trump rampedup the pressure with sanctionswhile Iran threatened to beginenriching more uranium than itis allowed under the JointComprehensive Plan of Action(JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear deal.Clearly, Mr Trump's recentrevelation that he decided againstordering military strikes on Iranis an indication that the US isevaluating its options forpressuring Iran to return to thetable to negotiate a new nucleardeal. There are also indicationsthat Iran may not immediately goahead with its threat to breachthe limits on uranium enrichmentfollowing efforts by China andEuropean powers to bypass theUS sanctions which have

crippled the Iranian economy. Butin a reflection of the lingeringtensions, the US last weekdeployed F-22 stealth jets toQatar for the first time as part ofthe build-up of its forces in thePersian Gulf. As part of efforts toaddress Iran's economicproblems, the European Union hassaid that INSTEX, its mechanismfor financial transactions, which willbypass the US sanctions, isoperational but it remains to be seenwhether this will make companiesconfident enough to do businessagain with Iran. More importantly,Iran and its Europeaninterlocutors have been unable tofind a way to address Tehran'sdemand for oil exports to beresumed.India has been among thecountries that have been calling onthe US and Iran to de-escalatetensions. New Delhi hascompelling reasons for i tss tance; any conflict in thePersian Gulf could affect themore than eight mill ionexpatriates in the region andcurtail or disrupt energy suppliesat a time when the Indian economycannot afford any shocks.

Time to defuse US-Iran tensions How a social justice tool became ameans to grab land in India's forests

(News Agencies)- The ForestRights Act (FRA) was originallymeant to redress historicalinjustice to genuine forestdwellers by conferring rights totraditionally occupied forest land.Following a multi-tier verificationprocess, individual andcommunity rights toapproximately 72,000 sq km offorest land have been granted toclaimants since 2008. However,the process has also unearthedabout 19 lakh ineligible or bogusclaims, clearly showing that theAct has been used as a Trojanhorse by opportunistic landgrabbers. Thanks to high-resolution satellite imagery, suchencroachments can now beeasily exposed. On February 13,in response to a Public InterestLitigation by three wildlifeconservation organisations, theSupreme Court directed stategovernments to recover all forestland occupied illegally since theFRA was enacted.Subsequently, the court directed

that evictions be put “on hold” tilldetails on procedure of rejectionsare examined.While the forestrights bill originally envisagedonly the protection of Scheduled

Tribes, the goal posts weresubsequently shifted to includea huge number of undefinedclaimants characterised as OtherTraditional Forest Dwellers.Secondly, the cutoff date foreligibility was arbitrarily shiftedfrom October 25, 1980, toDecember 13, 2005, opening thedoor to lakhs of new claimants.Thirdly, the bill’s original intent toonly provide provisional rights topeople living within national parksand sanctuaries, with a five-year

time frame to resettle themoutside with due compensation,never made it into theAct.National parks andsanctuaries are the only saferefuges for a host of criticallyendangered species that cannotsurvive in the face of relentlesshunting by local people,commercial exploitation of forestproducts, and livestock grazing.In a concession to this ecologicalreality, the FRA provides for thedeclaration of Critical WildlifeHabitats: safe havens whereanimals can live free of conflictwith humans. Sadly, however, notone sq km has been declared as aCritical Wildlife Habitat.While therecan be no argument that economicdevelopment has played a majorrole in deforestation, governmentdata reveals that whereas forestland diverted for developmentfrom 1980 to 2016 totals 6.33lakh hectares, forest land grantedas individual rights under the FRAbetween 2008 and 2018 adds upto about 19 lakh hectares.

11Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 INDIA-CURRENT AFFAIRS

West Bengal renaming: Mamata writesto PM after Centre denies proposal

( News Agencies) - The CentreWednesday informed RajyaSabha that it has not yet givenits nod to change the name ofWest Bengal to 'Bangla' asproposed by the stategovernment following whichChief Minister Mamata Banerjeedashed off a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forexpediting the matter.Union Minister of State for HomeNityanand Rai in a writtenresponse to a question from MPRitabrata Banerjee said theCentre has not cleared thename 'Bangla' for West Bengal.Changing a state's namerequires constitutionalamendment and it is done aftertaking into consideration allrelevant factors, he said.On July 26 last year, the WestBengal assembly had passed aresolution unanimously tochange the name of the stateto 'Bangla' in the three most-

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai in a written response to a question fromMP Ritabrata Banerjee said the Centre has not cleared the name 'Bangla' for West Bengal.

spoken languages -- Bengali,Hindi and English -- and had sentthe proposal to the HomeMinistry.It suggested 'Paschimbanga' in

2011, but it was turned down bythe central government.In 2016, it proposed 'Bengal' inEnglish, 'Bangla' in Bengali and'Bangal' in Hindi, which was alsoturned down. Finally, it proposedthe name 'Bangla'.When the earlier proposals werereceived, there was objection

from the central government thatsuggested the name 'Bangla' hadsimilarity to Bangladesh and itwould be difficult to differentiatethe two at international forums,a senior official privy to thedevelopments said.The 2018 proposal was alsoreferred to the Ministry ofExternal Affairs for its view.The move to rename is aimed atclimbing the alphabeticalsequence of state names inwhich West Bengal appears lastin the list now.A senior state official saidBanerjee requested the primeminister to do the needful tochange the state's name to'Bangla'. The last time the nameof a state was changed was in2011, when Orissa becameOdisha.Bombay was renamed Mumbaiin 1995, Madras as Chennai in1996 and Calcutta as Kolkata in2001.

Sedition law will not be repealed,says Amit Shah's ministry

( News Agencies) -TheUnion Home Ministry clarified onWednesday that the contentioussedition law will not be scrapped.The Minister of State for Home,Nityanand Rai told the Parliamentthat there was "need to retain theprovisions to effectively combatanti-national, secessionist andterrorist elements." Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code,popularly known as the seditionlaw, has been at the centre ofpolitical debate due to its allegedmisuse to curb essentialfreedoms enjoyed by citizens--like freedom of speech--under the

constitution. The Congress partyhad made scrapping the law, acentral piece of its poll manifestoand was attacked by the rivalBJP for taking an alleged anti-national stance. The PrimeMinister had in his electioncampaign quest ionedCongress ' in tent ion inopposing the law which thegovernment sees as an effectiveinstrument against alleged anti-national elements. The seditionlaw, which provides for aminimum 3-years jail and amaximum life term, has beeninvoked several times.

New commercial arm to boost Isro in industryThe role of the organisation will be similar to that of the existing Antrix

Corporation, which develops satellites and provides commercial launches.

A public sector enterprise calledNew Space India Limited (NSIL)will be set up in Bengaluru “totap the benefits of research anddevelopment” carried out by theIndian Space ResearchOrganisation (Isro), financeminister Nirmala Sitharamansaid presenting the Union Budget2019-20 on Friday.The role of the organisation willbe similar to that of the existingAntrix Corporation, which

develops satellites and providescommercial launches. NSIL,which will be wholly owned by thedepartment of space, willcoordinate with the industry forproduction and transfer oftechnologies developed by Isro.“India has emerged as a majorspace power with the technologyand ability to launch satellitesand other space products. Timehas come to harness this abilitycommercially. NSIL has been

incorporated as the newcommercial arm of thedepartment of space to tap thebenefits of the research anddevelopment carried out by Isro.The company will spearhead thecommercialisation, transfer oftechnologies, and marketing ofspace products,” Sitharamansaid. The announcement comesat a time when India is aiming toset up its own space station by2030.

Whi le the company wasallotted an initial budgetarysupport of Rs 10 crore, therewill be a total outlay of Rs 100crore for i t , sa id SumaDevakiram, chairman andmanaging director of NSIL.The focus would be oncommercialisation of India’sworkhorse rocket Polar SatelliteLaunch Vehicle (PSLV), SmallSatellite Launch Vehicle, andsmall satellites for now. It will alsobe responsible for commerciallaunches for other countries andprivate organisations.“ Is ro is a researchorgan isat ion and cannotmarket its own products. Withthe increasing pace of activity,there was a need for thecompany to commercialiseproducts developed by Isro,”said Devakiram.The government will also setup a Nat iona l ResearchFoundation to consolidateresearch funding from acrossministries. “We propose toestablish NRF to assimilatethe research grants beingg iven by the var iousministries. NRF will ensure

that the overa l l researchecosystem in the country isstrengthened, with focus on ournational priorities and basicscience without duplication ofefforts and expenditure,”Sitharaman said.Officials say the move is aimedat consolidating researchfunding. “This is a positive step,which will consolidate researchfunding and encourage morecollaborative research,” saidAshutosh Sharma, secretary,department of science.Scientists fear that a singleagency would limit the fundingoptions. “...The currentecosystem allows a scientist toapproach a different fundingagency if the project is notapproved by one. There havebeen several instances wheregroundbreaking research was notpublished by a particular journaland the researcher went toanother one; funding is alsosimilar,” said Soumitra Banerjee,general secretary ofBreakthrough Science Societyand professor at Indian Institutesof Science Education andResearch, Kolkata.


(News Agencies)- Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi took asharp dig at his party colleaguesfor the party's rout in the 2019Lok Sabha elections, saying heat times stood completely alonein the fight against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and theRashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS).

"I personally fought the PrimeMinister, the RSS and theinstitutions they have capturedwith all my being. I foughtbecause I love India. And I foughtto defend the ideals India wasbuilt upon. At times, I stoodcompletely alone and amextremely proud of it," he wrotein his four-page farewell note.

"I have learned so much from thespirit and dedication of ourworkers and party members,men and women who havetaught me about love anddecency," Gandhi added.Upset over the party's dismalperformance in the generalelections managing to win just52 seats compared to 303 seatsfor the ruling Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), Gandhi had offeredto resign at the CongressWorking Committee (CWC)meeting on May 25.He had also asked the CWC toappoint a new chief but theparty's highest decision makingbody rejected the offer andpassed a resolution, authorisinghim to revamp the organisation.It was in that fractious CWCmeeting that Gandhi slammedthe veterans for "placing theinterests" of their sons above theparty.Gandhi also mentionedthat some leaders had even lost

'At times I stood alone': Rahul Gandhi also takes a swipe at Cong leadersRahul Gandhi, after May 25, had limited interactions with

party colleagues and in all his meetings remainedadamant on stepping down.

the election from theirstrongholds even as he criticiseda section of the GenNext forhankering for posts.After May 25, Gandhi had limitedinteractions with partycolleagues and in all hismeetings remained adamant onstepping down.Even party's five chief ministersCaptain Amarinder Singh(Punjab), Ashok Gehlot(Rajasthan), Kamal Nath

(Madhya Pradesh), BhupeshBaghel (Chhattisgarh) and VNarayanasamy (Puducherry)failed to persuade Gandhi tor e c o n s i d e r h i s d e c i s i o nduring their nearly two-hour-l o n g m e e t i n g o nMonday.Several Congressfunctionaries too submittedthe i r res igna t ions to pu tpressure on him to changehis mind but Rahul Gandhiremained firm.

Tribal woman gang-raped inmoving truck in Bhopal; 3 held

(Agencies )- A tribal woman wasallegedly gangraped by threemen in a moving truck in MadhyaPradesh's Bhopal late onMonday, police said. A firstinformation report (FIR) wasregistered on Tuesday and all theaccused have been arrested,said police. The men have beenidentified as residents ofKolukhedi area in Bhopal.Kha jur i po l ice s ta t ion in -charge Upendra Bhati said thewoman was returning to hervillage in Sehore district withher husband late on Mondaynight. The couple took a lift ina truck in Khajuri area, Bhatisaid. "The truck was being drivenby Shubham. The other two

accused Bittu and Akash werealso present in the truck. Whenthey started sexually harassingthe woman and her husbandobjected the accused stoppedthe truck and threw him out ofthe truck. Later, they raped thewoman and dropped her inBairagarh area of Bhopal," Bhatisaid. The woman reached herhome on Tuesday morning andlater registered a complaintwith the police. "The woman'shusband took the help of thepolice to search for his wife.When he didn't find her, hereturned home where he foundhis wife injured and badly. Later,a formal FIR was lodged," headded.

Waterlogging outside Uddhav Thackeray'sMumbai residence 'Matoshree'

(Agencies )- In anembarrassment for the Shiv Senawhich controls the Mumbai civicbody, waterlogging waswitnessed outside party chiefUddhav Thackeray's residenceTuesday as rains lashed Mumbaiovernight. The road outside`Matoshree', Thackeray'sbungalow in Kalanagar colony insuburban Bandra, was underknee-deep water. The Sena hasbeen ruling in the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC), thecountry's richest civic body, forover two decades. But as rainsthrew the life in the megapolis outof gear, crippling rail, road and air

traffic, the civic body and theSena came in for flak, especiallybecause the BMC officials hadassured that there would be nowaterlogging this monsoon.NCP leader Nawab Malik took ajibe at the Sena after his ownresidence in nearby Kurla areago flooded.Sharing images of the inside ofhis house on LBS Road with hehimself standing in knee-deepwater, the NCP leader tweeted,"Karun Dakhavla (We did it (whathas been promised))," taggingUddhav Thackeray, the office ofChief Minister Devendra Fadnavisand the BMC. "Karun Dakhavla"was the Sena's campaign sloganbefore a civic election a few yearsago. According to the IndiaMeteorological Department, thecity witnessed the highest rainfall-- 375.2 mm -- in the 24- hourperiod before 8.30 am Tuesdaysince the July 26, 2005, deluge.


The Union rural development ministry has written to all stateswith water stressed blocks and asked them to finish incomplete

drought proofing and water management related works, anofficial familiar with the matter said.

Centre asks parched states to finish drought proofing

(By our staff reporter)- Theministry of rural development haswritten to all states with waterstressed blocks to finishincomplete drought proofing andwater management related worksand prioritise new works torecharge groundwater thismonsoon.This follows a Jal Shakti Ministrycircular that identified 1,592 waterstressed blocks out of which1,160 are rural blocks thatimmediately need to take upwater conservation activities.MGNREGA works have beenidentified to be the main mode ofintervention for these blocks.Tamil Nadu is the most waterstressed with 541 blocks in thecategory followed by 218 inRajasthan, 139 in Uttar Pradesh,137 in Telangana and 111 inPunjab as per data collated bythe Central Ground Water Boardput out by Jal Ministry.Jal Ministry launched the JalShakti Abhiyan on Monday

following widespread reports ofwater stress in peninsular andcentral India but experts saypreparatory works should havestarted way in advance to tide-over the crisis this year.There is a massive backlog ofwater conservation and droughtproofing works according to datawith MoRD. For example, 6.9lakh water harvesting workstaken up in the past few yearscosting about Rs 5111 crore areeither incomplete or suspendedwhile about 53,000 are ready tobe utilised.About 1.4 lakh renovation worksof traditional water harvestingstructures are ongoing orsuspended while only about7,600 are complete. Similarly,8.19 lakh drought proofing worksare incomplete or suspendedwhile only about 75,000 areready."We have asked all statesto focus on the blocks identifiedand complete water relatedworks yet to be completed. We

have also underlined that focusshould be only on naturalresource management workswhich includes water relatedworks this year," said KamranRizvi, joint secretary, ministry ofrural development.But the renewed effort to capturemonsoon water is late. Mostworks were delayed partlybecause of Lok Sabha electionsin April and May. Despitedeficiency in pre-monsoon rainsand drought like conditionscarried over since last year, theperson days generated uptoJune are much lower than inprevious years. "This is mainlybecause of elections during thatperiod," Rizvi added."A watercampaign is very different fromsay a Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.Water conservation structurescannot be built when monsoonhas already arrived. Thegovernment should haveplanned to complete the worksbefore keeping ongoing water

crisis in mind. Labour will alsobe busy with agricultural worksnow," said Rajendra Singh,environmentalist and Jal Biradarifounder. "I would recommendthat the government come upwith a comprehensive law forwater security. MGNREGA canbe utilized very well for waterconservation. The idea of thescheme was to ensure selfreliance of villages," he added.In the last couple of years, thefocus of MGNREGA was onindividual asset creation throughPradhan Mantri Awas Yojanaprojects. Nearly 80% of theindividual asset creation worksunder MGNREGA were PMAYprojects where beneficiaries were

paid to build their houses, asenior official at MoRD said.In2018 when monsoon was belownormal at only 91% of long periodaverage the demand forMGNREGA works was thehighest compared to previous fiveyears. It was mainly due to ruraldistress associated with weakmonsoon, officials at MoRD said.This year too they are expectinga peaking of demand forMGNREGA works later thisyear.Standard Precipitation Index(SPI) data from June 2018 to May2019 released by IndiaMeteorological Department,Pune shows large parts of thecountry have been severe orextremely dry for more than a year.

Kashmir mosques that blared 'azadi' slogans will now launch war on drugsAlarmed at the spike in figures and the easy availability of heroin, theMirwaiz has called for a meeting of non governmental organisations,

Imams and doctors next week.

(By our staff reporter)- Mosquesacross the Kashmir Valley ,which blared slogans for "azadi"(independence) in the earlynineties, amplifying a separatistmovement, will soon be usingtheir loudspeakers to spread amessage against the use ofdrugs, rapidly becoming a hugeproblem in the state of Jammu &Kashmir."The problem has reachedalarming proportions and we are

considering excommunicatingand ostracising drug peddlers,"Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, religioushead and chief of the HurriyatConference said.Drug consumption has seen asurge among adolescents andyoung adults in the state. Officialrecords at the Shri Maharaja HariSingh (SMHS) Hospital's de-addiction centre point to aworrying spiral: of 342 peopleadmitted for substance abuse

from January 1January to June 20, asmany as 309, or 90percent, were usingheroin.Dr Yasir H Rather, whohas been in charge ofthe de-addiction centresince 2012, isconcerned thatKashmir's youth areswitching from solventsand soft drugs such ascannabis to hardcoredrugs such as heroin

and brown sugar. In 2016, only15% of those admitted wereheroin addicts. The proportionjumped to 46% in 2018."Continuous conflict and easyavailability of drugs has led to asurge. Socio-political instabilityis impacting mental health.Earlier, the unemployed wouldturn to drugs but now anyone andeveryone is at risk. I know frommy patients that heroin is beingsold openly in our society," Dr

Rather said.As many as 20-30% of patientscoming to the de-addiction centreare seeking help after "a neardeath experience", according toDr Rather. Several others arecoming because they have seentheir friends dying due to anoverdose, he added.Alarmed at the spike in figuresand the easy availability ofheroin, the Mirwaiz has calledfor a meet ing o f nongovernmental organisations,Imams and doctors nextweek. "We need to addressthis at a war footing. Drugpeddlers should beexcommunicated. We havemosques in every mohalla andthrough them, we can accessour community. A lot of imamsare approaching me regardingthe problem. We will put ourheads together and come outwith a plan."SMHS's de-addiction centrehas run training programmesfor teachers and co l legeprofessors and has also helda workshop with officers of theJ&K Police's crime branch.In format ion e l ic i ted f rom

patients on where they buytheir drugs f rom is beingpassed on to the police.According to Dr Rather, "Somedrug users have progressed tobecome drug peddlers. Eachgram (of heroin) costsapproximately Rs 3000 andpatients tell us that they stealfamily money, gadgets andjewel le ry to buy the i rsupplies, which they also startselling."A police officer, who did notwant to be identified, saidheroin was coming in fromacross the border, f romPakis tan and added thatsupplies into the state haveincreased becauseneighbour ing Punjab hastightened its law enforcement."We can't afford to see ouryoung dying. Heroin is ruiningtheir lives,'' says Dr Rather,who believes stringent lawenforcement and soc ia lawareness aga ins t themenace is the way forward.The Mirwaiz's plan to useFriday sermons to spreadawareness is a step forward inthat direction.


PIB plans a fact-checking unit to counter fake news(By our staff

reporter) - Countering fakenews has been high on thegovernment's agenda; in2016; the MIB suggestedexpanding its analyticswing to monitor socialmedia and set up an earlywarning system forpossible flashpoints thatthe government may beunprepared for.The Press InformationBureau (PIB), thegovernment's nodal agencyfor dissemination ofinformation, has decided toset up of a fact checkingunit to identify and counterany fake news about thegovernment and its policiescirculating on social mediaplatforms. According to asenior functionary aware ofthe development, theministry of information andbroadcasting (MIB), underwhich PIB is a unit hasapproved a plan to counterfake news in real-time. Nodeadline has been set sofar for the project to take

off, but it is expected to pickpace over the comingweeks. Details of how thetracking will be done, andthe kind of accounts thatwill be tracked, weren'timmediately available.The fact check unit will haveofficials from the PIB aswell as employees hired oncontract to monitorplatforms such as Twitter,Facebook and Youtube toflag news that is fake andhas the potential forcreating social unrest."We will monitor and detectanything related to thegovernment that is blatantlywrong, and put out correctinformation to ensure that

people do not fall for wrongnews," the functionaryquoted above said oncondition of anonymity. Headded that the possibilityof penal action againstthose accounts foundcirculating fake news hasnot been discussed."We had a training sessionwith a Hyderabad-basedorganisation, which doeswork in fact checking andputting out data that ismeant for the public. Theirexperts helped usbrainstorm on how toproceed with it," the officialsaid. Countering fake newshas been high on thegovernment's agenda; in

2016; the MIB suggestedexpanding its analyticswing to monitor socialmedia and set up an earlywarning system forpossible flashpoints thatthe government may beunprepared for. The socialmedia analytics wing of theministry, which is nowdefunct, scrutinized postson social media platformsto generate reports for thePrime Minister's Office, theNational Security Advisor's Office and variousintelligence bureaus, asidefrom ministries includinghome affairs, external affairsand defence.In 2018, theministry constituted acommittee to frame rules toregulate news portals andmedia websites. During therecently concluded LokSabha election, the electioncommission also workedwith social mediaplatforms to identify andpull down posts that werefake and could lead tovitiating the elections.

ISRO teams up with Russian company totrain Indian astronauts for Gaganyaan

(By our staffreporter) - The IndianSpace ResearchOrganisation has signed acontract with a Russiancompany for selectionsupport, medicalexamination and spacetraining of Indian astronautsfor the country's proposedmaiden manned spacemission 'Gaganyaan'. Thecontract was signed byGlavkosmos' first DeputyDirector General NataliaLokteva and Director ofHuman Spac e F l i g h tCentre (HSFC) of ISROS Unnikrishnan Nair onJune 27. Glavkosmos isa Russian launch serviceprovider and a subsidiaryof the state corporationRoscosmos. In astatement on its website,Glavkosmos said it wouldrender to HSFC services onconsulting support ofselection of candidates forthe Indian astronauts,providing medical

examination and spaceflight related training for theastronauts selected. "Thework will be provided withsupport of the FederalState BudgetOrganisation- U A GagarinResearch & TestCosmonaut Training Centerand Institute of BiomedicalProblems of the RussianAcademy of Sciences," itsaid. Gearing up for themission, announced byPrime Minister NarendraModi, the ISRO has setup a Human Space FlightCentre to facilitate themanned voyage involvinga three-member crew.'Gaganyaan' is set forDecember 2021 launchand is l ikely to includea woman as t ronau t ,I S R O C h a i r m a n KSivan had said earlier.The initial training wouldbe in the country butadvanced training might beabroad, maybe in Russia,he said.


Looming El-Nino threatens monsoon in India

219 Rakhine Buddhist refugeesliving in Mizoram sent to Myanmar

(News Agencies)- Morethan 200 Rakhine Buddhistrefugees living near a bordervillage in Mizoram since2017 have been sent backto Myanmar despite non-cooperation from theauthorities in theneighbouring country,officials have said.In November 2017, morethan 1,500 RakhineBuddhists crossed over toMizoram as fighting ragedbetween the Arakan Armyand the Myanmar military.Arakan Army, an insurgentoutfit, is fighting for aconfederate status forRakhine state. Therefugees, who mostly camein boats, took shelter infour border villages inMizoram's Lawngtlai

district - Laitlang,H m a w n g b u c h h u a ,Zochachhua, andDumzautlang. "The pushback of 219 persons hasbeen completed today(Tuesday). They were sentback in Maruti Gypsy vehiclesand on foot. Their houses havebeen destroyed," deputycommissioner of LawngtlaiShashanka Ala said.Lawngtlai is a district insouth Mizoram, which sharesa border with both Myanmarand Bangladesh. Ala saidMyanmar authorities hadpromised to provide boats totake them back throughthe Sekulh Lui river in a flagmeeting held on June 30.However, they backed off at6am on Tuesday andconveyed they would not

extend any support.Subsequently, the officialssaid they had to fall backon 'Plan B' and therefugees were sent backthrough Laitlang inMizoram to Varang inMyanmar. Most of therefugees belong to Varangand nearby villages inMyanmar's Chin state, theofficials said. An official,who was present duringthe push back. said therefugees were crying andtrying to convey that theyshould be allowed to stayback. Mizoram governmentemployees and AssamRifles personnel wereinvolved in Tuesday'soperation. The officialclaimed they did not haveto use force to send themback. Rations for 15 dayswere given to refugees whowere sent back. Most ofthe 1,500 Rakhinerefugees were sent back inphases and officials saidthat more than 200 peoplehad stayed behind andsent back on Tuesday.

(By our staff reporter) -2019 has been termed an El-Ninoyear, and the impact of thisabnormal ocean warmingphenomenon on the Indianmonsoon makes for grimreading. The six years identifiedas El-Nino years this centuryhave seen an average shortfallof 14% in the South-WesternMonsoon rainfall (June to

September) as compared tonormal years. While large partsof the country are reeling underheat-wave conditions, thesluggish progress of the South-Western Monsoon, the lifeline forfarmers throughout the country,is alarming. According to theIndia Meteorological Department,June ended with a 33% deficit inmonsoon rainfall. While a host of

meteorological factors havecontributed to the sluggishmonsoon, one of the mostsignificant remains theprevalence of the El-NinoSouthern Oscillation (ENSO).The ENSO is an abnormalwarming of the tropical PacificOcean that disrupts globalatmospheric circulation, which,in turn, influences temperatureand precipitation across theglobe. With the ENSOphenomenon being observedsince the beginning of 2019,there are fears that this mightlead to a deficient monsoon.Various scientific studies havelinked the prevalence of ENSOto a weak monsoon. Although adirect correlation between the twohas not been established, rainfalldata from 2000 onwards showsthat monsoon rainfall is heavilyimpacted in the El-Nino years.In five of these six El-Nino years,the monsoon rainfall was lowerthan the long-term average by12% to 23%. This shortfall isobserved not only in aggregatebut also across regions. The India

Meteorological Departmentdivides the country into 36 sub-divisions. In all El-Nino yearssince 2000, at least a quarter of36 IMD sub-divisions have receiveddeficient rainfall, with 2009 (22deficient sub-divisions) and 2002 (21deficient sub-divisions) beingparticularly bad. A further breakdownof this data at the district levelshows that regional and temporalvariations appear to beincreasing, even in a normalmonsoon year. For example, in2017, at an all-India level,monsoon rains amounted to

95% of the 50-year average.But in each o f the fourmonsoon months (June toSeptember), the percentage ofdistricts that received normalrainfall (-19% to 19% deviationover their 50-year average) wasless than a third. Deficient rainfallin June is devastating for farmersin large reaches of the countrywho have sown in expectation ofrains. Unless there is a sharprevival of the monsoon, there willbe a further blow to the alreadystressed Indian farmer, as well asa decline in agricultural productivity.

16Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 ADVERTISEMENT

17Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 SOUTH ASIA

18Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 INDIA NEWS ANALYSIS

The new narrative: Goodgovernance is good politics

(News Agencies)- "It 's theeconomy, stupid", a phrasecoined by campaign strategistJames Carville during BillClinton's 1992 presidentialcampaign, was neversynonymous with the Indianelections until 2019. Fordeveloped countries, theeconomy has always been thefulcrum of politics. In India, "votersdo not cast their vote, but theyvote their caste" is a popularsaying. The 2019 elections haveintroduced a new narrative - goodeconomics is good politicsthrough social empowerment.Putting the citizen first is theguiding principle of good

governance. It is this ideologythat brings stakeholders, thegovernment and the citizenscloser to each other. Goodgovernance is the key to acountry's prosperity andprogress. For this to happen, itis important that the citizensbecome active participants ingovernance. Swachh Bharat is atextbook example.The redressal of public grievancesassures the citizens that theirvote has not gone wasted.Technology is an important toolfor good governance as it ensurestransparency and accountabilitywhich result in the bettermentand welfare of all citizens. It also

leads to the simplification ofprocesses. The best example isthe self-certification of startupsintroduced by the Narendra Modigovernment, exhibiting trust intheir citizens. Digital Indiaensures that governmentservices are available to thecitizen with litt le humaninterference. These features ofgood governance were the hallmarkof the Modi-led National DemocraticAlliance-I government. Socialempowerment, which came throughgood economics, is now goodpolitics. Voters choose a stablegovernment with a strong,decisive leadership. Now,development has become thebuzzword. With the coming ofage of social media, peoplecan make more in formedchoices in many areas.Understanding this, Modi hasmastered the sk i l l o foptimising social media as atool to connect with thepeople.For the first time, we areseeing a government that isdetermined to improve thesocioeconomic status of thepeople.

How 'one nation, one election' could alterour political system, writes Karan Thapar

(News Agencies)- Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's phrase, "onenation, one election", soundsbeguiling and perhaps that's whymany people think they'veunderstood it. But it's neither assimple nor as straightforward asit sounds. The more closely youexamine it, the more complex itbecomes. Only then can youdiscern how it will alter ourpolitical system. First, it willhave two positive outcomes.Simultaneous elections will beconsiderably cheaper thanseparate state and national polls.No one disputes that. However,cost ought not to be a primeconsideration in determining howand when elections are held.

More importantly, simultaneouselections would reduce the timethe paralysing Model Code ofConduct is in operation. Whenelections are held separately, itseems one or other part of Indiais almost permanently coveredby it. But, again, the fact thatthis impedes good governancecould be tackled by revising thecode and reducing the longduration of elections. It doesn'tnecessarily call for changing thecharacter of elections. I wouldidentity one other positive outcome.Former Chief ElectionCommissioner S Y Quraishi saysit's during elections thatcommunalism, casteism andcorruption peak.

PM Modi to launch BJP’s nationwidemembership drive in Varanasi today

(News Agencies)-Prime MinisterNarendra Modi willinaugurate an a t i o n w i d emembership driveof the BharatiyaJanata Party fromVaranasi onSaturday. He willalso launch amembership drivehelpline from Kashi. Kashi region BJPspokesperson Navratan Rathi said thatsoon after landing here, Modi will unveila statue of former Prime Minister LalBahadur Shashtri at the Lal BahadurShashtri International Airport. He willthen hand out plants to school childrenas tree guardians in a school atHarahua and launch a plantation driveby planting saplings in Anand KananVatika.

Ahead of his visit, Modi alsotweeted about the membershipdrive.Under the plantation drive, UPgovernment led by Yogi Aditayanath hasset a target to plant 22 crore saplingsacross the state and Varanasi districtadministration has decided to plant morethan 27 lakh saplings in the district.Modi will launch the BJP’s nationwide

membership drive from the DeendayalUpadhyay Trade Facilitation Centre andMuseum. “Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the nationwidemembership drive and will also launcha helpline number here today,” Rathisaid. “The nationwide membership driveof the BJP will remain continue tillAugust 11.” He will welcome of 11people from different sections of societyto the party to mark the beginning ofthe membership drive and will addressaround 5,000 BJP members. Thereafter,PM Modi will visit virtual experientialmuseum at Man Mandir Mahal adjacentto Dashashwamedh Ghat here. Thevirtual museum based on first floor ofMaan Mandir Mahal famous for itsobservatory. The virtual museum givesglimpses of rich heritage of Kashi.

19Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 CONTD

Spectacular fall of India's 'dosa king': Saravana Bhavan's P Rajagopal due for life sentenceThe winning formula was, andremains, that the southern Indianvegetarian delights on offer --dosa pancakes, deep-friedvadas and idli rice cakes -- tastehomemade, and are affordable."If a lower middle class familywanted an outing, a good treat,a place to celebrate something,Saravana Bhavan was thechoice," G.C. Shekhar, ajournalist in Chennai, told AFP."This man sort of democratisedrestaurants."The conceptspread beyond India, with around

80 outlets abroad today cateringmostly to the homesick Indiandiaspora in the United States, theGulf, Europe and Australia.He also treats his staffgenerously, giving even thelowest-ranking employeesbenefits like health insurance. Inreturn, they adoringly call him"annachi" ("elder brother").- Fateful advice -Alongside Hindu gods, therestaurants invariably have twopictures of him on the wall: onewith his sons, who now run the

business -- and one with histrusted spiritual guru.But his beliefs, by no meansunusual in India, proved to behis undoing.In the early 2000s, Rajagopalreportedly took an astrologer'sadvice to make a fateful decision-- to take as his third wife thedaughter of an employee he hadhis eye on."He was obsessewith her," D. Suresh Kumar,another local journalist, toldAFP.The young woman inquestion was already married

and rejected his advances, butRajagopal is not a man used totaking no for an answer.Threats, beatings and exorcismsdirected at the woman, herhusband and her family overmonths all failed, and in 2001 --after one failed attempt -- thehusband was murdered onRajagopal's orders.In 2004, he was found guilty andsentenced to 10 years. Onappeal, he was convicted ofmurder and the sentenceincreased to life, a decision then

upheld by the Supreme Court inMarch.He is meant to surrender by July7 and spend the rest of his lifebehind bars."Rajagopal is an example of howyou can really come up in thesociety through hard work andthinking out of the box," saidShekhar."What led to his downfall was hisweakness for women and hisbelief that he was so powerful thathe could get somebodymurdered and get away with it.

Biden plummets, Harris vaults to second in major poll

Former NYPD cop sentenced for heading up gambling andprostitution ring in city and Hempstead, Queens DA says

which charged $40 for 15minutes and $160 for one hour,raked in more than $2 millionbetween August 2016 andSeptember 2017, authoritiessaid."These operations are out ofbus iness now and thedefendant is going to prison,"Act ing Queens Dis t r ic tAttorney John Ryan said. "Wewill continue to combat thiskind of corruption - even whenthe perpetrators are thoseentrusted to enforce the law."Paz, who ret ired from thedepartment in 2010, has beenin custody since September2018. He pleaded guilty to twocounts of attempted enterprisecorruption and one count ofth i rd-degree promot ingprostitution in May. His wifepleaded guilty to two countsof a t tempted enterpr isecorruption in May. She wassentenced to 364 days in jail.

Ryan said in a news releasethat Paz "used his insight andknowledge of NYPDoperations to run lucrativeprost i tut ion and gambl ingrings.""Fur ther ing h is c r imina lactions, the defendant usedhis connections with activeduty officers to corrupt theminto participating in his illegalventures," Ryan said in therelease.Seven NYPD officers werecharged last September withenterpr ise cor rupt ion,misconduct and o therviolations for their role in theactivity, including Brooklyn-based Det. Rene Samaniego.Ryan said Samaniego pleadedgui l ty to two counts o fa t tempted enterpr isecor rupt ion in May. He isscheduled to be sentencedJuly 24.Authori t ies beganinvest igat ing a poss ib leprostitution and gambling ringin Apr i l 2015 a fter ananonymous t ips ter to ldNYPD's Internal Affairs Bureauthat ac t ive and re t i redpersonnel were involved inillegal activities.

'Dawood's top henchman' fights extradition toUS after being duped by FBI agents

On the first day of his three-dayextradition trial on Monday, JohnHardy QC, representing the USgovernment, revealed that as partof an FBI investigation of D-Company, which is based inPakistan, India and the UAE, atleast three FBI "confidentialsources" had met and spokento Motiwala "who made it clearto them he was with the D-Company"."The head is Dawood Ibrahim,an Indian Muslim in exile inPakistan. He and his brotherhave been fugitives from Indiasince 1993 and over the past 10years D-Company operativeshave conducted operations in theUS. The FBI investigationrevealed that Motiwala reportsdirectly to Dawood and thatextortion, debt collection andmoney laundering are his mainjob and he travels extensivelyand conducts meetings onbehalf of Dawood who cannottravel," Hardy said. Motiwala,

who lives in Karachi and has a10-year visa to the UK, appearedin the dock at Westminstermagistrates' court and kept hiseyes cast on the ground. Oneof the FBI in formants , aPakis tan-born US c i t izen,attempting to facilitate criminaldealings with the D-Company,met Motiwala, a "top lieutenantin the Dawood empire", in theUS in 2011, and in Pakistan in2011 and 2012, Hardy said.Motiwala introduced the sourceto a co-conspirator who is thelead money launderer for D-Company, he said. The USagent then laundered morethan $1 bi l l ion of narcoticsproceeds from D-Company andmade cash deposits in the US,making them appear to come fromlegitimate transactions, Hardysaid."During the meetings inPakistan in 2011 the FBI sourceand Motiwala discussed debtcollection and extortion by D-Company in the US and abroad

and how D-Company uses itsreputation for violence and theability to reach family membersin Pakistan and India to resolvebusiness disputes and pressurethem to pay up. On oneoccasion, $80,000 wascollected from two lower levelD-Company associates inNew Jersey and Motiwalademanded 40% of thepayment for having helpedcollect the debt."The D-Company collectsfees o f up to 50% forcollecting the money in adispute," Hardy added. Thecourt heard that on the USagent's first trip to Pakistan,in September 2011, heinquired about import ingheroin and was introduced byMotiwala's co-conspirator toa heroin and hash supplier. In2014 a 4-kg sample of heroinwas shipped from Pakistan toNew York via Toronto where itwas seized.

The largest drop came fromBiden. He was at 32 percent inthe May poll, 10 points ahead ofwhere he polled now. Sandersslipped slightly by 4 points,which is within the poll's marginof error.The drop is steep from the topfour candidates to South Bend,Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whois in a distant fifth place at 4percent. Sen. Cory Booker andformer Rep. Beto O'Rourke eachhave 3 percent, and Sen. AmyKlobuchar has 2 percent, the lastcandidate above that mark.Biden is still the leader amongblack voters, 36 percent to 24percent for Harris, but hisadvantage with what had beenhis strongest cohort is

diminished. Among white voters,the top four candidates areessentially tied: 20 percent forBiden, 17 percent for Harris, 16percent for Warren and 15 percentfor Sanders.Biden is particularly hurt in thehorse race polling with youngvoters. Just 13 percent of votersunder 45 pick him as their choiceto be the nominee. Sanders leadswith voters under 45 with 21percent, followed by Harris' 18percent and Warren's 17 percent.Among older voters, Biden is stillon top. For voters 45 and older,Biden is at 29 percent, followedby Harris' 17 percent, Warren's 13percent and Sanders' 8 percent.Harris' rise comes after a strongdebate performance last week in

Miami, where she confrontedBiden over his record on racialissues, including his commentsabout segregationist Senatecolleagues and past oppositionto federally mandated busing.But despite the strong ratingsfor the debate, a majority ofDemocrats and Democratic-leaning independents say theydid not watch the debate. Forty-two percent said they watchedeither "all or most" of both orone debate, while 57 percentsaid they did not tune in foreither. Of the nonwatchers, 36percent did say they paid closeattention to news stories afterthe debate.Americans are divided on healthcare, as well. When all adults

were asked if the governmentshould provide a national healthinsurance program "for al lAmericans, even if this wouldrequ i re h igher taxes" amajority - 56 percent - supportit, with 40 percent disapprovingof the idea. But of that 56percent, more say it shouldnot completely replace privatehealth insurance, 32 percent,wi th 21 percent say ing i tshould. On stage, Sandersand Harris both raised theirhand when asked who would

abolish private health insurancein favor of a government-only plan,only for Harris to backtrack,saying she misunderstood thequestion.This poll counts to qualifycandidates for both the secondround of Democratic debates atthe end of this month and thethird round of debates inSeptember. Currently, 21candidates qualify for the seconddebate - the 20 candidates whodebated last week, plus MontanaGov. Steve Bullock.

20Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 US & THE WORLD

Biden's Iowa support crumbles in new poll(News Agencies)-As Joe Biden lands in Iowafor two days of events, he'sconfronting signs ofcrumbling support in thefirst-in-the-nation caucusstate: A new survey showshe's plummeted 20percentage points sinceSeptember.A Focus on Rural Americapoll released Wednesdaysuggests the ground hasshifted significantly overthe past several months,with Elizabeth Warren,Kamala Harris and Bidencurrently clusteredtogether at the top: Warrenhad 20 percent, Harris at18 percent and Biden 17percent.Bernie Sanders came infourth at 12 percent.In September, in the same

poll, Biden was wallopingthe field; with 37 percentsupport, he led Sanders,his next closest competitor,by 25 points.In the months s incethen, however, the formervice president has laggedbehind other top- t ierrivals in assembling ano n - t h e - g r o u n dorganization. LeadingIowa Democrats havecomplained Biden hasfailed to offer Iowans thekind of doting retail politicsto which they'reaccustomed.Focus on Rural AmericaChair Patty Judge, also aformer lieutenant governorin Iowa, said the results arethe latest sign that Bidenhas to "step up his game"if he wants to compete in

Iowa."He has not beencampaigning in Iowa. Hehas not had a presencehere," Judge said. "Couplethat with the debate - inwhich Kamala Harriscertainly took a piece of hishide. I think it has caughtup to him."The new survey showedWarren making the mostmarked gains, with a 12-percentage-point jumpsince March. It's a signthe Massachuset tssenator 's heavyinvestment in staff ingand organization in thestate might be paying off."[Warren] is definitelyseeing some of the fruitsof all of the hard work doneby her campaign in Iowa.She's doing well because

she's been here," Judgesaid. "She is growing herein name ID and popularity,she's camped out here agood deal of the time. Shehas an incredible fieldoperation going."Harris, too, saw a sizablebump, gaining 9percentage points sinceMarch. Biden, meanwhile,dropped 8 percentagepoints since the March

Teen accused of rape deserves leniency because of his 'good family', judge says(News Agencies)- A judgesuggested that a teenageboy accused of raping adrunk girl at a party shouldbe treated lenientlybecause he came from "agood family", and castdoubt on whether such anattack amounted to rapeat all. Judge JamesTroiano in New Jerseymade the remarks whileruling that the boy, whowas identified only as"GMC", should not facetrial as an adult forallegedly raping a 16-year-old girl while recording theincident on his mobilephone. "This young mancomes from a good family

who put him into anexcellent school where hewas doing extremely well,"Troiano said. "He is clearlya candidate for not justcollege but probably for agood college. His scoresfor college entry were veryhigh." Troiano, 69, alsonoted that the boy was anEagle Scout.Investigators said GMCsent a clip of the allegedrape to seven of his friends,and later sent a textadding: "When your firsttime having sex is rape."Yet Troiano suggestedthat, in his view, the allegedincident was a sexualassault rather than a rape.

Troiano's remarks, whichhe delivered at a familycourt hearing in July 2018,were highlighted this weekin a sharply wordedoverturning of his decisionby an appeals court.Prosecutors toldNJ1015.com they wouldnow seek an indictmentfrom a grand jury so theymay prosecute GMC as anadult.Prosecutors had allegedthat GMC's attack hadbeen "sophisticated andpredatory" and that heshowed "calculated andcruel" behaviour by filmingthe incident, sharing thefootage and then lying

about it.Adult cases are heard bya jury and typically involveharsher punishments forthose convicted. Recordsof juvenile cases arelargely kept secret fromthe public.But Troiano refused,pointing to GMC'sbackground and sayingthat, in his view, a"traditional case of rape"involved more than oneattacker using a weapon totake advantage of a victimin a remote location.The judge also cast doubton allegations GMC'svictim was too drunk tounderstand what was

happening, asserting thatshe "walked hand-in-hand"with GMC to a basementarea where the allegedrape took place.And he dismissed thesignificance of GMC'sboastful text messages,describing this as "just a16-year-old kid saying

stupid crap to his friends".The appeals court panelsaid Troiano hadexceeded his role and"decided the case forhimself" rather thanproperly reviewing theapplication byprosecutors to try GMCas an adult.

survey, when he led with25 percent. The latest pollwas in the field theweekend after the firstpresidential debates, whenHarris seized headlinesafter a lengthy takedown ofBiden over race-relatedquestions. The survey wasconducted by David BinderResearch, who also servesas Harris' main pollster.But Harris stood at just 7percent in December and9 percent in March in thesame poll.The new poll is the latestsign of trouble for the 76-year-old Biden, who isattempting to regain hisfooting after his roundlypanned first debateperformance raisedquestions about thedurability of his candidacy.

The former vice presidenthas been buffeted in thedays after the debate withquestions about his recordon civil rights and his recentcomments about hisrelationship withsegregationist senators.Biden has had one high-profile donor abandon himand has seen his standingdecline in several nationalpolls taken after thedebate. His campaign,however, has committed toplowing more resourcesinto early stateinfrastructure, including inIowa, where 50 new staffersare rushing to catch up toalready establishedorganizations of Warrenand others who beganlaying the groundwork asearly as January.


Trump accuses New York of harassing his businesses

Schumer calls for firing of BorderPatrol leadership over 'toxic' culture

(News Agencies)- Senate MinorityLeader Chuck Schumer onWednesday called for the firing oftop leadership at Customs andBorder Protection, saying theconditions at detention facilities anda secret Facebook group featuringlewd posts fromborder agentshighlight the agency's"toxic" culture." I n t e r n a linvestigations aren'tenough because theleadership at CBP,particularly ActingCommissioner MarkMorgan, are toocallous about theway in which childrenand their families aretreated, which is why we needuntainted professionals to bebrought in from outside the CBPstructure immediately," Schumersaid.The New York Democrat's remarkscome one day after the Office of theInspector General released a reportdescribing "dangerous"overcrowding and "prolongeddetention of children" at migrantdetention centers. The inspectorgeneral called for the Department ofHomeland Security to interveneimmediately to improve conditions.

Meanwhile, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand(D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), all2020 presidential hopefuls,demanded Wednesday that theOffice of Refugee Resettlement"ensure that the custody and

processing of[unaccompanied alienchildren] is meetingthe minimumstandards required bydomestic andinternational law."In response to theinspector generalreport, Democrats onthe House OversightCommittee havesummoned Morganand Kevin

McAleenan, the acting head of DHS,to testify before the panel on July12.The controversy over the conditionof detention centers comes daysafter the House passed the Senate'sversion of an emergency border aidbill, which many House Democratsviewed as a concession to SenateMajority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Progressive and Hispaniccaucus members are still privatelyfuming at Schumer, who they putthe blame on for the bill's passagelast week.

(News Agencies)- USPresident Donald Trumpsaid on Wednesday hewas "not talking boots onthe ground" should militaryaction be necessaryagainst Iran, and said anyconflict would not last long.Asked if a war was brewing,Trump told Fox BusinessNetwork: "I hope we don'tbut we're in a very strongposition if somethingshould happen." "I'm nottalking boots on theground," Trump said. "I'mjust saying if something

would happen, it wouldn'tlast very long." Thecomments come just daysafter Trump cancelled airstrikes minutes beforeimpact, with allies warningthat the increase intensions since the UnitedStates pulled out of anuclear pact with Iran lastyear could accidentallylead to war.Iran suggestedit was just one day frombreaching a threshold inthe agreement that limitedits stockpile of uranium, amove that would put

pressure on Europeancountries that have tried toremain neutral to picksides.The fate of the 2015nuclear deal, under whichIran agreed to curbs on itsnuclear programme inreturn for access tointernational trade, hasbeen at the heart of thedispute which hasescalated and taken on amilitary dimension in recentweeks.Washington sharply

tightened sanctions lastmonth, aiming to bar allinternational sales ofIranian oil. It accuses Iranof being behind bombattacks on ships in theGul f , wh ich i tdenies.Last week, Iranshot down a U.S. dronei t said was in i ts a i rspace, which Washingtondenied. Trump orderedretaliatory air strikes butcalled them off at the last

minute, later saying toomany people would havedied.ObliterationAlthough the United Statesand Iran both say they donot want war, last week'sabor ted U.S. s t r ikeshave been followed bymenacing rhetor ic onboth sides. On TuesdayTrump threatened the"obliteration" of parts ofI ran i f i t s t ruck U.S.

interests. PresidentHassan Rouhani, whonormally presents Tehran'smild-mannered face, calledWhite House po l icy"mentally retarded".The standoff creates achallenge for Washingtonwhich, after quitting thenuclear deal against theadv ice o f Europeanallies, is now seekingtheir support to force Iranto comply with it.

Trump team weighs giving China a get-out-of-jail free card on Iran(News Agencies)- TheState Department isseriously considering usingan Obama-era loophole toallow China to import oil fromIran, violating the Trumpadministration's pledge tobring Iranian oil exports tozero. Only last week, thesenior State Departmentofficial handling Iran said theU.S. would "sanction anyimports of Iranian crude oil."

But according to three U.S.officials, the department's Iranczar, Brian Hook, and histeam of negotiators havediscussed granting China awaiver to a 2012 law intendedto kneecap the Iranian oilindustry. The alternative isallowing China, whichrecently welcomed ashipment of approximatelya million barrels of Iranianoil, openly to defy U.S.

sanctions. The Trump teamhas kept the details of itsdeliberations closely heldas news reports of theChinese oil imports haveproliferated in recent days -and hawks on Capitol Hill havebegun to ask questions. It isthe latest in a series of dust-ups between theadministration and Congresson an Iran policy that hasoften appeared inconsistent,

careening between threats ofmilitary action and offers totalk with Iranian leaders. The2012 Iran Freedom andCounterproliferation Acttargeted the Iranian shipping,shipbuilding and energysectors, requiring states orcompanies that wish toimport Iranian oil and conductbusiness with the U.S. toobtain waivers from theU.S. government.

Trump hails US militaryin 4th of July address

President DonaldTrump has hailed the "bravemen and women" of the USmilitary during a speech at acontroversial IndependenceDay event."We celebrate ourhistory, our people, and theheroes who proudly defend ourflag," he told a crowd at a rain-soaked Lincoln Memorial inWashington DC. The "Saluteto America" event featuredmilitary flyovers and fireworks.Opponents accused MrTrump of wasting money andpoliticising the holiday aheadof his re-election campaign.The Pentagon has notrevealed the cost of theextravaganza, which manybelieve was inspired by MrTrump's visit to a Bastille Dayparade hosted by FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronin 2017. Some reports say theNational Park Service divertednearly $2.5m (£2m) to coverthe cost. What happened?Addressing a crowd that hadbraved torrential rain and hightemperatures, Mr Trump paidhomage to the military beforeintroducing separate flyoversfor each branch. He spokeabout America's battle for

independence and praised the"extraordinary heritage" of thecountry."Together we are part of oneof the greatest stories evertold, the story of America," MrTrump said at the event.Chants of "USA, USA" brokeout sporadically as he spoke."It is the chronicle of bravecitizens who never give up onthe dream of a better andbrighter future," he continued."As long as we never stopfighting for a better future...there will be nothing thatAmerica cannot do." Thestage at the Lincoln Memorialwas draped in flags and therewere military vehicles ondisplay nearby. Two 70-tonneAbrams tanks had to stay ona side road as they were tooheavy for the memorial'ssurrounding areas. The eventwas open to the public free ofcharge, apart from a ticketedarea for VIPs in front of thememorial. The musical playlistincluded the Star Wars theme,Hail to the Chief and Godbless the USA. It went aheadlargely without incident,although there were minorscuffles outside the White

House earlier on Thursdayafter a flag-burning protest.Following Mr Trump's speech,many people headed to ascheduled concert on the lawnof the Capitol Building wherea fireworks display wentahead despite the rainyconditions."Who doesn ' t loveAmer ica 's b i r thday?"Andrea Stanford [secondfrom right] beams. The 58-year -o ld is one o f the"Women 4 Trump" groupwho travelled for 15 hoursf rom F lor ida wi th herfriends. All of whom, sherevealed, are wearing red,white and blue underwear.Why? "Donald Trump isredefining the presidency andthe commitment to freedomand liberty," she says. "He'sthe first president who's kepthis promises - economicallyand militarily," she added,referring to the recent meetingat the DMZ with North Koreanleader Kim Jong-un. Alongsidethe reflecting pool, where raindrops have been crashingdown all afternoon, peoplefrom states across thiscountry have filed in.


NRA meltdown has Trump campaign sweating

( News Agencies)- The NationalRifle Association aired anavalanche of TV ads and pushedits 5 million-plus members to thepolls for Donald Trump in 2016,propelling him in the Rust Beltstates that delivered him thepresidency.Now, the gun rights group is intotal meltdown - and seniorRepublicans and Trump 2020officials are alarmed.In recent weeks, the NRA hasseen everything from a failedcoup attempt to the departure ofits longtime political architect toembarrassing tales of self-dealing by top leaders. Theturmoil is fueling fears that theorganization will be profoundlydiminished heading into theelection, leaving the RepublicanParty with a gaping hole in itspolitical machinery.With the Chamber of Commerceand Koch political networkwithdrawing from their once-dominant roles in electingconservatives, Republicansworry that three organizations

that have long formed the core oftheir electoral infrastructure willbe effectively on the sidelines.The predicament has so troubledsome Republicans that they arecalling on the famously secretiveNRA to address its 2020 plans.Within the past week, senatorshave privately expressedconcerns about the group toNational Republican SenatorialCommittee Chairman ToddYoung."No organization has been moreimportant to conservative votereducation and engagement thanthe NRA. We all hope they're ableto mount the kind of effort in the2020 cycle they have in thepast," said Gregg Keller, a formerAmerican Conservative Unionexecutive director. "But in casethey can't, given their currentsituation, I hope they're beingforthright about that within themovement so others can pick upthe slack.""The situation," he added, "hasfolks nervous."What makes the NRA such a

potent force for Republicans,party officials said, are its reachinto battlegrounds - such asPennsylvania, Michigan,Wisconsin, North Carolina andOhio - and the sway it holds withits members. The NRA's appealsplay a critical role in turning outsportsmen, many of whom havepaid dues to the organization foryears and regard it as animportant part of their lives.Chris LaCivita, a national GOPstrategist who's wagedcongressional and statewidecampaigns in North Carolina,said he remains confident gunadvocates will turn out to vote in2020. But he said the NRA'sproblems could hobble itsmobilization efforts."Infighting and accusationsplaying out almost daily in thenational media regarding the NRAhave not been helpful. Clearly itwill have an impact in the NRA'sability to raise money, whichwould be used in elections to turnout its membership," LaCivitasaid. With the organization mired

in palace intrigue and confrontinga daily barrage of negativepublicity, some NRA officials areskeptical a 2020 plan wi l lemerge. Many Republicansare conv inced the job o fturn ing out SecondAmendment supporters willfa l l to the cash- f lushRepublican National Committee,which is constructing a massiveget-out-the-vote and datamachine devoted to turning outconservatives.Jane Timken, chairwoman ofthe Ohio GOP, sa id herorganization would work closely

with the RNC to microtargetfirearm owners. The nationalparty, Timken noted, hascompiled extensive voter datathrough sources ranging fromgun licenses to gun magazinesubscriptions.Concerns over the NRAintensified last week after theresignation of Chris Cox, whohad been the head of i tslobbying arm since 2002. Coxwas well-liked by NRA staffand board members and haddeep relationships with majordonors and many of the party'stop strategists.

Ocasio-Cortez defiant in face of criticism foropposing border $$ bill while decrying conditions

( News Agencies)- Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezis firing back ataccusations of hypocrisyfor railing againstconditions in migrantdetention centers, afterhaving voted againstfunding legislation for thehumanitarian crisis at theborder."People like AOC createthe disaster, refuse to fixit, vote against funding tohelp people and then godown there to attack thepeople who are saying toher, 'we don't have enoughmoney, we don't haveenough facilities,'" formerGOP House Speaker NewtGingrich said on Fox News'"America's Newsroom,"calling her "viciouslydishonest."The criticisms of Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., come afterthe freshman Democrattraveled to the border in El

Paso, Texas on Mondaywith almost a dozenmembers of theCongressional HispanicCaucus, blasting borderofficials while claimingagents forced migrantwomen and children in cellsto drink toilet water.Ocasio-Cortez has battledwith immigration officialsever since over the veracityof that claim. But she's alsofaced criticism over her "hellno" vote last week on abipartisan bill that wouldprovide $4.6 bill ion infunding for the crisis, andfor voting against an earlierDemocrat-backed aidpackage. She was insistingthat restrictions onimmigration enforcement beincluded."How many migrant womendid @AOC help by votingAGAINST the $4.6 billionbipartisan humanitarian aidthat is FOR THEM?"

Kellyanne Conway,counselor to PresidentTrump, tweeted Tuesdayin response to thelawmaker's accusations."All talk, no dollars."Republican GOP Rep. DanCrenshaw of Texas alsopushed back. "Whatthey're really doing istrying to stand on theirmoral high horse and slingarrows at everybody elsewhile not offering asolution," Crenshaw saidon Fox News' "The Story"Tuesday. "They fought ustooth and nail against that$4.5 [bill ion] inhumanitarian aid thepresident needed, thatDHS needed." But Ocasio-Cortez fired back, sayingit's "not" a fundingproblem, but a "deeper,systemic" one. She alsoclaimed the border billsimply "funded abuse" anddidn't fix the problem.

"Are CBP officers wakingup women in the middle ofsleep a 'funding' problem?Is calling migrants 'filthy''wh*res' a funding problem?Is threatening violence onmembers of Congress a'funding' problem?" shetweeted. "No, it's not. It'sa far deeper, systemic,more violent problem thanthat."But amid the political fight,immigration officialsmaintain that they areresource-starved in the faceof a migration surge. ADHS official told Fox Newsthat CBP agents are "notequipped for the sheervolume of people" infacilities."HHS is backed up withchildren, so there is a realbacklog at the CBPfacilities there," the officialexplained. "It 's a realproblem. The supplementalfunding will help, but it's a

Republicans worry that the NRA and two other groupsthat have long formed the core of their electoralinfrastructure will be effectively on the sidelines.

band-aid on a much biggerproblem."A U.S. Customs andBorder Protectionspokesman told Fox Newsin a statement that duringOcasio-Cortez's visit to theborder with other membersof Congress Monday,"local leadershiphighlighted investments inadditional restroom andshower facilities, hygieneproducts, increasedmedical support andexpanded transportationcapabilities," and saidofficials are doing the best

they can with limitedfunding and resources.Even with theseinvestments, El Pasoofficials emphasized tomembers of Congress thatUSBP facilities were notdesigned for long-termholding," the CBPspokesman said in astatement. "Officials alsoexplained the criticalchallenges to USBPoperations when ICE/EROand HHS/ORR are unableto move those in custodyas quickly as they areprocessed."

23Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 BUSINESS

SoftBank pumps in USD250 mn in Ola Electric

Ola's electricvehicle arm, Ola ElectricMobility has secured afunding of over Rs 1,725crore (about USD 250million) from SoftBank,according to regulatorydocuments. With thislatest infusion, Ola ElectricMobility (OEM) has joinedthe list of unicorns in Indiathat includes names likeFlipkart, Zomato, Paytmas well as its parent, Ola.

As per regulatorydocuments filed with theRegistrar of Companies,OEM issued "4,326 fullyand compulsorilyconvertible series Bpreference shares of facevalue of Rs 10 each havingthe rights, privileges andpreferences..." to SBTopaz (Cayman) Ltd. Thetotal amount paid wasabout Rs 1,725.04 crore,it added. The allotment

was made on Tuesdayfollowing a special resolutionpassed by the boardmembers on June 25, thefiling showed. SoftBank isalso the single largestinvestor in Ola. In May, TataSons Chairman EmeritusRatan Tata - who is also aninvestor in Ola - hadinvested an undisclosedamount in OEM as part ofseries A funding round.Also as part of the seriesA, OEM had announcedraising Rs 400 crore led byTiger Global and MatrixIndia in March this year.Ola Electric is currentlyrunning several pilotsinvolving charging solutions,battery swappingstations, and deployingvehic les across two,three and four-wheelersegments.

With this latest infusion, Ola Electric Mobility (OEM) hasjoined the list of unicorns in India that includes names like

Flipkart, Zomato, Paytm as well as its parent, Ola.

180 IndiGo passengers asked todeplane after pilot fails to turn up

Gundeep Chawla, 43, a businessmanwho had a connecting flight to Nagpur toattend a family function, was among thetravellers who were told to deboard the

flight and move to the waiting area.

Around 180 passengerswere left stranded atChandigarh InternationalAirport as IndiGocancelled its 7:55am flightto Delhi on Wednesday.Passengers had alreadyboarded the plane whenthey were asked to deplaneafter waiting for 45 minutes,citing some documentationerror. However, multiplesources that HT talked toconfirmed that the flight hadto be grounded because ofthe unavailability of a pilot.Gundeep Chawla, 43, abusinessman who had aconnecting flight to Nagpurto attend a family function,was among the travellerswho were told to deboardthe flight and move to thewaiting area. "Around9:30am, we got to knowthat the airline could notarrange a pilot. It wasshocking," he said. AnkurPuri, 42, who had to furthertravel to Goa for vacation,said: "The airline staff kept

us waiting for more thanthree hours, before theyfinally announced that theflight has been cancelled.We got our checkedluggage back around10:30am." Though, the airlinerefunded the booking amountto all passengers, they hadto make their ownarrangements to reachDelhi. Meanwhile, theairlines and the airportoffered multiple reasons forthe cancellation. While an

IndiGo representativereportedly told passengersthat the flying hours ofpilots were over and somepilots were stuck in Delhidue to rains, ChandigarhInternational Airport Limitedspokesperson PrinceDildar said: "The flightoperator has cited someoperational constraints."However, sources privy tothe matter told HT that thepilot designated to fly toDelhi did not turn up.

24Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 SPECIAL REPORT

Unhappy With Their 2016 Coronation, the Democrats Start a 2020 Circus

Marianne Williamson narrowedher eyes and gazed into my soul,channeling some of the sametelekinetic life force she'd usedminutes earlier to cast a spell onDonald Trump in her closingstatement of Thursday'sDemocratic presidential debate.Inside a sweaty spin room, withswarms of reporters enfoldingKamala Harris and BernieSanders and Kirsten Gillibrand,the author and self-helpspiritualist drifted through themadness with a mien of Zen-likesatisfaction. It was only when Iasked her a question-what doesshe say to people who don't thinkshe belonged on that debatestage?-that Will iamson'ssorcerous intensity returned."This is a democracy, that's whatI say to them," she replied, herhypnotic voice anchored by anaccent perfected at Rick's Café."There's this political class, andmedia class, that thinks they getto tell people who becomespresident. This is what's wrong

with America. We don't doaristocracy here. We dodemocracy."For better and worse.In 2016, Hillary Clinton wasserved the Democraticpresidential nomination on asilver platter. With a monopoly onthe left's biggest donors and topstrategists, with the implicitbacking of the incumbentpresident, with the consensussupport of the party's mostprominent officials, and with onlyfour challengers standing in herway-the most viable of whomhad spent the past quarter-century wandering the halls ofCongress alone muttering underhis breath-Clinton couldn't lose.The ascendant talents on the leftknew better than to interfere. Shehad already been denied her turnonce before; daring to disrupt theparty's line of succession wouldbe career suicide.This coronation yielded one of theweakest general-electionnominees in modern American

history-someone disliked anddistrusted by more than half ofthe electorate, someone guidedby a sense of entitlement ratherthan a sense of urgency,someone incapable of mobilizingthe party's base to defeat themost polarizing and unpopularRepublican nominee in ourlifetimes.Democrats don't have to worryabout another coronation.Instead, with two dozencandidates battling for the rightto challenge Trump nextNovember, they are dealing withthe opposite problem: a circus.Three days after the maelstromin Miami, top Democratic officialsinsist there's no sense of panic.They say everything is undercontrol. They tell anyone who willlisten that by virtue of the rulesand debate qualificationrequirements they'veimplemented, this mammothprimary field will soon shrink inhalf, which should limit theinternecine destruction and

hasten the selection of astandard-bearer. But based onconversations with candidatesand campaign operatives, itmight be too late for that. Theunifying objective of defeatingTrump in 2020 likely won't besufficient to ward off whateveryone now believes will be along, divisive primary.First impressions are everythingin politics. And it wasunderstood by those candidatesand campaign officials departingMiami that what America wasintroduced to this week-morethan a year before theDemocrats will choose theirnominee at the 2020 convention-was a party searching not onlyfor a leader but for an identity,for a vision, for a coherent

argument about how voters wouldbenefit from a change inleadership."I don't think there's a senseamong the American people ofwhat the national DemocraticParty stands for. And I thinkthere's actually moreconfusionabout that now," Michael Bennet,the Colorado senator andpresidential candidate, told meafter participating in Thursdaynight's forum. Some confusion isinevitable when 20 candidates,many of them unfamiliar to anational audience, are allottedfive to seven minutes to explainwhy they are qualified to lead thefree world. Yet the perception inthe eyes of the political class-and the feeling on the ground wassomething closer to chaos.

After the maelstrom in Miami, the presidentialcandidates and their campaign staffs are talking

openly about a long, divisive primary.

Why can companies still silence us with mandatory arbitration?

When it was revealed inOctober that Andy Rubinreceived a $90m exit packageafter being forced to resign overa credible sexual harassmentclaim, Google employeesaround the world walked out inprotest. They were disgusted atwhat appeared to be a rewardfor bad behavior, and theywanted more accountability formembers of management. Butthey were also angry at thestrategy that the company usedto keep harassment claims asecret: forced arbitration.Google employees, like theircounterparts at a ballooning

number of American companies,were subject to forced arbitration- meaning that if they had a conflictwith their employer, such as wagetheft, race discrimination, or in thiscase, sexual harassment, theywere not entitled to take thatclaim to court. Instead, theywould be forced into analternative justice system calledarbitration. Arbitration is asystem of private courts. Theyoperate using different rules thancivil courts - there is no judge orjury, for instance, but an"arbitrator" who is chosen by theparties, and paid by theemployer, to decide the case. It

is strictly confidential. Since the1920s, arbitration has beenlegally binding: once partiesagree to settle a dispute inarbitration, they give up theirright to go to court. The practicehas been around for centuries,functioning as a quicker, cheaperalternative to the formal justicesystem, and it was originallydeveloped to settle disputesbetween businesses. But startingin the mid-1980s, the US supremecourt issued a series of rulingssaying that arbitration could be usedfor other kinds of conflicts - includingconflicts between employees andemployers over things such asdiscrimination. According to theEconomic Policy Institute, morethan 55% of the American workforceis now subject to mandatoryarbitration - up from just 2% in 1992.Most of those workers don't knowthat they have forfeited their right tosue. Employers slip mandatoryarbitration clauses into theiremployee contracts - those bigstacks of confusingly wordedhiring documents thatemployees are asked to sign,but usually don't read.

'Wolf of Wall Street' producer charged with1MDB money laundering in Malaysia

Malaysia on Friday charged oneof the "Wolf of Wall Street" filmproducers, and stepson of formerprime minister Najib Razak, withmoney laundering, alleging hemisappropriated $248 millionlinked to state fund 1MalaysiaDevelopment Berhad (1MDB).Riza Aziz, a co-founder ofH o l l y w o o dproduction firm RedGranite Pictures thatwas behind theOscar-nominatedfilm "The Wolf ofWall Street," wascharged with fivecounts of moneylaundering. Prosecutors allegedRiza received a total of $248million as a result ofmisappropriation of 1MDB funds.Riza pleaded not guilty to all thecharges. Each charge carries afinancial penalty of up to fivemillion ringgit ($1.21 million), amaximum jail term of five years,or both. The court granted Rizabail at one million ringgit andasked him to surrender hispassports. After unexpectedlylosing an election to Mahathir

Mohamad in May last year, Najibhas been slapped with a seriesof corruption charges, mostlytied to losses at now-defunct1MDB. Najib, who founded1MDB in 2009, faces 42 criminalcharges related to huge lossesat the fund and other stateentities. He has pleaded not

guilty and hasconsistently deniedwrongdoing.The U.S. JusticeDepartment hasestimated that atotal of $4.5 billionwas misappropriatedby high-level officials

at 1MDB and their associatesbetween 2009 and 2014. 1MDBis being inves t iga ted in a tl e a s t s i x c o u n t r i e s f o ral leged money launderingand graft. U.S. prosecutors havesaid Red Granite had financedthree films using funds theysuspect were stolen from 1MDB.Red Granite paid the U.S.government $60 mill ion inSeptember 2017 to settle a civilforfeiture claim over the rights to"The Wolf of Wall Street".

25Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 SPECIAL REPORT

Trump's foreign luxury resorts collide with his South Korea diplomacy

While visiting South Korea overthe weekend, President DonaldTrump tried to strike a deal withPresident Moon Jae-in to getmore companies to invest in theUnited States.But even as he pushed Americaninterests, a partner of Trump'snamesake company isaggressively expanding plans tobuild luxury Trump-brandedresorts in Indonesia - and theproject involves a constructioncompany partly owned by theSouth Korean government.It's not clear whether Trumpbrought up the Indonesia projectsduring his talks with Moon. Butthe meeting represented thelatest example of the blurredlines between Trump's officialdiplomatic work and his businessinterests.The expansion of the project thatnow has the South Koreangovernment attached to it seemsto run afoul - at least in spirit - of

Trump's pledge that the TrumpOrganization will not enter intoany new foreign deals while inoffice.The project in question got morecomplicated, ethics-wise, whenthe developer of a Trump luxuryresort signed a previouslyunrepor ted $120 mi l l ioncontract last September witha construct ion company -partly owned by the SouthKorean government - to builda six-star hotel, an 18-holegolf course and theme parkthat has been compared toDisney World. A companystatement announcing thecont ract w i th Posco sa idfinancing would come fromKEB Bank and IBK Securities,a state-owned bank of Korea.The developer, MNC Land, inkedan agreement with Posco E&CIndonesia to build what is beingbilled as "Trump Community" inLido City, Indonesia. Posco also

expects to build a second Trumpresort in Bali, Indonesia, acompany official said in apreviously reported statement."In addition to the new towndevelopment project in Lido,we expect to receive ordersfor the Bali Trump ResortProject," a Posco E&C officialsaid in the statement.In a little-noticed companyupdate in February, MNCwrote that an "aggressiveg loba l expans ion" o f theTrump international portfoliowas underway wi th"numerous projects in thep ipe l ine. " The documentdoesn't provide details of theprojects.Trump's ongoing businessdeals have spurred questionsabout whether his actions aspresident are based on what'sbest for the country or what'sbest for his company's bottomline.

Facebook, Instagram and other platforms backonline after experiencing issues worldwide

In a break from his predecessors,Trump refused to fully separatefrom his company despiterepeated calls for him to do so.Instead, he put his holdings in atrust - though he can receivemoney at any time and revokethe trust at any time."It is impossible to tell where theTrump Organization ends and theTrump administration begins,"said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.),a member of the House OversightCommittee. "This is why thefounders included theemoluments clause in the

Constitution expressly forbiddinga president from profiting in andfrom his office."The latest agreement with Poscocould violate the Constitution -which bars officials fromaccepting money or gifts fromfore ign governments ,according to lawmakers andethics experts. Trump alreadyfaces severa l lawsui ts ,including one filed by Connollyand o ther Democrat icmembers of Congress, that heis violating the emolumentsclause.

Brandon Judd: Ocasio-Cortez's attacks onBorder Patrol are outrageous and based on lies

As the president of the NationalBorder Patrol Council, the unionrepresenting 16,000 BorderPatrol agents, I am personallyand professionally offended byRep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez'soutrageous, inflammatory andfalse claims about the dedicatedlaw enforcement officers Irepresent. Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., once again tweetedTuesday to describe ourdetention facilities for illegalimmigrants as "concentrationcamps" - absurdly comparingthese facilities to the deathcamps run by the Nazis whomurdered 6 million Jews andmillions of others during WorldWar II. This is a horrible insultto the memories of the innocentmen, women and childrenslaughtered by the Nazis, andto our Border Patrol agents -implying that our agents are nodifferent from the Nazi butchers.The outrageousness of thisvicious slander is breathtaking -especially coming from amember of Congress.I am disgusted by Ocasio-Cortez's lies and herdetermination to needlessly and

dangerously inflame publicsentiment regarding the crisis onour southern border byabandoning facts and makingwild and unsupporteda c c u s a t i o n s . T h econgresswoman is clearly usingphrases designed to enrage theuninformed and to pander to abase that wants open bordersand unlimited illegal immigration.Ocasio-Cortez made anoutrageous claim this weekabout a woman being told todrink toilet water in a detentionfacility. This false claim is easilydisproven with actual video.Ocasio-Cortez is basing herclaim on a single female detaineewho reportedly told thecongresswoman that an agenttold her to "drink toilet water."

That's it.The congresswoman isclearly not on a "fact-finding"mission - she is on a propagandamission. She made up her mindlong before visiting a detentionfacility in Texas that BorderPatrol agents are bad people.And she obviously believes thatall illegal immigrants are innocentvictims, and that photo ops andlies can help her spread herpropaganda to an uninformedpublic.Ocasio-Cortez plays offpeople's emotions. She is onrecord as saying facts don'tmatter as long as she is "morallyright." Enough said. I don't usethe word "propaganda" lightly. Butit is widely understood to meanspreading information that is nottrue, but rather used to influencepeople and further an agendawhile appealing to emotions. Thatis exactly what Ocasio-Cortezdoes. I prefer using facts. Thefacts do not support Ocasio-Cortez. Detainees have neverbeen told to drink toilet water.And Border Patrol agents aredoing everything in their power totreat the illegal immigrants ashumanely as possible underovercrowded conditions.

As Trump traveled to South Korea, a business deal wasexpanding between the Trump family business and acompany partly owned by the Korean government.

Social media platforms wereback online Wednesday eveningafter experiencing a bit of ameltdown earlier in the day.Facebook (FB), Instagram,WhatsApp and Twitter had allexperienced various issues. Buta Facebook spokesperson saidWednesday evening that itsproblems were fixed."Earlier today, some people andbusinesses experienced troubleuploading or sending images,videos and other files on ourapps," the spokesperson said ina statement to CNN Business."The issue has since beenresolved and we should be backat 100% for everyone."Facebook-owned Instagram saidits issues were also fixed.

"We're back!" Instagram said ina tweet. "The issue has beenresolved and we should be backat 100% for everyone. We'resorry for any inconvenience."Twitter, meanwhile, tweeted via itssupport account that it was"almost at 100% resolved. Theremay be some residual effects fora small group of people, butoverall your DMs should beworking properly now. Weappreciate your patience!"Users reported bugs, such asimages not load ing onInstagram and problems withTwi t te r d i rec t messages,including the app showingnotifications for unread DMsthat weren't there when userschecked their inbox.

26Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 FASHION

Is bomber jacket the new cult piece?Season-less, embellished and patch-worked - the varsity jacket

shows no signs of fading out.With the all-pervading influenceof athleisure or sporty chicaesthetic in fashion came theresurgence of the varsity bomberjacket. And even after itsundisputed runway reign over thelast seven to eight years, thecloset essential is far from goingout of style. Instead, it has beencatapulted to the stature of a cultclassic. One look at SpringSummer 2020 collections and

every major brand has toyed withthe utilitarian bomber in theirhandwriting - be it in luscioussatin, boho patchwork or glamrock embroidery. Saint Laurent,Dries Van Noten, Celine andEtro's take-charge bombersprove that this piece is here tostay. "It's a memorabilia andimmediately links you with thepast - for instance, the sportleague you were part of in school

or the college you went to. Forinstance, a university T-shirt issomething you'll wear or treasureforever. One's varsity jacket hasa direct reference to one'schildhood. However, in today'sstyle context, it's the antithesisof how you would have worn itwith brands celebrating thatshape in new ways. It's great forflight and also serves as acool cover-up," says designerNimish Shah. A ver i tab lecloset essentialIf you have 10 jackets in yourc loset , then the souvenirjacket has to be one of themas it's something which will staywith you forever irrespective of thetrends or seasons. DesignerArpita Mehta says, "I see itbecoming a modern-day classicor an essential which is oftencropped or recontextualised likeMoncler did bomber gowns last

Eccentric prints are enabling millennials to portray their true personality: Shivan & NarreshDesigner duo Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja of label

Shivan & Narresh talk about their latest collection andcollaboration, eccentric prints and what really works for

millennials' fashion and more.

season. Utility-wise too, it's alsogreat, as it's apt for skiing,summer and winter." DesignerAnand Bhushan seconds that."The bomber jacket has becomean equivalent to the shift dress,"says Anand.Suits everyoneToday breaking sartorial rules isthe new rule as merchandise on

racks offer customers a chanceto play dress up and own everylook they pick out. DesignerNachiket Barve says, "Thebomber variations suit mostpersonality types - it could be inflorals or sequins. Today, it's notso much about following a trend,but an individual expression ofit," says Barve.

Summer has finally arrived infashion with the SummerSolstice on June 22 and ace-designers Shivan & Narresh, alsoknown for being swimwearsartorialists, are out with their newcollection that's well-suited for yoursummer holiday destination, whatto pack and how to style it. Thecapsule collection in collaborationwith e-tailer Koovs, is a uniquestreetwear interpretation toholiday dressing. The Shivan &Narresh X Koovs collection is amix of multiple inspirations. Fromincorporating activewear,

athleisure-inspired coordinatesand evening wear. The collectioncaptures elements from thevibrant tropics and delves deepinto the dynamic summer of theIndian geography. Envisaged forthe millennial on a tropicalgetaway, the collection featuresexclusive Shivan & Narresh printsof the season, namely SummerNight, Sweet Magnolia, RoseMagnolia and Lush Vineyard,immersed in the rosy cool huesof Desert Rose, Sky Blue, RedDahlia and Mauve Glow. Thecollection for both men and

women includes athleisure,bomber jackets, footwear, bagsand more.In an exclusiveinterview, the designer duo talkabout the inspiration, designs,millennial fashion and the onetrend they are loving right now.With the onset of maximalisttones in dressing, eccentric printsare enabling millennials toportray their true personality.Print-on-print will make a uniquecomeback this year formenswear. Glamorous mixingand matching of prints will beobserved featuring botanicalpatterns as well as rustic tribalmotifs with applique, beadworkand power buckles and straps.Twinning will continue to be aprominent way of expression -from day brunching to celebratorysoirees - creating a perfectcanvas for Insta-worthymoments.This is an excitingcollaboration with Koovs as itenables us to understand andcater to a younger and widerdemographic. The collectionexplores the aesthetic of holiday

& travel and marries it with thedemands of a younger millennial,who is an admirer of street styleand a cheerleader of athleisure& sport.Each print dedicates itselfto the rich terrestrial botany, thusbreaking the mundane with 4spirited prints, namely SummerNight, Lush Vineyard, SweetMagnolia, Rose Magnolia. As anafterthought of carrying a distinctsummer mood in each of theensembles, the distinctivecategories of Street, Sport,Atleisure & Cocktail Wear rangefor women and men is renderedin vibrant shades of Desert Rose,Sky Blue, Red Dahlia andMauveglow. The relatively young

millennial demographic: 15 - 25years. Fashion has beenundergoing an interestingtransformation over a couple ofyears, along with certain trendsreturning. What is the mostnotable style trend you haveobserved during this phase for bothmen and women? In the age of afast-paced social media culture,where trends and styles keepchanging with every passing day,the one trend that has stuck andwill continue to thrive is:twinning. The idea of women andmen dressing alike and opting forsimilar styles and prints for soirees,holidays or honeymoons, is hereto stay for long.

27Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 HEALTH

Friends with benefitsDogs are good for our well-being. For

doubters, here's scientific evidenceAnuko is all of five and he is astar on Instagram. The gorgeousHusky is an ambassador forspecial dogs and is a free-of-costmood elevator for those whofollow him on social media. In anemotional post on Instagramcouple of months ago, JasmineMilton, her owner who suffersfrom bipolar disorder, wrote abouthow she had almost given up onlife, but was saved, thanks toAnuko's love. For those whodoubt the powers of dogs, here'ssome solid scientific evidence.According to a Swedish studypublished in the prestigiousjournal, Nature, canine ownershipreduces cardiovascular risk intheir owners by providing socialsupport and motivation forphysical activity.The study of 3.4 million Swedishadults between the ages of 40and 80 years over a period of 12years found that having a dog wasassociated with a 23% reductionin death from heart diseases anda 20% lower risk of dying fromany cause. Previous studiessuch as the one by the American

Heart Association in 2013suggested dogs relieve socialisolation and depression - bothlinked to an increased risk ofheart disease and early death.Dog lovers also confirm theirhealing powers. Recently,Congress spokesperson SanjayJha lost his "cute little ball of fur"Oliver, aka Ola, Olsy, Oga, Olly,a Lhasa Apso. In a moving tributein dailyO, Jha wrote: "We gotOliver after we lost our earlierdog, Amadeus… At core, he[Oliver] was a small fragile bundleof joy, and within days of cominghome, we were experiencingsunshine all over again, lifting themorose darkness that hadmomentarily enveloped us all"(italics mine). In response to anemail from Hindustan Times, hegave another example: "I wasfeeling gutted on May 23(election results day). I reachedhome past midnight, emotionallydrained. But for my dogs none ofthat mattered. I was theirSuperman hero. It was like theCongress had just won 543seats".

And why just talk only aboutdogs that are lucky to have aloving and caring home? Arethey only capable of spreadingpositive energy? What about thestrays that stay in the harshestpossible conditions and are oftenbrutalised by human beings?"Despite such bad experiences,I have always found them positiveand loving… when they come tothe dog shelter, we realise thattheir capacity to give love hasnot decreased at all… Eventhough they live in worst ofconditions, they teach usunderstanding, hope andcompassion, and strengthensus in many ways," says DorothyGhosh, who runs Kalyani AnimalWelfare Foundation in Delhi."Micky, a senior dog, wasabandoned by his family andsent to my shelter. He lived withus for a year and a half beforehe died, proving that his abilityto trust and love humans wasintact… in fact, I think stray dogsshould be treated as communitypets. They are great stressbusters and can teach children

a lot about caring and sharing".Pet Insurance The Indian pet careindustry is booming. Accordingto India Pet Care Market reportlisted on Research and Markets,the sector has advanced with acompound annual growth rate of23% between 2012 and 2017. It'snot surprising then that insurancefirms have come up with plansfor dogs too.1.Pet Insurance schemes in Indiacover veterinary expensesincurred for the treatment of apet. Some plans also cover deathor loss of an insured pet.2.According to bankbazaar.com,New India Insurance, United IndiaInsurance and Oriental Insuranceoffer pet insurance schemes

3.Pet insurance covers: Deathdue to accident, i l lnesscontracted while the policy is ineffect, treatment expenses,accident while in transit (via rail,air or road), loss/ theft of the pet;incapacitation; accidentalpoisoning; third Party liability4.Pet insurance Exclusions:Willful or malicious injury to thepet; injury or illness arising outof neglect or unskillful handlingof the pet; loss or injury due towar, foreign hostility, revolution,rebellion, military upheaval, etc;death due to rabies, distemper,Viral Hepatitis, Viral Enteritis,Leptospirosis; illness that hasbeen contracted prior to takingthe policy.

Depend on sleep trackers? It might be bad for youHow many hours of sleep are yougetting in a day? Are youconstantly worried about notgetting enough shut-eye andthus, depending on a fitnesstracker or a sleep device tocorrect your sleep deficiency?Think again! The same sleepgadget you think is helping youget good sleep is leading to sleepdisturbance or even riskinginsomnia.Considering how gadget-friendlyour lifestyle is, we are alldependent on one or the othergadget to correct our daily habitsand that includes sleep. Even ifit is a simple app installed onyour phone or a wearable watch,they are advertised as a deviceto measure your sleep patternsand analyze the same.Sometimes, they also work as areminder to keep the phone awayand actually sleep. However, asexperts have observed, thesesmall sleep gadgets are workingagainst the purpose and making

us more addicted to them. Thisway, out of stress, it might alsobe triggering your insomnia.This is whyThe primary reason this happensis that with all its reminders,sleep gadgets tend to make youmore anxious and worry aboutnot sleeping well and thereby,make it even harder to get goodsleep. Once you get into the habitof tracking your sleep, it can alsomake you obsessed with yoursleep cycle, which is a realproblem called 'orthosomnia'.People suffering from thisproblem constantly worry aboutnot sleeping well and in the lackof it, suffer from anxiety and maymake you a victim of insomnia.The same was observed by agroup o f sc ient is ts a tNorthwestern Univers i ty 'sSchool of Medicine. Amongstthe people observed, whilesleep trackers did end upcorrecting their bad habits, theparticipants tended to rely on

the data too much. Even if theywere sleeping well, the devicesforced them to think theyweren't.Several studies conductedover the year have a lsosuggested that the numberof hours sleeping differ foreveryone. The conventional8 hours does not do the jobfor all. Even 6-7 hours spent in

bed were fine.There was also another sideeffect the study observed. Beingobsessed with their sleepingpatterns sometimes madepeople lay in bed for longer,just to clock in more hoursand correct the number on thedevice.What to do instead:Instead of relying on sleep

devices, at the end of the day,you should really be dependingon your body's signals. Whenyou are tired, your body has away of telling you the same.Also, as a rule, disconnectfrom any devices and screensa good 30-45 minutes beforeyou go to bed. This will detoxyou and ensure you get good,trouble-free sleep.

28Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 LIFESTYLE

5 tips for building healthy relationships with peopleRelationships can be tricky, but withthe right advice, you can help create

positive relationships with yourfriends and family.

We are social animals, but weall struggle to maintain ourrelationships with others.Humans spend most of theirtime with other humans, then whydo we have to make thoserelationships complicated?Wouldn't it be nice to besurrounded by people who trulyappreciate and support you?This would only happen if you putin a little bit of your efforts andtry to build positive relationships.It might sound like a lot of work,but it's actually not that difficult.You just need to follow these tipsand see the changes for yourself.1) Differences don't createdifferences: People are oftenheard saying that their friends orloved ones just don't understandthem. Well, that's becauseeveryone has their ownperception and way of processingthings. In relationships majorproblems arise when two people

are different, but it's not thedifferences which createproblems. It is the lack ofunderstanding which createthese differences. You need to beable to see things from other'sperspective and understand thateveryone does not think the sameway. Learn to appreciate thedifferences.2) Listen effectively: This hasbeen stressed a lot of times but,it is worth mentioning everysingle time. You can make aperson feel valued and supportedby just listening patiently to whatthey have to say.Communication isn't completeunless you listen and understandothers. Remember, don't justpretend to listen but actuallylisten. In active listening youlisten to the person speaking withinterest and make consciouseffort to understand them. Afterreflecting on their message, you

verify and give your feedbackwhich makes the communicationeffective.3) Take out some time for people:In this fast paced world, givingpeople time has become thehardest thing to do. If you do manageto give your time, you are busy onyour phone texting or scrollingthrough social media. Being presentin the moment is very crucial forbuilding meaningful relationships withpeople. Don't worry about the

past or future when you are withsomeone just enjoy theircompany.4) Empathy is the key: Developempathy towards others. Whenpeople share their thoughts, theywant you to understand how theyfeel. Empathy doesn't mean youneed to fix their problems or givethem solutions. It means that youare able to understand otherswithout belittling and criticizingthem. Empathy also helps in

developing meaningfulrelationships with others.5) Feedback is also important:We don't always like whensomeone gives feedback, but itis really important for yourprogress. Constructive feedbackhelps you grow as a person, thoughit might not always be what youwant to hear but it's useful. So, don'tlet feedbacks bring you downbecause they are just freeinformation for you to take or reject.

Virat, Shikhar are now aam: Cricket fever grips mango growers back homeAt the upcoming 31st Mango Festival in Delhi, there will be mangoes dedicated

to Indian cricketers such as Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan.It's the 31st year when

mango growers from across thecountry will gather under one roofwith their choicest produce, tocompete for the top slots thatoffer cash prizes to the bestmango varieties. But, it's the firsttime ever that they have let the

cricket fever take over them, andnamed some of the new varietiesof mangoes after Indiancricketers. Well, looks like theWorld Cup fever has caught on.So, when you visit this year'sMango Festival at Dilli Haat,Janak Puri, that begins July 5,

you will be able to taste ViratKohli, ahem, the mango calledVirat Kohli. In the past years,some varieties of mangoes havebeen named Yogi aam and Modiaam.Tariq Mustafa, a mango growerfrom UP's Muzaffarnagar, says,"I've been participating in thisfestival for about 16-17 years, andevery year bring around 300varieties of mangoes. Every timewe grow a new mango, we lookfor an appropriate name for it, andthis time we have got a varietythat we have named aftercricketer Virat Kohli. This Viratmango is a bit whitish in colour,has a length of more than sixinches, and in taste we feel thatit's as powerful as the sixers ofthe Indian captain!"Another mango grower, RamveerSingh Chauhan, fromSaharanpur, UP, says he plansto name a mango after ShikharDhawan. "When people come tothe mango festival this year, theywill see Shikhar Aam, which willshowcase the strength and

endurance of the cricketer'sperformance in this World Cup...I have also named a new varietyof mango after Shaheed UdhamSingh, and strongly feel that likehe avenged Jallianwala Baghmassacre by assassinatingGeneral Dwyer in England, thismango will make everyonespeechless in England."The organisers of the festivalvalidate that it's the first time thatcricket fever has gripped themango growers. "Over the years,the Mango Festival has becomeone of the most-awaited eventsof the season. It will have around

500 varieties on display. Somefun-filled activities including amango-eating competition islined up for this three-day event.Mango growers also put theirbest foot forward to showcasethe different varieties by givingsome interesting names to theirfresh produce through thisplatform. As the World Cup fevergrips India, the growers arededicating this year's new varietyto famous Indian cricketers,which should create interestamong the mango lovers," saysSudhir Sobti, chief manager, PRand events, Delhi Tourism.

29Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 ENTERTAINMENT

Article 15 movie review

Ayushmann Khurrana hunts for inconvenient truths in an essential filmArticle 15 movie review: Anubhav Sinha and Ayushmann

Khurrana's film has the stench of honesty. It as asks you questions youalready know but don't ask yourselves enough. Rating: 4.5 stars.

House Owner movie review

Moving story of unconditional love in the time of calamity

Article 15Director: Anubhav SinhaCast: Ayushmann Khurrana,Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra,Sushil Pandey, Sayani Gupta,Mohammad Zeeshan AyyubRating: 4.5/5The posting was a punishment.Ayan Ranjan, newly mintedIndian Police Service officer, thetuck of his shirt crisp as a newbanknote, readily admits thereason he's sentenced to thebleak badlands of Uttar Pradesh.Ranjan had agreed with a seniorofficer without sounding officiousenough - he had said "Cool, sir",a yes-man forgetting his only line- and the perceivedinsubordination was enough toland him in a world where halfthe people don't touch the otherhalf.Article 15, Anubhav Sinha'ssearing film about the indignitiesendorsed by the caste-systemin modern day India, does not

play it cool. Inspired by the real-life Badaun killings - and a stirringtribute to Alan Parker's 1988procedural thriller MississippiBurning - this film featurespolicemen hushing up the murderand gangrape of three 15-year-oldgirls because they belong to alowered caste. Us, and Them. Itis a grim, unrelenting andessential film, one throwing uptruths we choose to forget."Welcome to Page 7 India," saysRanjan's wife, when he calls andtexts her, his eyes wide withnewly discovered outrage at theplight of the Dalits and thedowntrodden in middle India.Reports about these atrocitiesare relegated to the little-readmiddle of the paper, far from thefront and sport pages. Ayan, ayoung Brahmin who likes hissingle malt, and walks aroundwith a holster suavely sticking outfrom underneath a well-cut blazer,feels as much a stranger to that

locale as an Englishman. Thepolicemen below him are keento make sure he isn't someyoung fool out to change thesystem after watching too manyrenegade cop movies starringAjay Devgn. 'They gettransferred,' grunt old cops in theknow, 'while we get killed.' Us,and Them.Written by Gaurav Solanki andSinha, the film has the stench ofhonesty. It is hauntingly shot byEwan Mulligan, who slidesthrough the shadows to zero inon acute specifics: the breakfastprepared before a murder, theeveryday banality of a crimescene, and - most unforgettably- a man cleaning a filthy blackdrain. He cleans our worldbecause we won't do itourselves.As policemen plod through amarsh, Ranjan asks aboutpolitics, and the men good-humouredly state why they vote

for the Elephant one year and theCycle the next, and for theparties their mothers told themto always vote for. Rebels useWhatsapp, while cops keep tabson activism by seeing whatmessages are being forwarded.The filmmakers cannily usetexting to educate the leadingman, the messages from hislevel-headed wife becoming thevoice in his head. We do not needa hero, she insists. We just needpeople to stop waiting for a hero.Ayushmann Khurrana playsRanjan with inevitableentitlement. His elitistindignation while barking orders

Film: House OwnerDirector: LakshmyRamakrishnanCast: Kishore, Sriranjani,Lovelyn Chandrasekhar andKishoreRating: 4/5Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is oneamong the few Tamil filmmakerswho has truly evolved - both instyle and storytelling - with eachfilm she's made so far and that'sone of the primary reasons whyher films which may not havestruck gold at the box-office butdeserve to be celebrated. WithHouse Owner, her latest film,Lakshmy weaves a heartfelt odeto unconditional love and it'sdevastatingly beautiful. No othermainstream Tamil filmmaker - atleast in recent years - hashandled love as beautifully asLakshmy in House Owner which

House Owner movie review: With her latest film, House Owner, LakshmyRamakrishnan weaves a heartfelt ode to unconditional love and it's

devastatingly beautiful.

gets things done, but alsodistances him from thepolicemen answering to him. Inone remarkable scene he matter-of-factly asks the cops about theirplaces - and his own, for he isprivileged enough not to know -in the caste hierarchy, and thedistinctions between caste-and-Kayastha are maddening. One ofthem says he is a Jaat, and was'normal,' but has now beengranted Other Backward Classstatus, while Jaats in otherstates have not. This is illegal.Ranjan asking them their caste,I mean. Not the division, but thepronouncement of it.

unfolds against the backdrop of2015 Chennai floods.House Owner is centred aroundRadha and Vasudevan and wesee them get married early on inthe film. It's a Brahmin weddingand the seriousness with whichthe rituals are performed is proofto the sanctity of marriage andits relevance even today. Cut tosome 40 plus years later, we seethe older version of Radha andVasu and not much has changedbetween them except that Vasu(a retired army man) now hasAlzheimer's and it's Radha'sresponsibility (which shewholeheartedly accepts) to lookafter him. While she's lookingafter him in their house, acalamity is in the making (2015Chennai floods) outside and theyhave nowhere to go, simplybecause Vasu won't step out of

his house.As we see Radha literally lookafter Vasu like he's a child, wealso see him have fleeting shotsof memories of their past. Everytime he comes acrosssomething in the house, saysome object, there's a flash ofmemory that reminds him of aspecial moment many yearsago. This is when the story takesus back in time and introducesus to young Radha and Vasu.We see a young and shy Radha,who sees the world through herhusband's eyes. He teaches herEnglish, to play carrom board anddance in front of his friends. Hetells her to be herself when sheasks if he regrets marryingsomeone who isn't as smart ashim. As the story shifts back to2015, we see the roles arereversed and it's now Radha

looking after Vasu, trying toremind him that she's his wife.The idea of staying united getsmagnificently conveyed in HouseOwner, which makes us realizethe importance in the instituteof marriage at a time when itis losing its significance. Aswe hear Radha repeat thesame instruction over and overagain to her husband, it doesget slightly boring, but it isheartening to see Radha notgive up because her love isunconditional. The film is a gravereminder of the bitter truth that

life can get very lonely when webecome old and the only personthat matters the most is ourspouse. As a young couple,we see Radha and Vasusurrounded by friends, familyand re la t ives . But in thescenes featuring the oldercouple, we don't see anyoneelse but only hear voices offami ly members throughphones and of neighboursthrough the window.LakshmyRamakrishnan continues tonar rate stories from theperspective of women.


Saaho songPsycho

Saiyaan

Saaho songPsycho

Saiyaan

Saaho songPsycho

SaiyaanShraddha Kapoor

brings theglamour to thisPrabhas starrer

Shraddha Kapoorbrings a tonne of glamour toSaaho's first song titled PsychoSaiyaan. The first pictures fromthe song show her in a littleblack dress, ready to hit thedance floor.Saaho, starring Baahubali starPrabhas in the lead, is anaction thriller. The first songfrom the film is expected to bea peppy club number that just

might be the big hit of theseason. Check out the pic:A second still from the songshow Prabhas grooving tomusic. He is seen in a black T-shirt and black jacket, dancingwith a huge crowd behind him.In the film, Shraddha will beseen essaying the role of a boldcop and fans are thrilled towitness her in a fierce avatar.Actors like Mahesh Manjrekar,

Jackie Shroff, Neil Nitin Mukesh,Murli Sharma, and ChunkyPanday will also be seen innever-before-seen avatars.Shraddha and Prabhas will beseen sharing screen space forthe first time in 'Saaho'. The filmalso marks her debut in theSouth Indian film industry.The movie has been shot inTelugu, Tamil, and Hindisimultaneously at a number of

stunning locations in and out ofthe country and is slated to hitthe theatres on IndependenceDay, August 15, this year.Shraddha will also be seen inChhichhore with Sushant SinghRajput in dual roles of a collegestudent as well as a middle-aged woman. She also starsopposite Varun Dhawan inStreet Dancer. Shraddha alsohas Baaghi 3 in her kitty.

Katrina Kaif is in awe of her Bharat co-star Salman Khan's workout discipline.Fitness is important for actorKatrina Kaif and she wantseverybody to incorporate it in theirlife, but is against the idea ofpeople trying to get a physique likeothers. She says shedoesn't believe in an 'idealphysique' or 'ideal way'that a woman should

look.The Bharat actor haslong working hoursand various workcommitments, butshe doesn't letthem come in theway of herfitness. Shespoke highly ofher Bharat co-

star and toldZoom, "Salman

Khan is a fitness icon. It's soinspiring to see himpassionately follow his physicaltargets. And he takes his fitnesstraining very seriously. It's just

amazing how his passion for fitnessis growing with every passing day.""It is very simple. There are 24 hoursin a day. If you can't take out even40 minutes in a day then I think it

is your choice or there is not areason enough to do it. Maybe it'snot working for you but if fitness isimportant to you, you can take out45 minutes in a day wherever you

are," Katrina told IANS in atelephonic interview."There are so many different typesof training that one can do. Themost important thing is to find the

type of training thatworks for you. Don'ttry to copysomebody else. Idon't believe thatthere is any idealphysique or any idealway a woman shouldlook. Asked abouther upcoming actionfilm Sooryavanshi,she said: "I am notdoing much of actionin it. It's kind of justa more... regular lookin my film." She toldZoom, " I th ink

Salman Khan and AkshayKumar. They are so passionateabout their fitness training andwork rea l ly hard towardsachieving their fitness training."

Salman Khan is a fitness icon, says Katrina Kaif, calls him an inspiration

Alia Bhatt may singfor, feature in herown music video

Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt, whohas crooned a few songs in hermovies, may soon release andfeature in her own music video,reports suggest. Pinkvilla andMumbai Mirror claimed that Aliamay sing a song and feature inthe music video, which will bereleased on her recentlyannounced YouTube channel.Announcing her channel, Alia hadsaid in a video, "I have done theInstagram world, the Twitter worldand now I am trying to get on tothe Youtube world. You will get tosee a lot me just being. Totallyunadulterated." "What she postson her Twitter and Instagramhandles is the final result. Herchannel will showcase how sheworks with her team behind thescenes.


Diljit Dosanjh on Bollywood: Main industry mein true friends banane nahi aayaHe's steadily found his footingin Bollywood ever since heentered the industry with UdtaPunjab (2016), alongsideKareena Kapoor Khan. Andthere's no slowing down DiljitDosanjh. However, he hasn'tditched regional cinema, whichpropelled him to stardom. Hislatest Punjabi film, Shadaa, isdoing well at the box office. Hetakes some time to open up,but the moment he calls you'paaji' (brother) is when youknow he's at ease. Excerptsfrom an interview:Your recent Punjabi f i lmShadaa clashed with KabirSingh at the box office. Did thatplay on your mind? Also,

doesn't it get hectic juggling twofilm industries and music?It's an everyday exercise whichwe have to do. It's not as if youdo one thing one day and forgetit the next day. And please don'tsay 'clash'. Two films releasedon a single day, which is not aproblem. I think we got goodscreens in Punjab. Thank Godwe got good screens in Delhitoo. No doubt, we didn't get asmany screens in Mumbai, weknew that. It would have been aproblem if the theme would havebeen the same for both films.But one was Punjabi film, theother a Hindi film. We are luckythat when our film releases inPunjab, people go and watch it.

How's Bollywood as a place?Have you been able to make truefriends here?It's a very good place. Kaamjahaan bhi mile bahut achhijagah hai. Main true friendsbanane nahi aaya iss industrymein, mere true friends alreadyhain. Lekin jinke saath mainkaam karta hoon, unke saathmere achhe equations hain.It's always said that the filmindustry is a very cut-throatone…That's okay, what's bad in that?There's a guy, whose one filmdoesn't work, second film doesn'twork, the next one too doesn'twork, so the producer will thinkthat he should work with

someone else. But the actor willalso think thatlet's try something else. Buribaat nahi hai yeh bolna. Butpaaji, woh toh aap kisi bhifield mein dekh lo. If you are aninsurance policy person, you are

told 'go and sellthese many policies first, thenwe will finalise your job!' Yehsirf glamour ki wajah se newsiski (films) uchhalti zyaada hai.Otherwise, the equations arethe same in every industry.

Kylie Jenner wows with sultry pose as the makeupmogul soaks up the summer sun in coral bikini

As a 'self-made' billionaire, she's no stranger tohard work.And the effort was showing on Kylie Jenner onWednesday, when the 21-year-old posted a photoof herself to Instagram while glistening in sweat.The reality TV star showed plenty of skin whilewearing a skimpy coral colored bikini.Jenner unveiled her new summer cosmeticscollection with a series of bikini pictures onTuesday. The entrepreneur posed on the beachwearing a huge hat, grey halterneck swimsuit andmetallic cover-up skirt in the sultry images. Kyliehas emerged as a titan in the beauty industry andhas been hailed as a 'self-made billionaire' by Forbesmagazine.The star, who was spotted on a very rare make-upfree outing in Beverly Hills last week, has leveragedher family's fame and her social media followinginto a lucrative empire.Kylie snapped the pictures during her beachphotoshoot on June 4 in Malibu, California.She was seen writhing on the sand in two differentlooks with her photographer and team in tow.Kylie rocked the ensemble seen in the snaps- a taupe crochet bikini top with a goldmini skirt, and large hat adding severalgold bracelets, rings and earrings.Kylie later donned a taupe colored croptop and a high-waisted skirt, revealingher cheeky bikini bottoms and herderriere.The mother of one, who posed on a rock,sported long, dark brunette locks inwaves with part of it half up, half down.Her latest range is called Under the Seaand will drop on July 10. She has beensharing sneak peeks of the productson her Instagram account, with manyof the items made from 'new formulas'.Kylie is unveiling two new formula glosses, BikiniBod and Boss Bay, which are packaged in 'pearlwhite vials'. The new collection also features a 'highgloss' named You Are The Sun - which Kylie 'loves'- and three lipsticks, two matte and one metallic

topper, named Paradise Please, Beach Bum andEndless Summer.Night Swim, Ocean Child,Deep Sea Dreams,and Aqua Mamaare four newshimmer eyeg l a z e s .K y l i epromisedof theproducts:'You guyswill fall inlove withthis newformula.'There isalso a12-

shadow palette and a set of all of the range's productsin a shell-shaped case.Following the reveal, Kylie was inundated withpositive feedback. She tweeted: 'Yay!!! So happy youguys love the summer collection!!! I can't wait for 7/10!!! @kyliecosmetics (sic)'

Kim Kardashian wins$2.7MILLION in fast fashion

lawsuit against company who sheaccused of profiting off of her like-

ness to peddle knockoff looksKim Kardashianlanded a major victoryagainst a fast fashionsite who she accusedof knocking off herlooks.The 38-year-oldaspiring lawyer wasawarded over $2.7million dollars indamages after shesued MissguidedUSA, according toTMZ on Tuesday.In February, Kim filed suit against the brand for copyingher trendsetting looks without her permission for a bigprofit.The mogul will get an addition $60K in attorneys' feeson top of the $2.7 million in the award and Missguidedis banned from using Kim's likeness, TMZ reported.The court noted that the brand had pages dedicated tostyles copied from Kim and even used her real lifeimages which made it seem as if she was affiliatedwith the brand.She had originally demanded $10 million in damagesbut was awarded the nearly $3 million after MissguidedUSA failed to respond to the court filing.The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star cited severalinstances in the lawsuit 'where Missguided posted itsown versions of outfits Kim was photographed wearing.'In the suit, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians starincluded photos of her own social media posts side-by-side with the company's posts, showing theirsimilarities and misrepresentation.In one particularly egregious instance, Kim shared ashot on social media from a fitting where she wasdressed in a sizzling gold spandex dress that wasdesigned by her husband Kanye.The star implored fast fashion sites to 'wait until I wearthis in real life before you knock it off.' Shortly after sheposted the image, Missguided responded with a shotof their knockoff and even tagged Kim in their caption.

32Friday 5 July to 11 July 2019 NEWS THIS WEEK

Spectacular fall of India's 'dosa king': SaravanaBhavan's P Rajagopal due for life sentence

(News Agencies)- P. Rajagopal'sstory has it all: rags to riches, thevisionary creator of a trailblazingIndian restaurant chain -- and havinga romantic rival murdered after somefateful cosmic advice.On Sunday, the founder of SaravanaBhavan, the eatery found in India and

beyond -- from Leicester Square toLexington Avenue via Singapore,Sydney and Stockholm -- is due tobegin a life sentence.Rajagopal, 71, always dressed inwhite with a strip of sandalwood pasteon his forehead, is the pious son of alow-caste onion trader from a village

in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.In 1981, having opened a grocer's shopin Chennai -- then known as Madras -- he took the brave step of openinghis first restaurant at a time wheneating out was unusual for mostIndians.

Anil Ambani planning to sellMumbai HQs to cut debt: Report

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Biden plummets, Harris vaultsto second in major poll

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Former NYPD cop sentenced for headingup gambling and prostitution ring incity and Hempstead, Queens DA says

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(News Agencies)- Kamala Harris has rocketedinto the top tier of the Democratic presidential primary,while Joe Biden's once double-digit lead has crumbled ina national poll taken after last week's debate.The CNN/SRSS poll, which was released on Monday andconducted entirely after the first two Democraticpresidential primary debates last week, has Harris, theCalifornia senator in second place, among Democratsand Democratic-leaning independents who are registeredto vote, at 17 percent. Harris' surge places her firmly withinthe top tier, which now consists of four candidates. Bidenstill sits at the top of the pack with 22 percent, but hisonce-commanding lead has eroded significantly. Sen.Elizabeth Warren is in third with 15 percent, followed bySen. Bernie Sanders' 14 percent. Both Harris and Warrensaw sizable jumps in their support over a previous CNNnational poll, taken at the end of May. Harris went up 9points, from 8 percent in May, and Warren rose by 8points, from 7 percent in May.

(News Agencies)- Aretired NYPD vice detective hasbeen sentenced to four to 12years in prison for his role inoperating a prostitution andgambling ring in Brooklyn,Queens and Hempstead, theQueens District Attorney's Officesaid Tuesday. Ludwig "Agua"Paz, 51, and his wife ArelisPeralta, 44, both of Queens,headed the gambling ring from adeli, two hair salons and otherNew York City locations, thedistrict attorney's office said. Thegambling ring included placingillegal bets on legal lotteries inthose establishments,authorities said. The brothelsoperated on Front Street inHempstead, on Liberty andOnderdonk avenues in Queens,and on Gates, Foster and Fourthavenues and 42nd Street inBrooklyn. The prostitution ring,

'Dawood's top henchman'fights extradition to US afterbeing duped by FBI agents

(News Agencies)- Undercover FBIinformants infiltrated the top ranks of DawoodIbrahim's D-Company, trafficked heroin into theUS and laundered more than $1 billion of theproceeds of narcotics crime before seeking thearrest of his "top henchman", a court heard onMonday. Pakistani national Jabir Motiwala, whouses the surname Siddiq, is contestingextradition to the US where he is wanted to facetrial for conspiracy to commit money laundering,blackmail and extortion and conspiracy to importheroin into the US.The 52-year-old was arrested at the Hilton Hotelin Paddington here in August last year by theMetropolitan police's extradition unit on behalfof the US government and is now in Wandsworthprison, alongside Nirav Modi.

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(News Agencies)-Businessman Anil Ambani is lookingto sell or lease his group'sheadquarters in Mumbai, an effortaimed at reducing the debt theindustrialist's companies are in. AnilAmbani would reportedly move backto his Ballard Estate office in SouthMumbai, a property he had gainedafter he split with his elder brotherMukesh in 2005.According to business daily TheEconomic Times, Anil Ambani islooking to either sell the 700,000 sqft property or put it on long-termlease. According to Times of India,the property is owned by RelianceInfrastructure and the idea behindselling or leasing it is to make the

company debt free.Anil Ambani has been facing atough time in recent years. Almostof all of the Reliance Anil DhirubhaiAmbani Group companies are inmassive debt.In fact, Anil Ambani barelymanaged to avoid going to prisonrecently over unpaid debt of one ofhis erstwhile companies -- RelianceCommunications. Earlier this year,the Supreme Court had orderedAnil Ambani to pay money owedto telecom equipment makerEricsson or go to jail.Anil was saved from going to jailby his elder brother Mukesh wholent him the money he needed topay Ericsson.

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