1dSVTcQPbTS^][PaVTa TR^]^\XR_WX[^b^_Wh - Daily Pioneer

16
T wo days after a teenager fired from a pistol at anti- Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) protesters at Jamia injuring a Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) student, another firing incident was reported from Shaheen Bagh where protest against CAA is going on for over a month. A 20-year-old man fired two aerial rounds from a country made pistol at Shaheen Bagh on Saturday at 4.53 pm. The gunman was nabbed by the protestors on the spot and handed over to police, said an eyewitness. However, police said the man was overpowered by police. “The accused fired in air near police barricades. He was overpowered by police personnel and taken into cus- tody. Further investigation is on,” said Chinmoy Biswal, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast). Even while the man was in the grip of police, he was heard chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans and was also shouting “Hamare desh mein kisi ki nahi chalegi, sirf Hinduon ki chalegi”. The man has been identi- fied as Kapil Baisla, a resident of East Delhi’s Dallupura vil- lage, and he is a milk supplier, according to sources. However, police said that they are veri- fying his identity. According to police, the incident occurred around 4:53 pm on Saturday. According to eyewitnesses, while shouting ‘Hindu Rashtra Zindabad’, the man fired two rounds in the air near the police barricades, nearly 100 metres behind the stage at Shaheen Bagh protest site. Mirza Azhan Beg (25), a local resident who was stand- ing in front of the accused, said the accused started raising slo- gans Jai Shree Ram, Desh ke gaddaro ko goli maro salon ko. Yaha bas hinduon ka raz chale- ga. “Police were standing few meters away when the accused fired. Police overpowered him. He has thrown his weapon, suspected to be a country made pistol, in the bushes,” said Beg. Turn to Page 6 S oon after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the mercy petition of Vinay Kumar Sharma, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya gan- grape and murder case, another convict Akshay Thakur on Saturday filed a mercy plea. Meanwhile, the Centre approached the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court’s order staying the execution. It said the four condemned pris- oners have taken the judicial process for a “joyride” and are acting in tandem to delay their execution. The court sought response of the four convicts on the stay on their execution. It will hear the petition on Sunday. O n the lines of Saudi Arabia’s Aramco that had the largest public offering in world’s history, the Modi Government has also decided to list the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) through the Initial Public Offer (IPO) route to mobilise non-tax revenue to meet the fiscal challenges. This could be a block- buster listing considering that LIC’s estimated valuation is of over 36 lakh crore. Saudi Aramco, which is currently valued at $117.82 billion, was listed on Saudi Stock Exchange in December last year. Established in 1956, LIC is fully-owned by the Central Government and has the high- est market share in the life insurance segment in the coun- try. According to Union Budget documents, for year 2020-21, disinvestment receipts are bud- geted at 2.1 lakh crore which is inclusive of 90,000 crore from sale of Public Sector Banks and other Financial Institutions. Industries have hailed the Government’s move while political parties including TMC chief Mamata Banerjee lam- basted the Government deci- sion to this effect. Presenting the Budget 2020-21, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced selling of part Government stake in insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), beside selling the balance hold- ing of the Government in IDBI Bank to private, retail and institutional investors. “In the last few years, the Government has taken concrete steps to bring our banking system to be robust. However, there is a need for greater private capital. Accordingly, it is proposed to sell the balance holding of Government of India in IDBI Bank to private, retail and institutional investors through the stock exchange,” she said in her Budget Speech. Turn to Page 6 U nion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman deliv- ered one of the longest Budget speeches in recent memory in just under three hours and the biggest takeaway for most tax- payers was her announcement of a new tax regime which reduced tax slabs for income taxpayers whose annual income was less than 15 lakhs per annum. However, that reduction of tax slabs has come at a mas- sive cost, which is the removal of several exemptions ranging from medical insurance, house- rent allowance and leave trav- el allowance to many of the var- ied exemptions previously available under various provi- sions of Section 80. The other major headline is the defibrillation shock that the Government plans to give to its moribund disinvestment process through the planned partial divestment of the Life Insurance Corporation in India which could become the most valuable company in India. However, there is an over- whelming feeling among both economists and businessmen, who are not always on the same page that this Budget is a major missed opportunity. For one, there is a feeling that it does not seriously enough recognise the economic growth malaise in India. There is no booster for the manufacturing sector and with infrastructure spending not dramatically enhanced, lit- tle that will boost rural spend- ing. The fact that there was not much for industry was reflect- ed in an all-round decline in the bourses today. In one of the strongest negative reactions to the Budget, the benchmark Sensex tanked 2.43 per cent or almost 1000 points on Saturday. The headline Nifty index of India’s top 50 companies declined dropped 3.1 per cent, as investors gave the Union Budget two thumbs down. Part of the decline could be because of the Government’s reluctance to infuse more funds into the public banking sector and with credit growth at multi-year lows and the gov- ernment still owning two- thirds of banking capital, it is difficult to imagine how cred- it offtake will increase. While certain sops have been announced that will make India a more attractive desti- nation for foreign sovereign investment funds as well as the abolition of the Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) which might hurt Indian promoters but will benefit foreign-based shareholders of Indian compa- nies. There are the standard price increases with higher excise duties on certain sin items, of course cigarettes con- tinue to be on that list, as strangely enough were toys. The single-window clearance for infrastructure projects as well as the move towards encouraging cleaner energy production as it moves towards meetings its obligations under the Paris Climate Treaty are positives as is the dramatical- ly enhanced 4000 crore that will be poured into ensuring ‘clean air’ in large cities. In every Budget there are both positives and negatives but there is a feeling that this Budget has left most Government and industry watchers disappointed because it has not done enough. While there is a level of fiscal balanc- ing done by the Government, the confidence with which it stated several of their numbers have been questioned because there is a lack of confidence in the ability of this Government to pull off the disinvestment proposals required that will raise the funds needed to keep the fiscal deficit in check. This Budget might have been fine if the Indian economy was purring along at a believable 8- 10 per cent actual growth rate but with the need to boost the economy and create millions of new jobs every year, this is a deeply unambitious and dull budget, not one that India needed as it finds its economy in a funk. The revised estimated expenditure for FY20 has been pegged at 26.99 lakh crore and receipts at 19.32 lakh crore. It has been proposed to remove dividend distribution tax on companies, and hence- forth the tax will be shifted to recipients at the applicable rate. A price stabilisation fund (PSF) is also in the pipeline to control prices of food items like onion and tomato that pushed retail inflation to a five-year high in December. In a marginal hike, the Defence Budget was increased to 3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21 against last year’s 3.18 lakh crore, belying expectations of a significantly enhanced alloca- tion to fast-track long-pending military modernisation. The net market borrowings would be at 4.99 lakh crore in FY2019-20 and are estimated at 5.36 lakh crore in the next fiscal. The Minister announced cuts in personal income tax, extended tax benefits for affordable housing and gave relief to companies on payment of dividend as it looked to boost consumption to bring the economy out of the worst slow- down in 11 years. New Delhi: To augment India’s infrastructure and create jobs, the Government has launched 103 lakh crore infra projects besides providing about 1.70 lakh crore for transport infra- structure and accelerating highways construction, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.

Transcript of 1dSVTcQPbTS^][PaVTa TR^]^\XR_WX[^b^_Wh - Daily Pioneer

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Two days after a teenagerfired from a pistol at anti-

Citizen Amendment Act(CAA) protesters at Jamiainjuring a Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) student, another firingincident was reported fromShaheen Bagh where protestagainst CAA is going on forover a month. A 20-year-oldman fired two aerial roundsfrom a country made pistol atShaheen Bagh on Saturday at4.53 pm. The gunman wasnabbed by the protestors on thespot and handed over to police,said an eyewitness.

However, police said theman was overpowered by

police. “The accused fired inair near police barricades. Hewas overpowered by policepersonnel and taken into cus-tody. Further investigation ison,” said Chinmoy Biswal, theDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (southeast).

Even while the man was inthe grip of police, he was heardchanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogansand was also shouting “Hamaredesh mein kisi ki nahi chalegi,sirf Hinduon ki chalegi”.

The man has been identi-fied as Kapil Baisla, a resident

of East Delhi’s Dallupura vil-lage, and he is a milk supplier,according to sources. However,police said that they are veri-fying his identity. According topolice, the incident occurredaround 4:53 pm on Saturday.

According to eyewitnesses,while shouting ‘Hindu RashtraZindabad’, the man fired tworounds in the air near thepolice barricades, nearly 100metres behind the stage atShaheen Bagh protest site.

Mirza Azhan Beg (25), alocal resident who was stand-ing in front of the accused, saidthe accused started raising slo-gans Jai Shree Ram, Desh kegaddaro ko goli maro salon ko.Yaha bas hinduon ka raz chale-ga. “Police were standing fewmeters away when the accusedfired. Police overpowered him.He has thrown his weapon,suspected to be a country madepistol, in the bushes,” said Beg.

Turn to Page 6

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Soon after President RamNath Kovind rejected the

mercy petition of VinayKumar Sharma, one of theconvicts in the Nirbhaya gan-grape and murder case,another convict AkshayThakur on Saturday filed amercy plea.

Meanwhile, the Centreapproached the Delhi HighCourt, challenging a trial court’sorder staying the execution. Itsaid the four condemned pris-oners have taken the judicialprocess for a “joyride” and areacting in tandem to delay theirexecution.

The court sought responseof the four convicts on the stayon their execution. It will hearthe petition on Sunday.

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On the lines of SaudiArabia’s Aramco that had

the largest public offering inworld’s history, the ModiGovernment has also decidedto list the Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) through theInitial Public Offer (IPO) routeto mobilise non-tax revenue tomeet the fiscal challenges.

This could be a block-buster listing considering thatLIC’s estimated valuation is ofover �36 lakh crore. SaudiAramco, which is currentlyvalued at $117.82 billion, waslisted on Saudi Stock Exchangein December last year.

Established in 1956, LIC isfully-owned by the CentralGovernment and has the high-est market share in the lifeinsurance segment in the coun-try. According to Union Budgetdocuments, for year 2020-21,disinvestment receipts are bud-geted at �2.1 lakh crore whichis inclusive of �90,000 crorefrom sale of Public SectorBanks and other FinancialInstitutions.

Industries have hailed the

Government’s move whilepolitical parties including TMCchief Mamata Banerjee lam-basted the Government deci-sion to this effect.

Presenting the Budget2020-21, Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon Saturday announced sellingof part Government stake ininsurance behemoth LifeInsurance Corporation (LIC),beside selling the balance hold-ing of the Government in IDBIBank to private, retail andinstitutional investors. “In thelast few years, the Governmenthas taken concrete steps tobring our banking system to berobust. However, there is aneed for greater private capital.Accordingly, it is proposed tosell the balance holding ofGovernment of India in IDBIBank to private, retail andinstitutional investors throughthe stock exchange,” she said inher Budget Speech.

Turn to Page 6

���"��������� �.���./�,

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman deliv-

ered one of the longest Budgetspeeches in recent memory injust under three hours and thebiggest takeaway for most tax-payers was her announcementof a new tax regime whichreduced tax slabs for incometaxpayers whose annualincome was less than 15 lakhsper annum.

However, that reductionof tax slabs has come at a mas-sive cost, which is the removalof several exemptions rangingfrom medical insurance, house-rent allowance and leave trav-el allowance to many of the var-ied exemptions previouslyavailable under various provi-sions of Section 80.

The other major headlineis the defibrillation shock thatthe Government plans to giveto its moribund disinvestmentprocess through the plannedpartial divestment of the LifeInsurance Corporation in Indiawhich could become the mostvaluable company in India.

However, there is an over-whelming feeling among botheconomists and businessmen,who are not always on the samepage that this Budget is a majormissed opportunity. For one,there is a feeling that it does notseriously enough recognise theeconomic growth malaise inIndia. There is no booster forthe manufacturing sector andwith infrastructure spendingnot dramatically enhanced, lit-tle that will boost rural spend-ing. The fact that there was notmuch for industry was reflect-ed in an all-round decline inthe bourses today.

In one of the strongestnegative reactions to theBudget, the benchmark Sensextanked 2.43 per cent or almost1000 points on Saturday. Theheadline Nifty index of India’stop 50 companies declineddropped 3.1 per cent, asinvestors gave the UnionBudget two thumbs down.

Part of the decline could bebecause of the Government’sreluctance to infuse more fundsinto the public banking sectorand with credit growth atmulti-year lows and the gov-ernment still owning two-thirds of banking capital, it isdifficult to imagine how cred-it offtake will increase.

While certain sops havebeen announced that will makeIndia a more attractive desti-nation for foreign sovereigninvestment funds as well as theabolition of the DividendDistribution Tax (DDT) whichmight hurt Indian promotersbut will benefit foreign-basedshareholders of Indian compa-nies. There are the standard

price increases with higherexcise duties on certain sinitems, of course cigarettes con-tinue to be on that list, asstrangely enough were toys.The single-window clearancefor infrastructure projects aswell as the move towardsencouraging cleaner energyproduction as it moves towardsmeetings its obligations underthe Paris Climate Treaty arepositives as is the dramatical-ly enhanced �4000 crore thatwill be poured into ensuring‘clean air’ in large cities.

In every Budget there areboth positives and negativesbut there is a feeling that thisBudget has left mostGovernment and industrywatchers disappointed becauseit has not done enough. Whilethere is a level of fiscal balanc-ing done by the Government,the confidence with which itstated several of their numbershave been questioned becausethere is a lack of confidence inthe ability of this Governmentto pull off the disinvestmentproposals required that willraise the funds needed to keepthe fiscal deficit in check. ThisBudget might have been fine ifthe Indian economy waspurring along at a believable 8-10 per cent actual growth ratebut with the need to boost theeconomy and create millions ofnew jobs every year, this is adeeply unambitious and dullbudget, not one that Indianeeded as it finds its economyin a funk.

The revised estimatedexpenditure for FY20 has beenpegged at �26.99 lakh crore andreceipts at �19.32 lakh crore.

It has been proposed toremove dividend distributiontax on companies, and hence-forth the tax will be shifted torecipients at the applicable rate.

A price stabilisation fund(PSF) is also in the pipeline tocontrol prices of food items likeonion and tomato that pushedretail inflation to a five-yearhigh in December.

In a marginal hike, theDefence Budget was increasedto �3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21against last year’s �3.18 lakhcrore, belying expectations of asignificantly enhanced alloca-tion to fast-track long-pendingmilitary modernisation. Thenet market borrowings wouldbe at �4.99 lakh crore inFY2019-20 and are estimated at�5.36 lakh crore in the next fiscal.

The Minister announcedcuts in personal income tax,extended tax benefits foraffordable housing and gaverelief to companies on paymentof dividend as it looked toboost consumption to bring theeconomy out of the worst slow-down in 11 years.

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New Delhi: To augmentIndia’s infrastructure andcreate jobs, the Governmenthas launched �103 lakhcrore infra projects besidesproviding about �1.70 lakhcrore for transport infra-structure and acceleratinghighways construction,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said onSaturday.

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Rashtriya Lok Dal nationalspokesman Anil Dubey

said the Union Budget was“very disappointing”.

He said Uttar Pradesh hadnot received anything in thebudget, which was “totallydirectionless”.

“Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman haspromised four crore jobs in thenext five years. Her promise islike the one made by the samegovernment some time back toprovide two crore job oppor-tunities,” he said.

Dubey said the economywas in doldrums, trade hadcrashed, and Air India and LICwere to be sold.

He said the budget doesnot address the problems offarmers and women.

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Panic gripped the passers-byin Jahangirabad area of

Barabanki when a man decap-itated his wife over some pettydispute and walked with hersevered head for almost one-and-half kilometres to surren-der before the police.

Before arresting theaccused, even the cops werehorrified at the sight of a manwalking with a severed head.

A case was registeredagainst the accused and thesevered head and the torsowere sent for post-mortem.

Police revealed that theaccused, identified as AkhileshRawat (30) of Bahadurpur vil-lage in Barabanki, committedthe crime and later surren-dered before them.

The police said that Rawatwas married to Rajani almosttwo years ago and had adaughter from her but shedied due to illness.

“On Saturday afternoon,Rawat had a quarrel withRajani (25). He dragged hiswife out of his house andkilled her using a sharp-edgedweapon.

“After killing her, he tookthe severed head and startedwalking towards Jahangirabadpolice station to surrender,” apolice official said.

According to the police,Rawat walked for almost one-

and-half kilometres, and wasmoving towards Jahangirabadpolice station when he wasarrested near Kadirpur village.

“The case will be thor-oughly probed,”Superintendent of PoliceArvind Chaturvedi said.

Meanwhile in anotherkilling in Muzaffarnagar, ateenage boy was shot dead byhis cousin over land dispute.Reports said that a 15-year-oldboy was allegedly shot dead byhis cousin over a family dis-pute on possession of agri-cultural land in a village inMuzaffarnagar, police said.The body of the teenageridentified as Vinit was foundwith bullet wounds in thefields on Friday at Kharpodvillage under Kakrauli policestation area, Circle OfficerRam Mohan Sharma said. Acase has been registeredagainst the accused LalitKumar and his father JaipalSingh who are both abscond-ing, the officer said.

According to the com-plaint lodged by the deceasedboy’s father Chanderpal, heowns agricultural land in thevillage and his brother JaipalSingh was demanding a shareof the property. Vinit, who isthe adopted son ofChanderpal, has no biologicalchild, it stated. His brotherand nephew are said to havebrought Vinit to a field and

shot him dead, Chanderpalsaid in the complaint.

Meanwhile, a woman andher four daughters allegedlycommitted suicide in Fatehpurdistrict.

Circle Officer Kapil DevMisra said the bodies ofShyama (40) and her daugh-ters Pinki (21), Priyanka (21),Varsha (14) and Nanki (10)were found from a house inShantinagar locality inFatehpur City.

Locals said the head of thefamily, Ram Bharose, was adrunkard and four days backhe had thrashed the five andgone missing thereafter.

The main door of thehouse had remained shutsince then, according topolice.

However, the locals alert-ed the police after foul smellbegan to emanate from thehouse. A police team brokeopen the door and found thebodies on Saturday, Misrasaid.

Some poisonous sub-stance was recovered fromthe house suggesting that thewoman and her daughtersmay have committed suicide,he added.

The bodies were sent forpost-mortem to ascertain theexact cause of death, Misrasaid, adding that a manhunthad been launched to nabRam Bharose. ����� /2C�E�

All India Power EngineersFederation (AIPEF) has

rejected the budgetary pro-posal for the power sector. Itsaid the proposed privatisationof the power distribution andinstallation of the pre-paidmeters were “impractical”.

AIPEF chairmanShailendra Dubey said 15 lakhpower employees across thecountry would oppose theprivatisation tooth and nail.

He accused Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanof misleading the people byclaiming that the pre-paidmeters would be installed innext three years and con-sumers would be free to buyelectricity from the powersupplier of their choice.

Dubey said the cost ofinstalling pre-paid meters was

exorbitant as there were over30 crore power consumers inthe country and the cost of onepre-paid meter was �3,000and it would entail an expen-diture of �90,000 crore.

He said the finance min-ister’s claim about pre-paidmeters was not supported byfacts as against the require-ment of �90,000 crore, provi-sion of only �22,000 crorehad been made in the budget.

On the relief in incometax, Dubey said the workingclass was expecting that thelimit in 80cc would be raisedfrom the present �1.50 lakhbut nothing had been done inthis regard.

Similarly, he said, thechange in IT slabs with allexemptions withdrawn hadresulted in practically no gainand had created a lot of con-fusion.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath lauded the

Union Budget presented byFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in the Lok Sabhaon Saturday, saying it was“development-oriented” andwould spur job creation in thedays ahead.

“The Union Budget willhelp in creation of jobs, it is inthe interest of farmers, it willboost continuous developmentand is a development-orientedbudget. For this, I would like tocongratulate Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman,” Adityanath, YogiAdityanath said on Saturdayafternoon.

“This Budget will alsoprove to be a milestone interms of developing the basic

infrastructure of the country,farmers’ growth, jobs for youthand betterment of health facil-ities in the country,” he added.

The chief minister furthersaid the Budget was as per thecurrent needs of the countryand would strengthen thecountry’s economy.

“It will prove to be a medi-um to fulfil the aspirations ofthe countrymen. It willstrengthen the economy andalso protect the interests of eachsection of society,” he said.

Yogi Adityanath also hailedthe decision to give furtherrelief to the income tax prayers.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s UPunit president Swatantra DevSingh also welcomed theUnion Budget, it was a Budgetfor the common people’.

Congratulating the primeminister and the finance min-ister for the Budget, Singh

said, “It’s a comprehensiveBudget which serves the inter-ests of all sections of society likefarmers, the poor and deprivedsections of society, middle classand women.”

The BJP state chief said the

Budget had given tax relief toevery section of society andwould go a long way in dou-bling the income of farmerswith the special emphasis onirrigation and foodgrain ware-housing schemes.

Singh said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had reaffirmedhis commitment for the welfareof Scheduled Castes and OtherBackward Classes by making aprovision of Rs 85,000 croreand Rs 53,700 crore for theScheduled Tribes.

Welcoming the provisionof Rs 3.6 lakh crore for tapwater to every household, theBJP state chief said this schemewould help the poor.

He said the ongoingschemes like housing for all,toilet, LPG connections forpoor and universal healthinsurance schemes had alreadybenefited the poor.

Lucknow: Describing theUnion Budget as anti-peopleand having nothing for youths,farmers, common man, UttarPradesh Congress staged adharna at the GPO Park hereto register their ire on Saturday.

Hitting out at the budget,UPCC president Ajay Kumar‘Lallu’ said it was not only anti-people but also showed thecloseness of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi with selectindustrialists of the country asFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had paved way forprivatisation of Railways,Insurance, Health etc.

Congress Legislative Partyleader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’said the budget had only upsetthe countrymen. She said thatevery segment of society wasunhappy with the budget as itwould put further burden onthem. PNS

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Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav dismissed

the Union Budget for 2020-21as “disappointing and bankruptbudget from a bankrupt gov-ernment”.

The Union budget waspresented in the Lok Sabha byFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturday.

The SP chief said this wasthe most bankrupt Budget ofthe decade as there were noplans for creating job oppor-tunities, reviving the ruraleconomy and PSU banks whichwere deep in red and financialdistress.

“There is no map in thebudget to revive the failingeconomy nor any vision forcreating fresh job opportunitieswhich has adversely affectedthe faith of the people in theeconomy,” Yadav said, addingthat the stock market crashedafter the announcement of thebudget, eroding investors’wealth to the tune of over Rs 4

lakh crore.He said the budget ignored

the interests of 70 per cent pop-ulation of the country andcheated the farmers, workingclass and the rural people.

The SP chief said the bud-get was silent on stemming therising tide of inflation whiledespite the repeated claims ofthe Narendra Modi govern-ment of doubling the income offarmers, no change was visibleon the ground in last over fiveyears.

“Far from doubling theincome the farmers, they havebeen denied remunerative priceof their agricultural produceand the farmers reeling underthe twin burden of bank loanand inflation are committingsuicide across the country<” hesaid.

Yadav said the budget total-ly ignored the interests of thefarmers and the agriculturesector and there was no relieffor the sugarcane farmers.

He said the budget wouldbring no change in the lives of

the poor people. The SP chief said that

despite the series of measuresannounced by the governmentfor attracting investment, theinvestment climate remainedsubdued.

He said the relief in incometax announced in the Budgetwould have little meaning asthere was no income and thepeople were jobless.

Yadav said the governmenthad gone almost bankrupt asthere was no money in the trea-sury and the government wasforced to privatise Air Indiaand sell its stakes in the LIC.

The SP chief said the primeminister’s claim of taking theIndian economy to the heightof Rs 5 trillion dollar remaineda pipe dream.

“In fact, the revenue of thegovernment has nose-divedand fiscal deficit is growing,making the economic situationunmanageable,” he added.

Yadav said the budgetwould add to the miseries ofthe people.

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�3�������������"��������8� ��������"���Lucknow: Tension prevailed after two people, including awoman, were injured in a series of bomb explosions inKanshiram Colony in the temple city of Ayodhya on Saturday.Police said three explosions rocked the colony in which two per-son were injured in Kotwali police station area. The injured wereadmitted to Shri Ram Hospital.A bag full of crude bombs wasrecovered from the spot. The bomb disposal squad was calledto defuse the live bombs in the bag.

����������"��������������� ������������Muzaffarnagar: A 15-year-old boy was allegedly shot dead by hiscousin over a family dispute on possession of agricultural land ina village in Muzaffarnagar district. The body of the teenager, iden-tified as Vinit, was found with bullet wounds in the fields on Fridayat Kharpod village under Kakrauli police station, Circle OfficerRam Mohan Sharma said. A case was registered against the accusedLalit Kumar and his father Jaipal Singh who are absconding.According to the complaint lodged by the deceased boy’s fatherChanderpal, he owns agricultural land in the village and his broth-er Jaipal Singh was demanding a share of the property. Vinit, whois the adopted son of Chanderpal, has no biological child, it stat-ed. His brother and nephew are said to have brought Vinit to afield and shot him dead, Chanderpal said in the complaint.

��!�� ��"�������������������� �������-�����!����������"������� Aligarh: Child specialist Kafeel Khan, who was accused of mak-ing an inflammatory speech at AMU, was remanded to 14 days’judicial custody and later transferred to Mathura jail, officials saidon Saturday. Circle Officer (Civil Lines) Anil Samania said Khanwas brought here late Friday evening and produced before the mag-istrate who remanded him to judicial custody. He was sent to theAligarh jail, but within an hour, he was transferred to Mathura jail.

���"��3��������-��� ���������"�"��"�����������������������Shahjahanpur: Locals in a village in Shahjahanpur district havedevised a novel way to drive away monkeys, with some of themdressing up as bears. The menace of monkeys at SikandarpurAfghan village in Jalalabad tehsil became so rampant that it fig-ured in a recent Tehsil Diwas organised by the district adminis-tration to resolve grievances of the people. The affected villagerscomplained that monkeys damage crops, take away edible itemsfrom their homes and have even bitten some children. To solvethe issue, two youth have been tasked with wearing bear costumesto go around the village to shoo away the simians. Locals said asthe monkeys are scared of bears and more than half of the pri-mate population in the village has fled the place, as a result. AshokKushwaha, a resident of the village said, “Almost a year ago, a com-plaint was registered with officials. At the time, Forest departmentofficials came and talks were held with a Mathura-based firm tocatch the monkeys at the rate of �300 per monkey but the plandid not materialise because of the large number of monkeys.

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Ayouth was accused of rap-ing a girl after spiking her

drinks. The youth hadbefriended the girl and alsopromised to marry her. Afterthe girl’s family lodged a com-plaint on January 23, theAliganj police registered a caseand nabbed the accused, whowas identified as SomeshRajpoot of Hamirpur. A Sciencegraduate, the accused is pursu-ing MSc from a college inHamirpur.

The girl came in contactwith the accused after her par-ents sent him a marriage pro-posal around 18 months back.Both exchanged mobile num-bers and Somesh promised tomarry her. In due course oftime, Somesh visited Lucknowand asked the girl to meet himat a hotel where he offered herdrinks. “Somesh spiked mydrinks and I fell unconsciousafter having it. He raped me andvideographed the act. He alsoclicked my photos in compro-mising position,” the girl

alleged. She said she confront-ed Somesh after she regainedconsciousness, but he told herthat he would marry her. “I gotconvinced that he will keep hisword. However, Somesh calledme last week and told me thathe had her objectionable videoand photos. He demanded Rsone lakh if I wanted the videoand photos not to be shared onsocial media. I gave him thecash after he promised to delete

the video and photos. However,he did not delete them anddemanded more cash a coupleof days back,” the victim alleged.Her family told the police thatthey could not afford Rs 5 lakh,so they contacted Somesh’sfamily but did not get anyhelp. “Left with no option, welodged a complaint,” they said.

“But justice did not comethe way of the girl and her fam-ily as they kept doing the

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment promoted six senior

IPS officers to DG rank onSaturday. The notification ofthe promotion was issued byAdditional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish Awasthi onSaturday morning.

The promoted IPS officersare of 1988 to 1990 batches.

The officers promoted areADG (Power Corporation)Kamal Saxena, ADG/DirectorTransport Vijay Kumar, ADG(PTC Moradabad) Brijraj,ADG (Rules and Manuals)Chandra Prakash, ADG (Lawand Order) PV Ramashastriand ADG (Technical Services)Sandeep Salunke. They will bepromoted in accordance withthe vacancies created due toretirement of other officersalready working on DG rank.

It may be mentioned thaton Friday, three DG rank offi-cers, including DGP OP Singh,DG (Intelligence) BhaweshKumar and DG (SpecialEnquiry) Mahendra Modi hadretired from service.

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Defence Expo 2020, sched-uled to commence from

February 5 here, will be attend-ed by defence ministers fromseveral countries. Leaders ofaround 40 countries, includingCzech Republic, Mexico,United Arab Emirates andSouth Korea among others,have already confirmed theirparticipation, DefenceSecretary Ajay Kumar said. Hesaid it would probably be forthe first time that an India-Africa Defence Conclave wouldbe held during the DefenceExpo.

The number of companiesthat registered themselves forparticipating in the DefExpo2020 has increased to 1,000from 702 in the last editionheld in Chennai. There is alsoa 96 per cent jump in the spacebooked by exhibitors inDefExpo 2020 to over 53,000square metres, compared toaround 27,000 square metres inthe last edition.

Apart from this, livedemonstrations of the services,DPSUs and industry showingthe land, naval, air and internalsecurity systems can be seenduring the exhibition, which isto be held in Lucknow from

February 5 to 9. There will alsobe live demonstration at twolocations — one at the exhibi-tion site and the other at theGomti Riverfront.

Arrangements have beenmade to hold 19 technical andbusiness seminars, of which 15will be organised by variousindustry chambers, includingthe Confederation of IndianIndustries, the PHD Chambersof Commerce and the

Associated Chambers ofCommerce of India. The top-ics for these seminars will belargely futuristic and includediscussions on artificial intel-ligence, robotics, Internet ofThings (IoTs), drones, wiredwarrior, etc.

Further, arrangements havebeen made for accommodatingaround 5,000 students fromvarious technical institutes ofthe state who will be visiting the

DefExpo 2020. Entry will befree for general public onFebruary 8 and 9.

Recently, a mobile appmade exclusively for theDefExpo 2020 was launched byDefence Minister RajnathSingh. It shares all the vitalinformation about the event,from traffic advisory to livedemo and other activities tolook out for during theDefExpo 2020.

/������"�����������+�����"�����������/��������(#� rounds of police station. They

were asked as to why they took somuch time in approaching thepolice and why did they agree togive Rs 1 lakh to accused earlier,”sources said. They said the issuedcame to the knowledge of seniorofficers who instructed the localpolice to swing into action. Apolice spokesman insisted that thepolice acted immediately afterbeing informed.

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Lucknow (PNS): In a tragic incident, a Class XIIstudent was fatally knocked down by a speed-ing train in Banthra early Saturday morning. Thevictim was identified as Mohit Pal of Ajgain(Unnao). Police said the youth met the mishapnear Harauni railway station in the area.Reports said Mohit was coming to Lucknow forsome work and reached Harauni railway station.

Meanwhile, With the arrest of two mis-creants, the Saadatganj police on Saturdayclaimed to have worked out the Hari ShankerGupta murder case. Those arrested wereidentified as Jameel of Hasanganj and Dilshadof Thakurganj. The police said both theaccused had stormed the house with an aimto commit loot. “After committing loot, theykilled the victim. We recovered the looted orna-ments and Rs 9,500 in cash from both,” thepolice claimed. Gupta was found murdered athis house on January 24 even as the doors werelocked from outside.

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Post-budget discussions wereheld by IIA during which

IIA national president PankajKumar said though FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanhighlighted the importance ofMSME sector for economicdevelopment of the country,there were not much directbenefits announced in the bud-get. “In the pre-budget propos-als submitted by IIA to theFinance Minister, we recom-mended reduction of corporatetax for proprietorship and part-nership small scale sectors at parwith the corporate sector. In thisbudget announcement, theFinance Minister furtherreduced the tax for corporatesector to 15%, however, there isno reduction in the tax rate forproprietorship and partnershipfirms as it is 30% at present. Ifthe government realises theimportance of small scale sec-tor, the tax rate should bebrought at par with the corpo-rate sector. IIA had also pro-posed that the process of TDSshould be simplified but therewas no mention for this in thebudget announcements,” theIIA president said.

IIA general secretaryManmohan Agarwal welcomedthe announcement made bythe Finance Minister to resolvethe pending direct tax disputesand allowing payment of theprincipal amount by March 31.However, he said that this timeperiod of two month is too shortand it should be extended to atleast six months.

Agarwal also welcomed theannouncement for amendmentsin the Tax Acts for relaxing thestringent provision for tax pay-ers. “The relaxation in tax slabfor individuals under the newscheme, wherein deductions

are disallowed, is a new thoughtwhich is a matter of study andwe will have to assess howmuch will it help the tax payers,”said Agarwal. “Though theFinance Minister announcedincrease in the allocation forCGTMSE Scheme, it is notgoing to benefit the Micro &Small Industries in the countryunless the suggestions submit-ted by IIA are implemented,”Agarwal added.

Former IIA president GCChaturvedi said the FinanceMinister has not announced anynew tax and has given some

relaxation in the director taxslab. “Despite this, there is anincrease of about Rs 4 lakh crorefor expenditure under variousheads and the tax revenue is alsoestimated to be increased by Rs3 lakh crore in the budget esti-mates. It shows that this is a bal-anced and well thought of bud-get,” he added.

Former IIA president AnilGupta welcomed the provisionof about Rs 1 lakh crore for theeducation sector during 2020-21. “This will result in overalldevelopment and progress ofthe future generations which

will help in availability of skilledmanpower to the industries.Electronics sector plays animportant role in the industri-al development, hence theannouncement that the gov-ernment will promote elec-tronics manufacturing is a wel-come step,” said Gupta.

Announcements made forHealth Sector, Swachh BharatAbhiyan, expansion of JanAusadhi Kendra and Jal JivanMission will help the commonman greatly, said Gupta.

IIA national secretary SuryaHavelia said one of the biggestproblems of MSME today isshortage of funds owing tomany reasons.

“There is no announce-ment in the budget to solve thisproblem. The announcementfor allocation of sufficient bud-get for solar, non-conventionalenergy sector is a welcome step.The problem of air pollution inbig cities is increasing day theday, hence the provision of Rs4,400 crore to solve the problemis welcome,” said Havelia. IIAnational vice-president GNMishra said enough budgetprovisions have been made forwomen, SC, ST, OBC and dis-ables. “This will benefit all ofthem who will ultimately con-tribute to the social and eco-nomic development of thecountry. Allocation of Rs 6,000crore for Bharat Net programmewill help in the overall devel-opment of the villages and willrestrict the movement of youthsfrom villages to cities,” saidMishra. IIA executive directorDS Verma said that the 16-pointaction plan announced for theagriculture sector will help insubstantial increase in theincome of farmers, and it willstimulate the demand for indus-try products, especially thosefrom the MSME sector.

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Lucknow (PNS): CII said thatthe budget has set the stage foreconomic revival while main-taining fiscal balance andaddressed key sectors to pro-vide impetus to growth. “TheFinance Minister had anextremely tight rope to walk,balancing a severely con-strained fiscal space with theneed for higher governmentexpenditure for boostinginvestments and consump-tion. She has done that wellin addressing the key prioritieswhile being within the boundsof the Fiscal Responsibility andBudget Management (FRBM)Act,” CII president VikramKirloskar said.

“The announcementsrelated to agriculture, espe-cially encouraging states thatadopt model laws, will pavethe way for adoption of themuch-needed agri reforms,leading to better returns forthe farmers as well asenhanced private sector

engagement with agriculture,”he added.

Applauding theannouncements on infra-structure, Kirloskar said:“Infrastructure has alwaysbeen a key priority of the gov-ernment. National infra-structure pipeline, focus ontransport sector and railwayswill not only create jobs butalso boost productivity andefficiency of businesses. Theproject creation is beingbacked by efforts to makeinfrastructure financing avail-able. The Rs 22,000-croreequity support to IIFCL andNIIF to create a fundingpipeline of Rs 1,03,000 lakhcrore and granting 100%exemption to interest, divi-dend and capital gains incomeof the Sovereign WealthFunds in respect of invest-ment made in infrastructureare very important initiativesfor funding infrastructurecreation.”

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The concept of integralhumanism was a set of con-cepts drafted by Pt DeendayalUpadhyaya as a political pro-gramme and adopted in 1965as the official doctrine of theJan Sangh. Chief standingcounsel, Allahabad High Court(Lucknow Bench) Jai KrishnaSinha expressed these views ata special lecture organised byPt Deen Dayal UpadhyayaShodh Peeth, LU’s departmentof Social Work, on Saturday.Speaking on the occasion, hesaid Upadhyaya borrowedGandhian principles such assarvodaya, swadeshi, andgram swaraj which wereappropriated selectively to givemore importance to culturaland national values. “These val-ues were based on an individ-ual’s undisputed subservienceto nation as a corporate entity.He considered that it was ofutmost importance for India todevelop an indigenous eco-nomic model with the humanbeing at center stage. Thisapproach made the concept dif-ferent from socialism andcapitalism. Integral humanismwas adopted as Jan Sangh’spolitical doctrine and its newopenness to other oppositionforces made it possible for theHindu nationalist movement tohave an alliance in the early1970s with the prominent,” hesaid. He added that EkatamManavvad (integral human-ism) is an old concept but in anew form, it exists from vedas.“The concept of joint family is

important as living lonely lifeoften results in an undevelopedlife with lots of issues,” he said.Head of the department ofSocial Work Gurnam Singhwelcomed the guests, students,educationists and participants,and apprised them of thetheme of the special lecture andits contemporary relevance.Vijay Karn, an eminent acad-emician and prolific writerdiscussed, the life and works ofPt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. Hesaid the basic needs of food,clothes and shelter are incom-plete without education andmedicine.

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National Bureau of FishGenetic Resources (NBFGR)organised a three-day trainingprogramme, ‘Awareness for useof natural resources under con-

stitutional framework’, for per-sonnel of Lucknow-basedICAR institutes from January30 to February 1. NBFGRdirector Kuldeep K Lal wel-comed the participants andtold them about constitution-al guidelines regarding properand judicious consumption ofnatural resources. The chiefguest on the occasion wasretired district judge PCMishra. A lecture on water wasdelivered by senior scientist(Central Soil Salinity ResearchInstitute) CL Verma, who gavedetailed information aboutrainwater collection, its storageand utilisation and groundwa-ter recharge. In order toimprove the quality of work,personal motivation was alsoincluded as a subject in thetraining and an interactionsession with experts was organ-ised. Field visits were made to

spread awareness about theinstability of natural resourcesand to encourage employees tobehave accordingly in theirenvironment and to dissemi-nate the knowledge gained bythem, so that they could usethis information to enhancetheir own productive capacity.The move is expected to pro-mote the ecosystem sustainabil-ity which will not onlystrengthen the overall economyby increasing farmers’ income,but will also help India meetthe sustainable developmentgoals set by FAO. The pro-gramme was attended by 23participants from CISH, IISRand NBFGR. They were alsogiven away certificates by CISHdirector S Rajan.

��������Sanskritiki, the cultural

wing of Lucknow University,organised a public speakingcompetition on Saturday. Thecontest was conducted byManuka Khanna. Thirty PGstudents and 50 students par-ticipated in the contest. The PGround was judged by RakeshChandra, Meenakshi Pahwa,Geetika Kapoor and PrashantShukla while the UG round byBabita Jaiswal, M Priyadarshini,Rajeshwar Yadav, and RahulPandey. The students spoke forthree minutes on social andpolitical topics like communi-ty hygiene, suicide by farmers,gender inequality social mediaaddiction etc. The event gavean opportunity to students toexpress their views and exhib-it their confidence.

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Commissioner ofPolice Sujeet

Pandey on Saturdayappealed to people togive the police detailsabout places which arecrime-prone or whereeve-teasers are on theprowl. He issued anumber (9454405231),asking the public to inform thepolice about the same and alsosend their suggestions for bettertraffic management in the city.A police spokesman said: “Thepublic has been appealed to alsoinform about the places wheretipplers assemble and create ascene off and on.” Thespokesman said the police offi-cials had been asked to work onsuch tip-offs with immediateeffect.

Meanwhile, a police teamrecovered 51 mobile phoneswhich were reported missing.Later, the same were givenback to their owners by DeputyCommissioner of Police(Central) Dinesh Singh at

Hazratganj Kotwali onSaturday. The mobile sets wererecovered from Lucknow, RaeBareli, Sitapur, Hardoi,Lakhimpur, Barabanki,Pratpgarh, Gonda and evenfrom some other states likeWest Bengal and Bihar.

Meanwhile, a police teamworking under DCP (North)Sarvaresth Tripathi recovered1.5 kg ganja and an SUV froma man, identified as AslamSiddiqui, in Jankipuram duringa checking drive. Police saidAslam is a drug peddler andrunning the racket for a longtime. “He was arrested when hewas going to deliver ganja tosome customer,” the police said.

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With the RNA report ofLucknow’s first suspect-

ed patient of coronavirus like-ly to be out within a week, theCMO has arranged two morethermal infra-imaging ther-mometers at the Amausi air-port. The health officials havebeen directed to keep an eye onsuspects. Lucknow’s first sus-pect is a 58-year-old womanwho is said to be suffering frommild fever. The CMO hasplaced her under isolation tillthe report is received fromPune’s IDSP Lab.

“She is doing fine and hasno other symptoms. She wasdiagnosed with mild feverwhen checked with the thermalinfra-thermometer. After keep-ing her in isolation, we are wait-ing for the RNA report fromPune. The report is expectedshortly,” the CMO said.

“We have arranged two

more thermometers at the air-port centre and directed all thehealth officials and hospitals tofocus on people coming fromChina. We are keeping a closeeye on all such people and havedirect their relatives and friendsto report to us immediately incase they show any symptomsuch as sneezing, cough orhigh fever,” the CMO said. The58-year-old woman had goneto China and complained ofmild fever after she returned.“Nothing alarming was detect-ed but on her request, thesamples of her saliva and swabwere sent to IDSP Lab in Pune.She has been placed in isolationand her condition is stable,” theCMO said.

Meanwhile, Dr RamManohar Lohia Institute ofMedical Sciences has set up aspecial coronavirus ward andimparted training to medicosand staff on prevention andcontrol.

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The department of General Surgery,Vivekananda Polyclinic and

Institute of Medical Sciences, organiseda live operative workshop and CME onadvances in endoscopic hernia surgeryon Saturday. Doctors said that the treat-ment of hernia has seen a major shiftafter introduction of laparoscopicsurgery, keeping up with continuedadvances in the field of laparoscopichernia management. In a live operativeworkshop, six patients ranging fromkids to senior citizens with differenttypes of simple to complex and mul-tiple hernia were operated upon in themodular OT of the hospital. Dr

Praveen Bhatia, senior consultant of SirGanga Ram Hospital (New Delhi), andDr Rahul Mahadar from JeevansriHospital (Mumbai) were present asinvited faculty members.

Secretary of the institute SwamiMuktinathananda said that they arehappy to provide such advancedfacility to patients at an affordablecost. Speaking on advanced surgeriesand anaesthesia in Charitable hospi-tal, Dr (Brig) T Prabhakar (Retd),director of the institute, said thatlaparoscopic surgery plays a very vitalrole in the field of hernia surgery.Head of the department of GeneralSurgery, Dr KK Agarwal presentedthe vote of thanks.

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Sleuths of Uttar Pradesh’sAnti-Terrorists Squad

claimed to have nabbed anassociate of KhalistanLiberation Force (KLF). Hewas arrested from Haridwar inthe late hours of Friday hadallegedly supplied weaponsto KLF members involved inthe killing and attack on someRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) members.

The accused is wanted bythe Mohali police in Punjab sohe will be taken to Punjab andproduced in the designatedcourt. According to an officialcommuniqué released by theUP ATS on Saturday after-noon, they got inputs that oneAsheesh Kumar of Jani area ofMeerut, who was wanted bythe Punjab Police, was presentin western UP so they devel-oped the information andsubsequently laid a trap andnabbed him in Haridwar onFriday night. The ATS claimedthat in August 2016, Brigadier(retired) Jagdish KumarGagneja, who was co-chief ofRSS Punjab unit, was mur-

dered in Mohali by KLF mem-bers and Harmit Singh wasarrested in this connection.During interrogation by thesleuths of NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA),Harmit revealed that the planto eliminate Gagneja washatched in Pakistan by anoth-er KLF member HarpritSingh, who was then campingin Pakistan.

It was also revealed thatthe weapon was provided toHarmit by Asheesh Kumar ofMeerut. The Punjab Policenamed Asheesh Kumar in thecase and were trying to arresthim. On January 27, Harmitwas killed in Dera Chahel

Gurudwara in Lahore. TheATS said that Asheesh wasearlier arrested several timesand he was in contact withKLF members during his stayin Patiala jail in Punjab. Theaccused was further interro-gated before being handedover to Punjab Police.

It may be mentioned thatearlier on being tipped-off bySpecial Operation Cell ofAmritsar that a resident ofMuzaffarnagar was involved insupply of arms and ammuni-tion to KLF members andcriminals, the ATS had nabbedSanjay Rathi alias Guddu, anative of Itawa village ofBudhna in Muzaffarnagar dis-

trict. Guddu had suppliedarms and ammunition to twoKLF members identified asDaljeet Singh alias Babloo ofJandiyal in Amritsar andSatnam Singh aka ‘Manni’, anative of Sultanpurvind inAmritsar. Both Babloo andManni were reportedly con-nected to the demand forKhalistan and Referendum2020. Later, in another oper-ation, the UP ATS had arrest-ed another associate of KLFmilitants from Shamli dis-trict. He was allegedly involvedin supplying arms and ammu-nition to the Khalistani terrorgroups. The conduit was iden-tified as Raj Singh, a residentof Jalalpur in Babri area ofShamli district.

The ATS also arrested oneof the cohort of Raj, identifiedas Asif, also a resident of samelocality. The cops recovered a.32 bore and a .315 borerevolvers and half-a-dozenlive cartridges from their pos-session. The ATS teamclaimed that Raj Singh wasalso wanted by the Mohalipolice for supplying explo-sives to subversive forces.

�������������;��<Apratim Tiwari, a Class VII stu-

dent of City Montessori School,Gomti Nagar Campus I, performedexcellently at a national-level compe-tition, ‘Race to Space Quiz’, and wonan all-expense-paid trip to US spaceagency NASA. The contest was organ-ised under the aegis of a newspapergroup. Nearly six lakh students of over2,000 schools across India participat-ed in the first round of the competi-tion and 11,000 students took part in

the secondround. Ofthese, fourstudents wereselected forthe free edu-cational tripto NASA andA p r a t i mTiwari is oneof them. He showcased tremendousknowledge of science and innovativethoughts to achieve this feat.

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Claiming that the UnionBudget will strengthen the

foundation of Indian economy,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday said the Budget hasboth “vision and action” evenas he listed out various reformsannounced in it.

Reforms announced in theBudget will push employmentin the country and help in dou-bling farmers’ income, Modisaid, adding Budget has furtherstrengthened the Government’scommitment of minimumGovernment, maximum gov-ernance and eased the taxationprocess.

“The main areas ofemployment are agriculture,infrastructure, textiles andtechnology. In order to boostemployment generation, thesefour areas have been given a lotof emphasis in this Budget,” PMModi said, congratulatingFinance Minister NIrmalaSitaraman, MoS FinanceAnurag Thakur and team.

“The Budget has adoptedan integrated approach to boostagriculture. This approach will

not onlystrength-en the tradi-tional agriculturalpractices but also helpby value addition inhorticulture, fisheriesand animal hus-bandry. This in turnwill generateemployment inmarketing and pro-cessing,” PM Modisaid. He said toensure that farm-ers’ income isdoubled theBudget has pre-pared a 16-pointaction plan.

“These will generate employ-ments in rural areas,” he said.

Underlying that skill devel-opment of the youth has alsobeen stressed upon in theBudget, Prime Minister said“India will now move tobecome a key member of theglobal value chain. Skill sets

needed for the development ofa modern and New India havebeen focussed”.

“Budget will give new ener-gy to youth in country by pro-moting startups. Tax payer char-ter announced in Budget willclarify rights of tax payers.Budget has further strengthened

Government’s commitment ofminimum Government, maxi-mum governance. Rather thantaking different exams forGovernment jobs, single onlineexam will be taken by NationalRecruitment Agency,” Modiadded in his televised addresspost-Budget presentation.

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The Budget presented onSaturday allotted �1,05,244

crore to the Union HomeMinistry with a marginalincrease of �2,024 crore fromthe previous year. The lion’sshare of the Home MinistryBudget has gone to the para-military forces with the totalallocation of �92,054.53 crorefor 2020-21.

As the work for the Census2021 has begun, the Governmenthas allocated �4,278 crore underthe Census Surveys and Statisticshead. The Budget allocated�1,126.62 crore for relief onaccount of natural calamities and�842.45 crore for social securi-ty and welfare schemes.

Among the paramilitaryforces, the CRPF, the world’s

largest para-military

forces was allotted �26,259.41crore, followed by BSF which got�20,952.49 crore. The CISF got�10,179.61 crore and SSB andAssam Riffles received �6,599.95crore and �6,061.87 crore respec-tively from the Union Budget.The ITBP got �6,522.10 andNSG received �1,190 crore. TheSPG was allotted �592.55 crore.The NDRF was allotted�1,018.17 crore.

The Intelligence Bureauwas allotted �2,575.25 croreand the Delhi Police was allot-ted �8,242.46 crore. Generallyall the security and Intelligenceorganisations received only amarginal increase in the UnionBudget. There is sharp decreaseof more than �1,000 crore canbe seen the budget figures ofcentrally sponsored schemeslike in the modernisation ofpolice forces, border area devel-opment programmes and spe-cial infrastructure in the Maoistaffected areas.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah said the UnionBudget 2020-21 will contributesignificantly in fulfilling theModi Government’s resolve to

double the income of farmersand provide unprecedentedrelief to the taxpayers. In aseries of tweets, Shah also saidworld-class highways, railways,ports, airports, metros will bebuilt in the country with theallocation of �100 lakh crore.

“In this Budget, the ModiGovernment has taken effectivesteps to rationalise the tax sys-tem, boost the basic infra-structure, strengthen the bank-ing system, promote invest-ment and ease of doing busi-ness, which will further theModi government’s resolve tomake India a five trillion-dol-lar economy,” he said.

Shah said the Budget willcontribute significantly in ful-filling the Modi Government’sresolve to double the income offarmers by making provision forirrigation and grain storage to thefarmers of the country, as well asa fair price for their produce. “Icongratulate the prime ministerand Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman for presenting aBudget, which will benefit farm-ers, poor, salaried middle classand business class,” he said.

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The Defence Budget onFriday saw almost no hike

for 2019-20 as the allocationswere nearly the same as pro-vided in the interim Budget onFebruary one this year.

Presenting her maidenBudget, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman’s speechalso found no mention of the Defence outlay for ongo-ing fiscal. She, however,announced that basic customsduty on Defence equipmentwill not be levied.

The overall Defence Budget

crossed the three �3 crore markin the interim Budget but in realterms the hike was a modestseven per cent as compared to2018-2019. The outlayannounced provided for bySitharaman is also nearly samewith the capital outlay of�1,03,394 crore. This figurestood at �93,982 crore in the lastfiscal. The total budgetary pro-visions for the current fiscalnow is �3,05,296.07 crore.

These figures exclude miscel-laneous allocations of Defenceamounting to �17,065.12 crore.

While capital funds areneeded to sustain the tempo ofmodernisation by inductingurgently required weapon plat-forms, the revenue expenditure,however, takes a major share ofthe overall allocations.

The revenue expenditure,which includes expenses onpayment of salaries and main-

tenance of establishments is�2,01,901.76 crore. The hugegap between capital and rev-enue expenditure is a majorissue facing the DefenceMinistry and efforts to narrowdown the gap has so far notprogressed as desired therebyrestricting the funds needed for

acquiring better weapon sys-tems.

Moreover, the total outlaydoes not include �1,12,079crore set aside separately forpayment of pensions. If allo-cation for pension is included,then the total outlay forDefence stands at �4.31 lakh

crore which accounts for 15.47per cent of the total CentralGovernment expenditure forthe year 2019-20. “The capi-tal allocation of Ministry ofDefence under BE (budgetestimate) 2019-20 is 31.97per cent of the total CentralGovernment capital expendi-ture, which is �3,38,569.00crore,” Singh’s office tweeted.

As regards service wiseallotment of funds, the IAF

gets the highest amount total-ing �39, 302.64 crore asagainst �35,770.11 crore in2018-2019, followed by theArmy �29,461.25 crore(�26,688.42 crore in last fiscal)and the Navy �23,156.43 crore(�20, 890 crore in 2018-19).

The hike in capital outlaywill give the IAF an elbowroom to go in acquisitionsbesides meeting contractualobligation for Rafale jet pay-

ment. So far, the Governmenthas paid nearly �40,000 croreto France for 36 jets. Theoverall cost of the deal is�60,000 crore. The increase inthe Army Budget will enableit to acquire modern riflesnumbering more than fourlakh, anti-tank guided mis-siles, artil lery guns andarmoured personnel carriers.The Rashtriya Rifles (RR),the anti-insurgency force ofthe Army engaged in opera-tions in J&K, has been allot-ted �24.64 crore as against�22.40 crore for the last finan-cial year.

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Opposition parties slammedthe Modi Government’s

second Budget of its secondtenure saying the BJP led NDAregime has failed to meet massaspirations of creating employ-ment and in a nutshell it has alsogiven up on reviving the econ-omy and accelerating growth.

While Congress leaderRahul Gandhi said there wasno strategic idea or anythingconcrete in the Union Budgetand it described the “hollow”approach of the Governmentthat was “all talk and nothinghappening”, former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram saidthe Modi Government is incomplete denial that the econ-omy faces a “grave macro-eco-nomic challenge”. The Left par-ties said the Budget consistedof just “platitudes” and did notaddress the problems faced bythe people.

Talking to reporters outsideParliament soon after the pre-sentation of the budget, Rahuldescribed it as repetitive, say-ing the budget does not address

the main issue of unemploy-ment confronting the country’syouth and the poor state of theeconomy.

“The main issues con-fronting this country todayare unemployment and the sit-uation as far as the economy isconcerned. I did not see anyconcrete idea, any strategicidea that would help ouryoungsters get jobs. I saw a lotof tactical stuff, redundantthings, I did not see any cen-tral idea,” the former Congresschief said.

“The speech was over 2.5hours long and I did not find anystrategic thing in it. The mainissue is employment and econ-omy. There is redundancy andincome tax has been compli-cated instead. The Government’sapproach is visible in this bud-get. It did not have anything init. It was hollow,” he said andlater tweeted the Prime Ministerand Finance Minister bothlooked like they have absolute-ly no clue what to do next.

Addressing a Press confer-ence at Congress headquarters,Chidambaram said there is

nothing in the Budget thatleads one to believe that growthwill revive in 2020-21 and theclaim of 6 to 6.5 per centgrowth next year is “astonish-ing and even irresponsible”,the former finance ministersaid at a press conference.

The former FinanceMinister said Indian economyis demand-constrained andinvestment-starved, and theincumbent Finance Ministerhas not acknowledged thesetwo challenges. “It was a laun-dry list of old (that is current)programmes. I am pretty cer-tain that even the most loyalBJP MP or supporter cannotlatch on to any idea or state-ment in the Budget speech andtake it to the people,”Chidambaram said.

CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury said it didnothing to alleviate “people’smiseries”. “Just platitudes &slogans. Nothing substantialto alleviate peoples’ misery,the growing unemployment,rural wage crash, farmers’ dis-tress suicides and gallopingprices,” he tweeted.

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To augment highways devel-opment programme,

including construction of 15,500km of highways involving 9,000km of economic corridors, theModi Government on Saturdaymade a budgetary allocation of�91,823,22 crore for theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways. Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman also pro-posed to provide about �1.70lakh crore for transportInfrastructure in financial year2020-21.

The last allocation in hermaiden interim Budget was�83,016. Welcoming theBudget as growth oriented,Road Transport and HighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkari said itis full of innovative initiativesfor aspirational India.

“Accelerated developmentof highways will be undertak-en. This will include develop-ment of 2,500 Km access con-trol highways, 9,000 Km ofeconomic corridors, 2,000 Kmof coastal and land port roadsand 2,000 Km of strategic high-ways,” Sitharaman said in herbudget speech.

Sitharaman said the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will becompleted in three years, inaddition to two more expresshighway projects. “Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and twoother packages would be com-pleted by 2023. Work onC h e n n a i - B e n g a l u r uExpressway would also be start-ed,” she said.

Terming a sound high-ways network essential

to propel the economy, theEconomic Survey had onFriday said the highways sectorneeds �19.63 lakh crore invest-ment by 2024-25.

Total investment in theroads and highway sector hasgone up more than three timesin the five-year period of 2014-15 to 2018-19.

Of about 59.64 lakh kms ofroads in India, total length ofNational Highways was 1.32lakh kms as on March 1, 2019.“The pace at which roads havebeen constructed has grownsignificantly from 17 km perday in 2015-16 to 29.7 km perday in 2018-19,” it said.

Gadkari said it has given amassive boost to investment ininfrastructure, which in turnwould help revive industrialproduction and generateemployment opportunities,creating more that 2 crore jobs.

The annual budget alsotalked about electronic tollingon national highways, FASTagmechanism that enables greatercommercialisation of highwaysso that NHAI can raise moreresources. “I propose to mon-etise at least twelve lots ofhighway bundles of over 6000-km before 2024,” she said.

A policy for scrapping ofold vehicles “is in the works”and will be announced afterconcerned ministries “finetune” it, Sitharaman men-tioned. The government onJuly 26, 2019 had proposedamendments to motor vehiclenorms to allow scrapping ofvehicles older than 15 years in

a bid to spur adop-tion of electrical

vehicles.

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Hailing the Union Budgetpresented by Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanas “visionary”, the BJP and theUnion Government on Friday affirmed that it wouldrevive growth and rejuvenateeconomy.

BJP president JP Naddawelcomed the Budget as“visionary, futuristic, growthoriented, transformative andall-inclusive” and said it willensure development of all sec-tions of society.

He said the Budget givesimpetus to fulfilment of aspi-rations of the middle incomegroups with focus on home forall by giving subsidy to firsttime buyers and announcingrelaxation in income tax. TheBJP chief praised Budget’semphasis on the developmentof Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes.

“Inspired by the mantra of‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas,Sabka Vishwas’, the CentralBudget 2020 is a significant stepin the strengthening the effortstowards a new and developedIndia. My heartfelt gratitude toPrime Minister Narendra Modiand the Finance Minister forthis transformative and holis-tic Budget,” Nadda tweeted.

The BJP president saidModi has ensured all-rounddevelopment of all sections ofsociety and Budget 2020 is atestimony of his vision for“New India”.

Union Minister ofCommerce & Industry PiyushGoyal who had also presentedUnion Budget in the past

praised part disinvestment inthe PSU behemoth LifeInsurance Company saying thestep would increase trans-parency and accountability.

“If a small part of LifeInsurance Corporation (LIC)goes to the public it willincrease transparency &accountability, after all it is pub-lic’s property, I don’t thinkthere is any harm if a small partof it is with the people,” he said.

On stock market’s responseto Budget, Goyal said there aresome specific sectors in thestock market that carry a lot ofweightage, for example, wehave increased tax on ciga-rettes, so ITC’s stocks haveweakened a bit, he said.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh hailed the Union Budgetfor 2020-21, saying it will revivegrowth and rejuvenate demandin the economy.

Rajnath said the Budget isnot only investment friendlybut it will go a long way in dou-bling farmers’ income andunshackling Indian industries.

“The first Budget of thenew decade presented byFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman gives an outline ofa new and confident India. It isa promising, proactive andprogressive Budget which willmake India healthy and wealthyin coming years,” the DefenceMinister said.

“The new tax reformsintroduced in the Budget thisyear are extremely progres-sive, bold and unprecedented innature. The new tax regime willreduce tax burden on commonman. It will pave the way for anefficient tax system, in sync

with the best practises in theworld,” he added.

The Defence Minister alsocomplimented Sitharaman forproposing policy interventionin areas like new technologies,saying investments in thesesectors will build a strongfoundation for a new Indiabased on knowledge driveneconomy.

He said the Budget pro-posals have emphatically laid afoundation to achieve the goalof USD 5 trillion economy by2024-25.

Ridiculing Congress leaderRahul Gandhi’s disapproval ofthe Budget-20-21 and wel-coming budget proposals,Union Minister DharmendraPradhan said, “A person who ishollow himself, will find every-thing hollow. I request RahulGandhi to educate himself,stay in the country, learn aboutit and have a positive mindset.Then he will be able to con-tribute to the country asOpposition”.

Union Minister NitinGadkari asserted that theBudget will boost growth whileUnion Minister PrakashJavadekar described the budgetas “most pragmatic” at a timewhen the world economy isfacing headwinds.

India has not only man-aged a “good growth rate” butis also marching towards abetter rate, he said, addingthat the budget will usher in all-round development, he said.

BJP ally and LJP leaderRam Vilas Paswan, also aUnion Minister, praised theBudget as “historic” and “devel-opment-oriented”.

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India Inc on Saturday termedthe Budget as “growth pro-

voking and welfare inducing”but said that urgent imple-mentation of the measuresproposed will be crucial forachieving desired outcomes,while acknowledging thatFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had “little room”to manoeuvre.

Soon after Sitharamanunveiled the Union Budget for2020-21 in Parliament wovenaround the themes of aspira-tional India, and economicdevelopment for all and caringsociety, India Inc took toTwitter to share views on theannouncements. The FinanceMinister proposed new slabsand reduced tax rates underthem for an individual incomeof up to �15 lakh per annum,if a taxpayer opts for forego-ing exemptions and deduc-

tions. She also proposed toremove dividend distributiontax on companies, and hence-forth the tax will be shifted torecipients at the applicablerate.

“Amidst global turbulenceand nations dealing with bush-fires & corona virus, FMSitharaman has looked to crafta granular long-term strategyto focus on vital issues. Thenation was requesting kuch‘caro na’ to her, however shehad little room to manoeuvre!(sic),” RPG EnterprisesChairman Harsh Goenkatweeted. “DDT removal isgood as it increases dividendsreceived in the hands of thetaxpayer — however, suchreceipts to now are taxable intheir hands. Those above 20per cent tax slab — will now face more tax on theirdividend income,” ArchitGupta, Founder, and CEO,ClearTax said.

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New Delhi: Amid a chorus of criticism by Oppositionparties over lack of employment generation, the UnionBudget presented on Saturday estimated that more than2.62 lakh jobs are likely to be created between March 2019and March 2021 in various organisations.

The strength of Government establishments was32,62,908 as on March 1, 2019, which will increase to35,25,388 by the same date in 2021 — an increase of2,62,480, it said.

The Congress and other parties have been criticis-ing the Modi Government over lack of job creation, espe-cially after demonetisation of high-value currency notesin November 2016. The budget documents give a break-up of the jobs likely to created in Central Governmentdepartments between 2019 and March 2021.

The highest 79,353 jobs are estimated to be createdin policing. As many as 22,046 new jobs are likely to becreated in the Defence Ministry (civil). Its strength was70,978 in March 2019 and it will increase to 93,024 bythe same month in 2021.

The workforce of Home Ministry (excluding Cabinet,police forces, PTI

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Cigarette stocks on Saturday plunged up to 7 per cent, led byITC, as tobacco related products are set to become more

expensive due to hike in excise duty proposed in the Union Budgetfor 2020-21. ITC tanked 6.97 per cent to close at �218.85 on theBSE. During the trade, it plummeted 8.31 per cent to �215.70— its 52-week low. It was the worst performer in the Sensex pack.

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Automobile industry onSaturday said the Budget

2020-21 lacked measures torevive the sector which hasbeen going through a pro-longed slowdown.

The industry, however,lauded the government’s ini-tiative to increase customs dutyon imported electric vehiclesand said it would help in estab-lishing local production ofsuch products in the country.

“The Indian automobileindustry was looking forwardto some direct benefits in thebudget, which could havehelped in reviving demand inthe context of the current slow-down and huge investmentsmade by the industry for tran-sition to BS-VI and from thataspect, the Budgetspeech was not whatwe were expecting,”SIAM President RajanWadhera said in astatement. SIAM hadmade specific recom-

mendations on steps that couldhave revived demand, like anincentive-based vehicle scrap-page scheme; budget allocationfor diesel buses procurement bySTUs and zero customs dutyfor lithium-ion batteries, whichdo not seem to have been con-sidered, he added.

Automobile dealers’ bodyFADA said the Budget lackedimmediate demand boostersfor the automobile industry.

“It was disappointing thatas part of auto ecosystem, nodirect benefits for the automo-bile industry were announced.Budget allocation for an attrac-tive incentive-based scrappagepolicy would have been ademand booster for commer-cial vehicles,” FADA PresidentAshish

Harsharaj Kale said.Even though GST is not a

part of the Budget, an indica-tion about rationalisation ofrates for automobiles wouldhave brought much respite forthe industry, he added.

Auto component bodyACMA, however, expressedsatisfaction on the measuresannounced in the Budget espe-cially the focus on developmentof rural economy, manufac-turing and infrastructure.

“We are glad that the gov-ernment has announced a�1,000 crore handholdingscheme for mid-sized compa-nies including those in theauto components to give athrust to export development,R&D and technology upgra-dation,” ACMA President

Deepak Jain said.

New Delhi: Shares of insurancecompanies came under heavyselling pressure on Saturday,tumbling up to 13 per cent,after income tax changesannounced in the Budget camewith riders regarding exemp-tions which disappointed themarkets.

“Budget was below parconsidering that market hadvery high expectations from theGovernment. Income taxchanges announced has comewith riders of giving up exemp-tions which disappointed themarkets, with insurance sectorbeing impacted the most,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Research,Geojit Financial Services.

Shares of Max FinancialServices plummeted 12.78 percent, ICICI Prudential LifeInsurance Company plunged10.93 per cent, SBI LifeInsurance Company tumbled10.02 per cent, The New IndiaAssurance Company 7.16 percent and HDFC Life InsuranceCompany 6.06 per cent on theBSE. PTI

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Bankers said the UnionBudget is a balanced one as

it maintains fiscal prudence forthe medium-term and alsooffers more capital spending tosupport the sagging growth.

The Budget has peggedfiscal deficit at 3.8 per cent forthe current fiscal and 3.5 percent for the next, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamansaid while presenting the firstfull budget of the ModiGovernment’s second term.

Bankers said given thedeepening slowdown, the movewas much needed and it willboost Government spending tosupport economic growth.

Welcoming the budget,State Bank of India (SBI)Chairman Rajnish Kumar saidthe proposals will ensure bet-ter infrastructure with betterconnectivity on one hand andimproved healthcare and bet-ter access to education on theother and both will have longlasting impacts.

“The new income taxregime without exemptions is amove to a regime of a simplifiedand clutter-free taxation,” hesaid, adding the five-fold hike indeposit insurance limit to �5lakh was long overdue. He alsosaid the relaxation in the Sarfaesinorms for NBFCs will lead tobetter recovery and borrowerdiscipline in this sector.

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The Government onSaturday proposed

to remove dividend dis-tribution tax on com-panies, and henceforththe tax will be shifted torecipients at the applic-able rate.

Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharamanwhile unveiling the UnionBudget said the proposal wouldmake India more attractivemarket for investment. “This isanother bold move, which willfurther make India an attractivedestination for investment,”she said, adding it would resultin a revenue sacrifice of �25,000

crore per annum.Currently, companies are

required to pay dividend dis-tribution tax (DDT) on the div-idend paid to its shareholdersat the rate of 15 per cent plusapplicable surcharge and cess, in addition to the tax

payable by the company on its profits.

“In order toincrease the attractive-ness of the Indian equi-ty market and to pro-vide relief to a largeclass of investors, I pro-pose to remove theDDT and adopt theclassical system of div-idend taxation under

which the companieswould not be required to payDDT.

“The dividend shall betaxed only in the hands of therecipients at their applicablerate,” she said.

The system of levyingDDT, she said, results in

increased tax burden forinvestors and especially thosewho are liable to pay tax lessthan the rate of DDT, if the div-idend is included in theirincome.

Further, non-availability ofcredit of DDT to most of theforeign investors in their homecountry results in reduction ofrate of return on equity capitalfor them, she noted.

“Further, in order toremove the cascading effect, Ialso propose to allow deductionfor the dividend received byholding company from its sub-sidiary. The removal of DDTwill lead to estimated annualrevenue forgone of �25,000crore,” the Minister said.

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The Government onSaturday proposed a price

stabilisation fund (PSF) to con-trol prices of food items likeonion and tomato — kitchenstaples that pushed retail infla-tion to a five-year high inDecember.

“Government has takenvarious measures from time totime to stabilise prices of essen-tial food items..Government isalso implementing PSF to helpmoderate volatility in prices ofagri-horticultural commodi-ties like pulses, onion, andpotato,” said the Union Budget2020-21 presented by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanin Parliament.

Onion prices started to

flare up from August 2019onwards peaking to about�150-200 a kg due to unsea-sonal rains which disruptedsupplies from key producingregions such as Maharahstraand Karnataka.

Prices of tomato too hov-ered in the range of �60-80 a kgwhile potato sold for �30 per kgtowards the end of 2019. Pulsesalso turned costlier due to a fallin acreage resulting from rains in the growingstates and low price realisationdue to glut in market followingincreased production of earlier years.

The consumer price index-based retail inflation spiked toover five-year high of 7.35 percent in December 2019.

The Government said it

resorted to trade and fiscalpolicy instruments like importduty, minimum export price,export restrictions, impositionof stock limits besides advisingstates for effective action againsthoarders and black marketers toregulate domestic availabilityand moderate prices.

CPI or the retail inflationaveraged 4.1 per cent in duringApril-December period of thecurrent fiscal, while it haddeclined to 3.4 per cent in2018-19 from 3.6 per cent in2017-18. It was at 4.5 per centin 2016-17.

The ‘food inflation’ com-ponent of the retail inflationbasket averaged 5.3 per cent in2019-20 (April to December)and stood higher at 14.1 percent in last December.

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From Page 1She further said that the

listing brings in more financialdiscipline among the entities.

In 2021-22 and 2022-23,disinvestment receipts areexpected to be up. TheGovernment failed to meet thetarget for the current fiscal ofRs 1.05 lakh crore. In the cur-rent financial year so far, theGovernment has mopped upabout Rs 18,000 crore by wayof disinvestment. The RevisedEstimate pegs disinvestmentproceeds at Rs 65,000 crore forthis fiscal ending March 2020.

Criticising theGovernment move, WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee lashed out at theCentre over the Union Budget2020 saying she is “appalled” atthe Government’s proposal tosell shares of public institutionsand termed it the “end of thesense of security”. “I amshocked and appalled to seehow the Central Governmentplans to ambush the heritage &legacy of public institutions. It’sthe end of a sense of security.Is it also the end of an era?” theChief Minister tweeted, hoursafter Sitharaman concludedher longest Budget speech inParliament. LIC employees’unions has opposed theCentre’s plan to sell a part of itsshares in the state-run insur-ance behemoth through aninitial public offer (IPO), insist-ing that the move is “against thenational interest”. The employ-ees’ unions across the countrywill stage nationwide protestsif the Government goes ahead

with its plan. Hailing the Government

move, Kajal Gandhi, Analyst,ICICI Direct said that LIC islikely to become the country’sbiggest company by marketcapitalisation on the day of thelisting given that it is the largestcompany in terms of assetsunder management (AUM).Vijay Bhushan, President,Association of NationalExchanges Members of India(ANMI) also appreciated theGovernment decision.

The Government current-ly holds 47.11 per cent, whileLIC is the majority sharehold-er holding 51 per cent stake inIDBI Bank.

In August last year, theCabinet approved selling theGovernment’s controlling stakein IDBI Bank to LIC, which iscurrently 100 per centGovernment-owned.

The Modi Government hasalso planned to sale Air India.

In the financial year 2016-17, the Government hadmissed the budgeted disin-vestment target. While theBudget had pegged target at Rs56,500 crore, the Governmentwas able to mop up Rs 46,247crore. In 2019-20, after a gap of2 years, the Government hasmissed the disinvestment tar-get set in Budget.

In 2017-18, it bettered thetarget of Rs 1 lakh crore andraised a record Rs 1,00,056crore. In 2018-19, the disin-vestment mop-up stood at Rs84,972 crore as against theBudget target of Rs 80,000crore.

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From Page 1One of the women protes-

tors, who didn’t wish to benamed, said they were insidethe tent when the incidenthappened. “We rushed to thespot after hearing gunshots.Many women and childrenwere there inside the tent whenincident happened. Everyone isscared about their safety,” shesaid. Another woman protestorsaid that those who are againsttheir protest are trying to scarethem but the protestors will notstep back. “The outsiders aretrying to derail this movementbut we will not let this happen,”she said.

A police official said thatthe man is not associated withany political outfit and he wasangry at the ongoing protestand wanted to scare the pro-testors.

Reacting to the incident,AAP leader Sanjay Singh saidthey had already warned theElection Commission that aconspiracy is being hatched bythe BJP to postpone the polls.

“There is no law and orderin the country. The gun-totingmen are making Delhi theirbastion (adda).We have beenseeking time from the ElectionCommission since yesterday sothat we can make them awareof these developments but theyhave not given us any time,” hesaid.

In a veiled attack on the

BJP over the incident, theCongress said the shooter haschanged but the ideologypulling the trigger in 1948 or2020 has remained the same.

Congress spokespersonJaiveer Shergill tweeted,“Shooter changes but ideologypulling the trigger either in1948 (Nathuram Godse) or2020 remains the same ‘GoliMaro’ -- Hands which shouldbe pulling India’s growth arenow firing guns.”

However, senior BJP leaderB L Santhosh insinuatedinvolvement of party’s rivals inthe recent shooting incidents,saying the “great drama partyof Delhi is becoming too cost-ly for the country”.

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath during a poll rallyin Delhi’s northwest Rohiniarea alleged that those whosupport terrorists in Kashmirare staging protest at ShaheenBagh. Hitting out at the AAPdispensation, Adityanath saidthat the Arvind KejriwalGovernment “supplies biryani”to protesters at Shaheen Bagh.

This is the second incidentin Delhi at an anti-CAA protestwhich has taken place just twokm away from Jamia MilliaIslamia where on Thursday a17-year-old Class 12 boy fromUttar Pradesh fired a crude pis-tol at unarmed protesters withdozens of policemen behindhim.

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Air India’s jumbo B747 air-craft reached here on

Saturday morning after evac-uating 324 Indians fromChina’s Wuhan city, the epi-centre of the deadly coron-avirus outbreak, officials said.The plane, carrying 211 stu-dents, 110 working profes-sionals and three minors,reached Delhi around 7.30am, they said.

Another flight of the air-line departed for the Chinesecity from here around 1.37pm, the officials said. Fivedoctors f rom the RamManohar Lohia (RML)Hospital who were onboardthe first flight are also in thesecond flight, the Air Indiaspokesperson said.

The Indian Army has setup a quarantine facility inManesar near Delhi to keeparound 300 Indian studentsbeing evacuated from China’s

Hubei province in view of thecoronavirus infection out-break. Separately, border-guarding force ITBP has setup a 600-bedded facility insouthwest Delhi’s Chhawlaarea to quarantine and pro-vide basic medical care tothose suspected to have beenaffected by the virus.

Officials said they will bemonitored for any signs of theinfection for a duration of twoweeks by a qualified team ofdoctors and staff members.

The f irst f l ight haddeparted from Delhi airportat 1.17 pm on Friday to evac-uate Indian nationals fromChina, where more than 250people, none of them Indian,have died due to the deadlycoronavirus infection.

Hours after the arrival ofthe flight from the Chinesecity in Delhi, the Air Indiaspokesperson said,

“Another flight will departto Wuhan from Delhi at 12.50

pm today with a different setof crew, same doctors’ teamwith other aircraft. The rescue

team is again headed byCaptain Amitabh Singh,Director Operation, Air

India.”Before departure, Air

India Chairman and

Managing Director AshwaniLohani had said, “No servicewill take place in the plane.Whatever food is there will bekept in seat pockets. As therewill be no service, there willbe no interaction (betweencabin crew and passengers).”“Masks have been arrangedfor the crew and passengers.For our crew, we have alsoarranged a complete protec-tive gear,” he had added.Wuhan, Hubei’s capital, is theepicentre of the deadly coro-navirus outbreak.

The virus has killed 259people in China with totalconfirmed cases surging to11,791 amid stepped upef for ts by a number of countries to evacuate theirnat ionals f rom Hubeiprovince, officials said onSaturday. Air India has donesuch evacuations earlier alsofrom countries such as Libya,Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait andNepal.

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The Republican Party-con-trolled US Senate on Friday

narrowly rejected the opposi-tion Democrats’ motion to callnew witnesses and documentsfor the impeachment trialagainst President DonaldTrump. As a result, the Senateis expected to acquit Trump ofthe charges early next week. Heis scheduled to deliver his thirdState of the Union Address onFebruary 4. The move to invitenew witnesses was defeatedby 51 to 49 votes.

In the 100-member Senate,the Republican Party has 53seats and the Democrats 47.Two of the Republican Senators,Mitt Romney and Susan Collins,sided with the Democrats in thisvote to call former White Housenational security advisor JohnBolton and other Trump aidesto testify. The Democrats need67 votes to convict and removeTrump from the White House.

“The vote represented amajor victory for SenateMajority Leader MitchMcConnell and Trump, both ofwhom have been calling forRepublicans to reject the motionand move toward ending thetrial,” Politico said.

The House, wherein theDemocrats enjoy a majorityhad impeached Trump on twocounts of misuse of power andobstruction to the Congress.The Senate started the impeach-ment trial last week.

“The Radical Left, DoNothing Democrats keep chant-ing “fairness”, when they put on

the most unfair Witch Hunt inthe history of the US Congress.They had 17 Witnesses, wewere allowed ZERO, and nolawyers. They didn’t do their job,had no case. The Dems arescamming America!” Trumpsaid in a tweet moments beforethe voting on move to call newwitnesses.

“Democrats = 17 Witnesses.Republicans = 0 Witnesses,”Trump tweeted after the votejustifying the Senate vote againstthe move to call new witnesses.

“The vote Friday repre-sented a major victory forRepublican leadership,” TheWall Street Journal said.According to the Journal, thevote on whether to convict oracquit Trump may not takeplace until next week, likely onWednesday.

There was “no need” for theSenate to re-open the investi-gation which the HouseDemocratic majority chose toconclude and which the man-agers themselves continue todescribe as overwhelming andbeyond any doubt, SenateMajority Leader Senator MitchMcConnell said.

“Never in Senate historyhas this body paused animpeachment trial to pursueadditional witnesses with unre-solved questions of executiveprivilege that would requireprotracted litigation,” he said.

“We have no interest inestablishing such a new prece-dent, particularly for individ-

uals whom the House express-ly chose not to pursue,”McConnell told reporters.

“We knew this was anuphill fight,” said SenateMinority Leader ChuckSchumer told reporters.

“We’re not in the majority;we have a president who strikesfear in the hearts ofRepublicans,” he added.

“To not allow a witness, adocument—no witnesses, nodocuments—in an impeach-ment trial is a perfidy. It’s agrand tragedy, one of the worsttragedies that the Senate hasever overcome. America willremember this day, unfortu-nately, where the Senate didnot live up to its responsibili-ties, where the Senate turnedaway from truth and wentalong with a sham trial,”Schumer said.

“If the president is acquit-ted with no witnesses, no doc-uments, the acquittal will haveno value because Americanswill know that this trial was nota real trial. It had no witness-es, no documents, is a tragedyon a very large scale,” theSenate Minority Leaderalleged.

House Speaker NancyPelosi described it as a “sadday” for America.

“The Senate Republicans’vote against calling witnessesand compelling documents inthe impeachment proceedingsmakes them accomplices to thePresident’s cover-up,” she said.

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Pakistan, which is facing itsworst locust attack in

decades, has declared nationalemergency to tackle the insectsdestroying crops on a largescale in Punjab province, coun-try’s main region for agricul-tural production.

The decision was taken at ameeting convened by PrimeMinister Imran Khan on Friday.The meeting, attended by fed-eral ministers and senior offi-cials of the four provinces, alsoapproved a National ActionPlan (NAP) that requires a sumof Rs 7.3 billion to overcome thecrisis.

Minister for National FoodSecurity Khusro Bakhtiarinformed the NationalAssembly about the gravity of

the situation and the steps so fartaken by the federal and provin-cial governments to deal withthe crisis, the Dawn newspaperreported.

During the meeting at thePrime Minister’s Office, whichwas also attended by Adviser tothe Prime Minister on FinanceHafeez Shaikh among others, adetailed briefing on the overallsituation was given to the primeminister. The meeting wasinformed that besides involvingthe officials concerned at theprovincial and district levels, dif-ferent tasks have been given tothe National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA), provincial disastermanagement authorities andfederal and provincial depart-ments to deal with the threat.

Prime Minister Khan

ordered formation of a high-level committee to be headed byBakhtiar to take decisions at thefederal level for the eliminationof insects. The prime ministerdirected the authorities con-cerned to make immediate mea-sures on the basis of damage ofripened crops.

“Protection of farms andfarmers is the highest priority ofthe government. Therefore, thefederal government should takeall necessary steps to savenational crops and providerequired resources to the quar-ters concerned,” Khan was quot-ed as saying in the report.

Bakhtiar informed thehouse that it was for the firsttime that after attacking Sindhand Punjab, the swarms oflocust had entered KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

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The UK’s divorce from theEuropean Union has come

into force over three years afterthe landmark Brexit vote, mak-ing it the first country to exitthe economic bloc after 47years of membership, trigger-ing celebrations across thecountry to mark the historicmoment. British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson hailedthe historic moment as thedawn of a new era for the UKin his address to the nation justbefore Brexit.

Brexit came into force at2300 GMT on Friday.

“This is the moment whenthe dawn breaks and the cur-tain goes up on a new act in ourgreat national drama,” saidJohnson, in his video messagewhich promised hope andopportunity to every part of theUnited Kingdom. “It is not justabout some legal extrication. Itis potentially a moment of realnational renewal and change.This is the dawn of a new erain which we no longer acceptthat your life chances – yourfamily’s life chances – shoulddepend on which part of thecountry you grow up in,” hesaid.

A party at ParliamentSquare and a light displaycount down at Downing Streetmarked the historic moment,while elsewhere in the countrythere were some anti-Brexit ral-lies. “Let us celebrate tonight aswe have never done before.This is the greatest moment inthe modern history of ourgreat nation,” said Nigel Farage,the leader of the Brexit partyand someone who has cam-paigned incessantly for the UKto leave the EU.

Brexit parties were alsoheld in pubs and social clubsacross the UK as the countrycounted down to the officialdeparture, with lower key anti-Brexit events in some parts ofthe country which had voted toremain in the referendum.

Parts of Scotland, whichhad voted to remain in the EUin the June 2016 referendum,held candlelight vigils toexpress its opposition to beingdragged out of the bloc alongwith the rest of the UK. It hasrevived calls for another inde-pendence referendum to beable to vote on its union withBritain.

Police in London arrestedfour men and also charged oneman with criminal damageand being drunk and disor-derly, while one arrest wasmade in Glasgow.

While there will be littlechange instantly as the UK andthe EU enter into a pre-agreedperiod of transition fromSaturday until the end ofDecember, the process of com-plete extrication from the now27-member economic bloc willbegin right away.

Johnson was keen to high-light his vision of a friendlynegotiation process for bothsides to thrash out a new trad-ing relationship as the begin-ning of a “new era of friendlycooperation” between the EUand an energetic Britain.

Celebrating the UK’s“recaptured sovereignty” todeliver the changes the June2016 referendum vote signified,he noted: “Whether that is bycontrolling immigration or cre-ating freeports or liberating ourfishing industry or doing free

trade deals… is the right andhealthy and democratic thingto do.”

On a critical note on theEU’s evolution over the periodof the UK’s membership, headded: “Because for all itsstrengths and for all itsadmirable qualities, the EUhas evolved over 50 years in adirection that no longer suitsthis country.”

Acknowledging the long-drawn divorce process and thedeep Remain versus Brexitdivide within the UK, Johnsonsaid: “Tonight we are leavingthe European Union. For manypeople this is an astonishingmoment of hope, a momentthey thought would nevercome and there are many ofcourse who feel a sense ofanxiety and loss.

I understand all those feel-

ings, and our job as the gov-ernment – my job – is to bringthis country together now andtake us forward.”

As part of that forward-looking agenda, the govern-ment kicked off its “GREATReady to Trade” campaignacross 13 countries, includingIndia, from Saturday.

Johnson has repeatedlycommitted himself to a “newand improved” trading rela-tionship with India and now asa non-member of the EU, theUK is free to push ahead withthose talks unrestricted by theeconomic bloc’s rules.

A new commemorative50-pence coin reading “peaceprosperity and friendship to allnations” has gone into circula-tion and the Union Jack flaghas been removed from all EUinstitutions.

Meanwhile, Maldives wasofficially readmitted to theCommonwealth on Saturdaymore than three years after theIndian Ocean archipelagonation quit the organisationover criticism of its humanrights record, taking the countof the bloc’s membership coun-tries back to 54. The islandnation’s rejoining came justover an hour after the UnitedKingdom left the EuropeanUnion following 47 years ofmembership.

The island nation had quitthe Commonwealth in October2016 after being threatenedwith suspension over its humanrights record and lack ofprogress on democratic reform.

It submitted a request torejoin in December 2018, whenPresident Ibrahim MohamedSolih wrote to CommonwealthSecretary-General PatriciaScotland.

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Several countries, includingIndia, scrambled to evacu-

ate their nationals from theChinese city of Wuhan, the epi-centre of the coronavirus out-break, as the death toll inChina soared to 259 and near-ly 12,000 people infected withthe deadly virus.

The virus that emerged inearly December and traced to amarket in Hubei province cap-ital Wuhan that sold wild ani-mals, has now spread to morethan two dozen nations, includ-ing India, where the first casewas confirmed in Kerala, theUS, Britain, Russia and Sweden.

Chinese health authoritieson Saturday announced thatthe death toll has increased to259 as 46 more people, all butone in Hubei, died in the pre-ceding 24 hours.

With 2,102 new infections,the total confirmed cases inChina increased to 11,791, thebiggest increase since Chinabegan reporting the spread ofthe virulent virus on January 21.

China’s National HealthCommission in its daily reporton Saturday said that 1,795patients remained in criticalcondition, and 17,988 peoplewere suspected of being infect-ed with the virus as of the endof Friday.

A total of 1,36,987 closecontacts had been traced, thecommission said, adding thatamong them, 6,509 were dis-charged from medical obser-vation on Friday, with 1,18,478others still under medical

observation, state run Xinhuanews agency reported.

Apple announced onSaturday the closure of itsstores, corporate offices andcontact centres in mainlandChina until February 9 due tothe new coronavirus epidemic.

The virus has promptedthe government to extend theLunar New Year holidaythrough this weekend in a bidto contain its spread, but manyprovinces and cities have calledon companies to delay theirreturn to work.

“Our thoughts are withthe people most immediatelyaffected by the coronavirusand with those working aroundthe clock to study and containit,” Apple said in a statement.

So far about 124 cases havebeen reported in other coun-tries, including India where thefirst case has been confirmed inKerala.

Several countries, includ-ing India, US, Japan, SouthKorea, UK and Bangladesh,have evacuated their nationalsfrom Wuhan by sending specialaircraft.Another flight of theairline departed for the Chinesecity from New Delhi onSaturday afternoon. By the endof Friday, 13 confirmed caseshad been reported in the HongKong Special AdministrativeRegion, seven in Macao SpecialAdministrative Region and tenin Taiwan.

Over 300 Bangladeshis onSaturday returned home fromChinese city Wuhan on a spe-cial aircraft and were quaran-tined in a facility under military

and police vigil, officials said.The evacuees were directly

escorted to nearby AshkonaHajj Camp from the airport,where they would have to stayunder medical observation fornext 14 days as the time is con-sidered as the incubation peri-od of the virus, a Bangladeshihealth ministry spokesman said.

According to a report inBD News, seven people suffer-ing from fever were sent to hos-pital after they arrived fromWuhan.

A report from Sydney saidthe Australian government onSaturday said it would barnon-citizens arriving frommainland China from enteringthe country under new mea-sures to combat the spread ofthe coronavirus epidemic.

Prime Minister ScottMorrison said only “Australiancitizens, Australian residents,dependents, legal guardians orspouses” would be permittedinto the country from main-land China from Saturday.

Vietnam has suspended allChina flights as part of “strength-ening measures” against thecoronavirus outbreak, its civilaviation authority said in a state-ment on Saturday.

The step applies to all air-lines “which have routesbetween Vietnam and China”and also includes Hong Kong,Macau and Taiwan, it added inthe directive which was postedon its website and took effect at1 pm Saturday (0600 GMT).

Britain on Saturday said itwas temporarily withdrawingsome staff and their families

from its diplomatic sites inChina,

The World HealthOrganisation declared the out-break a global emergency onThursday but did not adviseinternational trade or travelrestrictions.

According to a study by theUniversity of Hong Kong sci-entists, as many as 75,815 peo-ple in Wuhan may have beeninfected with the new coron-avirus, the South ChinaMorning Post reported.

The research, published inThe Lancet on Saturday, isbased on the assumption thateach infected person couldhave passed the virus on to 2.68others, the Hong Kong-baseddaily said.

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����$������(��"��B�������$� %!�������(�����������2#���Washington (AFP): The US said on Friday it was declaring apublic health emergency and temporarily banning the entry offoreign nationals who had traveled to China over the past twoweeks to contain the spread of a deadly new virus. Sweeping newrestrictions will also be imposed on American citizens, with thosereturning from the province at the disease’s epicenter placed infacilities for mandatory 14-day quarantines, said Health SecretaryAlex Azar.

US citizens coming from other parts of China will undergohealth screening at ports of entry and then be placed under mon-itored self-quarantine at home.

Beijing criticised Washington’s tightening of travel controlsto bar most foreign nationals who visited the country within thepast two weeks, saying the measure contradicted the World HealthOrganization’s appeal to avoid travel bans, and “unfriendly com-ments” that Beijing was failing to cooperate.

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Amnesty International hastold the US lawmakers

that the recently enactedCitizenship (Amendment) Actstands in “clear violation” of theConstitution of India and inter-national human rights law and“legitimises discrimination” onthe basis of religion.

The new citizenship lawpassed by Indian Parliament inDecember 2019 offers citi-zenship to non-Muslim per-secuted religious minoritiesfrom Pakistan, Bangladeshand Afghanistan. The Indiangovernment has been empha-sising that the new law will notdeny any citizenship rights, buthas been brought to protect

the oppressed minorities ofneighbouring countries andgive them citizenship.

Amnesty InternationalAsia Pacif ic AdvocacyManager Francisco Bencosmemade the remarks during atestimony before the HouseForeign Affairs Subcommitteeon Africa, Global Health,Global Human Rights andInternational Organizationsand House Oversight andReform Subcommittee. TheIndian Parliament “passed theCitizenship Amendment Act,which legitimises discrimina-tion on the basis of religion andstands in clear violation of theconstitution of India and inter-national human rights law,”Bencosme said.

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Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas threat-

ened on Saturday to cut secu-rity ties with both Israel and theUS in a speech at an ArabLeague meeting in which hedenounced the White Houseplan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The US plan would grantthe Palestinians limited self-rule in parts of the occupiedWest Bank, while allowingIsrael to annex all its settle-ments there and keep nearly allof east Jerusalem.

The summit of Arab for-eign ministers in Egypt’s capi-tal Cairo was requested by thePalestinians, who respondedangrily to the American pro-posal.

Abbas said he told Israeland the US that “there will beno relations with them, includ-ing the security ties” followingthe deal that Palestinians sayheavily favours Israel.

The Western-backedPalestinian leadership has beenunder mounting pressure fromordinary Palestinians and itsrivals in the Islamic militantgroup Hamas to cut off securi-ty ties with Israel and the US oreven dismantle the increasing-ly unpopular PalestinianAuthority.

That would leave Israelresponsible for the complicatedand expensive task of providingbasic services to hundreds ofthousands of Palestinians in theWest Bank.

The Palestinians have madesuch threats in the past, with few

people taking them seriously.But this time might be different,especially if Israel proceeds withannexation of its West Bank set-tlements — which thePalestinians and most of theinternational community viewas illegal — as well as the JordanValley, which accounts forroughly a fourth of the WestBank, according to the US plan.

Abbas could also cut offagreements with US intelligenceagencies to combat extremism.There was no immediate com-ment from US or Israeli officialson Abbas’ statement.

The Palestinian leader saidhe refused to take US PresidentDonald Trump’s phone callsand messages “because I knowthat he would use that to say heconsulted us.” “I will neveraccept this solution,” Abbas said.

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Six Indians stranded at thecoronavirus-hit Wuhan city

were stopped from boardingthe first special Air India flightto India due to high fever, offi-cials said on Saturday.

The first flight left earlySaturday with 324 strandedIndians mostly students fromWuhan.

Officials here told PTIthat six Indians could notboard the flight as they werestopped by the Chinese immi-gration officials after they test-ed for high temperature. Thesix students may have toundergo tests to determinewhether they have symptomsof the coronavirus.

Ahead of the evacuation,the Indian Embassy hadinformed the Indians that theywill be tested before the flightand undergo 14 day quaran-tine after reaching India.

The special Air Indiaplane carrying 211 students,110 working professionals andthree minors from Wuhanreached Delhi around 7:30am on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the second AirIndia flight has arrived here topick up the rest of the Indiansfrom Hubei province of whichWuhan is the provincial capi-tal.

Earlier in the day, theIndian Embassy said in a tweetthat “an Air India flight car-rying 324 Indian nationalsfrom the coronavirus hitHubei Province of China tookoff from Wuhan in the early

hours of Feb 1. Majority of thepassengers were Indian stu-dents. We sincerely thank theChinese government for facil-itating this flight”.

“We look forward to oper-ating another flight to evacu-ate remaining Indian nation-als, who have consented toleave Hubei Province for thetime being.

“We urge all Indian citi-zens from Hubei who intendto avail this flight for India andnot yet contacted the Embassy,to urgently call the hotlines(+8618610952903 and+8618612083629) or dedicat-ed email ID [email protected] before 0800hours on February 1, 2020,”the embassy said.

The schedule of the sec-ond f light has not beenannounced yet.

Officials said the IndianArmy has set up a quarantinefacility in Manesar near Delhito keep those evacuated fromChina’s Hubei province. Theywould be monitored for anysigns of infection for a dura-tion of two weeks by a quali-fied team of doctors and staffmembers.

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Saif Ali Khan, guys, is out to havefun. That too as the solo Punjabimunda with a high libido ji and a

low commitment yaraa, sellingproperty-shoperty in the heart of littleIndia in London. His nights are lit up athis friend’s night club where womenflow in and out of his bed as smoothlyas the peg-sheg, notwithstanding thehair-dye and kala chashma for the girl-shirls.

Does he have a heart too? The film,knd of makes it its business to find out

and insert one when all you think willbe lost on this fiercely anti-marriage allfun old man with young drives.

It is a fun film with Saif hogging theshow with his demeanour till, of course,his daughter from a Norwegian onenight stand appears at his doorstep, witha being human worksheet.

Star child Alaya Furniturewala is abeauty not just because she looks goodbut because she acts well too and hasher own kind of screen presence whichis obviously young and also refreshing.

Tabu is a let down because she is nogood but because she is on the sidelineswith a 10-minute presence as a gonnerhippy mom of the Alaya, whoincidentally is 21 and pregnant.

In one go, Saif becomes papa andnana from being this cool dude engaged

in alcoholic downer campaigns in hissingleton life.

Chunky Pandey as the friend whogives him life lessons, Farida Jalal as thesilent mom and Kiku sharda as thedoctor who gives him DNA proof ofAlaya being his daughter are all short-shrifted and could have added manymore moments in the film.

But then Jawaani Jaaneman is onlyabout Saif ’s journey from haze and dazeto a phase of responsibility andfamilyhood, to realisation andhumanness. Thanks to the director, thisjourney is punctuated with laughter andjokes, making the mount an unlikelycandidate for a hit film. Must go andenjoy with your popcorn, cola and, ofcourse, the old time songs that add lotsto the film.

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When the first BadBoys movie hadreleased back in

1995 — yes more than twodacades back — nobodywould have thought that theseries would surive this long.More so, since the last BadBoys movie was released backin 2003. In these intervenngyears, a lot has changed forthe Miami PoliceDepartment finest — MikeLowrey and Marcus Burnett.

The duo in their careerspanning over 20 years, put

away over 800 criminals andeach one of them wants tokill them. Who is after Mike,so much so that they want tomake him suffer beforeputting a bullet in him? Thatis what this last movie in theseries is about — the last rideso to say.

Interestingly, Mike andMarcus want different thingsfrom life after Marcusbecomes a grandfather. Thetwo parts ways with Mikesaving his partner’s name inhis phone as Quitter. Butthey are bad boys for life.And time and circumstancesthrow the two together for aride that has car chases,bulltes flying, bodiesdropping like flies all overthe place.

Then there is the wholedetecting the case old schoolversus using technology to

chase a case throwsinteresting moments thatmake you smile and brings inthe much needed lightermoments amidst all theblood.

Will Smith may not havelost his touch as the bad boybut he does look like age has

finally caught up with himand maybe he is way past theage where he fits this role.

But it still doesn’t takeaway the fun from the film.We just hope that Bod Boysfor Life are there in thefuture as well.

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�#����������������"����$� ����(�"����N�����With the advent of

different thrillerseries like Family

Man, Ghost Stories, Ghoul andBreathe — we know that thegenre is becoming an industryfavourite. Keeping up with thistrend, and giving audiences anedge of the seat experience, MXPlayer has recently released twospine-chilling series —Damaged 2 and MadhuriTalkies.

While Damaged 2 puts alimelight onto the idyllic worldof a couple who seem toharbour a dark secret, MXOriginal Series Madhuri Talkiestalks about a society plagued byatrocities against women andhow a young man goes on arampage to avenge hisbeloved.Set in the heartlands ofBanares, this neo-noir thrillerasks an important question – isjustice delayed, justice deniedand also highlights the growingneed of taking matters into our

own hands.Hina Khan, from

Damaged 2, talks about why

the genre is now gainingmomentum and said,"I thinksuspense attracts in any form.

Sometimes by thriller orhorror, these two genres reallyattract people, they are on theedge of their seat all the timeand it’s so intriguing to knowwhat is going to happen next.Damaged 2 has both theelements, although it’s nothorror but it does have somesupernatural elements in it.”

Starring in the leadopposite Hina, AdhyayanSumanadds, “It is thrilling andintriguing, that you don't knowwhat is going to happen next,you don’t know how thatcharacter is going to behave,you don’t know who the actualcharacter is. The secrets andthe fact that your heartbeat issort of pacing up because youdon't know ab kyahoga, arreisnekiyahoga and then yourealize that he/she isn’t theperson and that somebody elsehas done it. So the twists andturns is the most exciting partI would say.”

%��� ������ ��0%%Get ready for another enthralling

weekend with television’s mostloved comedian Kapil Sharma, as hewill be seen welcoming the Nawab ofBollywood Saif Ali Khan on his show.Saif will be gracing the set with theentire star cast of his upcoming filmJaawani Jaaneman — Tabu, ChunkyPandey, Alaya Furniturewala, FareedaJalal and Kubra Sait. Saif Ali Khanvisited the set for the very first timeand had his best time with the cast. Weall know that the Nawabi Bollywoodcouple – ‘Saifeena’ has continued to bethe talk of the town for giving us somemajor relationship goals.

Paparazzi’s favorite celebrity kidTaimur Ali Khan has also left no stoneunturned to make the heads turn. Inthe show viewers’ will have anentertaining evening as Saif will beseen spilling out some beans aboutTaimur.

Out of curiosity, Kapil nudged‘The Nawab’ Saif Ali Khan to open upwhether he performs all the basicchores as any other common mandoes. On asking if Saif ever commuteswith auto-rickshaw, the actor admits,“A lot many times I travel with auto-rickshaw because it is more convenientto travel in a smaller vehicle when youare in Mumbai’s traffic. The last timeI travelled in an auto-rickshaw, I wentout with Taimur for a ride.”

When asked if he has ever slept interrace or veranda, he shares, “Iremember when I used to go toPataudi, I used to sleep in the verandawith my grandmother in an openspace.” The actor added that like anyother common man he has doneprivate 9 to 5 jobs to earn his living andhas even stolen a couple of bucks fromhis father’s wallet in his childhood.

Conversation went hilarious whenKapil enquired Saif about his petname given by his wife Kareena.

Saif ignored the question andpulled his leg for flirting with Kareenawhen she came on the show for thepromotions of Good News.

������2����"���&��The powerhouse of Indian Idol Season 11,

Rohit Raut has not only made people ofMaharashtra proud with his vocal prowess, buthis energetic performances seem to be makingan impact across India. In the upcomingepisode of the singing reality show, which willbe graced by Kartik Aaryan and the very prettySara Ali Khan to promote their upcoming movieLove Aaj Kal 2, Rohit’s performance is certainlya highlight. He will be seen singing the popularsong, ‘Bekhayali’ featuring Shahid Kapoor in themovie, Kabir Singh and the talented singer couldnot control his emotions while performing. Rohitclaims to have been through a similar situationtwo years back and it was extremely difficult forhim to move on after a break-up from his pastrelationship.

So much so, Rohit, owing to his disturbedstate of mind then, had taken a break fromsinging and composing. It was only a few monthslater when Rohit realized the importance to moveon and continue to pursue his passion for music.However, the dilemma has only got the best outof the young singer as he could express all hisemotions with this heart-wrenchingperformance. Interestingly, Rohit was afraid tosing the song as he knew it gets him emotional,but the brave performer stunned everyone onthe set with his performance.

Kartik Aryan, especially, was moved andcomplimented him saying, “This was aperformance which had all the emotions - love,hurt and passion. I am really glad that I couldsee this performance of yours live. You are superbsinger. Hats off to you.”

Judge Neha Thakkar also joined him topraise Rohit Raut for his performance.

����������������:�������

(��������� 2���������'$���+� ��$�����"����$����� ����=�(����Actor Taapsee Pannu does

not believe “Thappad” isan antidote to Shahid Kapoor-starrer “Kabir Singh”, but shesays the movie definitelyopposes physical abuse in thename of love.

“Kabir Singh”, directed bySandeep Reddy Vanga, wasone of the biggest grossers of2019, but the film received flakfor its misogynistic gaze andnormalising violence inrelationship.

Anubhav Sinha’s“Thappad”, which focuses on awoman seeking divorce afterher husband slaps her in aparty, is being considered bymany on social media as ananswer to Vanga’s depiction oflove.

“The film (‘Kabir Singh’) isnot entirely about that. Therewas a moment in that film,which kind of mad domesticviolence or physical abuse by aman on a woman normal anda part of love and intensity. Ourfilm opposes that.

“To say, it opposes theentire film will be too heavy astatement to make. In‘Thappad’, we don’t feel it(violence in a relationship) isokay,” Taapsee told PTI.

The 32-year-old actor saidlove can only thrive on respectand violence of any kind fromanybody is unacceptable.

“Violence is not a part oflove. Love is only love until itis backed by respect. If there isno respect in a relationship,then there is no love.”

Taapsee believes it isimportant to address the issueof domestic violence whichstill plagues the society andaffects women, irrespective oftheir social background.

“It is important that we talkabout it (domestic violence),that’s why we made this film.When we were discussingabout this film, we had thisthing in mind, to show that thegirl is from a upper middle-class educated and well-to-dofamily.

“It is not that such thingshappen in those houses wherepeople are uneducated. Thishappens in educated families aswell. It is happening with threewomen out of five,” she added.

“Thappad” also featuresPavail Gulati, Dia Mirza, RatnaPathak Shah, Tanvi Azmi,Kumud Mishra and ManavKaul. It is set to hit the theatreson February 28.

"6 &% �7���������*������ *�������� +,�+-+-

It was the New Year’s eve andNoida-based Neha Chandra, aPR firm employee, travelled toParis to welcome the New Yearwith full enthusiasm.

However, things took an ugly turnwhen her wallet was stolen whiletravelling through the French city’smetro. Within few minutes,Chandra’s zest for the celebrationsdisappeared as she noticed suddentransactions through her debit andcredit cards.

However, Chandra was quick toget both her cards blocked within 12hours but she still suffered a whop-ping �1.45 lakh loss of the hard-earned money. It has been one of thefew isolated incidents since in mostof the phishing and other onlinefrauds, the fraudster asks for OTPor ATM pin. But in this case, thetransactions were done without anypasswords or pins.

Another case in point is ManishChandra Bajpai, a resident of ErosSampoornam Society in GreaterNoida (West). Bajpai had opened ajoint savings account with his wife.On January 25, his wife receivedmessages of atleast eight to 10transactions that siphoned off�98,000 from the account.

Getting messages on yourphone to get your KYC done aredime a dozen. It wasa routine dayin November 2019 when aGurugram-based MNC executivegot a message on his phone to ver-ify his KYC that was pending on adigital payment app.

Thinking nothing out of theordinary, the Manish (namechanged) clicked on the link thatcame with the message.

Much to his horror within a fewminutes of doing this, he got a mes-sage from his bank that �3 lakh hadbeen debited from his account.Manish has linked his e-wallet withhis bank account to make paymentslike electricity bill, telephone bill andto make other monthly expenditure.

In yet another case of KYCupdate, a Delhi-based manservantlost �35,000 within minutes. Hecalled the number that came on hisphone. The person on the other line

asked him to click on various linksto verify his KYC. While he was oncall, he found that his smartphonehanged and the connection with theperson on the other line got dis-connected.

In the next 15 minutes �25,000was deducted from one bank and�9,500 from another. He tried call-ing the number on which he wasspeaking. While the phone keptringing, nobody picked up at theother end. A case was filed wihDelhi cyber security cell. The mat-ter was taken to the concernedbanks as well. The result? TheDelhi Police finally closed the caselast month citing —no leads. Thebanks too proved their helplessnessin the matter.

In yet another fraudulent inci-dent, Greater Noida-based 25-year-old Rohan Nagar, was duped of3305 dirham (�64,000) on June 22,2019.

“It was on the morning of June22 that I saw a message stating thata transaction of �64,000 was donethrough my credit card. The mes-sage was of 3 am. I was shocked anddecided to reach out to my bank asthe transaction was done without anOTP validation. The bank imme-diately filed my complaint andassured me that the money will berefunded as I was not the one atfault. I was informed that the mycard was used to book an Oman Airticket,” Nagar tells you.

Moreover, since it was a cred-it card fraud, the banks take fullresponsibilities of such fraudsbecause its their money.

“The money was refunded backto my card within a few months,”Nagar says.

The fraudulent practice is so intrend that Netflix released a 10-episode web series — Jamtara: SabKa Number Ayega recently to throwlight on the phishing scam or forthat matter to increase awarenessper se. The series is set against thebackdrop of Jamtara, Jharkhand.The theme is the Cops VS Boys.

Cyber Law Expert PavanDuggal says that cases of phishing,identity theft, cyber stalking and

online harassment are more promi-nent these days.

“Phishing is happening on alarge scale these days. Also trying toinvade the privacy of others is com-mon,” Duggal says.

Data shows that there has been248 per cent rise in cyber complaintsin Navi Mumbai in 2019, howeverthe conviction rate is low.

“The conviction rate in ourcountry is extremely poor. I was inIndia’s first Cyber Crime Council in2003 and we thought that hence-forth a new trend will start, but wewere wrong. The reason is that mostof the time the police is notequipped enough to detect cybercrimes. They are casual, they don’tcollect relevant electronic evidencecorrectly in accordance to the pro-visions of the law and consequent-ly they are not able to produce andprove it in the court of law. TheSupreme Court has come up withstrong parameters on electronicevidence that has to be duly fol-lowed. Most of the times, for a vari-ety of reasons, these parameters arenot followed. As a result, despitehaving the best evidence if it’s notappropriately collected, producedand proved as per the requirementof the Evidence Act, it is just wastepaper basket material. Despite itbeing a straightforward convictioncase, often judges have no option butto acquit the accused because of lackof effective electronic evidence,”Duggal says.

The are a lot of challenges insuch cases and the need is to havecapacity building amongst the policeand other law enforcing agencies.

Since online shopping andgoing cashless has become a partand parcel of our daily lives, Duggalshares a few tips to avoid falling preyto online frauds.

“One, always shop online froma secure website. The site whichbegins with https. Doing transactionon a normal http website is unsafe,insecure and all your data getsexposed to various hackers andfraudsters. Two, before shoppingfrom any independent website dosome research about it on search

engines to find out whether or notthe site is verified and bonafied.

“Three, when you use yourcredit or debit cards make sure youdon’t do transactions on publiccomputers or networks. Using freewifi or public wifis is a bad ideasince it is completely insecure andall the data that you save can be eas-ily hacked.

Four, you must have transactionalerts services for both your creditand debit cards. Five, have lowerlimits for your credit cards. There isno point of having big limits becausethere are chances that it can be mis-used as it gives more exposure tohackers. Six, constantly check youraccount balance and transactionsevery two days. In case of any unau-thorised transaction, immediatelyreport it to the bank in writing.Reporting such incidents within 72hours of the transaction is preferableand it allows you to take the bene-fit of zero liability. This benefit isgranted by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) to the consumers via acircular from July 6, 2017,” he tellsyou.

In cases of no OTP validation orpassword exchange, cloning of cardsis used for frauds.

“Today, there are a lot of inter-nal leakages of data in banks andother institutions. One may have hiscards with his own self but becauseof leakage, hacking or cloning iscards, this misuse takes place and aperson ends up losing money. Thisnow happening frequently. The RBIhas mandate all banks to fulfill var-ious obligations of reasonable secu-rity practices to protect the confi-dential data. Despite this, you seethat the Cosmos Bank being hit by�93 crore loss because of cyber hack.Most of the banks don’t comply tothese guidelines and invariablythese cyber crime incidences takeplace,” Duggal says.

There are certain things that thecustomer knows yet turns a blindeye towards it.

“Giving your phone to someoneelse is the most common mistakethat most of us make on a dailybasis. Customers carelessly share

confidential information on phone.Most people have the tendency offorgetting passwords so they save alltheir information on their phoneforgetting that it is completely hack-able. If only people will becomemore careful and keep an eye fordetails, these frauds are largely pre-ventable,” he tells you.

Given the current situation, is itsafe to get back to cash in the com-ing years?

“Digital payments are here tostay but they have to be handledwith lot of care and caution. Theycannot be taken for granted. If youare too casual or careless with yourdigital payments then it’s better toprefer cash payments. Also in today’sscenario once you lose money indigital transactions, trying to get itback becomes a huge challenge.Therefore, if you are not complete-ly equipped with cyber securitytools, it’s better to be on the safe sideand use cash,” he tells you.

Karnika Seth, cyberlawyer andexpert who has been handling cybercrime cases for a while now says thatshe gets a few queries of phishingand other frauds queries on a dailybasis.

“There are a lot of queries per-taining to online frauds and datatheft that we get over phone callsand in our mail box daily. So far wehave been able to resolve quite a fewof them. A recent case that we havehandled was related to frauds usingvarious online payments app. Themodus operandi is different in dif-ferent crimes,” she says.

In case of credit card frauds,recovering the money back is rela-tively easy due to availability ofchargeback. However, in the case ofdebit card frauds, recovering moneyis a challenge.

“Recently we have sued a bankfor unauthorised transactions in ourclient’s account. Our client wasdefrauded of lakhs of money. Therewere no alerts or messages sent tothe client regarding the transactions.No two-step verification was doneas well,” Seth tells you.

There are certain challengeswhile fighting such cases since the

bank doesn’t give out full informa-tion of the client.

“When you are suing the bank,the bank will not like to reveal muchinformation about the client’saccount unless they are asked to. Insuch cases we have to rely on theclient’s bank statement to show thefraud. If a fraud has happenedfrom a far location, the banks don’teven share IP addresses and theydon’t reveal much information abouthow the transaction has taken place.This is what the banks should do inorder to resolve external cyberattacks. Also, it may be that an inter-nal employee from the bank or someinsider could have caused this, itdepends on facts,” she says.

If a bank is not helping the cus-tomers in case of unauthorisedtransactions, Seth lists out a fewsteps that one can follow to get theirmoney back.

“In such a scenario, a person cango to the banking ombudsman orfile a complaint with the adjucatingauthority under the IT Act. This wayhe can claim the compensationamount, if he has the right to dothat,” she tells you.

There are a lot that the peoplecan do to prevent themselves frombecoming a victim of online frauds.

“First, customers should alwaysregister for online alerts. Second,they should have strong bankingpasswords that are not easily pre-dictable. Third, be vigilant with yourbank statements. Fourth, whenev-er one is changing their mobile, allthe confidential information includ-ing the saved passwords and accountnumbers should be deleted. Fifth,never open any fictious link thathave been sent to you via a messageand don’t download any unverifiedand suspicious app. These maliciousapps can make your device fullyaccessible to the hackers who cansteal all the financial informationand passwords from your phone.Lastly, don’t attend to or entertainany calls that are trying to verifyyour personal data or are pretend-ing to be an authorised profession-al from a bank or another organi-sations,” Seth tells you.

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DUBAI: Indian captain ViratKohli on Saturday continued totop the ICC Test batsmen’sranking but his deputy AjinkyaRahane slipped a place to ninthspot.

Kohli has 928 points, 17more than second-placedAustralian run-machine SteveSmith. Cheteshwar Pujara alsoremained in sixth place with791 points. Rahane has 759points.

India pace spearheadJasprit Bumrah was the best-placed Indian in the bowlers’ranking at sixth spot with 794points, while spinnerRavichandran Ashwin wasplaced eighth. SeamerMohammed Shami was thethird Indian in the top 10,improving a spot to be placedat the ninth position.

In the all-rounders rank-ing, Ravindra Jadeja remainedstatic at the third place with 406points, while Ashwin improveda place to capture the fourthposition with 308 points.

Among others, England’sMark Wood and South Africa’sQuinton de Kock have madenotable gains in the ICC TestPlayer Ranking after the finalTest in Johannesburg, whichEngland won by 191 runs totake the series 3-1.

Wood, who was adjudgedPlayer of the Match atWanderers, has moved up 19places to 38th position amongbowlers after his haul of ninefor 100. He has also progressedto 142nd from 151st amongbatsmen after scores of 35 notout and 18 in his 15th Test.

England batsmen OlliePope (up six places to 55th) andDom Sibley (up nine places to67th) are among others to

advance in the latest update,which also takes into accountthe drawn Harare Test featur-ing Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.Ben Stokes has gained twoslots to reach 27th amongbowlers.

For South Africa, Quintonde Kock has moved backtowards the top 10 for batsmenafter scores of 76 and 39,advancing two places to reach11th place. His teammateAnrich Nortje has gained 20places to reach 53rd positionamong bowlers.

Meanwhile, South Africa’sVernon Philander retired as thefifth-ranked all-rounder and11th among bowlers after adecade-long career that sawhim topping both these lists.

In Harare, Zimbabwe’sSikandar Raza’s Player of theMatch effort has helped himadvance in the rankings. Hiseight wickets, which includeda seven-wicket haul in the firstinnings, have lifted him 21places to 51st among bowlers,while knocks of 72 and 34 sawhim progress to 57th amongbatsmen.

Brendan Taylor has movedup to 22nd and Sean Williamsto 61st, while Kusal Mendis’fighting 116 has taken him to23rd position from 26th beforethe match.

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Pakistan opener MohammadHuraira says he will treat

the high-pressure semifinal ofthe U-19 World Cup againstarch-rivals India like a normalgame.

Pakistan posted a six-wick-et win over Afghanistan on theback of debutant Huraira’smatch-winning knock in thefourth quarterfinal to set up alast-four date with India.

“The India-Pakistan rival-ry has always been there. Therewill be a bit more pressure, butwe’ll get used to it,” Hurairasaid after Pakistan’s win onFriday.

“Myself, should I play, I’lltry and play it like a normalgame, and we look forward toit,” he added.

Defending championsIndia are the most successfulside in the tournament, win-ning the title a record fourtimes. Pakistan have beencrowned champions twice —2004 and 2006 — which madethem the only side to defendthe title. They defeated India by38 runs in the 2006 final inColombo.

Huraira, who was adjudgedthe Player of the Match againstAfghanistan, hit a delightful 76-ball 64. However, his inningswas brought to an end in a con-troversial manner asAfghanistan left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad‘Mankaded’ him in the 28thover.

Talking about his perfor-mance the youngster said, “Thecoaches and the support staffgave me a lot of confidence.”

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Invincible so far, India will eyea rare 5-0 whitewash against

a bruised and battered NewZealand in the final T20International here on Sunday.

New Zealand have neverlost all games in a bilateral T20Iseries (three or more matches)at home.

Since 2005, they have onlyonce lost all games in a bilat-eral T20I series at home, goingdown 2-0 to England back inFebruary 2008.

While this puts India in aunique position going ahead,they will still stay fifth in theICC T20I rankings behindPakistan, Australia, Englandand South Africa.

India will have their mindset elsewhere though, perti-nently the experimentationcycle ahead of the T20 WorldCup in Australia.

The fourth T20I was a stepin that direction, but it mostlycame to nought with the likesof Sanju Samson and ShivamDube wasting their opportu-nities.

Samson has been promot-ed up the order in his limitedopportunities against both SriLanka and New Zealand, andhas been dismissed whileattacking the bowling.

The team managementwould want him to show morepatience, while backing him tocome good once again.Meanwhile, Dube has lackedfootwork against both spinnersand pacers.

Elsewhere, with ManishPandey firming up the numbersix spot, Shreyas Iyer could bepromoted to number three.The bigger question is aboutthe keeper-batsman spot.

Ever since the Australia

series at home, K L Rahul hasplayed with an increased work-load in that role. Pre-series,skipper Virat Kohli had moreor less confirmed that Rahulwould continue to keep in theensuing three-ODI series.While he has been in greatform, the team managementcould afford to rest him andbring in Rishabh Pant.

There is incentive to do so,for this fifth and final game ofthis series is the last T20I Indiawill play in the current 2019-2020 season. In the shortest for-mat, there is only the IndianPremier League to look for-ward to in two months’ time,and the next T20I series –against Sri Lanka later in thesummer – is quite far away.

Pant, meanwhile, has been

benched since suffering con-cussion in the first ODI againstAustralia in Mumbai. While hehas fully recovered, his spot inthe first-choice playing elevenis long gone. In fact, his statusin the current scheme of thingsis far worse.

At the Westpac Stadium,Rohit Sharma was rested to cre-ate an additional space in thebatting line-up. Logic dictatesthat Kohli will take Sunday offand Rohit could lead instead,thus continuing with the oneadditional batting spot.

In the bowling depart-ment, Jasprit Bumrah could berested with Mohammed Shamicoming back to maintain thethree-pacer theory.

Meanwhile, KaneWilliamson is expected to be fit

for the clash, after he missedout in Wellington due to a leftshoulder niggle. The BlackCaps’ team management wereconfident of his recovery evenon Friday.

The hosts will have greaterconcern over their lack of fin-ishing though, after squander-ing two last over winning posi-tions in two consecutive games,and the series along with.

Whether the Kiwis canrecover mentally and beat anIndian side that is flying highon confidence and momentum,could eventually have a bearingon the ODI series as well. TEAMS:India: Virat Kohli (capt), RohitSharma, KL Rahul (wk),Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant,Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer,

Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja,Kuldeep Yadav, YuzvendraChahal, Mohammed Shami,Jasprit Bumrah, ShardulThakur, Navdeep Saini,Washington Sundar.New Zealand: KaneWilliamson (capt), MartinGuptill, Ross Taylor, ScottKuggeleijn, Colin Munro, TomBruce, Daryl Mitchell, MitchellSantner, Tim Seifert (wk),Hamish Bennett, Ish Sodhi,Tim Southee, Blair Tickner.

������!�����!��� 3����:�����WELLINGTON: The Indianteam was on Saturday docked40 per cent of its match fee forslow over-rate in the fourth T20International against NewZealand at the WestpackStadium here.

ICC match referee ChrisBroad imposed the sanctionsafter Virat Kohli’s side wasruled to be two overs short ofthe target on Friday after timeallowances were taken intoconsideration.

“In accordance with Article2.22 of the ICC Code ofConduct for Players and PlayerSupport Personnel, whichrelates to minimum over-rateoffences, players are fined 20per cent of their match fees forevery over their side fails tobowl in the allotted time,” theICC said in a statement.

On-field umpires ChrisBrown and Shaun Haig, andthird umpire Ashley Mehrotrahad levelled the charges.

Skipper Kohli pleadedguilty to the offence andaccepted the sanction, so therewas no need for a formal hear-ing. India beat New Zealand inthe super over to stretch theirlead to 4-0 in the five-matchseries.

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Pakistan on Saturday recalled all-rounder Faheem Ashraf and off-

spinner Bilal Asif for the first Testagainst Bangladesh starting inRawalpindi next week.

Ashraf, 26, showed a lot ofpromise in his debut Test againstIreland in 2018 when he scored 83 butthen faced injury problems and wasdiscarded after the South Africa tourin January last year.

Bilal, 34, played the last of his fiveTests against New Zealand inDecember 2018 and was not selectedlast year. Senior batsman Azhar Aliwill lead the team.

Head coach and chief selectorMisbah-ul-Haq said Ashraf did wellin the domestic tournament final twomonths ago.

“We have this option of playing apace bowling allrounder againstBangladesh and Ashraf took fivewickets in the Quaid-e-Azam trophyfinal so we have selected him,” saidMisbah.

The first Test starts in Rawalpindifrom February 7.

Bangladesh had agreed to tourPakistan in three phases and afterplaying three Twenty20 internation-als returned home earlier this week.

They will play the first Test andthen return again for the sole one-dayinternational (April 3) and second Test(April 7-11) — both in Karachi.

Misbah said Pakistan would haveto play at their best despite beatingBangladesh 2-0 in the three-matchTwenty20 series, with one matchrained off.

“There is no guarantee that if ateam doesn’t do well in one formatthen it will not do better in the otherformat as well,” said Misbah.

“They are a gritty team and willbe under no pressure.” Both the Testsare part of the ongoing World Testchampionship contested by the topnine teams.

India currently lead the champi-onship with 360 points followed byAustralia (296), England (146) andPakistan (80).

The top two teams in the table willplay the June 2021 final in England.SQUAD: Azhar Ali (captain), AbidAli, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam,Faheem Ashraf, Bilal Asif, FawadAlam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq,Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas,Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah,Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood,Yasir Shah.

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India A were left with an arduous task of savingthe first unofficial Test after New Zealand A

notched up a mammoth 562 in their first inningshere on Saturday.

Responding to India A’s first innings total of 216,the hosts declared shortly after losing their seventhwicket on the third and penultimate day at theHagley Oval.

In their second essay, the visitors were 127 fortwo when bad light ended play four overs early, hav-ing reduced the deficit to 219 runs.

At the close of play, Priyank Panchal andShubman Gill were batting on 67 and 33, respec-tively. Starting the day on a comfortably-placed 385for five, overnight batsmen Dane Cleaver and MarkChapman consolidate their team’s position with a268-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Batting on 111 overnight, Cleaver went on tomake 196 off 344 balls, while Chapman, who start-ed the day 15 short of century, made 114 off 245deliveries.

Wicketkeeper Cleaver hit 20 boundaries and asix while spending 482 minutes at the crease, whileChapman found the fence 11 times in his 377-minute stay in the middle.

Batting at number eight, Cole McConchie madean unbeaten 50 off 74 balls while adding 114 runsfor the seventh wicket with Cleaver, propping uptheir team’s total.

The Indian bowlers toiled hard with Ishan Poreland S Sandeep Warrier getting two apiece.

When they came to bat for the second time inthe game, the visitors again lost their prolific open-er Mayank Agarwal for nought, in the very first over.

Abhimanyu Easwaran fell for 26 to leave IndiaA at 59 for two.BRIEF SCORES:India A: 216 and 127/2 in 37 overs (Priyank Panchal67 batting, Shubman Gill 33 batting)New Zealand A: 562 for 7 in 160.3 overs (DaneCleaver 196, Mark Chapman 114; S SandeepWarrier 2/91, Ishan Porel 2/90).

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Bangladesh on Saturdaydropped pace bowler

Mustafizur Rahman andrecalled Rubel Hossain for thefirst Test of the two-matchseries against Pakistan whichbegins in Rawalpindi nextweek.

Mustafizur was in the two-Test series against India inNovember but was not pickedfor any of the matches due tohis poor form and fitness.

“Mustafiz was dropped forhis poor performance. He is inand out of the team for quitesome time and doesn’t playlonger-format matches regu-larly. His white-ball perfor-mances are not satisfactory,”said chief selector MinhajulAbedin.

Opening batsmen ImrulKayes, Shadman Islam and off-spinner Mehidy Hasan werealso left out for injury whilew i c k e t k e e p e r - b a t s m a nMushfiqur Rahim opted outdue to security concerns.

Opening batsman TamimIqbal returned to the Test sideafter skipping the India seriesfor family reason whileBangladesh also recalled bats-men Najmul Hossain andSoumya Sarkar.

“Soumya has been picked

as a backup player. Our firstchoice openers are Saif Hasanand Tamim. We have pickedSoumya in the squad if coachmakes plan to play him atseven as an all-rounder as they(Pakistan) have good numberof quality fast bowlers,” said

Minhajul.Bangladesh are due to

depart for Pakistan on Tuesdayfor the first Test scheduled forFebruary 7-11.

The second Test will beplayed April 5-9 in Karachi,after a one-day international onApril 3. Bangladesh visitedPakistan earlier in Januaryamid tight security for a three-match Twenty20 internationalseries in Lahore, which theylost 2-0.

Bangladesh Cricket Boardpresident Nazmul Hassan lastweek expressed his satisfactionover the security provided tothe visitors during theTwenty20 series adding that“there was no reason not to goagain for the Test series.” SQUAD: Mominul Haque(Capt), Tamim Iqbal, SaifHasan, Najmul Hossain,Mahmudullah Riyad,Mohammad Mithun, LitonDas, Taijul Islam, NayeemHasan, Ebadat Hossain, AbuJayed, Al-Amin Hossain, RubelHossain, Soumya Sarkar.

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Former India pacer RudraPratap Singh on Saturday

thanked the BCCI for appoint-ing him as a member of theCricket Advisory Committee(CAC) and said he will give hisbest in his new role.

Singh along with MadanLal and Sulkashana Naik wereon Friday appointed membersof the CAC by the BCCI.

“Thank you @BCCI,@JayShah and my formerCaptain @SGanguly99 for thisnew responsibility. As a player,I have always tried to give mybest and the same will be mymotto as a CAC member. Alsothanks to all my fans for theirwarm wishes,” Singh wrote onhis twitter handle.

Initially, Gautam Gambhirwas to be one of the CACmembers but was not eventu-ally considered as he is a serv-ing Member of Parliament,making way for Singh.

The 34-year-old from UttarPradesh is the youngest CACmember. Lal is 68 and Naik is41. The CAC’s immediate taskwill be to pick replacements foroutgoing selectors MSK Prasadand Gagan Khoda.

The CAC, which is alsosupposed to pick the headcoaches for the national teams,was not in existence ever sinceKapil Dev, AnshumanGaekwad and ShanthaRangaswamy stepped down inOctober last year after conflictof interest allegations were lev-elled against them.

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Flamboyant India all-rounder Hardik Pandya was

on Saturday ruled out of theupcoming Test series againstNew Zealand after failing toregain full match fitness, theBCCI said.

The decision was takenafter the 26-year-old consultedspinal surgeon James Allibonein the United Kingdom.

“Team India all-rounderHardik Pandya has been ruledout of the upcoming Test seriesagainst New Zealand. He trav-elled to London and wasaccompanied by NCA HeadPhysio Ashish Kaushik for areview by spinal surgeon DrJames Allibone,” BCCI secre-tary Jay Shah said in a state-ment.

“Hardik will be underrehab at the National CricketAcademy until he regains fullmatch fitness,” he added.

Pandya underwent a suc-cessful surgery in October lastyear to treat an acute lower-back injury and has remainedout of action since.

He last played for Indiaduring the T20 Internationalseries against South Africa,taking part in the third matchin Bengaluru.

He has not played Testcricket since the Southamptonmatch against England inSeptember 2018.

According to BCCIsources, Pandya is also unlike-ly to be available for the three-match home ODI series againstSouth Africa from March 12-18. They said his case is moreserious and he is unlikely to

come back before IPL (whichstarts on March 29).

It is also learnt that BCCIis now aware that his trainer SRajnikant did not give theBoard a complete picture ofPandya’s fitness status.

The back problem had keptPandya in and out of thenational team since mid-2018.

Returning from thesurgery, Pandya was last monthpulled out of the India A team’stour of New Zealand after fail-ing mandatory fitness tests inMumbai.

The selectors had pickedhim in the squad without test-

ing him in the Ranji matches.Pandya’s scores were below

the permissible range in the fit-ness tests.

In his place, Tamil Naducaptain Vijay Shankar wasdrafted into the India A team.

The all-rounder had alsotaken part in a practice sessionwith the Indian team before anODI against Australia inMumbai last month.

Pandya’s fitness is impor-tant for India’s T20 World Cupplans as his fast medium bowl-ing and explosive hitting powergives the team the required bal-ance.

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Former opener VirenderSehwag on Saturday ques-

tioned the Indian team’s deci-sion to bench Rishabh Pantduring the ongoing T20International series in NewZealand and wondered if skip-per Virat Kohli was properlycommunicating with theyoungster.

The 22-year-old Pant hasnot featured in any match forIndia since being concussed bya Pat Cummins bouncer dur-ing the Mumbai ODI againstAustralia in January. The tal-ented but inconsistent wicket-keeper-batsman has not so farplayed in any of the four T20Isof the five-match series in NewZealand.

“Rishabh Pant has been leftout, how will he score runs? Ifyou bench Sachin Tendulkaralso, he won’t be able to scoreruns. If you feel he is a match-winner, why don’t you playhim? Because he is not consis-tent?” Sehwag asked.

“During our time, captainused to go and talk with theplayer (in question). Now I

don’t know if Virat Kohli doesthe same or not. I am notpart of the team setup. Butpeople say that when RohitSharma went to Asia Cup ascaptain, he used to talk to allthe players,” Sehwag told toldCricbuzz.

Stressing that captains needto properly communicate withhis players, Sehwag said evenMahendra Singh Dhoni, who isconsidered one of India’s great-

est skippers, at times, failed tocommunicate with his team-mates.

“When MS Dhoni said inAustralia that top three are slowfielders, we were never asked orconsulted. We got to knowfrom the media. He said at thepress conference but not at theteam meeting that we are slowfielders,” Sehwag said, referringto the 2012 CB series inAustralia.

“Talk at the team meetingwas that we need to play RohitSharma who is new and that’swhy there will be a rotation pol-icy. If the same is happeningnow, that’s wrong,” he added.

During that 2012 series inAustralia, Sehwag had saidthat he, Sachin Tendulkar andGautam Gambhir were rotatedat the playing XI because ofquestion marks on their field-ing.

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Agoal on either side of half-timehelped Real Kashmir beat for-

mer champions Aizawl FC 2-0 in anI-League clash here on Saturday.

Kallum Higginbotham openedthe scoring for the visitors in the17th minute. Mason Roberstoncompleted the tally in the 82ndminute.

It was RKFC’s second win onthe trot, which moved them to thefifth spot in the standings with 12points from eight matches.

RKFC co-founder SandeepChatto said, “It has been an emphat-ic win. I am sure that in comingmatches we will reach among thefirst three. The team is jumpingback with two wins and two upsetsand a draw in last five matches.

“Now I am sure that the teamand coach have reworked theirstrategy for bringing out the realmagic of real Kashmir.”

Aizawl were shocked withanother unsuccessful outing athome, which left them 10th in thepoints table with only eight pointsfrom nine games.

The home side have now gonewinless in six consecutive matches.

RKFC were the more dominant

side right from the kick-off and theywent ahead throughHigginbotham’s good finish.

The Englishman received apass from Robertson and unleasheda right-footed shot from the centreof the box which crashed into thebottom left corner.

RKFC kept a tight hold over theproceedings and went in to thebreak leading by a goal.

They maintained their ascen-dancy after the break and coachDave Roberston introducedGnohere Krizo in place ofHigginbotham in the 68th minuteto add more muscle to their attack.

The move paid off as Krizoassisted Roberston during the sec-ond goal at the Rajiv GandhiStadium.

It was Krizo’s pass thatRobertson controlled and convert-ed from the centre of the box tosecure all three points for the‘Snow Leopards’ in their secondseason in top-flight.

��� ������ ���"���"���"��� ����BENGALURU: Gokulam Keralaregistered a resounding 7-0 victo-ry over Odisha Police in the IndianWomen’s League (IWL) football

here on Saturday.Sabitra Bhandari’s five-goal

effort made all the headlines, withAgbo Esperence and GraceLalhauhnar also scoring two lategoals. The two halves were quitecontrasting in nature. While thefirst was quite closely contested, thesecond was a one-way traffic.

Bhandari opened the scoring inthe seventh minute, with a volleyfrom the edge of the box which leftthe keeper with no chance.

Odisha Police were still in thegame going into half-time but thesecond half erupted like a volcano.Bhandari made it 2-0 in the 52ndminute after chasing down a looseclearance and heading it past theonrushing Odisha Police keeperTikina Samal.

The Nepal international com-pleted her hat-trick just a minutelater through a brilliant solo effort,going past three defenders andslotting it home.

With the match ball in her bag,Bhandari wasn’t done yet. Sheadded her fourth in the 74th minuteby converting a seemingly specu-lative cross and a fifth one byrounding off the keeper. Therewas a shout for offside, but the flagstayed down.

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The government on Saturdayallocated Rs 2826.92 crore to

the sports budget for the nextfinancial year, which is an increaseof a mere Rs 50 crore from therevised estimates of 2019-20.

The government gave a sub-stantial hike of Rs 312.42 crore toits flagship Khelo India pro-gramme by allocating Rs 890.42crore as compared to the 2019-20revised amount of Rs 578 crore,which meant that most of theother heads got reduced allocationin an Olympic year.

The highest reduction wasseen in National SportsFederations with Rs 245.00 crorebeing allocated in the union bud-get presented by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, Rs 55 croreless than the revised Rs 300.85 for2019-20.

As far as incentives forsportspersons are concerned, thebudget has proposed to slash theamount from Rs 111 crore to Rs70 crore. The budget for NationalSports Development Fund also got

reduced to Rs 50.00 from the ear-lier Rs 77.15 crore.

The government also reducedthe allocation to Sports Authorityof India (SAI) from the revised Rs615 crore to Rs 500 crore. The SAIis the nodal organisation to man-age nationals camps, provideinfrastructure, equipment andother logistics to the country’ssportspersons.

The allocation for the 2010Commonwealth Games-SAI sta-dia renovation was also slashed toRs 75 crore from Rs 96 crore lastyear.

National Welfare Fund forSportspersons will continue to getthe same amount of Rs 2 crore asearlier, while, at Rs 50 crore, therewas also no change in the alloca-tion for the enhancement ofsports facilities in Jammu andKashmir.

Laxmi Bai National Instituteof Physical Education will, how-ever, get Rs 55 crore, Rs 5 croremore than the last budget. In thebudget for 2019-20, Rs 2216.92was allocated for sports but it waslater revised to 2776.92.

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America’s Sofia Kenin stunnedtwo-time Major championGarbine Muguruza to win

the Australian Open on Saturday,completing a surprise run whereshe has come from nowhere to winher first Grand Slam title.

Despite making her debut in aMajor final Kenin, 21, showed allher trademark aggression as shefought back from a set down to win4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 2hrs 3mins against

the shellshocked Spaniard.The 14th seed, who will now

jump as high as seventh in theworld and usurp Serena Williamsas America’s number one, was intears at the end and headed straightfor her father Alexander, who is hercoach.

It was the final twist in a tour-nament of upsets, after Williamswent out in the third round andKenin upset Australia’s world num-ber one Ashleigh Barty in thesemi-finals.

“My dream officially came true,I can’t describe this feeling,” saidMoscow-born Kenin.

“It’s amazing, dreams cometrue. If you have dreams, go for it,it’s going to come true.”

Spain’s Muguruza, 26, wasunseeded for the first time at a Slamsince 2014 having suffered amarked loss of form in the last 18months.

She was resurgent inMelbourne over the past fortnight,but after grabbing the first-set

lead, her serve failed her spectac-ularly.

She totted up eight double-faults in all, three of them in thefinal game -- including one on thesecond championship point, hand-ing the title to her younger oppo-nent.

������!��"��������Muguruza drew first blood at

Rod Laver Arena, where the roofwas closed for rain in Melbourne,getting the first break of serve.

Moscow-born Kenin, whoended the fairytale run of 15-year-old Coco Gauff on her way to thefinal, bounced her American stars-and-stripes racquet on the hard-court in irritation.

The 2016 French Open and2017 Wimbledon winner Muguruzatook the first set in 52 minutes whenthe young American planted herforehand out.

But the aggressive Kenin uppedthe ante in the second set, breakingher more experienced opponent inthe fourth game and easily holdingto sprint into a 4-1 lead.

Kenin, who won their onlyprevious encounter in three sets,grabbed the second set in anemphatic 32 minutes. A rattledMuguruza was seen briefly by aphysio for what appeared to be alower-back problem.

Into the deciding set and thegutsy Kenin saved three gamepoints in a pivotal fifth game, toss-ing the ball back over her head byway of celebration.

Kenin, who was overshadowedin the build-up to Melbourne by thelikes of Williams, Osaka and Barty,adds by far the biggest title of herfast-burgeoning career to the threeWTA crowns she won last year.

“The past two weeks have beenthe best of my life,” she told RodLaver Arena, as her father — wholeft the Soviet Union in 1987 to givethe family a better life — filmed hervictory speech on his phone.

“I love you guys from the bot-tom of my heart, thank you somuch,” she told the crowd.

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Legendary Leander Paes willbe back in Pune one last

time as the Indian tennis iconreceived a wild card entry indoubles at the third edition ofTata Open Maharashtra whichis scheduled at MhalungeBalewadi Stadium in Punefrom February 3-9.

The widely anticipatedwildcard announcement wasmade during the draw cere-mony on Saturday.

The 46-year-old, who haspartnered alongsideAustralian Mathew Ebden,will face stiff challenge fromyet another Indian star anddefending champion DivijSharan in the first round.Sharan, who clinched doublestitle in the last edition withRohan Bopanna, has teamedup with New Zealand's ArtemSitak.

“We are really happy towelcome the tennis legendback in Pune. He has servicedthe nation and won countless

laurels for the country. He hasinspired many Indian young-sters. It will be great for Punecrowd to come to the stadiumand watch the legend play onelast time,” Sutar said.

The third edit ion ofSouth Asia’s only ATP Tourtournament will be the lastappearance for the eight-timedoubles Grand SlamChampion Paes. “It will be thelast tournament for Paes inIndia. We decided to givehim wild card entry as it isgoing to be tribute to what hehas done for the country,” Iyersaid.

Another ace Indian dou-bles player Rohan Bopanna,alongside local boy ArjunKadhe, will face French pair ofAntonie Hoang and BenoitPaire.

Meanwhile, in the singlescategor y main draw,Gunneswaran wil l faceYannick Maden in the firstround while the India No 2Sumit Nagal will be up againsta qualifier.

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“King” Novak Djokovic haswon all seven Australian

Open finals he has contested, heis on a 12-match winning streakand will become world numberone if successful in theMelbourne Park decider onSunday.

Against those overwhelmingodds, few are giving DominicThiem much of a chance towrench the title from his irongrip and clinch a maiden GrandSlam.

But the Austrian, remark-ably, is the one with the recentedge.

Djokovic is 6-4 in theircareer head-to-heads, but Thiemhas won four of the last five.

Three of those were on hisfavoured clay, but he

also came from a setdown to beat theSerb on hardcourtsat the ATP Finals inNovember.

Djokovic is thefirst to admit that

the slick 26-year-old has

successfully refined his gameover the past 12 months to com-pete on all surfaces.

And he acknowledges it isjust a matter of time beforeThiem wins a Slam.

“I don’t think he’s reallyanymore ‘next generation’. He’sbeen around for many years.Now already he’s an establishedtop-five, top-10 player,” saidDjokovic.

“It’s just a matter of onematch here and there that canpotentially give him a GrandSlam title, that he can actuallyget in the mix of top three in theworld,” he added.

=��>��"����!���<��>�Thiem, who has beaten four

seeds to make the grade, includ-ing Rafael Nadal in the lasteight, is no stranger to GrandSlam finals, making the last twoat Roland Garros.

But this is his best effort out-side of the French Open.

He lauded Djokovic as the“king of Australia” and insistedhis recent succusses against himcounted for little at the Serb'sfavourite tournament.

“It’s true, I won I thinkmore of the last encounters

than he did. But I think itdoesn’t count so much. It’sabsolutely his comfort zonehere,” he said.

“He always plays hisbest tennis in Australia since

many, many years. So I’mexpecting that as well in thefinals.

“All I can do is my bestagain, play great tennis again,and of course take a look at thelast matches we had... Try torepeat the good stuff that I didthere.”

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Karnam Malleswari onSaturday said weightlifter

Mirabai Chanu has learnt fromher past Olympic experienceand will return with a medalfrom the Tokyo Games.

Former world championMirabai is one of India’s lead-ing medal contenders in theTokyo Olympics.

“I am expecting MirabaiChanu to perform very well atthe Olympics this year. Shelearned a lot at the lastOlympics, and I am sure shewill win a medal this year,” saidMalleswari, a 2000 SydneyOlympics bronze winner inwomen’s 69kg.

The first woman to win anOlympic medal, Malleswarisaid junior weightlifters aregetting more opportunities toparticipate in internationalevent now than 20 years ago.

“Now there are a lot ofcompetitions for theweightlifters in India. There areyouth, junior and seniorweightlifting competitions.When we were in the junior

category, we didn’t go for anyinternational tournaments,”Malleswari said.

“Now athletes have achance to participate at theYouth Olympics as well. Onlyin the last ten years, junior ath-letes from India have started togo for international tourna-ments. So, this exposure hashelped Indian weightliftersgrow in India,” she added.

After successfully hostingthe Khelo India Youth Gamesin January, the Indian govern-ment has decided to organizethe Khelo India UniversityGames in Bhubaneswar fromFebruary 22 to March 1 and

Malleswari believes that Indianathletes will get better if theyplay more tournaments.

“The more tournamentsthe athletes get to participate,the better it is for them. Whenwe were training, we used towork hard the entire year andget to take part in just onenational championship andone international champi-onship,” she said.

“In case we couldn’t do wellin those one or two competi-tions then all our hard workwas of no use. So the KheloIndia University Games willdefinitely help athletes grow inthe country.”

KOCHI: The South Indian derby inthe Indian Super League turned outto be a high-scoring affair asChennaiyin FC demolished KeralaBlasters FC 6-3 at the JawaharlalNehru stadium here on Saturday.

Chennaiyin roared into a three-goal lead at half-time, thanks to abrace from Rafael Crivellaro (39th,45th) and another goal from NerijusValskis (45th).

But a hat-trick fromBartholomew Ogbeche (48th, 65th,76th), the first of the season, threat-ened to bring Kerala Blasters backinto the match. A brace fromChhangte (59th, 80th) and anotherValskis goal (90th) sealed the resultin favour of the away side.

The victory saw Chennaiyinclimb to fifth spot, just two pointsbehind fourth-placed Odisha FC,while Kerala Blasters’ hopes of fin-ishing in the top four virtually ended,with them placed eighth now.

Though Kerala started the firsthalf well, they could not fashion anyreal opening. Chennaiyin too were abit passive as the match was lockeddown in the midfield. However,Chennaiyin came to life in spectac-ular fashion just as the first half wasdrawing to a close.

In the 39th minute, Chennaiyintook the lead after Kerala goalkeep-

er TP Rehenesh passed the ballstraight to Crivellaro who sweetlytucked it home. Things got worse forKerala in the 45th minute whenValskis combined beautifully withCrivellaro before receiving the returnpass and lashed a finish home.

A minute later, Kerala werecaught napping again. AnirudhThapa sent a through ball forward forValskis who was offside. But theLithuanian did not interfere with playand Crivellaro took advantage, surgedtowards goal and finished withaplomb to make it 3-0 in no time.

The setbacks sparked a reactionfrom Kerala in the second half withOgbeche leading them. Three min-utes after resumption, the Nigeriangot on the end of a hopeful cross intothe box from Jessel Carneiro andturned it in past goalkeeper VishalKaith. However, Chennaiyin restoredtheir advantage after yet anotherhowler from the Kerala defence.Abdul Hakku’s intended pass forRehenesh was intercepted by Valskiswho set up Chhangte for Chennaiyin’sfourth goal. Ogbeche had other ideasand scored a quickfire brace to makeit 4-3. In the 65th minute, he beatKaith with a clinical shot from out-side the box before heading inHalicharan Narzary’s cross in the 76thminute.

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Combined Media XI defeat-ed The Pioneer by 28 runs

to enter the final of the 10thKabir Shah Media CricketTournament at KD Singh‘Babu’ Stadium on Saturday.

Opted to bat first,Combined Media XI posted126 runs for the loss of fivewickets in the allotted 20 overs.Amit Kumar was the top scor-er with 41 runs while VikramSrivastava and DineshVerma made contributions of20 and 14 runs respectively.Shalabh Saxena annd PradeepYadav claimed two scalpseach.

In reply, The Pioneer bun-dled out for 98 runs. AshuBajpai and Vijay Prakash Singhwere the main contributorswith 41 and 15 runs respec-tively.BRIEF SCORES:CM XI: 126 (Amit 41, Vikram20, Dinesh 14; Shalabh 31/2,Pradeep 20/2)TP: 98 (Ashu 41, VP Singh 14;Dinesh 16/3, Vikram 17/3,Imran 13/2).

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� How did your musical journey begin?I learnt the tabla when I was very young for about six years.

I had a keen sense of music and instruments in general as a child.As I grew older, I learnt other instruments and tried to masterthem. I was in the school band and played the flute and the keys.Once I finished school, I went to Singapore for further studiesfor technical training. After graduation, I decided to take up musicseriously; went to London and did in master in audio produc-tion. That was life changing. It taught me lot of things relatedto audio production. Came back to Indian in 2009 and joinedPritam da, in-house, in 2010. Started my own studio in 2012 andstarted producing music and worked with Pritam on a numberof films like Yeh Jawani Deewani, Barfi and Badhai Ho. As of 2018,I have started composing too.� What the challenges that music directors are facing?

The industry is extremely dynamic today. There is a boomof consumption — our population and music streaming. To keepup with the on-going demand, one has to be a cutting edge andversatile composer and producer. The industry is competitive aswell, one has to keep up with that. � Is there more stress on beat rather than melody?

No, not really. Our perception as a music society has alwaysbeen melody driven since the beginning of time. For a song tobe picked up, it has to have melody. Though, rap is being well-perceived. But in general, we have a melody driven consump-tion population. A song must have melody, a beautiful voice andmusic production.� We take cues from what is happening in the western music.Why is that happening?

We are part of the global culture. This is not just happen-ing in the music. It reflects in other aspects as well like technologyneeds, fashion and culture; a lot has influence from western cul-ture, so even music would have it. But this need not necessari-ly be a bad thing if it adds value to the music, why not. Musicis an art form and if we are consuming it with an added value,that is good.� What is Hun Nahi Jeena about?

It is a beautiful romantic single. Most of the Bollywood songsthat I have produced for Bollywood have been upbeat and peppynumbers. Since I started composing, I wanted to showcase this.The collaboration happened between Asees Kaur and myself.Times Music was supportive and we came up with this single� Has indie space given you a way out for your creativity?

Absolutely. Being a composer is brining out your own cre-ativity. As a producer, I give shape to others’ vision. But as a com-poser, it gives me a chance give shape to my vision. Being a musiccomposer is a natural transition for a producer. � Where is music heading today?

Up until now, we have been consuming music was film-dri-ven. But now, there is a complete boom for independent music.The music here is the hero. This is great.� What are the other projects in hand?

I have other singles in hand with Times Music. I am close-ly associated with Pritam for films. I am doing my own com-position as well.� What kind of music would you like to compose?

I don’t have a preference. I have the ability to produce andcompose any kind of record. From desi Indian to progressive,electronic, newage, urban cool music, I can do it all. That is whyI started composing. I wanted to explore how much variety I couldbing to the table.

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� How did Jawaani Jaaneman happen?I got to know about this film through a news-

paper. My father had sent me a clip of the articlewherein they were calling people for auditions. My

father asked me to give it a try and I agreed.I went for the auditions and fortu-

nately the team liked the perfor-mance. This is how I was con-

firmed for the project.

� Did you have to doany preparations for therole?

There were no spe-cific preparations as such.But since this is my debutso yes I did all the gener-

al preparations that anactor does.

� Was there a momentwhen you had to go out of your

comfort zone?

Not as such. But there’s a scenewhere I had to stop Tabu ma’am andSaif sir from shouting. It was chal-lenging because they are so good. Soyes that’s it.

� How was the experience work-ing with Saif Ali Khan and Tabu?

It was amazing. They are calmand friendly. It didn’t feel like I wasworking with big stars. I instantly feltcomfortable with them. It was funtoo.

The atmosphere at the sets wasso good and comfortable that I did-n’t feel like a newcomer. It felt likewe haven’t done anything but actu-ally we have done a lot of work. Theentire team was supportive.

� A lesson that you took backhome from the sets?

I believe in doing lots of prepa-

ration before reaching the sets. Sowhenever I was on the sets Tabuma’am and Saif sir acknowledgedthat I was prepared. They advisedme to never change this quality. Thismotivated me a lot. I never miss mydance classes even after returningfrom shoots.

� You have been open about fac-ing rejections. Did that demotivateyou?

Not at all. I don’t mind gettingrejected. Facing rejections is part andparcel of acting. Even if you are notgetting rejected in the auditions,your film will fail at the box officeand you will ultimately face rejectionfrom the audience. There’s no escap-ing from that.

Good performance is must. It’sa part of growing up and learninghow to cope. The true sense, dedi-

cation is when things are not goingyour way and you still wake up everyday, do the chores, go to your dailyclasses and try once again. Thisshows courage. Everytime I gotrejected, I realised how much I wantit.

� What is your approach towardsacting?

Prepare lots and when you areon the sets forget everything. Just gowith the flow. That’s it.

� What does fashion mean toyou?

Fashion means everything andnothing to me. I am versatile. I feelhappy dressing up, doing my hairand make-up. I am also happy to getnothing done and sit cosily in myspace. I am happy both ways. It justdepends in which mood I am in.

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With more than six hundredmusicians reciting togeth-er “endaro mahanubhavu-

lu …andariki vandanamulu..”(myrespect to all those great men in thisworld, those men will feel the moon-like beautiful form of God) thefamous kriti composed by saintThyagaraja, one of the trinity ofCarnatic music at the famousThygaraja Swami Temple on thebanks of River Cauveri lastWednesday, the festival season ofTamil Nadu has given way to thedreary, humid and hot summer daysahead.

The Margazhi Music and DanceFestival which commenced in thefirst week of December bade farewellto the city as musicians anddanseuses flocked into Chennaifrom all the continents boarded thereturn flights with the promise tocome back again in December 2020.

For almost 45 days, it was non-stop dance and music performancesand that too classical which elevat-ed the aficionados to hithertounheard and unseen feelings —nearly 4,000 artists and 500 perfor-mances! Chennaites couldn’t haveasked for more!

Whether it is the US-borndanseuse Shreya Iyer, daughter anddisciple of Suganda Sreenath orPadma Subramaniam, the eternalqueen of Bharatantyam who hasbeen giving scintillating perfor-mances even at age76, the stages inChennai’s various sabhas(Tamil/Sanskrit for the perfect audi-toriums where concerts are held)come alive for 45 days as audienceare taken for a flight to fantasy.

For Shreya, a globe trotter, anhour of her daily life is devoted tocomposing and preparing the num-bers for the next Margazhi Festival.Whether it is in Norway, or inMelbourne, this disciple ofDhananjayan and ShantaDhananjayan is full of anxietyabout Chennai festival.

“It’s the ultimate stage and thefinal jury,” Shreya tells you whoseNrityopaharam was the concludingprogramme of 2020 season. “Sakhiye,in Ragam Anand Bhairavi, capturesa conversation between the heroinand her friend. The lovelorn nayika(heroin) pleads with her sakhi(friend) not to be indifferent to her

suffering and help her by bring-ing her Lord Rajagopalan (SreeKrishna),” Vijayashree Ramesh,a Bharatanatyam connoisseurwho has an eye for picking thebest, explains.

Chennai becomes the capitalof music and dance during thisperiod as hundreds of artists,local as well as from around theglobal make a beeline to this cityto enthral and entertain the con-noisseurs. The musicians mayrecite the same old numbersand the danseuses the ageold kri-tis dating back to time immemo-rial.

“That’s the beauty ofCarnatic music as well as theIndian classical dances, espe-cially the Bharatanatyam whichhas distinct and different styleslike the Pandhanaallur andThanjavur. They are visual treatsand if the repertoire are any yard-stick, we have not reached thehalf way mark of the kritis whichare there in the treaasurehouse,”said Dakshayani, choreograph-er and disciple of PadmaSubramanian.

There are no repetition orennui resulting out of hearing thesame composition. WhenNithyasree Mahadevan, singsSree Ganapathy Ni Sevimparare,the audience felt they were hear-ing it for the first time. ForMahadevan, who literally livesout in airport lounges as part ofher musical tour around theworld, what matters most are thecompositions which she has topresent during the festival.

There are a lot of reasons whythere is so much love for this fes-tival and why people throng to it?

“If you are in Chennai andnot attended the festival, it is likea man living in Varanasi andneve rhaving taken a dip in theGanga,” N Kalyanasundaram,veteran scribe and a regular atthe sabhas dotting the city land-scape, says.

There can be no Chennaiwithout Margazhi. Thoughattempts have been made byself-styled progressive elementsto counter Margazhi Festivalwith the other similar festivals, allattempts remained a non-starter.

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Even as curtains come downon the 12th edition of IndiaArt Fair today evening, thisyear has been extraordinarilyspecial. The fair had as many

as 81 exhibitors participating from asmany as 20 global cities with cuttingedge art on display. In the last twoyears, the IAF has focussed extensivelyon building gallery participation, pub-lic programming and creating a spot-light on South Asian and Indian art. AsJagdip Jagpal, Fair Director of India ArtFair, shared: “In these two years, wehave looked to strengthen the pro-gramme to highlight the artists, as wellas make a visit to the fair accessible forall ages and abilities.” Modern and con-temporary South Asian art remainsthe focus of the fair, with 70% ofthe floor space dedicated toIndian galleries, andan esteemed lineup of artists notseen in Indiapresented byinternationalgalleries, sheadded.

For a lot of peo-ple, visiting Delhi for India ArtFair, there really is a lot to seebeyond the fair. Clubbedunder IAF Parallel, collateralevents programmed by gal-leries, museums and artsspaces around the city add afestive vibe to the otherwisevery individual art scene.Many of these shows continuewell into the month, allowingthe visitors who are stayingback some more time to reflecton the art and interact with theartists. We bring you some ofthe must visit shows thatextend into the month.

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You will know me:Migration Stories is aboutmigration and displace-ment featuring artists fromthe US, Germany and Indiaand has on display, works byartists including: Ayisha Abraham,Golnar Adili, Tomie Arai, BarbaraBeisinghoff, Janet Goldner, CherylGoldsleger, Leslie Jean-Bart, TatanaKellner, Mohammad Omer Khalil,Karen Kunc, Sarojini Lewis, BeretteMacaulay, Lavanya Mani, LarryMillard, Veer Munshi, Roger Rigorth,Tara Sabharwal, Ritu Sarin & TenzingSonam.

“Tara started working on this pro-

ject about two years ago and from thento now a lot of change has happened inthe world around us, with the statisticsnumbers only going up. For us, theshow has grown as the migration crisishas grown and intensified. I find thisissue compelling and wanted to standwith the artists who are coming togeth-er and trying to draw attention to thisurgent issue and instigate a dialogue,”says Sunaina Anand, Director, ArtAlive Gallery. The show is on tillFebruary 10.

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For the first time, Shambhavi ispresenting a two-part

solo showcase atGallery Espace

and Shrine EmpireGallery as part of IAF

parallels. Her earlierseries Maati Ma was onview at the 2018 Kochi

Muzuris Biennale, curatedby Anita Dube.

Drawing inspiration from her rootsin rural Bihar, Shambhavi’s workexplores the relationship between manand nature, specifically focusing on theconnection between the farmers, fieldand their ceaseless struggles. Bhoomiat Gallery Espace features a collectionof her signature paintings and large-format installations in iron, that areprimarily abstract and aim to intu-itively foster a sense of nostalgiafor a way of life that most of usno longer remember.

From metal to paper pulp,she extends her story to depictdawn or Bhurukuwa in part twoof her show at Shrine EmpireGallery where she explores thesubtle interplay between man,nature and art in varied textures.Shambhavi brings to life the tex-tures, colours and forms of rurallife: whether in the mud-and-haytextured walls of their houses or thegrey mist that rises from the fieldon winter mornings. The show atGallery Espace is on till February

24 and at Shrine Empire Gallery tillFebruary 28.

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Atul Dodiya’s Stammer in the Shadeis a presentation of his world-renowned shutters along his consistent-ly evolving romance with the solitaryfigure and landscape in his canvases.These shrines include some of his pho-tographs of paintings by the great mas-

ters, made during his travels aroundthe world. These photographs form notthe entire painting but a portion of thework. Darshan, or epiphany, is animplied experience here, as the viewerwaits to see what the shutter will revealwhen it rises, except that the darshanhas already been granted. The show ison till February 29.

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Famous for his gilded female headsthat take inspiration from ancient tem-ple idolisations while channeling thebold spirit of the contemporarywoman, in this exhibition of nudesculptures, Ravinder Reddy turns tothe undraped body with a similarintent. In doing so, he undertakes anintricate exploration of the body, whichfor decades has not been consideredimportant or appropriate as a subject ofstudy in the Indian cultural context.Reddy’s dalliance with the nude formbegan in 1979, and Soma includes hisconsistent and controversial portrayalsfrom the eighties up to the present, giv-ing viewers the opportunity to trackthe artist’s developing oeuvre inresponse to ever changing climes andcontexts over the years. The show is ontill February 29.

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In collaboration with Outset India,

this exhibition is a personal account ofthe artist’s journey of migration. Usingpersonal objects to punctuate the exhi-bition, Vaart delves into the history ofpersonal spaces and its memory usingwritings, maps, objects, poetry andsculptural works to respond to theemotion and idea of home.

‘The exhibition is a poignantchronicle of the artist’s life that inter-weaves personal archives, notions ofhome and memory. Her work is aunique assemblage of intimatemoments, poetry and personal objectsthat were passed on from one genera-tion to the other.’ says Reha Sodhi,Curatorial Advisor, about Vaart’sworks. The show is on till February 24.

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Materiology series, curated by PramitiMadhavji and Amit Gupta. Cuttingacross disciplines, the show bringsinstallations by some of the leadingdesigners including Paola Navone,Sumant Jayakrishnan, Matteo Cibic,Rooshad Shroff, Samira Rathod,Manish Maheshwari, Sandeep Sangaru,Soumitro Ghosh, Hanif Kureshi, ShivaNellaperumal, Banduksmith Studioand Ankon Mitra. Through installationart and design, these designers high-light a simple, productive things thatwe did in the past, that were education-al, made us think and learn, that havenow taken a new avatar. The show ison till February 22.

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Through collections and assem-blages of her now-iconic doll-like papersculptures, Sudipta Das dives into per-sonal history and family narratives toexplore themes of exile, refuge andtemporariness of life. Meticulouslycrafted from layers and layers of hand-made Hanji paper, her chosen mediumis fragile, yet resistant. An unsuspectingmedium, paper has long been a hiddenprotagonist in the narratives of place-lessness. Without paper, one has noform of identification. Without identi-fication, one loses the freedom to movefrom place to place. One loses theirproof of belonging.

“Das’ work presents melancholicverse of individuals who have lost theirroots, but still, for a time, have eachother, raised above their homes and theplaces they hold dear, as if on the tideof a flood, to be deposited ... some-where else,” says Bhavna Kakar,Director of Gallery Latitude 28. Theshow is on till February 28.

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Gallery Art.Motif presents hand-painted textiles made using naturaldyes and the kalam by the master artistAjit Kumar Das. In his work spanningfour decades, Das picks up strandsfrom diverse repertoires, simultaneous-ly however, evolving a distinct vocabu-lary quite his own. His works havebeen a part of the Vishwakarma exhibi-tions curated by the late heritage con-servationist Martand Singh, and are inimportant textile collections around theworld, including the collection of theVictoria and Albert Museum, London.The show is on till February 15.

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First the assertion — the climate change is not com-ing; it is already there. Greta Thunberg may then berather a belated warning symbol. The time for

activism is over. It is now time to act. We had enough ofactivism ever since the world leaders gathered at Stockholmin 1972. We have been talking, discussing, blaming but notacting. Every party is responsible, yet no one is owning. Andthe time is ticking. To quote the Halifax Declaration, sup-posed to be a mile post on the issue of climate change:“Human demands upon the planet are now of a volumeand kind that, unless changed substantially, threaten thefuture wellbeing of all living species”. Universities must besignificant actors if those demands are now to be shapedinto the sustainable and equitable forms necessary for awholesome future environment. This was December 1991at the Conference on university action for SustainableDevelopment, Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Vice Chancellorsand President from 33 universities in 10 countries and rep-resentatives from business, banking, government and non-government organisations were present. Little has beenachieved except that some courses on EnvironmentScience and a big number of seminars have been floated.The Halifax meeting was to add voice to many other world-wide which are greatly concerned about the rampant andgrowing degradation of the earth’s environment, the per-suasive influence of poverty on the process and the unsus-tainable environmental practices which are now widespread.In 2005, at the G8 climate change round table in the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos, the following were reiterated:“Our earth is heating up due to human over consumption”,the developed world is responsible for all this and the devel-oping world must take note of all this. But it seems thingsare still quite the same, only the activists seem to change.If it was Dr Tony Grayling then, it is Greta Thunberg nowin this year’s Davos. We need action not activists. And actionon the part of the entire humanity. There is need to gobeyond and change attitude and behaviour of every humanbeing. This year the 50th Annual meeting of the WorldEconomic Forum was held in Davos again with a very nobletheme — stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world.But neither the cohesiveness nor the sustainability were any-where in sight. This is the problem. Bland sloganeering andpopular catch phrases are the highlights while there is nolight at the end of the tunnel. We need to take the matterto the grass roots. What was mentioned in the HalifaxDeclaration still holds good. It is the persuasive influenceof the poverty that must be talked first. The answer maybe found in the “time to care” report of Oxfam which sug-gests that the richest 2,153 people control more money thanthe poorest 4.6 billion combined, that is around 60 percentof the humanity. Single use plastics are just part of the wholestory. The two words that sum up the whole issue are faultyconsumption. The world still has enough for humanity’sneeds. It is the greed that is endangering the world. Andthe point to ponder is who lives if the world dies.

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Before I answer this question, let usunderstand what does this word‘sync’ mean. It is defined as mov-

ing or working out at exactly the sametime and speed as something else.There is another definition also, whichis: working well with something, in ourcase the creation or the system. We,small souls, are minuscule parts of thecreation. If we wish to exist well, we mustbe in sync with the system, that is every-thing taken together. For example, allforms of life on earth, including ourbodies, respond rhythmically to themovements of sun, moon, etc. Whenthey don’t, we run into problems.Similarly, when we are in sync with thesystem we are doing very well.

How do we achieve this state?Before I go into its details, let me warnthe readers that it is not somethingwhich can be done quickly. Rather it isresult of years if not decades of spiritu-al progress. However, once we getstarted we begin to get fleeting feelingsof it because we have identified it. Thefirst requirement is to accept the presentreality outside of our bodies. To elabo-rate this point, we must accept thatwhatever is happening around us isexactly what should have happened.There is no question of challenging/rejecting anything because in the ulti-mate reality nothing happens by chance.

The same type of acceptance isrequired for whatever is happeninginside of us, ie our thoughts, desires,health, etc. Yes, changes can be made butthe present is what it is. For example, ifwe are lusty by nature, don’t find excus-es for it but accept this fact. The sameis true of our present limitations. Forexample, if we don’t have a genuinefriend, we should acknowledge it. Wecan try to henceforth strike friendships

with those close to us beginning withthe closest relatives like spouses, broth-ers, etc. Ups and downs of life, whichhappen inevitably in everyone’s life mustsimilarly be accepted with equanimity.Neither one should become puffed upin good times nor too demoralised inbad times. These must be taken in stride.Negativity has to go.

All these requirements may appeartoo theoretical. They are, because beingin sync is getting close to perfection; itis not easy. A very solid bond with Godis an absolute necessity. Only then, onewill not lose control over the self due topassionate reactions. Only those, whohave strong faith in God are able to con-trol their emotions to this extent.Though all this may appear like dreambut saints have achieved this divine stateand written extensively about it.

To enumerate some of the benefitsof this extremely rare experience: Onewill appreciate the pluses or positives inlife; will not take them as routine. Onewill not lament the minuses or negatives;will accept them with humility. This is

the beginning of the synchronisation ofour desires with the reality of living; ourfeet will begin to get well grounded.Mental energy will not be wasted inrejecting the reality; one becomes a cau-tious observer. There is alignment withthe life as it is at this moment; oneaccepts God’s arrangement. There is effi-ciency in life; when we are disturbed, weare unable to put our best foot forward.

We will be confident of self and willbe looking forward to a bright futureand even the next life. Narrow-mind-edness will be finished; one will feelaligned with the creation. There will besatisfaction in the way life is going; onewill feel secure. Surely, one will be peace-ful. There will be nothing to worry orfear. Amazing calmness will descend;one will experience the elusive bliss(ananada). One will feel the presence ofthe creator, who is ever ready to guideand help. It is yoga, about which LordKrishna has spoken many times in theGeeta. Are you ready to be in sync?

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anyadevahurvidyaya anyadahu-ravidyaya |

iti susruma dhiranam yenastadvi-cacaksire ||

(Isha-Upanishad, Verse 10)

‘One result they say is obtained byvidya, and another result, they say, isobtained by avidya, thus have we heardfrom the wise ones who explained itto us.’

The knowledge in the fieldsof science, arts, politics,economics, social sciences— all the university disci-plines — is called avidya. In

that sense, any knowledge aboutwhatever can be found within theworld is avidya. Using our senses andmind, when we look outwards into theworld, and gather information andbuild knowledge, that is avidya.Avidya is also called aparavidya, orlower learning.

When we turn inwards and lookat ourselves, we see the self, the ego,glimpses of the entire structure andmovement of the personality. This selfis the seer, observer, of the world. Thisknowledge, this perception of the self,is called vidya. Vidya is also called par-avidya, or higher learning. How is

vidya different from Psychology?Vidya encompasses not merely thestudy of the inner self — the ego —but also addresses the mystical crav-ings of the ego for spiritual liberation.

In our education system, vidyamust be given importance so that thechild, the student, must get to knowabout his mind. Who is he and whatrelation does he carry with the world?He must be introduced to this funda-mental question in the most creativeof ways. He must know why he runstowards the world, relates with theworld, and wants to achieve somethingin the world.

Avidya is that which keeps fillingup the mind with knowledge aboutthe world, about this and that. Onepernicious result of avidya is that onestarts identifying with only the mate-rial world, and engenders a lot of suf-fering for himself and the others.Today, across the world, we can seethe toxic results of an overdose ofavidya at the cost of vidya. Manknows much about the material uni-verse today, but too little about him-self. Under the circumstances, vidya,also referred to as education of theself, is a thousand times more valu-able than the rest of our education puttogether.

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vidyam cavidyam ca yastadve-dobhya saha |

avidyaya mrtyum tirtva’mrtamas-nute ||

(Isha-Upanishad, Verse 11)

‘He, who knows both vidya andavidya together, overcomes deaththrough avidya and experiencesimmortality by means of vidya.’

Due to our limited sensory expe-rience and the failings of our educa-tion, we keep feeling and asserting thatthe existence of the universe is total-ly independent of our existence. Wesay, “We come and go, the worldremains”, and so it is a common ten-dency to take the universe as an objec-tive thing totally independent of thesubject that we are. Therefore, webelieve we can change something inthe universe without fundamentallychanging anything in us. We thinkavidya suffices in helping us, inimproving us, in giving us a better life,even if we do not have vidya. So, ourbelief is that something can be bettered‘out there’ without bettering anything‘in here’. And that is how mankind haslargely proceeded — wanting to

improve things outside, it keeps dis-regarding what is happening inside.We don’t seem to realise that the worldout there is the same as, is dependenton, and is organically linked to, whatis within us. This has led to a disregardof, rather contempt of, vidya.

The scriptures say: ‘only when youknow vidya and avidya together, thenyou have known something.’ This is ofutmost importance for both — theseekers of material good, and the seek-ers of spiritual attainment. The mate-rialist has to drop the notion that realmaterial success can be attained with-out spiritual realisation. And the spir-itualist had to drop the notion thatspiritual progress is devoid of allmateriality. The spiritual and materi-al must walk hand in hand. One’smaterial life must be in honest agree-ment with one’s spiritual journey.These inner and the outer must betogether. And when these two aretogether, the Upanishad says, that oneverily conquers all fears and attains atimeless eternality.

We must realise why both avidyaand vidya were considered important.We must also reflect on why vidya iscalled higher learning. This reflectionwill help us see the hidden root of thevarious catastrophic challenges facingus today — be it Climate Change,extinction of species, sectarianism,blind self-destructive consumerism, orthe epidemic onslaught of mentaldisease. We will see that a lot of theseare self-created problems rising froma neglect of vidya or spirituality.

Let us give vidya its due. Let usinvest more of our attention, time andresources towards spiritual learning.Let the study of the highest philoso-phies like Vedanta be institution-alised, let the beautiful songs of thesaints enter mainstream culture. Letthe young and old alike discover thehigher dimension of life. That alonecan save us, and that alone would bea real celebration of Basant Panchami.������������������������������� ��������� ���

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It’s not just you looking for crystals.Sometimes, they’re looking for you. Youmight say, “I don’t think so much. I pick

up a crystal because I think it looks pretty.”That’s perfectly fair and true! Whatevermakes that crystal unique is probably withinyou too, which is why you’re able to recog-nise it. Indeed, every relationship with acrystal is not always about replenishment.It’s about nourishing and celebrating what’salready there, too.

This ‘piecing together’ that takes place atthe time of the first encounter, is the begin-ning of the relationship. It includes the timeyou decide to look up the benefits of crys-tals, to pick the one(s) you want (need?).You can take advice from seasoned crystalworkers; or more experienced family andfriends. They’d also direct you to authenticsources to procure your crystals. As couldyour family jeweller, really!

I personally stay away from direct pur-chases online. Some of them may beundoubtedly genuine, but I prefer the reas-suring energetic exchange with people whohave made crystal therapy of any kind alifestyle choice themselves.

�������������������������It’s good to ‘clear the air’ so that a new

crystal accommodates itself to the vibrationsof your home easily — and to those of othercrystals, if you’ve got them. As such, crystalsare always excited to welcome one of theirown. But being responsive entities, they cantake on each other’s qualities. Clearing theair, by burning incense/loban, smudgingsticks, or essential oil in a diffuser every timea new crystal ‘joins the ranks,’ ensures afresh start. Later, you can figure if your newcrystal needs to be able to hold its own, or ifit can ‘live’ with another that has similarqualities.

���������$������� � �����Some people prefer to work with uncut,

unpolished crystals because their raw energyis desired for its potency. Tumbled crystals— smaller, rounder and polished — are cer-tainly easier to carry around and often whatpeople opt for when new to crystals. Bothkinds work in their own ways. Personally, Iuse larger, raw pieces for the house, smallerraw pieces for meditation and self-work; andI carry tumbled pieces like talismans in mypocket, or bag.

����������������It’s worth the effort to procure a proper

wooden box, with compartments, depend-ing on the number and size of crystals youown. Each one, or each ‘set’ of complemen-tary crystals, can also have its own conve-nient drawstring pouch — cotton/muslin isa great material for this. Additionally, yourcrystal vendor should be able to give youthese small, ring-like bases to prop yourcrystals on when you’re using them. They’reconvenient, especially if the crystals are ball-like in shape.

You need to charge your crystals fromtime to time. Charging enhances the efficacyof crystals. But, it’s about basic respect, notjust about making the stones work likemachines. Even if you’re not using yourcrystals, charging them once every 7-10days, especially during significant lunarphases, is a good way to make them feel athome with you. If you ever feel your crystalsaren’t responding, maybe they’re feelingneglected. I will share the methods torecharge your crystals in the next column.

You don’t need to have a checklist ofcrystals to tick off from. It’s not a competi-tion with other collectors . Above all, pleasedon’t succumb to the ‘holier-than-thou’ trap!I’m often asked, “how will I know if my crys-tals are working?” My answer is, keep work-ing and your crystals will work with and foryou. Respect them. Be still in their presence.Everything will unravel from there.

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�'������������������������������%�&�The pretext (Holocaust) for

the creation of the Zionistregime (Israel) is false. It is a liebased on a mythical claim,” sohad proffered MahmoudAhmadinejad, the thenPresident of Iran, about tenyears ago. To bolster his con-structed narrative, globalexperts were invited to a sem-inar to enlighten an “august”symposium on the subject andto attest to the veracity ofAhmadinejad’s protestation,much to the elation of the gath-ering. Ironically, the conferenceensured that none of theHolocaust survivors attendedthe assembly, neither as aresource person nor as a mem-ber of the audience.

Cut back to India, there hasbeen a new bid to create a nar-rative to discredit the histori-cal facts about the ethniccleansing of Kashmiri Pandits,with stories cropping up abouttheir mass migration fromtheir homeland “at their will”.These stories started appearingsoon after some eminentKashmiri Pandits narratedtheir agony last month on the30th anniversary of the tragedy,with a few experiencing thevicarious fear of the 1989-1990 from the similar “azadi”slogans of the anti-Citizenship(Amendment) Act protesters.

These two examples arenot the work of futile efforts;they itch to weave suitablenarratives that can culminate increating new perceptions at theappropriate time. As perceptiondrives passion stronger thanfacts, vested interests subtlyindulge in management of thepublic perception. Seen in thisperspective, electoral politics ismore about war of perceptionswhich keep on changing.

Therefore, theGovernment’s firm stance onthe CAA, and the “democratic”

protests against the Act and theproposed NRC (NationalRegister of Citizens) are feed-ing two competing percep-tions. In the electoral battle forDelhi, the anti-CAA protest inShaheen Bagh, some say, hasleft Arvind Kejriwal-led AamAadmi Party (AAP) at its wits’end. Those who claim sobelieve that any statement onthe Shaheen Bagh protest ispregnant with risks of beingseen on one or the other side ofthe political binary. Perhaps, theAAP too considers it safe to stay

clear of the anti-CAA protest,fearing it to be a polarisingtopic. The view posits the exis-tence of two preconceived dan-gers: first, there is a communalstreak among the Hindu votersof Delhi; second, the freebies donot hold paramount impor-tance even for the poor and thelower middle class.

Though there is no fool-proof mechanism to discernhow voters’ preference for aparty or a candidate is shapedat the time of voting, prevailingperceptions and the analysis of

the last three elections in thenational Capital can throw lighton the outcome of the February8 Assembly elections. In theDecember 4, 2013, DelhiAssembly polls, the AAP rodeon the Anna Hazare-led anti-graft movement and cashed inon the pent-up frustrationamong the common managainst the alleged corruptionunder the CongressGovernment, both at the Centreand Delhi. The AAP offered anew brand of “clean” politics,and the idea was received

warmly by the voters. Fivemonths later in the 2014 LokSabha elections, the voters choseNarendra Modi as a “strong”Prime Minister after the BJP-ledNDA was successful in manag-ing a public perception about“PM” Manmohan Singh beinga rubber stamp sitting on a cor-rupt Government. In Delhi, allthe seven seats were bagged bythe BJP as perception about theneed for a strong PM dominat-ed all other concerns. However,seven months later in 2015, vot-ers’ preference changed again

and they picked up Kejriwal asthe Chief Minister of Delhiwith a brute majority.

A national election and anAssembly poll present differentaspirations in the minds of thevoters as they are now intelligentenough to distinguish thedefined scope of the local andnational governments.Moreover, the AAPGovernment has alreadyredeemed its poll promises offreebies. When even a hike inonion prices blights theprospects of a political party, few

among the Delhi voters, most ofwhom comprise the poor andthe lower middle class, canafford to forego �2,000-�3,000freebies every month. For onlya small number of the voters —affluent class among non-Muslims — the national issueslike CAA and NRC may holdmore importance for votingpurpose.

Also, as the challenger BJPhas angered the Muslims withthe CAA, the community islikely to vote en masse for theAAP as the Congress, with itssubdued poll campaigning, haseither given up the hope ofregaining ground in Delhi orhas tacitly lying low to make itsvote swing in favour of theAAP to defeat its arch nation-al rival BJP.

Therefore, the AAP seemsto have a bright chance toretain power in Delhi, but itselectoral prospects also dependon the success of its strategicpolitical postures in order toreinforce the desired publicperception about the para-mountcy of “freebies”. More so,because the AAP has got for-midable challenges from theconvinced ideologists spreadingthe word of correcting histori-cal injustice and providing suc-cour to the persecuted non-Muslim minorities in the neigh-bouring Islamic countries.

In such a tense atmos-phere, considering the firingincidents on anti-CAA pro-testers in Jamia and ShaheenBagh on January 30 andFebruary 1 respectively, theperception among the Muslimvoters about Kejriwal’s strate-gic silence on anti-CAAprotests will also determine thepoll outcome.

(The writer is AssociateEditor & News Editor,

The Pioneer)

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As it is over three monthssince the October 31 dead-

line to finalise the Naga PeaceAccord failed, the talksbetween the Centre andNational Socialist Council ofNagaland, Isak-Muivah(NSCN-IM) is shrouded inutter confusion. More so,because there is a trust deficitamong the stakeholders, result-ing in little progress on thepolitical front. On January 30,NSCN-IM leaders led by AtoKilonser and chief negotiatorThuingaleng Muivah openedanother set of peace talks withInterlocutor and Governor RNRavi.

However, senior NSCN-IM leader Kehoi has ques-tioned the intent of the Centre,alleging that the Governmentis misleading the Naga people.In an indirect reaction to threatof resumption of picking up theguns, Governor Ravi, in hisRepublic Day address, saidguns and corruption havetaken toll on the Naga peopleand warned, “I remind themthat violence has never suc-ceeded and shall never suc-ceed… In democratic India, thepeople are supreme. We resolveour differences through peace-ful dialogue, not under theshadow of guns.”

Ironically, the concertedbid to bring a lasting peace inNagaland was one of the firstinitiatives Narendra Modi tookafter becoming Prime Minister.The 2015 accord marked a res-olution of peace talks betweenthe Government of India andthe NSCN-IM that began in1997. However, the peace talksare yet to be concluded.

The issue of Naga integri-ty and independence has achequered past. Its roots go tothe medieval period as docu-mented in Tarikh-e-Aasham byShehabuddin Talesh (one of theMansabdars of Bengal). Backthen, in 1662, members of thisethnic community wereemployed because of theirfighting spirit in the service of

the nawab to fight against theAhom king Jaidhwaj Singha.

Frequent fights took placebetween the Nagas and theAhoms in 1530 and 1692 fortaxation and sovereignty inwhich many Assamese subjectswere killed.

In the following period, theAhom Raja Gadadhar Singhtook revenge and subdued theNagas occasionally but couldnot suppress them in the 17thand 18th centuries as record-ed in the Ahom Buranji.

On the other hand, theroyal chronicle of Manipurknown as CheitharonKumpapa mentioned theannexation of the soon-to-beNaga Hills District in 1832-33by Raja Gambhir Singh, thethen king of Manipur, erectinga stone sculpture at Kohima.This event irked the British.

Following the treaty ofYandabo signed in 1826, theNaga Hills District was formedin 1866 by the BritishGovernment with its head-quarters at Sumuguting. And itbecame part of British India in1879-1880. The British admin-istered it from 1881 onwards.First Deputy Commissionerof the Naga Hills Damant,along with his thirty-five escorttroops, was murdered in 1879by the Khonoma warriorsbecause of the unwelcomedadministrative initiatives,establishment of police outpostand imposition of a house taxof �2.

Divide and quitBritishers followed divide

and rule in most of its colonies,but, at the time of their exitfrom the colony, they adoptedthe strategy of “divide andquit”, (Mohammed Ayoob, TheHindu, November 6, 2019).This was evident from parti-tioning of Ireland (Catholicsand Protestants), India (Hindusand Muslims), and Palestine(Arab Muslims and Jews) in the20th century.

The identity and politicsamong the Nagas dates back to

the days of establishment of theNaga Club in 1918 by Nagaleaders, village officials andFrench Labour Corps whowere First World War veteranswith the aim of addressing thesocial and administrative prob-lems of the villagers.

An unseemly concoctionof missionary, education,Christianity, and war-taughtpolitical awareness drove someNaga men to submit a memo-randum to the famously-and-overwhelmingly-boycotted-by-Indians Simon Commissionin Kohima on January 10, 1929seeking reversion of their polit-ical status through “you werethe only people who have everconquered us and, when you gowe should be as we were”.

Its outcome was that theSimon Commission recom-mended the Government ofIndia Act 1935 treating theNaga Hills District as“Excluded Areas”. In April1945, Sir Charles Pawsey estab-lished an institution known asthe Naga Hills District TribalCouncil that evolved into theNaga National Council (NNC)in 1946 aiming to establish theunity of the Nagas and rejuve-nating the community from thesufferings of the Second WorldWar focusing on the establish-ment of local autonomy with-in the Province of Assam, and

the people’s training for self-Government leading to publi-cation of a newspaper calledNaga Nation for a few years.

In this initiative, AZ Phizo,the father figure of the Nagasecessionist movement, andother Naga leaders of the NNCtook notable roles.

Naga IndependenceIn 1947, a nine-point

memorandum known asHydari Agreement was signedin which the ninth article read“the Governor of Assam as theAgent of the Government ofthe Indian Union which wouldtake the special responsibilityfor a period of ten years toensure the due observance ofthe agreement and the NNCshould be asked at the end ofthis period for further exten-sion or the new agreement con-sidering the future of the Nagapeople”.

This inherently empow-ered the NNC under Phizo’sleadership to declare “NagaIndependence” on August 14,1947. However, this could notbring substantial changes onthe Nagas’ demand of separa-tion from the Indian Unionapparently because of a gap inthe understanding of the spir-it behind the agreement, as feltby GK Pillai, who was in chargeof the North-East affairs (1996-2000) and, later oversaw the

progress of the peace talk as theHome Secretary of India.

After a plebiscite in 1951for over six months, 99 per centof the Nagas sought a referen-dum which did not materialise.And it was after which theyboycotted the General Electionof 1952. In 1955, some of theextremists took to arms thoughthe NNC did not approve it atthat point of time.

In 1956, the NNC set upthe Federal Government ofNagaland represented by a flagwhich is in use till date. Also,it raised its own army calledNaga Safe Guards and anoth-er paramilitary by the nameNaga Home Guard. Its under-ground parliament wasdeclared “unlawful associa-tions” under the UAPA 1967 in1972.

Against the backdrop ofthis development, what came asa surprise then was that fol-lowers of the Naga movement’sinvolvement in the GeneralElection of 1957. Their threenominated members wereelected unopposed and one ofthem became a DeputyMinister.

Social engineering ofthe Nagas

Even with centuries-longhistory, the idea of Naga hasremained controversial. Forthe integration of the Nagas,

former four-time CM ofManipur and ParliamentarianRishang Keishing, a ManipuriTangkhul Naga with lifelongallegiance to the IndianNational Congress, initiatedan agreement signed in 1972between the then United NagaIntegration Council (whichlater gave birth to the NSCN)and the Congress.

This agreement recognisedthe vision of a Greater Nagalim,a region that would integrateNagaland and the Naga-popu-lated districts of Manipurunder one administration,much to the chagrin ofManipuris.

However, this stand lefthim in a vulnerable position ashe was made to resign from theCM-ship for his support to theNagas for Nagalim even as hewanted it within the confine-ment of Indian Constitution.

Secondly, several attemptswere made to murder him bythe NSCN, led by fellowTangkhul man ThuingalengMuivah. His body was evendenied a burial place in hishometown of Ukhrul.Similarly, another CM ofManipur Yangmaso Shaizafrom the same Tangkhul tribeto which Keishing and Muivahbelong was murdered by theMuivah-led NSCN for hisopposition to the GreaterNagalim demand outside thepurview of the IndianConstitution. SC Jamir, theformer three-time CM ofNagaland, Governor of Odishaand a signatory to the 16-point agreement in July 1960that paved the way forNagaland creation, recentlyopined that the Nagas outsideNagaland are indigenous totheir own State.

This came as a setback tothe current peace process thataims to integrate all the Nagas,close to 89 tribes as of 2015,under one political unit. PradipPhanjoubam, the acclaimedjournalist from Manipur,recently quipped in his piece

published in The Hindu that“all notions of unique historiesand ancestral homelands willneed moderation” against thebackdrop of the tumultuousevents, competing interests,infighting, multiple factions,fratricide, forced assimilation,identity re-construction/colonisation, etc, which arecommon to all armed struggles.

Apparently, the mostaccepted meaning of the word“Naga” is people, and the imag-ined nation of the Nagas is anoutcome of the voluntary orotherwise integration of mul-tiple “peoples” at least inManipur through the efforts ofthe main outfit NSCN (IM)using various non-inclusivemeans.

The villages in the remoteareas of Manipur will never bedeveloped as the existingarrangement of AutonomousDistrict Council has failed todo much for them owing tovarious reasons, corruptionbeing the major, even thoughthe instrument was created totake development to the lastperson in the village.

Many of the people in theremote villages still live close tothe state of nature which is themain reason why they do notlike to be represented, ruled orsuppressed by others, includingthe NSCN (IM).

In the proposed settle-ment, a time-framed industri-alisation and development in10 years are to be broughtabout. Will those people evolveto the state of civilisation in 10years because of pumping in offunds? Has anyone thoughtabout the tenability and cost ofsuch a fast-paced develop-ment?

(Md Chingiz Khan is aPhD Scholar at the Centre forHistorical Studies, JawaharlalNehru University, New Delhi,and Mohammad Imtiyaj Khanis an Assistant Professor atGauhati University, Guwahati,Assam.)

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My secretary ushered in a seem-ingly gangster character to mychamber, making me wonder

what he had come for. “How can I helpyou?” I asked. “Sir, I have come for anastrological consultation. I don’t have myactual birth time. It is somewherebetween 13.30 to 14.00 hrs. Your secre-tary tells me that you need to figure outthe exact time of birth, before she candraw my chart,” the man replied.

Having ascertained his particulars, Imade a ruling planet chart at that partic-ular moment. Based on that, I fixed histime of birth at 13.29 hrs. “How couldyou arrive at my exact time of birth soquickly? And how authentic is that?”asked the young man. “My friend, thereremains continuum in time. Remember,what you encounter this particularmoment is the culmination of the doingsin the past. And this moment carries theseeds of how things are expected toevolve in future. Going by this gnosis,the ruling planets at the moment of con-sultation should match the one at thetime of your birth. This is the premiseon which the Krishnamurty system ofastrology rectifies time of one’s birth. Wethen try to cross check whether the

chart drawn reflects major happeningsin the past. This is a well provenmethod.

Based on observations of the chartdrawn at the corrected time of his birth,I then asked him a few questions: Areyou eccentric by nature? Do you have afixated one-track mind, often stuck toyour own perceptions, no matter howdelusionary or realistic it might be? Onslightest provocation, do you get intofighting mode? Did you leave your edu-cation unfinished? Have you been everassociated with criminal activity? Youare highly egotistical, not open to lookbeyond your own perceptions? Have youever been to jail? “Yes, that’s all true. ButI have since changed myself, and nowsingle pointedly pursue my business,” heanswered. I, then, asked him time boundquestions? How good or bad was closeto your 22nd year? What good initiativeyou took at the age of 26-27? “Sir, 21stand 22nd years were horrible. Duringthe 26th year, I formed an all Indiaorganisation, and a year later I tookbusiness initiative,” the man responded.

So, his chart reflected with precisionnot only his inherent personality traitsbut also important happenings in the

past stood true to the callings of thetimeline arrived out from the chart. Letus now look at the astrological pointersto above. The Sun placed adverse toUranus speaks of his eccentric nature; toNeptune makes him stuck to his delu-sionary perceptions; and to Jupiterreflects his inflated ego. The lagna lordand the mind signifying Moon thoughexalted but occupying the nakshatraowned by the Sun, too, resonates latter’straits. Mercury placed adverse to Saturnaccounts for fixated one-track mind.Saturn and Mars are together, with latterconjunct erratic Rahu. Both Mars andRahu occupy the nakshatra owned byMoon, the lagna lord. That makes himtemperamental, irritable, haughty, intol-erant and impatient. Also, it makes himsusceptible to criminal association. 12thsub-lord Venus occupies the nakshatraowned by Mars, which is conjunct Rahu.Association of the 12th cusp to Rahumakes one vulnerable to imprisonment.4th house marked with formal educationseems to be clouded, being the reasonfor his incomplete education. For, in thefirst place, 4th lord Venus is ill-disposedoff to the Sun. Second, the 4th cusp sub-lord Mercury occupying its own naksha-tra, happens to be the 3rd lord, whichbeing 12th from 4th serves as contra-

indicative to education prospects. Now about the events, during 21-

22nd year, the 10th cusp would haveprogressed close to natal Moon, whichbeing ill-disposed to mischievousNeptune, had put him under greatstrain. The natal Sun being 26 degreesbehind the 10th cusp, would progress atthat age on latter’s axis, is how he couldestablish an all India organisation andtook business initiative. All these vindi-cate efficacy of the system put to use.

The question now is, despite all neg-ative traits, what brought about positivechange in him. Wisdom oriented Jupiteroccupying intelligence signifyingMercury owned sign, made him self-reflect and take corrective steps.Remember, ego, which would be other-wise limiting, if given a positive turn canprove equally rewarding. Also, bear inmind; human beings enjoy the exclusiveprivilege to guide their actions by choiceand discrimination. So, once someonemakes a conscientious choice to reformoneself, he can transcend all odds.

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