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Truth PrevailRNI No:JKENG/2012/47637

Email:truthprevail911@gmail.com

POSTAL REGD NO-JK/485/2016-18

Internet Editionwww.truthprevail.com

Epaper:epaper.truthprevail.com

VOL: 9 Issue: 18 JAMMU AND KASHMIR, TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020 DAILY PAGES 12 Rs. 2/-

3Union MoS Sarangi dedicates severaldevelopment project to rural populace

5Panther leaders being threatened to desistfrom seeking Delimitation : Harsh

12V.K Singh conducts public interactionprogramme at Tikri Udhampur

There is no doubt Dhoni will be retained byCSK in 2021 : N Srinivasan

InsideInside

Srinagar, January 20 :Miscreants on Mondayhurled a petrol bomb atsecurity forces in Jammuand Kashmir's Pulwama dis-trict but there was no dam-age done, police said.

The petrol bomb waslobbed towards a CRPFbunker at Newa in PulwamaMonday evening, a policeofficial said. He said therewas no loss of life or injuryin the explosion.

Petrol bomb hurled at

CRPF bunker in Pulwama,

no damage done

New Delhi, January 20 :The Shiromani Akali Dalwill not contest the forth-coming Delhi AssemblyElections, scheduled forFebruary 8.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa,sitting MLA from RajouriGarden, said, "We haveopted out as we refused tochange our stand on includ-ing Muslims in CitizenshipAmendment Act."

SAD president SukhbirSingh Badal's stand wasquestioned by the alliancepartner the BJP."We werequestioned on SAD leader-ship's stand on theCitizenship Amendment Actand were told at three meet-ings that this was not theBJP stand." "The party wasasked to reconsider the standon including Muslims in theCAA. We have not budged.Our stand is clear that coun-try cannot be divided on thebasis of religion. The AkaliDal does not favour theNational Register ofCitizens (NRC)," Sirsa said.

He was accompanied byHarmeet Singh Kalka, presi-dent of SAD Delhi unit.

The two parties werebelieved to be having aninternal tussle over nomina-tions, specifically over whatsymbol four Akali candi-dates must contest.

SAD not to contest

Delhi polls, were

asked to reconsider

position on CAA: Sirsa

New Delhi : BrahMos,world's fastest cruise mis-sile, is likely to be suppliedto a third country with thecontract for the same mostprobably to be signed some-time in April or May 2020.The supersonic missilecapable of flying at Mach 3(over 3704 kilometres perhour) is an India-Russiaventure and can be launchedfrom land, ship as well as anaircraft.

"We expect (signing theagreement) sometime inApril or May," the ChiefGeneral Manager(Marketing, Promotion andExport) of BrahMosAerospace Praveen Pathakwas quoted as saying byRussian news agency TASS.However, Pathak did notmention the country orcountries interested in buy-ing BrahMos although headded that talks are current-ly underway with someprospective buyers.

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export order soon,

deal likely by

April-May 2020

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Srinagar, January 20 :Director General of Jammuand Kashmir Police DilbaghSingh on Monday supportedthe idea of setting up deradi-calisation centres for youth,who have gone astray, in thetrouble torn union territory.

“In recent times, therehave been lot of efforts fromPakistan and its agencies tospur radicalisation in thisarea, some of our youngminds have been affected byit and have gone astray. Ifsuch a facility (deradicalisa-tion centre) comes up, itshould be welcomed,” DGPSingh told reporters here.

He said some of the youth,who have been caught bypolice, did not seem to talksense sometimes. “At ourend, when we have got holdof such youth, they don’tseem to talk much sense attimes,” he said.

Singh said if an attempt ismade to set up a facilitywhere experts in the subjectand religious experts are partof it, it will help these youth.“It will be a good develop-ment and it should be wel-come,” the DGP said.

The idea of setting upderadicalisation centres forthe misguided youth inKashmir was first mooted byChief of Defence StaffGeneral Bipin Rawat, leading

to criticism from some quar-ters.

DGP on sacked policeofficer Davinder Singh

The DGP also maintainedthat there was no bar oninvestigating past crimescommitted by sacked policeofficer Davinder Singh.

“There is no bar on inves-tigating any complaintsagainst him (Davinder Singh)if we receive a formal com-plaint,” the DGP toldreporters.

He was responding to a

question about reports that thesacked police officer hadcommitted several illegal actsin early years of his career butthose acts were overlooked.

A senior police officerposted with the strate-gic anti-hijackingteam at the Srinagarairport, DavinderSingh was arrestedalong with two terror-ists whom he wasallegedly ferrying in acar in Kashmir Valley.

“You are talkingabout incidents oflong ago. The officersconcerned at that time

must have looked into it. Butthere is no bar on investigat-ing if something comes to thefore formally,” he said.

Asked if the arrested DSPhad named other policemenwho were in league with him,the DGP said the investiga-tion into the case was goingon and it was not proper forhim to comment.

“There might be more dis-closures in the coming timeswe will share with you but forthe time being, we cannotcomment on it,” he added.

New Delhi : The speciali-ty of the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) is to run its pro-ceedings democratically,asserted Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Monday,adding that his government ishere to serve the nation for along time. The PM wasspeaking during the felicita-tion program of newly-elect-ed BJP national president JPNadda at the BJP headquar-ters in New Delhi.

"It has been BJP's special-ity to run its proceedingsdemocratically. We're nothere for a short while, we'rehere to serve mother India fora long time. BJP has widenedits reach under Shri AmitShah's tenure as NationalPresident of the party," saidPM Modi.

He said that under theleadership of Nadda, the partywill move forward with itscore values. The PM cau-tioned that the "BJP may facemore difficulty in the futureand we must be ready". "I'msure that under the leadership

of JP Nadda party will moveforward with its core values.The BJP may face more diffi-

culty in the future and wemust be ready. According tothe needs and desires of thenation, moulding the workersand taking India ahead is ourtarget," said PM Modi.

The PM also said, "NaddaJi's leadership will give usnew energy, hope, and inspi-ration. We must ensure that heis successful. Whatever he

asks for, we must deliver. As aparty worker, we must walkwith our core values in the

journey ahead with love forour motherland."

Taking a jibe at theOpposition, PM Modi assert-ed that those who were reject-ed by the public in electionshave been left with very fewweapons, one of them is tospread 'misinformation'."There are people who dislikethe principles which guide us.

Our problems aren't becausewe're doing somethingwrong, it's because people ofthis country are blessing us.Those rejected by the publicin elections are left with veryfew weapons, one of them is-spread 'misinformation',"added PM Modi.

He also said, "I am confi-dent that under his leadership,the party will go ahead byabiding its basic principlesand ideologies. We will haveto face more challenges thanwhat we faced as a politicalparty in the opposition. He isan old friend.

A party worker walksahead with the duties given tohim and shoulders his respon-sibilities to the best of hisabilities. I have seen himdoing that very well."

PM Modi also added,"From the beginning itself,the party has had the tendencyto expand horizontally withthe vertical development ofthe workers - the workers ofthe party develop and theparty expands."

Srinagar, January 20 :Three Hizbul Mujahideen ter-rorists, including a policedeserter, were killed in anencounter with securityforces in Shopian district of

Jammu and Kashmir onMonday, the police said.

Security forces launched acordon and search operationin Wacchi area of Shopiandistrict following informationabout presence of terroriststhere, a police official said.

He said the terrorists wereasked to surrender but theyopened fire towards securityforces’ positions.

“In the ensuing encounter,three terrorists of HizbulMujahideen were killed,” theofficial said.

One of the slain terroristswas been identified as Adil

Ahmad, a special police offi-cer who had deserted theforce in 2018 and decampedwith seven AK assault riflesfrom the official residence ofthen MLA Wacchi AijazAhmad Mir from JawaharNagar area of the city, theofficial said.

The identification of theother two terrorists is beingascertained, he added.

New Delhi : Securityagencies have launched sev-eral raids in three states toavert terror attacks in a fewmajor cities. The raids areintended to neutralise sleepercells in Tamilnadu,Karnataka, andMaharashtra onthe inputs givenby the Centrali n t e l l i g e n c eagencies.

Accord ingto intelligenceinput, terroristswere hatchingplots to targetmajor cities inthe country.

R e c e n t l y ,more than 12 suspects weretaken into custody fromTamil Nadu and Karnataka.These terror suspects, whowere trained to carry outattacks on individuals andvital establishments, werearrested from Delhi,Bengaluru, Udupi, Mumbai,and Ahmedabad.

Two modules comprisingat least a dozen youth indoc-trinated with jihadi ideology,

prepared to launch a fidayeenattack, were in touch with aforeign handler, informed topgovernment sources.

Earlier on January 9, theSpecial Cell of Delhi Policehad arrested three suspected

terrorists who allegedly set aneye to attack in New Delhiand Uttar Pradesh. Thearrests were made after anexchange of fire between thepolice and suspects inWazirabad in Delhi.

The three men arrestedwere identified as KhajaMoideen (52), Syed AliNavas (32), and Abdul Samad(28) were allegedly inspiredby the Islamic State (IS).

JP Nadda elected BJP presidentNew Delhi, January 20 :

Jagat Prakash Nadda waselected unopposed as theBJP’s national president onMonday, taking over the reinsfrom Amit Shah whose tenureof five-and-a-half years sawthe party turning into a formi-dable election-winningmachinery despite occasionalsetbacks.

The 59-year-old leaderfrom Himachal Pradesh isseen as an affable and low-key politician who enjoys thetrust of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and theRSS—the BJP’s ideologicalmentor. He is largely expect-ed to continue with the courseit took under Shah, with Modilaying out the broader agen-da. The Delhi Assembly elec-tion is the first challenge for

Nadda, who has been touringthe National Capital exten-sively as the Bharatiya JanataParty works overtime to oustthe Aam Aadmi Party frompower. BJP leader RadhaMohan Singh, who was thein-charge of the organisation-al election process, made theannouncement of Nadda’selection as the party’s 11thpresident after he emerged asthe only nominee in the fray.

Modi later arrived at theparty headquarters to felici-tate the newly-elected presi-dent at a ceremony that wasattended by members of theBJP parliamentary board, itshighest body, and veteranslike L K Advani and MurliManohar Joshi.

Earlier, Shah was joinedby senior party leaders,

including Union ministersRajnath Singh and NitinGadkari, besides severalfunctionaries from state unitsin filing nominations in sup-port of Nadda.

BJP chief ministers likeYogi Adityanath of UttarPradesh and Vijay Rupani ofGujarat were also at the partyheadquarters to endorse hisbid.Nadda’s elevation was onexpected lines since hisappointment as the BJP work-ing president last June afterShah joined the Modi govern-ment as the home minister.The BJP has traditionallyabided by the norm of ‘oneparty one post’.

BJP leaders hailed theappointment, expressing con-fidence that the party wouldachieve new successes under

his leadership.Shah congratulated Nadda

and expressed confidence thatunder the new BJP presidentand the guidance of Modi, theparty will scale new heightsof success and grow fromstrength to strength.

Wishing Nadda a success-ful tenure, Rajnath Singhsaid: “I am confident theparty will achieve new gloryand success under his leader-ship. Known for his organisa-tional experience Naddaji hasalways been an asset to theparty.” Gadkari said the ele-vation of Nadda, who startedas a common party workerand rose through its ranks,shows that the BJP was anorganisation of workersunlike parties run by dynas-ties.

Davos, January 20 : TheInternational Monetary Fundhas lowered India’s growthestimate for 2019 sharply to4.9 per cent, and called it oneof the "negative surprises"last year.The latest cut fol-lows a downward trend whichreduced India's growth to 6.1per cent in October.

IMF's World EconomicOutlook (WEO) blamedIndia's economic slowdownfor a "lion's share" of the 0.1per cent cut in the global eco-nomic growth projections forlast year to 2.9 per cent and to3.3 per cent for the currentyear from those made inOctober. It also cut the globaleconomic projections for2021 by 0.2 per cent to 3.4 percent."A more subdued growth

forecast for India accounts forthe lion's share of the down-ward revisions," the IMF said.

The IMF has also project-ed the country’s growth in2020 at 5.8 per cent and in2021 at 6.5 per cent. It proj-ects India to be the secondfastest-growing major econo-my this year and the next,behind China's 6.1 this yearand 6.4 next year.

“A more subdued growthforecast for India accounts forthe lion's share of the down-ward revisions," the IMF said.

It also projected slowergrowth rate globally—its newprojections estimate growth at2.9 per cent in 2019, 3.3 percent in 2020 and 3.4 per centin 2021.

Ahead of the inaugural of

the World Economic Forum(WEF) annual summit here,IMF Managing DirectorKristalina Georgieva said thefund’s simplest advice to pol-icymakers is that they shouldkeep doing what works.

She cautioned that every-one must be ready to act againand immediately in a coordi-nated manner if growthbegins to slow down again.

Noting that a turning pointis yet to be reached, the IMFsaid it was slightly revisingdownwards the growth out-look for the global economy.

Fundamental issues ofreform in trade systems stillthere and we have seen therehave been some develop-ments in the Middle East,Georgieva.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY20 : With an intend to inviteinvestments to the newlyformed UT of Jammu &Kashmir, the three-day GlobalInvestors' Summit 2020 isscheduled in the year 2020which will be held in Srinagarand Jammu. The Pre-SummitInvestors' Meet & Curtain-Raiser of the event held in NewDelhi on 20th January.

Dr Jitendra Singh, Ministerof State (Independent Charge),Ministry of Development ofNorth Eastern Region, Ministerof State, Prime Minister'sOffice, Government of India;Shri Girish Chandra Murmu,Lieutenant Governor, UT ofJammu & Kashmir; ShriKewal Kumar Sharma, Advisorto Lieutenant Governor, J&K;Shri B V R Subrahmanyam,Chief Secretary were present atthe event.

This event showcases poli-

cy and regulatory environment,investment opportunities infourteen focus sectors to boostmanufacturing and employ-ment generation in the region.More than 350 delegates fromvarious sectors and leadingorganisations participated inthe event and more than 45B2G meetings took place.

The aim of the upcomingGlobal Investors' Summit 2020is to exhibit the differentinvestment opportunities avail-able in the newly formed UT ofJ&K in different sectors includ-ing Tourism, Film Tourism,Horticulture & Post HarvestManagement, Agro and FoodProcessing, Mulberry produc-tion for silk, Health &P h a r m a c e u t i c a l s ,Manufacturing, IT/ ITes,Renewable Energy,Infrastructure and Real Estate,Handloom and Handicraft andEducation. Currently,

Government of J&K is devel-oping 2 IT parks, ICD inSamba and have identifiedindustrial land bank of over6000 acre across 20 districts to

develop State-of-the-ArtIndustrial Parks. Also, the J&KGovernment has removed thetoll barrier to enable seamlessinward and outward movementof raw materials and goods.

During the pre-summit

investor's meet & curtain-rais-er, the state film along with thefocus sector profiles and poli-cies were introduced by ShriManoj Kumar Dwivedi,

C o m m i s s i o n e r / S e c r e t a r yIndustries & Commerce, J&Kwith the focus on the theme tagline; Explore (the opportunitiesin industries, infrastructure,policies in the region), Invest(in the new and existing invest-

ment options); Grow (prospervia incentives and strategicadvantages in key sectors).

On the occasion, LieutenantGovernor of J&K, Shri GirishChandra Murmu said, “Inspiredby the Prime Minister’s visionof organizing the GlobalInvestors’ Summit in Gujarat,the J&K Government took adecision of showcasing J&K’spotential for investmentthrough a summit. The GlobalInvestors’ Meet, with the themeof EXPLORE, INVEST &GROW, is a platform that willbring together senior entrepre-neurs, leaders from corporatesector across the country, sen-ior policymakers, developmentagencies, investors from acrossthe world and local business-men. We intend to take a leapforward in making Jammu andKashmir an economic paradisefor investors and I would like toinvite you all to take the lead in

setting up your enterprises inJammu & Kashmir”.

He also added, "Today’sPre-Summit Investors’Interaction has been organizedto deliberate with you all ondesired initiatives for creatingan investor-friendly ecosystemand make you interested inJ&K. I have brought along sen-ior officers from theGovernment to discuss thesefurther with you during the restof the day".Shri Jitendra Singhcongratulated LieutenantGovernor of J&K, Shri GirishChandra Murmu for takingsuch initiative at the right timeand right place. He said, “PrimeMinister’s indulgence in theJ&K region is leading to a lotof development in various sec-tors”. Shri B V RSubrahmanyam, ChiefSecretary, Jammu & Kashmir,said, “ Jammu & Kashmir is lit-tle known about the places

except what we have seen inthe films, it is quite differentwhat we know. J&K is not abackward place but it has thebrightest and skilled people. Ihave read in a book that, peoplein J&K don’t die from the dis-ease but from the old age. 90%of Apples are produced in thecountry which makes it numberone in India”.

Key government officialslike Shri Ravinder Kumar, MD,JKTPO and many other promi-nent dignitaries were present atthe event.

The event was organised byJammu and Kashmir TradePromotion Organization(JKTPO), a nodal agency forGovernment of J&K along withMedia PartnerP r i c e w a t e r h o u s e C o o p e r s(PwC), Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) as the NationalPartner and Ernst & Young asthe knowledge partner.

BJP's speciality is to run its proceedings democratically,we're here to serve India for a long time : PM Modi

J-K DGP supports setting up ofderadicalisation centres

Three Hizbul Mujahideen terroristskilled in encounter in J-K’s Shopian

Raids launched to avert terror attacksin major cities of 3 states

IMF cuts India's growth rate to 4.8%,calls it 'negative surprise'

Pre-summit investors’ meet & curtain raiser, J&K Global Investors’ Summit 2020

New Delhi : Reaching outto students across the countryin exam season, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onMonday said good marks inexams are not everything andalso suggested that homesshould have a "technologyfree" room where those enter-ing can't carry any gadgets.

Addressing students dur-ing a "Pariksha Pe Charcha"programme, the prime minis-ter sought to speak to them intheir own language and saidhis conversations with themwill be "hashtag without fil-ter".

"Speak to me hashtagwithout filter," he said at theinteraction held at theTalkatora Stadium here.

In the event, telecast andstreamed live, Modi saideveryone should keep abreastof the latest technology butstressed that it should not beallowed to govern lives.

"We should have thestrength to keep technologyunder our control and ensureit does not waste our time.One room in our homes

should be technology free.Whoever enters will not carryany gadgets," he told stu-dents.

Assuring students of hiscomplete focus, Modi saidthey could speak to himopenly.

The prime minister alsourged students to spend theirspare time with the elderly.

He said students shouldnot be afraid of failure andtake it as a part of life.

"I was told I shouldn'tattend Chandrayaan landingas there was no guarantee ofsuccess but I needed to bethere," the prime ministersaid, recalling the failed land-ing of the Chandrayaan-2mission's Vikram lander.

Good marks in exams arenot everything, he told thestudents.

"We have to come out ofthe thinking that exams areeverything," the prime minis-ter said.

The prime minister high-lighted the importance of tak-ing on extra-curricular activi-ties and said there is a grow-

ing tendency among parentsto push their children intoactivities considered "glam-orous".

"Parents should take timeout to find out what theirchildren want to do instead ofpushing them into activitiesthat are considered glam-orous which they can discussin their conversations withtheir friends," he said.

Modi also said childrenshould be "pursued not pres-sured into studies" and rec-ommended that students readhis book, "Exam Warriors",to get over the stress ofappearing for exams.

"The way ahead lies inpursuing, not pressurisingchildren. Inspire children todo things that bring out theirinner potential," he said.

He urged the students tobe confident about their ownpreparation.

"Do not enter the examhall with any sort of pressure.Do not worry about what theothers are doing. Have faithin yourself and focus on whatyou've prepared," he said.

PM tells students good marks not everything,suggests technology free room in every home

Member Secretary J&K SLSA visits Ahata-e-WaqarJAMMU, JANUARY 20

: Member Secretary, J&KState Legal ServicesAuthority M.K Sharma alongwith Secretary District LegalServices Authority, JammuNaushad Ahmed Khan todayvisited a day care and recre-ation centre Ahata-e-Waqarfor senior citizens at LowerRoop Nagar, Jammu.

Member Secretarychecked the rooms andaccommodation with otherfacilities including lodging,nutrition and hygiene being

provided to the senior citizensby the Social WelfareDepartment.

The Member Secretarywas presented a memorandum

containing the demands andrequirements which are pend-ing from the authorities con-cerned.

Member Secretary gave a

patient hearing to the mem-bers and said that the centrewill be provided with all sup-port to be well equipped withall modern facilities.

Superintendent, BlindSchool, Dr. Dheeraj who ishaving additional charge ofAhata-e-Waqar apprised theMember Secretary about thefacilities to the senior citizensand other facilities beingrequired for them.

The senior citizens of thecentre also presented clothbags to the guests.

DC Samba finalizes Republic Day arrangementsSAMBA, JANUARY 20 :

District DevelopmentCommissioner samba RohitKhajuria today convened ameeting of district officers tochalk out the final arrange-ments for peaceful andcolourful celebrations of theforthcoming Republic Day on26th January 2020.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice Samba, Shakti Pathak,Additional DeputyCommissioner Vikas Gupta,Assistant Commissioner,Revenue KulbhushanKhajuria, District InformaticsOfficer Sanjeev Kapoor,District panchayat officer,Chief Education Officersamba, Chief Medical Officer,Executive Engineers PWD(R&B), PHE and PDDDivision Samba, besides otherDistrict and Sector Officerswere also present in the meet-ing. It was informed in themeeting, that the main func-tion will be organized in the

Sports Stadium Samba whereVVIP will unfurl theTricolour and take the salute

of the March past contingentsof JKP, JKAP, CRPF, FPF,NCC and school children at09:55 Hours, besides a

colourful cultural programmerepresenting ethos of our stateand district shall also be pre-

sented by the school children.For the general supervi-

sion of the necessary arrange-ments, various Committees

including screening commit-tee for cultural items, paradesquads committee, venuemanagement committee, hos-pitality and protocol commit-tee, prize selection committeewere constituted under theoverall supervision of theAdditional DeputyCommissioner Samba inclu-sive of officers from Police,Army, PWD and otherDepartments.

Various other necessaryarrangements were also dis-cussed in the meeting whichincluded detailed securityplan, drinking water facility atthe venue, cleanliness andsanitation, seating arrange-ment, traffic management,power supply etc.

DC directed the concernedofficers to ensure better coor-dination for making effectivearrangements pertaining totheir departments for makingNational function a grand suc-cess.

KISHTWAR, JANU-ARY : District DevelopmentCommissioner Kishtwar,Angrez Singh Rana todayinaugurated cricket tourna-ment organised by JK Policeunder civic action plan 2020at Chowgan Ground. SSPKishtwar, Dr. Harmeet SinghMehta, Brigadier 9 RRVikrim Bhan besides otherofficer of Army, CRPF,Police and staff members ofSports department along withlarge number of people werepresent on the occasion.

DDC Kishtwar inaugu-rates cricket tournament

DODA, JANUARY 20 :District administration in col-laboration with ICDSDepartment Doda todayorganized a pledge ceremonybased on the theme 'Save andEducate Girl Child' and sig-natory campaign as a part ofthe week long Beti BachaoBeti Padhao campaign atSports Stadium Doda.

Additional DeputyCommissioner Doda KishoriLal Sharma was the chiefguest on the occasion.

Hundreds of studentsincluding boys and girls, offi-cers/officials of districtadministration participated inthe program, besides manygirl students highlighted theimportance of the schemewhich aims at empowermentof women in general and girlchild in particular.

Speaking on the occasion,ADC Doda highlighted theimportance of educating andsecuring girl child and urgedfor strict enforcement of rele-vant rules and regulations.

ADC also convened ameeting of District LevelTask Force Committee to dis-cuss several activities to becarry out across the districtduring this upcoming week,which will put special focuson generating awarenessregarding various laws meantwelfare of girl child.

Senior officers of the con-cerned departments werepresent on the occasion.

Beti Bachao BetiPadhao campaignkick starts in Doda

RAMBAN, JANUARY20 : District DevelopmentCommissioner Nazim ZaiKhan and officers of theDistrict Administrationaccorded warm send-off toAssistant CommissionerRevenue Harbans Sharmawho has been transferred asJoint Director EducationDepartment Jammu. Speakingon the occasion, DDCrecalled that Harbans Sharmaduring his tenure of almostone year as ACR in theDistrict and also praised aboutthe working capacity of out-going officer and hail his con-tribution to serve the public.

Ramban Administrationaccords fair well to ACR

Harbans Sharma

BARAMULLA, JANU-ARY 20 : DeputyCommissioner Baramulla DrG N Itoo today convened ameeting of officers to consti-tute Monitoring Committeesat Sub-division and Tehsillevel with the mandate tomonitor the snow clearancemeasures and restoration ofessential services in the dis-trict.

The meeting was informedthat the committees at the Subdivisional level willbe headedby the concerned ADC andSDM while at Tehsil level itwill be chaired by concerned

Tehsildar.Speaking on the occasion,

the DC asked the nominatedofficers to work in coordina-tion so that the people maynot face any inconvenience.He also directed to put inplace a viable mechanismwith regard to the snow clear-ance by mobilize men andmachinery.

Meanwhile, it wasinformed that round the clockcontrol rooms have beenestablished at Sub-divisionand Tehsil levels where peo-ple can register their com-plaints and grievances.

SE PDD, ACR, SDMs,EXNs of PDD, PHE and otherline departments, Tehsildarsother concerned officersattended the meeting.

Later, the DC chaired aseparate meeting of con-cerned SDMs, Tehsildars andother executive magistrates todiscuss various measures withregard to timely restoration ofessential services.

The DC directed the mag-istrates to intensify marketchecking to curb the menaceof profiteering, hoarding andblack marketing in the dis-trict.

Sub-division, Tehsil level MonitoringCommittees constituted in B’la

Committees to monitor snow clearances,restoration of essential services

SRINAGAR, JANUERY20 : Director Horticulture,Kashmir Ajaz Ahmad Bhattoday inaugurated FruitPreservation and UtilizationExtension Centre in Budgam.

Joint Director HorticultureKashmir, Chief Horticultureofficer, District HorticultureOfficer, Budgam and otherfield functionaries of thedepartment were present.

Speaking on the occasion,the director directed for con-ducting short duration train-ing programmes to motivateyouth towards food process-ing sector.

He asked the fruit growersand youth to avail benefits of

the Centrally SponsoredSchemes for establishing fruitand vegetable processing

units. On the occasion, thedirector distributed 20 author-

ity letters for procurement ofmachinery under MIDHScheme for applicants.

Dir Horti inaugurates Fruit Preservation &Utilization Extension Centre in Budgam

Urges youth to avail govt schemes to establish units

JAMMU, JANUARY 20: Jammu Tawi Golf Course(JTGC) today organized GolfCaddies “Republic Cup -2020” here today. It is the first

tournament of its kind sincethe inception of JTGC.

32 Caddies of JTGC par-ticipated in the tournament,who were divided into 8 four-balls.

Complimenting the win-ner, runner up and other play-ers who were adjudged thebest in different categoriesand participants, SecretaryJTGC Lal Chand said that theaim of organizing this tourna-ment was to provide a plat-form to caddies to showcase

their talent. He said thatCaddie is a significant partwho plays a vital role in thegame of Golf and its promo-tion, adding that such tourna-

ments would also be organ-ized in future for providingplatform and exposure to theCaddies.

Later, trophies, mementosand certificates were present-ed to winner, runner-up andother players who wereadjudged best in different cat-egories.

The overall winner trophywas shared by KhaddamHussain and MuzaffarHussain while as JatinSharma and Sohan Lal were

adjudged as 1st and 2nd run-ner-up respectively.

Similarly, MuzaffarHussain bagged the award forthe Straight Drive, while as

Longest Drive award andNearest to the Pin award wentto Arshad Ahmad andMashooq Hussain respective-ly.

Trophies were also pre-sented to players who playedthe best among each four-ball category. These includeKhaddam Hussain, ArshadAhmad, Zakir Hussain, AbidHussain, Muzaffar Hussain,Asif Hussain, Jatin Sharma,Rohit Gupta and SaddarDin.

JTGC organizes Golf CaddiesRepublic Cup -2020

TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 20202 SPECIAL

Listing Mughal gardens on UNESCo’s World Heritage Sites

Div Com chairs meeting to discusspreparation of nomination dossier

SRINAGAR, JANUARY20 : The DivisionalCommissioner Kashmir,Baseer Ahmad Khan todayconvened a meeting to discussthe preparation of nominationdossier for listing of Mughalgardens on UNESCO’s list ofWorld Heritage Sites.

The meeting was attendedby Director Archives,Archaeology & Museums,Muneer-ul-Islam; DeputyDirector Archives,Archaeology & Museums,Mushtaq Ahmed Beigh;Conservation Architect &Historic Building consultant,Abha Narain Lambah andExecutive Director KnightFrank, Deben Moza.

Abha Narain Lambah isthe project consultant for thepreparation of nominationdossier.

During the first meeting onthe subject, threadbare discus-sions were held on various

aspects that need to be lookedinto while preparing dossier.

Project consultant, AbhaNarain Lambah gave a

detailed presentation regard-ing how to prepare a nomina-tion dossier.She informed themeeting that among 38 WorldHeritage Sites located inIndia, J&K has no such site in

UNESCO’s list.To be included in the

World Heritage list, she said,the sites must be of outstand-

ing universal value andshould meet the selection cri-teria. She further said that sheis hopeful about listing ofJ&K’s Mughals gardens asWorld Heritage Site given

their rich natural and culturalheritage. The Div Comassured that all the necessarysupport will be provided by

the divisional administrationin this regard and directed theconcerned departments tocooperate and provide neces-sary information for the for-mulation of the dossier.

Education, health & employment mainfocus of govt : Arjun Munda at Reasi

REASI, JANUARY 20 :Union Minister for TribalAffairs, Arjun Munda todaysaid that advancement of edu-cation, health and employ-ment sectors are main focusareas of centre government'sdevelopment plan.

Chairing a public outreachmeeting here at STC Talwarain block Pouni, during hisvisit to this mountainous dis-trict, the Union Ministersought full involvement oflocal administration in meet-ing the targets of centralschemes.

Secretary Tribal Affairs,Abdul Majid Bhat and DeputyCommissioner Indu KanwalChib, besides all district levelheads of government depart-ments were present at thepublic outreach meeting.

The Union Minister reiter-ated the government’s resolvefor holistic development ofJ&K in line with other parts ofIndia. "Creation of avenues ofself employment for theyouth, besides expansion ofeducation, health and otherbasic services to every nookand corner of J&K is gettingfocused attention of the gov-ernment," he added .

The Union Minister fur-ther announced that the gov-ernment has set the target ofproviding a house to all poor

households of the country,before 75th IndependenceDay of India.

Responding to the local

demands, the Union Ministerassured to develop a TribalCluster in the district. He alsoassured further assistance fordevelopment of Gujjar,Bakerwal and other scheduledtribe communities of the UT."Developmental projects areprogressing at an acceleratedpace after the formation of theUT with time-bound reviewsand close monitoring of

progress," he added.On the request of

Secretary Tribal Affairs,Munda also agreed to allow

ST students of the district toapply for scholarships inoffline mode.

Later, the Union Ministerpresented pension orders andcertificates to local beneficiar-ies.

He also inaugurated newlyconstructed road from ZeroMorh to Malad via GunKolsar and launched the con-struction work of a well at

Jerri panchayat, one pondeach in panchayat Saloon andpanchayat Porakotla.

Earlier, the DC presented a

detailed resume on the devel-opmental profile of the districtto the Union Minister. Shealso highlighted the pilgrimand adventure tourism poten-tial in the district. She furtherinformed that the district hasaround 28% tribal populationand 40% forest cover.Potential for wind energy gen-eration in the district was alsoemphasised by the DC.

B2V2 works to be completed by FebDDC Budgam reviews ongoing developmental projects

BUDGAM, JANUARY20 : District DevelopmentCommissioner, Budgam TariqHussain Ganaie today saidthat most of the works takenunder B2V2 ambitious pro-gramme will be completed byending February.

These remarks were madeby the DDC during a meetingof officers to review theprogress of works underB2V2, Capex Budget and lan-guishing projects across thedistrict.

Additional SecretaryFCS&CA, Director FCS&CAKashmir, District officers ofFCS&CA, General ManagerFCI, ADC Budgam, CPOBudgam, SE Hydraulics,ACD, ACR, ExecutiveEngineers from PDD, R&Band PHE, besides other con-cerned were present in themeeting.

The meeting was informedthat 60 per cent works being

executed by RDD have beencompleted while under lan-guishing projects60 percentworks have been completed

and work is in full swing onother 115 projects includingschool buildings, training cen-ters and health institutions.

He directed all executingagencies including JKPCC,

Police Housing Board,SICOP and others to ensurespeedy completion of proj-ects.

The DDC also revieweddevelopmental works beingexecuted by various agenciesunder approved Capex budg-et and directed the officers toredouble their efforts and

ensure works are completedthese works within fixedtimeframe.

He directed the con-

cerned officers to makecoordinated efforts to settleall the land acquisition dis-putes concerning develop-mental projects and seedingunder NFSA.

Div Com reviews availability of petroleum products70,000 LPG cylinders in stock: Div Com asks oil companies

to push for more 500 trucks in next 2 daysSRINAGAR, JANUARY

20 : The DivisionalCommissioner Kashmir,Baseer Ahmad Khan todaychaired a meeting of officersto discuss the availability ofLPG and Petroleum productsin snow affected areas ofKashmir division.

The meeting was attendedby Secretary, Food CivilSupplies & Consumer Affairs(FCS&CA) PK Pole;Inspector General, TrafficJ&K, T.Namgyal; DirectorFCS&CA, Kashmir; MedicalSuperintendent, SKIMS;Additional SecretaryFCS&CA; SSP Trafic NHW;SP Traffic Rural Kashmir; SPTraffic City Srinagar; ChiefEngineer,BRO, BEACON;Chief Engineer MechanicalEngineering; DeputyController LMD; ProjectDirector Ramban NHA-1;Incharge Joint Director,Information Department,General Manager, FoodCorporation of India, Jammu;State Level CoordinatorIOCL, J&K Jammu; AreaSales Managers of LPG andPOL from HPCL, BPCL,IOCL and other concernedofficials.

During the meeting tookstock of availability of theLPG and other petroleumproducts, bedsides discussingshort term as well as longterm measures to overcomethe scarcity of petroleumproducts in the Valley.

The representatives of theoil companies informed themeeting that 70,000 LPGcylinders are available and thestock is sufficient for a week.

They informed that morePetrol and Diesel tankers havearrived while many more areon way.

The Div Com asked the oilcompanies to push for 500

more trucks in next two daysto avoid any shortage.

He also asked the oil com-panies to depute their repre-sentatives at Patnitop,Ramban, Banihal andQazigundand to communicatewith the Div Com office, IGPTraffic and Director FCS &CA about the arrival of petro-leum tankers on the dailybasis.

The Div Com asked theconcerned officials to conductextensive market checks toensure that domestic LPG is

not used for commercial pur-poses.

He further directed theconcerned authorities to regu-larly feed SKIMS and othertertiary care health institutions

as per need.The Div Com asked the

representatives of oil compa-nies to immediately bring theissues and problems, if any, tothe notice of divisionaladministration so that timelyaction is taken.

With regards to the snowclearance measures, the DivCom directed the concernedsnow clearance agencies tokeep the snow clearancemechanism intact while ask-ing them to ensure snowclearance on road sides as

well. He directed the CEBRO, BEACON to visit bothsides of Banihal tunnel alongwith SSP Traffic RuralKashmir and SSP NationalHighway, Jammu so that the

immediate measures are takenby the agencies to keep theroad fully functional. He alsoasked them to apply relevantchemicals on the frozen sur-face of the road so that slip-pery conditions are avoided.

To overcome the problemof slippery roads, the DivCom instructed the concernedto use chains on the trucks andtankers tyersfrom Patnitop toQazigund. He further said thatany dereliction on this countby any trucker will be dealtwith under law.

Third day of special outreach programme beginsAn opportunity to meet people face to face and understandtheir developmental needs, says Smt. Sushree Debashree

JAMMU : The Ministerof State for Woman and ChildDevelopment, Smt. SushreeDebashree Choudhary todaysaid that the government atcentre aims to promote goodgovernance, generate employ-ment and ensure all the bene-ficiary oriented schemesshould reach its actual benefi-ciaries in J&K. During thethird day of the CentralGovernment’s special publicoutreach programme to dis-seminate information aboutthe implementation of its poli-cies and programmes for theoverall development ofJammu and Kashmir and itspeople at Marh, Jammu, Smt.Sushree Debashree said that itis a great opportunity given byShri Narendra Modi led gov-ernment to me to meet J&Kpeople face to face and under-stand on ground their devel-opmental needs.

Giving an insight into theorganisation of this specialoutreach programme for theUT of J&K, the Minister saidthat there is a new passionamong the youth of UT ofJ&K especially after the reor-ganisation of the state and

abrogation of discriminatoryand unfair Article 370. All thepending approvals for thedevelopmental works havenow been cleared, farmershave been compensated fortheir crop failures and manythousand kilometres of roadhave been constructed underPMGSY, she added. She fur-ther said that all the centrallysponsored schemes and pro-grammes will be implement-ed and given top priority inthe UT.

She said that IntegratedChild Development Servicesis an ambitious initiative ofCentre government whichprovides food, pre-schooleducation, primary health-care, immunization, healthcheck up and referral servicesto the children and their moth-ers. She also made a mentionof other people friendly cen-trally sponsored schemesincluding Mid Day Meals,Pulse Polio, Child Protectionand Development, BetiBachao Beti Padao and otherconnected schemes.

Speaking about the imple-mentation of the centrallysponsored schemes and pro-

grammes, the Minister saidthat all the centrally spon-sored schemes from Ujjwalato Ayushman Bharat toSaubhagya Scheme, the UTof J&K will be implementingthese to the tune of hundredpercent in the coming monthsand many schemes have beenimplemented already up tohundred percent. Givingdetails of many centrallysponsored schemes, theMinister said that 2.5 lac toi-lets were constructed underSwach Bharat, Ujjwalascheme has reached to itshundred percent target inJammu and Kashmir, 3.5 lacgolden cards have been dis-tributed under AyushmanBharat scheme in less than 6months and rate of disbursalof pensions for Divyangjanand widows has increasedfrom 62% in 2018 to 80%today which will soon reachhundred percent. She furthersaid that the development willreach the last man in the lastqueue.

Saying that the grass rootlevel of democracy is the needof the hour for the develop-ment of J&K, she reiterated

that the conduct of BlockDevelopment CouncilElections in J&K was a his-torical step which hasempowered people and hasgiven them a say in the deci-sion making authority in thegovernment. She further saidthat the Panchayat electionsthat concluded by the end ofyear 2018 despite variouschallenges gives an impres-sion that J&K wants develop-ment in every sphere and hasa firm belief on the policiesand programmes of the govt.

Earlier during the day, theMinister also laid a founda-tion stone of road fromMachaini- Domana to ChibbaChowk and a road fromGajansoo to LohrichakRathana of the length 4.5 KM.

Various deputations alsocalled on the Minister andsubmitted a memorandum oftheir demands and problems,which included issues like 4percent reservation quota andseparate schools for physical-ly challenged community andall other facilities which areapplicable in different statesand UTs for welfare ofDivyangjan persons.

TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 20203 NEWS

KULGAM, JANUARY:20 : District DevelopmentCommissioner, KulgamShowkat Aijaz Bhat todayvisited Noorabad area to takestock of snow clearanceoperation, availability ofessentials and restoration ofpower supply.

The DDC visited Watoo,Aasnoor, Manzgam, Avil,K.B.Pora, Batpora,Lisarpora, Yaroo, D.H.Pora,Nihama and adjoining areas.

En-route, he interactedwith the locals and soughtfeedback regarding availabil-ity of essentials and status ofsnow clearance.

DDC Kulgam toursNooorabad

Sub-division, Tehsil level MonitoringCommittees constituted in B’la

Committees to monitor snow clearances,restoration of essential services

BARAMULLA, JANU-ARY 20 : DeputyCommissioner Baramulla DrG N Itoo today convened ameeting of officers to consti-tute Monitoring Committeesat Sub-division and Tehsillevel with the mandate tomonitor the snow clearancemeasures and restoration ofessential services in the dis-trict. The meeting wasinformed that the committeesat the Sub divisional levelwillbe headed by the con-cerned ADC and SDM whileat Tehsil level it will bechaired by concernedTehsildar.

Speaking on the occasion,the DC asked the nominatedofficers to work in coordina-tion so that the people maynot face any inconvenience.He also directed to put inplace a viable mechanismwith regard to the snowclearance by mobilize menand machinery.

Meanwhile, it wasinformed that round the clockcontrol rooms have beenestablished at Sub-divisionand Tehsil levels where peo-ple can register their com-plaints and grievances.

SE PDD, ACR, SDMs,EXNs of PDD, PHE andother line departments,Tehsildars other concernedofficers attended the meeting.

Later, the DC chaired aseparate meeting of con-cerned SDMs, Tehsildars andother executive magistrates

to discuss various measureswith regard to timely restora-tion of essential services.

The DC directed the mag-istrates to intensify marketchecking to curb the menace

of profiteering, hoarding andblack marketing in the dis-trict.

B2V2 works to be completed by FebDDC Budgam reviews ongoing developmental projects

BUDGAM, JANUARY20 : District DevelopmentCommissioner, BudgamTariq Hussain Ganaie todaysaid that most of the workstaken under B2V2 ambitiousprogramme will be complet-ed by ending February.

These remarks were madeby the DDC during a meetingof officers to review theprogress of works underB2V2, Capex Budget andlanguishing projects acrossthe district.

Additional SecretaryFCS&CA, DirectorFCS&CA Kashmir, Districtofficers of FCS&CA,General Manager FCI, ADCBudgam, CPO Budgam, SEHydraulics, ACD, ACR,

Executive Engineers fromPDD, R&B and PHE, besidesother concerned were presentin the meeting.

The meeting wasinformed that 60 per centworks being executed byRDD have been completedwhile under languishing proj-ects60 percent works havebeen completed and work isin full swing on other 115

projects including schoolbuildings, training centersand health institutions.

He directed all executingagencies including JKPCC,Police Housing Board,SICOP and others to ensurespeedy completion of proj-ects.

The DDC also revieweddevelopmental works beingexecuted by various agencies

under approved Capex budg-et and directed the officers toredouble their efforts andensure works are completedthese works within fixedtimeframe.

He directed the concernedofficers to make coordinatedefforts to settle all the landacquisition disputes concern-ing developmental projectsand seeding under NFSA.

R-Day: DDC Kupwara finalizes arrangementsKUPWARA, JANUARY

20 : District DevelopmentCommissioner, Kupwara,Anshul Garg, today con-vened a meeting of officers tofinalize arrangements forsmooth conduct of RepublicDay celebrations in the dis-trict.

The DDC directed theofficers to ensure fault freearrangements for smoothconduct of the event.

The meeting wasinformed, that main functionwill be held at District PoliceLines (DPL) Kupwara, start-ing with Shania Vadan fol-lowed by flag hoisting andmarch past by contingents ofJKP, JKAP, IRP, BSF, CRPF,FPF, HG and school children.

The DDC asked R&BDepartment to ensure properpatching of the roads andpaths leading to venue.

The AssistantCommissioner Revenue wasdirected to laisewith con-cerned departmental heads toensure proper arrangement,

besides monitor the seatingarrangements and snowclearance at the venue.

ThePDD & PHE depart-ments were directed to

ensure uninterrupted powerand water supply and wereasked to keep genset andwater tanker available at theevent.

The DDC directed CMOto keep ambulance and firstaid available while MED &EO Municipality were askedto keep snow clearancemachines and manpower

available in case of snowfallon both days of rehearsal andmain function.

The police departmentwas entrusted with security

arrangements. InformationDepartment will facilitateproper Public AddressingSystem and media coverageof the event.

Manager SRTC was askedto make adequate transportarrangement.

The meeting also finalisedother arrangements includingrefreshment, illumination,

deployment of magistrates,and availability of fire-ten-ders.

The meeting wasinformed that Republic Day

function will be held at Subdivisional level at Handwara,Karnah and Lolab also.

The AssistantCommissioner Revenue,Bashir Ahmad Bhat; JointDirector Planning, AbdulMajeed; District Officers,besides senior officers ofpolice, CRPF were present inthe meeting.

SRINAGAR, JANUARY20 : Secretary Food, CivilSupplies and ConsumerAffairs (FCS&CA),Pandurang Kondbarao Poletoday said that ample stock ofessential items is in place inKashmir division while asefforts are underway to ensureits proper distribution.

The Secretary said thiswhile chairing a meeting hereto review the status of essen-tial commodities includingLPG and petroleum in theKashmir region.

While reviewing the sup-ply position of food grains insnow-bound areas, the meet-ing was informed that ordersfor distribution of threemonths advance ration havebeen implemented in letterand spirit, besides additionalsupplies are in place to meetthe further requirements inthese areas.

It was said that 74309 met-ric tons of Rice and 4077

metric tons of Wheat/Flourare in place in godowns ofFCI and FCS&CA of the

Valley.To curb price hike and

hoarding of essentials, it wasrevealed that the departmenthas carried out regular marketchecking and realized a hugeamount of fine from the erringtraders.

The Secretary directed theconcerned officers to furtherintensify the market checkingand asked them to constitutejoint teams of FCS&CA andLMD to keep a check on

hoarding, profiteering andblack marketing.

While reviewing the stock

position of LPG and petrole-um products in the Valley, theSecretary directed the con-cerned officers to take meas-ures to augment the supplyposition in the valley and addmore carry trucks to enhancethe buffer stock position. Healso directed them to maintainclose coordination with theofficers of different depart-ments to ensure hassle-freemovement of trucks on thenational highway.

Adequate stock of food, essentialsavailable in Kashmir : Secy FCS&CA

Reviews stock position of ration, LPG, petroleum products

Shaheed Sep Roshan Singh KisanMela at op hill Stadium

JAMMU : With the aim toprovide awareness on modernagricultural technology andaddress various concerns andproblems being faced by thefarmers of remote areas,Army organizedShaheed Sep Roshan SinghKisan Mela for the farmers on20 Jan 2020 at OPHill Stadium Mendhar inPoonch District.

On this occasion variousstalls like Horticulture,Animal Husbandry, SheepHusbandry and modernequipment for farming weredisplayed to educate the vil-lagers on various schemes ofGovernment of India to pro-mote agriculture.

Army is consistently pro-

viding avenues of employ-ment through skill develop-

ment and technologicalawareness to the residents offar flung and border villages

of Poonch District. Technicalexperts from Ministry of

Agriculture and Krishi UdyogKendra also briefed the vil-lagers on the various modern

techniques to increase theyield and horizon ofentrepreneurship in Agrobusiness. The event was inau-gurated by Major General PSBajwa, General OfficerCommander, Romeo Force.

The Sarpanches of 12 vil-lages were presented withCompost Plant ofVermiculture and OrganicFertilizer as an initiativetowards organic farming. Fourdifferently abled indi-viduals including a 10 yearchild were also presented withwheel chairs. The villagersappreciated the efforts ofArmy in providing guidanceand bringing technology inagriculture for effortless andprofitable cultivation.

Samagra Shikhsa screens Special “KannoDekhi Movie” for special children

JAMMU, JANUARY 20: A special Kanno DekhiMovie “Lage Raho MunnaBhai”- for visually impairedchildren, was today screenedby Directorate of SamagraShiksha in association withRadio Mirchi 98.3 FM, hereat Platinum Cineplex, PalmIslands, Canal Road.

The movie is speciallydesigned with backgroundvoice narrations, which helpvisually impaired persons tounderstand the storyline andenjoy the movie through ears.This is modern technologyintervention developed forfacilitation of Persons withDisabilities so as to providethem with a platform of inclu-siveness.

Around 200 children fromvarious government and pri-vate schools watched the spe-cial movie. While, most of thestudents were visuallyimpaired, other children alsoparticipated in the event.

Children were jubilant anddelighted to watch the specialmovie as it was first everexperience for many to sit inthe theatre. During the inter-val, an interactive musicalprogramme was organized byNishant and other RJs ofRadio Mirchi.

Commissioner/SecretarySchool Education, HirdeshKumar also attended the eventand interacted with childrenpresent. The Secretary laudedthe initiative taken bySamagra Shiksha and RadioMirchi for the special chil-dren. Hirdesh, while address-ing the children and the mediapersons, revealed thatDepartment of School

Education is taking innova-tive steps to benefit studentsin a holistic way. ”Our focusis to provide equal platformfor children from all quartersof society for their education”

he added. He urged the par-ents, who had come along thechildren, to obtain maximumbenefits from the existingschemes of Samagra Shiksha,for better educational supportof their wards. The secretaryasked the officers of SamagraShiksha to organise moreevents and programmes thathelp in overall developmentof ‘Children with SpecialNeed’ (CWSN) in future aswell.

Later, State ProjectDirector Samagra Shiksha,Dr. Arun Manhas, congratu-lated the whole team ofInclusive Education andRadio Mirchi 98.5, who suc-cessfully organized the pro-gramme in an organized man-ner. Dr. Manhas offered hisspecial thanks to RadioMirchi for promoting the

event on-air through theirRadio for a wider outreach ofthe event. Dr. Manhasrevealed that Directorate ofSamagra Shiksha has beentaking various steps for the

welfare of Children withSpecial Needs and as a resulttheir enrolment in both gov-ernment as well as privateschools of J&K is increasing.Citing a best practice, Dr.Manhas expressed his grati-tude to Jammu SanskritiSchool, where more than 40CWSN have been enrolledand provided education at parwith non-CWSN. Dr. Arun,while mentioning aboutSpecial Educators, alsoexpressed his thanks to allthose who were involved inorganising the programme.

Director SchoolEducation Jammu, AnuradhaGupta, also interacted withthe children and encouragedthem. She apprised that theDepartment is striving hard todesignate all the schools as‘Inclusive Education’ where

CWSN shall be provided edu-cation at par with non-CWSN.

Earlier, State Head RadioMirchi, Summit Kakkar wel-c o m e d

Commissioner/Secretary andState Project Director,Samagra Shiksha.

He said that Radio Mirchiis committed to serve the soci-ety and especially thedeprived section. He thankedDr. Ravinder Jangral, StateC o o r d i n a t o r - I n c l u s i v eEducation, who coordinatedwith Radio Mirchi for con-ducting the event. Kakkaralso expressed gratitude toChairperson CWC, ShaliniGupta, and all the memberswho took the initiative forescorting children fromOrphanage Home for watch-ing the special movie.

Among others who werepresent at the event were,Chatanya Gupta, ResourcePersons, Special Educatorsand Staff from JammuSanskriti School.

Union MoS Sarangi dedicates several developmentproject to rural populace

Spells out govt schemes, achievements during public

outreach programme at RamkotKATHUA, JANUARY

20 : Union Minister of Statefor Animal Husbandry,Dairying & Fisheries, Micro,Small and MediumEnterprises, Partap ChandraSarangi, today said that theUnion Government is endeav-oring hard towards all rounddevelopment of every part ofJammu and Kashmir withemphasis on unreached areas.

Union MoS, whileaddressing a mammoth gath-ering during a public outreachprogram at Ramkot inBillawar Sub Division ofKathua district, spoke aboutnumerous reformatory stepswhich are being initiated toensure that inhabitants ofevery part of J&K getsenhanced basic services forleading a dignified life.

On the occasion, UnionMoS dedicated several devel-opment projects including

Common Facility Centre atRamkote constructed with acost of Rs. 49.50 lakh,PMGSY road links fromKandharnu to Nand, DharRoad to Bardhata completedwith a cost of Rs. 219.34 lakhand Rs. 142.52 lakh and linkroad from Dhar Road con-structed with a cost of Rs.6.86 lakh under MGNREGA.

The Minster also presented6 cheques worth Rs. 2.55 lakhto beneficiaries of MarriageAssistance Scheme besidesdistributing 5 LPG connec-tions among the beneficiariesunder Ujjawala Yojana.

Highlighting the benefitsof several central welfareschemes, the MoS said thatPrime Minister, NarendraModi, is taking keen interesttowards making sure that ben-efit of all development andwelfare schemes could perco-late to the downtrodden and

deserving segments of thesociety. In this regard, heemphasized the need of col-laborative efforts of all stake-holders including concernedofficers and PRI members

besides the public. He askedfor raising massive awarenessregarding these schemes foroptimum coverage of benefi-ciaries. He congratulated the

people for gettingGovernment Degree Collegeat Ramkot being establishedwith an estimated cost of Rs.12 crore. Earlier, the MoSinaugurated stalls of various

departments includingHorticulture, SheepHusbandry, Agriculture,Handicrafts and SocialWelfare exhibiting farmingimplements, high yieldingseeds and other products andschemes. DistrictDevelopment Commissioner,O P Bhagat, presented a briefprofile of the district beforethe MoS and spelled out theprogress achieved, so far,under various schemes in thedistrict. Panchs, Sarpanchsand BDC Chairpersons raisedseveral demands before theMoS which includedimproved road connectivity,Mobile Schools for ST popu-lation and related issues.

DIP/J-12477/19,Dt : 20-01-2020

DIP/J-12526/19,Dt : 20-01-2020

TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 20204 EDITORIAL/ARTICLE

Maximum city, againFor some time, besieged by infrastruc-

tural breakdowns and carrying the weightof history, Mumbai had lost its swankyflavour and standing as the first amongmetros. Newer cities and the Tier II explo-sion meant that it was no longer consid-ered a smart option. Besides, once consid-ered a safe haven for women, the risingcrime graph even punctured the indulgentsoft spot it has had in urban conscious-ness. And ever since the Mumbai blasts ofMarch 1993, the subsequent ganglandkillings and terror blasts meant that thenightlife the citizens so prided in wasgone forever. Not to forget the monsoondeluge every season that has now pushedit to the edge of our consciousness as aforgettable urban nightmare. All that is setto change from January 26, when Mumbaiturns 24X7 and literally becomes the citythat never sleeps. Thanks to a seven-year-old proposal that got the green signal onJanuary 16, restaurants, malls, multiplex-es, shopping plazas and food courts willremain open round-the-clock. Though therestaurants will not be able to serve alco-hol beyond 1.30 am due to security con-cerns, the move gels well with theMaximum City’s singular character thathas mixed business and pleasure witheffortless ease and made it an aspirant ofthe world city tag. A vibrant nightlifedefines a city’s culture of acceptabilityand openness. A pet project of the youngand aspirational Environment andTourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray, whowas the first to suggest it, the move willdo much to boost tourism and employ-ment in Maharashtra that’s battling anemployment crisis with as many as 1.5lakh job opportunities lost. That theGovernment is keen to boost tourism tooffset the impact of the economic deceler-ation and put Mumbai on the global mapbecame clear when it gave the green sig-nal for setting up a Mumbai Eye on thelines of the London Eye. Mumbai will bethe testing ground for this initiative — thenotification for which was issued over ayear ago by the erstwhile BJP-SenaGovernment but was shelved post therestaurant fire in Kamala Mills Compound— before it is eventually rolled out inother cities of the State to draw crowdsand generate much-needed revenue.Politically, the young Thackeray alsowants the “Mumbai nightlife” campaignto neutralise the Shiv Sena’s retrogradeimage as anti-youth and anti-West.

EDITORIAL

DECoDING THE FUTURE oF JoBSGoal 8 of the UN

Sustainable DevelopmentGoals looks at decent workand economic growth. Oneoffshoot of this should be animprovement and sustainedgrowth in the country’s stateof jobs. But India is facing aunique challenge on thisfront, owing to a combina-tion of evolving job oppor-tunities across sectors,reduced employability dueto the gaps between the edu-cation system and thedynamic changes in today’sworkplace and deficientlearning capabilities due tolegacy nutrition challenges.Even though the NSSO dataestimating India’s six percent unemployment rate at a45-year high was contesteddue to its narrow sample-size, the labour force partic-ipation rate and work partic-ipation rate (those in work-ing-age looking for workand finding it, respectively)declined between 2012 and2018, as per a paper by theAzim Premji University.The Grameen FoundationIndia’s (GFI’s) State of theJobs in India report under-scored the urgency to createjobs for over 15 millionyouth who are expected toenter the workforce eachyear. The question is whichavenues can create net newjobs?

A more enduring chal-lenge is the fact that oureducated workforce oftenlacks the requisite employa-bility skills to meet theemerging demands oftoday’s jobs, be it on knowl-edge, competencies, tech-nologies, processes, criticalthinking and analytical abil-ities. Our archaic educationpedagogy is not making ouryouth employable. This iscausing a mismatch betweenaspirations and abilities,between income and con-sumption and a delay inrealising India’s demo-graphic dividend. The needto push the right skill set andeducation to meet the evolv-ing nature of jobs is perhapseven more imminent.

The investment in humancapital for most of our pop-ulation has been low frominfancy which has causedlegacy nutrition issues likestunting and undernutrition.Research suggests stuntingand undernutrition impactsthe brain’s development andthus abilities to learn newknowledge and skills whichrenders us unemployable.No quick-fix skill trainingcan address this vexed issue.

The GFI recently broughttogether corporates, policy-makers, researchers, think-tanks, innovators, skill-developers, financiers,NGOs and the youth todeliberate on the current sit-uation, identify trends andopportunities and seek thebest recourse as the way for-

ward. One priority was toaddress the issues surround-ing the major employers ofthe workforce, i.e. agricul-ture and micro, small andmedium enterprises(MSMEs). The discourse onthese sectors often getsshadowed by the buzz sur-rounding start-ups and tech-nology as the new enginesof job growth; however,these two remain the massemployers.

With net income growthfrom farming moving south— a minuscule growth of0.44 per cent per annumbetween 2011 and 2016 asper a NITI Aayog paper —coupled with chronic debtdue to expensive chemicalinputs and natural phenome-na like varying rainfall,floods and droughts, it is nosurprise that sectoralemployment declined by 27million between 2012 and2018. This is manifesting inmass migration from rural

regions, led by youth. Whilethe Government’s efforts tobridge the knowledge-gapsof new farming methods andtechnologies with extensionand technical training havebeen in the right direction,there is a need to devise areverse-migration strategyto bring back the youth tothe farms. This can be doneby incentivising low-cost,sustainable farming, settingup rural-based industries,facilitating farmer producerorganisations (FPOs), ramp-ing up social collateral-based rural credit, introduc-ing technologies to scale upcrop productivity, reducedamage, facilitate storageand transport and encouragethe agri-entrepreneurecosystem. That would alsohelp revive the Bharat con-sumption story, a sellingpoint of India’s growth storythat has hit headwinds.

The manufacturing sec-tor, where MSMEs domi-nate in terms of peopleemployed, saw employmentdecline by 3.5 millionbetween 2012 and 2018.While this was led by a slug-gishness in the constructionsector, it is also worth notingthat only about 50 millionout of the 62-63 millionMSMEs are said to be oper-ational and most are strug-gling to scale up. The chal-lenges include their inability

to adopt new technologies,digitalisation and produc-tion processes and the fail-ure to reinvent their compet-itiveness given the newsources of competition andtrade-wars. A concerted mixof technology influx, policysupport and funding meas-ures is needed to build theirlong-term competitivenessand create better outcomesthrough sustained businessand job growth. That pre-supposes their workforce isalso made capable on skillsto leverage the new tech-nologies.

The debate on sustain-ability and climate change isturning loud following theincreasing awareness ofconsumers and investors.Stakeholders are concernedhow these risks impact busi-nesses, economies, naturaland social ecosystems, andthat is driving a new catego-ry of jobs, i.e. green jobs.Most of these did not exist

till some time back, ergotheir existing workforcemigrated from other roles.That implies a demand forupskilling to fill theirknowledge gaps. New grad-uate courses dedicated tothese avenues are alsorequired.

Renewable energy, circu-lar economy, waste recy-cling, water treatment, sani-tation, green transport andso on are the avenues pick-ing up speed. Social enter-prises that seek broadersocial goals and not justshareholder returns, areanother.

While these are still intheir infancy, they could beinstrumental in creatingmuch of the new jobs thecountry needs. Since thesesectors still require partner-ships between corporates,Governments and communi-ties to establish scalableoperating models, theselinkages could create jobopportunities even withother stakeholders.

The Fourth IndustrialRevolution, led by break-through technologies, ischanging the way we work.That means new types ofjobs, replacement of erst-while jobs and new skills. Itis important to understandthat technology is becominga job-enabler across sectorsand not just a job by itself.

Thus, to grow in any sectoror function, the workforcewill need to build technolo-gy skills. This includes sec-tors which we rarely associ-ate with technology, likeagriculture and textiles. It isalso important to understandthat upskilling on technolo-gy is not only to save one-self from the discomfort ofbecoming redundant but tomake one competent toleverage newer opportuni-ties of business (and job)growth. We not only needmore people to devise inno-vative technologies, we alsoneed thinkers to devise howthose innovations can helpus redefine our target mar-ket, expand customer baseand markets. That meansbuilding our critical think-ing and analytical skills aswell.

A growing awarenessamong working profession-als to remain relevant andavoid layoffs is driving thedemand for upskilling.Institutionalising upskillingprogrammes that are quick,low-cost and convenient forall would depend on theemployers’ initiatives andthe strength of public-pri-vate partnerships. A frequentmethod of upskilling areskill programmes by theemployers themselves. Thismay need partnerships withstate authorities to developcontent or recognised certi-fications. The employers’role enables relevance of thepedagogy. Such pro-grammes could also be rev-enue-generating if theyenrol outsiders. Certificationcourses could be developedseparately by specialisedskill providers as well, leav-ing employers free to focuson their core business.

This upskilling and criti-cal thinking would alsoboost growth of startups asmany ventures are still in thered despite several years inoperations. The era of start-ups delivering me-too prod-ucts without a distinct com-petitive advantage is ending.Critical thinking and inno-vations would be instrumen-tal in making their businessmodels competitive, gener-ating operating cash flowsand turning their booksblack.

Inclusiveness in theworkforce by bringing inmore women and specially-abled could help the jobmarket incrementally, whiledriving economic gains.Almost half of India’s spe-cially-abled are literate andin employable age, a poten-tial workforce India couldleverage with market-basedvocational training andappropriate roles.Addressing the socio-cultur-al challenges that womenface at homes, on the streetsand at the workplace couldhelp reduce the gender gap.

It is just another Sundayevening in Delhi, the howl-ing cold forcing peopleindoors for comfort andwrapping up their energiesfor the week ahead. Yet inan old warehouse in Okhla,an all-women group stagesa play, a dark tale about thecommon woman’s conflictwith identity, one whofinds no space to breatheamid the sorting andreordering of society thatdecides who she should be.What of the migrant work-er, who doesn’t knowwhere she was born orbelongs, who got her to thecity or not except the worldthat her workplace hasbecome? Trafficked as achild, she has no papertrail, no parentage to provewhy she was born. Thenthere’s the grass widow ofAssam, whose husband hasgone to the big city insearch of work after theirfarmland was ravaged bythe floods in theBrahmaputra, her rationcard, the only claim to hercitizenry and proof that shewas married to a local,washed away by the ragingwaters. So left out of theNational Register ofCitizens (NRC), she hasbeen torn apart from herfamily. What of theorphaned factory worker,who has no memory ofancestry? These are sur-vivors in a no woman’sland, a wilderness of thedisowned, rising up toclaim their dues for serviceto a nation that they arebeing told is not their own.“For years, have we notimproved your lives asworkers in factories andhelps at home? Have younot trusted your childrenwith us? Have we not beenproductive or contributedto your economy? Have wenot helped you build yourlives? Why throw us awaynow?” Rhetorical questionsthat trouble the audience.

The thunder of protestcourses through the wallsand seeps into every poreof human consciousness.Somehow it streams out allthe way to Shaheen Bagh,to Seelampuri and evenPrayagraj. Everydaywomen, having finishedtheir chores and responsi-bilities for the day, are sit-ting on night vigils withcandles and woollens —the same faces showing uplike clockwork at the sametime, same place and forthe same time period — tofight for the safe future oftheir children and theirright to be heard as mothersborn of earth. Nurturingsocieties as they haveknown, created and healed,they won’t let them bedestroyed by divisive con-structs of the empire of pol-itics or the hate virus that’slab- grown from the data-bank of social and ancestryprofiles. Certainly, they areshedding the patronisingmantle of empowerment,like some undeserved grantor concession, and creatingtheir own powerful narra-tives on their terms. Andshould that meet brutality,they would face it not ashuman shields or spoils ofwar but as a force majeureof all humanity. Age, edu-cation, privilege wouldn’tmatter.

Women across the worldare challenging the authori-tarian politics of the timesby leading mass grassrootsmovements and civil upris-ings. Be it the women ofShaheen Bagh, or those inSudan and Algeria, theyhave become the new faceof democracy, change andpeace-building in a worldwhere all of these havebecome toxic or anachro-nistic. Why is this so?Because for all their effortsat political participation asdrivers of change, womenare still a minority or amarginalised lot in deci-sion-making processes.This despite the UnitedNations’ vision from 20years ago that womencould anchor conflict reso-lution better when entrust-ed with leadership roles.Somewhere, this has got todo with the idea of leader-ship itself mutating withthe bubbling up of womenand the intransigence of apatriarchal order to give in.It is becoming increasinglymuscular and male, quali-ties that are increasinglyfinding acceptance in afractured world looking fordirection. One that is domi-nated by a totalitarian con-trol of egoistic fiefdomsand the toxic masculinityof helmsmanship. One thatcannot deal with the crum-bling of failing institutionsand seeks solace in history,one that is lazy about find-ing one’s way in changedtimes and contexts and fallsback on the protectorate ofrevisionism, one that

chooses simplicity of bina-ries over the complexitiesof multiplicity. Simplybecause it is easier to fol-low than evolve, simplybecause the past is testedand the present is too riskyto try out. As a “pretenddemocracy,” India is fastbecoming an Orwelliannightmare, the State con-trolling every cellularaspect of national life. Be itthrough identity and priva-cy laws or through nation-alism enforced with thesanctity of religion, there isa patriarchal aggression,sometimes violence, at playto keep order simply bydenial of rights. That iswhy women are changingthis paradigm by not stay-ing within but choosing tomove out and seizing thepolarity that lies vacant, byembracing the oppositenessof gender as a strength, nota weakness. They alsoembody the contrarian dis-course through their ratherdramatic campaigns, thenight vigils across Indiabeing a case in point.

Taking the global sce-nario into account, women-led movements are inclu-sive, non-violent, compas-sionate and have a 50 percent chance of ensuringresults than those led byothers. They are cooptive,practical, welcoming ofother subsidiary move-ments and can metabolisethem into a larger force tospark a revolution.Women’s movements havemanaged to reset the agen-da in Spain, Argentina,Brazil and South Korea,simply because they reflectthe issues that matter topeople at a structural,livelihood level rather thanfoisting imagined devilsthat hang in the air so thickand heavy, it gives you abrain fog. UN research hasshown that where womenare influencers rather thanbeing a token presence, thepeace processes and socialstability are more lasting.And as the women ofShaheen Bagh have shown,their door-to-door access tohomes has meant that theyare best placed to generatea groundswell of support,irrespective of faith, propa-ganda or hired activism. ASikh jatha cooked for thewomen of Shaheen Bagh insolidarity, simply becausethe community is con-vinced by their spontaneityand sense of justice. Theirsis an ethical integrity, onethat can never be bought orintimidated. This sublimi-nal hold as nurturers defi-nitely lends women move-ments a decisive edge. Andgiven their tenacity anddiscipline, women-ledmovements last longer andemerge as a social disrup-tor. Most importantly, theyappeal to the youth, simplybecause by resistingchange, they appeal to theirsensibility of challengingstatus quo. If we pan allmass movements of 2019,we would find that womencollectives, not leadership,have compelled course cor-rection.

Narmada BachaoAndolan activist MedhaPatkar had once said thatwomen were swords,something she herself har-nessed for her anti-damagitations and ensuredrehabilitation of evacueesand refugees. Visuals ofwomen half-immersingthemselves in water stillform a picture of civildetermination. Or remem-ber Sundar Bahuguna’sChipko movement, wherevillage women encircledand hugged trees to savethem from being felled byloggers and set an examplefor conservation muchbefore Greta Thunberg did?This organised resistancedid lead to a ban on tree-felling in Uttar Pradesh.

Women have spearhead-ed protests against theKudankulam nuclear plant,where authorities wanted toset up a reactor for spentfuel, and have got a conver-sation going on safeguardsagainst radioactivity forcommunities that livearound it. And let us notforget the women survivorsand descendants of theBhopal gas tragedy, whodespite getting their com-pensation, have not givenup the campaign againstexploitative practices ofmultinationals or theawareness drive on chemi-cal contamination, ensur-ing that there is no repeat ofa disaster that resulted fromgovernmental sellouts.Women in India will nolonger be content beingunicorns with self-madesuccess stories meant to beemulated and inspirational.They are going to havefaith in their regular livesand take on societal irregu-larities by staying together.

The hand that rocks

The thin red line in Pak-Iran relationsThe assassination of the

controversial MajorGeneral of Iran’s IslamicRevolutionary Guard,Qassem Soleimani, by theequally controversialGovernment of USPresident Donald Trump,has sent Pakistan into aspin. A Minister in PrimeMinister Imran Khan’sGovernment announcedthat Pakistan would sidewith Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich kingdom that is a firmAmerican ally and stronglyopposed to Iran. However,the spokesperson of thePakistan military’s Inter-Services Public Relationswing and then ForeignMinister Shah MehmoodQureshi were quick toannounce that the countrywould remain neutral incase hostilities intensifybetween Iran and the US.

Pakistan was a frontlineproxy State in the US andSaudi-funded “Islamist”insurgency against Soviettroops in Afghanistan in the1980s. By the time Soviettroops left Afghanistan inthe late 1980s, the falloutof that war greatly impact-ed Pakistan, deepening sec-tarian fissures in the coun-try and aiding the mush-rooming of religious mili-tancy and extremism, thateventually mutated and

turned anti-state. Indeed,this must be on the mindsof the state andGovernment of Pakistan forthem to declare their neu-trality. But there is a lotmore to Pakistan’s ambigu-ity in this context. And Iuse the word ambiguitybecause relations betweenIran and Pakistan havelargely remained abstruse,especially in the last 40years or so. RandCorporation’s 2014 studyIran’s Influence inAfghanistan describes therelationship betweenPakistan and Iran as “acomplex mix of coopera-tion and peer rivalry.” Iranis a Shia Muslim-majoritycountry headed by a power-ful Shia clergy, which cameto power through a revolu-tion in 1979. According toAndreas Rieck’s 2016 bookThe Shias of Pakistan: AnAssertive and BeleagueredMinority, Pakistan has asignificant Shia minority.Estimates from 2018 sug-gest 20 to 25 per cent ofPakistan’s population isShia. And according toJacquelyn Davis, inAnticipating a NuclearIran, many of the PakistaniShia support Iran’s post-1979 political and ideologi-cal set-up.

Until the mid-1970s,

Pakistan enjoyed a seam-less relationship with Iran.In fact, Pakistan was closerto Iran than it was to SaudiArabia. Iran, a modern pro-US monarchy, was one ofthe first countries to recog-nise Pakistan when it wasformed in August 1947.Also, the Shah of Iranbecame the first major for-eign head of state to visitPakistan in 1950.

During the 1965Pakistan-India war, whenthe US had suspended allmilitary aid to both Indiaand Pakistan, Iran sentnurses, medical suppliesand 5,000 tonnes of petro-leum to Pakistan. As an oil-rich country, Iran alsothreatened to impose anembargo on oil supplies toIndia. In the 2015 editionof the journal InternationalAffairs and GlobalStrategy, M Saqib Khanwrites that, to sidestep theUS and European armsembargo imposed on Indiaand Pakistan during thewar, Iran bought 90 Sabrefighter jets from WestGermany and sent them toPakistan.

Iran saw Pakistan as amodern extension ofPersian culture in SouthAsia because of the rolethis culture and languagehad played during Muslim

rule in India between the13th and 19th centuries.But since the Shah’s Iranwas known as “America’spoliceman in Asia”, it alsotried to insulate Pakistanfrom the Left-leaning“Third-Worldism” — anidea first formulated by thecharismatic Arab national-ist leader Gamal AbdelNasser of Egypt and the“socialist” Indian PMJawaharlal Nehru. Iranmade sure that Pakistanremained firmly in theAmerican orbit during theCold War.

The state of Pakistanadmired Iran’s economicand social modernity andtried to emulate it. In hisessay, Pakistan As A Factorin Indo-Iranian Relations,for the December 1974issue of The Indian Journalof Political Science, LKChoudhary wrote that, dur-ing the 1971 Pakistan-Indiawar, Iran again sidesteppedan arms embargo onPakistan and supplied itwith military equipment.The Times of India quotedthe Shah as saying,“Pakistan and Iran are likeone soul in two bodies.”

In 1973, when a Balochinsurgency broke out inBalochistan, which shares aborder with Iran, the Shahprovided lethal American-

made combat helicopters toPakistan so that Balochinsurgents operating in theremote areas near the bor-der could be eliminated.This way Iran also elimi-nated the threat of theinsurgency spilling intoIran’s Baloch-majorityareas. Relations betweenthe two countries began tosomewhat recede when thepopulist Government ofZA Bhutto in Pakistanattempted to formulate aninternational “Muslimbloc” in 1974. The plannedbloc also included “ene-mies” of the Shah, espe-cially “radical” Soviet-backed Arab regimes, suchas Libya, Iraq, Syria,Algeria and the erstwhileSouth Yemen. Therefore,the Shah was the onlymajor Muslim head of stateto decline attending the1974 Islamic Summit inLahore, organised by theBhutto Government.

In 1977, the Bhuttoregime was toppled in areactionary military coupby General Zia-ul-Haq. Sowhen the Shah’s regime fellin 1979 and was replacedby a radical theocracy,Pakistan became the firstcountry to recognise thenew Government. But therefreshed relations betweenthe two countries, on the

basis of Islam, soon beganto nosedive from 1981onwards.

From the mid-1970s,Saudi Arabia, buoyed byincreasing oil prices, hadbegun to aggressivelyexpand its circle of influ-ence with the power of theso-called “petrodollar.” Italso started to outpace Iranin matters of providing eco-nomic aid to Pakistan,which came with the condi-tion of adopting the Arabculture and faith as pre-scribed by Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s Shia theocracybegan to be seen as a threatby the puritanical Saudipolitical and religiousestablishment — especiallywhen Iran initiated therather unabashed export ofits version of anti-Saudiand anti-US “politicalIslam” to other Muslimcountries.

In the 1980s, Pakistanaccepted hefty financialand military aid from theUS and Saudi Arabia dur-ing the anti-Soviet insur-gency in Afghanistan. Thismoney was also used toform radical Sunni indoc-trination outlets and mili-tant outfits to supplementAfghan militant groups.But many such outfitseventually turned anti-Shiaand thus anti-Iran.

TRUTH PREVAIL

JAMMU, TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 20205 STATE

JWAM holds protest against JKUT govt, as it befooled, the people, no 4G Mobile internet restored

Mayor kick startsDevelopment works

TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, JAN. 20: Sunil

Dimple president JammuWest Assembly Movementalong with students, traders,held a strong protest andregistered resentment of thepeople of all sections of thesociety, on Janipur Roadagainst the JKUT, whichhas be fooled made themockery of the people,youths, traders and espe-cially the SC orders and no4G Mobile internet servicein Jammu Kashmirrestored.

Addressing the protestersSunil Dimple said the govthas be fooled the peopleyouth no internet restoredyet. And the public is badly

suffering in search of inter-net signals.

Dimple requested the SCSupreme Court to file con-tempt of court againstJKUT, for not following thecourts direction to start theInternet services immedi-ately in Jammu Kashmir.He said the traders, youths,common man had alreadysuffered heavy loss of pub-lic exchequer, cash in croresand telecom company arecharging net pack cash evenafter the stoppage of inter-net. He appealed the SC toimpose ban on the pro &anti protests, rallies, andpublic meetings on CAA,NRC, NPR.

Dimple said that 36 BJP

Minister are vesting Jammufor campaign on CAA,NRC and NPR in JammuKashmir.

Dimple pleaded thesupreme court that afterforcibly, snatching anddown grading our state in tounion territory and scrapingour special status the peopleof our Jammu Kashmir allsection of society of JammuKashmir are badly sufferingafter the conversion of thestate in to union territoryand our voices are beingsuppressed.

Dimple requested theSupreme Court to Restorethe statehood and specialstatus of Jammu Kashmir.

Dimple has alleged that

after down grading a full-fledged state in to union ter-ritory has multiplied theproblems of the people ofJammu Kashmir.

Dimple alleged bureau-crats are muzzling the voiceof conman by the use offorce, the common man,youth and all sections of thesociety of Jammu Kashmirare feeling deceived andnobody is ready to listentheir plights, hardships andmiseries. He demanded tohold assembly election inJKUT. He said due no pop-ular govt in the JammuKashmir theUnemployment, poverty, isfast rising and all develop-mental projects of Jammuare at halt.

Sunil Dimple announcedthat we will fight for "sepa-rate Jammu state, with spe-cial status" and against theinjustice by Center withJammu.

The prominent protestorsare Arusi, Muskan, RituSharm, Neraj Kumar,Rajinder Bhargawm, SitaRam Rakwal, Vinod, SonuRaja, Gudyal Singh,Surinder Kumar and manyothers.

TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, JAN. 20:

Continuing the drive to pro-vide better basic as well asdevelopment activities tothe people of Jammu cityChander Mohan GuptaMayor Jammu MunicipalCorporation today on 20-01-2020 conducted an exten-sive tour of Ward No.71 inthe areas of Sidhra & its sur-rounding localities along-with Madam Shama AkhtarCouncillor of W.No.71, B.S.Thakur President TawiVihar Resident welfareAssociation, Rajesh Gupta,Mr. Kapoor , & other inhab-itants of Tawi Vihar Sidhra ,Sh. Anil Gupta AEE(JMC),concerned Junior Engineer,Contractor and other fieldstaff of various sections ofJammu MunicipalCorporation. Mayor startedthe construction work ofvarious drains & lanes aswell as other protectionwork of Ward No.71 at theestimate cost of Rs.10.50lacs which will be executedby Engineering Wing of

Jammu MunicipalCorporation.

This was the long pendingdemands of inhabitants ofSidhra area. He directed theEngineers to complete thesaid development workswith quality material andupto the satisfaction ofinhabitants and assured thegathering that all theremaining developmentworks of their ward will betaken up on priority basis asthe deptt. has started thedevelopment activities in

each ward with the activeconsent of concernedCouncillor & general public.He also appeal to them notto throw waste, Mulba,garbage etc in the publiclanes & drains, Plant more& more saplings in &around their localities tomake the environment ecofriendly, avoid using plastics& polythenes and cooperatewith the Jammu MunicipalCorporation in SwacchBharat activities beingundertaken by the deptt.

Visit of 36 Union

Ministers in J&K is

cheap politicsTP CORRESPONDENT

JAMMU, JAN. 20: "Visitof Union Ministers indowngraded State of J&Kis an unethical politicsbeing played by BJP" saidAdv. Ashok KumarSharma, NationalCoordinator, AICC, VicharVibhag and former legisla-tor in a press statementissued here today.

Sharma said that BJPhad not left any stoneunturned for playing grimypolitics in the newly formu-lated UT of J&K and now,raising halo slogans in thename of development proj-ects being announced dur-ing visit of Union Ministersin different districts.

Sharma further addedthat union ruling dispensa-tion is responsible foruncertain situation in J&Kand are playing with thefeeling of common massesby their attempts betrial forthe sake of chair and nowanother cooked drama isbeing played by them.

Sharma also said that thevisit of Union Ministers todivert attention of the peo-ple from the failures of theBJP government andincluding government offi-cials as a part of the visit isanother grotty part of thepolitics.

Padgotra demands strict actionagainst mining mafia

TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, JAN. 20: The

tractor and trolley owners ofDistrict Samba assembled inthe premises of DC Sambatoday and protested against theJ&K Administration under theaegis and leadership ofProvincial President-JKNPP,Rajesh Padgotra. The protes-tors raised slogans against theJ&K Administration for itslackadaisical attitude for notallowing them to lift sand,Bajri and Boulders fromDewak, Basantar, Ujj, Tawi,Ravi and other River areas.

While interacting with themedia persons Padgotrabriefed that such owners havebecome victims of starvationand their family members

have been suffering badly dueto failure of their business.

Padgotra also clarified thatthey have purchased tractorsand trolley with Bank loan andfor such purchase they havemortgaged their immovableproperty such as land for 15-20 kanals for such purchase.

Padgotra cautioned the J&KAdministration that someinfluential persons with theconnivance of administrativeauthority are continuing thelifting of sand Bajri andBoulders. Padgotra warned theadministration to stop suchmalpractice immediatelywhich is going on in a surrep-titious manner at night. If theban of lifting sand Bajri andBoulders, is not lifted and

malpractice of lifting suchmaterials in a secret modusoperandi is not stopped, amassive agitation will belaunched and for any dire con-sequences the administrationwill be responsible.

Padgotra, later submitted adetailed memorandum to Lt.Governor through DC Sambademanding strict actionagainst the mining/extractionmafia and sought permissionfor the tractor and trolley own-ers to lift the sand, Bajri andboulders. Responding to thereceipt of the memorandumDC Samba assured the deputa-tion that appropriate actionshall be taken against the cul-prits within 7 days.

Among others who partici-pated are Khajur Singh, JointSecretary-JKNPP, RakeshVerma, Block President Bari-Brahamana-JKNPP, Raju Bali,Capt. Karam Chand Sharam,Block President Vijaypur-JKNPP, Rinku Kr., Sukhdev,Surinder Singh, KulwantSingh, Mohd. Yunus, Vijay,Vinod, Gara, Ram Paul Foji,Ajay Kr., Akhshay, PromadSingh, Aman & SikandarChoudhary.

Even 10 months after PM Modi inaugurated Rattle

Power Project, construction work is yet to kick offTP CORRESPONDENT

JAMMU, JAN. 20: It wasabout 10 months ago whenPrime Minister Narendra Modire-inaugurated the prestigious850 MW Rattle Power Project,the work on which hit the roadblockade following the fiascobetween the GVK limited andL&T after the main developerfaces the financial crisis— thusshows inability to carry for-ward the constitution work ofthe project. This was said byJ&K Congress CommitteeVice President, G. M Sarooriwhile meeting with variousdeputations from Drabshallaand Bunjwah blocks. Earlierthe project was inaugurated bythe former PM ManmohanSingh during UPA II govern-ment in presence of formerCM of J&K Ghulam NabiAzad, Omar Abdullah and oth-ers. Saroori said that J&K Govtfails to resume work on RattlePower Project added that 6years had passes since theRattle project was left aban-don, Jammu and KashmirGovernment fails to resumework on it. He said that thoughthe people and political classwas against handing over theproject to NHPC that willcause major dent to J&K econ-omy, but unemployed youthsare keen and are waiting for therestoration of the work. Hesaid that Union Governmentshould hand over the 390 MWDool- Hasti Power Project toJ&K for compensating thelosses suffered by the UT ofJ&K due to implementation of

GST and abolition ofLakhanpur Toll Plaza that willcause Rs.1500 Cr losses toJ&K annually.

Saroori said once touted asbig hope for the power deficitJammu Kashmir, 850-MWRattle Hydroelectric PowerProject (RHEPP) is in limbofor the past 6 years, after thedeveloper fled the project sitemidway. He expressed concernover the Government's failureto tap up the water potential inDrabshalla area of Inderwalconstituency for the generationof electricity and it's failure toresume the work on the powerproject. He said large numberof youth have become idleafter the company abandonedthe work on the project wayback in 2014. Former MinisterJ&K urged the Government totake appropriate steps in start-ing the work on the Rattlepower project, which he hopewill provide employment tothe unemployed youths. It is tomention here that the erstwhileJ&K government under theregime of Satya Pal Malik onthe direction of UnionGovernment set up anotherjoint venture companybetween the NationalHydroelectric PowerCorporation (NHPC) and theJammu and Kashmir PowerDevelopment Corporation(JKPDC) for execution ofRattle hydroelectric powerproject, the state governmenthas signed a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) with thecentral agency over the 850-MW project, which has beendescribed as “most doable” inthe state.

Panther leaders being threatened to desistfrom seeking Delimitation: Harsh

TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, JAN. 20:

Accusing the BJP govt ofcriminal silence post re-organization over the issuesof Delimitation andAssembly Elections in thestate, a strong contingent ofNPP activists led by HarshDev Singh ChairmanJKNPP and Yash PaulKundal State PresidentYoung Panthers held a mas-sive protest demonstration atexhibition ground Jammutoday. The agitated protes-tors raised slogans of"Parisiman Aayog ka gathanKaro, gathan karo", "Jammuki seats mein izafa karo,izafa karo", "Jammu kelogon ko dhokha dena bandhkaro, bandh karo", "BJP HaiHai" and sought a officialstatement from the BJP govtover the said issues.

Speaking on the occasion,Harsh Dev Singh said thatDelimitation of Assemblyconstituencies in J&K hasbeen repeatedly assured bythe state as well central BJPleadership and had evenbeen incorporated by the saf-fron party in its electionmanifesto released during2014 elections. While it tookno initiative during its 3 ½year rule in J&K over thesubject, it tried to pacify thepeople by its persistent rhet-oric that post re-organizationera would witness priorityDelimitation of Assemblyseats in J&K with a highernumber of such seats forJammu region in the new setup. It was given to under-stand that immediate stepswould be taken upon conver-sion of state into UT forDelimiting the Assembly

constituencies, increase inthe number of seats, rotationof reserved seats, reservationof STs etc which will be fol-lowed by early elections inthe newly created UT. Heregretted that despite lapseof five and half months, thegovt had failed to even comeout with any proposed forDelimitation exercise andfurther maintained a studied,intriguing silence over theissue of holding elections inthe new UT. Calling uponthe central visiting Ministersto come out with an authen-tic official stand of the cen-tre over the said issues, Mr.Singh said that incongruousand divergent statementsmade by their party leader-ship over these subjects hadonly made the confusionworse confounded besidesevoking cynicism amongstthe masses. He said thatrather than making anyannouncement over the sub-ject the BJP leadership wasissuing veiled threats to NPPleaders to desist from seek-ing Delimitation ofAssembly constituencies. Hesaid that central leadershipand a Union Minister wereissuing threats publically toreserve the Assembly con-stituencies of those NPP

leaders who dared raise theirvoice in favour ofDelimitation.

Seeking early elections inJ&K, Singh said that repeat-ed postponement of pollsonly amounted to subversionof constitution and defianceof rulings of the SupremeCourt. The constitution invery unambiguous termsprovided that people couldnot be deprived for long oftheir right to have a legiti-mate, democratically electedgovt without a justifiablereason. He pointed out thateven the Supreme Court in aplethora of Judgements hasruled that election processshould be completed withina period of six months for allthose states whereinLegislative Assemblies wereprematurely dissolved. Hesaid that by continuing itsproxy rule in J&K throughits trusted lieutenants, thecentre was not only denyingthe people their fundamentalrights and guarantees butalso defying the very consti-tution which it was claimingto have extended to J&K.

Prominent among thosewho spoke on the occasionincluded Rajesh Padgotra,Gagan Partap, ParshotamParihar, Khajoor Singh,Paramjit Marshal, SurinderChouhan, Kunwar Bali,Nirmal Kishore, Capt.Sultan Singh, YashpaulSharma, Ravinder Jamwal,Bachan Dass, Dev Raj,Shankaar Sanju, RashpaulSingh, Vikram Choudhary,Sameer, Subash, Rattan,Maan Singh, Vijay besidesothers.

Photo by Ajay

NDPI urges LG to conduct an enquiry

into e-tendering scam in G&M deptt TP CORRESPONDENT

JAMMU, JAN. 20: TheNational Democratic PartyIndian (NDPI) hasexpressed a serious concernabout e-tendering scam inGeology and Mining depart-ment. Gupta President ofNDPI J&K UT unit urgedLieutenant Governor ofJ&K UT Girish ChandraMurmu and demanded anenquiry in ongoing e-tender-ing process of Geology andMining department in vari-ous districts of Jammu.

Rajesh Gupta alleged thatthe District Mining Officer(DMO) Kathua in recent bidon Saturday could not giverelevant timings accordingto given rules to bidderswhich allegedly showed thee-tendering process of vari-ous mining blocks wascompromised to benefitselect old mining mafiaplayers. Gupta said the newcontractors of miningdepartment who felt cheatedby DMO Kathua by allot-ting all nine blocks to oneperson by playing fowl ingiven timing. Contractorsconveyed their grivences toits DMO Kathua that theycould not get relevant tim-ings which allegedlyshowed the e-tenderingprocess of various miningblocks was compromised tobenefit select old miningmafia players.

Photo by Vivek

Photo by Vivek

JKNPP submits memorandum to Lt. Governor

NPP protests against govt's silence over Delimitation, Assembly Polls

Ek Sath Rang Mandal presents"Brashtachar Aur Hum"

TP CORRESPONDENTJAMMU, JAN. 20: Ek Sath

Rang Mandal today presentedit's 387th Monday Theatrenew progressive Nukad"Brashtachar Aur Hum"under Monday Theatre Seriesat K.C. Morh, FlouriculturePark Jammu, City.Corruption tee is acuteappalling intolerable culturein our country. It is a fatalPhenomenal illness in oursociety which is not undercontrol. A common personwho is effected by corruptiondespite of our all efforts. Ashe is not enough competent topay Illegal Commission(Corruption) and is desperatebecause of Corruption.Today's nukad is Based onthe public grievances andhandicaps they are facingbecause of Corruption. Twofriends Riyaz and Shivamdecide to start their jointVenture with the help ofBanking facilities. When

they approach Bank authori-ties they are asked to collect along list of formalities fromdifferent authorities. Both ofthem are totally dispersed anddesperate to know that thiskind commission culturecan't be avoided because it iswe who have created for ourown facilities.

When they approach thesedepartments they are shockedto observe that they cannotget single paper without pay-ing certain illegal commis-sion .Finally they approach asenior citizen and ask him toguide the solution for theirproblem. He explains,"Corruption has alreadyspread it's roots all over ourcountry and it is incurabledisease which in our socie-ty."It is not that authoritieshave not tried to stop it 1947an Anti corruption act waspassed, followed by 1988 and2013 amendments . Now in1988 another Bill was passed

that a person giving bribe willalso be prosecuted along thebribe taker. But unfortunatelyresolutions and slogans haveare not effective as speed ofcorruption is not under con-trol. You don't know the mis-eries and problems what acommon man is facing in hisdaily life while dealing withPension, Ration, Education,Health care, where he isforced to pay such kind ofcommission. Their anotherfriend informs them that hegot all his papers by payingcommission. Senior Citizenconcludes and advises theseyoung person's not lose heartand never abandon your plansbut we should all start AWAR against. This MEN-ACE of Corruption so thatour country and society isCorrupt free .We all have tothink and analyze this bigquestion that why we areasked to pay commission forour legal work to be done?

Photo by Vivek

TRUTH PREVAIL

JAMMU, TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 20206 NATIoNAL/STATE

POWERGRID Corporation AnnouncesJobs Through GATE 2019

New Delhi: The PowerGrid Corporation of IndiaLimited or PGCIL orPOWERGRID has invitedapplications for AssistantEngineer Trainee post inElectrical, Electronics,Civil disciplines. Theselection will be throughGATE 2019. "Selectedcandidates shall joinPOWERGRID asAssistant EngineerTrainees. After successfulcompletion of 1 year train-ing period they shall beabsorbed in the companyas Engineers at E2 level,"reads the job notice

released by POWER-GRID. A total of 110vacancies have beenannounced for recruitment.Online registration processhas begun and candidatescan apply latest byFebruary 7.

Apply Online"Please note that only

GATE 2019 score(Normalized Marks out of100) is valid for thisrecruitment process.GATE score of 2018 orprior or GATE 2020 is notvalid," the notice adds.

The weightage ofGATE 2019 marks is 85%

of the total marks.Candidates shall be short-listed category-wise forGroup Discussion &Personal Interview basedon their normalized marksout of 100 in GATE 2019.

The post is identifiedsuitable for candidatesbelonging to PwD catego-ry coming under HI (Deaf& Hard of Hearing), LD(One Leg (OL)/ One Arm(OA)/ Dwarfism) acidattack victims and leprosycured persons with theabove disabilities havealso been identified suit-able for this post.

RAJGARH, MADHYAPRADESH: Violencebroke out at a pro-citizen-ship law rally in MadhyaPradesh's Rajgarh districton Sunday after officialsand local police clashedwith CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA)supporters who were tryingto take out a march forwhich permission had beendenied. In a widely-circulat-ed video, District CollectorNidhi Nivedita is seen slap-ping a BJP worker after pro-testers manhandled two ofher junior colleagues PriyaVerma and Shruti Agrwal,and a few police officers. Atleast three people wereinjured as police resorted toa lathi-charge to control thesituation.

"Permission was deniedto hold a rally... still around50 to 100 persons, violatingSection 144, took out themarch. When they werestopped by police andadministration, those pres-ent started misbehaving...pulled one of our womenofficers by her hair andkicked her, besides trying topull clothes of both womenofficers," Ms Nivedita said.

In a video of the clashthat was shared online bynews agency ANI, DeputyCollector Priya Verma(wearing a pink jacket and ablue scarf) can be seen forc-ing her way through acrowd of people holdingIndian flags and squattingon the road.

The nearly 75-secondlong video shows Ms Vermagrabbing some men by theircollars and dragging themto be taken away by cops.Other shots show her slap-ping and shouting at others,as a crowd of angry pro-CAA supporters gatheraround her.

Towards the end of thevideo an unidentified mancan be seen yanking on herhair, causing the hair bandto fall off. However, thevideo doesn't show eitherMs Verma or Ms Agrawalbeing kicked.

In another video, MsNivedita can be seen con-

fronting a furious protesterheld by back by severalpoliceman. Amid a deafen-ing din of chanting andshouting, the DistrictCollector slaps the man.

Section 144 was imposedin the district on Saturday.However, BJP workers, ledby former MLAs AmarSingh Yadav, MohanSharma and Dilbar SinghYadav, the President of thedistrict unit of the party,took out a 'tiranga yatra'nonetheless.

The BJP, which is in theopposition in the state, hada dramatic response to theincident in Rajgarh, callingit a "black letter day" fordemocracy.

"Collector madam...which law book have youread that empowers you tobeat up and drag citizensprotesting peacefully?Congress-led governmentshould hear it loud and clearthat Hitlerism with peopleof MP would not be tolerat-ed," former Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhansaid.

District Collector NidhiNivedita slapped a pro-CAA protester in MadhyaPradesh's Rajgarh district

The Congress hit back byblaming the BJP, with

spokesperson NarendraSaluja pointing out theopposition party had carriedout the march despite beingdenied permission.

"Carrying out march-pro-cession sans permission andthen misbehaving withwomen officers exposesthat BJP wants to vitiate thepeaceful atmosphere andhas no respect for women,"he tweeted.

Two FIRs have been reg-istered against 124 peoplein connection with the inci-dent; one for molestation,naming two people, and theother for violation ofSection 144. Seventeenpeople have been arrestedso far, according to newsagency ANI, including onefor the attack on Ms Verma

The CAA, which wasrushed through parliamentlast month, makes religionthe test of Indian citizenshipfor the first time. The gov-ernment claims it will helpnon-Muslim refugees fromMuslim-dominated neigh-bouring countries if theyfled because of religiouspersecution. However, crit-ics say it is designed to dis-criminate against Muslimsand violates the secularprinciples of the constitu-tion.

Jeff Bezos Rolls Out Another AmazonGift For India: Delivery E-Rickshaws

Slaps, Hair Pulling. In Madhya Pradesh,

officials vs Pro-CAA Protesters

NEW DELHI:Notwithstanding an appar-ent snub from the Indiangovernment, Amazon chiefJeff Bezos' charm offensivefor India is showing littlesigns of slowing down.This morning, theAmerican billionaire, backhome after a three-day visitto India last week, tweeteda video announcing therollout of a fleet of electric-powered delivery rick-shaws.

Though details of theplan are missing at themoment, the video shows

Mr Bezos driving one ofthe charcoal electric rick-shaws in peppy promovideo a aimed squarely atsocial media with an envi-ronment-friendly message.

Only on Friday, theAmazon boss on Friday hadpromised to create a millionnew jobs in India in afarewell love letter to thecountry, after ending atough visit that reportedlyincluded a refusal by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi togrant an appointment.

Hundreds of smalltraders staged protests dur-

ing his visit to India lastweek, which came as anti-trust authorities launched aprobe into the e-commercebehemoth and its main rivalWalmart-owned Flipkart.

Union CommerceMinister Piyush Goyal dis-missed Mr Bezos'sannouncement thatAmazon would invest $1billion as "not a favour",and a senior BJP leader hitout at his ownership of TheWashington Post, a news-paper often seen as criticalof PM Modi.

"I fall more in love withIndia every time I returnhere. The boundless energy,innovation, and grit of theIndian people alwaysinspire me," Mr Bezos saidin his farewell letter to thecountry posted onAmazon's India website onFriday.

The $1-billion invest-ment will "digitize microand small businesses incities, towns, and villagesacross India", he said, vow-ing Amazon would export$10 billion of Indian-madeproducts annually and cre-ate one million new jobs by2025.

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petent Courts and Fourms in Jammu and Kashmir.

IndianOil inks agreements with Cummins Technologies

India Pvt Limited; to collaborate for DEF bulk dispensingNEW DELHI:

IndianOil has signed anagreement with CumminsTechnologies India PvtLimited for bulk dispens-ing of IndianOil's DieselExhaust Fluid (DEF),branded as IOC ClearBlue,in their advanced engineswith SCR (SelectiveCatalytic Reduction) sys-tems. Mr. SubimalMondal, ExecutiveDirector (Lubes),IndianOil, and Ms. AnjaliPandey, Vice President(Engine Business Unit andComponent Business),Cummins India, signed theagreement at Mumbaitoday. On the occasion, Mr.Subimal Mondal said,"With this collaboration,IOC ClearBlue is recom-mended for use in all dieselvehicles that haveCummins engines or anyother engines withCummins SCR technology.IOC ClearBlue adheres tothe highest quality stan-dards by meeting IOC22241 and AdBlue certifi-cation", he added Ms.Anjali Pandey, VicePresident (Engine BusinessUnit and ComponentBusiness), Cummins Indiasaid, "At Cummins, weunderstand the need of themarket. With this initiative,IndianOil's innovation in adiesel exhaust fluid - IOCCLEARBLUE - delivers

superior results that ensureemissions controls. In thenew emission era of BS-VI, all diesel vehicleswould require IOCCLEARBLUE and theright quality would exten-sively help in controllingthe NOx emitted. Also, theeasy availability of genuinehigh-grade IOC CLEAR-BLUE at the fuel stationswill ensure availability andconsistent quality acrossthe country." India willshift to BS-VI auto fuelemission norms from 1stApril 2020. The automo-bile companies are effect-ing several technicalchanges in diesel vehiclessuch as provision for fittingdiesel particulate filter,selective catalytic reduc-tion (SCR) and exhaust gasrecirculation (EGR). TheSCR systems shall requireDEF, an aqueous urea solu-tion, for effective reductionin Nitrogen oxide emis-sions.

Bulk dispensing of DEFis in line with global trendsand offers better cost via-bility to truck and bus own-ers, as compared to packedproducts. The technicalknowledge of Cumminscombined with the bulkdispensing expertise ofIndianOil shall help offer aworld-class product to thecustomers across the coun-try.

Varinderjeet inaugurates

Tyres Outlet

JAMMU: BJP seniorleader S. VarinderjeetSingh, alongwith W.No. 51Corpoator Raj Kumar,inaugurated a retail Outletof tyres under the name &fame of "Universal Tyres"at Channi Himmat, in pres-ence of a large number oflocal people and the busi-ness community members.

S. Varinderjeet Singh,on this occasion, said thatthe exclusive Outlet willserve the needs of people

having vehicles and thatthey will have betterchoice now to purchasetyres.

He said that it will alsogive employment thus sup-port unemployed persons.Jatinder Kangotra,Proprietor of "UniversalTyres" of said that theOutlet is located at an eas-ily accessible place and thepeople would get the itemat very reasonable rateswith good quality product.

FC Goa launches Republic Day

offer on matchday jerseysAURANGABAD: An

FIR has been registeredagainst Shiv Sena MLASanjay Shirsat andAurangabad DeputyMayor Rajendra Janjalafter a former corporatoralleged that they thrashedhim for submitting bid fora road tender, an officialsaid on Monday.

Former Shiv Sena cor-porator Sushil Khedkarearlier alleged that MrShirsat, the MLA fromAurangabad West seat,and Mr Janjal, who is alsofrom the Sena, along withother workers hit him onSaturday over the tenderissue. "An offence hasbeen registered in thecase," AssistantCommissioner of Police

Hanumant Bhapkar toldnews agency PTI.

Sena leaders have beencharged under varioussections of the IndianPenal Code Sections,including voluntarilycausing hurt, criminalintimidation, unlawfulassembly and rioting,another police officialsaid. Khedkar alleged thatMr Shirsat had been put-ting pressure on him sincea long time over the roadwork tender in Satara areaof Aurangabad. "TheMLA told me not to sub-mit a bid for the tenderwhich is worth Rs 2.25crore, but I did. DeputyMayor Rajendra Janjalalso beat me up alongwith Shirsat.

Bharti Foundation and Ericsson India

join hands to open "Robotic Lab"NEW DELHI: Bharti

Foundation, the philanthrop-ic arm of Bharti Enterprisesin partnership with Ericsson(NASDAQ: ERIC) todayinaugurated "The RoboticLab" at Satya Bharti SeniorSecondary School, Jhaneri,Punjab. The state-of-the-artlab in the Governmentschool in Jhaneri, Punjabwill benefit the underprivi-leged students from ClassIV to Class VIII and furtherstimulate their interest inscience and technology. Theprogram curriculum aims tointroduce these students tothe world of digital technol-ogy by improving their gen-eral understanding as well asproviding hands-on experi-ence of programming anddigital tools. During therobotic classes, students willlearn the basics of program-ming and develop theskillsets to create preciseand accurate instructions.The three-year partnershipwith Bharti Foundation aimsto impart knowledge thatinspires students to pursue acareer in Science,Technology, Engineering,and Math (STEM). WithEricsson's global experienceand expertise in leveragingICT technology, this pro-gram will provide knowl-edge in the areas of newtechnologies, coding, pro-gramming and robotics toname a few. Speaking on theoccasion, Ms. MamtaSaikia, CEO, BhartiFoundation said "Use ofrobotics in the classroom

has proven to be a consistentand dependable way to teachstudents the required skillsneeded to prepare them forthe future job market.Robotics at the school isnow a significant part oflearning that improves theanalytical skills of students.I would like to thankEricsson for partnering withus in this initiative and pro-vide this exciting learningopportunity to the under-privileged students that theywould not have access tootherwise." Working in therobotics projects will alsohelp students to improvetheir analytical, problemsolving and decision makingskills. Heather Johnson,Vice President,Sustainability and CorporateResponsibility, Ericsson said"At Ericsson, we are com-mitted to improving educa-tional opportunities foryoung students around theworld through the use ofICT.

The program with BhartiFoundation aims to inspireand equip children toapproach technology andproblem-solving by creatingan open atmosphere forlearning, where instructorsshare their enthusiasm forSTEM, thus inspiring chil-dren to participate in futuretechnological studies. Theproject highlights Ericsson'scommitment to supportingaccess to education for stu-dents everywhere and lever-aging ICT to enhance learn-ing outcomes."

South India Gets First Squadron OfSukhoi Su-30 MKI Fighter Jets

THANJAVUR, TAMILNADU: Chief of DefenceStaff General Bipin Rawatand Air Force Chief AirMarshal RKS Bhadauriatoday inducted South India'sfirst squadron of multiroleSukhoi-30MKI fighter jets,modified to carry BrahMossupersonic cruise missiles.The squadron will be basedat the Air Force Base inTamil Nadu's Thanjavur andwill provide the country witha new lethal weapons plat-form that will fulfil both aer-ial and maritime roles andguard the Indian Oceanregion (IOR).

With the BrahMos missile,which has a range of around300 kilometres, the Sukhoi-30MKI squadron will be ableto strike at targets deep in theIOR. The squadron will ini-tially have between five andsix jets before scaling up tothe full complement of 18.

"The Indian Ocean Region(IOR), which is a centralmaritime spread borderingthree continents, has animportant role to play inregional peace, security, andprosperity. The IAF is anintrinsically strategic forceand is all set to extend thereach into the vast IOR," AirMarshal Amit Tiwari saidlast week, adding that thiswill be the IAF's secondfront-line fighter jetsquadron to be based in thesouth.

In a dramatic video sharedby news agency ANI, one ofthe Sukhoi Su-30MKI jetscan be seen slowly taxiingthrough two crossed streamsof a water salute.

"The ThiruvananthapuramAir Force airbase will play acrucial role... expansionplans here are on the anviland additional land is beingacquired, next to the presentbase. We expect to completethe expansion in around fouryear's time," the Air Marshal,who is Air Officer,

Commanding-in-Chief ofSouthern Air Command,added.

The BrahMos supersoniccruise missile has a range ofaround 300 kilometres

The 222 Squadron that willhouse the Sukhoi-30MKIs isalso known as the'Tigersharks' and was firstraised at the IAF's Ambalastation in Haryana inSeptember 1969, withSukhoi Su-7s - a swept-wingfighter jet.

In July 1971 the squadronmoved to the Air Force sta-tion in Punjab's Halwara andtook part in the 1971 warwith Pakistan. It was recog-nized for its efforts andawarded one MahavirChakra, three Vir Chakrasand three Vayu Sena medals.

In December 1985, the'Tigersharks' were the firstsquadron to be equipped withMiG-27s.

The squadron was official-ly decommissioned in 2011.

Country's best-selling multi-purpose vanMaruti Suzuki Eeco is now BS6 compliant

NEW DELHI: Leadingthe BS6 transition, MarutiSuzuki India Limited todayannounced the launch of theBS6 variant of country'sbest-selling multi-purposevan Eeco.

Eeco is the 9th BS6 offer-ing from Maruti Suzukiahead of the Governmentstipulated timeline.

In 2019, Eeco wholesalescrossed 1 lakh units for thefirst time, reflecting growthof 36% over 2018 whole-sales. Eeco has established astrong foothold with itsexcellent mileage, best-in-segment comfort, space andpower, at a low maintenancecost.

Maruti Suzuki Eeco waslaunched in January 2010and crossed the mark of 6.5lakh unit cumulative sales.Brand Eeco with its practi-cal and spacious design andpowerful performanceenjoys an undisputed leader-ship with 87% market sharein the van segment. Trulypositioned as 'Parivaar aurvyapaar ka No. 1 saathi', themulti-purpose Eeco is engi-neered to perform twinobjectives of being a bril-liant family transport as well

as a dependable businessvehicle.

Speaking on the introduc-tion of BS6 compliant Eeco,Mr. Shashank Srivastava,Executive Director(Marketing & Sales), MarutiSuzuki India Limited said,"At Maruti Suzuki, we arecommitted to provide reli-able mobility solutions toour customers. Introductionof the BS6 in Eeco will fur-ther bolster our commitmenttowards a cleaner environ-ment. A decade since itslaunch, Eeco continues toattract 84% pre-determinedbuyers, and has been appre-ciated for its stylish and spa-cious design and low cost ofmaintenance. With over50% of the consumerschoosing the vehicle forbusiness utility as well as afamily transport vehicle, theversatile Eeco offers uncom-promised comfort and safe-ty. We are confident to sus-tain a strong foothold in thesegment with Eeco andwould like to thank our cus-tomers for their constantsupport."

Currently, Maruti SuzukiEeco is offered in a widerange of 12 variants with 5-

seater, 7-seater, Cargo andAmbulance options. Thevehicle offers amplelegroom, headroom andmany other conveniencefeatures like reclining seats,clear headlamps, CNGchangeover switch, multi-trip meter, headlamp level-ling etc. The signature slid-ing doors eases entry andexit even in congested roadconditions. The overalldimension makes Eeco spa-cious enough to carry volu-minous load safely in anyweather.

Regarded as the safest vanin the segment, Eeco isequipped with driver airbag,ABS with EBD, reverseparking sensors, driver andco-driver seat belt reminder,and high speed alert system.Designed to offer a perfectblend of comfort and utility,Maruti Suzuki Eeco isequipped with a powerful1.2L petrol BS6 engine thatoffers 16.11km/l fuel effi-ciency and delivers54kw@6000rpm of Powerand 98Nm@3000rpm ofTorque. Maruti Suzuki alsooffers Eeco in S-CNG tech-nology alongside the petrolvariant.

Airtel ties up with Bharti AXA to offerRs.179 prepaid With life insurance

NEW DELHI: After thesuccessful launch of itsinnovative prepaid bundleswith built-in life insurancecover, Bharti Airtel todayintroduced its most afford-able prepaid bundle withbuilt in life insurance coverof Rs 2 lakh.

Priced at just Rs 179,Airtel’s NEW prepaid bun-dle offers unlimited callingto any network, 2 GB data,300 SMS along with a termlife cover of Rs 2 lakh fromBharti AXA Life Insurance.The pack has a validity of28 days.

At just Rs.179 for amonth, Airtel new prepaidbundle sets a new bench-mark in making a basicinsurance cover even moreaccessible and affordableby coupling it with world-class telecom services. Thepack is designed to serveentry level smartphoneusers and feature phoneusers in semi-urban andrural markets. It will givethese customers a simpleand highly convenientchannel to secure them-selves and their familiesfinancially every time theyrecharge their Airtel mobilenumbers.

As per the IRDAI, insur-ance penetration in India isabysmally low at less than4% while there are close toone billion mobile users inthe country. This offersmobile operators and finan-cial services providers theopportunity to collaborateand innovate for serving thefinancial security needs ofhundreds of millions ofIndians. The alliance alsocontributes to theGovernment’s vision offinancial inclusion.

“Our innovative prepaidbundles with built-in terminsurance plans have gotpositive response from cus-tomers and this has encour-aged us to take the solutioneven deeper to the masses.The Rs. 179 recharge willoffer one of the simplestand most accessible plat-forms to hundreds of mil-lions of Indians to finan-cially secure themselvesand their families whilestaying connected onAirtel’s world-class net-work,” said ShashwatSharma, Chief MarketingOfficer, Bharti Airtel.

Commenting on the part-nership, Mr. Vikas Seth,Managing Director and

CEO, Bharti AXA LifeInsurance, said, “We arepleased to partner withBharti Airtel and offer pro-tection cover to its cus-tomers. As a responsiblelife insurer, we always lookto provide new layers ofconvenience and protectionto the customers. Our part-nership ensures life insur-ance cover to every cus-tomer with each rechargeand helps them leverage itsbenefits. We are confidentthat the alliance will alsostrengthen insurance pene-tration in the country.”

The insurance cover isavailable to all customeraged 18-54 years andrequires no paperwork ormedical test. The policy orCertificate of Insurance willbe instantaneously deliv-ered digitally and a physicalcopy of the insurance canbe provided on request.

The entire process is dig-itally delivered in a matterof few minutes at any Airtelretail store or on AirtelThanks app. Airtel has overone million retail outlets,and its mobile network cov-ers over 786,000 non-cen-sus towns and villagesacross India.

Photo by Vivek

TRUTH PREVAIL

JAMMU, TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 20207 HEALTH

Everyone experiences feel-ings of sadness occasionally,but depression is different. Itpersists over time and cancause a variety of other symp-toms.

Depression is a medicalcondition that affects morethan 300 million people glob-ally, according to the WorldHealth Organization (WHO).People sometimes call it clini-cal depression or majordepressive disorder.

In this article, learn aboutthe common symptoms ofdepression, as well as thetreatment options and when toseek help.

13 symptoms of depressionThere are several different

types of depression, and thesymptoms vary among indi-viduals.

While anyone can experi-ence some of these symptomsfrom time to time, a doctorwill only diagnose depressionwhen a certain cluster ofsymptoms appear, and theypersist for 2 weeks or longer.

1. Feeling sad or emptyMood changes are one of

the most common symptomsof depression. A person whohas depression may feel sad ordown for long periods.

They may also say that theyfeel "empty" or unable to feeljoy or happiness. Some peoplemay describe this sadness as

despair.2. Feeling hopeless or help-

lessDepression can make peo-

ple feel hopeless, as thoughthere is no foreseeable end tohow they are feeling.

A person may also feelhelpless. They may say orthink that no one can helpthem get better and that theywill always feel depressed.

3. Feeling worthlessA person who has depres-

sion may feel that they areworthless or have no meaningin their life.

They may believe that theyare a burden to others or thatthe world or their family isbetter off without them.

4. Feeling excessivelyguilty

Guilt is a normal reactionafter a person says or does

something that they regret, butpeople with depression mayhave ongoing feelings of guiltthat are inappropriate or dis-proportionate to their situa-tion.

They may focus a lot ofenergy on this guilt and feelbad about themselves andthings that they have said ordone — even events that havelong since passed.

5. No interest or pleasure inactivities

Some people with depres-sion lose interest in things thatthey used to enjoy, such assports, going out with friends,music, or sexual activity. Theymay turn down offers oropportunities to do activitiesor be with others.

6. Anger and irritabilityA person with depression

may seem to be angry with

others. They may become eas-ily annoyed and irritated.

The National Institutes ofMental Health state that menare more likely than women toexperience irritability andanger as symptoms of depres-sion. However, these symp-toms may also occur inwomen and children.

Irritability also has linkswith other symptoms ofdepression. For example, if aperson is not sleeping welland feels tired, they may bemore prone to irritability.

7. Feeling tired and a loss ofenergy

Some people with depres-sion may find it difficult to getup in the morning becausethey feel exhausted and rundown.

They may feel too fatiguedto do everyday tasks, such asgoing to work or cookingmeals. They may spend a lotof time at home resting orsleeping.

The fatigue of depressioncan make a person feel asthough they are always tired,despite getting enough sleepat night. However, others withdepression do experience poorsleep.

8. Insomnia or lack of sleepAccording to 2008

research, about 75% of peoplewith depression experiencesymptoms of insomnia.

Common symptoms of

depression: What to know

A new report has foundthat more than half of thepeople with mental healthconditions currently con-fined in Los Angeles countyjails would benefit frommental health treatment inspecialized community cen-ters instead of incarceration.

Thousands of LA jailinmates would benefit fromreceiving mental healthsupport away from prison, anew report suggests.

The Los Angeles (LA)county jail system holdsthousands of inmates at anyone time, and past reportshave suggested that theseinclude many people whowere previously homelessand who experience mentalhealth issues.

As a result, if they do notreceive appropriate support,these people have a highchance of recidivism, aswell as a high likelihood ofexperiencing homelessnessonce more after their releasefrom jail.

For this reason, last year,the LA County Board ofSupervisors decided tofocus more on the possibili-ty of offering mental healthsupport in community-based centers to inmateswho may qualify for it.

To this end, LA Countycommissioned RANDCorporation — a not-for-profit, global policy-orient-ed research organization —to find out how many cur-rent county jail inmateswould benefit from movingto community-based facili-ties to receive mental healthtreatment.

The 31 page report useddata about the jail popula-tion from June 2019, whichrevealed that at that time,5,544 inmates were livingin special mental healthhousing units or receivingpsychotropic drugs, or both.

A pathway to 'smart poli-cy making'

The researchers who con-

ducted this study had todevelop a set of considera-tions to find out how manyand which of these inmateswould benefit from diver-sion to community-basedmental healthcare.

Eligible individuals, theresearchers say, are thosewho experience a seriousmental illness that requirestargeted therapy.

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"Knowing how manypeople are appropriate fordiversion is a first steptoward understanding thetypes of programs, staff,and funding that would beneeded to treat those indi-viduals in the community,"says lead author StephanieBrooks Holliday.

The researchers estimatedthat 3,368 — or 61% — ofthese LA county jailinmates were definitely eli-gible for diversion to com-munity-based clinical serv-ices, while an additional414 (7%) were potentiallyeligible.

The remaining 32% ofthe people in this prisonsubpopulation (1,762 indi-viduals) were definitely noteligible for diversion,according to the new report.

When applying the eligi-bility criteria to a represen-tative sample of 500 partici-pants living in county jailswho also experienced men-tal health problems, theresearchers found that 59%of the men and 74% of thewomen were eligible fordiversion to a mental healthprogram.

"Diversion is stopping thecycle between jail andhomelessness," emphasizescounty supervisor MarkRidley-Thomas, who wasnot involved in the study onwhich the report was based.

"Just in the last 3 years,

the Office of Diversion andReentry has safely divertedover 4,400 people from thecounty jails to more appro-priate settings where theycan get treatment, instead ofthe costly alternative ofserving additional time injail and being released withno supports, too often end-ing up homeless. This issmart policy making."

Mark Ridley-Thomas"RAND's research under-

scores the need to doubledown on diversion to reachall those who could bene-fit," the LA county supervi-sor adds.

The researchers involvedin the RAND study alsomake some recommenda-tions in their report. One ofthese is that the relevantauthorities should increasethe number and capacity ofcommunity-based programsfor diversion.

Another recommendationis that LA County officialsshould improve the qualityof data collection processesto get more informationabout jail inmates eligiblefor diversion.

"[E]ven with increases indiversion, there will contin-ue to be a large number ofindividuals with mentalhealth needs who remain inthe jails," Holliday cau-tions.

Psychology is the study ofthe mind and behavior,according to the AmericanPsychological Association.It is the study of the mind,how it works, and how itaffects behavior.

The APA adds that it"embraces all aspects of thehuman experience, from thefunctions of the brain to theactions of nations, fromchild development to carefor the aged."

Psychologists and psychi-atrists work together to helppeople with mental healthconditions, but they are notquite the same.

A psychologist treats apatient through psychother-apy, helping to relievesymptoms through behav-ioral change. The role of thepsychiatrist, who is a med-ical doctor, focuses more onprescribing medication and

other interventions to man-age mental health condi-tions.

Fast facts about psycholo-gy

Psychology is the study ofbehavior and the mind.

There are different typesof psychology, such as cog-nitive, forensic, social, anddevelopmental psychology.

A person with a conditionthat affects their mentalhealth may benefit fromassessment and treatmentwith a psychologist.

A psychologist may offertreatment that focuses onbehavioral adaptations.

A psychiatrist is a medicaldoctor who is more likely tofocus on medical manage-ment of mental healthissues.

What is psychology?The work of a psycholo-

gist can range from counsel-

ing individuals with anxietyto advising companies onhow to build better teams.The mind is highly complex,and conditions that relate toit can be hard to treat.

Thought processes, emo-tions, memories, dreams,perceptions, and so on can-not be seen physically, like askin rash or heart defect.

While physical signs ofsome mental health issuescan be observed, such as theplaques that develop withAlzheimer's disease, manytheories of psychology arebased on observation ofhuman behavior.

A practicing psychologistwill meet with patients,carry out assessments tofind out what their concernsare and what is causing anydifficulties, and recommendor provide treatment, forexample, through coun-

selling and psychotherapy.Psychologists may have

other roles, too. They maycarry out studies to advisehealth authorities and otherbodies on social and otherstrategies, assess childrenwho find it difficult to learnin school, give workshopson how to prevent bullying,work with recruitmentteams in companies, andmuch more.

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Branches of psychologyThere are different types

of psychology that serve dif-ferent purposes. There is nofixed way of classifyingthem, but here are somecommon types.

Clinical psychologyClinical psychology inte-

grates science, theory, andpractice in order to under-stand, predict and relieveproblems with adjustment,disability, and discomfort. Itpromotes adaption, adjust-ment, and personal develop-ment.

A clinical psychologistconcentrates on the intellec-tual, emotional, biological,psychological, social, and

behavioral aspects of humanperformance throughout aperson's life, across varyingcultures and socioeconomiclevels.

Clinical psychology canhelp us to understand, pre-vent, and alleviate psycho-logically-caused distress ordysfunction, and promote anindividual's well-being andpersonal development.

What is psychology and what does it involve?

Thousands of LA jail inmates should

receive community mental health support

What's to know about

electroconvulsive therapy?Electroconvulsive therapy

is a safe, controlled procedurefor depression and other psy-chological disorders that havenot responded to other treat-ments.

A small amount of electriccurrent is passed through thebrain in order to cause a briefseizure.

Depression affects around15 million Americans, mak-ing it the leading cause of dis-ability in the United States(U.S.), but it can be hard totreat.

Between 60 and 70 percentof people with major depres-sive disorder respond to anti-depressant medications.Electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) may help people forwhom these and other treat-ments have not been effec-tive. ECT is given under anes-thesia in both outpatient andinpatient hospital settings.Between 70 and 90 percent ofpatients experience a rapidimprovement in symptoms.

It may also help peoplewho are acutely ill withmania, psychosis, catatonia,agitated dementia, post-trau-matic stress disorder (PTSD),and suicidal thoughts.

Fast facts on ECTHere are some key points

about ECT. More detail is inthe main article.

The American PsychiatricSociety (APA) has estab-lished clear guidelines forECT use.

New research shows how the use ofa multisensory illusion may help treatobsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD). The new method could bypassthe disadvantages of exposure therapy.

Contamination fears may causepeople with OCD to wash their handsexcessively.

In 1998, researchers MatthewBotvinick and Jonathan Cohen of theUniversity of Pittsburgh, PA, detailedan experiment that people would laterrefer to as the "rubber hand illusion"(RHI).

In the experiment, 10 people satdown, resting their left arm on a table.A screen hid each participant's armfrom view, and instead, they could see

a life-sized rubber hand model.The researchers placed the hand

right in front of the person so that theycould see it from the same angle asthey would their own hand.

After asking each participant to fixtheir gaze on the rubber hand, theexperimenters used two small paint-brushes to stroke the rubber hand andthe participant's actual hand at thesame time.

After 10 minutes, the participantsreported feeling the rubber hand asthough it were their own.

Now, new research has used theRHI to help people with contamina-tion-related OCD overcome theirfears.

powered by Rubicon ProjectBaland Jalal, a neuroscientist in the

department of psychiatry at theUniversity of Cambridge, UnitedKingdom, is the first author of the newpaper, which appears in the journalFrontiers in Human Neuroscience.

In contamination-related OCD, thefear of touching a doorknob, for exam-ple, may cause people with the condi-tion to spend hours washing andscrubbing their hands to an excessivedegree afterward.

Doctors and mental health profes-sionals often recommend "exposuretherapy" to treat this and other formsof OCD.

Exposure therapy encourages peo-ple with OCD to start touching poten-tially contaminating surfaces withoutwashing their hands afterward.

However, says Jalal, "exposuretherapy can be very stressful and so isnot always effective or even feasiblefor many patients."

This limitation is what made himand his colleagues want to exploreother options, such as contaminating afake hand instead.

Using a fake hand to treat OCDThe new research builds on previ-

ous RHI experiments that Jalal carriedout together with fellow neuroscientistVilayanur S. Ramachandran, who is aco-author of the new study.

In these previous studies, Jalal andRamachandran contaminated the fakehand with fake feces, and the partici-pants reported feeling disgusted in thesame way that they would if they hadused their own hand.

For the new study, the researchersrecruited 29 people with OCD fromthe McLean Hospital ObsessiveCompulsive Disorder Institute inBelmont, MA.

Of these participants, 16 experi-enced the paintbrush stroking on boththeir real hand and the dummy hand atexactly the same time, whereas 13controls experienced the stroking outof synch.

Expect in-depth, science-backedtoplines of our best stories every day.Tap in and keep your curiosity satis-fied. After 5 minutes, the experi-menters asked how real the dummyhand felt to the participants.

Depression with psychoticfeatures is when someoneexperiences both depressionand psychosis. Psychosisrefers to a disconnectionfrom reality and may includesymptoms such as hallucina-tions or delusions.

Major depression withpsychotic features is alsosometimes referred to aspsychotic depression. It is agrave illness characterizedby a combination of unipolarmajor depressive symptomsand psychosis.

Some estimates suggestthat 14.7 to 18.5 percent ofpeople with major depres-sion may experience psy-chotic features and that theprevalence rates may risewith age.

This form of depression isan underdiagnosed andundertreated condition.

We focus here on unipolardepression, so the termmajor depression refers to amajor depressive episodeand not bipolar disorder.

This article will discusshow specialists diagnosedepression with psychosis,

as well as outlining treat-ment options and steps torecovery.

What is depression withpsychosis?

Psychotic depression is anunderdiagnosed form ofdepression.

Major depression is one ofthe most common mentalhealth conditions in theUnited States.

According to the NationalInstitute of Mental Health(NIMH), an estimated 4.3percent of adults in theUnited States had at leastone major depressiveepisode in 2016.

Depression with psychosisis when a person has depres-sion and also experiences adisconnection from reality,which is called psychosis.

Experts also refer todepression with psychosis asdepression with psychoticfeatures.

Major depression affectsmood, behavior, and variousphysical functions, such assleep and appetite.

The symptoms of majordepression include:

persistent feelings ofextreme sadness, anger, orirritability

feelings of hopelessnessor helplessness

feelings of worthlessnessloss of interest in once

pleasurable activitieschanges in appetitechanges in sleep, such as

sleeping too much or too lit-tle

fatigue, or general lack ofenergy

difficulty concentrating,making decisions, orremembering things

recurrent thoughts ofdeath or suicide

Psychosis means that aperson feels disconnectedfrom reality. It occurs whensomeone experiences thingsthat are not reality, such ashallucinations or delusions.

People must rememberthat psychosis is a symptomof particular mental healthconditions, not a disorder initself.

Experiencing psychosiscan be frightening and con-fusing, and psychosis canpresent in a variety of ways.

Symptoms of psychosisinclude:

delusions, also known asfalse beliefs or false percep-tions

hallucinations, or seeingor hearing things that are notpresent

paranoiaDiagnosing depression

with psychosisChanges in a person's

sleep pattern can be a symp-tom of depression.

Most diagnostic guidescategorize psychotic depres-sion as a subset of majordepressive disorder. In themental health field, there isan ongoing debate aboutwhether this is accurate.

The InternationalClassification of Diseases(ICD), 11th Edition, consid-ers psychotic depression tobe the most severe subtype

of major depressive disorder.The Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of MentalDisorders fifth edition(DSM-5) also lists psychoticfeatures as a subset of majordepression. But psychoticfeatures are not indicators ofseverity of major depressionin the DSM-5.

Healthcare professionalscan misdiagnose depressionwith psychotic features asother disorders.

These other illnesses mayinclude:

major depressive disorderwithout psychotic features

schizoaffective disorderdepression not otherwise

specifiedmood disorderA misdiagnosis is often

due to a lack of recognitionof the psychotic features ofmajor depression.

What to know aboutdepression with psychosis

Most of us are familiarwith the physical healtheffects of smoking, but canthe habit also affect ourmental and emotional well-being? A new study suggeststhat it can, after finding alink between smoking ciga-rettes and depression.

A new study examines thelink between mental healthand smoking among stu-dents.

The new study nowappears in the journal PLOSONE.

Prof. Hagai Levine —from the HebrewUniversity-Hadassah BraunSchool of Public Health andCommunity Medicine inJerusalem, Israel — is thesenior and correspondingauthor of the study paper.

In it, Prof. Levine and col-leagues explain that thereare clues in existingresearch that point to smok-ing as a predisposing factorto depression.

For instance, depressiontends to be twice as likelyamong people who smokethan those who do not, but itis not yet clear which causeswhich. Some researchers,however, believe that smok-ing may lead to depression,not vice versa. What ismore, other studies havefound that people who hadnever smoked generallyhave a better health-relatedquality of life (HRQoL), aswell as less anxiety anddepression. So, to help shedsome light on the matter,Prof. Levine and team

decided to study the asso-

ciation between HRQoL andsmoking among students inSerbia. Few studies havelooked into this associationin low- and middle-incomecountries.

However, more than 25%of people living in Serbiaand other Eastern Europeancountries smoke, which isanother reason that studyingthis subject in this popula-tion is of interest.Furthermore, about a thirdof students in Serbia smoke.

Studying smoking andmental health

The new study includeddata from two cross-section-al studies that gatheredinformation from two uni-versities: the University ofBelgrade and the Universityof Pristina. The former hasaround 90,000 students, andthe latter has around 8,000.

Of this total, theresearchers enrolled 2,138students in their study. Thestudents took part in regularhealth checkups betweenApril and June 2009 at theUniversity of Belgrade, andbetween April and June2015 at the University ofPristina. The participantsprovided information abouttheir social and economicbackgrounds — such astheir age, social status, placeof birth, and parents' educa-tion — as well as informa-tion on any preexistingchronic conditions. Theyalso provided informationabout their habits andlifestyle, such as smokingstatus, alcohol use, exerciselevels, and eating habits.

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The researchers classedpeople who smoked at leastone cigarette per day or 100cigarettes in a lifetime as"smokers" for the purposesof this study.

To assess the students'HRQoL, Prof. Levine andcolleagues asked them to fillin a questionnaire compris-ing 36 questions acrosseight dimensions of health.These were:

physical functioningrole functioning physicalbodily paingeneral healthvitalitysocial functioningrole functioning emotion-

almental healthFor each of these parame-

ters, a score between 0 and100 reflected how the inter-viewee perceived their ownmental and physical health.

The team also used theBeck Depression Inventory(BDI) to assess the students'depressive symptoms. TheBDI has 21 items, each witha score from 0 to 3.

According to the BDI, afinal score of:

0–13 represents "no orminimal depression"

4–19 ranks as "milddepression"

20–28 represents "moder-ate depression"

29–63 ranks as "severedepression"

Tobacco negativelyimpacted mental health

Overall, the study foundthat having a higher BDIscore was associated withsmoking. Furthermore, thestudents who smoked weretwo to three times morelikely to have clinicaldepression than those whohad never smoked.

At the University ofPristina, 14% of those whosmoked had depression,whereas only 4% of theirnon-smoking peers had thecondition.

Does smoking cause

depression?

How the 'rubber hand illusion'

may help those with OCD

TRUTH PREVAIL

JAMMU, TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 20208 INTERNATIoNAL

$130 Steaks Prompt Some SaudisTo Debate Costs Of Prince's Plans

As couples on their way toa lavish dinner strolled pastpalm trees hung with chan-deliers in a historic quarter ofRiyadh, the recent belt-tight-ening downturn in SaudiArabia's economy seemed aworld away.

Inside a replica ofCarbone, a Michelin-starredItalian restaurant in NewYork, diners ordered Wagyubeef steaks for 500 riyals($133), just over the mini-mum spend required tosecure a reservation weeks inadvance. Nearby, musiciansplayed in perfumed court-yards as women driving golfcarts delivered customers toa selection of pop-up restau-rants from around the world.The evening toward thescheduled end of the"Riyadh Season" -- a govern-ment-sponsored flurry offood offerings, concerts,sporting events and carnivals-- encapsulated much ofwhat Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salmanwants his kingdom toembrace. Since rising tobecome de facto leader, he'ssought to soften its reputa-tion as a ultra-conservativeIslamic state propped up byoil, rolling out historic deci-sions including easingrestrictions on live music,cinema and dress, and open-ing to foreign tourists.

But the extravaganza, andthe debate it triggered, high-lighted twin challenges forauthorities as they look topromote broad acceptance ofthe changes: ensuring theless well-off aren't alienatedby lifestyle choices they

can't afford and making themricher so their spending canfuel a nascent economicrecovery.

"There was a rush towardentertainment in a way thatdistanced many people -- thehave-nots," said SaadAlbazei, a literature profes-sor and a former member ofthe consultative Shura coun-cil. He supports the transfor-mation plan but worries thehigh prices of some of thenew events could excludepeople.

Consumer spending isrecovering after faltering asthe slump in oil prices from2014 forced the governmentto trim generous subsidies,slowed the economy andmade Saudis watch theirwallets.

Saudi Consumers ReturnRecently, officials said

they're pulling back on gov-ernment spending to let pri-vate investment take thelead. The non-oil economygrew 4.3% annually in thethird quarter of last year, thefastest since 2014.

Riyadh Season is part ofthe pitch. It generated a bil-lion riyals in revenue overtwo months from its mid-

October start, attracting 10million visitors, though ithasn't made a profit for thegovernment.

"If we got anything out ofRiyadh Season, it's thatdemand is there, socialacceptance is there," saidFaisal Bafarat, chief execu-tive of the GeneralEntertainment Authority."Businessmen are comingand saying we want toinvest." Still, debate aboutprices has persisted, withAlbazei surprised when heraised the issue on Twitterand hundreds of peoplereplied to his post. The factthat Saudis were openly dis-cussing the issue after acrackdown on domestic dis-sent is a sign it struck achord. The fact that Saudiswere openly discussing theissue after a crackdown ondomestic dissent is a sign itstruck a chord. Inequality isnothing new in Saudi Arabia,and many Saudis view thecontrast between legions ofroyal princes and the beggarsat street intersections as afact of life. Median familymonthly income was 11,494riyals in 2018, about $37,000a year.

22 men own more wealth than Africa's326 million women, Oxfam says

LONDON: Globalinequality is "out of control"because of biased economicsystems that exclude manywomen while allowing bil-lionaires to amass huge for-tunes that do little for socie-ty, according to OxfamInternational.

The charity is calling ongovernments to implementpolicies that ease the burdenon women who provide carefor children and the elderly,often for little or no pay.Oxfam suggests higher taxeson the wealthy, and morespending by national govern-ments on child- and healthcare.

Oxfam's annual report oninequality was releasedahead of the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos,Switzerland, which eachyear brings together many ofthe world's wealthiest andmost influential people.Among the report's key find-ings:

The world's 2,153 billion-aires have more wealth than4.6 billion people.

The 22 richest men havemore wealth than all thewomen in Africa. Accordingto the UN, there are 326 mil-lion aged 20 and over.

The world's richest 1%have more than twice asmuch wealth as 6.9 billionpeople.

The value of unpaid carework by women aged 15 andover is $10.8 trillion annual-ly.

The number of billionaireshas doubled over the pastdecade.

The 63-page report arguesthat world leaders are notdoing enough to address thewidening gap between thepoor and the rich. It focusesthis year on policies thatallow men to dominate thetop ranks of business andgovernment. Economicinequality, the report argues,is built on gender inequality.

Jeff Bezos is still the rich-est person in the world

Jeff Bezos is still the rich-est person in the world

"Women are supportingthe market economy withcheap and free labor andthey are also supporting thestate by providing care thatshould be provided by thepublic sector," the reportstates. "This unpaid work isfueling a sexist economicsystem that takes from themany and puts money in thepockets of the few."

Oxfam warns that agingpopulations and cuts to pub-lic services threaten toincrease the burden on careworkers and stoke furtherinequality.

"Both the dramatic levelof economic inequality andthe looming care crisis canbe tackled, but it will requireconcerted efforts and boldpolicy decisions to mend thedamage done and to buildeconomic systems that carefor all citizens," says thereport.

The group recommendsthat governments work tobuild national care systems,provide free public servicesand increase taxes on thewealthy.

HONG KONG : Chinahas reported 139 new casesof pneumonia caused by anew strain of coronavirus,including a third death, asthe outbreak spreads beyondthe city where the virus wasfirst identified.

Health authorities inBeijing confirmed two casesof the new coronavirusMonday, while Guangdongauthorities reported one casein Shenzhen -- the first con-firmation from authoritiesthat the mysterious virus hasspread domestically beyondthe central city of Wuhan.All three patients arebelieved to have visitedWuhan, according to author-ities.

The Wuhan MunicipalHealth Commissionannounced Monday that 136new patients were diagnosedon Saturday and Sunday. Ofthose, one person died fromthe virus, two are in criticalcondition, and 33 are in seri-ous condition, according toauthorities. The new caseshave brought the total num-ber of people in China diag-nosed with the virus to 201,a significant jump from 62reported on the weekend.

Local authorities havealso begun to report suspect-ed infections.

On Monday morning,health authorities inShenzhen, across the borderof Hong Kong, said they aremonitoring eight patientswho have been quarantinedfor treatment. In coastal

Zhejiang province, authori-ties reported five suspectedcases who visited Wuhan.

The spread of the out-break comes as the countrygets ready for the LunarNew Year holiday later thisweek. On Sunday, the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)said that there was evidenceof "limited human-to-humantransmission" of the newvirus raising fears of a widerregional outbreak. The holi-day period typically seeshundreds of millions ofChinese travel throughoutthe country and overseas.

Last week, three caseswere detected outside China-- two in Thailand and one inJapan. All cases have beenlinked to Wuhan. OnMonday, South Korea alsoconfirmed its first case ofthe virus. According to theSouth Korean Centers forDisease Control andPrevention (CDC), a 35-year-old Chinese womanwas detected by temperaturescreening upon arrivingSunday at Seoul's IncheonInternational Airport fromWuhan.

She has been quarantinedand is in a stable condition,the CDC said. The woman, aWuhan resident, hadplanned to go on holiday inSouth Korea and Japan withfive others. She said shedeveloped a fever and mus-cle pains on Saturday andwas prescribed cold medi-cine by a doctor in Wuhan,according to the CDC.

"There Was No Other Option": Harry,

Stripped Of Royal Title, After Split

LONDON: Britain'sPrince Harry expressed"great sadness" on Sundayat he and his wife Meghanbeing stripped of their royaltitles as part of a historicseparation settlement withthe Queen.

But he said he saw noother way out but to give uphis royal role in search of "amore peaceful life" with hisAmerican former actresswife and baby son Archie.

"It brings me great sad-ness that it has come tothis," Harry told supportersof his Africa-based charityin London. His emotionalfirst remarks since the sepa-ration were aimed at calm-ing a crisis that has shakenthe very foundations ofBritain's ancient monarchy.

Harry also confessed tosome trepidation at takingthe momentous step ofresigning from daily dutiesand charting a new lifeabroad.

He said he had alwaysbeen ready lose the publicmoney that supported his

lavish lifestyle but admittedit pained him to have togive up the military titlesand patronages he wasawarded after serving twotours in Afghanistan withthe British Army.

He read from preparedremarks and appeared tenseas he sought understandingfrom a nation that has had asoft spot for him since hischildhood -- and which nownow appeared confused byhis decision to leave hisroyal life behind.

"We are taking a leap offaith -- thank you for givingme the courage to take thisnext step," he said.

The "Megxit" crisisbegan on January 8 whenthe couple's plans to seek a"progressive new role" inNorth America wereannounced without QueenElizabeth II's royal assent.

"I know I haven't alwaysgotten it right, but as far asthis goes, there really wasno other option," Harrysaid.

'Absolutely unprecedent-

ed'The couple lost their right

to be called "his and herroyal highness" (HRH) --much as Harry's late motherPrincess Diana did whenshe divorced Prince Charlesin another family dramathat upset the Queen in1996.

They further agreed torepay 163;2.4 millionpounds ($3.1 million) oftaxpayer's money spent onrenovating their FrogmoreCottage home near WindsorCastle.

"No royal has ever paidback money," former royalpress secretary DickieArbiter wrote in The Sun onSunday.

"It is absolutely unprece-dented."

But Arbiter said it was theloss of the HRH "royalhighness" abbreviation thatreally made Palace history.

"Even when Edward VIIIabdicated (in 1936) hedropped from being HisMajesty The King to HRHthe Duke of Windsor," hesaid.

'Lost souls'Few know what Meghan

-- a global star with a hugesocial media following andA-list celebrity friends suchas Oprah Winfrey and theObamas -- thinks of theBritish brouhaha aboutancient acronyms.

The 38-year-old franklyadmitted on UK televisionin October that she "reallytried to adopt this Britishsensibility of a stiff upperlip."

At 50, Davos Matures Beyond

Corporate 'Speed Dating'PARIS, FRANCE: Like

others approaching middleage, the World EconomicForum turns 50 insisting ithas matured, that it hasmoved on from hard partyingand wants more meaningfulrelationships. The focus forthis week's annual meeting inDavos will be as much onhearing from climate changeactivists as on rapid-fire cor-porate dealmaking in a suc-cession of cocktail-fuelledsoirees, organisers insist.

Guests will includeSwedish climate activistGreta Thunberg and MicahWhite, co-creator of the anti-finance movement OccupyWall Street, alongside themore traditional parade ofchief executives, celebritiesand politicians such as USPresident Donald Trump.

White conceded that"attending Davos will mostlikely be reputational sui-cide". Nonetheless, heargued for a "difficultalliance" between activistsand members of the econom-ic and social elite.

That much is required ifthe WEF wants to live up toits slogan of "improving thestate of the world", a loftyprogression since it began in1971 as a cosy Alpine get-together for European busi-nessmen under the guidanceof German economist KlausSchwab. What is the WorldEconomic Forum?

With political, businessand cultural leaders headingto Davos in Switzerland thisweek, we take a look at theWorld Economic Forum.

Schwab is now 81 andremains very much in chargeof an organisation that does-n't come cheap. Fees forjoining or partnering with theWEF range from 60,000 to600,000 Swiss francs($62,000-$620,000).

From a symposium firstdevoted to bringing US-stylebest practice to Europe, theforum has evolved into"some sort of speed dating"for economic and politicalleaders, former Europeancommissioner PierreMoscovici told AFP.

Schwab's attempts tobroaden the agenda, toinclude issues such as cli-mate change and incomeinequality, are a "sincere"attempt to enhance the dia-

logue, Moscovici said.Privately, company CEOs

are gushing in their praise ofDavos as an unparalleledopportunity to hobnob withtheir peers and forge con-tracts.

Critics say that many ofthose CEOs will undercut theWEF's commitments on theenvironment by jetting toSwitzerland aboard privatejets. The forum stresses itsactions to counter that, suchas carbon offsets.

Whatever the gap betweenrhetoric and reality, someappreciate the potential to dogood.

'Middle-aged white men'Winnie Byanyima, for-

merly head of OxfamInternational who is nowexecutive director at theUNAIDS agency, said shegoes to Davos "to speak truthto power". In 2005, actressSharon Stone strong-armed

the audience of a headlineconference and came up withpledges worth more than $1million to buy mosquito netsfor children in Africa.

Thunberg will be hopingfor the same kind of impactwhen she speaks to the well-heeled crowd to urge them toabandon investments in fos-sil fuels.

Mohamed El-Erian, for-mer head of the giant invest-ment fund Pimco, has calledfor a "rethink" of the forumso participants go not only"to see and be seen" but alsofor a deeper discussion.

Such appeals have mount-ed as globalisation has accel-erated, forcing organisationslike the WEF to look beyondtheir founding goals. In theyears since 1971, the Earth'spopulation has more thandoubled to 7.7 billion people.

Average global tempera-tures have risen by onedegree Celsius, China's shareof global economic outputhas leapt more than five-fold, and the Cold War hasgiven way to a fragile neworder.

From 1971, for manyyears, "Davos Man" ruledthe roost, most often the headof a sizeable company. Hewas typically white. Today, ameasure of diversity hascrept in as the WEF looks toenhance representation bywomen and developingcountries.

Climate Change Pushing Australia'sPlatypus Towards Extinction: Report

S Y D N E Y ,AUSTRALIA: Prolongeddrought and other effects ofclimate change are pushingAustralia's unique platypuspopulation towards extinc-tion, scientists warned in astudy published Monday.

The river-dwelling animalhas already disappearedfrom up to 40 percent of itshistorical range onAustralia's east coast due tothe drought, land clearing,pollution and building ofdams, which fragment theirhabitat, the researchers said.

They predicted that if thecurrent threats persist, platy-pus numbers will fall anoth-er 47-66 percent over thenext 50 years.

If projections about wors-ening climate change aretaken into account, the num-bers of the duck-billed, egg-laying mammal could plum-met up to 73 percent by2070, they wrote.

The platypus is listed as"near threatened" by theInternational Union forConservation of Nature.

But the scientists from theUniversity of New SouthWales' Centre forEcosystem Science saiddamage to river systemscaused by years of littlerainfall and high tempera-tures had worsenedprospects for the animal.

"These dangers furtherexpose the platypus to evenworse local extinctions,

with no capacity to repopu-late areas," said Gilad Bino,lead author of the study.

The scientists said there isan "urgent need" for anational risk assessment todetermine if the platypusshould be downgraded to"vulnerable" status and tolay out conservation steps"to minimise any risk ofextinction".

The study is the firstacross all platypus habitatzones to establish a so-called "metapopulation"model while also projectingthe impacts of climatechange on the species goingforward.

The survey estimated thetotal platypus populationhad fallen by 50 percentsince European settlementof the continent two cen-turies ago.

An earlier study pub-lished in November 2018estimated the populationhad fallen by 30 percentover that period, to around200,000. "Under predictedclimate change, the lossesforecast were far greaterbecause of increases inextreme drought frequenciesand duration, such as thecurrent dry spell," Bino saidof the latest report.

The new study comes asunprecedented bushfiresravage vast areas of easternAustralia, fuelled by thedrought and record-hightemperatures.

CAPE CANAVERAL,FLORIDA: Elon Musk'sSpaceX simulated a suc-cessful emergency landingon Sunday in a dramatictest of a crucial abort sys-tem on an unmanned astro-naut capsule, laying thefoundation for its missionto fly NASA astronauts forthe first time.

A Crew Dragon astro-naut capsule launched at10:30 am and softlysplashed down about 19miles (32 km) off the coastof Cape Canaveral inFlorida roughly eight min-utes later, after ejectingitself from a rocket that cutoff its engines 12 miles (19km) above the ocean tomimic a launch failure.

National Aeronautics andSpace Administrationadministrator JimBridenstine called the mis-sion a success.

"This critical test puts uson the cusp of once againlaunching American astro-nauts on American rocketsfrom American soil,"Bridenstine wrote onTwitter. "Spacecraft recov-ery operations are under-way."

In a key trial for carryinghumans, SpaceX was alsotesting its rescue teams'response after splash down.They scrambled toward

Crew Dragon with the USAir Force's Detachment 3emergency rescue teams intow - a vital part of the testto practice a rescue missionto retrieve astronauts fromthe capsule.

Moments before thelaunch, Musk wrote onTwitter that it was a riskymission that was "pushingthe envelope in so manyways".

The Crew Dragon cap-sule, an acorn-shaped podthat can seat seven astro-nauts, fired on-boardthrusters to detach itselffrom a Falcon 9 rocket lessthan two minutes afterliftoff, simulating an emer-gency abort scenario toprove it can return astro-nauts to safety. Each stageof the test prompted loudcheers from SpaceX crewmembers watching thefootage from back on land.

The test is crucial toqualify the capsule to flyhumans to the International

Space Station, somethingNASA expects to come assoon as mid-2020. It fol-lows years of developmentand delays as the UnitedStates has sought to reviveits human spaceflight pro-gram through private part-nerships.

NASA awarded $4.2 bil-lion to Boeing and $2.5 bil-lion to SpaceX in 2014 todevelop separate capsulesystems capable of ferryingastronauts to the space sta-tion from US soil for thefirst time since NASA'sspace shuttle programended in 2011. The spaceagency has since relied onRussian spacecraft for ridesto the space station.

During the test theFalcon 9 rocket's boostersshut down in a mock failurethat triggered CrewDragon's so-calledSuperDraco thrusters to jetitself away at supersonicspeeds of up to 1,500 milesper hour (2,400 kph).

Coronavirus spreads to Beijing as China

confirms 139 new cases over the weekendKHARTOUM, SUDAN:

Online calls grew Sunday tohelp save five "malnourishedand sick" African lions heldat a park in Sudan's capital,with some demanding thecreatures be shifted to a betterhabitat.

The five lions are held incages at Khartoum's Al-Qureshi Park in an upscaledistrict of the capital, but forweeks now they have beensuffering from shortages offood and medicine.

"I was shaken when I sawthese lions at the park... theirbones are protruding from theskin," wrote Osman Salih onFacebook as he launched anonline campaign under theslogan #Sudananimalrescue.

"I urge interested peopleand institutions to helpthem."

Park officials and medicssaid the lions' conditionsdeteriorated over the past fewweeks, with some losingalmost two-thirds of theirbody weight.

"Food is not always avail-able, so often we buy it fromour own money to feedthem," Essamelddine Hajjar,a manager at Al-Qureshi parktold AFP.

The park is managed byKhartoum municipality butalso funded in part by privatedonors. Sudan is in the midstof a worsening economic cri-

sis, led by soaring food pricesand foreign currency short-age.

On Sunday, crowds of citi-zens, volunteers and journal-ists flocked to the park to seethe lions after their photo-graphs went viral on socialmedia networks.

One of the five cats wastied with a rope and was fedfluids through a drip as itrecovered from dehydration,an AFP correspondent whotoured the park reported.

Chunks of rotten meat cov-ered in flies lay scattered nearthe cages.

The overall condition ofthe park itself was also affect-ing the animals' health, anoth-er official at the park said.

"They are suffering fromsevere illnesses. They aresick and appear to be mal-nourished," said MoatazMahmoud, one of the care-takers at the park.

It is unclear how manylions are in Sudan, but sever-al are at the Dinder parkalong the border withEthiopia.

African lions are classifiedas a "vulnerable" species bythe International Union forConservation of Nature(IUCN).

Their population dropped43 percent between 1993 and2014, with only around20,000 alive today.

Online Campaign To Save MalnourishedLions At Sudan Park

Elon Musk's SpaceX Carries Out SuccessfulRocket Failure Test In US

22 men own more wealth than Africa's

326 million women, Oxfam says

LONDON: Globalinequality is "out of control"because of biased economicsystems that exclude manywomen while allowing bil-lionaires to amass huge for-tunes that do little for socie-ty, according to OxfamInternational.

The charity is calling ongovernments to implementpolicies that ease the burdenon women who provide carefor children and the elderly,often for little or no pay.Oxfam suggests higher taxeson the wealthy, and morespending by national govern-ments on child- and healthcare.

Oxfam's annual report oninequality was releasedahead of the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos,Switzerland, which eachyear brings together many ofthe world's wealthiest and

most influential people.Among the report's key find-ings: The world's 2,153 bil-lionaires have more wealththan 4.6 billion people.

The 22 richest men havemore wealth than all thewomen in Africa. Accordingto the UN, there are 326 mil-lion aged 20 and over.

The world's richest 1%have more than twice asmuch wealth as 6.9 billionpeople.

The value of unpaid carework by women aged 15 andover is $10.8 trillion annual-ly.

The number of billionaireshas doubled over the pastdecade.

The 63-page report arguesthat world leaders are notdoing enough to address thewidening gap between thepoor and the rich. It focusesthis year on policies that

allow men to dominate thetop ranks of business andgovernment. Economicinequality, the report argues,is built on gender inequality.

Jeff Bezos is still the rich-est person in the world

Jeff Bezos is still the rich-est person in the world

"Women are supportingthe market economy withcheap and free labor and theyare also supporting the stateby providing care that shouldbe provided by the publicsector," the report states."This unpaid work is fuelinga sexist economic systemthat takes from the many andputs money in the pockets ofthe few." Oxfam warns thataging populations and cuts topublic services threaten toincrease the burden on careworkers and stoke furtherinequality. "Both the dramat-ic level of economic inequal-ity and the looming care cri-sis can be tackled, but it willrequire concerted efforts andbold policy decisions tomend the damage done andto build economic systemsthat care for all citizens,"says the report. The grouprecommends that govern-ments work to build nationalcare systems, provide freepublic services and increasetaxes on the wealthy.

TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 20209 SPORTS

India colts beat Sri Lanka by 90 runsin U19 World Cup opener

Bloemfontein : India`scolts got off to a winning startin the U-19 Cricket WorldCup campaign as the sidedefeated Sri Lanka by 90 runson Sunday here at theMangaung Oval. Chasing298, Sri Lanka lost its firstwicket in the fourth over asNavod Paranavithana wassent back to the pavilion bySushant Mishra.

Ravindu Rasantha andKamil Mishara retrieved theinnings for Sri Lanka as theduo put on 87 runs for the sec-ond wicket, but as soon asthey started gaining an upperhand, India came back asYashasvi Jaiswal dismissedRasantha (49), reducing SriLanka to 106/2.

Siddhesh Veer then gotamong the wicket-takingcharts and went on to dismissMishara (39), pegging SriLanka back. Sri Lanka`s bats-men played cameos, but theside struggled in increasingtheir tempo, and the team hadto face a defeat by 90 runs.

Earlier, half-centuriesfrom Jaiswal and PriyamGarg enabled India to post ascore of 297/4 in the allotted

fifty overs. Openers Jaiswaland Divyaansh Saxena put on66 runs for the first wicket. SriLanka got the breakthrough inthe 12th over as DilshanMadushanka sent Saxena (23)

back to the pavilion. Soonafter, Jaiswal (59) also wasdismissed and India wasreduced to 112/2 in the 22ndover.

Tilak Varma and PriyamGarg then retrieved theinnings for the side and tookthe side`s total past the 170-run mark.Garg scored a half-century while Varma fell just

four runs short off the mark.In the end, Dhruv Jurel andSiddhesh Veer`s unbeatenstand of 63 runs took India`stotal past the 295-run

mark.Jurel and Veer remainedunbeaten on 52 and 44 respec-tively. India will next take onJapan on January 21.

Brief Scores: India 297/4(Yashasvi Jaiswal 59, Priyam

Garg 56, Ashian Daniel 1-39)defeat Sri Lanka 207/10(Ravindu Rasantha 49, NipunDananjaya 47, Siddhesh Veer2-34) by 90 runs.

Khelo India : Maharashtra maintains lead,increases tally to 60 golds, 193 medals

Guwahati : Assam`sShivangi Sarma added afourth freestyle swimminggold medal to her collection atthe Khelo India Youth Games2020, winning the girls under-21 crown with much to sparebut Maharashtra`s all-roundpower across disciplines wasjust as impressive as nature`ssound and light show that litup the Assam capital onSunday evening.

Just as thunder, lightningand rain left the city drenched,Maharashtra finished the daywith a whopping 60 gold intheir 193-medal haul. Yet,Shivangi Sarma celebratedher return to her hometownafter training in Delhi over thepast couple of years with animpressive fourth gold in59.26 seconds. Kenisha Gupta(Maharashtra) won the under-17 race in a faster time.

Mihir Ambre, RudranishMishra and Aaron Fernandeshelped Maharashtra makelight of the five-second leadthat India`s best backstrokeswimmer Srihari Natarajopened up for Karnataka towin the 4x100m MedleyRelay by 0.24 seconds. Thisdramatic win saw them finishthe day with nine gold at theDr. Zakir Hussain AquaticsComplex and inch close toKarnataka`s 10.

Maharashtra`s spoils gotricher as the two under-17Kho-kho teams, two wrestlersand three weight-lifters addedto their gold collection onSunday. Haryana, on the con-trary, managed three goldthrough their wrestlers andwatched their rivals enhancetheir lead at the top of themedals table.

Delhi`s swimmers enjoyed

a good day, winning threegold to help their State con-solidate their position in thethird place with 30 gold aheadof Uttar Pradesh`s 23. Withjust one gold through 400mFreestyle swimmer, Aneesh SGowda, Karnataka wereunable to draw any closer toUttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra`s delight atthe Bhogeswari PhukananiIndoor Stadium knew no

bounds as Abhishek Nipane, abronze medal winner in theunder-21 73kg class in Punelast year, and Kiran Marathe,silver medallist a year ago,both improved on their per-formances to increaseMaharashtra`s collection ofweight-lifting gold to eightout of the 18 contested so far.

Tamil Nadu`s girls under-17 weight-lifters claimed twogold medals through YPoorna Sri (64kg class) and MLekhamaalya (71kg class),the latter having to hold her

nerve through the climax towin by a 2kg margin. Thesemedals saw Tamil Nadu riseto the sixth place with 13 goldand 25 silver in a total of 53medals.

Assam are seventh on thecharts with 13 gold and asmany silver medals in a totalof 40, leapfrogging severalStates like Gujarat, Keralaand Punjab in the matter of aday. As many as 13 States

have touched double-figuresin terms of gold medals wonwhile 29 of the 36 teams tak-ing part have won at least amedal each.

Assam claimed two of thefour Lawn Bowls gold medalslate on Saturday evening.Sanzio Pandey and AbhilakhHandique, who formed thehome state`s combination inthe boys under-21 Pair event,and Suman Kumari Pandeyand Suranjana Baruah, part ofthe girls under-21 Four squad,finished with two gold each.

Delhi girls Rajasvi Panverstunned Assam`s AdinitaKakati 21-19 in the girlsunder-21 singles final with atelling show of precision play.Their contest was soenthralling that spectatorsstayed back till pretty late inthe evening to watch themshowcase their skills. TheJharkhand boys under-21Triple squad claimed the othergold with a hard-fought win

against Delhi.The badminton competi-

tion at the Deshbhakta TarunRam Phookan IndoorStadium saw a couple ofupsets at the quarterfinalstage. Second-seeded AmitRathore (Madhya Pradesh)was beaten by GovindKrishna (Kerala) in threegames in the boys under-21singles while Gujarat`s MirTasnim Irfan Ali, also seededsecond, lost in straight gamesto Harshita Agarwal(Chhattisgarh).

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli star as India beatAustralia in 3rd oDI to seal series

Bengaluru : RohitSharma and Virat Kohliplayed knocks of 119 and 89,respectively as India defeatedAustralia by seven wickets inthe third ODI here at theM.Chinnaswamy Stadium onSunday.

With this result, India wonthe three-match series 2-1.

Chasing 287, India got offto a steady start as openersRohit Sharma and KL Rahulsaw off the first ten overs andscored 61 runs. In the process,Rohit became the third-fastestbatsman to register 9,000 ODIruns.

Australia finally got thebreakthrough in the 13th overas Ashton Agar caught Rahul(19) leg-before wicket, reduc-ing India to 69/1. Sharmalooked in good form and hebrought up his half-century inthe 15th over of the innings.

Skipper Virat Kohli thenjoined Rohit in the middle andthe duo did not let momentumslide for the home team. Rohitbrought up his eighth-centuryagainst Australia in the 30thover of the innings.

Kohli too joined theaction and brought up hishalf-century in the 36th overof the innings. Australiafinally got rid of Rohit (119)in the 37th over to reduceIndia to 206/2.

Shreyas Iyer gave Kohlithe much-needed support, andboth batsmen put a stand of 68runs. With just 13 runs awayfrom the target, Kohli (89)was clean bowled by JoshHazelwood. In the end, Iyer

(44*) and Manish Pandey(8*) took India over the lineby seven wickets and with 15balls to spare.

Earlier, Smith`s knock of131 runs enabled Australiaregister 286/9 in the allottedfifty overs.

Put in to bat first, Australialost its first wicket in the thirdover as Mohammed Shamihad David Warner (3) caughtat the hands of the wicket-keeper KL Rahul.

Skipper Aaron Finch andSmith put on a brief 28-runstand, but Finch`s (19) stintwas cut short by substitutefielder Yuzvendra Chahal ashe had him run-out in theninth over, reducing Australia

to 46/2.Marnus Labuschagne then

joined Smith in the middleand the duo put on pressure on

the Indian bowling attack.Both batsmen stitched togeth-er a partnership of 127 runsand their stint saw both bats-men going past the 50-runmark.

Ravindra Jadeja stagedIndia`s comeback in the 32ndover as he got back-to-backwickets of Labuschagne (54)and Mitchell Starc (0), reduc-ing Australia to 173/4.

Alex Carey and Smith puton 58 runs for the fifth wick-et, taking the side`s score pastthe 230-run mark. However,Carey (35) was sent back to

the pavilion by KuldeepYadav.

Smith brought up his cen-tury in the 44th over. This was

the Australian`s third ODIhundred against India.

The right-handed Smith(131) was finally dismissed inthe 48th over by Shami andafter his dismissal, Australialost momentum and wasrestricted to under 300-runmark.

Brief Scores: Australia286/9 (Steve Smith 131,Marnus Labuschagne 54,Mohammed Shami 4-63)defeat India 289/3 (RohitSharma 119, Virat Kohli 89,Ashton Agar 1-38) by sevenwickets.

Couldn't have asked for a better comeback:Sania Mirza on Hobart International win

Hobart : After winningthe WTA Hobart Internationaltrophy with partner NadiiaKichenok of Ukraine, Indiantennis star Sania Mirza saidthat she couldn't have askedfor a better comeback.

The Indo-Ukrainian duodefeated second-seededChina's Shaui Peng and ShuaiZhang in straight sets 6-4, 6-4in the final contest lasting forone hour and 21 minutes.

Speaking after the match,Mirza said that it was a per-fect comeback.

"It is really a fantastictournament. This is what hap-pens when you don't expectanything out of a tournamentand I think it teaches us not toput any pressure on ourselves.I came out here to try to get

some matches in before get-ting into Melbourne and I just

want to say that I could nothave asked for a better come-back," she expressed.

"Hobart has been specialto me in many ways and it's

amazing that it happened herein Hobart and I would like tothank my partner for playing

with me," Sania added.Thanking her family and

team, she said, "I can't say itenough. I could not obviouslybe here and give everythingthat I have without my parentsand my team. It's extremelyspecial for me to be here andbe here with my baby. I neverthought that I would be com-peting at the very best levelsagainst the very best teams inthe world.""I feel extremelygrateful and privileged. Thankyou guys for coming out andsupporting, it was a very goodatmosphere," she added.

It was Sania's 42nd WTAdoubles title and the first sincethe Brisbane International tro-phy in 2017 with Americanpartner Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Rajkot : Australia bats-man Steve Smith rued theloss of three quick wickets inthe middle overs, includinghis own, that proved decisivein his team’s 36-run loss toIndia in the second ODI here.

India posted a fighting340 for six on a flat track withopener Shikhar Dhawan top-scoring with 90-ball 96 andthen bowled out the visitorsfor 304 to level the three-match series 1-1.

“The area where we lost itwas losing the three wicketsin between 30 and 40 oversand not having someonethere that could start tolaunch,” Smith said.

“If we had someone thathad been out there for awhile, perhaps things mayhave been different but thatwas probably where we lostit,” he added.

Australia lost three quickwickets between the 30 and40 overs. MarnusLabuschagne was dismissedin the 31st over andChinaman Kuldeep Yadavaccounted for both AlexCarrey and Smith in the 38thover which turned out to be agame changer.

“I thought Marnus playedreally well in his first outing,first bat in ODI cricket. Wewere going at a reasonablerate at around six an over fora while. We playing goodcricket shots. I thought wetimed the run (rate) reason-ably well but just losing thosethree wickets in that 30 to 40overs but (was) a big dent inthe run chase,” said Smith.

According to Smith, thekey to India’s victory wastheir partnerships in the mid-dle.

“I think it's just our nor-mal one-day game plan, withthe ball it's trying to takewickets and stem the run ratethat way, obviously they hadsome pretty good partner-ships, Virat (Kohli), Shikhar(Dhawan) and KL Rahulplayed really well at the backend. They were able to formsome partnerships throughthe middle,” he said.

Smith blames loss ofthree quick wickets

for defeat

Bajrang, Ravi Kumar claim gold medalsin Rome Ranking Series

Rome : India's starwrestlers Bajrang Punia andRavi Kumar Dahiya kickedoff the Olympic year in style,winning a gold medal each intheir respective weight cate-gories at the Rome RankingSeries here.

The 25-year-old Bajrangstaged a remarkable come-back to secure a 4-3 winagainst USA's Jordan MichaelOliver in the summit show-down of the 65kg freestylecategory.

Ravi, who competed in the61kg category instead of hisregular 57kg, also baggedgold after getting the better ofKazakhstan's NurbolatAbdualiyev 12-2 in his finalbout late on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old fromSonepat had made the finalround after securing impres-sive wins over Moldova'sAlexaandru Chirtoaca andKazakhstan's NurislamSanayev.

Up against one of India'sbiggest medal prospects in theTokyo Olympics, Oliver con-ceded that it was not his nightagainst Bajrang.

The American lauded thecompetitive spirit of Bajrang.

"Wasnt my night… but Igot a lot of work to do to bewhere I want to be! Hats off to@BajrangPunia dude is heckof a competitor! Until nexttime my friend," theAmerican tweeted.

Bajrang had to sweat it outin the first round against ZainAllen Retherford of the USAbefore prevailing 5-4.

In the quarterfinal, the aceIndian wrestler went pastanother American JosephChristopher Mc Kenna 4-2,before getting the better ofVasyl Shuptar of Ukraine 6-4in the semi-finals.

However, it was curtainsfor Jitender in the 74kg andworld championship silvermedallist Deepak Punia in the86kg category.

Jitender won his first bout against Denys Pavlov of

Ukraine 10-1 before goingdown in the quarterfinalsagainst Turkey's SonerDemirtas 4-0.

Jitender got a change tofight in the repechage afterDemirtas entered the final, butthe Indian wasted the oppor-tunity, losing 2-9 to DaniyarKaisanov of Kazakhstan.

In the 86kg category,Deepak crashed out in theopening round, losing 1-11 toEthan Adrian Ramos ofPuerto Rico.

Bengaluru : India vice-captain Rohit Sharma becamethe third-fastest batsman toreach 9,000 ODIruns during theseries deciding thirdand final gameagainst Australia onSunday.

Rohit neededfour runs to get tothe landmark andthe senior Indiaopener got to it inthe final ball of thefirst over of India'sinnings to sit behindskipper Virat Kohliand South Africa'sAB de Villiers.

Kohli achievedthe feat in 194innings and he isfollowed by deVilliers (205 innings).

Rohit (216 innings) beatbatting greats SouravGanguly (228 innings),Sachin Tendulkar (235innings) and Brian Lara 239

innings) to the feat.The series is locked 1-1

and here the Aussies rode

Steve Smith's 131 to post286/9 in 50 overs after win-ning the toss and electing tobat first.

India, in reply, opener withKL Rahul and Rohit after

Shikhar Dhawan had to betaken for an x-ray. Dhawanwas taken off the field after he

hurt his left shoulder in theseries-deciding tie after hedived to save an Aaron Finchshot in the cover regionbefore hurting his left shoul-der in the fifth over.

Bengaluru oDI: Rohit Sharma becomesthird-fastest to score 9,000 oDI runs

Chennai : MahendraSingh Dhoni "will beretained" by Chennai SuperKings (CSK) in the 2021 IPLauctions irrespective ofwhether he plays for Indiaagain or not, asserted formerBCCI president N Srinivasan.

The lack of a BCCI centralcontract for the two-time for-mer World Cup winning cap-tain has sparked freshrumours of his retirement inthe last few days butSrinivasan, who is the vice-president and managing direc-tor of Indian Cements, ownersof CSK, made it clear thatDhoni will continue to playfor his franchise.

"People keep saying whenwill he... How long will heplay, etc. He will play. I canassure you. He will play thisyear. Next year he will go (to)the auction; he will beretained. So there is no doubtin anybody's mind,"Srinivasan said at an IndiaCements event.

Dhoni has been a part ofCSK since the IPL's inauguraledition in 2008 and apart fromthe two seasons when thefranchise was suspended, thewicket-keeper batsman hasled the team admirably, guid-ing it to three title triumphs.

The 38-year-old was on

Thursday dropped from theBCCI's list of centrally con-tracted players, raising freshdoubts on the future of theformer India captain who hasnot played since the World

Cup semifinal loss to NewZealand in July last year.

Dhoni recently returned totraining, batting fluently inthe Jharkhand team nets.

He was in the A category,which fetches a player Rs 5crore as annual retainership,until last year.

Dhoni's contract not beingrenewed was not exactly asurprise as he has not played a

competitive game since thatWorld Cup semifinal on July9. He has been on an sabbati-cal and has refused to divulgehis future plans.

One of the biggest names

in Indian cricket, Dhoni ledIndia to two world titles —the 2007 World T20 in SouthAfrica and the 2011 ODIWorld Cup at home.

The veteran has played 90Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20Internationals for India, accu-mulating over 17,000 runsand effecting a staggering829 dismissals behind thestumps.

There is no doubt Dhoni will beretained by CSK in 2021 : N Srinivasan

Bengaluru : Senior Indiaopener Shikhar Dhawan wastaken for an x-ray after he hurthis left shoulder during theseries-deciding third ODIagainst Australia here onSunday.

A call on his participationin the match will be takenafter further assessment, theBCCI said in a statement.

Dhawan was taken off thefield after he got inured in thefifth over of the game at the MChinnaswamy Stadium.

"Shikhar Dhawan hasgone for an x-ray. A call onhim being available for thegame will be taken once he isback and assessed," the BCCIsaid.

The left-handed batsmanhad dived to save an AaronFinch shot in the cover regionbefore hurting his shoulder.

He then walked out andwas replaced by leg-spinnerYuzvendra Chahal on thefield. The 34-year-old

Dhawan had not taken thefield for the entire duration of

the Australian innings in thesecond ODI after a Pat

Cummins bouncer hit him onthe rib cage while batting.

The series is levelled at 1-1.

Dhawan taken for scan, call onparticipation after assessment

TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 2020ENTERTAINMENT10

The trailer of Sara AliKhan's upcomingmovie Love Aaj Kal

is out now and it is alreadysetting fire on the internet. Atthe trailer launch event, Saraopened up about her thoughtson people referring to hermovie as a sequel.

Sara shared, `This is LoveAaj Kal. This is not Love AajKal 2. It is not a sequel. Imtiazsir had clearly stated whatlove was then with DeepikaPadukone and Saif Ali Khan.Kartik is not playing Saif AliKhan's character. I am notplaying Deepika Padukone'scharacter. We are portrayingnew characters, but we areaware that there will be someunnecessary comparisons,and we are okay with that.This film talks about the loveof today,`

Sara took the nation by astorm and looked beautiful asever at the launch eventdressed in a neon mini skirtwith matching stapped heelspaired with a sequin shimmercrop top. Fans have beenwaiting in anticipation to seeSara back on the silver screenagain after delivering stellarperformances with Kedarnathand then Simmba.

After Love Aaj Kal, Sarawill be seen Coolie No. 1opposite Varun Dhawandirected by David Dhawanwhich the audience is alreadylooking forward to.

Ever since her debut withKedarnath, Sara has been cre-ating headlines. With her nextSimmba as well, the actresscharted another blockbusterwith two back to back suc-

cesses. Hailed as the buzz girlof Bollywood for her widepopularity, Sara is all set toyet again deliver a stellar per-formance. With each project,Sara has brought new charac-ters to the screen.

Sara Ali Khan is gearingup for the release of her nextfilm which is directed byImtiaz Ali and will release inFebruary this year.

The actress has been thetalk of the town ever since shemade a stellar debut withKedarnath.

Sara Ali Khan is one of themost sought after and fol-lowed actress on social media.Owing to her massive fan fol-lowing, the actress is a hottopic not just in the castingenvironment but also in thebrands circuit.

Sara is perhaps theyoungest actor to have over12 brands to her name all in amatter of one year. Sara isvery well-spoken, extremelyfriendly and is very down toearth, adding to her charm.

The actress is very enthusi-astic and has fitness as one ofthe key activities for her dayno matter where she is.

Sara has won several acco-lades for her debut withKedarnath which was imme-diately followed by Simmbawhich went on to become abox office hit.

On the work front, Sarawill next be seen in ImtiazAli's directorial oppositeKartik Aryan and Coolie No 1opposite Varun Dhawandirected by David Dhawanwhich the audience is alreadylooking forward to.

Sunny Leone - desirablely hot and bold as always

Sara Ali Khan opens up about herupcoming movie Love Aaj Kal

Shabana Azmi got seriouslyhurt in car accident

Veteran Bollywoodactress Shabana Azmi wasinjured in a road accidentinvolving her car nearKhalapur on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the policesaid on Saturday.

As per preliminary infor-mation, the Tata Safari, inwhich her husband and notedlyricist Javed Akhtar werealso travelling, dashedagainst a truck on the high-way towards Pune at around

4.15 p.m. The injured actress was

brought out of the car andadmitted to an MGMHospital in Navi Mumbai.

It is not immediately clearwhether Akhtar was also

injured, but another unidenti-fied woman is reported to beseriously hurt. Her driver gotinjured in accident.

Highway police patrolteams have rushed to investi-gate the accident site.

Tamannaah brings backthe essence of spring in

a delightful dressTamannah is a sensational

and versatile actress who hasworked in Bollywood as wellas South Indian movies. Sheis one of the prettiest actress-es and also the highest paidin the South Indian film

industry. She looked blos-soming bright in this photo-shoot by Ajay Kadam, as shewore an auroral outfit byAkanksha Gajria and Vandafashion brand. It is a thigh-high, 3D floral dress withorange straps. Her hair is leftopen in messy beach wavesdone by celebrity hairstylistTina Mukherjee and the pinktone, fuchsia tinted lipsmakeup is completed by

Chandni Dawar. Tamannah accessorized it

with hot pink pumps. Overallstyled by Sukriti Grover. Theactress seems to be cheerful-ly charming as her expres-sions are as colorful as the

flowers in her outfit. Tamannaah Bhatia is cur-

rently filming the upcomingfilm 'Bole Chudiyan' oppo-site Nwazudin Siddiqui,directed by Shamas NawabSiddiqui. Produced byRajesh Bhatia and KirenZaveri Bhatia is set to releasesoon. Her Telegu movie'Seetimaar' is also beingfilmed which is directed bySampath Nandi.

Hrithik Roshan's Super 30co-star Mrunal Thakur hasshared how it was an etherealexperience to work with thesuperstar who has cast a spellall across with his stellar per-formances in Super 30 andWAR. In a recent interview,the actress who was seenalongside Hrithik in themovie Super 30 shared, "Iremember when I was doingpress junket with HrithikRoshan for Super 30 he wasthe same when Kaho NaaPyaar hai released but afterthe release after those threehours after people watchedhis first film after the pre-miere people started lookingat him in a very different wayhe never forgot the fact that hehad all the caliber that's whythe fact that you should beable to deal with your successand failure this is the biggestthing I have learned from himand I will always be gratefuland thankful He is a wonder-ful man`. Candidly telling usall previously, Mrunal Thakuris a fan of Hrithik Roshan.

Seeing the actor transforminto the character of AnandKumar took Mrunal to a com-

plete surprise and she is over-whelmed by the way Hrithikhas turned out to be a trueinspiration even in real life.

Not just his co-stars but

the whole world wsa all prais-es for Hrithik who has shoneaway with his promising and

soulful performances in Super30 as Anand Kumar. Theindustry's who's who to thecritics, everyone is hailingSuper 30 for Hrithik's charac-terization.

Essaying the role of real-life teacher Anand Kumar inSuper 30, Hrithik Roshan hasbeen receiving appreciationfrom all across for capturingthe gestures with utmost per-fection which even, AnandKumar himself commendedHrithik for imbibing his soulin his character. Followingwhich Hrithik was seen asAgent Kabir in the block-buster movie WAR whichwent on to become the highestgrossing movie of 2019.

THIS is what Hrithik Roshans’s Super 30 co-star Mrunal Thakur has to say about him

The sensationally beauti-ful daughter of veteranBollywood actor ChunkyPanday is breaking the inter-net with her recent pics,clicked by Shenoy and NupurAgarwal. The young and gor-geous actress has createdquite a buzz with her perform-ance in Mudassar Aziz's hitfilm 'Pati, Patni Aur Woh'.

Ananya Pandey has a hugefan following and she recent-ly had a couple of photo-shoots done in which shelooked awe-striking. In thisone, She wore a suit like anensemble by Kanika GoyalLabel. It is a perfect contrastof black and white. The dresshas a notched collar and cullsleeve with a black button oneither side.

The actress looks lumi-nous in brown tone nudemakeup and glossy lips withtinted bronzer and mascara,done by celebrity bridal andcommercial makeup artistStacy Gomes. Her hair is tiedup in a center-parted lowponytail, completed by hair-stylist Ayesha Devitre. Sheaccessorized the dress withbig golden hoops that are amodern-day handcraftedJewelry design by Mosho.She is overall all styled byAmi Patel. The cherry on thecake is the contrasting mus-tard color sketchers that addcolor to the psychedelic blackand white, striped design ofthe outfit. She is overall allstyled by Ami Patel.

In this picture also clickedby Shenoy and Nupur, shelooks cute and childlike as shewore the coolest cartoon artprint. It has all sorts of comicobjects like a rainbow, anchor,crab, heart, seashells, starfish,martini, clouds, and corals.The most fun aspect of thedress is the candy floss pinkfur on the rim of it. Ananya is

sporting a no make up nudelips and mascara look and hairleft oft sleek and open by hair-

stylist Kajal Komal. The dress is a body-con-

scious and thigh-high with ahalter neckline. The dress hasmany adorable aspects espe-cially a pink heart on the rearend, created by Clio Peppiatt.She accessorized the dresswith a heart shape mini can-teen bag. She is also wearingsilver heart danglers to sup-port the bag by RadhikaAggarwal Jewels. The dress ispaired up with nude wedges,this look is also styled by AmiPatel and Mala Agnani Rao.

Ananya will next be seenin Maqbool Khan's upcomingdrama-action-thriller movie'Khali Peeli' opposite Ishan

Khattar. The movie also starsJaideep Ahlwawt and SatishKaushik. Produced by Ali-

Abbas Zafar it is set to releaseon 12th June 2020. It justfeels like yesterday thatAnanya Panday impressed uswith her exemplary actingskills in her debut movie andnow the youth millennial isembracing 2020 with all zestand spectacular new projects.The past projects not just cat-apulted Ananya to stardombut it also showcased praise-worthy performance from theteen. Her cinematic appeal isunmissable. Talking abouthow enthralled she is on herjourney of 2020 and herupcoming projects, Ananyaexudes "It's going to be superhard to top off 2019.

Watch Ananya Panday’s hystericallyaesthetic avatar in her latest shoot!

Ajay Devgn's hugelyawaited film 'Maidaan' whichis the extraordinary true storyof the Golden years of IndianFootball will feature theNational Award winningactress PriyaMani. PriyaManihas acted in over 50 filmsacross all South languagesand has won numerousawards including threeFilmfare awards in her prolif-ic career.

Keerthy Suresh who wasearlier part of the film hasbeen replaced by PriyaMani.Keerthy shot for the film for aday. After the shoot the mak-ers and Keerthy both felt thatshe looked too young as shehad lost a lot of weight sincebeing signed for the film toauthentically portray the roleof a mother as has been writ-ten in the script.

The makers have stayedtrue and authentic in the waythe film is being made by theNational award winningdirector, Amit RavindernathSharma, and did not want thisto come in the way. Keerthyand the makers came to anamicable decision of her notbeing a part of the film and tocollaborate in the future.

PriyaMani who wasrecently seen in the lead rolein Amazon Prime Videosshow - The Family Man,where she's won praise allacross for her portrayal in the

female lead role. She will alsobe seen playing the lead rolein the Telegu remake of the

much acclaimed Dhanushfilm, 'Asuran' and will beessaying the role of Sasikalain the highly anticipatedKangana Ranaut starrer,Thalaivi.

Produced by Zee

Studios,Boney Kapoor, AkashChawla and Arunava JoySengupta, the film is directed

by Amit RavindernathSharma of 'Badhai Ho' fame ,screenplay and dialogues arewritten by Saiwyn Quadrosand Ritesh Shah respectively.The film is set to release on27th November 2020.

National Award winning actress Priyamani tobe paired opposite Ajay Devgn in Maidaan

Shradhha Kapoor is one ofthe most talented actresses ofBollywood, she has created asensation not just with herperformances but also withher singing skills, not to men-tion she is a graceful dancer.She is posh, classy and attrac-tive that defines her latestInstagram post where the divawore a stunning ensemble; itis a white bralette and blazershrug with a yellow accordionskirt.

White and yellow are twobroken and contrasting colorsthat bring out a combinationof harmony and grandeur. Shewore this outfit with ankle-strap nude heels. The neck-piece with starry pendant isby Bansri Mehta Jewellerydesigns that add a twinkle tothe outfits. The glassy high-lighted nude makeup rejuve-nates her face. The sleek, cen-ter-parted hairdo brightensher face done by NikitaMenon. She is styled bycelebrity stylist NamrataDeepak.

Shraddha Kapoor fans areimpatiently waiting for hernext dance drama movie'Street dancer 3D' that starsVarun Dhawan, Nora Fatehi,Prabhu Deva, Sonam Bajwa,Raghav Juyal and PuneetPathak along with her. Thefilm is directed by Remo

D'Souza and produced byBhushan Kumar, KrishanKumar, and Lizelle D'Souza

and will release on 24th Jan2020. Shraddha will also beseen in Ahmed Khan's action

thriller movie Baaghi 3 alongwith Tiger Shroff and RiteshDeshmukh in lead roles. The

film is produced by SajidNadiadwala, releasing on 6thMarch 2020.

Shraddha Kapoor creatingan illusion of grandeur

TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 2020

BUSINESS NEWS11

Tax Department raises GST revenue targetto Rs 1.15 lakh cr for January-February

New Delhi : The taxdepartment on January 17raised GST collection targetto Rs 1.15 lakh crore over thenext two months and Rs 1.25lakh crore for March monthby checking fraudulent inputtax credit claims. The deci-sion in this regard was takenin a high-level meetingchaired by Revenue SecretaryAjay Bhushan Pandey held onJanuary 17, sources said.

Last month, the depart-ment had raised its GST taxcollection target to Rs 1.1lakh crore per month with Rs1.25 lakh crore for a singlemonth for the remaining peri-od of this financial year whilethe direct tax target was toremain at Rs 13.35 lakh croresans the corporate tax relief ofRs 1.45 lakh crore.

The meeting was attendedby all the very senior officialsof CBIC and CBDT to devisean action plan and make thefield functions more efficientto achieve the collection aimswithout any overreach,sources said.

According to sources, it islearnt that GST authoritieswould look into the mismatchof supply and purchaseinvoices, data analytics of

mismatch in GSTR-1, GSTR-2A and GSTR-3B, failure offiling returns, over invoicing,recuperation of fake or excessrefunds availed beyond the

permissible limits, patchingthe tax leakages, action onchecking fake or huge ITCclaims, data analytic reviewof all the refund under invert-ed duty structure, etc.

Sources further said thatSMSs and emails will be sentto all such fraudulent orexcess ITC claimants, target-ed defaulters, non-filers andthose who provide mis-matched information in theirreturns or over invoice or whohave been identified through

data analytics for tax evasionby duping the system throughrogue modus operandi.

Taxpayers who have takenITC wrongfully can voluntar-

ily repay amount equal toinadmissible credit beforeverification and punitiveaction is taken against them,they said.

The electronic communi-cations to such identified tar-geted taxpayers and fraudu-lent refund seekers and over-invoice users would be fol-lowed by visits from the GSTfield formations to make themabide by the law and pay duetaxes in time, sources said,adding, the field formations

would be required to report ondaily basis.

Weekly high level reviewof revenue augmentationmeasures and efforts made oractions taken against thesetargeted gamers, fraudulentITC seekers and identifieddefault taxpayers would bedone by the RevenueSecretary.

Around 40,000 companieshave been red-flagged forexcess or fraudulent ITCavailment and other tax relat-ed wrongful issues throughdata analytics, out of 1.2 croreGST registrants and focuswould be on these identifiedtaxpayers, sources said.

Field formations havebeen directed to conclude ITCrecuperation without anyoverreach but in a stipulatedtimeframe, sources added.

Sources emphasised thatthe permissible ITC limitshave been further reduced to110 per cent of the declarationmade by the suppliers fromJanuary 1, 2020 and the tax-payers filing their return forthe month of December 2019should take this into consider-ation while filing their FORMGSTR-3B, to avoid any puni-tive action by the authorities.

Double tax penalty on unauthorisedconstructions in Bengaluru

New Delhi : TheKarnataka cabinet on Fridaydecided amend a relevant actallowing the city civic bodyBBMP to levy two times theregular tax as penalty onunauthorised constructionsuntil they were removed ordemolished. The "doubletax"was already applicable toother municipalities in thestate, except Bengaluru.

With this amendment, theBruhat BengaluruMahanagara Palike (BBMP)can also levy it, Law andParliamentary AffairsMinister J C Madhuswamysaid. We have decided tobring in an amendment to theKarnataka MunicipalCorporation Act so that twotimes the regular tax will becollected as penalty fromthose who have constructedhouses in violation of plan

and alignment till the unau-thorised or violated construc-tion exists, he said.

Speaking to reporters here

after the cabinet meeting, hesaid, Two times the regulartax will be levied until theunauthorized or violated

structure is removed ordemolished by the owner orthe government." Other deci-sions taken by the cabinet

included payment of Rs 3,000as one-time incentive to

Accredited Social HealthActivists (ASHA). As many

as 41,628 ASHA workers willbenefit and it will cost Rs12.48 crore to the govern-ment, the Minister said. Thecabinet also decided to extendby one year the tenure of theSpecial Investigation Teamunder the KarnatakaLokayukta that is looking intothe illegal mining cases.

It also decided to constructspecial godowns to safelystore and protect electronicvoting machines in all the 30districts of the state and Rs123 crore had been releasedfor this along with requiredadministrative approvals.

The cabinet gave adminis-trative approval with Rs 100crore for the construction ofhigh security wards atBengaluru prison and Rs99.98 crore for similar workat the Vijayapura prison,Madhuswamy said.

Lenders take digital route to co-lending with NBFCsNew Delhi : It has been

over 15 months since the reg-ulator permitted co-origina-tion of loans with non-bank-ing finance companies(NBFCs), but the model is yetto see traction.

While there were delays infinalising the aspects such asrisk sharing in these tie-ups,most banks were also inclinedto partner with digital portalsto be able to scale up themodel.

iQuippo.com, a digitalplatform for equipmentfinancing that belongs to thesame parent entity as SreiInfrastructure Finance, hasbrought on board private andstate-run lenders along withNBFCs for co-lending.

"Ever since the concept ofco-lending was introduced byRBI at the end of 2018, wehave been observing the mar-ket and noticed that the vol-umes have not been highthrough this model. Our

research showed that the pri-mary reason for low volumeswas the slow turnaroundtime," said Anant Raj

Kanoria, CEO, iQuippo.Extending loans for equip-

ment financing usually takesupto a week once the borrow-er approaches lenders afterfinalising the product to bepurchased.

This has been reduced tofew minutes with the help ofthe portal.

Banks like HDFC Bank,

ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, YESBank, Bank of Baroda,Oriental Bank of Commerceand NBFCs like Mahindra &Mahindra Financial Servicesapart from Srei EquipmentFinance have signed up to

lend and co-lend via iQuippo.For lenders, the portal is a

way to save up cost of cus-tomer acquisition and due dil-ligence as they can access theborrower's credit historybefore sanctioning loans.

The loan-to-value is usual-ly between 80-90 percent forequipments that cost betweenRs 25-50 lakh, depending onthe customer profile, iQuipposaid.

The portal, that was jointlydeveloped with IBM, hasalmost 90,000 active users,134 original equipment mak-ers (OEMs) for new and 271OEMs for used equipment.Customers can buy as well assell second hand equipmenton the portal.

iQuippo said that the grossmerchandise value (GMV) ofequipments sold on the portalwas over Rs 200 crore inDecember 2019 and has beengrowing at 20-25 percent onmonthly basis.

Jeff Bezos meets industry captains,concludes 3-day India visit

New Delhi : E-commercegiant Amazon's chief execu-tive and world's richest personJeff Bezos on Friday conclud-ed his three-day India visitwith meeting captains ofIndian industry. Among thosewho met included RelianceIndustries chairman and rich-est Indian Mukesh Ambani,who is also into retailing, anda host of other c-suite hon-chos. The meeting was held ata star hotel in South Mumbaithis morning.

Others who were presentincluded SBI chairmanRajnish Kumar, Godrej Groupchairman Adi Godrej, ZarinDaruwala of StandardChartered Bank, Xiaomi'sIndia Head Manu Jain,Infosys co-founder NRNarayana Murthy and Bankof America's Kaku Nakhate.

Retail and Fast MovingConsumer Goods players,

including Kishore Biyani ofFture Group (where Amazonhas an investment), HindustanUnilever's Sanjiv Mehta,

Nestle India's SureshNarayanan and Proctor andGamble India's MadhusudhanGopalan were also present.

Sunil Mittal of Bharti

Airtel was also present for themeeting wherein Bezos wasaccompanied by the head ofAmazon in India, Amit

Agarwal.Among others were

Infosys' Salil Parekh, HSBC'sSurendra Rosha and Ola'sBhavish Agarwal. The busi-

ness leaders posed for a groupphoto on the hotel's stairsbefore departing.

Bezos visited Rajghat inNew Delhi on Tuesday, fol-lowed it up with a meet withsmall businesses onWednesday and spent timewith Bollywood celebrities onThursday evening as part ofthe visit.

He has announced invest-ments of USD 1 billion overthe next few years and alsocreate 1 million new jobs inIndia by 2025.

Bezos could not reportedlyget an audience with IndianPrime Minister NarendraModi, while UnionCommerce Minister PiyushGoyal stoked a controversyby stating that the e-com-merce giant which is beinginvestigated for predatorypricing is not doing India anyfavour by the investment.

New Delhi : GMRAirports Ltd has bagged thecontract for duty-free shopsat Kannur international air-port in Kerala. Kannur airportbegan commercial operationsin December 2018. As part ofits concession agreementsigned with KannurInternational Airport Ltd(KIAL), the airport arm ofthe GMR group will finance,develop, operate and manageduty-free shops (DFS) at theKerala's fourth internationalairport for seven years, arelease said.

The DFS contract isextendable by another threeyears, it added. This is thefirst duty free concession out-side GMR's airport portfolio,as per the release.

"We are very happy to bepartnering with KIAL todevelop, operate and managethe duty-free outlets atKannur international airport.We are excited about thepotential of this airport," saidSGK Kishore, ExecutiveDirector – South, GMRAirports. Kannur airportlargely caters to the signifi-cant number of diaspora fromthis region, who works in theMiddle East, the releaseadded.

The airport handledaround 1.14 million passen-gers between April-November period of this fis-cal, of which around 0.54million were internationalflyers, as per the release.

GMR Airports winscontract for duty-freeshops at Kannur int'l

airport in Kerala

New Delhi : Executivebody members of the NewsBroadcasters Federation havemet Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman andrequested that TV news chan-nels be treated at par with theprint media industry underGST regulations. Currently,GST on the print mediastands at 5 percent whereasnews broadcasters arecharged 18 percent GST. Inthe meeting on Friday, NBFPresident Arnab Goswamihighlighted the need for pari-ty given the similarity in thebusiness model and theimportance of TV newsbroadcasting in the country, arelease said.

The Finance Ministeraccepted a copy of the recom-mendation of NBF andassured the members that shewould look into the matter.

News broadcasters meet FMSitharaman, seek parity in

GST with print media

New Delhi : Drug firmLupin on Saturday said it hasreceived five observationsfrom the US health regulatorafter inspection of its Vizagfacility in Andhra Pradesh.The inspection of company'sVizag API manufacturingfacility by the United StatesFood and DrugAdministration (USFDA) hasbeen completed, Lupin saidin a filing to BSE.

The inspection was car-ried out between January 13,2020 and January 17, 2020, itadded. The inspection for theAPI facility at Vizag closedwith five 483 observations,Lupin said.

"We are fully committedto adherence with CGMPregulations and uphold highquality standards across allour manufacturing sites. Weare confident of addressingthe observations to the USFDA's satisfaction," LupinMD Nilesh Gupta said.

Lupin gets 5 observationsfrom USFDA for its

Vizag facility

M&M subsidiary to acquire e-com marketplatform Fifth Gear Ventures

New Delhi : Mahindra& Mahindra (M&M) onSaturday said its subsidiaryhas inked a pact to acquireFifth Gear Ventures Ltd,which operates an e-com-merce market platform, forup to Rs 30.45 crore.Mahindra First ChoiceWheels Ltd (MFCWL), asubsidiary of the company,

has signed a share purchaseagreement to acquire fullyFifth Gear VenturesLimited (FGVL), in one ormore tranches, M&M saidin a regulatory filing.

Upon acquisition of thestake, FGVL wouldbecome a subsidiary ofMFCWL, it added.

Acquisition is to be

completed by March, 31,2020, the auto major said.

"MFCWL is acquiringFGVL with the objective ofexpanding its presence inthe digital automotivespace and seamlessly inte-grating the online andoffline user experience,"M&M said.

Incorporated in

September, 2015, FGVL isengaged in the businessoperating the website'www.carandbike.com", ane-commerce market plat-form that facilitates saleand purchase of new andused vehicles and keeps itsusers updated with the lat-est information and reviewsfrom automotive sector.

Sample insurance products are need of the hourNew Delhi : What if an

individual could sample aninsurance product for free?You could understand thebenefits of the policy for afew months and then buy aregular product based onyour needs.

Similar to how one canavail 'free samples' of person-al care products and fooditems on the street or withnewspapers, insurers alsoneed to step up to offer a'taste test' of policies.

Insurance penetration hasbeen a cause of concern inIndia. With life insurancepenetration (premium as apercentage of GDP) below 4percent and general insur-ance penetration below 1 per-cent, there is dire need tomake policies more appeal-ing to customers.

One good step taken is thesandbox approach. TheInsurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority ofIndia (IRDAI) on January 14,released a list of productsapproved under this method.

These products will bevalid for a six-month periodand include user-friendly

insurance such as fitnesstracker plans in health insur-ance and pay-as-you-drive inmotor insurance.

The method will help col-lect first-hand feedback fromcustomers before a policy iscommercially launched.Similar such short-term prod-ucts need to be made avail-able on a trial basis for cus-tomers as a free sample.

Take travel insurance forinstance.

While there has been arise in air travel across thecountry, the commensuraterisk covers have not risen.One way to popularise theproduct could be to offer it asa sample for a few airlinecustomers.

Damage to the luggage issomething that is commonduring airline travel. If theinsurance product for airtravel includes coverage forphysical damage to the lug-gage and is offered as a freesample for a few passengers,it could be a good way toincrease awareness.

If the product is offered asa free sample, customerscould be more forthcoming

in trying it. Once the benefitsof the insurance are experi-enced first-hand, it would beeasier to sell a regular prod-uct to these individuals.

While some may arguethat insurance is not like anFMCG product, it is alwaysbest to let customers ‘sam-ple’ a product that they willpurchase. Unlike consumergoods that are used within afew days of purchase, insur-ance is a long-term productmaking it crucial that the cus-tomers are able to ‘sample’the policy.

As a starter, product cate-gories such as health insur-ance, travel insurance, motorinsurance and term insurancecould be offered as a sampleproduct with small-sizedcovers.

Using analytics, customerbehaviour could be tracked tooffer a relevant product. Forinstance, a user booking atrek online could be offeredan accident cover through arandom selection online forfree. Word-of-mouth publici-ty by the sampler could beused to help raise awarenessabout the importance of

insurance.Similarly, a basic health

plan could be offered to anew-born child based on theparent’s e-commerce pur-chases. Tie-ups with relevantpartners could help collectsufficient information for thesame. Ailments are commonduring a child’s first year andoffering a sample productcould help the new parentsconsider buying a compre-hensive plan.

This could be beneficialespecially in rural areas andlow-income households. Forexample, an individual buy-ing brick/cement for buildingtheir own house could beoffered a sample home anddwelling insurance for thefirst year.

It has been over 20 yearssince India's insurance sectorwas privatised. Despite this,the fact that insurance is apull product makes it clearthat insurers need toapproach policy salesthrough a different route.

Offering select free sam-ples to a few would be a goodstarter to get the rest into theinsurance fold.

New Delhi : Mutual funds(MFs) are in the spotlightafter it emerged that they havea total debt exposure worth Rs3,000 crore in Vodafone Idea.

Franklin Templeton MF,which has 62 percent (Rs1,738 crore) exposure inVodafone Idea (VIL) - thehighest, is the first fund houseto mark down its investmentin the company to zero.

"The large quantum ofAGR dues and theimmediate paymenttimeline is resultingin significant uncer-tainty with respect toour exposure to VIL.As per news reports,VIL acknowledgedits inability to retainfinancial solvency inthe absence of reliefmeasures from thegovernment," a state-ment uploaded to the MF'swebsite read.

"Debt securities of VILheld in schemes of FranklinTempleton have been markeddown to zero. The valuationadjustment only reflects therealisable price of the relevantsecurities on the date of valu-ation and does not indicateany reduction or write-off ofthe amount repayable byVIL," the statement added.

The fund house also noti-fied that fresh inflows in thescheme have been limited toRs 2 lakh per day, per fund,per investor, until furthernotice.

Six schemes of FranklinTempleton MF namely -Franklin India Ultra Short

Bond Fund, Franklin IndiaShort Term Income Plan,Franklin India Low DurationFund, Franklin India CreditRisk Fund, Franklin IndiaDynamic Accrual Fund andFranklin India IncomeOpportunities Fund haveexposures of 4 percent to 6.5percent in Vodafone Idealdebt papers.

The marking down ofexposure in Vodafone Idea

has led to a 4-7 percent dropin the net asset value of itsschemes.

Franklin Templeton is fol-lowed by UTI MF, NipponIndia MF and Aditya BirlaSun Life MF in terms ofexposure to the company,Morningstar India datashowed. The other three havenot yet marked down theirholdings.

Last ResortAccording to brokerage

houses, the only option leftwith Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea is to file a cur-ative petition with a widerbench, but the time is short.

"It is likely that the gov-ernment breaks its silence andspreads out the payment over

a long period. No action bythe government will include amajor hit to government rev-enues. The chances of a relieffrom a curative petitionbefore January 23 deadlinelook remote. Spread-out pay-ments plus tariff increases area feasible combination," IIFLSecurities said.

The Supreme Court's onJanuary 16 dismissed peti-

tions filed by BhartiAirtel, VodafoneIdea, TataTeleservices andRailTel, seeking areview of its judg-ment on adjustedgross revenue(AGR).

This came as amajor setback espe-cially for VodafoneIdea and Bharti

Airtel, which owe the govern-ment around Rs 44,000 croreand Rs 35,586 crore, respec-tively, payable by January 23.

RailTel is the only state-owned telecom infrastructureservices provider.

In its October 24 order onthe longstanding AGR-liabili-ty case, the apex court ruled infavour of the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT)and ordered telcos to pay theirAGR liabilities within threemonths of the judgment date,which is January 23.

Bharti Airtel and VodafoneIdea, in total, reported a lossof nearly Rs 74,000 crore inquarter that ended September2019 on account of provisionfor AGR dues.

Franklin Templeton MF marks downVodafone Idea investment to zero

New Delhi : Right type ofinfrastructure is required atthe right time to fully tap thepotential of country's civilaviation sector, according toan advisor at the AviationTechnology Forum of India(ATFI).

The forum, launched onThursday, brings variousstakeholders together andencourages innovation andsocio-economic growth of theaviation sector.

A release issued by theforum said it would focus onempowering aviation industryand work closely with itsmembers and the governmentto create a conducive policyand legislative ecosystem.

"Our aviation industry hasemerged as one of the fastestgrowing industries in thecountry and aims to becomethe third largest aviation mar-

ket globally by 2024. Tounleash the full potential ofthis largely untapped market,

we must create the right typeof infrastructure at the righttime," Chief Advisor at ATFILalit Gupta said.

Gupta, former JointDirector General of Civil

Aviation, also said that theindustry and policy makersneed to work in tandem

towards the common goal ofensuring that aviation's eco-nomic and social benefits arefulfilled without compromis-ing on the safety of aircraftoperations.

Right infra required to fully tap aviationsector potential : ATFI advisor

New Delhi : India's largestsoftware exporter TataConsultancy Services (TCS)on Friday said it does not seeany impact of the NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal ruling removing NChandrasekaran as its chair-man.

The Supreme Court hasgiven a "blanket stay" on theNCLAT order, the company'sChief Executive andManaging Director RajeshGopinathan said.

"Absolutely not and asyour are aware the matter hasbeen referred to the SC. Thecompany has also appealed,and the SC has granted a blan-ket stay and we don't see anyimpact to the company fromthat," he said when askedabout the impact of theNCLAT order removingChandrasekaran.

He reiterated again that thecompany is not worried about

the legal battles.It can be noted that the

company, which is usually

among the first ones to reportits numbers, had to delay itsboard meeting to consider theDecember quarter perform-ance till it got the SC's reliefon the NCLAT order lastweek.

The NCLAT had last

month ruled that the meetingin which Cyrus Mistry wasremoved as the chairman of

Tata Sons, the diversifiedgroup's holding company, wasillegal and ordered his rein-statement.

Chandrasekaran had suc-ceeded Mistry as the chair-man of Tata Sons after one ofthe biggest corporate battles.

After SC stay, Tata Consultancy saysno NCLAT ruling impact on Co

TRUTH PREVAILJAMMU TUESDAY JANUARY 21, 2020NEWS12

V.K Singh conducts public interactionprogramme at Tikri Udhampur

Terms road connectivity as pre-requisite for growth, developmentUDHAMPUR, JANU-

ARY - 20 : As part of publicoutreach programmelaunched by the Center gov-ernment for the UnionTerritory of J&K, Minister ofState for Union Ministry ofRoad Transport andHighways General (Retired)V. K Singh, conducted aexhaustive public outreach

programme at HigherSecondary School, Tikri,Udhampur here this morning .

Commissioner Secretary,PWD (R&B) Department,Khurshid Ahmed Shah,District DevelopmentCommissioner, Udhampur,Dr. Piyush Singla, ChiefEngineer PWD, Jammu, DesRaj Bhagat, SSP, RajivOmparkash Pandey, ADDC,Ashok Kumar, BDCChairpersons, district officersbesides Sarpanchs, Panchs,Former MLA, Udhampur anda large number of prominentcitizens from differentPanchayats were present inthe programme .

Second day of outreachprogramme witnessed over-whelming participation ofPRI representatives and gen-eral public who evinced keeninterest in this unique initia-tive of the government.

On the occasion, Gen(Retd) V.K Singh inauguratedVeterinary Hospital Building

at Mand (Tikri) and 1x3.15MVA,33/11 KV receiving sta-tion , Chak under R-APDRPcommissioned with a cost ofRs.251 lakh besides layingfoundation stone for improve-ment/up gradation of TikriChanas road. He also inaugu-rated various works of RuralDevelopment Departmentexecuted under 14th FC,

PMAYG, SBM, MGNREGAetc in Tikri block ofUdhampur district.

After inauguration, theMinister accompanied byCommissioner Secretary andDistrict DevelopmentCommissioner Udhampur hada round of stalls put up by var-ious departments for generat-ing awareness regarding dif-ferent schemes launched bythe Government of India.

Singh also distributedcheques among old age pen-sioners besides presentinggolden cards to the benefici-aries under AyushmanBharat flagship scheme andgiving away Mamta kits tonewly born girls underBBBP and sports kits underKhelo India.

The Union Minister ofState, while inspecting thestalls established by differentdepartments highlightingschemes and products of theirrespective departments, inter-acted with the officers and

reviewed the progress of theseschemes on ground.

While addressing the gath-ering, Singh expressed satis-faction over implementationof several governmentschemes in the district. Heappreciated the efforts of dis-trict administration towardsconservation of water andfocus on organic farming.

Singh said thatGovernment is committed todevelop J&K UT and numer-ous innovative steps are beinginitiated in this regard whichare yielding tangible results.

Singh also interacted withthe public and had feedbackof implementation of variousgovernment schemes onground.

He also interacted with thebeneficiaries of differentschemes. He assured the gath-ering that all their demandswill be addressed on priority.

Singh said that road con-nectivity is the basic require-ment for growth and develop-ment of an area and Centergovernment is endeavoringhard to establish a strong roadnetwork in the UT.

He called upon the officersto make sincere and dedicatedefforts towards taking thebenefits of all governmentschemes to the targeted sec-tions of the society.

"Government is deter-

mined to provide enhancedbasic facilities to people of thearea at their doorsteps" heaffirmed while emphasizingthe need of strong coordina-tion between the administra-tion and the people for effec-tive implementation of vari-ous welfare and developmentprogrammes.

Commissioner Secretary

highlighted the progress ofvarious mega projects andflagship schemes across theUT.

BDC Chairman, Tikri,Nisha Sharma, projected sev-eral demands including ade-quate health facilities, Footover bridge at Tikri andMand, Degree College atTikri, posting of Gynecologistetc.

Earlier, Dr. Piyush Singla,highlighted the mega projects,flagship schemes being exe-cuted in the district includingRopeway Project Patnitop,Solid Waste ManagementProject Mand and WasteDisposal through Heat 250Kg/hr at Sui-Jakhar(Udhampur), PollutionAbatement of Holy RiverDevika, Yoga InternationalConvention Centre Mantalai,National Highway (NH-44,NH-244), Medical College,Jal Jeevan Mission, JeevikaProject, Land Bank for indus-tries, Sakoon-e Awam etc.

Dogra Cultural cum Cuisine Festivalorganized in New Delhi

New Delhi 20th ofJanuary : Jammu Diary inassociation with the PressClub of India andInternational DograSociety(IDS) organizedDogra Cultural cum CuisineFestival at New Delhi in thepremises of Press Club ofJammu.The event was organ-ized to showcase the rich cul-tural heritage and cuisine ofthe Dogras of Jammu to sensi-tise the entire nation about theuntapped treasures of Jammuregion.

The vent was a compre-hensive package of the cultureand cuisine that included thespell binding performances bythe renowned Dogra artistswho enthralled the audiencewith their presentations. Thepresentations included theDogra folk songs, dances andrich tradition of art. The artistswho performed these itemsincluded Jatinder SinghJamwal, Radhika Chopra,Urvashi Kiran Sharma,Sanchita Abrol and ManjuWazir.

The traditional Dogra cui-sine that as served on theoccasion included RajmaChawal, Ambal,Maa kamadra,Chuware kamadra,Kyur,Khata meat andYakhni Meat. These disheswere relished by the youthparticipants and guests .

Dr.Karan Singh, arenowned scholar, MP andformer sadar-i-Riyasat ofJammu and Kashmir was theChief Guest on the occasion.While speaking on the occa-sion he said, “This festivalsignifies the resurgence of theDogra youth who have man-

aged to bring Dogra culture toJammu and sensitized theyouth about the rich inheri-tance of our ancestors whonot only shaped erstwhileprincely state but encouragedand patronided the inclusive-

ness. Sugam Bral the youngorganizer of the event der-serves appreciation for unit-ing Dogras to preserve theirculture.Youth have to be theambassadors of the culturalrenaisaance of Jammu.”

Prof.Bhim Singh fromJKNPP and Sham LalSharma, former cabinetMinister of J and K,Vikramaditya Singh andAjaatshatru Singh were theguests of honour on the occa-sion. All the dignitaries wereappreciate of the event andemphasized to take this eventto every state of the country toshowcase the rich Dogra her-itage.

Sugam Bral, organizer ofthe event and ChairmanJammu Diary while speakingon the occasion said,” Dograshave a rich tangible and intan-gible that has been neglecteddue to discrimination and rel-

egating to the background itsintegrality with the Sanskritcivilization of Indian nation.This event is an outcome ofour comprehensive mission tosensitize the youth in particu-lar and the tourism marketersin particular about the Dograheritage that was never givendue in the marketing strate-gies to develop the tourisminfrastructure.we urge the pol-icy makers in the incumbentgovernment at the centre todevelop a segementisedframework for the sustainableshowcasing of Dogra heritageof Jammu. We are at the fore-front of this Dogra renais-sance guided by a team of

advisors and professionalswho have an internationalprofile grounded in theSanskrit civilization of theHimalyas in jammu andKashmir.”

Anil Anand, senior jour-

nalist and member Press Clubof India said,” the media has awider role to play to bring outthe Dogra heritage on the cul-tural and tourism landscape ofIndia so that niche tourism isdeveloped in Jammu with anational and international out-look.

Jammu is already an inter-national destination due to thepil;grimage centre of ShreeMata Vaishno Devi in Katrathat invites nearly a crore pil-grims on an average everyyear.

Event was attended by agalaxy of prominent citizens,artists and civil society fromall over India and the globe.

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Union MoS lays foundation stonesfor roads at Marh, Bhalwal

Lists development programmes, centrally sponsored schemesJAMMU, JANUARY 20

: Union Minister of State forWomen and ChildDevelopment, SusreeDebasree Choudhari, todaylaid foundation stones forconstruction of roads fromMachine Domana to ChibbaChak in Block BhalwalJammu and Lahori Chak,Gajnasoo Bazaar to Rathua inBlock Marh.

While addressing the gath-ering at Marh, the Union MoSsaid that the Government ofIndia is according specialfocus on ensuring better basicservices to people of Jammuand Kashmir.

She said Integrated ChildDevelopment Services is anambitious initiative of Centergovernment which providesfood, pre-school education,primary healthcare, immu-nization, health check up andreferral services to childrenand their mothers. She high-lighted various developmentprogrammes and schemesbeing launched by the govern-ment of India for welfare of

people of Jammu andKashmir with emphasis onunattended and inaccessibleparts. She also made a men-tion of other people friendly

centrally sponsored schemesincluding Mid Day Meal,Pulse Polio, Child Protectionand Development, Ujawala,Beti Bachao Beti Padao andconnected schemes.

Later, various deputations

called on the Minister andsubmitted a memorandum oftheir demands and problemsto the MoS which includedissues like 4 percent reserva-

tion quota and separateschools for physically chal-lenged community and allother facilities which areapplicable in different statesand UTs for welfare of thesespecially abled persons.

Director General, Women& Child Development, MirTariq Ali, DeputyCommissioner Jammu,Sushma Chauhan, Chairman

Block DevelopmentCommittee Marh, SurinderKumar besides other seniorofficers of concerned depart-ments, representatives of PRIsand locals were present on theoccasion.

National Conference on Contemporary Trends in Humanitiesand Social Sciences Inaugurated at SMVD University

SMVDU,Katra 20th Jan-: Two day NationalConference on“Contemporary Trends inHumanities and SocialSciences” has been inaugurat-ed at SMVD University on20th January, 2020. The con-ference has been organised bythe School of Languages andLiterature to promote use ofSocial Sciences andHumanities; Language Policyand English Literature,Interaction between literary,Linguistic and Social Sciencetheories; Stylistics andEnglish Language Teaching.The inaugural session wasgraced with the presence ofPadma Shree Prof. R.K.Sinha, Hon’ble ViceChancellor of the universitywho addressed the partici-

pants and congratulated Dr.Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi,Coordinator, Dr. IshaMalhotra and Dr. Anurag

Kumar, convener sof the con-ference, for organising such awonderful event. Also, Prof.D. Mukhopadhyay, DeanFOHSS highlighted the sig-

nificance of organising suchevents to provide platform toenthusiastic faculty membersand research scholars for

sharing their research ideas.Participants from variousparts of India like Meghalaya,West Bengal, New Delhi,Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana

and Jammu and Kashmir areattending the conference. Thekeynote was delivered byProf. Rajneesh Arora,

Director, English and ForeignLanguage University,Lucknow Campus. Dr. IshaMalhotra proposed the vote ofthanks.

BANDIPORA, JANU-ARY 20 : DistrictDevelopment CommissionerBandipora, Shahbaz AhmadMirza, today convened ameeting of officers to reviewRepublic Day arrangementsin the district.

The meeting was attendedby ADC Bandipora, ACRBandipora, Joint DirectorPlanning, Chief EducationOfficer Bandipora, ExecutiveEngineers of R&B and PHE,besides other concerned.

The meeting wasinformed that contingents ofJKP, IRP, CRPF, NCC, stu-dents of various educationalinstitutions will participate inmarch past parade and vari-ous cultural programmes willbe presented by artists andschool children on the occa-sion.

It was given out that themain function including fulldress rehearsal will held atSports Stadium Bandiporawhile similar functions willbe conducted at sub-divisionand Tehsil levels also.

The meeting wasinformed that the meritoriousstudents and employees willbe felicitated for their out-standing performance on theoccasion.

The meeting discussedseating arrangements, elec-tricity, drinking water supply,sanitation, medical aid facili-ty, traffic management andparking facility at the venue.

The DDC directed theconcerned officers to ensurethat all arrangements are inplace for the smooth conductof the event.

R-Day: DDC Bandiporareviews arrangements

JAMMU : NationwidePulse Polio Drive was organ-ised on 19 January 2020 byMinistry of Health andWelfare in conjunction withState and Union Territory rul-ing bodies. Army, in its questto promote social upliftmentin Jammu Region, wholeheartedly supported thisNational initiative to emanci-

pate any child fromPoliomyelitis. ArmyEstablishment at Dharmundvillage provided assistance tothe State Health representa-tives from Batote in estab-lishing ‘Polio Reviver Booth’at Government MiddleSchool. Apart from security,the Army provisioned sup-port facilities to health rep-resentatives and parents; chil-dren form adjoining villagesfor success of the event.Establishment at Dharmundresulted in immunization of162 children with polio vac-cine from approximately 134village families.

Pulse Polio campaignat batote, Dharmund

Ramban

Steps being taken to bring Mughal Gardenson UNESCo heritage site: Secretary JKAACL

Academy holds interactive session with Conservation

Architect Abha Narain LambhaSRINAGAR, JANU-

ARY 20 : Director, Archives& Archeology, Muneer-ul-Islam, who also holds thecharge of Secretary, Jammuand Kashmir Academy ofArt, Culture and Languages(JKAACL), today said thedepartment is taking steps tobring famed Mughal Gardensof Srinagar on the world her-itage site of UNESCO.

He said this during an

interactive session withrenowned ConservationArchitect Abha NarainLambal organized by JKAA-CL and Department ofArchives, Archeology andMuseums, here today.

Islam said that concreteefforts are needed to bringMughal Gardens on worldheritage site of UNESCO. Hesaid the department is takinginitiatives to preserve and

promote heritage treasure ofthe Valley. He said thatJKAACL is introducing filmsection besides revivingTehzeeb Mehal, creation ofArt Museum and digitizationof literary treasure.

He said that the objectiveof the interaction was to givenomination dossier forMughal Gardens as worldheritage sites at UNESCO,for which consultation with

stack holders of J&K is alsobeing held.

On the occasion, AbhaNarain Lambah gave a PowerPoint Presentation to briefabout preservation and pro-motion of heritage sites,besides initiatives beingtaken to bring heritage siteson UNESCO map includingMughal Garden, Burzuhamaheritage site and cold desertsculture.

JAMMU, JANUARY 20-A group of 110 students,drawn from various govern-ment schools of Chenabregion districts, today left forTamil Nadu under Students

Exchange Programme ofSamagra Shiksha.

The students were flaggedoff by Commissioner/Secretary School Education,Hirdesh Kumar Singh herefrom Teachers’ Bhawan. Thegroup of touring children,comprising students of Highand Higher Secondary levels,hail from Doda, Ramban andKishtwar.

The Secretary, while inter-acting with the students,informed that the programmeaims at to enable them toexplore and know about new

avenues and facilities of edu-cation across the country. Hestressed that such tours pro-vide a platform to students toknow more about their coun-try, to familiarize with the cul-

ture and history of the nationand encourage them to makefriends and interact with theircounterparts across otherstates for a better exposure.

Later Dr. Arun Manhas,State Project DirectorSamagra Shiksha, who wasalso present, interacted withthe students and appreciatedthe efforts put in by teachers,who managed to escort thesestudents in such harsh weath-er conditions. Dr. Manhasapprised CommissionerSecretary that Directorate ofSamagra Shiksha has send

over 3000 students to variousparts of country till date andinformed that Tamil Nadu is apairing state for J&K underEK Bharat Shreshth Bharat.

Director School

Education Jammu, AnuradhaGupta, also interacted withthe students and expressedgratitude to the parents, whomanaged to send their chil-dren for the trip. The Childrenwere highly jubilant for thetrip. Among others present atthe flag off ceremony wereChief Education Officer-Jammu, Kulbir Singh; FieldOfficer Samagra Shiksha,Peerzada Mushtaq; StateCoordinator (Quality) NazirReshi and other senior offi-cers of School EducationDepartment.

Students Exchange Programme : Group of110 JK students leaves for Tamil Nadu

Hirdesh Kumar flags off touring contingent

JAMMU : Army organ-ised Shaheed Sub OnkarSingh Memorial HalfMarathon for the youth ofKhour Tehsil.The event wasorganized in the memory ofSub Onkar Singh of DOGRARegiment hailing from villageDehrian Bagri, Teh Khourwho attained martyrdom dur-ing the Indo Pak War of 1971.

A total of 314 youth of agegroups 14 yrs to 24 yrs partic-ipated in the event which hadthree different categories of21 km, 10 km and 5 km HalfMarathon runs.

The response and partici-pation shown by the populace

for the Marathon exhibitedthe bonhomie existingbetween the Army and the

people of the region.The localdignitaries expressed their

gratitude to the Army in itsendeavors towards motivatingthe youth of the region and

involving them in mainstreamactivities.

Army organises shaheed sub onkar Singhmemorial half Marathon at Akhnoor

JAMMU : A NationalIntegration, Educational andMotivational tour is beenorganised by 3 DOGRA ofTiger Division from 20-30January 2020. The tour com-prising of 15 school goingchildren was flagged off fromDamana(J&K) by Brig KKSingh, Commander ChenabBrigade in presence of SDMAnil Thakur, Principal MrsNeetu Gandhotra and manyother dignitaries today. Thechildren will visit New Delhi,Agra and Jaipur where theywill get an exposure to histor-ical monuments, educationalinstitutes and war memorial.These children belong toremote areas of Pargwal

region of Jammu District andhave been selected to givethem an exposure of rich

Indian heritage and culture.This novel initiative shallbring these underprivilegedchildren located in remote

border areas of Pargwal intothe mainstream and encour-age them to contribute posi-

tively towards NationBuilding. The local populacesare full of praise for theefforts of the Indian.

Chenab brigade flags off NationalIntegration Tour