3ZU e` aRZ_e #' "" Rd 9Z_Uf eVcc`c - Daily Pioneer

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F ormer Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has dropped a bombshell by claiming in his 624-page memoir “Let Me Say It Now” released recently that how there was a bid to dub 26/11 as “Hindu terror”, a phrase coined by the then Home Minister. But it didn’t happen so as Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was caught alive. Had Kasab not been caught alive, his body would have been found with an I-card bearing a fictitious Hindu name, writes Maria about the investigation helmed by him in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. “If all had gone well, he (Kasab) would have been dead with a red string tied around his wrist like a Hindu. We would have found an identity card on his person with a fic- titious name: Samir Dinesh Chaudhari, student of Arunodaya Degree and PG College, Vedre Complex, Dilkhushnagar, Hyderabad, 500060, resident of 254, Teachers Colony, Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru,” Maria writes. “Ramesh Mahale, Prashant Marde and Dinesh Kadam would have been on their way to Hyderabad to find more about him. There would have been screaming headlines in newspapers claiming how Hindu terrorists had attacked Mumbai. Over-the-top TV journalists would have made a beeline for Bengaluru to inter- view his family and neigh- bours,” he wrote. Mahale, Marde and Kadam were senior police officers involved in the 26/11 attack investigation. “But alas, it had not worked that way and here he was, Ajmal Amir Kasab of Faridkot in Pakistan, and I was asking him, Ki karan aya hai? (What are you here for?),” the former IPS officer wrote. Maria’s book also men- tions that Pakistan’s ISI and the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) were bent upon killing Kasab by “hook or by crook” after he was caught alive by ASI Tukaram Ombale. “As the Joint CP incharge of the Crime Branch, Kasab was now my most esteemed guest. Keeping this enemy alive was my number one pri- ority. Anger and hostility towards Kasab were percepti- ble. The way the men and offi- cers were reacting to him, I had to personally choose his guards for the entire period he would be with us,” Maria writes in the book. “The ISI and the Lashkar were bent upon eliminating him by hook or by crook to obliterate the only living evi- dence of their heinous deed... Specific Intelligence inputs had been received from Central Intelligence agencies that Pakistan was intent on killing Kasab and the Dawood gang had been entrusted with the task,” Maria wrote. “He seriously believed that Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India and mosques were locked up by the authorities. He felt that the azaan he heard five times a day in the Crime Branch lock-up was just a figment of his imag- ination. When we came to know of this, I instructed Mahale to take him to the mosque near the Metro Cinema in a vehicle. When he saw the namaaz in progress with his own eyes, he was bewildered. This was not how it was supposed to be!” Maria writes in the book. In one of the most horrif- ic terrorist attacks in the coun- try’s history, 166 people were killed and over 300 injured as 10 heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan created mayhem in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive, was hanged to death on November 21, 2012. A day after British MP Debbie Abrahams was deported from the Indira Gandhi International Airport here, Government sources said on Tuesday her e-Business visa was revoked as she was involved in anti-India activities. They also said revoking or grant of visa is the sovereign right of a country and the cancellation of visa was con- veyed to her on February 14. Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi welcomed the step even though his party colleague Tharoor on Monday had criticised the Government on her deportation. Singhvi said the British MP was a “Pakistan proxy.” Justifying the decision to cancel the visa and deporting the MP, sources said Abrahams was issued an e-Business visa on October 7 last year for attending business meetings. The visa was valid till October 5, 2020. “Her e-Business visa was revoked on February 14, 2020 on account of her indulging in activities which went against India’s national interest. The rejection of the e-Business visa was intimated to her on February 14,” they said. Sources also asserted the grant, rejec- tion or revocation of a visa or electronic travel authorisation is the sovereign right of a country. Abrahams was not in the possession of a valid visa at the time of her arrival at the IGI Airport here on Monday and she was asked to return, the sources said. There is no provision of “visa on arrival” for the UK nationals at the airport, sources said, dismissing Abrahams’ contention she should have been granted a “visa on arrival”. They said as per the rules previously issued e-Business visa meant for business meet- ings cannot be used for visiting “family and friends”, as stated by the British MP. “This is not permitted as per the rules and a separate visa request has to be made,” a source said. The Labour Party MP had said despite having a valid visa she was denied entry into India after she landed at the airport here about 8.50 am from Dubai. She was among a group of British MPs who issued for- mal letters expressing con- cerns over the revocation of Jammu & Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 in August last year. “We are gravely concerned at the announcement by Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah, that Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which grants spe- cial status to Jammu & Kashmir, has been removed by Presidential Order,” the Opposition MP had noted in her letter to UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. Abrahams reacted on Twitter, “Very disappointing that a friend can’t respectfully criticise another friend.” T o develop Ayodhya as a tourist attraction, the Uttar Pradesh Government in its Budget for 2020-21 has made a special provision of 500 crore. The UP Government will spend 85 crore on the development of a high-class infrastructure in Ayodhya, and 10 crore has been kept for the renovation of Tulsi Smarak Bhawan in the pilgrim city. The UP Budget also ear- marked 200 crore for the beautification of Varanasi’s Kashi Vishwanath temple. The Budget also provides 2,000 crore for the new airport project at Jewar near Delhi with special focus on road and metro rail projects. Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the Budget in the State Assembly. The Kanpur Metro Rail Project has been granted 358 crore and 286 crore has been allo- cated for the metro rail in Agra. The 2020-21 Budget sets a target for the construction of four lakh houses for the weak- er sections within a year and lists schemes to help the youth to make a living. Addressing reporters later, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called the Budget — the fourth presented by his Government — “historic”, “growth-oriented” and “people-friendly”. Opposition parties, how- ever, termed it “directionless” and a “farce”. The 5.12 lakh crore Budget is bigger than the one presented last year by 33,159 crore. It has provisions for new schemes worth 10,967 crore, Khanna said. T he Central Government has renamed Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), a Government think tank, as Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in order to “hon- our the commitment and lega- cy” of the late Defence Minister. The IDSA is a non-partisan, autonomous body dedicated to objective research and policy- relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security. Parrikar was Defence Minister from November 9, 2014 to March 14, 2017. He died last year due to pancreat- ic cancer. He steered the Defence Ministry “through the tough challenges of attacks like Pathankot and Uri and responded to these with exem- plary boldness,” said a Government statement on Tuesday while announcing the decision to rename the IDSA. “An epitome of integrity and dedication in public life, throughout his career, late Parrikar showed a tremendous fighting spirit, taking on the odds with fearlessness,” the statement noted. When Parrikar was the Defence Minister, India wit- nessed a series of decisions that “enhanced its security capaci- ties, boosted indigenous defence production and bet- tered the lives of ex-service- men”, it said. His biggest contribution was towards the implementa- tion of long-standing One Rank One Pension (OROP) demand for the Armed forces, the statement said. The renaming of the IDSA will align the vision and aspi- ration of the premier defence institute with the contribution of the former Raksha Mantri, said the statement. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said, “I wel- come the decision of Defence Ministry to rename IDSA as ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’, honoring Manohar bhai’s tremendous contribution as Defence Minister of India.” A Delhi court on Tuesday sent Sharjeel Imam, named as an “instigator” by the Delhi Police in its chargesheet for vio- lent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at New Friends’ Colony here last year, to judicial cus- tody till March 3. It stated that it had attached CCTV footage, call detail records and statements of over 100 witnesses as evidence in the chargesheet. Imam was arrest- ed on sedition charges last month in a separate case. Earlier on Monday, the court had sent Imam to one- day custody of the Delhi Police in the case as it wanted to quiz him because an accused — Furkan — in the December 15, 2019 violence case has alleged in his disclosure that he was provoked by Imam’s speeches. The police had earlier told the court that Furkan was arrested on the basis of a CCTV footage which showed him carrying a container allegedly containing petrol. Four people were arrested in the case on December 16 and sent to judicial custody. Furkan was arrested later. Imam, who came into the limelight during the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh against the CAA and the NRC, was arrested from Bihar’s Jehanabad on January 28 in a separate case for allegedly mak- ing inflammatory speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia here and in Aligarh. A subgroup of the global ter- ror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Tuesday recom- mended continuation of Pakistan in the “Grey List” for its failure to check terror fund- ing and a final decision will be taken on February 21, sources said on Tuesday. The decision was taken at the meeting of the FATF’s International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG), held at the ongoing Paris plenary. The FATF meeting is being held a week after an anti-ter- rorism court in Pakistan sen- tenced Hafiz Saeed, the mas- termind of the 2008 Mumbai attack and founder of LeT, to 11 years in two terror financing cases inside Pakistan. The Pakistani court’s judg- ment came ostensibly to please the FATF and Western coun- tries so that the country can exit the “Grey List”. India has been maintaining that Pakistan extends regular support to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen, whose prime tar- get is India, and has urged FATF to take action against Islamabad. S everal hundred members of the tribal community from Jharkhand staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday demanding a separate Sarna Code in the 2021 census — a move that is expected to give Sarna-following tribals a separate religious identity. A similar protest was also staged outside the Raj Bhawan in Ranchi on Tuesday by mem- bers of different tribal rights groups here. Munna Toppo, a member of Jai Adivasi Central Committee, another tribal rights body, was one of the protestors at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday. He said that the protests saw participation of tribal men and women from across the country, including places like Andaman & Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand. “When Sikhs and Jains can have a code in the Census, why can’t we? Our population is much higher than theirs and we have been asking for a separate code for several decades now,” said Toppo, adding that the Government at the Centre should at least listen to their demands and take actions accordingly. Another tribal rights activist from Jharkhand, Arbind Oraon, who partici- pated in the protests at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday said, “Tribals from across the coun- try gathered here to press for the inclusion of a tribal column in the Census. Around 1200 tribal men and women partic- ipated in the protest.” Oraon, who happens to be the co-con- vener of a conglomerate con- stituted especially for the pur- pose, said that members of trib- al communities in Meghalaya and Assam also joined the protests in the national capital. Bablu Munda, president of Kendriya Sarna Samiti, a tribal rights group that active- ly participated in the protests, said that the tribal communi- ty in Jharkhand has been press- ing for a Sarna Code since decades, but no Government has ever bothered to pay heed to their demands. “After several years of no interest shown by any Government, former Chief Minister Raghubar Das had assured that he will speak to the Centre about our demands. But his Government was toppled before he could take any ini- tiative regarding our issues,” Munda said. Das had raised the demand of various tribal outfits for a separate Sarna Code at the Assembly here. He had also said on a number of occasions that his Government will press for a separate Sarna Code if he is voted to power again. However, the tripartite alliance of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) toppled his Government and Das could not even win from his seat, Jamshedpur East. Sarna followers are nature worshippers, who do not con- sider themselves Hindus and have been fighting for a sepa- rate religious identity in India. Lakhs of tribesmen who were born in Sarna-following fami- lies got converted to Christianity over the past cen- tury after the advent of the mis- sionaries, claim tribal gurus. These tribesmen have also been at loggerheads with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over being tagged as Hindus by the saffron outfit. A major tribal movement for a separate religious identity has been boiling in Jharkhand and neighbouring states for the past couple of years. In 2014, thousands of Sarna followers handed over a memorandum to then Union minister P Chidambaram and demanded recognition of Sarna as a sepa- rate religion. The crusaders back then had also staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, but their pleas went unheeded. In 2015, about 30,000 tribesmen held a nation- wide campaign for the same. The Sarna followers fall in the category of ‘other religious practices’ in the Census. According to the 2011 Census, tribals form 26.2 per cent of the total population of 3.29 crore in Jharkhand. Organisations cam- paigning for a Sarna Code claim that out of the total trib- al population here, hardly 10 per cent follow Christianity and the remaining follow the Sarna Dharm (religion).

Transcript of 3ZU e` aRZ_e #' "" Rd 9Z_Uf eVcc`c - Daily Pioneer

���������� �������

Former Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Rakesh

Maria has dropped a bombshellby claiming in his 624-pagememoir “Let Me Say It Now”released recently that how therewas a bid to dub 26/11 as“Hindu terror”, a phrase coinedby the then Home Minister.

But it didn’t happen so asPakistani terrorist MohammedAjmal Kasab was caught alive.

Had Kasab not been caughtalive, his body would havebeen found with an I-cardbearing a fictitious Hinduname, writes Maria about theinvestigation helmed by him inthe 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

“If all had gone well, he(Kasab) would have been deadwith a red string tied aroundhis wrist like a Hindu. Wewould have found an identitycard on his person with a fic-titious name: Samir DineshChaudhari, student ofArunodaya Degree and PGCollege, Vedre Complex,Dilkhushnagar, Hyderabad,500060, resident of 254,Teachers Colony, Nagarabhavi,Bengaluru,” Maria writes.

“Ramesh Mahale, PrashantMarde and Dinesh Kadam

would have been on their wayto Hyderabad to find moreabout him. There would havebeen screaming headlines innewspapers claiming howHindu terrorists had attackedMumbai. Over-the-top TVjournalists would have made abeeline for Bengaluru to inter-view his family and neigh-bours,” he wrote.

Mahale, Marde and Kadamwere senior police officersinvolved in the 26/11 attackinvestigation. “But alas, it had

not worked that way and herehe was, Ajmal Amir Kasab ofFaridkot in Pakistan, and I wasasking him, Ki karan aya hai?(What are you here for?),” theformer IPS officer wrote.

Maria’s book also men-tions that Pakistan’s ISI and theLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) werebent upon killing Kasab by“hook or by crook” after hewas caught alive by ASITukaram Ombale.

“As the Joint CP inchargeof the Crime Branch, Kasab

was now my most esteemedguest. Keeping this enemyalive was my number one pri-ority. Anger and hostilitytowards Kasab were percepti-ble. The way the men and offi-cers were reacting to him, Ihad to personally choose hisguards for the entire period hewould be with us,” Mariawrites in the book.

“The ISI and the Lashkarwere bent upon eliminatinghim by hook or by crook toobliterate the only living evi-

dence of their heinous deed...Specific Intelligence inputs hadbeen received from CentralIntelligence agencies thatPakistan was intent on killingKasab and the Dawood ganghad been entrusted with thetask,” Maria wrote.

“He seriously believed thatMuslims were not allowed tooffer namaaz in India andmosques were locked up by theauthorities. He felt that theazaan he heard five times a dayin the Crime Branch lock-upwas just a figment of his imag-ination. When we came toknow of this, I instructedMahale to take him to themosque near the MetroCinema in a vehicle. When hesaw the namaaz in progresswith his own eyes, he wasbewildered. This was not howit was supposed to be!” Mariawrites in the book.

In one of the most horrif-ic terrorist attacks in the coun-try’s history, 166 people werekilled and over 300 injured as10 heavily-armed terroristsfrom Pakistan created mayhem in Mumbai onNovember 26, 2008.

Kasab, the lone terroristcaptured alive, was hanged todeath on November 21, 2012.

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Aday after British MPDebbie Abrahams was

deported from the IndiraGandhi International Airporthere, Government sources saidon Tuesday her e-Business visawas revoked as she wasinvolved in anti-India activities.They also said revoking orgrant of visa is the sovereignright of a country and thecancellation of visa was con-veyed to her on February 14.

Congress leader AbhishekManu Singhvi welcomed thestep even though his partycolleague Tharoor on Mondayhad criticised the Governmenton her deportation. Singhvisaid the British MP was a“Pakistan proxy.”

Justifying the decision tocancel the visa and deportingthe MP, sources said Abrahamswas issued an e-Business visaon October 7 last year forattending business meetings.The visa was valid till October5, 2020.

“Her e-Business visa wasrevoked on February 14, 2020on account of her indulging inactivities which went againstIndia’s national interest. Therejection of the e-Business visa

was intimated to her onFebruary 14,” they said. Sourcesalso asserted the grant, rejec-tion or revocation of a visa orelectronic travel authorisationis the sovereign right of acountry.

Abrahams was not in thepossession of a valid visa at thetime of her arrival at the IGIAirport here on Monday andshe was asked to return, thesources said.

There is no provision of“visa on arrival” for the UKnationals at the airport, sources said, dismissingAbrahams’ contention sheshould have been granted a“visa on arrival”.

They said as per the rulespreviously issued e-Businessvisa meant for business meet-ings cannot be used for visiting“family and friends”, as statedby the British MP. “This is notpermitted as per the rules anda separate visa request has to be

made,” a source said.The Labour Party MP had

said despite having a valid visashe was denied entry into Indiaafter she landed at the airporthere about 8.50 am fromDubai. She was among a groupof British MPs who issued for-mal letters expressing con-cerns over the revocation ofJammu & Kashmir’s specialstatus under Article 370 inAugust last year.

“We are gravely concernedat the announcement by IndianHome Minister, Amit Shah,that Article 370 of the IndianConstitution, which grants spe-cial status to Jammu &Kashmir, has been removed byPresidential Order,” theOpposition MP had noted inher letter to UK ForeignSecretary Dominic Raab.

Abrahams reacted onTwitter, “Very disappointingthat a friend can’t respectfullycriticise another friend.”

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To develop Ayodhya as atourist attraction, the Uttar

Pradesh Government in itsBudget for 2020-21 has madea special provision of �500crore. The UP Governmentwill spend �85 crore on thedevelopment of a high-classinfrastructure in Ayodhya, and�10 crore has been kept for therenovation of Tulsi Smarak

Bhawan in the pilgrim city.The UP Budget also ear-

marked �200 crore for thebeautification of Varanasi’sKashi Vishwanath temple.

The Budget also provides�2,000 crore for the new airportproject at Jewar near Delhi withspecial focus on road andmetro rail projects.

Finance Minister SureshKumar Khanna presented theBudget in the State Assembly.

The Kanpur Metro Rail Projecthas been granted �358 croreand �286 crore has been allo-cated for the metro rail inAgra.

The 2020-21 Budget sets atarget for the construction offour lakh houses for the weak-er sections within a year andlists schemes to help the youthto make a living.

Addressing reporters later,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

called the Budget — the fourthpresented by his Government— “historic”, “growth-oriented”and “people-friendly”.

Opposition parties, how-ever, termed it “directionless”and a “farce”.

The �5.12 lakh croreBudget is bigger than the onepresented last year by �33,159crore. It has provisions for newschemes worth �10,967 crore,Khanna said.

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The Central Governmenthas renamed Institute for

Defence Studies and Analyses(IDSA), a Government thinktank, as Manohar ParrikarInstitute for Defence Studiesand Analyses in order to “hon-our the commitment and lega-cy” of the late Defence Minister.The IDSA is a non-partisan,autonomous body dedicated toobjective research and policy-relevant studies on all aspectsof defence and security.

Parrikar was DefenceMinister from November 9,2014 to March 14, 2017. Hedied last year due to pancreat-ic cancer.

He steered the DefenceMinistry “through the toughchallenges of attacks likePathankot and Uri andresponded to these with exem-plary boldness,” said aGovernment statement onTuesday while announcing thedecision to rename the IDSA.

“An epitome of integrityand dedication in public life,throughout his career, lateParrikar showed a tremendousfighting spirit, taking on theodds with fearlessness,” thestatement noted.

When Parrikar was theDefence Minister, India wit-

nessed a series of decisions that“enhanced its security capaci-ties, boosted indigenousdefence production and bet-tered the lives of ex-service-men”, it said.

His biggest contributionwas towards the implementa-tion of long-standing OneRank One Pension (OROP)demand for the Armed forces,the statement said.

The renaming of the IDSAwill align the vision and aspi-ration of the premier defenceinstitute with the contributionof the former Raksha Mantri,said the statement.

Goa Chief MinisterPramod Sawant said, “I wel-come the decision of DefenceMinistry to rename IDSA as‘Manohar Parrikar Institute forDefence Studies and Analyses’,honoring Manohar bhai’stremendous contribution asDefence Minister of India.”

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ADelhi court on Tuesdaysent Sharjeel Imam, named

as an “instigator” by the DelhiPolice in its chargesheet for vio-lent protests against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) at New Friends’ Colonyhere last year, to judicial cus-tody till March 3.

It stated that it had attachedCCTV footage, call detailrecords and statements of over100 witnesses as evidence in thechargesheet. Imam was arrest-ed on sedition charges lastmonth in a separate case.

Earlier on Monday, thecourt had sent Imam to one-day custody of the Delhi Police in the case as it wantedto quiz him because an accused— Furkan — in the December15, 2019 violence case hasalleged in his disclosure that hewas provoked by Imam’sspeeches.

The police had earlier toldthe court that Furkan wasarrested on the basis of aCCTV footage which showedhim carrying a containerallegedly containing petrol.Four people were arrested inthe case on December 16 andsent to judicial custody. Furkanwas arrested later.

Imam, who came into thelimelight during the ongoingprotests at Shaheen Baghagainst the CAA and the NRC,was arrested from Bihar’sJehanabad on January 28 in aseparate case for allegedly mak-ing inflammatory speeches atJamia Millia Islamia here andin Aligarh.

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Asubgroup of the global ter-ror financing watchdog

Financial Action Task Force(FATF) on Tuesday recom-mended continuation ofPakistan in the “Grey List” forits failure to check terror fund-ing and a final decision will betaken on February 21, sourcessaid on Tuesday.

The decision was taken atthe meeting of the FATF’sInternational Co-operationReview Group (ICRG), held atthe ongoing Paris plenary.

The FATF meeting is beingheld a week after an anti-ter-rorism court in Pakistan sen-tenced Hafiz Saeed, the mas-termind of the 2008 Mumbaiattack and founder of LeT, to 11years in two terror financingcases inside Pakistan.

The Pakistani court’s judg-ment came ostensibly to pleasethe FATF and Western coun-tries so that the country canexit the “Grey List”.

India has been maintainingthat Pakistan extends regularsupport to terror groups likeLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT),J a i s h - e - M o h a m m a d (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen, whose prime tar-get is India, and has urgedFATF to take action againstIslamabad.

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Several hundred members ofthe tribal community from

Jharkhand staged a protest atJantar Mantar in New Delhi onTuesday demanding a separateSarna Code in the 2021 census— a move that is expected togive Sarna-following tribals aseparate religious identity. Asimilar protest was also stagedoutside the Raj Bhawan inRanchi on Tuesday by mem-bers of different tribal rightsgroups here.

Munna Toppo, a member ofJai Adivasi Central Committee,another tribal rights body, wasone of the protestors at JantarMantar on Tuesday. He said that

the protests saw participation oftribal men and women fromacross the country, includingplaces like Andaman & Nicobar,Chhattisgarh, Odisha, WestBengal and Jharkhand. “WhenSikhs and Jains can have a codein the Census, why can’t we? Ourpopulation is much higher thantheirs and we have been askingfor a separate code for severaldecades now,” said Toppo,adding that the Government atthe Centre should at least listento their demands and takeactions accordingly.

Another tribal rightsactivist from Jharkhand,Arbind Oraon, who partici-pated in the protests at JantarMantar on Tuesday said,“Tribals from across the coun-try gathered here to press forthe inclusion of a tribal columnin the Census. Around 1200

tribal men and women partic-ipated in the protest.” Oraon,who happens to be the co-con-vener of a conglomerate con-stituted especially for the pur-pose, said that members of trib-al communities in Meghalayaand Assam also joined theprotests in the national capital.

Bablu Munda, presidentof Kendriya Sarna Samiti, atribal rights group that active-ly participated in the protests,said that the tribal communi-ty in Jharkhand has been press-ing for a Sarna Code sincedecades, but no Governmenthas ever bothered to pay heedto their demands. “After severalyears of no interest shown byany Government, former ChiefMinister Raghubar Das hadassured that he will speak to theCentre about our demands. Buthis Government was toppled

before he could take any ini-tiative regarding our issues,”Munda said.

Das had raised the demandof various tribal outfits for aseparate Sarna Code at theAssembly here. He had alsosaid on a number of occasionsthat his Government will pressfor a separate Sarna Code if heis voted to power again.However, the tripartite allianceof Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM), Congress party andRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)toppled his Government andDas could not even win fromhis seat, Jamshedpur East.

Sarna followers are natureworshippers, who do not con-sider themselves Hindus andhave been fighting for a sepa-rate religious identity in India.Lakhs of tribesmen who wereborn in Sarna-following fami-

lies got converted toChristianity over the past cen-tury after the advent of the mis-sionaries, claim tribal gurus.These tribesmen have alsobeen at loggerheads with theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) over being tagged asHindus by the saffron outfit.

A major tribal movementfor a separate religious identityhas been boiling in Jharkhandand neighbouring states for thepast couple of years. In 2014,thousands of Sarna followershanded over a memorandum tothen Union minister PChidambaram and demandedrecognition of Sarna as a sepa-rate religion. The crusadersback then had also staged aprotest at Jantar Mantar in NewDelhi, but their pleas wentunheeded. In 2015, about30,000 tribesmen held a nation-

wide campaign for the same. The Sarna followers fall in

the category of ‘other religiouspractices’ in the Census.According to the 2011 Census,tribals form 26.2 per cent of the

total population of 3.29 crore inJharkhand. Organisations cam-paigning for a Sarna Codeclaim that out of the total trib-

al population here, hardly 10per cent follow Christianity andthe remaining follow the SarnaDharm (religion).

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In a move to further improvethe security level at the rail-

way station, Tatanagar railwaymanagement is in the processof installing additional 22CCTV cameras. The addition-al surveillance cameras will beinstalled at the railway parking,newly set-up overbridge and atsome other points which areaway from the range of theexisting cameras.

According to authorities,there are in all 103 CCTV cam-eras installed well across theTatanagar station, 48 of theminstalled there since the year2014, aimed at reducing the

criminal incidents like pick-pocket, chain and mobilesnatching, luggage lifting andassault considerably.

Revealing about the move,railway protection force (RPF),inspector, Tatanagar, MK Sahoosaid that there are in all 103CCTV cameras at the premis-es of the Tatanagar station.

“ CCTVs play key role incontrolling the crime rate.Though the 103 surveillancecameras, including four PTZ(Pan-tilt-Zoom) cameras atvarious strategic locations, twosites, the railway parking andthe newly set up overbridge arenot being covered. This is thereason that we have recom-

mended for 22 additional cam-eras to be installed at theTatanagar station,” said Sahoo.

The RPF inspector point-ed out that there are half-a-dozen CCTV cameras alreadyinstalled at the railway parkingarea but those cameras belongto the parking contractor whohas installed them in view ofwarding off any quarrelbetween the parking staff andthe vehicle owners.

The RPF inspector saidthat the CCTV cameras areinstalled by the Signal andLight department of the railwayand the recommendations forthe additional 22 surveillancecameras were made after the

RPF which maintains the security aspects at the rail-way station carried out a metic-ulous survey.

“Tatanagar Railway author-ities are using CCTV camerasinstalled at the station premis-es to help crack down oncrime. The CCTV footagesrecently led railway police toarrest two chain-snatcherswhile they were trying tosnatch gold-chain from a ladypassenger. Thanks to a growingnetwork of security cameras,railway is using a new strategyto fight crime. No doubt thesecurity cameras give extraeyes on the system and add animportant layer to security

efforts. More such CCTV cam-eras must be installed at otherplaces places to curb crime,”said UK Srivastava, a seniorfunctionary of ChotanagpurPassengers Association.

Tatanagar railway station,located on the Howrah-Mumbai main line, witnesses45 pairs of express, mail andpassenger trains, serving asmany as 60,000 passengersdaily. Most of the long distanceand high profile trains includ-ing Bhubaneshwar-New DelhiRajdhani Express, Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express andPuri-New Delhi PurushottamSuperast Express usually haltin platform no. 2,3 4 and 5.

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Mahashivratri has grippedthe devotees with reli-

gious fervour, with peopleobserving fast and offeringprayers at different temples ofLord Shiva.

The chants of ‘Om NamahShivay’ have started reverber-ating in the city. Thousands ofdevotees will throng variousShiv temples and offer ‘belpatra’ and milk to the deity onFebruary 21.

Also known as Shivaratri,the festival celebrates the con-vergence of Shiva and Shakti onthe Krishna PakshaChaturdashi of Hindu calendarmonth Maagha. Womenobserve fast and offer prayersboth to Lord Shiva and Parvatito seek a blissful married life.

Among the many legendsassociated with Maha Shivratriare marriage of Shiva andShakti and Ganga’s descentfrom the heavens to the earth.Maha Shivratri also marks thenight when Lord Shiva per-formed the ‘Tandava” dance.

Devotees offer Bael or gold-en apple to Lord Shiva and

chant the sacred Panchaksharamantra dedicated to Lord OmNamah Shivaya on this day,which is celebrated across India.

According to the HinduMythology, Maha Shivratri isassociated with the marriage ofShiva and Parvati and isobserved on the 13th night/14th day of the Hindu month ofPhalguna or Maagh every year.

In temples, offerings ofBael leaves to Shiva are madealong with observing all-dayfasting and night-vigil withchants of “Om Namah Shivaya”.Some devotees perform specialrituals and penances to gainboons by the practice of Yogaand meditation to attain mok-sha or salvation.

Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary

has decided to make elaboratesafety arrangements thisShivratri. The 8 km route fromFadlugora to the Shiv temple ontop the hills, will be lighted up.The devotees started marchingtowards the temple fromThursday night.

All visitors will be friskedat both Fadlugora andMakulakocha. The devotees

will have to pass through metaldetectors. They will not beallowed to carry matchsticks,tyres, firearms and otherinflammable items.

Dalma range official saidtwo generator sets have beenrequisitioned to temporarilyinstall lights on the route.

Shivratri fetches revenuesfor Ranchi wildlife division,which looks after the Dalmareserve. Devotees are chargedRs 2 each for visiting the tem-ple. There are separate chargesfor vehicles.

Over 50,000 devotees,mostly from steel cityJamshedpur, Chandil,Ghatshila and surroundingareas, and villages dotting theNH-33, on the auspicious occa-sion participate in it. CFL bulbswill be used along the stretch.

Foresters and trackers (vil-lage youths who are roped inon a daily wage basis), withtorches in hands, will keepvigil at the entry points and alsothe temple.

“We will depute 40 track-ers on the Fadlugora route and 60 for Makulakocha,” aforester said.

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Afive-day annual sports event ‘Shaurya-2020’ organized by Vedanta-Electrosteel

Steels Limited was kicked-off at FriendshipSports venue at Hundru village underChandankiyari Block of Bokaro district onTuesday.

CEO SLVP Readdy inaugurated the eventwhich is scheduled to be concluded on 22February, informed Vivek Anand PRO ofVedanta-Electrosteel. “Shaurya-2020 includesseveral sports events includes 100 meter race,200-meter race, 400-meter race, relay race,marathon, walkathon, badminton, table tennis,high jump, long jump, shot put, carrom, javelin,tug of war and kabaddi,” added Vivek.

The inaugural ceremony started with thenational anthem and later colourful balloonswere released by the guests.

Speaking on the occasion Reddy describedthe event organised by the company as com-mendable. He said, by keeping ourselves fit, wecan only live happily.

Recently we have organsied T10 cricket tour-nament in which the employees of the compa-ny participated actively. Now I would like to urgethe participants of ‘Shaurya-2020’ to participatewith the same enthusiasm to win.

Jalaj Malpani, Chief Financial Officer of thecompany said that the game teaches us manythings. Every person has his own skill. Therefore,

the skill which is there must be attended. “Sportsdevelop team spirit which also teaches us man-agement skills,” added Malpani.

Besides others, Chief security officers of thecompany Sumit Burman, Kundan Karna,Sandeep Acharya, Laxman Rao and a large num-ber of officials and employees of the companywere present on the occasion.

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Finance Minister DrRameshwar Oraon inaugu-

rated Oasis Fertility here onTuesday in the presence ofnoted Gynaecologist DrShobha Chakraverty and othereminent guests.

Talking on the occasion ofthe launch of Oasis Fertility DrDurga G Rao, Co- Founder andMedical Director of OasisFertility stated, “One of themain reasons for starting aFertility Centre in Ranchi is justnot giving another option forthe infertile couple but to givean evidence based ethical trans-parent and protocol basedtreatments to the couple. We atOasis strongly follow the clin-ical protocols and algorithmcoupled with cutting edge, lat-est technology in treating thepatient thereby ensuring ahigher success rates”

Adding to this Dr Durga

also stressed on the fact aboutthe timing of decision to visita fertility centre is of utmostimportance. “Many couplesdelay the start of treatment, itis of utmost importance thatthe couple who have alreadycrossed 30 and have not con-ceived naturally after trying foryear, they need to take help ofAssisted ReproductiveTechnologies, the sooner thebetter for best clinical out-comes,” he added.

Dr Krishna Chaitanya –

Scientific Head and ClinicalEmbryologist of Oasis Fertilitysaid, “In India the generalnotion or myth is that infertil-ity clinics are meant only fortreating women, the entiremale infertility gamut is justignored. According to Journalof Reproductive Sciences “Malefactor” infertility is seen as analteration in sperm concentra-tion and/or motility and/ormorphology in at least onesample of two sperm analyzes,collected 1 and 4 weeks apart,

in India, nearly 50 per cent ofinfertility is related to thereproductive anomalies or dis-orders in the male. Hence it isimportant that the male infer-tility is evaluated completelywhen a couple come forwardfor fertility treatment.”

Dr Sarbjaya Singh —Clinical Head and FertilitySpecialist at Oasis Fertilitycommented, “Lifestyle changeshave gone from bad to worse,and include increasing age atmarriage, increasing number ofworking women who delaypregnancy, rising alcohol andtobacco consumption, seden-tary lifestyle coupled with fastfood consumption, and dis-turbing levels of obesity. Moreeducated women are more like-ly to postpone marriages andchildbirth. They are also likely to opt for smallerfamily size as they are busy withtheir careers and work com-mitments.”

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Observer AwarenessProgram on Behavioral

Based Security was organisedat the Human ResourceDevelopment Center of BSL onTuesday. General Manager-in-Charge (Security and FireServices) Anand Rautela waspresent as the guest of honor atthe programme. GeneralManager (Water Management)Apoorva Biswas was present asthe main speaker at the pro-gramme. Workers from variousdepartments of the plant par-ticipated in this program.

Initially, Manager (Security)AS Prasad welcomed the ChiefGuest and the participants.

Anand Rautela, while discussedon topic given a message toadopt the principles of behavior-based security to establish a bet-ter safety culture. In the first ses-sion of the program, the keynotespeaker Vishwas through a pre-sentation gave detailed infor-mation about the working ofBBS Observer to the partici-pants and how to fill theObserver Card. In the secondsession, Manager (Security)Rajesh Kumar told the partici-pants about the ways to fill theonline supervisor card. In thefinal session of the program,Rautela took feedback from theparticipants and made themaware of the importance ofbehavioral based safety.

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The ghost of the dead tigressstill haunts the Palamu

Tiger Reserve officials (PTR) inBetla. Secretary of the NatureConservation Society DSSrivastava, who by virtue of hisbeing secretary of the NGONature Conservation Society ison the panel of the JharkhandState Wild Life Board said, “Ifail to understand as to whatstopped chief wildlife wardenJharkhand PK Verma to comerushing in the National ParkBetla in the wake of this deathof the tigress.”

“It is Tuesday afternoonand the tigress was found lyingdead on the intervening night ofSaturday and Sunday as onSunday. The tigress was cre-mated after all post death pro-tocol observed in all serious-ness.” said Srivastava. Srivastavasaid, “The chief wild life wardenhas not come here, which goesto suggest that even the death ofa tigress has not caused any stirin the high echelon of the for-est environment & climatechange department in the State.”

Asked whether he was inthe directorate tiger projectDaltonganj today and whattranspired between the tigerproject field director and himto which he said, “Yes, I wasthere and I had a talk with thefield director YK Das andwhen I raised this issue as towhat made chief wild life war-den not inspecting the placeand getting abreast of the entiredetails related from the firstsighting of the tigress gonedead to its cremation to whichDas told me that he (Das) ishere as his representative.”

Ranger Betla Prem Prasadhas categorically said that thetigress died due to the fight shehad with the bison as she wasaged more than 16 years andher teeth power was also ingreat decay. Sources said thePTR officials must come outwith every bit of the pre death,death and post death situationsof the tigress to stem more suchwhispers.

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Jharkhand’s first ChiefMinister Babulal Marandi,

who joined the BJP at a func-tion attended by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah and othersenior State BJP leaders onTuesday reached the BJP officeafter 14 years. The BJP and erst-while Jharkhand Vikas Morcha(JVM) workers gave a rousingwelcome to Marandi. SeniorBJP leaders, including party

State general secretary, DeepakPrakash, former State presidentRavindra Rai, BJP spokespersonPratul Shahdeo, State secre-tary Subodh Singh Guddu andothers were at party office towelcome Marandi.

Marandi, who headedJharkhand Vikas Morcha tillthe merger of party with BJP onMonday, reached the partyoffice at 12.30 noon.

As his white colouredVolvo car reached BJP officethe BJP and JVM supportersraised slogans in support ofMarandi and BJP. Maranditalking to media persons said,“I was to go to Giridih to meetpeople of my constituency.But, I decided to visit BJP

office so as to meet old friendsin the party.”

Marandi also shared hisexperience in BJP when he wasin Saffron party 14 years back.Marandi on the occasion onceagain reiterated his commit-ment to strengthen the party atgrass root level assuring that hisdoor will be open for workers.

He said, “If I am in RanchiI will definitely visit partyoffice and will be available toparty workers.” The formerchief minister said that when heleft BJP in 2006 the party officewas functioning from smalleroffice, but now the BJP officeis much bigger.

Interestingly, the partyoffice in which Marandi reached

after 14 years, the foundationstone of the office of laid byMarandi. He also had lunchwith party leaders in officebefore leaving for Giridih.

Marandi, an affable, suaveand soft in nature politician hasbeen a loyalist of RSS and dueto his closeness with RSS theBJP since 2006 was working tobring back Marandi to BJP fold.

Sources said Marandi islikely to get Leader ofOpposition post in Assembly. Atthe time when three senior BJPState leaders including outingChief Minister Raghubar Das,former Speaker Dinesh Oroanand State BJP president LaxmanGilua losing the election, therewas speculation that either

Chandreshwar Prasad Singh(CP Singh) or Neelkanth SinghMunda having vast experiencein party and House could bemade as Leader of Opposition(LoP), but during the three daylong special session ofJharkhand Assembly the LoPchair remained vacant.

Marandi likely to get leaderof opposition post also gainimportance as on Monday,Union Home Minister AmitShah also indicated thatMarandi along with two otherformer Chief MinistersRaghubar Das and ArjunMunda will lead the party inState. Also, BJP national pres-ident JP Nadda on Tuesdayappointed Muralidhar Rao BJP

national general-secretary wasappointed as observer forappointment of BJP leader ofOpposition in House.

Marandi is a former RSSleader who resigned from hisjob as a teacher to work for theorganisation. In 2000, hebecame the first chief ministerof newly created state ofJharkhand. But, he had toresign in 2003 and ArjunMunda became the chief min-ister. In 2006, Marandi formedhis own party and since then hehas been trying to find a basein the State. In 2009, his partywon eleven Assembly seats,which were reduced to eight in2014. In 2019, his party man-aged to win only three seats.

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Judicial works were disruptedin Jharkhand on Monday as

lawyers across the Stateabstained from attending courtsto register their protest againstthe alleged attack on the presi-dent of District Bar Association,Daltonganj district by a seniorjudge of the local court.

Due to lawyers’ strike,work at district courts andHigh Court was stuck aslawyers abstained from attend-ing courts. The strike call wasgiven by State Bar Councilafter the alleged assault ofSatyendra Nath Tiwari ‘Nehru’president of Daltonganj BarAssociation by DaltonganjDistrict Session Judge PankajKumar surfaced. The lawyershad called the strike as inci-dents of assault on lawyershave gone up in Court in past

few months.Notably, following the inci-

dent the Jharkhand State BarCouncil (JSBC) had onMonday called an emergencymeeting and condemned theattack in premises.

The Jharkhand State BarCouncil to probe the incidenthas constituted four membercommittee comprising AbdulKalam Rashidi, Hemant KumarShikarwar, Kundan Prakashanand Rinku Bagat to Daltonganjto inquire into the matter andsubmit a report. The commit-tee on Tuesday visitedDaltonganj and enquired aboutthe incident. Hemant KumarShikarwar talking said, “Thecommittee members visitedthe incident site and came toknow that such incidents hadhappened. The committeemembers also talked toDaltonganj Bar Council mem-

bers and both the parties Satyendra Nath Tiwariand district and session judgePankaj Kumar.”

Shikarwar said, “The com-mittee will submit the confi-dential report to JharkhandState Bar Council.” The com-

mittee members also talked tosome eyewitness in the incident.

Meanwhile, the lawyershave also demanded safety andsecurity as lawyers have beenreceiving threat regularly. Onlast Thursday a bomb explo-sion took place at a Lucknow

court. The explosion took placein the Lucknow collectorate inHazratganj, near the districtmagistrate’s office and barely akilometre from the UttarPradesh Vidhan Sabha. Oneperson has been seriouslyinjured while two others havereceived minor injuries.

Meanwhile, the RegistrarGeneral of Jharkhand HighCourt had asked registrar (estab-lishment) of High Court to con-duct an enquiry on the incident.

However, the clients faceddifficulties due to strike call oflawyers. Manoj Kumar, who ishaving a land dispute case onTuesday, reached JharkhandHigh Court from Chatra but asno work was done he had toreturn. Manoj said, “I wasunaware about lawyers’ strike.Had my lawyers would hadinform me prior I would havesaved my time and money.”

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The scene outside Ranchi’sHaj House has been remi-

niscent of New Delhi’s ShaheenBagh since January 19 — theday when a few hundredwomen of the Muslim commu-nity decided to stage a protesthere against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA).

Cut to February 18, exact-ly a month since the protestbegan, the place has a hugecanopy that provides shade tothe protesting women, akitchen where meals are pre-pared, and a dedicated office where the organisers ofthe protest answer queries ofmediapersons.

The strength of protestorshere has grown manifold in thepast one month. Right fromyoung children, to school going

women and middle-agedhomemakers to college stu-dents — women from differentage brackets and walks of lifehave garnered the courage andmotivation to become a part of

the protests and aggressivelycampaign against the CAA.

Ghazala, a 60-year-oldwoman who has been a part ofthe protest since day 1, said thatthe protest is unlikely to mel-

low down. “Most of the womenhere do not even know how toread and write. How does theGovernment expect that theywould get documents to provetheir nationality? We are

spreading awareness amongthese women about their con-stitutional rights, and I am surethat they are determined tofight for a better country,” shesaid.

Ladle Khan, a member ofthe Islamia Committee andone of the organisers of theprotest, said that the protest hasgrown immensely in the pastone month. “A few hundredwomen started the protest.And today, thousands ofwomen from across Jharkhandare supporting them,” he said.“The Government has to with-draw the unconstitutionalCAA, only then will this protestend,” he added.

Ranchi has witnessed sev-eral peaceful protests againstCAA and NRC since the resultsof the 2019 Assembly electionswere out. Several members ofthe Muslim community andstudent organisations took outprotest rallies on MahatmaGandhi Road in the first weekof January and raised concern

over the implementation ofthe controversial law. Tocounter the impact of theprotests and spread awarenessabout NRC and CAA, BJPlaunched a statewide campaignhere last month. As a part of thecampaign, BJP leaders are vis-iting different parts of the Stateand clearing the misconcep-tions about the laws. OnJanuary 13, the BJP took outrallies across the State and alsoformed a human chain infavour of the NRC and CAA.

The Rajya Sabha gave itsnod to the CAA on December11. The CAA intends to allowIndian citizenship to Hindus,Christians, Sikhs, Parsis andBuddhists from Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistanassuming religious persecu-tion to be a reason for theirmigration to India. The oppo-sition parties, however, are see-ing the CAA and the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) asa conspiracy to marginalisethe Muslim community.

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On the auspicious occasionof Maha Shivratri on

February 21, Shri Shri ShivBarat Aayojan Samiti in col-laboration with RR SportingClub will be organising grandcelebration in the State capital.

The Samiti has been organ-ising the festivities for the past15 years in the City. The ShivBarat procession will beginfrom the Radha Krishna tem-ple at around 1 pm and covermajor locations of the City likePahari Mandir, Albert EkkaChowk Gandhi Chowk andreach the premises of RR

Sporting Club.At the front of the proces-

sion, Lord Shiva will be seenatop his vehicle ‘Nandi’ atabout 30 feet above the ground.The procession will also havesix life size tableaux each por-traying a different story. Whileone will present Krishna-Radha raasleela another will tellthe tale Lord Krishna’s vira-troop. One of the tableaus willalso showcase the TandavaNritya of Lord Shiva.

“The major attraction ofthe festivities will be the wed-ding ceremony of Shiv andParvati which will take place atabout 40 feet above the ground

along with an amazing displayof fireworks,” said the SecretaryShailendra Singh whileaddressing a press conference.

Craftsmen from Delhi,West Bengal and Ranchi havebeen engaged in decorating the tableaux for themega celebrations.

The committee has alsoorganised prasad after the cer-emony concludes.

The president of the com-mittee Jagdish Bajaj, treasurerSujit Singh were also present on the occasion alongwith Vick Yadav, Rahul Yadavfrom RR Sporting Club andother members.

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The expansion plan of BirsaMunda Airport in Ranchi

over a 301 acre Governmentland is likely to be tabled in theCabinet soon, airport officialssaid on Thursday. The largestairport in Jharkhand is likely toextend its runway, increase thelength of basic strip and con-struct an isolation bay on theextra land that will be allottedto the Airport Authority ofIndia (AAI) once the Cabinetgives its nod to the expansionplans, they added.

Airport Director VinodSharma on Thursday said thatthe Birsa Munda Airport atpresent has a 75 meter basicstrip, which is the minimumlength required for any airport.The length of the basic strip, hesaid, will be increased to 140meters once the expansionplan is approved. “The draft hasbeen prepared and we are wait-ing for the Cabinet’s approval.Things will start taking shapeonly after the Cabinet takes itsdecision,” Sharma said.

He added that there were afew mandatory parameters,which the airport needs to ful-fill. One of the parameters, hesaid, was a secluded isolation bay.

In case there is a threat of bombbeing planted in a flight, it istaken to the isolation bay, whichhas to be away from the rest ofthe bays for safety reasons. “Rightnow, we do have an isolation bay,but it is not at a secluded area,”said the Airport Director.

The Airport AdvisoryCommittee (AAC) recentlydecided to use funds fromCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR) treasury of the airport torehabilitate the villagers, whohad lost land due to construc-tion and expansion of the air-port and beautify the villagessurrounding the airport.

The Birsa Munda Airportis fast growing in terms of con-nectivity with other cities. Thelargest airport in Jharkhandalready has 30 flights connect-

ing Ranchi to important citieslike New Delhi, Mumbai,Kolkata, Bangalore andHyderabad. The airport alsohas an international bay, but isyet to get any internationalflights. The increasing passen-ger traffic in Ranchi demandsfor better facilities and theAAI is consistently working onfinding new ways to enhancethe travel experience of pas-sengers, said airport officials.

Meanwhile, the airportauthorities here have also float-ed tenders for restaurants andbar in the airport premises.Besides, several shops andshowrooms have come up in theairport terminals in order toprovide entertainment, refresh-ment and quality shoppingexperience to passengers here.

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Garhwa SDO PradeepKumar alongwith a team

of food, safety officials andpolice personnel seized 64 bun-dles of fake chips laden pickuptruck on Tuesday. Officialsalso arrested to the driver inconnection.

According to food safetyofficer Raja Kumar, DurgeshKumar Ram, of Ramanujganj(Chhattisgarh), who came todeliver the fake chips, wasarrested by the police.Receiving a tip-off that fakechips was arriving on a pickuptruck at the godown of oneSanjay Prasad Gupta atSonpurva mohalla of the townon trademark violation, thepolice recovered 64 bags thatreached from Ambikapur(Chhattisgarh).

Seeing the police, theowner of the godown SanjayPrasad Gupta, fled away afterlocking the godown.

The officers said that the

arrested stated that he wasonly a driver. He disclosedthat he brings duplicate chipsfrom the factory located nearSai College in Ambikapur city,

whom one Manuj Nagwaniwas operated. Police seized thevehicle laden with fake chips.Food safety officer preparingseizure list to lodged FIR.

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Bokaro will soon join with apan-India network of single

emergency helpline number‘112’ on which immediate assistance can be sought byanyone in distress, said PMurugan SP Bokaro.

“We are at work and hopeservice would be started in the first week of March,”added the SP.

On the directive of PoliceHeadquarter Ranchi, a trainingsession related with ‘dial-112’was organised on Monday at SPoffice auditorium. The CDSCexperts from Ranchi SandeepKumar, Sanjeev and VikashKumar imparted training toKoyalanchal region’s policeofficials, he said.

The ‘dial-112’ the helplineis an integration of police (100),fire (101) and women (1090)helpline numbers and the pro-ject is being implementedunder the CentralGovernment’s Nirbhaya Fund.The single number for emer-gency services is similar to ‘911’in the United States, informedan official.

Besides dialing 112, onecan access services also throughSMS, email as well as throughthe website too. Its’ applicationis also available at Google PlayStore which is technically verysound and would also be con-nected with police PCR vansfor immediate help, he said.

The Emergency ResponseSupport System (ERSS) envis-ages a single pan-India emer-gency number ‘112’, which is aninternationally recognisednumber, to target all types ofemergencies.

A panic button is alreadyprovided on all mobile phones,which on activation will triggeran emergency call to ‘112’. TheEmergency Response Centre(ERCs), being set up by theStates and UTs, can receivepanic signal via voice call to‘112’, email requests on stateERSS website or the ‘112’mobile application, said theofficial.

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The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs has

launched a survey ‘Ease ofLiving 2019’ to assess theprogress of various cities acrossthe country which will empow-er them to further plan, imple-ment and monitor their per-formance.

Officials of the UrbanDevelopment and HousingDepartment, Ranchi MunicipalCorporation (RMC) andRanchi Smart City CorporationLimited (RSCCL) are urgingthe residents of Ranchi toactively participate in the same.

The Central Governmentis conducting this analysisacross 114 cities in India from February 1 toFebruary 29.

About 100 of these citiesare the ones where develop-ment work is being done underthe smart city project while theremaining 14 are under theAMRUT scheme-Atal Missionfor Rejuvenation and UrbanTransformation.

The Government will alsoreview how schemes likePradhan Mantri Awas Yojna,Deen Dayal UpadhyayaAntyodaya Yojana and SwachhBharat Mission are benefittingthe society.

The survey will help theGovernment in assessing whichcity has a conducive environ-ment for the citizens, avail-ability of basic amenities andstructural development.

The set of 24 questions inthe survey are related to infra-structure, economic and socialdevelopment.

Officials of RMC andRSCCL are urging to people ofRanchi to participate in the sur-vey through social media posts,banners, posters, publicannouncement systems, SMSand sign boards.

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With the sun graduallymoving towards the

Equator from the Tropic ofCapricorn, a slight change inthe weather is being experi-enced across Jharkhand. Asthe sun will shift closer to theEquator, the southern parts ofthe State will become warmer.This movement of the sun iswhat regulates the temperaturewhich will now continue to rise.

As per the MeteorologicalCentre Ranchi, for the nextthree days, the weather will con-tinue to remain clear. However,the last week of February isexpected to bring some rainfallat isolates places in the State.

On February 19 andFebruary 20 there will be dryweather across Jharkhand whilea slight change in the weatherwill be observed from theevening of February 20. OnFebruary 21, isolated places innorth west parts of Jharkhandwill have light to moderaterainfall. From February 22 toFebruary 24 isolates places innorthern and central parts ofthe State are likely to receivesome showers.

“These showers are theeffect of an induced westerndisturbance which is present in

the upper levels of the tropos-phere. There is also a conver-gence of the south westerlywinds with the westerly andnorth westerly winds in thelower troposphere. The westerndisturbance and the wind con-vergence together will be thecause of the light showers andthe cloudy weather,” saidDeputy Director, MET CentreRanchi, Abhishek Anand.

This weather is likely to beclear from February 25 onwards.The minimum temperature isexpected to rise from February20 onwards and could bearound 15 to 16 degree Celsius.

“Till the western distur-bance system is present, theminimum temperature will beconstant around 15 to 16 degreeCelsius. Once the system clearsaway on February 25, the min-imum temperature will againdrop but there are no chancesof it falling below 10 degreeCelsius,” added the official.

According to the METCentre, Ranchi from February119 to February 22, the mini-mum temperature in the Statecapital and its surroundingareas will be between 12 to 15degree Celsius. The maximumtemperature around the regioncould be around 28 to 30degree Celsius.

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Despite flood in 15 Statesand loss of crops due to

locust attack in Rajasthan,Punjab and Gujarat, recordoutput in rice and wheat is like-ly, pushing up the foodgrainsproduction in the country to anall-time high of around 291.95million tonnes (MT) in the cur-rent year.

According to the secondadvance estimates of food-grains production released bythe Agriculture Ministry onTuesday, the output projectedfor 2019-20 is 6.7 MT higherthan the 2018-19 final esti-mates of 285.21 MT.

The rice output during thesame period is expected to be117.47 MT (against 116.48 MTin 2018), while wheat is slatedto hit a best-ever 106.21 MT(103.60 MT).

Wheat is the main rabi(winter) crop, harvesting ofwhich will begin fromnext month.However, the pro-duction during2019-20 is higherby 26.20 milliontonnes than the previous

five years’ (2013-14 to 2017-18)average production of food-grain.

As per estimates, thecumulative rainfall in the coun-try during the monsoon season(June to September, 2019) hasbeen 10 per cent higher thanLong Period Average (LPA).“Accordingly, the production ofmost of the crops for the agri-cultural year 2019-20 has beenestimated higher than theirnormal production. These esti-mates are subject to revision onaccount of more precise infor-mation flowing over the time,”officials of the AgricultureMinistry said.

Total production of riceduring 2019-20 is estimated atrecord 117.47 million tonnes.

It is higher by 9.67 milliontonnes than the five years’average production of 107.80million tonnes. Production ofwheat during 2019-20 is esti-mated at record 106.21 million

tonnes. It is higher by2.61 million tonnes ascompared to wheat

production during2018-19 and ishigher by 11.60million tonnes

than the average wheat pro-duction of 94.61 milliontonnes.

Total Pulses productionduring 2019-20 is estimated at23.02 million tonnes which ishigher by 2.76 million tonnesthan the five years’ average pro-duction of 20.26 milliontonnes. Production ofnutri/coarse cereals estimatedat 45.24 million tonnes, whichis higher by 2.18 million tonnesthan the production of 43.06million tonnes achieved during2018-19. Further, it is alsohigher by 2.16 million tonnesthan the average production.Total production of Sugarcanein the country during 2019-20is estimated at 353.85 milliontonnes. The production of sug-arcane during 2019-20 is high-er by 4.07 million tonnes thanthe average sugarcane produc-tion of 349.78 million tonnes.

Production of cotton isestimated at 34.89 million bales(of 170 kg each) is higher by6.85 million bales than theproduction of 28.04 millionbales during 2018-19.Production of jute and mesta isestimated at 9.81 million bales(of 180 kg each).

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The All India Council forTechnical Education

(AICTE) — the technical andmanagement education regu-lator — on Tuesday said theGovernment or private univer-sities will no longer be able tooffer both PGDM and MBAcourses simultaneously and willhave to choose either of the two.

The AICTE, under the HRDMinistry, said Post GraduateDiploma in Management(PGDM) courses can be run bystandalone institutions, whichare neither universities nor affil-iated to any university, similar tothe Indian Institutes ofManagement (IIMs).

“Over a period of time,deemed to be universities have

added PGDM course under thebanner of ‘ManagementProgramme’ in contraventionof norms. According to theAICTE Regulations, 2020, con-ducting PGDM and MBAcourses in the same institutionis not permissible,” a seniorAICTE official said.

“Central, State and privateuniversities and institutionsdeemed to be universities,which are running PGDM andMBA courses under the bannerof management programme,are requested to convert allcourses into MBA completelyand comply with the AICTEnorms,” he added.

According to the regula-tions, institutions affiliated touniversities have the option ofeither converting all PGDMcourses into corresponding

MBA courses with respectiveuniversity affiliation or vice-versa and run those under aseparate standalone institute.The new Government rule isaimed at protecting students

from misleading claims. There are a total of 3,000

institutes offering MBA pro-grammes through universities,or deemed to universities orautonomous institutions and a

total of about 350 of them areoffering PGDM course withmost of them having a com-bined offer for both the cours-es simultaneously.

“Conducting PGDM andMBA courses in the same insti-tution is not permissible… cen-tral/state/private universitiesand institutions deemed to beuniversities which are runningPGDM programme concur-rently with MBA under thebanner of management pro-gramme are requested to con-vert PGDM courses as MBAcompletely and comply with theAICTE norms forthwith,” saysthe AICTE circular following aCouncil meet last week.

“An institute cannot runboth PGDM & MBA pro-grammes simultaneously,” thecircular added. As senior

AICTE officials said the moveis also aimed at eliminating theconfusion caused by institutesrunning Master’s as well asdiploma programmes.

According to AICTE chair-man Anil Sahasrabuddhe, theinstitutes offering a good MBAwould at times also introduce adiploma course in managementand that the diploma course wasoften inferior in quality.

“In that case studentswould sign up under theimpression that an instituteoffering a good MBA coursewould excel at PGDM as well.A lot of confusion was causedby institutes running both pro-grammes simultaneously andthus we are now doing a coursecorrection which benefits theBusiness programmes,”Sahasrabuddhe added.

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In a fresh bid to push the elec-toral reforms pending with

the Centre, the ElectionCommission (EC) on Tuesdaymet the Legislative Departmentof Ministry of Law and Justiceofficials.

In a meeting withLegislative Secretary G NarayanRaju, Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora andElection Commissioners AshokLavasa and Sushil Chandradiscussed the pending issues,including were linking voter IDwith Aadhaar, allowing multi-ple registration windows to anew voter and ensuring genderneutral rights for ‘service voter’,paid news and false affidavit aselectoral offence/corrupt prac-tice; print media and socialmedia intermediaries to becovered under Section 126 ofthe RP Act 1951. As many asover 40 recommendations forelectoral reforms are pendingwith the Centre.

Sources said linking voterID with Aadhaar to weed outduplications and misrepresen-tations from the electoral rolls.Aadhaar linkage and voterauthentication are also con-sidered critical to the com-mission’s plans to work towardselectronic, internet-based vot-ing and for giving ‘remote’ vot-ing rights to domestic migrantworkers.

Earlier, in a letter to the LawMinistry, the Commission hadrecently proposed that provi-sions of the Representation ofthe People Act be amended toallow EC seek Aadhaar num-bers of those applying to be vot-ers and those who are alreadypart of the electoral rolls,sources in the poll panelexplained. Accepting the pro-posal to give it legal backing tocollect Aadhaar data, the LawMinistry is learnt to have askedthe poll panel to ensure that thedata is protected at multiple lev-els. The EC recently listed outsteps to protect the data frompossible leaks.

After the meeting, CECSunil Arora Arora mentionedthat there are more than 40 dif-ferent proposals of electoralreforms which are pending since

long and Commission is at pre-sent discussing some of theseproposals. “Commission wouldlike to have such meetings withLegislative Department at regu-lar intervals to pursue all suchpending proposals” he said.According to EC, the LegislativeSecretary assured that the min-istry is already examining theseproposals.

According to EC, anotherpending issue is to amendRepresentation of the PeopleAct (RPA), 1951.In discussionsheld until December 2019, theEC had assured that privacyand data safety-related con-cerns will be addressed. It isnow waiting for the govern-ment to move the amendmentto the Cabinet for approval.

One of these is a proposedamendment to Section 14(b) ofthe RPA, 1951, which looks atregistration for first-time vot-ers as they turn 18 years of age.Currently, only those who turn18 by January 1of that year areregistered as voters.

EC had recommended, wayback in 2013, that to ensure thatno 18-year-old is denied votingrights, registration should bepermitted any day of the year.The law ministry had then sug-gested only two dates: January1and July 1. The poll panel isexpected to seek multiple reg-istration dates now.

Another recommendationinvolves amendments toSection 20(6) of the Act toallow the husband of a femaleofficer to be registered as a ser-vice voter where she holdsoffice. The EC has also askedthe Government to makebribery during poll period acognisable offence.

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Get ready for a severe sum-mer this year, indication of

which is already being seen inMumbai which on Tuesdayrecorded 39 degree Celsiustemperature, the third highestin February since 1966.

In February 1966, Mumbairecorded 39.6 degree C and in2012 it was 39.1 degree Celsius.In 2017 and 2015, the highesttemperature was 38.8 degreeCelsius in the commercial cap-ital of India.

As the temperature startedincreasing in coastal areasacross the country, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) on Tuesday issued anadvisory on heatwave, sug-gesting dos and don’ts.Heatwave is considered whenmaximum temperature of a sta-tion is 40 degree Celsius ormore for plains and 30 degree

Celsius or less for Hilly regions. According to IMD, maxi-

mum temperature in Mumbai isexpected around 38 or 39 degreeCelsius in the next two days.

Besides, Palakkad toppedthe temperature charts inKerala with a maximum of 37.1degrees Celsius in February.Kerala, once known for itsmoderate and comfortable cli-mate where people never hadto bother about the extremeweather conditions occurringin other parts of the country, isnow bearing the brunt of cli-mate change.

This temperature rise is inline with a trend emerging overthe last few years when thesouth-western-most State, andthe gateway of the monsoon,heats up well before others andeven setting up heatwaves.February has already seen max-imum temperatures going wellpast the 30 degrees Celsius mark

at many places in coastal areas.According to Dr Kuldeep

Srivastava, scientist of IMD, afresh Western Disturbanceexpected in the hills aroundFebruary 19 due to which there

may be clouding in Delhi forthe next three days. Due to this,temperature in Hilly areas andplain are expected to lower fortwo-three days. This will alsolead to rainfalls in isolatedplaces in Jammu & Kashmir,Uttrakhand, Eastern UP,Eastern Chhattisgarh, Bihar,Arunachal Pradesh, HimachalPradesh and Punjab is expect-ed to get rainfalls fromFebruary 20-22. The wind isalso going to change during thisperiod from cool northwester-ly to warm southwesterly.”Attimes one does feel the heat asthe day temperature during thisperiod tends to rise by 2-4degrees Celsius due to warmsouthwesterly winds takingover cool Northwesterly winds.It usually happens when aCyclonic Circulation forms inthe hot and dry Rajasthanregion,” Srivastava added.

As per the advisory issued

by the IMD, heat wave occursmostly over an interior plainarea when dry and warmer airis transported in a region withclear skies and hence maxi-mum isolation during the sum-mer season.

“Heatwave impacts ruraland urban areas, natural habi-tats like forests, water resources,poultry and a range of sectorslike agriculture, health, poweretc, Though there is no uni-versally acceptable or uniformdefinition for a heatwave, theyare understood to be periods ofabnormally high temperatures,more than the normal maxi-mum temperature that occursduring the pre-monsoon (Aprilto June) summer season. InIndia heatwaves typically occurbetween March to June, and insome rare cases even extend tillJuly. Heatwaves are more fre-quent over the Indo-Gangeticplains of India,” the IMD said.

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Another batch of about 100people, who were among the

over 400 quarantined at an IndoTibetan Border Police (ITBP)facility in Delhi after being evac-uated earlier this month fromcoronavirus-hit Wuhan, were dis-charged on Tuesday.

This comes a day after a batchof about 200 people were dis-charged from the ITBP facility,which housed a total of 406 peo-ple, including seven Maldivians.

So far, 302 people out of total406, have left the ITBP centre afterbeing declared free of novel coro-na virus by the doctors.

The rest of the inmates will bereleased by Wednesday morning,ITBP spokesperson Vivek KumarPandey said. All those who weredischarged have been providedwith conveyance till airport, rail-way stations, or bus stands.

Among those who will leavethe facility on Wednesday includea few families. All released personswere advised to remain self iso-lated for the next 14 days at theirrespective places, Pandey said.

They were also advised the dosand don’ts during the period. Ateam of doctors and other staff aretaking care of the smooth depar-ture of the remaining people with

due procedures and protocols.A total of 650 people were

brought back from Wuhan inChina on February 1 and 2 in two747 Boeing Air India aircraft afterthe outbreak of the novel coron-avirus in China. While 406 of thesewere sent to the ITBP facility, therest were quarantined at an Armycentre in Haryana’s Manesar.

Meanwhile, ChineseAmbassador Sun Weidong onTuesday asserted that China hasput in place multi-level control andprevention mechanisms and willwin the battle against coronavirus.

He added that the outbreakhas not been able to impact thestrong fundamentals of China’sstrong economy.

The envoy said China hasallocated RMB 80 billion to con-tain the disease and the

Government has sufficientresources and policy tools to copewith economic fluctuations fol-lowing the epidemic. At the sametime, he said that virus is a “bor-derless and a common threat toeveryone in the world” and jointefforts are required to combat it.

The envoy also appreciatedIndia for extending solidarity andexpressing readiness to assistChina to deal with the epidemic,but stressed that there should notbe any restrictions on trade andmovement of people between thetwo neighbours.

He said the number of con-firmed coronavirus cases outsideHubei province, the epicentre ofthe epidemic, is coming down.

“China has full confidencethat it will win the battle againstcoronavirus epidemic,” he toldreporters.

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Accusing the BJP Government in Gujaratof trying to “hide poverty” by con-

structing a wall in Ahmedabad ahead of USPresident Donald Trump’s visit there laterthis month, the Congress on Tuesdaycharged the Government with hiding data,including that of “lowest” consumption lev-els in 40 years, and asked it to make it pub-lic in order to find solutions to problemsplaguing the economy.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabhsaid playing ‘hide and seek’ has become thefavourite game of the BJP Government asit is concealing data pertaining to GDPnumbers, inflation, unemployment and“now lowest ever consumption”.

“Favourite game of the BJPGovernment is hide and seek. Hide farmersuicide statistics. Hide unemployment fig-ures. Hide the truth of demonetisation.Hide real GDP figures. Hide povertybehind the ‘wall’. And now hide the low-est consumption in 40 years,” he said,adding the Government has “launched awar” against all sections of society, includ-ing women, students and farmers.

Vallabh alleged that 16 out of 23 sec-tors in manufacturing are in poor condi-tion, but the Government continues to bein a denial mode. “We ask the Governmentthat data should not be hidden, but madepublic so it can be discussed as India iscapable of battling all odds,” he said.

“Those talking about the Gujarat

model are now building walls to hide thepoverty there. If a disease is to be treated,you have to accept that it is there in the firstplace. But BJP does not accept its failures,”he said while taking a dig at the BJPGovernment over reports of constructionof a wall in Ahmedabad to allegedly hidea slum in Ahmedabad.

The Congress leader said the countryhas had the lowest growth in last nine yearsand this will definitely reduce savings aswell, because inflation is 7.95 per cent.“BJP’s favourite rating agency Moody’s hasprojected India’s growth estimate for 2020to be 5.4 per cent, against the Government’sclaim of showing 6 to 6.5 per cent growthin the year,” he said.

Vallabh said poverty increases whenconsumption is low and claimed thatUNDP data for 2005-2015 shows that dur-ing this period the highest eradication ofpoverty (271 million people) has takenplace in the country and the credit for thisgoes to MNREGA.

AICC chief spokesman RandeepSurjewala said country live in times whereGDP is measured in tons, Citizen rights involts, Nationalism in decibels, Poverty inheight and length of the wall. “This is BJP’s‘New India’!,” Surjewala said on Twitter.

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Once the hideout of notori-ous wildlife smuggler

Veerappan and seen as animportant tiger corridor, theMale Mahadeshwara (MM)Hills Wildlife Sanctuary inKarnataka’s Chamarajanagaradistrict is all set to become theofficial home of the royal bigcats. The National TigerConservation Authority(NTCA) has given in-principlenod for upgrading the sanctu-ary to the tiger reserve.

The State Government hasalready given approval for itsupgradation and now it willhave to notify the area to makethe region inviolate for theendangered big cats.

As the adjoining tiger habi-tats — Biligiri RangaswamyTemple (BRT) in Karnatakaand Sathyamangalam TigerReserve (STR) in Tamil Nadu

has been acting as an effectivesource sink landscape, increas-ing the density of big cats andtheir prey in MM Hills, whichitself has a resident tigers, theNTCA approval plugs thepatch and forms a contiguouslandscape of 3,000 sq km ofwildlife habitat.

In addition to connectingBRT, through the Edyaralli-Doddasampige elephant corri-dor, MM Hills also spread over906 sq km area connects theBannerghatta National Park.

This is one of the largestlandscapes in the country forthe conservation of tigers, ele-phants and other large andwide-ranging mammalianspecies. The movewill go a longway in ensur-ing protec-tion to theendangeredspecies.

MM Hills will be the sixthtiger reserve in the state andthe 51st in the country.

“Based onthe confluenceof the Eastern

and Westernghats, the

sanctuary is con-tiguous with bothBRT Tiger Reserve

on the western sideand Satyamangalam

Reserve in Tamil

Nadu on the southern side. Asper the All India TigerEstimation, 2018, this area isspread over 907 sqkm and has15 tigers,” said a senior NTCAofficial.

He said that in-principleapproval has been given, Nowthe State Government will haveto notify the area that will makeit official home of the big cats.

Although the number ofspecies present may be lesscompared to Bandipur or

Nagarhole, it is extremelydiverse. Biologically, it is animportant repository for thefuture, what with the herbivo-rous population increasing.There is scope for the expan-sion of tiger population, addedforest officials. Besides beinghome to tigers, leopards, slothbears and elephants, the sanc-tuary also has dholes,antelopes, grizzled giant squir-rels and honey badgers.

As per the recent tigercensus, Karnataka has 524 bigcats. Declaring the MM Hillsas tiger reserve will ensureyoung big cats to have theirnew territory.

However, the Governmenthas tough task ahead given thatthere are about 49 forest villagesand 94 revenue villages on theperipheries of the sanctuarywhich will have to be relocat-ed by the officials to make thearea inviolate for the big cats.

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Coming to the rescue ofendangered birds — the

great Indian bustard and thelesser florican, which are dyingin large numbers due to colli-sions with high-voltage powerlines, the Supreme Court onTuesday asked the RajasthanGovernment to consider layingunderground cables.

The top court said they arelarge birds and it is difficult forthem to maneuver due to thehigh-tension power lines whichobstruct their flight paths.

The Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests(MoEF) shared the concern ofthe court and said there is noother option but to lay powercables underground to protectthe great Indian bustard (GIB)and lesser florican (LF).

A Bench of Chief JusticeSA Bobde and Justices BRGavai and Surya Kant askedsenior advocate ManishSinghvi, appearing for theRajasthan Government, to takeinstructions from the compe-tent authority for laying ofcables underground.

“It appears that one of thedangers is the presence ofpower lines, which obstruct theflight path of the of GIB. It iswell known that the GIB is alarger bird and it is difficult forit to maneuver easily in itsflight. One of the solutionssuggested to avoidany collision inits flight pathis that theover-headwires be laiddown underground”.

It asked Singhvi to take

instructions within two weeksand apprise the court about themanner in which the powerlines could be laid down under-ground.

At the outset, the top courtsaid the State Government canlook into modifying the con-tract of private companies forlaying down the cables under-ground.

“This is a larger bird whichfly in a particular direction. Toavoid power lines coming inthe direction of flight path ofthe bird, it would be appropri-ate if they are laid down under-ground. Necessary changes canbe made in the contract withthe private companies for lay-ing down underground cables,”the bench said.

With regard to LF, the topcourt said it is not disputed thatthe bird is also endangered anddisturbed largely by the powergeneration plants.

The top court said if theRajasthan Government facesany problem, then the courtcan pass necessary directions.

Additional SolicitorGeneral ANS Nadkarni,appearing for MoEF said ateam of the ministry and otherwildlife experts have visitedJaisalmer in Rajasthan and it is

evident from their findingsthat underground cable is the

only solution.Advocates Sugandha

Yadav, Shatadru Chakrabortyand Sonia Dube, appearingfor Petitioner MK Ranjitsinh

— a retired IAS officer, saidthat they have prepared termsof reference for the top courtappointed panel, which couldbe looked into for conservationfor GIB and LF.

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�������%��������������� �������������New Delhi: The BJP hasappointed its national generalsecretary Saroj Pandey and PMuralidhar Rao as observersfor selecting the leaders of itslegislative party in the Delhi andJharkhand Assemblies. Theappointments were made withthe approval of the party pres-ident JP Nadda, an officialstatement said.

The AAP bagged 62 of the70 Assembly seats in the justconcluded polls in Delhi. InJharkhand’s 81 seats, JMM whois leading the coalition-govern-ment in the State won 30 seats,Congress-led-UPA 25 and BJPcollected 25 in December 2019poll. Raghubar Das, the oustedBJP CM who was the first non-tribal to head the State, also losthis Assembly seats. Elections aredue in Bihar and West Bengal inabout year’s time. PNS

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Defence PSU GardenReachShipbuilders and

Engineers Ltd (GRSE) onTuesday delivered its fourthanti-submarine warfare stealthcorvette to the Indian Navy, anofficial said.

Kavaratti was the last in theseries of four anti- SubmarineWarfare Corvettes (ASWC)built by Kolkata-based GRSEunder Project 28, he said.

The first three ships of theseries - INS Kamorta, INSKadmatt and INS Kiltan -weredelivered earlier, and form anintegral part of Eastern Fleet ofthe Indian Navy, the GRSE offi-cial said.

They have been engaged inseveral overseas operations andinternational maritime exhibi-tions in Malaysia, Singaporeand other countries, the officialsaid.

Project 28, approved in2003, is a class of anti- subma-rine warship corvettes cur-rently in service with the IndianNavy. The corvettes are namedafter islands in theLakshadweep archipelago.

INS Kiltan recently partic-ipated in the prestigiousExercise Malabar 2019, anendeavour to strengthen India-Japan-US naval cooperationand enhance interoperability,the official said.

With 90 per cent indige-nous content, the P-28 classships are equipped to fight innuclear, biological and chemi-cal warfare conditions and fea-tured the integration of a hostof weapons and sensors.

These ASW corvettes havecatapulted the Indian Navyinto the elite club of countriesthat have built stealth ships, theGRSE official said, adding thatthe stealth features make the

ships almost invisible to theenemy, both above and belowthe sea surface.

The corvettes - designed asan extremely versatile ASWplatform capable of neutralis-ing enemy submarines withindigenous weapons like tor-pedoes and rocket launchers -- are equally effective in the lit-torals and deep oceans, the offi-cial said.

Capable of attaining a max-imum speed of 25 knots, theship has a length of 109 metresand width of 12.8 metres, hesaid, adding that it has anendurance of over 3400 nauti-cal miles (NM) at 18-knotspeed, and can accommodate17 officers and 106 sailors.

Kavaratti and INS Kiltanare the first two major warshipsin the country to have theunique feature of superstruc-ture made of carbon fibre com-posite material.

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The death of six children ofa couple in a span of nine

years has raised suspicionamong police personnel herewho have registered a case fol-lowing a complaint after athree-month-old child of thefamily died on Tuesday andwas buried. Police exhumed thebody, which was buried in themorning, and took it to the dis-trict hospital at Tirur for post-mortem.The infant was thesixth child of the couple, policesaid.

"A case has been registered(for unnatural death) in thematter to verify the deathbeyond any suspicion raised bylocals since five other childrenof the couple had died in thepast nine years," a senior police

official said.The couple had three boys

and three girls of which thethird girl child lived till the ageof four and the rest died beforeturning one.

"The post-mortem willtake place today itself.We arecollecting the medical recordsof the children who had passedaway earlier.

We will identify the causeof death after analysing therecords and discuss the matterwith forensic doctors," Tirur

Deputy Superintendent ofPolice (DySP) said.

However, relatives claimedthat there was nothing suspi-cious in the death of the chil-dren and that doctors have saidit was due to some genetic dis-ease.

"The post-mortem of thethird child was conducted andthe doctors said the death wasdue to some genetic problems.They said they were helpless,"a relative said, adding that thefamily was ready to face anyprobe.

According to the locals, thecouple had claimed that thechildren have died due toepilepsy.

Sources said the baby wastaken to a hospital but was deadprior to reaching the hospitalearly this morning.

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The Madras High Court onTuesday restrained a body

of Muslim outfits from goingahead with its proposed agita-tion to lay siege to the TamilNadu Assembly pressing theirdemand for a House resolutionagainst CAA, NRC and NPR.

A bench of justices MSathyanaraya and R Hemalathagranted the interim injunc-tion till March 11, restrainingthe the Federation of TamilNadu Islamic and PoliticalOrganisations and its alliedassociations from holding theagitation, proposed forWednesday.

Passing the interim orderon a PIL which sought to fore-bear the police from grantingpermission to the agitation, the

bench posted the matter toMarch 12 for further hearing.

The court made it clearthat it was not expressing anyopinion on the CitizenshipAmendment Act, or theNational Register of Citizens orthe National PopulationRegister.

The siege protest has beencalled to bring pressure on theAIADMK Govt to adopt a res-olution in the assembly oppos-ing the CAA as had been doneby several non-BJP ruled states.

An attempt by oppositionDMK to move an anti-CAAresolution in the assembly dur-ing the session has failed withSpeaker P Dhanapal disallow-ing a notice for it, saying thematter was sub-judice, appar-ent reference to petitions chal-lenging the amended act in the

Supreme Court.The first phase of the bud-

get session of the state assem-bly is on till February 20.Earlier, state AdditionalAdvocate General SRRajagopoal told the court thatany application seeking policepermission for protest shouldbe made five days prior, but inthis case, the federation hadmoved the police only onMonday for the agitation pro-posed on Wednesday.

He also submitted thatprohibitory orders underSection 41 of the Madras CityPolice Act have been imposedbanning any kind of agitationor demonstration in the city fora period of 15 days commenc-ing from February 13.

Petitioner Varaki, a jour-nalist, contended if the assem-

bly siege was allowed and alarge number of protesters per-mitted to gather near theSecretariat, there would becomplete collapse of the nor-mal functioning of the stategovernment.

Referring to continuingagitations, including the lateststir in a north Chennai localilty,by various organisations oppos-ing the CAA and other mea-sures, he alleged innocent pub-lic were being incited to joinsuch protests and create prob-lems by spreading rumours.

Besides, some leaders ofthe organisations were alsodelivering inciting and intim-idating speeches, even going tothe extent of issuing threat tothe lives of the PM and theUnion Home Minister, he sub-mitted.

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Mizoram has earned thedubious distinction of

being the state with highestHIV/AIDS prevalence rate inthe country, but theGovernment was making allefforts to tackle the menace,health minister R Lalthanglianatold the Assembly on Tuesday.

A total of 21,538 caseshave been registered in theState since October 1990, whenthe first patient was identified,he stated.

Lalthangliana, while reply-ing to starred questions byMNF leader Vanlaltanpuia andIndependent MLALalduhoma, also said that HIV

prevalence was highest amongyouth in the age group of 25-34 years, accounting for 42.38per cent of the total number ofcases.

Expressing concern overthe matter, the Minister insist-ed that the Government hadbeen taking all measures tocombat the disease.

Lalthangliana also saidthat he recently met leaders ofNGOs, students' bodies andchurches and sought theirhelp to control the spread ofthe disease, while efforts werealso being made to seek tech-nical assistance fromUNAIDS.

According to DrLalthlengliani, the projectdirector of Mizoram StateAids Control Society(MSACS), at least 2,416 peo-ple have died of the diseasebetween January 2006 andSeptember 2019.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath here on

Tuesday termed the UttarPradesh Budget for 2020-21“historic” and said it will playa big role in making the Statea trillion dollar economy.

The Chief Minister saidthough it focused on the over-all development of the State,special attention has been paidto the growth of the youth andboost employment.

“The Budget will play amajor role in achieving the goalof one trillion dollar economyfor the State and meet the tar-get of making India a dollar fivetrillion economy,” the CM said,adding that it was a “historic”Budget.

“The Budget is focused onthe development of the youth.Though a number of pro-grammes are already in placefor them, the Government hasstarted a scheme for everyeducated unemployed individ-ual. A provision has been madeto boost employment in everydistrict,” he added.

The BJP Government onTuesday presented a �5,12,860.72 crore Budget,

which was its fourth under theleadership of Adityanath.

"Our first budget wasbased on farmers, the secondwas on industrial developmentand the third for womenempowerment. Today's fourthbudget is for the developmentof youth," the Chief Ministersaid.

The CM also claimed thatprovisions have been made toimprove education in UttarPradesh.

This budget focused onhigher education as the Stategovernment is setting up newuniversities in Saharanpur,Azamgarh and Aligarh, he said.

Setting up of Atal MedicalUniversity in Lucknow hasalso been included in the bud-

get, he said, adding that thegovernment has proposednational law and ayush uni-versities.

An apprenticeship schemefor every educated unemployedyouth who wants to becomeself-reliant has also been start-ed, the CM said, adding thatevery youth will be connectedto an enterprise and till thecompletion of the apprentice-ship, the government will pro-vide a cash support of Rs 2,500per month.

By next year, the govern-ment will be able to carry for-ward the work of establishinga medical college in all 75 dis-tricts of the state, the CM said.

"These colleges will bebuilt either by the government

or on PPP mode," he said, stressing

that from 1947 to 2016, only 12medical colleges were in set upin the state.

The chief minister alsoexuded confidence thatinvestors from all over theworld wanted to invest in UttarPradesh.

The state had receivedinvestment proposals worthRs 50,000 crore in the DefenceExpo-2020, he said.

About road projects,Adityanath said the PurvanchalExpressway would be openedto the public by the year-end.

In addition, the founda-tion stone of the BundelkhandExpressway will be laid thismonth, he said, adding thatfunds had been allocated forthe Ganga Expressway andefforts would be made to lay itsfoundation by year-end.

Speaking on the farmingsector, Adityanath said insur-ance has been provided forsharecroppers and an arrange-ment has been made for mod-ernisation.

A provision had beenmade to get rid of potable waterproblems in Bundelkhand andVindhya regions, he said.

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Acase was registered against76 Persons, including a

former MLA, for alleged irreg-ularities to the tune of �512.54crore in the Karnala NagariSahakari Bank headquarteredin Panvel in neighbouringRaigad district, Navi Mumbaipolice said on Tuesday.

Former PWP MLA fromPanvel Vivekanand ShankarPatil is the chairman of thecooperative bank and he hasbeen named as an accusedalong with the vice-chairman,chief executive officer and sev-eral others who had obtainedloans from the institution, anofficial said. A press releasefrom Navi Mumbai police saida case was registered for crim-inal breach of trust.

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Bengali superstar and formerTrinamool Congress MP

Tapas Pal passed away in thesmall hours of Tuesday, fami-ly sources said adding he was61 and suffering from nerveand heart ailments for which hehad admitted to a Mumbai hos-pital.

Survived by his wife anddaughter Pal was TrinamoolMP from Krishangarfor twosuccessive terms from 2009 to2019. Before this he wasMember of Bengal LegislativeAssembly for two terms.

Notwithstanding his cine-matic exploits that has giventhe Bengalimovie world somememorable films like Saheb,G u r u d a k s h i n a ,Anurag,Anurager Choan, Palgot embroiled in controversiesin the closing years of his

political career and was arrest-ed by the CBI for his allegedinvolvement in the multi-croreRose Valley chit fund case.

Both Pal and Bollywoodactress Madhuri Dixit acted inone of their initial films Abodh.In fact Dixit along with seniorTollywood actors like SoumitraChatterjee and MadhabiMukherjee deeply condoledhisuntimely death.

During his in carcerationhe had to be hospitalised inBhubaneshwarwhere after hewas released on bail.Subsequently he was afflictedbynerve disease.

In an emotionally ladenmessage Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee wrotein twit-ter that she was in a state ofshock and that Pal wouldbebadly missed.

“Saddened and shocked tohear about the demise of TapasPal. He was asuperstar ofBengali cinema who was amember of the Trinamool fam-ily.Tapas served the people asa two-term MP and MLA. Wewill miss himdearly. My con-dolences to his wife Nandini,daughter Sohini and hismanyfans,” the Chief Minister wroteeven as a mild war of word-sensued between the BJP andthe TMC around his death.

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MS Mani, former editor-in-chief of Kerala Kaumudi,

a popular Malayalam dailypublished from Kerala andfounder editor of KalaKaumudi, the first Malayalamnewspaper to be publishedoutside Kerala, breathed his lastearly Tuesday morning at hisresidence inThiruvananthapuram. He was79 and is survived by wife DrKasturi, daughter Valsa Maniand son Mani Sukumaran.

Born as the eldest son of MSukumaran, the founder editorof Kerala Kaumudi, Mani start-ed his journalistic career at theyoung age of 20 as a parliamentreporter and rose to newheights in journalism throughsheer hard work. Mani is cred-ited as the first investigativejournalist in Kerala who

brought to light the massivedeforestation happening in theWestern Ghats under politicalpatronage.

Mani’s reports angered thethen home minister of Kerala,K Karunakaran who initiated aseries of legal actions againsthim and Kerala Kaumudi. Trueto the prophe-cy made byMani andK e r a l aKaumudi, thedeforestationand choppingof tress fromreserve forestsin the Statebrought downthe forestcover of theState from 35per cent to 13per cent.

A Left fel-

low traveller , Mani was in theforefront against the appease-ment politics pursued by boththe Cong and the Communistsin Kerala. The editorials thatappeared in Kaumudi duringhis tenure as editor-in-chief arestill rated as the bench marksof quality journalism.

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Dr VL Dutt, leading indus-trialist and executive chair-

man of KCP Ltd , the Chennaiheadquartered conglomeratewith major interests in heavyengineering, cement , sugar andheavy machinery, passed awayon Tuesday.

Dr Dutt was the presidentof the Federation of Indian

Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (FICCI) during 1991-92 and was a widely respectedindustrialist.

"We condole the untimelypassing away of Dr VL Dutt.FICCI will always rememberhis contribution to the indus-try and the country, especiallyas the President of the cham-ber at a time when the econo-my was passing through a crit-ical phase.

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The Mizoram Government isyet toNotify the new pro-

hibition rules, Excise andNarcotics Minister Dr KBeichhua told the StateAssembly on Tuesday.

In reply to a question fromCongress member KT Rokhaw,Beichhua said the Govt has can-celled the notification issued inconnection with the new liquorlaw on Dec 19 last year.He saidthat there is no prohibition rulesin the state as of now.Accordingto the Min, the Government hasclosed all liquor shops, bondedwarehouses and brewery after"The Mizoram Liquor(Prohibition) Act, 2019" cameinto force in the state.

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Samajwadi Party supremoAkhilesh Yadav on Tuesday

said he does not need anysecurity cover and dared theBJP to take it back.

He said this when askedabout the security risk to himas the leader had claimedthat he had received a threatcall from a ruling party leader.

He made the allegationsrecently after a youth disrupt-ed a meeting addressed by him,shouting a religious slogan.

"I don't need security. Iwant to live free. This is not amatter of security, I want toask how can a local intelli-gence inspector come to mypress conference. How cansomeone come in a pro-

gramme in the party office,"Akhilesh said. "Why my NSGwas removed? They (BJP)have taken back my house andvehicle. They are free to takeback my security also. I love tocycle alone. Now the time iscoming whey cycle is going torun fast," he said.

'Cycle' is the party sym-bol of the Samajwadi Party.

Leader of the OppositionRam Govind Chaudhary ofSamajwadi Party had raisedthe issue of security threat toAkhilesh in State Assembly onMonday. Yadav had recentlyclaimed that he had receiveda threat call and a messagefrom a BJP leader after ayouth shouted 'Jai Shri Ram'at one of the gatherings he wasaddressing.

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The debt burden on theState Government is

mounting and the total debton it from different sources islikely to be over �5.16 lakhcrore by the end of next fis-cal 2020-21.

The budget size of 2020-21 at �5.12 lakh crore is a lit-tle less than the debt burden.The total debt of the state,however, came down from29.6 per cent of State Gross Domestic Product(SGDP) in 2017-18 and isestimated to be 28.8 per centin 2020-21.

With a debt burden ofover �5.16 lakh crore, everyresident of UP has a debt of�22,442 on their head.

“The debt per person inthe state during the 2019-20fiscal is estimated to be�20,702 as the total debt bur-den would be little over � 4.76

lakh crores,’’ Finance MinisterSuresh Kumar Khanna saidwhile tabling the budget for2020-21 in the Assembly onTuesday.

The total debt burden does not includeborrowings from banks andfinancial institutions byPSUs l ike UP PowerCorporation, UP Housingand Development Board andUrban Development authorit ies. The StateGovernment is the guaran-tor against the borrowings by the PSUs.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, in his post-bud-get press, said that theGovernment has strictlyadhered to financial disci-pline and norms underFRBM (FinancialResponsibility and BudgetManagement Act ) and keptfiscal deficit under 3 percent of SGDP.

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Poll strategist-turned-politi-cian Prashant Kishor on

Tuesday mocked Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar foraligning with the BJP in hisquest for power, and said theJD(U) leader cannot be weddedto Gandhian ideals and standwith those who support Godseat the same time.

Addressing a crowdedpress conference here, the firstsince his expulsion from theJD(U), which Kumar heads,Kishor asserted that the ChiefMinister has been a "father fig-ure" to him even before he for-mally joined the party and sohe wished to speak no ill ofhim.

Kishor, however, acknowl-edged that he had differenceswith Kumar over the contra-

diction in his avowed com-mitment to the principles ofGandhi and his tie-up with theBJP, the party the poll strategistsought to identify with theMahatma's assassin NathuramGodse.

"Nitish ji has always saidthat he cannot leave the idealsof Gandhi, JP and Lohia... Atthe same time, how can he bewith the people who supportthe ideology of Godse? Bothcannot go together. If you wantto stay with the BJP, I don't haveany problem with it but youcannot be on both sides,"Kishore said.

There have been differ-ences between him and me thatthe ideologies of Godse andGandhi cannot stand together.As the leader of the party youhave to say which side you areon," he added.

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US President Donald Trumpwill Be gifted a spinning

wheel, two books on the lifeand times of Mahatma Gandhiand a portrait of the Father ofthe Nation during his visit tothe Sabarmati Ashram hereon February 24.

Trump will be accompa-nied by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during his visitto the ashram located on thebanks of the river Sabarmati.

Trump will be the first USpresident to visit the ashram, aplace closely associated withIndia's freedom struggle.The ashram, also known asGandhi Ashram, was home tothe independence movementleader and peace icon from1917 to 1930. It is now manged

by the Sabarmati Ashram

Preservation and MemorialTrust.

Ashram trustees KartikeyaSarabhai and Amrut Modi saidthe American president, USFirst Lady Melania Trump andPrime Minister Modi wouldspend around 30 minutes at theashram.

Sources said Trump andMelania may try their hands onthe spinning wheel (charkha)kept near 'Hriday Kunj', a cot-tage inside the ashram whereGandhiji and his wife Kasturbaonce lived.

"We will gift Trump a spin-ning wheel, Gandhiji's autobi-ography and a book named 'MyLife My Message'. This book isbased on an exhibition depict-ing Gandhiji's entire life.

"The ashram would alsogift Gandhiji's portrait toTrump. Along with the

charkha, we will give him anote describing its importancein the country's freedom strug-gle," said Amrut Modi.He saidthe dignitaries will be wel-comed with garlands made of'khadi' (hand-woven fabric).

Trump and the PrimeMinister will also take part ina roadshow that will start fromthe Ahmedabad airport andend at the cricket stadium inMotera after passing along theashram. On the backside of theashram, a platform is beingbuilt so that PM Modi canshow the entire Sabarmatiriverfront to the visiting

dignitaries from one place,offcials had said. The Gujaratgovernment has announcedthat Trump and the First Ladywould arrive at the Ahmedabadinternational airport directlyfrom Washington.

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As India prepares to wel-come US President Donald

Trump, NCP chief SharadPawar on Tuesday said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'shome state Gujarat has becomethe preferred destination forkey foreign dignitaries visitingIndia.

Before Modi became thePM, top foreign dignitariesvisiting India also used to go toplaces like Hyderabad andBengaluru, Pawar toldreporters here.

"Earlier, they (foreign dig-nitaries) used to go to placeslike Agra, Delhi, Hyderabadand Bengaluru. It is good thatin the last five years, all thesepeople chose Ahmedabad. It is

a good thing," Pawar said,when asked why isMaharashtra missing fromTrump's itinerary.

"We are happy that thecountry's prime minister thinksAhmedabad is the best place toshow in India to any visitingforeign dignitary," Pawar said.

Important global leaderswho visited Gujarat after Modibecame the

PM in 2014 includeChinese President Xi Jinpingand Japanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe.

NCP MLA and Pawar'sgrand nephew Rohit Pawarhad last week asked the Centrethat apart from Delhi andAhmedabad, Trump shouldalso visit the country's financialcapital, Mumbai.

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Assam Governor JagdishMukhi on Tuesday assert-

ed that infrastructure is a cat-alyst for development.He saidthe government is committedto the development of the stateby strengthening infrastruc-ture.

The Centre is very liberalin investing in infrastructure toeliminate service backlogs ofnortheast with special empha-sis on rural areas, Mukhi saidat the inaugural session ofNorth East InfrastructureDevelopment Conclave, organ-ised by the CII-North East,here.

A well-planned infrastruc-ture enables established busi-nesses to expand their pro-duction levels and encouragesmall businesses to enter themarket and as such, bothCentral and state governmentsare making concerted efforts toput in place a robust infra-structure for physical connec-tivity in the areas of air, water,internet and land transport, hesaid.

He said the Union budgethas allocated funds for layingnew tracks and doubling ofrailway lines in the northeastregion, the governor said.

Electrification of railwaylines under the NortheastFrontier Railways was alsogoing on and by 2022 the threestates of Mizoram, Manipurand Sikkim will be connectedby railways, he added.

The Union Ministry ofRoad Transport and Highwayshas also conceived of extensivenational highway projects togive a boost to the region'sphysical connectivity.

The governor also high-lighted the measures being

undertaken in northeast forbringing the region closer tothe rest of the country with 12airports in the region beingoperative and the GuwahatiAirport being revamped witha new state of the art terminus.

Moreover, a seamless dig-ital connectivity has been in usein the region by liberalising itscyber space with India andBangladesh signing an agree-ment for using unspent band-width available at Bangladesh'sCox Bazar in Chittagong tobring in a revolution not onlyin the northeast but also insome mainland states, he said.

Assam is nurtured by twogreat rivers--the Brahmaputraand Barak and both along withtheir many tributaries havehuge potential for river trans-port, tourism and industry.

He also said that inlandwaterways in Assam received aboost during the last five years.

There was an urgent needfor strengthening the physicalinfrastructure of Assam as itwas the largest among the eightnortheastern states, with a pop-ulation of 33 million and areaof 78 thousand square kilome-tre, the governor said.

In the face of growingurban population and risingurban infrastructural needs,solutions like planning newermodes of transportation sys-tems especially for congestedareas has become the need ofthe hour, he added.

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As his meeting with seniorlegislators, reportedly upset

over not being inducted intothe Cabinet, sparked specula-tion, Minister Jagadish Shettaron Tuesday termed reportsabout “revolt” as “far fromtruth”.

The meeting late lastevening at Shettar’s residenceby legislators mostly fromnorth Karnataka in the midstof the ongoing Assembly ses-sion had raised eyebrows with-in the ruling BJP circles.

Shettar said a few legisla-tors had met him regardingtheir constituency-relatedwork.

"I'm a Minister, daily sev-eral legislators come and go, itis a routine process, so yester-day four to five legislators hadcome for their work, I spoke tothem, after which they left,"Shettar, a former Chief Ministerand now holding Industriesprotfolio, said.

Speaking to reporters here,

he said, any "such meeting asbeing reported" is "far fromtruth."

"There was no such meet-ing, legislators had come fortheir work, there is no need tohave any misunderstandingabout it," he said, adding thathe was not answerable to mediareports and owes no explana-tion.

According to some mediareports, eight-time BJP MLAUmesh Katti (Hukkeri), whohad openly expressed his dis-pleasure over not being induct-ed into the ministry, andShankar Patil Munenakoppa(Navalagund) were amongthose who had met at Shettar's

residence.They reportedly discussed

about "most loyal senior partylegislators not getting ministerpost", and the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's sonVijayendra's alleged "high-handedness" in the govern-ment.

Shettar is also said to havemet Chief MinisterYediyurappa this morning andexplained to him about themeeting.

Ahead of the Assemblysession, Yediyurappa was seenspeaking to Shettar, Katti andothers in the House onTuesday.

Meanwhile, an unsignedand anonymous letter, callingfor a change in leadership cit-ing Yediyurappa's age andhealth as the reason, is widelyin circulation in the socialmedia.It calls for Yediyurappa'sretirement from electoral pol-itics and suggests that he turn"margdarshak" for theparty.Yediyurappa will turn 77on February 27.

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Accusing the ruling BJP ofturning Karnataka into a

‘police State’ by filing false casesagainst political opponents andthose opposing its “divisivepolitics”, the OppositionCongress on Tuesday walkedout of the Assembly as theSpeaker did not accept theirdemand for an immediate dis-cussion on the issue.

Making a preliminarysubmission to the Chair toallow his adjournment motionon the "collapse" oflaw andorder in the state, Leader ofthe Opposition (LoP)Siddaramaiah charged theGovernment with having a"demon instinct" in suppress-

ing opponents.After hearing his prelim-

inary submission, SpeakerVishweshwar Hegde Kageriruled that a discussion will beheld on the topic at 3 PM onWednesday, but under a dif-ferent rule.

However, Congress legis-lators insisted that the dis-cussion be allowed immedi-ately as otherwise it woulddilute the issue. As the Chairdid not concede their demand,they staged a walk out, threat-ening to boycott proceedings.

During his preliminarysubmission, Siddaramaiahalleged that the law and orderin the state had completelycollapsed as the governmenthas failed to manage it.

Siddaramaiah pointed outthat the Governor's address tothe joint sitting of the state leg-islature on Monday did notmention the state-wide anti-Citizenship Amendment Actprotests and the one in whichtwo people died in Mangaluruin December. By discussingthe issue, "it is our duty toinstill confidence among theaffected people as we havecome here with their mandate,representing them", he said

Stating that anti CAA andNRC protests have been tak-ing place across the country,Siddaramaiah said opposingand expressing opinionagainst government policesand laws is the "essence ofdemocracy".

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The Karnataka Assemblyproceedings on Tuesday

saw the ruling BJP and theOpposition Congress sparringover ‘tukde tukde gang’ and‘Bharat Mata’.

While hitting out at rulingparty legislators, Leader of theOpposition in the AssemblySiddaramaiah said that “BharatMata is not the property ofBJP”. Home Minister BasavarajBommai, slamming theCongress, called them the“owners” of the “tukde tukdegang”. Siddaramaiah, whilemaking a preliminary sub-mission seeking to move anadjournment motion on thelaw and order situation in thestate, attacked ruling BJP both

in the state and Centre for an"undeclared emergency" in thecountry. He also accused theBJP of undermining theConstitution and democra-cy,to which Minister KSEshwarappa referred to theEmergency declared by thethen Prime Minister IndiraGandhi and reminded the for-mer Chief Minister that he hadopposed it while in the JanataDal. "We (BJP/RSS workersthen) were put behind bars forhailing Bharat Mata and callingourselves as her sons",Eshwarappa said.

Reacting to thisSiddaramaiah said, “BharatMata is not your property. Youhave not taken on lease. All135 crore Indians are her chil-dren.”

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With no let-up in the ongo-ing tug of war between

the ruling Shiv Sena and itsallies over Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray’s decision tolet NIA investigate the BhimaKoregaon-Elgaar ParishadElgaar Parishad case, theCongress on Tuesday opened anew front by coming out open-ly against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA),National Register of Citizens(NRC) and NationalPopulation Register (NPR).

On a day when UddhavThackeray of the Shiv Senacame out in support of theCAA, extended conditionalsupport to the NPR and voicedhis opposition to the NRC,Maharashtra Pradesh CongressCommittee (MPCC) presidentand party minister in the MVACabinet Bal Saheb Thorat for-mally opposed CAA, NRC andNPR. “The Congress party'sstand regarding #CAA #NRC

#NPR is very clear and we areopposed to it. The Congressparty is opposed to anythingthat causes discrimination inthe society. We will convinceour alliance partners on thesame,” he tweeted.

For the first time, Uddhavspelt out the Shiv Sena‘s standon CAA, NRC and NPR. “CAAand NRC are two differentsubjects. NPR is a third subject.There is nothing to worryabout in CAA. NRC has notcome and it will not be imple-mented. If it (NRC) is imple-mented, it will not affect justMuslims, but it will also affectHindus, Adivasasis and otherdeprived sections of the soci-ety,” Uddhav tweeted.

In another tweet on NPR,Uddhav said: “NPR is more ofa census. But, still I will have alook at the questions in the datacollection form. But, I do notthere is impediment in NPR.Because, the census takes placeonce in ten years”.

The NCP has also serious

reservations about NPR. Aftera meeting of NCP ministersconvened by party chief SharadPawar, the party spokespersonand minister Nawab Malik hadsaid on Monday: “Before devis-ing the strategy on NPR, we -- MVA partners -- will jointlystudy the questions in the NPRand views of the non-BJP gov-ernments. Because some irrel-evant and un-called for infor-mation is being sought by theCentre as part of the data col-lection. The NCP is opposedto the date of birth and place ofbirth of parents and grandpar-ents,” Malik said.

Both the NCP andCongress have urged the chiefminister to convene a meetingof the l4eaders of the parties todevise a common strategy onNPR, CAA and NRC.

In a related development,the chief minister’s decision tolet the NIA to investigate theElgaar Parishad case continuedbe a bone of the contentionbetween the ruling Shiv Sena

and its allies in the MVA gov-ernment.

Uddhav, who has come infor a flak from both the NCPand Congress for his ad hocdecision to let the NIA toinvestigate Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad Elgaar Parishadcase e, sought to clarify hisposition. “Elghar Parsihad con-spiracy and Bhima-Koregaonviolence are two different cases.As far as the Bhima-Koregaoncase is concerned, it concernsDalits. I have not given thiscase to the NIA. I would like toclarify that I will not let injus-tice to happen to the Dalits”.

However, there was someambiguity in the NCP’s stand onBhima Koregaon-ElgaarParishad Elgaar Parishad case.On one hand, like Uddhav,Pawar also said that ElgaarParishad and Bhima-Koregaonwere two different cases. “TheCM has powers to hand over thecase to the NIA. There was noalternative but to hand over thecase tothe NIA, “ Pawar said.

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As the BJP predicted the col-lapse the collapse of MVA

Government and consequentmid-term polls in the State,NCP chief Sharad Pawar onTuesday turned the table on theprincipal Opposition party inthe State by saying that it wasfor the latter, which rules thecountry, to hold mid-termpolls in the country.

Reacting to a BJP leader’scomment that the MVAGovernment would soon col-lapse and there would be mid-term polls in the state, NCPchief said: “The mid-term pollsare normally held in the coun-try. It is in the hands of the BJPto hold mid-terms polls in thecountry.

Let the Union Cabinet anddecide on holding the mid-term polls in the country”.

Former Chief Ministerand senior BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis had onSunday dared the Shiv Sena tohold mid-term polls in thestate.S He had predicted thatif the mid-term polls wereheld in the state, the BJPwould defeat the Shiv Sena,NCP and Congress squarelyand return to power in thestate.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday,former chief minister NarayanRane predicted that since chiefminister Uddhav Thackeraywas not capable of runningthe government,.

There would be mid-termpolls in the state. “I need nottell you that there is alreadyconsiderable resentment with-in the Shiv Sena.

Uddhav Thackeray willnot continue in his post forlong,” Rane said.

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Aleading diamond merchanton Tuesday allegedly com-

mitted suicide by jumpingdown from the terrace of 15thfloor of a commercial buildingat Zaveri Bazar in southMumbai.

Dhiren Chandrakant Shah,who owned a diamond polish-ing and export company, on thetop floor of the “PrasadChambers”, died instantly afterhis fall from the 15-storeybuilding, which houses theoffices of prominent diamondmerchants.

Shah, who lived with hisfamily at upmarket NapeanSea Road, was 61 and survivedby his wife and two children.While a son lives in the Unitedstates, his daughter stays inDubai.

Quoting his staffer, thepolice said that Shah reachedthe office at around 9.45 am onTuesday.

He told some of hisemployees that he was going tothe terrace of the building fora walk. Within next few min-utes he jumped from the ter-race and allegedly committedsuicide.

Shah was rushed to thenearby hospital where he wasdeclared dead on admission.His body has been sent for apost mortem.

“We have found a two-linesuicide note on the desk of thedeceased. In the note, he hasstated that it was his decisionto take the extreme step andno one should be blamed forit.

We have registered an acci-dental death case and areinvestigating the matter,” asenior police inspectorattached to the D B Nagarpolice station said.

Shah’s death came as a bigshock to the city's diamondand jewellery industry. Thepolice are trying to ascertainthe reasons for Shah’s allegedsuicide.

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One of the keys to improvingCentre-State relations andensuring development is even-handed and judicious distrib-ution of tax revenue and other

forms of earning between the federal andState Governments. The FinanceCommission of India is a unique consti-tutional body that is periodically set upunder Article 280 of the Constitution todefine financial relations between theCentral and State Governments. It laysdown a set of principles that determines themethod and formula for the distributionof tax proceeds between bothGovernments.

A majority of the taxes such asCustoms duty, income tax, service tax andCentral excise are collected by the Centre.States were given the mandate to provideeconomic and social services to the peo-ple. They are empowered to levy incometax on agricultural earnings, professionaltax, value added tax (VAT), State exciseduty, land revenue and stamp duty. Hence,the Finance Commission was created toaddress issues of vertical and horizontalimbalances of federal finances in India.

The 15th Finance Commission, whichwas established to decide on the devolu-tion of taxes and other receipts to theCentre and States for the next five yearsbeginning April 2020, submitted its recom-mendations before the CentralGovernment last December. TheCommission used the population data of2011 while making its recommendationsand for the first time, in addition to incomedistance, population and area and forestcover, it used two additional factors —demographic performance and tax effort— to determine the tax pool of States.

The Commisson’s usage of the 2011population figures gave rise to considerablecontroversies. While the 14th FinanceCommission had taken the 1971 census asthe base with a weightage of 17.5 per centand assigned a weightage of 10 per cent tothe 2011 population figures, the present onehas kept the weightage of 2011 populationat 15 per cent and has given additional 12.5per cent to demographic performance. Theuse of 2011 data has benefitted some Stateslike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar while othershave been disadvantaged.

Most States in southern India, exceptTamil Nadu, feel that they are sufferingbecause of their policy of population con-trol. They believe they will get a smallershare of the pie if the population dispen-sation is applied. However, according to theEconomic Survey, 2016, inter-State labourmobility averaged 5-6.5 million peoplebetween 2001 and 2011, yielding an inter-State migrant population of about 60 mil-lion and an inter-district migration as highas 80 million. Apart from the southernStates, Assam, Goa, Himachal Pradesh,Odisha, Punjab and West Bengal, too, saw

a dip in population comparedto the 1971 census. The 15thFinance Commission was crit-ical of the Union and StateGovernments’ tendency tofinance spending through off-budget borrowings, too. Onthis front, it called upon both tophase out off-budget liabilities.

Irrespective of the sur-rounding controversies, theCommission made it clearthat it wants to play a key rolein fostering sustainable devel-opment. It must be noted thatthe 14th Commission hadaccepted it as a criterion todetermine the share of taxes tovarious States. This is why“forest cover” was assigned7.5 per cent weightage. The15th Finance Commissionsought to raise the area coverto 10 per cent in order toreward States that have “pro-vided ecological services” tothe country.

However, it is distressingthat none of the States has beenliberal in granting funds to theforest department commen-surate to the contribution theforests have made in gettingfunds. The enhancement offunds to States — from 7.5 percent to 10 per cent — if imple-mented, can go a long way inprotecting the country’s ecolog-ical frontiers. This can also lead

to the economic well-being ofthe people and the country andhelp consolidate forestresources as well.

The importance of themaintenance of forest-likebuildings and roads was firstrecognised by the 13th FinanceCommission, which earmarked�1,000 crore and called uponthe States to manage ecology,environment and climatechange, consistent with sustain-able development. This fundwas kept at the disposal of theGovernment of India and wasreleased to States on a projectbasis. This helped a great dealin maintaining forests acrossthe country.

However, the actualspending on forests by States,after the 14th FinanceCommission grants, has notbeen very encouraging whencompared to the intention ofthe criterion to strengthenforest cover base. The State ofForest Report 2019 released bythe Forest Survey of Indiarecorded a marginal increaseof 5,188 sq km in total forestand tree cover in the country.However, it gave a dismalpicture in tribal areas (wherethe forest cover has gonedown by 741 sq km). Withregard to the disappearance ofhigher girth class trees in

forests due to poor regenera-tion and protection, thereport, if examined critically,indicates the urgent need tospend money on naturalforests. Yet another importantissue that needs to be dealtwith is to address the concernof States, which have less for-est cover. We need to step upefforts to cover more areasthrough agroforestry, farmforestry, block plantations,urban and peri-urban forestryamong other efforts.

Efficient fiscal manage-ment goals of the Commissioncannot be achieved unless wehave an effective monitoringsystem in place. The 15thFinance Commission shouldfollow the pattern of the 13thFinance Commission, whichrecommend inter alia that aportion of the divisible pool oftax within the forest criterionshould be retained with theGovernment of India to besanctioned by the Ministry ofFinance and Environment,Forest and Climate Change, forthe maintenance of forests.

It would be appropriate toensure third-party monitoringof the use of the grant toStates so that misuse or arbi-trary or unauthorised use ofthe funds can be checked.Further, for monitoring and

evaluation of the works under-taken through the FinanceCommission Awards, Statesshould opt for certification offorests. This can help promotesustainable forest managementand at the same time providespace for international marketsfor procurement of forestproducts.

Further, the Commissionshould put a complete ban onthe freebie culture of politicians,who are more interested invotebank politics. If need be, itmust ask the Government toamend the Constitution. ThePrime Minister must thinkabout curbing the freebie cul-ture sooner than later. At thesame time, the ElectionCommission must ensure polit-ical consensus on this. A groupof retired forest officers hadsought time from the Chairmanof the Finance Commission tosubmit a memorandum onthese issues so that theCommission’s own recommen-dations lead to desired effectson the country’s economy andon conservation of forests,water and bio-diversity. A for-est governance policy must payattention to the multiple waysin which our green cover isvaluable.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

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Sir — The forthcoming visit ofDonald Trump to India is uniquenot only because this will be hisfirst since he became the USPresident but also because it comessoon after his acquittal in theimpeachment trial by the USSenate. Besides, he is also one of thefrontrunners for the US electionslater this year and enjoys record-high popularity back home.

Relations between the USand India have seen an upswingin recent years. The US consid-ers India a key player in the Indo-Pacific region. Bilateral trade,both goods and services, touched$142 billion in 2018. But there’sa lot that is left to be desired andworked on.

Importantly, Trump consid-ers India to be among thosenations taking trade advantage ofthe US. Since long, America hasbeen averse to India’s intellectu-al policy legal framework andsome investment restrictions.India, on the other hand, believesthat under Trump’s presidency,the US has taken a more rigidstance; new tariffs have beenintroduced for new products.

But both nations have a com-

mon agenda too: To challenge arising and aggressive China andcreate a new rules-based order inEast Asia. Challenges faced byboth are entirely different innature and it’s difficult to findcommon ground. Yet, bothnations must unite and plan the

way forward strategically. A “minitrade” deal may not help iron outdifferences but is of utmostimportance for India, given itseconomy is in the midst of a slowdown at the moment.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Lead from the front” (February18). The Supreme Court’s ruling,asking the Government to ensurethat all women officers are given

permanent commission besidesmaking them eligible for com-mand posting at par with maleofficers, is historic.

It’s shocking that despite theArmy facing shortage of officersin support services, it let go oftrained women officers. Timeand again women have provedtheir mettle in all spheres. Theyare not in any way inferior to malecounterparts. It’s about time thatwe realise and acknowledge theircontribution wholeheartedly andgive them their due respect.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — It is shameful that more than60 girl students were forced to stripin an administrative check aboutwhether they were menstruatingor not at a college in Gujarat’s Bhuj.The Government needs to keep acheck on the norms laid downand take action against them.There should be uniformity in pol-icy and rules.

ShashiVia email

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In 2019, the Global Preparedness MonitoringBoard said that the world was not prepared forthe next big pandemic, which could potentially

spread between continents in 36 hours and kill upto 80 million people. It pointed out that the climatecrisis, global migration and humanitarian conflictswere all breeding grounds for newer outbreaks. TheCoronavirus took us by surprise, simultaneouslypointing out that systems of the past decade mightnot be effective in tackling challenges that are tak-ing novel shapes and forms. With one of the largestpopulations and widening socio-economic divides,India is vulnerable to contagions. Experts claim thatthis susceptibility hasn’t changed much in the last100 years, when India was one of the countries worsthit by the Spanish Influenza in 1918. We have beenstruggling to contain influenza and encephalitis out-breaks for the last four decades. There is a pressingneed to overhaul how we respond to outbreaks, bothglobally and in India, keeping technology at the cen-tre. Coronavirus’ example itself shows that it was twoArtificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled enterprises,BlueDot and Metabiota, that provided the key andlife-saving insights into the containment of this viraleruption. By using Natural Language Processing(NLP), BlueDot sifts through and analyses over10,000 articles in 65 languages, including foreignnews reports, plants and animal disease networksand official proclamations, to issue warnings. It wasable to catch and warn about the impending out-break days before the official announcement wasmade. Similarly, Metabiota applied AI to the usedtravel itineraries and flight patterns to determine thelikely spread of the disease. It was accurate insofaras it predicted that South Korea, Japan, Taiwan andThailand had the highest risk of the viral outbreak.

AI for comprehensive disease surveillance: Asepidemics spread in phases from introduction toamplification and finally contained transmission, theresponse and sequence of interventions flow accord-ingly. Even before diseases erupt, a public health sys-tem attempts to anticipate new and re-emerging dis-ease through early detection. Thereafter, the responsestrategy changes to containment, control and mit-igation, followed by re-focus on eradication. Creatinga technology-based intervention into pandemic man-agement also needs to consider the response strate-gies commensurate with the stage of epidemical evo-lution.

However, technologies have a critical and moresuccessful role to play in some phases of the responsecycle as opposed to others. One such is predictionand early warnings, for which integrated disease sur-veillance programmes exist both in the public andprivate sectors. These surveillance strategies includeEvent-Based Surveillance (EBS) and Risk Modelling.EBS systems use unstructured data from multiplesources like internet, official reports, social mediaand so on, to detect and trace the evidence of anemerging threat and overlay it with traditional sur-veillance systems to issue public health warnings andformulate mitigation strategies. The Global PublicHealth Intelligence Network (GPHIN), andHealthMap, an automated electronic informationsystem, are EBS tools that use NLP, text processingalgorithms and Machine Learning (ML). These canincrease the speed of identifying signs, filtering infor-mation, enhance capacity for consuming informa-tion and increase accuracy manifold.

The Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases(ProMED), Medical Information System (MedISys)and Pattern-based Understanding and LearningSystem (PULS) are similar EBS tools. These systemsare proving absolutely essential in disseminatinginformation at breakneck speed, characterising trans-missibility patterns, contagiousness, illnesses and

deaths caused by the pathogen, aidingquicker emergency response. Risk mod-elling uses statistical tools to characteriseand identify factors in populations or indi-viduals that enhance their vulnerabilitiesto contracting a particular disease.Overlaying this data with open sourceinternet data and climate data accountingfor presence, distribution and movementof pathogens can help identify correlationsthat were invisible to us before. Forexample, in China, the cases of hand, footand mouth disease in children were bestpredicted by AI models that utilised dataon weekly temperature and precipitationas well as data on disease-related queriesfrom the Chinese Baidu search engine.

Compared to these, India’s IntegratedDisease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)uses manual surveillance, where data onsome 24 epidemic-prone diseases is col-lected on a weekly basis at the primaryhealth centre level and reported upwards.Whenever there is a rising trend of illness-es in any area, it is investigated by theRapid Response Teams (RRT) to diagnoseand control the outbreak. This system isslow and doesn’t use any risk modellingfor predictions. A study by the IndianInstitute of Public Health, Hyderabad in2016 pointed out that this procedure suf-fered a time lag from anything betweenthree to 64 days.

The Media Scanning and VerificationCell of the IDSP was established in 2008for early warning signals through mediareports. However, this activity is limitedto manually scanning newspapers/elec-tronic media. Some technologically-adeptStates use Google alerts to automate theprocess. Needless to say, State media ver-ification cells are unable to exhaustivelyscan all media sources with the swiftnessthat’s needed to respond to outbreaks. TheHealth Ministry is piloting an IntegratedHealth Information Platform (IHIP) thatcan enable near real-time data reportingand hopes to apply modelling and GIStools to enhance the IDSP. There existsimmense scope for integrating emergingtechnologies within the IHIP platform. But

at present these discussions are nascent. Focussing on holistic pandemic

management: While most technologyapplications in pandemic response are lim-ited to surveillance, there is a dire need toidentify intervention areas in overall pan-demic management. AI can not only helpus predict where the disease might be trav-elling to, but it can also offer insights intohow people take up health services dur-ing emergencies. Accounting for health-seeking behaviours in designing responsestrategies can substantially boost effective-ness and success of responses.

Learning from behavioural data, MLmodels can identify less obvious patternsin human behaviour and disease transmis-sion, which could enable a targettedresponse. This is called infodemiology,where you can integrate internet data intopublic health informatics to examineindividual health-seeking patterns duringemergencies. Google Trends Data as wellas more-specific Google Dengue Trendshave also been used by researchers todevelop a holistic understanding of behav-ioural aspects of citizen response to pan-demics. Such insights can be used to deter-mine where health services are imperativeto be delivered in times of shortages thatmandate trade-offs. In a more mature sys-tem, one would also be able to determineif an individual or a group of people is like-ly to change its location, go out and seekformal assistance, or if they will adhere totreatment routines — all insights that canhelp authorities make better decisions.

AI-assisted genomics research isslowly emerging to be a game changer inthe rapid development of treatments andvaccines for contemporary infections.Baidu has developed an algorithm that cansignificantly speed up RNA structure pre-diction and subsequently unlock the keyto the virus. Developing models that canmatch patterns embedded in the viralgenomes to their animal host and vectorsthat carry the virus can be a breakthroughin narrowing the search for diseases. Thiscan lead to early interventions in control-ling disease upsurge or preventing their

emergence altogether. Building blocks for AI in pandem-

ic response: Building a comprehensiveand accurate surveillance system requiresmassive amounts of quality data from dif-ferent sources. Meteorological data, forinstance, needs to be overlaid with vector-movements and population mobility datato accurately identify hotspots for out-breaks. This requires Government depart-ments coming together in mission-modeand pooling their data into one consoli-dated programme. It also requires AI-enabled technologies to be integrated intoexisting workflows for pandemic manage-ment and creation of new protocols withadequate capacity-building, so its benefitscan flow to all levels.

As pandemics are not constrained bynational boundaries, a global surveillancesystem is imperative, something wheremultilaterals like the WHO and interna-tional foundations can play a catalytic role.Nations need to be propelled to make dis-ease information public and if possiblemove towards interoperable surveillancenetworks that can communicate with theirglobal counterparts.

Can AI fight the next Coronavirus isa question up for debate. But it can bol-ster our capacity to respond substantial-ly, especially in disease pre-emption,design of accurate interventions and insome cases with more research investment,even prevention of outbreaks.

Therefore, in a fight against outbreaks— one that the global community is notwinning — channelising the power of datathrough AI can be the perfect weapon.Coronavirus and the swiftness that AI-enabled solutions showed here were nec-essary proof of the concept to incentivisegreater resources and collaborations in AI-assisted outbreak management. Now it isupon governments and multilaterals tolead the way in mobilising AI against thenext virus.

(Verma is a lawyer and public policyconsultant and Sharma is a software engi-neer. Both work with the InternationalInnovation Corps, University of Chicago.)

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Many people are writing off the135-year-old Congress Partyafter its dismal performance

in the just-concluded Delhi Assemblyelections. This is because the grand oldparty has suffered one setback after theother since 2014, though there weresome good patches in between. Now,critical questions are being raisedover its survival that need to beanswered by Congressmen. This is notthe first time that the party is facingsuch a crisis. In its long history, the

Congress has been written off manytimes by its opponents. However,every time it rose like a phoenix fromthe ashes and came back to power.

The slide began in 1967 when theparty lost many States. After the 1969split, Indira Gandhi emerged success-ful in the 1971 mid-term poll.However, after the defeat of Indira in1977, the party was written off. But itrallied again in 1980 and continued torule till 1989. After VP Singh chal-lenged Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, therewere apprehensions about theCongress’ survival but in 1991 theparty came back to power at the headof a coalition, though it could notretain power for long.

In 1998, Sonia Gandhi took overthe Congress amid panic in the partythat it would perish. When no oneexpected the Sonia-led Congress tosucceed, she formed the UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) and cap-

tured power in 2004. After 10 years ofthe UPA’s rule, the party faced its worst-ever humiliation when it got just 44seats in 2014 and 52 seats in the 2019Lok Sabha polls.

Now, once again, the Congress isbeing written off. No doubt the partyis going through one of its worst exis-tential and leadership crises rightnow. Thankfully, the Congress hasalways performed well in States whereregional strongmen were given the jobof handling the elections. TheMaharashtra and Haryana polls provedthis fact in recent times. That said, isthat enough for the party to remain rel-evant? From ruling the Centre and amajority of States in the ‘60s and ‘70s,the Congress has now been pushedinto a corner with its governments ina measly five States. When theNarendra Modi Government stormedto power in 2014, many thought thatthe Congress would eventually recov-

er but it has only declined further asit had failed to gauge the mood of thepublic and turn it into electoral suc-cess. Last year’s electoral victories inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh apart, the Congress haswitnessed gradual decay in its Stateunits in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Odisha,Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi.Today, the Congress is ruthlessly crit-icised and mocked because of itsdetermination to cling to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The BJP has vowed to create a“Congress-mukt Bharat” but anOpposition is not bad, even for the rul-ing party in a democracy, as the lateAtal Bihari Vajpayee used to say. Oneparty rule is not what our foundingfathers visualised. Some analysts arguethat the collapse of the Congress as anational alternative to the BJP createsa political vacuum. It is not as if there

is no base for the Congress despite theslide, as it is the only party, apart fromthe BJP, with a national presence. Evenin its worst defeat the Congress man-aged to get 19.6 per cent of thenational vote; about 117 million peo-ple voted for it in 2019. It must buildon this base.

The decline of the Congress is ofits own making. Its dependence on onefamily, its high command and coterieculture, loss of connect with grassrootworkers, lack of an organisationalstructure, poor communication skills,disconnect with the aspirations of vot-ers and living in its past glory, have allled to its downfall. Moreover, the BJPhas emerged as an alternative to theCongress at the national level, while insome States the regional satraps haveusurped the Congress’ space. Since theparty refuses to move out from underthe shadow of the Gandhis, it is for thefamily to fill the leadership vacuum

and fight to get back its political space.They must find the right formula to dothis, fast.

It is too soon to write an obituaryof the Congress. The grand old partyis like an ancient banyan tree. Its rootsare deep and in many States. All thatthe Congress needs is a charismaticleader and a vote catcher who couldreinvent and revive the party. Did notthe then UK Prime Minister Tony Blairreinvent the Labour party and calledit the New Labour?

It is time the Congress wakes up,defines its ideology, strengthens Stateunits, faces the challenge of regional-ism and reclaims its lost space. It wasan umbrella party at one time givingspace to all shades of opinions and ide-ologies — the Right, Left and theCentre — and despite many splits it hassurvived so far. So there is no reasonwhy it cannot do so in the future.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Later this year, HeroMotoCorp will unveil the

100 millionth motorcycle toleave one of their productionlines. In the 35 years since theMunjal-promoted group hasbeen producing two-wheelers,first in collaboration withJapanese major Honda andthen by themselves since 2011,they will become the fastestmanufacturer to reach thismilestone.

But as questions hoveraround the future viability ofthe company as it finds itselfwith a global technology part-ner unlike their Indian rivals,Bajaj and TVS, the Chairmanand promoter of the company,Pawan Munjal wanted to show-case the future with a display ofHero’s technological and prod-uct development competence attheir Centre for Innovationand Technology (CIT) estab-lished at Kukas, outside Jaipur.

Hero, which skipped theAuto Expo earlier this monthalso used the opportunity tolaunch their latest productsthat all adhere to the upcom-ing BS-6 emission norms. Asthe company has seenincreased competition over theyears and declining sales oftheir bestsellers, they alsolaunched the new Glamour125 and Passion Pro as well asshowcasing the Xtreme 160Rroad racer in the fast growing150-200cc category.

The company wants toregain their leadership positionin these segments where Bajaj,TVS and their erstwhile part-ner Honda dominates.Speaking to The Pioneer,Munjal also mentioned thatHero could look at potentialpartnerships with either Indianor global ‘frenemy’ companiesgoing forward, and that hewas not terribly concernedabout the move to electricvehicles, “we are a large investorin Ather Energy, India’s leadingelectric two-wheeler companywith a 31 per cent stake in thecompany, and we have been

helping the company grow.The scooters might not have a‘Hero’ but that does not meanthat Hero is not seriously look-ing at this area. Our major issuewith the Government’s initialplan to move to all-electricvehicles by 2025, which it wise-ly reconsidered was that theentire infrastructure would bedisrupted, from sales channelsto mechanics.

The industry could haveshifted, but the government hasto remember the contributionthe automotive industry makesto the Indian economy andthink accordingly.” He addedthat Hero was looking at elec-tric and hybrid technologies fortwo-wheelers as early as 2012even before the modern shift tosuch technologies, “we are aleader in this space in India,just because we do not have aproduct right now should notbe something to be worried

about.”Munjal also said that Hero

would invest over �10,000 crorein new plants, research anddevelopment and market devel-opment over the next five toseven years in order to main-tain its leadership. “When westarted our solo journey in2011 we had just 100 engineersdoing basic product develop-ment in Dharuhera, threeplants and exported productsto just four countries. Today, wehave one of the most advancedR&D centres in the two-wheel-er world in Kukas with over1,000 engineers, products havejust started rolling out of oureighth plant in Andhra Pradeshand we have two global facto-ries in Bangladesh andColombia and we are present inover 40 countries globally. I’msure our next 100 million willhappen a lot faster than ourfirst 100 million.”

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The UK Government willpresent the Budget on

March 11 as previouslyannounced, the new Indian-origin Chancellor of theExchequer Rishi Sunak said onTuesday as he vowed to unleashthe country’s potential anddeliver the promises made tothe voters.

There had been muchspeculation that the Budgetcould be delayed after the 39-year-old son-in-law of Infosysco-founder Narayana Murthyreplaced Pakistani-origin SajidJavid following his shock res-ignation on February 13.

Now it will be presented aspreviously scheduled on March11, he said on his maidenBudget. Sunak tweeted that hewas “cracking on” with prepa-rations” and would deliver thepromises made to voters aheadof December’s General Electionwon by the Conservative Partyled by Prime Minister BorisJohnson.

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The rupee tumbled by 22paise to settle at a nearly

three-week low of 71.54 againstthe US dollar on Tuesday asconcerns over the economicfallout from coronavirus out-break continued to roil forexmarket sentiment.

Besides, sustained foreignfund outflows and subduedequities also put pressure onthe rupee.

Starting off the session ona weaker note, the rupee weak-ened further to hit the day’s lowof 71.56 against the Americancurrency. The domestic unitfinally settled down by 22 paiseat 71.54, a level not seen sinceJanuary 30.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, rose by 0.15 per cent to99.15.

The 10-year governmentbond yield was at 6.39 per cent.

Global crude oil bench-mark Brent futures dropped1.89 per cent to trade at USD56.58 per barrel.

“Rupee started the day ona weak note crossing beyond71.50, majorly on back of sell-ing from institution in riskyassets as FIIs (are) likely to bepulling out money from equi-ties as the global market weighsslowdown effects of risingCoronavirus threat in China,”LKP Securities Senior ResearchAnalyst (Commodity &Currency) Jateen Trivedi said.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 71.4259 and forrupee/euro at 77.4162. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 93.1737 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at65.02.

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The EU on Tuesday putPanama back on its black-

list of tax havens after decidingthe country had not doneenough to meet global trans-parency standards.

Panama, along with theCayman Islands, Seychellesand Palau were added to eightother territories alreadydeemed to be “non-cooperativetax jurisdictions,” the Councilof the EU said in a statement following a meet-ing of the bloc’s finance min-isters.

They join AmericanSamoa, Fiji, Guam, Oman,Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago,the US Virgin Islands andVanuatu on the list.

The addition of theCayman Islands representedthe first time an overseasBritish territory was placed onthe EU’s blacklist.

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Equity benchmark indicesSensex and Nifty settled

with losses for the fourthstraight session on Tuesday asthe ongoing AGR issueweighed on telecom and finan-cial stocks.

After trading in the deepred for a better part of the ses-sion, the BSE gauge Sensexreclaimed most of its lostground towards the fag-end. Atthe closing bell, the index wasdown 161.31 points or 0.39 percent at 40,894.38.

Intra-day, the Sensex fellover 444 points and touchedthe day’s low of 40,610.95.

The NSE barometer Niftytoo staged a late recovery fromthe day’s low and settled at11,992.50, showing a fall of53.30 points or 0.44 per cent.

On the Sensex chart, BhartiAirtel was the biggest loser withnearly 3 per cent drop in itsshare price. It was followed byIndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki,HeroMoto Corp and Tata Steel.

The Supreme Court onMonday refused to stop thetelecom department from tak-ing any coercive steps for recov-ery of dues from VodafoneIdea.

Shares of Vodafone Idea onTuesday tanked more than 16per cent in intra-day trade due

to rating downgrade on AGRdues and other issues of thecompany.

Reliance Industriesdeclined nearly 1 per cent afterit announced consolidation ofall its media and distributionbusinesses under flagship‘Network18’.

The three group entitiesnamely Hathway Cable &Datacom, Den Networks andTV18 Broadcast — whichwould be merged intoNetwork18 — rose by 20 percent, 9.98 per cent and 14.7 percent, respectively.

“Market sentiment contin-ued to be hit by Covid-19 afterthe issue of warning note from

a key global MNC regardingthe sales impact. Global weak-ness is expected to hurt domes-tic market as high valuationand low economic growth isnot supportive,” Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services commented.

Also, the huge governmentdues to be paid by telecom sec-tor will keep banking stocks

volatile impacting the marketperformance, Nair added.

In contrast, SBI, Infosys,PowerGrid, Tech Mahindraand TCS featured among majorgainers.

Sectorally, BSE telecomindex suffered the most byshedding over 4 per cent. Othertop laggards included metal,auto and realty indices.

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Shares of Vodafone Idea onTuesday settledover 11 per

cent down in the wake of con-tinuing business uncertaintyover payment of statutory dues.

The scrip has been closingin the red for the past sevenconsecutive sessions. The com-pany’s credit rating has alsobeen downgraded by two rat-ing agencies. On the BSE, thestock plunged 17.25 per cent totrade at a low of �2.83. It set-tled with a loss of 11.40 per centat �3.03.

The scrip plummeted 17.64per cent to �2.80 on theNational Stock Exchange(NSE). It closed 10.29 per centlower at �3.05.

In terms of traded volume,more than 64 crore shares ofthe company were traded onthe NSE and over 15 crore unitsexchanged hands on the BSE.

During the day, spurt involume was more than 3.11times on the BSE.

The stock has been on alosing spree for the past seventrading sessions on the BSE. Ithas plunged 43.9 per cent sinceFebruary 7.

Since then, the companyhas lost more than Rs 5,800crore in market capitalisation.

The company on Tuesdaysaid India Ratings andResearch (Ind-Ra) has down-graded its rating on non-con-vertible debentures (NCDs) of�3,500 crore.

“The downgrade is onaccount of severe stress on thecompany’s near-term liquidityafter the Supreme Court’s rulingon February 14, 2020, whichdirected the telecom companiesto pay the adjusted gross rev-enue (AGR) related liabilities tothe government of India byMarch 17, 2020,” Vodafone Ideasaid in a BSE filing.

Care Ratings on Mondaydowngraded the company’srating on its long-term bankfacilities and non-convertibledebentures.

The downgrade is onaccount of “significant ero-sion” in the overall risk profileof the company in the wake ofabsence of relief on modifica-tion plea relating to AGR dueson February 14. It also takescognisance of recent losses suf-fered by the company in thequarter ended December 2019.

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Amid talks of theGovernment mulling

encashing of bank guaranteeover default in payment ofdues, Vodafone Idea ChairmanKumar Mangalam Birla onTuesday met Telecom SecretaryAnshu Prakash as he looked foroptions to keep the companyafloat.

After the meeting, Birlasaid he “cannot say anything atthe moment.”

Birla, who met the telecomsecretary for over an hour, wasaccompanied by RavinderTakkar, MD & CEO ofVodafone Idea.

He refused to respond toqueries on whether or notVodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) woulddefault on payment of AGRdues or if the company couldhead towards insolvency.

Vodafone Idea on Mondaypaid Rs 2,500 crore to DoT andpromised to pay another Rs1,000 crore before the end ofthe week.

But the amount paid fornow is less than 5 per cent ofthe dues that the DoT estimatesthe company owes to the gov-ernment following a SupremeCourt ruling that asked forincluding non-telecom rev-enues of telcos in computingstatutory payments such aslicence fee and spectrumcharges. The Supreme Court onMonday refused to stop DoTfrom taking any coercive stepsfor recovery of dues fromVodafone Idea.

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Throwing his weight behindFinance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman’s budget numbers,Reserve Bank GovernorShaktikanta Das has said thatthere is no reason to doubt thatthe government will be able tocut fiscal deficit to 3.5 per centof the GDP in the fiscal begin-ning April 1.

In an interview with PTI,Das said the government hasremained within the limits setby the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management(FRBM) Committee for thebudget deficit.

The government misseddeficit target for the third yearin a row, pushing shortfall to3.8 per cent of the GDP in thecurrent fiscal as compared to3.3 per cent previously planned.The fiscal deficit target for thecoming fiscal year startingApril 1, has been fixed at 3.5per cent.

The fiscal deficit is theshortfall in a government’sincome compared with itsspending. It essentially meansthat the government is spend-ing beyond its means.

“With regard to the fiscal

management of the govern-ment, the government hasremained within the recom-mendations FRBM committee,”Das said. “So, therefore, theexcess fiscal deficit has beenrestricted to 0.5 per cent. Thegovernment has adhered to thatand a large part of the financingof fiscal deficit next year willcome from small savings.”

The FRBM committeeheaded by N K Singh had rec-ommended fiscal deficit to becut to 2.8 per cent in 2020-21fiscal and to 2.5 per cent byFY2023.

The panel had suggested an“escape clause” in case of over-riding consideration of nation-al security, acts of war, calami-ties of national proportion andcollapse of agriculture severe-ly affecting farm output andincomes. Under this, a devia-tion from the stipulated fiscaldeficit target can be taken butnot in excess of 0.5 percentagepoints in a year.

Das said there is no reasonto doubt that the fiscal deficitfor the next year would be met.

“There is no reason foranyone to doubt that number.The Budget has been present-ed just about a fortnight ago,”

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China will waive trade-wartariffs on imports of select-

ed US medical equipment fromMarch 2, the Government saidTuesday, as the country battles tocontain the new coronavirusepidemic. The move comes asdoctors and nurses treating viruspatients in China’s overstretchedhospitals struggle to deal with thehealth crisis amid a shortage ofbasic medical items.

More than 72,000 peoplehave been infected by the out-break of the new COVID-19strain in China, which hasclaimed the lives of over 1,800people.

Patient monitors, bloodtransfusion equipment andinstruments to measure bloodpressure are among the prod-ucts that qualify for the exemp-tions, according to a list releasedby the Tariff Commission of theState Council. They are among696 US products that nowqualify for waivers, includingkey agricultural and energyitems such as frozen pork andbeef, soybeans and liquifiednatural gas.

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Script Open High Low LTPINDUSINDBK 1174.00 1174.05 1109.20 1144.15TATACHEM 756.00 756.55 743.20 750.00BHARTIARTL 564.00 568.60 537.65 547.75MUTHOOTFIN 872.20 898.00 846.40 869.00RELIANCE 1479.00 1479.00 1458.00 1466.10IDEA 3.28 3.28 2.83 3.03SBIN 315.90 319.00 309.50 317.60HDFC 2346.00 2346.00 2304.25 2323.15YESBANK 37.45 37.55 33.70 35.05TATASTEEL 434.60 434.75 421.35 431.65TATAMOTORS 168.40 168.40 158.60 161.60DMART 2330.00 2386.00 2307.35 2365.30IBULHSGFIN 308.05 308.70 293.45 300.00LICHSGFIN 382.00 382.45 354.50 363.65MARUTI 6922.15 6934.50 6701.00 6772.00HCLTECH 614.00 615.65 605.00 607.00TCS 2209.90 2221.35 2186.75 2215.30NCC 42.70 42.70 37.70 41.45ICICIBANK 541.00 543.15 536.15 541.30APOLLOHOSP 1728.70 1783.30 1706.65 1775.35RBLBANK 307.25 308.05 292.25 302.05MIDHANI 228.00 237.30 214.00 219.10LT 1281.00 1289.65 1266.65 1286.25TATAGLOBAL 380.90 386.25 373.40 382.05ABBOTINDIA 14671.65 15650.00 14550.00 15456.95INFRATEL 235.00 236.10 200.70 210.10HDFCBANK 1215.00 1218.00 1204.00 1213.55PRSMJOHNSN 63.55 64.95 63.20 63.70AXISBANK 737.60 737.60 724.65 733.40HDFCAMC 3240.00 3246.75 3183.55 3220.35POWERGRID 183.00 185.90 181.00 185.00JSWSTEEL 289.05 289.05 281.10 284.85IRCON 522.30 564.00 511.00 555.70MGL 1134.00 1174.60 1118.00 1137.60ULTRACEMCO 4464.00 4486.40 4371.95 4469.40BAJAJFINSV 9500.15 9559.40 9438.05 9530.75BAJFINANCE 4777.05 4777.05 4704.00 4753.05HINDUNILVR 2260.00 2260.00 2222.15 2232.90ACC 1422.05 1427.00 1403.25 1422.05BANKBARODA 82.25 82.30 78.15 81.05ONGC 100.30 100.30 96.60 99.25COALINDIA 169.30 174.00 165.00 172.15DLF 217.00 219.25 216.60 218.15JINDALSTEL 189.00 189.15 181.85 185.20ASIANPAINT 1880.00 1884.80 1862.00 1863.30TATAELXSI 985.95 991.65 936.00 968.05BPCL 460.65 472.35 456.50 470.70TITAN 1317.00 1318.40 1302.00 1311.10BATAINDIA 1785.00 1817.80 1785.00 1797.45ITC 204.95 204.95 200.30 203.90INFY 787.00 798.90 783.30 797.45ZEEL 240.30 247.10 238.65 245.55KOTAKBANK 1691.00 1699.00 1678.80 1691.05BALKRISIND 1270.00 1273.45 1228.95 1238.25IGL 467.00 479.80 462.00 470.70JUSTDIAL 505.85 505.85 480.50 488.95CIPLA 434.55 437.50 428.50 435.65NIITTECH 1830.00 1853.75 1808.00 1849.05TV18BRDCST 27.90 30.10 27.35 28.85MANAPPURAM 169.80 171.35 166.75 170.55COLPAL 1331.00 1332.75 1306.80 1325.20AUROPHARMA 491.45 502.80 482.50 500.20PEL 1533.00 1533.00 1473.95 1522.30DEEPAKNI 454.20 491.55 432.00 482.55ESCORTS 885.40 896.50 872.65 888.10DELTACORP 155.70 155.70 146.65 149.95BRITANNIA 3075.35 3075.35 3022.10 3065.70NTPC 109.75 110.70 103.90 109.70NAM-INDIA 377.80 394.50 366.00 391.65ASHOKLEY 81.35 81.55 79.20 80.25PNB 52.00 52.45 49.90 52.05DRREDDY 3262.05 3281.90 3235.00 3250.20BEML 915.00 915.00 871.95 876.55IOC 111.75 115.10 110.45 112.70STAR 502.40 502.40 483.20 487.85SUNPHARMA 408.40 410.75 399.10 408.70WOCKPHARMA 351.05 352.95 324.75 335.40CANBK 174.80 174.80 167.65 172.90BHEL 34.40 34.90 33.40 34.70EICHERMOT 18698.80 18791.80 18360.75 18763.00ADANIENT 251.80 251.85 245.40 249.40INDIGO 1455.55 1479.00 1428.00 1470.15MOTHERSUMI 122.85 124.35 116.60 123.35IPCALAB 1378.00 1380.30 1307.00 1313.45GODREJIND 405.00 420.15 403.50 417.95SRTRANSFIN 1285.65 1285.65 1246.20 1274.75HEROMOTOCO 2267.00 2280.20 2225.00 2253.40CGCL 214.20 216.00 212.10 214.75SBILIFE 913.00 921.00 907.10 916.00JUBLFOOD 1844.70 1858.40 1812.70 1832.45NAVINFLUOR 1195.05 1288.50 1195.00 1278.85VEDL 142.40 142.40 137.55 140.60PFC 126.40 128.30 123.20 127.70TEAMLEASE 2430.00 2498.35 2335.35 2434.75NESTLEIND 16555.00 16565.00 16375.00 16400.80CEATLTD 1018.00 1063.00 998.15 1045.75L&TFH 123.70 123.70 119.95 122.30BIOCON 303.50 304.05 295.10 300.15SRF 4161.00 4170.25 4125.00 4163.55IDFCFIRSTB 38.80 38.80 37.80 38.45FEDERALBNK 84.50 84.60 81.00 81.95ADANIPOWER 56.00 57.10 55.30 56.70DIVISLAB 2164.90 2180.40 2143.65 2176.45LUPIN 711.00 711.40 694.20 705.80RAJESHEXPO 726.00 726.00 706.00 714.50HEXAWARE 368.00 393.60 366.50 384.90UNIONBANK 46.80 46.80 40.20 43.30

TORNTPOWER 318.00 321.35 306.25 309.65HDFCLIFE 564.10 565.10 556.10 562.60BERGEPAINT 577.00 580.05 570.25 579.30MFSL 491.75 505.50 486.65 502.35SUNTV 476.00 480.90 464.55 471.70BANDHANBNK 436.00 437.80 420.50 422.50PAGEIND 22749.95 22900.00 22240.00 22822.25MINDTREE 993.50 1000.00 982.10 996.70OMAXE 167.00 167.00 154.65 154.90SAIL 42.55 42.65 40.75 41.95GLENMARK 312.20 313.40 303.60 311.95AVANTI 583.80 598.15 562.20 564.40BEL 82.60 83.80 79.50 83.05HAVELLS 603.00 603.45 589.25 600.70VOLTAS 694.00 700.70 684.65 693.85RITES 309.90 319.50 300.40 313.10HINDALCO 189.85 189.85 181.90 184.50SPICEJET 86.20 86.50 82.60 84.05HEG 1001.45 1010.15 966.50 999.75TECHM 827.45 840.00 827.45 838.55M&M 522.00 524.85 514.30 523.25JAICORPLTD 97.85 98.20 92.65 96.35MCX 1265.00 1305.00 1260.00 1296.15GRANULES 174.55 180.50 172.60 179.10TRENT 751.65 764.00 716.00 726.80INFIBEAM 57.20 57.50 55.40 56.80BOMDYEING 82.80 82.80 78.80 81.35RAYMOND 586.40 586.50 570.40 578.70UPL 590.00 590.30 574.10 585.55GAIL 118.50 119.75 116.95 119.45JINDALSAW 91.30 93.15 87.45 89.20GRAPHITE 266.90 266.90 260.05 263.55HINDPETRO 230.40 230.40 222.50 224.90BANKINDIA 60.25 60.70 58.35 60.35GODREJAGRO 532.00 540.65 523.70 528.60DABUR 499.00 506.85 496.20 504.85ISEC 475.00 498.55 471.20 490.95MARICO 298.85 300.70 292.00 299.55MRF 71307.55 71307.55 69550.10 69700.95AJANTPHARM 1356.00 1356.00 1276.00 1293.00CASTROLIND 156.55 157.90 150.40 155.80VENKYS 1401.30 1483.00 1369.40 1414.70PIDILITIND 1588.65 1590.30 1569.30 1582.00GRASIM 736.00 736.00 715.10 724.10NMDC 100.30 100.85 97.00 99.50NBCC 30.55 30.55 28.50 29.00MASFIN 985.00 1048.90 947.70 1018.15ADANIGREEN 199.55 200.05 188.55 189.30NAUKRI 2785.25 2910.75 2751.25 2789.90BAJAJ-AUTO 3060.00 3090.00 3036.00 3082.45JSWENERGY 64.05 68.40 64.05 65.75UJJIVAN 388.60 388.60 375.00 385.70

TVSMOTOR 432.00 443.20 424.50 438.45DCAL* 87.20 95.65 87.20 95.50WELCORP 203.55 209.30 200.20 207.35SPARC 165.80 166.45 160.55 163.50TATAPOWER 52.25 52.25 50.55 51.50OIL 130.30 133.35 127.00 131.80ADANIPORTS 361.05 367.95 358.50 366.55RADICO 408.60 422.85 401.30 419.25BHARATFORG 484.85 484.85 473.20 480.25SCI 54.65 56.90 52.80 56.05NATIONALUM 39.15 39.20 38.20 39.05TATAMTRDVR 68.90 68.90 64.60 66.45RECLTD 138.95 138.95 134.20 136.95M&MFIN 372.60 372.75 364.85 370.00PFIZER 4030.00 4172.40 4020.00 4128.35AUBANK 1139.00 1158.05 1131.50 1149.45INDIACEM 73.00 73.00 69.55 71.70SHREECEM 24009.10 24009.10 23304.55 23798.35SIEMENS 1375.00 1399.55 1363.00 1395.90FRETAIL 376.80 377.40 352.45 362.30PIIND 1528.00 1540.05 1500.45 1536.10WHIRLPOOL 2212.75 2309.75 2212.75 2300.65JUBILANT 513.55 513.80 489.15 496.60POLYCAB 1057.95 1078.00 1030.00 1071.00AMARAJABAT 765.85 780.00 757.15 776.40TORNTPHARM 2135.00 2156.60 2114.05 2132.00GODREJCP 634.80 634.80 613.25 620.70ADANIGAS 164.55 167.30 163.40 164.10FORCEMOT 1272.80 1280.00 1231.60 1251.70IRB 96.40 101.25 94.50 99.95GODREJPROP 1130.00 1135.40 1097.80 1113.30STRTECH 113.00 113.00 108.20 109.15LALPATHLAB 1650.00 1660.05 1580.05 1629.95SUNTECK 391.95 392.80 381.40 389.90GUJGAS 286.60 290.00 277.20 286.45AMBUJACEM 203.20 203.30 197.80 200.95SUDARSCHEM 468.00 480.50 456.75 469.60RPOWER 1.76 1.77 1.68 1.71

FSL 43.20 45.50 42.85 45.00PHILIPCARB 125.40 126.75 122.35 125.80ICICIPRULI 475.00 475.00 466.00 471.90DIXON 4539.00 4598.80 4460.00 4503.90ABCAPITAL 86.60 89.00 85.15 88.55ALKEM 2505.00 2640.00 2505.00 2620.50WIPRO 243.75 244.80 241.20 244.10DCBBANK 170.00 173.00 166.60 171.90MEGH 55.40 58.90 54.50 58.15ABFRL 263.35 270.50 259.55 261.70PTC 50.50 51.35 50.10 51.00RELINFRA 21.75 22.25 20.90 21.90CREDITACC 834.00 902.80 830.50 890.55PVR 2092.00 2093.90 2054.00 2085.70RVNL 22.60 22.90 21.95 22.50APOLLOTYRE 154.50 154.50 150.50 151.45PETRONET 255.20 260.80 254.85 260.05JBCHEPHARM 561.45 561.45 516.45 533.30PCJEWELLER 17.70 17.80 17.00 17.10GMRINFRA 23.00 23.10 22.00 22.55GODFRYPHLP 1322.00 1322.40 1292.20 1301.15NOCIL 86.60 88.35 84.90 88.00BALRAMCHIN 170.95 170.95 161.35 163.30RELAXO 815.05 826.70 810.90 815.85CANFINHOME 508.80 512.70 504.35 510.05METROPOLIS 1752.50 1845.00 1746.95 1826.80EXIDEIND 177.20 178.05 173.90 177.60EQUITAS 107.00 107.30 104.60 106.40WESTLIFE 460.55 469.25 448.00 467.10GILLETTE 6125.00 6125.00 5851.20 5906.40CROMPTON 299.00 299.00 281.70 285.35PNBHOUSING 415.00 415.00 404.00 407.40CONCOR 550.05 550.05 532.10 535.20VIPIND 456.00 467.40 448.75 450.65CARERATING 510.00 514.65 485.05 488.95SANOFI 7203.75 7205.00 6982.95 7174.05NHPC 22.00 22.15 21.10 21.55IBREALEST 86.90 88.00 83.10 86.95ORIENTBANK 43.00 43.50 40.35 41.80EDELWEISS 85.50 89.80 85.00 89.05CADILAHC 266.00 269.00 261.30 268.00INDIANB 82.00 82.00 78.00 80.25FORTIS 151.10 155.40 149.65 152.70EIDPARRY 210.90 210.90 197.80 205.05BOSCHLTD 14850.00 14864.35 14475.50 14561.25ENGINERSIN 83.45 83.45 78.40 78.80GNFC 176.10 176.10 171.00 173.15SUZLON 2.33 2.33 2.22 2.26CUMMINSIND 536.45 536.45 523.65 530.10AEGISLOG 252.00 257.70 246.95 255.95RAIN 103.05 104.50 99.05 103.65ASTRAL 1192.10 1192.10 1163.25 1177.80ITI 80.55 82.50 80.05 81.60KTKBANK 76.95 77.20 75.05 76.45AAVAS 1909.05 1945.35 1873.05 1933.95LTI 1991.00 2025.50 1936.80 1962.00UBL 1294.00 1294.00 1256.80 1270.05LAURUSLABS 435.90 435.90 422.35 429.05SHILPAMED 430.00 447.00 411.40 438.40RCF 41.50 43.75 41.05 43.50PNCINFRA 207.45 208.65 194.60 201.15NESCO 739.00 745.00 713.30 741.35DBL 359.70 360.05 344.05 352.45BLISSGVS 141.80 141.95 139.50 140.70HINDZINC 189.00 189.10 184.65 185.60WELSPUNIND 45.45 45.70 43.45 44.45CHAMBLFERT 161.60 161.60 151.80 154.10HATHWAY 22.80 23.10 21.75 23.10INOXLEISUR 469.70 476.40 459.75 473.70OBEROIRLTY 501.10 519.50 500.50 510.60EMAMILTD 284.45 284.45 266.50 273.45IDBI 34.50 34.70 33.25 34.103MINDIA 22189.10 22189.10 22007.35 22127.30GSPL 240.20 243.65 228.75 233.50PARAGMILK 103.20 103.45 98.10 100.85DISHTV 11.10 11.32 10.74 10.95ADANITRANS 314.65 314.65 297.00 301.20BAJAJHLDNG 3685.20 3715.00 3683.35 3697.80GREAVESCOT 139.95 145.60 137.80 142.60LAOPALA 196.30 214.50 192.20 211.50JKCEMENT 1410.15 1420.25 1380.00 1402.95SHANKARA 488.05 502.00 488.05 488.45ASTRAZEN 2734.25 2796.20 2667.60 2729.40GALAXYSURF 1575.00 1640.00 1501.00 1618.70HONAUT 36000.00 36550.00 35200.05 35551.80GLAXO 1321.00 1349.40 1318.00 1344.60AKZOINDIA 2317.00 2407.95 2317.00 2336.10BASF 865.95 866.90 834.00 845.25VBL 794.65 820.00 780.65 806.30DHFL 10.30 10.34 9.87 10.34BBTC 1130.90 1130.90 1107.00 1120.10GSFC 73.50 73.50 68.00 69.45J&KBANK 17.55 19.65 17.50 18.25ORIENTELEC 268.00 268.65 257.55 261.00IIFL 199.25 201.20 185.00 193.05RALLIS 231.30 231.30 225.50 230.10LTTS 1717.00 1727.00 1666.00 1691.25CCL 239.20 247.70 234.30 245.65PRESTIGE 356.40 356.40 342.00 348.40HEIDELBERG 197.15 201.65 195.05 199.30TATACOFFEE 90.60 91.40 89.70 91.00NILKAMAL 1494.35 1525.00 1456.65 1503.15RELCAPITAL 7.11 7.14 6.75 6.90RESPONIND 90.75 90.75 88.00 88.70ICICIGI 1343.00 1343.95 1327.00 1338.70HFCL 16.85 17.15 16.70 16.90VINATIORGA 980.75 985.50 960.00 971.40CUB 221.20 222.00 219.80 220.40

SJVN 25.00 25.65 24.75 25.30KEC 337.50 338.80 330.25 334.35HSCL 52.00 52.05 49.80 51.20JAGRAN* 69.95 70.30 68.20 68.70AMBER 1549.25 1569.00 1533.00 1554.75FINOLEXIND 553.35 559.10 548.00 548.85MAHSCOOTER 4775.00 4775.00 4650.00 4664.00JMFINANCIL 108.80 111.55 103.00 110.35GSKCONS 9729.95 9729.95 9581.00 9604.00THYROCARE 635.00 635.00 612.00 618.20TIMKEN 1048.55 1048.55 1000.50 1034.30INDHOTEL 131.00 132.50 126.85 130.80JCHAC 2878.00 2945.55 2751.30 2903.45CESC 681.50 689.00 673.30 686.15NATCOPHARM 669.75 669.75 635.00 637.25INTELLECT 137.00 140.90 134.40 137.95ITDC 299.30 306.50 293.70 295.05APLLTD 649.65 649.65 637.45 645.65CHOLAFIN 332.25 332.25 322.25 327.95LINDEINDIA 763.50 779.95 755.00 760.00GICRE 212.05 212.05 205.65 207.75QUESS 589.05 589.05 572.95 580.10UFLEX 222.75 223.00 217.00 221.45SADBHAV 98.90 98.90 87.00 89.90ATUL 4974.90 5017.15 4920.00 4996.95MOTILALOFS 766.20 785.40 750.10 775.25CHOLAHLDNG 533.10 542.00 504.60 538.70KANSAINER 514.80 514.80 498.85 502.50MAHINDCIE 164.00 164.70 150.25 158.85CAPPL 330.00 350.70 324.00 345.45COCHINSHIP 343.00 350.00 337.55 342.80HINDCOPPER 35.80 35.80 34.65 35.15HUDCO 33.40 33.90 32.55 33.80VMART 2196.55 2299.00 2196.45 2283.95NLCINDIA 52.50 53.55 50.55 52.65KRBL 305.40 308.25 297.00 298.80SOUTHBANK 9.86 9.87 9.62 9.70IEX 195.00 195.00 181.30 185.90LEMONTREE 59.25 59.50 57.65 59.00NIACL 132.10 132.10 127.80 129.75GDL 123.50 127.80 123.40 127.05BAJAJELEC 395.15 419.00 391.55 414.25SCHNEIDER 103.00 104.90 99.50 101.15COROMANDEL 617.00 627.00 604.40 623.60APLAPOLLO 2023.50 2036.00 1990.00 2019.50WABAG 209.35 209.45 200.05 202.05JKTYRE 67.50 67.50 65.30 66.25JAMNAAUTO 41.90 41.90 39.05 39.90FINCABLES 374.65 374.65 360.30 363.30REDINGTON 117.00 119.00 112.10 118.15ASHOKA 99.90 99.90 94.95 97.05SUPREMEIND 1385.00 1400.00 1385.00 1393.65CHENNPETRO 117.00 122.00 112.15 114.80NH 339.90 351.95 334.90 347.85GESHIP 273.00 276.05 269.00 273.65LUXIND 1680.00 1680.00 1571.35 1581.40JSLHISAR 74.40 75.90 72.70 75.40BLUESTARCO 848.00 848.00 818.00 835.75REPCOHOME 301.00 302.60 288.75 292.45THERMAX 981.10 981.10 949.90 967.55KEI 529.00 532.30 528.50 529.60SOBHA 375.30 375.35 363.00 364.35TRIDENT 5.63 5.70 5.55 5.57LAXMIMACH 3255.00 3295.00 3214.70 3271.95MMTC 19.20 19.50 18.80 19.35MOIL 140.00 141.10 137.15 137.70MINDAIND 373.80 379.20 371.50 374.20TCIEXP 908.65 919.00 885.70 905.60IDFC 34.25 34.25 33.45 33.80SYMPHONY 1355.00 1360.00 1336.50 1351.85DCMSHRIRAM 356.70 356.70 340.10 350.65TATAINVEST 921.45 938.00 916.70 933.50MRPL 41.00 41.35 39.65 40.30KNRCON 282.45 286.35 266.00 285.20IFCI 6.00 6.05 5.78 5.88SUNDRMFAST 451.55 451.60 445.45 446.35AIAENG 1808.05 1819.85 1771.55 1800.95FINEORG 2191.00 2197.65 2156.65 2186.80PGHL 4205.25 4287.00 4102.00 4240.70ITDCEM 58.50 58.60 54.90 56.30DALBHARAT 858.50 859.95 838.00 840.55SONATSOFTW 337.90 339.00 333.60 336.25JISLJALEQS 6.60 6.60 6.32 6.32MPHASIS 917.60 921.00 886.65 896.30VARROC 408.15 408.15 385.00 401.65ALBK 14.60 14.60 13.75 14.00GICHSGFIN 120.20 120.20 116.30 117.45GUJALKALI 367.70 370.85 357.00 360.80BDL 270.00 271.45 260.10 268.60PGHH 11310.00 11323.15 11220.00 11249.25ERIS 433.00 454.50 430.50 446.30BAJAJCON 197.45 197.45 189.00 194.90DEEPAKFERT 97.05 97.35 94.25 95.90KALPATPOWR 379.00 379.00 368.00 372.45MINDACORP 110.95 113.30 107.30 112.00ASTERDM 168.20 172.30 165.45 167.90HAL 720.00 723.80 699.65 705.00BAYERCROP 4260.00 4263.55 4216.10 4257.75SIS 568.05 592.00 544.00 585.95TIINDIA 495.00 498.50 481.05 487.55CYIENT 440.70 446.40 430.15 445.45CRISIL 1592.55 1595.70 1541.00 1590.25SYNDIBANK 22.35 22.35 21.20 21.70KPITTECH 86.50 86.50 84.90 85.25BALMLAWRIE 109.75 111.90 108.60 109.70SFL 1624.90 1662.00 1615.35 1658.45RAMCOCEM 790.00 790.00 777.00 788.50KAJARIACER 539.00 539.00 525.55 527.05

SHK 115.45 115.90 109.30 110.45ZYDUSWELL 1475.00 1485.45 1461.00 1481.50ANDHRABANK 15.05 15.25 14.50 14.70TIMETECHNO 52.75 52.75 49.25 50.35DHANUKA 520.00 525.00 506.00 516.70CORPBANK 21.20 21.20 20.30 20.80HERITGFOOD 344.65 347.75 327.65 332.65ALLCARGO 109.10 110.55 108.10 109.80MAXINDIA 84.30 85.50 83.05 84.95SWANENERGY 126.50 127.85 122.15 124.00PERSISTENT 700.35 713.10 697.50 708.25TATAMETALI 580.00 595.60 571.05 588.40WABCOINDIA 6841.30 6853.75 6790.50 6800.10JYOTHYLAB 130.00 131.45 127.50 130.40ADVENZYMES 160.60 160.80 157.30 159.25BIRLACORPN 748.10 749.00 738.75 744.90IOB 10.00 10.00 9.03 9.09GHCL* 175.15 175.15 170.50 171.55SYNGENE 305.45 307.55 304.65 306.85IBULISL 100.70 100.75 97.90 97.90FCONSUMER 21.45 21.50 21.10 21.30TAKE 100.00 100.00 97.20 98.20JSL 39.80 39.95 38.85 39.05TTKPRESTIG 5944.00 5944.00 5833.90 5841.80UCOBANK 13.90 13.90 13.50 13.70CENTRALBK 16.75 16.75 16.30 16.50GRINDWELL 648.00 648.00 615.10 621.70LAKSHVILAS 17.15 17.40 17.15 17.15FDC 244.90 245.05 237.75 238.95GET&D 145.00 145.40 139.55 141.00BLUEDART 2900.00 2910.00 2850.00 2899.20JKLAKSHMI 330.00 330.00 323.00 324.90CENTURYPLY 152.20 153.50 150.00 151.75CENTRUM 19.25 20.10 18.70 19.75GMDCLTD 59.00 59.00 55.50 57.00INDOSTAR 286.00 286.00 281.75 281.80HIMATSEIDE 101.35 101.35 97.70 99.45RATNAMANI 1311.00 1322.65 1300.00 1318.60MAHLIFE 377.40 380.20 367.65 378.65VGUARD 204.20 204.30 199.40 202.15ECLERX 613.00 623.20 598.80 601.95GPPL 79.90 79.90 77.85 78.40TEJASNET 70.00 70.00 66.70 67.30TVTODAY 264.70 264.70 242.60 247.40TNPL 169.25 169.25 165.00 167.30OFSS 2892.55 2892.55 2856.00 2863.10MHRIL 224.70 225.05 223.25 224.60ESSELPRO 183.70 187.15 177.75 181.60VAIBHAVGBL 1137.70 1141.25 1123.30 1130.45MAHABANK 11.80 11.88 11.49 11.77ZENSARTECH 142.45 144.95 138.05 140.80ENDURANCE 1045.85 1057.55 1029.50 1051.35SOLARINDS 1146.15 1190.00 1138.35 1164.00VSTIND 4319.05 4375.00 4300.75 4331.50INOXWIND 38.00 38.00 37.00 37.50TVSSRICHAK 1589.95 1648.00 1589.95 1598.30DBCORP 124.80 125.35 124.00 125.05PHOENIXLTD 856.00 858.00 847.05 851.85GARFIBRES 1496.80 1515.00 1478.00 1489.65MAHSEAMLES 344.75 344.75 335.10 338.55SCHAEFFLER 4445.35 4582.85 4370.00 4554.30VTL 1025.95 1032.00 1021.85 1031.60ORIENTCEM 79.25 80.50 78.75 80.15SUPRAJIT 188.20 196.75 187.00 195.00BRIGADE 227.50 228.70 223.40 226.05FLFL 404.00 404.00 388.45 390.00CERA 2370.30 2414.15 2370.30 2385.85MAHLOG 403.25 414.15 398.60 400.40NBVENTURES 70.45 71.50 67.55 68.40CHALET 344.95 354.55 344.95 349.10CARBORUNIV 336.25 340.20 333.50 340.05EIHOTEL 136.70 137.60 133.30 136.00UNITEDBNK 7.76 7.76 7.49 7.72IFBIND 560.00 560.00 515.25 522.65NETWORK18 30.05 30.05 30.05 30.05SKFINDIA 1958.95 1960.90 1943.70 1952.60STARCEMENT 85.25 85.90 85.00 85.60SHRIRAMCIT 1451.60 1453.80 1407.70 1419.55MAGMA 50.45 50.75 49.85 50.70ARVINDFASN 377.00 378.95 373.15 378.00VRLLOG 248.05 248.05 244.70 245.45SOMANYCERA 209.40 209.40 203.30 204.50GULFOILLUB 755.45 755.45 742.65 743.05GEPIL 762.75 781.20 760.05 769.55TCNSBRANDS 561.15 564.90 555.20 556.05KPRMILL 632.70 636.30 622.30 633.55SHOPERSTOP 379.75 384.60 379.20 383.90GAYAPROJ 28.00 28.00 28.00 28.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12028.25 12030.75 11908.05 11992.50 -53.30COALINDIA 168.10 173.95 165.00 172.75 4.90ZEEL 240.00 247.55 238.65 245.70 6.50BPCL 461.75 472.50 456.00 472.30 10.65GAIL 118.00 119.75 116.75 119.75 1.75ADANIPORTS 362.50 368.45 358.35 368.00 5.20SBIN 315.40 319.20 309.40 318.05 3.85CIPLA 433.00 437.65 428.10 437.00 5.10EICHERMOT 18500.00 18791.95 18339.60 18751.25 215.35INFY 785.00 799.05 783.65 798.50 9.05POWERGRID 182.60 186.35 180.85 185.20 1.60IOC 111.90 115.10 110.45 112.70 0.90TECHM 825.35 840.00 825.35 838.55 5.30LT 1281.50 1289.80 1266.45 1288.00 7.80TCS 2199.95 2221.00 2186.05 2215.00 11.75ULTRACEMCO 4433.60 4488.20 4370.10 4470.70 20.85BAJAJ-AUTO 3064.70 3090.55 3033.50 3086.00 10.40BAJAJFINSV 9527.00 9564.95 9416.00 9550.00 21.15KOTAKBANK 1682.50 1699.80 1678.30 1692.95 1.85M&M 520.50 524.90 514.10 523.20 0.45WIPRO 243.75 244.85 241.25 244.00 0.20NTPC 109.60 110.90 103.80 110.30 0.00HDFCBANK 1216.90 1218.50 1203.50 1217.05 -0.10ICICIBANK 541.00 544.40 536.00 540.90 -0.70BAJFINANCE 4769.40 4771.95 4701.60 4770.00 -6.65BRITANNIA 3080.00 3080.00 3020.00 3075.00 -9.10ITC 204.55 204.60 200.50 204.05 -0.75TITAN 1314.00 1318.90 1301.25 1311.00 -5.05AXISBANK 737.75 737.75 724.70 735.50 -2.90ONGC 99.95 100.25 96.55 99.50 -0.45HINDUNILVR 2252.60 2262.95 2222.10 2241.50 -11.10SUNPHARMA 407.00 410.85 399.05 406.10 -2.30HCLTECH 613.45 615.80 605.15 609.80 -3.65ASIANPAINT 1879.90 1879.90 1861.00 1869.25 -12.15RELIANCE 1475.90 1475.90 1457.40 1466.90 -11.35TATASTEEL 434.00 435.15 421.30 432.65 -4.20VEDL 141.75 141.75 137.50 140.70 -1.40NESTLEIND 16569.90 16569.90 16385.05 16417.50 -170.95JSWSTEEL 289.00 289.15 281.10 285.00 -3.15HDFC 2349.00 2349.00 2304.00 2324.05 -26.20DRREDDY 3288.00 3288.00 3233.25 3253.00 -42.55HEROMOTOCO2283.20 2283.20 2225.00 2249.95 -33.40MARUTI 6925.00 6930.00 6735.80 6795.00 -111.75UPL 592.00 592.00 574.00 584.85 -10.15GRASIM 737.35 741.20 715.55 723.55 -13.85BHARTIARTL 563.35 568.85 537.30 549.00 -15.85HINDALCO 189.15 189.45 181.75 184.80 -5.45INDUSINDBK 1172.70 1172.70 1108.45 1138.15 -34.80TATAMOTORS 168.00 168.00 158.60 162.55 -6.55YESBANK 37.35 37.50 33.65 34.80 -2.35INFRATEL 235.40 235.40 200.70 208.35 -26.65

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28116.45 28116.45 27750.75 28060.35 -109.25MCDOWELL-N 699.95 729.90 690.00 727.00 26.80AUROPHARMA 490.00 503.35 482.30 502.55 8.95PAGEIND 22500.00 22970.00 22201.50 22850.00 358.65PETRONET 255.60 260.80 254.60 259.80 4.00PFC 126.05 128.25 123.15 128.00 1.55INDIGO 1447.40 1478.80 1426.75 1473.65 17.85MARICO 298.00 301.00 292.15 300.00 3.40DMART 2334.95 2384.60 2305.05 2365.50 26.05SIEMENS 1379.65 1398.90 1362.10 1397.80 15.05DABUR 499.00 507.20 496.00 506.00 5.05PNB 51.90 52.50 49.90 52.45 0.50DIVISLAB 2154.85 2180.20 2142.50 2170.00 15.15CADILAHC 266.60 269.50 261.10 267.80 1.45MOTHERSUMI 121.85 124.40 116.50 123.30 0.40SBILIFE 915.00 921.45 907.10 916.00 1.60PIDILITIND 1605.00 1605.00 1567.50 1580.00 1.60BERGEPAINT 578.55 580.45 570.20 580.00 -0.15ICICIGI 1339.00 1345.00 1326.05 1338.00 -0.65PEL 1526.95 1533.70 1473.05 1530.00 -1.65HAVELLS 602.50 603.45 589.00 602.00 -0.75ACC 1425.00 1428.95 1402.60 1421.10 -2.85DLF 217.20 219.35 216.55 218.95 -0.45ICICIPRULI 470.10 473.90 466.00 472.90 -1.50COLPAL 1332.35 1334.00 1306.60 1326.70 -5.65GODREJCP 626.00 626.70 613.00 623.05 -2.70SHREECEM 24000.00 24000.00 23300.75 23912.85 -115.20BIOCON 303.10 304.40 295.05 301.60 -1.55HDFCAMC 3245.00 3246.00 3182.00 3225.00 -19.30BAJAJHLDNG 3718.25 3729.00 3680.30 3695.60 -22.65OFSS 2885.80 2899.55 2855.00 2860.00 -18.35NHPC 22.00 22.15 21.10 21.85 -0.15HDFCLIFE 564.80 565.35 556.00 562.00 -3.90UBL 1276.90 1276.90 1256.00 1264.55 -9.05SRTRANSFIN 1277.00 1281.75 1245.35 1265.20 -14.00ASHOKLEY 81.00 81.50 79.15 80.50 -1.05PGHH 11400.00 11400.00 11210.00 11259.80 -152.15LUPIN 710.80 710.95 694.00 703.10 -9.45NMDC 99.90 100.85 96.90 99.65 -1.35AMBUJACEM 203.25 203.60 197.75 201.00 -2.80L&TFH 123.55 123.60 119.90 122.30 -1.75BANKBARODA 82.25 82.40 78.20 81.00 -1.30BOSCHLTD 14870.60 14899.00 14435.00 14600.00 -270.50NIACL 133.60 133.60 127.55 130.00 -2.85HINDZINC 190.00 190.00 184.10 185.00 -4.15IBULHSGFIN 307.95 307.95 293.30 300.90 -6.85HINDPETRO 228.70 230.20 222.25 224.45 -5.55GICRE 211.30 212.90 205.60 207.75 -5.25BANDHANBNK 434.65 437.65 420.20 422.35 -11.60CONCOR 551.35 552.55 531.70 533.00 -17.60IDEA 3.25 3.25 2.80 3.05 -0.35

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Moody's on Tuesday low-ered growth forecast for

the Asia-Pacific (Apac) regionto 5.2 per cent for 2020 citingthe lingering impact of thecoronavirus outbreak in China,the impact of which will bemore pronounced on Chinaand India.

The coronavirus thatemerged in China early Januaryhas killed over 1,860 peopleand infected more than 72,000so far and there is no end insight yet. The epidemic hasforced China to shutter over adozen of its teeming cities,locking up over 60 millionpeople and closing down tensof thousands of factories,impacting the global supplychain. The impact of the shut-tering is large as China con-tributes a whopping 16 per centof global GDP, up from 4 percent when it was hit by theSARS virus in 2003 and con-sumes over a fifth of metalsglobally besides controllingover 40 per cent of the globalapparel and textile trade.

As of now, from the supplyside, the electronics market isthe worst hit as the Hubeiprovince, the fountainhead ofthe epidemic outbreak, isknown as the 'Optics Valley' ofthe world.

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Companies in India are pro-jected to dole out an aver-

age salary hike of 9.1 per centthis year, the highest level in theAsia Pacific region, as they lookfor key talent and niche skills,says a report.

However, the quantum islower than 9.3 per cent increaseseen in 2019 and also the low-est in a decade.

Leading HR consultancyAon's annual salary hike surveyreleased on Tuesday alsoshowed that around 39 per centof the companies surveyed areexpected to give as much as 10per cent increase in pay.

The results are based onresponses from over 1,000organisations spread acrossmore than 20 industries.

In the Asia-Pacific region,India is expected to dole out thehighest salary hike at 9.1 percent, followed by China at 6.3per cent this year. For India, theprevious lowest quantum ofhike was 6.6 per cent in 2009,as per Aon. As per the survey,Philippines is anticipated to seea salary rise of 5.8 per cent, fol-lowed by Malaysia (5.3 percent), Singapore (3.8 per cent)and Australia (3.1 per cent) in2020.

"Despite economic chal-

lenges in 2019, organisations inIndia are taking a positiveview. Pay increases in Indiacontinue to be the highest inthe region," Tzeitel Fernandes,Partner (Rewards Solutions) atAon told reporters here.

A big reason for India'shigher salary increase, as com-pared to other growingeconomies, is the high inflationrate and the war for key talentand niche skills, Fernandesnoted.

In 2019, companies inIndia gave an average payincrease of 9.3 per cent, reflect-ing a slowdown in the econo-

my compared to 2018, the sur-vey said.

According to the survey, 39per cent firms are expected toraise the salary over 10 per centwhile 42 per cent would go foran increase between 8-10 percent.

In the manufacturing seg-ment, pharmaceuticals isexpected to give the highestsalary hike followed by FMCGand chemicals, among others.

E-commerce and profes-sional services businesses areexpected to give double-digitsalary increase this year in theservices sector.

"We see a reduction in thedifferences between payincreases across industries,with 85 per cent of the organ-isations projecting between 7-11 per cent, a sign of maturingbusiness ecosystems.

"However, the premiumfor high performance and newage skills continues to rise,"Navneet Rattan, Director(Organisation, Performanceand Rewards) at Aon India,said. About business outlook,92 per cent of the firms sur-veyed expect their businessimproving or stabilising in2020 while the rest 8 per centfelt there would be a decline inbusiness.

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Insurance watchdog Irdai isyet to get any proposal from

life insurance behemoth LIC onan initial public offering butfeels a listing is better from agovernance perspective, chair-man SC Khuntia said onTuesday. He also said that thereis nothing for the life insuranceindustry to worry for the timebeing with regard to govern-ment's move on certain incometax exemptions as the alterna-tive to invest still exists.

Khuntia also asked insur-ance companies to "weed out"loss-making products and con-centrate only on the betterpaying ones. On the IPO ofLife Insurance Corporation ofIndia announced in the budget,he said, "LIC proposal has notyet come".

"Any company which goespublic there will be better cor-porate governance and betterdisclosure,” he told reporters onthe sidelines of an event ofactuaries here.

On being asked if LIC'sbusiness will need any restruc-turing before IPO, Khuntia saidthat work on the same is beingcarried out by the government.He said it is a good idea forevery insurance company to listand the Insurance Regulationand Development Authority ofIndia (Irdai) will nudge entitiesto go for the same. It is, however,not making it mandatory to list

because smaller companies areyet to achieve the scale forgoing public, Khuntia said,adding that ideally a companyshould achieve sufficient scaleto list within ten years of its existence.

He said the practice ofannual product review needs tobe carried out in full serious-ness by the players and pitchedfor a weeding out of the lossmaking ones.

"I would like to encouragecompanies to weed out prod-ucts which are not selling andsimply adding to the number,then they will be able to man-age those products well," hesaid, adding that the plea wasmade at a meeting with chiefexecutives recently.

When pointed out aboutpractices where industry play-ers are compromising on finan-cials in the health insurancesegment while signing on togroup schemes, Khuntia saidthe Irdai wants players to besustainable, where they don'tcreate losses nor do they earnexcess profits.

He, however, said that Irdaiwill not intervene on the pric-ing front but will limit itself topointing out concerns to theplayers and issue notices ifnecessary. Khuntia went pub-lic with his disappointment atthe low growth levels of the lifeand general insurance seg-ments despite the under pen-etration in India. General

insurance grew at 14 per centlast year as against its potentialto grow at 17-18 per cent,while the life insurance seg-ment grew only at 10 per centas against the 12-13 per centpotential, he said.

Terming the actuaries asthe conscience keepers of theinsurance industry, Khuntiaasked the Institute of Actuariesof India to take more efforts toincrease the number, addingthat inherent skill sets in math-ematics and software makeIndians very amenable to thestream. He said India has only460 actuaries for a populationof 1.30 billion, while the US has37,000 actuaries despite havingless than a third of Indianpopulation.

Khuntia said only LIC hasundertaken efforts on micro-insurance and exhorted othersto fasten up on the same giventhe needs in India.

Changing dynamics,including climate change andalso aspects like the coronavirus outbreak, present newerchallenges before the industryand the actuaries will rise up tothe same. Khuntia said he isalso trying to revive the lossprevention efforts like the nowdefunct loss prevention societyfor general insurance, explain-ing that a reduction in lossescan bring down premium costsfor policyholders and alsomake more people embraceinsurance.

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Beijing: The head of a hospi-tal in China’s coronavirus-hitWuhan city died of the epi-demic amid criticism that anumber of medical staff wereinfected due to official attemptsto conceal the key findings ofhuman-to-human transmis-sion of the virus, as the deathtoll from the disease onTuesday soared to 1,868.

Hubei province and itscapital Wuhan, from where thevirus originated, continued tobear the brunt as 93 more peo-ple died on Monday whilefive deaths were reported fromHenan, Hebei and Hunanprovinces.

China’s National HealthCommission on Tuesday saidthe death toll due to the out-break climbed to 1,868 onMonday while the total num-ber of confirmed cases jumpedto 72,436.

A top Chinese health offi-cial said the daily death toll hascome down below 100 for thefirst time since the virus out-break came to light in January.

The daily number of newlyconfirmed cases of the novelcoronavirus (COVID-19)reported across China Mondaydropped to under 2,000 for thefirst time, Mi Feng, an officialwith the National HealthCommission (NHC) said

Tuesday.Monday also saw the new

confirmed infections ofCOVID-19 outside Hubeireduced to a number lowerthan 100 for the first time, Mitold the media..

Comparing the statistics in the peak period, Mi said the first appearance of these noteworthy decreasingnumbers demonstrate that the epidemic situation isimproving.

While officials claimedthat the virus is stabilising, oneof Wuhan’s most senior doctorshas died after contracting thecoronavirus.used. PTI

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Lahore: The UN secretarygeneral said on Tuesday thatthe virus outbreak that beganin China poses “a very dan-gerous situation” for the world,but “is not out of control.”

Speaking in an interviewwith The Associated Press,Antonio Guterres said that“the risks are enormous and weneed to be prepared worldwidefor that.” Guterres said hisgreatest worry was a spread ofthe virus to areas with “lesscapacity in their health ser-vice,” particularly some African

countries. The World HealthOrganization is looking intohow to help handle such adevelopment, he added.

Egypt recently reportedits first case of the virus, rais-ing fears of its spread to theAfrican continent.

The outbreak has infectedmore than 73,000 people glob-ally. The World HealthOrganization has named theillness COVID-19, referring toits origin late last year and thecoronavirus that causes it.

China on Tuesday report-

ed 1,886 new cases and 98 moredeaths. That raised the numberof deaths in mainland China to1,868 and the total number ofconfirmed cases to 72,436.

Travel to and from theworst-hit central China regionwas associated with the initialcases of COVID-19 confirmedabroad. But Japan, Singaporeand South Korea have identi-fied new cases without clearties to China or previouslyknown patients, raising con-cern of the virus spreadinglocally. AP

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Around 500 passengers willleave a cruise ship quar-

antined off Japan onWednesday after testing neg-ative for the new coronavirusthat has infected hundreds onboard, a health ministry offi-cial said on Tuesday.

“The number (who willleave Wednesday) is changing,largely because it is up to pas-sengers (if they get off),” theofficial told reporters. “But itwill be around 500 people.”

Only those who have test-ed negative and have not beenin close contact with a personinfected with the virus will beallowed off on Wednesdayand many disembarking willbe Japanese passengers, theofficial said.

“They will go home onpublic transport but they willbe taken by bus to placessuch as stations,” he added.

Those who leave the shipwill not face any restrictions,the official said. “They won’tbe forbidden to go out.”

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frontline medical workers bat-tling the deadly coronaviruswill be awarded extra exampoints when applying forschools and higher education,local officials said on Tuesday.

Doctors and nurses inHubei province — where theoutbreak originated and whichhas reported the majority ofdeaths — have been lionisedonline and by state media.

China’s schooling system

places a major emphasis onexams, and even younger chil-dren face extreme competitionto get into top schools that par-ents believe will raise theirchances of getting into a gooduniversity.

The measures will “furthercare for the province’s frontlinemedical staff ” and encouragethem to be more “resolute” intheir fight to contain the virus,the province said in a state-ment. AFP

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Tokyo: Thieves in Japan havemade off with some 6,000 sur-gical masks from a hospital,with the country facing a massshortage and a huge price hikeonline due to the coronavirus.

Four boxes containing theface masks disappeared from alocked storage facility at theJapanese Red Cross hospital inthe western port city of Kobe,a hospital official said onTuesday. “We still have a largenumber of masks — enough to

continue our daily operationsat the hospital, but this is sodeplorable,” the official toldAFP. Police have launched aninvestigation as they suspectthe thieves intend to resell themasks. Masks have sold out atmany drug and discount storesacross the nation as the num-ber of infections have increasedin Japan — one of the mostaffected countries after Chinawhere the death toll from thevirus has hit 1,800. AFP

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Washington: Billionaire MikeBloomberg has qualified for theupcoming Democratic presi-dential debate, marking thefirst time he’ll stand alongsidethe rivals he has so far avoid-ed by bypassing the early vot-ing states and using his per-sonal fortune to define himselfthrough television ads.

A new NPR/PBSNewsHour/Marist poll pub-lished on Tuesday showsBloomberg with 19 per centsupport nationally in theDemocratic nominating con-test.

The former New York Citymayor, who launched his pres-idential campaign in November,will appear in Wednesday’sdebate in Las Vegas alongsideformer Vice President JoeBiden, Sens. Bernie Sanders,Elizabeth Warren and AmyKlobuchar and former SouthBend, Indiana, Mayor PeteButtigieg. Fellow billionaireand philanthropist Tom Steyeris still hoping to qualify.

Bloomberg’s campaign saidthat it was seeing “agroundswell of support acrossthe country” and that qualify-ing for Wednesday’s debate “isthe latest sign that Mike’s planand ability to defeat DonaldTrump is resonating with moreAmericans.”

“Mike is looking forward to

joining the other Democraticcandidates on stage and mak-ing the case for why he’s thebest candidate to defeat DonaldTrump and unite the country,”Bloomberg campaign manag-er Kevin Sheekey said in a state-ment.

The Democratic NationalCommittee recently changed itsrules for how a candidate qual-ifies for the debate, opening thedoor for Bloomberg to be onstage and drawing the ire ofsome candidates who droppedout of the race for failing tomake prior stages.

The candidates were pre-viously required to receive acertain number of campaigncontributions to qualify, butBloomberg, who is worth anestimated USD 60 billion, is nottaking donations.

The prime-time event willbe a stark departure fromBloomberg’s highly choreo-graphed campaign. He’spoured more than USD 300million into television adver-tising, a way to define himselffor voters without facing crit-icism. While he’s campaignedin more than two dozen states,he does not take questionsfrom voters and delivers astandard stump speech thatlasts less than 15 minutes,often reading from ateleprompter. AP

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Beijing: Police in China havearrested a prominent activistwho had been a fugitive forweeks and criticised President XiJinping’s handling of the coron-avirus epidemic while in hiding,a rights group said on Tuesday.

Anti-corruption activist XuZhiyong was arrested onSaturday after being on the runsince December, according toAmnesty International.

China’s ruling Communist

Party has severely curtailed civilliberties since Xi took power in2012, rounding up rightslawyers, labour activists andeven Marxist students.

The death this month of awhistleblowing doctor whowas reprimanded by police forraising the alarm about thedeadly new virus before dyingof it himself triggered rarecalls for political reform andfreedom of speech. AFP

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Tehran: Iran sentenced eightenvironmental activists, includ-ing an Iranian who reportedlyalso has British and Americancitizenship, to prison sentencesranging from four to 10 yearson charges of spying for theUnited States and acting againstIran’s national security, thejudiciary said on Tuesday.

According to the judiciaryspokesman, GholamhosseinEsmaili, an appeals court issuedthe final verdicts.

Two of the activists, MoradTahbaz and Niloufar Bayani,got 10 years each and wereordered to return the moneythey allegedly received from theU.S. Government for their ser-

vices.Tahbaz is an Iranian who

also holds U.S. And British cit-izenship. Iran does not recog-nize dual or multiple national-ities, meaning Iranians it detainscannot receive consular assis-tance from their other countries.

In most cases, dual nation-als have faced secret charges inclosed-door hearings beforeIran’s Revolutionary Court,which handles cases involvingalleged attempts to overthrowthe government.

Esmaili, the judiciaryspokesman, said two otheractivists, Houman Jokar andTaher Ghadirian, each goteight-year sentences for alleged-

ly “collaborating with the hos-tile government of America.” Another three of the activists,Sam Rajabi, Sepideh KashanDoust and AmirhosseinKhaleghi Hamidi, were sen-tenced to six years in prisoneach. The eighth activist,Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, got fouryears. All the activists werearrested in early 2018.

A ninth activist who wasarrested at the time, KavousSeyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian naional, died while incustody under disputed cir-cumstances in February 2018.His widow then was blockedfrom flying out of Iran, but latermade it out. AP

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secured a second term as pres-ident of Afghanistan, accordingto final results of the September28, 2019 poll released onTuesday by the country’s elec-tion commission.

“The election commis-sion... Declares Mr AshrafGhani, who has won 50.64 percent of the votes, as the presi-dent of Afghanistan,” electioncommission chief Hawa AlamNuristani told a press confer-ence in Kabul.

“May God help him inserving the people ofAfghanistan... I also pray thatpeace comes to our country,”she added. The results hadbeen delayed for nearly fivemonths after allegations of

vote-rigging from Ghani’s mainrival, Afghanistan’s ChiefExecutive Abdullah Abdullah,forced a recount.

The delay left Afghanistanfacing a political crisis just asthe US seeks a deal with theTaliban which would allow it towithdraw troops in return forvarious security guaranteesand a promise that the militantswould hold peace talks with theAfghan government.

If all goes well, then Ghaniis likely to be the man sittingacross from the Taliban at thenegotiating table in a bid tochart Afghanistan’s future.

Earlier this week,Abdullah’s team said theywould not accept fraudulentresults. AFP

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Caracas: President NicolasMaduro on Monday said he is“not afraid of military combat,”accusing his US counterpartDonald Trump of plotting toinvade Venezuela with the sup-port of regional allies.

“We don’t want war; wedon’t want violence; we don’twant terrorism, but we are notafraid of military combat and weare going to guarantee peace,”said Maduro in a televisedspeech, surrounded by thearmed forces high command.

“Donald Trump was con-vinced that it is easy to get intoVenezuela,” said the socialistleader, accusing the US of hav-ing assembled a “mercenaryforce” to invade.

The US is one of more than50 countries that have recog-nized opposition leader JuanGuaido as Venezuela’s interimpresident after Maduro’s 2018 re-election was widely denouncedas rigged.

Maduro, however, stillenjoys the support of Turkey,Russia, China and Cuba.

He also said there weregroups of military “deserters”training in neighboringColombia to “enter silently andattack military units.” Militaryexercises were carried out overthe weekend, Maduro added, inresponse to alleged attack plansorchestrated by the US,Colombia and Brazil.

According to official fig-ures, some 2.4 million soldiersand members of the civilianmilitia were deployed through-out the country. The practiceswere carried out “based on realthreats, not imagined ones,”said defense minister GeneralVladimir Padrino, who wasseated next to Maduro duringthe president’s speech. Trumpvowed to “smash” Maduro’srule in his annual State of theUnion address to Congress,which was also attended byGuaido, earlier this month.

Trump branded Maduro asa “tyrant” during his speech andcalled Guaido the “legitimatepresident of Venezuela.” Afterreturning from a three-weekinternational tour, Guaido saida change of Government in hiscountry was “inevitable.” OnSunday, he said the military hadthe opportunity to make thechange less “traumatic.” AFP

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Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’scorruption trial will begin onMarch 17, an Israeli court saidTuesday, just two weeks afternational elections are held.

Netanyahu is charged withbribery, fraud and breach oftrust under a number of casesin which he is alleged to haveaccepted lavish gifts from bil-lionaire friends and exchangedregulatory favors for more pos-itive media coverage.

In a brief statement, thecourt said Netanyahu is expect-ed to attend the initial hearing.

Israel will hold parliamen-tary elections on March 2, itsthird vote in less than a year.

The first two elections werelargely a referendum onNetanyahu, and the third isexpected to be no different. AP

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Karachi: A mysterious toxicgas has killed at least 14 peo-ple and sickened several oth-ers in Pakistan’s southern portcity of Karachi, police said onTuesday.

Authorities were alerted tothe incident when the resi-dents of Karachi’s Keamariarea began rushing to nearbyhospitals with severe breathingproblems on Sunday night.

The source of a toxic gasleak remained unclear onTuesday. Officials said 14 peo-ple have been killed so far,Dawn newspaper reported.

Ziauddin Hospitalspokesperson Amir Shehzadtold the newspaper that ninedeaths took place at the hos-pital’s Keamari Campus overthe course of the past two days.

According to the police,two other deaths were report-ed at the Kutiyana Hospital.

Dozens of others havebeen hospitalised in variousmedical facilities across thecity. “We are still cluelessabout the possible cause ofthe incident,” Karachi policechief Ghulam Nabi Memonsaid. PTI

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Tehran: A member of Iran’sRevolutionary Guards waskilled in bombardment inSyria’s Aleppo on Tuesday, Farsnews agency reported.

“Hamidreza Babelkhani...Was martyred this morning ina rocket strike,” said the Iraniannews agency, which is close toultra-conservatives in theIslamic republic.

Babelkhani was alsoknown by his nom de guerreHaj Ebrahim, Fars added, with-out giving his rank.

The brief report alsoshowed a picture of Babelkhaniin a forest area wearing tanfatigues with the Guards’insignia and a dark greenbeanie.

Iran, alongside Russia, hasstrongly backed the govern-ment of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war.

More than 380,000 peoplehave been killed in Syria sincethe conflict broke out nearlynine years ago.

Iran says its forces are inSyria at the invitation of Assad’sgovernment and only in anadvisory role. AFP

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�����������C><� �������������������/.;* ����������Ankara: Turkish prosecutorshave issued detention warrantsagainst 695 people suspected oflinks to the US-based Muslimcleric blamed by Turkey for afailed coup attempt in 2016,state media reported onTuesday.

Anadolu Agency said pros-ecutors were seeking the arrestsof 467 people suspected ofcheating in a police promotionexamination in 2009.

Warrants were also issuedagainst 157 military officers —101 of them still on active duty— and 71 Justice Ministry per-sonnel. On July 15, 2016, agroup of officers attempted acoup to overthrow TurkishPresident Recep TayyipErdogan. Some 250 peoplewere killed and more than2,000 were injured during thefailed attempt.

Some 77,000 people havebeen arrested and around130,000 others, including mil-itary personnel, have been dis-missed from state jobs in acrackdown on Gulen’s networksince the coup. Gulen, who haslived in self-imposed exile in theUnited States since 1999, deniesinvolvement in the coupattempt. AP

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Legrand India, a part of the LegrandGroup conducted a Students’ Connect

Programme for the winners of theUGAM — Legrand’s Scholarship pro-gramme on February 17, 2020.

This is an initiation to build a lastingrelationship with the students and is an

orientation about the industry, know-how from SMEs and gaining mentoringsupport from Legrand leadershipteam/employees.

The group entered the education sec-tor in 2018 with an objective to help girlstudents to pursue their higher education.This scholarship intends to assist thedeserving girl students for pursuing engi-

neering and architecture courses fromrecognised Indian universities.

Under this programme, it is support-ing academically promising girl studentswith a scholarship aid of 60 per cent ofcourse fee or up to �60,000 per annum.The winners are selected basis their meritand socio-economic background.

Tony Berland, CEO, Legrand India,said: “The UGAM scholarship for girlsaims to empower them through qualityprofessional education and build forthfuture women leaders. The programmegoes a step further in ensuring that thegroup is with the students not just as ascholarship sponsor but a mentor and aguide to a successful career journeyahead.”

The renowned film producerAnil Sharma, who produced

the superhit film Gadar, inaugu-rated the 21th Annual Cultural fes-tival of IP University ‘Anugoonj2020’ at the Dwarka campus of theUniversity here on February 17,2020. Delving down the nostalgia,he said such type of functionsremind me of my childhood. Hecalled upon the students partici-pating in this cultural festival to goahead to achieve their goals in life.

Presiding over the functionthe Vice Chancellor of the univer-sity Prof Mahesh Verma said: “Welearn a lot of things outside the class

room. Festivals are fun but itinvolves a lot of good things to learnlike healthy competition, leader-ship, confidence, esteem etc. theeducation combined with culture isessential for life.”

Prof Manpreet Kaur Kang,

Director — Students Welfare of theUniversity informed on the occa-sion that apart from Universityschools, all the affiliated colleges areactively participating in the festival.

Dr Anjali Shaukeen, AssociateDirector — Students Welfare of theUniversity presented AnnualReport of the Directorate ofStudents Welfare.

This three days cultural con-clave of the University is loadedwith a number of star perfor-mances like band performance bySankraman Band and star night byplay back singer Benny Dayal onthe concluding day of the event.

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The Lady Irwin College’sannual festival is an event

packed with a perfect balanceof constructive creativity, funand frolic. The fest spans overtwo days, starting today, con-sisting of numerous competi-tions and activities, organisedby various societies of theCollege.

These include a fashionshow, jam session, street dance,film making, group dancecompetition, environmenthunt and stage play competi-tion among other activities.

Each fest day will endwith a live performance;tonight will be a DJ Night,where DJ Carnivore will bedropping popping beats; thesecond evening will be gracedby Mohit Chauhan who hassung songs like Dooriyan,Rabba and Bezubaan.

�0��������E���#Manav Rachna University

invites applications foradmission to its ComputerScience & Technology pro-grammes for the session 2020-23/24.

Programmes offered:BTech Computer Science andEngineering (Four years),MTech ComputerEngineering (Two years),BTech Computer Science andEngineering — Specialisationin Artificial Intelligence &Machine Learning inAssociation with Xebia (Fouryears)

Eligibility: Merit prepa-ration/short listing of candi-dates shall be on the basis ofscore in JEE Mains2020/SAT/Uni Gauge E2020/MRNAT 2020/Class XIIqualifying examination.

How to apply: Log on tomanavrachna.edu.in.

��@���������00��The Indian Institute of Art

and Design (IIAD) in collab-oration with Kingston Schoolof Art, London invites appli-cations for admissions to itsundergraduate programmesin Fashion Design, FashionBusiness Management,Communication Design andInterior Architecture &Design. It also offers post-graduate programmes inFashion Design and FashionBusiness Management. TheInstitute offers these pro-grammes through its creativestudio-based education andstrives to groom the next gen-eration of designers anddesign thinkers at its campusin New Delhi.

Admission process: IIADentrance test

Exam date: April 26, 2020How to apply: Log on to

www.iiad.edu.in or call on+91 98713 83633, +91 114138 0000.

0�3�@�����������Make-up Studio Training

Center invites applications

f o radmissions to itsComprehensive Make-upArtistry course.

Eligibility: Class XII pass(all streams)

L ast date to apply :February 23, 2020

How to apply: Log on towww.makeupstudio.in/course/comprehensive-make-up-artistry or candidates candownload the applicationform website and apply orwalk into the corporatebranch with all documents toregister.

0�3�@�����������IMS-Design & Innovation

Academy invites applicationsfor admissions to its Bachelorsof Science: Jewellery Design,Bachelors of Fine Arts:Fashion Design, Bachelors ofFine Arts: Applied Arts andBachelors of Fine Arts:Fashion International.

Eligibility: Candidateswho have passed or willappear for the qualifyingexaminations under the high-er secondary from any recog-nised Board of Educationsuch as AISSCE/IB/ICSE, orequivalents.

All eligible candidates willhave to undergo DesignEntrance Exam (DEE) at DIA,Campus Noida which com-prises of a written test andpersonal interview.

Last date to apply: July,2020

How to apply: Log on towww.diaindia.co.in or theapplication form can beobtained for �1000 by cashfrom the academy or by postenclosing a Demand Draft of�1050/- in favour of Design &Innovation Academy.

Business can be charac-terised as all types ofexchange, trading of

merchandise and enterpriseswith the aim of generatingprofits. But business must befirmly entwined with morals.People, organisations andGovernments are consistent-ly broiled with charting outpolicies pertaining to what isbest for an economy and forthe development of capital.They are constantly on thelookout to avoid any situationlike inflations or recession.

The job of the people inmanagement is characterisedby these standards of what isbest for individuals and whatis best for the organisation,and this requires the ability tounderstand human conductand in turn, setting up a com-pelling style of an initiative.

So, in a world that is heav-ily relying on the right per-sonnel to execute the rightorders, what does a degree inmanagement teach?

What you may discover ina business degree covers anexpansive scope of subjects, for

example, financial aspects,accounting and innovativestrategies that prepare individ-uals for a plethora of situations.A business degree may beginwith learning the pertinentideas in these fields, to guar-antee there will be no criticalholes when beginning a voca-tion. In later years, obligatorymodules can be clubbed withspecific territories of study, forinstance, organisation law orbuyer conduct.

It is important that man-agerial aspirants learn fromtheir own firsthand experi-ence, and hence emphasis onexperiential learning as anintegral part of curriculum isimportant.

The course also ratheroffers one the chance to expandone’s innovative edges. Asidefrom the theoretical knowledgeon subjects, which are pivotal,one will likewise be preparedfor unexpected situations thatmight arise in a business. Evenif one has to consider turningan idea into a startup, the edu-cational programme has beendesigned in a way that every

perspective can be checkedout.

The best management edu-cation cultivates citizenshipthrough a broad-based educa-tion that also covers humani-ties and social sciences.

The potential outcomesfor a business graduate arepractically innumerable.Positions as an investmentbanker or a financial regulatormight be engaging, however,individuals must be aware ofthe high-pressure nature ofsuch jobs. Individuals can alsowork in retail managementwhere major FMCG companiescan open doors for individuals

with a degree in business man-agement.

The more enterprising stu-dents can find success by build-ing their own business withoutany degree of study. But thelofty expectation to knoweverything, find funding, andthe knowledge to fight theever-changing business land-scape can happen only througha degree in business manage-ment.

People who pursueBusiness Management are alsooffered a tremendous pay pack-age right from their place-ments. The degree also addi-tionally allows one to work in

various administrative situa-tions in different associations.In this way, with the steadyinterest of the board, one candevelop themselves in theirprofession significantly.

Management programmesare designed to help in improv-ing one’s holistic abilities.Under this programme, stu-dents are made to take a shotat different situations, under-stand different scenarios andcompose projects so that theycan confront realistic businessscenarios. At the point whereevery job requires one to be apioneer, these qualities will beespecially significant.

Having a range of abilitiesrelating to business manage-ment can help anyone with arewarding vocation. Gettingadmission to business man-agement, one can start rightafter they finish Class XII, as anundergrad programme, or aftergraduation. There are numer-ous specialisations that onecan decide on, in the center oftheir profession. *��� ��� �� �����%�����#��� � �

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Technology is changing at apace that multiple industriesare ripe for disruption. What

was relevant and sought after a fewyears ago, is no longer in vogue. Aska Digital Marketeer, a banker or forthat matter a professional in anyindustry — would they be relevantif they did not learn new things forthe last five years?

In a lot of scenarios — havingexperience is actually going againstyou. Try saying that you have sevenyears of experience in NET/Java/soft-ware testing and see what opportuni-ties do you get. Now say that you arein your final year of graduation, havea good understanding of machinelearning and have been winning datascience competitions for a year — youwill see floodgates of opportunitiesopen.

The point is that the field for cre-ating impact after graduation hasnever been this flat before.

Also there has been a slew of newtechnologies which have becomemainstream in the last five years.blockchain, data science, Internet of

Devices (IoT), augmented reality(AR) and virtual reality (VR), reusablespace vehicles, new programminglanguages, new programming frame-works — all of these have come up inthe last five years.

So one can’t ask for experiencebeyond a few years, if one want to hirea lot of people and make fast progress.Among all of these, data science andmachine learning probably hold themost number of opportunities asthings see today. Data science is nowa horizontal impacting multiple indus-tries — banking, telecom, ecom-merce and oil & gas. So, it is no sur-prise that most of the graduates com-ing out today look up to buildingcareers in data science.

Having said that, a lot of them donot make a meaningful effort inlearning and applying the subject.Hence, it is still a very small percent-age of people coming out today —who get opportunities in data science.But, with the right preparation andapplication — there is no limit to thekind of opportunity you can get andthe kind of impact you can create.

So, how does one prepare for adata science career as a person grad-uating soon? Here are some handytips. � Start learning about data scienceand programming as soon as you can.It does not matter which stream youare in. As long as you have good quantskills, love problem solving and havea lot of curiosity — you are a good fitwith data science roles. Start by learn-ing python, basics of statistics and lin-ear algebra. Once you have done that— you can move ahead with learningdata science algorithms and process-es.� Apply what you learn. Data scienceis actually an Applied Science andwhat better way to stake your claimthan showing some applications. Younot only learn how to solve problemsusing these tools and techniques, butalso differentiate your resume from allthose wanting to do data science butnot putting in efforts in the direction.Participate in practice problems onAnalytics Vidhya or Kaggle to startwith. Once you are comfortable, par-ticipate in a few hackathons and data

science competitions. You can alsopick up open data sets in the area ofyour interest to create projects andsolve problems.� Participate in data science com-munities and look for mentors. Thereare some thriving data science com-munities today in India. Join thesecommunities, interact with data sci-ence professionals through meetups,webinars, slack channels and find afew mentors to guide you for the restof your career.

As long as you have a few years tolearn, you can start devoting a fewhours daily and build up the momen-tum over time. If that is not the caseand you have placements coming upin the next 3 - 6 months, you will needto put in more effort to cover up forthe expectations. There is no dearthof resources available — only time! Somake sure you devote high qualitytime and you can cover the ground.

Remember — you can't really askfor a better time to graduate!

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Name number is the mostimportant and significant

number among the three —name number, psychic number,destiny number. The namenumber is important for eachand every person because theinfluence of one’s name num-ber, unlike one’s psychic anddestiny numbers, continueseven after one leaves one’sbody.

Your name is the first giftyou receive after birth, and itwas chosen specifically for you.Your full name is an element inyour numerology chart that isexplored in depth by findingthe various arithmetic factorswithin it and utilising them aselements of their own.

The name number plays akey role in one’s social life andmarriage. This is the reason itwas popular to add the familyname to the maiden nameafter marriage. Adding thefamily name to the maidenname creates harmony with thehusband in the family name. Itis generally believed but maynot be 100 per cent true.

One should always remem-ber that for integration of a newpattern, it takes minimum two-six months (it will take three-

months, if the age of person isbetween 22-42, it will take twomonths, if the age is below 21and five-six months if the ageof the person is above 42). Theresults will be better and faster,if the person is called by a newname more frequently, so as toget its best effects.

If any change is made inthe spelling of a name of a per-son, though the pattern ofsound waves in the water in thebody remaining the same, thenit will take minimum sixmonths to integrate with thebody. In such cases whateverthe spelling of new name ischanged, its integration with

the body and subconsciousmind will depend upon howfrequently the spelling of thename are written or commu-nicated with the people and inthe social media.

More and more we startwriting the new name with thenew spelling, faster the effectwill be. If you just change thespelling and remain silent anddo not use it frequently, it willnever give any effect. The effectis directly proportionate to thefrequency with which the newname or its spellings are used.Once after the change youstart observing the change inyour behaviour, peace of mindthen you should think that thisnew name is vibrating posi-tively with you and the newplanet, which is formed startvibrating with your date ofbirth and results will becomepositive.

You should go on writingyour name with the new addi-tion of alphabet, at least twen-ty to thirty thousand times ona piece of paper for about tenminutes every day. This willimprove vibration of name andthe person can perform better.

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Data and big data have been buzzwords forthe last several years. Universities are

making great progress when it comes to usingdata to help with retention and student suc-cess. However, there is still much room forimprovement to take advantage of data-dri-ven decision-making across the entire cam-pus.

For instance, data can be used to deter-mine if classrooms are being utilised optimallybefore new construction projects are kickedoff. It can and should be used to determineif aging computer labs should be renewed ortransformed into something that is more use-ful to the university. Efforts like these can notonly streamline campus operations, but alsoensure that we are making most of theresources we have in the service of teachingand learning.

Another area where data can be usedmore is Geographic Information Systems(GIS) data. Historically, GIS data has primarilybeen used in sciences. But that same datacould be analysed in practically any class ona college campus. Think history, political sci-ence, criminal justice, urban planning — thereis so much data out there, and we can all doa better job of using it.

The future of any innovation in teachingand learning is almost always a combinationof all of the following: Academic discipline,pedagogy, learning environment, data andeducational technology. And data-informedresearch and formative evaluation is the keyto avoiding just chasing shiny new objects onthe one hand and just staying with what we'vealways done on the other. The foundationalblocks for making any headway in analytics,particularly learning analytics, are: � Institutional (rather than vendor) owner-ship of data generated by teaching and learn-ing activity.� Transparency of data models createdthrough our data (rather than being propri-etary).� Data and integration standards.

YouTube began in February 2005, and 12years later, Wikipedia reports a billion hoursof content watched on the platform each day.The sheer volume of educational video cre-ates challenges for faculty in creating new con-tent, as well as finding and reusing content.During the busy academic semesters, facul-ty do not have time to watch, curate and clipvideos! The cognitive overload of video usecan be significant, leading us to look for spe-cialised collections like Ted Talks and KhanAcademy. Harvard’s DART initiative is one

recent effort to try to help faculty andinstructional designers make full use ofopen access assets created for edX MOOCs.

As we increase dependence on instruc-tional videos, we also need to focus on issuesof accessibility for people with a range ofneeds. Digital education is generating newlearning opportunities as students engage inonline, digital environments and as facultychange educational practices through the useof hybrid courses, personalised instruction,new collaboration models and a wide arrayof innovative, engaging learning strategies. A21st Century view of learner success requiresstudents to not only be thoughtful consumersof digital content, but effective and collabo-rative creators of digital media, demonstrat-ing competencies and communicating ideasthrough dynamic storytelling, data visuali-sation and content curation.

As instructors create assignments anddevelop rubrics for assessing new forms of stu-dent work across academic disciplines, fac-ulty and students would benefit from accessto new collaborative spaces with the tech-nology and consulting expertise to success-fully complete media-rich assignments andprojects. One example at Oregon State is ingeneral biology courses, where senior instruc-tors Lesley Blair and Mark Lavery infuse theirown lectures with media-rich componentsand have their students include their ownmedia elements in assignments and socialmedia postings.

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The NewcastleUniversity, UK, hasannounced a new

round of scholarship supportfor outstanding applicantsfrom India.

Value of award: 50% or100% of tuition fees.

Eligibility: To be consid-ered for the 100% scholarshipsapplicants must: Be a nationalof one of India; Be assessed asinternational for fee purposes;Hold an offer for an eligibleundergraduate or postgradu-ate degree programme at theuniversity’s city-centre campusfor the 2020/21 academic year.Eligible candidates will beassessed according to evidenceof academic ability, commit-ment to studies and quality ofapplication.

Application duration:September 2020 for the fullduration of the degree pro-gramme.

Application form:Candidates can apply for thisscholarship online separatelyto their course. They mustalready hold an offer to studyat the University to apply andwill need to provide details ofqualifications, a personalstatement and a reference.

To know more visit:https://www.ncl.ac.uk/interna-tional/country/india/#feesand-funding

How to apply: Online athttps://app.geckoform.com/public/#/modern/FOEU01c3pA4OabrE

Application deadline:March 27 2020 and May 29,2020.

The Vancouver IslandUniversity invites applicationsfor its VIU World-WideEntrance Scholarships for theincoming first-year high-potential overseas aspirants.The program is open forinternational students whowill commence in the under-graduate degree coursework atthe VIU in Canada.

Eligibility: The awardsare available for new long-term academic undergraduatestudent applicants. Mustattach Attach certified copiesof all educational documentsand copy of passport.Admission requirements:Applicants must have graduat-ed from high school or equiv-alent. Language requirement:Claimants are required to ful-fil the English languagerequirements of the university.

How to apply: For grasp-ing the opportunity, you haveto enrol in the UG degreecoursework online or offlineand submitted it toInternational AdmissionsVancouver Island University900 Fifth StreetNanaimo, B.C.V9R 5S5 Canada. No applica-tion is necessary.

Application deadline:The last date to apply is March31, 2020.

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The first phase for admis-sions toBE/BTech(Paper-I) and

BArch/BPlanning (Paper-II)was held between January 6-9,2020 and the second phase willbe held between April 5-11,April 2020. Students have theoption to appear in one or bothphases. The result will howev-er consider the students' per-formance in the best of the twophases.

Clearing JEE (Main) is notdifficult. Systematic approachtowards its preparation willhelp. The JEE (Main) consistsof CBSE syllabus of Physics,Chemistry and Mathematicsand some common topics fromClasses XI and XII of StateBoards. About 25% questionsin the exam are easy, 50% areaverage and 25% are difficult.The cut-off for JEE (Main) isgenerally around 65%..

TIPS FOR PHYSICS� Mechanics is one topic thatis considered less scoring bymost experts. However, this isalso the topic that forms themajor portion. This topic can’tbe neglected.� One must try to concentrateon other scoring topics toensure a better performance,for example Optics, Electricity

and Magnetism. � Kinematics and particledynamics are important topicsof Mechanics that make regu-lar appearances.� Refer to past years’ papers,and sample test papers tounderstand what to expectwhen you have started solvingadvanced level problems.� According to the generaltrends, Mechanics andElectricity and Magnetism arethe most important topics interms of the number of ques-tions asked in JEE of previousyears. Vector is one conceptthat students commonlyencounter in dealing with anyof these topics, so effort mustbe taken to understand it prop-erly.� In the decreasing order ofthe marks they carry are listeddifferent topics of Physicsaccording to their appearancein previous year’s papers.� Thermodynamics is impor-tant from the terms of Physicsand Chemistry so concentrateon that as well.

TIPS FOR MATH� Previous JEE papers suggestthat in more attention shouldbe paid to Chapters like Vectorsand 3-D than Probability orIndefinite integration as

Vectors and 3-D offers very lessscope to examiner, as far asvariety in questions is con-cerned. One more chapter isComplex Number, from whichevery year 2-3 problems areasked. Hence mastering com-plex numbers, vectors, 3-Dand Definite integral must beon top priority.� Keeping in mind the trendof last years’ paper all topicshad been covered with moreimportance given to topics ofAlgebra, Calculus and Co-ordinate Geometry.� To tackle questions fromCo-ordinate Geometry allaspects and the results ofAlgebraic Calculations of prop-erties of conics must be known. � In chapters of Calculus likeFunctions, Application ofderivatives one can fetch easymarks if graphical approach isadopted.� Trigonometry though hav-ing less weightage must not beignored as it is scoring. Onemust grasp all important for-mulae in Trigonometry. This isa scoring topic in Mathematics.� Chapters like MathematicalReasoning / Determinants/Statistics/ MathematicalInduction must also be coveredto fetch some quick marks asthe questions from this chap-

ter are relatively simple. � Refer to past years’ JEEMain papers, and sample testpapers to get familiar.

TIPS FOR CHEMISTRY� Conceptual clarity, applica-tion skills and awareness to theprescribed syllabus should bethe focus.� Practice the most relevantquestions daily to develop speed.Pay special attention to topicslike Mole concept, ChemicalEquilibrium andElectrochemistry.� Take a careful and patientapproach for Organic Chemistrygiving attention to the topics likeStereochemistry, GOC (GeneralOrganic Chemistry) andFunctional Group Analysis.� In Inorganic chemistry mostof the questions which are askedare conceptual, concerned withstructures, processes and appli-cations. Special attention is amust to the topics like ChemicalBonding and CoordinationChemistry.� Special attention should begiven to the topics likeBiomolecules, Chemistry ineveryday life andEnvironmentalchemistry.� Special attention toNCERTshould be given as JEEMain is completely NCERT

based in Chemistry.� Special attention should begiven to the topic DrinkingWater. One should try to learnthe Threshold Limits for the var-ious ions in drinking water.

Attempt theoretical ques-tions first and then questionswhich require calculation. It isadvisable to avoid numericalquestions in the first 10 or 15minutes of the exam.

DOS� Attempt easy questions first. � Choose sections that haveless risk and more gain.� Carefully scroll through theentire question paper in the firstfive minutes.� Keep a check on time whileattempting the paper� Attempt all numerical basedtype questions as there is nonegative marking.

DON’TS� Start from question you don’tknow.� Get upset if any section istough. You can score in othersections.� Guess if you have no ideaabout the concept involved in aquestion.� Be nervous if you find thepaper tough, since it is the rel-ative performance that counts.

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AMAAN INCLUDED IN IND SQUADNew Delhi: ���� ��.!�/ ���� 6�%���/���� ��� ��%��� �����%�������4���%�/���.������#��P.�.H4�%�/��/�:���� �&��/����/���?@?+�6�����.����4&�S4�������."�(��0�*�:�������/�����%��4�;� �/��0��%����/����=?+���/�0�������/��?@?@������� ��%���8�4/��7�#�.*���.� �����/� /������7�� ��� ���%�#�� ��� ��� ����*� �4./������ ���� �<��� �����"��.�� &��/� ��� /��� .H4�%� �.� +R=����=��%� �#���(��%�4"�(��%�4*���./4%��/=�/���/���/�/����������%�#���%��*�:�.���.��&��/����/���0��%=#�%��=:�����0��4�;� .H4�%"� �� :�.� ���� ��� /����� ��%���.� A/��� ����� ��C.����/�%�/��/�����.!�/ �����/��4/����%���7�� �����#&�/�/���?@?@����=(/�����!��%���������0�"�

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Tottenham Hotspur’s hopesof obtaining something

from the season have beenequated to someone hangingon for dear life from a balconyin a typically colourful anal-ogy by their manager JoseMourinho.

The 57-year-oldPortuguese made the compar-ison after he said he believedKorean star Son Heung-min'sseason could well be over dueto a fractured right arm.

Mourinho is already with-out star striker Harry Kane —side-lined since January witha torn hamstring -- as the clubenters a crucial period.Midfielder Moussa Sissoko isanother long-term casualty.

Spurs host German sideRB Leipzig in a ChampionsLeague Last 16 first leg matchon Wednesday and playChelsea in a match that couldprove pivotal in the dog-fightfor the fourth and finalChampions League spot.

“You know I like analo-gies,” said Mourinho, whotook over after MauricioPochettino was sacked in lateNovember last year.

“Sometimes I do goodones and sometimes silly ones.This time I do this.

“When we arrived wewere in minus 12 floor, we goton the stairs and we startedclimbing.

“But immediately thestairs broke and trouble.

“We were trying to find away.

“Lots of effort but wewere going and going.

“Then 11th floor andwhen we arrived on the fourthfloor, where we wanted toarrive, someone took the stairsaway so we are now in trou-ble.

“We are holding by ourarms on the balcony.”

Mourinho said the clubwere at a crossroads in theirseason.

“Now we have twooptions,” he said.

“To fall and die becauseit's the fourth floor.

“The other is to climb. Wewill be on that balcony fight-ing with everything we have.”

1%��0����#�02�Son's absence comes as a

cruel blow to the player andthe team as he had been in arich vein of form scoring inthe last five matches after fill-ing in for Kane up front.

The 27-year-old SouthKorean international forwardsuffered the injury in the 3-2Premier League victory overAston Villa— in which hescored twice including thelate winner — on Sunday.

Son suffered the injury ina robust first-minute chal-lenge from Villa's Ezri Konsa.The club did not specify howlong Son would be out -- he isdue to undergo surgery thisweek -- but Mourinho waspessimistic.

“I’m not going to count onhim again this season,”Mourinho said.

The club said only afterthe medical operation wouldthey be able to say how longhe would be absent.

“Following surgery, ourmedical staff shall be review-ing management options forSon's rehabilitation with theplayer expected to be sidelinedfor a number of weeks.”

Mourinho said he wouldhave phrased the statementdifferently.

“The club wrote a nicestatement,” he said.

“If I was the one to writethe statement I would writedifferent. We miss him,” addedthe 57-year-old Portuguese.

With both Kane and Sonmissing, Lucas Moura lookslike having the burden placedon him as Mourinho dis-counted untested Irish young-ster Troy Parrott.

“In some periods I wasworried about not havingattacking options on thebench, now it’s not havingattacking options on thepitch,” said Mourinho.

"My thoughts are thatTroy Parrott is not ready andRyan Sessegnon is not a strik-er.”

� ��� ������

Manchester United moved to with-in three points of fourth-placed

Chelsea with a smash and grab 2-0 winat Stamford Bridge thanks to goalsfrom Anthony Martial and HarryMaguire.

Chelsea had two goals disallowedby VAR reviews and were furiousMaguire was not sent-off early on foran off-the-ball kick out at MichyBatshuayi.

However, Blues boss FrankLampard cut a frustrated figure as theflaws in both boxes which have seen hisside win just four of their last 14 leaguegames were exposed once more againstordinary opposition.

Victory lifts United up to seventhand within two points of Tottenham infifth, which could be good enough toqualify for the Champions League nextseason pending Manchester City’sappeal again a two-season ban fromEuropean competition.

Lampard made a bold call beforekick-off by again dropping the mostexpensive goalkeeper in football histo-ry, Kepa Arrizabalaga, to the bench infavour of the 38-year-old Willy

Caballero.Batshuayi also started with Tammy

Abraham ruled out by injury andLampard's anger at missing out on astriker in the January window wasborne out by a poor night for the mis-

firing Belgium forward.Chelsea suffered another injury

blow early on when N’Golo Kante hob-bled off and the France World Cupwinner is now a doubt to face BayernMunich in the Champions League next

week.The loss of Kante did not disrupt

the home side’s early rhythm as ReeceJames and Willian fired just wide.

Chelsea were then furious Maguiresomehow escaped without being sent-off for kicking Batshuayi after the twocollided in front of the dugouts.

The former Marseille attackerthen squandered the first of a host ofchances by firing wide from MasonMount’s cut-back.

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Chelsea’s sense of injusticeincreased when Willian was harshlybooked for diving as he went downunder a challenge from BrunoFernandes looking for a penalty.

United had not made Caballeromake a single save before going in fronta minute before the break whenMartial planted a brilliant header intothe far corner from Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross.

There was still time for Batshuayito miss another chance before half-timewhen he skewed wide from a narrowangle.

The one-way traffic continued at

the start of the second period asMount hit the post and a brave blockfrom Wan-Bissaka deflected Pedro'sgoal-bound effort behind.

But even when Chelsea did get theball in the net through substitute KurtZouma, the goal was ruled out by VARfor a push on Brandon Williams byCesar Azpilicueta.

Fernandes was unable to makemuch of an impact from open play inhis second United appearance since aUSD 62 million move from SportingLisbon.

However, the Portuguese interna-tional is a huge threat from set-piecesand nearly caught Caballero out witha free-kick that crashed back off thepost.

Moments later, Fernandes provid-ed his first assist for the Red Devils witha corner which Maguire poweredhome.

Lampard had seen enough fromBatshuayi and handed Olivier Girouda rare appearance off the bench for thefinal quarter.

The French striker thought he hadgiven Chelsea a lifeline with a near postheader, but was ruled offside after aVAR review.

� ��� �����

AC Milan closed in on theEuropean places in Serie A

after Ante Rebic fired them toa 1-0 win over Torino.

Rebic on Monday swepthome Samu Castillejo’s lowpull back in the 25th minute toconsign to draw Milan level on35 points with Hellas Verona,who currently occupy the finalEuropa League spot on goaldifference.

Rebic’s winning goal washis sixth in seven games in allcompetitions, a run that comesafter failing to score at all in thefirst half of the season.

The Croatian’s strikehelped the hosts bounce backfrom last week’s derby disap-

pointment against Inter Milanto continue a positive rununder coach Stefano Pioli thatalso saw them unlucky not tobeat Juventus in the Coppa

Italia semi-final first leg lastweek.

They have lost just oncesince the turn of the year — totitle-chasing Inter — and areplaying well enough to aim forEuropean football next season.

However the ChampionsLeague will likely be beyondthem thanks to the 10-pointgap between them and fourth-placed Atalanta.

Torino meanwhile areinching closer to the relegationzone after their fifth straightdefeat, a slump that shows lit-tle sign of ending.

They are just five pointsfrom the drop despite bringingin Moreno Longo to replaceWalter Mazzarri earlier thismonth.

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Holder BelindaBencic ran off the

first 19 points againstA n a s t a s i aPavlyuchenkova beforecollapsing to a 1-6, 6-1,6-1 loss on Tuesday atthe DubaiChampionships.

Another formerchampion, the 2017and 2018 winner ElinaSvitolina, also fell, 6-2,6-1, to US qualifierJennifer Brady.

Pavlyuchenkovacould not have made aworse start.

“It’s tennis, some-times it happens,” the

31st-ranked Russiansaid "You go out thereand you just don't feelanything.

“I just kept onfighting, still trying tohit every ball, trying tobe there

“It doesn’t matterwhat the score is, justplay. Slowly I started toturn it around, I start-ed to find my game.”

“I honestly wasn'tfocusing on the score.Sometimes you canplay amazing tennis andstill lose 6-1. In thethird set, it was a goodlevel from both of us.”

Bencic, who isSwiss was seeded four

and Svitolina third.That leaves the spotlightto tournament numberone Simona Halep andsecond-seeded KarolinaPliskova, who begin inthe second round afterbyes.

Weekend ATPRotterdam winner GaelMonfils watched inpain as girlfriendSvitolina went down toBrady.

Svitolina had littleto offer as the 52nd-ranked Brady gainedher second victory thisseason over a Top 10opponent after beatingBarty in Brisbane.

The Ukrainian’s

usually steady gamewas nowhere to befound at the AviationClub as first-round playconcluded.

“It was not a badstart, but then every-thing just went down-hill,” Svitolina said.

“I wish I couldregroup better. In theend, I didn’t feel sogood the ball. Justeverything was all overthe place today."At thislevel it's tough to pickjust one thing: every-body is putting the ballover the net, and youhave to play long rallies,you have to build thepoints.

����� ���� �

Wrestler Sunil Kumarwon India’s f irstGold medal in the

opening day of AsianWrestling Championship 2020here at KD Jadhav stadium onTuesday after beatingKyrgyzstan opponent AzatSalidinov 5-0 in the finalmatch of 87kg Greco-Romancategory.

Last edi-t ion Si lvermedallist dom-inated theentire gameand didn't allowed his coun-terpart to gain any sort ofbreathing space and in processput a full stop to country’s 27-year drought for the yellowmetal. Sunil now becomesonly the third Indian ever toachieve this feat after PappuYadav.

Sunil with his comprehen-sive defence was able to keepSalidinov at bay for most ofthe bout. Salidinov didn't havean answer to the strategy ofSunil and finally went downpretty easily.

Earlier, Sunil on his way tothe final made an impressivecomeback in the semi-finalbout. He came back from 1-8down to win the bout 12-8.This was an improvement for

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In a first, five Indian cities -Guwahati, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai,

Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad onTuesday have been confirmed as thehost cities for the FIFA U-17Women's World Cup scheduled totake place in India from November2 to November 21 this year.

To set the stage for the future ofwomen's football, FIFA and LocalOrganising Committee (LOC) alsoannounced the match schedulealongside the Official Slogan - Kickoff the dream for the tournamenthere in presence of Minister ofSports and Youth Affairs KirenRijiju, Sarai Bareman, FIFA ChiefWomen's Football Officer, RobertoGrassi, FIFA Head of YouthTournaments and AIFF presidentPraful Patel, who is also LOC

Chairman and FIFA Council mem-ber,.

Sixteen teams featuring the ris-ing stars of women's football willcompete across 32 matches to lift the

coveted trophy in Navi Mumbai onNovember 21.

The group-stage matches will beplayed in four host cities(Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar,

Guwahati and Kolkata), with theknockout stages also taking place infour cities (Ahmedabad,Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and NaviMumbai). The winners will lift thetrophy at the DY Patil Stadium inNavi Mumbai on November 21.

Following the launch of theOfficial Emblem in November 2019,the unveiling of the five host citiesand the match schedule marks amajor milestone for the tournamentas fans in the host cities and acrossIndia prepare to welcome the futurestars and heroes of women's football.

The key dates for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2020include: Opening match -November 2.

Quarter-finals - November 12and 13.Semi-finals - November 17and 3rd/4th-place playoff & final -November 21.

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Sunil from his 2019 perfor-mance in the same tourna-ment where he won a SilverMedal.

Speaking after the winhe said, "I am feeling happyto have earned India's firstGold Medal today(Tuesday). I have workedreally hard on my groundtechniques and it feels goodto have done better than mylast year's performance."

Before Sunil's historicGold medal win, ArjunHalakurki (55kg) won hisBronze Medal bout defeat-ing Donghyeok Won ofKorea. Arjun started thebout slowly and was downby 1-4 in the first period.But, Arjun didn't give upand came back stronglysnatching six straight pointswith a combination of gooddefence and attack. Thefinal score at the end of thebout was 7-4 in favour ofArjun.

Though, India's thirdmedal hope Mehar Singh(130 kg) suffered a setbackas he lost his bout againstRoman Kim of Kyrgyzstanby a narrow scoreline of 2-3. Mehar was majorly suf-fering the aftereffects of hiswrist injury which he suf-fered in his semi-final boutearlier.

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British F1 ace Lewis Hamiltonand Lionel Messi, arguablythe world’s greatest foot-

baller, were on Monday declaredthe joint winners of the prestigiousLaureus World Sportsman of theyear award.

They received the same num-ber of votes, a first in the 20-yearhistory of the awards with the juryunable to split Hamilton and Messi.

Messi, the six-time FIFA WorldPlayer of the year, is the firstteam-player to bag the award. Hethough was not present to receivethe award and sent a video mes-sage.

They pipped golfing greatTiger Woods, Kenyan marathonerEliud Kipchoge, tennis legendRafael Nadal and MotoGP cham-pion Marc Marquez.

American gymnast SimoneBiles who won five gold medals atthe 2019 World Championships,grabbed the World Sportswomanof the year award, her third in fouryears after winning it in 2017 andin 2019.

She beat a strong challengefrom Jamaican sprinting greatShelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who

missed out on the honour for thefifth time. She was nominated2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016 also butdid not win it.

The most decorated gymnastalso beat competit ion fromAmerican footballer MeganRapinoe, Japanese tennis sensationNaomi Osaka, American trackand field athlete Allyson Felix andskier Mikaela Shiffrin.

Snowboarding sensation ChloeKim won the World ActionSportsperson honour, her secondstraight in the same category.

In the Sportsperson of theyear with a disability category,Oksana Masters, born with limbimpairments caused by radiationfrom Chernobyl and adopted by anAmerican single parent, was recog-nised for an outstanding year in2019.

She won five Gold medals anda Silver at the World Para NordicSkiing Championships.

South Bronx United (SBU), afootball programme based in NewYork, was honoured with the Sportfor Good Award. The programmeuses football to achieve education-al outcomes for young peoplefrom underserved communities.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup

winners South Africa won theirsecond Laureus World Team of theYear Award, beating Jurgen Klopp’sLiverpool and the US Women’sFootball Team, among others.

For the 2020 Laureus WorldComeback of the Year, Germany’sgritty F3 driver Sophia Florsch wasthe winner.

Travelling at 276km per hour,she had lost control of her car atthe Macau circuit, crashingthrough safety barriers and leavingher with a spinal fracture whichrequired an 11-hour surgery andmonths of rehabilitation.

In November 2019, a year onfrom her accident, the 18-year-oldSophia was back in the cockpit,racing once again in the MacauGrand Prix.

Egan Bernal, who became theyoungest rider to win the Tour deFrance at 22, grabbed the WorldBreakthrough of the Year award.

German basketball great DirkNowitzki was recognised at theCeremony with the LaureusLifetime Achievement Award forhis contribution to the sport of bas-ketball.

Spanish Basketball Federationgot the Exceptional AchievementAward.

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Veteran New Zealand bats-man Ross Taylor doesn't

rule out playing the 2023 ODIWorld Cup but says his form,fitness and motivation level atthe end of next year will decidewhether he actually manages aplace in the squad.

The 35-year-old willbecome the first cricketer in theworld to complete100 gamesacross threeinter nat iona lformats when hesteps out for thefirst Test againstIndia at BasinReserve on February21.

“I haven’t ruled it(2023 World Cup) outbut I still think it’s along way away. Firstand foremost I want toget to next year - theTwenty20 World Cupand then the homesummer - and then I’llhave a good idea onhow I’m placed at theend of next summer,” Taylorwas quoted as saying by‘stuff.Co.Nz’.

“Whether there is still adrive, whether I’m goodenough, whether I’m fitenough, and whether I deservemy spot in the side. If I can tickall those, then definitely 2023

is an option.”The big-hitting batsman

said despite his desire to con-tinue, he won’t out himselfunder too much pressure.

“You always want to dowell and first and foremost thegame is more important. At thesame time you can put extrapressure on yourself. You've justgot to go out and enjoy it andtake it as another game.Hopefully I can contribute inany way I can,”he said.

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New Zealand’s conservative approach againstJasprit Bumrah could become a template for

other teams as they look to tackle the Indian paceace who recently endured a rare wicket-less out-ing in an ODI series, reckons former fast bowlerShane Bond.

The premier bowler copped criticism for hislean run during the three ODIs against NewZealand and Bond put that down to expectations.

“That's the nature of expectations when yougot a bowler of Jasprit's quality,” Bond, the fastestNew Zealand bowler during his time, told PTI inan exclusive interview.

“I thought New Zealand played him well andidentified him as a risk. They have played himconservatively and obviously there was some inex-perience around (Navdeep Saini and ShardulThakur),” he said.

“All teams will now identify him as a risk andattack others. So that’s where the bowling groupand what they do (as a group) is massive. It is notan easy place to bowl as wickets are flat.”

But Bond felt Bumrah's bowling wasn't all thatbad during the series, which India lost 0-3.

“At the end of the day, all you can do is tryand bowl well. He bowled reasonably well butsometimes you don't get wickets,” Bond said.

Bond, who has spent considerable amount oftime with Bumrah as the Mumbai Indians bowl-ing coach in the IPL, nonetheless expects India'spremier strike bowler to have a “massive impact”on the two-Test series starting Friday.

“When you come back from a lay-off, it’salways hard to get into the groove. Just that hehadn't had a lot of game before the series and con-ditions are a bit foreign,” said Bond.

“Although New Zealand played him well inlimited overs, Jasprit will have a massive impacton the Test series. I have no doubt about that,”

added the bowler, whose promising career was cutshort by numerous injuries.

“It always takes time to get back to top formbecause there is no substitute of game time. Soit’s good for Jasprit that he is leading into Testmatches with some short form cricket,” said Bond,who played 18 Tests, 82 ODIs and 20 T20Internationals.

����� ���� �

The limited use of Decision ReviewSystem was always planned for the

Ranji Trophy semifinals and notfrom the knockout stages, clarifiedBCCI’s general manager of cricketSaba Karim on Tuesday.

The move to introduce limitedDRS comes after the umpires commit-ted some howlers in some knockoutgames of the previous season.However, the quarterfinals starting onThursday will not see the use of DRS.

“We are introducing from thesemifinals. This the first time we haveinitiated this program, we wanted tobring in semifinals and we have donethat. It was never meant for the quar-terfinals,” Karim, also a former Indiawicketkeeper, told PTI.

“The whole idea is that we want-ed to bring in the DRS wherein we canhave uniformity for both the gamesand that will be in the semifinals. Allthe four teams have been pittedequally and that would not havebeen possible before (in quarters),” hesaid.

The restricted technology forRanji semis will not have Hawk Eyeand Ultra Edge, two key componentsof the DRS used in internationalgames.

“We will be using the technologywhich is available to us. We are look-ing at a very limited use of the DRS.We don't have snickometer and balltracking. We have red zone and wehave spin vision and we will try andgive whatever is available to umpiresfor them to decide,” added Karim.

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Spinner Poonam Yadavclaimed three wickets as India

geared up for the ICC women’sT20 World Cup with a thrillingtwo-run win over the WestIndies in a low-scoring warm-upmatch here on Tuesday.

Electing to bat, India post-ed a lowly 107 for eight in theirstipulated 20 overs beforereturning to restrict West Indiesto 105 for seven.

Chasing 108 to win, WestIndies were comfortably placedat 57 for one in 13 overs whenDeepti Sharma struck, cleaningup opener Lee-Ann Kirby (42)to trigger a collapse.

Soon skipper Stafanie Taylor(16), Chedean Nation (0) andDeandra Dottin (1) were back inthe hut as West Indies slipped to67 for five in the 17th over.

Hayley Matthews (25) andChinelle Henry (17) blastedthree fours and a six in the 19thover to leave them with 11 to getoff the last six balls.

Henry blasted Poonam fora four but the Indian dismissed

Matthews in the fourth ball.West Indies needed three

runs off the last ball but Henrywas caught by VedaKrishnamurthy.

Earlier, India’s top-threefailed to fire as they werereduced to 17 for three in 3.1overs. Opener SmritiMandhana (4) lasted just sixballs, while Jemimah Rodrigues(0) failed to open her account.Young Shafali Verma blasted acouple of fours before beingcaught by Britney Cooper offShamilia Connell (2/20).

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur(11), too, didn’t stay long, whileKrishnamurthy was cleaned upby Afy Fletcher (1/26), as Indiaslumped to 52 for five in 11.2overs.

Deepti Sharma made a 32-ball 21 before becoming a vic-tim of Anisa Mohammed (2/16),while Pooja Vastrakar (13) wasremoved by Aaliyah Alleyne(1/9). Stafanie taylor then got ridof Taniya Bhatia for 10.

Shikha Pandey finallysmashed a 16-ball 24 to givesome respectability to the total.

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There are no half measuresfor fit-again New Zealand

pace spearhead Trent Boultwho is ready to challenge Indiacaptain Virat Kohli on hisreturn to international cricketduring the two-Test seriesstarting here on Friday.

Boult was out of action forthe past six weeks due to a frac-ture on his right hand sus-tained during the Boxing DayTest against Australia andmissed out on the limited-overs leg of the India series.

Back for the traditionalformat, the left-arm fast bowlermade his priorities clear aheadof the first Test.

“That’s personally why Iplay the game, to get guys likethat (Kohli) out and test myselfagainst them, so I can’t wait to

get stuck in. But he’s anexceptional player. Everyoneknows how great he is,”Boult said, sending out awarning after landing inthe capital city for theopening Test.

The Basin Reservetrack will have a lot forthe seamers and inconditions conducive

to seam bowling, a wilycustomer like Boult

might prove to be a hand-ful.

“I’m preparing for asolid wicket. It generally is

very good here and goes thefull distance (five days). I doenjoy playing here, the histo-ry that’s involved, and it’s goingto be an exciting week build-ing up. I can’t wait to get outthere,” said the 30-year-oldwho has taken 256 wicketsfrom 65 Tests.

It was frustrating for himto watch his side get walloped0-5 in the T20 series but exhil-arating to when it got its mojoback in the subsequent one-dayers. The Black Caps won 3-

0 in the 50-over format.“I think it is what it is. I

have just got to put the last sixor so weeks behind me and justback myself to get out thereand do my thing,” said Boult,

who warmed up by playing aclub game at the picturesqueTaupo ground.

“I was pushing in off thelong run. I think a couple ofthe clubbies from Taupo real-ly enjoyed that. It was a goodafternoon,” added the pacer,who sent down eight overs ina friendly game for his clubCadets.

Professionally, Boult had tolie low due to injury, but it wasalso a good break as he andwife Lana welcomed their sec-ond child.

“Having some time awayfrom the game and having mysecond son a couple of weeksago came at quite a good time,”said Boult.

Fighting fit, all he wantsnow is to get hold of a redkookaburra and get a few totail into Kohli and company.

“I am hungry to be hereand can’t wait to get back in thewhite and get the red ballmoving around,” he said.

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Towering New Zealandpacer Kyle Jamieson has

revealed that moving fromCanterbury to Auckland helpedhim get rid of a detrimentalaggressive streak and becomea cricketer worthy of nationalduty.

The 6’8” tall pacer, whomade his ODI debut againstIndia in the recent series, washanded a place in the Testsquad for the upcoming two-match rubber beginning atBasin Reserves here onFebruary 21.

“I’m a pretty fiery charac-ter on the field. On the field I’mpretty aggressive. I think itcame out in ways I necessarilydidn’t like. I would sort of doit and then post-game belike,’What did I do that for?” hewas quoted as saying by‘stuff.Co.Nz’.

Jamieson shifted toAuckland, where he was born,prior to this season after mak-ing his T20 debut forCanterbury in 2016 in theSuper Smash.

He said there was a lot of

negativity around him inCanterbury, where he grew up,and it affected his behaviour.

“There was a bit of negativ-ity surrounding myself andthat environment and that wascoming out in my behaviour onthe field,” he said.

The 25-year-old saidreturning to Auckland made amassive difference to his game.

“I’m really enjoying mycricket, which is probablysomething I couldn’t say acouple of years ago,” saidJamieson, who scored 25 andtook 2 for 42 on debut duringthe second ODI against Indiaat Eden Park.

“I was going through a bitof stuff off the field. Just thechance to come in with thisgroup and turn up and learneveryday - try and better myselfas a cricketer - was somethingthat was too hard to turndown, so look, it’s been massivefor my game.

“...It was just a shift that Ineeded to make. Most impor-tantly, I needed to be happy andI needed to enjoy my cricket.Wherever that may take me,then it will,” he added.

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Batting great Sachin Tendulkarbeing carried on the shoulders

of his teammates after India’s WorldCup triumph at home in 2011 wasvoted the Laureus best sportingmoment in the last 20 years.

With the backing of Indiancricket fans, Tendulkar got themaximum number of votes toemerge winner on Monday.

The charged-up Indian crick-eters rushed to the ground at theWankhede Stadium and soon theylifted Tendulkar on their shouldersand made a lap of honour, amoment etched in the minds of thefans.

Former Australian skipperSteve Waugh handed the trophy toTendulkar after tennis legend BrosBecker announced the winner at aglittering ceremony.

“It’s incredible. The feeling ofwinning the world cup was beyondwhat words can express. How

many times you get an event hap-pening where there are no mixedopinions. Very rarely the entirecountry celebrates,” Tendulkar saidafter receiving the trophy.

“And this is a reminder of howpowerful a sport is and what magicit does to our lives. Even now whenI watch that it has stayed with me.”

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Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bondwants all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is

recovering from a back surgery, to play a fewmatches before the Indian Premier League, begin-ning March 29.

“I only hope he gets to play some cricket beforethe IPL and always believe it’s better to spend a lit-tle bit longer for coming back rather than rush-ing it,” Bond said.

“There’s no doubt he can come back. I am justpleased that they are taking an orthodox approachwith Hardik’s rehabilitation and T20s, especiallyIPL will be nice for him to comeback as he will notbe over-bowled.”

Pandya underwent a productive net session atthe National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengalururecently.

He was seen facing throwdown in the nets andmainly played with a straight bat. It is not yet clearif he will make a comeback in the South AfricaODIs next month or the IPL.

Earlier this month, Pandya was ruled out ofthe Test series against New Zealand after failingto regain full match fitness.

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