4`_X SZUd e` V_U 8`R deR]V^ReV - Daily Pioneer

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T he Congress on Monday staked claim to provide an alternative Government in Goa, which is facing political crisis following prolonged ill- ness of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The Congress, which has 16 members in the 40-member State Assembly, submitted a memorandum to Governor Mridula Sinha, urging her not to dissolve the Assembly and instead invite the party to form the Government. The State is being ruled by the BJP-led alliance with the saffron party having 14 MLAs. While the Congress is in a wait and watch mode, BJP Central unit has sent three senior leaders — Ram Lal, BL Santhosh and Vinay Puranik — to meet the State party leaders and allies to take stock of the political situation. Kavalekar said the Congress has support of legis- lators from other parties and can form a Government if given a chance by the Governor. “We will prove our majority on the floor of the House,” he said. However, BJP leader Ram Lal said the Goa Government is stable and no demand has been made for a change in the leadership. He stated this after a meeting with party MLAs, former legislators and core committee members. He said the BJP’s alliance partners — the Goa Forward Party (GFP), the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Independents — conveyed that they will agree to any political decision taken by the BJP. AICC Goa incharge A Chella Kumar said the party High Command is keeping an eye on the development in Panjim, and the State Congress unit is in touch with some local parties even as some of the dis- gruntled BJP MLAs have reached out to the Congress. “The Congress is ready to provide a stable alternative Government provided other parties are ready to join hands with us by not compromising the interests of the people of Goa,” said Kumar, who suc- ceeded Digvijay Singh after the Congress High Command removed him for failing to stake claim to form the Government even though the Congress emerged the single largest party after the 2017 Assembly polls. Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said the Congress party has submitted a memorandum to the Governor staking claim to form an alternate Government. All the 16 Congress MLAs, led by Kavlekar, went to the Raj Bhavan but could not meet the Governor as she is out of the State. “The party urged the Governor not to consider dis- solution of the Assembly, which is a possibility considering internal fighting in the ruling alliance and illness of Parrikar,” Kavlekar said. The BJP has 14 seats in the Assembly, its allies Goa Forward Party and MGP have three each. Three Independents and an MLA from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also support the BJP. The MGP, which is one of the constituents of the NDA Government in Goa with three MLAs, said a “common solu- tion” on the political situation rising out of the indisposition of the CM has to come from the BJP. “This is a coalition Government but the decision (on governance in the absence of Parrikar) has to be taken by the BJP since it is the largest party in the State Government. We are waiting for a common solution, which the BJP will give us,” MGP chief Deepak Dhavalikar said. The solution should be in sync with what the allies have been requesting, he said, adding that his party had not given any specific proposal to the BJP on a change of leader- ship. “Yes, we have told them (the BJP) if they are consider- ing it (change in leadership), then charge should be given to the senior-most Minister. We continue to stick to our demand,” Dhavalikar said. Parrikar, 62, who is suffer- ing from a pancreatic ailment, is admitted in AIIMS for treat- ment. T he Government on Monday unveiled another important step to address the problems being faced by the public sector banks in view of shrinking credit growth and ballooning NPAs. As part of the measures, the Centre announced that State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB), Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will be merged to create the country’s third largest lender. Announcing the decision, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the merger will make the banks stronger and sustainable as well as increase their lending ability. He said bank lending was becoming weak, hurting cor- porate sector investments, and many banks were in a fragile condition due to excessive lending and soaring NPAs. More such merger pro- posals are understood to be in the offing. The Modi Government had constituted a ministerial committee headed by Jaitley in October to oversee merger prospects of State-owned PSU banks. The other committee also included Union Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. State Bank of India last year merged with itself five of its subsidiary banks and taking over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, a niche State-run lender for women. As was in case of the SBI, no employee of the three banks would have service con- ditions that are adverse to their present one. The Government owns majority stakes in 21 lenders, which account for more than two-thirds of banking assets in the Asia’s third biggest econo- my. But these PSU banks also account for the lion’s share of NPAs and need crores of rupees in new capital in the next two years to meet global Basel III capital norms. Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said bank boards of the three banks will examine the amalgamation proposal. “The merger will help improve operational effi- ciency and customer services.” The amalgamated bank would be the third largest bank in India and will be strong competitive lender with economies of scale, he said adding the three would have synergies for network, low- cost deposits and subsidiaries. While the employees’ interest will be protected, brand equity will be preserved, he said. Capital support to the merged entity of Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank and BoB would be ensured, he said. The three banks will con- tinue to work independently post merger. R ashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday asserted that the Sangh is one of ‘the most democratic’ organ- isations where decisions are taken with the con- sensus of ‘swayamsevaks’. Explaining that the RSS is singularly engaged in the construction of “vyakti nirmanin each street, ‘mohalla’ and village to awaken a society that is devoted to “Rashtra nirman”, Bhagwat said the decline of Hindus was on account of decline in “our values” for that “we should not be blaming Muslim invaders”. Calling for shaping up individuals who are laden with good values and self-less character, he said the RSS aim is to unite Hindus. “RSS ka kaam vyakti nirman hai aur RSS iski methodology hain”, Bhawat said summing up the role of his organisation which has been subject of multiple scrutiny in its over 90 years existence. He said the RSS is not concerned with as who would run the Government as this is to be decided by the people of the country who should be endowed with good character and achcha acharan’ and re-ehphasised that his organisation is working to raise a society where people work for every one’s progress and well-being. Har mohalla, Gao main aisi toli khari karna, achche swayamsevak khare karna, Sangh yahin hain, isse jyada kuch nahin hain”, RSS leader said. Delivering his address in the first day of the three-day lecture series here at ‘Vigyan Bhawan’, the RSS head said there was a great misconception that the Sangh was a “dictator- ial organisation” and asserted that the outfit works with the consensus of all ‘swayamsevakand has not place for a remote control. He said even the founder of the RSS Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar decided on running ‘shakhas’ three months after it came into exis- tence in 1925 when other ‘swayamsevaks’ so decided. Bhagwat said even his participation in ‘Shakha’ is monitored by the ‘Shakha’ head of which he happens to be a member in Nagpur. The RSS chief said the RSS is self-reliant and does not take a ‘single paise’ from outside as it its run with voluntary contribution of RSS works described as “gurudakshina”. T he State Assembly on Monday passed the first Supplementary Budget-relat- ed Appropriation of 12,790 crore following a marathon discussion. While Finance Minister Shashi Bhushan Behera pre- sented the Bill for discussion and passing, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra initiated the debate. He rapped both the State and Union Governments for making assurances and not fulfilling them. Commenting on proposed NTPC Talcher project, Mishra advised the State Government to ensure that project would protect the interest of people of the Odisha. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to fulfill his assurances he made for Odisha, be it Rourkela hos- pital upgradation or construc- tion of a bridge. The State exchequer must not bear expenses going by false assurances,” he said. Mishra too alleged that the State Government failed to create irrigation facility for 35 per cent of cultivable land and provide free electricity to farm- ers. He also lamented that health and education sectors have worsened during the last 18 years. Law and order situa- tion in the State is alarming, he said. On behalf of the ruling party, Arun Sahu said the wrong economic policy of the Union Government has affect- ed people in nook and corner of the country. He said the NDA Government is now collecting 2,50,000 crore per annum by levying taxes on petrol and diesel and has closed eyes for people’s welfare. Many other members from the Opposition Congress and BJP and ruling parties partic- ipated in the discussion. In his reply, Minister Behera said the State Government has always worked for development of people of the State and would continue to do so. Following the Minister’s reply, the Appropriation Bill was passed through a voice vote. T he postmortem report of the woman who was allegedly killed by tigress Sundari in the Satkosia forests on September 12 confirmed the death ‘due to animal bite.’ A hue and cry has been unleashed since Kailasi Sai of Hatibari village in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Angul dis- trict was mauled to death on September 12 by tigress Sundari which was translocated from Bandhavgarh in MP in June. Given the mounting demand of the villagers residing in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve to shift the tigress, whom they described as hostile and their life unsafe with its free movement, Additional PCCF and Field Director, Satkosia Tiger Reserve, Dr S Panda on Monday told that all efforts will be taken to provide pro- tection to the people living in and around the tiger reserve. Simultaneously, he appealed the people to cooperate with the tiger conservation plan. Dr Ramesh from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and his team is now observing and assessing the movement of the tigress Sundari and looking for a safe place for capture of the tigress. WII experts said Sundari wont’ be relocated from Satkosia. The local people would be persuaded about it. The locals would be involved in the project and it would be ensured that they financially benefit from it. If required, they would be taken to the Kanha wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh to see how tigers coexist with people there.Meanwhile, there is a blame game between the local BJD and BJP leaders, with the former accusing the latter of inciting the locals. Citizen Action Forum president RP Pattanaik filed a case in the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) for 50 lakh compensation to the relative of the deceased who was killed by the tigress and 5 lakh for each family residing in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve, those who have lost their livelihood for the tigress menace. T he State Assembly was adjourned thrice on Monday as Opposition Congress and BJP members trouped into the Well of the House and kept demanding a statement from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on all allega- tions of corruption in the Agriculture Department. The House was first adjourned at 10.36 am till 11.36 am. When the House reassem- bled, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said while the Agriculture Minister has admitted in the House that the Assistant Director of Horticulture, Mayurbhanj has misappropriated public money to the tune of 17.33 core, it is disappointing that no strin- gent action was taken against him. He was merely suspend- ed and then reinstated. “If a temporary punish- ment of suspension is awarded in such a corruption case involving crores of rupees, offi- cers would fearlessly misap- propriate public funds. It means that the Government itself is involved in the corruption,” Mishra said and demanded a statement from either the Chief Minister or the Minister. BJP Legislature Party Leader KV Singh Deo sup- ported the issue and the demand raised by Mishra. As Speaker Pradeep Kumar Amat didn't give a ruling, Opposition members trouped into the Well of the House again and shouted slogans against the State Government. Unable to run proceed- ings, Amat adjourned the House at 11.55 am till 12.10 pm. As the situation continued, Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi adjourned the House for the third time till12.25 pm. However, normalcy restored at 12.25pm as the Speaker directed the Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment Minister to look into the issues raised by the Leader of Opposition and other Opposition members and respond to them. I n view of an assurance from the Law Minister Pratap Jena that the Government would ful- fil the demands of the striking lawyers very soon, the general body of the Orissa High Court Bar Association on Monday unanimously passed a resolution letting the Government resolve the issue. At the same time, the association also decid- ed that the ongoing cease-work agitation launched by the lawyers since August 29 would continue till September 20. “As planned, a delegation of the lawyers met the Law Minister, who acknowledged our demands saying they are genuine and sought at least two or three days’ time to resolve the matter,” informed association secretary Saryabrata Mohanty, adding that the Statewide lawyers’ strike would, however, continue until the lawyers’ demands are fulfilled. The lawyers are boycotting courts across the State demanding arrest of the policemen who brutally assaulted a Cuttack city advocate on the middle of a busy road in full public glare on August 28 following a series of road accidents involving the car of the lawyer. The Commissionerate police have, however, suspended three policemen in this connection for alleged misconduct and put a Home Guard on one-month notice period. T he lawyers all over the region resorted to cease work on Monday reiterating their demand for establish- ment of an Orissa High Court Bench in western Odisha. They decided to continue their agi- tation till September 26. The Central Action Committee (CAC) of the All Western Odisha Bar Association has taken the deci- sion of continuing the agitation so that the Government can feel the gravity of the situation and sentiment of the people here. “The lawyers of 37 bar associations of the region have resorted to cease work over the demand of establishment of the HC Bench. It is a genuine demand of the lawyers and people of western Odisha as a whole,” said CAC convenor Ashok Dash. Dash further said that they were planning to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Jharsuguda on September 22 and apprise him of their demand. “We have requested the PMO for an appointment with the Prime Minister even for a short while,” he added. Earlier, a delegation of lawyers had called on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on August 6 over the demand following which the CM had written to the Union Government for estab- lishment of the HC Benches both in western and southern Odisha. Subsequently, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had written to the Odisha Government over the issue and asked to send a compre- hensive proposal with the con- sent of the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court. “But the people are yet to get the genuine demand ful- filled that causes a massive dis- contentment in the entire region,” said Sambalpur District Bar Association president Bijitendriya Pradhan. A n unemployed youth is now undergoing treatment after slitting his left wrist with a sharp weapon apparently as part of a challenge of the dead- ly online game called ‘Momo’, to which he was addicted since about a week ago. Doctors at the SCB Medical College Hospital here maintain that the youth is now out of danger from the self-inflicted injury but needs psychological coun- selling. The youth was identified as Sunil Das (30) of Jharakuta vil- lage in the Bayalish Mouza area in Cuttack Sadar. Family mem- bers said Sunil was hooked to his mobile phone for past sev- eral days and was remaining detached from the family and neighbours. “In the wee hours of Monday, he initially tried to cut his wrist through a blade but later used a sickle,” said a relative of the victim. Sunil’s father Basudev Das said his son was working in a private company. But over the past week, instead of going to his workplace, he was busy with his mobile phone. Police have seized his mobile phone and preliminary investigations revealed that he was playing the Momo chal- lenge as the same was down- loaded in his phone.

Transcript of 4`_X SZUd e` V_U 8`R deR]V^ReV - Daily Pioneer

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The Congress on Mondaystaked claim to provide an

alternative Government inGoa, which is facing politicalcrisis following prolonged ill-ness of Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar.

The Congress, which has16 members in the 40-memberState Assembly, submitted amemorandum to GovernorMridula Sinha, urging her notto dissolve the Assembly andinstead invite the party to formthe Government. The State isbeing ruled by the BJP-ledalliance with the saffron partyhaving 14 MLAs.

While the Congress is in await and watch mode, BJPCentral unit has sent threesenior leaders — Ram Lal, BLSanthosh and Vinay Puranik —to meet the State party leadersand allies to take stock of thepolitical situation.

Kavalekar said theCongress has support of legis-lators from other parties andcan form a Government ifgiven a chance by theGovernor. “We will prove ourmajority on the floor of theHouse,” he said.

However, BJP leader RamLal said the Goa Governmentis stable and no demand hasbeen made for a change in theleadership. He stated this aftera meeting with party MLAs,former legislators and corecommittee members. He saidthe BJP’s alliance partners —the Goa Forward Party (GFP),the Maharashtrawadi

Gomantak Party (MGP) andIndependents — conveyed thatthey will agree to any politicaldecision taken by the BJP.

AICC Goa incharge AChella Kumar said the partyHigh Command is keeping aneye on the development inPanjim, and the State Congressunit is in touch with some localparties even as some of the dis-gruntled BJP MLAs havereached out to the Congress.

“The Congress is ready toprovide a stable alternativeGovernment provided otherparties are ready to join handswith us by not compromisingthe interests of the people ofGoa,” said Kumar, who suc-ceeded Digvijay Singh afterthe Congress High Command

removed him for failing tostake claim to form theGovernment even though theCongress emerged the singlelargest party after the 2017Assembly polls.

Leader of OppositionChandrakant Kavlekar said theCongress party has submitteda memorandum to theGovernor staking claim toform an alternate Government.All the 16 Congress MLAs, ledby Kavlekar, went to the RajBhavan but could not meet theGovernor as she is out of theState.

“The party urged theGovernor not to consider dis-solution of the Assembly, whichis a possibility consideringinternal fighting in the ruling

alliance and illness of Parrikar,”Kavlekar said.

The BJP has 14 seats in theAssembly, its allies GoaForward Party and MGP havethree each. Three Independentsand an MLA from NationalistCongress Party (NCP) alsosupport the BJP.

The MGP, which is one ofthe constituents of the NDAGovernment in Goa with threeMLAs, said a “common solu-tion” on the political situationrising out of the indispositionof the CM has to come fromthe BJP. “This is a coalitionGovernment but the decision(on governance in the absenceof Parrikar) has to be taken bythe BJP since it is the largestparty in the State Government.

We are waiting for a commonsolution, which the BJP willgive us,” MGP chief DeepakDhavalikar said.

The solution should be insync with what the allies havebeen requesting, he said,adding that his party had notgiven any specific proposal tothe BJP on a change of leader-ship.

“Yes, we have told them(the BJP) if they are consider-ing it (change in leadership),then charge should be given tothe senior-most Minister. Wecontinue to stick to ourdemand,” Dhavalikar said.

Parrikar, 62, who is suffer-ing from a pancreatic ailment,is admitted in AIIMS for treat-ment.

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The Government onMonday unveiled another

important step to address theproblems being faced by thepublic sector banks in view ofshrinking credit growth andballooning NPAs. As part of themeasures, the Centreannounced that State-ownedBank of Baroda (BoB), VijayaBank and Dena Bank will bemerged to create the country’sthird largest lender.

Announcing the decision,Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley said the merger willmake the banks stronger andsustainable as well as increasetheir lending ability.

He said bank lending wasbecoming weak, hurting cor-porate sector investments, andmany banks were in a fragilecondition due to excessivelending and soaring NPAs.

More such merger pro-posals are understood to be inthe offing.

The Modi Governmenthad constituted a ministerialcommittee headed by Jaitley inOctober to oversee mergerprospects of State-owned PSUbanks. The other committeealso included Union Railwaysand Coal Minister PiyushGoyal and Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman.

State Bank of India last yearmerged with itself five of itssubsidiary banks and takingover Bharatiya Mahila Bank, aniche State-run lender forwomen. As was in case of theSBI, no employee of the threebanks would have service con-

ditions that are adverse to theirpresent one.

The Government ownsmajority stakes in 21 lenders,which account for more thantwo-thirds of banking assets inthe Asia’s third biggest econo-my. But these PSU banks alsoaccount for the lion’s share ofNPAs and need crores ofrupees in new capital in thenext two years to meet global

Basel III capital norms.Financial Services

Secretary Rajiv Kumar saidbank boards of the three bankswill examine the amalgamationproposal. “The merger willhelp improve operational effi-ciency and customer services.”

The amalgamated bankwould be the third largest bankin India and will be strongcompetitive lender witheconomies of scale, he saidadding the three would havesynergies for network, low-cost deposits and subsidiaries.

While the employees’interest will be protected, brandequity will be preserved, hesaid. Capital support to themerged entity of Dena Bank,Vijaya Bank and BoB would beensured, he said.

The three banks will con-tinue to work independentlypost merger.

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chiefMohan Bhagwat on Monday asserted that

the Sangh is one of ‘the most democratic’ organ-isations where decisions are taken with the con-sensus of ‘swayamsevaks’.

Explaining that the RSS is singularlyengaged in the construction of “vyakti nirman”in each street, ‘mohalla’ and village to awakena society that is devoted to “Rashtra nirman”,Bhagwat said the decline of Hindus was onaccount of decline in “our values” for that “weshould not be blaming Muslim invaders”.

Calling for shaping up individuals who areladen with good values and self-less character,he said the RSS aim is to unite Hindus.

“RSS ka kaam vyakti nirman hai aur RSSiski methodology hain”, Bhawat said summingup the role of his organisation which has beensubject of multiple scrutiny in its over 90 yearsexistence.

He said the RSS is not concerned with aswho would run the Government as this is to bedecided by the people of the country whoshould be endowed with good character and

‘achcha acharan’ and re-ehphasised that hisorganisation is working to raise a societywhere people work for every one’s progress andwell-being.

“Har mohalla, Gao main aisi toli kharikarna, achche swayamsevak khare karna, Sanghyahin hain, isse jyada kuch nahin hain”, RSSleader said.

Delivering his address in the first day of thethree-day lecture series here at ‘Vigyan Bhawan’,the RSS head said there was a great misconception that the Sangh was a “dictator-ial organisation” and asserted that the outfitworks with the consensus of all ‘swayamsevak’and has not place for a remote control.

He said even the founder of the RSS DrKeshav Baliram Hedgewar decided on running‘shakhas’ three months after it came into exis-tence in 1925 when other ‘swayamsevaks’ sodecided. Bhagwat said even his participationin ‘Shakha’ is monitored by the ‘Shakha’ headof which he happens to be a member in Nagpur.

The RSS chief said the RSS is self-reliant anddoes not take a ‘single paise’ from outside as itits run with voluntary contribution of RSS worksdescribed as “gurudakshina”.

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The State Assembly onMonday passed the first

Supplementary Budget-relat-ed Appropriation of �12,790crore following a marathondiscussion.

While Finance MinisterShashi Bhushan Behera pre-sented the Bill for discussionand passing, Leader ofOpposition Narasingha Mishrainitiated the debate. He rappedboth the State and UnionGovernments for makingassurances and not fulfillingthem.

Commenting on proposedNTPC Talcher project, Mishraadvised the State Governmentto ensure that project wouldprotect the interest of people ofthe Odisha. “Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has failed tofulfill his assurances he madefor Odisha, be it Rourkela hos-pital upgradation or construc-tion of a bridge.

The State exchequer mustnot bear expenses going byfalse assurances,” he said.

Mishra too alleged thatthe State Government failed tocreate irrigation facility for 35per cent of cultivable land andprovide free electricity to farm-ers. He also lamented thathealth and education sectorshave worsened during the last18 years. Law and order situa-tion in the State is alarming, hesaid.

On behalf of the rulingparty, Arun Sahu said thewrong economic policy of theUnion Government has affect-ed people in nook and cornerof the country.

He said the NDAGovernment is now collecting�2,50,000 crore per annum bylevying taxes on petrol anddiesel and has closed eyes forpeople’s welfare.

Many other members fromthe Opposition Congress andBJP and ruling parties partic-ipated in the discussion.

In his reply, MinisterBehera said the StateGovernment has alwaysworked for development ofpeople of the State and wouldcontinue to do so.

Following the Minister’sreply, the Appropriation Billwas passed through a voicevote.

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The postmortem report of thewoman who was allegedly killed by

tigress Sundari in the Satkosia forestson September 12 confirmed the death‘due to animal bite.’

A hue and cry has been unleashedsince Kailasi Sai of Hatibari village inthe Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Angul dis-trict was mauled to death on September12 by tigress Sundari which was translocated from Bandhavgarh in MPin June.

Given the mounting demand of thevillagers residing in the Satkosia TigerReserve to shift the tigress, whom theydescribed as hostile and their life unsafe with its freemovement, Additional PCCF and FieldDirector, Satkosia Tiger Reserve,Dr S Panda on Monday told that all

efforts will be taken to provide pro-tection to the people living in and around the tigerreserve. Simultaneously, he appealedthe people to cooperate with the tigerconservation plan.

Dr Ramesh from the Wildlife

Institute of India (WII) and his teamis now observing and assessing themovement of the tigress Sundari andlooking for a safe place for capture ofthe tigress.

WII experts said Sundari wont’ berelocated from Satkosia. The localpeople would be persuaded about it.

The locals would be involved in theproject and it would be ensured thatthey financially benefit from it.

If required, they would be taken tothe Kanha wildlife sanctuary in MadhyaPradesh to see how tigers coexist with peoplethere.Meanwhile, there is a blamegame between the local BJD and BJPleaders, with the former accusing thelatter of inciting the locals.

Citizen Action Forum president RPPattanaik filed a case in the NationalHuman Right Commission (NHRC)for �50 lakh compensation to the relative of the deceased who was killed by the tigress and �5lakh for each family residing in theSatkosia Tiger Reserve, those whohave lost their livelihood for the tigressmenace.

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The State Assembly wasadjourned thrice on

Monday as OppositionCongress and BJP memberstrouped into the Well of theHouse and kept demanding astatement from Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik on all allega-tions of corruption in theAgriculture Department.

The House was firstadjourned at 10.36 am till 11.36am. When the House reassem-bled, Leader of OppositionNarasingha Mishra said whilethe Agriculture Minister hasadmitted in the House that theAssistant Director ofHorticulture, Mayurbhanj hasmisappropriated public moneyto the tune of �17.33 core, it isdisappointing that no strin-gent action was taken againsthim. He was merely suspend-ed and then reinstated.

“If a temporary punish-ment of suspension is awardedin such a corruption caseinvolving crores of rupees, offi-cers would fearlessly misap-

propriate public funds. It meansthat the Government itself isinvolved in the corruption,”Mishra said and demanded astatement from either the ChiefMinister or the Minister.

BJP Legislature PartyLeader KV Singh Deo sup-ported the issue and thedemand raised by Mishra.

As Speaker Pradeep KumarAmat didn't give a ruling,Opposition members troupedinto the Well of the House againand shouted slogans against theState Government.

Unable to run proceed-ings, Amat adjourned theHouse at 11.55 am till 12.10 pm.As the situation continued,Deputy Speaker SanandaMarandi adjourned the Housefor the third time till12.25 pm.

However, normalcyrestored at 12.25pm as theSpeaker directed theAgriculture and Farmers'Empowerment Minister to lookinto the issues raised by theLeader of Opposition and otherOpposition members andrespond to them.

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In view of an assurance from the Law MinisterPratap Jena that the Government would ful-

fil the demands of the striking lawyers verysoon, the general body of the Orissa High CourtBar Association on Monday unanimouslypassed a resolution letting the Governmentresolve the issue.

At the same time, the association also decid-ed that the ongoing cease-work agitationlaunched by the lawyers since August 29would continue till September 20.

“As planned, a delegation of the lawyersmet the Law Minister, who acknowledged ourdemands saying they are genuine and soughtat least two or three days’ time to resolve thematter,” informed association secretarySaryabrata Mohanty, adding that the Statewidelawyers’ strike would, however, continue untilthe lawyers’ demands are fulfilled.

The lawyers are boycotting courts across theState demanding arrest of the policemen whobrutally assaulted a Cuttack city advocate on themiddle of a busy road in full public glare onAugust 28 following a series of road accidentsinvolving the car of the lawyer.

The Commissionerate police have, however,suspended three policemen in this connectionfor alleged misconduct and put a Home Guardon one-month notice period.

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The lawyers all over theregion resorted to cease

work on Monday reiteratingtheir demand for establish-ment of an Orissa High CourtBench in western Odisha. Theydecided to continue their agi-tation till September 26.

The Central ActionCommittee (CAC) of the AllWestern Odisha BarAssociation has taken the deci-sion of continuing the agitationso that the Government canfeel the gravity of the situationand sentiment of the peoplehere.

“The lawyers of 37 bar

associations of the region haveresorted to cease work over thedemand of establishment of theHC Bench.

It is a genuine demand ofthe lawyers and people of western Odisha as a whole,”said CAC convenor AshokDash.

Dash further said that theywere planning to meet PrimeMinister Narendra Modi atJharsuguda on September 22and apprise him of theirdemand.

“We have requested thePMO for an appointment withthe Prime Minister even for ashort while,” he added.

Earlier, a delegation of

lawyers had called on ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik onAugust 6 over the demand following which the CM hadwritten to the Union Government for estab-lishment of the HC Benchesboth in western and southernOdisha.

Subsequently, Union LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadhad written to the OdishaGovernment over the issueand asked to send a compre-hensive proposal with the con-sent of the Chief Justice of theOrissa High Court.

“But the people are yet toget the genuine demand ful-filled that causes a massive dis-contentment in the entireregion,” said Sambalpur DistrictBar Association presidentBijitendriya Pradhan.

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An unemployed youth isnow undergoing treatment

after slitting his left wrist witha sharp weapon apparently aspart of a challenge of the dead-ly online game called ‘Momo’,to which he was addicted sinceabout a week ago. Doctors atthe SCB Medical CollegeHospital here maintain that theyouth is now out of dangerfrom the self-inflicted injurybut needs psychological coun-selling.

The youth was identified asSunil Das (30) of Jharakuta vil-lage in the Bayalish Mouza areain Cuttack Sadar. Family mem-bers said Sunil was hooked tohis mobile phone for past sev-eral days and was remainingdetached from the family andneighbours. “In the wee hoursof Monday, he initially tried tocut his wrist through a blade

but later used a sickle,” said arelative of the victim.

Sunil’s father Basudev Dassaid his son was working in aprivate company. But over thepast week, instead of going tohis workplace, he was busy withhis mobile phone.

Police have seized hismobile phone and preliminaryinvestigations revealed that hewas playing the Momo chal-lenge as the same was down-loaded in his phone.

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Apowerful political potentate, Bhakta CharanDas is a Congress heavyweight having pan-

India acclaim. Currently, he is the chairman ofthe PCC Campaign Committee, a member of theAICC Publicity Committee and a seniorspokesperson of the AICC. Das began his polit-ical career after he came in contact with the YuvaChhatra Sangharsh Bahini of the JP movementin 1977. He waged a relentless struggle under thisbanner against the all-pervading corruption inhis Kalahandi district. He carried a virtual waragainst indiscriminate cutting down of trees inthe Niyamgiri Hills and some other hilly rangesof the district. He exhorted the primitive dwellersto save forests from the illegal timber contractorsand corrupt forest officials. He organised farm-ers’ rallies in 1983 under the leadership of vet-eran socialist leader Kishan Pattanaik. Soon, hisname spread like wildfire amongthe common masses. He openedhis innings to the State Assemblyin 1985 from the Bhawanipatnaconstituency. He was elected tothe Lok Sabha in 1989, 1996and in 2009. In 1990, he wasinducted as Union DeputyMinister of Youth Affairs &Sports. In 1991, he was elevat-ed to the rank of Minister ofState for Railways in theChandrasekhar Government. The significant traitin his leadership is that he picked up the issueswhich hit headlines both at home and abroad,be it the untold tale of the starvation deaths ofKalahandi and the agitation of “Save NiyamgiriHills”. In an interview to The Pioneer, Das spoketo Sugyan Choudhury on the political scenarioin Odisha ahead of the 2019 elections.

The Bharat Bandh call recently given by theCongress was a big success in Odisha. Doesthis suggest that the party shall stage acomeback to power in 2019?

After the new dispensation came in withNiranjan Patnaik as the PCC president andmyself and three others as working presidents,three secretaries with a core committee, a cam-paign committee and such many other com-mittees, we are working in tandem withJitendra Singhji. The Congress has emergedstronger. The way the party’s rank and file start-ing from punchayat-level workers to urbanworkers joined the bandh shows the Congresshas occupied a formidable political space in theState. It is definitely going to come back topower in 2019.

In the bandh, 21 opposition parties joinedhands with the Congress. In the general elec-tions, do you think that the Congress willenter into an alliance with non-BJP and non-BJD forces in Odisha?

The possibility of entering into alliance withnon-BJP and non-BJD forces is always there inthe context of the elections. If required in theState’s larger interest, the Congress will enter intoalliances with JMM, BSP, RJD, JD, JD(S) SP andsuch other parties.

Do you think a “Mahagathbandhan” shall takeshape under the leadership of Rahul Gandhibefore the elections?

Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is of paramountimportance at the national scenario. There areother progressive parties which have their ownstars to project, but in the larger interest of thenation they should enter into an alliance todethrone the BJP at the Centre. In the largerinterest of the people, the Congress should takethem into confidence. The call of the hour isto remove the BJP from power. So, all like-minded parties should be united under the pow-erful leadership of Rahul Gandhi. I’m sure thisact of Mahagathbandhan shall be completed atthe right moment.

How far is it wise as per the collective wisdomof the Congress to project Rahul Gandhi asa Prime Ministerial candidate in the event ofthe party coming to power?

Rahul Gandhi has struggled a lot since hisyouth. He has had been gathering a lot of expe-riences and has emerged as a matured leader.He has worked both at the State and the nation-al levels with a rare vision and has been receivedwith wide acclaim. You see his leadership dur-ing the 2009, 2012 and 2014 elections; and now,you may analyse his parts played in the Gujaratand Karnataka elections. His experience andaggressiveness clarifies that he can provide astrong and stable leadership to the nation andsolve any issue or challenge facing the nation.

What are your views on the State’s politicalscenario post Niranjan Patnaik taking over asPCC chief?

Niranjan Patnaik is a senior Congressleader and is trying his utmost to take all kindsof leaders into confidence. We are all workingaround him having kept all our personal andideological differences, if any, at bay. The peo-ple of the State now understand that the entireCongress rank and file stand united. NiranjanPatnaik too possesses the ability to carryseniors and juniors under one platform. I amsure Niranjan Patnaik will do his best in cre-ating not only a convivial atmosphere in thePCC but shall lead the party to a comfortablevictory in the generation elections.

In the 2019 elections, do you think theCongress will achieve a comfortable victoryagainst the popularity of the Naveen PatnaikGovernment and against the Modi factor?

The Congress will form Government inOdisha. If we sustain the tempoby working in the southern,western and coastal regions, wemust reach our goal unfailingly.The BJP tried its best to wooOdisha people by holding itsnational executive atBhubaneswar, by celebrating itsfour years of power at the Centreat Cuttack and by intermittentvisits of Amit Shah, but it allended in fiasco. Their failure due

to GST, demonetisation, hike in fuel prices,neglecting Odisha in the Mahanadi issue andthe like have forced the Odisha people to for-get the BJP. In other words, the BJP has not beenaccepted by the people of our State. Only, therewere some development at the panchayat elec-tions in western Odisha, but that euphoria dieddown after the Bijupur by- election. Now, themood of the people is in favour of the Congress.We must form Government by winning a min-imum 85 Assembly seats.

Under the BJD Government, corruptionshas reached its nadir. In any tender work, bigpurchase or huge procurements, there is alwayscorruption and tender-fixing. BJD agents andworkers are ruling the roost everywhere and arefavoured with such profitable assignments at thecost of the people by creating such outfits as “MuHero”, ”Biju Yuva Vahini”, Mo Gaon, “Mo Bikas”and the like. Youths are turned into slaves. Theseyoung man are not entitled to salary but are get-ting the money to dance to their tunes. Thebureaucracy has been politicised and theresponsible characters of the IAS and IPS offi-cers have been destroyed by forcing them to losetheir independent thinking. The MLAs and MPshave no role to play. They can’t offer their adviceor opinion to the CM. We used to scoldBijubabu in harsh languages, but the next move-ment he used to embrace us; he was a greatdemocrat. There were values of legislature dur-ing the Congress regimes and even duringBijubabu’s tenure. But during his sonNaveenbabu’s regime, there is no value of MLAsand MPs. Naveenbabu has killed democracyduring his 18 years of rule. When Rome wasburning, Nero was playing fiddle. So,Naveenbabu is moving with his jocund com-pany of young men and women with their headsfilled with straws making them dance to histunes, finally ending their careers as slavesbefore the final fall of his authoritarian BJDempire in the 2019 elections.

The grapevine is agog that both you and yourson will contest in the elections. How far isit true?

I am going to contest from my ownKalahandi Parliamentary constituency. I’m notsure if my son Sagar Das will contest. If the partytakes his winnability into consideration anddecides in his favour and in absence of othereminently eligible candidates, he may contest.I can’t help in this regard.

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interview of the weekpioneer

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Freedom fighter and for-mer Odisha Minister

Dolagobinda Pradhan passedaway at his residence here onMonday at around 3.50 am.He was 90 and is survived byhis wife, four sons and threedaughters.

As the news of hisdemise spread, many emi-nent personalities, freedomfighters and politiciansreached his house to pay lastrespect to the departed soul.

Pradhan’s body wasburied at his ancestral villageDihasahi (Gatiroutpatna) inCuttack in the afternoon.

Born on June 7, 1929,Pradhan was elected to theOdisha Legislative Assemblyfrom the Cuttack Sadar con-stituency twice between 1980and 1990. He also served as theUrban Development Ministerfrom 1989 to 1990.

Being inspired byMahatma Gandhi, he had leftschool in 1942 to join the QuitIndia Movement. He wasimprisoned by the British forthree years and two months in

the Cuttack and Berhampurjails.

“His contribution to thefreedom struggle and to oursocial life will be rememberedforever. He was a trueGandhian and had dedicatedhis life to uphold Gandhian val-

ues in words and actions,”said Governor Prof GaneshiLal.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik also condoled thedeath of Pradhan and con-veyed his deep sympathy tothe bereaved family. PCCpresident Niranjan Patnaik,Union Minister DharmendraPradhan, Samajwadi PartyState president Rabi Beheraand many other leaders tooexpressed his condolenceover the demise of the free-dom fighter.

The State Assembly alsomourned Pradhan’s demiseand conveyed deep condo-lences to his bereaved family.

Bringing an obituary ref-erence, Chief Minister Patnaiksaid Odisha lost a freedomfighter and a good leader.Leader of OppositionNarasingha Mishra saidPradhan fought against injus-tice in the interest of commonmen. BJP Legislature PartyLeader KV Singh Deo remem-bered him as a true freedomfighter. A one-minute silencewas observed for the departedsoul.

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The State’s loan stood at�76,428.41 crore by July 31,

2018 and the per-head loan was�16,451 by end of 2017-18.

This was revealed frominformation furnished byFinance Minister ShashiBhushan Behera in the StateAssembly in response to aquestion of BJP MLA Dilip Rayon Monday.

The Minister informed thatthe Government’s loan burdenwas �36,430.54 crore in 2008-09, which was increased to�39,136.91 crore by the end of2010-11 and to �73,864.66crore by end of 2017-18.

Earlier, the Governmenthad stated that the Odisha

Government’s loan burden was�3870.84 crore by end of 1989-90 and that was increased to�7957.86 crore by end of 1994-95 and to �18,100.78 crore byend of 1999-2000 and then to�34,051.18 crore by end of2004-05.

However, the StateGovernment has claimed thatthe State’s loan burden hasremained within the limitsfixed under the FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) Act.

In his reaction, Ray said, “Ifthe State Government doesn’tbecome conscious in incurringloans, the loan burden mightincrease to �92,000 crore bythis year end and to �1 lakhcrore by the next fiscal.”

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The State’s Per capita NetState Domestic Product

(per capital income) perannum stands at �80,991against �1,12,835 at the national level, as per theAdvance Estimate 2017-18.

Finance Minister ShashiBhushan Behera informed thisin the State Assembly inresponse to a question of BJDMLA Priyanshu Pradhan onMonday.

The Minister furtherinformed that the averageannual income of a farmerfamily in Odisha was �59,712 as per the 70th round of the NationalSample Survey 2012-13 and�92,772 in 2015-16 as per the All India RuralFinancial Inclusion Survey2016-17.

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The State Government isspending a major part of

tax and nontax amounttowards payment of salary,allowance, pension and officeexpenses.

This was revealed frominformation furnished in theState Assembly by FinanceMinister Shashi BhushanBehera in response to a ques-tion of BJP MLA Dilip Ray onMonday.

The Minister informed thatin 2017-18 the StateGovernment paid a total of�18,335.58 crore towards salaryand allowance, �8,692.86 croretowards pension and �454.23crore towards office expenses.During the current year, theGovernment has targeted tospend �27,240 crore towardssalary and allowance, �11,912crore towards pension and�492.75 crore towards office

expenses, totaling at �39,645.02cr .

So far, the StateGovernment has collected atotal tax of � 9,448.49 crore andnontax of �3,600.18 croreagainst targets of �28,550 coreand �10,300 crore, respective-ly, set for the current year, theMinister informed.

Earlier, during six yearsfrom 2010-11 to �2015-16, theState Government had collect-ed tax and nontax of�1,43,378.54 crore and as spenta total of �1,13,789.71 croretowards salary, allowance, pen-sion and office expenses.

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Ah a r d c -o r e

Maoist man-aged toescape frompolice cus-tody whilehe was beingproduced inthe SDJM Court here onMonday. The fugitive was iden-tified as Manoj Madkami ofChhattisgarh.

Sources said Manoj shovedthe cops escorting him to thecourt and scaled the boundarywall of the SDJM Court to fleefrom the spot.

Manoj has more than 12cases pending against him inOdisha and Chhattisgarh. He isinvolved in cases of murder,torching of contractors campand attack on security forces.

He carriesa bounty ofRs 4 lakhon hishead.

Earlier,t h eB a l a n g i rpolice andthe SpecialOperationG r o u p

(SOG) personnel had arrestedManoj from a forest on theNuapada-Balangir border dur-ing a combing operation onMay 30, 2018.

Police have launched amassive manhunt in theNuapada town and surround-ing areas to trace the fugitiveultra.

Meanwhile, the authori-ties suspended as many asseven policemen on the groundof neglect of duty, for which theMaoist fled.

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The State has a total of 237sanctioned posts in the IAS

cadre and, of them, 38 posts arenow lying vacant.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik informed this in theState Assembly in response toa question of BJD MLA PranabPrakash Das on Monday. TheChief Minister said the UnionGovernment is being consult-ed for filling up the vacantposts.

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The State has a total of 189inspection bungalows

across 25 of 30 districts and, ofthem, 141 are in dilapidatedconditions.

Revenue and DisasterManagement MinisterMaheshwar Mohanty informedthis in the State Assembly inresponse to a question of BJDMLA Sanjib Kumar Sahoo onMonday. All 10 in Angul dis-trict, all five in Bargarh, all 14

in Boudh, all 15 in Gajapati, 14out of 20 in Gajapati district, 10out of 19 in Kandhamal district,all five in Keonjhar district,eight out of nine in Koraputdistrict, 10 out of 14 inMayurbhanj district, all nine inNabarangpur district and allfour in Sundargarh district arein dilapidated condition,according to the information.

There are no inspection indistricts of Bhadrak, Deogarh,Jagatsinghpur, Nuapada andand Rayagada districts

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Odisha has got award fromthe Government of India

for construction of highestrural roads in 2017-18. But still10,166 villages remaineduntouched in terms of roadconstruction. The BJDGovernment led by NaveenPatnaik has failed drastically onthis front in last 18 years of itsrule, but the Government ofIndia is felicitating the StateGovernment, alleged PCCpresident Niranjan Patnaik onMonday.

“This is how their relationis going on and they are in sup-port of each other,” toldPatnaik.

Patnaik said many farflung, hilly and forested tribalvillages in the State are havingno road connectivity. Pregnantwomen are giving birth byroad because ambulance can-not reach their hamlets, helamented.

Fire service vehicles arealso not reaching their villagesin the time of emergency. Butthe BJD Government isannouncing one after anotherscheme only to mislead thecommon men in the name ofdevelopment, told Patnaik.

In a Press statement, thePCC Chief has said the ModiGovernment has maintainedrelations with Nitish Kumar in

Bihar and Naveen Patnaik inOdisha for their personal andpolitical benefit. The ModiGovernment rewarded Bihar in2017 June for rural road con-struction. In the same function,Odisha was felicitated for con-structing highest number ofhouses under Prime MinisterAwas Yojana. But the factremains that only 9 per cent ofthe houses have been com-pleted in the State out of theallotted numbers, lamentedPatnaik.

Patnaik further said thatwhile farmers in Odisha arecommitting suicide, the State isgetting award in agricultureproduction. This unholyalliance of BJD and BJP isruining the economy and socialsector of the State, chargedPatnaik.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi, during his

Jharsuguda visit on September22, would dedicate five peoplewelfare and economicallyimportant projects. The pro-jects are a Nuakhai gift for thepeople of whole westernOdisha, said Union PetroleumMinister Dharmendra Pradhanon Monday.

Pradhan , who visitedJharsuguda on the day toreview the arrangements for thePrime Minister’s visit, said thePrime Minister during his visitwould inaugurate the newJharsuguda airport. Under theUdan scheme Jharsugudawould be connected withBhubaneswar and Raipur byflight services.

Besides, two coalmines anda railway line would also be

inaugurated by the PrimeMinister. After the comple-tion of the official programmes,the Prime Minister wouldaddress a public meeting,informed Pradhan .

Answering queries ofmediapersons, he said that till

the development of westernOdisha, inclusive growth can’tbe imagined for the State.Indigo and Spicejet wouldoperate their flights to Odisha.By air services to prominentcities, the area’s economy wouldget a boost, said Pradhan.

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Parents from 22 States underdifferent forums on Sunday

held a rally from the India Gateto the Rastrapati Bhavan inNew Delhi and submitted amemorandum to the Presidentdemanding implementation ofRegulation Act for the privateschools in the country.

The parents alleged that theprivate schools in the differentStates are exploiting parents inguise of quality education.They also said that even if dif-ferent parents’ forums aredemanding the StateGovernments to implement

the same but to no avail.The parents threatened

that if the law is not imple-mented to regulate the privateschools in the country, over alakh of parents from across thecountry would hold a demon-stration in New Delhi and cre-ate a situation like theEmergency of 1975.

Dr Gagan Bihari Rout,Sanjukta Panigrahi, SatyasisSwain and other members ofthe Odisha Parent Associations'Forum (OPAF) took part in thenational-level stir and present-ed their demands.

In this context, the OPAFon Tuesday would submit amemorandum to ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik,informed OPAF vice presidentMadhusudan Biswal.

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Tension prevailed in Goparea in the district after a

group of youths allegedly man-handled a woman cop duringimmersion of Ganesh idols onSunday.

Later, police arrested ayouth in this connection.

Sources said some youthsof Senepati Sahi under theGop police station were carry-ing out a procession for immer-sion of Ganesh idol. In themeantime, the youth did not

allow a truck to cross the road,which led to a traffic jam.

On receiving information,a police team led by ASISwarna Prabha Jena reachedthe spot to control the situation.However, the youths allegedlyabused the ASI in filthy lan-guage, manhandled and eventhrashed her.

Later, police arrested ayouth identified as Bubu afterregistering a case in connectionwith the incident. Search is onto nab others, who are on therun.

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As part of port mod-ernisation and

infrastructure develop-ment, a series of newdevelopmental infra-structures were inau-gurated by Paradip PortTrust (PPT) ChairmanRinkesh Roy on Sunday.

Roy inaugurated alarge electronic displayboard at the BijuPatnaik Park atAtharbanki and anoth-er one at the entrance ofthe PPT AdministrativeBuilding. These boardswill showcase the PPT’svarious functions of from timeto time.

Roy also inaugurated anew state-of-the-art 132/33/11-

KV control room at the PPT’sMain Receiving Station alongwith the expansion of the exist-ing 132/33-KV sub-station for

effective power distributionto the deep-draught ironore and deep-draught coalterminals undertaken on aBOT basis. Besides, a new11-KV load centre was alsoinaugurated near the marinejetty, which will facilitateeffective power supply to thenewly-commissioned cleancargo terminal of the PICT-PL which recently come upa BOT basis. Lift systems atthe PPT Hospital andAdministrative Buildingswere also inaugurated. Adepartmentally-built can-tilever/ cable-stayed

bridge across the creekwas dedicated to the public.

This state-of-the-art design isone of its kind in the localityand mostly built with scrapsand discarded materials.

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Ganjam topped in child traf-ficking among other dis-

tricts in Odisha with the high-est number of children rescuedduring Operation Paree II,launched by the StateGovernment.

According to reports, policerescued 1,773 children in total36 police districts, out of whichthe highest number of 485minor children, including 25girls, were rescued in Ganjamand Brahmapur police districts.

Koraput is ranked second in

the list of rescued children withthe number 141 (64 minorboys and 78 minor girls).

Out of total rescued chil-dren across Odisha, 1,486 areminor boys and 287 are minorgirls. Police registered 105 casesin connection with child traf-ficking. As the case of child traf-ficking and sexual exploitationare increasing across the State,the situation is yet to be alarm-ing in remaining 34 police dis-tricts, besides Ganjam andKoraput.

While 37 minor childrenwere rescued in the State capi-tal under BhubaneswarCommissionerate police limits,six in CuttackCommissionerate, 33 in CuttackRural, 42 in Jagatsinghpur, 67 in

Jajpur, 52 in Kendrapara, 42 inPuri, 46 in Nayagarh, 33 inKhordha, 13 in Baleswar, 66 inBhadrak, 19 in Mayurbhanj, 12in Sambalpur, five in Bargarh,28 in Deogarh, 30 inJharsuguda, 49 in Dhenkanal,six in Angul, 70 in Balangir, 15in Sonepur, 44 in Gajapati, 42 inKandhamal, 55 in Boudh, fivein Nabarangpur, 47 inRayagada, 10 in Malkangiri, 59in Kalahandi, 29 in Nuapada, 60in Sundergarh, 36 in Keonjhar,seven in Rourkela, 51 in CuttackGRP and 30 were rescued inRourkela GRP, a Crime Branchreport stated.

As the 15-day OperationParee II launched on September1 to rescue missing childrenended on Saturday, the second

phase of operation began fromSeptember 16 i.e Sunday withspecific inputs.

Total eight teams were con-stituted having 64 officials fromthe Odisha Crime Branch andWomen and Child WelfareDepartment to gear up the sec-ond phase Operation Paree IIoutside the State.

They have visited the Statesincluding Delhi, Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu,Jharkhand and West Bengal onthe mission to rescue the chil-dren allegedly trafficked andengaged in various institutionsas labourers. The teams willreturn to Odisha on September30 after getting success in theiroperation.

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On the charge of sexuallyexploiting a married

woman and further cheatingher financially, the Simuliapolice arrested a 45-year-oldman.

The accused was identifiedas Santosh Samal, a resident ofvillage Digi under Andrai pan-chayat of Simulia. The accusedafter the trapping the victim ofRemuna area not only sexual-ly exploited her for months, butalso took Rs 2.15 lakh from herpromising that he would get

her son a Government job,boasting he had connectionwith high officials of variousdepartments. The police couldlearn that Santosh, a tout, usedto trap gullible women andexploit them.

“Accused Samal wasarrested and forwarded to courtafter being booked under var-ious sections of IPC andSection 3 of SC, ST Act,” saidSimulia police station IICSanjay Parida.

“Samal admitted that hetook money from the victim.Similarly, complaints werereceived against him fromother persons too,” he added.

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As the general and Assemblypolls are drawing close,

the selection of candidates forticket distribution stands animportant issue for all parties.

In Athgarh, BJD MLARanendra Pratap Swain seemsto be a worried lot as whetherhe would get a BJD ticket in2019 or not is not clear.

Since getting a green signalfrom the Third Floor, oneAbhaya Barik continues organ-ising the BJD in the AthagarhAssembly constituency.

Rout has been active in theBJD for at least a couple of years

with a good response.On the contrary, Swain is in

a fix over his ticket prospect.His suspicion for the same alsoarises for the creation of theLegislative Council in the Statewhere he could be adjusted bythe party, opine politicalobservers here.

Some also say that sinceSwain is not in the good bookof the coterie advising the BJDboss, he may be denied a nom-ination this time. Meanwhile,the grapevine also has it that inthe event Swain is not given aticket from the BJD, he may jointhe BJP with his band of sup-porters. However, leaders are also

vying for a ticket from the BJPas its position is good inAthgarh. Former nominees ofthe party from here likeRamnarayan Mohanty, BikramDash are in the lobby. Otherslike singer Manmath Mishra,newly inducted formerCongress leader Bibhuti BhusanMishra are also trying hard toget the party ticket. Mostlysinger Mishra is seen gettinggood support from the people.Party observer Kamal Giri hasbeen appointed here to judgethe popularity of the candidates.

Similarly, the competitionin the Congress for ticket is noless fierce. As Athagarh was a citadel of Congress during the

Chief Ministership of JBPattnaik in 1980s, it has itspocket votes.

The Congress lost the con-fidence of the people here whenit did not choose the right can-didate in 1990 election. Eversince, Athagarh has remained aCongress-free constituency.Nevertheless, Congress has atleast 30 per cent pocket voteshere. Everything depends onselection of a right candidatethis time.

During 2012 by-election,when Suresh Mohapatra wasthe Congress nominee fromAthgarh, he had got over 40,000votes.

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Healthcare services at theBanpur hospital in the

district were affected onMonday as doctors resorted toa dharna demanding arrest ofthe persons who had allegedlythrashed a doctor on Sundayafter the death of a patient.

ASHA Workers and hos-pital staffs also staged a dhar-na along with the doctors withdemands of security and arrestof all the culprits.

Expressing solidarity withthe agitating doctors, medicineshop owners in the area kepttheir shops closed.

Police have so far arrested

six persons in connection withthe incident, reports said.

Notably, one Prashant Sahu(22) of Khuntapalli villageunder the Banapur police sta-tion got electrocuted at hishouse.

He was rushed to theBanapur hospital, where thedoctor on duty declared himbrought dead.

Tension gripped the hos-pital premises after the incidentas the family members of thedeceased allegedly beat thedoctor claiming that the youthwas still alive.

A complaint in this regardwas lodged by the doctor withpolice.

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Giri Mandal (56), aconvicted mur-

derer of Jajpur dis-trict, who was releasedtwo years back fromthe jail for goodbehaviour, allegedlykilled a man at villageSankharidiha underthe Dharmasala policestation on Sundaynight.

Mandal killed 33-year-old villagerSanatan Samal, whowas beaten to death. Samalwas rushed to the Dharmasala

hospital, where doctorsdeclared him brought dead.

“After killing Sanatan, theaccused had managed to flee

from the village. But wearrested him onMonday at Jaraka,” saidIIC of Dharmasalapolice stationUmakanta Nayak.

Agitated localsblocked the road atSankharidiha demand-ing stern action againstMandal. Notably,Mandal had been sen-tenced to life in prisonby the District andSessions Judge of Jajpur

in 2004 for killing his wifeChandi in 2003.

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Police on Monday arrested two youths and forwarded themto court for allegedly assaulting a doctor and a policeman in

the District Headquarters Hospital here two days ago.The youths were identified as Soumya Ranjan Mohanty and

Subash Das of the Naugaon area. They were attendant of a patientwho had come for treatment on Saturday. While the patient’s con-dition turned critical, the doctor advised taking him to Cuttackfor better treatment. The attendants searched for a Governmentambulance for the purpose, but it was unavailable. They urgedthe doctor to arrange an ambulance. When doctor expressed isinability, the enraged attendants attacked him and even a policeofficer present at the spot.

Later, the police officer Rashmi Ranjan Mallick lodged anFIR at the Jagatsinghpur police station, basing on which policeconducted a probe and arrested the two attendants.

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With the political partiesgetting ready for elec-

tions due early next year, thedistrict administration in thecoastal town of Kendrapada hasbegun a process to strike outillegal Bangladeshi immigrants

from the voters’ list.As per official sources, as

many as 137 Bangladeshinationals have been detected inthe electoral list in the districtso far during the revisionprocess. These Bangladeshis’names have found mention inthe list in Mahakalpada tehsil.The district administration hasremoved these individuals fromthe list after a thorough verifi-cation of their antecedents.

The Election Commissionhas begun the voters’ list veri-

f i c a t i o nprocess, whichis set to con-clude onSeptember 27.

“While theverification ofthe voters’ list ison, 137B ang ladeshii m m i g r a n t shave beendetected so far.Their nameshave been

struck off from the list forth-with,” Kendrapada CollectorDasarathi Satpathy informed.

As per official data,Kendrapada district accountsfor 1,649 Bangladeshi settlers ofwhich 1,551 alone are inMahakalpada tehsil. These sus-pected immigrants from 362families living in Mahakalpadahad been served deportationnotice in 2005. However, theprocess was halted owing tointervention by the CentralGovernment.

The official figures fur-ther reflect that as many as3,987 Bangladeshis have settledin Odisha illegally. Kendrapadadistrict accounts for the high-est number of illegalBangladeshi settlers followedby Jagatsinghpur.

It may be mentioned thataround 40 lakh people were leftout in the final draft of NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC)drive carried out in Assam, thedocument of which was pub-lished in July this year.

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Atea seller in Puri observedthe 68th birthday of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi bycutting a cake and distributing3,000 cups of tea to people forfree.

It is his fourth year in rowthe tea-seller celebrated Modi’sbirthday with much gaiety.The stall-owner is a fan ofModi, who runs his shop nearroadside in front of Puri UrbanCooperative Bank in the city.

“Like Modi, I am also asmall tea-seller. Since 2015 onthis very day, I have been dis-tributing tea to passersby forfree. It is my fourth year,” saidAkhaya Jayasingh, the tea sell-er.

He told, since Modi hascome from small tea shop andbecome the PM, so he wasinspired to celebrate the birth-day in distributing tea to peo-ple.

“I like Modi for his goodworks for the poor of the coun-try,” said Akhaya, adding thathe has seen many PMs in his

life but for him, Modi is com-pletely exceptional.

At 10 am, his 6- year- olddaughter Arya Jayasingh inau-gurated the ‘Tea for Free’ bycutting 2.5 pound of cake sur-rounded by the invitees andfans of Modi.

Then tea distributionbegan for which he engagedhalf a dozen of staff members.This year he raised the cupnumbers to 3,000 which was2,000 in 2017. In 2015, he hadstarted with 1,800 cups.

He used earthen cupswhich he brought from Kolkotasince Modi is spreading mes-sages of Swachh Bharat andstressing on eco-friendliness.

Asked about the expendi-ture in stall decoration, cakeand tea, he said to have peggeda budget of �15,000 this yearwhich was less last year.

Enthused with works, in2016, the State Bank of India(SBI) had sanctioned �40,000Mudra loan by specially felic-itating Jayasingh.

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Agirl of Routpur villageunder the Kuakhia police

station in the district wasallegedly kidnapped by a groupof miscreants and gangrapedfor 28 days in a house.

Later, the miscreantsthrew her into the Kharasrotariver on Sunday. However, thegirl managed to swim ashoreand reached her village andnarrated the entire episode tothe villagers. According to thevictim, she was abducted bysome miscreants on August 20

while she had gone toMadhuban Bazaar. The kid-nappers later confined herinside a house located at asecluded place and gang-rapedher, she alleged.

On Sunday night, the kid-nappers threw her intoKharasrota river in a bid to killher. On being informed by thevillagers, police reached thespot and took the girl to thepolice station, where it came tofore that she had gone missingsince August 20 and a com-plaint in this regard was lodgedby her parents.

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At least a woman was killedand another critically

injured when some explosivematerials went off in a house atMadhusudanpalli area ofRourkela city on Monday.About 50 houses were damageddue to the blast in the vicinity.

The impact of the blast wasso heavy that the roof of thefirst floor of the house wascompletely blown away andabout 15 more houses of theadjacent area were destroyed.

Sources said the blast tookplace at the house of oneJawaharlal Srivastab, a businessman of the city at Telegupadaarea of Madhusudanpalli underPlantsite police station of thecity. On Monday, Jawahar andhis two sons had gone to theirshop at Plantsite area whereashis wife and two daughters- in-law were present in the house.At about 12.15 pm, suddenlythe explosion accompaniedwith a heavy sound took place.Majority of the houses in thelocality have asbestos roofs,

except the double storied houseof Jawaharlal.

The youngest daughter in-law of Jawaharlal, identified asRekha Srivastab (25), died afterbeing buried under the debrisof the roof of the house, where-as the elder daughter in-law,identified as Doly (30), wasrecovered in critical conditionand was rushed to IGH,Rourkela. Gayatri, wife ofJawaharlal, however, escapedwith just minor injuries.

Injured Doly was latershifted to VIMSAR, Burla,since her condition hadbecome critical.

A team of police and fireofficials and senior police offi-cials like DIG (WR) KavitaJalan and Rourkela SP Uma

Shankar Dash rushed to thespot and supervised the inspec-tion. The police after prelimi-nary inquiry suspect someexplosive materials to be pre-sent in the house as the reasonfor the blast.

"We suspect that someexplosive materials present inthe house went off in thiscase," said SP Rourkela, Dash.

"However, we are investi-gating into the matter and theexact reason of the blast can beconfirmed only after the inves-tigation is over," Dash added.

Meanwhile, arrangementswere made by the RourkelaMunicipal Corporation (RMC)for providing food to the vic-tim family members for a cou-ple of days.

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The seat of Paradip MLA DrDamodar Rout was

changed in the State Assemblyfollowing his recent dismissalfrom the BJD.

Rout is now allotted Seat 10

of Block-8 in the House.Speaker Pradeep Kumar Amatmade an announcement in theHouse in this regard onMonday. It may be noted thatthe number of BJD MLAs isnow reduced to 117 with expul-sion of Rout

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Awoman allegedly murdered her son atTaparia village under the Hemgiri police

limits in Sundargarh district on Sunday nightafter being irritated over his annoying behav-iour.

Kushman Badhek (35) used to quarrelwith his mother Gurubari (55) after consumingliquor, for which the laztter was staying at her

sister’s house. Gurubari had recently come to herhouse for celebrating Nuakhai, during which adispute between Kushman and her took place.While Kushman was sleeping on a cot in night,his mother hacked him with a spade. He diedon the spot. Following his death, Gurubari con-fessed to the crime before villagers.

Police reached the spot along with a scien-tific team and started investigation. Gurubariwas arrested and forwarded to court.

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International Kho Kho cham-pion Sasmita Nath Sharma

was felicitated at the State sec-retariat by State Planning BoardDeputy Chairman BishnuCharan Das on Saturday.

Sasmita has made Indiaproud in general and Odisha inparticular as she bagged the

gold medal in the firstInternational Kho KhoChampionship held atBirmingham in London.Daughter of Kalyani NathSharma and Saroj Kumar Nath Sharma, Sasmitahails from a remote villageGopiakuda of Tirtol block inJagatsinghpur district and is astudent of +3 Humanities of the

AdiKabi Sarala DasMahavidyalaya.

In a letter written to thesports-loving Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik, Bishnu Dashas urged him to bless Sasmitaalong with State-sponsoredfinancial support as a gesture ofgoodwill and as an act ofencouragement to the sportsstar.

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The Veer Surendra Sai (VSS)Nagar Unnayan Parishad

executive committee meetingwas held here on Mondayunder the chairmanship ofPaishad president KrupasindhuSahu, where discussions wereheld on various problems.

Parishad general secretaryDilip Dashsharma said even ifthe railway over bridge (ROB),connecting Postal Colony ofVSS Nagar to Mancheswar,was inaugurated by ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik in2016, it doesn’t have streetlightsfor which the commuters arefacing problems at night.

Similarly, he said thoughconstruction of a hospitalbuilding in VSS Nagar hasbeen finished but doctors andother staffers have not beenappointed and equipment notpurchased.

Lashing out at theBhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation, he said even after

repeated demands bleachingpower and mosquito oil are notbeing sprayed in regular inter-vals in the area.

Dashsharma mentionedthat the Parishad has also pre-sented their demands througha letter in a public hearingmeeting organised by the BMCon Monday.

Among others, parishadtreasurer Maheswar Biswal,VP Shiv Prasad Mishra, officesecretary Pratap Nanda, jointsecretary Nimai Das, TrilochanRath, Khetramohan Nayak andSambit Mahapatra were pre-sent.

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AState-level ‘People's HealthAssembly’ was conducted

here on Sunday which wasorganised by the Jana SwasthyaAbhiyan (JSA), part of theGlobal Health Assembly.

Speakers at the meetingstressed the need for a com-prehensive health policy whichwill guarantee healthcare for all.

"Despite spending croresthrough scheme based pre-ventive and curative pro-grammes, the Government'sfocus on strengthening pri-

mary health services is still notadequate,” said joint convenorof Jana Swasthya Abhiyan,India, Amit Sengupta.

He further added,"Shortage of health workers andservices, particularly in ruralareas, continues to have its neg-ative impact.

Communicable diseaseslike TB, HIV, HCV and malar-ia continue to be a leadingcause of morbidity and mor-tality even as non-communi-cable diseases like diabetes,hypertension, cancer andchronic respiratory diseasesetc in both urban and ruralareas are on the rise.”

"Lack of enforcement of theClinical Establishment Act,shortage of specialists doctors

in Government hospitals andnon availability of free medi-

cines have been the major areaof concern as far as basic health

services are concerned," statedconvenor of Odisha Chapter ofJSA Gouranga Mahapatra.

While speaking at the inau-gural session, health rightsactivist Bijayalakshmi Routrayhighlighted the discrepancies inthe primary health serviceslike improper diagnostics, lackof care for the newborns, pri-vate practices of Governmentdoctors and shortage of med-icines.

She alleged that thoughthe Government has with goodintention started the RashtriyaSwashtya Bima Yojana, theBiju Krushaka Kalyan Yojanaand the Biju Swashthya BimaYojana, but there are evidencesthat a major chunk of moneygoes to the corporate hospitals

and insurance companies.Executive director of

Odisha Voluntary HealthAssociation (OVHA) AjayTripathy spoke on ensuringbasic entitlements of peopleand urged the Government togive more emphasis on pro-viding clean drinking water,besides ensuring health andhygiene in the Governmenthospitals.

The JSA is in process ofpreparing a status paper onstate of healthcare in Odisha tobe presented in the NationalPeople's Health Assembly to beheld in Raipur, Chhattisgarh onSeptember 22 and 23 and theGlobal Health Assembly sched-uled for November 15 inDhaka.

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An ‘Odisha TechnologicalConclave’ was organised by

the Ever Green Forum on theEngineers’ Day here. Ministerof Women and Child Welfareand Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises Prafulla Samalinaugurated it on Monday.

Principal GM, BSNL ErAvinna Kumar Pahi, OdishaPrivate Engineering Schools’Association general secretaryEr Saroj Sahoo attended theevent as guests of honour.

A panel discussion wasorganised on the theme‘Technology and Development’.A souvenir was released and amodel exhibition for studentsalso held.

Prof (Dr) Sunil KumarSarangi, former Director ofNIT Rourkela, was awardedwith “Life Time AchievementAward”, while CV RamanCollege of Engineering Collegewas awarded with “BestTechnical Institute Award.”

Er Prafulla Kumar Mallick,RCCF, Koraput Circle, DrAsoke Kumar Rath, formerscientist, ISRO, Dr BS Patro,former dean, CET, Er

Umakanta Sahoo, Senior GM,OPTCL, Dr Bimal Sarangi,Principal, REC were awardedwith Odisha Technocrat Awardwhile Er Manas Ranjan Sahoo,Additional RTO, Barbil, ErPrasanta Kumar Prusty, DeputyManager, OPTCL, Er SunilPanigrahi, Skill Coordinator,GEC were awarded withOdisha Young TechnocratAward.

Dr Debahuti Mishra, DrSakuntala Mahapatara and DrSachi Nandan Mohanty wereawarded with Best ResearcherAward while Prof BikashPattanaik and Prof JnanaRanjan Nayak were awardedwith Best principal award fordiploma education. Dr SagarMishra, Binaya Panigrahi, DrNilima Shukla, Dr SatyabrataDash, Prasanna Dixit wereawarded with Best TeacherAward.

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After cancellation of a wateraerodrome project in

Chilka lake on ecologicalgrounds, a helicopter flying inthe sky triggered a rumour ofseaplane landing on Friday.

As the news spread, manyturned up to watch it in thelake. However, they returned invain when they came to knowthat it was only a rumour by

some miscreants.“The water aerodrome pro-

ject has already been cancelledin Chilka. It might be arumour,” told IIC KrunaprasadPrashant Kumar Swain. Hesaid he has no idea even of ahelicopter flying around thelake the same day.

Sources said a helicopterhad passed over the lake atabout noon hour on Friday last.While flying over Arkhakudavillage, some local youthscaught sight of it. Watching thehelicopter rounding up in theirarea, the rumour-mongers sentmessages of seaplane landing inthe lake to multiple mobilephones.

That ultimately drew peo-ple in droves of Parikud,Satapara and Alupatana etc toArkhakuda to watch a newmachine, which can fly in theair and boat in the water. Evensome news reporters were saidto have received messages withphoto of seaplane surfacingon the water.

“It was a helicopter, butsome rumour mongers colour-ing it as a seaplane spreadmessages,” said Prashant Dashof Deulapada village of Parikudisland. He said a helicopter hadmade some rounds in Chilkaarea on Friday to assess theflood situations after demandswere made for compensation

on loss of crops in the recentrain.

Sometimes, a helicoptercomes here to map the climate,said Dash to The Pioneer.

It is worth mentioning herethat after the reports of sea-plane in Chilka came in media,Tourism and Culture MinisterAshok Panda replied that hewould talk to the Minister,Forests and Environment. Hehad said since the lake comesunder the Forests andEnvironment Department, hewould seek a report on the fact.

A higher official of theChilka Development Authority(CDA) also dubbed it as arumour only.

Notably, the water aero-drome project initiated by theCentre has been canceled afteroppositions from the localsand environmentalists on itsadverse impact on the lake’secology.

As the project would badlyaffect the habitats of Erawadidolphins, crabs and birds ofNalabana, the Chilka

Development Authority(CDA) did not allow the pro-ject in the lake. Initially, theState Government had agreedto the pilot project of theCentre for growth of tourism,however, due to stiff oppositionwithin the BJD, it ultimatelycancelled the plan.

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Cracking the ‘lovetriangle’ murder

case, the Brahmapurpolice arrested theprime accused doctorHrushikesh Tripathyfrom Bhubaneswaron Sunday night.

Police managedto arrest Tripathy byacting upon inputsreceived from anoth-er accused in the caseGanga Behera, who isin police custody.

As per the allega-tion against theaccused doctor, heloved the same nursewith whom the vic-tim banker BishnuGouda was having an affair.Out of jealousy, the accusedhatched a conspiracy and invit-

ed Gouda to his residence onthe day of the incident andkilled him brutally.

He also cut thedead body of thedeceased into threepieces and stuffed itinto a sack.

Later, with thehelp of Behera theaccused took the bodypieces to a dumpyardlocated at Badagumulaand buried them.

After Gouda’s wifelodged a complaintregarding missing ofher husband at theBaidyanathpur policestation, police swunginto action andnabbed Behera.

Based on theinformation receivedduring Behera’s inter-rogation police

exhumed the decomposedbody after 25 days of the inci-dent.

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The Vigilance police onMonday caught

Sundargarh District CentralCooperative (SDCC) Bank,Hemagir branch AssistantManager-Cum-SupervisorTapan Padhan red-handed fordemanding and accepting ille-gal gratification of �7,000.

He was caught taking bribein his office from complainantShraban Kumar Gardia ofKund village in Sundargarh dis-trict, now working asSundargarh Gopalpur LAMPSMD for processing the loandocuments of Sonali Self HelpGroup and Shree Laxmi JointLiability Group.

The groups had applied forloan through Gardia andPadhan demanded Rs 7,000 forforwarding the loan applicationto bank head office with favor-able remarks for sanction ofloan.

His residential house atGandhinagar, Belpahar wassearched. Padhan was arrestedand forwarded to court.

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New Delhi: As Punjab CabinetMinister Navjot Singh Sidhu onMonday met External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj, UnionMinister Harsimrat Kaur Badalclaimed that he was reprimanded bySwaraj for "messing up" the dialogueon the issue of Kartarpur Sahib gur-dwara. Badal said Sidhu was also rep-rimanded by Swaraj misusing polit-ical clearance granted for the "privatevisit" by hugging Pakistan armychief who is responsible for killingIndian soldiers.

"External Affairs Minister rep-rimands Navjot Sidhu for messingup Kartarpur Sahib corridor dia-logue and misusing political clear-ance granted for private visit by hug-ging military Chief responsible forkilling our soldiers," Badal tweeted.

Sidhu, the local Government,tourism and cultural affairs minis-ter in Punjab's Congress govern-ment, had visited Pakistan lastmonth to attend the swearing cer-emony of Prime Minister ImranKhan. A picture of him hugging Pak

army chief General Qamar JavedBajwa had gone viral which invit-ed severe criticism from severalquarters including from his bossPunjab Chief Minister AmarinderSingh.

Earlier, Sidhu had written toExternal Affairs minister SushmaSwaraj, urging her to "make everypossible effort" on the issue ofKartarpur Sahib gurdwara and saidPakistan had shown "positive intent"in providing access to the historicshrine.

On September 7 Sidhu hadclaimed that Pakistan had decided toallow Sikh pilgrims direct access tothe historic Kartarpur SahibGurdwara just across the border.

In a letter written to Swaraj onSeptember 8, cricketer-turned-politi-cian said: "Now an opportunity hasknocked on our doors. Pakistan hasshown a positive intent towards thelong pending demand of KartarpurSahib corridor. Pilgrims and we allhave been demanding for this cor-ridor since years". PTI

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In the first case of fratricide inthe Army this year, a soldier

allegedly shot dead two of hiscolleagues and then killed him-self in DharamshalaCantonment, HimachalPradesh on Monday morning.A court of inquiry has beeninstituted to find the causeleading to this action. This isthe seventh case of fratricide inthe last five years.

The incident took place at2.30 am when a soldier of 18Sikh fired at two of his col-leagues and then shot himselfwith his rifle. He had joined theArmy six months back. Whilea probe is on to ascertain thereason for this extreme action,unconfirmed reports saidSepoy Jasbir Singh was postedon guard duty. He had alter-cation with the other two afterreturning to the unit and shotthem with his INSAS rifle.The soldier then committedsuicide. The two soldiers were

identified as Havaldar HardeepSingh and Naik Harpal Singh.They had finished 23 years and18 years of service respective-ly, it was learnt.

The local police besidesArmy officials reached the spotand the bodies of soldiers weretaken by the police for post-mortem, sources said.

This is the first such inci-dent in the Army this yearwhere a soldier has killed hiscolleagues. Three such caseswere reported in 2014, one in2015, two in 2016 and one in

2017 besides the lat-est case. Incidentally,more than 100 ser-vice personnel com-mitted suicide in2016 due to issueslike stress due tooperating in high-pressure areas likei n s u r g e n c y - h i tJammu & Kashmirand north-east.However, the latestincident of fratricide

took place in Dharamshala, apeacetime military station,sources said.

In an effort to address theseserious issues, the defence min-istry some years back initiatedseveral steps including liberalleave facility for jawans to takecare of their families mostly liv-ing in rural areas of the coun-try. The State Governmentswere also urged to mitigate theproblems faced by families ofthe jawans mostly relating todisputes regarding land andother such matters.

����� ��������

The CBI has written to UK-based Cambridge Analytica

and Global Science Research(GSR) besides US-basedFacebook, seeking informa-tion into alleged data theft ofFacebook users of India. Abouta month ago, on a referencefrom the IT Ministry, theagency had instituted a pre-liminary enquiry to determinewhether GSR and CambridgeAnalytica had illegally har-vested and misused the data ofFacebook usersof India.

In the letters sent to thecompanies, the CBI has soughtthe details of data collectionexercise adapted by them. Afterreference from the Centre, theinvestigative agency had initi-ated a preliminary enquiryagainst Cambridge Analyticaand Global Science Researchlast month over the alleged datatheft.

It is alleged that CambridgeAnalytica received data fromGlobal Science Research whichemployed "illegal means" ofpersonal data harvesting ofIndians using Facebook, CBIsaid. Facebook has over 20crore users in India.

A preliminary enquiry isthe first step to decide whetherthe allegations deserve a full-blown investigation through anFIR or not, CBI added.

Data mining and analysisfirm Cambridge Analytica ear-lier faced allegations that it usedpersonal information harvest-ed from 87 million Facebookaccounts to help DonaldTrump win the 2016 US pres-idential election.

Union Law and ITMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadhad told Rajya Sabha in Julythat the probe will be handedover to the CBI.

He had said there were alsoreports that user data was "ille-

gally accessed by hardwaremanufacturers who had tie-upswith Facebook. In regard to thisissue, Facebook has reportedthat they are not aware of anymisuse of information, includ-ing Indian users' information".The Mark Zuckerberg-ownedcompany had said that thedata of about 87 million peo-ple — mostly in the US —might have been improperlyshared with CambridgeAnalytica.

New Delhi: The Centre hasasked all departments under itto undertake cleanliness driveon their premises, according toan official communique. AllCentral Government employ-ees have been asked to con-tribute six hours of 'shramdaan'(labour) during the ongoingfortnight-long cleanliness drive.

"Shramdaan activities mayinclude cleaning of office com-plexes, residential colonies andpublic places including clean-ing of drains, public toilets,waste collection drives, andawareness campaigns," theMinistry of Personnel said inthe directive issued to secre-taries of all central governmentdepartments. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi launched the'Swachhta hi Seva' movementon September 15. It will con-tinue till October 2. PTI

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India has become the firstcountry in the world to

develop a draft blueprint out-lining action plan to bringdown cooling requirementand refrigerant demandsacross sectors by 20 per centto 25 per cent by 2037-38while slashing cooling energyrequirements by 25 per cent to40 per cent within the sameperiod, said UnionEnvironment Minister DrHarsh Vardhan on WorldOzone Day on Monday.

On the occasion at an

event, he released the draftIndia Cooling Action Plan(ICAP) and a booklet on'Montreal Protocol — India'sSuccess Story'

Stressing upon the needto strengthen active collabo-ration between theGovernment, industries,industry associations and allstakeholders, he said that theWorld Ozone Day offers anopportunity to focus globalattention and action on thevital environmental issue ofprotection of the OzoneLayer.

He said that the Ministryhas already undertaken an ini-tiative for upskilling of 1,00,000refrigeration and Air-Conditioning servicing tech-nicians in collaboration withthe Ministry of SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship (MSDE)

under Pradhan Mantri KaushalVikas Yojana (PMKVY) —Skill India Mission.

Environment SecretaryCK Mishra said that along withenergy efficiency, it is criticalto identify the usage of gasesand not merely replacement ofgases. "There are alternativeways to cooling that should belooked at. Another issue is anarmy of trained manpower tohandle manufacturing andmaintenance", he said. He alsopointed out to the criticality ofthe need for finances andexpanding research & devel-opment (R&D).

India is the first countryin the world to develop sucha document (ICAP), whichaddresses cooling require-ment across sectors and listsout actions which can helpreduce the cooling demand.

PTI

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Coinciding with prime Minister NarendraModi's birthday on Monday, the Khadi and

Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launchedan exclusive designer range of 'Modi Jackets' and'Modi Kurtas' at its flagship store in ConnaughtPlace here.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena saidit was the inspiration and vision of the PrimeMinister that Khadi had achieved several mile-stones in the last four years.

"For Khadi, Prime Minister himself hasbecome the biggest brand Ambassador. It washis call of 'Khadi for Fashion' that millions ofyouths adopted Khadi. The launch of thesedesigner jackets and kurtas is the expression oflove and gratitude from our artisans - for whomthe Prime Minister has always shown his con-cern," he said.

These designer jackets and kurtas are avail-able in all KVIC outlets across the nation fromMonday in a price range of Rs 999 to Rs 3500.After proper washing and shrinking, expert tai-lors were assigned to stitch these items.

New Delhi: Two-wheelers and four wheelers dri-ven by women plying in the national Capitalwould be exempted from the odd-even vehiclerotation scheme with the Supreme Court onMonday staying the National Green Tribunal's2017 direction which had made it applicable forall vehicles.

Under the scheme, which is currently not inforce in Delhi, odd and even numbered vehiclesare to ply on alternate days.

As per the Graded Response Action Plan(GRAP) for Delhi and the National CapitalRegion (NCR), the odd-even scheme comes intoeffect automatically whenever the particulate mat-ter PM10 and PM 2.5 rises to 500 microgram percubic metre and 300 microgram per cubic metrerespectively for 48 hours.

The apex court's order came after the Delhigovernment said there were around 68 lakh two-wheelers here and it would be "impossible toaccommodate" the people in public transport ifthe odd-even scheme was made applicable fortwo-wheelers also. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday directed theUttar Pradesh Government toensure medical treatment andcompensation to a Muslimwoman petitioner in a caseconcerning polygamy and‘nikah halala’, who suffered anacid attack and has soughtprotection.

The apex court directed theChief District Medical Officerof Bulandshahr town, whereshe was attacked, to ensureproper treatment to ShabnamRani and asked the adminis-tration to consider granting heradditional security.

Rani was last week attackedwith acid in Bulandshahr andit has been alleged that a closerelative and his friend wereinvolved in the attack.

While polygamy allows aMuslim man to have fourwives, 'nikah halala' deals withthe process in which a Muslimwoman can re-marry her hus-band after divorce, only whenshe marries another person,consummates the second mar-riage and then gets a divorce.

In her plea against 'nikahhalala' and polygamy, Rani hadalleged that her husband haddivorced her through 'tripletalaq' and forced her to perform'nikah halala' with her brother-in-law.

A bench of Chief JusticeDipak Misra and Justices A MKhanwikar and D YChandrachud noted the sub-mission of Additional AdvocateGeneral Aishwarya Bhati,appearing for the State, that anFIR has been lodged and secu-rity has been provided to thevictim.

The court said if there wasa scheme for compensationand any application has beensubmitted, then it may be dealtwith in a span of two weeks.

It also said if any furthersecurity was required, thenshe could submit a representa-tion to the Superintendent ofPolice who shall scrutinise itand do the needful.

"That apart, the applicantshall be given adequate treat-ment keeping in view theinjuries. The concerned ChiefDistrict Medical Officer of thedistrict shall do the needful in

the matter when it is broughtto his notice," the court said.

Officers who have beenmentioned hereinabove shouldbe sensitive enough to carry outtheir duties as far as suchtreatment is concerned, that is,in consonance with the orderof this Court and the policy ofthe State Government and,therefore, there cannot be delayin such matter," the benchsaid.

With regard to otherMuslim women who have chal-lenged 'nikah halala' andapprehend similar attacks, thetop court asked them to submitrepresentations to the con-cerned Superintendents ofPolice of the area who shalllook into their grievanceregarding providing them secu-rity.

The bench also directedthat the pleadings in variouspetitions, challenging the constitutional validity of thepractice of 'nikah halala' andpolygamy among Muslims, be completed within onemonth. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday said it willexamine two days later whetherthere is material supporting thearrest of five rights activists inconnection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence case.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Dipak Misra extendedtill September 19 the housearrest of the five rights activists— Varavara Rao, ArunFerreira, Vernon Gonsalves,Sudha Bharadwaj and GautamNavlakha — at their respectivehomes. "Every criminal inves-tigation is based on allegationsand we have to see whetherthere is some material," thebench, also comprisingJustices A M Khanwilkar andD Y Chandrachud said.

The bench said if there are

some grave lapses, it may con-sider prayers like investigationby a Special InvestigatingTeam (SIT) into the case. Theplea by Thapar and others hassought an independent probeinto the arrests and the imme-diate release of the fiveactivists.

The bench fixed the pleaby Thapar, economists PrabhatPatnaik and Devaki Jain, soci-ology professor SatishDeshpande and human rightslawyer Maja Daruwala forfinal hearing on Wednesday.The court had on September12 extended the house arrestof the activists till today.

Additional SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta,appearing for MaharashtraGovernment, said the courtshould make it clear that afteradjudication by it , the arrested accused cannot availremedies simultaneously onsimilar issues at other judicialfora. PTI

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New Delhi: Union MinisterV K Singh said Monday thearmy still rules Pakistandespite the election of ImranKhan as the new PrimeMinister, adding that itremains to be seen whether"the person" will be able tobring about a change.

India is adopting a"wait and watch" approachafter the installation of anew Government inPakistan, the Minister ofState for External Affairstold reporters.

Responding to a ques-tion on incidents of infil-tration at the border afterthe change of governmentin Pakistan, he said, "Didyou all expect a change? Idon't know. After all, theperson has been proppedup by the (Pakistan) army.The army still rules. So, let'swait and watch how thingsgo — whether the person

remains under army controlor doesn't remain under itscontrol." He did not refer toKhan by name.

Dialogue with Pakistancan happen only if the envi-ronment is "conducive" fortalks, the minister added onthe sidelines of the openingof a two-day conference —Smart Border Management— organised by FICCI.

"India's policy is veryclear. Dialogue can happenonly when the environ-ment is conducive," Singhsaid when asked whetherthere have been anyattempts from Pakistan toinitiate further dialoguewith India.

Referring to reports ofproposals to open theKartarpur border crossingfor Sikh pilgrims, Singhsaid India has "not receivedany proposal" fromPakistan to open the route.

"Nothing has comefrom the government's(Pakistan) side. This issuehas been going on for a verylong time. If anythingcomes about we will let youknow," he said.

Earlier, addressing thegathering, Singh said India'sborder is unique and there-fore "one solution" cannotbe devised to make it moresecure. "From plains todeserts and mountains andother terrains, one kind ofsolution cannot be appliedto our border and the vari-ety of the terrain has to befactored in while designingany solutions for makingthe border security morerobust and smart," he said.

The gathering includeddefence officials andexperts, business leadersand a group of 'sarpanches'from villages near the border. PTI

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New Delhi: The CBI has takenover investigation into allegedswindling of $171 million(about �1,200 crore) from theUnion Bank of India by hack-ers in 2016, officials saidMonday. The case, which wasbeing probed by the MumbaiPolice, pertains to transfer ofabout �1,200 crore from theNostro account of the bank tovarious countries on July 20,2016, they said.

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The Centre on Mondayeffected a major bureau-

cratic reshuffle. SanjayAgarawal will be the newAgriculture Secretary whileSanjeev Ranjan will be the newchairman of the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) and Tarun Kapoor thenew Vice Chairman, DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA).

According to an orderissued by Department ofPersonnel and Training(DoPT), Agarawal, a 1984batch officer, who is at presentserving in his cadre State UttarPradesh, will be Secretary,Department of Agriculture,Cooperation and Farmers

Welfare on superannuation ofS K Pattanayak, on September30.

Ranjan, a 1985 batch IASofficer, will be the Chairman ofthe NHAI in the rank and payof Secretary. He is at presentserving in his cadre stateTripura.

Kapoor, a 1987 batch IASofficer of Himachal Pradeshcadre, has been appointed asthe Vice Chairman, DDA onsuperannuation of Udai PratapSingh this month end.

Director General ofNational Archives of India,Pritam Singh, has been named

Secretary, NationalCommission for ScheduledCastes. He is a 1984 batch IASofficer of Rajasthan cadre.

Anita Bhatnagar Jain willbe Secretary, CentralInformation Commission(CIC). She is at present serv-ing in her cadre state UttarPradesh.

Rajeev Ranjan, a 1985batch IAS officer of TamilNadu cadre, will be SpecialSecretary, GST CouncilSecretariat under theDepartment of Revenue.

Sudha Krishnan, whobelongs to Indian Audit andAccount Service, has beennamed Member Finance,Space Commission. She wouldalso hold additional charge ofMember Finance, EarthCommission and AtomicEnergy Commission (withheadquarters at New Delhi),the Personnel Ministry ordersaid.

Besides, over 20 officershave been promoted to the

rank of additional secretariesfrom joint secretaries. GyaneshKumar and Govind Mohanhave been made AdditionalSecretaries in the HomeMinistry. They are joint secre-taries in the same ministry.

Gujarat-cadre IAS officerK Srinivas and Lok Ranjanhave also been appointedAdditional Secretaries in theDepartment of Personnel andTraining (DoPT). They areJoint Secretaries in the DoPT.

IAS officer SujataChaturvedi, who is at presentserving in her cadre stateBihar, has also been appoint-ed Additional Secretary in theDoPT.

Uttar Pradesh cadre IASofficer Devesh Chaturvedi willbe Additional Secretary in theDepartment of Agriculture,Cooperation & FarmersWelfare. He is Joint Secretaryin the same department. Thereare some other officers whohave also been promoted to theAdditional Secretary ranks.

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On the 70th Liberation Dayof Hyderabad on Monday

marking the merger of theerstwhile princely State ofHyderabad into the IndianUnion following a militaryaction in 1948, the BJPlaunched a fresh onslaught onthe ruling Telangana RashtraSamiti.

As the day has come in thethick of the election campaignin the State, the saffron partyhas put the occasion to full useto target the TRS, questioningwhy it did not celebrate the dayofficially during its four-yearlong rule.

“When it couldn’t cele-brate the most important dayin the history of Telangana howit can claim itself to be thechampion of the State”, askedBJP state floor leader G KishanReddy.

While all other partiesincluding the TRS, Congressand the Left marked the day byhoisting national flags at theirrespective party offices, theBJP adopted an aggressive pos-ture linking its programmes tothe party’s election campaign.

The national flag was hoist-ed at the State BJP headquar-ters in the presence of the top

State BJP leaders, includingthe State president K Lakshmanand former Union MinisterBandaru Dattatreya.

They promised that aftercoming to power in the Statethe BJP will officially celebrat-ed “Telangana Vimohana Day”or celebration day. A similarpromise was made by the BJPnational president Amit Shahduring his visit on Saturday.

Kishan Reddy who paidtributes to the Telangana mar-tyrs at the memorial allegedthat the TRS was playing intothe hands of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).“TRS has done a great injusticeto Telangana by not celebratingthe day. It will be possible onlyif BJP comes to power. We willorganize official celebration inevery government office whenwe come to power”, Reddysaid.

He urged the people tostand up against the vote bankpolitics of K ChandrasekharRao. He said that KCR did nothave any moral right to ask forvotes when he had failed tokeep any promise made to thepeople.

Reacting angrily to thesenior TRS leader K TarakaRama Rao describing BJP as“Bharatiay Jhoota Party”,

Kishan Reddy said, “If he callsour party like that then the TRSis Telangana Razakars Party”.

He was referring to theRazakars, a private militia forcein Nizam reign which foughtagainst the Indian army duringthe operation polo. Nizam rulehad come to an end onSeptember 17, 1948 after athree day long “OperationPolo” by the Indian army at thebehest of then home ministerSardar Patel.

BJP has been demandingthat the day should be cele-brated officially in Telanganalike it was done in the parts ofNizam dominion which weremerged into Karnataka andMaharashtra.

BJP leaders also recalledstatements of the ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoon various occasion in whichhe had expressed his admira-tion for the last Nizam MirOsman Ali Khan for his benev-olent rule and the Hindu-Muslim harmony and com-posite culture which prevailedduring his reign. In the pastKCR rejected the demand forcelebration of Liberation Daysaying it was a “merger day”and some people want to use itto create a discord among thepeople on communal lines.

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The Madras High Court onMonday asked H Raja, the

national secretary of the BJP, topresent himself before the court in four weeks andexplain why no action shouldnot be taken against him for hisderogatory comments againstthe judiciary.

Justices CT selvam andNirmal Kumar on Mondaytook suo motu cognisance ofhis remarks made inPuthukottai district onSaturday when the police triedto prevent him from taking aVinayaka Chathurthi proces-sion through a locality whichhas been declared out of boundbecause of the communallysensitive region.

Raja reportedly shouted atthe police and used derogato-ry comments against the judi-ciary, the video of which wentviral in the social media.

The BJP leader has heard shouting that the wholepolice forces in Tamil Naduwere corrupt and the StatePolice Chief ’s residence hadbeen raided recently by theCBI.

When the video of his out-

bursts went viral, Raja changedtracks and claimed that he had not made any commentslike that.

He also claimed that thevoice in the video does notbelong to him and it has beendubbed by some forces whowere against him and the BJP.

The Pudukottai Police haveregistered a first informationreport against Raja and fiveothers under various sectionsof the Indian Penal Code rang-ing from unlawful assembly tocriminal intimidation.

The BJP leader remainedincommunicado despite manyattempts to contact him overthe phone.

Uma Anandan, his closeassociate, was the only personwho came out to support Rajawhile other BJP leaders main-tained silence over the issue.“Raja Sir has not told anythinglike what the DMK and VCKagainst Hindus in the State,”said Anandan.

It may be remembered thatRaja had courted controversylast year for his exhortation tothe BJP cadre to destroy anddemolish the statues of EVRamasamy Naicker, founder ofthe Dravida movement inTamil Nadu.

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The festival season in TamilNadu commenced on a

stormy note with unpleasantincidents being reported fromvarious parts of the State inconnection with VinayakarChathurthi and the 139th birthanniversary of EV RamasamyNaicker, social reformer andfounder of the Dravidianmovement.

Miscreants reportedlyplaced footwears on the statueof Naicker at Tiruppur in southwestern Tamil Nadu onMonday morning. Though thepolice got the footwearsremoved immediately, the citywitnessed demonstrations con-demning the desecration ofthe statue.

Another miscreant threwhis chappals at the statue ofNaicker in Chennai’s arterialMount Road. A crowd whichhad gathered around the stat-ue to offer floral tributes to thelate leader was taken aback bythis act of vandalism andcaught hold of the miscreantand was handed over to thepolice.

In Tiruppur, a team ofpolice officers are scanningthe entire district to nab thepeople who vandalised thestatue of Naicker. All politicalparties barring the BJP came

out in the open and con-demned the attack on the stat-ues.

MK Stalin, DMK presi-dent, wanted the Tamil NaduGovernment to slap NationalSecurity Act on anti-social ele-ments who desecratedNaicker’s statues. The attackson the statues of Naicker comea day after the communal riotsthat rocked the southern townof Senkottai.

The town bordering Keralasaw Hindus and Muslim riot-ing on Thursday. Though therewere no untoward incidentsduring the processions, theday prior to the immersion sawpitched battles between thetwo communities over theroute through which the pro-cession was to take place.

Many shops and vehicleswere set ablaze by miscreants asthere were stiff opposition tothe procession scheduledthrough streets having Muslimpopulation.

The district administra-tion’s orders not to use highdecibel music and slogans likeBharat Mata Ki Jay were challenged by activists ofHindu Front and devotees ofthe Lord.

Since they did not get thedesired help from the admin-istration, Hindus in the districtconvened a meeting onSaturday and decided to social-

ly and economically boycott theMuslim community. “Thougha peace meeting was held onSunday at the instance of thedistrict administration, theimpasse caused by VinayakaChathurthi remained unre-solved,” said Sriram, writer andsocial activist.

Meanwhile, the outburst byH Raja, the national secretaryof BJP, at Thirumayam inPudukottai district against thejudiciary and police has result-ed in the deterioration of thecommunal harmony in theState. Raja accused the courtand police of corruption andtermed them as anti-Hindu.The outburst went viral and thepolice registered a first infor-mation report against him andother Hindu leaders undervarious sections of the IPC.

Though Raja denied thathe had raised allegationsagainst the judiciary and police,Shyamala and C Rajasekar,advocates of Madras HighCourt said that the BJP leaderhad bitten more than he couldchew.

Last year also Raja was inthe news for making allegedlyderogatory comments againstNaicker. BJP leaders in TamilNadu refused to come out tohelp their colleague . “We arehelpless as this is a situationcreated by Raja himself,” said asenior leader.

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In a major decision, theCongress-JD(S) coalition

Government in Karnataka cap-tained by Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy has reducedthe petrol and diesel prices byRs 2 in the State. Karnataka hasone of the highest rates ofpetroleum products and thishas reduced the burden of thecommon people to an extent.

This makes Karnataka thefourth state to bring down thesoaring fuel rates after AndhraPradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Fuel prices havebeen on an upward swing forweeks now with unionGovernment so far refused tocut in central taxes, whilemaintaining that rates wouldstabilise depending on theinternational market.

Petrol was selling at �84.59per litre in Bengaluru onMonday, while diesel was retail-ing at �76.10 a litre. Addressinga rally at Kalburgi to com-memorate the HyderabadKarnataka liberation day on

Monday announced the cut inrate.

He said “Today, this coali-tion Government has decidedto reduce both petrol and dieselprices by �2 per litre.”

Former PM and Janataparty Supremo HD DeveGowda said in a tweet “ It is acommendable decision by theGovernment of Karnataka toreduce fuel prices by around �2per litre”.

Announcing the priceslash, Karnataka Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy said, “OurGovernment has decided toreduce the cess on petrol anddiesel. The fuel price will bedecreased by two rupees perlitre.”

Deputy CM GParameshwara also took toTwitter to hail the decision.“?In a landmark move toreduce the burden of rising fuelprices on the people of#Karnataka, our coalitionGovernment has slashed thecess on petrol & diesel by �2.Hope the union Governmenttoo follows suit,” he wrote.

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The Congress in Telanganaon Monday alleged that

between 20 to 30 lakh nameshave been deleted from theelectoral rolls and that theparty would work to includeevery eligible citizen in the vot-ers’ lists.

“The deletion of 20-30lakh names from the electoralrolls was not incidental, butpart of a conspiracy by the rul-ing TRS and BJP,” TelanganaPradesh Congress Committeepresident N Uttam KumarReddy alleged.

The Congress would notallow the conspiracy to succeedand would fight until each andevery eligible citizen getsenrolled in the voters’ lists, hesaid, speaking at GandhiBhavan, the State Congressheadquarters here.

Reddy also alleged that theTRS government in Telanganahas “crushed people’s freedom”.

The Congress, if elected topower in the coming assembly

Assembly elections, wouldrestore ‘Dharna Chowk’ (aplace near Indira Park here toorganise protests) as protestsare not being allowed therenow, Reddy said.

The Assembly electionswere originally scheduled to beheld simultaneously with theLok Sabha polls next year, butthe assembly was dissolvedearlier this month as per a rec-ommendation of the TRSGovernment.

The Congress, which calledupon all political and non-political forces to join forces

with it to end the “misrule” ofTRS, has held preliminary talkswith TDP and CPI on forminga broad-based alliance to defeatthe TRS.

AICC incharge of partyaffairs in Telangana R CKhuntia had earlier indicatedthat a Common MinimumProgramme (CMP) could beevolved for the alliance.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, alongwith other party leaders, latervisited party leader and ex-MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy,who was arrested in connectionwith a human trafficking caselast week, at Chanchalgudajail here.

“Reddy has been implicat-ed in a false case by the TRSgovernment,” the TPCC pres-ident said.

Meanwhile, Congressleader A Revanth Reddy claimed that there was a conspiracy against him ashe is expected to play a key rolein the party’s election campaign.

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The Jammu and KashmirGovernment on Monday

approved the J&K SingleWindow (Industrial Investmentand Business Facilitation) Act,2018, which aims to ease flow ofinvestments into the State. “TheGovernor’s administrationapproved the J&K SingleWindow Act, 2018. The Act hasbeen approved by the stateadministrative council (SAC),headed by Governor Satya PalMalik,” an official spokesmansaid.

Giving details of the Act,Principal Secretary, industries,Shailendra Kumar said enact-ment of the act is part of the

government’s flagship initiativeto improve ease of doing busi-ness indicators. “The act aimsat comprehensive and unprece-dented overhaul of the outdat-ed processes and proceduresinvolved in setting up busi-nesses in the state,” he said.

Kumar said services ofmore than 12 departmentshave been brought together inan online service. “All servicesfrom the pre-operation, pre-establishment stage to therenewal stage are present in thesingle window portal,” Kumarsaid. He said the act involvessetting up of three-tier com-mittees at the state, division anddistrict levels to ensure speedyclearance of business proposals.

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The election office of Jammuand Kashmir on Monday

said Kashmiri migrants canvote in the upcoming munici-pal polls as their names con-tinue to be enrolled in electorallists of the Assembly con-stituencies of the Valley.

“With the amendments inJ&K Representation of thePeople Act-1957 and J&KConduct of Election Rules-1965, the names of Kashmirimigrants continue to beenrolled in the electoral rolls ofthe Assembly constituenciesof Kashmir Valley.

“As the Municipal electoralrolls are relatable to the leg-islative assembly electoral rolls,their names exist in the elec-toral Rolls of the municipalbodies in the Kashmir valley,”a spokesman for the electionoffice said.

He said in order to provideKashmiri migrants facility toexercise their franchise in themunicipal elections-2018, theyhave been notified as a class ofpersons who shall cast theirvotes through postal ballots.

The notification to thiseffect has been issued on 16September, 2018, he said.

“Consequent upon this

notification, a detailed schemefor voting by Kashmirimigrants by means of postalballots in the municipal elec-tions, 2018 stands notified,” headded. The spokesman said thescheme makes available elec-toral rolls to the Kashmirmigrants at 16 places includingsix transit camps in Kashmir sothat they can file an applicationto opt for voting by way ofpostal ballot.

He said the chief electoralofficer has prescribed the lastdate for making such applica-tion as the last date for makingnominations for a particularmunicipal body.

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Uttar Pradesh Deputy ChiefMinister Keshav Prasad

Maurya does not view theunited opposition as a threat tothe BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections.

Speaking to reporters hereMonday evening, Maurya said,“Our target is 73+ seats (in thestate) and we are not concernedabout the opposition’s strategy.”

Recently, BSP chiefMayawati said her party wouldjoin the mahagathbandhan ifher party was offeredrespectable number of seats.

“We are not botheredabout Mayawati, Akhilesh

Yadav or Rahul Gandhi. We areworking for 73+ seats and howwe can support the prime min-ister,” he said.

He said the opposition’smain aim was to stop Modi in2019 Lok Sabha elections. Hesaid the opposition leaderswere frustrated, dejected andsad as their efforts were notyielding desired results.

Speaking on the SC/STordinance, the deputy CM saidhe can assure the people thatthe provisions of the ordi-nance and the act in the futurewould never be misused.

“In spite of winning 73seats, we could not win in therest seven seats in the state in

2014 general polls. However,now our aim is to ensure vic-tory in 100 per cent seats,”Maurya is said to have told BJPactivists during an interaction,according to media in-chargeof BJP Pradeep Goswami.

Maurya told the partyworkers that they have to playa greater role in the 2019 LokSabha elections compared tothe state elections held last year,Goswami said, adding thatMaurya advised the people toapprise the public about vari-ous schemes launched by theModi Government. Mauryalater paid obeisance to the pre-siding deity at Banke Beharitemple in Vrindaban.

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A19-year-old girl allegedlycommitted suicide by set-

ting herself ablaze after learningthat her 22-year-old lover hadhanged himself, near here,police said on Monday. Thecouple were neighbours, and thereason for taking the extremestep was not known, the policesaid. On Sunday, the loverswere arguing with each otherover the phone while the boywas having drinks with hisfriend, they said. Later, the boywent home, told his family hewould return on Monday, butphoned up his brother and hisfriend and said he was going tocommit suicide, police said.

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Chief Election CommissionerOm Prakash Rawat met the

representatives of seven politi-cal parties in Jaipur on Mondayto discuss the issues related tothe upcoming Assembly elec-tion in Rajasthan.

Leaders of the BharatiyaJanata Party submitted a mem-orandum to the commissioner,demanding elections in thestate in two phases. The repre-sentatives sought adequatesecurity and administrativeforce for a free-and-fair elec-tion, a BJP spokesperson said.

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Atraining programme forall district Collectors in

Telangana on how to deal withthe process of election work,especially those involvinginformation technology, wasconducted here Monday.

According to the guidelinesof the Election Commission ofIndia, all the Collectors/DistrictElection Officers (DEOs) of thestate have been imparted train-ing on how to deal with theprocess of election work.

Also, deputy DEOs with ITwing have been trained to havea clear idea to perform theirduties with transparency dur-ing the process of the elections,

Telangana Chief ElectoralOfficer Rajat Kumar toldreporters.

The ECI has deputed teamsfrom Delhi to impart the train-ing at the Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) head officewhereKumar and the civicbody Commissioner M DanaKishore monitored the pro-gramme, he said.

The ECI has made avail-able10 IT applications whichwould help the DEOs performtheir duties in an appropriateway, Kumar said.Also, the ECIhas introduced an application‘C Vigil’ wherein any citizencan upload photos and videosduring the election time, for

which time-bound responsewould be provided, he said.

Every citizen can utilise theapplication to upload and giveinformation about the modelcode of conduct, malpracticesetc, and the EC officials wouldact on the grievances in a time-boundschedule to sort the issuesout immediately, Kumar said.These are some sophisticatedand powerful IT tools whichwould be used this time in theelection, he said.

Special awareness cam-paigns towards voter enrolmentwere also conducted over thelast three days across the statewhere every booth-level officerperformed the assigned dutiesat the polling stations, he said.

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Normal life was affected inKashmir Valley on

Monday in a shutdown calledby separatists to protest againstthe recent killings of militantsand a civilian in southKashmir’s Kulgam district.Even as the shutdown passedoff peacefully, suspected mili-tants shot dead a soldier of theTerritorial Army (TA), whohad been active in counter-insurgency operations.

The separatists’ JoinTResistance Leadership (JRL), agrouping of prominent sepa-ratist leaders Syed Ali Geelani,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq andYasin Malik, had called for day-long shutdown against therecent kilings. Five local mili-tants of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba(LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideenoutfits including top-rankingcommander Gulzar Padder, all

residents of Kulgam andAnantnag districts, were killedin a counter-militant operationin Chowgam village ofQazigund on Friday. In theaftermath of the gunfight, acivilian youngster Rouf Ganaiefrom Anchidora Anantnag was also killed and two dozen protesters wereinjured.

Shops, fuel stations, busi-ness establishments and edu-cational institutions remainedclosed in Srinagar and otherareas of the city while publictransport was generally off theroads. Very scanty private andpublic transport vehicles wereseen plying on some Srinagarroads.

The shutdown also impact-ed attendance in governmentoffices including the CivilSecretariat.

The authorities deployedpolice and paramilitaries in

sensitive areas of capitalSrinagar to prevent any law andorder situation.

The train services weresuspended between Banihaland Baramulla for the thirdconsecutive day since Saturdayfollowing killings in Kulgam.The speed of mobile internethas been reduced in southKashmir areas and elsewhere inthe Valley as a precautionarysecurity measure.

Meanwhile, unidentifiedmilitants shot dead a TerritorialArmy (TA) man MukhtarAhmad Malik alias MukhtarGola at his home in Shurat areaof south Kashmir's Kulgamdistrict on Saturday afternoon.

Mukhtar Gola was a for-mer cadre of pro-governmentmilitia known as Ikhwan, acounter-insurgent group thatkilled hundreds of militants inKashmir Valley between late1990s and early 2000.

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The Assam police arrestedthree more suspected link

men of Hizbul Mujahiddeenfrom Nagaon andJamunamukh areas of centralAssam on Monday.

A senior official of theAssam police said that theHizbul Mujahiddeen had man-aged to set up a module inAssam.

The arrests came after therecent arrest of Qamar UzZaman, a Hizbul terrorist fromKanpur in Uttar Pradesh, andthe subsequent arrest of hisclose aide Shahnawaj Alamfrom Hojai last week.

“We have arrested arrestedSaifudin, who is the brother ofQamar-uz-Zaman. He was pro-duced in the court and was sent

to 10 days police remand. Webelieve that Saifudin has a bigrole in spreading the Hizbulnetwork in Assam,” he saidadding that the police are inter-rogating him to get vital details.

“Three linkmen arrestedincluded Riazudin Bhuyan,Jainal Ahmad and BharulIslam,” he added.

It may be mentioned herethat a team from Kanpur policevisited Lanka police stationafter the arrest of Qamar UzZaman and Assam police hadalso sent a team to Kanpur.Police is trying to place variousinputs together for HizbulMujahideen interest in Assamwas for recruiting the youths orprocuring arms.

“We are analysing variousinputs as to for what this out-fit was here,” he said.

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The “honour killing” case ofNalgonda has taken many

sensational twists and turns,adding a political angle to thebrutal murder.

While Nalgonda districtpolice has claimed that it wasvery close to achieving breakthrough in the case by identi-fying the main killers, the vic-tim’s wife Amruthavarshini hasalleged that her father T MarutiRao had paid a whopping �10million to get her husbandPranay Kumar killed.

According to policesources, 9 or ten people wereinvolved in the killing of Pranaylast week. Maruti Rao was themain conspirator, as he want-ed the Dalit youth killed formarrying his upper-castedaughter.

The police have alreadyarrested five people, includingMaruti Rao, his brotherShravan, friend Kareem.

There were speculationsthat the police have also takenAbdul Bari and Shafi into cus-tody and Abdul Bari confessedthat he had given the respon-sibility of eliminating Pranay toShafi.

Abdul Bari is a notoriousrowdy in Nalgonda and hewas also accused in the case ofmurder of former Gujrat HomeMinister Haren Pandya.

According to the policesources, Maruthi Rao, a promi-nent businessman from Baniacommunity, had come intocontact with Abdul Bari a fewyears ago when Bari had kid-napped in a land grabbingcase.

Maruti Rao gave him thecontract to kill Pravany whohad married his daughter inJanuary in Hyderabad.

Rao approached Abdul Bari two months agoand hired his services to elim-inate Pranay Kumar.

Police sources said that

during the questioning MarutiRao admitted his hand in thekilling and also justified it.“For me nothing is moreimportant than my social sta-tus and name, not even mydaughter or her happiness”, hereportedly told the police.

Police officials said thatMaruti Rao was one of the rich-est business and politicallyvery influential personality ofMiryalaguda town of Nalgondadistrict.

He was reportedly worth�100 crores as he had his fin-ger in many pies including thereal estate and kerosene busi-ness. He and his brother hadalso recently joined the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samiti andhad his photographs with aminister G Jagdeesh Reddyand TRS MLA VemulaVeeresham.

There was a big hoardingin the town with the photo ofMaruti Ra with the minister.

Amrtuha, whose husband

was hacked to death in front ofher eyes has alleged that herfather spent a huge mount ofmoney to get her husbandkilled. She also alleged that herfather had tried to pressurizeher through the TRS MLAVeeresham to desert her hus-band and return to her parentswhich she refused.

Amrutha alleged that theMLA took money from herfather and threatened her aswell as parents of Pranay.

Nalgonda district superin-tendent of police AVRanganath confirmed thatMaruti Rao had approachedpolitical leaders of differentparties including Veereshamfor their help to get his daugh-ter back.

“But there is no evidence tolink the MLA to the killing”, hesaid.

According to the investi-gation Maruti Rao had quite ashoddy background. Belongingto a lower middle class family

Maruti Rao originally belongedKakinada but settled inMiryalaguda about twodecades ago.

Starting as a kerosene deal-er he gradually developed hisbusiness as a dealer of jiggeryand expanded it to real estate.

There were also allegations that through themanipulation and forgery ofdocuments and revenuerecords he grabbed prime landsincluding those allotted to free-dom fighters.

He also developed manyventures and earned a lot ofmoney to emerge as one of therichest persons in the town.

At one stage he wasinvolved in a confrontationwith the dreaded naxalite turnmafia don Nayeemuddin overa piece of land. But the two latercompromised and cooperatedwith each other.

Nayeem was killed in anencounter with the police acouple of years ago.

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The Unit 2 of the KakrapurAtomic Power Station

(KAPS) in Surat district inGujarat attained criticality —which in other words meansthe initiation of self-sustainingnuclear fission chain reactionin the reactor - in the earlyhours of Monday.

Announcing this, NuclearPower Corporation of IndiaLtd. (NPCIL)'s AssociateDirector (CP&CC) AK Nemasaid: “The 220 MW KAPS-2went critical at 2.22 am today,after undergoing a renovationand modernisation pro-gramme, encompassing En-Masse Collant ChannelReplacement, En Masse FeederReplacement and other safetyupgrades. The task was com-

pleted three and a half monthsahead of the schedule”.

According to Nema, theNPCIL, Nuclear Fuel Complex(manufacturer of coolest chan-nels), Bhabha Atomic ResearchCentre (BARC) and variousvendors and contractors con-tributed to the KAPS-2 attain-ing criticality.

“The approach to criticality was undertaken afteradhering to all the stipulatedregulatory requirements, and shall be followed by con-ducting various tests, connection to the grid, increasein power level to full power asper laid down procedures andregulatory clearances,” Nemasaid.

The KAPS comprises twounits of indigenous 220MW(KAPS-1&2) Pressurised

Heavy Water Reactors(PHWR), which commencedcommercial operations in 1993and 1995 respectively. Twomore units of 700 MWPHWRs (KAPP-3 & 4) areunder construction.

The NCPIL currently oper-ates 22 nuclear power reactors,including the 100MW RAPS-1, owned by the Department ofAtomic Energy (DAE), with acapacity of 6780MW.

Additionally, eight reac-tors with a capacity of6200MW are currently underconstruction in different partsof India, while work is under-way for 12 more nuclear reac-tors with a capacity of9000MW for which all admin-istrative and financial sanctionshave been received from thegovernment.

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As the incident of sexualabuse of a minor girl in a

private school rockedHyderabad, the local MP onMonday urged the StateGovernment to close downthe school and take stringentaction against the school management for negligenceand attempt to cover up theheinous crime.

Accompanied by the fam-ily members of the four-yearold victim, Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen president andMember of Parliament from

Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisimet the Police CommissionerAnjani Kumar and district col-lector Yogita Rana anddemanded that school shouldnot be allowed to open till theprobe was completed.

He urged the commis-sioner to transfer the case tothe Central Crime Station fromthe local police station and alsobook a case against the schooland seize it.

After the case of sexualabuse in Azan Internationalschool came to light the policearrested a school supervisorMohammed Jeelani.

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The Narendra ModiGovernment’s days are

numbered as the people ofIndia have made up their mindto throw it out in the 2019 polls,Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee said on Monday.

The Chief Minister, who iscurrently in Frankfurt for abusiness trip, told reportershow a “comeback for the BJPGovernment will be cata-strophic for the country.” Callingthe Modi Government “anti-people” to the core, Banerjeesaid the BJP came to power bypeddling loads of promises butkept none.

Instead of the promised“acchhe din” they only gave dis-tress, inflation and

persecution of those who daredto raise their voice against them.

“This Government is insen-sitive towards people’s dailywoes which can be proved bythe hike in petroleum prices ona daily basis. Though the priceof crude has gone down in theinternational market they areincreasing prices of petrol,diesel, LPG.

They have slapped petrole-um cess on nine occasion whichis inhuman and cruel. This isnot a people’s Government buta Government of the rich,”Banerjee said.

“Under this regime everyprotest is met by repression: thatmay come either through lev-eling of false charges, lynchingor CBI and ED. Just because Ihad always been vocal against

their anti-people policies theysent our leaders to jail on falsecharges,” she maintained addingthe people had been watchingtheir activities and “they are sureto be thrown out of power in2019.”

On whether she saw theOpposition parties comingtogether to defeat the BJP, shesaid “everyone is fighting againstthe BJP in his or her own way.But I have told the Opposition

leaders to first think of defeat-ing the BJP.

“Different parties whichare strong in different placesshould be allowed take on theBJP. The Opposition partiesmust stop the division of votesand unite to pull down thisGovernment.”

The Modi Government hadno original thoughts and onlysurvived on aping the States. Forinstance she said, “they havestolen the Kanya Shree and ot-her similar projects from us andhave started their Beti Bachao,Beti Padhao programme. Lookat what they spend on theirscheme what we do.”

Alleging that absolutepower had made the BJP arro-gant she said, “they are not onlyarrogant but also vindictive.

They will not allow democracyto operate in India. If theycome for the second time Indiawill be finished. So it is better tofinish the BJP before they fin-ish India.”

On the BJP’s target of 22seats from Bengal she said “thisis only their pipedream. Letthem dream and when it willcome to the reality they will getnothing. At present they havetwo seats. But let me tell you thatwhen they come to power theywill not be able to win even thattwo seats.”

Bengal was a culturallyadvanced, peaceful state whichhad witnessed the renaissance inreal sense of the term, shemaintained adding it wouldnot be easy for the BJP to pen-etrate that ring of renaissance.

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The fire at Kolkata’sBurrabazar continued to

rage on even after 38 hours onMonday while helpless posse offiremen said it could takeanother 72 hours for the infer-no to die down. Meanwhile,parts of the imposing 150-year-old structure had devel-oped cracks threatening theadjoining buildings, sourcessaid, adding there were about700 shops inside the 7-storeywhole-sale market. “About�200 crore is lost to the fire ahead of DurgaPuja,” a shop owner said addingit could take years for thebusinessmen to rebuild theirbusiness.

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Adding teeth to the borderguarding capacity of Indian

border guards, Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh onMonday inaugurated the ‘smartfence’ pilot project developedunder the ComprehensiveIntegrated Border ManagementSystem (CIBMS) programme inJammu.

After attending an e-inau-guration function here at thefrontier headquarters of BSF,Union Home Minister brieflychatted with the jawansdeployed along the five kmlong stretch where 'SMART'fencing has been made opera-tional.

Addressing a separate pressconference, the Union Home

Minister announced since it isa 'pilot project' “we will mon-itor its performance anddepending upon the feedbackwe will further improve it andmake it more effective.” Singhsaid that the technology wouldbe introduced along a 2026 kmlong border stretch that hasbeen identified as 'vulnerable'.

"As I said, this is a pilotproject.When I went to Israel,I came across this technology.It was discussed, and finally, itis being implemented," Singhsaid, adding that making theborders 'foolproof ' was theprimary motive of his govern-ment behind starting two pilotCIBMS projects.

Rajnath Singh also dedi-cated the SMART fence pilotproject to the jawans who

made supreme sacrifices inthe line of duty while guardingfrontiers of the nation.

“Today is birthday of ourPrime Minister Narendra Modiand on this occasion, I dedicatethis ‘smart fence’ pilot projectto the jawans who attainedmartyrdom for the nationwhile guarding borders,” Singhtold reporters during the Pressbriefing here at the frontierheadquarters.

Speaking during the launchceremony Singh said theCentre has been making max-imum use of technology tomake the security system at theborders stronger and effective.

The Minister said thatsmart fencing at the borders isa technological solutiondevised to address the securi-ty issues in the border statesand the two projects in fivekilometers areas each havebeen installed along the Indo-Pak International Border inJammu on a pilot basis. He saidthe number of casualties of ourjawans on borders would getminimised and the stress levelamong the jawans would alsoreduce to a large extent. TheUnion Home Minister furtheradded that with the digitalsmart fencing, our borderswould become absolutely safesince it would virtually make itimpossible for the terrorists tobreach it and infiltrate acrossthe borders.

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N.I.T. NO. 31/S-III /(2018-2019)

S. Name of work Estimated Date release of Last date/timeNo. Cost/ tender in of receipt of

Earnest e-procurement tender throughMoney solution e- procurement

solution

1. Improvement of water supply by P.I. 200mm dia Rs.33,59,382/- 2018_DJB_158441_1 01.10.2018 D.I. Water line from E-2 G.K. II to DDA Park in 15.09.2018 Up toChitranjan Park under South _III (AC-50) 3.00 PM

2. Improvement of underground tank located at Rs.4697,078/- 2018_DJB_158441_2 01.10.2018Gali No. -30 & Gali No.-13, Tughlakabad Extn. 15.09.2018 Up tounderEE(South) -III (AC-49) 3.00 PM

Futher details in this regard can be seen at https:govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in

Sd/-ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER) EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (WEST) IAdvt. No. J.S.V. 377/2018-19 (SOUTH )III

DELHI JAL BOARD: GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHIOFFICE OF THE EX. ENGINEER (SOUTH) III

A BLOCK GREATER KAILAH I NEW DELHI-110048.

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There are a few leaders in contemporaryglobal polity who have successfullychanged a war-torn country to avibrant progressive democracy intheir lifetime. Former Sri Lankan

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a charismaticleader, accelerated the pace of development innationalistic spirit by pushing various infrastruc-ture projects that transformed the growth rate andthe GDP of the country from 2009. He servedas the sixth President of the island nation fromNovember 19, 2005, to January 9, 2015. A lawyerby profession, he was first elected to theParliament in 1970 and served as the PrimeMinister from April 6, 2004, until his victory inthe 2005 presidential election. He was re-elect-ed for a second term on January 27, 2010.

However, due to international and domes-tic imperatives, he was defeated in his bid for athird term in the 2015 presidential election byMaithripala Sirisena. An ex-aide, Sirisena hadbeen the Minister of Health in Rajapaksa’sGovernment and the General Secretary of the SriLanka Freedom Party (SLFP) before defecting tothe Opposition coalition. Later, Rajapaksa unsuc-cessfully sought to become the Prime Ministerin the 2015 parliamentary election, where theUnited People’s Freedom Alliance was defeated.Many had attributed the shocking loss to hisauthoritarianism, nepotism, poor governance andcorruption but the fact of the matter was that the

anti-incumbency factor and his strident desireto break new ground was the reason for his defeat.He was, however, elected as the Member ofParliament from Kurunegala district.

In 2005, Rajapaksa reshuffled the Cabinet andtook charge of the Defence and Finance portfo-lios. He extended the term of the Commanderof the Sri Lanka Army, Sarath Fonseka, less thana month before he was scheduled to retire. Overthe next three and a half years, Fonseka andRajapaksa’s brother and the Defence Secretary,Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, led the country’s ArmedForces in their battle against the Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam (LTTE), ultimately defeating themand killing their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.It was one of the most gruelling battles that theworld has witnessed in recent times. It madeRajapaksa a national hero and an internationalleader of repute.

The most challenging phase of Rajapaksa’spolitical career came after he took over the pres-idency. A series of mine blasts blamed on theLTTE claimed the lives of many off-duty service-men and civilians, pushing the country back tothe brink of war. However, on May 19, 2009,Rajapaksa delivered a victory address to theParliament and declared that the country hadbeen liberated from terrorism. It was a near mir-acle achieved by the Rajapaksa-led team.

After ending the civil war in 2009, Rajapaksa’sGovernment is known for undertaking largescale

infrastructure projects. Sri Lanka also made it intothe ‘high’ category of the Human DevelopmentIndex during this time. Initiation, completion, anddevelopment of many highways and roads, theColombo beautification project, the rural infra-structure development projects and so on aresome of the several highlights. However, the road-ways are known for high costs and are suspect-ed to have been the hotbeds of corruption. A largesum of Chinese loans tripled the country’s for-eign debt, creating an economic crisis. ButRajapaksa insisted that under him Sri Lanka expe-rienced rapid economic growth; the GDP growthrate reached over seven per cent.

In a move that was widely seen as solidify-ing his control over the Supreme Court, Rajapaksaremoved the Chief Justice, ShiraniBandaranayake, from office in January 2013,allowing him to appoint an ally and legal advis-er, former Attorney-General Mohan Peiris, asChief Justice.

Domestic imperatives with regard to TamilNadu compelled New Delhi to keep an arm’s dis-tance from Rajapaksa, forcing him to tilt towardsChina during his second term of presidency. Infact, the Sri Lanka Government offered prefer-ential infra-projects to India but received a luke-warm response from the Indian side. It wasalleged that Rajapaksa, during the 2015 presiden-tial campaign and elections, received large pay-ments from the Chinese port construction fund

that flowed directly into the campaign and relat-ed activities. The perception was created thatRajapaksa had agreed to Chinese terms and wasseen as an important ally in China’s efforts to tiltinfluence away from India in South Asia. It is afterhis unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2015that Rajapaksa adopted a more sceptical Chinapolicy, opposing major development projects suchas the Southern Economic Development Zonein which China had planned to invest over fivebillion dollars. He spoke to The Pioneer in anexclusive interview. Excerpts:

Q: The presidential election in 2010 saw theSri Lankan electorate freely participating aftermore than two decades of turbulence, unrest,and war; you are responsible for liberating thecountry from terrorism and set it on the pathto peace. What went wrong in 2015?

It was an international conspiracy against myGovernment that was successfully implementedby certain political opponents to capture power.I will not reveal the names of the countriesinvolved but I will be cautious in the future.Opponents have successfully alienated minori-ty communities from SLFP to facilitate consol-idation against us. However, everyone hasrealised the current bad governance. I am surethe trends of the local elections clearly indicatethat SLFP is on its way back to power in the nextgeneral elections.

Q: The criticism that can be made out of

your political career is that you promoted nepo-tism, appointing three brothers to run impor-tant ministries and assigning other politicalpositions for relatives, regardless of theirmerit. How would you react to it?

I think the built narrative is completely false.All the position-holders were elected by popu-lar votes in their respective constituencies and allcandidates had won the elections by large mar-gins in various elections. If the people like them,how can they be ignored? However, I hadappointed Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by executiveorder because I thought he was the right personto deliver what we wanted at that time. And mystand is vindicated when he displayed tremen-dous skills to eliminate terrorism during our armstruggle against LTTE.

Q: You won the presidency on a wide-rang-ing, people-oriented policy as laid out in the“Mahinda Chinthana”. How satisfying was yourexperience of governance?

Mahinda Chinthana means good governancefor all. We drafted it to incorporate the desiresof every section of the society in the politicalmainstream. Our concept is rooted in the soil;the governance that springs from the bottom ofthe pyramid. Yes, we have achieved most of ourpromises but we have to travel miles ahead to ful-fill the aspirations of our native people.

Q: Please narrate the experience of dealingwith international communities in emergency

situations so that other countries battling withterrorism can be inspired by your story.

We knew that wiping out terror would costtremendous pain and stress but we were deter-mined to live in peace permanently. The mainissue was India because Tamil Nadu is an impor-tant State for the country and the sentiments werestoked by certain interests against the probableaction. We created the TRIOKA plan whereinthree high officials of each side were deputed forregular exchange of information to facilitate prop-er coordination. It worked as it removed thechances of dissemination of wrong informationon either side. Finally, we offered a choice betweenpeace and war to the LTTE and they opted forthe later. We faced tremendous pressure from allUN organisations, certain pockets of Tamil-influ-ence countries and other local pressure but wewere resolute to solve the terror issue. ManyEuropean countries and their leaders visited usto mediate in the war but I stuck to my originaldecision. Today, we are one of the most peace-ful democratic countries in the world and I takeimmense pride to say that I was always right inthe conflict that was forced on us by the LTTE.

Q: The remarkable transition from a war-torn country to a peaceful nation was achievedby you in no time. We have seen many MiddleEastern countries going through similar trau-ma but have ended up as a failed state after thewar. How did you achieve this?

We have taken huge risks in the process likereleasing 12,000 prisoners in 2009 immediatelyafter the war. It could have gone wrong but wefought the war with a humanitarian approach.We realised that though the people fighting weremisguided by vested interests, they remained ourown. The defence forces must be commended forthe remarkable job in the recent war historyworldwide. They cleaned up the landmines in thenorth within one year after the war to facilitateimmediate popular election process. This instilledconfidence in the native population remindingthem of our humanitarian sentiment and beliefin the rule of law. We invested over a billion dol-lars in the northern part of the country to devel-op infrastructure and better living conditions forour countrymen so their affection could be rec-iprocated in the next presidential election of 2010,which I won by huge margins.

Q: How do you assess the present state ofthe India-Sri Lanka relationship?

All is good but we have to strengthen it fur-ther. We have to continue the dialogue with theIndian Government on a regular basis on theeconomy, fisheries, free trade agreements and soon to build a more focussed mutual relationship.I appreciate the efforts made in the individualcapacity by few to improve the bilateral relation-ship between the two friendly countries. Effortmust be made from both G2G and P2P level inconsolidating the relationship.

�������������Sir — The world celebratedSeptember 16 as the International Dayfor the Preservation of the OzoneLayer to commemorate the date of thesigning of the Montreal Protocol onSubstances that Deplete the Ozone in1987. This year’s message from theUN Environment Programme was“keep cool and carry on”.

The need of the hour is to usemore of environmental-friendly prod-ucts and less of products emittingchlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

To be honest, the Earth without

the ozone is like a house without roof. TS Karthik

Chennai� � ��������Sir — This refers to the article,“Exposing a repressive campaign inXinjiang” (September 13) by ClaudeArpi. The article is right in its intentto point out that the Chinese barbar-ities towards the Uighur Muslimminorities are not new but what is sur-prising is that nobody dares to ques-tion Beijing’s Muslim policy.

The writer gives an account ofwhat is happening in the Chinese

Province of Xinjiang (formerlySinkiang). Having successfullyenslaved the Tibetan Buddhists, nowthey are bent upon doing the same tothe Uighur Muslims.

This brings us to question thedouble standards of the Governmentsof the Muslim majority or Islamicnations, who were mute while con-demning Myanmar on RohingyaMuslims. In my opinion, those whoespouse the cause of Uighur orRohingya Muslims will be asked bythe international community to shoul-der the responsibility which theywish to avoid. One wonders why the

US is meddling in these affairs espe-cially suffering from the September11, 2001 incident and thereafter?

SC PandaBhubaneswar

�������������������Sir — This refers to the article, “New-age business model” (September 17)by Mohandas Pai and Shobha MishraGhosh. Business is basically aboutknowing something that nobodyknows. The Indian business housesare on a growth trajectory and areharnessing human resources to devel-op a cutting edge technology.

The businesses must make work-places more employee-oriented andmake their businesses global — OYOrooms has entered Chinese marketand OLA cab is now taking its fightwith Uber to hijack the emerging markets. Indian businessmen mustdevelop the brinkmanship and shouldstart taking risks to make best utili-sation of human and physicalresources.

Gourang NaryaniUjjain

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Pawan washed my feet and drank the water outof respect. One day I will wash-drink the feet

of a BJP worker like Pawan.—BJP leader

NISHIKANT DUBEY

Has the arrogance of BJP leaders reached sucha zenith that now they want their karyakartas to

wash their feet and drink that water?—Congress spokesperson

RANDEEP SUJREWALA

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Aurangzeb’s biography byProf Audrey Truschke,published in 2017 byPenguin Books, provokesone to think as to what

path Muslims of India should nowtread in order to live in amity. It iswell-known that the name Aurangzebis widely disapproved. In course of mytravels, I came across only one shopnamed after the Emperor — it is sit-uated in Kidderpore, Kolkata —and only recently, for the first time,I heard of a Kashmir police consta-ble by the name Aurangzeb, who waskilled by terrorists. The third exam-ple was the prominent road namedafter him, which has now beenchanged to Dr APJ Abdul KalamRoad without any protest which,though, has been resented by ProfTruschke in her book. Now only alane by the name survives. Does thisnot reflect a widespread disapprovalof Aurangzeb by Muslims as well asby Hindus and Sikhs?

For, the first 67 years afterIndependence, Muslims in Indiahave survived the trauma of Partitionquite comfortably, except for period-ic riots with Hindus, so necessary fora Congress-style secular party to sur-vive in power. Under communist sec-ularism in Kerala and West Bengal,its rule was almost entirely riot-free.So was the so-called Hindu ruleunder the BJP and earlier under theJana Sangh in a couple of States,except for 2002 in Gujarat, which wasprovoked by the burning of railwaybogeys that claimed 58 lives inGodhra. The lesson of this short his-tory is that a Muslim minority can co-exist with a Hindu majority. Thereverse ratio, however, is not true asdemonstrated by the rapid ethniccleansing in 1947-48 Pakistan and asimilar but chronic process inBangladesh.

The first lesson to be drawn fromthis paradox is that for Hindu-Muslim amity, the population of thelatter community should not exceed20 per cent. With 25 per cent in 1947,Muslims were able to force Partition.This, despite being given reservationsin jobs as well as separate electorates.Until 1940, they claimed to be a

minority, and then to justify Partition,they changed to being a nation. Inshort, they have a chronic tendencyof separatism. Second, the rulingparty should not come to power byplaying the two communities againsteach other. The Congress had toremind Muslims periodically what ariot is, and more of it would be theirfate if they did not vote for the party.Otherwise, let the Muslim clergy holdveto to power, for example, the ShahBano alimony, followed by theMuslim Women’s Act.

The pinnacle of this Congresssecret of success was reached in the10-year prime ministership ofManmohan Singh, who several timesvirtually declared ‘Muslims First’ ashis policy and also appointed fivecommissions and committees ofwhom the Sachar-led effort was themost talked about. No wonder, thefour Modi-led years were filled withcomplaints by Muslims and theirfriends repeatedly saying that ‘every-one’ feels insecure. The Muslim cler-gy no longer held the veto after 67years of being used to it. That therehas been virtually no rioting duringthe four years across the country, isnot appreciated.

Another feature of Muslim per-formance has been its failure to pro-duce an eminent leader. MohammadAli Jinnah was the last one thrown upby the sub-continental ummah. Evenhe became prominent as a Muslimleader, as it were, more to fulfill themass desire for delivering Partitionand less as a community eminence.A possible explanation could be thatIslam, as ethos, prefers autocracy,whether monarchical, military orcivilian, but not a Western-typedemocracy. By contrast, in the sub-continent, Hindu performance hasbeen much better. In the absence ofresponsible and respected leadership,the Muslim masses have been mes-merised by their clergy as well as theCongress. These two have worked intandem — the only time the link hadsnapped was in the 1977, post-Emergency elections — otherwise,their interests are similar. The formerwants to keep a grip on the follow-ers, while the latter needs the votes.

From the beginning, theCongress has been pro-Muslim. Asa glaring example, Gandhiji hadequated a hope for success in his 1921Non-Cooperation agitation with avictory of his Khilafat movement tosave the Caliph on the Turkishthrone. The failure of both led to whatBR Ambedkar called a 20-year Hindu

Muslim civil war until 1940, when thePakistan resolution was passed atLahore. A century later this year,Rahul Gandhi did not hesitate toadmit that the Congress is a Muslimparty. And why not? Because thegrand old party has placed the com-munity superiorly to the Hindus;especially Articles 29 and 30 renderArticles 14 and 15 a sham.Additionally, the wakfs, which ownup to six lakh acres of urban land inthe country, have been left untouchedby the Government, whereas zamin-daris and jagirdaris were abolished onthe morrow of Independence. Theseand other laws make Muslims appearto be the favourite offspring of Indiawhile the Hindus may feel like, as theywere, step-children.

It is for the post-CongressGovernments, whether in the Statesor at the Centre, to correct the mis-leading impression created of most ofMuslims. Citizens of all hues below45 years in age are mostly unawareof the facts of Partition. Discussionsin the media give the impression thatfree India’s life began with theConstitution. The earlier years wereall part of jahelia or darkness. Instead,an attempt should be made to informpeople who voted how in the 1945-46 elections and the run-up to the

Partition. As a backgrounder, how in1940, the League declared thatMuslims were a nation and not aminority? It, therefore, had to have aseparate homeland or Darul Islam.The League leaders wanted Muslimsto transfer to Pakistan and the rest togo to Hindustan. Those whoremained behind were to live as alienswith the help of visas issued by therespective Governments. Instead,today Hindustan has probably moreMuslims than any other country,except Indonesia. The communityitself claims to be poor and backward.It seems it appears to spread back-wardness to the States it lives in.

Today, the belt beginning withUttar Pradesh and ending withAssam via Bihar and West Bengal, isdistinctly poorer economically thanthe rest of India. Although the Gangaflows across the belt, the soil is most-ly fertile and there is a great deal ofmineral wealth to mine. These Stateshave to be pulled up and, more par-ticularly, the Muslims. If this writerwere a Sunni Musalman, he wouldtell his people that not many of us canemigrate and, therefore, to live hap-pily in India, we should join the main-stream.

Licenced madrasas all overshould be given a say — four or five

years to come up in their standardsto be affiliated to the mainstreamboards like CBSE or ICSE. AligarhMuslim University and Jamiashould cease to be Muslim orIslamia since they are entirely State-financed. If not a UniformCommon Code, the communityitself could take the initiative andmodernise the personal law anddraft a Muslim Code Bill. All tem-ples converted to mosques, whichare readily reconvertible to mandirs,should be vacated. Around 2,500 orso recycled (built anew with thedebris of demolished temples)mosques may be left as they are.

All these suggestions would helpMuslims integrate with the rest of thepeople of Hindustan and share thebenefits of national prosperity. TheShias are already on the path to inte-gration. Why not the Sunnis too? Allthat is being recommended is tofavour the ways of Dara Shikoh, awayfrom the misguided whims ofAurangzeb. Both were full bloodbrothers. But the latter caused andpresided over to the fall of theMughal Empire. Hindustan doesnot wish to fall similarly.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author)

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Licence raj for industries came to an endin 1991 after the economic reformskicked in. Business enterprises heaved

a sigh of relief and results were evident soon.However, at present, various business com-munities and development planners havetermed the functioning of the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest and Climate Changeakin to the old licence raj.Environmentalists, on the other hand,have dubbed the Ministry as ineffective andhave blamed it for bartering away forest-lands and promoting polluters. The truth,however, lies in between.

A review of the environmental policiesand programmes of the present NDAregime will make us believe that things havechanged for good. Laws governing the envi-ronment and forest conservation weregenerally treated as irritants. Initially, mostviolations were condoned, especially for therelease of forest lands and polluting indus-tries on grounds of ignorance of the ForestConservation Act, 1980 and EnvironmentProtection Act, 1986. After the SupremeCourt’s intervention in 1996, the scenariofor the enforcement of regulatory laws com-pletely changed. The Ministry was blamedby both the proponents of development andenvironmentalists for arbitrariness in deci-sion-making, inefficiency, delay, corruptionand absence of transparency. This writer hasworked for a long time in the Ministry andis a witness to its growth and follies. It will,hence, be interesting to examine the perfor-mance of the Modi Government in the lastfour years.

One of the best policy decisions towardsensuring transparency, professionalism andto ward off any criticism of delays and arbi-trariness in decision-making was taken bythe Ministry with the Prime MinisterModi’s launch of PARIVESH portal onAugust 10. The Pro-Active and Responsivefacilitation by Interactive, Virtuous andEnvironmental Single-window Hub(PARIVESH), for online submission, mon-itoring and management of proposals, willallow the project proponent as well as thecommon man to track the entire approval

process under the Central and StateGovernment for all four clearances viz, envi-ronment, forest, wildlife and coastal regu-lation zone. One of the highlights of the por-tal is the auto-generation of minutes of themeetings which will remove any scope forbackroom modifications by expert bodies.This has been a regular feature in the past10 years before 2014. In one stroke, real-time decision-making process will be in thepublic domain. This is the best thing thathas happened in the Ministry. This has far-reaching consequences and it would ben-efit the country’s developmental processwithout compromising on environment.This has also opened the first door for e-governance. If implemented sincerely, it canensure timely clearances and quick decision-making.

The Ministry has also for long beenblamed for prevaricating on delays infinalising the declaration of eco-sensitivezones near national parks and wildlife sanc-tuaries. The Supreme Court in 2002-2003had asked the Government to declarethese zones, and till then, in a radius of 10km, most of the developmental activitieswere forbidden by the Court. During theperiod of 2004 to 2014, only eight propos-als were finalised and 24 were in the draftstage. In the last four years, the Ministryfinalised 284 cases and 202 are still in theirdraft stage, which have been fast-tracked.The portal will also ensure development ofstalled projects and protection of wildlifeareas. A report titled, ‘India State of ForestReport 2017’ by the Forest Survey of Indiarevealed that India’s total forest and treecover area increased to over 8,021 sq km,which is one per cent increase from 2015.This is in line with meeting India’s Paris cli-mate commitment. The country now issequestering 49.50 million tonnes of carbonannually and India is also one of the front-line leaders in the world in mitigating strat-egy deployment.

However, everything is not hunky-doryin the Ministry’s working, considering theemerging challenges, especially the fundposition is critical. The country is facingserious threats from climate change, whichis now visible in the form of devastatingfloods/landslides, like the ones we witnessedin Kerala this year and Tamil Nadu last year.Floods and cloudburst in Himalayas, recur-rent droughts and intense heat waves andscarcity of water, are going to severely affectlivelihoods of a large section of people.

Dense forests of more than 40 per centcrown density are not in good shape as theylack adequate regeneration. Vegetation inmajor forest types has changed due to tem-perature and rainfall pattern changes sub-stantially, as revealed by the task force ofIndian Council of Forestry Research andEducation (ICFRE).

Agriculture and water supply is goingto be severely impacted if we do not putmoney into the management of catchmentsof major rivers. This loss of water depriveslocals of drinking water and is also lead-ing to the migration of people to urbanareas, where the problem gets further com-pounded. According to a recent study byKumaun University and AustralianNational University, due to the interferenceof man, water sources in the Himalayas aregetting dry. The region is losing 65 per centof the rain water, leading to disasters likedrying up of water sources, flash floods andlandslides in the region, and floods in theplain areas. There is a constant reductionin river flow in the tributaries of Yamunain Himachal, Ganga and Kosi inUttarakhand and Teesta in Sikkim. Thereduction in stream flow varies from 38 percent to 45 per cent in these rivers. The netresult of this has prevented irrigation inover 20 per cent of the land in plain areasand 15 per cent reduction in agricultureproductivity. The current available annu-al Budget of the Ministry is around �2,600crore. Compared to the needs of today, thisis very less.

The Prime Minister must take a reviewand sanction at least �1,000 crore annual-ly for watershed activities in the recordedforest areas for the next five years. This mustbe complemented with cultural and regen-eration of forests and sufficient fund flowfor research and lands vested with tribals.This will improve the forest and non-forest-land hydrology, and the landscape will adaptto the climatic changes. The forestry sectorneeds institutional reforms. The ICFRE’sautonomy is half-done if it is brought backto the Government as an attached office asforestry institutions cannot be expected toearn revenue to sustain them. The joint for-est management programme needs secondgeneration reforms. Well-planned activitiescan solve much of the threats posed by pol-lution as the technologies are available.What is needed is a far sight and a will todo things in a coordinated manner.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

Striking a fine balance

In search of a path to integrationIt is for the post-Congress Governments, whether in the States or the Centre, to correct the misleading impression created of Muslims.

This provokes one to think as to what path the Muslim community of India could now tread in order to be stakeholders in amity

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Vile trolling is not new to celebs. But fanatics toucheda new low by attacking Shah Rukh Khan for postingson AbRam’s photo in front of a Ganesha idol as partof Chathurthi celebrations. Bigots called the very secu-lar SRK a non-Muslim. Targetting a child in the nameof religion and schooling him about ritualistic moresbased on his father’s surname are simply disgusting.

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Cashew kernel exports,which have been on a

decline since last five years fol-lowing intense competitionfrom Vietnam is likely to bearound 5 per cent this calenderyear (CY), Icra said in a report.

In CY12, India’s exportsstood at 1.02 lakh tonne, enjoy-ing 27 per cent market sharecompared to 58 per cent ofVietnam, Icra assistant vice pres-ident and head, mid-corporateratings, R Srinivasan said.

“However, since then India’smarketshare began decliningand while the Indian cashewexports recorded a marginaldecline at a annually 3 per centbetween CY2012 and CY2017,the exports from Vietnam grewat 10 annually during the sameperiod,” he said.

In CY17, India’s share was 19per cent of global exports with88,000 tonne while Vietnamenjoys 74 per cent, he added.Lower cost of production aided bya higher degree of mechanisationand cheaper labour costs haveaided the Vietnamese processorsto become more competitive.

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Markets regulator Sebi hasbarred ‘fugitive econom-

ic offender’ from making anopen offer or a competingoffer for acquiring shares in acompany.

The move is expected tohelp in preventing such offend-er from taking control of a list-ed company.

“No person who is a fugi-tive economic offender shallmake a public announcementof an open offer or make acompeting offer for acquiringshares or enter into any trans-action, either directly or indi-rectly, for acquiring any sharesor voting rights or control of atarget company,” Sebi said in anotification dated September11.

In the event of failure ofthe delisting offer, Sebi hasissued a framework for acquir-

ers to fulfil the open offerobligations.

The acquirer, through themanager to the open offer,will have to within five work-ing days from the date of theannouncement need to filewith the board a draft offer inthis regard.

This will be applicableprovided that the “offer priceshall stand enhanced by anamount equal to a sum deter-mined at the rate of 10 percent per annum for the peri-od between the scheduleddate of payment of consider-ation to the shareholders andthe actual date of payment ofconsideration to the share-holders”.

The regulator has amend-ed Sebi (Subtant ia lAcqusition of Shares andTakeovers) norms in thisregard.

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IT companyInfosys on

Monday said ithas doubled itsinvestment inUS-based soft-ware firmTidalScale byputting in anadditional USD1.5 million (around �11 crore)through the Infosys InnovationFund.

“Infosys...Has made anadditional investment of USD1.5 million through the InfosysInnovation Fund in TidalScaleInc, the company at the heartof the software-defined serverrevolution,” the Indian softwaremajor said in a statement.

The Bengaluru-headquar-terd company had previouslyinvested $1.5 million inTidalScale Inc in 2016.

TidalScale has developedsoftware-defined servers thatdeliver in-memory perfor-mance at any scale, are self-optimising, use standard hard-ware and are compatible withall applications and operatingsystems.

“We are excited to furtherstrengthen our relationship

with TidalScale. Their ground-breaking

software defined server tech-nology addresses a key chal-lenge that many enterprisesface — to rapidly increase thereturn on their existing invest-ments in technology infra-structure assets,” DeepakPadaki, executive vice presi-dent, Infosys, said.

The investment is expect-ed to be completed bySeptember 28, 2018 subject tonecessary approvals, the state-ment said.

“At TidalScale, our focus isto solve problems that untilnow were difficult or impossi-ble to tackle using the usualapproaches to scaling. We areexcited that Infosys so enthu-siastically shares our vision,”Gary Smerdon, President andCEO, TidalScale, said.

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Expanding its footprints inthe transportation sector,

state-run engineering majorBHEL Monday flagged off itsfirst 6,000HP electric locomo-tive from its Jhansi plant.

“As part of its diversifica-tion initiatives, Bharat HeavyElectricals Ltd (BHEL) hasflagged off of its first 6,000HPelectric locomotive (TypeWAG-9H),” a company state-ment said.

The 6,000 HP locomotivehas been manufactured againstan order from the RailwayBoard for 30 locomotives.

BHEL has created a dedi-cated centre for research anddevelopment in transportationtechnology and manufacturingfacilities at Bhopal, Jhansi andBengaluru plants.

The PSU has a share of over50 per cent of railways require-ment for electric propulsionequipment for rolling stock.

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The Government will furtherextend the deadline for the

imposition of higher customsduties on 29 products, includ-ing almond, walnut and puls-es, imported from the US, asenior official said on Monday.

In June, India decided toimpose retaliatory tariffs fromAugust 4. But it was extendedby another 45 days tillSeptember 18.

“We are still in discussionwith the US authorities. Thedeadline will be extendedtonight,” the government offi-cial said, adding that the dead-line will be extended for anoth-er 45 days until November 2.

The duty hike move byIndia was in retaliation to theMarch 9 decision of USPresident Donald Trump toimpose heavy tariffs on import-ed steel and aluminium items,a move that has sparked fearsof a global trade war.

Senior officials of Indiaand the US are in discussionsto finalise a kind of trade deal.Both the sides holding twotrack discussions — to increasetrade in short and mediumterm, and identify long term

trade potentials.India is pressing for

exemption from high dutyimposed by the US on certainsteel and aluminium products,resumption of export benefitsto certain domestic productsunder their Generalised Systemof Preferences (GSP), greatermarket access for its productsfrom sectors, including agri-culture, automobile, auto com-ponents and engineering.

As many as 3,500 Indianproducts from sectors such aschemicals and engineering getduty free access to the USmarket under the GSP, intro-duced in 1976.

On the other hand, the USis demanding greater marketaccess for its farm and manu-facturing products, includingmedical devices.

As part of imposition ofhigher import duties, NewDelhi has notified higher tar-iffs on several products. Whileimport duty on walnut is to behiked to 120 per cent from 30per cent, duty on chickpeas,Bengal gram (chana) andmasur dal will be hiked to 70per cent from 30 per cent. Levyon lentils will be hiked to 40 percent from 30 per cent.

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State-run hospitality compa-ny ITDC signed an MoU

with the Moroccan Agency forTourism Development (SMIT)on Monday, for strengtheningcooperation in the tourismsector, a statement from theMinistry said.

India Tourism DevelopmentCorporation (ITDC) a PSUunder the aegis of the Ministryof Tourism signed the MoU withthe SMIT, an autonomous organ-isation under the Ministry ofTourism, Government ofKingdom of Morocco.

Chairperson and

Managing Director (C&MD),ITDC, Ravneet Kaur said,“Signing of the MoU is anacknowledgement of the capa-bilities and core competency ofITDC and the important roleit has played in development oftourism and related infra-structure in the country.”

With the signing of theMoU, both the organisationswill be able to share engineer-ing and tourism productsdevelopment expertise, newtrends and technology intourism products and innova-tive tourism product develop-ment, the statement from theTourism Ministry said.

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) today amended itsorder on the Essar Steel,passed by it on september 7, toadd the name of senior coun-sel Darius Khambata, whichwas left out.

Khambata had represent-ed Resolution Professional ofthe debt ridden firm Essar Steelin this matter before the appel-late tribunal and his namewas missing in the final order.

Tribunal’s direction cameafter an application was movedto include his name.

In its judgement, passedearlier this month, NCLAThad ruled that Numetal’s�37,000 crore second-roundbid for Essar Steel is valid, butasked rival bidderArcelorMittal to clear �7,000crore dues of its previouslyassociated firms within threedays to qualify for the acqui-sition.

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State-run banks’ market sharein loans to the micro, small

and medium enterprises(MSMEs), a major thrust areafor the Government, has dippedon aggressive play by privatesector banks and NBFCs, areport said on Monday.

The share of the 21 publicsector banks (PSBs) has fallen to50.7 per cent as of June 2018,from 55.8 per cent in June 2017and 59.4 per cent in June 2016,a quarterly report by TransunionCibil and Sidbi has said.

The overall credit to theMSME segment grew 16.1 percent for the year to June 2018,it said, adding PSBs reported a5.5 per cent growth, compared

with 23.4 per cent for the pri-vate sector competitors.

It can be noted that 11 PSBsare under the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s prompt corrective action(PCA) framework because ofearning pressures and networthconcerns, which puts restric-tions on lending.

The share of private sectorbanks has grown to 29.9 percent in June 2018, against the28.1 per cent in the samemonth last year, while the samefor non bank finance compa-nies (NBFCs) has grown up to11.3 per cent from 9.6 per cent,according to the report.

Despite the aggressivegrowth, private sector banksand NBFCs fare better on assetquality as well, it said.

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Banks are witnessing a spurtin asset quality stress in the

non-corporate segment andthe overall loan loss provi-sions for lenders are expectedto stay elevated till fiscal year2019-20, a report said.

The outlook on privatesector banks, along with SBIand Bank of Baroda among thestate-run ones is stable, whileall the other state-run bankscarry a negative outlook, IndiaRatings said in its mid-yearoutlook on banks on Monday.

Banks will continue withcredit costs or provisions of upto 3 per cent for both the ongo-ing fiscal as well as the one after,according to the rating agency.

It attributed the higher cred-it costs to ageing of NPAs (non-performing assets) recognisedearlier since the asset qualityreview of FY16, accelerated pro-visioning and slippages especiallyfrom non-corporate accounts.

In what can be a worryingsign, the agency said it hasobserved a spurt in asset qual-ity stress building up in the

non-corporate loans, even asthe same in the corporate seg-ment has plateaued.

It said there has been anincrease in the share of small-er corporates, and small andmedium-sized enterprises andpersonal/retail loans in thespecial mention accounts(SMAs) pool in FY18 overFY17.

The share of loans under�5 crore in SMA1 accounts, orthose cases where there hasbeen no loan repayment for 31-60 days, has increased to 40 percent at the end of FY18 from 29per cent the year-ago, thereport said, while the same forSMA2 where loans have notbeen serviced for 61-90 dayshas been to 68 per cent asagainst 12 per cent earlier.

Even as the asset qualitytroubles continue, there are ris-ing headwinds for credit avail-ability, according to India Ratings.

“The prevailing stressedfinancial conditions couldintensify credit tightening,unless liquidity of financingchannels is at least partiallyreinvigorated,” it said.

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Oil regulator PNGRBMonday declared the final

list of winners of city gas retail-ing licences that had billionaireGautam Adani’s group, state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC),Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd(BPCL) and Torrent Gas as thebig winner.

Adani Gas won rights toretail CNG to automobiles andpiped cooking gas to house-holds and industries in 13cities on its own and anothernine, including Allahabad, in ajoint venture with IOC, accord-ing to results of 84 cities thatwere bid out in the country’sbiggest city gas distribution(CGD) bid round.

According to the list ofwinners put out by Petroleumand Natural Gas RegulatoryBoard (PNGRB), IOC on itsown won rights to seven cities,including Coimbatore andSalem in Tamil Nadu and Gunain Madhya Pradesh.

Bharat Gas Resources Ltd,a unit of state-owned BPCL,won a licence for 11 cities likeAmethi and Rai Bareli in UttarPradesh and Ahmednagar in

Maharashtra, while TorrentGas Pvt Ltd made 10 winningbids that included ones forChennai, Alwar in Rajasthan,Moradabad in Uttar Pradeshand Karaikal in Puducherry.

State gas utility GAIL’sretailing arm, GAIL Gas, man-aged rights for five cities,including Dehradun.

Indraprastha Gas Ltd, thefirm that retails CNG in thenational capital, won city gasrights for Meerut andMuzaffarnagar in UttarPradesh.

Hindustan Petroleum CorpLtd (HPCL) and Gujarat Gaswon rights for one city eachwhile Green Gas got licencesfor two and MaharashtraNatural Gas Ltd that for three.

Other winners includedsmaller players like IRMEnergy, Haryana City Gas,Essel Gas, Megha Engineering& Infrastructure Ltd, TripuraNatural Gas, and Assam Gas.

PNGRB said a total of4,346 CNG stations have beencommitted to be set up in the84 Geographical Areas (GAs)in eight years. Also, the entitieshave committed to provide 2.1crore piped natural gas con-

nections to householdskitchens by September 30,2026.

When the ninth CGD bid-ding round closed in July, IOC,BPCL and Adani Gas were thetop bidders. As many as 86cities were offered in the bidround but results of two havebeen withheld pending legalchallenge mounted by certainbidders.

Of the 86 cities offered forretailing of CNG to automo-biles and piped cooking gas tohouseholds in the ninth CGDbid round, IOC bid for 34 citieson its own and another 20 inpartnership with Adani Gas.

Adani Gas on its own bidfor 32 cities.

Bharat Gas Resources Ltdbid for as many as 53 cities,while GAIL Gas Ltd put inoffers for 34 cities.

Gujarat-based Torrent GasPvt Ltd bid for 31 cities, whileGujarat Gas Ltd put in offersfor 21 areas.

Petronet LNG Ltd, India’slargest liquefied natural gas(LNG) importer, sought toforay into CGD business bybidding for a licence in sevencities but drew a blank.

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The benchmark BSE Sensexsank over 350 points in

early trade on Monday aftertwo sessions of gains asinvestors cashed profits in con-sumer durables, banking, oil &gas and PSU stocks, amid freshweakness in the rupee andweak global cues.

The BSE 30-share barometerdropped 366.52 points, or 0.96per cent, to 37,724.12 driven bylosses in index majors Axis Bank,SBI, Asian Paint, Tata Motors,HDFC and HDFC Bank.

The gauge had rallied 677.51points in the previous two ses-sions on sustained buying bydomestic institutional investors.

The NSE Nifty index toodipped below the 11,500-markby falling 111.80 points, or 0.97per cent, at 11,403.40.

Brokers said investorsturned cautious and loggedgains after recent rally, pullingdown key indices.

The rupee again crashedbelow the 72-mark by plunging81 paise to 72.65 against thedollar, despite theGovernment’s steps to stem asteep fall in the currency.

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L&T Infrastructure FinanceLimited, a wholly owned

subsidiary of L&T FinanceHoldings Ltd, has announceda revision in its Prime LendingRate (PLR). The company hasincreased the PLR by 25 bps to16.00% from 15.75% for all eli-gible loans linked to PLR effec-tive September 14, 2018.

As on June 30, 2018, thewholesale finance loan bookstands at �45,945 cr. with dis-bursements amounting to�8,665 cr. in Q1FY19. L&TInfrastructure Finance is themarket leader in its focusedareas of Infrastructure Finance- renewables, roads and trans-mission. The company’s strengthlies in its strong underwritingability, structuring and syndi-cation capabilities and providingall infrastructure finance relat-ed services under one roof.

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Health is one of the major concerns for sportspersons who areprone to injuries due to the repetitive pounding of the game.

The most common injuries are related to the foot and ankle, andthe condition may take longer time to recover. Some of the com-mon injuries are:

������� �It is one of the most common and the severest form of pain

when occurs when players undergo training without proper warmup. There are two types of heel pain:�Plantar Fasciitis

It is acute pain in the thick tissue (Plantar fascia) at the bot-tom of the foot that connects the heel bone and toes. It occurs whentissue becomes swollen or inflamed. Ignoring this pain may resultin chronic heel pain and can also change the way of walking.

Also, people with very flat feet or very high arches are moreprone to plantar fasciitis. If a person has a flat foot or weak andmisaligned first toe, the pain is sure to occur. Weak foot muscleswith high arch can contribute to the same that also lead to tightand shortened calf muscles.

�Achilles TendonitisAchilles is the large tendon

connecting the two calf muscleswith the back of the heel bone.Heavy pain is felt in the heelwhen this tendon is rupturedand can lead to ankle pain aswell. This may be caused due tooveruse, excessive runningwithout warm up exercises.

�� ���� �It happens in the front and

the inner aspect of the shin dueto imbalance between the calfmuscles and the muscles in thefront leg. This happens as a rea-son of inadequate stretches,over pronation inclination of

foot towards the ground.

��������������It is a tiny incomplete crack in the surface of bone found in

the lower leg of the foot. A stress fracture is caused due to suddenincrease in training. It can be present in any of the bones compris-ing the foot, but fractures occur most typically in the metatarsals.

���������Pain in the knee and heel should never be ignored. Consult a

knee, foot and ankle surgeon immediately if any of the above symp-toms persist after one to two weeks of rest along with ice treatment.You may require to do blood tests and X-Rays. Blood tests mayshow low haemoglobin, iron levels or vitamin D3 levels. It may showstress fractures of the metatarsals or the leg bone (tibia). Heel painmay be because of a stress fracture of the calcaneum. If the X-raysare normal and pain persists, MRI may be required to assess theextent of the damage.

If your condition has developed recently, anti-inflammatoryor analgesic medication (in tablet form), coupled with heel padsmay be all that is necessary to relieve pain and reduce inflamma-tion. Stress fractures will require rest, analgesics and supportive treat-ment like a plaster or a walker boot for four to six weeks.

Along with rest, ice and compression, medical treatment isrequired to correct abnormal blood levels like low haemoglobinand vitamin D levels. In case of heel pain, stretching is the best treat-ment as it helps to try to keep weight off your foot until the ini-tial inflammation goes away. You can apply ice to the sore area for20-30 minutes several times a day to relieve your symptoms. Homeexercises to stretch your Achilles tendon and plantar fascia are themainstay of treatment and reduce the chance of recurrence.

In case of the knee pain, hamstring stretches and stretchingof other tight muscles is important for treatment. A supportive kneecap which reduces pressure on the knee cap may help. If the painis not relieved by non-surgical methods, surgery may be requiredfor fixation of the stress fracture or knee key hole surgery(arthroscopy) for knee pain or the release of the Iliotibial (IT) band.

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�����4 There have been some studies that show eating cocoalowers the chance of heart disease and death, possibly by

lowering blood pressure and improving the function of theblood vessels. What’s more, cocoa has been found to reducebad LDL cholesterol and has a bloodthinning effect.

The powder which is rich inflavanol helps maintain ahealthy brain. Consumptionof cocoa powder has beenshown to be effective inimproving insulinresistance andglucosemetabolism.

Cocoa extractshave been trusted fortheir therapeutic and wound-healing properties in the manufacturing of natural medicinalproducts. A study has shown that cocoa helps regulatemetabolism and reduces the synthesis and transport of fattyacids. Finally, consuming cocoa powder enhances the mood,fights depression and promotes cognitive activities.

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Asuperbug resistantto all knownantibiotics is

spreading undetectedthrough hospital wardsacross the world, according toscientists. The bacteria, known asStaphylococcus epidermidis, is related tothe better-known and more-deadlyMRSA. Found naturally on human skin,it most commonly infects the elderly orpatients who have had prosthetic mate-rials implanted, such as catheters and jointreplacements. The bacteria can cause“severe” infections or even death overtime.

Many of the most powerful antibioticsare extremely expensive and even toxic,and the team behind the study said thatthe practice of using multiple drugs atonce to prevent resistance may not beworking. The World Health Organization(WHO) has long warned of antibioticoveruse sparking new strains of killer,drug-resistant bacteria. Some tips:

�Practice rational use of antibiotics�Use when needed and according to

guidelines�Avoid broad spectrum antibiotics

without appropriate diagnosis�Prevent infections with the use of

vaccination and by improving basichygiene

�Farmers and food industry muststop using antibiotics routinely to promotegrowth and prevent disease in healthy ani-mals to prevent the spread of antibioticresistance.

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Given that our hair isexposed to sun andenvironmental ele-

ments, to have nice shiny hairis almost an impossible dream.Or is it? Here are a few simplethings that one can follow:

First, use an egg. The onlyproblem is that it stinks whenyou put in on. But the endresult is worth all the smell.Mix one egg white and table-spoon of olive oil and honeyinto a paste. Apply this pasteon damp hair and scalp. Leaveit for 30 minutes. Wash yourhair with shampoo and coolwater. Follow this treatmentonce a week.

Apple cider vinegar is agreat moisturiser for the hair.Mix one part of apple cidervinegar with one part of water.Wash your hair with shampooand then pour the solution onthe scalp. Leave it for a fewminutes and then rinse it off

with cold water.Third, use aloe vera.

Prepare a paste with fourtablespoons of aloe vera gel,two tablespoons of coconut oiland three tablespoons ofyogurt. Apply this paste ondamp hair and leave it on for30 minutes. Wash with luke-warm water.

Honey is good for shinyhair too. Mix two tablespoonsof honey in two cups of warmwater. Put the mixture in aspray bottle. After shampoo-ing, spray this solution onyour hair. Massage your scalpfor five minutes and leave it onfor 15 minutes. Rinse it outwith warm water. Do this oncea week.

We all love to have nice hair. Butgiven the fact that our hair is

exposed to so much environmen-tal damage, hair care products are

rarely able to do the trick. Hereare home remedies that can help,

says ROSHANI DEVI

Anew inhaler — Synchrobreathe— designed to manageObstructive Airway Disease

(OAD) has been launched. It is an inno-vation in managing respiratory dis-ease. Approximately 90% ofphysicians in India report-ed prescribing inhalerdevices to at least 40% oftheir asthma and COPDpatients in the first clin-ic visit. Educatingpatients on the benefitsof inhalation therapyand the correct inhalertechnique can help increasethe acceptance, adherence andcorrect usage of inhalers, which canresult in better disease control.

In New Delhi, chronic respiratorydisease is the number one leading causeof death in the 15-39 year age groupand the third leading cause of death in

the 40-69 year age group. Further,COPD has moved from the thirteenthleading cause of death and disability in1990 to the third leading cause in 2016.This shows the growing burden of res-

piratory disease and the burningneed to control it,” Dr Karan

Madan, Assistant Professor,Department of PulmonaryMedicine and SleepDisorders, AIIMS, said.

Inhaled medicines areintegral to the management

of respiratory diseases likeasthma and COPD. They deliv-

er drugs directly to the lungs andhence act faster and at a lower dose,

thereby reducing the risk of side effects.Inhaled medications have been shownto improve disease status, control symp-toms, reduce the number and severityof exacerbations and improve quality oflife.

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After sitting for several hours a day, your pos-ture changes permanently. Long hours atthe desk does unwanted damage to your

bones and joints. If this was not alarmingenough, long sitting can also lead to cardiovas-cular, Diabetes and other related risks. Theproblem is that even if we do take into accountthe number of hours we spend sitting at work, weforget to account for the number of hours we sitwhile travelling and the harm this is causing ourbody daily.

One can’t obviously decrease working hoursbut you can certainly keep your bones and jointsfrom getting affected due to long sitting hour jobsor just sitting and relaxing. Here are some dam-ages prolonged sitting does to our body and theworkouts which can help in reversing the effects.�Sitting lowers the core strength and posture:We all know how to sit and maintain the cor-rect posture but we all slouch. This affects ourbody posture. Bringing movements that can iso-late the mid-section muscles into a workout rou-tine will help build core strength.Exercise: Side planks, flutter kicks and V-ups,we can improve posture.

� Sitting wrongly and slouching put pressureon spine: Spine contains stacked discs that aremeant to stretch and expand. While doing so,they absorb nutrients and blood that is requiredfor its proper functioning. But, if you do notmove your spine and surrounding tissues, it willnot function properly. In this case, it can evenlead to cause a herniated disk. Exercise: To reverse the affects try to includeexercises like bridges, planks and core area work-outs. These exercises will benefit glutes and absand actively work for the spine. This works bestwith spine movement because the back supportsthe other muscle groups in the body to holdthese positions and the core includes the lowerback or lumbar spine.

�Sitting makes your legs and glutes weak: Theglutes and leg muscles like the hamstring, innerthighs and quads get affected when one sits forlong with zero movement. The worst case sce-nario is living a largely sedentary lifestylewhich could pave the way for decreased mus-cle mass and loss of overall strength. It is impor-tant that one gives the legs and glutes the muchneeded attention after a long day’s sitting.Exercise:There are exercises which can reversethe effect, however like squats, lunges, andbridges targets and activates the major musclegroups.

� Sitting affects hip joints and bones: If oneis sitting for too long, one may experience painin the hip region. This is because sitting caus-es the hip flexors to shorten.Exercise: There are several moves which canreverse the pain of hip joints and bones causedby prolonged hours of sitting like lunges, firehydrants, and squats. A good leg workout anda good amount of stretching is just as good.

�Sitting causes stiffness in the neck and shoul-ders: The dangers of hunching and craning theneck to look down at the laptop and phone caus-es stiffness and pain in the neck and shoulderjoints.Exercise: Reversing the effects of the stiffnessthere are certain recommended exercises likerows (any variation), dumbbell shrugs, push-ups,and high planks are the ones which work tostrengthen and prevents muscle imbalances,strain, and soreness.

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SIT PRETTY& CORRECTLY

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���� ���� �������"��'� ��!��� ���� ���� �����>��5��������#��������!��������� ���!��������������� ������ ���������!�������� �&'���"����� ������>��7���1���*�����������

Cooking oils are particularlysuitable for making Indianfoods more palatable by

spreading heat more evenly whilecooking. They also serve as thebest source of healthy fat in thebody provided the right kind of oilis chosen.

“Unhealthy fat accumulatesin the arteries that distribute bloodfrom the heart, making them nar-rower and eventually cloggingthem. This can lead to various dis-orders of the heart for which pre-vention is the best cure. Preventioncould begin with the simple stepof choosing the right cooking oilfor your vegetables and grains,”Priyanka Kharbanda, educator,Public Health Nutrition, says.

������ ������� �� ��� ���Fats are used by the body to

absorb nutrients. They poweryour muscles while you exerciseand are the reason you feel satis-fied after eating a meal. But onecannot avoid eating fat or oilscompletely. In fact, Americandietary guidelines recommend anintake of at least 20 to 25 percentfat in the body. However, onlynutritious sources of fat ought tobe used to provide the body's basicneeds.

For example, rice bran oil,which is extracted from the branfraction of rice, contains largequantities of gamma oryzanol,which is a mixture of antioxidantcompounds. “The main benefit oforyzanol is its medicinal effect onhigh levels of bad cholesterol. Itmanages this by disallowing theabsorption of certain unhealthyfats in your food. Hence, it pro-motes blood circulation and over-all physical health,” Kharbandasays.

Further, rice bran oils havebeen observed to be quite safe asfar as adverse reactions are con-

cerned and very few minor aller-gic reactions have yet been report-ed as a result of regular use.

“When used as cooking oil,rice bran oil, known for being ahigh smoke-point oil, is good fordeep frying without providingexcessive smoke when heated tohigh temperatures,” Kharbandatells you.

� ���������������� �High cholesterol in the blood

leads to deposition of fatty sub-stances in the blood vessels. Theaccumulation of such depositswill eventually result in obstaclesto blood from the heart reachingall tissues through the arteries. Theheart fails to gain enough oxygen-rich blood for its needs and hencethe risk of heart failure increases.A reduced blood flow to the braincan also cause a stroke.Fortunately, high cholesterol ismost often the result of unhealthylifestyle choices and can be pre-vented and treated.

� ������� ����� �A substantial number of

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) vic-tims can trace their condition tophysical inactivity and unhealthydiets. As Indians, we are used tocooking our vegetables in oil.Frying food in oil enables bettertransfer of heat where the oil actsas a fluid conductor by uniform-ly allowing heat to pass throughthe uneven surfaces of the foodarticle and the utensil being used.

“What we eat should provideus with carbohydrates, fats, pro-teins, water based macronutri-ents, vitamins and mineralmicronutrients. Certain essentialnutrients can’t be produced with-in the human body. The bodyneeds mono-unsaturated fattyacids and poly-unsaturated fattyacids but saturated fats can be pro-

duced internally and are bad foryour health only when consumedin excess.

����� �������������� ��Considered to be one of the

healthiest cooking oils available,canola oil, contains two mainessential fatty acids. These areAlpha Linoleic Acid (ALAs),which is an omega-3 fatty acidknown for lowering harmful cho-lesterol, and Linoleic Acid (LA),which is an omega-6 fatty acid,known for brain development ininfants,” Kharbanda explains.

According to the US Food and

Drug Administration (FDA),canola oi l containsMonounsaturated fatty acids(MUFAs) which lower Low-den-sity lipoprotein (LDLs) (unhealthycholesterol) and help bring blood-glucose levels under control.Canola oil contains the lowest sat-urated fat quantity in comparisonwith all other vegetable oils usedfor cooking.

“It is the only oil to have beendescribed as zero trans-fat ratedoil. A typical serving of canola oil

every day provides roughly aquarter of the vitamin E requiredby an individual. Vitamin E is anantioxidant that shields yourbody's fats and proteins from freeradical damage. It may also helpreduce the risk of heart disease,cancer and memor y loss,”Kharbanda says.

������� ���It is unhealthy to totally avoid

oil-based foods as high-densitylipoproteins (HDL) (good choles-terol) are essential for tissue func-tion and cell memory. Plants arethe best source of essential fattyacids. But, not all cooking oilshave equal levels of unsaturatedfats. Both rice bran oil and canolaoil have the advantage of low lev-els of LDLs and high levels ofHDLs.

“The blend of rice bran andcanola oil maximises its benefitswhile ensuring that a wide varietyof non-communicable diseasesassociated with the functioning ofthe heart and the prevalence ofobesity are avoided and overallhealth maintained.

“Both rice bran and canola oilare observed to work well withIndian vegetables and grains inparticular. They make food soft-er and easier to chew (and hencemore digestible) and ensure thatyour food is more evenly cooked.This particular blend is particular-ly good for the heart because ofthe mixture of omega-3, 6 and 9fatty acids apart from MUFAs andpolyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFAs), one of the highest any-where and the presence oforyzanol,” Kharbanda says.

Cooking oils are virtuallyunavoidable in a typical Indiandiet. But those at r isk of cardiovascular diseases do notneed to resign themselves to plainfood for life.

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The Taliban launched multi-ple attacks on Afghan

checkpoints as well as police andmilitary bases in different partsof the country, killing at least 27members of the security forces,Afghan officials said Monday.

The attacks and the highcasualty toll underscore the dif-ficulties Afghan forces face intrying to secure the country ontheir own. The Afghan forceshave struggled to combat boththe Taliban and an Islamic Stateaffiliate since the U.S. and NATOformally ended their combatmission in the country in 2014.

In western Farah province,attacks began on Sunday nightand killed at least 17 membersof the security forces. FaredBakhtawer, head of the provin-cial council, said the Talibanattacked police checkpointsacross the province and aroundthe provincial capital.

A group of Taliban fightersfirst targeted checkpoints in thedistrict of Push Rod, where 10policemen died. Another attackstruck in Bala Buluk district,where seven were killed and atleast three others were abduct-ed by the insurgents. Separately,also in Bala Buluk, six police-men surrendered to the Talibanafter an intense battle.

There were also attackselsewhere in Farah butBakhtawer couldn't provideany casualty figures, pendingmore detailed reports.

In northwestern Badghisprovince, five officers were killed,including Abdul Hakim, thepolice commander of a reserveunit, in an attack that took placeon Monday morning near theprovincial capital of Qala-i-Now.

Jamshid Shahabi,spokesman for the BadghisGovernor, said around 22Taliban fighters were killedand 16 others were woundedduring the gunbattle there.

In northern Baghlanprovince, the Taliban on Mondayattacked a joint army and policebase, killing three army andtwo police officers, said Gen.Ekramuddin Serih, the provin-cial police chief. Four othermembers of the security forceswere wounded in the attack,which took place in the BaghlaniMarkazi district, he said.

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Denuclearisation will behigh on South Korean

President Moon Jae-in's agen-da when he meets with NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un inPyongyang this week, Moon'soffice said on Monday.

Moon will fly to the NorthKorean capital on Tuesday forhis third summit with Kim inthe latest stage of a diplomaticthaw on the peninsula,although progress has stalled indenuclearisation talks betweenPyongyang and Washington.

"We will push for NorthKorea's advanced denucleari-sation and a reciprocal measurefrom the US by swiftly revivingsincere dialogue aimed at estab-lishing new, peaceful relations,"Moon's chief of staff Im Jong-seok told reporters.

Moon, who met Kim twicethis year, was instrumental inbrokering the historicSingapore summit between USPresident Donald Trump andKim in June, when Kim backeddenuclearisation of the "Koreanpeninsula".

But no details were agreed

and Washington andPyongyang have sparred sinceover what that means and howit will be achieved.

The US is pressing for theNorth's "final, fully verifieddenuclearisation", whilePyongyang has condemneddemands for it to give up itsweapons unilaterally as "gang-ster-like".

Im said the South Koreanleader will try to close the gapbetween the US and theNorth by playing the role ofa mediator.

"Through various meet-ings and phone calls, President

Moon has a better under-standing of what the US isthinking than Chairman Kim,"he said.

Moon will become thethird South Korean leader tovisit Pyongyang and will holdat least two meetings withKim, who may make a rareappearance at the airport towelcome his guests, the chief ofstaff said.

He is also scheduled toattend a concert and visit keysites in the North's capital withhis delegation, which includestycoons Lee Jae-yong — theheir to the Samsung group —

and the vice chairman ofHyundai Motor.

Moon has been pushingeconomic co-operation butseveral South Korean newspa-pers urged caution Monday,with the Korea Herald callingthe businessmen's presence onthe trip "untimely".

"It is better to postponeeconomic projects involvingthe North until after negoti-ations to remove its nuclearprogram make substantialprogress," it said in an editorial.

And investment in theNorth was "fraught with risksand uncertainty", it added.

Other issues on Moon'sagenda will be improving inter-Korean ties and easing militarytensions on the peninsula,which the South said could laythe ground for declaring a for-mal end to the 1950-53 KoreanWar, which ended with anarmistice rather than a peacetreaty.

That suggested a declara-tion — which Pyongyang has been pressing for strong-ly — was unlikely duringMoon's trip.

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Defense Secretary Jim Mattisarrived in Macedonia

Monday, condemning Russianefforts to use its money andinfluence to build opposition toan upcoming vote that couldpave the way for the country tojoin NATO - a move Moscowopposes.

Mattis told reporters trav-elling with him to Skopje thatthere is "no doubt" thatMoscow has been funding pro-Russian groups in order todefeat the referendum on aname change later this month.

"They have transferredmoney and they're also con-ducting broader influence cam-paigns," Mattis said.

"We ought to leave theMacedonian people to make uptheir own minds."

Macedonians will vote Sept30 on whether to approve thenew name of North Macedoniais an effort to placate Greece,which has for years blockedMacedonia's path to NATO

and the European Union. But any progress toward

NATO membership by theBalkan nation is stronglyopposed by Russia, whichdoesn't want the alliance toexpand to areas formerly underMoscow's influence.

Mattis is the latest in astring of international leadersvisiting Macedonia to voicesupport for the referendum,and he's the most senior USofficial to go there.

NATO Secretary-GeneralJens Stoltenberg, German chan-cellor Angela Merkel, andAustrian chancellor SebastianKurz have all visited and madepublic endorsements of thename change, saying it's criticalin order for the country to joinNATO, after years of waiting.

Mattis said that he and otherNATO allies "say right up frontin open press what we think.

We're not passing money topeople behind the scenes, we'renot putting together parties thatwe control or try to control."

Russia has already been

called out for trying to influ-ence the vote.

In July, Greece expelledtwo Russian diplomats accusedof supplying funds to protestgroups who were opposing thename change deal. Russiadenounced the expulsions asunjustified.

Greece, a member ofNATO, has for years vetoedattempts by Macedonia to joinNATO, complaining about thecountry's name ever sinceYugoslavia broke up in theearly 1990s. Greece argues thatthe name implies a territorialclaim against the northernGreek region of Macedoniaand its ancient heritage.

NATO leaders in July for-mally invited Macedonia tobegin membership talks on thecondition that it wouldn'tbecome effective until the namechange was implemented.

But there is widespreadconcern about Russian impacton the vote.

"There is this influencecampaign to try to buy off peo-

ple and try to support pro-Russian organizations," saidLaura Cooper, the deputy assis-tant defense secretary forRussia and the region.

She said she couldn't givespecifics about the pay-offs,but said the US is aware off inancial support thatMoscow has given to pro-Russian individuals andgroups that are working toundermine the referendum.

Russia, she said, is"swooping in now with dis-information and other formsof malign influence to try tochange the minds of theMacedonian people."

As examples, she citedefforts to convince people thatthe vote isn't relevant and isn'tthe last step for NATO admis-sion.

Evelyn Farkas, an expert onthe region who is a fellow withthe Atlantic Council and a for-mer Defense Departmentadviser, said Mattis' visit to thetiny nation could help sowsupport for the name change.

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Former US secretary of stateJohn Kerry has torn into

Donald Trump for accusinghim of holding "illegal" meet-ings with Iran, saying theAmerican President has thematurity of an "eight-year-oldboy with the insecurity of ateenage girl".

Kerry's attack came inresponse to Trump's tweetaccusing the former secretaryof State of holding "illegalmeetings" with the IranianGovernment that were "to the detr iment of theAmerican people".

"He told them to wait outthe Trump Administration!Was he registered under theForeign Agents RegistrationAct? BAD!" Trump tweeted.

Reacting to the accusationon a late-night talk show onFriday to promote his newmemoir 'Every Day is Extra',Kerry said, "He's the firstPresident who spends moretime reading his Twitter likesthan his briefing books or theConstitution of the United States".

"Unfortunately, we have apresident, literally, for whom'the truth, the whole truth andnothing but the truth' is threedifferent things. And you don'teven know what they are,"Kerry was quoted as saying by'The Washington Post'.

"He really is the rare com-bination of an 8-year-old boy— he's got the maturity of an8-year-old boy with the inse-curity of a teenage girl. It's justwho he is," he said.

Kerry's remarks received amixed response online. Whilesome lauded the comparisonas "absolutely priceless" and a"mic drop" moment, manyexpressed disappointment for

his "condescending" and"inaccurate" generalisation ofyoung women.

Matt Summers, aspokesman for Kerry, laterdefended Kerr y 's Iran meetings.

"Secretary Kerry stays intouch with his former coun-terparts around the world justlike every previous secretary ofstate," he said.

Kerry along with other topUS officials played a key role innegotiating the 2015 agree-ment between Iran and sever-al world powers that liftedsanctions against Tehran inexchange for restrictions on itsnuclear programme.

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WASHINGTON: The womanaccusing Judge Brett Kavanaughof sexually assaulting her iswilling to tell her story in pub-lic to a Senate panel consideringhis nomination to the SupremeCourt, her lawyer said Monday.

Kavanaugh had been on asmooth confirmation track, butthe new allegations have roiledthat process. Republican sena-tors have expressed concernover a woman's private-turned-public allegation that a drunk-en Kavanaugh groped her andtried to take off her clothes at aparty when they were teenagers.

Debra S. Katz, the attorneyfor the woman, Christine BlaseyFord, said her client consideredthe incident to be an attempt-ed rape. "She believes that ifwere not for the severe intoxi-cation of Brett Kavanaugh, shewould have been raped," Katztold NBC's "Today."

Kavanaugh has "categori-cally and unequivocally" deniedthe allegations, a statement theWhite House repeated Monday.

"This has not changed,"said White House spokesmanKerri Kupec. "Judge Kavanaughand the White House bothstand by that statement."

White House counselorKellyanne Conway said of FordMonday: "She should not beinsulted. She should not beignored. She should testify underoath and she should do it onCapitol Hill." Conway, who saidshe had discussed the situationwith President Donald Trump,said that both Ford andKavanaugh should testify, butmade clear it was up to theSenate Judiciary Committee.She said Sen. Lindsey Grahamhad told her it could happen assoon as tomorrow and the WhiteHouse will "respect the process."

Stressing that Kavanaughhad already testified and under-gone FBI background checks,Conway said: "I think you haveto weigh this testimonial evi-dence from Dr. Ford and JudgeKavanaugh along with the con-siderable body of evidence thatis already there about thejudge's temperament and qual-ifications and character."

In morning television inter-views, Katz said her client waswilling to tell her story in pub-lic to the Senate JudiciaryCommittee, although no law-makers or their aides had yetcontacted her. Katz also deniedthat Ford, a Democrat, is polit-ically motivated. "No one in theirright mind regardless of theirmotives would want to injectthemselves into this processand face the kind of violationthat she will be subjected to bythose who want this nominee togo though. ... She was quitereluctant to come forward."

Initially the sexual mis-conduct allegation was con-veyed in a private letter, with-out revealing Ford's name. Witha name and disturbing details,the accusation raised theprospect of congressionalRepublicans defending Trump'snominee ahead of midtermelections featuring an unprece-dented number of female can-didates and informed in part bythe #MeToo movement. AP

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Pakistan has refuted mediareports that it has

expressed readiness to talk onthe restoration of the India-Afghanistan trade route usingits land.

Foreign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi rejectedthe reports after USAmbassador to AfghanistanJohn Bass was quoted as say-ing by an Indian newspaper

that Pakistan had approachedAfghanistan earlier this yearand indicated its willingnessto resume trade betweenAfghanistan and Indiathrough its land.

"Pakistan has not agreed toconsider Afghanistan-Indiatrade through our land,"Qureshi was quoted as sayingby the Express Tribune.

Pakistan does not allowIndia to use the land route fortrading with Afghanistan, argu-

ing that "technical and strate-gic" issues connected to tran-sit trade should be resolvedfirst.

Bass was quoted as sayingby the Indian daily that "A cou-ple of months ago, for the firsttime the PakistaniGovernment expressed a will-ingness to start talks with itsAfghan counterparts for para-meters to enabling tradebetween India and Afghanistanthrough Pakistan."

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The grieving parents of a 13-year-old girl in Nepal who

was raped and murdered inJuly in the country's remotewest, met Prime Minister K PSharma Oli on Monday andsought justice for their daugh-ter whose brutal killing trig-gered nationwide outrage.

Prime Minister Oli told theparents that he had directed theMinistry of Home Affairs toreinvestigate the case andbriefed them about theGovernment's actions, includ-ing suspensions of police per-sonnel, My Republica reported.

The girl's parents came tothe capital last week to draw theattention of the Governmenttowards the case.

Oli said the Governmentwould leave no stonesunturned to nab thoseinvolved. "No matter howwealthy, strong or politicallyconnected the culprit is, we willbook the criminals," Oli said.

The girl was raped andmurdered on July 26. Her bodywas found in a sugarcane fieldthe next day.

Angry crowds took to thestreets accusing police of pro-tecting the person responsiblefor the brutal crime.

The victim's father allegedthat top police and civil officialhad coerced him to sign apaper and quickly perform the

last rites of his daughter withabout 300 police personneldeployed, Nepalese mediareported.

Home Minister RamBahadur Thapa Badal had ear-lier defended the investigationas well as the way the incidentwas handled.

The parents had last weekmet President Bidhya DeviBhandari and asked theGovernment not to deny justiceto their daughter.

Bhandari had said that"justice should not be delayedand denied to the victim andher family".

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Typhoon Mangkhut, theyear's most powerful trop-

ical storm to hit the Chinesemainland, barrelled into thecoast of Guangdong provincekilling at least four persons andforcing evacuation of over 3.11million people in the southernregion after leaving a trail ofdeath and destruction from thePhilippines to Hong Kong.

Mangkhut landed at 5p.M. On Sunday on the coastof Jiangmen City inGuangdong province, packingwinds up to 162 km per hour,according to the provincialmeteorological station.

Three people were killed byfalling trees in Guangzhou,the provincial capital, whileanother person died from col-lapsing construction materialsin the city of Dongguan,Guangdong's disaster reliefauthorities said.

More than 3.11 million peo-ple had been relocated and over49,000 fishing boats were calledback to port in the province,state-run Xinhua news agencyreported on Monday.

Work has been suspendedat more than 29,000 construc-tion sites and 640 tourist spotswere closed.

The airports of Guangzhou

and Shenzhen. All high-speedtrain services and some nor-mal-speed rail services havebeen suspended in and Hainanprovinces.

The storm was still ragingacross southern China's coastand the provinces ofGuangdong, Guangxi andHainan and rain and strongwinds were expected to con-tinue through Tuesday, thereport said.

Mangkhut made landfall inwestern Guangdong on Sundayafternoon before moving intoneighbouring Guangxi Zhuangautonomous region, bringingwith it torrential rains and gales.

Though the worst appearsto have passed for Guangdongprovince, local meteorologicalauthorities warned residents toremain alert for floods andlandslides in Guangxi.

Mangkhut earlier lashedthe Philippines, sparking land-slides and building collapsesthat killed at least 65 people,with another 43 missing.

Hong Kong was also buf-feted by fierce winds that toreoff roofs, downed trees andcaused cranes perched atophalf-built skyscrapers to swingominously. However, therewere no reported deaths inHong Kong, a city well pre-pared for tropical cyclones.

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This city never sleeps.Can this be thetagline of Delhi?

Most of us women wouldvigorously shake theirheads in the negative. Forwhen it comes to nightlife,the first image that comesto mind is of safe-strollingthe streets and bumpinginto urban sub-cultures. Amix of pubbing, dancing,music concerts and cultur-al soirees or what can betermed as a “happening”urban expression is one ofthe major reasons fortourists to visit a certaincity.

But then all that Delhior for that matter any ofthe Indian cities have onoffer are two categories ofrecreational experientials.On one side of the spec-trum are downmarket,shady and run-down bars,which a major chunk ofthe educated class andurban population steersclear of. On the other sideare high-profile lounges,diners and cafes whichwelcome the middle toupper-class citizens butare naturally priced steeply.

Experts from all overthe world, therefore, gottogether at Shangri-La tounravel the markers for agreat nightlife and bringDelhi and our other citiesup to the mark.

Lutz Leichsenring,spokesman and executiveboard member for theBerlin Club Commission,who focusses on the infor-mal aspects of city life andhas played a key role inlegitimising the city’sunderground movement,defines nightlife: “It can bedefined as a space wherelike-minded people meet,communicate and interactsocially. It’s basically aspace which is diverse andinclusive.”

Lutz argues that if acity wishes to be advancedand modern, “you have tothink how can you createa culture of vibrancy whichhas to do with diversity,focussing on art and musicand also on the idea to bea better place where indi-viduals can connect, inter-act and get together.”

He feels the idea ofnightlife in India is defi-nitely evolving and gettingmore diverse than it usedto be. “I’m happy thatIndian artists have starteddeveloping their own iden-tities and no longer copy

from what’s happen-

ing around the world. It’sa very positive develop-ment as it shapes theunique identity of whoyou are.” Lutz added.

He strongly feels thatthere’s a huge amount ofcompetition between dif-ferent parts of the world tobecome a global hotspot,inviting and attracting vis-itors with a vibe andbreath. That comes pure-ly from the cultural envi-ronment and people-bonding. Says Lutz, “Thereason why people leavecities and move some-where else is mostly drivenby new pursuits ofnightlife.”

Berlin is a place whichpeople see as a safe haven,where you will be wel-comed and accepted nomatter what sexual orien-tation you have, what kindof music you like, how youdress or what you look like.“It’s really hard to comparethe nightlife in Berlin andDelhi. There’s unquestion-ably more cultural vibran-cy in the former becausethere’s much greater spacewhich is accessible not justto a certain group but toevery individual. Of courseIndia has made headawaybut still has to do a lotwhen it comes to be a sitewhich is night friendlyand accommodating.”

Lutz also shares sometips for Delhi’s nightlifemakeover. “The first andforemost step towardsmaking Delhi a night-friendly city is to keep

laws, rules and regulationseasy-going and friendly. Ithink if you want to attractpeople for creating avibrant nightlife, you haveto also give them the rightframework. If you haveregulations which areoffering you restrictionsand boundaries only, thenthis is disappointing.Second, the idea of havinglonger opening hours cre-ates a safer nightlifebecause people are notpressured to get drunkwithin a certain time.Third, you need to haveenough accessible spacewhere new talent can growand evolve where a mix oflocal and global can gath-er to have a good timetogether.”

HideyukiYokoi, a

rapper who is also a Hip-Hop activist, popularlyknown as Zeebra, was theChairman of the ClubCulture Conference(CCC). He has also playedthe main role in re-inspec-tion of the Fu-Ei-Ho whichis the National Law thatprohibits late night busi-ness hours. Fu-Ei-Ho hadstrongly restrictedJapanese night entertain-ment for over 25 years. Hesays, “If all the pubs andclubs would be in anenclosed space and notscattered all around thecity, people wouldn’t facethe hassle of going aroundplaces. It would just be oneplace where everythingcould be within reach. Itwould definitely be saferthan any other place whichis alienated from civilisa-tion.”

Lutz adds, “There’s aneed for right talent, peo-ple who have unconven-tional ideas and originali-ty in their works and notthose who follow some-one’s footsteps.

Indians are definitelyfull of talent but wherethey lack is an accessiblespace for a good nightlifewhere people can feel safeand enjoy the after hours.Another thing is accep-tance from the govern-mental side. It’s importantto have rules and regula-tions which are a combina-tion of strict aswell asliberal.”

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For the longest of time,actor Rasika Dugal hadbeen in love with the

writings of Manto. And whenthe role of Safiya was offeredto her, she had just startedlearning to read and writeUrdu. “When Nandita (Das)offered me the role, it seemedto be poetic justice,” says thepetite 33-year-old who playsSaadat Hasan Manto’s wife inManto.

There were reasons forDugal being enamoured ofhis writings which made hersay yes to the role. “I reallylike his stand on the freedomof speech. In the 21st centu-ry, we no longer need heroesof free speech and you expectto take it for granted but thetruth is it is increasinglythreatened these days. Bybeing a part of this film, I amresponding to the circum-stances which are happeningaround me,” she reasons.

She believes that morethan ever, Manto is relevanttoday when people are beinglynched for speaking up. “Ican speak for myself that aManto a day keeps me going.It inspires me that I shouldnever give up speaking mymind. But I should tempermy fearlessness with kind-ness and sensitivity and leaveroom for discourse and dis-cussion and not shut outother voices. There should bespace for conversation whichis so important when thecountry is witnessingextreme polarisation,” shesays passionately.

There is one more reasonwhy Dugal likes Manto’sworks. “The way women areetched out in his stories andthe way they have beenhumanised. You have to seethe innocence of Sarita whojust wanted to sit in a car in10 Rupaye or the sex workerin 100 Watt Bulb whose onlydesire is to get a good night’ssleep to know how well heunderstood women. Given achance, I would like to playall of these characters asthese are real women,” shesays.

This, she feels, is in starkcontrast to women’s portray-al in contemporary cultures.“We are falling into a stereo-type as a reaction to anoth-er stereotype. We need tohave nuances in portrayal ofcharacters. It is importantthat you understand awoman’s character does notexist to tittiliate or to feelsorry for,” she says.

There are other waysthat Manto resonates in herlife. Dugal was moved by hisstories in a personal waybecause her family too hadfaced displacement duringPartition. “During theSecond World War, mygrandparents were forced tomove from Burma toRawalpindi and when thePartition took place, theymoved back to Burma again.The grief of being displaced,what it does to pride andmemories, is similar,” shesays and adds that memoryis a subjective thing where-in two people might remem-ber the same episode differ-ently. “My grandfather andgrandmother have differentmemories and takeaways.My grandfather did not havea job and my grandmotherwas pregnant which madeher recall the hard timesthat she had. But my grand-father only remembered the

pregnancy and glossed overhis joblessness,” she says.

Of course signing up forManto had other perks aswell. “It was legitimising myhobby. I could say that I wasreading Manto because I waspreparing for a role.”

Being in awe of a real lifecharacter has its perils, more-so for an actor. “I had to con-vince myself for the longestof time that he was my part-ner, so I could not be in aweof Manto since I was livingwith him,” she says and goeson to add, “It is very intrigu-ing what a caregiver or a per-son who supports or looksafter the house is goingthrough in relation to a per-son who is in the public eye.There was often a backlashfrom the society againstManto. Then there were casesof obscenity against him.Sometimes his stories didn’tsell and he turned into analcoholic, which meant thatSafia lived through a lot,” saysthe actor, her voice tender but

not lacking in spine, muchlike the character that sheplays.

Even though Mantowrote prolifically and womenoften were the centre of hisstories, there are not manyreferences to Safia. “There arereally a very few essays whereshe is mentioned. He talksabout his arranged marriageto Safia in 1936 in an essaytitled, Meri Shaadi (MyWedding). Then there is onechapter in the book GanjayFarishtay (Bald Angels)called Nargis which talksabout how Safia and her sis-ter used to make crank callsto the legendary actress asthey were in awe of her.Later, they became friends,”says the actor, last seen by theHindi film-viewing audiencein Qissa. There are also ref-erences to Safia by writerIsmat Chugtai, who alongwith Manto, was tried forobscentiy for her controver-sial story Lihaaf.

“Nandita made it easierfor me as she had already metSafia and Manto’s daughters,Nighat, Nusrat and Nuzhat aswell as Safia’s sister, Zakia.Nighat apa was nine yearswhen she lost her father, sothey do not remember muchabout Manto. But when theythink of Safia, there is a lot ofanecdotal information whichis beautifully incorporatedinto the script,” she says andadds, “Moreover a talenteddirector and a good scriptaids you.”

Of course, the biggestcompliment for Dugal waswhen the eldest of the writer’schildren compared her toSafia. “When I spoke toNuzhat Apa, she said I lookedlike her mother, which over-whelmed me. We tried tostylise the look according tothe photograph of her sittingwith Manto in a garden,” shesays.

But while getting thelook was a matter of stylingit right, getting into the skinof the character was some-thing that Dugal did. “I canspeculate how she felt and Ihope that through me theaudience can feel Safia’s painand that of Manto in her andvice versa. I also want to por-tray the idea that there is a lotof strength in being vulner-able rather than in scream-ing out,” she says.

And therein lies the linethat Manto stood for all the43 years of his short life — indefence of free speech.

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Varun Dhawan andAnushka Sharma have left

no stone unturned to get incharacter for their parts in SuiDhaaga — Made in India. Tobecome the self-reliant tailorMauji and his embroidererwife Mamta, Anushka andVarun shot in the outskirts ofDelhi at a real textile factory toget authentic visuals of howsmall-scale businesses operateand how textile workers fromsmall towns work in factories.They also shot with actualworkers of the factory to getthe body language right andacquired skill sets of operatingindustrial machines.

Anushka says, “We havetried to keep Sui Dhaaga asauthentic to real life as possi-ble. We lived the life of Maujiand Mamta for this film and

this journey took us to work inan actual clothing factory inFaridabad. We shot there forfour days with real workerswho tirelessly work day andnight to produce outstandingpieces of garments. We learnthow to operate the machinesfrom them which was veryhelpful.”

Varun adds, “The factoryin Faridabad was a perfectlocation to shoot. The equip-ment and machinery lookedgenuine and extremely authen-

tic to be the place where Maujiand Mamta’s first brush with atextile factory could be. To

prep for our parts, we bothinteracted and met with all thereal workers on set andexchanged notes. These peoplewere invaluable in getting usmore prepared for our charac-ters.”

Since they run a factory inthe film, the duo also went fora Vishwakarma puja inLucknow.

A film about finding loveand respect through self-reliance, Sui Dhaaga - Made inIndia is a heart-warming storythat celebrates the spirit of self-reliance.

The National Award-win-ning dream-team of directorSharat Katariya and producerManeesh Sharma have cometogether for this Yash RajFilms’ entertainer that is set torelease on September 28.

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Nourish yourself with grandand austere ideas of beauty

that feed the soul… Seek solitude,”the young artist Delacroix coun-selled himself in 1824. He hasinspired a sculptor after more thana century who, tucked away nearthe Bhaislana mines in Rajasthannear Jaipur, is creating stunningceramic ware. In the process,Vipul Kumar, one of the greateststudents of Balbir Katt, has chal-lenged existing techniques of fir-ing and moulding. And he lovesto work in solitude.

His show, that opened atThreshold Gallery, mirrors isola-tion as the raw material of all art.“Katt Sir told us we must alwayscreate works that are originaland born of the earth. They arelarge, so that they create animpact in the mind of the view-er,” says Vipul.

����������Untitled III is a hybrid cre-

ation that attempts to re-examineand reinterpret the genre of stilllife in the 21st century with par-ticular emphasis on the mecha-nisms and mixed art categoriesreflecting changes in our naturalenvironment such as globalwarming. The delicate intricatemodelling of the columns is sym-bolic of the form becoming ametaphor for the fragility and vul-nerability of our natural ecologi-cal balance. Since 2014 Vipulhas also been developing a newrange of porcelain ceramics,focussing on organic vessel forms.

The show unravels like aneclectic selection of ceramic cre-ations of various ages, with anemphasis on form and design,that serve to enhance the shape ofthe objects. Whether a ceramicpiece is hand-built, thrown on awheel or made from a mould castconstruction, the adaptability andversatility of clay allows for a mul-titude of permutations in thedesign. The texture and chosenformulations can be the key fac-tor for the choice of form or con-versely, the sliver of columnsadapted to the resulting form.

�����������������The curve of a singular con-

tour line can be solid or slim

enough to hold appeal for a par-ticular form without any furtherembellishments required. If any-thing, the succinct focus of Vipul’sworks contribute to the appeal ofthe shapes he creates. Complexand definite details also fitmore appropriately on to verybasic forms like a column or a flathollow rectangle — sometimesyou think of the indigenous andsometimes of the modern but cer-tain styles can even add shape tothe form.

Alternating firing tempera-tures and minerals add depth and

highlight aspects and angles with-in the forms.

Within the sculptural con-tours, Vipul changes the perspec-tive with a heightened sense ofperpetual curvature which leadsto the notion of infinity. Withinthat notion we see that there is adefinite dynamic betweenrestraint and overt display.

Vipul plays with the mathe-matics of the dichotomy of design,he combines the lines of straightsides against relaxing sinuouscurves also to recreate a power-ful impact of sculpted identities.

������ � ���Vipul explains his work with

a kiln in his studio. “Firing ceram-ic work in a kiln using wood asfuel can take several hours ormany days, depending on the sizeof the kiln and the desired tem-perature to be attained. The woodfires usually take five days of con-tinual stoking and the kiln reach-es about 1400 degrees C (2500degrees F). I generally fire at1350 degrees for high fired porce-lain glazes. During the fire, as thewood combusts, it produces fly

ash and some volatile salts andminerals, which ultimately fusewith the silica on the surface of theceramic pieces in the kiln, form-ing a glaze. The placement of eachpiece in the kiln determines theeffects of the fire on the appear-ance of the sculptural stonewareor porcelain."

������������������The weathered, unadorned

monolithic structures look likerugged surfaces and they providean excellent contrast for the lan-guage of contemporary pottery.Perhaps this is why Rajeev Sethi,the design genius, used VipulKumar to create an epic installa-tion of Mount Meru at a privateestate in Ahmedabad.

Vipul’s sculptural stonewaremerge numerous design influ-ences, including biomorphiccurves, fractured cubist forms,unseen abstractions and rare min-imalist forms. He brings organicstyles into the mainstream, reflect-ing the thrust of architecturalleanings and modern designconcepts which he contemplateswhile reading Hindi literature.

The inventive styles ofstoneware, ranging from thequirky to the sophisticated, havea timeless appeal and spell harmo-ny with contemporary mod-ernism. Due to the precision incraftsmanship, tasteful simplicityand innovation it is the original-ity of his sensibility and hispanache that gives his works anenduring symbolism.

(Show runs at ThresholdGallery till October 20)

Cinema ghar...the words spelt magicat a time. For it was the house of

dreams, the medium of entertainmentand a giant canvas for the amazing artof storytelling. The magic that has goneon for more than a 100 years has nowtrickled down to the palm of your hand.But can smart trailers and snazzyteasers ever crest the excitement of filmposters, whichwere at one timethe only peek atthings to come?

The IndiraG a n d h iNational Centrefor the Artsrecently pub-lished a bookcalled the PosterSpeaks. AuthorIqbal Rizvi hastried to retrieveall details aboutthe various aspects of poster-makingand encloses the oldest poster of KalyanKhajin (1924). This was created byBaburao Painter.

Posters were the first informationgateway about films. Adding more andmore people to this information usedto be the responsibility of the posterartist, due to which the use of gaudy andcontrast colours elevated it to a differ-ent art form. But it was unfortunate thatfilm posters never got the status of artin India.

The tradition of producing filmposters by hand has existed for nearly80 years but there is a lack of seriouswriting on this subject. This can, there-fore, be called the first book of its kindin Hindi. It reveals how great effortswere made by actors, writers and lyri-cists about publishing their name in theposters and in what sequence. There isalso a chapter which talks about posters

and their makers’ run-in with the cen-sors. Did you know that at one time theCentre had to form a study committeeto investigate claims of pornography inthe film poster? For nearly 80 years, theworld of posters continued to flourish.Till the man-made art fell to the digi-tal revolution.

Born in a complex and pres-sure-cooked time, only fewfrom the younger generation

might have the patience or the incli-nation to listen to Thumri. Or so onewould suppose. Yet the repetition ofa line, which connoisseurs know isa form of improvisation, makes oneseep into the flavour of the musicgradually as it enwraps the senses.

While the other music forms arenot as popular, Thumri continues tohave its takers, especially amongthose who like things a bit morenuanced than EDM or Hip Hop.And to give an opportunity tothem to enjoy the art form, theSahitya Kala Parishad celebrated theThumri Festival 2018. PadmajaChakraborty, who has been singingthis form for more than twodecades, presented the inauguralsequence.

While Thumri seems to be aclassical art form, not many knowthat it is a much lighter version ofclassical and comes under the semi-classical category of music. Sheexplains, “Classical forms of musiccomprise two parts — first, pureclassical, which comprises KhyalGayeki as well as Dhrupad, second,semi-classical, which is whereThumri comes under. It is called theUpashastriya Gaan. It is a lighterversion of classical music. But ittakes a lot of work, skills and ded-icated practice for one to become anexpert in the field.”

She lays down the fundamen-tals, saying, “There is a rule for pre-senting classical music on the basisof a raga only, which is composedas both vocal and instrumental. Ittells which taal and note has to beapplied and even the time when itshould be sung. For instance, whenwe sing Khyal or Dhrupad, we con-sider the time as our main player topresent a song. However, Dhrupad,that was first sung and recited byTansen, is not heard or sung veryoften these days.”

She explains how these pureclassical forms were modified tomake it better for the common folkto understand and enjoy. “For thesadharan log (commoners), KhyalGayeki has been a very serious andgrim form of music. Legends decid-ed to give it a lighter tone for thecommon listeners to appreciate.

Initially, the Thumri Gayeki wasmostly sung with the Kathak dancesand was preferred in the royalcourts of kings and rulers. It wasn’tconsidered a very rich music cultureat that time. Hence, it was trans-formed into a much lighter versionwith more lachaks and mataks.Post that, the art form evolved to bewidely accepted by people.”

There is not just one side toThumri, rather many small classifi-cations and divisions. She tells us,“Thumri is derived from all formsof music, from pure classical musicand Khyal Gayeki to some lighterversions of it to folk music. It com-bines all these forms to become abeautiful composition. It doesn’treligiously follow all the rules,though we do use raga but not fol-low rules like we do with Khyal andDhrupad.”

She adds that it is “more aboutthe artist’s own improvisation andemotions where we can even formsomething from our own heart. Itis rich in terms of expressions(bhaav). One needs to be highly-skilled to showcase such expressionsin its aesthetic sense. Isme bhi taalhai, raga hai par thodi si chhoot hai,isme apne mann ki chinta aur bhav-

na bhi vyakt kar sakte hain. Yeh haithumri ki gayeki (Thumri has taal,raga but stays a little behind therules. One can express worry andone’s own feelings with it).”

The music form is mostly devo-tional in nature or sets the romanc-tic mood through its compositionson the tales of Radha-Krishna’sdivine love. However, Chakrabortybelieves that “Thumri isn’t confinedto only their tales but is full ofsringaar-rasa— the music ofromance. It has both biraha andmilan. They are even lighter versionsof Thumri which are classified asDadra, Chaitee, Kajri and Jhoola.”

As someone who has beenaround for decades, she has seen thechange in music. Chakrabortybelieves that “music hasn’t changedat all and it won’t even will.” Shecompares today’s generation andhers: “During our early 20s, we tookclassical music very seriously. Wefelt that a proper training to learnclassical music is the best way tolearn it. Even today the case is thesame. You need proper guidanceabout notes — sargam, taal aur sur.For instance, when a child beginsstudies, s/he doesn’t just jump tomaking words and sentences, it’s the

alphabets that come first. And theneventually, the child is able to writesomething. Similarly, in Thumri orany art form, only a proper trainingwill let somebody improvise it in amuch better and beautiful way.”

On the erosion of the finer sen-sibilities courtesy the multiplicity ofpopular music shows on TV, shesays, “Today’s generation doesn’treally know what sur and taal are.They aim for the talent hunt andsinging shows on TV. May be theyare talented and confident to someextent but they are not aware ofwhat music really means. They justfind it a medium to get famous inthis fast-paced world. Eventually,

nothing really gets accomplished —neither their studies, nor theirmusic. They don’t understand thateven if you have talent, propertraining and basic knowledge areimportant in every field and sub-ject.” The young generation is shift-ing away from classical music forms.They find it hard to follow. Why so?She says, “It is not that only today’syounger generation doesn’t acceptit. Even during my childhood, I andchildren of my age would never pre-fer it. Why will they do that after all?Classical music is all about serious-ness and quintessence. It’s darkand grim. Children can’t be inter-ested in it at their age. They will

question everything related to it andmight not even find it that exciting.It is only after we explain to themproperly what it is that they devel-op perspective.”

Dance forms like Kathak are aplay of the eyes and expressions.They could be joyful, they could bedepressing or even terrifying. Sherecalls singer Asha Bhonsle’s wordswho said, “‘One doesn’t need toform a grim expression to showcasesomething. One can show it verynormally too. The expression shouldlook beautiful but not unusual.’ Sowe are also responsible for notbeing able to explain or portray itto the children properly. We also

need to make a change so that theyalso find it interesting and after atime they also follow its seriousness.”

She shares how singing Thumriis quite a task. “It is very difficult andis all about improvisation. Considerother music from films or bhajans;the mukhda and antara are alreadywritten and pre-decided, whichyou only have to memorise.Thumri, however, isn’t like that. Itis all about improvising the sameverse but making it sound betterevery time it is recited. For instance,the line, ‘Madhke bhare tore nain.’ Itis just a two-liner but we have tokeep singing it for 10 minutes as bestas we can. No one can listen to thesame line more than eight times. Ifit looks like repeating, it means thatit is not presented in a good way.Even if you’re doing it for more than10 times, every time it should be dif-ferent and completely new, impro-vised.”

A presentation of an artistry ofexpressions, improvisations throughinstrumentals and vocals, classicalmusic is full of amusement. This iswhy it always keeps inspiringChakraborty. She says, “Musicinspires me in every way possible.I have lived with music all my lifeand grown up with it. When chil-dren went for some recreation timeapart from studies, that for me wasa chance to pursue music. I didn’tthink of becoming a celebrity or afamous superstar or a musician, itwas only because of my dedicationand passion that I followed it so reli-giously. I found myself gettingimmersed and lost in it as I grew up.I think I cannot even live withoutmusic in my life. It is the most pre-cious thing that I have.”

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Mohamed Salah outshone Neymarand Kylian Mbappe on theChampions League stage last sea-

son, but as Paris Saint-Germain's star duohead to Anfield on Tuesday seeking tomake amends, the Egyptian is strugglingto match the heights of his debut campaignat Liverpool.

Salah's failure to hit top form datesback to his last Champions League appear-ance four months ago.

Back in May, Salah was on the crest ofa wave as his 44-goal campaign had car-ried Liverpool to the Champions Leaguefinal and ensured qualification for this sea-son's competition.

However, he lasted just 30 minutes inKiev after injuring his shoulder when wres-tled to the ground by Real Madrid captainSergio Ramos and the Spanish giants wenton to lift the trophy in a 3-1 win.

That started a difficult few months forSalah as he was also robbed of being 100-percent fit for Egypt's first World Cup in28 years.

Without their talisman, the Pharaohswere beaten by Uruguay in their openinggame and his goals against Russia andSaudi Arabia couldn't prevent Egyptreturning home without a single point.

Salah has also gone to war with theEgyptian federation over the use of hisimage and the decision to host their basecamp in Chechnya.

Egypt's star player was put in the awk-ward position of having to pose for pho-tos with Chechen president RamzanKadyrov, who has been accused of humanrights abuses.

That hangover has been felt on thefield with Salah scoring just twice inLiverpool's opening five games of the cam-paign and missing chances he ruthlesslyput away last season.

- No one-man team -So far Salah's slackness hasn't cost

Jurgen Klopp's men. A summer of shrewdinvestment to build on the already sub-stantial progress made under the Germanis already bearing fruit with five straightwins.

"Of course, it's important that we don't

have only one goalscorer," Klopp said afteran impressive 2-1 win over Tottenham onSaturday, that should have been a far morecomprehensive victory if the visitors hadtaken their chances.

"It's still early. Five games, fantasticwe've won all of them, we have improved."

The 39 million euros ($45 million)Liverpool paid for Salah from Roma wasbrilliant business not just based on Salah'sproduction, but the hyper inflation thattook place in the market just weeks laterwhen PSG smashed the world transferrecord by splurging 222 million euros onNeymar.

A further 180 million was thensplashed on beating Europe's big guns tothe signature of Mbappe, who confirmedhis status as the rising star of world foot-ball in winning the World Cup for France.

Both Neymar and Mbappe will seethemselves as heirs to the throne of Lionel

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as theworld's best player.

But it is Salah who is on the shortlistfor FIFA's Best Player award alongsideRonaldo and Croatian midfielder LukaModric of Real Madrid, after PSG failedto get beyond the last 16 of the ChampionsLeague last season.

The limited spotlight offered by Ligue1 means Europe's premier club competi-

tion is where Neymar and Mbappe needto shine to be in the running for individ-ual awards.

However, a blockbuster clash on aChampions League night at fortressAnfield is also the perfect stage forSalah to demonstrate to theworld he is no one-season won-der.

�������� ��� ��B���������4�Almost exactly anhour after the final whistle,Barcelona posted a tweet:"Congratulations to @realmadrid for win-ning the 2017/18 Champions Leaguetitle."

Underneath some fans demanded themessage be deleted immediately while oth-ers claimed it as a classy touch. "We arerivals, not enemies", one wrote.

Meanwhile, Barcelona's key players -Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Luis Suarez,Andres Iniesta - stayed quiet. Some hadrecently posted pictures of themselves sur-rounded by their families, with the WorldCup just around the corner.

But from the words that havebeen spoken since, and despite the

club's stately message, it is clearMadrid's triumph hit home.Barcelona had failed and thismade it even harder to bear.

"Obviously it's infuriating (forus)," Suarez said in an interview with

RAC1 earlier this month."Madrid have won the Champions

League in each of the last three years. Theyhave made history and it's a thorn in ourside." Chiefly, perhaps, because Barcawill feel they were better than Madrid lastseason.

They blew them away in a 3-0 flurryat the Santiago Bernabeu and then playedwith 10 men for the second half at theCamp Nou and still drew 2-2. They evenled with a man fewer until Gareth Bale'slate equaliser.

Valverde was accused last season of

over-exerting his players in the league, par-ticularly when it was clear it was won.

Three days before the capitulation toRoma, the likes of Messi and Suarez wereplaying 90 minutes to beat 14th-placedLeganes.

Valverde has indicated he will adapt.Ahead of their Group B opener at hometo PSV on Tuesday, Sergio Busquets andPhilippe Coutinho started as substitutes inSaturday's win over Real Sociedad, even ifboth were needed before the end.

Messi, who turned 31 in June, may alsoneed to be preserved if he is to add a fifthChampions League success to his collec-tion. Now captain, he appears hungrierthan ever.

"It's time to win the ChampionsLeague," Messi told Catalunya Radio ear-lier this month.

"We've been knocked out in the quar-ter-finals three seasons in a row and maybethe last one was the worst of all becauseof the result and how the match was played.

"I think we have to aim for that, as aclub, as a team and as a collective. We havea spectacular squad and we can do it."

���������� �� ��������Eight years have elapsed since Jose

Mourinho's reign as Inter Milan coachended on a historic high of ChampionsLeague glory, and the fallen Italian giantsare still struggling to recapture that magicfrom Madrid.

The Portuguese oversaw the most suc-cessful season in the club's history — a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich at the SantiagoBernabeu completed the first treble of SerieA, domestic Cup and Champions Leaguein Italian history.

Since those days it has been lean timesfor the 18-time Italian and three-timeEuropean champions, with the only titleof any sort a 2011 Italian Cup crown.

Luciano Spalletti's side return to theChampions League for the first time sincethe 2011-2012 season on Tuesday whenthey host Tottenham at the San Siro.

Expectations are high, but their returncomes against a backdrop of continuingcrisis as the Nerazzurri lie a lowly 15th withjust one win and four points from fourgames.

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Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu will haveto find a way to battle fatigue if she has

to continue her consistent run in inter-national circuit and regain the ChinaOpen, beginning here on Tuesday.

Sindhu showed signs of fatigue duringher second-round exit at last week's JapanOpen, her first early loss since the first-round ouster from the Denmark Open lastOctober.

The 23-year-old Indian has been themost consistent this season with Silvermedals in all the major events this year -- the Commonwealth Games, the WorldChampionship and the Asian Games.

She also reached the finals at the IndiaOpen and Thailand Open.

However, a hectic schedule left herwith very little time to recover or savourthe moment.

The Olympic and world champi-onship Silver medallist had won the $700,000 China Open in 2016 and will beone of the favourites to secure the women'ssingles title at the BWF World Tour Super1000 tournament.

The third seeded Indian will start hercampaign against Hong Kong's CheungNgan Yi at the Olympic Sports CenterXincheng Gymnasium.

Two-time Commonwealth GamesGold medallist Saina Nehwal, who hadclinched a Bronze at Asian Games atJakarta, will be rejuvenated after skippingthe Japan Open. The Indian faces a toughfirst round against Korea's Sung Ji Hyun.

Saina, who also had won the ChinaOpen title in 2014, has a 8-2 head-to-headrecord against Sung Ji and if she can sur-pass the Korean, fifth seed Chinese ChenYufei will stand in her way.

In fact, Saina and Sindhu are on a col-lison course and might clash in the quar-terfinals if they can clear the earlierrounds.

Among others, Kidambi Srikanth haslooked a shadow of the man who clinchedfour titles last season. Though the seventhseeded Indian won the men's singlesSilver at the Commonwealth Games, hehas been inconsistent in the season so far.

Srikanth, who held the world No 1ranking for a brief period this year, willlook to build on his quarterfinal finish atJapan Open when he begins his campaignagainst Denmark's Rasmus Gemke.

However, world champion KentoMomota, who had ended his campaign atMalaysia and Indonesia, will once again

stand in his way in the quarterfinal.HS Prannoy too will look to go deep

in the tournament after starting againstHong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus, seededeighth.

Among others in fray, women's dou-bles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N SikkiReddy will face Korean pair of Kim SoYeong and Kong Hee Yong.

In men's doubles, CommonwealthGames Silver medallist pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and Chirag Shetty will squareoff against Malaysia's Goh V Shem and TanWee Kiong, while Manu Attri and BSumeeth Reddy will fight it out againstTaiwanese combination of Liao Min Chunand Su Ching Heng.

In mixed doubles, Satwik and Ashwiniwill meet English combination of MarcusEllis and Lauren Smith, while PranaavJerry Chopra and Sikki will take onGermany's Marvin Emil Seidel and LindaEfler in another match.

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said it was specialto conquer "bogey track" Singapore but

cautioned the F1 title race wasn't over yet afterLewis Hamilton's "stardust" propelled him to apotentially decisive 40-point lead over Ferrari'sSebastian Vettel.

Team principal Wolff said there was no mys-tery to Mercedes' form, it was all down to sheerhard work back at the factory and the track.

"Singapore has been our bogey track for sev-eral years, so it is a special feeling to come hereand win this race on pace," Wolf told reportersafter Hamilton's pole-to-flag win and team-mateValtteri Bottas's fourth place gave them a 25-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors' cham-pionship.

"The entire team has worked so hard tounderstand the car and take steps forward, andthis result is an indication that our work is pay-ing off. It was a weekend of many parts: a star-dust lap from Lewis in qualifying, a chess gameof tyre management this evening, and some ner-vous moments with traffic and backmarkers dur-ing the race," Wolff added.

"It's just the strongest the team has ever

been." Wolff warned they had to keep up theintensity to win both drivers' and constructors'championships this season, starting with theRussian Grand Prix in two weeks.

"From our side, we can be pleased with avery solid weekend," he added. "We have leadsin both championships, but they change noth-ing in the mindset of this team.

"We have six weekends to go and we knowhow quickly the situation can swing backagainst us. We will take it weekend by weekend,feet on the ground and determined to maximiseour potential every time."

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Struggling wrestler Sakshi Malikhas made it to India's World

Championship squad without facingthe trials as her opponent Sarita Morhas withdrawn from the 62kg clash,due to an injury.

The Olympic Bronze medallisthas been battling poor form since thestart of the 2018 season. She couldwin only a Bronze at the Gold CoastCommonwealth Games and failed towin any medal at the Asian Games.

The Wrestling Federation ofIndia (WFI) wanted both SushilKumar and Sakshi to undergo trialsbut the former pulled out due to poorform.

"The trials in four categories wereleft. Out of those, we chose not to dis-turb Bajrang (men's 65kg) and VineshPhogat (women's 50kg). Sakshi wasto fight Sarita but she has reported aknee injury so we are sending Sakshito the Worlds," WFI AssistantSecretary Vinod Tomar said.

Sakshi had ended a runner-up ata UWW ranking event in Belarus,where she lost the Gold medal match2-6 to Ajerbiajan's Marianna Satsinon Sunday.

The performance is encouragingfor Sakshi ahead of the WorldChampionship, to be held inBudapest from October 20-28.

"The fourth category is women's53kg. Ritu Phogat and Pinky will fightfor that place. Ritu had competed in

the 50kg category at the Yasar DoguInternational in Turkey but we feelshe can do well in the 53kg as well.She has a good medal chance in thiscategory, so, we decided to conducta trial match between Ritu andPinky," Tomar added.

The 53kg clash will be held onTuesday in Lucknow under thesupervision of National women'scoach Kuldeep Malik.

The WFI official also informedthat the inaugural U-23 NationalChampionship, to he held inChittaurgarh, Rajasthan fromSeptember 27-30, is an effort to iden-tify next line of wrestlers.

"In the senior nationals, manyjuniors also compete but they get toclash against only with the agedwrestlers. They do not get great com-petition. They need to fight it out withstrong wrestlers to be ready forinternational events. In the Under-23Nationals, we will see better bouts andnext stars will be identified," Tomaradded.

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Atletico Madrid star AntoineGriezmann says he still can't

fathom why he was not voted one ofthe world's top three players by FIFA— but hopes winning the "moreprestigious" Ballon d'Or will makeamends.

"It's a prize from FIFA and itseems a pity that no World Cup win-ners were nominated," Griezmann,who helped France to World Cupglory in Russia this summer, toldSpanish sports daily AS.

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo,World Cup finalist Luka Modric ofCroatia and Egyptian Mohamed Salah,who enjoyed a stunning campaignwith Liverpool last season, were thethree players nominated by FIFA forthe world ruling body's top prize.

Now grouped within the FIFABest awards, it will be presented onSeptember 24.

For Griezmann, who helpedAtletico to Europa League glory as wellas playing a pivotal role in France'sWorld Cup win, FIFA's choice wasunwarranted.

"We had a really good World Cupcampaign, the whole team deserve tobe awarded: (Kylian) Mbappe,(Raphael) Varane, (N'Golo) Kante,who had an amazing World Cup eventhough no-one talks about it, or evenmyself.

"But that's the way it is."The snub has galvanised

Griezmann's ambition to land theBallon d'Or, the prize awarded by

France Football magazine to theworld's top player as voted on by jour-nalists around the globe.

"I think the Ballon d'Or has moreprestige, a richer history," saidGriezmann.

Conceived in 1956, it has beenwon by Ronaldo and Lionel Messi arecord five times apiece. By contrast,the FIFA Best award has been astand-alone award only since 2016,having spent the 2010-2015 periodmerged with the Ballon d'Or.

He added: "It's on my mind andI've got three months to give it every-thing (to win it). We'll see what hap-pens."

Asked if he felt comfortable "sit-ting at the same football table" as five-time Ballon d'Or winners Messi andRonaldo, Griezmann said: "Yes, Ithink so, although other players wouldbe there as well.

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Aformidable India will be aiming tomake short work of minnowsHong Kong in their Asia Cup

opener Tuesday before getting battle-ready for their much-anticipated clashagainst arch-rivals Pakistan onWednesday.

The match against Hong Kong willbe an 'appetiser' before cricket junkies aretreated to a lavish spread of main coursewhich will be the Indo-Pak rivalry.

Even without regular skipper ViratKohli, the Indian side, led by RohitSharma, is an intimidating one in the lim-ited-overs format.

Although Rohit and his colleagueswon't want to take Hong Kong lightly, inreality the match will only be a pre-cur-sor or a glorified dress rehearsal beforethey take on an in-form Pakistan the verynext day.

In the searing Dubai heat, where themercury has risen up to 43 degreeCelsius, the primary aim for the Men inBlue would be to get their combinationright before the big game.

Hong Kong lost their opener againstPakistan by eight wickets in a thoroughlyone sided showdown where they couldmanage only 116 runs.

Unless a miracle happens, therewon't be a remarkable improvement intheir performance against an Indian teamthat boasts of the likes of Rohit, ShikharDhawan, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav in bat-ting along with Jasprit Bumrah,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav andYuzvendra Chahal in bowling.

For the past few years, MahendraSingh Dhoni's waning batting skills haverepeatedly come under scanner and thistournament will give everyone a fair ideaof his ideal position.

Whether it would end up being No5, 6 or 7 will be the big contention goinginto the Pakistan game.

If Dhoni comes in at No 7, he willhave to face a skilful Mohammed Aamirat the death along with a skiddy UsmanKhan and talented Hasan Ali.

Possibly, Kedar Jadhav or ManishPandey at No 5 and Hardik Pandya withhis big hitting abilities at No 7 could proveto be ideal foil for the former India cap-

tain, if he decides to come at No 6.The middle-order that has been an

issue for India for quite some time nowand need to be sorted going into theWorld Cup next year.

It is expected that KL Rahul will batat No 3 but the incoming deliveries fromAamir or Hasan could be a problem likeit has been in England.

The BCCI has already hired a left-arm throwdown specialist from SriLanka to ensure that India have no trou-ble tackling Pakistan's battery of left-arm-ers. Also, they have Khaleel Ahmed in theteam to give the batsmen much-neededpractice.

However, on flat decks with littlemovement from white kookaburra, theIndian batsmen can play their custom-ary 'hitting on the rise' game with min-imal footwork.

The Hong Kong encounter will be amatch simulator for the likes of Dhawan,

Rahul and Pandya, who will have toadjust to the different length and pace ofthe track.

The Bumrah-Bhuvneshwarcombination will be back inaction along with theKuldeep-Chahal combina-tion, which has been a steadyset-up for past one year.

The Hong Kong game willalso be ideal warm-up forBhuvneshwar, who has been out due toback injury.

He recently came back to competi-tive cricket for India A against SouthAfrica A.

The stadium is expected to bepacked to capacity on Wednesday but one

can expect a sizeable Indian populationon Tuesday itself during the Hong Konggame.

�9���India: Rohit Sharma (captain), ShikharDhawan, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu,

Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav,MS Dhoni (wk), HardikPandya, BhuvneshwarKumar, Jasprit Bumrah,Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra

Chahal, Shardul Thakur,Dinesh Karthik, Khaleel Ahmed.

Hong Kong: Anshuman Rath(captain), Aizaz Khan, Babar Hayat,Cameron McAulson, ChristopherCarter, Ehsan Khan, Ehsan Nawaz,Arshad Mohammed, Kinchit Shah,Nadeem Ahmed, Raag Kapur, ScottMcKehnie, Tanvir Ahmed, TanvirAfzal, Waqas Khan, Aftab Hussain.

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Acomprehensive win over Hong Kong isa perfect start but Pakistan captain

Sarfraz Ahmed says his team will have toraise the game by several notches to outwitarch-rivals India in the much-awaited AsiaCup clash on Wednesday.

Pakistan defeated Hong Kong by eightwickets Sunday night in the Asia Cup.Sarfraz said his team needs to iron out a fewthings before the clash against India.

"As a captain, I saw a couple of thingswhich we should work on. For us to go thedistance in the tournament, we should havewon this game (against Hong Kong) by nineor 10 wickets.

"We also need to ball better with the newball. We need to get early wickets with thenew ball. It didn't swing for us with the newball, that is alarming for us," Sarfraz saidafter the match. "We will work on it in ournext practice session. It's a good win but towin against India we have to be at our bestin all the three departments," he added.

Left-arm pacer Usman Khan was thestar performer for Pakistan and wasadjudged the Man-of-the-Match for pick-ing up three wickets in an over that helpedPakistan bowl out Hong Kong for a paltry116.

"When I came to bowl in the first spell,I tried to pick wickets with the new ball, butluck was not with me. In the second spell,I got the ball to reverse swing and I man-aged to take wickets," Usman said.

Hong Kong skipper Anshuman Rathblamed his batsmen for not being able to putenough runs on the board.

"Lots of soft dismissals. 120 (116) wasnot enough. It was a good wicket. Creditgoes to the Pakistan bowlers," he said. "Ouroff-spinners are top class, but we just did-n't have enough runs on the board. I thinkearly on, it swung a bit, there was a bit ofbounce.

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Rahmat Shah top-scored with acomposed 72 before pacer Thisara

Perera's five-wicket haul helped SriLanka bowl out Afghanistan for 249in their opening match of the Asia Cuphere on Monday.

Perera returned figures of 5/55 asSri Lanka picked up seven wickets inthe last eight overs of Afghanistaninnings on a pitch that looked to be onthe slower side.

Opting to bat after winning thetoss, Afghanistan were off to a cautiousstart with the openers MohammadShahzad (34) and Ihsanullah Janat (45)putting on 57 runs in just under 12overs.

Spinner Akila Dhananjaya madethe first breakthrough when he hadShahzad trapped in front of the wick-et. It was a loose shot and attemptingto reverse sweep a length ball provedto be his undoing.

There was another half-centurystand, between Ihsanullah and Shah,as the Afghanistan dressing roomlooked relaxed at the Sheikh ZayedStadium.

However, Sri Lanka found anoth-er wicket after the two batsmen addedexactly 50 runs for the second wick-et. Umpire Gregory Brathwaite was notimpressed with Akila's shout for anlbw, prompting the Sri Lankans to gofor a review, and got the decision intheir favour.

Returning to the side after miss-ing the tournament opener againstBangladesh, off-spinner Akila returnedwith tidy figures of 2/37 in his 10-oversspell on a wicket that played slow, mak-ing stroke-making difficult.

Skipper Asghar Afghan came tothe middle, but his stay was short-lived

as Shehan Jayasuriya foxed him, thetwo wickets in as many overs reduc-ing Afghanistan to 110 for three at heend of the 26th over.

An 80-run partnership ensuedbetween Shah and HashmatullahShahidi (37), helping Afghanistan to190 when Dushmantha Chameerasent the Afghan top-scorer back to thepavilion. Shah's knock included fivehits to the fence.

Shahidi was the next man to getout, falling to Perera. MohammadNabi scored 12-ball 15 before the sea-soned Lasith Malinga cut short his stayin the middle.

The Lankan pulled back things inthe death, picking up seven wickets,with Thisara doing the bulk of dam-age.

��� ���������� ����Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal

has been ruled out of the rest of theAsia Cup with a broken hand after bat-ting despite his injury in the openingmatch, an official said on Monday.

"He got two fractures in his hand.He would not be able to continue hereand also for the next three to fourweeks," team manager KhaledMahmud said from Dubai.

Tamim was hailed as national heroafter he returned to bat with hisinjured hand for the final wicket dur-ing Bangladesh's 137-run win inSaturday's opening match against SriLanka.

The left-hander received a blow tohis wrist in the second over ofBangladesh's innings when he was hitby a short ball from Suranga Lakmal.

He left the field for hospital for ascan, and when he returned to theground with a sling on his injuredhand his Asia Cup was thought to beover.

But the opener stunned all bystriding out to bat after Bangladesh losttheir ninth wicket for 229 runs.

He fashioned a hole in his glovein order to fit his taped wrist, and usedone hand in facing a single delivery togive the strike back to MushfiqurRahim, who was batting on 112.

Mushfiqur then scored 32 off 16balls alone in their 10th-wicket part-nership, guiding Bangladesh to 261runs before he was dismissed in thefinal over for 144.

Bangladesh later bowled out SriLanka for 124 runs to record theirbiggest win on foreign soil, making agiant leap towards the Super Fourround.

Bangladesh will face Afghanistanin their second match of the tourna-ment in the United Arab Emirates onThursday.

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Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli andworld champion weightlifter Mirabai

Chanu were Monday jointly recom-mended for the Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna award, while star javelin throwerNeeraj Chopra was among 20 sportsper-sons picked for the Arjuna Awards.

Besides Chopra, other prominentnames recommended for the ArjunaAwards were junior world championsprinter Hima Das and Asian GamesGold-medallist middle distance runnerJinson Johnson, cricketer SmritiMandhana, hockey players ManpreetSingh and Savita Punia, multipleCommonwealth Games Gold-medallisttable tennis star Manika Batra and Asiaddoubles Gold-medallist tennis playerRohan Bopanna.

These recommendations by a selec-tion committee headed by Justice (retd)Indermeet Kaul Kochhar are subject to

approval by Sports MinisterRajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Once rat-ified by him, President Ram Nath Kovindwill present the awards on September 25at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Kohli will become the third Indiancricketer to win the country's highestsporting honour after the legendarySachin Tendulkar (1997) and the talis-manic former captain Mahendra SinghDhoni (2007) once the sports ministryofficially accepts the committee's rec-ommendation.

"Yes, Virat Kohli and MirabaiChanu's names have been recommend-ed by the awards committee," a top sourcesaid. It is learnt that India's top male shut-tler Kidambi Srikanth was also in KhelRatna contention for his good show inthe Super Series circuit last year but lostout to the 24-year-old Chanu, who is thereigning world champion in the 48kg cat-egory.

Asian Games Gold-medallist boxer

Amit Panghal was discussed for theArjuna Awards but the committee decid-ed against against recommending himdue to a failed dope test back in 2012, asource said.

Similarly, the selection committeealso decided against recommending vet-eran discus thrower Seema Punia for theawards due to his doping past. The 35-year-old Seema, who won a medal eachin the Commonwealth and the AsianGames, had failed a dope test during the2000 World Junior Championships.

Former Asian Games Bronze-medal-list and Commonwealth Games Silver-medallist Satish Kumar was the loneboxer to get the Arjuna honour this year.

The 18-year-old Hima, who won aGold and two Silver in the Asian Games,and golfer Shubhankar Sharma were notin the original shortlist but were lateradded for their impressive performances.

This year's award ceremony waspostponed to September 25 from the

usual August 29 National Sports Dayevent due to clash of dates with the AsianGames in Indonesia.

The Khel Ratna awardees are entitledto a cash prize of � 7.5 lakh, while theArjuna winners are given � 5 lakh.

Kohli, the world's No 1 Test batsmanas per the ICC rankings, has been in stu-pendous form for the past three years andmissed out despite nominations in theyears 2016 and 2017.

The BCCI has been nominatingKohli for the Khel Ratna for the past threeyears but in 2016, it was given to SakshiMalik, PV Sindhu and Deepa Karmakarfor their good show at Rio Olympics.

For Chanu, the award comes as amassive morale-booster as she is currentlyrecovering from a lower back injury,which forced her to skip the AsianGames. She is the currentCommonwealth Games Gold-medallistand India's only medal hope in weightlift-ing going into 2020 Olympics.

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India captain Rohit Sharma on Monday admit-ted that the team's middle-order is still fluid

and their objective will be to identify players forthe number four and six slot during the AsiaCup.

The problem for India during the past oneyear is the lack of a settled middle-order, whichwas evident during the recent ODI series defeatin England.

Rohit made it clear that the likes of ManishPandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu are fight-ing for the key middle-order slots.

"Lot of spots are up for grabs like Nos 3, 4and 6. All these guys (Kedar, Manish, Rayudu)are eyeing for those slots. We want to givechances to as many guys for this particular series.In this tournament, we need to seal the battingslot Nos 4 and 6," Rohit said on the eve of thelung opener against Hong Kong.

Rohit's answer was an indication thatMahendra Singh Dhoni will bat at number five.

Ambati Rayudu is back in the Indian teamhaving cleared the YoYo test and he also per-formed well in the Quadrangular series for IndiaA. Kedar Jadhav is back having recovered froma hamstring surgery.

"They are both important members of thisteam. Rayudu was originally part of Englandseries and similarly Kedar before his injury. Itwas unfortunate that they couldn't play for sometime and I am very happy that both are back inthe team. I expect them to win matches forIndia," said Rohit.

Rohit didn't reveal whether he was open torotating bowlers in this searing Dubai heat butdid say that performers should be given a longerrun.

"I haven't thought about it right now. Wewant to see how each individual react to differentsituations. At the same time, we want to givechance to as many guys as possible but also givemore opportunities to those who are consistent.We would see how individuals respond to con-ditions and take decisions accordingly," saidRohit.

Having had a look at the match strip, Rohit's

assessment is that it will get slower as the gameprogresses.

"The wicket isn't that bad. It's going to getslower and slower as the match progresses. Thefirst match we need to figure out the dimensionof the ground and things like that," he added.

More than Hong Kong, it is the change inclimate that might bother the players, comingfrom the cooler confines of English weather.

"It will be a challenge as a lot of our guysare coming from England. Some of us have beenhere for four days now and we are getting usedto it."

About Hong Kong, the answer was on pre-dictable lines.

"We are treating every opposition equally.We are looking at what we want to do as a teamand if we do that a lot of worries and issues willtake care of itself. Yes, the conditions are notgoing to be that easy. But it's game time now andwe have to focus on the match."

On a personal note, Rohit is excited as wellas nervous as this is the biggest tournament forhim as India captain.

"I am excited as well as nervous. It is a bigtournament for me. I know all the boys well. Iunderstand them well which is necessary," hesigned off.

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