CR[_ReY ac`^ZdVd µafTTR¶ Y`fdV W`c R]] Sj V_U ... - Daily Pioneer

16
I n a most significant policy initiative, the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government on Sunday announced that it would enact a law to ensure 80 per cent reservations in private sector jobs for the sons of the soil. Making an announcement to this effect during his address to joint session of both the Houses of Maharashtra Legislature, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said, “Growing unem- ployment is prime concern of this Government. We shall enact a law to ensure 80 per cent reser- vation in private sector jobs for the sons of the soil.” In another major decision taken by the MVA dispensation to deal with the “rising unem- ployment and the resultant restlessness among youths”, the Governor said the State Government would soon initi- ate the process of filling the vacant posts in the various Government departments. “This Government is con- cerned with the rising unem- ployment and the resultant restlessness among the youth. With a view to creating employment and also ensuring speedy delivery of public ser- vices, my Government shall initiate the process of filling vacant posts of the State Government,” Koshyari said. The Governor also said having recognised the need to impart skills to the youth to make them employable, the MVA Government would try to provide fellowship to the educated unemployed youth. Reiterating the new com- mitment to provide immediate assistance to the farmers who suffered due to unseasonal rain, the Governor said the Uddhav Thackeray dispensa- tion “is seized of the agrarian crisis and farmers’ distress that needs immediate attention”. Also, Koshyari announced that the MVA Government would present a “factual report” showing the current financial status of the State before the people. “Also, my Government is committed to improve the fiscal health and the financial discipline of the State,” he said. Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was on Sunday named Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, while Congress MLA Nana Patole was elected Speaker of the House. Patole, 57, who was earli- er in the day elected unopposed as the Speaker after BJP’s Kisan Kathore withdrew from the fray, announced that Fadnavis is the new Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. “It is poetic justice that those who wanted non- exis- tence of the Opposition will now have to work as an effec- tive Opposition,” Patole said. Detailed reports on P6 U nion Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said it has become evident after the first phase of polling in Jharkhand that the BJP will form the Government in the State with full majority. During a public meeting in Adityapur he said that no one can raise finger on our Chief Minister or Prime Minister. The senior BJP leader addressed the people for gar- nering their support for the vic- tory of party’s Seraikela candi- date Ganesh Mahali. The rally was held at Kalaniketan Maidan along the Road No 32 in Adityapur, where over 5,000 people, including a large number of women attended it. The Defence Minister dealt on the issues like providing basic facilities to the people, infrastructure development, NRC and corruption. He also referred to the achievements made by the Centre in revok- ing Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir, Ram janambhoomi and triple talak. He asserted that it is not a priority for the BJP to form Government in the Centre or any State, but giving a better shape to the country has all along been its purpose. “Though I will not claim that every house has been con- nected with electricity and each household has a pucca house equipped with a toilet, you can’t disagree that major- ity of the people have been pro- vided with these basic facilities. We are hopeful that by the end of 2022 all people will have a pucca house and own toilet,” said the senior BJP leader. He said it is not that the step of giving pucca houses was taken by the NDA Government at the Centre for the first time. Speaking on the Ram janambhoomi, Singh said, “The Opposition would earlier criti- cise the BJP that Ram janamb- hoomi used to be the party’s patent pole promise, but it has stopped criticising as we have not only regained the holy plot of land, but are also going to make a grand Ram temple on it. At one point of time, the Defence Minister said “not that everyone in the BJP Government is fair and spotless, but it is for certain that if anyone is proved to be indulged in corruption, then there will be no place in the Government for him.” The Defence Minister made the audience recall that Mahali had contested from the same Seraikela seat, but was defeated by a marginal vote of about 1,100 votes. He called upon the audience to ensure Mahali’s victory by a huge margin. Singh said the BJP Government is constructing houses, providing toilets, pro- viding electricity and also ensuring easy supply of gas cylinders. The BJP Government has resolved to provide houses to every individual by 2022. Singh said Atal Bihari Vajpayee connected village to village by road and now our Government has arranged 1 lakh crore for development. We will connect every town in India with a road. Until infra- structure is developed, we can- not take the country to a height where we want to take it. Speaking on the construc- tion of Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Union Minister said, “We are going to build a grand tem- ple of Lord Ram at the birth- place of Ramlalla, as promised by us in every manifesto.” He added, “Some parties used to mock us on this promise, but now no one can stop us from build- ing the temple.” G ST collection crossed the 1 lakh crore mark after a gap of three months in November, growing by 6 per cent to 1.03 lakh crore aided by festival demand. The GST collection stood at 97,637 crore in the same month last year while revenue collection under this head was 95,380 crore in October. After two months of neg- ative growth, GST revenues witnessed an impressive recov- ery with a positive growth of 6 per cent in November 2019 over November 2018 collec- tions, an official statement said. According to official sources, the number reflects pick up in consumption and improvement in compliance as well. Non-intrusive means of tax collection has helped improved compliance, sources said. During the month, the GST collection on domestic transactions witnessed a growth of 12 per cent, the highest dur- ing the year, it, said. “Of gross 1,03,492 crore in November, CGST is 19,592 crore, SGST is 27,144 crore, IGST is 49,028 crore (includ- ing 20,948 crore collected on imports) and Cess is 7,727 crore (including 869 crore collected on imports),” it said. The statement further said November 2019 collection is the third highest monthly col- lection since the introduction of GST, next only to April 2019 and March 2019 collections. This is the eighth time since the inception of GST in July 2017 that monthly collec- tion has crossed the mark of 1 lakh crore. W ith All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday asserting that 99 per cent of Muslims in the country want a review of the unanimous Supreme Court ver- dict on the Ayodhya dispute, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hit out for their decision to seek a review of the verdict and alleged that AIMPLB is try- ing to create an “atmosphere of division and confrontation” after the matter was laid to rest by the Supreme Court. Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who was a Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel in the matter, said a sec- tion of Muslims are now adopt- ing double standards on Ram temple issue. The AIMPLB, which was not a party to the law suit, has previously said a review petition will be filed by December 9. A five-judge bench had ruled on November 9 that a temple should be built through a trust set up by the Government on the disputed site, where the mosque was demolished in 1992. The Sunni Central Waqf Board, one of the main litigants in the case, has decided to not file a review petition, but is yet to take a call on whether to accept a five-acre alternative plot for a mosque. “Muslims trust judiciary that is why a review petition is being filed. Continued on Page 4 B reaking his silence over the rape and murder of a woman veterinarian, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday announced setting up of a fast track court for expeditious trial and assured all help to her family as protests continued. Facing flak over his “silence” all these days, Rao, in his first public statement since the inci- dent that has sparked outrage in the country, described the rape and murder of the 25-year old woman by four men as “ghast- ly” and expressed his anguish. Outpouring of outrage continued on Sunday as reli- gious leaders condemned the heinous rape and murder while RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said there can’t be any compro- mise with the dignity of women and children should be taught to always respect them. The residents of the colony where the woman stayed turned away political leaders and others who wanted to call on her family to express their sympathies, but later in the day Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan and Congress Lok Sabha mem- ber A Revanth Reddy met the grieving members. In other related develop- ments, three police personnel have been suspended for alleged delay in registering an FIR on a missing complaint by the fam- ily of the woman while police said they would seek custody of the four accused, remanded to judicial remand on Saturday, for further interrogation. Cyberabad Police appealed to the media not to telecast continuously programmes on the gruesome murder of the woman and avoid use of her name as it suggested the hash- tag “#Justice for Disha” in the social media. The woman, who worked in a state-run hospital, was raped and killed by the four accused, all lorry workers, on the city outskirts. Her charred body was found under a culvert in Shadnagar near here on Thursday and the accused arrested a day later. ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed the officials that the accused in ghastly murder should be tried on fast track and the culprits should be given stringent punishment. The CM also decided to set up a fast track court to deal with the case,” a release from his office said. The release pointed to the verdict in the rape and murder of a minor girl in Warrangal given within 56 days of the crime due to the setting up of a fast track court for the case and said Rao felt the judgement should come quickly in the vet- erinarian case as well. The CM said the Government would extend all necessary help to the family of the woman veterinarian, whose killing has triggered an outrage. Continued on Page 4

Transcript of CR[_ReY ac`^ZdVd µafTTR¶ Y`fdV W`c R]] Sj V_U ... - Daily Pioneer

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In a most significant policyinitiative, the Shiv Sena-led

Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)Government on Sundayannounced that it would enacta law to ensure 80 per centreservations in private sectorjobs for the sons of the soil.

Making an announcementto this effect during his addressto joint session of both theHouses of MaharashtraLegislature, MaharashtraGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari said, “Growing unem-ployment is prime concern ofthis Government. We shall enacta law to ensure 80 per cent reser-vation in private sector jobs forthe sons of the soil.”

In another major decisiontaken by the MVA dispensationto deal with the “rising unem-ployment and the resultantrestlessness among youths”, theGovernor said the StateGovernment would soon initi-ate the process of filling thevacant posts in the variousGovernment departments.

“This Government is con-cerned with the rising unem-ployment and the resultantrestlessness among the youth.With a view to creatingemployment and also ensuringspeedy delivery of public ser-vices, my Government shallinitiate the process of fillingvacant posts of the State

Government,” Koshyari said.The Governor also said

having recognised the need toimpart skills to the youth tomake them employable, theMVA Government would tryto provide fellowship to theeducated unemployed youth.

Reiterating the new com-mitment to provide immediateassistance to the farmers whosuffered due to unseasonalrain, the Governor said theUddhav Thackeray dispensa-tion “is seized of the agrariancrisis and farmers’ distress thatneeds immediate attention”.

Also, Koshyari announcedthat the MVA Governmentwould present a “factual report”showing the current financialstatus of the State before thepeople. “Also, my Governmentis committed to improve thefiscal health and the financial discipline of the State,”he said.

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Mumbai: Former MaharashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis was on Sunday namedLeader of Opposition in theState Assembly, while CongressMLA Nana Patole was electedSpeaker of the House.

Patole, 57, who was earli-er in the day elected unopposedas the Speaker after BJP’s Kisan

Kathore withdrew from thefray, announced that Fadnavisis the new Leader ofOpposition in the Assembly.

“It is poetic justice thatthose who wanted non- exis-tence of the Opposition willnow have to work as an effec-tive Opposition,” Patole said.

Detailed reports on P6

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Union Defence MinisterRajnath Singh on Sunday

said it has become evidentafter the first phase of pollingin Jharkhand that the BJP willform the Government in theState with full majority. Duringa public meeting in Adityapurhe said that no one can raisefinger on our Chief Minister orPrime Minister.

The senior BJP leaderaddressed the people for gar-nering their support for the vic-tory of party’s Seraikela candi-date Ganesh Mahali.

The rally was held atKalaniketan Maidan along theRoad No 32 in Adityapur,where over 5,000 people,including a large number ofwomen attended it.

The Defence Minister dealton the issues like providingbasic facilities to the people,infrastructure development,NRC and corruption. He alsoreferred to the achievementsmade by the Centre in revok-ing Article 370 from Jammu &Kashmir, Ram janambhoomiand triple talak.

He asserted that it is not apriority for the BJP to formGovernment in the Centre orany State, but giving a bettershape to the country has allalong been its purpose.

“Though I will not claimthat every house has been con-nected with electricity andeach household has a puccahouse equipped with a toilet,

you can’t disagree that major-ity of the people have been pro-vided with these basic facilities.We are hopeful that by the endof 2022 all people will have apucca house and own toilet,”said the senior BJP leader.

He said it is not that thestep of giving pucca houses wastaken by the NDA Governmentat the Centre for the first time.

Speaking on the Ramjanambhoomi, Singh said, “TheOpposition would earlier criti-cise the BJP that Ram janamb-hoomi used to be the party’spatent pole promise, but it hasstopped criticising as we havenot only regained the holy plotof land, but are also going to

make a grand Ram temple on it.At one point of time, the

Defence Minister said “not thateveryone in the BJP Governmentis fair and spotless, but it is forcertain that if anyone is provedto be indulged in corruption,then there will be no place in theGovernment for him.”

The Defence Minister madethe audience recall that Mahalihad contested from the sameSeraikela seat, but was defeatedby a marginal vote of about1,100 votes. He called upon theaudience to ensure Mahali’svictory by a huge margin.

Singh said the BJPGovernment is constructinghouses, providing toilets, pro-

viding electricity and alsoensuring easy supply of gascylinders. The BJP Governmenthas resolved to provide housesto every individual by 2022.Singh said Atal Bihari Vajpayee connectedvillage to village byroad and now ourGovernment hasarranged �1 lakh crorefor development. Wewill connect every town inIndia with a road. Until infra-structure is developed, we can-not take the country to a heightwhere we want to take it.

Speaking on the construc-tion of Ram temple in Ayodhya,the Union Minister said, “Weare going to build a grand tem-ple of Lord Ram at the birth-

place of Ramlalla, as promisedby us in every manifesto.” Headded, “Some parties used tomock us on this promise, but

now no one canstop us from build-ing the temple.”

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GST collection crossed the�1 lakh crore mark after a

gap of three months inNovember, growing by 6 percent to �1.03 lakh crore aidedby festival demand.

The GST collection stoodat �97,637 crore in the samemonth last year while revenuecollection under this head was�95,380 crore in October.

After two months of neg-ative growth, GST revenueswitnessed an impressive recov-ery with a positive growth of 6per cent in November 2019over November 2018 collec-tions, an official statement said.

According to officialsources, the number reflectspick up in consumption andimprovement in compliance aswell. Non-intrusive means oftax collection has helpedimproved compliance, sourcessaid. During the month, theGST collection on domestictransactions witnessed a growthof 12 per cent, the highest dur-

ing the year, it, said. “Of gross �1,03,492 crore

in November, CGST is �19,592crore, SGST is �27,144 crore,IGST is �49,028 crore (includ-ing �20,948 crore collected onimports) and Cess is �7,727crore (including �869 crorecollected on imports),” it said.

The statement further saidNovember 2019 collection isthe third highest monthly col-lection since the introductionof GST, next only to April 2019 and March 2019collections.

This is the eighth timesince the inception of GST inJuly 2017 that monthly collec-tion has crossed the mark of �1lakh crore.

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With All India MuslimPersonal Law Board

(AIMPLB) on Sunday assertingthat 99 per cent of Muslims inthe country want a review of theunanimous Supreme Court ver-dict on the Ayodhya dispute,Union Minister Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi hit out for their decisionto seek a review of the verdictand alleged that AIMPLB is try-ing to create an “atmosphere ofdivision and confrontation”after the matter was laid to restby the Supreme Court.

Spiritual leader Sri Sri RaviShankar, who was a SupremeCourt-appointed mediationpanel in the matter, said a sec-tion of Muslims are now adopt-ing double standards on Ram

temple issue. The AIMPLB,which was not a party to thelaw suit, has previously said areview petition will be filed byDecember 9. A five-judgebench had ruled on November9 that a temple should be builtthrough a trust set up by theGovernment on the disputedsite, where the mosque wasdemolished in 1992.

The Sunni Central WaqfBoard, one of the main litigantsin the case, has decided to notfile a review petition, but is yetto take a call on whether toaccept a five-acre alternativeplot for a mosque. “Muslimstrust judiciary that is why areview petition is being filed.

Continued on Page 4

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Breaking his silence over therape and murder of a

woman veterinarian, TelanganaChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao on Sundayannounced setting up of a fasttrack court for expeditioustrial and assured all help to herfamily as protests continued.

Facing flak over his “silence”all these days, Rao, in his firstpublic statement since the inci-dent that has sparked outrage inthe country, described the rapeand murder of the 25-year oldwoman by four men as “ghast-ly” and expressed his anguish.

Outpouring of outragecontinued on Sunday as reli-gious leaders condemned theheinous rape and murder whileRSS chief Mohan Bhagwat saidthere can’t be any compro-mise with the dignity of womenand children should be taughtto always respect them.

The residents of the colonywhere the woman stayedturned away political leadersand others who wanted to call

on her family to express theirsympathies, but later in the dayUnion Minister Sanjeev Balyanand Congress Lok Sabha mem-ber A Revanth Reddy met thegrieving members.

In other related develop-ments, three police personnelhave been suspended for allegeddelay in registering an FIR on amissing complaint by the fam-ily of the woman while policesaid they would seek custody of

the four accused, remanded tojudicial remand on Saturday, forfurther interrogation.

Cyberabad Police appealedto the media not to telecastcontinuously programmes onthe gruesome murder of thewoman and avoid use of hername as it suggested the hash-tag “#Justice for Disha” in thesocial media.

The woman, who workedin a state-run hospital, was

raped and killed by the fouraccused, all lorry workers, onthe city outskirts. Her charredbody was found under a culvertin Shadnagar near here onThursday and the accusedarrested a day later.

ChiefMinister KChandrasekhar Rao hasinstructed the officials that theaccused in ghastly murdershould be tried on fast track andthe culprits should be givenstringent punishment. The CMalso decided to set up a fast trackcourt to deal with the case,” arelease from his office said.

The release pointed to theverdict in the rape and murderof a minor girl in Warrangalgiven within 56 days of thecrime due to the setting up ofa fast track court for the caseand said Rao felt the judgementshould come quickly in the vet-erinarian case as well.

The CM said theGovernment would extend allnecessary help to the family ofthe woman veterinarian, whosekilling has triggered an outrage.

Continued on Page 4

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The Pathalgadi movement inKhunti hit national head-

lines in April this year, monthsbefore the general election,after over 100 tribal villagersgathered in a school’s play-ground with traditional armspronouncing themselves asparamount authorities and atthe same time denouncingCentral and State Governmentsand the President, PrimeMinister or Governor. TheState Government seeing thegathering of tribal populationas open rebellion tried to sup-press it with iron hand.

Months later, five NGOworkers were allegedly abduct-ed and gangraped by armedmen associated with Pathalgadimovement. The members ofNGO were performing a streetplay at a school in Khunti andthe Pathalgadi supportersbranded the NGO workers as"dikus" (outsiders). Khunti, thetribal reserved constituency isone such Assembly seat whereseeds of development have notreached the mainstream pop-ulation and the area is marredwith Pathalgadi movement andLeft Wing Extremism (LWE).

The constituency has

remained a BJP bastion withBJP candidate and state ruraldevelopment Minister NilkanthSingh Munda representing theseat since 2000. The seat is alsoconsidered as Congress strong-hold, but this time as peralliance formula the seat hasbeen given to JMM. The JMMhas fielded Sushil KumarLaunga against Munda. Notedsocial activist Dayamani Barlais JVM party candidate fromKhunti. Barla is a tribal jour-nalist and activist fromJharkhand is likely to make thecontest triangular.

Khunti—the land ofBhagwan Birsa Munda hascontinuously elected KariyaMunda as MP for eight times,but the lack of development

looms large in the area. In 2011,present Khunti MP and thenChief Minister Arjun Mundaannounced to set upKnowledge City at BirhuPanchayat of Khunti district.

The State Government’splan to set up Knowledge Cityat Birhu Panchayat went on theprocess of acquiring 400 acresof land for the state of art cam-pus. The campus was to haveengineering, medical, man-agement, pharmacy and othereducational institutions withinthe campus drawing studentsfrom all over the country. Butthe project since its conceptionstarted facing roadblocks withirregularities in land acquisi-tion process. In 2015, ChiefMinister Raghubar Das

ordered a thorough probe intothe alleged swindling of fundsby middleman from land-losersof the ambitious 404-acre,�300-crore Knowledge Cityproject in Khunti.

Baldev Munda, a residentof Shubhash Chowk in Khunti said, “Due to lack ofdevelopment, the area has witnessed Pathagadi move-ment. Various splinters groupof LWE are active in the area,giving scope to these rebelmembers to divert the attentionof local tribal people from realissue.”

Echoing the views ofMunda, Ramesh Sahu anotherresident of the area said,“Though a lot of work has to becarried out in Khunti, in last

five years the state governmenthas initiated various schemesand projects to strengthen theinfrastructure of the area.”Strengthening road connectiv-ity in the area, providing elec-tricity connection to all villages,installation of street lights aresome of the schemes initiatedby Chief Minister RaghubarDas. The inauguration of an88,000-kilolitre-capacity IndianOil Corporation smart terminalat Khunti so as to provideemployment opportunities aresome of the other develop-mental work started by presentregime. Also, in 2017 GovernorDroupadi Murmu and ChiefMinister Raghubar Das laidthe foundation stone of the�206.54-crore permanent cam-pus of Jharkhand Raksha ShaktiUniversity (JRSU) in Khunti.

Sources said that whilethe BJP is banking on devel-opment schemes initiated bycentre and State, theOpposition claims that thoughdespite launch of variousschemes the misery of peoplehas not ended.

The Khunti Assembly seatwith 2,10,014 voters has10,3,910 male voters, 10,6,103female voters and one trans-gender voters. The seat also has6,453 millennium voters whoare in the age group of 18 to 19years and going to cast theirvotes for first time. Khuntialong with nineteen otherAssembly seats will go to votein second phase scheduled onDecember 7.

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At least 18 nomination paperswere rejected during scruti-

ny for Bokaro Assembly con-stituency, and now 25 candidatesremain in fray here. December2 is the last date for withdrawalof nomination. As many as 43candidates had filed their nom-inations here.

After scrutiny, SDM SashiPrakash Singh called each andevery candidate whose nomi-nations were rejected andinformed them about theirshortcomings or lacking. Theelection symbol would be allot-ted after concluding the with-drawal procedure of nomina-tions, said Singh.

The candidates whose nom-inations were found valid areShweta Singh (Congress),Biranchi Narayan (BJP), DrPrakash Kumar (JVM),Rajender Mahato (AJSU), AshokChoudhary (JDU), A AlamSiddiki (AIMIM- All IndiaMajlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen),Sunil Kumar (Janta Party), KKKaushal (PPI), F Bhattacharya(TMC), Ramakant Verma(Swaraj India), NP Mahato(Hindustan Awam Morcha),Nawal Sharma (RPI), H Nath(AAP), Manoj Kumar (NUCI)while Rajesh Kumar, M Sharma,Sanjay Kumar, P Burman, NDutta, Jayanti Kumari, UmaKumari, Renu Sharma, LalitaDevi and Madhusudan as inde-pendent candidates, informedSingh.

For ChandankiyariAssembly constituency, only 17

candidates are in the fray, nom-inations of two candidates wererejected includes Varun Kumarof Lok Jansakti Party and NDigar of JMM Ulgulan party,informed James Surin, DeputyCollector Land and Reforms-cum-Returning Officer Chas.

The candidates left in thepoll fray are Amar Bauri (BJP),Uma Kant Rajak (AJSU), AnilBauri, Jageshwar Hazara,Prakash Das, Vijay Rajwar,Bhola Nath Bauri, HerandraKumar, Lal Mohan Rajwar, KiritBhushan Das, Rampad Ravidas,Rohit Das, Rajkumar Ram,Samir Kumar Das, MukeshKant, Ganesh Kumar Das andDilip Bauri.

Bokaro district consists offour constituencies — Bermo,Gomia, Bokaro andChandankiyari. Bermo andGomia will go to polls on 12December while Bokaro andChandankiyari on 16 December.

In Bokaro Assembly con-stituency there are 279274male voters, 235131 femalevoters, 16 transgender and1550 service voters while inChandankiyari 126248 male,110743 female, 1 transgenderand 270 service voters.

Meanwhile, campaigning isin full swing in both the con-stituencies, the leaders of vari-ous political parties includingBJP, Congress, Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM), JharkhandVikas Morcha (JVM) and AJSUParty and other candidates whofiled their nomination are mak-ing whirlwind tours throughoutthe constituencies to woo voters.

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Union petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Sunday said that recession wasa global phenomenon and theUnion Government has takensteps to meet challenges.

Addressing a press meet,Pradhan said that the steel sec-tor is witnessing boom anddemand has grown in October-November. The sector hasbecome strong with fresh invest-ments from companies.

He added that the auto sec-tor has also witnessed signs ofimprovement as sales of twowheelers and four wheelershave gone up.

He claimed that recession isa temporary phase and thecountry has nothing to worry.The Minister said theGovernment has pumped �2.5lakh crore in the market toimprove the economic situation.

“We have a very strongeconomic structure and there isnothing to fear. Recession is aglobal phenomenon. GDP ratioof 4.5 per cent was cyclical,”Pradhan said.

When questioned aboutthe closed industrial units in

Adityapur, Pradhan refused tocomment and said even bigeconomies across the worldhave become stagnant. He didnot say anything to explainwhy units were shut inAdityapur industrial area andabout the Government’s plans torevive them. Several auto com-ponent units in Adityapur haveshut business for over fourmonths owing to lack ofdemand. Vendors and autoancillary units in the region,totaling almost 2,000, are facingperhaps their toughest chal-lenge yet, with orders coming

down to a mere trickle, even asauto majors such as Tata Motorshave drastically cut productionto tide over tough times.

It may be mentioned thatout of 1,200 and plus industryunits some 400 units, mostlymanufacturing companies thatproduces the ancillary parts ofthe final product of the bigenterprises, even pulled downtheir shutters during the reces-sion period.

The Minister also claimedthat BJP is again going to forma stable Government inJharkhand, Pradhan said hehas met a lot of people duringhis trip to East Singhbhum andthe feedback from them hasbeen positive for the party.Jharkhand has witnessed devel-opment in the past five years vis-à-vis- 19 years.

“BJP led Government hasplayed a key role in progress ofthe region. A stableGovernment helped triggergrowth. Ujjwala and Ayushmanhealth scheme have beenbrought by the Government.The centre increased adequatefunds for the development ofthe State. This has been possi-ble only because of the doubleengine. The funds released bythe centre are a record high.However, a lot needs to bedone and BJP will do so in thecoming years,” Pradhan said.

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At least four persons —including nephew of

Bhawnathpur MLA BhanuPratap Shahi — died while oneperson sustained severe injuriesin a head-on collision betweena speeding SUV and a truck onNational Highway 75 nearParaswan village under Ramanapolice station on Sunday.

The deceased have beenidentified as SHashi’s nephewPrashant Singh(40), a native ofRobertsganj, (UP), UmaSingh(40), a resident of Rohtasin Bihar, Chitranjan Giri (32),a native of Robertsganj (UP)and driver Tinku Singh (21) aresident of village Harihar Pur,of Garhwa. Deceased PrashantSingh was the block head ofNagwan block of Uttar Pradesh.

The deceased had come toseal the EVM machine in thestrong room at Garhwa BazarSamutee after BhawanathpurAssembly election concludedon Saturday. The accidentoccurred at around 4:00am,and the face of the Scorpio gotcompletely damaged.

Police said the deceasedwere returning home aftersealing EVM from strongroom, Bajar Samitee, Garhwa.

A local truck suddenly camefrom the wrong side of theNH-75 and collided with thevehicle, killing two on thespot. Later, two out of the threeseverely injured were declareddead at the Garhwa Hospital.Abhishek Kumar Singh(30)resident of Aurangabad, Biharsustained injuries and wasreferred to RIMS, Ranchi afterfirst aid at Garhwa hospital.The Ramana police handedover the dead to the family ofthe deceased after postmortemon Sunday. The driver andhelper of the truck fled thespot. The police have seizedboth the vehicles.

Soon after learning aboutthe incident, the BJP candidaterushed to the hospital to checkon his nephew. MinisterRamchandra Chandravanshi,Garhwa MLA Satyendra NathTiwari, JMM leader MithileshThakur, former MLA fromBhawanathpur Anant PratapDev, BSP leader Virendra Saw,BJP District President OmPrakash Kesari, Vinay KumarChoubey, Sanjay Bhagat, ShriBanshidhar Nagar PanchayatChairman Vijayalakshmi Devi,Garhwa MLA RepresentativeSantosh Kesari among othersreached Sadar Hospital.

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Chainpur police in Palamuhave registered three FIRs

in connection with pistol bran-dishing by Congress candi-date KN Tripathi at a pollingstation. Tripathi had flauntedhis licensed pistol at Koshiyarabooth number 72 and 73 dur-ing polls on Saturday after amob reportedly stopped himfrom entering the boothpremises and allegedly tried toharm him physically.

The first FIR was lodged byTripathi against 12 namedaccused besides 100 others.Among the 12 named accused,one Alok Chourasia figured atthe top in Tripathi’s complaint.Police registered the case onNovember 30 under section307 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC). The second FIR waslodged by a villager Shiv PrasadChourasia who has accusedfour people including Tripathiof keeping him in wrongfulconfinement and taking him toDaltonganj on gun point.

Tripathi, in his defence,said that Chourasia was amongthe men who assaulted him onSaturday.

The third FIR was lodgedby section officer Rajiv Ranjanagainst Tripathi for violation ofthe model code of conduct.However, Ranjan has admittedthat the attitude of peopleagainst Tripathi was violent.The Pioneer has the copy of allthe three FIRs.

Sources said the FIR of thesector officer, wherein he hasstated violent mood of themob corroborated the versionof Tripathi.

Palamu’s Superintendentof Police (SP) Ajay Linda saidpolice have begun their inves-tigation in relation to these 3FIRs in a professional andtransparent manner.

Tripathi has demanded re-polling at 4 booths located inand around Koshiyara sayinghe had on November 22 andNovember 29 sent a list of 14booths with a plea to deploy

CRPF there to the ChiefElection Commissioner. Hehad also sent his plea toDirector General of Police inJharkhand through WhatsAppmessage requesting him tointervene.

Tripathi, who happens tobe a former State Minister, hasstaged a protest in Palamusince the incident demandingre-polling in the four booths.

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Left Parties have also intensi-fied their poll campaign for

the State Assembly elections. OnSunday, Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) GeneralSecretary, Sitaram Yechury vis-ited the State to campaign forthe party candidates. He reachedthe State capital to address anelection meeting in Hatia andKhijri Assembly constituencies.

Addressing a public meetingheld at Celebration BanquetHall at Dibdih in the StateCapital, Sitaram Yechuryattacked Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)’s Centre and StateGovernments for alleged glitch-es in their Governance.

Describing the BJPGovernment as pro-capitalist,Yechury said that the way somecompanies are being promotedby shutting down all industries,

it is certain that only one par-ticular telecomm company,run by a person close to theGovernment, will thrive inthe country.

During this time, both theparty candidates SubhashMunda from Hatia and PrafullLinda from Khizri respective-ly described the BJP rule asanti workers, anti farmers,anti youth and anti women.

The party GeneralSecretary said that that the BJPGovernment should be oustedfrom the State. Whicheveralternative Government comesin its place will have to fulfillour demands for the welfare ofthe proletariat. He said that theState that the State was formed19 years ago but no real devel-opment has happened. Heaccused the Government ofacquiring tribal land and gift-ing them to capitalists for

extraction of mineral reserves andsetting up of factories and hotels.

Attacking the privatization planof the BJP Government, SitaramYechury said that at present there istalk of giving the State’s HeavyEngineering Corporation (HEC),Bokaro Steel and Damodar ValleyCorporation project in private hands.

Yechury claimed that being fedup with the economic policies of theModi Government, at present manycompanies are on the verge of extinc-tion. In such a situation, it would notbe wrong to say that only one par-ticular company will remain alive inthe Country under BJP rule.

CPI (M) Hatia candidate,Subhash Munda, while addressingthe public gathering in Nagpuri lan-guage, said that there is a fightbetween the looted and exploitedclasses and the BJP rule. At present,the rights of women including work-ers, farmers and youth are being loot-ed, he added.

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Independent candidate fromJamshedpur East, Saryu Roy,

has written a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi urginghim to declare the ownershiprights of more than 86 settle-ments of Tata on his upcomingJamshedpur tour on December3. The rebel BJP candidate hasalso demanded the removal ofRaghubar Das from ChiefMinister's post as he had failedto fulfill the promise he hadmade to people.

In his letter to PM Modi,Roy highlighted that recentlythe Union Cabinet has decidedto give ownership rights to1731 settlements in Delhi.Probably this bill is going to bepassed in this session of LokSabha. Demand for ownershipfor 86+ settlements inJamshedpur has been pendingfor the last 20 years. The cur-rent Chief Minister of the stateand BJP candidate fromJamshedpur East Assemblyconstituency, Raghubar Dashas been the leader of the cam-paign.

When the Tata LeaseAgreement was renewed in2005, these settlements spreadover 17 acres were separatedfrom the Tata Lease by arguingthat they would be given own-ership. Survey of settlementsalso started in the year 2006. BJPhas been raising this as majorpoll issue in past elections, butsuddenly Chief MinisterRaghubar Das, started sayingpublicly for the past few monthsthat giving ownership to the set-tlements has never been theirissue and the ownership cannotbe given. Due to CM change inhis stand there is outrage amongthe residents.

Roy through his letter statesthat when 86 settlements wereseparated from the Tata lease in2005, I said that people livingin these settlements cannot begiven ownership without mak-ing laws. He made a lot ofefforts so that Government canbring a bill in Assembly for this.But the government was notready, he introduced a privatebill for ownership of 86 settle-ments in the JharkhandLegislative Assembly on10.02.2006, but Raghubar Das,who was the then Minister ofFinance and UrbanDevelopment, did not supportthe bill.

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Chief Minister RaghubarDas on Sunday accused the

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) of deliberately causingpolitical turmoil in the Stateand creating hurdles in the wayof development. Addressing arally at Ghorabandha in EastSinghbhum, Das said thatJMM’s Executive PresidentHemant Soren toppled theArjun Munda Governmentonly to prevent it from framinga local’s policy. Soren, he added,had promised to frame a local’spolicy within three months ofcoming to power but failed todeliver on his promises.

“Instead of framing a poli-cy for the locals, he (Soren) soldJharkhand’s sand to Mumbai-based companies. TheirGovernment scrapped ninetribal languages from JharkhandPublic Service Commission(JPSC), which clearly shows

their intentions,” Das said.The Chief Minister is set to

contest against his formerCabinet minister Saryu Roy in

Jamshedpur East – said to beDas’ stronghold—in the secondphase of elections here onDecember 7. Das has been

addressing rallies acrossJharkhand since the announce-ment of elections on November1, but the contest in his home

turf is turning out to be thehottest one in the tribal State.Das waged a war of wordsagainst JMM and HemantSoren, accusing the party andits important leaders of amass-ing tribal properties, evenbefore the elections wereannounced in Jharkhand. Onthe other hand, JMM hasextended its support toBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)Minister turned independentcandidate Saryu Roy fordethroning Das.

On Sunday, Das accusedJMM patriarch Shibu Sorenand his son Hemant Soren ofnot giving due respect to theactivists of JharkhandMovement. He said that theJMM Governments in the pastdid not take any initiative topreserve tribal culture orempower the tribal communi-ty. “They only talk about trib-al uplift and rights. Paradox isthat they did nothing for thetribal community when theywere in power,” said Das.

Accusing the JMM ofdividing the people of state as‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, helashed out at Hemant Soren forhis alleged remarks on how theJMM was only relying on trib-al votes. “Such statements do

not suit a political party. We, inthe BJP, believe in holisticdevelopment and taking allthe 3.29 crore people ofJharkhand along with us in thepath of development,” Das said.

The Chief Minister saidthat women empowerment,preservation of the tribal cultureand livelihood were among thekey agenda of the BJP inJharkhand. The BJPGovernment, soon after comingto power in 2014, framed thelocal’s policy, which enabledthe recruitment of teachers inJharkhand schools, he added.“We have recruited 31,000 teach-ers to provide quality educationto the children of the State.

The BJP Government, hesaid, worked for betterment offarmers and brought schemesfor empowerment of girls.Schemes such as the LaxmiLadli Yojana and SukanyaYojana were supporting younggirls to aspire for their dreamjobs and ensuring a safe andsuccessful future for them, headded. The Government alsolaunched schemes to providefinancial assistance to nearly 35lakh farmers in Jharkhand.This scheme was over andabove the Centre’s welfareschemes for farmers.

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BJP executive president JPNadda on Sunday blasted

the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) and Congress claimingthat both the parties have loot-ed the tribals. Nadda whoreached State addressing pub-lic meeting at Chaibasa in sup-port of BJP candidate JB Tubidsaid that JMM and Congressalliance is unholy as their soleaim to grab the power. “Theseparties have nothing to dowith development of State.Their politics revolve aroundselfishness as both these partiespromote dynastic politics.”Nadda said. Questioning theCongress party, he said whenthe separate statehood move-ment was going on Congress isgiving firing orders on peoplewho demanded a separate state.

The BJP said that Congressand JMM have been doingpolitics in the name of tribalsfor a long time. But when itcame to the interest of tribals,they only shed crocodile’s tears.“These parties have not evengiven the rights to Backward asit was Prime Minister NarendraModi who had given the con-stitutional status to theBackward ClassesCommission,” added Nadda.

Indian soldiers had beendemanding One Rank-OnePension (OROP) for a longtime, but the Congress gov-ernment never took interest intheir demand, it was PrimeMinister Narendra Modi whogave the benefit of One Rank-One Pension to 22 lakh soldiersdisbursing �11,000 crore insoldiers account, he said.

Nadda said that the dreamof separate state of Jharkhandwas fulfilled by then PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayeeand the State’s development isbeing propelled by BJP’s dou-ble engine Government atCentre and State.

The BJP executive presi-dent, urging the people toreposed faith on BJP said, “Ingeneral election due to peoplesupport BJP was successful inwinning 12 of the 14 seats. InLok Sabha election, you gave 6lakh more votes to BJP than in2014.”

While the country pro-gressed under the leadership ofModi ji, the State is moving for-ward under the leadership of

Raghubar Das. Nadda said,“The biggest achievement ofRaghubar Das Government isthat there is not a single graftcharge against theGovernment. Das has given astable and strong Government.The myth that Jharkhand isknown for unstableGovernment with none of theChief Minister completing itsfull term has been broken, asBJP Government under theleadership of Raghubar Das hasnot given stable Governmentbut has led the Government tothe path of developments.”

Highlighting the achieve-ments of Raghubar DasGovernment, Nadda said thatthe under the Ujjwala scheme,around 8 crore poor womenhave been provided with gascylinders, out of which 33 lakhgas connections has been pro-vided in Jharkhand. “Modi jigave 1 cylinder free, but theRaghubar Das governmentgave 1 more cylinder free fromhis Government. This is thebenefit of double engineGovernment. The Governmentof double engine is that farm-ers are getting double benefitsof Prime Minister KisanSamman Yojana and ChiefMinister Krishi AashirwadYojana,” added Nadda.

Nadda said Jharkhand wasknown for Left WingExtremism (LWE) as it wasgetting patronage in previousGovernments. Today LWEmenace is ending its root. TheBJP Government is deter-mined to end Left WingExtremism. “During Congressregime, the state received�55,253 crore in the 13thFinance Commission. In 14thFinance Commission State isgetting 6 times more which isaround �3,31,518 crore forcarrying out developmentalworks,” added Nadda.

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Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) on Sunday said that

the party will perform well at allfour constituencies wherepolling was held on Saturday. Atthe same time, it claimed thatthe ruling Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) Government will beousted from the State this year.

Addressing a press meet onSunday JMM GeneralSecretary, Supriyo Bhattacharyasaid that out of total 13 seatswhere polling was held onSaturday, the Grand Alliance —under which JMM is contest-ing the State Assembly electionswith Congress and former Bihar Chief MinisterLalu Prasad Yadav ledRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)—will bag 11 seats.

At one or two seats thealliance candidates can bedefeated by other parties, but

not by BJP because the peopleof the State do not buy theclaim of the party that it hasended extremism from theState, he added.

“Voting trend of first phaseof polling displayed victoryfor the Grand Alliance candi-

dates and it will continue tillfifth phase. People of the Statevoted against misrule of BJPGovernment as the StateGovernment has done nothingin providing basic amenitieslike electricity, roads, bettereducation facility and health

services,” said Bhattacharya.The party General

Secretary also said that votershave voted against false state-ments given by BJP leaders onextremism that they haveended it from the State in lastfive years but the fact is that theflurry of incidents revealedthe truth that extremism is pre-vailing in the State.

Bhattacharya said thatfrom the first phase of pollingfor the State Assembly‘Raghubar Hatao JharkhandBachao’ (Remove Raghubarsave Jharkhand) drive started.

“A problem can’t be solvedon gun point. The StateGovernment thinks that itended extremism by puttingpressure over it but what hap-pened in Khunti where theGovernment had booked alarge numbers of people undersedition charges?” askedBhattacharya.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)Spokesperson Pratul

Shahdeo came down heavily onthe Congress party on Sundayover pistol brandishing by thelatter’s candidate in Daltonganjon Saturday. Shahdeo claimedthat the incident brought inter-national infamy and shame tothe political party that ruledIndia for 70 years.

“These Congress leadersshould have knowledge of basiclaw. 134(B) of theRepresentation of People’s Act1951 clearly states that apartfrom the returning officer, pre-siding officer or police officer,no other person can carry aweapon even near the pollingstation. Section two of 134 (b)states that if a person does so,he can be arrested and he canbe punished with imprison-ment up to 2 years and fine,”said Shahdeo.

The party Spokespersonsaid that the manner in whichCongress candidate and formerMinister KN Tripathi was try-ing to shoot at the unarmedmob shows the feudal tenden-cies of the Congress party. “Itshows that the Congress can goto any extent to win the elec-tion,” he added.

“Surprisingly the top lead-

ership of the Congress has notexpelled KN Tripathi from theparty so far. The Congressparty, which had always fol-lowed the principles ofMahatma Gandhi, has changeda lot in all these years. It hasnow become palpable,” saidShahdeo.

State General Secretary ofScheduled Tribes Front,Bindeshwar Oraon said that thetribal society has participatedin the first phase elections. Hesaid that the tribal communi-ty of the State is very happywith the work of BJP. TheGovernment has laid siege toSarna sites and other religiousplaces. State President ofMinority Front Sona Khansaid that the work done by theGovernment in 5 years hasbenefited all sections of thesociety. Minority communi-ties in the State have also ben-efited from the Government’swelfare schemes.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)national president Amit

Shah and former Congressnational president RahulGandhi are set to address ral-lies in Jharkhand on Mondayand likely to heat up the polit-ical battle in the State.

Addressing a Press meetat the party headquarter inthe State Capital on Sunday,Jharkhand PradeshCongress Committee(JPCC) Spokesperson,Alok Kumar Dubeysaid that Gandhiwill visit the Stateon Monday andwill address apublic meeting inSimdega in sup-port of the partycandidate. “RahulGandhi has spe-cial affection withthe Water, Forestand Land of theState. Farmers’ plight isin his priority, andthis is why our partyhas laid stress on

loan waiver in its manifesto.Gandhi’s visit to the State willenergise the workers of the

party,” said Dubey. BJP national president

Amit Shah will addressan election rally at11:00 am atChakradharpur and12:00 pm in Behragodain support of his partycandidates on Monday.It will be his third visitto Jharkhand duringthis year’s State

Assembly elections here. Apart from this, senior

leaders of both the parties willvisit the State in coming days.JPCC on Sunday announced

that INC General Secretary,Mukul Wasnik, senior partyleader, Jyotirditya Scindhiyaand the party Spokesperson,Manis Tiwary will visit the Statevery soon.

On the other hand, UnionMinister, Nitin Gadkari, Uttar Pradesh Deputy ChiefMinister, Keshav Maurya and BJP Delhi State Chief,Manoj Tiwari will address ral-lies here on Tuesday. UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath will also addressseveral election meetings inJharkhand. Adityanath willaddress a public meeting atGovindpur, Jugasalai at 11:30on Wednesday. Apart from

this, he will hold a meeting onthe day at Bagbeda Potka at 12:30 am and at Ichagarh at2:00 pm.

Gandhi, who had raisedslogans of ‘Chowkidar ChorHai’ during his last publicappearance in Simdega on May2 and projected the partyas custodian of tribal rights,has stayed away from the polit-ical happenings in Jharkhandsince.

Earlier, in the month ofMarch, he addressed a rallyin Ranchi’s MorhabadiGround and wonpublic applausefor shaking a leg ontribal beats.

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Popular social media plat-forms like YouTube have

given wings to a large numberof people to showcase their hid-den talent and also provided theworld with their daily dose ofentertainment. Once such exam-ple is of City based 33- year-oldNeha Kaur, who has been show-casing her singing talent on thesocial media platform for thepast two years now.

Kaur started her musicaljourney at the age of 12 and hasher own YouTube channel forover two years by the name of‘Neha Kaur’ with a fan follow-ing of about 9,300 subscribers.The singer released a song basedon Jharkhand on its 19thFoundation Day titled‘Jharkhand- Apni Pehchan-Apni Udaan’ which is an origi-nal and has received around1,70,000 views.

The music for the song hasbeen composed by Mumbai

based The Records House, whileSajal Kumar is the lyricist andPrakash Soni is the producer.The creative director for thesame is Kaur’s husband ShadabHassan.

“The idea to make a song onJharkhand had been brewing inmy mind for some time. I had

been working on it for the pastfew months and finally got theperfect occasion to release it onthe 19th Foundation Day,” saidthe ecstatic Kaur.

Some of the popular coversdone by Kaur include Teri Mitti,Naino se Bandhi and NachdiPhiran while the other originalsare Meri Maa released onMother’s Day and Aisi Yaari Kariwhich was released on friend-ship’s day.

The idea to create her ownYouTube channel struck Kaur ata family function. “It was at awedding in February 2017 whenwe were looking for a song forthe pre- wedding shoot. My hus-band randomly suggested cre-ating our own song for the cou-ple and since then I have beenat it. The proposal was good andcoincidently a friend- ParvezRahman Ali had already writtena song and was looking for afemale singer,” recalled Kaur.

An assistant professor in theMBA Department at Ranchi

Women’s College, Kaur has herhands full with a four- year oldtoddler and her profession butstill manages to find time for herpassion.

“It’s tough to balance fami-ly, profession and passion and Ikeep juggling between the three.I try and give my son as muchtime as possible and at timesrehearse my songs on my way toand from work or after I put himoff to sleep. My husband and Iprioritize each other’s work andshare the household responsi-bility. It is with his support thatI am able to do so much at thesame time,” added the singer.

Born and brought up inRanchi, Kaur who is a residentof Main Road did her schoolingfrom Bishop Westcott Girls’School and later DPS, Ranchi.She has an MBA degree fromBIT Mesra and is also a PhDfrom Ranchi University. Herparents Tajinder Singh andGurucharan Kaur are bothentrepreneurs.

“I have always seen my par-ents pushing themselves, readyto walk that extra mile with asmile on their faces. My moth-er wanted to learn singing butnever got the permission. She isboth my biggest supporter andalso my biggest critique.Whenever I record a song, sheis the first one to hear it. I feelshe is living her dream throughme,” she said.

Kaur’s husband ShadabHassan who is the Director ofHH High School, Brambe isproud of his wife’s achieve-ments. “With the professionthat Neha is in, it is amazing howshe balances it all. She makessure to do her bit of homeworkeveryday- reading researchpapers and preparing for thenext day’s lecture. Along withthat it is beautiful to see her final-ly pursuing her passion.Everytime she sings a song,somehow it makes me feelextremely special,” said thebeaming husband.

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Atwo-day seminar ‘JIMA-CON-2019’ was held on

Sunday under the aegis of theIndian Medical Association(IMA) at Shavak NanavatiTechnical Institute (SNTI) atBistupur in Jamshedpur.National Vice-President ofIMA from Ranchi, Dr AjayKumar Singh, Dr GD Banerjee,Dr Anant Sinha and DrTanmay Prasad specially par-ticipated in this programme.

Speaking on the occasion,Singh said the Governmentshould take more proactivesteps for the grand success ofthe Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Dr Anant Sinha ofDevkamal Hospital, who wasunanimously elected thePresident of Jharkhand andBihar Plastic SurgeonAssociation recently, while dis-cussing anti-biotic policy,advised the doctors to use lessanti-biotic and said that onlywhen necessary then the

patients should be given anti-biotic medicines. He informedthat he has invented a plan toprovide facility of plastic surgeryscheme for the poor and theneedy. Sinha also spoke aboutthe security of hospitals andclinics which is very necessary.

Addressing the gathering ofdoctors, working as PlasticSurgeon at Devkamal Hospital,Dr Tanmay Prasad presentedsome rare cases related to plas-tic surgery through presenta-tion and discussed it in detail.Praising Ayushman Bharat

Yojana, Prasad said that it is anextraordinary scheme launchedby the Centre Government andgiven unprecedented results tomany patients who have beentreated from DevkamalHospital under this scheme.

He said that now, thepatients don’t have to put theirland or property on mortgageto get high class treatment.Under the Governmentschemes like Ayushman Bharat,it is now possible to treat poorpatients for free of cost, headded.

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From ‘Nun roti khayenge,Modi ko jeetwayenge thik

hai’ — an improvisation ofpopular Bhojpuri singerKhesari Yadav’s Thik Hai song— to Santhali songs praisingDisom Guru Shibu Soren,candidates of political partiesin fray for the Assembly pollsare tuning in to voter’s heartsthrough jingles of popularsongs. JMM is also using titletrack of Mangal Pandey moviefor campaigning for itsJugsalai candidate MangalKalindi.

Parties have swung backto the old practice of cam-paigning on wheels in bothurban and rural areas of dif-ferent constituencies.

"We had to resort to cam-paigning by vehicles and pub-lic announcement system asthere was no other effectiveway for the campaigning left.

Wall-writings used to be aneffective media for the cam-paigning, but the districtadministration is keeping aclose vigilance against anysuch act," said a functionary ofJharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM).

Campaign vehicles withposters of the party leadersand candidates can be seenplaying jingles of popularSanthali, Hindi, Bhojpuri andNagpuria songs on the streetsof Jamshedpur.

“I think this is a bettermedium to attract voters. Thesongs have been prepared byour party state office in Ranchiand sung by local singers. Theyhave portrayed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s achievements.We have dedicated at least twovehicles in each of the assem-bly constituencies falling underJamshedpur seats,” said a BJPworker.

“Our youth leaderRamesh Hansdah has lined upa few jingles on popularSanthali film songs whichwould be used in our cam-paigning, especially in tribaldominated areas,” said theworker.

Jamshedpur parliamen-tary constituency has sixassembly constituencies —Jamshedpur East andJamshedpur West, Ghatshila,Baharagora, Potka andJugsalai — out of which bar-ring Jamshedpur East andWest, almost all other con-stituencies have sizeable num-ber of tribal voters.

JMM candidates are play-ing to their strength and havelined up Bangla and Santhalisongs. "We have introducedcampaigning on wheels at theurban areas of the con-stituency. Loud-speakers arefitted in every vehicle fromwhich we appeal to the votersto cast their votes in favour ofour candidates and also playjingles for attracting the vot-ers," said a JMM leader.

JMM has launched over adozen vehicles for campaign-ing in both the rural as well asurban areas. "We have putabout a dozen vehicles for thecampaigning to woo voters,and would increase the num-ber of such vehicles shortly,"said a functionary who islooking after the publicityaspect of the JMM's candidate.

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������������ ���������������-���������������� Indore: Police raided a night

club and other establishmentsof an Indore-based business-man in connection with theinfamous Madhya Pradeshhoney-trap case, and rescued67 women and seven children,officials said on Sunday.

The raids were carried outby police and Indore districtofficials on Saturday night atthe residence of the business-man Jitendra Soni, at the officeof an eveninger run by him,besides a hotel, a restaurant anda beer bar — all operated byhim, police said.

While Soni is on the run, his son Amit has beenarrested.

Police have registered fourseparate cases against Soni,Amit, and their associates.

The local eveninger, ofwhich Soni is the editor-in-chief, had reportedly publishedsome reports on the basis ofaudio-video clips purportedlyinvolving some influential peo-ple in connection with thehoney-trap racket.

The Indore Press Club andseveral other journalist organ-isations condemned the raid onthe eveninger's office, saying itwas aimed at "intimidating" thefourth pillar of democracy.Journalists took to social media

to denounce the action.The raids were conducted

on a complaint filed byHarbhajan Singh, suspendedsuperintendent engineer ofIndore Municipal Corporation(IMC), an official said. Singh isthe complainant in the honey-trap case.

"Following the raids, fourseparate FIRs were registered inas many local police stationsagainst Soni, his son Amit andpeople linked with them,"senior superintendent of police(SSP) Ruchi Vardhan Misratold PTI.

In his complaint, Singh

alleged that the owner of theevening newspaper (Soni) pub-lished objectionable materialagainst him through differentmediums of communicationsin infringement of his privacy,another official said, addingthat an FIR under Informationand Technology (IT) Act wasregistered in this connection.

The official said that dur-ing the raid conducted at thenight club run by Soni and hisfamily at Geeta Bhawan squareon Saturday night, 67 womenand seven children were res-cued. Some of the rescuedwomen belonged to WestBengal and Assam, who wereallegedly kept in poor condi-tion and made to work as bardancers.

An FIR was registeredunder IPC section 370 (pre-vention of human trafficking),the official said.

The rescued women havebeen given shelter and theirstatements were being record-ed, the official added.

During the raid conductedat Soni's house, police recov-ered 36 bullets and six used car-tridges. An FIR was registeredunder the Arms Act in thisconnection.

According to Misra, duringthe raid at the office of Soni's

media house, some electronicdevices were recovered andthree suspicious lockers weresealed.

However, she dismissedreports that the printing pressof the eveninger has beensealed.

According to the SSP, Sonihas also been booked underIPC section 188 (disobedienceto order duly promulgated bypublic servant) for not passingon the information to localpolice about his staffers hiredin the beer bar.

Further investigation intothe case is on, the officialadded. In September this year,five women and a man werearrested from Indore andBhopal for allegedly runningthe honey-trap and blackmail-ing racket.

The racket was busted afterHarbhajan Singh approachedthe police, claiming he wasbeing blackmailed over someobjectionable video clips by theaccused who were trying toextort about �3 crore fromhim. The accused - Aarti Dayal(29), Monika Yadav (18),Shweta Vijay Jain (39), ShwetaSwapnil Jain (48), Barkha Soni(34) and Omprakash Kori (45)- are currently in judicial cus-tody. PTI

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�� ��������7&�8����!���'��-��������9:�,�&��New Delhi: The Congress onSunday took a swipe at India'aapex anti-corruption bodyLokpal over reports that it is pay-ing �50 lakh every month in rentto Ashoka Hotel, asking if it is"lokpal or jokepal".

The Opposition party alsoalleged that till October 31,2019, 1,116 corruption com-plaints were received but pre-liminary inquiry was not start-ed in anyone. "Lokpal orJokepal? �50 lakh month hoteloffice Cost! The hotel itself hasbeen an office for sevenmonths," Congress' chiefspokesperson Ran deepSurjewala said. "Till October 31,2019, 1,116 corruption com-plaints were received but pre-liminary inquiry was not start-ed in anyone," he said. Did theBJP-backed Lokpal movementhappen to witness all this,Surjewala asked. Surjewala alsotagged a media report whichclaimed that in the absence of apermanent office in the nation-al Capital, Lokpal, set up to lookinto complaints against publicservants, pays a monthly rent of�50 lakh to Government-ownedHotel Ashoka for the officespace it occupies in the five-starluxury hotel. PTI

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Jabalpur (MP): A notice torecover loan dues totalling Rs42.22 lakh from two sons ofMadhya Pradesh AssemblySpeaker Narmada PrasadPrajapati was published by abank on Sunday.

Speaker Prajapati is a guar-antor in two separate loanaccounts for his sons — Neerand Preetiraj.

The bank accounts wereclassified as non-performingassets (NPAs) by the AllahabadBank branch in Narsinghpurdistrict of Madhya Pradesh.

As per the recovery noticepublished in a newspaper onSunday, Neer has loan out-standing of �21.54 lakh andPreetiraj owes �20.68 lakh tothe bank.

The bank had issued noticesto the brother duo on August 13and October 10 this year askingthem to deposit the pendingdues, and granted them 60-daytime to oblige. PTI

6������� �������������� 2���������������)������< Nagpur: A sub-adult tiger trav-

elled more than 1300 kmsspanning six districts inMaharashtra and Telanganabefore reaching theDnyanganga sanctuary inBuldhana district ofMaharashtra, a forest officialsaid on Sunday.

It took nearly 150 days forthe radio-collared tiger, TWLS-T1-C1 to reach the new terri-tory from its birth palce,Tipeshwar tiger reserve inYavatmal district, also inMaharashtra.

The TWLS-T1-C1 had leftthe Tipeshwar sanctuary inJune 2019, stated a press releaseissued by Ravikiran, FieldDirector, Pench Tiger Reserve.

The T1-C1 was born inTipeshwar to resident TWLS-T1 somewhere in late 2016.The tiger has two male siblingsC2 and C3, who all got sepa-rated during early 2019, it said.

As a part of a long-termtiger monitoring and dispersalstudies, C1 was radio-collared

on March 27, 2019 by theteam of WII, Dehradun.

"The purpose of the studywas to monitor the dispersalpattern of the sub-adults whichare normally in the process ofexploring new area to set uptheir territory. C-3 was alsoradio collared. After initialmovements inside Tipeshwar,C3 and C1 started exploringadjoining Pandharkawda divi-sion and bordering Telanganaarea.

"In mid-July, 2019, C3migrated to Telangana andwent very close upto Adilabadtown, but instead of settlingdown there, the tiger returnedback to Tipeshwar within aboutten days and settled now inTipeshwar," said Ravikiran,Field Director, Pench TigerReserve. He said the C1 tigerhad entered Adilabad divisionthrough Ambadi ghat andKinwat forests after crossingthe Pandharkawda division.

"It spent considerable timeacross inter-state forests of

Adilabad andNanded divisionsduring August and September.C1 subsequently enteredPainganga sanctuary for a briefperiod. Afterwards, in OctoberC1 moved out and went toPusad division and then Isapursanctuary. In the last week ofOctober, 2019, C1 enteredHingoli district of Marathwada.

From Hingoli, C1 enteredWashim district before reach-ing Buldhana late last monththrough Akola division.

"After reaching close toChikhali and Khamgaon onDecember 1, the tigerhas final-ly made its way into anotherwell-managed DnyangangaSanctuary," as per the release.

Field Director, MelghatTiger Reserve,M SReddy hasconfirmed that the satellitelocation obtained is inside theDnyangangasanctuary, a well-managed wildlife area with thegood prey base.

The tigeris just about 50km from Melghat landscape,Reddy said. PTI

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The day of Delhi Police TrafficInspector Rajendra Prasad

begins at 4 am and the first thinghe does is to brief his staff abouttheir responsibilities of the dayon a messaging group. Prasadleaves no stone unturned in hisarea, the Patel Nagar division, toensure smooth traffic flow.

The Pioneer team ofreporters — in collaborationwith Hyundai India’s “Be TheBetter Guy” initiative, wherepeople are urged to be betterpersons on the road by follow-ing traffic rules — spent a daywith Prasad and his team at MotiNagar Chowk, one of the busiesttraffic junctions in West Delhi.

On the third day afterwatching the men and women

who keep our roads congestion-free, we spoke to the trafficpolice about how difficult is a jobof managing traffic while stand-

ing on the junctions and on theroads. The team also askedabout the impact of the job ontheir personal lives.

“Everyone has a perceptionthat traffic police don’t do any-thing but it is one of the mostdifficult jobs of the police forceas we are not only trained to bephysically fit but also emotion-ally fit. We have to stand andserve the people in day, night,rain or wind facing heavy pol-lution. We have to deal with allkinds of people, very often theyare angry, rude and upset, pos-sibly even sad,” said the trafficinspector.

While the traffic police per-sonnel were explaining abouttheir jobs and personal lives, aman on a scooter jumped thered light. The man was askedabout the document and he gavean excuse, “this scooty belongsto my daughter”. The man didnot have any document follow-ing which a challan was issued.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Sunday

said Pakistan Railway MinisterSheikh Rashid’s disclosure thatKartarpur Corridor was thebrainchild of their Army ChiefGeneral Qamar Javed Bajwa hadexposed Islamabad’s “nefariousintent” behind the initiative.

Capt Amarinder, at thesame time, urged his fellow par-tyman and Congress MLANavjot Singh Sidhu to “exercisecaution” in dealings with thePakistan Government and notlet his friendship with theirPrime Minister Imran Khancloud his judgment.

Expressing serious concernover Pakistan Minister’s admis-sion, the Chief Minister said in

validating his (Capt Amarinder)stand on the issue, “Rashid hascompletely bared the wickeddesign of Pakistan behind thecorridor, which India has hopedwould emerge as a bridge ofpeace between the countries.”

Taking strong exception toRashid’s remarks that “thecorridor would hurt India,which would forever remem-ber the wound inflicted on itby Gen Bajwa with theKartarpur Corridor”, CaptAmarinder termed it as “anopen and blatant threat againstIndia’s security and integrity”.He warned Pakistan not toattempt to indulge in any mis-adventure against its neigh-bour. “Don’t make the mistakeof reading weakness in ourgratitude for the opening of

the corridor,” he warnedasserting that India wouldgive a befitting response to anybid by Pakistan to attack itsborders or its people.Declaring that India wouldnever let Pakistan fulfill itsdespicable ambitions against it,Capt Amarinder said that anysuch attempt by Islamabadwould be met with retaliationof the kind that they wouldnever be able to survive.

Capt Amarinder recalledthat he had all along maintainedthat while he was extremelyhappy, as a Sikh, at the openingof the Corridor to enable accessto Indian devotees to the his-toric Kartarpur Gurdwara, thethreat it posed to our countrycould not be ignored. The ChiefMinister had, in fact, been

repeatedly urging caution overthe matter, warning thatPakistan was trying to win thesympathies of the Sikhs byopening the corridor to furtherthe ISI-backed Referendum2020 agenda. “This has beenquite evident from various facts,most notably that Bajwa haddisclosed the Pakistani decisionto build the Corridor to thenPunjab Minister Navjot SinghSidhu at the time of ImranKhan’s swearing-in ceremony,”said the Chief Minister.

“Imran had not even takenover then, yet their Army Chiefhad spoken about this to Sidhu.How was it possible unlessBajwa was the one behind theCorridor decision,” asked CaptAmarinder, recalling that he hadpointed this out long back.

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From Page 1Later at a meeting meeting

with the employees ofTelangana State RoadTransport Corporation, Raoreferred to the incident andsuggested women employees ofthe corporation should not beput on night duties, addinghumans with an animal men-tality were roaming around inthe society.State IT Minister KT Rama Rao, son of the chiefminister, on Sunday urgedPrime Minister NarendraModi to amend IPC and CrPCso as to provide for capitalpunishment to perpetrators ofcrimes against women andchildren.

“Amend the Indian PenalCode (IPC) & Code of CriminalProcedure (CRPC) so anyonewho commits such a heinous actof violence on our women &children are given capital pun-ishment without delay & NOoption for review. Time has

come to amend archaic portionsof our Acts & Laws Sir,” RamaRao, also the TRS working pres-ident, said in a series of tweets.

The incident that broughtback painful memories of the2012 Nirbhaya case had its echoat a gathering of leaders of var-ious faiths who participated ina conclave on the importanceand relevance of Hindus’ holybook Gita in Delhi.

From Ram temple activistSadhvi Rithambara to head ofAll India Imam OrganisationUmer Ahmed Ilyasi, variousreligious leaders besides unionministers condemned the bar-baric crime in strong words.

Speaking at the same event,Bhagwat, citing the Gita, said ittalks about Karma and the soci-ety needs to respect women forits uplift.

“There can’t be any com-promise with their respect anddignity. The government hasmade strict laws in this regard

and they should be implement-ed. The lacklustre approach ofadministration on safety ofwomen won’t be accepted,” hesaid.

Protests over the incidentcontinued in Hyderabad onSunday with former CongressMP V Hanumantha Rao leadinga candle light march at NecklaceRoad near the Hussain Sagarlake in the city.

At the colony of thedeceased veterinary doctor atShamshabad, angry neighbourslocked the main gate and heldaloft placards that read NoMedia, No Police, No Outsiders,- No sympathy, only action, jus-tice.

Condemning the incident,a woman asked why Rao hadnot reacted to the incident,which occurred on Thursday.

Police have said they nabbedthe four accused who have con-fessed to their crime. Why is theChief Minister not ensuring

quick justice?. Why is the sametreatment not being meted outto them (accused) for what theyhave done to the girl?” sheasked.

Another woman sought toknow why the Prime Ministerhas not yet tweeted on the inci-dent.

Speaking to reporters aftermeeting the family, Balyan said:“I will try to discuss with thePrime Minister about the inci-dent.The family, you, me and allof us want justice and speedyjustice... This is the assurance Igave to the family (of the vet-erinarian).”

The Minister of State forAnimal Husbandry Dairyingand Fisheries said he would meetthe Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner also and press forensuring speedy justice.

Meanwhile, a police officialon Sunday said they planned tofile a petition in court seekingthe custody of the four accused

for further interrogation.“It (custodial interrogation)

may be done in the jail itself,” thesenior official told PTI.

The four accused have beenkept in solitary confinement inhigh-security cells intheCherlapally Central Prisonhere and put under heightenedsurveillance to ensure their safe-ty, a senior jail official said.

Protests were held inHyderabad and various otherplaces in Telangana against theincident on Saturday, with theanguished citizens demandingthat the accused be handed outthe stringent punishment ofdeath penalty.

Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner V C Sajjanar ina release said the victim’s realname should not be used inmedia and social media andrequested them to refer to her as“#Justice for Disha” to protectanonymity/ confidentiality andthe rights of the victim’s family.

From Page 1However, the trust has

weakened after the SC verdict onAyodhya,” AIMPLB GeneralSecretary Maulana WaliRahmani told media.

Asked about the suggestionthat the decades-long disputeshould end after the SC judg-ment, Rahmani said, “They arethose who did not have anyinterest in the mosque. They livein fear and want others to do so.Intellectuals raise this issue butthey did not have any practicalscheme to resolve issues of theMuslim community. Theyshould be asked what they havedone for the community.”

Terming the decision ofAIMPLB and the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind to seek a reviewof the recent Ayodhya verdict as“double standard”, Sri Sri saidHindus and Muslims shouldmove on and work towardsstrengthening the economy. “YesI am happy with the Ayodhyaverdict. I have been telling thissince 2003 that both communi-

ties can work on it... Buildmandir on one side and masjidon the other. But yeh zidd kimasjid wahi banana hai ka koimatlab nahi tha (stubbornnessto build mosque at the disput-ed site was meaningless),” saidSri Sri in Kolkata on the sidelinesof an event. A special Bench ofthe Supreme Court, in its unan-imous verdict on November 9,cleared the way for the con-struction of a Ram Temple at thedisputed site at Ayodhya anddirected the Centre to allot afive-acre plot to the Sunni WaqfBoard for building a mosque.The Jamiat said last week thatthe draft of the review petitionagainst the recent verdict wasready and the plea would be filedon December 3 or 4.

Criticising the two Muslimorganisations, Sri Sri said, “Thedouble standard is obvious.Earlier they had said they wouldaccept the verdict, even if it goesagainst their interests. Now theyare saying something different.”The 63-year-old spiritual guru,

however, asserted that Ayodhyaissue should “not be mixed up”with that of the GyanvapiMosque in Varanasi and KrishnaJanambhoomi in Mathura, twoother disputed sites.

Slamming the AIMPLB andthe Jamiat, Naqvi said, “They aretrying to create an atmosphereof division and confrontationwhich will not be accepted byany society.” Naqvi said for theMuslims the important issue isnot just “Babri (mosque) butbarabri (equality)” in the areasof education and economic andsocial upliftment.

“These isolated voices can-not be that of the whole society.The feeling of all sections of soci-ety is that this matter has beensettled by the court and weshould now accept it and moveforward. If they (AIMPLB andJamiat) were so serious why didthey not agree to a compromisewhen the court earlier had askedthem to solve the matter throughdialogue,” the senior BJP leadersaid.

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Hari Mohan on Sunday tookcharge as Chairman,

Ordnance Factory Board(OFB) from Saurabh Kumarwho superannuated from theservice. A 1982-batch IndianOrdnance Factories' Service(I.O.F.S.) officer with PostGraduate Degree inMechanical Engineering,Mohan had been a topper ofUniversity of Allahabad &University of Pune whileobtaining his Bachelor &Masters in MechanicalEngineering. He holds an M.Phil in Public Administration.

In a career spanning 39years, Hari Mohan has con-tributed significantly in variouspositions in Bharat HeavyElectricals Limited (BHEL)Hardwar, Vehicle FactoryJabalpur, Engine Factory Avadi,Heavy Vehicle Factory Avadi,Ammunition Factory Khadki,Ordnance Factory Bolangir,Ordnance Factory Chanda,Ordnance Factory Dehu Road,OFB New Delhi Office andMinistry of Steel & Mines.

The I.O.F.S. officer has aversatile experience in the

field of manufacture ofarmoured vehicles, artillery,tank and ammunition, smallarms ammunition, projectsmanagement and corporategovernance, among otherareas.

He has made significantcontributions in improving theproduction of armoured fight-ing vehicles like Ajeya tanks,Arjun main battle tank(MBT),bridge layer and trawls tanks.He has also made significantcontribution to the moderni-sation of steel plants of the SteelAuthority of India limited(SAIL) during his tenure inMinistry of Steel & Mines.

Hari Mohan has held var-ious senior positions as General

Manager, Dehu Road (Pune,Senior General Manager,Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi(HVF, Chennai). He was alsoawarded the 'Ayudh Ratna'award in 2018 for his servicesat the HVF. Before taking overas DGOF and Chairman, hewas holding charge as Memberof the OFB and was in chargeof the Weapons, Vehicles andEquipment (WV&E) divisionof the OFB.

He takes over reins of theOFB, which has more than 40factories all over the country, ata time when the armed forcesneed modern and state of theart weapons. His main chal-lenge will be to deliver theseweapons without delay andcost overruns besides main-taining the pace of modern-ization of the OFB.

The Indian OrdnanceFactories organisation pos-sesses the unique distinction ofover 200 years experience indefence production. The OFBis engaged in production, test-ing, logistics, research, devel-opment and marketing of acomprehensive product rangein the area of land, sea and airsystems.

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Congress on Sunday accusedthe BJP-led Government of

giving “special treatment” toprivate players in the telecomsector at the cost of public sec-tor entities and asked the PrimeMinister if the ruling partyreceived benefits in terms ofelectoral bonds from them.

The party slammed theGovernment for the increase inmobile data and call chargesannounced by the cellphonecompanies. The party alsoalleged that it is with the con-sent of the Government thatcellphone companies are rob-bing the common people oftheir money. Congress alsoalleged that concessions aregiven to the telecom serviceproviders because of electoralbonds and the BJP ledGovernment should comeclean into it.

Addressing media persons,Congress spokesperson Pawan

Khera alleged public sectorcompanies like BSNL andMTNL, which were makingprofits under the previous UPA1 and 2 Governments, werenow running at losses while theGovernment is promoting andgiving relief to private sectorcompanies.

"Why are you meting outstep-motherly treatment topublic sector companies andthis special treatment to privatesector undertakings. I want toask Modi ji if his party receivedbenefits in terms of electoralbonds from the latter," Kherasaid.

His remarks come in thebackdrop of telecom companiesVodafone-Idea and BhartiAirtel announcing on Sundayincreases in rates of their mobilephone network services.

Khera alleged that BSNLand MTNL were making aprofit of over �7,000-plus croreunder UPA 1 and 2 but wererunning losses of over �11,000

crore for the past five years."You deliberately allowed them(public sector companies) tobleed to death," Khera said.

"Look at the efforts to sellBPCL, Container Corporationof India, Shipping Corporationof India. They also took moneyfrom the capital reserves of theRBI and they are out to sellMaharatna companies of India.So the strategy towards publicsector of this Government isthat if there is a profit-makingcompany, try and reduce itsprofit, if you fail in that case sellit," he alleged.

Questioning the intentionof the Government, theCongress spokesperson said,"There has to be a quid pro quo.Why would a government goout of its way to destroy theprofit-making public sectorcompanies and try maximizingthe profits of private sectorscompanies? At the end of theday we end up paying for thesestunts."

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Senior Congress leader andformer Rajya Sabha member

Janardan Dwivedi on Sundayshared the dais with RSS chiefMohan Bhagwat and SadhviRithambra during an eventhere related to the holy bookBhagwat Gita.

Dwivedi, a former generalsecretary of the party, was sit-ting in the front row along withBhagwat, Union MinisterSmriti Irani, Ram templeactivist Sadhvi Rithambra andother spiritual leaders. Theconference on the Gita is beingheld at the Red Fort.

While Dwivedi clarifiedthat he came to the event in“individual capacity” and not asa Congress leader, and that hewas invited, Congress down-played his presence with BJPand RSS leaders saying thatBhawgat Gita belongs to all.

Dwivedi spoke at lengthabout his duties to perform puja

and how he believes that at thecore of the freedom struggle isthis Hindu scripture. “Gita maybe scripture to all but for me, itis my mother. It is LordKrishna’s life,” stated Dwivedi.

When asked aboutCongress leader Rahul Gandhi'sviews about RSS and his shar-ing stage with RSS chief,

Dwivedi said, "Gita is way of lifeand not religion. This has noth-ing to do with being secular."Responding to his absence fromcentral election committeemeetings, Dwivedi said notattending the meetings is hispersonal and individual choice.

At the event, Bhagwatstressed upon educating men

on how to treat women."Government has made thelaws, it has to be implementedproperly. Not everything can beleft on administration. Menneed to be educated on how totreat women," the RSS chiefsaid.

Congress on its part saidthat people of all faith and reli-gion irrespective of their polit-ical ideologies participate insuch events which are pillar ofIndian culture.

"Does the Bhagwad Gitabelongs only to MohanBhagwat and his organisation?We breath the same air asMohan Bhagwat breath, doesthat mean we are sharing some-thing or we share the views ofMohan Bhagwat, I don't under-stand this question. It is so hap-pens that if they are celebratingBhagwad Gita, people from dif-ferent ideologies has everyright to attend such functionsand I don't see anything wrongin that," AICC spokesmanPawan Khera said.

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Minister of State (MoS) forHRD on Sunday inaugu-

rated the India Pavilion at theInternational Book Fair atGuadaljara, Mexico. India is the'Guest of Honour Country' inthis book fair, and it is the firstAsian country to have receivedthis honour, according to a Pressstatement by Dhotre’s office.

This fair, which is calledFeria Internacional del Libro deGuadaljara in Spanish, is thebiggest book fair in the Spanish-speaking world. National BookTrust, an autonomous bodyunder HRD Ministry is partic-ipating as nodal agency of theGovt of India in the book fair.

Dhotre highlighted the deepliterary connection between Indiaand Mexico and referred to thelegendry Mexican poet NobelLaureate Octavio Paz's first visitto India in 1952 who wrotepoems on Vrindavan, Shiva-Parvati, and on Amir Khusro.

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Pratap Das Manikpur, wholives in Indira leprosy

Colony, Janjgir Champa inChattisgarh, one of the largestleprosy settlements in thecountry has successfully con-quered the disease after takingMDT (Multi-Drug Therapy)course. But tackling the stigmaassociated with the cripplingdisease was not easy for him.

So, four years ago, when healong with his colony mateswere approached by theSasakawa-India LeprosyFoundation(S-ILF), offeringfund for the business theywould like to opt for livelihood,he was apprehensive. “Thefund had to be returned. Wewere not sure if we would be

able to do earn on our own,given that we had been intobegging all these years.”

However, the S-ILF Stateleader Vijay Masih motivatedthem to take up the DJ project-music and tent services. Masihexplains, "There are around 37colonies in the State. Wethought to catering to theevents like marriages, birthdaysand other gatherings in thesecohorts. The results were pos-itive."

Hence, what was initiallyrestricted within the commu-nity, the Indira Colony DJSound services comprised of 12members has gradually spreadits wings.

"Contrary to our expecta-tions, we are now getting ordersfrom outside our colonies as

well Our competitive ratescoupled with increasing aware-ness about the disease, hashelped us," smiles Das whonow leads the group. Clearly,societal attitude towards theleprosy is changing, though ata snail pace.

"Also, earlier marriageswere restricted within the lep-rosy colonies but now our kidsare getting matrimonial pro-posals from outside thecolonies too and vice versa,"said Das who was in thenational capital to attend anevent organised by the S-ILF torecognize their efforts.

Today the DJ group hasexpanded, providing cateringservices too, taken care bywomen members. "We are nowplanning to venture into tent

services also. Ultimate aim is tobecome an event managementcompany-providing allmusic/tent/ catering and foodservices under one platform,"says Das whose group is com-prised of his brethrenChhatram, Moharmati,

Pradeep, Dukhi ram,Shakuntala Dashmukh,R ameshwari ,Budhiyar in,Rajkumar, Janta Lal andGaneshu. Empathy budgetsempathy :a portion of the earn-ing is kept to meet the medicalneeds of the elders in the

colonies.Similar is the story of lep-

rosy-cured Anita and her gangrunning vegetable and paddycultivation project, an allwomen venture, in Janjgir-Champa in Chhattisgarh.

The group comprised ofAnju Kevat, Sarasvati Gond,Savannah Bai, Ram Bai, RitaPatel, Santosho Satnami andRamsheela Bai has taken onlease four acres of land in theregion where they onceworked as labourers. S-ILFextended helping hand by pro-viding fund to the tune of�2,21,000.

As intelligent farmers, theall-women group has optedfor cultivating a variety ofcrops to minimize the risk offlood and silting. They ensured

that all the land was fully cul-tivated in all season. Thoughthey did most of the workthemselves they have hiredlabourers during the peak sea-son. Their dream is to cultivatetheir own land one day, sharedAnita.

Thousands kilometer awayfrom Anita's home,Bharatamma and her group--VJ Vejibabu, A Shanker Rao, SSatyanarayana, A Subba Rao, DSubba Rao, K Rajya Lakhsmi,K Mani and K Kumaritoo arebusy scripting similar successstory in Kakinada in AndhraPradesh with financial sup-port of �1,33,000 from the S-ILF. Her business partners havenow quit begging.

Bharatamma was affectedby the disease when she was in

her teens and at a time whenstigmatisation of lepers was atits peak. But it was past.Thanks to the S-ILF that, todayher group's annual earningstands around �65,000, shebeams.

"The 'Rising to Dignity'awards aims to recognize theefforts of the persons affectedwith the disease and encourageothers to follow the suite, saysVineeta Shanker from the S-ILF.

The idea is to encouragethem to quit begging andengage into dignified means ofincome generation. Awarenessand early detection is key toending the prevalence of thedreaded disease. Presentlyabout 1.3 lakh people areafflicted with leprosy, she says.

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The Border Security Force(BSF) is working on tech-

nical solutions to combat thethreat of rogue drones alongthe India-PakistanInternational Border, BSF ChiefVivek Johri said on Sunday atthe Force's 55th Raising Dayhere.

Apart from detection ofarms dropping by Pakistanidrones in Punjab, the BSF alsosaid Islamabad has stepped upefforts to infiltrate terrorists intoIndia especially after the bifur-cation of J&K in August this year.

Johri also said that the forcehas expanded its "strategic capa-bilities" by using new technol-ogy and intelligence to guard theover 6,386 km long borders withPakistan and Bangladesh.

Addressing the Raising Dayevent of the force at a BSF camphere, the BSF Director Generalsaid the Line of Control (Loc)in Kashmir and theInternational Border in Punjab

have become "operationallysensitive" in recent times.

"We have received reportsabout the activity of dronesalong the western border front(along Pakistan) in the recentpast and we are working ontechnical solutions and takingimportant steps to tackle thisissue," he said, adding anti-

India forces are continuouslytrying to infiltrate across theborder and the BSF is alert "alltimes" to thwart these bids.

The about 2.5 lakh per-sonnel strong BSF was raised onthis day in 1965 and is primar-ily tasked to guard the India andPakistan borders apart fromrendering a variety of roles in

the internal security domain. On August 5, the Centre

had abrogated Article 370 of theConstitution that gave specialstatus to the erstwhile State ofJ&K and bifurcated it into UnionTerritories of Jammu-Kashmirand Ladakh which came intoexistence on October 31.

Addressing the event,

Union Minister Nityanand Raisaid anti-India forces wantingto create trouble in Kashmirvalley, post the abrogation ofArticle 370, have not been suc-cessful because of a strongsecurity shield created by forceslike the BSF.

The Minister said the BSFis continuously thwarting infil-tration and smuggling bidsalong the border areas as ene-mies of the country are tryingto "destabilise" the environmentin these areas. "Recent deci-sions (abrogation of Article370) have led to positive devel-opments in Jammu-Kashmirbut anti-national forces want tocreate trouble in Kashmir val-ley. "But BSF is standing like animpregnable wall against suchattempts and is continuouslyfoiling such bids," the UnionMinister of State for Home said.

Because of the BSF's effec-tive vigil, nefarious elementsthink thousand times beforeattempting anything, Raiadded.

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Japan on Sunday said itlooked at the situation in

Kashmir “very carefully” andhoped that a peaceful resolu-tion to the issue will be foundthrough dialogue. The com-ments by a spokesperson of theJapanese Foreign Ministrycomes a day after India andJapan held their first 2+2 for-eign and Defence Ministerialdialogue under a new frame-work to further strengthentheir strategic ties.

“I do not remember theMinisters going into thedetailed discussion on the spe-cific issue,” Deputy PressSecretary in Japan’s Ministry ofForeign Affairs Atsushi Kaifutold here reporters on a ques-tion if Kashmir issue figured inthe talks.

“But at the same time, I can

say we looked at the situationthere very carefully.

We are aware of the long-standing differences of viewswith regard to Kashmir. Wehope a peaceful resolution willbe found through dialogue," hesaid.

Asked about uncertaintyover the Japan-backed bullettrain project from Mumbai toAhmedabad after a newGovernment came to power inMaharashtra, the spokespersonsaid officials of both the coun-tries are working on it and thatchallenges do occur in largeprojects.

In a joint statement onSaturday, India and Japan hadasked Pakistan to take "resoluteand irreversible" action againstterror infrastructure operat-ing from its soil and specificallycalled upon Islamabad to "fullycomply "with its international

commitments to deal with ter-rorism including the steps pre-scribed by the Financial ActionTask Force , the global anti-ter-ror financing watchdog.

To a question on China'sgrowing assertiveness in thedisputed South China Sea,Kaifu said freedom of naviga-tion and over flight must beensured in the region. He alsoasserted that Japan does notcompromise on security andmaritime issues.

"Japan and China now havea lively relationship, but we donot compromise on security and maritime issuesincluding on the South ChinaSea," he said, adding that Japanhas been trying to engageChina in various ways andboth countries are working ona bilateral visit by ChinesePresident Xi Jinping to Japannext year.

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Trial court in New Delhi hasslammed the CBI for not

producing DefenceProcurement Manual 2006after many repeated orders inTatra Trucks purchasing scan-dal case. The court also pulledup the Defence Ministry fornon-cooperation with theprobe agency. Special JudgePulastya Pramachala orderedCBI’s Joint Director to submita report on this regard byJanuary 14, expressing CBI’sattitude in the probe.

"The report filed by theHIO(Head InvestigatingOfficer) today shows that CBIhas now literally surrendered,as far as obtaining this manu-al, which was relevant at the rel-evant time, is concerned.Therefore, I need to know thestand of CBI in respect of theaforesaid question raised byme. A specific report in respectof aforesaid question shall befiled on the ext date. Copy ofthis Order be handed over toHIO, who shall deliver it uponconcerned Joint Director and itis expected that a completeinquiry shall be made by

responsible officers before fil-ing any report to this court."Court said in its Order onNovember 26.

The Judge observedunhappiness over the lack-adaisical attitude of CBI indecades long purchase of TatraTrucks for Indian Armythrough controversial firmVectra Group, promoted byRavi Rishi and SanjayBhandari. "This is a bit sur-prising and shocking to see thatCBI has completed investiga-tion even without laying handover such manual, so as tomake the relevant assessment,"said the Judge.

CBI filed FIR in the case in2012 after the revelation of thenArmy Chief General VK Singhon the bribe offer of Rs.14 croreto him by Lt.General TejinderSingh(retired) for clearing theTatra Trucks purchase files.Arms dealers Ravi Rishi andPSU BEML's CMD NNatarajan were accused in thecase. But in August 2014 CBIsubmitted closure report inthe case. However , the Courthas not yet approved CBI's clo-sure report and sought manyclarifications from CBI.

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To reach out to the Peopleliving with HIV (PLHIV)

who are yet to be diagnosedand get treatment, the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)has issued new recommenda-tions including a standard HIVtesting strategy using threeconsecutive reactive tests toprovide an HIV positive diag-nosis and HIV self-testing tobring them under lifesavingcare. The are atleast 8.1 millionPLHIV who remain undiag-nosed.

The new recommenda-tions also include a range ofinnovative approaches torespond to contemporaryneeds. Previously, most highburden countries were usingtwo consecutive tests. The newapproach of using three testscan help countries achievemaximum accuracy in HIVtesting.

"The face of the HIV epi-demic has changed dramati-cally over the past decade," saidWHO Director-General DrTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusin a statement here recently."More people are receivingtreatment than ever before,

but too many are still not get-ting the help they need becausethey have not been diagnosed."

Echoing similar concerns,Dr. Harsh Vardhan, UnionMinister of Health at an eventcelebrating the World AIDSDay on Sunday said, "while wehave travelled a long distancein our fight against AIDS andHIV, there are still some sig-nificant milestones that need tobe achieved for making thecountry free of HIV AIDS by2030, such as the lingeringpockets of stigma and dis-crimination against those whohave or have had AIDS."

The WHO has also rec-ommended social network-based HIV testing to reach keypopulations, who are at highrisk but have less access to ser-vices. These include men whohave sex with men, peoplewho inject drugs, sex workers,transgender population andpeople in prisons.

These "key populations" andtheir partners account for over 50per cent of new HIV infections.

The use of peer-led, inno-vative digital communicationssuch as short messages andvideos can build demand- andincrease uptake of HIV testing,

said the WHO. Using HIV/syphilis dual

rapid tests in antenatal care asthe first HIV test can helpcountries eliminate mother-to-child transmission of bothinfections. The move can helpclose the testing and treat-ment gap and combat the sec-ond leading cause of stillbirthsglobally. More integratedapproaches for HIV, syphilisand hepatitis B testing is alsoencouraged, said the WHO.

"Saving lives from HIVstarts with testing," says DrRachel Baggaley, WHO's Teamlead for HIV Testing,Prevention and Populations."These new recommendationscan help countries to acceler-ate their progress and respondmore effectively to the chang-ing nature of their HIV epi-demics."

At the end of 2018, therewere 37.9 million people withHIV worldwide. Of these, 79per cent had been diagnosed,62 per cent were on treatment,and 53 per cent had reducedtheir HIV levels through sus-tained treatment, to the pointat which they have substantiallyreduced risk of transmittingHIV.

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Congress leader and “MahaVikas Aghadi” (MVA)

nominee Nana Patole was onSunday elected unopposed asthe Maharashtra AssemblySpeaker, after the BJP withdrewits candidate Kisan Kathorefrom the poll fray.

The BJP’s decision to pullout of the Speaker’s electioncame an hour ahead of theSpeaker’s election, after theMVA leaders met former ChiefMinister and senior BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis and request-ed him follow the tradition —of not having an election for thepost of Speaker — established inthe House and withdraw hisparty’s candidate from the fray.

Announcing his party’sdecision to withdraw its candi-date from the Speaker’s election,BJP leader Chandrakant Patilsaid: “At the meeting heldbetween the MVA leaders andFadnavis this morning, both theruling front and BJP agreed thatthe Speaker’s position is a neu-tral one and it should not miredin a controversy by seeking anelection for the post. The twodecided to continue with ourgood tradition of avoiding elec-tions to the Speaker’s post that

the Maharashtra Assembly hasbeen following over the decades.

Hence, we have decided towithdraw our candidate KisanKathore’s nomination from theSpeaker’s poll fray”. When theHouse met at 11 am, ProtemSpeaker Dilip Walse-Patilannounced that after the with-drawal of the BJP’s from the fray,Patole had been elected unop-posed as the Speaker of the State Assembly.

Congratulating Patole onhis unanimous election as theAssembly Speaker, ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeraysaid he was happy that a personfrom a farmer’s family hadbecome the Speaker of theHouse. He expressed confi-dence that Patole would conducthimself in an impartial and effi-cient manner as the the Speaker.

“We know about the rebel-lious streak in you and we alsoknow that you would tolerateinjustice of any kind. It is goodthat we have got a Speaker whodoes not mince words when itcomes to expressing himself.You have all along worked forseeking justice to farmers,artists and aged people. Weknow that you will take alongwith you both the ruling frontand the Opposition. We expectyou not do injustice to anyone.Please feel free to pull us up ifwe err in our conduct in theHouse,” Uddhav said.

While congratulatingPatole on his election as the

Speaker, Fadnavis said: “We asthe Opposition depend on theSpeaker. He is a pillar of sup-port for us in the House. Irequest the Speaker to lend hisears more to the Opposition sit-ting on his left side and less tothe ruling alliance members sit-ting onto his right”.

“We have withdrawn thecandidature of Kisan Kathorefrom the Speaker’s electionfray. I am happy that Patole isbeing elected unanimously asthe Speaker. I have knownPatole for a long time. You havegood knowledge of strengthsand limitations of members onboth sides. I am confident thatthis knowledge will come inhandy in running the Houseeffectively,” Fadnavis said.

“Whenever we raise issues

of public importance, weexpect your cooperation. Wewill continue to raise issuesrelating to farmers till justice isdone. We expect you to be gen-erous towards us,” the formerChief Minister said.

Calling for order in theHouse at all times, NCP min-ister Jayant Patil took a dig atthe BJP members by remindingthem about the lavish praisethat Prime Minister NarendraModi heaped on the NCP MPsin Rajya Sabha for not rushingto the well of the House andconducting themselves in amost disciplined manner.“Modi expects the same behav-iour from the BJP members inthe Assembly,” Patil said.

Other MVA andOpposition leaders, including

Congress minister BalasahenThorat and senior Congressleader Ashok Chavan, con-gratulated Patole on his electionas the Speaker of the House.

Patole is an MLA fromSakoli Assembly segment inVidarbha region. He had earli-er elected to the State Assemblyfor three terms between 1999and 2014. He was elected toLok Sabha in the 2014 pollsfrom Bhandara-Gondiya con-stituency on a BJP ticket.

It may be recalled thatPatole had created a major stirin the political circles in the lastweek of August 2017 by sayingthat Prime Minister NarendraModi did not like party menasking him questions makingno bones about his unhappi-ness about the State of affairs inthe ruling BJP.

Patole had said on August31, 2017: “Modi doesn’t like totake any questions. He had gotvery angry when I raised someissues about the OBC Ministryand farmer suicides at a meet-ing of BJP MPs. When Modi isasked questions, he asks you ifyou have read the party man-ifesto and are aware of variousGovernment schemes”.

Patole had resigned fromthe Lok Sabha and BJP.Subsequently, he joined theCongress in December 2017.Patole had unsuccessfully con-tested the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls against senior BJP leaderfrom Nagpur Nitin Gadkari.

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Former Chief Minister andsenior BJP leader Devendra

Fadnavis was on Sunday elect-ed as the Leader of theOpposition (LoP) in theMaharashtra LegislativeAssembly.

Announcing the election asthe Fadnavis as the LoP in theAssembly, Speaker Nana Patolesaid, “The BJP has given me todeclare Fadnavis as the Leaderof the Opposition. I have recog-nised the BJP as the principalOpposition party in the Houseand declare Fadnavis as the LoPin the State Assembly fromDecember 1, 2019”.

Congratulating Fadnavison his election as the LoP, ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeraysaid, “I consider myself lucky tohave known Fadnavis for the 25to 30 years while in theOpposition. I have had goodrelations with him he was theChief Minister of the State. Ihave never hidden the factthat I have learnt a lot fromFadnavis during his five years’stint as the Chief Minister”.

Taking a swipe at theFadnavis for leading the mid-night coup leading to the for-mation of a BJP-ledGovernment in alliance withthe Ajit Pawar-led faction of the

NCP, Uddhav said, “I havenever betrayed theGovernment at any junctureduring the last five years. I hadkept my legislators in the loopabout I am doing. I did not doanything in darkness.. We needto have another definition forthe word Opposition. We in theruling party are concernedabout farmers’ issues. So is theOpposition. All of us want todo development work. Thatbeing the case, why should weoppose each other”.

“Fadnadis is an ideal personto become the LoP. He has aknowledgeable person. He per-formed well as the chief minis-ter. He comprehended issueswell and solved them. To justexhibit his confidence, he said,“Me Punha Yain, Me PunhaYain” in election rally afterelection rally. But, he did notsay where he would sit — in thetreasury benches or in theOpposition,” senior NCP leaderJayant Patil said, while taking adig at Fadnavis for occupyingthe LoP’s post in place of being

the Chief Minister.Replying to the speeches by

the ruling party members,Fadnavis hit back at the rulingparty leaders for their criticismof his oft-repeated remark “MePunha Yain, Me Punha Yain (Iwill come back)” “ I did say Iwould come back ... But I didnot give the people any timelineas to when I would come back.I am like a tide in the sea. Pleasedon’t me write off just becausetide has ebbed, I will come backlike a high tide,” he said.

Fadnavis lamented thatdespite performing well in theelections, the BJP did not forma Government in the state.“These kind of things happenin democracy. We scored 70per cent marks but did notmake it to the merit list. Thethree parties that got 40 percent marks made it to themerit list with 120 per centmarks,” he said.

At the beginning of hisspeech, Fadnavis congratulat-ed Uddhav Thackeray forbecoming the Chief Minister.“There are things beyond pol-itics. Uddhav Thackeray and Iare good friends. Uddhavjimay have lined up schemes tofulfil aspirations of the people.I will co-operate fully with thechief minister in implementinghis plans,” Fadnavis said.

Mumbai: Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayon Sunday taunted former CMDevendra Fadnavis over thelatter’s impassioned pre-poll“Me punha yein” (I will return)assertion which had evokedmany social media memes.

Thackeray was speakingafter Fadnavis, leader of stateBJP legislature unit, was namedthe new Leader of Oppositionin the House by Speaker NanaPatole.Describing Fadnavis asa friend, Thackeray also said hedoes not view him as opposi-tion leader.

“I never said I will comeback, but I came in this House,”Thackeray said during his con-gratulatory speech.

“I can assure this House

and people of Maharashtrathat I will not do anything atmidnight. I will be working forthe interests of the people,” hesaid.

Thackeray’s swipe wasapparently about the earlymorning hush hush swearingin of Fadnavis as CM onNovember 3, along with NCPleader Ajit Pawar as deputychief minister, after night-longdramatic political develop-ments in Mumbai and Delhi.

Appealing to the House tominimise farmers’ woes,Thackeray said, “The aim ofthis government is not only towaive farmers’ loans but wealso need to reduce his worriesas well.” “Those who were inopposition for several years are

now with me to form the gov-ernment whereas friends (BJP)have gone away to sit on oppo-sition benches in this House,”he said.

The Shiv Sena chief said hehas no hesitation in admittinghis friendship with DevendraFadnavis.

“I will not hesitate to admitthat we have been good friendsfor a long time. Had you lis-tened to us, I would have beensitting at home watchingtoday’s developments on TV,”Thackeray said.

NCP minister Jayant Patilalso targeted Fadnavis.

“He (Fadnavis) said hewould return, but didn’t saywhere he will sit (in theHouse),” Patil said. PTI

Mumbai: Senior Shiv Senaleader Sanjay Raut on Sundaysaid former Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis’ haste toattain power and “childishcomments” sank the BJP inMaharashtra and the latterbecame the Opposition leader.

With the coming togetherof Shiv Sena chief UddhavThackeray, NCP supremoSharad Pawar and Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi, whathas happened in Maharashtrais acceptable to the country aswell, Raut claimed in his col-umn ‘Rokhthok’ in the Senamouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

In a veiled attack on thecentral BJP leaders withoutnaming anyone, he said

Maharashtra did not bow downto the “mob-rule” like func-tioning of Delhi.

What is significant is thatUddhav Thackeray came topower by dethroning the pow-erful “Modi-Shah hold”,remarked Raut, who is theexecutive editor of ‘Saamana’.

He also expressed confi-dence that “this Government(of Sena-NCP-Congressalliance) will survive for fiveyears.” “I find it amusing thatthe people who dubbed AjitPawar’s tie-up with Fadnavis asa ‘scripted’ plan of SharadPawar, are now bowing beforethe NCP chief after formationof the (Maha Vikas Aghadi)Government,” Raut said. PTI

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The war of nerves or thestand-off between

Government of Tamil Naduand AG Ponn Manickavel, thesuper cop who was appointedas special officer by the MadrasHigh Court to probe the idoltheft cases from the Temples inthe State reached new level onlate Saturday evening as hewas asked by the State admin-istration to hand over all detailsand record pertaining to thecases to the Additional DirectorGeneral of Police (ADGP).

The one-year tenure ofManickavel, who retired fromthe Indian Police Service as anInspector General onNovember 30, 2018 came to anend on Saturday

Manickavel was appointedas special officer for a period ofone year last November by theMadras High Court to probethe cases related to the stolenidols numbering 5,000 from thetemples in the State adminis-tered by the Hindu Religiousand Charitable EndowmentDepartment. Though the TamilNadu Government had ques-tioned the MHC directive inthe Supreme Court, the apexcourt had upheld the highcourt verdict.

But even before the one-year tenure of Manickavel cameto an end, the Tamil NaduGovernment approached the

Supreme Court with a petitionseeking a directive from thecourt to the officer asking himto hand over all records anddetails related to the idol theftsto the ADGP (EconomicOffences Wing).

Manickavel too filed a peti-tion with the MHC seeking anextension of two years in histenure for effective probe intothe cases, He had pointed outthat despite his appointment asspecial officer by the MadrasHigh Court, which was alsoratified by the Supreme Court,the Government of Tamil Nadudid not provide him the basicinfrastructure for investigatingthe cases. The officers andmen of the Tamil Nadu Policewho were working with himwere forced by the authoritiesto revolt against him and theywere made to file fake casesagainst him, charged the for-mer IPS officer.

Interestingly, Manickavelhas the support of the devoteeswho want him to continue asthe special officer for two moreyears for the logical conclusionof the cases. “It is certain that

the ruling AIADMK as well asthe opposition DMK hassometing to hide from thegeneral public. They wantManickavel out of the investi-gation because they know thatthe needle of suspicion wouldpoint towards the Dravidianpoliticians who were misman-aging and misappropriatingthe temple properties since1967,” said TR Ramesh, presi-dent, Temple WorshippersSociety.

Tamil Nadu Government isin the dock over the disap-pearance of 50,000 acres ofprime landed property ownedby the HRCE administeredtemples. The Madras HighCourt has stayed last week anorder issued by the Tamil NaduGovernment to buy back thetemple land encroached by thepeople from them and sell itback to them with proper patta.

The Supreme Court hadasked the Madras High Courtto adjourn the hearing of thepetition filed by Manickavel tillDecember 2 as the former washearing the plea filed by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu fora directive to the special offi-cer. Ponn Manickavel said thatthe Government order askinghim to hand over the chargesas special officer to the ADGPsigned by Niranjan Mardi,additional chief secretary andwhich was hand delivered by aspecial messenger was subjudice.

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Though the BJP in TamilNadu got glamour on

Saturday with the entry ofitem girl Namitha into theparty, activists and prominentleaders are in a state of shock .They were taken aback by thedecision of party’s State lead-ership to admit film starsRadha Ravi and Namitha intothe party and that too in thepresence of party’s nationalworking president JP Nadda.

Radha Ravi is known inpolitical circles as a turncoatwho frequently changes partiesto suit his convenience. “I amsure Mr Nadda is ignorant ofthe background of Radha Ravi,

who will be a major liabilityand embarrassment for theBJP in days to come,” said asenior BJP leader in the State.Radha Ravi, infamous for his“vitriolic” comments about thefairer sex was in the newsrecently when he used deroga-tory words about film artistNayantara, the reigning diva ofTamil movies.

The actor was in the DMKand crossed over to theAIADMK before staging ahome coming to the DMK.During his hopping from oneparty to another, he had man-aged to get elected to the TamilNadu Assembly in 2001 on anAIADMK ticket.”This is thesame Radha Ravi who abusedthe former party chief

Tamilissai Sounderarajan infilthy language. He had usedderogatory words aboutTamilissai and had lampoonedher physique and complex-ion,” said another party leaderwho blamed former unionminister Pon Radhakrishnanfor facilitating the entry ofRadha Ravi and Namitha, anitem girl in Tamil potboilersinto the BJP.

The leader said PMuraleedhara Rao, the TamilNadu in-charge of the partywas playing havoc with thefuture of the BJP in the State.“For the last three decades, wehave been working for estab-lishing the BJP as a politicalforce in the Dravidian strong-hold. But the likes of Rao are

subverting the growth processof the Hindutwa party in theState,” said the senior leader.

The BJP-led front whichhad polled nearly 20 per centvotes in the 2014 Lok Sabhaelection had to content withjust 18.4 per cent votes. Theparty had drawn blanks in the2016 Assembly election and the2019 Lok sabha election withthe party’s president herselflosing the security deposits onboth the occasions.

Despite the intensive cam-paigns undertaken by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andparty chief Amit Shah all overTamil Nadu, the State leader-ship of the BJP had failed tomake any impact in the State,pointed out Govindarajan

Satyamurthy, veteran scribeand commentator.

“There is no space in TamilNadu for the Hindutwa prop-agated by the BJP. What mat-ters here is caste and the party’scentral; leadership is yet tounderstand the factor. There isspace for a third alternative inthe State but the BJP is not cutout for that space,” saidSatyamurthy.

On his part,Radhakrishnan, said he has noulterior motives in admittingthe likes of Radha Ravi in theparty. Interestingly, the BJP inTamil Nadu has been withouta State chief for the last twomonths as the incumbent pres-ident Tamilissai was appointedas Governor of Telangana

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Sounding upbeat after form-ing a coalition Government

in Maharashtra, Congress inKarnataka on Sunday indicat-ed it was not averse to joininghands with JD(S) once again, incase the ruling BJP fails to gar-ner required number of seats tobe in majority, after December5 bypolls.

JD(S) leaders have alreadydropped enough hints aboutthe party being open to such apossibility.

The Congress and JD(S),who ran a coalitionGovernment for 14 months inthe state and contested LokSabha polls in alliance, haveparted ways after the collapseof the HD KumaraswamyMinistry in July following therebellion by 17 MLAs, and arecontesting the bypolls inde-pendently.

The ruling BJP led by ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa needsto win at least six seats in the

bypolls to 15 constituencies toremain in a majority in the 224-member Assembly, whichwould still have two vacantseats— Maski and R R Nagar.

Rubbishing indications byCongress and JD(S) leaders ofa possible post bypoll alliance,Yediyurappa said, such talksdon’t have any value, andasserted that BJP’s candidates inall the 15 Assembly con-stituencies going for bypollswould be victorious.

Speaking to reporters dur-ing campaign in poll boundShivajinagar assembly segmenthere, he said, “such talks don’thave any value. Those who are

insane are talkingsuch things, and itdoesn’t have value.”

With the cam-paigning forbypolls ending onTuesday, politicalleaders areindulging in hecticelectioneering in15 constituencies

to woo voters.“In order to protect the

constitution, democracy and toprovide social justice with sec-ular principles, when the situ-ation arises, we will take nec-essary steps after discussingwith our allies and UPA part-ners on such a matter,” veteranCongress leader MallikarjunKharge said.

Speaking to media here, hesaid, “Let’s see what happens inthe future... Winning in 15 seatsis what we are looking for.. Wewill let you know. We will giveyou a correct picture onDecember 9.. We will give yougood news.”

Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa onSunday rubbished indicationsby Congress and JD(S) leadersof a possible post bypollalliance in Karnataka, sayingsuch talks don’t have any value.

He also asserted that BJP’scandidates in all the 15Assembly constituencies goingfor bypolls would be victorious.

“People will give them theanswer, once the results are outCongress and JD(S) will realisethat people are with us (BJP),”Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters dur-ing campaign in poll boundShivajinagar Assembly seg-ment here, he said, he was 100per cent confident that BJPcandidates would win all 15constituencies going for by-elections. To a query onCongress and JD(S) hinting atthe possibility of comingtogether to form Government,Yediyurappa said, “such talksdont have any value. Thosewho are insane are talkingsuch things, and it doesn’t have

value.”Sounding upbeat after

forming a coalitionGovernment in neighboringMaharashtra, the Congress inKarnataka made it clear that itwas not averse to joining handswith JD(S) once again, in casethe ruling BJP fails to garnerrequired number of seats toremain in majority, afterDecember 5 bypolls.

JD(S) leaders have alreadydropped enough hits aboutthe party being open to such apossibility.

Later in the day, speakingto media in Belagavi,Yediyurappa said, 100 per centthere would be political polar-isation in the State after thebypolls as claimed by theCongress, as they would bitethe dust and remain in oppo-sition, while BJP would con-tinue to govern the state forremaining 3.5 years. “Once theresults are out on December 9it will be clear, people will teacha lesson to Congress and JD(S)leaders.,” he said. PTI

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Chennai: Rain lashed manyparts of Tamil Nadu and neigh-bouring Puducherry with theNorth-East monsoon in the last24 hours claiming one life in theState capital, even as the Met office predicted moreshowers in the next two days.

Various parts of the Statehave been receiving good rain-fall since the onset of the mon-soon on October 16.

Director of area cyclone-warning Centre, RegionalMeteorological Centre, N

Puviarasan told reporters herethat the presence of an upperair circulation caused heavy tovery heavy rains.

“In the last 24 hours end-ing 8.30 am on Sunday,Sathankulam in Tuticorin dis-trict recorded maximum of 19cm of rainfall followed byCuddalore 17 cm, Tirunelveli15 cm, Kancheepuram 13 cm,“ he told reporters here onSunday.

He said light to heavy rain-fall may occur over the next

24-48 hours.“ R a m a n a t h a p u r a m ,

Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Vellore,Tiruvallur, Thiruvannamalaidistricts may receive heavy rain-fall in the next 24 hours,” he said.

To a query, he said the rain-fall recorded since October 1 was39 per cent which was three percent higher than the rainreceived during the setting of themonsoon. For Chennai and itssurrounding areas, he said lightto moderate rainfall may occurover the next two days. PTI

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To prevent fresh infiltrationbids from across the

International Border (IB) withPakistan, Border SecurityForces (BSF) has activated itsWinter Border Managementstrategy by beefing up itsdefences and reviewing thedeployment pattern to plugthe gaps, if any, across Jammufrontier.

Following fresh snowfall inthe higher reaches of NorthKashmir district of Kupwara,several mountain passes andtraditional infiltration routeshave already been blocked forc-ing the militant handlers toshift their focus towards theInternational border.

Besides activating winterborder management strategy,the BSF has also deployedadditional troops for patrolduties to ensure round theclock area domination, espe-cially along vulnerable patch-es across the 190 km longInternational border.

According to officialsources, Anti fog lights havealso been made operational andadditional security ‘naka’ pointshave been set up to monitorsuspicious movement of infil-trators close to the barbed wirefence.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Inspector General (BSF),Jammu Frontier, NS Jamwalsaid, “ We have already acti-vated our winter border man-agement strategy to preventany fresh infiltration bid fromacross the border on groundzero”.

Sharing his current assess-ment of the prevailing securi-ty situation,IG BSF said, “thereare certain groups who areready to cross over and they areexploring both line of controland the International border tosneak inside the Indian terri-tory”. He said, “we have carriedout certain readjustments andreinforcements have beenrushed wherever vulnerablepatches exist to plug the gaps”.

Referring to use of drones

by Pakistani rangers for airdropping of weapons, IG BSFsaid, “As of now no incident ofdrone was reported alongInternational Border in JammuFrontier. He said if any suchchallenge arises on our side, weare ready to counter it. “Ourtroops are well trained andcapable enough to counter anychallenge from across the bor-der”, he added.

The water bodies dottingthe International border alsopose a challenge to the BSFjawans due to hostile terrain inthe vicinity.

According to a senior BSFofficer of Jammu frontier,“Border areas prone to densefog have been lit up using fog

lights to fight poor visibil-ity”. The BSF officer saidour jawans are on highalert and covering theentire length of 190 kmlong International borderbetween Pahadpur andAkhnoor on foot.

According to a recentsecurity assessment made

by various agencies, “followingfresh snowfall in the higherreaches of Kashmir, the entirefocus of the militant handlershas been shifted to the launch-ing pads spread across theplain areas in Sialkote sectorfacing Jammu frontier”.

Official sources said, thelocal commanders of BSF unitsdeployed along Samba andKathua sectors have beendirected to maintain tight vigilalong the vulnerable spotswhere Pak rangers have aidedinfiltrators in the past to dig outcross border tunnels to helpinfiltrators sneak inside theIndian territory.

According to various intel-ligence agencies, the militant

handlers are growing desperateas they are not able to pushheavily armed infiltrators insidethe Indian territory in thewake of heightened alert alongthe line of control. These mil-itants handlers, under pressurefrom Pakistan based intelli-gence agency ISI is awaitinggolden opportunity to pushsmall groups of infiltratorsinside the Indian territory.

Highly placed sourcesclaimed small groups of infil-trators have been campingclose to the launching padsalong the line of control andInternational border to sneakinside the Indian territory.

Meanwhile, the securityalong the Jammu PathankotNational Highway dotted withvital security installations hasalso been beefed up.

Jawans of Border SecurityForce (BSF) have been direct-ed to carry out randompatrolling drills especially in thewee hours to foil fresh infiltra-tion bids along theInternational border across

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Getting a bloody nose fromthe Trinamool Congress in

the just-concluded Assemblyby-elections where challengerBJP lost all three seats to theBengal ruling outfit the saffronoutfit has decided to reevalu-ate its organisational baseahead of the next year’s civicpolls and 2021 State elections.

While a sizeable number ofparty men raised questions onthe efficacy of overplayingwhat they called a “politicallycounter-productive NRC issue”particularly against the back-drop of its “failed experimen-tation in Assam,” Bengal BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh onSunday said his party wouldmake a full review of the situ-ation post by-elections. He

would however not dwell onthe NRC issue.

On the other hand show-ing clear indications of a dividein the party over the issue partygeneral secretary Rahul Sinha said in an appar-ent reference to State leaderChandra Bose that func-tionaries should instead offeeding the media with knee-jerk comments discuss issueson appropriate forums.

Bose, grand nephew ofNetaji Subhas Chandra Bosehad questioned the too muchuse of NRC issue in Bengal, “aState that should be handleddifferently considering its pro-Left, secular culture.”

Conceding that the BJPwas still learning about theunique political culture ofBengal, Ghosh said “we are still

learning and it will take sometime to adjust to the politicalclimate of this State,” adding hisparty would reevaluate the sit-uation that led to the resound-ing defeat it had to face at thehands of the TrinamoolCongress.

“We will have to go to thepeople, our voters in particu-lar, our local leaders and all thestake holders and get theiropinion about what they feeland why those who voted forthe BJP in the parliamentaryelections changed their minds,”Ghosh said refusing to imme-diately form an opinion aboutthe results or immediatelycome to a conclusion holding“a particular issue” (readNational Register for Citizens)responsible for the loss.

The BJP shed almost about

1.8 lakh votes in the threeconstituencies of Kaliaganj inNorth Dinajpur (NorthBengal), Karimpur in Nadiaand Kharagpur in WestMidnapore districts in SouthBengal.

What tended to intriguethe BJP leadership the mostwas the defeat at KharagpurSadar seat comprising nearly 70percent non-Bengali (Hindu)votes known to be a tradition-al vote bank of the saffron out-fit.

One section of the BJPholds the leadership responsi-ble for too much using theNRC issue — that led to theparty’s loss in the election —particularly after ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeewent to town showing howmore than 11 lakh Hindu

Bengalis were thrown out of thecitizenship register causing apanic among the voters.

The other section of theBJP feels that the successfulimplementation of “Didi keBolo” scheme — suggested byelection strategist PrashantKishore— played a big role inrestoring the image of theChief Minister.

Meanwhile, with the TMCbeginning to gain back itsground a large number of BJPand Congress supporters whohad earlier left the ruling partystarted going back to the par-ent outfit. About 300 people inMalda left Congress and BJPand rejoined the TMC. Similarrepatriation was witnessed inother places like Midnapore,Howrah and Hooghly sourcessaid.

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Security forces havebusted a terrorist

hideout in Baramulladistrict of Jammu &Kashmir and seized acache of arms, ammu-nition and other items,including a satellitephone, police said onSunday.

The hideout was busted inRafiabad area of Sopore innorth Kashmir, a police officialsaid.

He said the recoveryincludes two AK rifles, 2000AK rounds, three RPG rounds,two wireless sets and a satellite

phone.A case has been registered,

the official said, adding that theincriminating material hasbeen seized by the police andtaken into records for furtherinvestigation.

Investigation in the matteris in progress, he added.

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The weekly flea market herewitnessed a huge rush of

people and few shops at someplaces in the city stretchedtheir business hours on Sunday,even as the uncertainty inKashmir, following abrogation of Article 370, con-tinued for the 118th day, offi-cials said.

The weekly flea market,locally known as ‘Sunday mar-ket’, was open as vendors hadput up stalls on the TRCChowk-Batamaloo axisthrough Lal Chowk city centre,the officials said.

They said the market wit-nessed huge rush of customersas thousands of people thronged it for shoppingclothes and otheritems.

Guwahati: The Congress onSunday condemned UnionHome Minister Amit Shah’sstatement that the NationalRegister of Citizens will be car-ried out across the country andasserted that it will not allowthe government to cancel thepublished NRC for Assam.

At a meeting of the work-ing committee of the AssamPradesh Congress Committee(APCC), a resolution wasadopted condemning the state-ment by Shah in Parliamentthat NRC would be carried outacross the country, includingAssam. A press release from theCongress asserted that theparty will not allow the gov-ernment to reject the NRC,which was updated recently,and vowed to oppose any move

to restart the process in anyform in the State.

It termed Shah’s move tomake a country-wide NRC“unconstitutional” as theprocess was carried out inAssam under the direct super-vision of the Supreme Court.

“To make the base year as1951 in Assam, it will requireConstitutional amendment. Sohis statement is not realistic,”the APCC said, adding it sup-ports the cut-off date of March24, 1971 as per the AssamAccord. The Congress claimedthat most of the over 19 lakhpeople, who were excludedfrom the final NRC, are gen-uine Indian citizens anddemanded the government tostart the appeal process forthem immediately. PTI

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Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Sunday

targeted the the BJP sayingthose who gave the slogan of‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ (Indiafree of Congress) have “failed”in winning confidence of thepeople in States.

He alleged that the Centreis acting on a policy in whichthere is no accountabilitytowards people.

“The Congress lost elec-tions in the past too but peo-ple reposed faith in the partyand again public want it to leadthe nation for overall develop-ment,” he said while addressinga meeting of Ministers andparty office bearers at his res-idence.

The meeting was convenedto hold discussions for the“Bharat Bachao rally” to beheld by the party at Delhi onDecember 14.

“The country needs theCongress today therefore wehave to make people aware inevery village and hamlet for the

protection of democratic val-ues,” the chief minister said.

Deputy Chief MinisterSachin Pilot said Congressmenin large numbers will partici-pate in the rally and asked theministers and office bearers ofthe party to ensure that par-ticipation of Congress workersfrom the State is highest in therally.

He said it is the duty of allthe Congressmen to “expose”how people of the country are“suffering”. The Congress’ dis-trict-level and state-level agi-tations against the Centre’s“anti-people policies” wouldculminate in the form of amega rally at Ramlila Maidanin the national capital onDecember 14. Pilot said the BJPwas ruling at the Centre with“anarchism” and people were“suffering” due to rising infla-tion, economic slowdown andunemployment among others.

“The BJP Government ismisusing the mandate of thepeople by doing the politics ofvendetta,” he alleged.

Lucknow: Bahujan SamajParty supremo Mayawati onSunday held a meeting of herparty’s office bearers to delib-erate upon the ways and meansof expanding the party base.

During the meeting, heldat the office of her party’sUttar Pradesh unit here,Mayawati also asked her partyworkers to observe the deathanniversary of the architect ofConstitution BabasahebBhimrao Ambedkar at largescale.

Dr Ambedkar’s deathanniversary falls on December

6. In state capital Lucknow,people will pay their tributes atthe historic Dr BhimraoAmbedkar Samajik ParivartanSthal, which was built by theBSP, while people in otherparts of the state will pay theirtributes to Babasaheb in theirrespective areas, the BSP said ina statement.

An appeal was made at themeeting to make the pro-gramme a grand success, thestatement added.

At the meeting, delibera-tions were held and instruc-tions issued to increase theparty’s voter base in the coun-

try, a statement issued by theBSP said.

Discussions on the currentpolitical scenario in the coun-try were also held. Along withdiscussions on the recent polit-ical developments inMaharashtra, deliberationswere also held on the assemblyelections in Jharkhand and theupcoming Assembly electionsin Delhi.

“There is a vast differencebetween the words and actionsof the Government. This is verydangerous for the public interest,” the statementsaid. PTI

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The West Bengal BJP unithas identified the “mis-

conception over NRC” and itsfailure to counter it as one ofthe main reasons behind theparty’s defeat in the just-con-cluded bypolls in threeAssembly segments of WestBengal, a senior party leadersaid on Saturday.

Apart from the NRC issue,complacency of party workersin certain areas and absence of“free and fair” polling in someof booths had led to the party’sdefeat, he added.

“The Trinamool Congress(TMC) deliberately createdpanic and misconception overthe NRC (National Register ofCitizens), but we too failed tocounter it with our narrative ofthe CAB (CitizenshipAmendment Bill). This was oneof the reasons behind thedefeat. Apart from this, ourcadre and leaders were com-

placent and did not workactively during the elections,”the BJP leader said after apost-poll assessment meetingthat ended late in the evening.

The BJP has prepared areport, including inputs fromthe districts where the bypollswere held, and sent it to partypresident Amit Shah, sourcessaid.

Several senior BJP leaders,including its state vice-presidentChandra Kumar Bose, haveblamed the campaign overNRC for the party’s defeat in thebypolls and called for a separateBengal-specific strategy.

West Bengal BJP chiefDilip Ghosh said the party’sfailure to carry forward the suc-cess of the Lok Sabha polls inthe state was due to lack ofexperience.

The ruling TMC won allthe three seats — Karimpur,Kaliagunj, Khargapur Sadar —in the bypolls, relegating theBJP to the second position.

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The ruling TMC in Bengalhas steadily regained its

glory and confidence after atemporary setback in the LokSabha elections, riding on anti-NRC campaign and frequent-ly stoking “Bengali pride”,senior leaders of the partysaid.

The TMC’s win in thethree crucial assembly seats —Karimpur, Kaliaganj andKharagpur Sadar — was anindication that the party madesignificant efforts to retrieve itspolitical ground in the stateafter being battered by its archrival, the BJP, in the Lok Sabhaelections, they said.

Earlier this year, the BJPhad stormed into the fortress ofMamata Banerjee, bagging 18of the 42 Lok Sabha seats inWest Bengal, bringing downthe TMC tally from 34 in 2014to 22.

State Food SuppliesMinister Jyotipriyo Mullicktold PTI that the MamataBanerjee-led party had beenworking hard since June for aturnaround in its political for-tunes.

The Trinamool Congress(TMC) successfully wrestedcontrol of all seven municipal-ities it had lost to the BJP afterthe parliamentary polls, henoted.

“There were signs thatcommon people as well as our

leaders, whohad switchedallegiance tothe BJP, werenot happy andwanted toreturn to theparty fold. Weapplied a two-pronged strate-gy to take onthe saffronparty — by

revising our plan of actionand fixing organisational lacu-nae,” Mullick said.

The Minister contendedthat appointing poll strategistPrashant Kishor to revive itsmass awareness campaign alsoworked in the favour of theparty, which had earlier chan-neled most of its energy andresources to bash the BJP-ledCentre and the erstwhile stategovernments.

“The anti-NRC campaignand the issue of Bengali pride

helped us regain our lostground. Kishor’s ‘Didi KeBolo’(Tell Didi) campaign rejuve-nated our demoralised cadres.All these factors came in to playduring the bypolls,” a TMC MPsaid.

The ruling party in thestate had been harping on“Bengali pride” by resistingthe apparent “imposition ofHindi” by the Centre, follow-ing the Lok Sabha polls.

Banerjee’s assertions thatnon-Bengalis in the stateshould learn Bengali, herdemand for inclusion of thelanguage in JEE Main exami-nation, coupled with her elec-tion pitch centred on portray-ing the BJP as anti-Bengalihelped the TMC championthe cause of the people of thestate, where skepticism andconfusion ran high after thefinal NRC in neighbouringAssam excluded 14 lakhHindus.

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Altogether 1,165 Brus,belonging to 289 families,

returned to Mizoram from thesix relief camps of Tripuraduring the ninth round of theGovernment-sponsored repa-triation process, which con-cluded on November 30, astate home department officialsaid on Sunday.

The repatriation exercisewas the final attempt at bring-ing back the 4,447 Bru families— identified by the state as itsbona fide residents who fled tothe neighbouring State during

an ethnic clash over twodecades ago, he said.

Officials who were postedat the Mizoram-Tripura-Bangladesh border sinceOctober 3, when the processbegan, have returned to theirrespective district headquar-ters.

The repatriation processwas undertaken despite oppo-sition from different represen-tatives of the Bru community,who demanded resettlement intheir area of choice, the homedepartment official said.

The Mizoram Governmenthad earlier informed the Centre

that the final round of the Brurepatriation exercise wouldconclude on November 30 andall officials would be with-drawn by Saturday evening.

In a letter to Satyendra

Garg, JointS e c r e t a r y( N o r t hE a s t ) ,Ministry ofH o m eAffairs, onF r i d a y ,D e p u t yS e c r e t a r yfor HomeDavid H

Lalthangliana said all Mizoramgovernment officials and hiredvehicles, deployed at theMizoram-Tripura border forthe repatriation process, wouldbe withdrawn from the evening

of November 30.It also asserted that

Mizoram would not facilitatetheir return beyond November30.

State home ministerLalchamliana told PTI that thegovernment had taken severalinitiatives to repatriate the Brusfrom the Tripura relief camps,despite stiff resistance fromseveral quarters.

He asserted that the statewould no longer make anyeffort to bring back the remain-ing Brus.

Lalchamliana also said thathe welcomed the recent appeal

made by Tripura chief minis-ter Biplab Kumar Deb to UnionHome Minister Amit Shahseeking permission to retainthe remaining Brus in theneighbouring state.

“Those unwilling to returnto Mizoram should be allowedto stay put in Tripura,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Centrehad announced that the just-concluded repatriation effortswould be the last and final oneand relief camps in Tripurawould be subsequently closedwith immediate suspension offree ration and cash-dole.

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Participative or liberal democraciesare predicated on the concept ofcivilian control over the military. Inhis book, The Soldier and the State,Samuel P Huntington expands on

the idea as “the proper subordination of acompetent, professional military to the endsof policy as determined by civilian authori-ty”, wherein the State apparatus of thearmed forces is constitutionally subordinateto the civilian-elected politicians or the con-stitutional heads. Various democracies havewired this uniquely within their own polit-ical frameworks, with the President assum-ing the role of the supreme commander ofthe Indian armed forces. In the UK, the reign-ing monarch is referred to as the comman-der-in-chief of the armed forces of the Crown.In the US, Article II of the Constitution estab-lishes the President to be the commander-in-chief.

However, the healthy deference to theprofessional, doctrinal and experientialrealm of necessities and skills has ensured thatthere is minimal interference on military mat-ters. Only in exceptional cases has the “com-mander-in-chief” exercised that power tointrude — other than ensuring the overalldirection and deployment of the armed forces— in line with the national plans, objectivesand vision. This delineation of day-to-dayfunctioning has resulted in the discipline andefficacy of the armed forces, as indeed in thefruition of the democratic culture in suchcountries.

Instances where a US President inter-vened in the affairs of the military are far andfew and such occasions entailed a certainseniority and issue-of-magnitude, whereinthe direction of the military was seen to begoing in contravention with the declared sov-ereign preference. For example, AbrahamLincoln dismissed General George BMcClellan in the American civil war; HarryS Truman relieved Gen Douglas MacArthurduring the Korean war. More recently, for-mer US President Barack Obama acceptedGen Stanley A McChrystal’s resignation.These are instances, which had stakes of pol-icy or strategic dissonances.

However, the recent act of US PresidentDonald Trump intervening churlishly in theproceedings against the chief petty officer,Edward Gallagher, the Navy Seal, had all thehallmarks of undercutting professionalauthority, systems and culture of Americanarmed forces. Gallagher was initially accusedof murdering a wounded Islamic State (IS)militant (for which he was acquitted by a mil-itary court) and for posing with the dead pris-oner’s body (for which he was found guilty).A US Navy had initiated a probe to determinethe suitability of Gallagher continuing to servein the elite Navy Seal team, which earnedTrump’s attention and ire. In a shocking cal-lous manner, Trump tweeted against his ownNavy and ordered a probe by the TridentReview Board. He ranted, “The Navy will notbe taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal

Gallagher’s Trident Pin. Thiscase was handled very badlyfrom the beginning. Get back tobusiness!” This unnecessaryinterference with the military-judicial proceedings led to theresignation of the Secretary ofNavy, Richard Spencer, whostated dignifiedly,“Unfortunately, it has becomeapparent that in this respect, I nolonger share the same under-standing with the commander-in-chief, who appointed me.”Spencer’s comment was eerilysimilar to the parting commentmade by James Mattis (formerSecretary of Defence), who, too,met with a frustrating roadblockin explaining military matters tothe whimsical Trump.

Both Spencer and Mattis areformer Marines, who under-stand the command structures ofthe military realm where theauthority to exercise and enforcediscipline ought to be respected,uninterrupted. No amount ofprofessional counsel by the “uni-formed” staff or experiencedveterans in the Trump regime —about the larger impacts on dis-cipline, morale, authority-com-mand structures, as also settinga dangerous precedent — couldconvince him to backtrack his ill-thought decision.

Navy Seals are acknowl-edged as the “cream of the crop”in terms of combat efficacy thatis born out of superhuman train-

ing, discipline and skills in com-bat operations. Yet, concernshave been expressed lately bynone more relevant than theCommander of Naval SpecialWarfare Command (in-charge ofSeals), Rear Admiral CollinGreen. He warned bluntly, “Wehave a problem. I don’t know yetif we have a culture problem. Ido know that we have a goodorder and discipline problemthat must be addressed immedi-ately.” He noted the importanceof accepting the same to “recal-ibrate culture and regain credi-bility.” While the importance ofdiscipline, ethics and charactercan never be overstated for thesort of sensitive and high-profileoperations that the Seals under-take, the heft of the same is com-pletely lost on Trump. He milksany opportunity towards hispopulist, reckless and divisivepolitics.

This latest slight in the ongo-ing civil-military relations is notjust about Spencer but the entire-ty of the Naval “uniformed”staff (including Rear AdmiralCollin Green), who were infavour of restoring discipline andprofessionalism. The psycholo-gy behind Trump’s intransigentand irascible politics is rooted inhis supposedly “muscular”actions that seem to allay themanufactured fears of varioussupposed “dangers.” Towardsthe same, positing such deviant

Seals as “heroes” is the sort ofRamboism that goes down wellamong a large section of theignorant and polarised society.

All of Trump’s actions arepart of the uber-nationalismdrive that necessitates fear mon-gering, extremist military reac-tions and unashamed disdain fordecorum. This gives him the bul-let-proof image to emerge as theall-American superhero in theheartland of the proverbial “red-necks.” It is an approach that thelate military veteran, SenatorJohn McCain, lamented towardshis supporters, “What he did washe fired up the crazies.”

However, this short-termtactic of intruding into the hal-lowed precincts of the militaryorder, traditions and ethos is toplay with fire in the long term.It is sure to dilute the culturewithin the rank and file of themilitary with the infusion of par-tisan politics, interference andthe diminishment of the existingcommand structures.

This unprecedentedprecipice risks undoing theproud steel of the US militaryand its accompanying culturethat has persevered for cen-turies, especially that of theNavy Seals who pride in saying,“The only easy day was yester-day” — all for vote bank politics.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)#�������"��������)����������������(

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Sir — With its verdict on theMaharashtra imbroglio, theSupreme Court has made it clearthat meddling with the tenets ofthe Constitution will not be tol-erated by it. The entire nation wasshocked by the manner in whichthe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)managed to grab power for ashort time in the western State. Itsactions showed an obvious disre-gard for Constitutional principles.

The apex court Benchobserved that it is the duty of thecourt to protect democracy at anycost. This can be seen as anindictment of the Governor’sopenly partisan behaviour; heshould resign without delay. Nowthat disparate parties — theNationalist Congress Party(NCP), the Shiv Sena and theCongress — have come togetherto form the Government, onehopes that they will set their dif-ferences aside and keep the wel-fare of the people foremost. TheGovernment must refrain fromtinkering with the Constitutionalprovisions and instead focus onissues that matter to the people.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Sir — This refers to the article,“The real truth about Rama”(November 28) by MarkandeyKatju. The writer has every right

to condemn, be contemptuous orintensely dislike what is nowknown as “Hindutva”, whichaccording to him, has polarisedand communalised the atmos-phere in the country.

I am glad that he concedes

Rama as a historical person.Because of his exemplary rule,Mahatma Gandhi always wantedRam Rajya for India. Definitely, inRama’s time, there was no conceptof majority or minority, no democ-racy for the people to choose their

ruler via ballot box and there wereno offshoots of Hinduism such asJainism, Buddhism, Sikhism or thatof Christianity and Islam.According to some historians,there was no concept of “national-ism.” It is, therefore, irrational onhis part to push the present situa-tion to Rama’s times.

The writer’s heart bleeds forthe Muslims killed in stray inci-dents while ignoring how hiscommunity was hounded out ofKashmir in 1990 and thereafter.This proves the lack of sympathyfor his own community.

SC PandaBhubaneswar

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Sir — With the new UddhavGovernment sworn in, it isexpected to tackle the most pecu-liar problem of farm distress. Butit must not resort to offering farmloan waivers. It should work forrural development by improvinginfrastructure and providingalternative income options.

ShashankVia email

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Afive-member Constitution Bench of theSupreme Court (SC), headed by the ChiefJustice of India (CJI), has given a landmark

verdict bringing the office of the CJI under the RTIAct. This ruling, delivered by the SC after dismiss-ing an appeal by its own Central Public InformationOfficer (CPIO), added yet another milestone in anera requiring transparency. The judgment, coupledwith another recent verdict by the apex court datedSeptember 17, declaring the DAV College Trust andManagement Society a public authority under theRTI Act because of substantial Government fund-ing, will have far-reaching positive implications.

The order set a precedent for bringing manysuch bodies under the purview of the RTI Act,something that they have been resisting for long.Some well-deserving cases are listed below:

NDDB subsidiaries: Earlier, the CentralGovernment in a reply in the Parliament revealedthat it had advised the National Dairy DevelopmentBoard (NDDB) to abide by the Central InformationCommission’s (CICs) April 15, 2011 decision, thatwas upheld by single-Bench of the Delhi HighCourt (HC), to bring Mother Dairy under the RTIAct. Mother Dairy has filed an appeal in theDivision Bench of the Delhi HC against this.

While all NDDB subsidiaries should be cov-ered under the RTI Act, most people, even pub-lic authorities, are unaware of the fact that NDDBhas to provide information about all its subsidiariesunder Section 2(f) of the RTI Act as it is the reg-ulatory body.

IBPS: The then CIC chief RK Mathur in hisverdict noted that the Institute of BankingPersonnel Selection (IBPS) is not a public author-ity under the RTI Act, even though four millioncandidates appear every year for examinations con-ducted by it.

IFFCO: The cooperative giant IFFCO giftedprime properties worth hundreds of crores in NewDelhi to its office-bearers. Even the Comptrollerand Auditor General’s (CAG’s) report pointed outmassive irregularities in its functioning.

BCCI: The Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) challenged the CIC’s verdict declar-ing it as a public authority under the RTI Act atthe Madras High Court despite the Union Ministryof Sports supporting the CIC’s verdict. It is note-worthy that even the Law Commission, on beingapproached by the Centre subsequent to the SC’sdirections, was in favour of the BCCI being broughtunder the purview of the Act.

Land and Building Departments: TheseCentral and State Government departmentsshould study all cases of allotment of land oraccommodation at subsidised rates or lease anddeclare all these as public authorities under the RTIAct. Plus, an undertaking should be taken fromthem in this regard.

Tightening scope of Section 8(1)(j) of the Act:The SC, in its November 13 verdict, has laid

down important principles for tightening the scopeof Section 8(1)(j) of the Act regarding personalinformation. Undoubtedly, like all other legislations,the RTI Act is also being misused because of whichthe apex court had to be so elaborative. But prin-ciples laid down there should have been applica-ble to other wings of the democratic system also,rather than just the judicial system. For example,

the verdict restricts misuse throughsurveillance only for the functioning ofthe judiciary. While all the public author-ities, especially sensitive ones like thePresident’s Secretariat, the PrimeMinister’s Office and ministries ofDefence and External Affairs may alsobe facing misuse of the RTI Act for sur-veillance.

Fee uniformity fee can prevent mis-use: Misuse of the RTI Act has becomea big challenge for which the Centre canissue notifications without amending thelegislation. Sections 27 and 28 of the RTIAct give power to competent authoritiesand State Governments to draft their ownrules, which include fixing of RTI fee andmode of payment. Several competentauthorities and States misused theirpower by charging high fees arbitrarily,aimed at discouraging its use. SeveralStates also fixed a fee for filing firstappeals. However, the SC in its verdicton a petition filed by Common Causecapped the fee at �50. India should begoverned with the principle of “onenation, one rule” at least in respect of RTIfee and its mode of payment.

Make ID proof compulsory: TheRailway Board has made it compulsoryto attach ID proof with the RTI applica-tions to curb fake pleas being filed in thename of others. The Department ofPersonnel and Training (DoPT) shouldissue a circular which makes ID proofcompulsory with every RTI application,First Appeal and Second Appeal or com-plaint filed with InformationCommissions. Odisha has already adopt-ed this and those who do not want to dis-close their identity can file applicationsthrough a post-box.

There is no logic in some NGOs andRTI activists opposing the move for

attaching ID proof on the plea that theidentity of applicants would be exposed.The identity as it is gets disclosedthrough the names and addresses givenon the applications. ID proof is just a wayto ensure the genuineness of the appli-cant. This will also prevent foreignersfrom filing applications because theRTI Act, 2005 is meant for Indian citi-zens only. In the absence of ID proof,authorities cannot distinguish betweencitizens, people of Indian origin andthose who have taken the nationality ofother nations.

Need for RTI stamps: With publicdepartments going totally cashless, manyof them, like the National Green Tribunal(NGT) have stopped accepting moneyand are asking RTI applicants to enclosepostal orders of �10 for the fee. Manypost offices do not sell postal orders,while others, including the Head PostOffice at Parliament Street, restrict thesale of postal orders till 4 pm, inconve-niencing people. Plus, most publicauthorities require postal orders in dif-ferent names even though the DoPTrequires postal orders towards RTI pay-ments to be in the name of accounts offi-cer only, complicating matters further.

So, the best remedy is to accept theCIC’s recommendation that the postaldepartment issue special RTI stamps (likethe ones issued earlier for payment oflicence fee of radio and TV sets) indenominations of �2, �10 and �50.These stamps should be made availablenot just at post offices and Governmentdepartments but also at other convenientsale points.

Post free RTI applications: Thefacility of posting free RTI applicationsaddressed to Central public authoritiesshould be extended to all 160,000 post

offices rather than just 4,500 post officesat present. It’s not difficult becauseevery post office, however small it maybe, sends a mail bag daily to the HeadPost Office. This mail bag can also carrypost-free RTI applications. In fact, spe-cial RTI envelopes costing �50 (in casebasic fee is increased to �50) should beintroduced by the postal departmenttogether with RTI stamps where theseenvelopes can be attached with applica-tions by the authorities as proof of pay-ment of fee.

Auto-emailing of responses forapplications filed online: The portal forfiling online applications should bemodified so that RTI responses andorders of First Appellate Authorities maybe auto-emailed. This will save theapplicants the trouble of going to the por-tal to view responses. SMS alerts regard-ing the emailing of the responses mustalso be sent.

Immediate repeal of Delhi RTI,2001: This is in reference to an order inthe Anil Dutt Sharma versusGovernment of NCT Delhi case, where-in the court has mentioned that the RTIAct, 2005 would override the Delhi RTIAct, 2001 (DRTI Act) as it would occu-py the entire legislative field.

The demand to repeal the meaning-less DRTI Act is being made as it has lostall relevance now given the 2005 Act andonly a few applications are being filedunder it. In fact, most Delhi Governmentofficers are totally unaware of its provi-sions and the infrastructure set up tohandle applications is a complete wasteof precious public resources. Hopefully,the powers that be will take cognisanceof this.

(The writer is a noted RTI activist andconsultant)

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It seems like one more shocker hashit the Indian economy as theGross Domestic Product (GDP)

growth has gone below the five percent mark and touched a worryingsix-year low of 4.5 per cent. TheIndex of Industrial Production (IIP)that has been at its worst in the lasteight years is further expected tocome down in the following quarters.But has this downturn just started orwere the warning signs there muchearlier?

The self-reinforcing spiral in therural economy, the manufacturingslump, low-wage pressures in theeconomy, ambiguous trends of con-sumption, banks burdened with badloans and exports at their lowest,have together contributed their bit tothe fiscal woes over the years. There

is an ongoing debate on whether theslowdown emanates from the supplyside or the demand side growthshock. All signs point towards thedwindling economic fundamentals,be it domestic consumption, privateinvestment, Government spending,foreign consumption or exports.Unfortunately, the Government, too,is exhibiting signs of nervousness andthe situation is being termed as a“financial emergency.”

Hence, it is mandatory to digdeeper in order to get some clarityon the issue. Is it justified to cate-gorise the current deceleration as“economic sluggishness” or could itbe considered “episodic and anecdo-tal”? Why is there a prolonged fall inthe GDP? Is consumption at risk?What is the plausible role of theGovernment in all this?

It has been discussed at variousplatforms that the current demandslowdown cannot be called cyclicalwhich can be corrected throughmonetary or fiscal measures such asslashing interest rates or a tax-cut.Rather, it is a result of having missedthe manufacturing export-led growthalong with effective deployment of

structural reforms, followed by theshock of demonetisation, a stressedbanking sector and faltering imple-mentation of the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) which has impacted theinformal sector the most.

Until recently, the Governmenthad remained in denial mode, espe-cially in the tempting environmentof hiding behind the global econom-ic slowdown due to trade conflictsand geopolitical tensions. Developingnations can sustain the growth tra-jectory mainly by inculcating theinvestment-driven realm. Hence, itis even more vital to recoup high lev-els of investment, for which corpo-rate tax cut may not be an adequatesolution.

Former irrational excitementduring the high growth period of2002-08, followed by the shock of theglobal financial crisis in 2008, are thetwo deep-rooted fundamental trig-gers of today’s corporatedistress/indebtedness. Undisputedly,the Indian economy is confrontingproblems from multiple spheres.

Needless to mention, someparts of it are a direct derivative ofthe current global economic decel-

eration but decisions like demoneti-sation, the bad loans crippling banks,the crisis the Non-Banking FinancialCompany sector is facing, theComptroller and Auditor General(CAG) and Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) probes actuallyworsened the situation, which in turnimpacted consumption and invest-ment (hence overall aggregatedemand) far more severely.

The recent corporate tax cutselicited a euphoric response from thefinancial markets and got the much-needed mass media attention. But,was this adequate to contain thefalling output demand? Maybe not atleast in the short-run. Economistslike Renu Kohli and Deepak Nayyarhave already debated this move andpointed out that it will only add torising income inequalities. Theyhave principally not supported it,either in theory or in practice.Certainly, there could be more effec-tive ways to incentivise consumers tostimulate the final demand of goodsand services.

Further, it is argued that thedream to convert the informal econ-omy into a formal economy has actu-

ally impacted domestic consumptionnegatively. Perhaps, a combination ofdemand-side push factors alongwith real efficiency-productivityreforms could provide the requiredboost to the ailing economy in theNarendra Modi-led Government’ssecond term at the helm of affairs inthe country?

Also as proposed, the corporatetax cut may be essential but not suf-ficient for a long-term investmentboost in India. Overall, the currentpredicament could be perceived as anabysmal structural matter ratherthan simply a short-term one. Maybethe Keynesian philosophy (toincrease fiscal/Government expendi-ture) that has the precedence of suc-cessful growth story even in the caseof India between 2014 to 2017 andas propagated during the greatdepression of America, could be asustainable way forward.

Some economists suggest thatIndia is at the brink and at this pointin time. So supply-side measures likecorporate tax cuts (including themerger of some public sector banks,recapitalisation, loan melas andmoratorium on repayment of Micro,

Small & Medium Enterprises loans)may not help. Pull from the demand-side like rural-led growth, structur-al transformative reforms such asinland acquisition, banking regula-tion, labour and so on could be theonly option to sail through.

Additionally, it is equally impor-tant to mention that the Governmentshould actively develop the manufac-turing sector with an eye on exportmarkets to improve the situation.

Thankfully, we are still not in arecession and while concocting amishmash of solutions, policymak-ers must comprehend that short-term measures can only make a dentwhile dealing with structural prob-lems. More concrete measures areneeded to fix the problems that ailthe economy permanently. Onehopes that the ongoing WinterSession of the Parliament will bringforth the Insolvency & BankruptcyCode and Banking Regulation Act asthe key economic tools to resolve thepersisting slowdown pressures moreeffectively.

(The writer is Assistant Professorand Senior Research Scholar, DRC/FMS, University of Delhi.)

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In a first mobile tariff hike inpast four years, telecom oper-

ators Bharti Airtel, VodafoneIdea and Jio on Sundayannounced new plans underwhich call and data charges willbe dearer for its pre-paid cus-tomers.

Besides this, Vodafone Ideawill also charge 6 paise perminute for every outgoing callmade by customers on to thenetwork of other operators.

“Vodafone Idea Limited(VIL), India’s leading telecomservice provider, todayannounced new tariffs/plansfor its prepaid products andservices. New plans will beavailable across India starting00:00 hours of 3 December2019,” the company said in astatement.

The company will increaseits entry level unlimited planwith a year-long validity byabout 50 per cent to �1,499from with 24 GB of datainstead of �999 plan, whichcomes with 12 GB data usagelimit.

The price of plan with 365days validity in the same cate-

gory with daily data usagelimit of 1.5 GB per day will cost41.2 per cent more at �2,399from December 3 as against1,699 at present.

Vodafone Idea has onlyrevised rates of plan promisingunlimited mobile and data ser-vices and also introduced somenew plans.

A company officialexplained all the existing plansin unlimited category will bereplaced by the new plans fromDecember 3 and new plans willbe introduced or revised basedon market response.

Though the company clas-sifies a set of plans in ‘unlim-ited’ category, these actuallycome with usage limit for dataat a promised speed and 100SMS per day limit.

The highest rate of increaseof 41.2 per cent has beenannounced by the company inannual unlimited category planwhich will cost �2,399 insteadof 1,699 at present.

The starting plan with dataoffering of 1.5 Gb per daywith 84 days validity in “unlim-ited” category will cost around31 per cent more at �599 com-pared to �458 at present.

The company will raisethe price of �199 unlimitedplan, which offers 1.5 Gb dataper day, by about 25 per cent to�249.

Vodafone Idea which isreeling under massive debt ofaround �1.17 lakh crore hadearlier cited acute financialstress on the company behindthe decision to raise mobile calland data charges.

Vodafone Idea last monthreported a consolidated loss of�50,921 crore — the highestever loss posted by any Indiancorporate — for the Septemberquarter on account of liabilityarising out of the SupremeCourt’s order in the adjustedgross revenue (AGR) case.

The company has estimat-ed liability of �44,150 crore postthe apex court order, and made

provisioning of �25,680 crorein the second quarter this fis-cal.

Jio to hike mobile calling,data charges by up to 40 pcfrom Dec 6

Reliance Jio said it willlaunch new unlimited plansfrom December 6, which willraise its voice and data tariff byup to 40 per cent.

The Mukesh Ambani ledcompany, however, said thatcustomers will get up to 300 percent more benefits under thenew plans and it will offer fairusage policy for outgoing callsfrom its subscribers on the net-work of other telecom opera-tors.

“Jio will be introducingnew all-in-one plans withunlimited voice and data.These plans will have a fair

usage policy for calls to othermobile networks. The newplans will be effective from 6thDecember 2019,” the companysaid in a statement.

Jio said it will continue towork with the government onthe consultation process forrevision of telecom tariffs andlooks forward to participationfrom all other stakeholders.

Vodafone Idea and BhartiAirtel have also announced toraise mobile calling and datarates from December 3.

Bharti Airtel to raisemobile calls, data charges byup to 50 pc from Dec 3

Telecom operator BhartiAirtel announced new plansunder which call and datacharges will be dearer for itspre-paid customers by up to 50per cent from December 3.

The development came afew hours after Vodafone Ideaannounced plans to raisemobile rates on similar lines.

Increase in tariffannounced by Bharti Airtel,however, are marginally lowercompared to new ratesannounced by Vodafone Idea.

“Airtel’s new plans, repre-sent tariff increases in the

range of a mere 50 paise perday to �2.85 per day and offergenerous data and calling ben-efits. These tariffs will beapplicable from Tuesday,December 3, 2019,” the com-pany said in a statement.

Like Vodafone Idea, BhartiAirtel too will increase its entrylevel unlimited plan with ayear-long validity by about 50per cent to �1,499 from with 24GB of data in place of existingplan of �998, which comes with12 GB data usage limit.

The price 365 days validi-ty plan in the same categorywith daily data usage limit of1.5 GB per day will cost 41.2per cent more at �2,398 fromDecember 3 instead of 1,699 atpresent.

The new pricing repre-sents a very modest increase.The effective revision in today’scontext is equal to what a cus-tomer would pay for a cup oftea in week on a road side stall,a company official who did notwish to be named said.

Customers of both BhartiAirtel and Vodafone Idea willhave to pay a minimum of �49to stay connected for about amonth after December 3.

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Indian alcohol manufacturershave approached NITI

Aayog, seeking exemption ofimport duty on extra neutralalcohol (ENA), which is theprimary raw material for mak-ing alcoholic beverages. Thealcohol manufacturers havepleaded that there is a massiveshortage in domestic suppliesof ENA following diversion ofethyl alcohol for bio-fuel blend-ing by oil marketing companies(OMCs) in the country.

“Short availability of ENA(high-purity ethyl alcohol) hasplaced domestic alcoholic bev-erage industry in a precarioussituation. Price of ENA, whichwas around �45 per bulk litreuntil recently, is now breaching�60 mark. Even at this price,the supply is uncertain andunder stress,” Confederation ofIndian Alcoholic BeverageCompanies (CIABC) DirectorGeneral Vinod Giri said in aletter to NITI Aayog CEOAmitabh Kant.

The CIABC, in its letter,said recent f loods inMaharashtra and Karnatakahave adversely impacted sug-arcane crop in the region whichshall worsen the supply ofENA even further and there-fore, it is of the view that theCommerce Ministry may beadvised to allow imports ofENA exempt from import dutyuntil domestic supply

improves.High import duty is a big

hindrance for import of ENAfrom international market. Theprice of ENA in internationalmarket is around �50 per litre.At current duty (150 per cent),imported ENA will cost �125per litre which is unsustainable.But with no or marginal duty,price can be at �50 to 55 perlitre. Availability of ENA atsuch prices will make it sus-tainable for the industry, theCIABC said.

Reduced availability of theprimary raw material endan-gers the survival of the indus-try and all those who dependon it for livelihood, it added.Alcohol industry contributesalmost �2 lakh crore by way ofvarious taxes, sustains liveli-hood of nearly 40 lakh farmers, and employs nearly 20lakh people directly and indi-rectly.

Tax revenues from alco-holic beverages consist of 20 to40 per cent of most states’ taxreceipts. This way, the alcohol

industry is one of the largestcontributors to the Indianeconomy, it added.

Terming the availability ofENA as a multi-ministry issueas it is also being used for bio-fuel, Giri said the Centre ispushing hard for blendingethanol in auto fuels to reduceimport dependence in petro-leum, but shortage of ENA andits growing costs will make themove economically unsustain-able for OMCs and fail toachieve blending target fromcurrent level of 7.2 per cent to20 per cent.

“We have already said thisto Petroleum Ministry in ourletter written a couple ofmonths ago,” he added.

Demanding restriction inethanol blending in auto fuelsto realistic levels based onavailability of alcohol, Giri saidthe government should imme-diately limit sourcing of ethanolfor blending in fuel tomolasses-based distilleries, cel-lulosic material-based distil-leries and sugar factories.

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The Reserve Bank may cutinterest rates for the sixth

straight time on December 5 tosupport growth that has con-tinued to slip to more than six-year low on slump in manu-facturing, bankers and expertssaid.

RBI has cut interest rateson every single occasion themulti-member monetary pol-icy committee (MPC) has metsince Shaktikanta Das tookover as the Governor of RBI inlast December.

In five reductions so far in2019, interest rates have beenlowered by a total of 135 basispoints over concerns thatgrowth momentum is slowingdown and also to try to boostliquidity in the financial sys-tem.

GDP growth slowedsharply to a pace of 4.5 per centin the July-September, hit by aslump in manufacturing out-put, which contracted by 1.0per cent. The pace of GDPgrowth has moderated fromthe 5 per cent rate in April-Juneand 7 per cent in July-September quarter of 2018.

Das had previously statedthat interest rates will reduceuntil growth revives and thisgives confidence that interestrates may be reduced at the endof three-day monetary policyreview beginning December 3,a banker, wishing not to beidentified, said.

“With the RBI Monetary

Policy Committee havingdecided to retain an accom-modative stance following itsOctober rate cut, further ratecuts are possible if economicconditions remain weak,” saidRajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific ChiefEconomist at IHS Markit.

The fall in GDP growth ratewas despite a slew of new fiscalpolicy measures including alarge reduction in the base cor-porate tax rate in a bid toboost private sector invest-ment. Rumki Majumdar,Economist, Deloitte India saidinflation is low and is expect-ed to remain so because of theexcess capacity in the economy.“This gives the RBI the elbowroom to cut rates, which is highly anticipated inthe upcoming December meeting.”

In doing so, RBI may lookpast the recent uptick in infla-tion last month, largely attrib-uted to vegetables such as

onions. But importantly, therehas been a slide in core infla-tion.

Motilal Oswal FinancialServices Ltd chief economistNikhil Gupta said: “We areafraid that expectations of bet-ter growth in 3QFY20(October-December) may notpan out. Leading indicatorssuggest that October (festivalmonth) was the worst in thecurrent cycle. We believe thatgrowth could weaken further toaround 4 per cent in 3QFY20,which will mark the trough.”

“Our full-year growth fore-cast, thus, is revised downfrom 5.7 per cent earlier to 4.5per cent for FY20,” he said.

Ranen Banerjee, LeaderPublic Finance and Economics,PwC India, said the secondquarter GDP numbers made itmore imperative for a fiscal ledpriming as the monetary pol-icy interventions clearly are nottransmitting.

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Foreign investors remainednet buyers in the Indian

capital market for the thirdstraight month in November,putting in �22,872 crore on netbasis during the month,according to depositories data.

Analysts said expectationsof a trade deal between the USand China, and more reliefmeasures as well as disinvest-ment drive by the governmentamong other factors helpedkeep FPIs stuck on the capitalmarkets. A net sum of �25,230crore was flowed into equitiesby FPIs in November, the datashowed. However, they pulledout �2,358.2 crore from the debtsegment, translating into a totalnet investment of �22,871.8crore by FPIs in November.

FPIs had invested a netsum of �16,037.6 crore inOctober and �6,557.8 crore inSeptember.

“FPIs have been consistentnet buyers in November main-ly due to expectations of a tradedeal between US-China, reliefmeasures along with disinvest-ment drive by the government,hopes for a scrappage policy anda few others,” said Umesh Mehta,head of research at SamcoSecurities. Besides, “tax reformsannounced in September 2019will now to be legislated. Thistakes away ambiguities on imple-mentation of these reforms,”said Pranay Bhatia, partner andleader tax and regulatory servicesat BDO India.

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Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Sunday said the current eco-nomic slowdown is “tempo-rary” and a result of the ongo-ing global trade war betweenthe US and China.

The fall in the GDP growthduring the second quarter ofthe current fiscal is “cyclical innature” and the economy hasstarted moving in the rightdirection, he said.

“The slowdown in theeconomy is not because ofdomestic reasons but the ongo-ing trade war between the USand China,” Pradhan toldreporters here.

Petroleum Minister saidthe trade-tension between thetwo large economies hasadversely impacted sevealcountries. Asked about the dipin GDP growth to 4.5 per centin the July-September \period,2019, Pradhan said it was alsothe impact of the trade war andthe issues relating to oil andother commodities in the worldmarket.

“It is natural and cyclical innature”, he said.

India’s economic growthslipped further to hit an oversix-year low of 4.5 per cent inJuly-September, according toofficial data released on Friday.

The previous low wasrecorded at 4.3 per cent in theJanuary-March period of 2012-13.

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In a move that may benefitIndian companies as well as

foreign investors, regulator Sebihas issued a new framework forissue of depository receipts forgreater exposure to world mar-kets for raising capital andenhancing their shareholderbase.

DRs are foreign currencydenominated instruments,issued by a foreign depositorybacked by securities of anissuer, issued or transferred toa domestic custodian and arelisted on an internationalexchange. These can get listedon international exchanges inpermissible jurisdictions.

Experts believe that issuingDRs has the added benefit ofincreasing the share’s liquiditywhile boosting the company’sprestige on its local market.

Depository receiptsencourage an internationalshareholder base and provideeasier opportunity to foreigninvestors to gain the benefits ofdiversification while tradingin their own market underfamiliar settlement and clear-ance conditions.

On October 10, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India laid down a frameworkfor the issue of depositoryreceipts (DRs) by listed com-panies and to be listed compa-nies in order to provideincreased access to foreign

funds. Subsequently, onNovember 28, a list of permis-sible jurisdictions and interna-tional exchanges has also beenprescribed.

These exchanges are NYSEand Nasdaq in the US, TokyoStock Exchange in Japan, KoreaExchange Inc in South Korea,London Stock Exchange in theUK, Euronext Paris in France,Frankfurt Stock Exchange inGermany, Toronto StockExchange in Canada, as also theIndia International Exchangeand the NSE InternationalExchange at the InternationalFinancial Services Centre inIndia. Under Sebi norms, anyissuers, its promoters, promot-er group, directors and sellingshareholders who are debarredfrom accessing capital marketsand declared as willful default-ers or fugitive economicoffender are ineligible to under-take a DR issue.

The issue of DRs can beoffered through fresh issue orthrough transfer by existingsecurity holders, as long as itcomplies with the foreigninvestment limits imposedunder the FEMA rules.

The Sebi circular furtherpermits simultaneous listing ofDRs and permissible securitieson Indian stock exchangeswherein the issue or transfer ofthe DRs can only happen aftertrading approval has beenreceived from the Indian stockexchange for a public offer.

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Traders’ body CAIT onSunday lashed out at e-

commerce majors Amazon andFlipkart, calling them “eco-nomic terrorists”, and demand-ed that the government takeaction against them for allegedviolation of FDI policy norms.

However, a Flipkartspokesperson vehemently

denied the allegations and saidthe company operates througha marketplace model in Indiaand is fully compliant with allthe laws of the country, includ-ing all FDI regulations.

“It is unfortunate that somefringe organisations with vest-ed interests keep peddling theiragenda,” the Flipkartspokesperson said, adding thatvested interests are against theentrepreneurial spirit that thegovernment wants to kindle inthe country to create jobs andsupport wealth and economicgrowth creators.

A response could not beelicited from Amazon India.

The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) claimedthat small retailers have suf-fered at the hands of Amazon,Flipkart and other e-commerceportals for the last one year,leading to decline in their busi-ness.

“These companies can eas-ily be termed as economic ter-rorists and a major roadblockin making India a $5 trillioneconomy vision of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,” thetraders’ body said.

���� 1�����

State-owned NBCC Ltd islikely to offer more land to

lenders and reduce timeline forcompletion of about 20,000flats in its final bid to acquirebankrupt realty firm JaypeeInfratech, sources said.

NBCC is considering togive additional land to lendersin lieu of its offer to provideprofit share in unclaimed flatsand some land parcel, which ispledged as well as under liti-gation, they added.

For homebuyers, NBCC islooking to reduce the deadlinefor completing pending flatsfrom four years timeline pro-posed in the bid submitted onNovember 17.

In the last meeting of theCommittee of Creditors (CoC)held on November 28, lendersasked NBBC and SurakshaRealty to make a final offer bynext Tuesday (December 3)after revising their earlier bidsby removing impediments andmaking it more lucrative forhomebuyers as well as banks.

New Delhi: In a relief to luxu-ry car-maker BMW India, theNational Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)has dismissed a petition filed byone of its former dealers, alleg-ing abuse of dominant position.

A two-member benchheaded by Chairperson JusticeS J Mukhopadhaya has upheldthe earlier order passed by fairtrade regulator CCI, whichhad also rejected ParsoliMotors’ plea on May 30, 2018.

Competition Commissionof India (CCI) has said that asBMW has a negligible share inthe passenger car segment inIndia, hence the question ofabuse of dominant position didnot arise. PTI

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To control the rising pricesof onion, the Government

is importing 11,000 tonnes ofthe staple vegetable fromTurkey. Government sourceson Sunday said that the MMTChas signed a second importorder for this and the consign-ment will reach the country byend of December or the firstweek of January.

The MMTC is arrangingimports of onions from variouscountries, including Turkey,the sources said.

The MMTC had earliersigned an import deal for 6,900tonnes from Egypt, and thisconsignment is expected toreach here in the next 10 days,and help to moderate pricesonce it is in the market.According to market sources,the retain price of onion inDelhi-NCR on Sunday was�80-120 per kg.

The price, according tothe Azadpur wholesale marketAPMC list, was between �20-62.50 per kg while the arrivalof onion stood at 828 tonnes.

On November 20, theUnion Cabinet had approvedthe import of 1.2 lakh tonnesof onions. A committee, underHome Minister Amit Shah,and comprising the Finance,Consumer Affairs, Agricultureand Surface TransportMinisters, had been set up tokeep a watch on onion prices.

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After the Governmentbanned electronic ciga-

rettes citing health risks, twoNGOs are planning to movethe Supreme Court seeking asimilar action against conven-tional cigarettes and other car-cinogenic tobacco products,arguing they are more harmful.

The Delhi-based NGOURJA (United Residents JointAction) and the Hyderabad-based group VchangeU are inthe process of filing a writ andclass suit in which they will alsodemand compensation -- Rs 5lakh for those suffering med-ical costs due to smoking-related ailments, and Rs 10 lakhfor those who lost an earningmember of the family.

The Government recentlyissued an ordinance makingthe production, import, export,transport, sale or advertise-ments of “alternative” smokingdevices a cognizable offence, andattracting a jail term and fine “inthe interest of public health toprotect the people from harm”.

The Prohibition ofElectronic Cigarettes(Production, Manufacture,Import, Export, Transport,Sale, Distribution, Storage andAdvertisement) Bill, 2019,

which seeks to replace theordinance issued on September18, was passed by Lok Sabha.

E-cigarettes promotingtrade bodies, users and otherstakeholders have been vehe-mently opposing the govern-ment’s decision to ban e-ciga-rettes, claiming they were farless harmful than traditionalcigarettes and the prohibitionwas brought to “protect” theconventional cigarette industry.

The founder and presi-dent of VchangeU, VijayBhasker Yetapu, who is also oneof the petitioners, said the gov-ernment decision has openedup a favourable opportunity foractivists and people sufferingfrom tobacco addiction as agovernment “sensitive to the illsof nicotine addiction would notdiscriminate between differentforms of the same.”

“Thus, if e-cigarettes can bebanned, so can traditionaltobacco burning cigarettes andbeedis - which are categorical-ly agreed to cause cancer orsuch diseases that result indeaths. Health ministry figuressay that 12 lakh deaths arereported each year by tobaccosmoking. No such figure orlinkage is yet medically or sci-entifically established as regardsto the use of e-cigarettes.

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Police fired tear gas and pep-per spray in Hong Kong on

Sunday as tens of thousands ofblack-clad protesters floodedinto the streets a week after pro-democracy candidates scored alandslide local election victory.

The rally heralded an endto a rare lull and a return to thelarge-scale demonstrations thatHong Kongers have staged fornearly six months, fuelled bygrowing fears that authoritar-ian China is stamping out thecity’s liberties.

It also marked a resump-tion of the increasingly violentconfrontations between pro-testers and police, with officersfiring pepper spray and volleysof tear gas at crowds thatincluded children.

The day’s main rally in theTsim Sha Tsui neighbourhoodwas one of three called Sunday,as protesters seek to keep pres-sure on the Government afterthe November 24 district coun-

cil elections. “The Governmentare still not listening to us sothe protests will go on, they willnot stop,” said a 20-year-oldstudent who gave only his sur-name, Chen.

“It is hard to predict whatwill happen. But the people arestill very angry and wantchange.” The rally startedpeacefully, with people flood-ing to the waterside neigh-bourhood by ferry and train.

“Never forget why youstarted,” read a banner carriedby protesters taking part in themarch. A little girl with her hairin pigtails led chants reiteratingthe movement’s demands fordirect elections of the city leg-islature and leadership.

But as part of the march raninto a phalanx of police, pro-testers were told to move backand warned they were strayingfrom the permitted route. Firstpepper spray and then tear gaswas fired at several locations, inone case catching in the cross-fire an older man selling drinks

and ice creams from a con-verted moped. “I’ve sold all mydrinks but it seems that I can’tleave now,” he told reporters, hiseyes streaming.

But he quickly recovered,

tucking into a red ice lolly pulledfrom his stocks. “I have nothingto be ashamed of or guiltyabout,” he said with a smile.Hong Kong’s Beijing-backedchief Carrie Lam has offered no

additional concessions in thewake of the elections, and pro-testers said they felt compelled toreturn to the streets.

“The Government hasgiven no real response, it’sunacceptable,” 19-year-old stu-dent Edmund said. “We have tokeep going. We are fighting forour freedom, not just our ownfreedom but the next genera-tion too. If we give up now allwill be lost.”

Earlier, a smaller rallymarched peacefully to the USconsulate to thank Americanlawmakers for passing legisla-tion backing the protest move-ment. There too, demonstratorssaid they wanted to press theiradvantage after the districtcouncil vote.

“I would like to send amessage to the Government: weare not done and this is not over,”said one 27-year-old protester,who declined to give his name.Months into the huge protestskicked off by opposition to a billallowing extradition to China,pro-democracy demonstratorsstill appear to command wide-spread support —with the vic-tory of pro-democracy candi-dates undercutting Governmentclaims of a “silent majority”opposed to the movement.

Ahead of Sunday’s ralliesthere were calls from organis-ers for people to remain “high-ly restrained” with fears of areturn to the violence that hasmarked more recent months inthe political crisis.

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Joe Biden launched an eight-day bus tour of Iowa on

Saturday projecting confidence, ignoring his manyDemocratic presidential com-petitors and pledging that hewill unseat President DonaldTrump in 2020. The formervice-president pledged first towin the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses,despite recent polls suggestinghis standing there has slippedin recent months. “I promiseyou, I promise you,” Bidentold a few hundred supportersoutside his Council Bluff cam-paign office, “we’re going to winthis race, and we’re going tobeat Donald Trump, and we’regoing to change America.”

Behind the optimism,Biden aides acknowledge hemust sharpen his message andbolster his voter outreach oper-ation ahead of the caucuses thatstart Democrats’ 2020 voting.But his advisers also insist hehas wide support and remainswell-positioned to recover anylost ground.

His chief argument — hisperceived strength againstTrump — was on clear displaySaturday. Sidestepping his philo-sophical tussle with progressiveSens. Elizabeth Warren andBernie Sanders over the party’sdirection, Biden struck a gener-al-election posture. He added anemphasis on small town andrural America, an electoralswath where Democrats havestruggled in recent electionsbut that could prove critical inboth the nominating fight andNovember battlegrounds.

“We’re going to touch onwhat we think is a forgotten partof this campaign,” Biden said,

bemoaning the effects ofTrump’s tariffs on Iowa farmersand highlighting his own ruralpolicy plans shaped with thehelp of former Iowa Gov. TomVilsack. The former Obamaagriculture secretary recentlygave Biden his most high-pro-file Iowa endorsement. JillBiden, the candidate’s wife, fol-lowed suit in Council Bluffs,introducing her husband as the“only candidate who can take onTrump in places like Florida andWisconsin and Pennsylvaniaand Michigan.”

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Anew team of leaders tookoffice at the helm of the

European Union on Sunday,pledging to put the fight againstclimate change at the top oftheir agenda and fosterEuropean unity despite thelikely departure of Britain fromthe 28-nation bloc.

Germany’s Ursula von derLeyen officially replaced Jean-Claude Juncker as president ofthe EU’s powerful executivearm, which polices EU lawsand negotiates trade on behalfof member countries.

The former GermanDefence Minister becomes thefirst woman in the post.Former Belgian premierCharles Michel succeededDonald Tusk as president of the

European Council, meaninghe will chair summits ofnational leaders and drive theircommon agenda forward.

In the company ofEuropean Parliament PresidentDavid Sassoli and newEuropean Central BankPresident Christine Lagarde,Von der Leyen and Michelmarked the start of their five-year terms in Brussels withevents marking the 10thanniversary of the LisbonTreaty, the EU’s rule book.

“Today we can present aunified face to the rest of theworld. With more weight andgreater coherence in a rules-based world,” Michel said.“Today we do more than lookback, we celebrate a new begin-ning, with great enthusiasmand hope.”

Sassoli urged the EU’s maininstitutions the new team todeliver on the hopes invested inthem by the more than 500million citizens who make upthe world’s biggest trading bloc.“We need to turn the promis-es of the past few months intoresults that improve people’slives,” he said.

“From the fight againstclimate change to tackling therise in the cost of living,Europeans want to see realaction.” At the commission’sheadquarters, as workers werestill moving in office furnitureand equipment, von der Leyenoutlined her schedule, seemingsomewhat relieved to be atwork after “a difficult andbumpy start” getting her poli-cy commissioners approved bythe European Parliament.

Setting the tone for what shedescribes as “geopolitical com-mission,” Von der Leyen heldphone talks with the leaders ofChina, South Korea, Turkey,Indonesia and Australia, withmore due later.

Showing that she is hitting the ground runningon an issue of major European concern, von derLeyen heads Monday toMadrid for the internationalclimate conference.

“The European Unionwants to be the first climateneutral continent in 2050.Europe is leading in this topicand we know that we have tobe ambitious for our planet,”she told reporters.

On Friday, von der Leyenmakes her first foreign trip andhas chosen Africa.

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Two days of clashes betweenregime forces and armed

groups in Syria’s last majoropposition bastion have killednearly 70 on both sides,undermining a months-longceasefire agreement, a warmonitor said on Sunday.

The battles in the north-western province of Idlib are“the most violent” there since aRussian-brokered ceasefireagreement went into effect inlate August, said Rami AbdulRahman, head of the SyrianObservatory for Human Rights.

Residents of affected vil-lages fled north to escape thefighting, adding to the hun-dreds of thousands who havealready flooded out of the

province’s violence-plaguedsouth since fighting escalatedearlier this year.

“I don’t want to see mychildren trapped under rubble,”said one of those driven fromhis home, Hafez, who escapedthe flashpoint area along withhis wife and three kids two daysearlier. On Sunday morning,clouds of smoke rose over theMaaret al-Numan region aswarplanes pounded jehadisand allied rebels in positionsthey had recently recapturedfrom regime forces, said anAFP correspondent.

The Britain-basedObservatory on Sunday put thedeath toll from fighting at 69combatants since battles start-ed the previous day.

At least 36 regime forces

were among those killed. TheObservatory said an attack ledby Syria’s former Al-Qaedaaffiliate on several regime posi-tions had initially sparked thefighting.

Overnight, the Syrian armybacked by Russian warplanes launched a counter-push to reclaim territory ithad lost in the battles, the warmonitor said.

Regime forces have sinceregained lost ground but vio-lent clashes are ongoing, theObservatory and an AFP cor-respondent said.

Airstrikes on Sunday after-noon hit jehadi-run areasdozens of kilometres (miles)away from the main frontline,signalling a potential escalation,the correspondent said.

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The ISIS has claimed respon-sibility for the London

Bridge terror attack in whichtwo people were killed, sayingthe UK-born attacker, whowanted to set up a terroristtraining camp in the garb of amadrassa in his ancestral regionof Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,(PoK) was one of its fighters.

The group claimed theresponsibility for Usman Khan’sknife rampage on the streets ofLondon on Friday, which killedtwo and injured three people,via its Amaq news agency in apost on Saturday that was pub-lished on the TamTam andTelegram app.

“The person who carried outthe London attack... Was a fight-er from the Islamic State, and didso in response to calls to targetcitizens of coalition countries,”the ISIS statement read. Thenews emerged as former school-mates of the 28-year-old terror-ist, who was shot dead by armedpolice officers, revealed he hadbeen seen preaching under theISIS flag as a young teenager afterhe dropped out of school inStoke-on-Trent in centralEngland — where his family set-tled many years ago after mov-ing from PoK.

“It is vital that the emptyideology of terror is rejected by

all of us and that communitiescome together side-by-side toensure that those seeking todivide us will never succeed,”said Scotland Yard’s Head ofCounter Terrorism Policing,Assistant Commissioner NeilBasu. “As a precaution, wehave enhanced police patrolsacross London of both armedand unarmed officers. Thepublic can expect to see anincreased police presencethroughout the weekend ascolleagues from theMetropolitan, City of Londonand British Transport policecarry out those patrols,” he said.

The profile pieced togeth-

er of Khan on the basis of hisconviction on terrorismoffences reveals a “serious jiha-di” who was the youngest in anine-member group of Islamistradicals jailed in 2012 for plan-ning to bomb the LondonStock Exchange (LSE) and theUS Embassy as well as targetVIPs such as Boris Johnson,then the Mayor of London.

The court documents seenby The Sunday Times reveal thatthe authorities were much moreconcerned about the sophisti-cation displayed by Khan andothers from his hometown ofStoke-on-Trent, who were plan-ning to set up a terrorist train-

ing facility “under the cover ofa madrassa” on land owned byhis family in PoK.

When he sentenced Khanin 2012, Justice Alan Wilkie hadsaid the future London Bridgeattacker was on a “more long-term and sustained path” andwould try to recruit and train“more serious and effective ter-rorists” to wreak mayhem.

“In my judgment, theseoffenders would remain, evenafter a lengthy term of impris-onment, of such a significantrisk that the public could not beadequately protected by theirbeing managed on licence inthe community,” he said,

Justice Wilkie said “therisk they pose is so significantthat it can only be adequatelymet by an indeterminate sen-tence”. However, the “indeter-minate sentence” was scaleddown on appeal at the Court ofAppeal in 2013, making Khaneligible for early release underlicence conditions after eightyears — a term which com-pleted in December 2018.

London: The first victim of theLondon Bridge terror attack tobe named has been praised by hisfather as “a beautiful spirit”. JackMerritt, 25, was one of two peo-ple stabbed to death by UsmanKhan during the convicted ter-rorist’s rampage on Friday.

Khan, 28, was shot dead onthe bridge while wearing afake explosives vest by police.Merritt, a course coordinator atCambridge University’s crim-inology institute, was killed ashe helped host an event nearLondon Bridge to mark fiveyears of a prisoner rehabilita-tion programme.

It was targeted by Khan, aformer participant, who arrivedarmed with two knives.

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UK Prime Minister BorisJohnson said on Sunday

that 74 people jailed for terroroffences were released early,asserting that he will take stepsto ensure that perpetrators ofa violent or terrorist offence arenot set free easily.

Johnsons’s remarks came aday after the London Bridgeattack where a convicted ter-rorist killed two people beforebeing shot dead by police. Theattacker, identified as UsmanKhan, was a convicted terror-ist who was jailed seven yearsago over a plot to bomb theLondon Stock Exchange and tobuild a terrorist training campon land owned by his family in

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.Khan had also discussed

staging a Mumbai-style attackon the UK Parliament. Hewent on a rampage on Fridayand killed one man and awoman and injured three oth-ers before being shot by armedpolice officers.

The Ministry of Justicelaunched an urgent reviewafter the knife attack. Primeminister Johnson told the BBCthat 74 people jailed for terroroffences and released early willhave their licence conditionsreviewed. He claimed thatscrapping early release wouldhave stopped Khan, but theLabour Party is blaming bud-get cuts for “missed chances tointervene”.

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Republicans aim to use theHouse drive toward

impeaching President DonaldTrump to whittle downDemocrats’ majority by dis-lodging vulnerable incum-bents from swing districtsloaded with moderate voters.

It could work, especiallyin Democratic-held districtsTrump carried in 2016 withthrongs of independent voterswho polls shows are closelydivided over his removal. Orit could flop, in an era whennews zooms by so swiftly thattoday’s concerns may beeclipsed in 11 months andmany people are morefocused on pocketbook issuessuch as health care costs.

“It will be part of themosaic, but hardly the over-riding issue,” GOP pollsterWhit Ayres predicted aboutimpeachment’s impact nextNovember. “It will have fadedby then and it will also havesimply reinforced the preex-isting attitudes and madethem more intense.”

What’s clear is that fornow, Republicans are wieldingimpeachment mostly as anoffensive weapon andDemocrats are generally play-ing defense or changing thesubject as 2020 congression-al races rev up. HouseDemocrats will be defendingtheir 233-197 majority, withfour vacancies. Republicanswill try preserving their 53-47Senate control.

KALAMAZOO: For morethan 30 years and under fivepresidents, Republican Rep.Fred Upton easily wonreelection to his southwestMichigan House seat by pro-moting “common-sense val-ues” and bipartisan accom-plishments.

Republicans and evenmany Democrats haveappreciated his moderateviews and the way he hustledaround the district on hisdays back home, meetingpeople at schools and seniorhomes and doing weeklyradio interviews.

But then came thehyperpolarised politics ofthe Donald Trump era. Nowno one, including Upton,really knows what the futureholds for him heading intothe 2020 election. AP

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From streets to museums,and airports to public

squares, Chinese cities are suf-fused with celebratory red,commemorating the 70 years ofthe foundation of the People’sRepublic of China (PRC), asthe country remains soaked inthe festive mood.

On October 1, 1949, leg-endary Communist leader MaoZedong from Beijing’s Gate ofHeavenly Peace, had pro-claimed the founding of thePRC after a bloody civil war, and the period post this phase is generallyreferred to by the Chinese as‘new China’.

From Beijing to Nanjingand Shanghai to Yangzhou,cities, big and small, are still in

the grip of celebratory mood,with ubiquitous five-star rednational flags dotting thestreets, hanging on lamp posts,and giant decorative piecesthemed on 70 years adorningtraffic intersections.

Chinese people, young andold, said, the excitement of the70th year has not subsided andcities continue to wear festivelook, post the massive celebra-tions in Beijing on October 1where President Xi Jinpingpresided over the country’slargest parade, showcasing itsmilitary might and unityamong top leaders, to celebratethe Communist Party’s hold onpower for 70 years.

The celebrations, albeit,took place amid shadows ofpro-democracy protests inHong Kong.

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Cambridge University hasrevealed that the woman

stabbed to death in a Londonextremist attack was a formerstudent. Vice-ChancellorStephen Toope said in a state-ment Sunday the woman, whohasn’t been named by policeyet, had been part of theLearning Together programmethat was being celebrated whenthe attack broke out Fridayafternoon.

He said the other personwho died, Jack Merritt, was acourse coordinator of the pro-gram. He also said one of thethree people injured is a mem-ber of university staff.

Toope said “what shouldhave been a joyous opportuni-ty to celebrate the achievementsof this unique and sociallytransformative programme,hosted by our Institute ofCriminology, was instead dis-rupted by an unspeakablecriminal act.” Attacker UsmanKhan was shot dead by police.

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������6�������1���1Tired of the constant comments on her relationship status,perpetually single Johanne starts a 24-day hunt for aboyfriend to bring home for Christmas. Starring Ida EliseBroch, Gabrielle Susanne Solheim Leithaug and DennisStorhøi, the show releases on December 5 on Netflix.

������1A fast-spreading disease that turns victims into blood-suckingfiends pits two best friends against each other in a fight forhumanity's future. Starring Ian Somerhalder, Adrian Holmesand Jacky Lai, the season 1 releases on December 5 on Netflix.

After an argumentwith her dad, ayoung womanfrom a family ofmacho truckdrivers is kickedout of the homeand must make herown success as atrucker. StarringKatherine EscobarFarfan, JuanManuel Restrepoand César Mora,the show releaseson December 4 onNetflix.

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What makes a megacitygreat? One answer ofcourse is a sustainable

space which can fulfill the needsof its citizens to live their lives ina holistic and enriching manner.Seoul has often been quoted as anexample where energy efficiency,emission rates, waste discharge, e-governance, a well-connected pub-lic transport and efficiencies inland consumption have ensuredthat the city is not just smart butanswers to the requirements of itspeople.

Take the Eco-Mileage system,an energy-saving programme thatengages citizens, for instance. Itoffers incentives to those who vol-untarily cut back on the use of elec-tricity, water, urban gas and heat-ing by at least five per cent com-pared to the monthly average ofthe previous two years for sixmonths. The reduction is translat-ed into points which can be usedto make purchases like eco-friend-ly household products, chargepublic transportation cards, pro-cure gift certificates for use in tra-ditional markets and exchange forcredit card points. Certainly,a method worth repli-cating in burgeon-ing Delhi.

Urban spacescan conjure upimages of high-

rises bereft of open areas, wherepeople walk about with an appar-ent lack of connection in a homo-geneous set-up throughout theworld. But the development ofcommunity neighbourhoods isinfluenced by geography, climate,scale and culture and showsdiverse patterns of growth.

So while differentiating ahanok in Seoul from a haveli inDelhi is obvious, it is difficult to dothe same with a highrise apartmentin Seoul and one in Delhi. TallStorey, an exhibition at the KoreanCultural Centre, depicts the chang-ing housing styles in India andKorea and also discusses their sim-ilarities and differences in-depth.

Both the nations are very dif-ferent from each other, a differencethat is clearly reflected in their tra-ditional architecture. CuratorsYang Seunghee and ManasviniHariharan say that the major dif-ferences in the highrises of boththe cities exist in the way that peo-ple occupy them. They tell us,“While Seoul highrises often haveclosed balconies which areused as spaces for storingkimchi, soy sauce and for

other fermentationpractices that peo-

ple would usually carry out on theground, Delhi towers often comewith large community halls, openfarmer’s markets and other spacesfor activities and gatherings forwhich one would usually step outinto the street.”

The curators feel that architec-ture is a response to living habitsand hence differs according tolocal culture, climate, geographyand other factors. But the inhab-itants are always human, whetherin India or Korea, who can person-alise seemingly formatted spaces.

The evolution ofurban spaces in

both cities is aresponse

to industrial and societal changes.Manasvini says that Delhi andSeoul, being capitals, absorbedpopulations following World WarII. Moreover, a variety of laws haveshaped the urban fabric of the twocities. Undoubtedly, economiccapital and industry have alsoinfluenced their urban characters.

In case of Delhi, the develop-ment was partially planned by thegovernment and did not necessar-ily look at the ques-tions of

sustainability. Rather it answeredto the immediate needs of thecommunity. Which is why we needto innovate on existing templates.Since we cannot redo all of them.Talking about the evolution of itsurban spaces, Ranjit Sabikhi whois an architect, urban designer andthe writer of Sense of Space saysthat post Independence, develop-ment in Delhi was largely deter-mined by the planners brought inunder the aegis of the FordFoundation who defined theframework for Delhi’s MasterPlans — in particular the first onein 1961. It sought to define the lay-out for a city of 50,000,000 by 1981.

“We followed the Master Planwhich laid out a series of sectors,each built around a district centrewhere commercial spaces were tobe concentrated. The 15 DistrictCentres were developed one byone, within which individual plotswere sold to developers. The sameprocess was followed for large areasof residential development. Asthe population of the city steadi-ly grew, demand also increased,”he adds.

Seoul, which has a popula-tion of 10.2 million people, isone of the largest and mostdensely populated city in theworld as it hosts 20 per cent ofSouth Korea’s population. So

there are various urban develop-ment plans of the city which Delhican learn from. The bus reform isone of the major transformation-al reforms carried there since2000s. A detailed analysis of thetravel patterns was undertaken tostudy the bus routes for twoyears. Then new trunk and feed-er bus routes were introduced.The government prioritised busesover private vehicles. This helpedin the urban transformation of thecity.

Their waste management israther admirable. People separatetheir waste into different cate-gories and each is delivered to aspecific treatment facility. Separatebags for disposal of different cat-egories are given by the districtgovernment. Not only this, thereare different days designated forthe collection. The non-degrad-able and non-recyclable waste isincinerated in different plants.

Though the exhibition is asimple presentation of housing inKorea and India a century ago,versus housing in the two coun-tries now, it leads the viewer toquestion why two countries withdiverse backgrounds now havecommon expression in its hous-ing typology. Despite that, Delhican imbibe many lessons, the onessuited to its specific conditions,from Seoul.

(The exhibition is on tillJanuary 3, 2020 at the

Korean Cultural CentreIndia.)

The first cargo-carrying robotmarketed directly to con-

sumers is on sale this holiday sea-son. But how many people areready to ditch their second car tobuy a two-wheeled rover that canfollow them around like a dog?

Corporate giants l ikeAmazon, FedEx and Ford havealready been experimenting withsending delivery robots todoorsteps. Now Piaggio, theItalian company that makes theVespa scooter, is offering a stylishalternative to those blandly utili-tarian machines — albeit onethat weighs 50 pounds (23 kilo-grams) and costs $3,250.

It’s named the Gita (JEE’-tah)after the Italian word for a short,pleasurable excursion — the kindyou might take to pick up somelacinato kale and gourmet cheeseat the farmers market. Its creatorshave such trips in mind for the“hands-free carrier” that can holdproduce and other objects as it fol-lows its owner down a sidewalk.

“We’re trying to get you outinto the world and connected tothat neighbourhood you decidedto move to because it was so walk-able,” said Greg Lynn, CEO ofPiaggio’s tech-focused subsidiary,Piaggio Fast Forward.

Tech industry analysts arealready declaring the Gita isdoomed to fail unless it finds amore practical application, such aslugging tools around warehouses,hospitals or factory floors. “That’sa lot of money for what is in effectjust a cargo-carrying robot that’sgoing to carry your groceries,” said

Forrester technology analyst JPGownder.

On a recent November morn-ing, Lynn was hunched over in aBoston waterfront park, pushinga button that triggered a Gita tosee him with its cameras and sen-sors. Then came a musicalwhirring sound as the device — asquarish, bright red bucket withtwo oversized wheels — rose upand signalled it was ready for aneighbourhood stroll.

A young boy in a strollerpointed excitedly. Another pedes-trian asked to try it, and playful-ly shouted as it swerved around,keeping in pursuit as she switcheddirections.

The Gita doesn’t require aphone or intrusive people-track-ing technology such as facialrecognition or GPS. “It basicallyjust locks onto you and tracksyou,” said Piaggio Fast Forward’sother co-founder, Jeffrey Schnapp.

Other startups like StarshipTechnologies have a more conven-tional business plan for their owndelivery robots. The companycharges a delivery fee starting at$1.99 if you order its rovers tobring you a Starbucks coffee or alunch from Panda Express.

So far, the best habitat to find

Starship’s six-wheelers are relative-ly confined spaces such as collegecampuses; the University ofHouston and the University ofWisconsin-Madison rolled themout this fall. The robots, whichlook like oversized ice chests onwheels, can carry up to 20 pounds(9 kilograms). “I love them. I thinkthey’re so cute” University ofHouston freshman Sadie Garciasaid as one of the machines rolledup with a bagel sandwich she’dordered. She said she was so coldshe didn’t want to leave her dorm.

Starship co-founder AhtiHeinla said his San Franciscostartup once looked at selling themachines directly to consumers,but dropped the idea after realis-ing it would have to price them atmore than $3,000.

Amazon is experimentingwith a similar-looking machinethat delivers retail goods in ahandful of US neighborhoods.FedEx is testing its own deliveryrover in partnership with PizzaHut, Walmart, Target andWalgreens. Ford has showed offa gangly two-legged robot tocarry items to homes. So far, noneare as far along as Starship, whichhas hundreds of its machinesalready in service.

While Forrester’s Gownderisn’t impressed with the Gita,he’s bullish about delivery robotsof the Starship variety becausetheir autonomy will help savelabour costs. Gownder said it’smore of a question of whetherground-based rovers or aerialdelivery drones will prove moresuccessful. The wheeled cargorobots that have already made itout into the wild have significantlimitations.

Starship’s machines stillrequire plenty of manual super-vision to load them with foodorders. They rely on remote pilotsto troubleshoot navigation prob-lems. Customers also have tocheck a phone app to tell the vehi-cle where to go and to unlock thebin once it arrives.

The Gita, meanwhile, mightstill be impractical for many peo-ple. It favours paved environ-ments that are dense enough tohave stores in walking distance,but not so dense that themachines get lost in the crowd.

And anyone who is simplylooking to pull home grocerieswithout heavy lifting can finddurable wagons online for lessthan $100.

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The trend in gift wrappingthis holiday season is

toward jazzy yet sustainableoptions. Consider beautifullyfolded fabrics or understated,brown or green maskingpaper topped with colorfulwashi tape or sprigs of greeninstead of easily crushed store-bought bows.

“There’s a lot of fun stuffgoing on in gift wrap thesedays,” says Amy Panos, homeeditor at Better Homes andGardens. “People still likepaper, of course, but there’s alot of interest in wrapping giftsin fabric,” she says. There’s theJapanese technique of furoshi-ki, in which the wrappingcloth becomes part of thegift. “Or you can use a scarf orpretty tea towel, then fold itlike origami,” Panos says.

Tenugui cloth, similar tofuroshiki but rectangularinstead of square, can also beused as an alternative to tra-ditional gift wrapping.

As with origa-mi, there arebooks showinghow to wrap gifts incloth, a gift-wrap-ping solution inJapan for cen-t u r i e s .Furoshiki come

in various sizes, fabrics andpatterns. For unusually largegifts — and an easier wrap-ping job — decorative pillow-cases are a good option, saysPanos.

“Overall, the trend is def-initely away from throwawayoptions and toward a moreeco-minded approach,” saysTanya Graff, style editor atMartha Stewart Living.

Pretty boxes are anothergreat and reusable way topresent a gift, says Graff. “Youcould try decorating a boxwith decoupage, so that thebox is a part of the gift itself.Or cover a stack of hatboxesin marbleised paper. You canput gifts inside,” she says.“Boxes can also be embell-ished with stick-on rhine-stones.” As much thoughtshould go into the gift wrap-

ping as into the gift itself,she explains. “That way,the wrapping can be a

part of the gift orcan be

r e u s e d ,”she says.

Many peo-ple still preferpaper of

course, butPanos andGraff say

the aesthetic is changing.“One thing we’re seeing is

a very Scandinavian look,with lots of browns and redsand naturals,” says Graff.Panos agrees. “Brown Kraftpaper, like the kind of papergrocery bags are made of, isfantastic. It’s multipurpose,inexpensive, and looks greatwith any kind of ribbon orbow. It’s also easy to dress upwith colorful ribbon or sprigs

of greenery,” she says.Holiday ornaments are

also a great gift topper, shesays. Or if you’re traveling andwant a gift that packs flat, asopposed to something with abow, try making a sort of“belly band” of some interest-ing leftover wallpaper orwrapping paper for a prettyand less-bulky gift-wrappingsolution.

Decorative washi tape,which comes in a wide rangeof patterns and colors, isanother trendy alternative toribbon.

Masking paper, which istypically green, is anothergood alternative to wrappingpaper. “It’s what painters typ-ically spread across the floorbefore they start painting,”explains Panos. You can buyrolls of it at a hardware store,and it looks amazing with abright red ribbon around it.

To save on gift tags, Panossuggests using pretty scraps ofleftover paper, or writingdirectly on the package. Sherecommends that gift recipi-ents save whatever ribbons orwrapping paper can be sal-vaged so they can be repur-posed instead of ending up ina landfill.

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One of the reasons whyworld leaders areunable to solve many

national and internationalissues is man’s irrationality. Hehas always tried to justify hisuncivilised behaviour as ‘nec-essary’ for the well-being ofsociety. He has even ratio-nalised his barbarous behav-iour as natural, psychological-ly justified or politically ben-eficial.

There have been instancesin the past where any woman,who gave birth to more thanthree children, was consideredas “very fertile” and the fatherof those children was consid-ered as “potent,” “manly” or“masculine”. However, if onelooks closely, people onlyadmired the couple for theirsexual vigour rather than tak-ing note that they lacked self-restraint and control.Likewise, a tyrant or anaggressive and ambitiousnation responsible for slaugh-tering a large number of peo-ple, was applauded. In otherwords, people praised powerwithout paying attention tothe fact that it was achieved atthe cost of being a killer andpaid less attention to thevirtues of forgiveness or com-passion.

Moreover, they ratio-nalised aggression as a ‘natur-al instinct’, an in-built psycho-logical response or a behav-iour that is politically justified.It is this rationalism that hasresulted in the present state ofthe world. Various faults in aman’s character have acquiredglobal implications and arenow threatening the existenceof society. Man even justifieshis unhealthy habits of smok-ing, consuming alcohol ornon-vegetarian food. Andunless the man doesn’t realisehis wrongdoings, no globalissue can be solved.

As stated earlier, this ten-dency to favour the absurdhas resulted in small problemstaking global dimensions. Forexample, man’s lustful desires,which have been justified onbiological or psychologicalgrounds have now resulted inoverpopulation, promiscuity,illegitimate children, rape,abduction and spread ofAIDS. The threat caused byoverpopulation is almostequal to the one caused bynuclear weapons. Yet mandoes not practise self-control.Instead, he tries to justify hisactions to suit his desires anddoes what is convenient forhim. He doesn’t realise howthis could result in a greatstrain upon his stamina and

moral health.Similarly, emotions like

aggression and greed not onlyharm the people they areinflicted upon but oneself aswell. Man’s justification of hisself-interest and wrong notionof security has pushed theworld into a grave economiccrisis and a race for warweapons. Hence, there is anurgent need to put our senseof rationalism on the righttrack and, thereby, to enableus to put an end to our irra-tional, irresponsible and inju-rious behaviour. And in turn,save mankind from a numberof global upheavals.

Faults in human characterhave been looked at some-thing that should only con-cern a particular individual.The society didn’t botherabout an individual’s trouble-some habits. It was believedthat these should only con-cern one’s family members orfriends who can directlyengage with the person.However, today, the societycollectively needs to worktowards spreading awarenesson how individual behaviourcan affect global develop-ment. We should know thatdefects in man’s personalityare of concern not only to thatparticular individual but tothe whole society.

Smoking, for example, isnot only injurious to thesmoker’s health but also toothers who do not smoke butare exposed to it. The wholesociety will have to sufferbecause of one man’s wronghabits. An inner transforma-tion is the solution of allthese problems. Man firstneeds to accept his wrongdo-ings and walk on the right-eous path.

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There are many areas of ruralIndia that are still bogged downby poverty, poor health, starva-

tion, unemployment and inequality.Although the government has beenworking to alleviate the conditions andsome achievements have been record-ed, it is still a long road that we needto travel.

We must acknowledge that educa-tion is the only way to eradicate theseproblems. But unfortunately, the first-generation learners (those learnerswho hail from a family who have hadno access to formal education) in ruralIndia face challenges which oftenappear insurmountable. These couldbe perceived in the following ways:

���� �"� #�����%&��$!%%��According to the Ministry of

Human Resource Development, liter-acy in rural areas was 64.7 per cent asopposed to 79.5 per cent in urban areasin 2018. The rural areas are strugglingwith the objective of imparting edu-cation because there is a paucity ofschools. Moreover, poor transportationand connectivity further compoundthe problem. So parents are unable tosend their children to schools. Thisacts as a huge obstacle to education.As per the ASER (Annual Status ofEducation Report), nationally, in 2018,four out of 10 government primaryschools had less than 60 studentsenrolled.

��$��%&�&� � $�������%#�$��Poverty continues to be a major

social issue and it affects rural Indiamore. Children are unable to affordeducation because of financial con-straints. Private schools are an expen-sive option and out of budget for mostrural households. They can either edu-cate children or lead a basic life withthe limited money they have.

�%%��� &��� �#$ #��Rural schools are bogged down by

poor infrastructure. To begin with, theteacher-student ratio is highly imbal-anced. Even the existing teachers arenot well-trained. Naturally, this affectsthe quality of education being impart-ed.

Even basic facilities such as text-books, drinking water, and library arenot adequate. The ASER report markeddeficiencies particularly in areas nearJammu and Kashmir and most of theNorth-Eastern states. In these states,less than 50 per cent schools had pro-

vision for drinking water or girls’ toi-lets till 2018. With the exception ofAssam, majority of schools in states inthe north-east did not have librarybooks available for students. TheDistrict Information System forEducation (DISE) data shows that only53 per cent of total governmentschools, which dominate rural India,have electricity connection. Only 28per cent schools (18 per cent govern-ment schools) have a computer and 9per cent (4 per cent governmentschools) an internet connection.

��"� �% ���'�(�%&� ��$!� )While pedagogy has gone up sev-

eral notches in urban areas with newerteaching techniques being introduced,these remain primitive and tradition-al in Indian villages. The urban schoolshave adopted concept learning but therural ones are still stuck to rote.

Moreover, they do not have prop-er facilities for imparting physicaleducation because there are no teach-ers for the discipline. The report findsthat only 5.8 per cent of primaryschools and 30.8 per cent of upper pri-mary schools had a physical educationteacher available. In majority of

schools, other subject teachers weretasked with supervising physical edu-cation activities as well.

��$��%&� �$! %�%)(Even in the 21st century, the

rural schools are still devoid of tech-nology and upgraded techniques.Basic computer literacy is a must forevery child. However, schools in ruralIndia often don’t have computers orteachers to take up the subject. Thisalienation causes a digital divide in ourcountry.

�#���*#��� �"���"�Difference in teaching methods,

varying magnitude of subjects andthemes taught mean that there is a hugedifference between rural and urbaneducation. Among 14-18-year-oldssurveyed by the ASER teams, only 43per could solve a class IV mathemat-ics problem. This proportion wasroughly the same among 14-year-oldsas among 18-year-olds, showing thatthe problem of low learning outcomeswas not resolved by remaining inschool. Only 40 per cent of 18-year-

olds could take 10 per cent off a givennumber. Twenty-seven percent of 14-year-olds, and 21 per cent of 18-year-olds could not read a class II textbookin the regional language and more than40 per cent in each age group could notread a simple sentence in English. Thishas deepened the rural-urban divide.

�) %�� $��%&����� �This is one of the most important

factors that hampers the growth offirst-generation learners. There are somany families in rural areas who arehardly aware of the importance of edu-cation in bringing about change. Mostchildren don’t go to school becausetheir parents don’t find it important toinvest in their education, especially ifit’s a girl child.

The dropout rate in rural schoolsis high. Approximately, 50 per cent stu-dents drop out from school beforecompleting the 12th standard. All ofthis clearly signals that the state of firstgeneration learners is very alarmingand certainly needs the attention of thegovernment.

(The author is founder of an organ-isation which works in the field of edu-cation and an education evangelist)

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Leon Bailey scored twice as BayernMunich crashed 2-1 at home to

10-man Bayer Leverkusen onSaturday.

Hansi Flick lost for the firsttime in five games as Bayern’s inter-im coach after Jamaica winger Baileyscored first-half goals for Leverkusen.

Mid-table Leverkusen finishedwith 10 men after defender JonathanTah saw a late red card for foulingPhilippe Coutinho.

Flick, put in charge until at leastJanuary, had won his first four gameswith 16 goals scored and zero con-ceded — the best start by a coach inBayern’s proud history.

However, little went right at theAllianz Arena for Bayern, who arefourth and trail Leipzig by threepoints.

“I didn’t flip out after winningfour games and I won’t now,” saidFlick.

“We knew Leverkusen were goodon the counter and they took theirchances mercilessly; we didn’t takeours.”

Bayern hit the wood-work three times, had 75percent possession and 24shots on goal, twice as manyas Leverkusen.

The visitors were aheadon 10 minutes as Baileyglided past Benjamin Pavard after abrilliant Kevin Volland pass.

After Serge Gnabry, then IvanPerisic had hit the woodwork,Thomas Mueller equalised on 33

minutes, but Bayern were level forjust 113 seconds as Bailey this timemotored past Javi Martinez to beatManuel Neuer.

Bayern had little luck and evenRobert Lewandowski, whoscored four goals in 15 min-utes in Tuesday’s 6-0 thrash-ing of Red Star Belgrade,failed to score.

Lewandowski fired wide,an unusual sight for the

Poland star who has 27 goals in 21games, then he hit the post inadded time as Munich sufferedonly their second home defeat thisseason.

�>�� ��.� �3

France face a major hurdleif they are to add the

European Championship totheir World Cup crown aftercoming out in the same Euro2020 group as Germany andreigning European championsPortugal in Saturday’s draw inBucharest.

Neither France norPortugal were in Pot One forthe 24-team competitionbeing held in 12 cities acrossEurope, making them thedangerous teams to avoid forthe top seeds.

In the event, they were allput together in a high-calibreGroup F alongside Germany,who will play all their groupgames in Munich. That iswhere Joachim Loew’s teamwill face France in their firstmatch on June 16 and thenPortugal on June 20.

“It is the hardest group,but we must accept it. Itmeans we will have to beready right away,” said Francecoach Didier Deschamps.

Group F will be complet-ed by one of the winners ofthe play-offs to be playednext March, leaving openseveral possibilities includingHungary, who will play twogames in Budapest shouldthey make it.

France beat Germany inthe semi-finals of Euro 2016on home soil, before slump-

ing in the final againstPortugal.

With the four best third-placed sides all going through,it is very possible all three willprogress to the last 16, butLoew is in no doubt France —who followed their 1998World Cup triumph by win-ning Euro 2000 — are thestrongest team.

“They are the worldchampions and have beengetting stronger for the lastthree or four years. They arethe group favourites,” he said.

Meanwhile, England weredrawn with Croatia and theCzech Republic in Group D,

with Gareth Southgate’s teamto play group games atWembley, which will alsohost the semi-finals and theJuly 12 final.

That group will be com-pleted by the team to emergevictorious from Path C in theplay-offs — either Serbia,Norway, Israel and Scotland.

England will kick off athome to Croatia on June 14 ina repeat of the 2018 WorldCup semi-final, which waswon by the Croatians.

However, should Englandwin their group they willhave to play the Group F run-ners-up, setting up a possible

clash with Germany,France or Portugal inthe last 16.

Even if they winthat, the draw is suchthat they could endup facing Spain in thequarter-finals.

Southgate famouslymissed a penalty whenEngland lost to Germany in ashootout at Wembley in theEuro 96 semi-finals, the lasttime they played a match athome in the tournament.

WALES HEAD TO BAKUItaly will face Turkey in

Rome in the tournament’s

opening game onJune 12, withSwitzerland and Euro2016 semi-finalistsWales also in thatsection, Group A.

Wales will playtwo matches in far-flungBaku, starting withSwitzerland on June 13.They played there thismonth, and won, againstAzerbaijan in a qualifier.

Spain will play Swedenand Poland as well as aplay-off winner in Group E,with Luis Enrique's teamplaying in Bilbao.

Finland will face two

hosts, Denmark and Russia,as well as much-fanciedBelgium in Group B at whatwill be their first Euro.

The Netherlands, on therise after missing Euro 2016and the last World Cup,face Ukraine and Austriaalong with another play-offwinner in Group C.

Saint Petersburg,Copenhagen, Amsterdam,Bucharest and Dublin willalso host matches afterUEFA decided to spreadthe Euro across the conti-nent to mark the 60thanniversary of the first tour-nament in 1960.

�>�� 1, ��.

Caretaker managerFreddie Ljungberg could

not end Arsenal’s long waitfor a win as Pierre-EmerickAubameyang’s double onlysalvaged a 2-2 draw at strug-gling Norwich on Sunday.

The Canaries twice ledthrough Teemu Pukki andTodd Cantwell only forAubameyang to level, firstfrom the penalty spotand then with aclinical finish afterthe break.

But Arsenalalso had goal-keeper BerndLeno to thankfor coming awaywith a point asthe German savedbrilliantly from KennyMcLean, Pukki andEmiliano Buendia.

Unai Emery was sackedas Arsenal manager afterseven games without a winin all competitions that hadseen the Gunners fall well offthe pace in the race for a top-four finish.

Ljungberg remains afans’ favourite from his title-winning days as an Arsenalplayer, but he suffered thesame problems as his prede-cessor as the visitors’ fire-power up front was neededto cover up their defensiveproblems.

Granit Xhakareturned to theArsenal sidefor the firsttime in theP r e m i e rLeague sincean explosive clashwith the club’s fans as hewas substituted againstCrystal Palace lastmonth that cost himthe captaincy amongfour changes fromEmery’s last starting

line-up in the league.Shkodran Mustafi was

surprisingly recalled for hisfirst outing in the PremierLeague this season, but it didnot take Ljungberg long torealise the German is not hisanswer to Arsenal’s prob-lems a centre-back.

Ljungberg’s side hadmade a bright start, but fellbehind to Norwich’s firstdangerous attack whenMcLean’s pass played inPukki, who twisted andturned David Luiz beforeseeing his shot deflect in offMustafi for his first goal innine games.

However, Norwich havealso made a habit of givingthemselves a mountain toclimb this season withdefensive errors and giftedArsenal a route back into thegame when captain CristophZimmerman handled a free-kick inside his own box.

Aubameyang saw hisfirst spot-kicksaved by Tim

K r u l ,

but was given a secondchance after a VAR reviewfor encroaching by theNorwich players and firedhome the retaken penalty.

Just as Arsenal werebeginning to get on top,they were again cut openwith ease as OnelHernandez’s cut-back waspassed into the far corner byCantwell to give Norwich ahalf-time lead.

Aubameyang has nowscored half of his side’s 20Premier League goals thisseason as the Gunners’ newcaptain led by example tosmash home at the backpost from a corner justbefore the hour mark.

But it was Norwich whowill feel they should havetaken all three points asthree big chances went beg-ging for just their fourth winof the season.

McLean’s shot wasturned onto the post byLeno, Cantwell’s strike fromthe edge of the area flew justwide and Pukki was denied

by a fine Leno save inquick succession.

Leno had one morebig stop to make from

Buendia in stoppagetime, but a point stillleaves Arsenal sevenpoints adrift of thetop four in eighth.

Norwich remainin the bottom three, but

inch to within threepoints of safety.

�>�� ����1

Lautaro Martinez’s first-halfbrace put Inter Milan top ofSerie A on Sunday with a 2-

1 win over SPAL after championsJuventus were held 2-2 at homeby Sassuolo.

“We didn’t use our heads,”lamented Juventus boss MaurizioSarri after his side lost their firstpoints at home this season.

Cristiano Ronaldo scoredfrom the spot to rescue a pointbut Juventus slipped one pointbehind Antonio Conte’s InterMilan.

Argentinian Martinez putInter ahead after 16 minutes atthe San Siro, and then connect-ed with Antonio Candreva’s crossbefore the break to head in hiseighth league goal this season.

Mattia Valoti pulled a goalback, but second-from-bottomSPAL fell to their ninth defeat.

Conte has guided Chinese-owned Inter to 12 victories in 14league games, and they reclaimedthe top spot which they had helduntil their 2-1 defeat to Juventuson October 6.

In Turin, Leonardo Bonuccistruck early for the eight-timereigning Serie A championsbut Jeremie Boga andFrancesco Caputo hit backfor Sassuolo beforeRonaldo’s point-savingintervention.

Sassuolo, in 12th,claimed their first ever pointat Juventus, and held Sarri’sunbeaten champions to theirthird draw of the season.

“We got into trouble on ourown, we didn’t use our heads inthe first half, as the goals conced-ed show,” said Sarri.

“Every time we lost the ballwe left ourselves open. We had afirst half without application andlittle energy from the characterpoint of view.

“But we were coming off twogames in which we used up a lotof energy against Atalanta andAtletico Madrid.

“We woke up after goingbehind.”

Ronaldo started up front,having missed last weekend'sleague game with a slight kneeproblem, as Paulo Dybala, whoscored in their ChampionsLeague win over Atletico Madrid,started on the bench.

Eighteen-year-old StefanoTurati made an impressive debutin the Sassuolo goal, and pulledoff a string of fine saves, denyingRonaldo, Gonzalo Higuain andDybala late.

But Juventus counterpartGianluigi Buffon had a night-mare. The 41-year-old, makingjust his fifth start this season, wasat fault in Caputo’s goal just afterthe break.

Bonucci got Juventus off themark with a long-range effort on20 minutes.

Three minutes later Bogapounced on a Caputo cross andsent it past an out-rushing Buffonfrom an angle.

Caputo added a second fol-

lowing a mix-up between JuanCuadrado and Matthijs De Ligtin the Juventus defence, withBuffon then fumbling the effortinto the back of the net.

Turati got down low to denyHiguain after getting his hand tosend a Ronaldo free kick over thebar.

Ronaldo’s penalty pulled the

hosts level on 68 minutes afterFilippo Romagna fouled substi-tute Dybala.

It was the Portuguese star’sfifth Serie A goal this season.

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French midfielder FranckRibery suffered serious lig-

ament damage to his rightankle in Saturday’s Serie Agame against Lecce, his clubFiorentina confirmed onSunday.

Ribery, 36, had to behelped off the pitch just before

half-time after Greek mid-fielder Panagiotis Tachtsidis’sliding tackle left the Frenchveteran in agony.

Tests revealed damage tothe medial collateral ligamentof the right ankle, the club said,adding his condition would bereassessed in the coming days.

The club did not revealhow long the former Bayern

Munich player would be outfor, but according to Italianmedia reports he could besidelined until after Christmas.

Ribery has scored twogoals for Fiorentina who are11th in the Serie A table afterSaturday’s 1-0 defeat and nextplay Torino, Inter Milan andRoma before the end of theyear.

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Pakistan was battling to stave offdefeat in the day-night secondTest against Australia on

Sunday after being forced to followon, with Tim Paine’s men needingseven wickets to clinch the series 2-0.

The visitors, who have lost 13consecutive Tests in Australia, werein big trouble at 39 for three whenrain forced an early end, 248 runsbehind with two days left and theirtop order decimated.

They had resumed on an over-cast and cold afternoon teetering at96 for six in their first innings, inreply to Australia’s 589 for threedeclared, built on the back of DavidWarner’s monumental 335 not out.

Yasir Shah smacked a doggedmaiden Test century and BabarAzam hit 97 but they were all out for302 and still 287 runs adrift, withMitchell Starc the hero, taking 6-66.

Australian skipper Tim Paineenforced the follow on and it start-ed badly for Pakistan, whose first taskwas to survive intact for 15 minutesbefore the dinner break.

They failed with opener Imam-ul-Haq — recalled after being over-looked for the first Test in Brisbane,which they lost by an innings and fiveruns — out lbw for a duck to JoshHazlewood.

It was quickly 11 for two withStarc tempting skipper Azhar Ali intoa thick outside edge and Steve Smithtaking a quality catch just secondsbefore a shower forced them off.

The rain had been threatening allday and when they returned after 30minutes Hazlewood bagged the keywicket of dangerman Azam for two,caught behind by Paine. But morerain soon blew in, to Australia’s frus-

tration, and the umpires called it aday.

Earlier, Yasir and Azam hadkept Pakistan’s slim hopes alive withdisciplined first innings batting.

Better known as a spin bowler,Yasir had never gone better than 42in his previous 36 Tests, making his113 against one of the world's mostfearsome pace attacks even moreremarkable.

�?''&(�$'� ���'��In a scintillating spell under

lights on Sunday night, left-armerStarc snapped up four quick wickets

and the omens for Pakistan did notlook good.

But the gloomy conditions atAdelaide Oval offered little for thebowlers during daylight hours onSunday and Azam and Yasir tookadvantage.

They put on a 105-run stand andAzam looked destined for a third Testcentury until Starc pounced again,with the 25-year-old edging anattempted drive to Paine behind thestumps on 97.

Azam — who scored a centuryin the first Test at Brisbane and israpidly emerging as his country’s top

batsman — left the field dejected butto a standing ovation.

The very next ball Starc grabbedhis sixth, with Shaheen Afridi plumblbw before Mohammad Abbas fend-ed off the hat-trick ball.

Abbas made a gutsy 29 before hewas undone by a Pat Cumminsbouncer, caught at gully by Warner.

At the other end, Yasir showedcomposure to compile his first-everton, bringing up the milestone off192 balls, clattering 12 fours and kiss-ing the turf in celebration.

He had a near-miss off the bowl-ing of Marnus Labuschagne on 33.

Steve Smith believed he caught himat slip and made a big appeal, butreplays showed the ball fell justshort of his fingertips.

Yasir was then dropped byLabuschagne off his own bowling on43.

He was finally out hooking aCummins delivery to Nathan Lyon.

�>�� ����3,1

Despite centuries to Joe Rootand Rory Burns England

expressed disappointment atstumps on day three of the sec-ond Test against New Zealandafter losing late wickets inHamilton on Sunday.

England captain Rootended his run drought with anunbeaten 114 while Burns rodehis luck to post 101.

But after they took Englandto 201 for two, the touristswere 269 for five at stumps andstill trailing New Zealand by106.

“I enjoyed the fact I got it(hundred) but at the same timedisappointed me and Rootycouldn’t stretch our partnershipand get us deeper into thegame,” Burn said.

“We’re disappointed to losea couple of wickets at the backend as well.”

With only five wicketsremaining and 16 overs washedout by rain in the final session,England’s vision of building ahealthy lead was rapidly fading.

The tempo swung away

from England when Burns wasrun out and New Zealand fol-lowed up with the quick wick-ets of Ben Stokes and ZakCrawley.

With Root and Burnsputting on 177 for the thirdwicket, England found the “bat-long” partnership they had beensearching for in their attempt tofollow the same recipe NewZealand used to win the firstTest.

But following the dismissalof Burns, Ben Stokes was gonefor 26 while Zak Crawley madeone on debut.

Root was under added pres-sure to not only guide Englandto a position of strength but also

to end his own run dearthamid suggestions the pressure ofcaptaincy was affecting his form.

To that end, he was in nomood to take risks as he faced258 deliveries in six hours toreach 99, before his centurycame on a surprise mistimingthat saw an inside edge fly pastthe wicketkeeper to the bound-ary.

Crawley’s maiden Testinnings only lasted six ballswhen he was caught behind togive Neil Wagner his first wick-et.

For New Zealand, Southeehas taken two for 63 whileWagner and Matt Henry have awicket each.

�� �������

BCCI President SouravGanguly on Sunday

indicated that there will beno extension for membersof the selection committeewhose tenures have ended,saying “you cannot gobeyond” that.

Going by the Board’sold constitution that has aprovision for a maximumfour-year term for the selec-tion panel, its chairmanMSK Prasad and his col-league Gagan Khoda'sterms have expired.

Prasad and Khoda wereappointed in 2015, whileJatin Paranjpe, SarandeepSingh and Devang Gandhi,who joined them in 2016,have one more year left intheir respective tenures asper the old constitution.

The amended constitu-tion, though, has a provi-sion for a maximum five-year term.

“Tenures are finished(means) tenures are fin-ished. They have done agood job. You cannot gobeyond your tenure and allof them don’t finish, so

majority of them stay and Idont think it should be aproblem,” Ganguly saidwhen asked about Prasad’stenure after the BCCI’s 88thAnnual General Meeting(AGM) here.

Ganguly said they can-not appoint selectors everyyear.

“As you must haveheard, ICC now wants tour-

naments every year, thatdoes not mean selectorscontinue forever. We willhave a tenure and we will(heed) to the tenure.”

Going by Ganguly’sstatements, the new selec-tors will have five-yearterms.

“There term is fiveyears, they can stay for fiveyears, but what we will dois that we will fix a term forselectors and appoint them.”

Asked about his opin-ion on the performance ofthe Prasad-led selectionpanel, the former captainsaid, “We are fine with it.(Just) because we are notinvolved that does notmean the selectors are bad,they have done a good job,the team has done welland we don’t have anyproblem.”

The Indian teamenjoyed plenty of successduring the five-man panel’stenure with the positives faroutweighing the negatives,but it often found itself atthe receiving end of relent-less criticism owing to theirlimited internationalcareers collectively.

���� ��.!1,�

Indian shuttler SourabhVerma’s impressive run at

the Syed Modi Internationaltournament came to an endafter he lost in straight gamesto Chinese Taipei’s WangTzu Wei in the men’s singlesfinal here on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Indian,who won two BWF Super100 titles in Hyderabad andVietnam this year, wentdown 15-21, 17-21 to worldNo 22 Tzu Wei in a 48-minute summit clash to missout on his maiden Super300 crown here.

Sourabh came into thesummit clash with a 1-1head-to-head record, hav-ing lost narrowly to Tzu Weiat the Tong Yun Kai Cup inMarch this year.

The Indian, who was atthe court for 75 minutesduring his semifinal winover Korea’s Heo Kwang Heeon Friday, couldn’t producehis best in the final as TzuWei claimed his first title inthree years.

The duo engaged in longrallies with Sourabh trailing1-3 initially but the Indiansoon managed to make it 4-

3 in his favour.Sourabh waited for

errors from his opponentsand punished any weakreturns to grab a 7-4 advan-tage.

Tzu Wei then tried toplay closer to the net and it

worked as he not only drewparity at 8-8 but lead 10-8.

Sourabh grabbed twopoints before finding the netas Tzu Wei held a slender 11-10 lead at the break.

The Taiwanese shuttlerdominated the proceedings

after the interval and openedup a 18-13 lead after theIndian went long.

Tzu Wei eventuallysealed the opening game afterthe Indian made a judgementerror at the backline.

In the second game,Sourabh struggled with thelength and lagged 0-5 at thestart. A superb backhandshot gave him a point but TzuWei put a lot of power in hissmashes to make life difficultfor the Indian.

Sourabh fought his wayback to narrow the gap to 5-7 before a focussed Tzu Weimanaged to hold on to athree-point lead at the break.

The momentum shiftedin Sourabh’s favour after thebreather as he clawed his wayback at 13-13 when Tzu Weiwent wide.

Tzu Wei broke the run ofplay with a body smashbefore Sourabh returned thefavour and grabbed the leadfor the first time in the sec-ond game at 15-14.

The Taiwanese, however,again took the lead andgrabbed three championshippoints and sealed the matchwhen Sourabh went longagain.

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Lewis Hamilton delivered sumptuousconfirmation of his title-winning

supremacy on Sunday when he claimed his84th career victory and 11th in 21 racesthis year by dominating the season-end-ing ‘twilight’ Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Starting from a record 88th poleposition, the 34-year-old Briton wasunchallenged from lights to flag as hecruised to an untroubled triumph 16 sec-onds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappenand Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who faceda post-race investigation for fuel irregular-ities.

The six-times world champion’s suc-cess extended his points-scoring run to arecord-equalling 33 races, levelling with hisown record, and brought him his 50th vic-tory from pole position.

His fifth win at the Yas Marina circuitalso drew level with Ayrton Senna in claim-ing a 19th start-to-finish triumph.

Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mateValtteri Bottas, who had started from theback of the grid after taking a new engine,came home fourth ahead of four-timechampion Sebastian Vettel in the secondFerrari and Alex Albon in the second RedBull.

It was a welcome morale boost for thecompetitive Finn, three days afterannouncing the end of his three-year mar-riage to Emilia.

Sergio Perez took seventh for RacingPoint on the final lap, Lando Norris waseighth for McLaren, Daniil Kvyat of ToroRosso ninth and Carlos Sainz, in the sec-ond McLaren, took 10th.

“That was an absolute master-class,”Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonningtontold him on team radio. “You didn’t evenbreak into a sweat!”

The winner, who secured title num-ber six with two races to go in Texas lastmonth replied: “I can assure you, I am def-initely sweating.”

Hamilton scored a classic ‘grand slam’with pole position, fastest lap and race vic-tory.

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Dashing Australian openerDavid Warner believes

India's Rohit Sharma has the fire-power to surpass West Indiesgreat Brian Lara’s record 400 notout in a Test match.

Though he couldn’t breakthe record, Warner believes it ispossible to surpass the 400-mark and backed Rohit toachieve the feat in near future.Lara’s 400 not out is the highestindividual score in Test cricketwhich came against England in2004.

“Yeah, look, I think it’s aboutthe person himself. We’ve gotlong boundaries, it is quite dif-ficult at times. When fatigue setsin, it’s very hard to try hard andthrow your hands at it,” Warnertold ‘Fox Sports’.

“At the end, I tried to runtwos to lift the ante because Icouldn’t actually think like Icould clear the ropes.

“I think, one day, if I’ve toname a player, I reckon it couldbe Rohit Sharma. Definitely.”

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