D3: e`ad T`ca`cReV ]`R_ hRZgVc ]Zde - SPLessons

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I ndia’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI), leads the list of banks who have written off huge loans of big borrowers, most- ly during the last three years. As per an RTI query, the SBI wrote off 76,600 crore of bad loans of 220 defaulters, who owed more than 100 crore each as on March 31, 2019. The RTI query gave the list of scheduled commercial banks with break up of loan waiver in two categories — 100 crore and more, and 500 crore and more. The total comes to a staggering 2.75 lakh crore. The Reserve Bank of India provided this information to CNN-News18 in response to a RTI query that also revealed that 37,700 crore waiver belonged to just 33 borrowers, with loans of 500 crore and more. The RTI response also showed that the debtors who were given loans of 500 crore and more defaulted on 67,600 crore of loans. Ironically, while banks go to any extent to recover small loans from farmers, forcing them to even commit suicide, they have been found to be extra generous in dealing with big time borrowers and cor- porates. The waiver has impact- ed the books of these banks and affected their lending capacity, which, in turn, impacted the credit offtake and led to liq- uidity crisis in the system. According to the RTI response, the RBI enlisted 980 borrowers whose debt of more than 100 cr each was written off by the banks. The SBI topped the list with 220 such accounts. The average write-off stood at 348 crore. The waiver has brought down the gross NPA from the peak of 11.5 per cent in March 2018 to 9.3 per cent in March 2019. The rate of accretion of fresh NPAs came down to 3.7 per cent in March 2019 com- pared with 7.4 per cent the pre- vious fiscal. The bad debts have impacted the corporate lending and virtually led to the collapse of Yes Bank and Punjab National Banks, clearly show- ing that the crisis has hit both the private sector and public sector banks. The menace refused to end as was shown in the result of the Indusind Bank on Thursday for the second quar- ter. The shares of the bank col- lapsed even though year-on- year the consolidated profit was 52 per cent more. But it was the higher provisioning that spooked the market reflecting the investors sensitivity on the nature of lending. P akistan on Thursday said no date has been fixed so far for the inauguration of the much-awaited Kartarpur cor- ridor, even as it assured that it will be open “on time” on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev on November 12. The statement came nearly a month after a senior official heading the cor- ridor project announced that Pakistan will allow Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the holy Kartarpur Sahib from November 9. Addressing a weekly Press briefing here, Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said, “Work on the Karatarpur corridor will be completed on time as committed by the Prime Minister (Imran Khan). It will be inaugurated on time, but I can’t give any date for its opening as no date has been fixed so far.” He assured that the corri- dor will be open on the occa- sion of the 550th birth anniver- sary of the Sikh spiritual leader on November 12. The proposed corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib, which was established in 1522 by Guru Nanak Dev. Pakistan is building the corridor from the Indian bor- der to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, while the other part from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district up to the border will be constructed by India. On September 16, during a maiden visit of Pakistani and foreign journalists to the pro- posed Kartarpur Corridor in Narowal, some 125 km from Lahore, the project director, Atif Majid, said 86 per cent of the work on the corridor has been completed and it will be opened to pilgrims on November 9. The Foreign Office spokesman said former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been formally invit- ed for the inaugural ceremony. He also said Pakistan will con- tinue to highlight the plight of Kashmiris at world forums. Last week, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had said that Manmohan will be part of an all-party jatha through the Kartarpur Corridor, which will be opened next month, to the Darbar Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan to mark the 550th birth anniver- sary of Guru Nanak. However, the Chief Minister made it clear that neither he nor the former Prime Minister would be participating in any event organised by Pakistan to mark the formal inauguration of the corridor on November 9. W ith an eye to Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday constituted a Coordination Committee headed by her close aide Ahmed Patel and consist- ing of senior party leaders Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma, Madhusudan Mistry, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Manik Tagore. Patel has convened its first meeting on Friday to strategise coordination of the party activ- ities for the Maharashtra and Haryana polls. A senior AICC leader said Patel has been assigned the new responsibility considering his acceptance among all the party leaders, old and young, and also within the Opposition leaders. The Congress and the NCP are alliance partners on equal number of seats in Maharashtra and the NCP is headed by Sharad Pawar, who enjoys a good rapport with Patel. While Scindia headed the Screening Committee for Maharashtra, the onus is now on Patel to keep intact the flock till the end of elections. The overarching Patel-ed committee has been mandated to monitor the election coor- dination committee, Pradesh election committee, campaign committee, publicity and pub- lication committee, media and communications committee, transport and accommodation committee, protocol committee and discipline committee till the end of the polls in both the crucial States. The first task on Thursday what the committee did was to give green signal to the party’s manifesto for Haryana which will be released on Friday. Sources said the manifesto focuses on addressing the issue being faced by the farmers, poor, women and youngsters. Continued on Page 4 U ndeterred by the denial of permission by the Centre to attend a summit on envi- ronment in Denmark, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address C-40 summit through video conferencing. According to a statement from Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Kejriwal will address the climate summit on solu- tions to tackle air pollution. “He has accepted the request of the summit organis- ers to deliver his address through video conferencing in session titled — breathe deeply, city solutions for clean air. The CM will also address a joint Press conference through video conferencing with mayors of six major world cities,” said a statement from the CMO. As per the schedule shared by the Delhi Government, Mark Watts, Executive Director of C-40, will start the summit at 8.30 am Copenhagen local time — 12 noon IST. After which there will be Press conferences of Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Arvind Kejriwal (on video conferencing), Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona, Ted Wheeler, Mayor of Portland and Jorge Muñoz Wells, Mayor of Lima. Kejriwal is likely to share his experiences on how Delhi has been successful in reducing air pollution by 25 percent in past five years. “The CM is also likely to share the experience of how Delhi became the first city in the world to successfully implement the odd-even experiment for restricting the vehicular traffic on the roads, which led to a reduction in air pollution in Delhi,” the Delhi Government said in a state- ment. Continued on Page 4 T he the Economic Offence Wing of the Delhi Police on Thursday arrested former Ranbaxy and Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh and three others in an alleged fraud case of disbursal of loans and causing loss to Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) to the tune of 2,397 crore. Kavi Arora (48), Sunil Godhwani (58) and Anil Saxena (51) too were arrested for allegedly diverting money and investing in other compa- nies. A lookout circular has been issued for Shivinder’s brother Malvinder Singh. According to OP Mishra, Additional Commissioner of Police, EOW, “A complaint was filed by Manpreet Singh Suri of Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) against Malvinder, Shivinder, Sunil Godhwani and others alleging that loans were taken by Singh while managing that firm but the money was invest- ed in other companies”. “The complainant said the persons put RFL in poor finan- cial condition by way of dis- bursing loans to companies having no financial standing and controlled by the alleged persons,” said Mishra. Continued on Page 4 T he Enforcement Directorate approached the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti in the Aircel- Maxis case, claiming that there is likelihood of tampering with the evidence. The plea has been listed for hearing before Justice Suresh Kait on Friday. The ED has challenged the September 5 order of the spe- cial court granting relief to Chidambaram and his son. Chidambaram is lodged in jail after being arrested by the CBI on August 21 in the INX Media corruption case. The trial court had also granted anticipatory bail to the father-son duo in the Aircel Maxis case filed by CBI. Continued on Page 4 A s India pulls out all stops to roll out a grand welcome to Chinese President Xi Jinping in this ancient seaside temple town, China has said the two countries pose no threat to each other and greater coop- eration between the two Asian giants would inject positive energy in ensuring peace and stability in the region and beyond. In an exclusive interview to PTI, Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong said a “new set of consensus” including “guiding principles” on the develop- ment direction of India-China ties are expected to emerge from the two-day informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi beginning Friday. The envoy said as the largest developing countries and emerging economies of the world, China and India have a responsibility to inject positive energy into a “complicated world”. “We believe that the Summit will take bilateral rela- tions to a higher level and have a major and positive impact on regional and world peace, sta- bility and development,” Sun said. Continued on Page 4 T he idea was to rekindle romance in marriage on a train journey through the deserts of Rajasthan but the Indian Railways plan for a spe- cial “Karwa Chauth” train ser- vice came a cropper with only two couples signing up, sources said. The result: the Majestic Rajasthan Deluxe, which was launched to provide a “dream holiday” to couples for a five- day tour of the State, stands cancelled, officials said. They said only two couples booked tickets on the train which has 78 seats. Only married couples were allowed on the train, which came with special touches like a shower cubicle and a foot massage, although the IRCTC had made special arrangements for children, the officials said. The train, part of the IRCTC promotional offers, was to depart from the Safdarjung station in Delhi on October 14 and visit historical sites in Rajasthan like Jaisalmer Fort, Patwon ki Haveli, Gadisar Lake, Mehrangarh Fort, Jaswant Thada, Amber Fort and City Palace till October 18. “Only two couples have booked tickets on it so it is as good as cancelled. We cannot run a train like this without occupancy,” an official said. In its promotional message, the IRCTC said, “This Karwa Chauth, give your wife a spe- cial gift which she will remem- ber for ages.” Officials said the low turnout could be because of the high fares — 1,02,960 per cou- ple in AC-I and 90,090 per couple in AC 2 Tier. Continued on Page 4 B ungalow number 11-A on Balwant Rai Mehta Lane in Lutyens’ Delhi resembles a rav- aged structure. Forced to leave the official accommodation, former parliamentarian from Bihar Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, chose to take away the doors and windows of the house besides razing the “illegal” structure erected to house people coming to meet him from his constituency. Yadav’s OSD Ajay Kumar alleged that the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) dismantled the structure, but the latter said the bungalow is still with the former MP, who has not handed over it to the Estate Department despite repeated reminders. Electrical equipment, floor tiles, lawns, paint, bathrooms, windows, brickwork, tempo- rary structures and the walls were damaged. The office located at the entry point of the gate was also found damaged along with doors and win- dows. The furniture was also found in ruined condition. The bungalow was used by the people coming from his constituency Madhepura for various works in Delhi. Yadav was running “Subhash Chandra Bose Sewa Ashram” from his residence. The sewa ashram had capacity to accom- modate 400 people at a time. He had put a banner carrying a slogan “Logon ka ghar sabka ghar”. Yadav is currently in Bihar to help flood-hit victims in Patna. According to Yadav’s OSD, bungalow will be hand- ed over to CPWD after his arrival. On the other hand, offi- cials of the CPWD said that they have already given a report to the Lok Sabha Secretariat about the bungalow’s condi- tion. Yadav is currently the pres- ident of Jan Adhikar Party. He had lost the Lok Sabha elec- tions in May. His wife Ranjeeta Ranjan, who was allotted bun- galow at 7 Balwant Rai Mehta Lane, too lost Lok Sabha polls. She had also been given notices to vacate her accommodation. The Estate Department under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has recently forcefully evicted three other ex-MPs while giv- ing a 3-day notice to three oth- ers to vacate their Government accommodations. With many ex-MPs yet to vacate their accommodation, newly elected MPs were forced to stay in var- ious State bhavans or guests houses. The Ministry has also served notices on the squatters is in he process to forcefully evict the occupants from bun- galow or flat number 185 at South Avenue; flat 185 at North Avenue and 11 Mahadev Road. Continued on Page 4

Transcript of D3: e`ad T`ca`cReV ]`R_ hRZgVc ]Zde - SPLessons

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India’s largest public sectorbank, State Bank of India

(SBI), leads the list of bankswho have written off hugeloans of big borrowers, most-ly during the last three years. Asper an RTI query, the SBIwrote off �76,600 crore of badloans of 220 defaulters, whoowed more than �100 croreeach as on March 31, 2019.

The RTI query gave the listof scheduled commercial bankswith break up of loan waiver intwo categories — �100 croreand more, and �500 crore andmore. The total comes to astaggering �2.75 lakh crore.

The Reserve Bank of Indiaprovided this information toCNN-News18 in response to aRTI query that also revealedthat �37,700 crore waiverbelonged to just 33 borrowers,with loans of �500 crore andmore. The RTI response alsoshowed that the debtors whowere given loans of �500 croreand more defaulted on �67,600crore of loans.

Ironically, while banks goto any extent to recover smallloans from farmers, forcingthem to even commit suicide,they have been found to beextra generous in dealing with

big time borrowers and cor-porates. The waiver has impact-ed the books of these banks andaffected their lending capacity,which, in turn, impacted thecredit offtake and led to liq-

uidity crisis in the system.According to the RTI

response, the RBI enlisted 980borrowers whose debt of morethan �100 cr each was writtenoff by the banks. The SBI

topped the list with 220 suchaccounts. The average write-offstood at �348 crore.

The waiver has broughtdown the gross NPA from thepeak of 11.5 per cent in March2018 to 9.3 per cent in March2019. The rate of accretion offresh NPAs came down to 3.7per cent in March 2019 com-pared with 7.4 per cent the pre-vious fiscal.

The bad debts haveimpacted the corporate lendingand virtually led to the collapseof Yes Bank and PunjabNational Banks, clearly show-ing that the crisis has hit boththe private sector and publicsector banks.

The menace refused to endas was shown in the result ofthe Indusind Bank onThursday for the second quar-ter. The shares of the bank col-lapsed even though year-on-year the consolidated profit was52 per cent more. But it was thehigher provisioning thatspooked the market reflectingthe investors sensitivity on thenature of lending.

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Pakistan on Thursday said nodate has been fixed so far

for the inauguration of themuch-awaited Kartarpur cor-ridor, even as it assured that itwill be open “on time” on theoccasion of the 550th birthanniversary of Sikh faithfounder Guru Nanak Dev onNovember 12. The statementcame nearly a month after asenior official heading the cor-ridor project announced thatPakistan will allow Indian Sikhpilgrims to visit the holyKartarpur Sahib fromNovember 9.

Addressing a weekly Pressbriefing here, Foreign Officespokesman Mohammad Faisalsaid, “Work on the Karatarpurcorridor will be completed ontime as committed by thePrime Minister (Imran Khan).It will be inaugurated on time,but I can’t give any date for itsopening as no date has beenfixed so far.”

He assured that the corri-dor will be open on the occa-sion of the 550th birth anniver-sary of the Sikh spiritual leaderon November 12.

The proposed corridor will

connect Darbar Sahib inKartarpur with Dera BabaNanak shrine in Gurdaspurdistrict of Punjab and facilitatevisa-free movement of Indianpilgrims, who will have to justobtain a permit to visitKartarpur Sahib, which wasestablished in 1522 by GuruNanak Dev.

Pakistan is building thecorridor from the Indian bor-der to the Gurdwara DarbarSahib in Kartarpur, while theother part from Dera BabaNanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspurdistrict up to the border will beconstructed by India.

On September 16, during amaiden visit of Pakistani andforeign journalists to the pro-posed Kartarpur Corridor inNarowal, some 125 km fromLahore, the project director,Atif Majid, said 86 per cent ofthe work on the corridor hasbeen completed and it will be

opened to pilgrims onNovember 9.

The Foreign Officespokesman said former IndianPrime Minister ManmohanSingh has been formally invit-ed for the inaugural ceremony.He also said Pakistan will con-tinue to highlight the plight ofKashmiris at world forums.

Last week, Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh hadsaid that Manmohan will bepart of an all-party jathathrough the KartarpurCorridor, which will be openednext month, to the DarbarSahib gurdwara in Pakistan tomark the 550th birth anniver-sary of Guru Nanak. However,the Chief Minister made itclear that neither he nor theformer Prime Minister wouldbe participating in any eventorganised by Pakistan to markthe formal inauguration of thecorridor on November 9.

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With an eye to Maharashtraand Haryana Assembly

elections, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi on Thursdayconstituted a CoordinationCommittee headed by her closeaide Ahmed Patel and consist-ing of senior party leadersJairam Ramesh, AnandSharma, Madhusudan Mistry,Jyotiraditya Scindia and ManikTagore.

Patel has convened its firstmeeting on Friday to strategisecoordination of the party activ-ities for the Maharashtra andHaryana polls.

A senior AICC leader saidPatel has been assigned the newresponsibility considering hisacceptance among all the partyleaders, old and young, andalso within the Oppositionleaders.

The Congress and the NCPare alliance partners on equalnumber of seats in Maharashtraand the NCP is headed bySharad Pawar, who enjoys agood rapport with Patel. WhileScindia headed the ScreeningCommittee for Maharashtra,the onus is now on Patel tokeep intact the flock till the endof elections.

The overarching Patel-edcommittee has been mandatedto monitor the election coor-dination committee, Pradeshelection committee, campaigncommittee, publicity and pub-lication committee, media andcommunications committee,transport and accommodationcommittee, protocol committeeand discipline committee tillthe end of the polls in both thecrucial States.

The first task on Thursdaywhat the committee did was togive green signal to the party’smanifesto for Haryana whichwill be released on Friday.Sources said the manifestofocuses on addressing the issuebeing faced by the farmers,poor, women and youngsters.

Continued on Page 4

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Undeterred by the denial ofpermission by the Centre

to attend a summit on envi-ronment in Denmark, DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalwill address C-40 summitthrough video conferencing.

According to a statementfrom Chief Minister’s Office(CMO), Kejriwal will addressthe climate summit on solu-tions to tackle air pollution.

“He has accepted therequest of the summit organis-ers to deliver his addressthrough video conferencing insession titled — breathe deeply,city solutions for clean air. TheCM will also address a jointPress conference through videoconferencing with mayors ofsix major world cities,” said astatement from the CMO.

As per the schedule sharedby the Delhi Government,Mark Watts, Executive Directorof C-40, will start the summitat 8.30 am Copenhagen localtime — 12 noon IST.

After which there will bePress conferences of Mayor ofParis, Anne Hidalgo, EricGarcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles,Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of

Copenhagen, Arvind Kejriwal(on video conferencing), AdaColau, Mayor of Barcelona,Ted Wheeler, Mayor ofPortland and Jorge MuñozWells, Mayor of Lima.

Kejriwal is likely to sharehis experiences on how Delhihas been successful in reducingair pollution by 25 percent inpast five years.

“The CM is also likely toshare the experience of howDelhi became the first city inthe world to successfullyimplement the odd-evenexperiment for restricting thevehicular traffic on the roads,which led to a reduction in airpollution in Delhi,” the DelhiGovernment said in a state-ment.

Continued on Page 4

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The the Economic OffenceWing of the Delhi Police on

Thursday arrested formerRanbaxy and Fortis Healthcarepromoter Shivinder MohanSingh and three others in analleged fraud case of disbursalof loans and causing loss toReligare Finvest Limited (RFL)to the tune of �2,397 crore.

Kavi Arora (48), SunilGodhwani (58) and AnilSaxena (51) too were arrestedfor allegedly diverting moneyand investing in other compa-nies. A lookout circular hasbeen issued for Shivinder’sbrother Malvinder Singh.

According to OP Mishra,Additional Commissioner ofPolice, EOW, “A complaint wasfiled by Manpreet Singh Suri ofReligare Finvest Limited (RFL)against Malvinder, Shivinder,Sunil Godhwani and othersalleging that loans were takenby Singh while managing thatfirm but the money was invest-ed in other companies”.

“The complainant said thepersons put RFL in poor finan-cial condition by way of dis-bursing loans to companieshaving no financial standingand controlled by the allegedpersons,” said Mishra.

Continued on Page 4

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The Enforcement Directorateapproached the Delhi High

Court on Thursday seekingcancellation of anticipatory bailgranted to former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram andhis son Karti in the Aircel-Maxis case, claiming that thereis likelihood of tampering withthe evidence. The plea hasbeen listed for hearing beforeJustice Suresh Kait on Friday.

The ED has challenged theSeptember 5 order of the spe-cial court granting relief toChidambaram and his son.Chidambaram is lodged in jailafter being arrested by the CBIon August 21 in the INX Mediacorruption case. The trial courthad also granted anticipatorybail to the father-son duo in theAircel Maxis case filed by CBI.

Continued on Page 4

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As India pulls out all stops toroll out a grand welcome to

Chinese President Xi Jinping inthis ancient seaside templetown, China has said the twocountries pose no threat toeach other and greater coop-eration between the two Asiangiants would inject positiveenergy in ensuring peace andstability in the region andbeyond.

In an exclusive interview toPTI, Chinese Ambassador SunWeidong said a “new set ofconsensus” including “guidingprinciples” on the develop-ment direction of India-Chinaties are expected to emergefrom the two-day informalsummit between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and

Xi beginning Friday.The envoy said as the

largest developing countriesand emerging economies of theworld, China and India have aresponsibility to inject positiveenergy into a “complicatedworld”.

“We believe that theSummit will take bilateral rela-tions to a higher level and havea major and positive impact onregional and world peace, sta-bility and development,” Sunsaid.

Continued on Page 4

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The idea was to rekindleromance in marriage on a

train journey through thedeserts of Rajasthan but theIndian Railways plan for a spe-cial “Karwa Chauth” train ser-vice came a cropper with onlytwo couples signing up, sourcessaid. The result: the MajesticRajasthan Deluxe, which waslaunched to provide a “dreamholiday” to couples for a five-day tour of the State, standscancelled, officials said.

They said only two couplesbooked tickets on the trainwhich has 78 seats.

Only married couples wereallowed on the train, whichcame with special touches like

a shower cubicle and a foot massage, although theIRCTC had made specialarrangements for children, theofficials said.

The train, part of theIRCTC promotional offers, wasto depart from the Safdarjungstation in Delhi on October 14and visit historical sites inRajasthan like Jaisalmer Fort,Patwon ki Haveli, Gadisar Lake,Mehrangarh Fort, JaswantThada, Amber Fort and CityPalace till October 18.

“Only two couples havebooked tickets on it so it is asgood as cancelled. We cannotrun a train like this withoutoccupancy,” an official said.

In its promotional message,the IRCTC said, “This KarwaChauth, give your wife a spe-cial gift which she will remem-ber for ages.”

Officials said the lowturnout could be because of thehigh fares — �1,02,960 per cou-ple in AC-I and �90,090 percouple in AC 2 Tier.

Continued on Page 4

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Bungalow number 11-A onBalwant Rai Mehta Lane in

Lutyens’ Delhi resembles a rav-aged structure. Forced to leavethe official accommodation,former parliamentarian fromBihar Rajesh Ranjan, aliasPappu Yadav, chose to takeaway the doors and windows ofthe house besides razing the“illegal” structure erected tohouse people coming to meethim from his constituency.

Yadav’s OSD Ajay Kumaralleged that the Central PublicWorks Department (CPWD)dismantled the structure, butthe latter said the bungalow isstill with the former MP, whohas not handed over it to theEstate Department despiterepeated reminders.

Electrical equipment, floortiles, lawns, paint, bathrooms,windows, brickwork, tempo-rary structures and the wallswere damaged. The officelocated at the entry point of thegate was also found damagedalong with doors and win-dows. The furniture was alsofound in ruined condition.

The bungalow was used bythe people coming from his

constituency Madhepura forvarious works in Delhi. Yadavwas running “SubhashChandra Bose Sewa Ashram”from his residence. The sewa

ashram had capacity to accom-modate 400 people at a time.He had put a banner carryinga slogan “Logon ka ghar sabkaghar”.

Yadav is currently in Biharto help flood-hit victims inPatna. According to Yadav’sOSD, bungalow will be hand-ed over to CPWD after his

arrival. On the other hand, offi-cials of the CPWD said thatthey have already given a reportto the Lok Sabha Secretariatabout the bungalow’s condi-tion.

Yadav is currently the pres-ident of Jan Adhikar Party. Hehad lost the Lok Sabha elec-tions in May. His wife RanjeetaRanjan, who was allotted bun-galow at 7 Balwant Rai MehtaLane, too lost Lok Sabha polls.She had also been given noticesto vacate her accommodation.

The Estate Departmentunder the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs (MoHUA)has recently forcefully evictedthree other ex-MPs while giv-ing a 3-day notice to three oth-ers to vacate their Governmentaccommodations. With manyex-MPs yet to vacate theiraccommodation, newly electedMPs were forced to stay in var-ious State bhavans or guestshouses.

The Ministry has alsoserved notices on the squattersis in he process to forcefullyevict the occupants from bun-galow or flat number 185 atSouth Avenue; flat 185 at NorthAvenue and 11 Mahadev Road.

Continued on Page 4

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Union Minister of State forHome Affairs Nityanand

Rai on Thursday launchedGovernment Railway Police(GRP) website railways.del-hipolice.gov.in and mobile appSahyatri-Delhi Railway Police atDelhi's NDMC ConventionCentre.

Amulya Patnaik, DelhiCommissioner of Police, ArunKumar, Director General ofRailways Police Force (RPF), AllSpecial Commissioners of DelhiPolice, TP Singh, GM,Northern Railway, SN Pandey,IG/RPF and other senior policeofficers of Delhi Police and RPFattended the programme.

"In inter-State co-ordina-tion meeting of chiefs of GRPsof all States and UnionTerritories (UTs) held at policeheadquarters of the DelhiPolice on October 24, 2018 itwas suggested to design a PAN

India database of crime andcriminals operating in rail-ways, for exchange of informa-tion on real time basis," said

Dinesh Kumar Gupta, theDeputy Commissioner of Police(DCP), Railways.

The responsibility for cre-

ation of GRP website wasassigned to DCP, Railways. Infurtherance of this objective, theDelhi Police has designed the

website to provide a commonplatform for sharing of infor-mation.

"The (24) States and (01)UT GRPs heads have beenassigned as super admin and aseparate user IDs and passwordhave been allocated, enablingthem to access the website.They may further createaccounts for their under controlsupervisory officers, as pertheir requirements," said theDCP.

"The criminal data base(compendium) of criminalsinvolved and operating in rail-ways jurisdiction in all overIndia under the crime head viz.dacoits/robbers, Snatcher, baglifters, pick picketers, cheaters,child lifter with their involve-ments, latest photographs andassociates are to be uploaded forbetter prevention and detectionof crime in Railways," said theDCP adding that the details ofunidentified dead body (UIDB),

missing persons, wanted crim-inals, absconding/proclaimedoffender, other important mat-ters, law and order related issueswould also be shared amongstthe GRPs of all states.

"Further the GRP Mobileapp — Sahyatri — DelhiRailway Police has also beendeveloped. The app would befunctional on Android and iOSmobile phones. Its hybrid appli-cation which has been special-ly designed for the railways pas-sengers to find out the juris-diction of the concerned policestation and the details of GRPOfficials by Geo-tagging withthe google map," said the DCP.

"The app shall also have thefacility for scanning and read-ing QR Code and make anemergency call (102,112 and1512). It shall also contain thelink to the citizen services pro-vided by Delhi Police throughthe Tatpar and Himmat PlusApps," said the DCP.

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National Capital's Air QualityIndex (AQI) was put under

'orange' category and tagged as'unhealthy' for breathing.Pollution monitoring agencies ofboth the Centre and the citymeasured the levels of harmfulpollutants above the prescribedlimits on Thursday.

City's Siri Fort recordedabnormally higher levels of nox-ious particles with value of 396micro gram per cubic. AnandVihar, RK Puram, Pusa Road,Chandni Chowk, MajorDhyanchand Stadium and KarniStadium are the areas where lev-els of Benzene, ParticulateMatters, Nitrate Oxide, Ozonewere recorded higher than theprescribed limits.

While real time ambient airquality index of US Embassytagged seven places under'unhealthy' category, SAFAR

(System of Air Quality andWeather Forecasting AndResearch) cited stubble burningincidents in Patiala (Punjab) andKarnal- Kurukshetra region inHaryana, the reasons behind thesudden rise in the pollutant val-ues on the AQI.

Low surface wind speedand westerly winds are also fac-tors for the low dispersion ofSuspended Particulate Matters(SPMs). Forcasting air qualitystatus in Delhi, SAFAR said thatSouthwest monsoon started toretreat now. The wind speedcontinues to be slow and variable

with predominant directionfrom the West. "Under theseconditions, air quality is pre-dicted to deteriorate to the high-er end of moderate for tomor-row. Indications of increased fireactivity during the last 48 hoursare visible from satellite imageryand further deterioration ofAQI is expected for the next twodays. Air quality is expected totouch the poor category by 13October,"

Importantly, calm surfacewinds will lead to stagnantweather conditions (e.g., lowwind speeds, descending air, and

compressed boundary layer),which favor rapid fine particu-late matter formation and accu-mulation of pollutants.

"The situation becomesbad if it is encountered withany additional internal (likefirecrackers) or external (likestubble) emission source. In alandlocked city like Delhi, itmay lead to rapid accumula-tion and may trigger high pol-lution events. However, if localemissions are controlled it willbe a good check to observe andavoid air quality crises,"SAFAR said.

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The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) offi-

cials have apprehended a 30-year-old man, who is accusedof rape, while he was trying toflee to Malaysia to evade hisarrest. The man was arrestedfrom Indira GandhiInternational (IGI) airport inDelhi.

The accused has been iden-tified as Amit Saini. Accordingto a senior CISF official, Amitwas scheduled to board a flightto Kuala Lumpur by a MalaysiaAirlines f light late onWednesday night.

"The CISF received a tip-offthat Amit Saini, involved in arape case registered at the NihalVihar police station, is likely tofly abroad to evade his arrest,"said the senior CISF official.

"Immediately, all the CISFpersonnel of IGI Airport werebriefed, surveillance and intel-ligence team coordinated withdifferent stakeholders andshared the accused's descrip-tion," said the CISF official.

"The officials checked allthe manifests available for theMalaysia-bound flights andcarried out a thorough searchin departure, forecourt area. Atnight, a passenger with thedescription shared by the DelhiPolice was zeroed in near thecheck-in area of Terminal-3,"said the CISF official.

"On enquiry, it was estab-lished that he was the accusedthe Delhi Police was lookingfor. A team of the Delhi Police identified him. Sainiwas handed over to police forfurther legal action," said theCISF official.

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To provide relief to con-sumers from rising tomato

prices, the Ministry of Food andConsumer Affairs on Thursdaydirected State-run Mother Dairyto sell tomato puree from Fridaythrough its 400-odd Safal out-lets in the national Capital.

Tomato prices have shot upto �80 per kg in retail marketsin Delhi and the NationalCapital Region (NCR) due tosupply disruption owing toheavy rains in producing Stateslike Maharasthra, Karnatakaand Telangana.

The decision was taken atan inter-ministerial meeting,headed by Consumer AffairsSecretary Avinash K Srivastava,that reviewed the price andsupply situation of tomato, ahighly perishable vegetable. Theprivate trade data showed toma-to price ruling in the range of�60-80 per kg in Delhi depend-

ing on the quality and locality,while the Government datashowed rates of the perishablevegetable at around �60 per kg.

"To mitigate the shortfall inavailability of tomatoes in Delhi,Safal has agreed to providetomato puree from all its outletsin Delhi," an official statementsaid.

Tomato puree will be soldat �25 for 200 gram pack (equiv-alent to 800 grams of freshtomato) and at �85 for 825 grampack (equivalent to 2.5 kilos offresh tomato), it said. "Thestocks have already been movedto all the outlets and the saleswill begin from tomorrow (11thOctober, 2019) onwards at allbooths," the statement added.

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The much-awaited lake viewcomplex or Sanjay Lake

Park Complex has beenapproved by the DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA). The park will be devel-oped on 10.26 hectare of landat Trilokpuri area (near SanjayLake) in Delhi for a residentialpurpose based on mixed-usedevelopment on transit-orient-ed development (TOD) norms.

For this, the land-use forthe site will be changed from'commercial' to 'residential',the urban body said in astatement. The decision wastaken in a meeting recentlychaired by Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal.

The authority alsoapproved 'Transit-OrientedDevelopment' (TOD) policyand regulations which arefocused on developmentaround the transit corridor,and it will also facilitate com-

plete ease of access to that tran-sit facility, thereby inducingpeople to walk and use publictransportation besides person-al modes of transport.

"TOD consists of a varietyof high-density, mixed-use,mixed-income buildings, with-in a short distance of a rapidpublic transport network, set ina public realm that encouragesmore people to use publictransport," it said.

In order to establish insti-tutional hub in Narela sub city,the authority also approvedchange of land use of 36.6hectares at District Centre,Narela from commercial to'public and semi public' (PSP),it said, adding that similarly, itwas decided that land use ofsimilar size PSP land in facili-ty area (FA-20) adjacent toresidential housing pocket (G-2) Narela be changed to com-mercial land to avoid anyimpact of land use change.

It further said that out of

36.6 hectares, Indira GandhiDelhi Technical Universityfor Women (IGDTUW) willbe allotted 20 hectares ofland and the remaining landis proposed for college orinstitutions.

The civic body alsoapproved the proposal ofchanging the mode of dispos-al of Nazul land for allotmentthrough auction by an amend-ment in the Nazul Rules 1981."It has also been recommend-ed to dispose Nazul land byauction to individuals, (body orpersons, firms, or companies),public and private institutions,co-operative house buildingsocieties, other co-operativesocieties of individual or co-operative societies of industri-alists for the purpose of GroupHousing. It further said thatthe matter will be accordinglyforwarded to the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA) for amendment inthe Nazul Rules 1981.

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The chief of DelhiCommission for Women

(DCW) Swati Maliwal onThursday alleged that there arearound 5,000 illegal spas situat-ed across the national Capital.The DCW has also submitteddetailed 87-page recommenda-tions to Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal to stop 'sex' rack-ets running in illegal spas andmassage parlours across the city.

According to the datashared by the DCW shows thatthere are around 5,000 spas inDelhi. While, as per themunicipal there are total of399 spas licensed in Delhiunder the three MunicipalCorporations. "As per the just-dial, there are thousands ofspas in Delhi, which raises aconcern that thousands of spaare operating illegally in the

Capital," said DCW."The Commission has

observed through its fieldinspections that full scale pros-titution rackets are running inseveral spa centres in variouslocations in Delhi. The reporthas highlighted how the author-ities have allowed the red lightarea to expand to hundreds oflocations in the city by allow-ing unchecked mushrooming ofspa and massage centres inDelhi. While, ither cities policeare such as Mumbai,Gurugram and Bengaluru isactively acting against prosti-tution rackets operating in Spasbut Delhi Police is completelysilent on the matter," saidMaliwal in a statement.

DCW further claimed thatafter its intervention , fiveFIRs have been registeredagainst spa centres in Delhibut the Police has not madeany arrests so far.

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North Delhi MunicipalCorporation has inducted

seven Golf cars to provide a freeride to visitors from ShastriMarket parking to main AjmalKhan Market.

A senior corporation offi-cial said these cars are envi-ronment friendly as it runs onbatteries and solar panels.

"Ajmal Khan Road shop-ping just got even better with7 golf carts operated by theMarket Association runningfrom the Shastri Park lot to themarket area shop till you drop-into an open seat in the openair mall which is #AKR! ,"North CorporationCommissioner Varsha Joshi

tweeted. Paramjit Singh Rana,

Councillor in NorthCorporation inaugurated thefacility. He said that these carswould be maintained by Karol

Bagh traders association insupervision of the civic body.

It will be operating from 10am to 9 pm. The civic body hasprovided charging points at itsparking, he added.

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The Manohar Lal KhattarGovernment in Haryana is

spreading lies in the media andmaking hollow claims of devel-opment on social media sites,the State's Congress unitclaimed on Thursday.

Haryana CongressPresident Kumari Selja wasspeaking on Thursday duringthe workshop of HaryanaCongress IT Cell. She attackedthe BJP Government andclaimed that the Manohar LalGovernment did nothing onthe ground.

"The BJP is befooling thepeople by spreading lies onsocial media. But now, theCongress IT cell is leaving nostone unturned to expose theBJP's claims. The congress IT cellis exposing the Government's

false claims on social media andthe propaganda of spreadingfake news," she said.

During the event, she saidthat Congress party's victory inHaryana is clearly visible. "The

government has not worked forfive years, is now on backfoot.People are not coming to listento their meetings. Congress isemerging as a strong choiceamong the people," Selja said.

" Factories are closing inPanipat as almost 70 percentproduction is down. For theexamination of four thousandposts of clerks, 15 lakh childrenof Haryana continued to run 250

km on the roads of the state forthree days. The current BJP gov-ernment is engaged in mislead-ing the state's youth," she added.

"In Haryana, the congressparty will win a maximumseat in the upcoming Haryanaassembly poll. The party willdecide the CM face after thecompletion of the elections."

However, the Congressleaders didn't answer any queryrelated to the former stateCongress president AshokTanwar.

"More than two hundredactivists from all over the stateattended the workshop ofHaryana Pradesh Congress ITCell. Congress will reach outfast on various social mediaplatforms and will expose theBJP's fake propaganda," RohanGupta, head of All IndiaCongress Committee MediaCell said.

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Love struck Commandant ofa Central Armed

Paramilitary Force (CAPF)allegedly planted 'charas' in thecar of a Rajasthan cadre womanIAS officer's husband to impli-cate him in a false case. Sourcessaid the Commandant wanted tomarry the IAS officer andhatched a conspiracy to get herhusband arrested on the chargesof narcotic substance peddling.

The IAS officer's husbandwho works as consultant withthe Ministry of the Informationand Technology, was detainedafter police found 550 grams ofcharas inside his car which wasparked outside the ElectronicsNiketan in CGO Complex.Police have registered an FIR atLodhi Colony police stationunder the Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act and further inves-tigation is underway.

Sources said, 45-year-oldCommandment Ranjan PratapSingh, currently posted withMinistry of External Affairs and

his childhood friend NeerajChauhan, a lawyer by professionallegedly hatched a conspiracy tofalsely implicate the husband theIAS officer in drug related caseas the commandant has devel-oped liking for the bureaucrat ata seminar.

"A call was received bypolice regarding a suspicious carstanding at Electronics Niketanin CGO Complex followingwhich a police team reached thespot and found 550 grams ofcharas in the car. However,when the caller, who is a cart-puller, was approached by policehe told police that a passerby hadtaken his phone to make anemergency call," said the source.

"Later the caller was nar-rowed down with the help ofCCTV footage in the area andhe was apprehended," said thesource. The car was found insuspicious condition by a CISFofficial after the caller informedabout a packet containing cha-ras,” said an official.

"Rajan first tried to misleadpolice but when he was coun-tered with other technical evi-

dences, he confessed of plant-ing drugs in the car with thehelp of his advocate friend.During interrogation, theaccused disclosed that he hadmet IAS officer during a train-ing programme and developedfondness. He wanted to false-ly implicate her husband indrug peddling case," said apolice official privy to investi-gation.

"He brought charas fromhis hometown in Aligarh andinvolved his friend Neeraj to whom he had promisedsmooth treatment in AIIMSthrough his contacts," said thepolice official.

"To plant the drugs insidethe car and to gain access, Singhfollowed the car for two days andon Wednesday when the manvisited a hospital in PragatiVihar in South Delhi, theaccused got open the car withthe help of key maker. Hebrought the key maker fromLajpat Nagar market and askedhim to open the car and had leftthe car keys inside," said thepolice official.

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In a veiled attack on Pakistan,India has condemned any

direct or indirect financialassistance to terrorists and ter-ror groups by nations thatenables them to pursue theiractivities, including in defend-ing criminal cases against them.

Speaking at a GeneralAssembly Sixth Committeemeeting on ‘measures to elim-inate international terrorism',First Secretary/Legal adviser inIndia's Permanent Mission tothe UN Yedla Umasankar onWednesday called for increasedcooperation between theFinancial Action Task Force(FATF) and the UN to combatterror financing.

“The flow of resourcesmeant to produce terror arerequired to be stopped byStates for which collective inter-State efforts are required atregional and sub-regional lev-els. The FATF has a significantrole in setting global standardsfor preventing and combatingterrorist financing and the UNneeds to increase cooperation

with such bodies,” Umasankarsaid.

He said India “strongly”condemns “direct or indirectfinancial assistance given toterrorist groups or individualmembers thereof by States orits machineries, to pursuetheir activities, including indefending the criminal casesinvolving terrorist acts againstthem.”

India's comments came ason Pakistan's request, Mumbaiattack mastermind and bannedJuD chief Hafiz Saeed wasallowed by an anti-terror com-mittee of the UN SecurityCouncil to withdraw moneyfrom his bank account forbasic expenses.

Saeed, a UN designatedterrorist on whom the US hasplaced a USD 10 million boun-ty, was arrested on July 17 thisyear in a terror financing casein Pakistan. He was listedunder UN Security CouncilResolution 1267 in December2008.

According to UN provi-sions, all states are required tofreeze the funds and other

financial assets or economicresources of designated indi-viduals. The resolution alsoprovides for states to sanctionbasic expenses of the desig-nated individuals if there is no-objection over it.

Umasankar said Indiastrongly believes that terrorismcan be countered by combinedinternational efforts, stressingthat the UN is best suited fordeveloping this transnationaleffort. He lamented that currentmeasures to combat terrorismare having little impact on theground.

"The Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS)being discussed by the UNGeneral Assembly over the lastdecade has resulted in littleimpact on the ground. TheSanctions Committees estab-lished by the UN SecurityCouncil have become selectivetools due to opaque workingmethods and politicized deci-sion making,” he said.

He reiterated India's firmbelief that the ComprehensiveConvention againstInternational Terrorism

(CCIT) will provide a stronglegal basis for the fight againstterrorism and will be in theinterest of all Member States tohave a multilateral and collec-tive dimension of counter ter-rorism effort.

“The inability to agree ona Comprehensive Conventionon International Terrorismremains one of the great gapsin the international legislativeframework that wouldstrengthen efforts to destroysafe havens for terrorists, theirfinancial flows and their sup-port networks. We need tomove forward in adoptingthe draft text of CCIT whichis a balanced one and hasemerged after long discus-sions,” he said.

In this regard, he saidIndia reiterates its strong sup-port to the General AssemblyResolution of December 2018that recommends the SixthCommittee at the 74thSession to establish the‘Working Group with a viewto finalising the process onthe Draft ComprehensiveConvention on International

Terrorism'.The General Assembly,

with the voice and the moralauthority of the entire interna-tional community, must guidethe efforts to develop a frame-work of international law with-in which action can be takenagainst terrorism, he added.

Asserting that India con-demns terrorism in all its formsand manifestations and nocause whatsoever or grievancecan justify terrorism, including

State-sponsored cross-bor-der terrorism, Umasankar saidthe international communityneeds to adopt and implementa policy of zero-tolerancetowards terrorism.

"The menace of interna-tional terrorism with its wideroots and numerous globalconnections has been recog-nized as grave internationalconcern by every major inter-national gathering of recentyears,”

Umasankar said, addingthat the growing inter-linkagesbetween terrorist groups, cross-border operations includingterror financing networks,

propagating ideologies ofhatred through exploitation ofmodern technologies andfunding arms and weaponshave certainly left no countryaloof from the impact of ter-rorism.

He noted that it is a “self-evident truth” that democrat-ic, secular and multiculturalsocieties are the prime targetsof terrorism and have becomethe most vulnerable to itsattacks.

“Terrorists exploit the civilliberties, religious toleranceand cultural diversity in ourcountries. They seek to destroythe democratic fabric byfomenting sectarian divisionsand cultural tensions and ulti-mately deprive us of that veryfreedom which they haveexploited.”

He voiced India's commit-ment to counter terrorism byexchanging information, build-ing capacities for effective bor-der controls, preventing misuseof modern technologies, mon-itoring illicit financial flows andcooperating in investigationand judicial procedures.

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Lahore: Pakistan's lawenforcement agencies onThursday arrested the "topfour leaders" of the bannedLeT/JuD on charges of ter-rorism financing, a move thatauthorities say would put the"entire core leadership" ofthese outfits on trial.

The top four leaders ofLashkar-e-Taiba /Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) arrested onThursday have been identifiedas Professor Zafar Iqbal,Yahya Aziz, MuhammadAshraf and Abdul Salam.

The development comesahead of the Financial ActionTask Force's crucial plenarymeeting scheduled to be heldin Paris from October 12 toOctober 15.

Pakistan was placed onthe grey list by the Paris-basedwatchdog in June last year andwas given a plan of action tocomplete it by October 2019,

or face the risk of beingplaced on the black list withIran and North Korea.

A spokesman for theCounter TerrorismDepartment (CTD) said thatthere had been an "importantprogress" in the NationalAction Plan (NAP) as themain leaders of proscribedorganisation JuD/LeT havebeen arrested by the CTDPunjab in offences of terror-ism financing.

"JuD/LeT chief HafizSaeed is already in prison fac-ing trial for commission ofoffences of terrorism financ-ing. Now the entire coreleadership of the JuD/LeTwill be on trial," the CTDsaid.

It further said the CTDPunjab has been investigatingoffences of terrorism financing wherein theseaccused had built assets using

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Former Chief Minister andMaharashtra Swabhimani

Paksha (MSP) founder ChiefNarayan Rane said onThursday that he would mergehis party with the ruling BJP onOctober 15.

Rane’s announcementcame a week after sittingCongress MLA Nitesh Raneresigned from his membership,joined the BJP and filed hisnomination on a ticket given byhis new party for the October21 Assembly polls fromKankavli constituency inSindhudurg district.

There had been specula-tion in the State political circlesthat he would join the BJPalong with his two son Niteshand Nilesh. His entry to the BJP

was being resisted by its allyShiv Sena for a very long.

He had earlier announcedthat he would join the BJP onOctober 2.

Rane made an announce-ment about merging the MSPwith the BJP, while campaign-ing for his party candidateRajan Teli. “The BJP is gettingstrong in Konkan region. Myson Nitesh and his supportersjoined the BJP earlier. I willmerge my party with the BJP inthe presence of chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis on October15,” he said.

Having been associatedwith the Shiv Sena since earlyseventies, Rane had emerged asa senior leader in the party andwas made the chief minister ofMaharashtra, a post he heldbetween February 1, 1999 and

October 17, 1999 when theSena-BJP alliance was rulingthe state.

However, after he rebelledagainst the leadership of thenparty’s executive presidentUddhav Thackeray, Rane wasexpelled from the Shiv Sena onJuly 3, 2005.

He joined the Congresson July 30, 2005, expecting thatone day he would be made achief minister of the State — adream that remained unful-filled.

It may be recalled thatafter being in the Congress for12-long years, Rane had quitthe Sonia Gandhi party onSeptember 21, 2017 after com-plaining that the party leader-ship had failed to fulfill itsrepeated promise of appointinghim as the Chief Minister.

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Noida: The Uttar Pradesh RealEstate Regulation Authority(RERA) has summoned pro-moters of 22 projects inGhaziabad, Noida and Greater

Noida on October 23 overdelay in handing over posses-sion of properties to buyers,officials said on Thursday. PTI

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From Page 1According to the Ministry, the Estate

Department has started forceful eviction fromthe MPs bungalow who fail to vacate it despitethe several notices. It has vacated flats num-ber 113, 108/110 and 124 and 126 at NorthAvenue. BJP MP Hari Manjhi was allotted flatat 124-126 at North Avenue in 2009. He wasdenied ticket in 2019. Similarly, flat/bunga-low at 113 and 108-110 was allotted as guestaccommodations and guests have not vacat-ed it.

��������From Page1

The former political secre-tary to Sonia Gandhi, Patel wasappointed as party’s treasurerby the then Congress chiefRahul Gandhi in August lastyear. This was Patel’s secondstint as a treasurer (he last heldthe job from 1996 to 2000)ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls.

Patel, a Rajya Sabha mem-ber from Gujarat, has deepaccess among different quartersincluding industrialists andpolitical leaders across partylines and could bridge the linkbetween Congress’ old andnew generation as well. His rolewas crucial in keeping intactthe alliance partners ofCongress-led UPAGovernments.

Meanwhile Rahul Gandhiwill start his campaign for theMaharashtra Assembly elec-tions from Mumbai on Sunday.

From Page 1Facilities included a personal digital lock-

er, shower cubicle, foot massage and a seat-ing area with single-seater sofas. Passengerswere assured free insurance worth �10 lakheach.

The source said the fares of the two cou-ples will be refunded. The festival of KarwaChauth, in which a wife fasts through the daytill moonrise for her husband’s long life, fallson October 17.

From Page 1The ED contended that the

pre-arrest bail in a case of eco-nomic offence was unwarrantedand urged the high court to setaside the trial court’s order grant-ing relief to Chidambarams andcancel their anticipatory bail.

It claimed that the tworemained evasive during theinvestigation and there is a like-lihood that they could tamperwith the evidence and influencewitnesses.

The probe agency said thetrial court failed to appreciatethat custodial interrogation of theaccused was required and itsfinding the offence not graveenough was completely per-verse and untenable in law.

It said the position ofChidambaram and his son thatthey are members of the LokSabha and the Rajya Sabha can-not be a legally tenable groundto grant them anticipatory bail.

Before Chidambaram and hisson were made accused in theAircel Maxis case, a special courthad on February 2, 2017 dis-charged DMK leader and formertelecom minister DayanidhiMaran, his brother KalanithiMaran and others in the matter.

Later, both the agencies, EDand CBI, filed supplementarycharge sheets naming theChidambarams in the scam.Thecases relate to alleged irregular-ities in grant of ForeignInvestment Promotion Board(FIPB) approval in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal whenChidambaram was FinanceMinister. The CBI is probinghow Chidambaram, being theFinance Minister in 2006, grant-ed FIPB approval to a foreignfirm, when only the CabinetCommittee on Economic Affairs(CCEA) was empowered to doit. The ED is probing a moneylaundering case in the Aircel-

Maxis matter, in which theChidambarams have been ques-tioned by the agency.

While granting anticipatorybail to the Chidambarams, thetrial court had said the chargesagainst them were not of gravemagnitude as the alleged moneylaundered is a “paltry amount”of Rs 1.13 crore compared to themoney purportedly received byaccused already discharged in thecases.

It had however directed theChidambarams to join the probein the cases lodged by the twoagencies and said that in theevent of arrest, they be releasedon a personal bond of Rs 1 lakhand one surety of like amount.In the INX Media case, the CBIhad registered an FIR on May 15,2017, alleging irregularities in theFIPB clearance granted to themedia group for receiving over-seas funds of Rs 305 crore in2007 during Chidambaram’stenure as the Finance Minister.

Thereafter, the ED lodged amoney laundering case in thisregard in 2017. Chidambaramhas approached the SupremeCourt seeking bail in the INXMedia case lodged by CBI afterthe Delhi High Court onSeptember 30, denied him therelief. He had not filed the bailplea before the trial court.

From Page 1

Xi will arrive in Chennaion Friday on a nearly 24-hourvisit to hold talks with Modi inan informal setting amidgrowing unease in tiesbetween the two countriesover Kashmir, particularlyafter Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan raised the issueduring talks with the Chineseleader in Beijing onWednesday.

“The two countries poseno threat but offer develop-ment opportunities to eachother. The cooperationbetween China and India willnot only contribute to eachother’s development, but alsoadvance the process of worldmulti-polarisation and eco-nomic globalisation and safe-guard the common interests ofdeveloping countries,” Sun

said.The Chinese envoy said

the two leaders will also havein-depth discussions on theinternational situation andoverall, long-term and strate-gic issues concerning thedevelopment of ties betweenChina and India.

“A new set of consensus isexpected, including a sharedvision for transformation ofthe international system, thecommon responsibility androle of China and India inregional affairs, and guidingprinciples on the developmentdirection of bilateral relationsand cooperation in variousfields,” Sun said.

“We believe that theSummit will take bilateral rela-tions to a higher level and havea major and positive impact onregional and world peace, sta-bility and development,” he

said.The envoy said deeper

cooperation between Indiaand China will benefit thedeveloping countries as well asto deal with global challengeslike unilateralism and protec-tionism.

“Unilateralism, protec-tionism and trade bullyingare on the rise. The world ismoving toward multi-polarityand economic globalisationdespite twists and turns. Thecommon threats and chal-lenges facing human societyhave risen. As the largestdeveloping countries andemerging economies of theworld, China and India have aresponsibility to inject positiveenergy into a complicatedworld,” he said.

Ties between India andChina came under renewedstrain over Kashmir after a

joint statement issued aftertalks between Xi and Khan onWednesday said China is pay-ing “close attention” to the sit-uation in the Valley.

It also said that Kashmirissue is a dispute left from his-tory, and should be properlyand peacefully resolved basedon the UN Charter.

After Xi-Khan meeting,External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid India’s consistent andclear position has been thatJammu and Kashmir is anintegral part of the countryand China is well aware ofNew Delhi’s position.

Talking about overallSino-India ties, the Chineseenvoy particularly talked aboutcooperation in investment andenergy sector, saying newprogress has been made in thearea.

From Page 1“These companies willfully defaulted in

repayments and caused wrongful loss to RFLto the tune of Rs. 2397 crore. This was alsopointed out and flagged during their inde-pendent audit by RBI and SEBI, said DrMishra.

“The accused Shivinder Mohan Singh wasthe promoter of Religare Enterprises Ltd. whichis the listed company having 85 per cent shareholding of RFL, while accused Sunil Godhwani,remained Chairman and Managing Directorof the Religare Enterprises Limited during therelevant period, Kavi Arora and Anil Saxenaalso occupied important managerial positionsin REL and RFL during the same time,” saidDr Mishra. “The accused systematicallysiphoned off and diverted money of generalpublic in a clandestine manner for their ownbenefits,” said Dr Mishra.

It may be noted that the EnforcementDirectorate had raided the premises linked tothe two brothers in August this year in con-nection with a money-laundering case. Theaction was being seen in the backdrop ofcharges of alleged financial irregularitiesagainst the two brothers and the subsequentdownfall of their businesses.

From Page 1Odd-even experiment in

Delhi was an unprecedentedsuccess beyond the imaginationof the Delhi government, andit was embraced by all walks oflife with open arms.

C40 Cities connects morethan 90 of the world’s leadingcities to take bold climateaction and build a healthier andmore sustainable future.Representing 700+ million cit-izens and one quarter of theglobal economy, mayors ofC40 cities are committed todelivering on the most ambi-tious goals of the ParisAgreement at the local level, aswell as to cleaning the air webreathe.

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The BJP on Thursday hit outat the Congress over its

"shameful shenanigans" anddemanded an explanation afterBritish Labour Party leaderJeremy Corbyn said he dis-cussed the human rights situ-ation in Kashmir with "UK rep-resentatives from the IndianCongress Party".

"A very productive meetingwith UK representatives fromthe Indian Congress Partywhere we discussed the humanrights situation in Kashmir.There must be a de-escalationand an end to the cycle of vio-lence and fear which hasplagued the region for so long,"Corbyn tweeted.

The BJP slammed theCongress, which had notoffered any comment as a rowerupted following Corbyn's

tweet.The Labour Party leader,

whose stand on Kashmir hasnot gone down well with theIndian Government, alsotweeted a picture of the meeting.The picture includedKamal Dhaliwal, who heads theoverseas Congress in the UK.

"Appalling! Congress owesit to the people of India toexplain what its leaders aretelling foreign leaders aboutIndia. India will give a befittingreply to Congress for theseshameful henanigans!" the BJPsaid in a tweet.

The saffron party's foreignaffairs department in-chargeVijay Chauthaiwale said, "This is Congress seekingadvice from the UK LabourLeader — they might as well goto their masters directly inPakistan."

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On the eve of ChinesePresident Xi Jinping’s visit,

the Congress on Thursdayasked why does Prime MinisterNarendra Modi not say thatIndia is watching the muzzlingof pro-democracy movementin Hong Kong when Xi says heis watching Kashmir.

Congress slammed theModi government for failingto stop China from targetingIndia's internal matters. "XiJingping says he is watchingKashmir. But why does notModi government issue astatement that India too iswatching pro-democracyprotests muzzled in HongKong. The government mustsay we are are watchinghuman rights violations inXinjiang and the continuedoppression in Tibet as along

South China Sea," Congressspokesperson Manish Tewarisaid.

The former Union minis-ter also dared India to askChina about Aksai Chin whichhas been "illegally ceded" byPakistan to the country, whenit keeps raising the issue of PoKand talks about taking it back.Tewari asked why India doesnot raise the issue of humanrights violations in Xinjiang theway China keeps raising theKashmir issue.

"All are blow hards inNDA/BJP talk about takingPoK & Gilgit-Baltistan backfrom Pak but none of themhave gumption to say that wewill take Askai Chin back fromthe Chinese that was illegallyceded to it by Pakistan in 1963.Will @PMOIndia raise returnof Askai Chin with Xi," theCongress leader tweeted.

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Hitting out at RSS ChiefMohan Bhagwat for his

comments that the word"lynching" was "alien" to theIndian tradition, the CPI onThursday said mob lynching isa reality and has become a "newnormal".

"RSS, instead of condemn-ing the mob lynching, gives aspin saying that lynching isalien concept and a conspira-cy to tarnish Hindu culture.Mob lynching is a reality andhas become a new normal. Thecountry knows who are thelynchers," said CPI generalsecretary D Raja in a statement.

The Left party leader wasreacting to the RSS Chief 'scomments that that the word"lynching" was "alien" to theIndian tradition. In his Dussehraaddress in Nagpur, Bhagwathad said isolated incidents ofsocial violence should not belabelled with foreign words, likelynching, to defame the country.

Touching on various aspectsof Bhagwat's speech, Rajaaccused RSS-BJP "trampled"upon every right of the peoplewon through relentless struggles.The Left party appealed to all theleft, democratic, secular forces to"strike together, while marchingseparately" and raise their voic-es against the shutdown inJammu & Kashmir.

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BJP working president JP Naddahas been brought under 'Z' cat-

egory security and he will be guard-ed by the commandos of the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF) roundthe clock, officials said on Thursday.

BJP president Amit Shah who isalso union home minister is alreadyunder 'Z' plus security cover with asmany as 50 security SWAT (SpecialWeapons and Tactics) teams posi-tioning around his new residence6A, Krishna Menon Marg, wherelate prime minister Atal BihariVajpayee earlier lived.

The decision to extend 'Z' cat-egory security to Nadda has beentaken by the Union Home Ministryafter reviewing the increased threatperception to him following hisappointment as BJP working presi-dent.

The BJP working president hasbeen accorded with the 'Z' categorysecurity in an all India basis, a homeministry official said.

A total of 35 commandos of theCRPF will guard Nadda on a rota-tional basis and at any given time,eight to nine commandos will givehim proximate security. Naddawill be given the 'Z' category pro-tection wherever he travels withinthe country.

In addition to the proximatesecurity, CRPF personnel will also beposted to guard Nadda's residencehere, another official said.

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The prevalence of blindness in India hascome down by around 47 per cent since

2007, according to the National Blindness andVisually Impaired Survey (2019) released onThursday, indicating that the country is closeto achieving the WHO's goal of reducing itto 0.3 per cent of the total population by 2020.

However, the data reflects that reductionrate has surpassed the target of 25 set by theWHO. The WHO Global Action Plan forUniversal Eye Health (2014-19) aims toreduce the prevalence of avoidable visualimpairment by 25 per cent by 2019 from thebaseline levels of 2010.

In absolute numbers, people sufferingfrom blindness have reduced from 12 millionin 2006-07 to 4.8 million in 2019. However,cataract still remains to be the most commoncause of blindness (66.2 per cent) followed bycorneal blindness (7.4 per cent). Besides this,the proportion of blindness due to compli-cations of cataract surgery (7.2 per cent) hasalso increased, said the survey which wasreleased by Union Health Minister Dr HarshVardhan.

"The prevalence of blindness in India hascome down by around 47 per cent since thelast survey conducted in 2006-2007 and thefindings of the current survey are for blind-ness as defined to be vision of less than 3/60in the better eye," Vardhan said adding thecountry is close to achieving the WHO's goalof reducing it to 0.3 per cent by 2020.

The current survey was conducted overa period between 2015 and 2018 by DrRajendra Prasad Centre for OphthalmicSciences of the AIIMS in collaboration withthe Union Health ministry, covering 93,000people aged 50 years using Rapid Assessmentof Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) method in31 districts of 24 states and Union Territories.The aim of the survey was to know the exactnumber of people who suffer from blindnessand causes that lead to the condition.

India changed its over four-decade-olddefinition of blindness in 2017, bringing it inline with the WHO criteria.

According to the new definition, a per-son who is unable to count fingers from a dis-

tance of three metres would be considered"blind" as against the earlier stipulation of sixmetres, which was adopted in 1976.

The aim of revising the definition is alsoto be able to generate data which can be com-pared with global estimates and achieve theWHO goal of reducing the blindness preva-lence in India to 0.3 per cent of the total pop-ulation by 2020.

The previous survey was done in 2006-07, and showed blindness prevalence of about1 per cent in country's population.

"Even though the definition of blindnesswas changed recently and we made use of thenew definition to calculate the numbers, thereis still a significant improvement in the num-bers. If you look at the 50 plus population,3.6 per cent people were found to be blindduring the earlier survey and now the num-ber has come down to 1.99 per cent," saidprincipal investigator of survey, Dr ParveenVashist, professor, RP Centre, AIIMS.

New Delhi: The Indian mis-sion in Kuwait is working tofacilitate the return of an Indianwoman "trapped" there becauseof placement agents and hassafely accommodated her at afemale shelter home.

This assurance was givenby External Affairs Minister SJaishankar in response to a callfor help on Twitter."

@DrSJaishankar Hon'blesir, look into the matter of RAJIjohn Stephen female trapped inKuwait, she belongs toGurdaspur (Punjab) because ofagents, she (was) molestedthere. Her family approachedme. Hope and wish for actionto bring her back home," theTwitter user said.

Raji John has been safelyaccommodated in the femaleshelter by the Indian Embassyin Kuwait, Jaishankar said.

"We are working with thelocal authorities to facilitate herreturn home," he said.

In another call for help, aperson requested Jaishankarto facilitate the return of themortal remains of Indianwoman killed in an accident inPhuket. PTI

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The Congress on Thursdayhit back accusing the BJP of

making "malicious statements"to distract people from its fail-ures, after the saffron partyasked it to explain BritishLabour Party leader JeremyCorbyn's tweet that he dis-cussed human rights situationin Kashmir with "UK repre-sentatives from the IndianCongress Party".

The UK unit of the IndianOverseas Congress claimed ithad met Corbyn to condemnthe Kashmir resolution passedby his party and reiterate tothem that Jammu and Kashmiris an internal matter and

no intervention will beaccepted. "Our meeting withJeremy Corbyn was held tocondemn the Kashmir resolu-tion passed by his Party and toreiterate that J&K is an internalmatter and outside interventionwill not be accepted. BJP'smalicious statements are anoth-er attempt to distract peoplefrom their failures," the IndianOverseas Congress said in a

tweet.The Congress also tweeted

that the BJP has failed toanswer questions on econom-ic slowdown, unemploymentand banking crisis and isresorting to spreading liesinstead. "The BJP has failed toanswer a single question on theeconomic slowdown, risingunemployment, banking crisisand even the irregularities inthe Rafale deal. Therefore theyhave to resort to spreading liesto evade the truth. They can'thide behind their propagandaanymore," the Congress tweeted.

Following his meeting,Corbyn had tweeted: "A veryproductive meeting with UKrepresentatives from the IndianCongress Party where we dis-cussed the human rights situ-ation in Kashmir. There mustbe a de-escalation and an endto the cycle of violence and fearwhich has plagued the regionfor so long,"

The Labour Party leader,whose stand on Kashmir hasnot gone down well with theIndian government, also tweet-ed a picture of the meeting.Thepicture included KamalDhaliwal, who heads the overseas Congress in the UK.

Corbyn has been underpressure from Indian diasporagroups in Britain since theLabour Party passed a resolution against the IndianGovernment's August 5 decision to revoke Article 370to withdraw the special statusaccorded to the State of Jammu& Kashmir, perceived as anti-India with its call for international intervention inthe region.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has sought responsefrom DMRC on a reportby Environment PollutionControl Authority (EPCA)which has flagged the issueof "last mile connectivity"and lack of adequate park-ing for taxis, auto-rick-shaws and cycle-rickshawsat metro stations.

A bench of JusticesArun Mishra and DeepakGupta has issued notice toDMRC on EPCA's reportwhich also said that lackof demarcated parking fortaxis, three-wheelers andcycle-rickshaws at placeslike metro stations andinter state bus terminals.

The report, which wasfiled in the top court, saidthat last mile connectivi-ty is a "critical agenda" forDelhi as connectivity, par-ticularly from metro sta-tions and other multi-transport points, wouldgreatly reduce the need forprivate transport in city. PTI

New Delhi: Taking seriousnote of the delay in communi-cation to medical studentsfrom foreign countries as wellas from the Northeast regard-ing admissions to governmentuniversities, he has directed theCentre to be informed aboutthe State before August 15,every year, giving them time tojoin. .

The higher court notedthat the last admission date inthe first year of courses isAugust 31, while (MEA) hasintimidated students from I ran, Bhutan and Nepal on theiradmissions on the eleventhhour, on August 30, whichresulted in the denial of seatsfor them.

A bench of justices LNageshwara Rao and HemantGupta, which allowed the stu-dents from foreign countriesand the north-eastern states totake admission in the MBBScourses, said that a similar situation arose even last yearand the court had to come tothe rescue of students.

"In a similar situation thatarose last year, we had tocome to the rescue of the stu-

dents who were intimatedabout their admission in them e d i c a lcolleges at the eleventh hour.To avoid inconvenience beingcaused to the students whoare sponsored by other coun-tries & the State Governmentsand the Union Territories inwhose favour seats are allo-cated, we direct theGovernment of India to inti-mate the concerned authori-ties of the State Governments,the Union Territories andother countries about theapproval of admissions tocandidates whose names aresponsored, at least 15 daysbefore the last date of admis-sion," the bench said.

The bench was hearing aplea of students includingthose from foreign countriesand north-eastern states, whowere granted admission fromthe central pool in theGovernment colleges but dueto delayed communication bythe MEA, the last date ofadmission had already passedas they reported to the colleges onSeptember 1 & 2. PTI

New Delhi: Records of notesheets on awarding president'smedals to police officers are nota privileged communicationbetween the prime ministerand the president havingimmunity from disclosureunder Article 74(2) of theConstitution, the CentralInformation Commission hastold the home ministry.

The Commission, thehighest adjudicating body inRTI matters, was hearing apetition of activist NutanThakur, who had sought copiesof records, including the notesheet and the communicationsin cases — when President'sPolice Medals forDistinguished Service wereawarded and when they wererejected in spite of clearancefrom state governments.

The Union home ministryhad denied the note sheet stat-ing that the same cannot beprovided because it containsexchanges of advice and opin-ion between the prime minis-ter and the president, which areprivileged under Article 74(2)of the Constitution.

Thakur strongly refutedthe claims, saying no provisionunder the 2005 RTI Actrestricts a public authorityfrom disclosure of communi-cation between the prime min-ister and the president underArticle 74(2).

She said denial of infor-mation under the RTI Act cantake place only under its pro-visions.

Citing the Supreme Court

judgments in S P Gupta and SR Bommai cases which hadexamined and interpretedArticle 74(2), ChiefInformation CommissionerSudhir Bhargava noted that thedisclosure of the note sheet isnot barred by Article 74(2)."

The Commissionobserves that the informa-tion sought for, namely a copyof the note sheet and com-munications of various officesof the Ministry of HomeAffairs related to cases inwhich PPMDS were grant-ed/not granted by MHA forthe period since January 01,2010 till date is not barred byArticle 74(2) of theConstitution of India," hesaid.

Bhargava directed the homeministry to decide on disclosureor withholding of informationon the basis of applicability ofexemption clauses of in Section8(1) of the RTI Act. PTI

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Fast growing diabetes is leading to blind-ness and visual impairment due to poor

blood sugar control among patients.According to the diabetes and diabeticretinopathy survey by the AIIMS conduct-ed between 2015 to 2019, one in eight per-sons above 50 years in India is a diabetic.

One in every 46 diabetics is blind andone in seven diabetics has some form ofimpairment in their vision due to high bloodsugar levels

Of 56, 771 persons over 50 years of ageassessed in 21 districts, up to 11.8 per cent(6,717) were found to be diabetic. Of these,144 persons were blind and 923 personswere visually impaired.

"Prevalence of blindness among dia-betics was 2.1 per cent and visual impair-ment was 13.7 per cent," states the report.

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The gruesome murder of a schoolteacher, his wife and minor son in

Murshidabad acquired political overtoneson Thursday with the BJP and WestBengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar hit-ting out at the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment over the killings, and the RSSclaiming the teacher was its supporter.

Dhankhar said the incident “puthumanity to shame”, and castigated theState machinery for alleged lack ofresponse.

The governor told PTI he has alsosought a report from the State government“on an urgent basis” on the incident thathas sent shock waves across the country.

The State’s ruling Trinamool Congresshit back, accusing Dhankar of “speakingselectively” and acting in a manner thatdoes not “behove a governor”.

“The incident puts humanity to shame.A teacher, his pregnant wife, and son arekilled in a barbaric manner.No responsefrom the state machinery. This cannot becountenanced,” the governor said.

Bandhu Prakash Pal, the 35-year-oldteacher, his pregnant wife Beauty and 8-year-old son Angan were found lying inpools of blood in their house at Jiaganj inMurshidabad district on Tuesday whenDurga Puja festivities were on.

The three were killed by unidentifiedmiscreants, police had said on Wednesday.

According to police, it has comeacross a page of a diary which suggested“likely strained relations” between the vic-tim couple.

“The investigation is on. We are look-ing into all the angles. But we have no cluewhether he is a member or supporter ofany organisation or political outfit,” asenior police official told PTI, adding threepeople have been detained for question-ing.

Reacting sharply to the governor’sstatement, senior TMC leader Tapas Royaccused Dhankar of “speaking selective-ly” on incidents of violence in the State.

“When a TMC worker is killed inPaskura in East Midnapore, he doesn’tmake a statement. He assumed officerecently and has already started speakingselectively. This doesn’t behove a governor,”he said.

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Taking cognizance of the murder ofan alleged RSS worker and his wife

and son at Jiaganj in Murshidabad dis-trict the National Commission forWomen has reportedly written to theState Government seeking report on thematter.

An annoyed NCW chairpersonRekha Sharma earlier said that she waswriting letters to Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and State Director General of Police regarding the “horriblecrime” as “nothing has been done by authorities to stop such inci-dents.”

A 35-year-old school teacher BondhuPaul, his wife Beauty and an eight-year-old son Arya were found dead on VijayaDushmi Day inside their house at Jiaganjin Murshidabad some 250 km north ofKolkata.

Soon the RSS claimed that Paul wasone of their workers who had joinedtheorganisation about a year ago.

All the three victims wererepeated-ly stabbed, sources said. Soon after themurder was discovered State BJP leaderssaid “this is the way how the ruling party

Trinamool Congress has been trying to stop our politicaladvance. But they will not be able to stopus.”

Though the police had not been ableto arrest anyone in connectionwith themurder inside sources said they were“looking into all theangles,” includingcross-border planning. An official also said that they were also“analysing the family angle” because“there was sometension between thecouple.”

The district police had recovered adiary from the house which containedsome jaw-dropping clues, sources said.“We are weighing every angle and willsoon be able to catch the culprits,” an officialsaid.

Meanwhile senior BJP leader SambitPatra questioned the law and order situ-ation of Bengal and tweeted “this (inci-dent) has shaken my conscience..a RSSworker Bandhu Prakash Pal, his eightmonths pregnant wife and his kid were brutally slaughtered in WestBengal’s

Murshidabad Not a word by the lib-erals. Not a letter by 59 liberals toMamataNauseating Selectivism.”

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After the Pujas it is carnivaltime in the City of Joy.

Come Friday, Kolkata will cel-ebrate yet another DurgaCarnival a la Rio. A brainchild of Chief Minister MamataBanerjee the festivities willtake place at historic Red Roadwith an Independence Daylike procession of about 80idols from top Durga Pujapandals and along with aminiature of the Themes uponwhich they were organised.

The two giant standsshaped and designed after ter-racotta work of ancientBishnupur temples has beenerected on two sides of thebroad street to accommodateabout 15,000 spectators includ-ing 1,500 foreign dignitaries

and media personnel, sourcessaid.

Organised by the StateInformation and CultureDepartment, the event is beingheld for the fourth consecutiveyear and will highlight Bengal’s

traditional folk culture.Though sitting arrange-

ments for 15,000 people hasbeen made a number of giantLED screens have been erect-ed to accommodate about onelakh visitors who are likely to

come to witness the grand fes-tivities.

The Puja committees willcarry tableaux of their respec-tive Themes to Red Roadshowcasing Bengal’s creativityto the whole world. The ChiefMinister has already gone onrecord saying “going by thecrowd it draws Durga Puja isthe biggest carnival on earth,”drawing several crore people ina matter of 3-4 days.

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee is likely to take a call on whether the arterial Tallah Bridge in the city would be demolishedor strengthened for the time being following rec-ommendations of a team of experts to rebuild thestructure, a senior official said.

The report submitted to State chief secretaryRajiva Sinha by the Mumbai-based team onWednesday recommended demolition and recon-struction of the 57-year-old bridge, reaffirming anearlier report submitted by consultancy firm RITES.

“The Mumbai-based firm has submitted its reportand recommendations on the Tallah bridge and theChief Minister will hold discussions on the fate ofthe bridge on October 12. She will take a call on thebest possible option,” the officer said.

Secretariat sources said that discussions were heldby the chief secretary with other senior officials andpolice officers about the options of building a new bridge or strengthening the existing one.

PTI

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The BJP leadership in West Bengalhas sought reports from its

district units and State level leaderson the party’s mass outreach pro-gramme especially on the contentiousissues of the National Register ofCitizens and the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill during the DurgaPuja festival.

According to State BJP sources,the party had asked its leaders andcadres to enhance outreach forspreading the party’s ideology andpolicies by using the platform of thefestival.

The saffron party this time hadset up more than 10,000 stalls outside

puja pandals to display books on itsideology and makingpeople aware of the NRC and theCAB.

“We have sought detailed reportsfrom all the districts and state levelleaders about how the festival wasutilised to increase the party’s massconnect. We are hopeful of getting afull report by early next week,” BJPstate general secretary PratapBanerjee told PTI.

A senior BJP leader on conditionof anonymity said, the inputs onissues such as the NRC and the CABwere necessary as the proposedimplementation of the NRC in WestBengal has created panic among themasses.

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The Jammu & Kashmiradministration on

Thursday reportedly releasedthree politicians who wereunder detention since August 5.

According to mediareports, Shoib Lone, formerMLA and Congress leader,Yawar Mir, former PDP MLAand Noor Mohammad ofNational Conference werereleased by the State adminis-tration.

According to officialsources, the State administra-tion has started an elaborateexercise to review detention ofpoliticians in the State andafter reviewing individual casesthey are expected to releasemore leaders in the days tocome.

In another related devel-

opment, J&K HomeDepartment late Wednesdayevening issued a fresh orderinviting tourists to visit theState as it has withdrawn itsprevious order, restricting stayof pilgrims/tourists, issued onAugust 2.

The order issued by thePrincipal Secretary, HomeShaleen Kabra stated, “theSecurity Advisory requestingtourists visiting J&k to curtailtheir stay in the Kashmirvalley, issued on Aug 2nd, ishereby withdrawn. The

tourists desirous of undertak-ing visit to the State shall beprovided all necessary assis-tance and logistical support”.

Meanwhile, situationremained peaceful in differentparts of Kashmir valley onThursday. The degree collegesthrown open by the Stateauthorities on Wednesdayremained open with scantystudent population.

Local hoteliers, trans-porters, tour operators and allothers dependent on tourismindustry are all looking forwardto welcome fresh arrival oftourists in Kashmir valley inthe coming days.

The biggest concern, how-ever, remained absence of com-munication services and con-tinued shut down during peakbusiness hours in Kashmir valley.

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At least two civil-ians received

injuries in heavy mor-tar shelling by thePakistan Army alongthe Line of Control inPoonch late Thursdayevening.

In response, theIndian Army is retal-iating strongly andeffectively. The line of controlhad earlier witnessed heavyexchange of mortar shelling lateWednesday evening in whichthe Pakistan Army may havesuffered fatal injuries.

According to groundreports, “The Pakistan Armyviolated ceasefire agreementon Thursday by resorting toheavy mortar shelling on the

civilian areas of Kari Karmara,Shahpur, Qasba and Kerni inPoonch. Large number of localresidents, could not step out oftheir houses due to heavyshelling in the forward area.

In the heavy exchange, twocivilians identified as 75 yearold Noor Husaain of Karmaraand 35 year old Shamim Akhtaof Shahpur received injuries.

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As many as 1,382 candidateshave filed their nomina-

tions for the BlockDevelopment Council polls,beginning October 24, inJammu & Kashmir.

Chief Electoral Officer,Shailendra Kumar said, “a totalnumber of 1382 candidateshave filed their nominationpapers in 22 districts of theState for 310 BDCs for whichthe elections will be held onOctober 24”.

He said elaborate securityarrangements have been madeto ensure peaceful conduct ofthe polls.

Out of 1382 candidates,751 filed nomination papers inJammu, 515 in Kashmir and116 in Ladakh.

According to officialsources , “the frontier districtof Kupwara in North Kashmirtopped the list with maximum

number of candidates comingforward to contest the BDCpolls.

A total number of 131candidates filed their nomi-nation papers in Kupwara followed by Baramulla wherepoll authorities received 110nominations”.

In Jammu division, thehighest number of nominationswere received in Jammu districtwhere 105 candidates are in thefray.

In Ladakh division too,Kargil district outnumberedLeh in terms on total nomina-tions. Official sources said, 68candidates joined the electoralcontest in Kargil district, while48 candidates filed their papersin Leh.

Meanwhile, a day after theState Unit of the congress partydecided to boycott the BDCpolls, the State BJP Chief,Ravinder Raina, Thursdayalleged that Congress party is

carrying forward nothing butthe agenda of Pakistan throughits BDC poll boycott call.

Raina, also said that regis-tration of Congress party becancelled with immediate effectfor its repeated acts to weakenthe institutions of democracy.

Ravinder Raina, allegedthat Congress party does everything here, which isrequired as per the destructiveforeign policy of rogue state ofPakistan.

He said that Pakistan wantsthe election to be boycottedhere, which is being imple-mented by Congress partyalong with NC and PDP inIndia.

He said that the Congressparty has carried forward theagenda put forth by Hurriyat,separatists, and the enemies ofthe Nation, through its actionsand hence proved itself to be atraitor by bringing bad name tothe Nation.

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With its decision to boycottthe Block Development

Council (BDC) elections inJammu & Kashmir, theCongress party has placed itselfin an unenviable position ofbeing on the right side of theseparatists.

For over 30 years since theongoing separatists violencestarted in the State, the separatists have been askingpeople and the political parties to boycott what they call“the Indian electoralprocess”.

Ironically, the Congressparty that fought for the coun-try’s independence andanchored itself firmly for over65 years through the length and breadth of India isnow seen to shift its politicaltrack.

“Since its establishmentthe Congress has been seen asthe only political party that hadroots and supportfrom Kashmir toKanyakumari.

“As fate would have it, theparty now decides to boycottelection in J&K,” said AliMuhammad, 75, who is stillcalled ‘Ali Congressi’ in hisnative village in NorthKashmir.

G.A. Mir, President of thestate Congress has said that theparty cannot fight the BDCelection as its leaders belong-ing to the valley are still underdetention.

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Congress leader RahulGandhi, who had been

abroad for few days, onThursday appeared before amagisterial court here andpleaded not guilty in a crimi-nal defamation case filedagainst him for his “why do allthieves share Modi surname”remarks.

Gandhi appeared beforethe court of Chief JudicialMagistrate BH Kapadia and

pleaded not guilty when askedby the court whether he acceptsthe charges, levelled againsthim by BJP legislator from Surat-West, PurneshModi.

After Gandhi’s plea wasrecorded, his lawyers moved anapplication seeking permanentexemption from personalappearance. When Modi’slawyers raised objection to theexemption plea, the court saidit will decide on the plea onDecember 10.

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Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav slammed the ruling BJP in

Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, sayingthere is not “Ram Raj” but “NathuramRaj” in the state, a day after he visit-ed the family of a youth killed in apolice encounter over alleged illegalsand mining.

“Besides mob lynching, now thereis also police lynching which can beseen here,” the SP chief told newsper-sons.

Police said Pushpendra Yadavwas killed in an encounter on Sundayafter he opened fire on a patrol team.But his family members have allegedthat he was killed in a staged gunfightafter he refused to pay bribe to thepolice station in-charge and threat-ened to expose him.

The initial statements of JhansiSSP and the SHO on the encounterwere inconsistent.

The SP chief visited PushpendraYadav’s family on Wednesday andassured them help.

On Thursday, he said, “There aremany loopholes in the police story.”

Akhilesh Yadav said he has “notrust” in the police and the adminis-tration. “Which Ram Raj is going onin UP? This is not Ram Raj butNathuram Raj. With mob lynching,police lynching have also started in

the state,” he said at a press conference.Jhansi Senior Superintendent of

Police O P Singh had told reporterson the night of the encounter that theSHO was returning alone in his pri-vate vehicle from vacation when theexchange of fire took place, but theStation House Officer involved said hewas on patrol duty with two consta-bles.

Police have also claimedPushpendra Yadav, who ran a sandmining business, was shot dead afterhe opened fire on the police officerwho had seized his truck a few daysearlier.

Pushpendra Yadav’s family allegedthat the area police officer in-charge,Dharmendra Chauhan, was demand-ing Rs 1.5- lakh bribe to release histruck.

“I want justice. My husband...Hehad given money earlier but was askedfor more. When he did not give it myhusband was shot dead. I want jus-

tice,” his wife Shivangi said, sobbingbefore visiting mediapersons.

They had married just threemonths ago.

“We demand a probe by a sittinghigh court judge. It’s not an encounterbut a murder,” Akhilesh Yadav said.

“Not much should be expectedfrom the police force of a State where the Chief Minister open-ly asks them to ‘thok dalo’ (shoot)those taking law in their own hands,”he said.

“The BJP Government of the Stateis equally responsible for the killingalong with the local administration.The Government has forgotten that itis the image of the administrationwhich creates the right image of theGovernment,” Akhilesh Yadav said,adding the deceased’s brother, a CISF jawan inDelhi, has also been made an accusedin the case and was on duty that night.

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The indefinite strike by unionsof Telangana State Road

Transport Corporation (TSRTC)continued for the sixth day onThursday with the agitatingemployees staging protests acrossthe State.

With nearly 48,000 employeesboycotting their duties and state-run buses staying off roads,theRTC said alternative arrangementswere made to run bus servicesfrom its own fleet.

Around 11,000 vehiclesincluding buses were being oper-ated.

In a related development, thevacation bench of the TelanganaHigh Court posted to October 15the hearing on a petition that

sought to declare the strike as“illegal.”

The Government also sub-mitted before the court a reportinforming it aboutthe alternative arrangementstaken.

However, the court asked thegovernment and TSRTC to file adetailed report before it by October15.

On Sunday, the court haddirected the Government to sub-mit a report by today, on the alternative arrangements made inview of the ongoing strike, besidesordering issuance of notices to twounions of RTC.

The RTC unions through theircounsels submitted that as per lawthey had given strike notices to theGovernment.

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BJP State president SatishPoonia on Thursday

demanded that the CongressGovernment should expediteassessment of crop loss damagedue to heavy rainfall inRajasthan “Crops were dam-aged due to heavy rainfall inseveral districts of the state. Ivisited many districts wherecrops have been damaged and farmers are in distress and theGovernment should expedite

the assessment work so thatfarmers can get compensation,”Poonia told reportershere. He also called forGovernor Kalraj Mishra’s inter-vention in the matter. “Ourdelegation is meeting the gov-ernor today to demand hisintervention. The Governmenthad asked the officials to pre-pare the girdawari (harvestinspection) report by October 15 but the assessmentwork is going on very slow,” hesaid.

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From traditional welcome toglimpses of South Indian art

forms and decorative arches,Chinese President Xi Jinpingwill be treated to a grandreception as he lands here onFriday for the second informalsummit with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi at the nearbyancient coastal town of Mamallapuram(Mahabalipuram).

The seaside town near hereis swarming with police andSpecial Protection Group personnel and the officialmachinery is fully equipped forthe summit. Bulletproofmakeshift structures have beenput near the shore temple forthe two leaders to hold talks.

Top police and

Government officials complet-ed assessing the security pre-paredness and fine tunedarrangements related to ameni-ties for the leaders both hereand at Mamallapuram.

Chief Minister KPalaniswami inspected thearrangements at the coastaltown this evening.

Entry to the group ofancient monuments have beenblocked and barricades havecome up around them.

A grand ornamental archto welcome the two leaders hasbeen prominently put up at theentrance to Mamallapuramfrom the East Coast Road.

Traditional arches madeof banana trees and sugarcanehave been put in front of theITC Grand Chola Hotel whereXi Jinping is scheduled to stay.

On his arrival, Xi will bewelcomed by traditional pefor-mances including ‘tappu’ folkdrum art display at the airportby about 500 artistes.

Also, a string of other cul-tural events have been lined upincluding Bharatanatyam andKathakali peformances.

Apart from the culturalprogrammes on schedule at theShore temple on Fridayevening, makeshift platformshave come up in several loca-tions including here andMamallapuram for brief, cul-tural shows. According to thetentative schedule made avail-able to the media, the foreignguest is scheduled to arrive at2.10 pm and he is set to exit theairport through the fifth VVIPgate and proceed to the near-by hotel.

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Large-scale rebellion is notnew to Maharashtra during

the elections. With the possi-bility of the saffron alliancereturning to power in the Statebeing strong, the ruling BJPand Shiv Sena are facing themaximum brunt of rebels inthe State Assembly polls,scheduled for October 11.

Two days ahead of thewithdrawal of nominations,chief minister DevendraFadnavis had last week sent outstern message to message torebels to opt to opt out of thefray and said that there wouldbe no place for rebels in theBJP-led “Maha-Yuti” (grandalliance). On his party, ShivSena president UddhavThackeray — at his annualDussehra rally — subsequent-ly apologised to those partyworkers who have been deniedtickets, in an effort to defuserebellion within the party ranksover the distribution of tickets.

Both Fadnavis and Uddhavhave not succeeded in reiningin the rebels. There are an esti-mated 45 to 50 BJP-Sena rebels

spread over 288 Assembly con-stituencies in the State.Though there are a very fewrebels contesting against theirparty’s official candidates, themaximum rebellions have hap-pened within the saffronalliance. In essence, there aremany instances where the BJPcandidates are contestingagainst the Shiv Sena’s officialcandidates or the vice versa.

Of the total 288, the BJP iscontesting 150 seats, while theShiv Sena has fielded candi-dates in 124 constituencies.Their allies are contesting theremaining 14 seats.

For instance in Vidarbharegion, Shiv Sena’s SantoshDawale is contesting as arebel against BJP ministerMadan Yerawar in Yavatmalconstituency, while local BJP

leader Sanjay Deshmukhis taking on Sena minis-ter Sanjay Minister inDigras constituency.Sena’s former ministerAshok Shinde is contest-ing as a rebel againstBJP’s sitting MLA SamirKurniwar. In Ramtek,Shiv Sena’s former MLA

Ashsish Jaiswal is making mat-ters difficult for the BJP’s BJP’ssitting MLA MalinkarjunReddy.

In north Maharashtra, ShivSena’s rebel Vilas Shinde is tak-ing Seema Hire in Nashik(west) constituency, whileSena’s Jalgaon district presidentChandrakant Patil is contestingas a rebel against senior BJPleader Eknath Khadse’s daugh-ter Rohini Khadse inMuktainagar constituency. Inthe neighbouring Jalgaon(rural) constituency, Sena’sminister of state Gulabrao Patilis facing a BJP rebel GulabraoPatil. There are two BJP rebelsin Sakri and Shirpur in Dhuledistrict.

There are rebels in Vasmat,Aurangabad (west), Nanded(south), Osmamabad ande a

few other constituencies inMarthwada.

In Mumbai, Shiv Sena’sRajul Patel has rebelled againstBJP’s official candidate BharatiLaveka in Versova constituen-cy, while Shiv Sena’s sittingMLA Trupti Sawant hasrebelled against Sena’s officialnominee and Mumbai MayorVishwqanath Mahadeshwar inBandra (east). In Andheri(east), BJP man Murji Patel hasrebelled against shiv Sena’sofficial candidate RameshLatke.

In Konkan region, the shivSena is contesting officiallyagainst BJP’s Nitesh Rane, sonof former chief ministerNarayan Rane. BJP’s sittingMLA Manda Mhatre, is takingon a rebel in Shiv Sena citychief Vijay Mane, in Bela con-stituency. BJP’s GanpatGaikwad is facing seriousthreat to his candidature fromSena leader Dhananjay Bodarein Kalyan (east). JP legislatorfrom Chinchwad LaxmanJagtap is fighting out againstSena rebel Rahul Kalate. InSawantwadi, BJP’s Rajan Telihas turned a rebel.

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Mumbai: Congress leaderRahul Gandhi will campaign inthe city on Sunday for theMaharashtra Assembly elec-tions.

It will be his first campaignevent in the State ahead of theOctober 21 elections.

Mumbai Congress chiefEknath Gaikwad said Gandhiwill address a rally at Dharavi

here on Sunday evening.Gaikwad’s daughter and

Congress secretary VarshaGaikwad is seeking re-elec-tion for a fourth term fromDharavi.

During Rahul Gandhi’stenure as party chief, VarshaGaikwad was AICC secretaryfor Gujarat and MadhyaPradesh Assembly polls. PTI

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Asserting that the BJP-ShivSena alliance will return to

power in Maharashtra with an“unprecedented” mandate,Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis on Thursday saidhis Government worked forthe weaker sections of thesociety and tried to transformtheir lives.

He also criticised theopposition Congress and NCPfor “not doing anything”except giving “false and mis-leading” promises during the15 years of their rule before theBJP-Sena Government cameto power in 2014.

As part of the electioncampaign, Fadnavis addressedpublic rallies at differentplaces in Solapur district onThursday.

While addressing a rally atMangalwedha, he said,“Congress and NCP did not

do anything for 15 years exceptgiving false and misleadingpromises.

But after our Governmentcame to power five years back,we worked for the poor, down-trodden, tribals, minorities,farmers, OBCs and women,and tried to bring about a transformation (intheir lives).”

The BJP-Shiv SenaGovernment stood behind thefarmers in the last five yearsand gave the biggest farmloan waiver, which benefited50 lakh farmers.

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Amravati: Electioneering forthe eight Assembly seats inMaharashtra’s Amravati willgain momentum from Fridaywhen BJP president Amit Shahand Shiv Sena chief UddhavThackeray will address separaterallies in the district located inVidarbha region. Shah willaddress a public gathering inMelghat constituency, a tribalbelt where the BJP has fieldedRamesh Mavaskar, a freshfresh, in place of sitting MLAPrabhudas Bhilavekar. PTI

Mumbai: The BJP onThursday expelled four rebelswho are contesting against theofficial nominees of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliancein theOctober 21 assembly elections.

A BJP release said CharanWaghmare (Tumsar-Bhandaradistrict), Geeta Jain (Mira-Bhayandar, Thane district),Balasaheb Ohwal (Pimpri-Chinchwad) andDilipDeshmukh (Ahmedpur-Latur district) have beenexpelled from the party. PTI

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Disgruntled JD(U) leaderAjay Alok on Thursday

said he was prepared to resignfrom the primary member-ship of the party, if it sodesired.

His reaction comes a dayafter a party communicationinformed media outlets thatAlok had ceased to be a partyspokesman and his utterancesmust be taken as his “person-al opinion” and not the “officialline” of the party.

Several media outlets hadbeen airing Alok’s views, whichwere causing embarassment tothe JD(U). Alok has of late beenadopting a stance in line withBJP hardliners.

The party communicationwas issued by JD(U)spokesman Rajiv RanjanPrasad on Wednesday shortlyafter Alok had come out witha tweet in which he ended upberating the JD(U) while stress-ing the need for the NDAremaining intact.

“For the BJP it is not of

great consequence to remain inpower in Bihar. But, thisalliance must remain intact inthe interests of Bihar and inview of the JD(U) proclaimingto be the big brother in thecoalition, the onus is on us,”Alok had tweeted.

He was reacting to therecent acrimony witnessedbetween the coalition partnerswhich was followed by leadersof the saffron party skippingthe Dussehra festivities orga-nized at the Gandhi Maidanwhere the Chief Ministershared the dais with oppositionleaders like state Congresspresident Madan Mohan Jha.

Once considered to be afavourite of Chief MinisterNitish Kumar because of thecombativeness he brought onthe table at on-screen debates,Alok seems to have fallen outof favour with Kumar, whoalso heads the JD(U).

However, stung by therelease issued by Rajiv RanjanPrasad, Alok again took to themicro-blogging site to statethat he has felt slighted.

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Aday after he ridiculedRahul Gandhi “for having

gone on a holiday to Bangkok”fearing the Congress’ defeat inthe State Assemblypolls, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavislikened NCP chief SharadPawar to Asrani’s character asa jailer in film “Sholay” andsaid the latter in reality was leftwith no supporters behindhim.

Addressing an electionrally at Phalton in Satara dis-trict of western Maharashtra,Fadnavis took a dig at Pawar bysaying: “Sharad Pawar’s con-dition is like that of Jailer infilm ‘Sholay’.. Aadhe ider jaon,

Aade Uder jao, baki merepeche aao. Like in the film,there is no one behind Pawar”.

Alluding to veteranCongress leader Sushil KumarShinde’s comment that “we(Congress and NCP) are tired.Both the parties need tomerge”, Fadnavissaid: “Shinde understands as

to what is in store for theCongress-NCP in the elec-tions.

The two parties will findthemselves such a pitiable sit-uation after the Assembly polls that both the parities will nothave enough numbers to stakeclaim for the post of theOpposition leader in the StateAssembly”.

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Infiltrators will be made toleave the country and the

National Register of Citizens(NRC) will be implemented forthe purpose, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah said onThursday.

The BJP chief made theannouncement at a campaignrally here for the October 21Maharashtra Assembly elec-tions.

“Before we come to ask forvotes in 2024 (General elec-tions), let me assure you thatthe BJP Government will makesure every infiltrator is thrownout of the country,” Shah said.

“We will throw out every-one residing illegally in ourcountry. Congress and NCPhave opposed NRC as such res-idents form a vote bank forthese opposition parties,” Shahsaid.

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It is not uncommon to notice thedeath of irony in international diplo-macy. Most countries, which are ina position to influence internation-al or regional orders, have skeletons

in their own cupboards but they desist frompeeping into their own closet. Instead, theylook at those of others. The US’ intoleranceover human rights elsewhere is noticeable,except when it comes to its role in the larg-er West Asian region.

Last month, when a US drone strikereportedly killed numerous farmers in theKhogyani district of Nangarhar provincein Afghanistan, it hardly grabbed interna-tional attention. This international impuni-ty complex — a default appendage of beinga major power — is fast catching up withChina, too. India’s international positionas a benign and reluctant regional majorpower and its grey ground between a mid-dle and major power provide appositegrounds to whet its impunity complex forChina. What fuels the Chinese statebehaviour with India is its sense of mili-tary superiority, emanating from its his-torical upper hand in the 1962 war, its giantleap in technology, manufacturing-ledexports and defence sector. The resultantasymmetry in bilateral relations betweenthe two is structural in nature, which callsfor India to strengthen its key areas liketrade, defence and most importantly (asrecent events have shown), internation-al diplomacy.

As China consolidates its seat on theglobal high table, irony is being strangledeven tighter each day, particularly on issuesof human rights, sovereignty and territor-ial control. Most prominent examples areChina’s repression of the Uighur Muslimsin Xinjiang, its dominance in the SouthChina Sea, sensitivity over Tibet and themost recent unrest in Hong Kong. Further,its attempt to raise the Kashmir issue at theUnited Nations (UN) and the open supportit provides to Pakistan on issues like cross-border terrorism, Nuclear Suppliers Group,UN expansion, the Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) and listing of terrorists in theUN do not augur well for bilateral relationswith India.

On October 4, Chinese Ambassador toIslamabad, Yao Jing, raked up the Kashmirissue again and said, “We are also workingfor the Kashmiris to help them get theirfundamental rights and justice. Thereshould be a justified solution to the issueof Kashmir and China will stand byPakistan for regional peace and stability.”This statement is overridden with impuni-ty complex for, if one were to replace“Kashmiris” with “Uighurs”, it would bereflective of China’s own domestic situa-tion, which is only worse.

Yao’s statement, coming just before theChinese Premier’s visit to Mamallapuram inSouth India, cannot be read without context.This is part of the broader Chinese strate-

gy that precedes most State vis-its to India and is carried out inadvance to strengthen groundsof negotiations during the visit.

The delay in confirmingXi’s informal visit to India wasa subtle pressure tactic thatfinds resemblance in the lastinformal visit by Xi to India in2018, which, too, was confirmedonly in the last five days.Another common streak thatprecedes China’s State-level vis-its to India is the latter’s unto-ward yet shy nature of beingdirectly hostile. In 2014, Chinesesoldiers intruded into Indian ter-ritory in Chumar area of Ladakhwhile President Xi was in thecountry on a three-day visit. Theincursion by the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) hap-pened even as Modi and Xi metin New Delhi.

Recent satellite images haveconfirmed claims of road con-struction by China at Bishing vil-lage in Upper Siang district ofArunachal Pradesh, days beforethe scheduled visit.

Additionally, Chinese “civil-ian” protests in the Demchoksector on the occasion of theDalai Lama’s birthday, ChineseForeign Minister China WangYi’s mention of the Kashmirissue at the UN and the scufflebetween Indian and Chinese sol-diers on the bank of the PangongTso lake in eastern Ladakh inSeptember, all send out wrongsignals to New Delhi for a res-olution to outstanding disputes

on border and for the larger goalof establishing bonhomie inbilateral relations.

Furthermore, Xi’s meetingwith Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on October 8 andhis reiteration of Beijing’sstrong support to Islamabad onthe issue of Kashmir —splashed across Chinese media— belies any semblance ofchange of heart on the part ofChina in dealing with India.This was very well sensed fromChinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang’srecent statement where he tac-itly said that the Kashmir issueshould be resolved bilaterally.When compared with China’searlier actions where it raisedthe Kashmir issue in the UNand also called a closed-doorUNSC meet, Geng’s statementlooks facile and does contradictChina’s intentions.

India has rightly drawn theline with an official statementstating, “It is not for other coun-tries to comment on the inter-nal affairs of India.” A diplomat-ically careful and nuancednation would not have allowedsuch media coverage, even ifsuch assurances were given toPakistan in a bilateral conversa-tion. The intent behind lettingout such hostile news coverageon the eve of a supposed “reset”is as much a direct communica-tion for New Delhi as it isreflective of Beijing’s stand on aninternal matter of India.

As opposed to what Beijingclaims vis-à-vis its stand onKashmir, there is a lack of con-sistency in China’s Kashmirstand. India, on the other hand,has done well to be consistentin its stand on internal mattersof other states, irrespective ofthe issue, avoiding any impuni-ty complex. As recent Chinesebehaviour has shown, largerinternational role and respon-sibility necessitates revisionistattitudes in state behaviour.This may not be a bad cue forIndia to take from Beijing tostrengthen its pursuit of playinga larger global role.

Nevertheless, Xi’s visit toIndia provides an opportunityfor both countries to strength-en mechanisms to prevent oppo-sition from turning into openhostility between the two. Assuch, the visit would be as muchan opportunity as a challenge.China would be aware that itsshedding of reluctance in oppos-ing India in international foraand its outright support toPakistan are bound to meetwith India’s new-found realismin conducting inter-state rela-tions. While Chinese Statebehaviour is known for idealismwithin and calculated realismoutside, India has moved recent-ly to address some of the lack ofrealistic assessments in dealingwith China. The Chinese wouldbe cognisant that their owndiplomatic transition from latentto blatant vis-à-vis India has had

the latter take a few reciprocalsteps in the recent past, primar-ily in strengthening defence andpreparedness near the Line ofActual Control (LAC).

The ongoing war exerciseby the Indian Army, ‘HimVijay’, in Arunachal Pradesh atan altitude of 14,000 and 100km from the LAC, its IntegratedBattle Groups and raising theQuad group to Ministerial levelrecently in New York are con-crete steps that can strengthengrounds and provide strongcounter-optics to China.

The unique thing aboutIndian diplomacy is thatdespite infusing incrementalrealism in its engagementwith China, there is a gooddeal of idealism that persistsfrom the past to instill a senseof balance. Informal summitsare frameworks on the ideal-ist line. If the Wuhan informalsummit in 2018 between thetwo countries was successfulin cooling tempers post-Doklam and fostering engage-ment, the Mamallapuramsummit provides anotheropportunity to bring a balanceto both sides’ realistic scoresabove the other.

Xi’s visit should be used byIndia to convey to China inclear terms that it shoulddecouple its India policy fromits sympathies for Islamabad.

(The writer is ResearchFellow, Indian Council of World Affairs)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Modi-Xi expectations”(October 10). Though a bitdelayed, the informal summitbetween Chinese President XiJinping and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is finally on. Theatmosphere, however, is not soideal as both nations remain farapart on core issues. If India isgrappling with terrorism andeconomic crisis, China has sov-ereignty and trade issues to con-tend with. Xi may also not be asassertive as he was during the firstinformal summit at Wuhan, givenChina’s debilitating trade warwith the US and its dilemma overHong Kong’s future.

For India, however, the bug-bear has been Pakistan and itssurreptitious behaviour. Beijing’sunstinted support to Pakistanon the Kashmir issue has stressedrelations between New Delhi andBeijing. Clearly, it cannot have itboth ways — supporting Pakistandespite it being a state sponsor ofterrorism and at the same timetrying to explore India’s vastmarkets. It has to take a call.

Srishti Mathur Ujjain

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “We will speak” (October 9).It is heartening to know that theBihar Police has ordered the clo-sure of a sedition case filedagainst 49 noted personalities,who had written a letter toPrime Minister Narendra Modi,raising concern over the grow-

ing incidents of mob lynching inthe country. That Chief JudicialMagistrate Surya Kant Tiwariaccepted the complaint bySudhir Kumar Ojha, aMuzaffarpur-based advocate,without having checked theveracity of the legal charges, isindeed perplexing.

In times when even notedpersonalities are slapped withFIRs for raising genuine con-

cerns about secularism, one canonly understand the plight of thecommon man, who raiseshis/her finger against the estab-lishment on issues that matter.

The strength of a democra-cy is assessed by how freely itscitizens can express their viewsor thoughts. Healthy criticismmust always be welcomed.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Welcoming the Rafale”(October 9). With the advent oftechnology, there has been a par-adigm shift in the way wars arefought. It is, therefore, essentialthat India, too, remains preparedfor any eventuality. With nationsrising to the occasion to equipthemselves with the latest tech-nology, India, too, must procurestate-of-the-art arms and ammu-nition to ensure decisive results inthe battlefield.

The purchase of Rafale jetswill come as a shot in the arm ofthe Indian Air Force. But what isworrisome is the IAF’s depletingsquadron strength. As many as 26fighter planes have gone down,killing 12 pilots and other crewmembers. As it is we have analarming shortage of fighters.The Rafale jets could not havecome at a more opportune timeand are just the first step in solv-ing the issue at hand. We mustimprove our fleet.

Bal GovindNoida

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When Reema turned 14, her motherdecided to get her married. The teenag-er was then studying in Class VIII at the

Kalli Paschim upper primary school in Lucknowdistrict, Uttar Pradesh (UP), but her mother wasconfident that her dutiful daughter would hon-our her wishes. She was right and Reema did notreject the proposal.

If this story sounds all too familiar, it isbecause a majority of young girls in UP and manyother States face the same fate. UP is among the13 States where over 80 per cent of child mar-riages take place in rural India, according to arecent study by the National Commission forProtection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and YoungLives. The National Family Health Survey(NFHS-4) found that 21 per cent of the 8.5 crorechildren in UP still fall prey to child marriage.

In fact, one in every five girls in UP is a childbride and every 10th underage pregnancy is fromthere. Out of the 44.67 lakh teenage pregnanciesreported annually from India, over four lakhcases are from UP alone (NFHS-4).

But Reema was about to script a change inher story thanks to Meena Manch, a club for ado-lescent girls in UP Government schools. Not onlyhad the youngster learnt about the pitfalls of earlymarriage through the club, she also knew the eco-nomic reasons behind her mother’s decision. So,along with a few members of the club, she per-suaded her mother and her prospective in-lawsto allow her to continue her studies after mar-riage. They also agreed not to force her into liv-ing with her husband until she turned 18.

The initial concept of using “Meena” — anine-year-old fictional girl who overcame allobstacles to go to school and illustrate the neces-sity of education for girls — was developed byUNICEF. Created to change perceptions thathamper the survival, protection and developmentof girls, the initiative, developed as part of theInternational Year of the Girl Child in the 1990s,was adapted under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA), the Government’s flagship education pro-gramme.

The innovative Meena club was formed tomotivate girls to continue their education anddevelop leadership and life skills with the helpof a series of Meena story books, flip charts andactivity sheets. Each club, comprising 20 girls inthe age group of 11-14 years, discusses the sto-ries. Meena Cabinets, comprising two childrenfrom Classes III, IV and V, help to resolve issuesclub members may have with the aid of theSugamkarta — a female teacher from the schoolwho acts as the facilitator.

At present, over 36,000 such clubs exist inupper primary schools in UP but soon, all upperprimary schools in the State will have them. Thiswas announced by the UP education departmentrecently.

This is not surprising, considering theimpact the manch is having. Thirty-year-oldAnju’s experience is a prime example of thechange effected by members of the MeenaManch. When she stopped Rani, her 13-year-olddaughter from going to school, the girl’s class-mates marched to her house and demanded toknow why she had dropped out. “Why isn’t Ranicoming to school? Don’t you know how happyshe was there? We won’t leave until you give us

a written promise that you will sendRani to school from tomorrow.”

The group of diminutive girls, allmembers of the club, didn’t stop there.For the next two hours, they explainedto Anju how important it was for Ranito continue her education.

The turning point came when oneof them asked the mother whether shewanted Rani to be like her and not beable to write her own name. This iswhen Anju put her thumb impressionon the letter the girls had brought,promising to send her daughter back toschool. The girls of Meena Manch hadscored again.

In fact, teachers of the upper pri-mary school in Sarojini Nagar,Lucknow district, have no qualms inadmitting that their club memberswere the driving force in bringing backdropouts, both girls and boys. “Eversince Meena Manch was formed, wedon’t have to worry about children notcoming to school. The members, springinto action as soon as they learn aboutany missing student,” says Aarti, asenior teacher and a manch facilitator.

Thirteen-year-old Shanno Sharmasays elders in her village Parsauli,Kanpur Dehat district, know she is amember of the club. “Our group is well-known because we have managed tostop marriages where dowry wasdemanded”, she says.

Shama Awasthi, another member

of the same group, reveals that after oneboy of her village was almost beaten upby club members for eve-teasing, therest of the boys fell in line.

Even Meena Ki Duniya, the radioprogramme introduced in UP in 2010,has increased the levels of awarenessand knowledge among children andteachers on issues related to educationof girls, child rights, adolescent healthand hygiene, life skills, the perils of childmarriage and gender roles.

The 15-minute programme,designed by Sesame India is broadcastthrough All India Radio (AIR) inschools across UP six days a week.

Students tune into radio sets pro-vided by the Government in the after-noons, Monday through Saturday. Thebroadcast fee for the programme isborne by the UP Government and eachepisode has a story, a song and a gamedesigned to entertain schoolchildrenwhile encouraging them to think.

The International Day of the GirlChild, celebrated every year on October11, has become a good platform to turnthe spotlight on the manch engender-ing schoolchildren and teachers.Government school teachers have alsobeen trained on how to use MeenaRadio as a teaching aid.

With the education departmentissuing a directive to schools to enablestudents to listen to the radio at the pre-scribed time, Meena has become a pop-

ular character among school children.One of the critical objectives of the

radio programme, a partnershipbetween UNICEF, the UP Governmentand AIR, is to focus on motivating chil-dren between the ages of 11 and 14 tocontinue their education. Studies haveshown that children in this age groupare prone to drop out of school. Anassessment report found that in UP, thedropout rate in primary school is 20 percent and rises by about 10 per cent inupper primary school.

This is where the club and radioprogrammes are making a difference,especially since more girls drop out ofschool than boys. Since the programmeis in Hindi, the messages are easy tounderstand and reach the students,community and parents they are meantto target.

More importantly, with many of thegirls already a part of the MeenaManch, they identify and want to be liketheir role model Meena, a confident andeducated girl.

While Archana wants to be a policeofficer, Manju wants to become a doc-tor, Muskan aspires to be an educationofficial, Rukmini, a social worker andFrancy, a journalist. And like Meena,they are no longer afraid to be seen andheard. Ordinary girls in rural areas aredaring to dream and are on the thresh-old of making their dreams come true.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Mental health is a state ofemotional, psychologicaland social well-being in

which the individual realises his/herown abilities, copes with the stress-es of life, works productively andpossesses the ability to contribute tosociety. It is an integral part of healthand not just the absence of mentalillness. Mental well-being can beaffected by a number of factors andevery person is vulnerable to prob-lems, irrespective of age, gender,socio-economic status and ethnicbackground.

Every fourth person in theworld suffers from some mental orneurological disorder, which leads toa poor quality of life, decreased pro-

ductivity and lower earning poten-tial.

Around 450 million peopleacross the globe currently sufferfrom some kind of disorder, makingit one of the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide.

According to the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), 6.5 per centof Indians suffer from some form ofserious illness like schizophrenia,with an equal distribution amongrural and urban populations. TheNational Mental Health Survey(NMHS) concludes that 10.6 percent people in India suffer fromcommon disorders like depression,anxiety and substance abuse.

About 56 million people in thecountry suffer from depression andits severe form may lead to suicide,a major cause of death in the agegroup of 15-39 years. Suicide deathsin India have drastically increasedsince 1990 and around 230,314were recorded in 2016. Incidents ofstudent taking their lives are also onthe rise and close to 26,000 studentsdied between 2014 and 2016.

Given the continued trend, Indiawon’t be able to achieve theSustainable Development Goal(SDGs) of the United Nations toreduce the global suicide rate by one-third by the year 2030.

According to the NMHS,approximately 150 million Indiansneed professional care but only asmall proportion of them is able toaccess mental health services. Nearlytwo-thirds of people with knowndisorders never seek professionalhelp, resulting in a huge treatmentgap.

This could be because of sever-al reasons such as stigma associat-ed with mental illnesses, lack ofawareness, lack of resources, poorinfrastructure and apathy on the partof policy makers to counter theseproblems.

In fact, stigma is a significanthindering factor in Indian societyand prevents patients from reachinghealth facilities, resulting in neglectin the care of the mentally ill. It hasbeen found that the attitude of doc-tors, other than psychiatrists and

other healthcare professionals, con-tributes to the stigma due to theirlimited knowledge and awarenessabout psychiatry and mental healthproblems. In many cases people arenot even ready to acknowledgethese problems.

Because of stigma, mental illnessis often discounted and the affectedperson is discouraged from seekingtreatment. S/he is often advised to bestrong and snap out of the condition.People in need of help should beencouraged to seek expert adviceand those undergoing treatmentshould be urged to regularly visittheir psychiatrist and comply withthe instructions.

The mental health workforce inIndia is extremely low consideringthe prevalence of disorders — thereare 0.3 psychiatrists, 0.12 nurses, 0.07psychologists and 0.07 social work-ers for 100,000 people. The availableprofessional manpower is much lessthan the laid down WHO standards.

Stigma and inadequate man-power, combined with lack of ade-quate infrastructure for mental

healthcare, worsen the situation.The solution lies in training

other healthcare professionals inmental health and utilising their ser-vices to treat common disorderswhich could be easily treatable bygeneral healthcare providers.

Integration of mental healthwith the general health services is theobjective of the National MentalHealth Programme (NMHP)launched in 1982.

The District Mental HealthProgramme, started in 1996 underthe NMHP, had aimed at the inte-gration of psychiatry services withgeneral health services as one of itskey goals.

However, it has largely remaineda psychiatrist-oriented programmeand the desirable transfer and inte-gration of care from psychiatrists togeneral medical practitioners has notbeen achieved. Treatment and cureare of utmost importance and ignor-ing or neglecting disorders canescalate the issue pretty exponential-ly.

There is much to be achieved

and progress needs to be made inalmost all aspects of the mentalhealth framework. Adaptation oftherapeutic techniques to Indiansub-cultures, temperament and cog-nitive biases needs to be addressedto stay ahead of the challenges pro-fessionals are currently facing. Policymakers should promote availabilityof and access to cost-effective treat-ment of common disorders at theprimary health care level.

An environment needs to be cre-ated which promotes healthy livingand encourages people to adopt anactive lifestyle. Mental health promo-tion will now receive more focus,with its inclusion in the SDGs thatneed to be addressed through com-prehensive strategies for promo-tion, prevention, treatment andrecovery in a whole-of-Governmentapproach.

Introduction of the MentalHealthcare Act, 2017 protects therights of and enables citizens todecide the ways they wish to be treat-ed if they fall prey to a mental illness.The Act promises to provide men-

tal healthcare and services and toprotect, promote, and fulfil therights of such persons during deliv-ery of mental healthcare and ser-vices. However, the Act remainssilent on the services provided in thecommunity.

Suicide prevention, which wasthe theme of this World MentalHealth Day, is highly relevant in viewof the fact that close to 800,000 peo-ple kill themselves every year acrossthe globe and 17 per cent of thesedeaths are in India. One person com-mits suicide every 40 seconds andbehind every death there are 20 sui-cide attempts.

Suicides are preventable andmuch can be done to prevent themat the individual, community andnational level. It is time for us tospread awareness about mental dis-orders, their management and pre-vention. It is time also to reflectupon some of the challenges we faceas a society in India.

(The writer is professor at theHamdard Institute of Medical

Sciences and Research)

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Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitaraman on

Thursday assured the accountholders of the crisis-hit PMCBank that she would speak tothe RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas once again, convey their“sense of urgency and distress”and request the latter to “expe-dite” grant of permission forwithdrawal of money deposit-ed by them in the bank.

After scores of affectedaccount holders of PMC Bankstaged a protest a protest infront of the State BJP head-quarters in Mumbai, Sitaraman— who was in Mumbai to cam-paign for the State Assemblypolls, delayed her interactionwith the media, spoke to a del-egation of protesters andassured them that she wouldtake up their issue with theGovernor

Talking to media personslater her meeting with theTMC Bank’s account holders’delegations, Sitaraman said: “ Ihave been talking to the RBIGovernor. On my return toDelhi, I shall once again talk tohim (RBI?governor) thisevening and convey the senseof urgency and distress that theclients of PMC have expressedbefore me and I shall requesthim to expedite the clearing ofor giving permission for with-drawal of their monies whichare deposited”.

It may be recalled that onSeptember 24 placed Punjab &Maharashtra Cooperative(PMC) Bank Ltd under regu-latory restrictions, thus barringthe bank from carrying outroutine and major financial

transactions, including with-drawal of cash exceeding�1,000 by each of the deposi-tors, for a period of six months.The RBI subsequently raisedthe cash withdrawal limit to�10,000 per account and has

now scaled up the withdrawallimit to �25,000 per account.

The RBI had said that thedirections imposing majorrestrictions on the PMC Bankhad been "necessitated" becauseof account of "major financial

irregularities, failure of internalcontrol and systems of thebank and wrong/under-report-ing of its exposures under var-ious Off-site Surveillancereports to RBI that came to theReserve Bank’s notice recently".

Sitaraman, who was greet-ed by angry protesters on herarrival at the BJP headquarters,explained that the Financeministry had nothing to dowith the RBI’s decision toimpose regulatory instructionson the PMC Bank.

“Multi state cooperativebanks like the PMC Bank areregulated by RBI. But ruralcooperative banks’ registrationis done by the rural develop-ment ministry but they are reg-ulated by the RBI. Similarly theurban cooperative banks areregistered by the urban devel-opment ministry but are regu-lated by RBI,” she said.

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Mumbai: Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon Thursday said the govern-ment is giving sector-specificsolutions to fight the slowdownin economic growth.

She, however, parried aspecific question on whetherthe government accepts if thecountry is in the midst of aneconomic slowdown.

India’s GDP expansion hasslowed to a six-year low of fiveper cent for the June quarter.This has led to a rash of down-

ward revisions in expectations,including from the RBI whichnow expects GDP growth tocome down to 6.1 per cent inFY20.

The Government has takena slew of measures, including amassive cut in corporate taxesto revive economic growth,even at the cost of sacrificingrevenues.

Hinting at other measureslike steps to improve exports,easing credit, making moremoney available by early repay-

ments to vendors and front-loading of banks recapitalisa-tion, Sitharaman said the gov-ernment has been working on sector-specificmeasures.

“We are giving relief to allsectors who need help,”Sitharaman said.

Her comments came hoursafter global ratings agencyMoody’s Investors Servicesharply cut its FY20 GDPgrowth forecast for India to 5.8. PTI

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With the Goods andServices Tax (GST) col-

lections dropping sharply to a19-month low in September,the government has constitut-ed a committee of officers tosuggest measures to augmentcollections, expand the taxbase and check evasion.

The panel comprising ofstate-level GST commissionersand centre government officialshas been asked to suggesturgent measures to arrest thefall in tax revenues and suggeststeps to be taken to improverevenue collection.

“The committee shouldconsider a wide range ofreforms so that a comprehen-sive list of suggestions mayemerge,” an official order said.

It has been asked to con-sider a wide range of reformsso that a comprehensive list ofsuggestions may emerge. Thepanel has been asked to lookinto “systemic changes in GSTincluding checks and balancesto prevent misuse.” Also, ithas been tasked to suggestmeasures to improve voluntarycompliance as well as policymeasures and changes in lawneeded.

Its key mandate is to sug-gest “measures for expansion oftax base” and make recom-mendations on “improvedcompliance monitoring andanti-evasion measures usingbetter data analytics,” the order

said.GST collections dropped

sharply to a 19-month low ofRs 91,916 crore in September,mirroring a widening slow-down in the economy triggeredby shrinking consumerdemand. This was the secondstraight month of decline inGST collections, which fromJuly 1, 2017, amalgamated 17different central and statelevies, including excise duty,service tax and VAT.

The fall in tax collections isseen as a reflection of economicactivity and a decline in col-lections indicated a downturn.

India’s GDP growth slowedto more than six-year low of 5per cent in April-June, prompt-ing the government to take anarray of steps to boost the econ-omy, including the steepestcut in corporate tax rate which would cost Rs 1.45lakh crore.

The panel constituted onThursday comprises state GSTcommissioners of Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh,West Bengal and Punjabbesides central governmentofficials including PrincipalCommissioner of GST andJoint Secretary (Revenue).

States have been asked togive suggestions in writing aswell as join the panel.

“The Committee may co-opt or seek assistance fromsuch officers from Centre/Stateas may be deemed necessary,”the order said.

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Moody’s Investors Serviceon Thursday slashed its

2019-20 GDP growth forecastfor India to 5.8 per cent from6.2 per cent earlier, saying theeconomy was experiencing apronounced slowdown whichis partly related to long-lastingfactors.

The projection is lowerthan 6.1 per cent that theReserve Bank of India (RBI)had forecast just last week.

Moody’s attributed thedeceleration to an investment-led slowdown that has broad-ened into consumption, drivenby financial stress among ruralhouseholds and weak job cre-ation.

“The drivers of the decel-eration are multiple, mainlydomestic and in part long-last-ing,” Moody’s said in a report.

It expected the growth topick up to 6.6 per cent in 2020-21 and to around 7 per centover the medium term.

“Although we expect amoderate pick-up in real GDPgrowth and inflation in the nexttwo years, we have reviseddown our projections for both.Compared with two years ago,the probability of sustainedreal GDP growth at or above 8per cent has significantlydiminished,” it said.

Last month, the AsianDevelopment Bank and theOrganisation of EconomicCooperation and Developmentlowered 2019-20 growth fore-cast for India by 50 basis pointsand 1.3 percentage points to 6.5per cent and 5.9 per cent,respectively.

Last week, the RBI alsoslashed its growth projectionfor the economy to 6.1 per centfrom an earlier estimate of 6.9per cent.

Rating agency Standard &Poor’s has also lowered itsIndia growth forecast to 6.3 percent from 7.1 per cent.

In June, Fitch cut India’sgrowth forecast for the current

fiscal for a second time in a rowto 6.6 per cent. It had earlier inMarch lowered the growthestimate for 2019-20 to 6.8 percent, from 7 per cent project-ed earlier, on weak momentumof the economy.

Moody’s said the drivers ofthe deceleration are multiple,mainly domestic and in partlong-lasting.

“What was an investment-led slowdown has broadenedinto consumption, driven byfinancial stress among ruralhouseholds and weak job cre-ation,” it said adding a creditcrunch among non-bankfinancial institutions (NBFIs),major providers of retail loansin recent years, has com-pounded the problem.

“While we expect a mod-erate pick-up in real GDPgrowth and inflation over thenext two years supported bymonetary and fiscal stimulus,we have revised down our pro-jections for both. We forecastreal GDP

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Asharp drop in demandacross consumption seg-

ments pulled down corporaterevenue, excluding that ofbanking, financial services,insurance and oil companies,by 3 per cent in the secondquarter of FY20, according toa Crisil Research estimate.

It’s first time in 14 quartersthat revenues have declined. Inthe previous four quarters,between Q2FY19 and Q1FY20,aggregate revenue had grown11-12 per cent on average.

The estimate is based on ananalysis of 430 companies,which account for 65 per centof the market capitalisation,excluding financial servicesand oil firms, of the NationalStock Exchange.

Says Prasad Koparkar,Senior Director, CrisilResearch, “Automobiles, one of

the key sectors driven by con-sumption spending, continuesto reel under demand slow-down. Aggregate revenue oflisted automobile players isestimated to have dropped 25per cent in the second quarter.

“In a rub-off, revenue ofautomotive component makersis estimated to have fallen 14-16 per cent amid productioncuts. As for FMCG, weakenedrural consumption and a highbase are expected to havecaused moderation in growthto 6-7 per cent compared with8.7 per cent in the previous fourquarters.

Brokerages also outlinedweak corporate earnings forQ2.

Reliance Securities alsosaid the September quarterwas marked by weak operatingtrends discernible in slowdownin revenue growth across sec-tors.

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Shares of telecom compa-nies on Thursday rose up to

6 per cent in the wake ofReliance Jio deciding to levycall connect charges on cus-tomers, a move that is likely tobe followed by rivals.

Bharti Airtel shares jumped7.19 per cent to touch a 52-weekhigh of �385 apiece on theNSE. It closed 4.35 per cent upat �375.05. Similar trends werewitnessed on the BSE too. Duringthe day, the scrip rallied 6.65 percent to hit a 52-week high of Rs384.85 apiece. After sheddingsome gains, the stock settled 5.05per cent higher at �377.40.

Vodafone Idea closed 5.82per cent higher at �6.18 on theBSE and 5.13 per cent up at�6.15 on the NSE.

Unlisted Reliance JioInfocomm is part of RelianceIndustries, whose shares gained2.76 per cent to settle at

�1,362.40 on the BSE. On theNSE, the scrip went up 2.67 percent to close at �1,360.15.

According to a KotakInstitutional Equities researchreport, Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea can take this asan opportunity to becomemore competitive. The reportnoted that Jio’s move woulddilute the pricing architecture,one of the most critical changesJio brought to the industry.

“If Jio gets �15 ARPU(Average Revenue Per User)uplift, we believe Airtel andVodafone Idea could see a Rs8-odd and �6-odd ARPUuplift, respectively, as well,”the report said.

In a research note, UBSsaid it remains to be seenwhether Bharti and VodafoneIdea would follow Jio in intro-ducing similar charges for offnet calls, “although we seehigh chance that they follow Jio”.

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Apple on Thursday removedan app criticised by China

for allowing protestors in HongKong to track police, as Beijingsteps up pressure on foreigncompanies deemed to be providing support to the pro-democracy movement.

The tech giant’s pulling ofHKmap.Live was blasted asbowing to China and comes ashigh-profile brands, includingthe NBA and its HoustonRockets franchise, come underpressure from communistauthorities over perceived sup-port for democracy demonstrations in the financial hub.

Chinese state media thisweek tore into the app, whichcollates information on policelocations submitted by users,charging that it was helping“rioters”.

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Gold exchange-traded fundsgarnered Rs 44 crore in

September, making it the sec-ond straight month of inflows,as trade conflicts, signs of aglobal slowdown and decline inequities made investors bet bigon the safe-heaven asset.

This comes on the back ofa net infusion of Rs 145 crorein gold exchange-traded funds(ETFs) in August. It was thefirst inflow since November lastyear, when Rs 10 crore wasinfused in such instruments.

Prior to this, gold ETFs hadseen a net inflow of Rs 20 crorein October 2016 and before

that, an inflow of Rs 5 crore waswitnessed in such funds inMay 2013.

According to the latest dataavailable with the Associationof Mutual Funds in India(AMFI), Rs 44 crore waspumped in gold-linked ETFslast month as compared to anoutflow of Rs 34 crore inSeptember 2018.

“Sudden rally in gold pricesmainly due to uneasy tradenegotiation between the USand China, and lower thanexpected global GDP growthare the key reasons for theinflows in gold ETFs in recenttimes,” said Omkeshwar Singh,head of mutual fund distribu-

tion business at Samco.Himanshu Srivastava,

senior analyst managerresearch, MorningstarInvestment Adviser India said,“Like in the month of August,gold ETFs continued to witnessnet inflow in the month ofSeptember as well, although thequantum of net inflow waslower than the previous month.The slowdown in flows couldbe attributed to profit bookinggiven the surge in gold pricesin the recent times.”

The fears of a slowdown inglobal market has helped goldfind its safe-haven appeal backwhich has triggered a sharprally in its prices this year, thus,

catching investor’s fancy, hesaid.

“Gold also adds a differentlayer of diversification in aninvestor’s portfolio, which hascome in full play this year withgold witnessing one of its bestyears after 2011,” Srivastavaadded.

Assets under management(AUM) of gold funds stood atRs 5,613 crore in September-end as compared to Rs 5,799crore at the end of August.

Over the last few years,retail investors have beenputting in more money intoequities as compared to goldETFs, mainly on account ofstrong returns.

Gold ETFs have witnessedan inflow in just five months inlast six years.

Investors pulled out Rs571 crore from gold ETFs in2018, making it the sixth con-secutive year of outflow fromsuch products. In comparison,they pulled out Rs 730 crore in2017. Gold ETFs had seen anoutflow of Rs 942 crore, Rs 891crore, Rs 1,651 crore and Rs1,815 crore in 2016, 2015, 2014and 2013, respectively.

In 2012, they saw an inflowof Rs 1,826 crore.

Gold ETFs are passiveinvestment instruments thatare based on price movementsand investments in the metal.

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Equity benchmark BSESensex plunged 297 points

on Thursday, dragged by heavylosses in banking, auto andmetal stocks amid muted earn-ings outlook.

After sinking 375 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareSensex ended 297.55 points, or0.78 per cent, lower at37,880.40. It hit an intra-daylow of 37,802.93 and a high of38,130.23.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty fell 78.75 points, or 0.70per cent, to close at 11,234.55.

Top laggards in the Sensexpack included IndusInd Bank,Yes Bank, Tata Motors,Vedanta, ICICI Bank, SBI,HDFC Bank and Tata Steel,falling up to 6.15 per cent.

On the other hand, BhartiAirtel, RIL, HUL, HCL Tech,PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, AsianPaints and Bajaj Auto rose upto 5.05 per cent.

Weak earnings outlookweighed on domestic investorsentiment, traders said.

Kicking off the earningsseason, IndusInd Bank’s Q2consolidated net profit jumped52.2 per cent, but gross non-performing assets rose to 2.19per cent of gross advances as onSeptember 30, 2019, from 1.09per cent in the same period ayear ago.

Meanwhile, Moody’sInvestors Service on Thursdayslashed its 2019-20 GDPgrowth forecast for India to 5.8per cent from 6.2 per cent ear-

lier, saying the economy wasexperiencing a pronouncedslowdown which is partly relat-ed to long-lasting factors.

According to a MotilalOswal report, the second quar-ter earnings season will betepid and uneventful.Underlying demand slowdownin the domestic economy andweak global commoditiesprices are expected to take a tollon earnings.

Echoing the outlook, SunilTirumalai, Head of Researchand Strategist, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services, expectsgrowth trends to weaken fur-

ther from Q1 levels, with thedecline led by auto, telecom,power, IT services and pharmasectors.

Elsewhere in Asia,Shanghai Composite Index,Hang Seng and Nikkei settledon a positive note, while Kospiclosed in the green.

Equities in Europe weretrading higher in early sessions.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee appreciated marginally to71.04 against the US dollarintra-day. Brent crude futures,the global oil benchmark,declined 0.74 per cent to USD57.89 per barrel.

����������%�� �����?���������������"��!�New Delhi (PTI): Gold prices remained almost unchanged atthe bullion market here on Thursday amid muted spot demand.

The yellow metal was trading marginally higher by Rs 3at Rs 39,375 per 10 gram. On Wednesday, gold had closed atRs 39,372 per 10 gram, according to data from HDFC Securities.

Silver, however, was trading marginally lower by Rs 24 atRs 47,120 per kilogram as compared with Rs 47,144 per kilo-gram, its previous closing level.

“The two day trade talks between the US and Chinese nego-tiators will start from today. Market will eye any comments ortweets regarding any development in the next two days,” HDFCSecurities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said.

International gold prices on Thursday held firm on tradetalk worries and economic growth concerns after reports thatChina has scheduled back the meeting to single day from twodays earlier, he said. “Gold prices traded steady on Thursdaywith COMEX International spot gold prices gaining to USD1,510 amid US-China trade talk uncertainty,” Patel added.

Gold prices are expected to trade higher in the near termwith uncertainty over US-China trade talks, Brexit concernsand weak economic data, with COMEX gold finding supportat USD 1,490 and resistance at USD 1,520, he said.

Script Open High Low LTPIBULHSGFIN 228.05 240.00 187.50 195.00RELIANCE 1328.00 1368.00 1322.55 1362.40INDUSINDBK 1311.00 1320.50 1220.10 1228.95BHARTIARTL 361.55 384.85 361.55 377.40YESBANK 41.85 42.70 40.20 40.95TCS 2028.00 2039.00 1998.85 2004.40HDFC 2007.80 2007.80 1971.80 1987.75SBIN 259.00 259.00 252.70 254.05MARUTI 6719.90 6739.95 6560.00 6610.15IDEA 6.42 6.87 5.78 6.18AUROPHARMA 474.95 474.95 436.65 465.15RBLBANK 307.25 307.25 283.60 288.45ICICIBANK 431.70 431.70 420.30 423.70PEL 1368.00 1399.20 1315.50 1364.35ASHOKLEY 68.10 70.70 67.75 68.90CASTROLIND 132.90 134.40 131.70 132.00NCC 52.30 52.80 49.00 49.20HDFCBANK 1225.40 1225.50 1197.30 1199.95TATAMOTORS 120.00 120.00 116.25 116.90BPCL 491.00 493.80 484.10 489.80BAJFINANCE 4020.00 4020.00 3932.95 3948.45TATASTEEL 332.60 334.50 328.00 329.70AXISBANK 681.90 681.90 665.45 672.90COCHINSHIP 331.25 341.70 331.25 335.00HINDUNILVR 1951.00 1982.50 1936.50 1979.50KEC 267.00 272.00 265.25 269.60GRASIM 677.00 723.30 677.00 695.20JINDALSTEL 97.00 97.85 94.70 95.70BANKBARODA 90.30 90.30 87.30 87.80TATAPOWER 61.75 62.20 60.50 61.50LT 1423.10 1432.00 1407.80 1426.65INFY 783.50 794.50 777.10 782.90BATAINDIA 1712.20 1749.00 1691.20 1705.00TORNTPHARM 1580.00 1708.95 1554.65 1690.10MARICO 387.00 388.20 381.00 384.65PNB 58.40 58.40 56.20 56.45DLF 146.00 146.50 139.50 142.40CENTURYTEX 925.00 925.00 863.50 881.90ESCORTS 604.00 615.50 600.35 601.75TITAN 1280.00 1280.00 1220.00 1235.00ADANIPOWER 60.95 63.15 59.00 62.60JUSTDIAL 620.00 624.90 597.50 610.50ITC 247.15 247.35 242.55 242.95SPICEJET 117.80 125.40 115.00 123.90ZEEL 245.00 248.10 242.45 244.95BHEL 43.85 44.75 42.80 43.05SBILIFE 823.30 848.00 804.00 826.80KOTAKBANK 1600.00 1606.55 1566.65 1585.85SUNPHARMA 384.90 389.80 378.90 386.15MOTHERSUMI 98.80 98.80 94.40 96.00BERGEPAINT 452.15 476.20 447.10 469.60VEDL 145.50 145.50 140.55 141.35M&M 578.10 578.10 559.80 566.70ASIANPAINT 1770.00 1793.25 1758.85 1778.45BIOCON 232.10 243.00 232.10 240.20JSWSTEEL 212.40 214.90 209.10 213.10NMDC 96.50 97.75 94.50 95.70RAJESHEXPO 673.50 680.00 672.00 673.30GRAPHITE 270.90 283.70 268.30 271.25PIDILITIND 1337.00 1369.00 1287.25 1357.15VOLTAS 690.00 695.00 671.00 673.70HDFCAMC 2715.00 2761.20 2714.45 2723.35HDFCLIFE 579.00 589.00 576.05 583.60ADANIENT 137.90 139.00 135.35 136.80CANBK 183.80 183.80 176.80 177.95OMAXE 191.55 193.20 189.60 190.35WOCKPHARMA 237.95 260.40 231.35 250.40IDFCFIRSTB 38.30 38.40 36.55 36.95SIEMENS 1588.00 1600.00 1565.30 1565.30HINDPETRO 312.85 316.20 307.65 311.00HEROMOTOCO 2585.00 2634.70 2581.65 2601.95BRITANNIA 3048.00 3058.30 3000.40 3037.45BAJAJFINSV 8300.00 8346.00 8175.00 8216.35MCX 951.15 1014.25 951.15 1008.75IOC 148.75 149.70 146.65 148.10BANKINDIA 61.50 61.50 59.30 59.85GSKCONS 8304.00 8477.80 8280.00 8464.00M&MFIN 331.75 334.30 324.40 325.55TATAELXSI 630.80 633.05 615.15 619.10PIIND 1319.55 1319.55 1281.00 1281.55ADANIPORTS 398.95 400.75 395.80 399.95NATIONALUM 44.75 45.35 41.40 41.95HEG 895.15 944.00 892.00 913.75SRTRANSFIN 1116.50 1118.25 1074.25 1079.40ULTRACEMCO 4060.00 4076.90 3950.00 3975.30NTPC 117.90 117.90 116.35 117.10L&TFH 83.40 83.40 80.15 81.45LTTS 1579.00 1589.35 1525.00 1537.00SAIL 32.25 32.50 31.60 31.75AJANTPHARM 976.10 990.00 974.00 974.00COALINDIA 185.75 185.90 183.70 184.50RECLTD 124.30 127.85 124.30 125.95OBEROIRLTY 500.00 506.00 490.50 494.35BEL 104.75 106.45 103.90 105.60IGL 365.00 374.65 363.45 370.65OFSS 3119.00 3130.00 3054.55 3082.00ACC 1460.20 1462.00 1418.00 1422.65ONGC 126.50 127.00 125.10 125.40WHIRLPOOL 2051.00 2145.35 2040.40 2091.00JUBLFOOD 1300.10 1330.00 1295.85 1322.00ADANIGREEN 71.85 74.50 70.70 73.70LUPIN 681.75 698.25 676.95 691.75HCLTECH 1052.00 1065.70 1042.00 1063.50DMART 1819.95 1838.40 1812.80 1820.90ICICIPRULI 454.00 454.15 443.60 446.05BANDHANBNK 481.00 510.75 478.05 506.95INDIGO 1786.00 1813.15 1779.75 1786.50GAIL 131.95 131.95 126.45 127.40

DISHTV 18.30 18.30 17.00 17.15TECHM 710.00 718.45 703.60 710.85STAR 311.00 324.00 302.95 316.85EDELWEISS 72.90 75.05 70.70 72.20LICHSGFIN 379.15 380.90 367.85 369.00HINDALCO 185.10 185.10 181.95 182.60ADANIGAS 138.80 142.80 136.90 138.35APOLLOHOSP 1440.00 1440.00 1405.20 1418.30INFRATEL 255.00 265.80 251.55 257.10CIPLA 423.45 427.30 418.80 422.25HAVELLS 674.70 674.70 652.10 661.85PFC 94.55 95.60 92.05 92.55SUNTV 468.50 480.55 464.90 467.45NAUKRI 2396.85 2406.15 2267.25 2281.30TTKPRESTIG 6150.00 6150.00 5959.00 5986.00UNIONBANK 51.70 51.90 48.80 49.05IBVENTURES 105.20 114.90 98.20 99.60DBCORP 140.00 147.35 139.50 144.00DHFL 24.60 25.40 23.45 23.45EICHERMOT 18225.00 18225.00 17851.00 18100.00GLENMARK 293.00 298.70 288.35 289.80UPL 575.05 588.80 575.00 583.30BAJAJ-AUTO 2881.50 2931.00 2864.00 2899.20BEML 930.60 940.00 895.00 904.35NBCC 33.80 34.55 33.00 33.60SRF 2740.00 2786.20 2723.85 2733.85FEDERALBNK 86.30 86.30 83.50 84.40DELTACORP 168.00 174.00 164.50 172.30RNAM 273.30 273.30 263.00 264.10NESTLEIND 13813.15 13866.00 13700.00 13842.50DRREDDY 2667.10 2668.00 2612.40 2648.30ENGINERSIN 109.60 113.00 109.60 110.30UJJIVAN 301.00 303.40 295.85 297.85COLPAL 1498.00 1502.55 1482.85 1499.00VENKYS 1629.00 1655.65 1610.00 1642.25SUNTECK 402.00 407.95 391.20 401.65WIPRO 237.55 239.50 236.00 239.15RAYMOND 602.00 605.70 581.00 583.80GUJGAS 178.65 178.65 168.50 169.30MGL 917.00 927.05 909.90 917.50JUBILANT 488.00 488.85 463.20 469.50POWERGRID 197.50 199.60 196.55 199.30DIVISLAB 1619.10 1678.90 1619.10 1665.20IBREALEST 44.40 45.25 40.95 41.35MANAPPURAM 140.00 140.00 137.45 137.95TEAMLEASE 2996.55 3172.40 2979.00 3097.45TVSMOTOR 395.15 395.50 382.25 384.95GRUH 262.50 274.40 261.00 272.75JISLJALEQS 16.00 16.00 13.20 14.10EQUITAS 100.40 103.55 95.10 96.15SCI 41.50 44.25 41.50 43.25PVR 1800.00 1810.10 1766.00 1776.40GNFC 197.65 211.60 193.05 200.10RITES 260.60 276.60 258.95 272.25IDBI 29.95 30.40 29.40 29.60HFCL 17.65 17.70 16.75 17.00CHOLAFIN 295.20 295.20 282.60 283.30INDIACEM 81.00 82.00 80.50 81.30ICICIGI 1166.45 1199.50 1164.95 1194.00PETRONET 258.90 260.00 257.00 259.00TATAMTRDVR 53.50 53.50 51.35 52.00STRTECH 143.00 146.75 141.60 144.05RELCAPITAL 21.35 21.50 19.55 19.95LALPATHLAB 1380.00 1399.85 1345.70 1366.95RELINFRA 25.20 25.70 23.25 23.65AMBUJACEM 191.00 191.40 186.95 187.95APOLLOTYRE 169.95 169.95 164.95 165.95BHARATFORG 429.15 433.10 422.30 423.75GMRINFRA 17.45 17.60 17.05 17.20TATAGLOBAL 269.95 272.25 265.25 266.30UBL 1299.00 1304.25 1270.55 1275.20BOMDYEING 70.05 70.75 68.10 68.80FRETAIL 375.00 383.00 360.70 382.10CEATLTD 936.05 936.45 915.10 920.00CONCOR 562.00 571.00 562.00 565.00DABUR 443.55 444.00 436.80 439.75GODREJCP 675.00 682.00 672.50 681.00SPARC 116.25 118.00 113.25 115.70MUTHOOTFIN 685.25 685.45 663.00 667.00MINDTREE 726.05 734.25 720.05 720.60RPOWER 2.31 2.34 2.20 2.23ABBOTINDIA 11140.00 11140.00 10799.95 10968.25AMARAJABAT 693.60 699.35 677.90 679.95NOCIL 100.00 103.90 98.10 103.10CANFINHOME 389.80 400.90 387.85 388.00PHILIPCARB 111.25 116.00 110.45 113.25PAGEIND 21600.00 21600.00 21000.00 21302.90FORTIS 139.55 141.30 139.30 141.05RVNL 23.00 23.60 22.75 22.95SWANENERGY 106.70 106.70 100.20 104.65HEXAWARE 368.00 368.00 355.20 357.55

BALKRISIND 735.35 749.15 727.00 744.65OIL 145.75 148.40 144.00 147.45NAVINFLUOR 699.00 722.95 690.45 722.95EXIDEIND 190.70 190.70 182.20 184.05TORNTPOWER 282.20 284.10 280.45 281.50GODREJPROP 995.45 995.45 973.35 975.00BBTC 1092.00 1097.50 1056.70 1068.15HSCL 77.25 77.80 75.50 75.80PCJEWELLER 31.50 31.55 30.35 30.85TATACHEM 589.85 590.85 577.00 578.50MRF 61040.15 61244.00 60777.70 61100.00CUMMINSIND 570.00 574.00 562.60 565.20LTI 1500.50 1500.50 1471.00 1474.10ABCAPITAL 79.70 81.25 79.05 79.20HINDCOPPER 28.55 30.45 28.55 29.70PNBHOUSING 546.45 553.00 521.00 530.50INDHOTEL 154.25 156.00 150.50 151.60AAVAS 1601.95 1672.80 1600.55 1655.00INTELLECT 181.00 183.70 179.50 181.90JAICORPLTD 75.10 77.15 74.25 75.40ITI 82.25 84.60 81.60 83.70DEEPAKNI 294.05 304.80 293.20 303.60BOSCHLTD 13258.65 13400.95 13221.90 13329.00CROMPTON 259.00 259.85 256.00 256.10KAJARIACER 557.25 578.00 543.00 560.15RCF 44.75 45.55 44.20 44.40INDIANB 117.00 117.40 112.30 113.55NHPC 22.85 22.85 22.00 22.50DBL 374.05 383.90 368.45 374.25GRANULES 101.55 102.80 99.05 102.45PFIZER 3152.85 3153.00 3069.40 3101.00SOUTHBANK 10.43 10.49 9.95 10.19CADILAHC 235.30 236.50 231.50 231.85MPHASIS 948.75 948.75 901.25 910.00MAHLOG 358.60 367.00 350.25 366.90MFSL 416.50 417.05 402.75 407.25BALRAMCHIN 153.50 155.50 150.60 151.40DCBBANK 181.40 186.15 180.00 182.20DEEPAKFERT 89.35 95.10 89.00 90.80GODFRYPHLP 988.00 988.00 960.00 974.95HEIDELBERG 183.50 186.95 181.90 182.20ABB 1486.00 1490.00 1455.70 1466.00KANSAINER 505.45 519.50 504.00 516.60ABFRL 208.00 208.00 203.75 204.25VIPIND 454.00 459.70 447.00 449.50SUVEN 260.50 262.50 248.80 251.10KEI 535.00 538.90 525.00 532.55BLUESTARCO 816.95 822.25 803.05 809.10UFLEX 208.10 209.65 206.25 208.20FSL 46.50 47.20 46.00 46.70SOBHA 454.95 454.95 427.50 429.75COFFEEDAY 44.05 44.05 41.50 41.75NIITTECH 1345.00 1380.05 1340.00 1365.15GLAXO 1353.35 1390.10 1338.00 1361.00RAIN 86.60 88.50 85.60 85.85RCOM 0.79 0.80 0.77 0.79CYIENT 454.95 462.80 453.40 460.00KTKBANK 72.00 72.00 70.40 70.90IRB 66.30 67.05 64.10 64.40FCONSUMER 23.05 24.30 22.75 23.80PARAGMILK 153.00 162.50 151.95 158.75SUZLON 2.41 2.41 2.30 2.33IPCALAB 862.00 862.80 844.20 857.60PTC 55.30 55.55 54.65 55.00KALPATPOWR 448.00 454.60 446.10 452.00INOXLEISUR 325.20 332.20 325.00 328.25ADANITRANS 226.80 227.65 222.10 222.75FORCEMOT 1091.95 1105.70 1085.00 1096.45CHAMBLFERT 147.35 148.60 146.50 147.30SHREECEM 18400.00 18498.00 18149.10 18290.10MEGH 50.00 51.90 49.65 50.05JPASSOCIAT 2.34 2.35 2.17 2.19RADICO 293.40 299.70 293.05 294.20ALBK 26.55 27.25 26.15 26.40GODREJIND 381.20 388.55 377.00 380.15TRENT 505.00 505.00 494.00 497.15BLISSGVS 104.00 105.05 101.85 104.00JINDALSAW 83.20 84.45 81.05 81.05ORIENTBANK 53.35 54.00 52.50 52.80JAMNAAUTO 35.45 35.65 34.80 34.80REPCOHOME 301.15 304.00 296.40 297.40J&KBANK 32.20 32.20 31.55 31.85BALMLAWRIE 166.60 167.45 165.40 165.40POLYCAB 665.60 673.75 656.10 657.70GSFC 74.90 77.50 74.80 77.30THYROCARE 500.00 532.80 499.40 527.05GSPL 206.50 209.00 204.00 206.65RAMCOCEM 704.20 708.60 698.50 708.60CUB 220.00 222.15 217.00 219.90AVANTI 355.00 362.30 350.80 355.10GREAVESCOT 137.50 138.55 136.00 136.50TRIDENT 55.60 56.00 55.15 55.35HINDZINC 206.05 207.30 204.00 204.50BAJAJELEC 373.25 386.20 373.25 382.00GDL 97.50 99.10 95.50 96.15WELCORP 125.50 130.00 124.85 128.80VINATIORGA 2171.00 2197.40 2139.40 2154.00SCHNEIDER 69.50 70.60 68.45 69.05CHENNPETRO 164.00 165.20 160.45 161.55CAPPL 399.00 406.50 395.00 404.50MAHSCOOTER 4476.00 4524.90 4437.75 4524.90CREDITACC 662.50 662.50 636.00 640.55HUDCO 32.85 32.85 32.25 32.25MOIL 134.60 134.60 131.30 131.80HAL 694.00 700.10 637.00 700.00SHANKARA 280.00 284.10 275.90 278.90MASFIN 688.00 720.05 684.35 693.00EMAMILTD 299.10 301.05 295.65 300.05TIMKEN 790.45 797.45 775.00 775.25

RALLIS 169.05 171.25 166.65 168.00GALAXYSURF 1480.50 1492.15 1460.20 1487.00NATCOPHARM 555.00 555.00 545.35 550.00SUDARSCHEM 378.05 382.20 369.00 372.603MINDIA 20070.05 20074.25 19760.00 19800.00JBCHEPHARM 364.45 365.80 355.00 355.00JSWENERGY 61.80 62.10 57.75 61.25SONATSOFTW 295.00 296.05 288.95 294.00DALBHARAT 774.30 794.00 762.30 773.80VMART 1928.00 1986.85 1910.00 1947.05REDINGTON 109.25 110.60 107.75 108.05MMTC 15.55 15.55 15.00 15.15INFIBEAM 39.70 39.85 39.15 39.75JKTYRE 67.65 67.65 66.00 66.10TATAMETALI 515.00 536.20 514.75 522.00CCL 232.00 244.55 226.00 239.10GUJALKALI 401.90 423.60 395.00 422.20SANOFI 5791.75 5831.00 5700.00 5700.00GESHIP* 288.00 297.85 286.60 292.20ITDC 249.00 249.55 236.30 237.95PGHL 4433.60 4466.00 4350.00 4380.00CENTRUM 23.45 23.90 23.00 23.80BAJAJHLDNG 3555.05 3611.10 3555.00 3581.00VGUARD 224.55 226.70 221.80 225.55WABAG 250.00 250.00 244.20 246.10HATHWAY 19.00 20.05 18.80 19.75WABCOINDIA 6179.45 6179.45 6121.20 6138.00NESCO 561.00 571.00 561.00 561.20SUNDRMFAST 451.25 455.90 449.50 455.90AEGISLOG 164.70 170.65 163.45 166.40TV18BRDCST 22.50 22.65 22.05 22.05HERITGFOOD 342.00 343.50 330.45 334.90TATACOFFEE 73.70 75.45 73.70 74.90ASTRAZEN 2200.70 2244.25 2137.45 2137.45BIRLACORPN 526.15 532.35 511.00 512.60RELAXO 492.00 498.00 486.40 492.00IRCON 359.05 370.00 359.05 369.95ATUL 3950.00 3950.00 3880.05 3920.00MRPL 50.30 50.90 50.00 50.60BAYERCROP 3324.55 3339.60 3242.00 3310.00ISEC 265.00 274.35 262.90 270.75LINDEINDIA 514.70 518.35 508.60 512.00COROMANDEL 406.35 406.35 400.55 404.30IDFC 31.00 31.30 30.95 30.95GICRE 213.75 213.75 207.00 210.00FLFL 409.10 421.80 405.90 418.05CGPOWER 14.23 14.36 13.51 13.77NIACL 102.65 102.65 97.50 97.50QUESS 467.25 474.85 463.05 472.60TAKE 100.70 103.90 100.10 101.15UCOBANK 12.10 12.30 12.05 12.12APLAPOLLO 1362.60 1369.50 1350.70 1350.70FINOLEXIND 579.40 585.75 566.00 581.00WELSPUNIND 49.70 50.10 49.35 49.75AUBANK 640.00 648.50 636.70 639.70ASHOKA 97.95 98.00 96.30 97.55AKZOINDIA 1826.00 1865.00 1750.10 1821.15

DCMSHRIRAM 387.20 390.40 375.40 383.00JAGRAN 59.95 60.00 55.75 56.00SYNDIBANK 25.60 25.60 25.20 25.25ITDCEM 45.40 45.40 41.05 41.30PHOENIXLTD 711.35 711.35 695.00 699.70CENTURYPLY 164.00 165.80 160.90 162.00ASTRAL 1190.50 1193.45 1152.75 1166.35MINDACORP 87.15 87.15 82.20 85.00ALLCARGO 98.00 99.50 97.80 98.60MINDAIND 343.05 346.40 339.00 339.50SOLARINDS 1036.55 1093.40 1036.55 1075.15ORIENTCEM 87.90 89.00 86.00 86.35MAHINDCIE 149.75 150.00 143.95 145.80GODREJAGRO 478.00 480.00 470.20 471.65ADVENZYMES 151.15 152.00 147.35 148.45IFCI 6.84 6.93 6.55 6.60MAHABANK 10.80 10.80 10.34 10.36JSLHISAR 64.35 66.05 63.20 63.85JKLAKSHMI 286.70 287.40 282.15 282.15MOTILALOFS 588.30 599.45 582.95 589.55GILLETTE 7063.20 7066.80 7015.00 7015.00TATAINVEST 792.00 795.50 779.00 781.30SOMANYCERA 178.00 189.05 177.40 185.00FINCABLES 363.70 363.80 355.00 358.90NILKAMAL 1171.70 1200.65 1169.75 1178.25LAXMIMACH 3309.05 3340.00 3306.70 3315.00

BASF 985.50 1000.80 975.00 976.20PGHH 11311.90 11397.15 11204.00 11204.00MAHLIFE 428.25 438.30 428.25 434.10FINEORG 1720.00 1720.25 1680.60 1683.00NLCINDIA 53.70 54.00 53.55 53.95TEJASNET 81.95 82.75 80.00 80.40LAKSHVILAS 25.65 25.65 25.65 25.65MAXINDIA 66.50 67.20 65.00 65.00SUPREMEIND 1211.00 1211.00 1188.00 1190.50NETWORK18 20.40 20.55 19.10 19.65IOB 9.58 9.65 9.40 9.49BLUEDART 2277.30 2313.35 2260.25 2260.25THERMAX 1137.85 1142.90 1109.90 1114.15SYNGENE 300.05 310.00 300.05 309.00ZYDUSWELL 1574.85 1590.00 1561.90 1585.75MHRIL 210.00 213.65 209.75 210.00PNCINFRA 171.00 175.00 169.20 170.00THOMASCOOK 143.15 145.00 138.00 139.80CARBORUNIV 290.00 292.70 285.15 289.00CARERATING 517.30 524.50 507.00 521.50VBL 614.35 622.20 606.80 607.25CERA 2500.00 2500.00 2464.40 2464.40LUXIND 1161.80 1177.65 1155.00 1177.65IEX 124.45 126.40 122.50 124.15SJVN 24.00 24.20 23.95 24.05APLLTD 535.00 546.40 532.00 536.15CENTRALBK 17.35 17.35 16.95 17.05BAJAJCON 242.50 242.50 239.05 239.60HONAUT 27700.00 27799.85 27700.00 27799.85JKCEMENT 1040.00 1060.00 1028.85 1034.50ESSELPRO 116.00 120.00 114.75 119.85EIHOTEL 167.40 174.00 166.45 174.00WESTLIFE 311.50 318.50 311.50 314.50SREINFRA 8.85 8.85 7.70 7.91KRBL 217.00 217.10 215.00 216.30ALKEM 1880.55 1965.95 1880.55 1916.00LAOPALA 168.00 168.10 164.90 166.05VSTIND 3730.00 3757.15 3729.00 3729.00JMFINANCIL 71.10 72.50 70.85 70.85SUPRAJIT 177.00 178.30 174.00 175.30KNRCON 228.00 228.05 219.35 224.45BDL 284.85 285.15 282.05 282.05HIMATSEIDE 141.35 142.60 141.00 141.10TIINDIA 371.25 371.35 363.25 364.15SADBHAV 128.00 132.25 128.00 130.65VARROC 435.45 445.55 435.45 439.55JCHAC 1962.00 1962.00 1907.10 1921.65EVEREADY 42.00 43.35 40.65 42.05GEPIL 738.00 738.00 715.00 715.05LEMONTREE 56.25 56.60 55.45 55.65DCAL 156.60 158.45 153.95 155.25RATNAMANI 905.00 953.00 901.00 931.05PERSISTENT 569.95 574.55 565.20 568.90CRISIL 1286.00 1297.05 1280.00 1295.95MAGMA 49.00 49.00 45.00 46.40PRSMJOHNSN 76.45 77.80 75.40 77.50GICHSGFIN 136.05 138.00 134.70 135.65TNPL 181.00 185.00 180.45 181.65ENDURANCE 971.00 983.00 953.85 953.85KPRMILL 555.15 559.60 546.05 558.05GHCL 210.00 211.00 207.45 208.05ERIS 424.20 425.95 409.00 415.50VTL 912.00 918.15 906.65 911.85GPPL 81.10 81.30 79.40 79.90EIDPARRY 155.80 156.35 152.10 153.80ZENSARTECH 204.30 204.30 200.00 200.00APARINDS 505.90 520.00 502.00 502.00SYMPHONY 1272.50 1290.10 1261.00 1274.10AIAENG 1643.00 1652.85 1601.50 1645.00UNITEDBNK 7.67 7.75 7.45 7.70JYOTHYLAB 159.00 160.35 157.65 157.75ECLERX 392.50 399.60 392.50 397.55ANDHRABANK 16.95 16.95 16.10 16.15NH 237.95 237.95 234.00 235.90CORPBANK 14.95 14.95 14.10 14.30GMDCLTD 58.00 58.30 57.55 58.05ORIENTELEC 164.90 164.90 157.80 159.70CHOLAHLDNG 472.00 478.50 467.00 476.90MAHSEAMLES 356.00 356.20 354.10 354.20SCHAEFFLER 4122.25 4154.00 4088.00 4119.00PRESTIGE 277.20 281.60 275.70 276.15JSL 34.70 35.10 33.75 34.25TCNSBRANDS 732.35 736.10 719.45 720.00TVSSRICHAK 1735.00 1760.00 1725.35 1730.05INDOSTAR 213.60 216.80 210.00 210.25TIMETECHNO 56.85 57.50 55.95 57.10LAURUSLABS 330.00 330.60 328.60 328.90GET&D 171.00 172.70 169.75 172.45IFBIND 660.05 662.10 639.35 639.35SHK 129.45 129.50 127.30 127.50NBVENTURES 76.05 76.75 75.65 75.65INOXWIND 33.45 33.50 31.90 32.20STARCEMENT 92.00 92.00 90.25 91.20ASTERDM 120.95 120.95 116.45 118.35DHANUKA 315.00 315.00 303.00 307.00TVTODAY 303.00 309.55 301.85 309.30SKFINDIA 2101.45 2115.55 2075.60 2085.05SHOPERSTOP 412.20 415.00 400.60 400.60SIS 846.10 849.00 830.85 834.15GRINDWELL 593.00 600.00 593.00 600.00SHILPAMED 260.90 265.00 260.00 260.00GULFOILLUB 850.00 856.70 845.00 852.45IBULISL 95.40 95.40 95.40 95.40FDC 166.40 167.30 162.80 162.80JSWHL 2751.00 2751.00 2751.00 2751.00CHALET 325.00 325.00 316.15 316.90GAYAPROJ 105.35 106.60 105.00 106.60TRITURBINE 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00SFL 1270.00 1270.00 1270.00 1270.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11280.50 11293.35 11208.55 11234.55 -78.75BHARTIARTL 362.90 385.00 362.00 375.05 15.65GRASIM 680.00 726.85 680.00 695.00 24.60RELIANCE 1325.00 1369.00 1321.00 1360.15 35.40HINDUNILVR 1948.00 1982.50 1935.60 1980.00 32.00HCLTECH 1051.05 1066.10 1041.40 1064.00 12.90POWERGRID 197.90 199.60 196.50 199.20 1.50TITAN 1231.20 1242.45 1220.00 1238.00 7.70SUNPHARMA 385.00 389.80 378.70 386.05 2.10INFRATEL 257.40 265.60 251.55 257.25 1.40WIPRO 237.75 239.60 235.80 238.50 0.75BAJAJ-AUTO 2881.00 2932.00 2865.00 2898.00 6.15ASIANPAINT 1765.00 1793.00 1756.50 1776.00 2.55ADANIPORTS 397.80 401.60 395.60 400.80 0.35JSWSTEEL 211.30 214.90 209.10 212.95 0.15UPL 578.00 588.80 574.70 582.00 0.30LT 1423.00 1432.00 1407.05 1426.00 -0.25NTPC 117.20 117.50 116.35 117.20 -0.05IOC 148.20 149.65 146.60 148.10 -0.10ONGC 125.85 127.10 125.10 125.75 -0.10CIPLA 423.10 427.30 418.55 422.95 -0.40INFY 785.40 794.70 776.60 782.50 -1.15NESTLEIND 13857.00 13857.00 13680.00 13836.00 -22.30HEROMOTOCO2604.35 2635.00 2581.15 2599.40 -4.95TECHM 708.05 718.85 703.50 709.10 -1.95COALINDIA 185.00 185.90 183.70 184.70 -0.65ZEEL 245.55 248.15 242.40 244.95 -1.00DRREDDY 2626.15 2666.90 2612.05 2648.00 -15.40BPCL 490.00 494.00 484.10 489.50 -3.35BRITANNIA 3060.10 3061.00 3001.00 3037.80 -20.70HDFC 2000.00 2000.00 1971.00 1987.20 -14.80TCS 2028.00 2039.05 1997.10 2002.80 -17.30EICHERMOT 18195.00 18195.00 17851.75 18082.00 -157.35BAJAJFINSV 8280.00 8345.00 8175.00 8202.00 -116.25MARUTI 6700.00 6742.10 6558.25 6624.00 -95.55KOTAKBANK 1599.90 1607.35 1567.00 1588.15 -24.20ITC 247.00 247.65 242.65 243.10 -4.00ULTRACEMCO 4047.50 4080.00 3947.05 3977.00 -66.55AXISBANK 680.00 684.30 665.35 674.90 -11.40M&M 576.00 576.00 559.25 566.55 -10.00BAJFINANCE 4013.65 4015.00 3931.00 3952.00 -71.90HINDALCO 184.45 185.95 181.80 182.55 -3.50HDFCBANK 1221.80 1225.95 1197.20 1203.00 -25.15TATASTEEL 332.90 334.55 328.00 329.45 -7.00SBIN 258.00 258.00 252.60 254.15 -6.80ICICIBANK 430.00 431.50 420.50 424.50 -12.20VEDL 143.90 145.50 140.50 141.00 -4.70TATAMOTORS 119.30 119.70 116.20 116.80 -4.10GAIL 131.40 132.10 126.40 127.30 -4.80YESBANK 41.70 42.70 40.15 40.90 -2.35INDUSINDBK 1310.00 1321.00 1220.00 1229.55 -79.10

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26575.80 26684.00 26421.40 26492.85 -167.45BANDHANBNK 482.00 511.00 477.00 509.00 28.45IDEA 6.40 6.90 5.75 6.15 0.30BERGEPAINT 450.80 476.45 447.05 466.90 17.00ICICIGI 1165.90 1200.00 1165.90 1198.65 32.75BIOCON 233.00 243.20 233.00 239.80 6.30PIDILITIND 1336.00 1369.45 1323.00 1358.00 21.45LUPIN 680.00 698.80 676.85 690.55 8.45DIVISLAB 1645.00 1680.00 1641.00 1669.80 19.20GODREJCP 672.00 682.60 671.65 680.00 7.00HDFCAMC 2712.90 2760.90 2710.00 2729.25 20.90BOSCHLTD 13280.00 13398.00 13200.10 13355.00 85.10MARICO 382.95 388.35 380.90 385.75 2.15PETRONET 257.25 260.05 257.00 258.90 1.35HDFCLIFE 577.50 589.00 575.00 583.35 2.85COLPAL 1494.95 1503.65 1483.55 1500.00 1.30DMART 1818.95 1838.40 1813.15 1821.00 0.60OFSS 3088.80 3140.00 3054.00 3095.00 -4.85UBL 1278.00 1304.75 1270.00 1279.45 -2.10ASHOKLEY 68.50 70.75 67.55 68.90 -0.15NHPC 22.60 22.70 21.95 22.55 -0.10INDIGO 1790.00 1814.30 1780.30 1787.15 -9.30PAGEIND 21494.85 21494.85 20990.00 21351.50 -143.35SHREECEM 18350.00 18549.65 18116.00 18350.00 -132.75NMDC 95.90 97.80 94.45 95.80 -0.70CONCOR 561.55 571.35 561.15 566.00 -5.00ICICIPRULI 449.80 454.25 443.45 445.50 -4.25BAJAJHLDNG 3623.00 3623.00 3580.00 3580.55 -35.45DABUR 443.40 443.45 436.45 439.30 -4.50HINDZINC 206.85 208.00 204.00 204.50 -2.40PGHH 11275.00 11422.00 11224.95 11230.00 -133.00MOTHERSUMI 97.15 97.85 94.50 96.00 -1.15MCDOWELL-N 622.30 631.55 611.75 614.15 -7.35SBILIFE 835.20 848.00 805.70 827.20 -10.05SIEMENS 1586.00 1598.70 1554.20 1566.90 -21.30HINDPETRO 314.00 316.55 307.60 310.30 -4.20HAVELLS 669.80 669.80 652.05 660.10 -11.35CADILAHC 235.40 236.70 231.50 232.25 -4.30AMBUJACEM 191.30 191.70 186.85 188.75 -3.60GICRE 213.90 213.90 206.80 210.20 -4.35PFC 94.45 95.65 92.10 92.30 -2.30L&TFH 82.95 82.95 80.15 81.30 -2.15AUROPHARMA 474.00 474.00 436.65 461.80 -12.60ACC 1459.80 1462.80 1418.10 1424.45 -42.65PEL 1361.00 1398.75 1316.00 1352.00 -43.00PNB 58.05 58.20 56.20 56.55 -1.90DLF 146.50 146.90 139.50 142.40 -5.35BANKBARODA 89.90 89.90 87.25 87.75 -3.30SRTRANSFIN 1116.00 1116.00 1073.75 1077.85 -45.70NIACL 102.25 102.80 97.00 97.25 -4.90IBULHSGFIN 229.00 240.75 185.30 193.60 -46.20

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French multinational Safran,the manufacturer of the

M88 state-of-the-art enginesfitted in the Rafale fighter jetsacquired by India, says it askedthe Indian government not to"penalise" the company on taxand customs matters.

During Defence MinisterRajnath Singh's tour of theengine assembly plant nearParis on Wednesday, companyCEO Olivier Andries spoke ofSafran's major investment plansfor India but expressed a wishfor the Indian tax system not tobe "terrorising".

However, in what appears

to be a case of lost in transla-tion, the company later stressedthat there had been a "misun-derstanding" as the CEO wasspeaking out against a penalis-ing tax and customs regimewhich was allegedly mis-heardas terrorising.

"For us it is obvious that weshould have a maintenancerepair and overhaul shop inIndia to serve our Indian air-lines customers.

But for that, we need tomake sure that the tax systemand custom system is notpenalising us," noted the com-pany statement, quoting theCEO.

"We would like to discuss

this point with the governmentto make sure that it makessense for us, versus an MRO(maintenance, repair and over-haul) shop that would be out-side of India. Frankly speaking,we would like to develop thisshop in India," the statementadded.

At the conclusion of histhree-day visit to France onWednesday, Rajnath Singh hadtaken specific note of any taxconcerns that foreign investorsmay have and told a gatheringof top CEOs of defence man-ufacturing industries that theIndian government was opento any further rationalisationthat may be required to facili-

tate the Make in India pro-gramme.

"For Make in India indefence if there is need for fur-ther tax rationalisation, it maybe considered suitably,” he said,as he extended an invitation forFrench companies to partici-pate in the DefExpo 2020 beingheld in Lucknow next year.

Singh on Thursday leftFrance at the end of a three-dayvisit, which he said had beenextremely productive andwould further strengthen bilat-eral defence ties.

The minister, who tookformal charge and flew a sor-tie of the first of 36 Rafale com-bat jets to be inducted into the

Indian Air Force (IAF) duringthe tour, left with a message forFrench companies to makeIndia their base for production of defenceequipment.

"Thank you France! Merci!This visit has been extremelyproductive," he said in afarewell message on Twitter.

"The outcomes of this visitwill further strengthen thedefence cooperation betweenIndia and France. My gratitudeto President EmmanuelMacron, (Armed Forces)Minister Florence Parly and thegovernment of France for their hospitality,” hesaid.

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For the first time, formervice president and

Democratic presidential fron-trunner Joe Biden has calledfor President Donald Trump’simpeachment, saying theWhite House occupant is a“threat to American democ-racy” and has “violated” hisoath of office.

His party has launched animpeachment enquiry overclaims that Trump pressuredUkraine’s PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky in a July25 phone call to look into whatthe US leader said were cor-rupt business deals involvingBiden.

Democrats say that Trumptried to coerce Zelensky byholding back US military aidto Ukraine. Trump has deniedwrongdoing and has dismissed

the probe as a “witch hunt”.Speaking at an election

rally in New Hampshire onWednesday, Biden, 76, said,“No President in Americanhistory ever dared engage insuch unimaginable behaviour.With his words and with hisactions, President Trump hasindicted himself. By obstruct-ing justice and refusing tocomply with the congression-al inquiry, he has already con-victed himself.”

“In full view of theAmerican people, Trump hasviolated his oath of office,betrayed this nation, and com-mitted impeachable acts.

To preserve ourConstitution, our democracy,and our basic integrity, heshould be impeached,” saidBiden as for the first time hepublicly supportedDemocratic leaders in the

House of Representatives toimpeach Trump.

“And that is not onlybecause of what he has done.The answer to whether he hascommitted acts sufficient towarrant impeachment is obvi-ous,” he said.

“We see it in Trump’s ownwords. We see it in the textsfrom the State Departmentofficials that have been madepublic. We see it in his pullingmuch of the United Statesgovernment into his corruptscheme,” Biden said.

“But we must rememberthat impeachment isn’t onlyabout what a president hasdone. It is also about the threata president poses to the nationif allowed to remain in office.One thing about this presidentis absolutely clear - he sees nolimit on his power,” said theformer vice president.

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They’ve skipped the high-profile Sunday TV shows

and avoided driveway chat ses-sions with reporters. Few whoare typically eager to defend thepresident have appeared at allon television this month.

White House officials closeto President Donald Trump arepulling off a disappearing act,remaining largely absent frompublic view — in the middle ofthe storm over impeachment.

“We invited the WhiteHouse on to answer questionson the show this morning,”CNN’s Jake Tapper explained tohis viewers on Sunday’s “Stateof the Union.” ‘’They did notoffer a guest.”

It’s a well-worn strategy inthe Trump White House:Senior officials conveniently

manage to be elsewhere whenmajor controversies engulf thebuilding.

The frequent absences ofJared Kushner, the Republicanpresident’s son-in-law andsenior adviser, and presidentialdaughter Ivanka Trump duringmoments of consequence havelong been a running jokeamong their detractors.

Their detours included atrip to Florida during the par-tial Government shutdown.Plenty of others have jumpedtown during tense moments.

As Trump struggled withmounting Republican defec-tions over his decision todeclare a national emergency topay for the stalled border wall,acting White House chief ofstaff Mick Mulvaney wasn’t atthe Capitol cajoling his formercolleagues or in the West Wing

making calls. Instead, he was inLas Vegas for an annual friendsand family getaway.

More recently, embattlednational security adviser JohnBolton scheduled a trip toMongolia while Trump becamethe first sitting U.S. President toset foot in North Korea, a ges-ture that didn’t sit well withBolton, who would leave theadministration a few monthslater.

Indeed, knowing “when tobe out of town” was one of thetop nuggets of advice thatKevin Hassett, the president’sformer top economic adviser,said he’d received from a pre-decessor and had to offer hissuccessor.

The White House did notrespond to questions aboutthe tactic Wednesday. But evenwhen they’re in Washington,

many of the White House’smost visible officials have beenstaying out of public view, let-ting the president’s indignantTwitter feed and his frequentcommentary drive the publicconversation.

That includes White Housespokesman Hogan Gidley, afrequent guest on Fox Newsshows and the gaggles withreporters that often follow onthe White House driveway. White House counselorKellyanne Conway, an aggres-sive defender of the president,has not made an appearance onthe driveway since a highlycontentious Sept. 27 gaggle inwhich she berated reportersand dismissed a question aboutwhether the

The White House wasorganising an impeachment war room.

Seoul: North Korea threatenedagain on Thursday to resumenuclear and long-range missiletests, accusing the US of hav-ing instigated some membersof the UN Security Council tocondemn its weapons tests.

The warning byPyongyang’s Foreign Ministryfollowed the weekend break-down of North Korea-USnuclear negotiations inSweden, the first such talksbetween the countries in morethan seven months.

North Korea said the talkscollapsed because the US did-n’t have any new proposals,and whether it maintains aself-imposed moratorium onmajor weapons tests was up toWashington.

Some observers say NorthKorea’s threat may be a tacticto pressure the US into mak-ing concessions as a restart ofnuclear and long-range missiletests would likely derail nego-tiations, deepen its interna-tional isolation and further

dim prospects for rebuildingits moribund economy.

A ministry statement tookissue with condemnationTuesday by the Europeanmembers of the UN SecurityCouncil of North Korea’srecent ballistic missile andother weapons tests, includingits first underwater-launchedmissile launch in three yearson October 2. North Koreasaid those tests were of the self-defense nature.

North Korea also accusedthe US of being behind theEuropean condemnation of itsweapons tests after having“begged for working-levelNorth Korea-US talks” inSweden.

On Tuesday, the UNcouncil discussed the North’slatest underwater-launchedmissile test and its Europeanmembers urged Pyongyang toabandon all weapons of massdestruction and engage in“meaningful negotiations”with the US. AFP

Washington: Two notoriousIslamic State jihadists dubbed“The Beatles” who were held bySyrian Kurds are now in UScustody and have been movedout of the country, PresidentDonald Trump said on earlyThursday.

Turkey has launched anassault on the Syrian Kurdishforces —with which the USpartnered to combat IslamicState militants —sparking fearsthat the offensive could lead tocaptured fighters they heldescaping and reconstitutingthe group.

“In case the Kurds orTurkey lose control, the UnitedStates has already taken the 2ISIS militants tied to behead-ings in Syria, known as theBeetles, out of that country and

into a secure location con-trolled by the US,” Trumptweeted.

“They are the worst of theworst!”

The pair were part of anextremely violent all-Britishfour-man cell that kidnappedand tortured foreigners, includ-ing journalists, at the height ofthe Islamic State group’s powerin Syria and Iraq.

A US defense official hadearlier confirmed they hadtaken custody of two “high-value” IS individuals from theKurdish-led Syrian DemocraticForces (SDF) that held thecaptured jihadists.

“They have been movedout of Syria and are in a securelocation,” the official said, with-out identifying where. AFP

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan warned

the EU on Thursday thatAnkara would allow millions ofrefugees to head to Europe ifthe bloc criticised Turkey’smilitary offensive in Syria.

“Hey EU, wake up. I say it

again: if you try to frame ouroperation there as an invasion,our task is simple: we willopen the doors and send 3.6million migrants to you,”Erdogan said in a speech to hisparty.

Turkey launched an oper-ation into Syrian territory onWednesday, aimed at combat-

ing Kurdish militants tied toinsurgents in its own territory.

Erdogan said 109 “terror-ists” had been killed so far inthe operation, which wouldsoon cover ground fromManbij in northern Syria to theIraqi border some 350 kilome-tres (220 miles) east.

“God willing, we will crush

these snakes’ heads quickly,” hesaid.

“What we are trying to dois prevent the establishment ofa terrorist State on our south-ern border. This cannot hap-pen,” Turkey currently hosts 3.6million refugees from the eight-year conflict in Syria -- thehighest number in the world.

Under a 2016 agreementwith the EU, Turkey agreed toprevent refugees from leavingtowards Europe in exchange forsix billion euros and visa-freetravel for its citizens, but hasfrequently criticised the lack ofassistance from Brussels.

“You have never been sin-cere,” Erdogan said, addressing

the EU.“Now they say they will

withhold three billion eurosfrom us. Have you ever keptany promise you gave us so far?No.”

One aim of the militaryoperation is to establish a “safezone” in which at least one mil-lion Syrian refugees can be

repatriated, after the long-termpresence of refugees became anincreasingly political liability.

“For those who want toreturn to their country butdon’t have a home left anymore,we plan to build settlements forone million people, with inter-national financing,” Erdogansaid.

He also sought to assuageconcerns regarding IslamicState prisoners currently heldby Kurdish forces.

“Those that need to be keptin jail we will keep in jail. Wewill return foreigners to theirhome countries if they acceptthem back,” he said.

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Beirut: Turkey’s president saysthat there have been 109 “ter-rorists killed” — a reference toSyrian Kurdish fighters — sinceAnkara launched an offensiveinto Syria the previous day.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan didnot elaborate and the reports onthe ground did not indicateanything remotely close to sucha large number of casualties.

Erdogan also warned theEuropean Union not to callAnkara’s incursion into Syriaan ‘invasion,’ and renewedhis threat of letting Syrianrefugees flood Europe.

AP

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Abipartisan group of USsenators said on

Wednesday they have agreedon far-reaching sanctions to beslapped on NATO ally Turkeyif its forces do not withdrawfrom neighbouring Syria.

Republican SenatorLindsey Graham said he andDemocrat Chris Van Hollenare introducing legislation thatwould freeze all US assets ofTurkey’s political leadership -- including President RecepTayyip Erdogan, his vice pres-ident and the defense minister.

It would also impose sanc-

tions on entities that do busi-ness with Turkey’s military, orwith oil and gas companiesthat service its armed forces.

Graham and several otherUS lawmakers are furious overPresident Donald Trump’s sud-den military withdrawal frompositions in northern Syria,blasting the move as a betray-al of Kurdish forces who foryears have helped fight Islamicmilitants, and as an effectivegreen light for Turkey tolaunch its long-planned offen-sive.

“While the Administrationrefuses to act against Turkey, Iexpect strong bipartisan sup-

port” for the measure, Grahamsaid on Twitter.

Sanctions would be leviedimmediately upon enactmentof the bill, which requires apresidential signature.

It would remain in effectunless the administrationcertifies to Congress thatTurkey is not operating aloneand has withdrawn its forcesfrom areas occupied duringoperations that beganWednesday.

“These sanctions will haveimmediate, far-reaching con-sequences for Erdogan and hismilitary,” Van Hollen said onTwitter.

Moscow: Russian ForeignMinister Sergei Lavrov saidon Thursday that Ankara andDamascus should discuss theissue of Kurdish forces innortheastern Syria directly,calling Turkey’s cross-borderassault a product of US policies.

“We will strive for thenecessity of dialogue betweenTurkey and Syria,” he said.

Turkey has “legitimate con-cerns about the safety of itsborders” but had not been ableto properly raise them withDamascus as this was “madedifficult by the actions of theAmericans and the coalition”east of the Euphrates river, he

said.“We have warned for many

years about the danger of theexperiment that the Americanswere staging there in an effortto pit the Kurds against Arabtribes,” Lavrov told journalists.

“We warned against play-ing the Kurdish card because itcan end badly,” he said.

Kurdish forces controllingparts of north Syria said theyrepulsed Turkish ground attackson Wednesday and Thursday,but the Turkish defence min-istry insisted its “OperationPeace Spring” would go aheadto curb the power of Kurdishinsurgents. AFP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has said that hehoped Turkey would “act ratio-nally” as the country launchedan operation to invade theKurdish-controlled North Syria.

Warning of actions againstTurkey’s economy, Trump saidthat he would consider movestougher than sanctions ifAnkara does not do the oper-ations in northern Syria in ashumane a way as possible.

“I will wipe out (Turkey’s)his economy if that happens,”Trump told reporters at theWhite House when asked if heis concerned that the TurkishPresident Recep TayyipErdogan will try to wipe out theKurds.

Turkey has launched abroad assault on Kurdish-con-trolled areas in northeasternSyria, with intensive bombard-ment paving the way for aground offensive.

The operation was possibleafter the White Houseannounced on late Sunday thatTurkey would soon carry out amilitary operation in northernSyria and that US troops will nolonger be “in the immediatearea”. Trump said he hopedTurkey President Erdoganwould act rationally in terms ofthe operation in northern Syria.

PTI

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Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky

denied on Thursday thatDonald Trump tried to black-mail him by withholding mil-itary aid to Kiev in a phonecall between the two leaders.

“There was no blackmail,”the comedian-turned-politi-cian told a news conference. Atranscript of the phone con-versation showed Trumpasked Zelensky to investigatehis political rival Joe Biden.

The US president’s requestthat Zelensky probe the activ-ities of Joe Biden’s son Hunterhas sparked an impeachmentprobe in the US, with theDemocrats looking intowhether Trump used adelayed aid package as lever-age.

Trump wanted Kiev toinvestigate Hunter Biden’sactivities in Ukrainian gasfirm Burisma.

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Can you recall your childhood dayswhen you would stare at the sky, lying

down silently in the lawn, imagining dif-ferent shapes of the clouds or trying tocount the stars? Well, little did we knowthat this would become a muse for adesigner someday. With climate changehaving come into focus, nature hasbecome an inspiration for designers too,as it triggers ideas for some of the mostbeautiful forms of art. So is the case withdesigners Samant Chauhan and RimzimDadu, who showcased their collection atFDCI’s Lotus Make-up India FashionWeek day 1. While the former drew inspi-ration from the Milky Way galaxy, the ideaof movement and fluidity of the oceaninspired the latter.

Samant said that his recent trip to SpitiValley reminded him of The Starry Night,Dutch post-impressionist painter VincentVan Gogh’s masterpiece. His vision wasto translate the famous artwork into hisdesigns, which is clearly evident from hisall-black collection adorned with silverpatches. He said, “When Van Goghmade the painting, perhaps he predictedthat it would be difficult to see the starsin the coming years. We would have totravel 600 km for two days for such a view.It is going to be rare.”

Light music, images of dark midnightblue and purple and the sparkling stars,decorating the sky, on the screen at theback, gave the audience the tranquil vibeof sitting under a starry sky. The design-er, known for his obsession with mono-chromes, usually plays with white but thisis the second time he has tried his handson black. He said, “In the first one, I show-cased how I view black from the prism ofnostalgia. And this collection shows howI see and perceive black now.” It wasimportant for him to showcase his cur-rent definition of black as he said, “a tripto the picturesque valley in HimachalPradesh has changed my definition ofblack.”

In this cut-throat competition, everydesigner wants to come out with the best.They want to lead the market, be it withtheir distinctive colours or designs. ButChauhan is not bothered about this com-petition. He said, “We don’t follow a trendor the forecast. We focus on bringingnewness and freshness in our collection.”

The collection which had 37 looks,ranged from bell sleeved silk embroideredgown with a trail, peplum with embroi-dered trousers, corset with denim andembroidered organza cape, embroideredballoon sleeve jacket style gown and manymore. The fabric “ranged from sheer silk,cotton linen, organza to sheer,” saidChauhan. He added that the embroidery,which was a combination of handmade

and machine, was not woven on the typ-ical tussar silk but into his stapleBhagalpuri.

It was constant in almost all his col-lections, and was too heavy to make wayfor jewelleries. The embroidery gave aglimpse of nature as it had leaves, flow-ers, uncarved branches and silver patch-es all around resembling the stars. Themodels had similar hairstyles — a neatbun tied with a Victorian-style bow.

Another show was of Rimzim, whois known for presenting her styles in aunique manner. Her shows always havean element of surprise, be it using virtu-al reality on the ramp or creating a life-size maze in the show. Even this time, shedid not miss on the surprise element.

We have often seen the ramps dec-orated with trees, flowers, wooden and sil-ver artworks or a play of light and shad-ows for sure. But have you ever seensculpted steel sculptures hanging in midair? This naturally ignited the curiosityamong the audience.

The spirals and movements on thescreen throughout, clearly indicatedtowards her commitment to her experi-mentation. She said, “I am inspired by allkinds of movements, be it frozen in timeor sculpted in a material. They have asense of fluidity and this attracts me themost.”

Rimzim used her signature materi-als like steel wires and metallic cords tocreate structured yet fluid garments.Though the clothes appeared rigid from

far because of the wires butwere actually malleable andsoft to wear.

The collection depictedsculpted fluidity in the formof silhouettes. It ranged fromwhite floral shirts with blackfoil trousers and black beltbag to powder blue Nehrujacket with diamond shirtand white laptop bag towave skirt paired with wave off-shoulder blouse and emeraldbag. The collection was colour-ful as it was intended to give afestive touch. There were jeweltones of gold, bronze, emer-ald and teal.

Even the footwear of themodels were made of steelwires which totallymatched with their outfits.They had straight andsimple hairstyles withglitter all over it to giveit a shine.

The designer alsolaunched her first evermenswear collectionwith metal bomberjackets, texturedNehru and sherwanijackets aiming to filla gap in the pro-gressive menswearfashion genre.

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Aesthetics is a deeply individualistic thing, buteven then there are certain things, cars, build-

ings, watches and gadgets that fit into the pretty orugly categories. You can debate endlessly aboutAdrian van Hooydonk’s new massive snouted BMW4-series coupe, but the Maruti-Suzuki S.Presso isone of those cars that fails the test. Particularly, therear-end, with its articulated shock-absorber, andtyres that seem awfully small and looks horrible.But history has taught us that when people find acar which has a lot of value attached to it, they donot care about its looks. The success of the origi-nal Hyundai Santro being a case in point. This isparticularly true at the entry-level of the market.It is not as if there cannot be attractive small hatch-backs, the Daewoo Matiz was a smart looking carbut its Korean rival smashed it in the sales charts,even Maruti’s A-star, which was an attractive designflopped.

Looks therefore, one can safely assume, is notthe most important thing for entry-level car buy-ers. Practicality is and, frankly, on that front Marutidelivers. The S.Presso is based on Suzuki’s Heartect-K platform, the ‘K’ standing for Japan’s small ‘Kei’cars, which got tax benefits. It has been modifiedto make it slightly longer and wider, but much likethe old WagonR. This is a narrow albeit tall car. Andas a result of that, Maruti’s designers (for this is avehicle like the Vitara Brezza that was designed withIndian designers and engineers at the heart of theprogramme) have effectively made a proper suc-cessor to the old WagonR, since the new third-gen-eration WagonR is bigger and wider than everbefore. So one can say that the new WagonR is actu-ally a Swift in an ugly suit. And like the old WagonR,the S.Presso has oodles of space. Maruti’s design-ers have made a spacious cabin with lots of stor-age cubbyholes and a large boot given the car’s size.The tall-boy stance also makes ingress and egressvery easy although while Maruti claims this to bea five seater but two large guys willtake up all the space at theback. The steering col-umn is not adjustableand the central-mounted instru-ment cluster takesa bit of gettingused to, but theoverall layout ispretty good. Thesteering mount-ed controls are ahuge plus,although the shinyplastic trim on thetop variants reflectsoff the windscreen and if you findyourself driving with the setting sun

behind you, like I did, this is extremely irritating. How does this drive? Well, Maruti’s K10B petrol

engine that does service on several of Maruti’s othersmall cars finds its way onto this one as well, andas far as small, naturally-aspirated engines go, it isthe best in the business. I am not sold on theAutomated Manual Transmission (AMT) on thiscar, or any other for that matter, but with the man-ual gearbox this one is peppy off the line and cango plenty fast, all the while returning great fuel econ-omy.

Now, that ‘tall’ stance makes one assume thatthe shock-absorbers have a lot of travel, whichmeans ride over bad roads and rough surfaces ispretty good. After all, Maruti is marketing this asa ‘mini-SUV’ and it even has a front grille inspiredby the Brezza. But, great ride is compromised bypoor handling, particularly at speed. The S.Presso,as we have stated time and again, rides very high,and after two decades of evaluating cars, one canlook at a car and immediately determine that tak-ing a corder hard on a vehicle is a dangerous propo-sition. I’m not staying it takes corners really badlyas there are several other cars that are as bad but Iwould brake and take a corner at a reasonable speedwith the S.Presso. Modern Marutis have been a hootto drive for the Baleno and the Swift are immensefun around corners and you can really push themthrough sweeping turns. But at city speeds and onIndia’s fairly straight highways, you would not noticea thing.

This is in essence an urban car, spacious andeconomical, perfect for a young couple as long asthey don’t have to look at it and when you are insidethe car you really do not have to look at it. That said,the ‘special edition’ variants where the cars have abit more plastic cladding and contrasting colours,particularly the ‘Energetic’, make it look muchsmarter and considering that most dealer kits makecars look worse, this was a pleasant surprise. It is

a very practical car and while it may notgive you the caffeine shot that

the name promises, it mightjust do that to Maruti-

Suzuki’s moribundsales of late.

Certainly, the joy of reading is adeeply personalised experience,depending on the associative

imagery and perception it creates in themind. But storytelling connects you toothers, the sound and rhythm of wordshelping you construct a picture that youcan share with others and even takesomething from them.

Author Shaguna Gahilote, co-direc-tor of the Kathakar Storytelling Festival,looks at it this way — it is one thing tobe reading a story and another to visu-alise the same story and experience italong with personal references andanecdotes told live. “If you read some-thing and hear the same story in anopen space, you’d feel about it so differ-ently. This festival is all about that andso unique. You will understand what themagic of storytelling is,” she says,adding that listening to the story in thatparticular ambience and absorbing thatvibe makes it worthwhile. “This is alsoa reason why we have chosen an oldvenue this time” — Sunder Nursery, a16th-century heritage park complexadjacent to Humayun’s Tomb.

The festival’s 12th edition this yearhas some new elements. She says, “Wehave added an element of music to sto-rytelling this time, a throwback to thetradition of the bard. Of course, the ideahas originated from Mohit Chauhan,our patron. We have invited a few sto-rytellers who tell stories through music.They have flown from Australia, Swedenand Poland. Then there are enchantingBuddhist monks and a disciple ofTaufiq Qureshi.”

A bunch of professional and pas-sionate raconteurs from all over theworld will also be present. With 17 ses-sions in total post-sunset, the festivalwill also feature morning segments ina string of Delhi schools. “The morn-ing sessions facilitate the participationof children from Delhi’s municipal,

government, private, community andcivil society school. The sessions aredivided in primary and secondary levelwhere children from the age group ofeight years onwards listen to stories,”says she.

There will be a focus on India’s rareart forms and native folktales, who willrub shoulders with those from Romania,Mongolia, Lithuania and the UnitedKingdom. So how did she and Prathana,sister and co-director, first conceptualisethis festival? They started it in 2010when the Right to Education was intro-duced and in every annexure mentionedthat all schools should have a librarywith books and newspapers. “As part ofUNESCO, we had been buildinglibraries in schools for underprivilegedchildren but not many of them wouldpick up the books or read them fond-ly. Someone had to read out the booksto them to help them understand it bet-ter and find it interesting. This realisa-tion hit us.

We brainstormed and came toanother realisation that there was a timewhen no written text was there for peo-ple to experience stories. They onlyheard them. And they travelled fromone person to another and across gen-erations. Even we have only heard so

many stories that were really ancient,”says she. The sisters thought that sucha festival would not just revive ancientfolklores but also preserve them. Thefestival was hence launched under theaegis of UNESCO as part ofGhummakkad Narain, a travelling liter-ature festival in memory of ThakurVishva Narain Singh, the first Brailleeditor in India.

Well, little did they know that start-ing out from a handful of people, about250 of them, they would host a footfallof more than 10,000 people per day dur-ing the three-day event.

This generation’s growing depen-dence on technology and the easyavailability of things in the comfort ofone’s home have changed the idea of sto-rytelling greatly. With digital media andonline content, there has been a declinein people’s physical movement or liveexperiences. However, Shaguna believes,“We don’t do this festival everyday orevery month. Even though you can lis-ten to or watch or read stories sitting in

the comfort of your homes, such thingsare worth experiencing once in a longtime. It’s different. There, you live thestory.”

Over the years, the festival hasdrawn celebrities too, like spiritualspeaker Sadhguru, filmmaker Imtiaz Aliand a few Dastangos. While Imtiaz willbe hosting the closing show, Kissey,Kahani aur Cinema, telling his storiesof filmmaking, this is the first time thefestival will see Buddhist chanting byGrammy awardee monks from theSherabling Monastery, HimachalPradesh. There are other first-timers too— performance of two Polish story-tellers, one of whom, Emilia Raiter, isa renowned harpist and sings Polish bal-lads. Uncle Larry Walsh, an Australianaborigine storyteller, will be travellingwith Ron Murray, a didgeridoo player,to tell tales of the indigenous people.“This will be the first time that anindigenous storyteller will perform inIndia,” says Shaguna when we ask herabout how the team has chosen the sto-

ries, which can also be targeted toinspire the youth and develop theirsocial awareness. She adds, “Every sto-ryteller has a long list of stories to telland they’re usually with a moral, some-thing that relates to the audience.”

UK-based Emily Hennessey willperform Indian folktales of Kali and theMahabharata. “Even though she couldhave told the tales of English epics orculture, we have specifically asked herto narrate Indian folklore. She has per-formed a lot on some aspects andepisodes of Mahabharata even in theUK,” says Shaguna.

Kerala’s traditional Tholpavakoothupuppeteers will enchant the audiencewith their famed shadow theatre basedon the theme of Tamil epic KambaRamayana. Theatre artist DanishHussain will be presenting “a self-directed adaptation” of Qissebazi: AMultilingual Storytelling Orbit.

“We also have actor Manoj Bajpayeeperforming as a storyteller along withMohit,” she adds.

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It was while walking through the cor-ridors of The Imperial hotel that Icame across a small, dark and an

almost secret entrance that teleportedme to Chiang Mai with its Thai sculp-tures. For it was The Spice Routerestaurant, designed to reflect the jour-ney of spices from the Malabar Coast inKerala through Sri Lanka, Malaysia andIndonesia to Thailand and Vietnam,where I was dining. The place is an over-whelming visual depiction of the art andculture that also travelled with thespices through these regions.

Coming to the reason that I washere, the restaurant was celebrating thefirst-ever Asian Market with the aim toexplore the best of South-East Asian cui-sine. This is essentially the food that isfound not in the restaurants but in thehouses of the locals. Chef de CuisineVeena Arora has carefully crafted themenu to delve into the expanse of South-East Asian cuisine.

No sooner had I sat down that thevery first dish was brought to the table.Khao Tang Naa Tang, a crispy rice cake,was served with a creamy and savourydip, made with coconut milk and sprin-kled with corns too. It reminded me ofthe good old sabudana papad (sago pap-padum) as it was super crispy. The driedcrackers are usually paired with shrimpsauce but here, the creamy dip was anexceptional alternative for vegetarianslike me. The dish was accompanied bytheir signature drink — Green Velvet. Itook a sip, smacked my lips and uttered,“Sprite,” for that was the taste that seepedthrough. Though it seemed to be awashin the colour of the bottle that the drinkis packaged in. It was dark green. I couldeasily make out the ingredients —mint, khus syrup, lemonade and Sprite,of course.

Local food culture not only inspiresus in our daily lives but helps us stay con-nected with our roots, believes the chefwho was born and brought up inThailand. Her biggest dream has always

been to expose the Indian palate to thetraditions of her place of birth. WithAsian Market, she is delighted to bringforth the local exotic dishes whichhave not been explored earlier or beena part of the restaurant’s menu, ever.

Chef Veena elaborated, “People inSouth-East Asia, just like Indians, do notsegregate their meals into appetisers ora main course. Everything is eatentogether. Because Thai food is spicy, weneed a soup along with it to balance theflavours as well as snacks to go with themeal.”

Next up was Malaysian assortedvegetables with curry where the gravyhad a hint of sweetness and was filledwith corns, mushrooms and broccoli. Itwas served with jasmine rice and PhakBunk Man-Korn, which is wok friedmorning glory with garlic and chilliesflavoured with Thai soya bean paste. Thestem of morning glory is thick but hol-low inside. This combined a crunchytexture and juiciness at the same time.

And flavouring it with Thai soya beanpaste elevated the taste to the next levelwhile making it super convenient foranyone to cook them.

Chef Veena apprised us, “Morningglory is something that is found in Indiaas well but people are not really awareof it. You can cook it in Thai or Indianstyle. And it hides a secret, that it is full

of iron. People in India think that onlysome leafy veggies such as spinach, let-tuce and fenugreek contain it. Morningglory can be cooked in the exact samemanner just like all of the above. Onecan make pakoras with it too.”

Amidst the endlessly appetisingfare, laughter and conversations, chefVeena also did a live cookout for herspecial — the noodle soup, where sheadded a range of spices — fennel, cin-namon, cardamom, star anise and gin-ger — in the boiling water which madeit seem just right for the approachingwinter. Noodles, roasted garlic, brownshallot, coriander, bean sprouts, soysauce, crushed peanuts and chilli flakessprinkled on the top further enhancedthe taste and made it look appetising.

The expanse of flavours and tex-tures that different regions in South-East Asia have to offer are immense andthis is what the Asian Market attempt-ed to showcase — the diversity inindigenous cuisine.

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THAI WAY OR MY WAY

We all love getting kitchentips as those little tricks

help us become better cooks. Butsometimes we need to introspectand stop doing certain things. It’stime we unlearn and learn.

NOT READING THERECIPE ALL THE WAYTHROUGH

Before you start cooking,make sure you have all theingredients, you think throughthe timing of the steps and lookup for directions that might beconfusing. This way, you don’tfind yourself staring at therecipe in dismay when thewords marinate overnight orchill for at least four hours popup.

USING TOO SMALL A TOOLHave you ever tried blend-

ing dough in a small bowl ortransferring a casserole into atoo-tight baking dish or chop-ping a pound of spinach on atiny cutting board or using aparing knife to dismantle asquash? Well, bigger is betterwhen it comes to kitchen prepa-ration. It means less mess, lessoverflow in the oven and, often,more safety.

WORKING WITH A DULLKNIFE

Sharp knives are safer thandull ones that slip and slide. Ifyou don’t have a knife-sharpen-ing tool, “There are lots ofstores and services that canhelp you out,” says Alison Cayne,founder of Haven’s Kitchencooking school in New YorkCity. “You are not expected toknow how to sharpen yourself.”Many kitchen stores, likeWilliams-Sonoma or Sur laTable, will sharpen knives, andyou can look for other placesonline. You might even be ableto get your knives picked up anddropped off.

OVERCOOKINGRemember to account for

“carry-over cooking” — the fact

that when you take food fromthe heat, it will continue to cook.Carry-over cooking is oftendiscussed with meat, sincemeat’s internal temperature willcontinue to rise even after youpull it from a hot pan. Porkchops can go from just done andjuicy to dry and tough. Butcarry-over cooking also appliesto lots of foods, including bakedgoods and vegetables. Roastedasparagus that comes out of theoven tender can get too softupon sitting, so pull it out a fewminutes before it’s reached thedoneness you are looking for.

CUTTING MEAT BEFOREIT HAD A CHANCE TOREST

Allowing meat and poultryto sit for a while after it isremoved from the stove, grill oroven not only lets it finishcooking but ensures that thejuices stay inside, where theybelong. When meat cooks, itsprotein fibers contract, and ifyou cut into it right away theywon’t have had a chance to relaxand reabsorb the juices. This iswhy you might cut into a steakright off the grill and see it per-fectly cooked to a beautiful rareor medium rare, and then a fewminutes later it seems to havelost its rosy hue, and all its juicesare on the cutting board. Letthick steaks rest 8 to 10 minutesbefore cutting. Big roasts orwhole birds should rest between20 and 30 minutes before carv-ing. This may seem like a longtime, but rest assured the meatwill still be warm.

GETTING DISTRACTEDDana Cowin, editor in chief

of Food and Wine Magazine forover 20 years, and author of“Mastering My Mistakes in theKitchen,” says that after workingwith numerous chefs andexperts, “Here’s what I learnedNOT to do: Don’t get distract-ed. Don’t answer your email,help your kid with homework orcatch up on the news. When

you’re distracted, that’s when thepine nuts burn, the butter black-ens, the caramel hardens, thechicken dries out, the meal getsruined.”

SEASONING THE DISHONLY ONCE

Don’t just salt the onionsyou are sauteing for the sauceand call it a day. Conversely,don’t make the whole saucerecipe and add salt at the end.Add a bit of salt, and adjust otherseasonings as you build thedish, tasting as you go, if possi-ble.

FORGETTING TO SALTTHE COOKING WATER

Add salt to the water —whether for pasta, vegetables,poaching shrimp or chicken —until it actually tastes salty. Yourfood won’t absorb all this salt bya long shot, but it will becomeseasoned and more flavorful.For pasta, grains or some veg-etables like potatoes, this reallymakes a difference, as the starchis absorbing the salted water asit cooks.

SKIMPING ON THE TIME ITTAKES TO FULLY PREHEATYOUR OVEN

The beep indicating youroven has reached the desiredtemperature is probably a bitpremature, says DorieGreenspan, author of the cook-book “Everyday Dorie: TheWay I Cook.” Says Greenspan:“An oven repair person once toldme that when the light on myoven indicated that it hadreached temperature, I shouldwait another 15 minutes beforeputting in whatever I was bak-ing. The oven needs that time tobe truly at temperature, and tobe able to hold its temperaturewhen you open the door. Thisis particularly important withcookies because they bake forsuch a short time.” She adviseskeeping a thermometer in youroven.

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Six-time champion M C MaryKom (51kg) on Thursday sur-

passed herself as the most success-ful boxer in the Women’s WorldChampionship history by securingan unprecedented eighth medalbefore three of her compatriots alsoentered the semifinals here.

The debutant duo of sixthseed Manju Rani (48kg) andJamuna Boro (54kg) along with lastedition's Bronze-medallist andthird seed Lovlina Borgohain(69kg) made the medal roundsalong side Mary Kom to ensurethat India equalled their last edi-tion's performance in terms ofnumber of medals won.

The third-seeded Mary Komdefeated a spirited rival inColombia’s Valencia Victoria,fetching a unanimous 5-0 verdictto make the last-four stage.

Rani stunned top seed and lastedition’s Bronze-medallist KimHyang Mi of South Korea 4-1,while Boro, an Assam Riflesemployee, got the better of

Germany’s Ursula Gottlob by asimilar margin after drainingshowdowns.

Borgohain, on the other hand,pulled off a facile 4-1 triumph overPoland's sixth-seeded KarolinaKoszewska.

“I am very happy to havesecured a medal but I would belooking to make it better by reach-ing the finals,” the 36-year-oldMary Kom said after the bout.

“It was a good bout for me andI will now try to improve on thisperformance in the semifinals,” sheadded.

Awaiting Mary Kom in thesemifinals on Saturday, after arest day on Friday, is second-seeded Turk Busenaz Cakiroglu,who is the reigning EuropeanChampionships and EuropeanGames gold-medallist. Cakirogludefeated China's Cai Zongju in herquarterfinal bout.

For Rani, her next opponent isgoing to be Thailand’s ChuthamatRaksat, who upstaged fifth seedYuliyanova Asenova. Boro willtake on top seed and former Asian

Games Bronze-medallist HuangHsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei.

Borgohain’s opponent in thesemfinals would be China’s YangLiu, who shocked top seed Chen

Nien-Chin in her quarterfinalclash.

However, two-time Bronze-medallist Kavita Chahal (+81kg)bowed out after a 0-5 loss toBelarus’ Katsiaryna Kavaleva.

In a tactful performance, MaryKom waited for her chances anddefended sharply to ensure thatVictoria’s plan to impress thejudges by throwing in more punch-es didn’t yield results.

The Indian’s huge reservoir ofexperience came in handy as sheswung her right arm masterfully toconnect well-placed hooks. Herstraight punches were as effectiveand regularly pierced throughVictoria’s reasonably strongdefence.

With this, Mary Kom betteredher own record as the most suc-cessful boxer in the history of themarquee tournament.

The Manipuri, in terms of

number of medals won, is in factnumero uno cutting across boththe men’s and women’s competi-tions.

Cuban icon Felix Savon is themost successful in the men’s eventwith seven medals — six gold anda silver.

Entering into this edition,Mary Kom had six Gold and a sil-ver in her kitty but this is the firsttime, she has secured a worldmedal in the 51kg category. Shehad finished a quarterfinalist inthis division in the past.

The latest achievement hasonly added to her ever-growinglegend.

Besides six world titles, MaryKom’s incredible career is alsostudded with an Olympic bronzemedal (2012), five Asian titles, goldmedals at the Asian Games and theCommonwealth Games, besidesnumerous other international top

finishes. This year alone, she won gold

medals at the India Open inGuwahati and President’s Cup inIndonesia.

She is also a member of theRajya Sabha.

Both Rani and Boro fetchedhard-fought victories, engagedwith strong opponents who hard-ly gave anything away defensively.But the two Indians were remark-ably good in counter-attacks.

“My opponent was ver yaggressive and in the first round,I was quite confused about how tohandle her but eventually I settleddown and it became easier,” Borosaid after her bout.

Later Borgohain had little trou-ble going past Koszewska, whoserather awkward stance compound-ed her problems.

However, three-time Asianmedallist Chahal didn’t seem up toit and produced a rather sloppyshow against a more agileKavaleva, who got the result mere-ly by hitting straight and clean formost part of the bout.

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Opener Mayank Agarwalstamped his authority on astruggling South African

attack with a second successivehundred as India cruised to 273 forthree on the opening day of thesecond Test here.

Play was stopped in the 86thover due to fading light.

The 28-year-old’s rich vein ofform continued as he looked incomplete command for his 108 off195 balls, having made a sublime215 in the series opener inVisakhapatnam last week.

The first day of the secondmatch panned out similar to theway the first Test went as India,leading 1-0 in the series, looked toout-bat the Proteas on a good sur-face.

Along with Cheteshwar Pujara(58), Agarwal added 138 runs forthe second wicket with minimumfuss, despite India losing RohitSharma's (14) wicket in the firsthour itself.

In the final session, skipperVirat Kohli (63 batting off 105balls) was in his element, hittingyet another Test half-century andadding 75 runs for the unbrokenfourth wicket partnership withAjinkya Rahane (18 batting off 70balls). Kohli hit some flowing dri-ves during the final hour and had10 fours to his credit.

The highlight of the day how-ever was Agarwal’s approachagainst both pace and spin, bothof which, he tackled with ease. Hisknock comprised 16 fours and twosixes.

The opener raced to his sec-

ond Test hundred hitting left-arm spinner Keshav Maharajdown the ground for consecutivesixes and then played an intention-al back-cut off Vernon Philanderto complete the coveted mile-stone.

Agarwal’s scoring chart wouldindicate that his innings was a per-fect blend of caution mixed withaggression. He got 74 runs off 18balls in boundaries and theremaining 34 runs came off 177balls.

Among South African pacers,Kagiso Rabada (3/48 in 18.1 overs),hit better lengths during the courseof the day and was easily the mostpotent bowler on view.

Rabada bowled a beautifuldelivery that pitched on length andmoved only a shade to kiss the out-side edge of Rohit’s bat beforegoing into wicketkeeper Quintonde Kock’s gloves.

Rabada was unlucky to missout on a second wicket — of Pujara— when Temba Bavuma, at shortleg, missed a reflex catch. The bats-man was yet to get off the mark atthat stage.

He finally got Pujara, caughtat first slip but not before the IndiaNo.3 had scored his 22nd Test half-century.

During the first hour,Agarwal was all cautiousagainst Philander and Rabadawho bowled a probing firstspell.

He was smart enough towait for the third seamer inrookie Anrich Nortje (0/60 in13 overs) to be introducedinto the attack.

Nortje, with his pace, was

guilty of bowling fuller deliveriesat a drivable length outside the off-stump.

In fact, Dale Steyn’s “use thatshort leg” advice on Twitter, wasmeant for Nortje, advising him toalter the length.

In one of his overs beforelunch, Agarwal hit an off-drive fol-lowed by two cover drives.

In the post lunch session,Nortje tried to hit the back oflength but Agarwal had alreadycompleted his half century andwas well set. The moment Nortjepitched it short, he went back andacross to play a couple of pullshots.

On the other hand, Pujarabegan on a cautious note and itwas only after left-arm spinnerKeshav Maharaj (0/89 in 29 overs)was brought into the attack, theSaurashtra right-hander uppedthe ante.

In his very first over, he usedhis feet to come to the pitch of theball, hitting two elegant on-drives.A third on-drive also came alongthe way off Rabada’s bowling.Watching Pujara use his feetagainst Maharaj, Agarwal got theconfidence in the post-lunch ses-sion in which he got around 50runs.

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For someone who smashed 1000first-class runs in a month’s domes-

tic cricket in 2017, it shouldn’t comeas a surprise that a heavy duty scor-er like Mayank Agarwal knows a thingor two about the art of conversion,feels Cheteshwar Pujara.

Agarwal, a relatively new entrantto the Test arena, has scored his sec-ond Test hundred in as many gamesagainst South Africa, starting with adouble hundred in the series openerin Visakhapatnam.

“He (Agarwal) is an experiencedplayer, who has scored so many first-class runs, which has helped him a lot.And when it comes to being nervousin his 90s, he is someone who is fear-less,” Pujara replied, when askedabout the Karnataka opener showinglittle sign of nerves.

Pujara has seen a lot of Agarwalin the domestic arena and believes it

is the consistent scores in domesticcricket that has made him what he istoday.

“Mayank knows how to convertfifties into big scores and at the same

time, once he goes past hundred, hecan score heavily as we saw in the lastgame,” said Pujara

Pujara himself is someone with apenchant for big knocks. So did he tell

anything to Mayank while their part-nership was on?

“That habit (for big scores) hascome from first class cricket, so I did-n’t have to tell him much. To be hon-est, we were just communicatingwhat their gameplan was.

“If there was an error in his bat-ting, I would just tell him to play closeto his body, when I thought his batwas going away.

Apart from that, he is batting real-ly well and you don’t have to guidehim much.”

Pujara was very happy with thekind of track on offer which has a bitfor everyone and batting first, hethought was a prudent decision.

“It’s a true pitch, where if a fastbowler is bowling well, he can also geta batsman out and if you are batsman,there is value for your shots. Therewas little bit of spin later on. If we haveruns on the board, it won’t be easy tobat in the fourth innings,” he said.

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Kagiso Rabada is slow-ly showing signs of

getting his mojo back asindicated by his spell inthe post lunch session,observed South Africa’sbowling coach VincentBarnes.

Rabada was the onlyProteas bowler, who madesome kind of impact withfigures of 3 for 48 inIndia’s 273 for 3 on thefirst day of the secondTest.

“It was fantastic to seehim bowl, especially, thespell after lunch. I thoughthe bowled well in Vizag(Visakhapatnam) as well.Today, there were a lot ofsigns that he is getting tothe top,” Barnes said at theend of the day’s play.

In fact, patience is thekey for fast bowlers on thistrack as Rabada showed bygetting CheteshwarPujara’s wicket with persis-tence.

“Our focus on this

tour is to bowl to ourstrengths. The plan was tobe patient on a wicketthat was going to give usassistance in the morning,”Barnes said.

“We had to keepbowling in the right areasand they would make mis-takes. Pujara at one stagelooked set and KG(Rabada) bowled in theright area and got thewicket.”

But he did admit thatin the morning sessionwith a bit of luck (Pujarawas dropped on zero),South Africa’s new ballbowlers could have pickedup a couple of more wick-ets.

“When we looked atthe conditions this morn-ing, the window for thefast bowlers was a lotlonger than compared toVisakhapatnam. I thoughtthat we bowled quite wellthis morning. And, with abit of luck, we could havehad a few more wickets,”Barnes said.

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The legendary Kapil Devon Thursday heaped

praise on India’s currentpace battery, saying the fastbowlers have changed theface of Indian cricket in thelast four-five years.

Asked whether the cur-rent pace attack is the best,Kapil said, “Do I have to saythat?

“Aisa pace attack humnedekha nahi tha, socha bhinahi tha (we have not seensuch a pace attack and neverthought about it). So onedoes not have to say any-thing and yes without any

doubt, in the last four-fiveyears the fast bowlers havechanged the face of Indiancricket,” he said.

India currently boast ofa lethal pace attack in JaspritBumrah, Umesh Yadav,Mohammed Shami, Ishant

Sharma, Deepak Chahar andNavdeep Saini.

In the absence ofBumrah, who has been ruledout of the ongoing Test seriesagainst South Africa , Shamistood up and ran throughthe visiting team's battingline up in the first match inVisakhapatnam.

“No issues about that(not being in the top 10bowlers). How effective he(Shami) has been for theteam is more important. Youhave seen him. Great to seehim doing well and that’s thebottom line,” Kapil said dur-ing a promotional eventhere.

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World champion shuttlerP V Sindhu on

Thursday said she will pickand choose tournaments tostay fit ahead of next year’sTokyo Olympics.

The Olympic qualificationperiod started on April 29with the Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) consideringthe rankings list published onApril 30, 2020, to allocatespots.

Since last year, the BWFhas also made it compulsoryfor the world’s top 15 playersin the singles events and top10 pairs in the doubles disci-plines to play a minimum of

12 out of 15 tournaments ofthe World Tour or face apenalty.

“Since it's the Olympicsyear, each and every tourna-ment is important. You needto be mentally and physicallyfit and maintain your fitnesslevels and give your 100 percent in every tournament,”Sindhu said. “Definitely, I willchoose tournaments since youhave to be injury-free and give100 per cent which is veryimportant...” she added.

The 24-year-oldHyderabad shuttler becamethe first Indian to be crownedworld champion when shedefeated Japan's NozomiOkuhara in August.

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India skipper Virat Kohlion Thursday achieved

another feat when he sur-passed Sourav Ganguly tobecome the second Indiancaptain after Mahendra SinghDhoni to lead the side in 50or more Test matches.TheIndian run-machine was tiedat the second spot with formerskipper Ganguly (49 Tests) inthe list of leading the nation-al side before the start of thesecond Test against SouthAfrica here onThursday.Kohli, whoremained unbeaten on 63 asIndia rode on MayankAgarwal's 108 to post 273/3 atstumps on Day 1, became onlythe second Indian captain tothe landmark of 50 Tests afterDhoni, who had led thenational team 60 times inTests between 2008 and 2014.

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