D4 aZT\d 2j`UYjR ^VUZRe`cd - Daily Pioneer

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A three-member panel head- ed by former apex court judge Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla and consist- ing of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advo- cate Sriram Panchu, a renowned mediator, will try to find a negotiated settlement of the Ayodhya’s Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case. The Supreme Court referred the sensitive dispute for mediation to this panel and asked it to submit the progress report within four weeks and final report in eight weeks. The mediation will be held at Faizabad and proceedings would be held “in camera”. The five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it does not find any “legal impediment” to make a reference to mediation for set- tlement of the dispute. “We, therefore, order accordingly, and having taken note of the names suggested by the parties, we are of the view that the following panel of mediators should be appoint- ed to go into the dispute with liberty to the mediators to co- opt other members of the panel, if so required,” it said. The Bench, also comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, was told earlier by Hindu bodies, except for Nirmohi Akhara, and the Uttar Pradesh Government that they oppose the court’s suggestion for mediation. The Muslim bodies supported the proposal. “Considering the provi- sions of the CPC (Civil Procedure Code)..., we do not find any legal impediment in making a reference to media- tion for a possible settlement of the dispute(s) arising out of the appeals. Whether the said pro- visions of the CPC would apply in the event parties arrive at a settlement/compromise in the mediation proceedings is a matter left open to be decided at the appropriate stage,” the Bench said. Interestingly, all the three members in the mediation team hail from Tamil Nadu. Justice Kalifulla hails from Karaikudi in Sivaganga district while Ravi Shankar was born in Papanasam near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district and Panchu is Chennai-based. All parties in the civil appeal in the title case and all interveners are allowed to present their views before the mediation panel. The top court directed that the mediation proceedings should be conducted with “utmost confidentiality” for ensuring its success and the views expressed by any of the parties including the mediators should be kept confidential and not be revealed to any other person. “We are of the further opinion that while the mediation proceedings are being carried out, there ought not to be any reporting of the said proceedings either in the print or in the electronic media,” the Bench said. However, it refrained from passing any specific restraint order at this stage and instead empowered the mediators to pass necessary orders in writ- ing, if so required, to restrain publication of the details of the mediation proceedings. “The Chairman of the mediation panel may also inform the reg- istry of this court any difficul- ties that the panel may face in carrying out the task assigned to it by the present order and also to inform of any require- ment to facilitate the mediation and to conclude the same at the earliest,” the Bench said. The top court fixed the seat for mediation process in Faizabad of Uttar Pradesh, around 7 km from Ayodhya, and said that the adequate arrangements, including the venue of the mediation, place of stay of the mediators, their security, travel should be forth- with arranged by the State Government so that proceed- ings could commence imme- diately. It also directed that the mediation proceedings be held in camera as per the norms applicable to conduct the medi- ation proceedings. “The panel of mediators is requested to ensure completion of the process during the peri- od of the interregnum indicat- ed above and send a report of the progress of the mediation to this court within four weeks of the commencement of the process,” it said. A day after the Congress announced its list of 11 candidates, the party is set to come out with a second list and hopes that its resolution to play on “front foot” will force the Samajwadi Party and the BSP to reopen negotiation with the grand old party. “The SP and the Congress performed equally bad in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the 2017 Assembly polls. But Mayawati drew a big zero in last LS polls and still she is creating road- block in the formation of a for- midable grand alliance. If we all have the common intentions to take on the BJP, then the SP and the BSP are commiting a hara-kiri by excluding the Congress from the alliance,” said a top Congress leader looking into the affairs of UP and helping newly-appointed general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia. The second list might include names like UP State Congress chief Raj Babbar from Muradabad and former Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal from Kanpur. A senior party leader said the Congress is still hopeful that sanity would prevail and the Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawati combine may include the Congress as part of the Mahagathbandhan. Party sources said senior leader Sanjay Sinh may be fielded from Sultanpur, Akhilesh Pratap Singh from Deoria and Ashok Singh from Etawah, considered a strong- hold of the SP. While the search of a for- midable candidate for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, now represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, continues, the screening committee of the AICC has shortlisted candi- dates like Begum Nur Bano and Sanjay Kapur), rebel BJP MP Savitri Bai Phule who joined Congress last week, and Zafar Alo Naqvi and Naeem Sidiqqi. “The party intends to field a large number of Muslim can- didates and those belonging to the SC keeping in mind the caste and religion equation in the crucial Hindi heartland,” explained the leader. Another senior leader in the party said announcement of Sonia Gandhi candidature showed that she play a vital role before and after elections. “Her equation with senior leaders of several parties cannot be underestimated as she also played key role in creating counter narrative to defeat the Shining India campaign of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2014 polls,” said the leader. Ending all speculation, Congress on Thursday announced UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to contest from Rae Bareilly and party chief Rahul Gandhi from his home turf Amethi. Sonia’s re-nomination from Rae Bareli has also scotched rumours about she is making way for daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at this family bastion. The leaders say it would also ensure that the family’s youngest entrant into the polit- ical scene can dedicate her energy on poll campaign across the state and in other places rather than limiting it to just one seat. T he Delhi Government on Friday hiked the auto-rick- shaw fare by 18.75 per cent in the national Capital. The Delhi Cabinet approved recommendations of a fare revision committee to hike auto-rickshaw tariff by 1.50 per kilometre, from 8/km to 9.50/km. The meter-down charge of 25 for first two kilometres has also been raised to 25 for first 1.5 kilometre, said Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot. The waiting charge has also been increased from 30 per hour to 45 per hour. However, there is a change in the waiting hours. The com- mittee has been scrapped the minimum limit of 15 minutes when the vehicle is complete- ly stuck in traffic or moving extremely slow. The night and luggage charges will remain the same. The existing night charge is 25 per cent extra fare between 11 pm and 5 am. The revised charges will come into effect after the Transport Department’s noti- fication, Gahlot said. Gahlot said fare revision is not a reserved subject and there is no need for the approval of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The order has been wel- comed by auto union members but many among them have asked the Government to remove the system of compul- sory GPS for auto-rickshaw as it is open vehicle. A n Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA has been detained by Income Tax Department sleuths for questioning after their team surveying a builder here on Friday found over 2 crore cash allegedly “linked” to the legislator and his associates, officials said. They said Uttam Nagar MLA Naresh Balyan, a prop- erty dealer, and 2 others are being questioned by the tax officials in Dwarka to ascertain if the recovered cash was “ille- gal and unaccounted.” “Balyan has been detained for questioning after it emerged that the recovered cash had purported links with him. The tax officials are questioning the MLA and others present with him about the source of the money,” a senior official said. The incident took place shortly after 1 PM when an I- T team reached the office of a real estate dealer to conduct a “routine survey” on a tip-off about some cash changing hands. A survey procedure entails I-T officials visiting only the business premises of an assessee and not their residen- tial or other locations. Balyan and few other peo- ple were found at the spot and intercepted by the tax team at the Dwarka office of the builder and they were refrained from leaving the premises as the cash amount of over 2 crore was recovered from the premise. After the recovery of the cash, the department has “converted” its limited action of survey into a full-fledged ‘search and raid operation’ and few more premises of the people linked in the case are being covered now, the official said. He said that tax sleuths were told that the cash pertains to some property deal even as further details are awaited. M ajority of political and religious leaders have welcomed the SC order for mediation in the Ayodhya dis- pute. However, some leaders from Muslim community and Left parties disapproved of the presence of spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the medi- ation panel. A number of senior BJP leaders made it clear that building Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya is the only way out of the impasse. Union Minister Uma Bharti said one has to respect the SC order but assert- ed that she stands for building the Ram temple at the disput- ed site in Ayodhya and a mosque can be built outside its vicinity. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIM- PLB) welcomed the SC order, saying it would be most befit- ting that the matter is resolved through negotiations. “It would be most befit- ting,” AIMPLB general secre- tary Maulana Wali Rehmani told media. Mahant Ram Das of the Nirmohi Akhara, one of the main litigants in the case, too welcomed the setting up of a panel of mediators, but said it would have been better had a Hindu judge, connected with the case, been included in it. He added that besides the media- tion efforts, the court hearing in the matter should also go on simultaneously so as to see that the case does not get pro- longed further if the litigants are not satisfied. In reference to Sri Sri, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said he should act in an “unbiased” manner. “It would have been better had the Supreme Court appointed a neutral person. One of the members of the panel had threatened Muslims that India would become Syria and I hope that he keeps those thoughts out of his mind while being on the mediation panel. We welcome the decision,” he told reporters. BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, who is also a filed peti- tion on fundamental right to pray at Ram Mandir stressed that the construction of Ram temple is non-nego- tiable. “There is no question of not building a temple where we believe Lord Ram was born,” he said adding that he will present his views before the mediation panel. T he Samajwadi Party has decided to field party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav from its stronghold Mainpuri. The SP released its first list of nine candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in UP on Friday. Dimple Yadav, wife of party chief Akhilesh Yadav, would contest from Kannauj, where she is the sitting MP. The SP has decided to field MPs Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav from the current seats of Badaun and Firozabad respectively. Incidentally, the Congress had on Thursday announced Saleem Iqbal Shervani as its candidate from Badaun. The list was signed by SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav. The party left Mainpuri, described as its “safest” seat, for Mulayam Yadav, who is the MP from Azamgarh right now. Mulayam represented Mainpuri in the Lok Sabha in 1996, 2004 and 2009. In the 2014 general elec- tion, the SP patriarch had contested from Azamgarh and Mainpuri and won both. In Mainpuri, his victory margin was a massive 3.64-lakh votes. A ttorney General KK Venugopal on Friday claimed the Rafale documents were not stolen from the Defence Ministry and that what he meant in his submission before the Supreme Court was that petitioners in the application used “photo- copies of the original” papers, deemed secret by the Government. His comments in the apex court on Wednesday that Rafale fighter jet deal documents were stolen caused a political row, with Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeting the Government over stealing of such sensitive papers and seeking a criminal investiga- tion. “I am told that the Opposition has alleged what was argued (in SC) was that files had been stolen from the Defence Ministry. This is wholly incorrect. The statement that files have been stolen is whol- ly incorrect,” he told PTI, in an apparent damage-control exer- cise. Venugopal said the appli- cation filed by Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushant, seeking from the court a review of its verdict dismissing pleas for a probe into against the Rafale deal, had annexed three documents which were photocopies of the original. Official sources said the AG’s use of word stolen was probably “stronger” and could have been avoided. The Government had also warned The Hindu news- papers with a case under Official Secrets Act for pub- lishing articles based on these documents. T he RSS here on Friday laud- ed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for hitting terror launch pads in Pakistan and also praised the Government for taking the decision. A resolu- tion to this effect was passed on day one of the three-day meet- ing of the Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha, RSS' highest policy-making body, which began here on Friday. While talking to media persons, RSS joint general sec- retary Manmohan Vaidya told that the meeting passed an 'abhinandan prastav' lauding the IAF for the air strike and also praised the Government for this decision. "The government has taken the right decision to deal with the anti-national forces and Indians should also remain cautious of such elements," he said. Deep sorrow was expressed in the meeting over the Pulwama and other terror attacks that killed armed forces personnel, he said, adding that India's sahishnuta (tolerance) should not be treated as its weakness. Around 1,400 members of the Pratinidhi Sabha including RSS head, Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavaha Bhaiyaji Joshi are taking part in the meeting, which will also dis- cuss the Sabrimala temple issue, he said. Vaidya said the Kerala Government is working against the spirit of Supreme Court ruling on the shrine by playing with the faith of Hindus and forcing entry of women who are not Hindus in the temple. On the Ram temple issue, he said all those associated with the matter are putting their views in the Supreme Court. "We have full faith in the judi- cial system and hope the all obstacles will be cleared and the temple constructed," Vaidya added. He further said no separate discussion will take place in the meeting on the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, adding the RSS believes that maximum number of people should vote. Participants at the three-day meet will share their ideas and experience on issues like social harmony, environment con- servation, saving water, reduc- ing use of plastic and tree plantation, Vaidya said. The number of RSS 'shakhas' (branches/units) increased this year, compared to last year, he said. In 2018, there were 58,967 shakhas and the number now is 59,266, he said. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of D4 aZT\d 2j`UYjR ^VUZRe`cd - Daily Pioneer

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Athree-member panel head-ed by former apex court

judge Fakkir MohamedIbrahim Kalifulla and consist-ing of spiritual guru Sri SriRavishankar and senior advo-cate Sriram Panchu, arenowned mediator, will try tofind a negotiated settlement ofthe Ayodhya’s RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute case.

The Supreme Courtreferred the sensitive disputefor mediation to this panel andasked it to submit the progressreport within four weeks andfinal report in eight weeks.

The mediation will be heldat Faizabad and proceedingswould be held “in camera”. Thefive-judge Constitution Benchheaded by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi said it does not find any“legal impediment” to make areference to mediation for set-tlement of the dispute.

“We, therefore, orderaccordingly, and having takennote of the names suggested bythe parties, we are of the viewthat the following panel ofmediators should be appoint-ed to go into the dispute withliberty to the mediators to co-

opt other members of thepanel, if so required,” it said.The Bench, also comprisingJustices SA Bobde, DYChandrachud, Ashok Bhushanand S Abdul Nazeer, was toldearlier by Hindu bodies, exceptfor Nirmohi Akhara, and theUttar Pradesh Governmentthat they oppose the court’ssuggestion for mediation. TheMuslim bodies supported theproposal.

“Considering the provi-sions of the CPC (CivilProcedure Code)..., we do notfind any legal impediment inmaking a reference to media-tion for a possible settlement ofthe dispute(s) arising out of theappeals. Whether the said pro-visions of the CPC would applyin the event parties arrive at asettlement/compromise in themediation proceedings is amatter left open to be decidedat the appropriate stage,” theBench said.

Interestingly, all the threemembers in the mediationteam hail from Tamil Nadu.Justice Kalifulla hails fromKaraikudi in Sivaganga districtwhile Ravi Shankar was born inPapanasam near Kumbakonamin Thanjavur district andPanchu is Chennai-based. All

parties in the civil appeal in thetitle case and all interveners areallowed to present their viewsbefore the mediation panel.

The top court directed thatthe mediation proceedingsshould be conducted with“utmost confidentiality” forensuring its success and theviews expressed by any of theparties including the mediatorsshould be kept confidentialand not be revealed to anyother person. “We are of thefurther opinion that while themediation proceedings arebeing carried out, there oughtnot to be any reporting of thesaid proceedings either in theprint or in the electronicmedia,” the Bench said.

However, it refrained frompassing any specific restraintorder at this stage and insteadempowered the mediators topass necessary orders in writ-ing, if so required, to restrainpublication of the details of themediation proceedings. “The

Chairman of the mediationpanel may also inform the reg-istry of this court any difficul-ties that the panel may face incarrying out the task assignedto it by the present order andalso to inform of any require-ment to facilitate the mediationand to conclude the same at theearliest,” the Bench said.

The top court fixed the seatfor mediation process inFaizabad of Uttar Pradesh,around 7 km from Ayodhya,and said that the adequatearrangements, including thevenue of the mediation, placeof stay of the mediators, theirsecurity, travel should be forth-with arranged by the StateGovernment so that proceed-ings could commence imme-diately. It also directed that themediation proceedings be heldin camera as per the normsapplicable to conduct the medi-ation proceedings.

“The panel of mediators isrequested to ensure completionof the process during the peri-od of the interregnum indicat-ed above and send a report ofthe progress of the mediationto this court within four weeksof the commencement of theprocess,” it said.

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Aday after the Congressannounced its list of 11

candidates, the party is set tocome out with a second list andhopes that its resolution to playon “front foot” will force theSamajwadi Party and the BSPto reopen negotiation with thegrand old party.

“The SP and the Congressperformed equally bad in 2014Lok Sabha polls and the 2017Assembly polls. But Mayawatidrew a big zero in last LS pollsand still she is creating road-block in the formation of a for-midable grand alliance. If weall have the common intentionsto take on the BJP, then the SPand the BSP are commiting ahara-kiri by excluding theCongress from the alliance,”said a top Congress leaderlooking into the affairs of UPand helping newly-appointedgeneral secretaries PriyankaGandhi and JyotiradityaScindia.

The second list mightinclude names like UP StateCongress chief Raj Babbarfrom Muradabad and formerUnion Minister SriprakashJaiswal from Kanpur.

A senior party leader saidthe Congress is still hopefulthat sanity would prevail andthe Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawaticombine may include theCongress as part of theMahagathbandhan.

Party sources said seniorleader Sanjay Sinh may befielded from Sultanpur,Akhilesh Pratap Singh fromDeoria and Ashok Singh fromEtawah, considered a strong-hold of the SP.

While the search of a for-midable candidate for the

Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, nowrepresented by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, continues, thescreening committee of theAICC has shortlisted candi-dates like Begum Nur Bano andSanjay Kapur), rebel BJP MPSavitri Bai Phule who joinedCongress last week, and ZafarAlo Naqvi and Naeem Sidiqqi.

“The party intends to fielda large number of Muslim can-didates and those belonging tothe SC keeping in mind thecaste and religion equation inthe crucial Hindi heartland,”explained the leader.

Another senior leader inthe party said announcement ofSonia Gandhi candidatureshowed that she play a vital rolebefore and after elections. “Herequation with senior leaders ofseveral parties cannot beunderestimated as she alsoplayed key role in creatingcounter narrative to defeat theShining India campaign of AtalBihari Vajpayee in 2014 polls,”said the leader.

Ending all speculation,Congress on Thursdayannounced UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi to contest fromRae Bareilly and party chief

Rahul Gandhi from his hometurf Amethi.

Sonia’s re-nomination fromRae Bareli has also scotchedrumours about she is makingway for daughter PriyankaGandhi Vadra at this familybastion.

The leaders say it wouldalso ensure that the family’syoungest entrant into the polit-ical scene can dedicate herenergy on poll campaign acrossthe state and in other placesrather than limiting it to justone seat.

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The Delhi Government onFriday hiked the auto-rick-

shaw fare by 18.75 per cent inthe national Capital.

The Delhi Cabinetapproved recommendations ofa fare revision committee tohike auto-rickshaw tariff by�1.50 per kilometre, from�8/km to �9.50/km.

The meter-down charge of�25 for first two kilometres hasalso been raised to �25 for first1.5 kilometre, said TransportMinister Kailash Gahlot.

The waiting charge hasalso been increased from �30

per hour to �45 per hour.However, there is a change inthe waiting hours. The com-mittee has been scrapped theminimum limit of 15 minuteswhen the vehicle is complete-ly stuck in traffic or movingextremely slow.

The night and luggagecharges will remain the same.

The existing night charge is 25per cent extra fare between 11pm and 5 am.

The revised charges willcome into effect after theTransport Department’s noti-fication, Gahlot said.

Gahlot said fare revision isnot a reserved subject andthere is no need for theapproval of LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal.

The order has been wel-comed by auto union membersbut many among them haveasked the Government toremove the system of compul-sory GPS for auto-rickshaw asit is open vehicle.

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An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)MLA has been detained by

Income Tax Departmentsleuths for questioning aftertheir team surveying a builderhere on Friday found over �2crore cash allegedly “linked” tothe legislator and his associates,officials said.

They said Uttam NagarMLA Naresh Balyan, a prop-erty dealer, and 2 others arebeing questioned by the taxofficials in Dwarka to ascertainif the recovered cash was “ille-gal and unaccounted.”

“Balyan has been detainedfor questioning after it emergedthat the recovered cash hadpurported links with him. Thetax officials are questioning theMLA and others present withhim about the source of themoney,” a senior official said.

The incident took placeshortly after 1 PM when an I-T team reached the office of areal estate dealer to conduct a

“routine survey” on a tip-offabout some cash changinghands.

A survey procedure entailsI-T officials visiting only thebusiness premises of anassessee and not their residen-tial or other locations.

Balyan and few other peo-ple were found at the spot andintercepted by the tax team atthe Dwarka office of the builder and they were refrainedfrom leaving the premises asthe cash amount of over �2crore was recovered from thepremise.

After the recovery of the cash, the department has“converted” its limited action of survey into a full-fledged‘search and raid operation’ and few more premises of thepeople linked in the case arebeing covered now, the officialsaid.

He said that tax sleuthswere told that the cash pertainsto some property deal even asfurther details are awaited.

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Majority of political andreligious leaders have

welcomed the SC order formediation in the Ayodhya dis-pute.

However, some leadersfrom Muslim community andLeft parties disapproved of thepresence of spiritual leader SriSri Ravi Shankar on the medi-ation panel.

A number of senior BJP leaders made it clear that building Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya is the only way out of theimpasse.

Union Minister UmaBharti said one has to respect the SC order but assert-ed that she stands for buildingthe Ram temple at the disput-ed site in Ayodhya and amosque can be built outside itsvicinity.

The All India MuslimPersonal Law Board (AIM-PLB) welcomed the SC order,saying it would be most befit-ting that the matter is resolvedthrough negotiations.

“It would be most befit-ting,” AIMPLB general secre-tary Maulana Wali Rehmanitold media.

Mahant Ram Das of theNirmohi Akhara, one of themain litigants in the case, too

welcomed the setting up of apanel of mediators, but said itwould have been better had aHindu judge, connected withthe case, been included in it. Headded that besides the media-tion efforts, the court hearingin the matter should also go onsimultaneously so as to see thatthe case does not get pro-longed further if the litigantsare not satisfied.

In reference to Sri Sri,AIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi said he should act in an“unbiased” manner.

“It would have been betterhad the Supreme Courtappointed a neutral person.One of the members of thepanel had threatened Muslimsthat India would become Syriaand I hope that he keeps thosethoughts out of his mind whilebeing on the mediation panel.We welcome the decision,” hetold reporters.

BJP MP SubramanianSwamy, who is also a filed peti-tion on fundamental right topray at Ram Mandir stressed that the constructionof Ram temple is non-nego-tiable.

“There is no question ofnot building a temple where webelieve Lord Ram was born,” hesaid adding that he will presenthis views before the mediationpanel.

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The Samajwadi Party hasdecided to field party

founder Mulayam Singh Yadavfrom its stronghold Mainpuri.The SP released its first list of nine candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in UP onFriday.

Dimple Yadav, wife ofparty chief Akhilesh Yadav,would contest from Kannauj,where she is the sitting MP.

The SP has decided tofield MPs Dharmendra Yadavand Akshay Yadav from thecurrent seats of Badaun andFirozabad respectively.

Incidentally, the Congress hadon Thursday announcedSaleem Iqbal Shervani as itscandidate from Badaun.

The list was signed by SPgeneral secretary Ram GopalYadav. The party left Mainpuri,described as its “safest” seat, forMulayam Yadav, who is theMP from Azamgarh right now.

Mulayam representedMainpuri in the Lok Sabha in1996, 2004 and 2009.

In the 2014 general elec-tion, the SP patriarch hadcontested from Azamgarh andMainpuri and won both. InMainpuri, his victory marginwas a massive 3.64-lakh votes.

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Attorney General KKVenugopal on

Friday claimed the Rafale documents were not stolenfrom the Defence Ministryand that what he meant in hissubmission before the SupremeCourt was that petitioners inthe application used “photo-copies of the original” papers,deemed secret by theGovernment.

His comments in the apex court on Wednesday that Rafale fighter jet deal documents were stolen caused a political row, with

Congress president RahulGandhi targeting the Government over stealingof such sensitive papers andseeking a criminal investiga-tion.

“I am told that theOpposition has alleged whatwas argued (in SC) was thatfiles had been stolen from theDefence Ministry.

This is wholly incorrect. The statement thatfiles have been stolen is whol-ly incorrect,” he told PTI, in anapparent damage-control exer-cise.

Venugopal said the appli-cation filed by Yashwant Sinha,

Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushant, seeking from the court a reviewof its verdict dismissing pleas for a probe into againstthe Rafale deal, had annexed three documentswhich were photocopies of theoriginal.

Official sources said theAG’s use of word stolen wasprobably “stronger” and couldhave been avoided.

The Government had also warned The Hindu news-papers with a case underOfficial Secrets Act for pub-lishing articles based on thesedocuments.

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The RSS here on Friday laud-ed the Indian Air Force

(IAF) for hitting terror launchpads in Pakistan and alsopraised the Government fortaking the decision. A resolu-tion to this effect was passed onday one of the three-day meet-ing of the Akhil BhartiyaPratinidhi Sabha, RSS' highestpolicy-making body, whichbegan here on Friday.

While talking to mediapersons, RSS joint general sec-retary Manmohan Vaidya toldthat the meeting passed an'abhinandan prastav' laudingthe IAF for the air strike andalso praised the Governmentfor this decision.

"The government has takenthe right decision to deal withthe anti-national forces andIndians should also remaincautious of such elements," hesaid.

Deep sorrow was expressedin the meeting over thePulwama and other terrorattacks that killed armed forcespersonnel, he said, adding thatIndia's sahishnuta (tolerance)should not be treated as itsweakness.

Around 1,400 members ofthe Pratinidhi Sabha includingRSS head, Mohan Bhagwatand Sarkaryavaha Bhaiyaji

Joshi are taking part in themeeting, which will also dis-cuss the Sabrimala templeissue, he said. Vaidya said theKerala Government is workingagainst the spirit of SupremeCourt ruling on the shrine byplaying with the faith of Hindus and forcing entry ofwomen who are not Hindus inthe temple.

On the Ram temple issue,he said all those associated withthe matter are putting theirviews in the Supreme Court."We have full faith in the judi-cial system and hope the allobstacles will be cleared and thetemple constructed," Vaidyaadded.

He further said no separatediscussion will take place in themeeting on the ensuing LokSabha elections, adding theRSS believes that maximumnumber of people should vote.Participants at the three-daymeet will share their ideas andexperience on issues like socialharmony, environment con-servation, saving water, reduc-ing use of plastic and treeplantation, Vaidya said.

The number of RSS'shakhas' (branches/units)increased this year, comparedto last year, he said. In 2018,there were 58,967 shakhas andthe number now is 59,266, hesaid.

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Women are the biggestblessing of God and

therefore discrimination withwomen is the biggest injustice.Thankfully, more women arecoming in the Madhya PradeshPolice than other departments.Police is always ready for thecooperation, respect and secu-rity of women, said MadhyaPradesh DGP VK Singh whileaddressing programme tohonor women held in thePolice Headquarters on theoccasion of InternationalWomen's Day.

DGP Singh congratulatedwomen who have dedicatedthemselves on women empow-erment and were present at theprogramme on theInternational Women's Day.

Women artists and jour-nalists were especially hon-

ored on this occasion. He saidthat in the efforts of womenempowerment, the womenjournalists are also playing animportant role.

Additional DirectorGeneral of Police Crime, RajivTandon, Additional DirectorGeneral of Police, KailashMakwana, Additional DirectorGeneral of Police, AnveshMangalam and Police InspectorGeneral of Police. MeenakshiSharma were present in theprogram along with othersenior officers and staff of thesenior police officers and state

police headquarters.DGP Singh said that for

women to fell free and talkopenly with police to sharetheir problems women's facil-ity room in all police stationsacross the state would be estab-lished and work has been ini-tiated with the reeleas of Rs. 40crore for construction ofwomen's facility room in 676police stations.

The training of self-defenseis also been given by the policeand to extend support WomenDesk has been established atState Police Headquarters. Thelaw is current scenario fullysuits to women.

Additional DirectorGeneral of Police, AnvishamMangalam said that keepingthe women's security in mind,10 thousand CCTV camerashave been installed across thestate.

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On the occasion ofInternational Women's

day by SBI Ladies Club, a san-itary napkin vending machinehas been installed atAnganwadi centre located inBhadbhada area underIntegrated Child DevelopmentProject Banganga for the pur-pose of playing an active role inthe cleanliness drive of thecountry.

The said machine was pre-sented to Parveen Sultan,Anganwadi worker, by VeenusArora, President of SBI LadiesClub. Addressing this gracefulceremony Mrs. Veenus Arora,President, Ladies Club, gave alot of wishes to InternationalWomen's Day, emphasizingthe strength of women to rec-ognize their power.

Today, the woman is strug-gling despite the adverse cir-cumstances and achieving suc-cess by registering her presence

in every field.She further said to women

of the settlement that if we haveto stay healthy then the envi-ronment around us shouldalso be clean because many dis-eases in our body are only dueto unhygienic environment.For this, he encouraged the useof sanitary napkins through thevending machine and encour-aging them to make the max-imum use of it.

She also said that with thehelp of many institutions andNGOs working with SBI LadiesClub for the various needysections of society. Efforts havebeen made to raise awarenessof education, employment andcleanliness.

On this occasion, a largenumber of women includingAnganwadi workers along withother members of the womenclub, including Venus Arora,Additional Vice President,Sangeeta Shukla were also present.

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Chunbhatti police teamedwith STF nabbed a wanted

accused having a reward of�10,000 and was absconding inattempt to murder and kid-napping case of a youth whowas kidnapped and pushedfrom a moving car in themonth of November last year.

Acting on a tip offabsconding accused FarhanKhan was nabbed near Lupinfactory in Mandideep. Farhanhas been booked for dozencrimes including two attemptsto murder cases. He is listed inGoon list in Talaiya police sta-tion.

The accused along withShashank, Shruti Sharma,Faizan, Haider, Asim Khan,Syed Adnan, Sharik and Puneetkidnapped and pushed victim

Ishan Gurjar from a speedingcar in the night on November6, 2018 near Suyash hospital inChunabhatti area.

Initially Shashank Kharewas nabbed on November 16and he provided details of fourothers involved in the crimeand based on the details AsimKhan (28) of Aishbagh, SyedAdnan (21) of Kotwali, SharikKhan (25) of Koh-e-Fiza andPuneet Updhyay (21) of Koh-e-Fiza were nabbed. Therewere around ten personsincluding Shruti who have cre-ated the ruckus on the day ofthe incident.

A cash reward of Rs 10000was declared for providingdetails of Farhan. Shruti andHaider are still abscondingand search has been intensifiedto nab the two.

Police recovered vehicles

used in the crime. HyundaiVerna bearing registrationnumber MP04CM 5513 andHyundai Creta bearing regis-tration number MP04CM0200and mobile phone used by theaccused.

Notably, Farhan’s mimicrywas made by Yash Gurjar andIshan Gurjar and was uploadedby their friends which irkedFarhan and to teach lessonFarhan along with Shruti andothers kidnapped ShashankNayanwani in his car and tookhim near Kilol Park when hebeaten brutally.

They took Shashank’smobile phone and contactedIshaan to meet near Suyashhospital. After Ishaan came hewas kidnapped and assaulted inthe car and pushed from the carto kill him, but he escaped withserious injuries.

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AState KnowledgeManagement Centre on

Climate Change has been setup in state under EnvironmentPlanning and CoordinationOrganisation (EPCO). Thecentre is providing trainingon subjects related to climatechange. Training in ‘CertificateCourse on Climate Change’ hasbeen started in EPCO.Participants from all over thecountry are taking part in thetraining programme.

Inaugurating the pro-gramme, Executive DirectorEPCO Jitendra Singh Raje saidthat climate change has becomea challenge for social and eco-nomic development along withenvironment. To meet the chal-lenge it is essential to establishcontrol on the emission ofgreenhouse gases which isresponsible for climate changeand effective tree plantationshould also be done to reducethe ill-effects of climate change.He said that better work can bedone in the direction of envi-ronment conservation onlywhen every individual is com-mitted to this cause.

Padmashri Babulal Dahiya,Suruchi Bhadwal from TERINew Delhi, Riddhima Sood ofEnvironment and ForestMinistry, Urban EnvironmentExpert Soumya Chaturvedla,Professor Amitabh Pandey ofIIFM, Bhopal, Mohanty ofIndian Institute of Soil Scienceand Retired PCCF BMSRathore will give lectures dur-ing the training. The trainingwill conclude on March 28.

Participants will be madeto review the efforts beingtaken at the social level to savetraditional water research ofwells and bawadis in Indoreand Burhanpur during thetraining. So far 60 participantshave attended 3 such trainingprogrammes in EPCO.

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A10-year-old girl was founddead under suspicious cir-

cumstances inside a water tankof an under construction build-ing at Nathu Barkehda villageunder Ratibad on Thursday.

The body was found in thewater tank by the family mem-bers at around 7 in the evening.The deceased identified asKanchan Mehar went missingplaying in the afternoon andwas found dead in a water tankof an under constructionhouse.

SHO Ratibad AditiBhawsar said that the circum-stantial evidences suggest thatthe death was an accident butnothing could be ascertained asthe post mortem report isawaited and further detailscould be revealed later.

Replying to question ofinjury marks and sexual assaultshe SHO Bhawsar said thatafter receiving the report detailscould be provided.

She said that the girl usedto live with her aunt while her

parents passed away long ago.The deceased was a class 6 stu-dent and left house for playing.The deceased was younger onein two sisters who were helpedby her aunt.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the police haveregistered a case under section174 of the CrPC and startedfurther investigation.

The statements of the fam-ily members, locals and ownerof the house in which deceasedwas found drowned would be

recorded in the further inves-tigation.

Meanwhile, a 21-year-oldbuilding painter died after hefell from building he was paint-ing at a private college underKhajuri Kalan police stationarea on Thursday. Police saidthat the deceased identified asRammu fell while paintingbuilding of NIFC College. Thebody was sent for the postmortem and a case under sec-tion 174 of the CrPC was reg-istered.

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Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangrahalaya organ-

ised its 43rd Foundation daycelebrations in museumpremises on Friday. On thisoccasion, Prof Sarit KumarChaudhuri, Director, IGRMS,presented the annual activitiesreport 2018-19.

Traditional artists for theircontribution in theSangrahalaya, Shravan Paswan,Vandana Tate, Bandi Uraonand P Satyanarayana andKiranbala Sharma were felici-tated with Shaal, Shriphal,memento and certificates. DilipSingh, ITS (Joint Director,IGRMS) gave the welcomespeech.

Chief-Guest, N Sridharan,(Director, School of Planningand Architecture, Bhopal) inhis address said, “Sangrahalayawith time has transformed thispiece of land into space of cul-ture. This museum keeps itsdeep penetration in the com-munity and preserving theIndian culture. I have visited alot of museums in the worldbut this is the first museum thatmakes the community aware ofevery activity and the people ofthe community consider thismuseum as the place of theirancestors and their secondhome”.

Later, chief guest, specialguest lighted the 1001 wickstraditional lamp of Kerala AalVilakku at Veethi Sankul

premises of ManavSangrahalaya.

Aal Vilakku is the symbolof unchanged and the long-last-ing tradition of acquisition,conservation and dissemina-tion of knowledge.

Everyone present in theaudience lit the wicks of the Al-Villakku lamp. Thereafter, abook exhibition based on lit-erature of Northeast Indiajointly inaugurated bySubhadra Mitra Chanana andN Shridhan at library hall,IGRMS.

In the evening culturalprogrammes ‘Purvottri –Cultural festival of North-Eastern states’ famous TetseoSister from Nagaland com-menced the performances.

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Addressing the KisanSammelan at Singrauli

Chief Minister Kamal Nathsaid that the overall develop-ment of the entire State includ-ing Singrauli will be ensuredwith the support of the com-mon man. He called upon theyouth, farmers and women toparticipate in development.

The Chief Minister saidthat 70 per cent of the localyouth will be employed inindustrial establishments inSingrauli district.

He instructed the districtadministration to immediate-ly take necessary action in thisregard. Nath distributed croploan waiver certificates ofaround �87 crores to more than19,000 farmers. He distributedloan approval certificates toyouths selected under YuvaUdyami Yojana and distributed

forest rights letters to eligiblefamilies under Forest RightsAct.

Chief Minister Kamal Nathlaid the foundation for theGond Major Irrigation Projectproposed on Gopad river at acost of �1072.20 crore. Theconstruction of the project willbe completed in 4 years. Oncompletion of the project,23,800 hectares land of 111 vil-lages of Sarai and Devsar tehsilof Singrauli district and 9,200hectare area of 54 villages inMajhauli tehsil of Sidhi districtwill be provided irrigationfacility.

Announcing the openingof a mining college in Singrauli,the Chief Minister said that allmajor works will be done fordevelopment in this area.

He also performed bhoo-mi-pujan of upgradation worksof �17 crores in 200-bed hos-pital of district hospital and for

construction of 5 gaushalas ata cost of �2.75 crore.

Congratulating women onInternational Women’s Day,Chief Minister Kamal Nathappreciated the work beingdone by self-employed womenin Singrauli district.

He said that developmentcannot be imagined in anyfield without the support ofwomen.

Nath gave citations toAnganwadi workers PoojaSoni, Social Worker RehanaSiddiqui, Vijayalakshmi Shuklaand Sharmila Singh for out-standing work.

Mineral ResourcesMinister Pradeep Jaiswal andPanchayat and RuralDevelopment MinisterKamleshwar Patel alsoaddressed the Kisan Sammelan.Farmers, women, youth andother public representativeswere present.

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Piplani police have nabbed amiscreant at Raisen road

and recovered illegally trans-ported 156.30 litres of county-made liquor and liquor worth�3.1 lakh on Thursday.

According to the policeacting of a tip off a car bearingregistration numberMP04V7141 was traced and inthe night and when it was weresearched 18 cartons were recov-ered from the car.

A total of 156 bottles wererecovered from the car andfrom his Anand Nagar resi-dence 41 bottles of liquor and48 bottles of country made

liquor were recovered.The accused was identified

as Shailendra Thakur (24) ofKariya Kalan Raisen.

Police said that the accusedwas carrying liquor and failedto produce license regarding theliquor and were nabbed. Thesource from which the twohave obtained the liquor andwhere it was scheduled to bedelivered would be investigat-ed.

In the initial investigationbased on the information of ille-gal transport of liquor when thepolice started to search for themiscreant of the provideddescription the accused tried toescape the spot after he spotted

police but was nabbed. A caseunder section 34 (2) of theExcise Act was registered andfurther investigation has beenstarted.

Meanwhile, a car was setablaze by miscreants late in thenight on Thursday at NehruNagar under Kamla Nagarpolice station area.

The victim Laxmi Dubeylodged a complaint that her carwhich was parked in front ofher house was set ablaze andwhen she sensed somethingburning she went to check onlyto found that car was set ablaze.Police have registered a caseagainst unidentified miscre-ants and started investigation.

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Mother is the strong pillar ofthe family and everything

depends on her. But, what hap-pens when she retires from thisjob was showcased through aHindi play ‘Maa Retire Hoti Hai’.The play was staged here onFriday at Shaheed Bhavan.

Originally written inMarathi by Ashok Patole theplay was directed by AshokBulani and presented by RangSamuh Theatre Group, Bhopal.The play was staged on the thirdday of event ‘Rang TriveniTheatre Fedtivsl 2019’.

The play shows the motheras caring, conscientious wife ofa chauvinist husband and a lov-ing grandmother. She is con-cerned about her sons, daugh-ters-in-law and the husband. Shegives hankies to her sons whenthey leave for office. She wash-es, cooks and takes care of thegrandson. She does all chores,but the daughters-in-law resent

their husbands’ devotion to theirmother.

The story of the play followsthe struggle of the mother, theprotagonist of the play Sudha.The elder son and his wife planto buy a building of an old agehome which was started by themother. In the course of the play,the audience discovers that shewas a writer and had been phys-ically abused by her husband.

The younger son goes to amovie with his wife withouttelling her.

The mother in her is veryhurt. All the family memberstake her for granted. The hurtmother tells the family membersthat she thought she has inher-ited good values in them but shehas failed. Exhausted with thetrials she faced everyday in herlife she tells them that she is retir-ing from all the jobs of houseand before retiring she gives amonth notice prior to retirementwhich should be considered asher holiday.

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Aplay ‘Veer Abhimanyu’narrating the tale of

Abhimanyu’s bravery andevents of Mahabharata wasstaged on Friday. The play wasperformed at Madhya PradeshState Tribal Museum.

The play was based onChakravyuh, events ofMahabharat leading up toAbhimanyu’s death, was stagedUnder Abhinayan series. The

play was based on the compo-sition by Drona Acharya andwas directed by Ali Siddiqui.

The ballet centers aroundthe revenge that fuelled thefight between Kauravas andPandavas in Mahabharat. Itbeautifully depicted therevenge harboured byDronacharya for being letdown by friend king Drupad,revenge in the heart of Karnafor being slighted as Sutaputraby Draupadi at her swayamvar,and also revenge in the heart ofDraupadi when she has toundergo ‘Cheer Haran’ afterbeing lost by the Pandavas inthe game of dice.

It is the determination ofmany such slighted hearts nurs-ing revenge that eventuallyresults in the Mahabharat.Through eight scenes, the bal-let presented a compact storyof Abhimanyu, how the secretof breaching a Chakravyuh isrevealed to him while he is inhis mother’s womb, how hesucceeds in replicating it as ayoung lad in the Mahabharatand eventually his death at thehands of the senior warriorsfighting the war.

It was a mass treat for theaudience to watch the epicstory on stage . The theatrelovers of the city were mes-merized to have witnessed sucha wondrous performance.

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The Bhopal Branch of TheInstitute of chartered

Accountants of India organisedan International Women’s Daycelebration programme for CAfemale members at HotelAtishay here on Friday.

The theme of the programwas “Shimmer 2019”. The pro-gram has been inauguratedand given the welcome addressand explains about the impor-tance of Women’s day by CAMayank Agarwal, Chairman ofthe Bhopal Branch. The pro-gramme has been conductedby CA Ankur Jain, Secretary ofBhopal branch.

The Speakers of the pro-gram are Amira Tripathi,

Neena Nair and CA JyotiChohan. The main objective ofcelebrating Women’s days is toraise voice for equality ofwomen’s in the society.Toremembered the importancework done by Women in theirrespective field.

The Women MembersEmpowerment Group of ICAIwill be celebrating women’sDay on March 8, 2019 in a bigway across the country.

CA Zuber Ullah Khan,Vice Chairman of the branchalong with the CA SamankMohabe, Treasurer BhopalBranch; CA Anshul Agarwal,CICASA Chairman and CAPradeep Mutreja & CA AdityaShrivastava also participated inthe program.

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Abag, carrying �1 lakh cashwas stolen from a parked

car by breaking window panesat Rachna Nagar underGovindpura police station areaon Thursday.

According to the police,the victim the police officerDevendra Singh had gone tomeet his accountant at RachnaNagar on Thursday andparked the car near SaiMedical store in the after-noon and when he returnedlate in the afternoon the win-dow panes were found broken.When the victim checked thevaluables he found that his bagcarrying �1.05 lakh cash wasmissing. The window pane ofrear door was found brokenwhich was used to remove thebag.

The area is a busy marketplace the car was parked infront of a shop still miscreantsmanaged to escape with thebag. The victim deals in build-ing construction and lives inAwadhpuri.

The total loss in the theftwas �1.05 lakh cash which thevictim has withdrawn to makepayment and cash was with-drawn in Narsinghgarh.

A complaint was lodged

with the Govindpura policeafter the incident and after thepreliminary investigation thepolice have registered a caseunder section 379 of the IPCand have started further inves-

tigation to nab the miscreantinvolved in stealing the valu-ables.

The victim came to thearea at around 2.30 pm andreturned after 5 pm.

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Less than 10 months afterbeing appointed as the

Mizoram Governor,Kummanam Rajasekharan hasresigned from the post givingrise to speculation that he maybe pitted against Congressleader Shashi Tharoor fromThiruvananthapuram LokSabha seat. Tharoor is the sit-ting MP from the seat.

An RSS strong man and aformer chief of state unit of BJP,Rajasekharan, 65, is being seenas the saffron party's best LokSabha chance from Kerala,which is the only major statewhere it is yet to open anaccount.

President Ram NathKovind has accepted the resig-nation of Rajasekharan asMizoram Governor, aRashtrapati Bhavan spokesper-son said in New Delhi onFriday.

Though the BJP leadership

is yet to announce the candi-date list, state party sourceshere said chances are high thatRajasekharan could contestfrom the prestigiousThiruvananthapuram seat, oneof the half-a-dozen con-stituencies where the partyhopes to put up a good show-ing.

Rajasekharan was madethe Mizoram Governor onMay 25 last in a surprise movewhen the crucial ChengannurAssembly bypoll was round thecorner.

Since then, a section ofparty workers had beendemanding and speculatingabout the return of the seniorleader to active politics.

If Rajasekharan is chosenfor the Thiruvananthapuramconstituency, a tough triangu-lar contest involving the rulingLeft Democratic Front (LDF),opposition United DemocraticFront (UDF) and the BJP willbe on the cards.

Though the Congress-ledUDF is also yet to announce itscandidate list, Tharoor isexpected to seek a third termfrom here.

The LDF has named CPI'ssitting MLA C Divakaran as itsnominee. Asked for his reac-tion on the possible fielding ofRajasekharan from the con-stituency was sought, Tharoorsaid the BJP leader was a goodhuman being, but it was theideology of the party which thecandidate represented mat-tered.

“As far as I know, he is agood human being. But it's notthe individual but the ideolo-gy of the party which he rep-resents and what kind of Indiathat they envisage is mostimportant. People of the con-stituency know very well whatI have done for them in the last10 years,” he told reporters.

Divakaran said who wouldbe the rival candidate did notmatter for him.

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The BJP on Friday appoint-ed Odisha leader Baijayant

Jay Panda, who joined the BJPthis week, as party's vice pres-ident and spokesperson, givinghim a key role in boosting theparty's Lok Sabha prospects inhis home State.

Panda, an articulate politi-cian, running a group of pub-lications in Odisha, is expectedto raise the tempo and contentof BJP campaign against five-term Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik and raise BJP's tally inLok Sabha and also counterthe ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD)in the assembly polls which arelikely to be conducted alongwith the General elections.

In a brief statement, BJPPresident Amit Shah said Pandahas been appointed as VicePresident and spokesperson ofthe party with immediate effect.This has been an exceptionalrise for one who has spent bare-ly a week in the party andspeaks lot about BJP's confi-

dence and expectations fromhim in strengthening party'sbase in the eastern state whereit has nudged out Congressfrom the second position.

Panda has been suspendedby the BJD for the allegedanti-party activities early lastyear prompting him to resignfrom the party and his LokSabha seat Kendrapara fromwhere he was elected twice onthe BJD ticket. BJP hopes thatsenior leader's presence couldexpand its influence along thecoastal belt in the state.

BJP has made quickinroads during the panchayatand local level elections andgained second position in the

state by relegating the Congressto the third slot.

The MP had been close tothe state chief minister andoften articulated BJD's viewpoint at the national levelbefore he fell out with him inthe recent years. BJD hadaccused him of money laun-dering and demanded a probe.

In a letter to Patnaik, Pandahad said the CM's absence atthe last rites of his father,Bansidhar Panda, was “the laststraw” among “many humilia-tions over the past four years”.Panda's father was a well-known industrialist with closeties to Naveen's father, formerChief Minister Biju Patnaik.

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In a major relief to cancerpatients, maximum retail

price of 390 non-scheduledcancer medicines have beenreduced by up to 87 per cent,which would result in annualsavings of around Rs 800 crorefor the patients, theGovernment said on Friday.

The NationalPharmaceutical PricingAuthority (NPPA) on February27 had brought 42 non-sched-uled anti-cancer drugs underprice control, capping trademargin at 30 per cent.Manufacturers and hospitalswere directed to convey therevised MRP, to be effectivefrom March 8, based on thetrade margin formula.

“The NPPA underMinistry of Chemicals andFertilisers has put out list of 390anti-cancer non-scheduledmedicines with MRP reductionup to 87 per cent. The revisedprices would come into effectfrom March 8, 2019,” an offi-

cial release said. A total of 390brands -- that is 91 per cent ofthe 426 brands reported by themanufacturers -- showeddownward price movement, itadded. This move is expectedto benefit 22 lakh cancerpatients in the country andwould result in annual savingsof around Rs 800 crore to thepatients, the release said.

“The trade margin ratio-nalisation for 42 anti-cancerdrugs was rolled out as Proofof Concept, stressing on thenew paradigm of selfregulationby the industry. The manufac-turers of these 42 drugs havebeen directed not to reduceproduction volumes of brandsunder regulation,” it said. Whilethe MRP of 38 brands has beenreduced by 75 per cent andmore, 124 brands have seenreduction between 50 per centto 75 per cent. The MRP of 121brands has been reducedbetween 25 per cent to 50 percent, while the maximum retailprice of 107 brands have beenreduced below 25 per cent.

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In a first, the IAF on Fridaytweeted a poem in Hindi

from its official Twitter handlesending out a message toPakistan that India had to sendits Mirage 2000 jets across theLine of Control(LOC) asPakistan had crossed all limits.The poem, penned by BipinAllahabadi, also gave a sternwarning to Pakistan to mend itsways.

The poem in Hindi saysthat a fighter whose name is''Mrigmarichikaa” (Mirage) hadto cross over the boundaries assomeone had crossed all limits.“Ab neend kaise aayegi unko,thoda sa jhakjhor aaye hainunko,” the poem reads, whichmeans ,” how will they get sleepnow, we have given jolted them”.The lines were an obvious ref-erence to India's pre-dawn aer-ial strike that destroyed terrorgroup Jaish-e-Mohammed's(JeM) trainingcamp at Balakot on February 26.

The strikes were carriedout after 40 CRPF personnelwere killed in a suicide attackin Pulwama, Kashmir onFebruary 14 and the JeMowned responsibility for it.

The Pakistani jets retaliatedafter the Indian aerial strikes onFebruary 27 and intruded intoRajouri sector to target militaryinstallations there. However,they were not successful andthe IAF jets chased them away.In the ensuing aerial combat,

Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman'sMIG-21 Bison was hit byPakistani air defence. He eject-ed from the crashing jet andlanded in Pakistan OccupiedKashmir(POK) and captured.He was released two days later.

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Vice President of India andChairman Rajya Sabha M

Venkaiah Naidu has been con-ferred an Honorary Doctorateby the University of Peacefounded by the United NationsOrganisations (UNO) for hiscontribution “to the Rule ofLaw, democracy and sustain-able development in India”.Naidu received the degree of'Doctor of Philosophy' (DoctorHonoris Causa) from the Deanof the University of Peace in theCosta Rican capital of San Jose.

The University of Peace wasfounded further to a resolutionof United Nations' GeneralAssembly in December, 1980incorporating an InternationalAgreement for the establishmentof the University of Peace withthe mandate of “Engaging in dis-semination of knowledge fun-damental to the full develop-ment of the human person andsocieties through interdiscipli-nary study of all matters relatingto peace”. India is a signatory tothis resolution and Naidu is thefirst Indian to receive anHonorary Doctorate from thisUniversity.

On the occasion Naiducalled for defeating the destruc-tive forces of hatred, the fanat-ical cries of religious bigotryand the megalomaniac designsof despotic rulers to ensurepeace for promoting the welfareof humankind.

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The Supreme Court Fridayasked the Election

Commission of India Secretaryto appear before it on March 12in connection with a PIL alleg-ing that several categories ofpersons in Assam have beendeprived of voting rights aheadof the Lok Sabha polls.

The apex court sought thepersonal appearance of thesecretary as despite the noticebeing issued on February 1 noone appeared to represent theElection Commission.

The categories include

some whose names figure inthe draft NRC but not in thevoters' list.

The matter came up beforea bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and jus-tices SA Nazeer and SanjivKhanna.

The PIL alleged that a cat-egory of persons whose nameswere deleted from the voter listwere some whose namesappeared in the draft NRCpublished on July 30, 2018.

The petition claimed thesepeople had voted in the lastLok Sabha election held in2014.

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Next of kin of the 40 CRPFpersonnel, killed in the

February 14 Pulwama suicidebombing, have been paid over�1.01 crore ex-gratia amounteach as per service rules.

Seventy per cent of thecompensation from the riskfund is given to the spouse and30 per cent to the parents of themartyrs.

As per normal practice, theamount from the risk fund ispaid after Court of Inquiry anda consolidated report from theSector IG. But in the instantcase, realising the magnitude ofthe tragic incident, the DirectorGeneral has desired that theamount be disbursed to theNOK February 18 positively, IGAdministration Vikram Sehgalsaid in a message on February17 to IGs of the Sectors fromwhich the martyrs belonged.

Officials said the 'next ofkin' of these slain personnel willalso get an additional ex-gratiaamount that has beenannounced by various stategovernments, where the troopshailed from, in a case-to-casebasis.

A total amount of over�1.01 crore has been paid to thefamilies of the 40 personnelwho were killed in thePulwama terror attack onFebruary 14, the CRPF said ina statement on Friday.

This amount includes �35lakh given by the central gov-ernment as ex-gratia to theCentral Armed Police Force(CAPF) personnel killed in theline of action, �21.50 lakh underthe risk fund, �15 lakh from the'Bharat Ke Veer' corpus and �30lakh from the SBI paramilitaryservice pay insurance cover.

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Union Ministers SushmaSwaraj, Arun Jaitley and

Nitin Gadkari Friday laid thefoundation stones of two high-speed highway corridors -- Rs90,000-crore Delhi-MumbaiExpressway and Rs 9,000-croreDwarka Expressway here.

The ministers also dedi-cated the Rs 1,217-crore JaipurRing Road to the nation.

Addressing a gathering onthe occasion, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj saidthe three projects are a gift forDelhi and Haryana.

The Delhi-MumbaiExpressway will change thefuture of Mewat region, andwill bring it on industrial mapof the country, she said appre-ciating that over 20 lakh newtrees will be planted on thesenew roads, and these roadshave the potential of becomingtourist attraction in near future.

Finance Minister ArunJaitely said the Delhi-MumbaiExpressway would link twomost important freight centresof the country, and will boosteconomic activity and generategreat employment opportunities.

He appreciated RoadTransport, Highways, Shipping,Water Resources, GangaRejuvenation and RiverDevelopment Minister NitinGadkari's efforts in developing

the national highway networkin the country and said that hehas successfully brought upthis sector to building of 29 kmof National Highways a day.

Jaitley said nearly 91 percent of the country's villages arelinked with main roads. TheDwarka Expressway, oncecompleted, will open neweravenues for industrial devel-opment in the entire region, hesaid and added these express-

ways will improve overalldevelopment.

Gadkari said while devel-oping expressways and high-ways, full attention is beinggiven to minimising pollutionlevels.

He said the Delhi-MeerutExpressway, Dhaula Kuan flyover,etc, will definitely reduce trafficcongestion, thereby improvingthe air quality in the city.

The Delhi-Mumbai

Expressway will also speed upthe development and smart citieswill develop along them gener-ating vast employment oppor-tunities for the local people.

He said projects worthover 15 lakh crore are under-way in the ministry, and theseare being taken up with fulltransparency in a corruption-free atmosphere. He said allprojects are being completedwithin time schedules.

The greenfield Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will beIndia's longest expressway at1,320 km and would reduce thetravel time between themetropolises to 13 hours fromthe current 24 hours, he said.

Gadkari said the express-way would be completed inthree years and has the poten-tial to generate 50 lakh man-days of employment duringconstruction.

The expressway will passthrough underdeveloped areasand about 15,000 hectares ofland is being acquired for it atan estimated cost of Rs 25,000crore, he added.

In line with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's Digital Indiavision, all transactions relatedto land acquisition, includingtransfer of compensation tolandowners, are being donedigitally.

“Delhi-Mumbai will beIndia's most environment-friendly expressway with a treecover of 20 lakh trees and rain-water harvesting system at every500 metres,” Gadkari said.

The expressway has takena record time-frame of less thanone year from conceptualisa-tion to award, with 148.5 km ofworks already awarded and afurther 400 km to be awardedthis month, he said. Theremaining 800 km will beawarded in the next six months.

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Rear Admiral DidierMalterre, Commander of

the French Joint Forcesdeployed in the Indian Ocean,visited India last week anddiscussed ways to enhancebilateral defence engagementwith top officials.

The French Joint ForcesCommander, during his maid-en official trip to New Delhi afterassuming command, first visit-ed the Information Managementand Analysis Centre (IMAC)and the Information FusionCentre (IFC).

His trip to the two centrescame after Admiral ChristophePrazuck, Chief of the French

Naval Staff, made a trip theretwo months ago, a frenchEmbassy statement said.

Jointly run by the IndianNavy and the Coast Guards,IMAC focuses on the analysisof maritime information acrossthe world.

It draws on numeroussources of information forbuilding its database on theglobal maritime situation, par-ticularly by relying on its agree-

ments with partner countries.At the end of 2018, India

also established IFC to moni-tor the region. It plays a centralrole in coordinating informa-tion in the Indian Ocean.

During the visit fromFebruary 26-28, theCommander of the FrenchJoint Forces deployed in theIndian Ocean held meetingswith top officials of the IndianNavy such as Vice Admiral MS Pawar, Chief of Staff, EasternNaval Command, and Vice-Admiral Ashok Kumar, ViceChief of the Indian Navy, aswell as at the IntegratedDefence Staff level, represent-ed by Lieutenant-GeneralAmarjeet Singh Bedi.

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The Delhi High Court onFriday stayed trial against

former AIADMK leader TTVDhinakaran in a case ofallegedly bribing ElectionCommission officials for get-ting the 'two leaves' symbol forthe Sasikala-led faction of theparty.

Justice Sunil Gaur alsosought response of the DelhiPolice on Dhinakaran's pleachallenging framing of chargesagainst him by the trial courtfor the alleged offences of crim-inal conspiracy and destructionof evidence in the case.

The high court in its inter-im order stayed the trial courtproceedings and listed the mat-ter for further hearing on

March 20.Dhinakaran, in his appli-

cation through senior advocateArvind Nigam and advocateNaveen Malhotra, sought thequashing of trial court'sDecember 4, 2018, order in thecase of alleged bribery toElection Commission officialsto get the 'two leaves' symbolfor the party.

A trial court here hadframed charges for the allegedoffences punishable under sec-tions 120B (criminal conspira-cy) and 201 (destruction of evi-dence) of Indian Penal Code(IPC) and under section 8 (tak-ing gratification by corrupt orillegal means to influence pub-lic servant) of the Prevention ofCorruption (PC) Act.

It had on November 17 last

year ordered framing of chargesagainst him.

Dhinakaran, who floatedthe Amma Makkal MunnetraKazhagam party after beingexpelled from the AIADMK,was arrested in April 2017here and later granted bail.

Dhinakaran won the by-elections held in RadhaKrishnan Nagar Assembly con-stituency in December 2017under the 'pressure cooker'symbol with a margin of over40,000 votes.

Alleged middleman SukeshChandrasekar, who is in judi-cial custody, was earlier put ontrial in the case for the allegedoffences of criminal conspira-cy, destruction of evidenceunder the IPC and under thePC Act.

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Last Friday, India welcomed itshero, Abhinandan Varthaman,back from Pakistan. He spentclose to three days in Pakistanicaptivity as a result of a brief skir-

mish with Islamabad’s Air Force, duringwhich, his MiG-21 Bison went down.Officer Abhinandan’s return is the latestcourse of events in an episode that has notyet seen its last act but India can at leastmomentarily heave a sigh of relief. Hisreturn also provides us with enough pauseto examine the events that unfolded overthe past few weeks, to praise the braveryof our armed forces and to ask questionsto the Prime Minister, who is the manentrusted with providing leadership to thearmed forces.

Primarily, in this article, I aim to exam-ine the concept of leadership and whetherthe Prime Minister demonstrated it this timearound. While the entire nation is extreme-ly proud of our armed forces and the hugesacrifices they are regularly asked to make,it does make it all the more important toensure that they are led by a political leaderwho exhibits similar qualities. The events ofthe past few weeks make it apparent thatwhile the country is proud of the armedforces, the political leadership leading themhas been found wanting.

So what is leadership? NormanSchwarzkopf defined its as, “Leadership is apotent combination of strategy and charac-ter. But if you must be without one, be with-out strategy.” Over the past few weeks, the rul-ing Government has displayed a lack of both.

Lack of strategy: Pakistan is a hub ofterror. There are not many people in theworld who would disagree with this state-ment. Even recently, while Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan did earn some good-will on the world stage by allowingAbhinandan to return and by ensuring thathe was not mistreated while in Pakistan’scaptivity, much of that goodwill was wast-ed by the clear propaganda videos that werereleased by the Government over there.During the entire ordeal, Imran Khanalleged that the attack by India on the ter-rorist camps did not really cause any harmto Pakistan. He also garnered sympathy andgoodwill from world leaders by taking theinitiative to return Abhinandan to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi allowedPakistan to take the initiative by not speak-ing to the nation in its hour of need and fail-ing to rebut Pakistan’s claims that there wereno casualties due to India’s strikes. This wasespecially shocking since members of the BJPlike Sambit Patra have said that close to 400terrorists were killed while BJP chief AmitShah said that 250 of them were killed. Insteadof giving a fitting reply to Pakistan andreclaiming the initiative, Modi, as someonewho rarely gives up an opportunity to speak,remained silent on this crucial issue and,therefore, let slip an opportunity to provePakistan and the world media wrong. By

doing so, it was the PakistaniPrime Minister who appeared togarner greater admiration fromthe world rather than our PrimeMinister.

Character: In terms of char-acter, the BJP Government has anunenviable lack of it. There havebeen repeated reminders over thepast few years of this characterflaw. Whether it is the words usedby the Prime Minister to describewomen or the language used bythe BJP when dealing with anymember of the Opposition, theGovernment rarely covers itselfin glory. However, in light of therecent events, there was somehope that maybe the PrimeMinister may actually conducthimself in a manner befitting hisrole and get the entire countrytogether. How naïve of us!Despite the Opposition issuing astatement reiterating their stancethat they stand behind the armedforces, Modi repeatedly tookpolitical potshots without onceaddressing the nation in a digni-fied manner.

While the Prime Minister isoften found near a microphonewhen the wind is in his favour,he is conspicuously missingwhen the nation actually needsanswers. This time, too, headdressed a number of rallieswhen India’s brave Air Forceattacked the terrorist bases inPakistan, taking credit for thebravery of our armed forces butthe minute one of our pilots wascaptured and there was a need

for calm, clarity and composure,there was not a whiff from theGovernment or the PrimeMinister. Instead, in the after-math of Abhinandan’s capture,just a quick glance of the PrimeMinister’s twitter feed showsthat he addressed BJP workersin their booths before address-ing the nation and even then, itwas only through rallies orother political events that hetalked about strikes rather thanhaving a conversation withIndian citizens, which is onlyapropos in case of events ofnational significance, such asthis one.

What was all the more dis-heartening was the fact thatwhile media speculation aboutthe precarious state of affairs wasrife, there was no one from theGovernment to answer the lin-gering questions. Instead, theGovernment chose to send thearmed forces in the line of fireagain and forced it to field ques-tions that could obviously only beanswered by its representatives.

As stated above, one suchquestion was about the claimsmade by international mediachannels about the number ofdead terrorists after the attack.While there is no denying thatit is difficult to quantify thenumber of terrorists killed inthe mission, it was the BJP itselfthat came out with wild, vary-ing figures. The armed forceshave categorically come outand said that they have no idea

about the exact figure and thatthis was a question for theGovernment to answer.

If the armed forces have noclear figure in mind and the BJPhas been saying it’s 400 or 250 orwhatever the last person from theparty has said, is it not logical toquestion whether theGovernment actually had anysuch estimate or was it just mak-ing up numbers as it went along?

But when one of us, meremortals, actually asks the BJPwhy they are saying 400 when thearmed forces are saying they haveno idea about any exact figure,the party hides behind the armedforces and says that the people ofIndia cannot question the armedforces. Waah Modiji, Waah!

My views on how a leader issupposed to be is a product of mytime as an officer in the IndianPolice Service. As someone whohas had the opportunity to servewith other brave police officers,I was always told that you needto be the first one to take criticismto protect your officers and thelast to take credit for their brav-ery. This is slightly differentfrom Prime Minister Modi’s pol-icy of hiding behind the armedforces when tough questions areasked and basking in the glory,taking selfies when the sun isshining. India, in my opinion, hashad enough of Modi’s uniquebrand of leadership.

(The writer is JharkhandPCC president, former MP andIPS officer. Views are personal)#�)����*������������ ���������

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Sir — A report of the specialistaviation advisory, CAPA India,has predicted that the Indianaviation industry will need moremaintenance staff, pilots, secu-rity personnel and engineers by2028 to sustain its growth. Thereport comes at a time whenboth full-service and low-costcarriers are facing mountinglosses, operational and crew-management issues, rising ATFprices and management-owner-ship tussle in some of the majorairlines. The Government, onthe other hand, has been trum-peting the UDAN scheme,which seeks to connect Tier-IIand Tier-III cities and theNABH Nirman scheme, aimedat airport infrastructure devel-opment.

VarunBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Become partners to achievegender equality” (March 8) byBidisha Pillai. InternationalWomen’s Day is an occasion to

celebrate how much womenhave achieved. We also com-memorate the many ways thatwomen have advanced in vari-ous spheres, careers and roles asindependent, autonomous peo-ple who are now able to strivetowards their full potential. Wecelebrate the many creative andinnovative ways that womenare successfully contributing tothe global community.

Women are beautiful cre-ations of God, who complete ourlives. Our own scriptures andtexts accord her an equal status,balancing Prakriti or Nature asthe sacred feminine with thetrinity of the Purush or themale energy.

The fact is that life is birthedin the womb of a woman and itis the mother who imparts lifelessons and philosophies.

And that is the reason whyall religions have always empha-sised giving due respect towomen. But as reports of theirabuse and exploitation keep pil-ing up across the world in fright-ening proportions, we mustunderstand that the survival ofthe human race is at stake if wedo not accord them equal space.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Sir — Close on the heels of theremarks by former KarnatakaChief Minister Siddaramaiahabout being scared of peoplewho wear tilak on their forehead,another Karnataka Congressleader, BK Hariprasad’s unpalat-able remark, l inking thePulwama terror attack to Modi-Imran nexus is not only irre-sponsible but in poor taste. Onewonders why the Congress lead-ership and its chief RahulGandhi in particular, who havebeen directing tirades almostevery day at Prime MinisterModi, are conspicuously silentover such distressing remarksmade by their state units.

Even the Opposition, whichis usually critical of Modi, isquiet over the deplorable andinexcusable remarks of the twosenior leaders. Agreed rhetoricis raging on both sides duringelection season. But we have tomake sure that we do not crossthe lines of decency.

KR Srinivasan Secunderabad

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India has grown into a global powerhouse. Itseconomy is soaring but the picture on theground is still quite arid. The green shoots

that you see are only a patch of its landscape.Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity.India is one country where intense povertyabounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

The Indian economy is projected to be thefastest growing major economy in the world in2018-19 and 2019-20, ahead of China, accord-ing to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Per capita national income rose from �86,647in 2014-15 to �1,12,835 in 2017-18.Furthermore, improved telecommunications,seamlessly connected global markets, universal-isation of information through Internet andinnovations in the financial ecosystem have allopened up opportunities for the common manlike never before. It is, therefore, imperative thatlack of demand and supply of financial services— to all levels of society — do not act as animpediment to the country’s growth.

Inequality and exclusion are two of the mostpressing challenges facing the world today. Inrecent years, policy-makers have realised thatdevelopment will be uneven and not wholesomeif we do not address the problem of exclusionin a big way. Inclusive growth is necessary toensure that the benefits of a growing economyextend to all segments of society.

Access to and integration of every individ-ual into the formal economy by providing oppor-tunities to use his/her potential to improve upontheir well-being is essential for the building ofa prosperous and stable economy. Inclusivegrowth is widely recognised as having fourmutually supporting pillars — an employ-ment-led growth strategy, financial inclusion,investment in human development priorities andhigh-impact multi-dimensional interventions(win-win strategies).

It is now accepted wisdom that a key ingre-dient of inclusive growth is financial inclusion.Inclusive financial systems have potentiallytransformative power to accelerate developmentgains. They provide individuals and business-es with greater access to resources to meet theirfinancial needs such as investment in educationand housing, capitalising on business opportu-nities, saving for retirement and coping with var-ious economic shocks.

Like all other rights, citizens have the rightto participate in the economy. The ConsultativeGroup to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the develop-ment arm of the World Bank, puts it well:“Ensuring the financial system is inclusive isparamount in the process of creating a moreinclusive, equal and peaceful society.”

For the millions of individuals who are inthe lower deciles of the economic pyramid, lackof access to financial services is extremely dif-ficult, expensive and harrowing. It constrainstheir ability to plan for their family’s future andtraps households in cycles of poverty. Morebroadly, it limits the economic growth poten-tial of a country. People need to protect them-selves against hardship and invest in their futuresto cope with risks such as a job loss or crop fail-ure — all of this can push families into destitu-tion. Many poor people around the world lack

access to financial services that can serve manyof these functions such as bank accounts.Instead, they rely on cash, which is not onlyunsafe but hard to manage.

Financial inclusion, in its broader marketconceptualisation, is the belief that people,including the very poor and marginal, shouldgain access and be able to regularly use these ser-vices — an idea that the World Bank promotesas part of building inclusive economies, finan-cial institutions, fintech companies and mobileoperators and others pursue for evidently moreself-serving reasons. Having an account isn’t theangle — it’s using the account to achieve devel-opment goals, to save, to invest in business andeducational opportunities and to build financialresilience.

The objective of financial inclusion is a taskthat independent India has tried out in differ-ent forms over the decades but has not been ableto get it quite right. Initiatives include the coop-erative movement, followed by priority sectorlending, lead bank schemes, service areaapproach, creation of National Bank forAgriculture and Rural Development and SmallIndustries Development Bank of India, intro-duction of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), LocalArea Banks (LABs) microfinance, kisan creditcards, business correspondence and finally,Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

All these initiatives have been supply-dri-ven — delivery of banking services to the poorpeople, if need be, at their doorstep. However,they have not been able to achieve the goals withwhich they are designed and mandated. Mostof them were based on a misconceived premiseand assumption. One important lesson they haveoffered is that the availability of finance is a nec-essary but not a sufficient condition for pover-ty reduction. It is certainly not an end in itself.

In this race to financial inclusion, we willbe missing the mark if we believe that financial

inclusion will by itself eliminate poverty.Financial literacy, access to financial tools andeconomic empowerment underpin the develop-ment of healthy and stable states. But it needsto be complemented with a host of other ser-vices. Financial services alone cannot vault thepoor out of poverty. They can enable econom-ic enfranchisement but cannot solve social exclu-sion, which has to be addressed by tackling theentire combination of problems. The issuesinclude: Unemployment, discrimination, poorskills, low incomes and poor housing. One ofthe main reasons that the excluded populationscite for not having a financial account is that theysimply don’t have enough money to open anduse an account.

We need to remind ourselves of the memorable poser of Dudley Seers, first presidentof the prestigious European Association ofDevelopment Institutes (EADI), on development:“The questions to ask about a country’s devel-opment are: What has been happening topoverty? What has been happening to unemploy-ment? What has been happening to inequality?”Credit is a powerful tool if it is used effectivelywhen it is made available to the credit-worthyamong the economically active poor participat-ing in at least a partial cash economy — peoplewith the ability to use loans and the willingnessto repay them. But other tools are required forthe poor, who have prior needs, such as food,shelter, medicine, skills training and employment.

For development to be wholesome, it mustcover all basic facets of individual or society’swell-being: Health, education, housing andemployment. The well-known economist VKRVaradaraja Rao underlined that integrateddevelopment is not done in isolation throughthe project approach or even the programmeapproach but is integrated to take account oftheir mutual interaction and their linkages for-ward or backward, temporal or spatial, friend-

ly or hostile, with a view to achieving the totalresult, which is universalisation of health andenrichment of the quality of life.

Since substantial public investments arebeing made to promote financial inclusion, con-vergence, inclusive collaboration and mutualreinforcement alone can ensure better resourceutilisation. Plans and strategies that operate inexclusive silos lose out on the benefits ofmutual synergy and convergence of the variousdevelopment channels. Advocates of financialinclusion claim that financial services willreduce poverty and promote pro-poor develop-ment but critics believe that this is illusory andthat it falsely prioritises finance over delivery ofmore important services. Financial services arepresented as central to social and economicgrowth and development.

Inclusive finance requires us to break thevicious cycle where educational, financial anddigital exclusion combine to create social exclu-sion and isolation. The obvious lesson is thatfinancial access alone is not enough: There hasto be money to put into the account. For this,we have to stimulate productivity, raise livingstandards, unleash entrepreneurial energy andreduce economic inequality.

Financial inclusion is actually a tool in abroader development toolbox but in certain con-ditions, it happens to be the most powerful tool.It will make the poor a little more resilient butit is not the answer on its own. It has all to dowith how we are using it and how we are defin-ing the outcomes. Access to credit is notenough to alleviate indigence. More thanmicro-loans, what the poor need are investmentsin health, education and the development of sus-tainable farm and non-farm related productiveactivities.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’s NationalCommittee on Financial Literacy and Inclusionfor Women)

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In his 2007 book, A Secular Age,Canadian philosopher CharlesTylor wrote that three cate-

gories of secularism have evolvedsince the proper emergence of theidea — mainly from the 18th cen-tury onwards. He described“Secularity 1” as the total expulsionof religion from all spheres ofpublic life. This strand can betraced back to the turbulent days ofthe 18th century French Revolutionand also in the policies of Mao TseTung’s China (1949-76), JosephStalin’s Soviet Union (1922-52), theKhmer Rouge regime in Cambodia(1975-79) and currently in NorthKorea.

This form of secularism is alsoknown as laïcité which originatedduring the French Revolution.

Many aspects of it still informFrench secularism today. A form oflaïcité was also practised by theTurkish state during the rise andcoming to power of Turkish nation-alist Kemal Ataturk (1923-38).However, some advocates of laïcitélike to differentiate this strand ofsecularism with the one that wasimposed in communist countriessuch as China, the Soviet Union,Cambodia and North Korea.

However, Tylor is hesitant indefining “Secularity 1” as secular-ism proper. According to him, apolity needs to fulfill three criteriato qualify as secular: There shouldbe equality of people of all faiths;“all spiritual groups must be heard”;and there should be respect for the“free exercise of religion” (as longas it is not political in nature).

“Secularity 2” is largely a socialoccurrence triggered by powerfulintellectual currents and a shiftfrom traditional modes of econom-ics to modern ones. The mostprominent example in this respectis the erosion of the power of thechurch in Europe during the Ageof Enlightenment from 18th cen-tury onwards. The period saw the

advent of Constitutional democra-cy, modern science, industrialisa-tion and the separation of thechurch and the state. It saw reasonas being the primary source ofauthority. Unlike Secularity 1,Secularity 2 is not anti-religion butadvocates the relegation of faith tothe private sphere.

But much of Tylor’s magnumopus is dedicated to “Secularity 3.”To Tylor, this is the category whichbest defines the “secular age” thathas continued to develop well intothe 21st century. But Tylor positsthat Secularity 1 and 2 cannot beexplained away as being outcomesof the rise of the modern sciencesand modern models of politics andeconomics.

Instead, he wrote that secular-ism was actually a continuation ofa reformation process within theChristian faith. His thesis propos-es that for over a 1,000 years,there has been constant pressurewithin Christianity to continue toreform itself. Fearful of crumblingin the face of modernity,Christianity tried to keep pacewith change by modernising itself.This gave the believers the space to

let go of the idea of the state beinga political and moral expression offaith, without renouncing faithitself or without one first comingto a self-attained understanding ofit. Tylor wrote that, had this nothappened, secularism could neverhave managed to attract the consentof so many populations in Europe.

Tylor’s Secularity 3 is aboutreaching a secular state of existenceby actually reflecting on spiritualand theological ideas that haveopened up for intellectual scrutiny.For him, secularism is part of thetradition of reform that has contin-ued within Christianity. He wrotethat this is also why secularism hasmanaged to survive in countriessuch as the US where most citizenscall themselves religious.

Intrigued by Tylor’s theory,the French political scientistChristophe Jaffrelot, in a 2014essay for France’s Hyper Articles enLigne, went on to identify a“Secularity 4.” Jaffrelot wrote thatTylor’s secularity types were large-ly associated with the secularismthat developed in the West. Beingan expert on South Asia, Jaffrelottook the example of Muslims in

India, and then in Pakistan, todefine a Secularity 4.

According to Jaffrelot, eco-nomic, scientific and politicalmodernity introduced by theBritish in South Asia saw modernMuslim reformers push to relegateIslam’s rituals to the private spherebut transform Islam as an identitymarker. In other words, the processadvocated making Islamic ritualsprivate and Islam public as a cul-tural-political identity marker.

Jaffrelot wrote that when mod-ern Muslim reformers such as SirSyed Ahmad Khan andMuhammad Iqbal tried to demon-strate that Western modernity andIslam were compatible, and thatthis was what made Muslims aunique cultural entity, they openedthe way for politicians such asJinnah to claim that the Muslims ofIndia were a separate cultural enti-ty but one which was as modern asany Western national community.

According to Jaffrelot, Sir Syed,Iqbal and Jinnah formulated aunique way to form a non-theolog-ical Muslim polity without compro-mising its Muslim identity, because,after all, this was what was to gain

a separate Muslim country.Jaffrelot wrote that this is why,

right from the onset, the Pakistanistate tried to undermine and iso-late those demanding a theocracy.The state did this by “nationalisingIslam.” Jaffrelot wrote that the stateinvested in highlighting Islam as amodern political ideology ofPakistan but not the basis of formu-lating laws. He defines this as “sec-ularisation without secularism.”The state continued to usurp socialand physical spaces once dominat-ed by the clerics, pirs and ulema.This way the state gave itself thesole right to define what an Islamicstate was and at the same timederide the non-state explanationsof faith as being “anti-progress” and“backward.”

According to Jaffrelot, thisprocess peaked during the Ayubregime (1958-69). He wrote that itcontinued across the ZA Bhuttoregime (1971-77) and even duringthe conservative Gen Zia dictator-ship in the 1980s. But beginning inthe mid-1970s, Jaffrelot wrote, dueto purely political reasons, a pointcame when the state found it nec-essary to engage with non-state ele-

ments. This gave those who wereonce blocked from the state’s reli-gious narrative the chance tobecome stakeholders of the process.

They managed to change itscourse, which resulted in constitu-tional clauses based on certainstrands of the faith, a clear depar-ture from the state’s ways till themid-1970s. Eventually, from themid-1980s onwards, the state optedout from framing Islam in the con-text of how it was framed by thelikes of Sir Syed, Iqbal, Jinnah andAyub. Unchecked by the state (andeven encouraged), the process spi-ralled out of control, causing reli-gious violence and insurgencies ina highly polarised polity.

Recently, when Prime MinisterImran Khan insisted that “themonopoly of violence remains withthe state”, he was reiterating thestate’s urgency to reclaim the spaceto define what religion was in thecontext of Pakistan. And to, there-fore, once again, neutralise thestate’s competitors in this respectand return to what Jaffrelot callsSecularity 4: Secularisation withoutsecularism.

(Courtesy: The Dawn)

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The luxurious beach-sidebungalow of Punjab

National Bank (PNB) scamaccused and fugitive diaman-taire Nirav Modi in Raigad dis-trict was on Friday razed toground at one go by the author-ities, through controlled explo-sions.

Within minutes, the 33,000sq feet bungalow —namedRoopanya —was reduced todebris, through simultaneouscontrolled explosions carriedout through 110 dynamitesticks and 30 kilograms ofexplosives.

For the past few days, theauthorities had been planning

the “implosion” to bring downNirav Modi’s bungalow, locat-ed off Khim beach at Alibaug,nearly 100 km from Mumbai,

at one go. They had tied dyna-mite sticks and explosives topillars and other strategic placesin the bungalow. The explo-sions were carried at 11:15 am.

The formal demolitionwork had commenced onJanuary 24. The demolitionremained inconclusive. Aftera survey, a team of structuralengineers from Dr BabasahebAmbedkar TechnicalUniversity subsequently rec-ommended the controlledexplosions. The furniture andglass panes had been removedbefore the series of simulta-neous explosions were carriedout.

Constructed in 2009-2010on a 70,000 sq ft plot, the33,000 sq ft bungalow had sev-eral bedrooms. It was accessi-ble through a long windingroad. It was one of the highlyprotected properties.

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APrime Minister who fails toprotect classified documents

kept in his office is misfit for hispost, Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Fridaysaid continuing her relentlessattack on Narendra Modi.

Virtually blowing the elec-tion bugle from an InternationalWomen’s Day rally Banerjeesaid the Modi Governmentwhich had “crossed its expirydate” “will never be able torestore peace in Jammu &Kashmir,” because it is duringthis regime that the mountainState had witnessed a 260 percent rise in the acts of terror.

The Chief Minister led a

huge rally in Kolkata and spokeat the end of the procession.

“Why did your Governmentfailed to take sufficient actionand preempt attacks on Uri,Pathankot and Pulwama despiteprior intelligence reports”Banerjee asked adding “a newGovernment will come in theCentre after the elections andbring peace in the country.”

The BJP had failed to protectthe lives of the security person-nel by not acting on time she said.

Speaking on the allegedtheft of confidential files relat-ed to Rafale deal Banerjee won-dered “how a Prime Ministerwho cannot protect files frombeing stolen from his office canprotect the country.”

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Chennai: The three mediatorsappointed by Supreme Court toresolve the Ayodhya disputehave a common thread — allhail from Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court onFriday referred the politicallysensitive case for mediation andappointed retired apex courtjudge FMI Kalifulla as the headand senior advocate SriramPanchu and spiritual guru Sri SriRavi Shankar as two other mem-bers of the panel for the purpose.

Kalifulla hails fromKaraikudi in Sivaganga districtwhile Ravi Shankar was born inPapanasam near Kumbakonamin Thanjavur district andPanchu is Chennai-based.

Kalifulla started his legalcareer from Tamil Nadu, beforeretiring as a Supreme Courtjudge in 2016.

He had delivered the land-mark judgement for carrying outreforms in the Indian cricketboard BCCI.

After enrolling as an advo-cate in 1975, Kalifulla hadappeared for various public andprivate sector undertakings,nationalised and ScheduledBanks in his career.

He was appointed a Judge inthe Madras High Court in 2000.After a 11-year stint here, he wastransferred to Jammu andKashmir High Court as its ChiefJustice, from where he was ele-vated to the top court a yearlater.

At his farewell function in2016, then Chief Justice of IndiaT S Thakur had praised JusticeKalifulla for the historic verdictin which he was heading thebench with his brother judge,

saying the outgoing judge pro-vided valuable insights.

“While deciding the BCCImatter I felt like I was sittingbesides a former Indian cricketcaptain. That much insight wasprovided by Kalifulla. He has somuch insight into the workingof BCCI. I am eternally gratefulto him for helping me and thegame as such in regaining itsglory,” Justice Thakur had said.

On Friday, Kalifulla said theSC-appointed committee willtake every step to settle theRamjanmaboomi-Babri Masjiddispute “amicably.” Panchu, asenior advocate of the MadrasHigh Court, is a pioneer in themediation movement.

Founder of the country’sfirst court-annexed mediationcentre — The MediationChambers — in the MadrasHigh Court in 2005, he hasauthored books on mediation,including a comprehensivemanual -- Mediation: Practiceand Law.

Panchu has mediated anumber of cases, including theone involving the boundarydispute between Assam and

Nagaland.“It is a very serious respon-

sibility given to me by theHonourable Supreme Court. Iwill do my best,” he said on theapex court nominating him asone of the mediators.

Sri Sri Ravishankar, accord-ing to his Bengaluru-based Artof Living foundation, was bornto Visalakshi Ratnam and R SVenkat Ratnam in Papanasam.

He, however, shifted toBengaluru early in life and grad-uated in Bachelor of Sciencefrom St Joseph’s College.

The spiritual guru has beenattempting mediation on the dis-pute for some time now, beforethe court chose him as part ofthe panel Friday.

On his being included in thepanel, he said everybody mustmove together to end long-standing conflicts.

“Respecting everyone,turning dreams to reality, end-ing long-standing conflictshappily and maintaining har-mony in society — we must allmove together towards thesegoals. #ayodhyamediation,” hetweeted. PTI

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Kolkata: An organisation thatworks for differently abled peo-ple in West Bengal on Fridayexpressed “shock” at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s com-ment, purported to be a polit-ical jibe at Congress presidentRahul Gandhi, during a dis-cussion on dyslexia with a stu-dent on Sunday.

The Prime Minister’s com-ment might demoraliseresearchers from taking up ven-tures to lessen the sufferings of

the disabled people of the coun-try, General Secretary of thePaschimbanga Rajya PratibandhiSammilani, Kanti Ganguly, saidin a statement.

Ganguly, also a seniorCPI(M) leader, said the differentlyabled people were “shocked” asthe Prime Minister “has made funof a serious condition which hasbeen inducted as disability in theRights of Persons with Disability(RPD) Act, 2016, passed unani-mously”. PTI

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In a shocking disclosure madethrough a reply obtained

under the RTI Act, theMaharashtra Revenue depart-ment has said that the numberof farmers’ suicides nearly dou-bled in the State during the lastfour years from 6,268 in 2015to 11,995 in 2018.

The reply obtained by RTIactivist Jeetendra Ghadgerevealed that Amravati rev-enue division — comprisingdistricts of Akola, Amravati,

Buldhana, Washim andYavatmal in easternMaharashtra — accounted fora maximum of 4,383 out of thetotal 5,727 farmers’ suicidesreported from across the statebetween 2014 and 2018.

Surprisingly, the RTI replyalso confirmed that many ofthel affected farmers’ familiesreceived compensation of �1lakh were denied to compen-sation by the State Government.

In 2014, 1358 farmers’ fam-ilies received the compensationwhereas 674 application seek-

ing compensation had beenrejected. However, in 2018, thenumber of rejections increasedto 1050, while the approvedcases approved decreased to1,330.

In March 2015 thenRevenue Minister EknathKhadse had announced in theState Assembly that the com-pensation would be increasedfrom �1 lakh to 5 lakh to peraffected family. He had alsoannounced a life insurance pol-icy that would cover all thefarmers.

Panaji: The State-run GoaMeat Complex Limited willoutsource its abattoir opera-tions to a private player for aperiod of five years startingJune 1 this year, its managingdirector RajendraPrabhugaonkar said on Friday.

He said the GMCL, set up in 1971 in North Goa’s Usgao village to cater tothe beef requirement in thecoastal State, was shut sinceOctober, 2014 due to technicalissues and lack of animals forslaughter.

Prabhugaonkar said a min-imum of 30 animals arerequired for slaughter every dayfor the abattoir to functionoptimally.

“As per the tender, the pri-vate player will run the abattoir,provide meat for local con-sumption, and share revenuewith the State Government,” hesaid.

He said the abattoir has allrequisite permissions includingthose from the Factories andBoilers department, the FoodSafety and Standards Authorityof India (FSSAI) and the GoaState Pollution Control Board(GSPCB). PTI

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Panaji: The probe into the“missing” Rafale papers shouldstart from Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar who hadclaimed files related to the dealwere with him, Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi said onFriday.

Parrikar was DefenceMinister when the Rafale dealwas signed with France andthe Centre has told theSupreme Court some docu-ments related to the multi-bil-lion contract have been“stolen”. PTI

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After having been mas-querading as a doctor for

the past 20 years, law finallycaught up with an erstwhileappraiser of the Customsdepartment-turned-abscond-ing accused Abhinav Singh,when the CBI finally arrestedhim from Uttar Pradesh.

Singh, who was imper-sonating as Dr. Rajeev Guptafor the past two decades, wasworking as an AssociateProfessor with a MedicalCollege at Akbarpur, Chhata,Mathura in Uttar Pradesh,when the police arrested forallegedly causing to the tune of

�4,00,72,496 by way ofCustoms duty on goodsimported.

Singh, who had earlierbeen declared a ProclaimedOffender by the Court, wasbrought to Mumbai fromUttar Pradesh on a transit. OnFriday, Singh was producedbefore a Special Judge,Mumbai who remanded himin CBI Custody till March 13.

Singh was wanted in aCBI case registered onSeptember 29, 1999 on acomplaint lodged by theCustoms, SIIB, New CustomHouse, Mumbai against himand others including privatefirms. PTI

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Varanasi (UP): Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridayclaimed that "non-cooperation"by the previous SamajwadiParty Government in UttarPradesh was responsible for thedelay in start of a beautificationproject in his Lok Sabha con-stituency.

He was addressing a gath-ering here after laying the foun-dation stone for the KashiVishwanath Temple's approachroad and its beautification.

"In the first three yearsthere was non-cooperation ofthe state government. Thedevelopmental projects herepicked pace after you (people ofUttar Pradesh) made YogiAdityanath the chief minister,"he said.

"Had there been coopera-tion earlier, we would havelaunched the project instead oflaying the foundation," Modisaid.

Attacking previous gov-ernments, the prime ministersaid, "In the past 70 years no

government thought of Baba(Lord Shiva) and were silent.They took care of themselvesbut not of this place."

Noting that it was his "plea-sure" to have initiated the workat Kashi Vishwanath, he said, "Ihave dreamt for a long time towork for this place. When I wasnot in politics I came here sev-eral times and used to think

that something should happenhere."

"Bhole Baba ney tai kiyahoga baatein bahut karte hoyahan aao kuch karke dikhao,"(Lord Shiva must have decidedthat you talk much, so now youshould come here and do some-thing)," he said, adding that dueto the blessings the fulfillmentof his dream has started. PTI

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Mumbai: The cover of a book,which chronicles the life andstruggles of Gauri Sawant, thefirst transgender mother of thecountry, was unveiled here onFriday on the occasion of theInternational Women's Day.

The book, "Gauri- The Urgeto Fly", will be launched on May12 on the occasion of theMother's Day, said its authorRhythm Wagholikar.

He said the book chroniclesthe varied aspects of Sawant'slife, her struggle and motherlylove for the sex workers' childrenwho are abandoned after birth.

The 38-year-old transgen-der activist, born in Pune, wasdiscarded by her father in child-hood. She runs an NGO, SakhiChar Chowghi, that promotessafe sex and counsels transgen-

ders. The revenue earned fromthe book will go to fund Sawant'sproject "Nani Ka Ghar" underwhich homes will be provided totransgenders," the 25-year-oldauthor said.

Born as Ganesh Sawant,she realised that she was differ-ent from other boys. As a child,she has always felt more inclinedto female gender, prompting herfather to discard her. Sawant,who successfully adopted a sexworker's daughter after over-coming many hurdles, wants herto join the police force. "TodayI am overwhelmed. I neverexpected or thought of it (a bookbeing written on her). This isgoing to add to my responsibil-ities," an emotional Sawant toldmediapersons at an event heldthe Press Club here. PTI

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Mumbai: Former media exec-utive Peter Mukerjea is the"silent killer" of Sheena Bora,the daughter of his wife IndraniMukerjea from a previous rela-tionship, the CBI told a specialcourt on Friday while opposinghis bail plea in the 2012 mur-der case.

Peter Mukerjea, arrested inthe sensational Sheena Boramurder case in 2015, hadmoved the bail application inNovember last year before spe-cial CBI Judge J C Jagdale. Thisis the third time he hasapproached the court for bail.

Opposing his bail plea,special public prosecutorBharat Badami argued that theCBI has sufficient evidence toprove Peter Mukerjea's role inthe murder conspiracy.

Badami told the court PeterMukerjea didn't take any stepto find Sheena Bora, who hadgone missing, despite the factthat she was his son RahulMukerjea's fiancee.

"Peter was knowing every-thing...He was not a statue of

the family. He took no stepwhen Rahul was desperatelyasking about Sheena..... Peter issilent killer of Sheena," theCBI lawyer said.

Rahul Mukerjea is yet todepose before the court and ifPeter Mukerjea is released onbail, he may try to win over thewitness (Rahul), the lawyeradded.

Badami argued there wassufficient material against PeterMukerjea that led to framing ofcharges against him. Therefore,the accused cannot seek bail bymerely stating the chargesagainst him were "defective", hesaid.

One of the reasons for-warded by Peter Mukerjea fornot being involved in Sheena'smurder was that he was inLondon when the murder tookplace.

However, the CBI contest-ed this argument.

Hafiz Saeed (LeT chief)was in Pakistan when the 26/11Mumbai attacks took place, butthat doesn't mean he wasn't

involved in the attacks. So,even if Peter Mukerjea was inLondon (at the time of themurder) it doesn't mean he wasnot part of the criminal con-spiracy, the CBI counselargued.

The April 2012 murder ofSheena Bora (24), IndraniMukerjea's daughter from anearlier relationship, came tolight in August 2015 when herdriver Shyamvar Rai spilled thebeans after being arrested inanother case.

Indrani Mukerjea, a formermedia executive, her formerhusband Sanjeev Khanna, Raiand Peter Mukerjea werearrested in the case. Rai laterbecame an approver and waspardoned.

Indrani Mukerjea, who is injail since her arrest in August2015, is facing murder charge,while Peter Mukerjea has beenaccused by the CBI of being apart of the criminal conspiracy.

The CBI has claimed afinancial dispute led to thekilling of Sheena Bora. PTI

Chennai: CommemoratingInternational Women's Day,the first woman captain ofhovercraft H-197 AnuradhaShukla along with her col-league and deputy comman-dant Shirin Chandran arrivedhere Friday after undertakinga 500-km journey on roughseas.

Shukla and Chandran wereamong the first four women tobe trained to operate air-cush-ion vehicles popularly knownas hovercraft.

After commencing theirsurveillance voyage from CoastGuard Station, Mandapam,near Rameshwaram, on March6 and patrolling the Gulf of

Mannar and Palk Bay, the offi-cers moored the H-197 at theCoast Guard headquarters herein the afternoon.

Coast Guard undertook amajor step towards empower-ing women and facilitatinggreater gender parity, andbecame the first force todeploy women officers inoperational roles on board-ships.

"By doing so, India joins aselect few nations, includingAustralia, Germany, Israel andthe United States, which haveallowed the women officers totake on command roles for lawenforcement", an official pressrelease said. PTI

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Jammu: National Conferencepresident Farooq Abdullah onFriday questioned the release ofJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)founder Masood Azhar inAfghanistan by then BJPGovernment in 1999 in exchangeof the hijacked Indian airlinesflight IC-814 despite hisOpposition.

He strongly opposed theban on the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI)and said the time has come whenbanning should end, and meet-ing with these outfits shouldstart.

"Who released Azhar (JeMfounder) and who took him toKandahar (Afghanistan)? Thecentre should reply. When Itold them not to release Azhar,they did not listen to me (at thattime). Today I am anti-nationaland they are national," Abdullah,who was the Chief Ministerduring the hostage crisis in 1999told reporters on the sidelines ofa function here.

Azhar was arrested onFebruary 11, 1994 at KhanabalChowk in Anantnag district ofsouth Kashmir but was releasedin exchange of passengers of IC-814 on December 31, 1999 bythe then BJP Government alongwith two other terrorists.

Asked about the ban on JeI,Abdullah said, "Banning is notthe way out because the minuteyou ban anything they go under-ground and they become morevicious."

"The time has come when itis not (about) banning, it is meet-ing them (recognised/unrecog-nised entities) politically, that isimportant. Unless you meetthem politically, you are nevergoing to be able to sort out thesepeople," he said.

The Centre Thursday lastbanned JeI Jammu and Kashmirfor five years under anti-terrorlaw on grounds that it was "inclose touch" with militant outfitsand was expected to "escalatesecessionist movement" in thestate.

A notification banning thegroup under the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act wasissued by the Ministry of HomeAffairs after a high-level meetingon security chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Asked about the involve-ment of Hizbul Mujahideen ter-ror outfit, considered JeI's mili-tant wing, in Thursday's grenadeattack in Jammu which left twopersons dead and 31 othersinjured, the NC leader said, "I donot know whether the group isreally JeI's militant wing.

"I do not know... I have beenchief minister and I have neverhad any such input that theybelong to JeI. I think this brigade(responsible for the grenadeattack) is the one that is run bySallauddin from Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir," he said.

In response to another ques-tion on the centre's decision to

ban JeI, he said "I am not inpower now. Information onthem will be available only withthe intelligence and the governorwho rules (the state) today. I haveno intelligence input about themnow."

He said when Jagmohanwas the governor of the state JeIschools were banned and thoseteachers were inducted in gov-ernment schools.

"Did he do right or did he dowrong? The same people thenmet the Prime Minister and thehome minister so that we couldfind a way out," he said, referringto the Hurriyat leaders talkswith the centre.

"Look at the history, youhave to meet them, not ban themor put them in jail. You have tomeet them by talking to themand finding out why are they notpart of this nation. What stopsthem from being part of thisnation. That is what we need todo," he said. Abdullah furthersaid his party never questionedthe air strikes by India inPakistan on February 26. In aseparate function organised towelcome prominent personsfrom Basholi area of Kathua dis-trict into the party fold, the NCleader called for isolation ofdivisive forces and maintainingof harmony, saying the politics ofdivide is against the ethos of thenation and the state, whichencompasses all religions, castesand regions. PTI

Lucknow: The abusive rant ofsaffron-clad men against twoKashmiris sent shock wavesacross the country, but timelypolice action and warmth oflocals have brought a sense ofsecurity to the vendors whowere back to selling dry fruitson Friday.

The two, who are resi-dents of Jammu and KashmirKulgam's district and come inLucknow during winters tosell dry fruits, are doing briskbusiness in the same localityunder the watchful eyes of thepolice and local vendors.

"People here are verygood... Everything is fine now,"Mohd Afzal, one of the victims,told PTI. "We have no fear withthe people extending so muchlove and care and there is noplan to rush back."

Asked what message theywill take back for their peoplein the strife-torn Valley, Afzalsaid he would tell how peoplehere are good. "It is only the'goondas' (goons) here whodo such thing while the peopleare very helping."

He said that they woulddepart after 20 more days andwill be here again.

On Wednesday, Afzal andAbdul were selling dry fruits -- as has been the practice forthe past several years -- whenthey were attacked with sticksby saffron-clad persons atDaliganj area, the video ofwhich went viral on social

media. Local people, however,rushed to their rescue andinformed the police.

A vegetable vendor nearbysaid that the incident couldhave been avoided had thetwo been sitting nearby. "Theywere sitting a little distanceaway from us and so the saf-

fron-clad youth could thrashthem.... Had they been with us,we would not have allowedanyone to even touch them,"Raju said.

Policemen on duty wereseen moving around in the areaon Friday and keeping a closeeye on the crowds. PTI

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Kolkata: Miffed over theCPI(M) unilaterally announcingcandidates for the Raiganj andMurshidabad Lok Sabha seats,Congress' Bengal unit chiefSomen Mitra on Friday accusedthe Left Front of not being keenon having an alliance.

Mitra said his party won'tcompromise with its dignity andhas its list of 42 candidates ready,asserting that it has left the mat-ter to the high command to takea final call.

"It seems that the Left Front

is not keen on having an alliancewith the Congress. The LeftFront won't be able to win a sin-gle seat without the help ofCongress in the state. ButCongress would be able toretain its four seats," Mitra toldreporters late in the night afteran urgent meeting with stateleaders.

"If needed we will fightalone in the state. We have ourlist of 42 candidates ready. Wewanted an alliance till 2021assembly polls so that ouralliance or understanding getsacceptability from the masses.But the CPI(M) is more keen onshort term political gains anddoesn't want any long-termadjustment," he said.

Amid the ongoing seat-sharing talks between the

CPI(M) and the Congress, theLeft Front on Friday announcedits candidates for Raiganj andMurshidabad seats, the bone ofcontention between the twoparties.

The current MPs in thosetwo seats -- Mohammed Salimfrom Raiganj and BadaruddozaKhan from Murshidabad --would contest, Biman Bose,chairman of the CPI(M)-ledLeft Front, said.

The announcement of can-didates in these two seats heldby the CPI(M) might lead to abreakdown in the seat-sharingdiscussions between the twoside and eventually pave the wayfor a four-cornered contest inthe state in the upcoming gen-eral elections.

The development came at a

time when Congress presidentRahul Gandhi had asked hisparty's in-charge of West Bengal,Gaurav Gogoi, to speak toCPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury in order toresolve the impasse over seat-sharing. Gandhi had also metthe state Congress chief to dis-cuss the matter. The stateCongress had requested Gandhito take a call on the matter.

The CPI(M)'s central com-mittee on Monday came outwith a proposal of "no mutualcontest" in the Lok Sabha pollsin the six seats held by the twoparties in the State. It was seenas a move to untangle the seat-sharing skein between the twoparties, aimed at consolidatingthe anti-BJP and anti-TMCvotes. PTI

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Ahmedabad: A sessions court inGir Somnath district of Gujaraton Friday stayed the convictionof Congress leader BhagvanBarad in a 24-year-old illegalmining case and also suspend-ed his jail term of two years andnine months.

Barad, an MLA, was dis-qualified by the AssemblySpeaker after he was held guiltyby a magistrate's court on March1 in the 1995 case. He was alsogranted bail in the case.

The Congress leader chal-lenged his conviction in the dis-trict and sessions court inVeraval town of Gir Somnathdistrict.

Principal district judge M MBabi stayed Barad's convictionwhile hearing his plea, said theCongress leader's lawyer RajeshBuch.

In addition, the districtjudge also allowed Barad's plea,seeking suspension of the sen-tence of two years and ninemonths awarded by the judicialmagistrate of Sutrapada Talukacourt. "The sessions court stayedthe conviction as well as orderedsuspension of the sentence givenby the magistrate. The court alsogranted bail to Barad till the pen-dency of his appeal against themagistrate's order," said Buch.

He said a stay on the con-

viction was necessary to allowBarad to continue as the MLAof Talala constituency in GirSomnath district.

The 60-year-old Congressleader won from Talala in the2017 Assembly polls.

Barad was accused of steal-ing limestone worth Rs 2.83crore through illegal mining ongovernment land in Sutrapada.The material was then sold to alocal chemical factory, accord-ing to an FIR lodged against himagainst him in 1995. The mag-istrate pronounced Barad guiltyunder Section 379 of the IndianPenal Code, which deals withpunishment for theft. PTI

��))�� )���4�.�).�)�849���.:� *��))������;)��� 7��.�� Ahmedabad: In a setback to

the Congress in Gujarat aheadof the general elections, twoparty MLAs Friday tenderedtheir resignations, with one ofthem joining the ruling BJPlater in the day and anotherannouncing his decision tojoin the saffron party soon.

Manavadar MLA JawaharChavda gave his resignation toGujarat Assembly SpeakerRajendra Trivedi in the after-noon, while Parsotam Sabariya,who represented Dhrangadhraseat in Morbi district, gave hisresignation in the evening.

Chavda joined the BJP atthe party's headquarters inGandhinagar, while Sabariyaannounced that he will join the

ruling party soon.Sabariya was arrested in

October last year in connectionwith the irrigation scam. Hewas granted bail in February bythe Gujarat High Court.

"Congress MLA fromDhrangadhra seat, ParsotamSabariya, tendered his resigna-tion today evening. I haveaccepted his resignation. Hehas not given any particularreason in his resignation letter.He now ceases to be a memberof the Gujarat Assembly,"Trivedi said.

Commenting on his deci-sion, Sabariya said he was join-ing the ruling BJP to develophis constituency.

"I was not under any pres-

sure because of the pendingcase. I am already out on bail.I have resigned voluntarily. Iam not dissatisfied with anyCongress leader. I am joiningthe ruling BJP as I felt that thisis the best way to serve the peo-ple of my constituency," he said.

The former MLA claimedthat he was not offered anyministership in the Gujaratgovernment by the BJP.

Sabariya was arrested inOctober last year for allegedlydemanding and accepting abribe from persons accused inan irrigation scam in Morbidistrict in return for not rais-ing the issue in the Assemblyand with the state govern-ment.

Just an hour beforeSabariya's resignation, Chavdajoined the BJP at party head-quarters in Gandhinagar aftergiving his resignation as theMLA of Manavadar seat inJunagadh district.

Chavda, 55, a four-timeMLA, was inducted into theparty by state Home MinisterPradeepsinh Jadeja and seniorparty leader K C Patel.

After joining the BJP,Chavda said he has not left theCongress out of any discontentor differences with theCongress leadership.

Chavda, a prominent OBCleader from Ahir community,said he also resigned from theprimary membership of the

Congress and sent a letter toparty president Rahul Gandhito inform him about his deci-sion.

Talking to reporters, heclaimed that the BJP has notoffered ministership to switchsides ahead of the Lok Sabhapolls.

"It is not true that I amjoining the BJP to become aminister. I am in politics toserve the people. I am joiningthe BJP as I felt that I can servethe people in a better way if Ijoin the party that is in power.

"I also felt it necessary tosupport Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the currentsecurity scenario of the coun-try," Chavda said. PTI

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India has launched its third ITcorridor in China that will

facilitate partnerships betweenIndian and Chinese companies.

The National Associationof Software and ServicesCompanies (NASSCOM)entered into a partnership withChina’s Xuzhou city fromJiangsu Province in China tohelp develop the IT corridor.

The IT industry body hasalready launched such corri-dors at Dalian and Guiyangcities to cash in on the bur-geoning Chinese IT industrymarket. Through its previoussimilar initiatives in China,NASSCOM has brought tothe fore opportunities withover 300 companies wheremore than 10 Indian SMEcompanies have signed dealsworth 31 Million RMB ($4.5million).

The previous IT corridorsin Dalian and Guiyang havealready sprung up opportuni-ties to the tune of 24 MillionRMB ($4.6 million) and 62Million RMB ($8.9 million)respectively, it said.

The first two corridorshave paved the way for coop-eration in co-create mode inthe emerging technologies suchas AI, IoT and Analytics in theChinese market.

In line with this collabo-ration, few local companiesfrom Jiangsu province havepledged their support by sign-ing as early adopters of this

match-making platform, thepress release said.

The primary aim of this ITcorridor will be to facilitatepartnerships between Indianand Chinese companies, itsaid.

Xuzhou, as the centre ofthe Huai Hai economic zone, isan important comprehensivenational transportation huband its proximity from majorindustrial and economic hublike Shanghai, Beijing,Hangzhou, Nanjing andSuzhou.

Through this partnership,the platform will be launchedthat will facilitate match-mak-ing between Indian companieswanting to collaborate withcompanies in Huai Hai eco-nomic zone looking to adoptdigital transformation fromverticals such as manufactur-ing, retail, automotive, health-care and utilities and helpthem create innovative productand solutions in the co-createmode, it said.

This partnership will helpcreate more jobs in Xuzhou andIndia and facilitating talenttransfer between the two coun-tries, it said.

The signing of the “China-India (Xuzhou) IT CorridorProject” is an important mea-sure for the Indian softwareand service industry associa-tions to enter the Chinese mar-ket and seize the developmentopportunity of the HuaihaiEconomic Zone” Mayor ofXuzhou Municipal

Government said.“It will also inject strong

momentum into the develop-ment of the Xuzhou softwareservice outsourcing industry.We sincerely hope that theNasscom will bring its advan-tages on capital, talents andtechnology in accordance withthe content of the agreement,to improve the construction,operation and development ofthe park, so as to build aworld-class service outsourcingcooperation development plat-form”, he said.

Commenting on the col-laboration, Gagan Sabharwal,Senior Director, NASSCOMsaid, “This Corridor will helpstrengthen China India DigitalCooperation leveraging ourrespective strengths in hard-ware and software to buildinnovative products and solu-tions in Co-create mode. Giventhat this region is known for itsmanufacturing capabilities, weexpect many collaborative casestudies emerging from theSmart Manufacturing domain.”,he said.

Addressing the meetingAnil Kumar Rai, ConsulGeneral Shanghai said “Chinabeing a dominant manufac-turing country requires soft-ware, IT and IT enabled ser-vices to transform towardssmart manufacturing.

IT Corridor at Xuzhou haspotential to fill the criticalinstitutional void of softwaresupport for small and mediumsize industries in their own lan-guage.”

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Economic Affairs SecretarySubhash Chandra Garg

Friday exuded confidence thatfiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent for 2018-19 would be metas shortfall in indirect tax col-lection would be compensatedby lower expenditure.

“I am very confident (ofmeeting fiscal deficit target of3.4 per cent for 2018-19),”Garg said on the sidelines ofIVCA conference here.

As per the interim Budget2019-20, the Government haspegged fiscal deficit target of3.4 per cent for the current fis-cal year ending March 31.

“Our assessment at thisstage is, in direct taxes, we willprobably do as per the revisedestimate, indirect taxes, theremight be some shortfall, and onthe expenditure side theremight be some savings.

“On the whole, we shouldbe where we are,” he said.

In the current fiscal, directtax collection is pegged at �12lakh crore (revised estimate).

The Government had orig-inally budgeted to collect�11.50 lakh crore in 2018-19from direct taxes, whichinclude corporate tax and per-sonal income tax.

Likewise, in 2018-19, GSTcollection is pegged at �6.43lakh crore (RE), which is lowerthan the targeted �7.43 lakhcrore (BE).

On the indirect tax front,customs collection in the cur-rent fiscal is pegged at �1.30lakh crore (RE).

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) on Friday allowedthe withdrawal of UK-basedLiberty House bid for ARGL onthe plea of resolution profes-sional of the debt-ridden com-pany.

A two-member bench,headed by Justice S JMukhopadhaya, also pulledup Liberty House for not pur-suing the corporate insolvencyresolution process after beingselected as the highest bidder.

“You are a failure party allthe time, dragging your feet.You are in bad reputation. Wewould not allow you to takeadvantage of the appellate tri-bunal,” the bench said.

NCLAT has upheld theprevious order of theChandigarh bench of NCLT,which had imposed a cost of Rs1 lakh on Liberty House citingcasual approach.

The appellate tribunal alsodirected to deduct the timeperiod between December 14,

2018, and Friday from the res-olution process.

Under the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code, a resolutionprocess has to be completedunder 180 days with a furtherextension of 90 days to 270 days.

Meanwhile, NCLAT alsosaid that its order would notdebate the participation ofLiberty House in in other res-olution processes.

“Any observations againstLiberty should not construed asfinding against them ineligiblefrom participating in any otherresolution process,” NCLAT said.

Liberty House hademerged as the highest bidderin ARGL, a subsidiary of debt-ridden auto components makerAmtek Auto.

However, the companyrefused to go ahead and submita bank guarantee after emerg-ing as the highest bidder.

Following which, the reso-lution professional of the com-pany moved NCLT to cancelthe bid. NCLT had allowed itand imposed a cost on LibertyHouse.

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Prime Minister Theresa Maytoday called on the

European Union for “one more push” to strike a Brexitcompromise deal and told MPsthat rejecting the agreement

could mean Britain neverleaves.

“It needs just one morepush,” May told an audience ofworkers in Grimsby, a NorthSea fishing port, adding that avote against a deal meant “wemight never leave the EU at all”.

British MPs will vote onTuesday on whether to acceptMay’s Brexit deal, which couldinclude new elements followingthis weekend’s frantic round ofnegotiations.

“Next week MPs inWestminster face a crucial

c h o i c e :Whether toback theBrexit deal orto reject it,”Theresa Maysaid.

“Back itand the UK will leave theE u r o p e a n Union. Rejectit and no oneknows whatwill happen,”she said.

“We maynot leave theEU for manymonths, wemay leavewithout theprotect ionsthat the dealprovides. Wemay neverleave at all.”

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Pakistan on Friday registereda First Information Report

against “unidentified pilots” ofthe Indian Air Force (IAF) forbombing and destroying 19trees in the Balakot area, accord-ing to a media report, days afterIndia’s preemptive strike againstthe Jaish-e-Mohammed’s largestterrorist training camp in thecountry.

The FIR was filed by theforestry department on Fridayagainst pilots of the IAF forbombing and destroying trees inthe Balakot area, the ExpressNews reported.

The FIR, registered against“unidentified IAF pilots”, alsodetails the damage suffered by 19trees after the Indian fighter jets“hastily dropped their payload”,it says.

On March 26, India said IAF jets, in the face of immi-nent danger, launched a pre-emptive strike on Balakot inPakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince.

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President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget proposal will include

$100 million for a global women’s fundspearheaded by his daughter IvankaTrump.

A White House official told The Associated Press that the budget, expected to be released Monday, will include the funding for the Women’s Global Developmentand Prosperity Initiative.

T h eadministra-tion lastm o n t hlaunched thegovernment-

wide project, led by the Republican president’s daughter andsenior adviser.

The official was not authorized to speak publicly about budget details in advance and requestedanonymity.

The new initiative aims to help 50million women in the developing worldget ahead economically over the next sixyears. It involves the State Department,the National Security Council andother agencies.

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Stepping up p r e s s u r e

on Pakistan, the US has askedIslamabad to take “sustained and irreversible”actions against terroristgroups operating from itsterritory to prevent futureattacks and promote region-al stability.

The State Department statement came as Pakistan, under glob-al pressure after the Pulwamaterror attack and India’s air strikes against Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terrorist camp inBalakot in KhyberPakhtunkhwa province onFebruary 26, started taking actions againstsome of the terrorist outfitsand their leaders over the pastfew days.

In Islamabad, the Interior Ministry on Thursdayannounced that a total of 121members of the proscribed groups have sofar been taken into “preventivedetention” across Pakistan.

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Being fit and healthy doesn’t meanyou have to resign yourself to work-ing out for hours a day and eating

nothing but chicken and steamed broc-coli for every meal. In fact, there are sev-eral more effective habits you can adopttoday that will not only help you get inshape in the short-term, but will help youstay that way for the long run as well.

Staying fit and healthy plays animportant role in our life. People neglecttheir health because of the hectic dailyschedules but there are little things thatyou can do each day that will add to beinghealthy and fit . All of these excuses arevalid in their own way, and yes, we've allbeen there. But if you really want to getand stay fit and healthy, you have to learnto give up your excuses and start makingyour health and fitness a top prioritytoday.

Even if you go to the gym six days aweek, the real key to lifelong fitness is tosimply be more active and walk more inyour day-to-day life. Try making a con-scious effort to walk whenever and wher-ever you can: to the grocery store, to getyour afternoon coffee or go on a post-din-ner stroll with your family. Try and aimfor at least 10,000 steps a day.

Although it may seem counterintu-itive, striving to always be "perfect" withyour nutrition is actually not a good long-term strategy to get or stay in shape.Depriving yourself of dessert and all thefoods you love will only result in a bingeof those very same foods when yourwillpower is at a moment of weakness.

Instead of always going to the moviesor sitting around for long meals, try find-ing some activities you and friends orloved ones enjoy doing together. Go fora bike ride, take a scenic hike, set up agame of bocce ball for the whole familyto enjoy — the list is endless! Not only willyou get moving, you're bound to havemore fun as well.

When you have to plan an hour ormore for a workout, of course it's notalways possible to go to the gym. Butwhen you pack your entire workout intoan efficient, 10-20 minute HIIT workoutthat works your entire body and leavesyou soaked in sweat, you'll no longer havethe same excuse to skip your workout asoften as you normally would. Just remem-ber to work hard!

Many of us underestimate the impor-tance of a good night's rest, but it's cru-cial for long-term health that you giveyour body a proper amount of sleep eachnight. And if thinking long-term isn’tenough of an incentive, remember this:too little sleep can also impair weight lossefforts due to raised cortisol levels. Tryand get around seven to eight hours anight on a regular basis.

But vegetables are packed with impor-tant nutrients that keep your bodyhealthy, and their fiber content alsohelps fill you up. So if you don’t love aplain salad, find ways to make your veg-gies interesting: roast them with a littleolive oil, salt and pepper, toss them in aflavorful stir fry or blend them into a juiceso you don’t even know they’re there. Ifyou don’t despise them, you’re much morelikely to eat vegetables on a regularbasis.

Eating right has a lot of benefits. Itwill help you maintain a healthy weight,improve your skin, and give you moreenergy. One of the best ways to eat ahealthy diet is to cook your own food.Reports show that people who cooktheir own meals consume lower levels ofsugar and fats. Cooking with fresh foodsalso helps you to eat fewer processedfoods, which typically have high sodiumlevels.

Make cooking fun. Recruit familymembers to get involved, so that it feelslike less of a chore. Give each family mem-ber a day of the week to request a certainmeal and find a new recipe to try out.Being organized can help make cookingseem easier. Try planning your meals inadvance. This will limit the trips you haveto make to the grocery store, and will alsohelp you stay on track with your fitnessgoals if you plan healthy weekly menus.

When you're cooking your yourself,you can fully control the ingredients youuse. This will help you make sure you aregetting the nutrients your body needs.Eating well can help control your weight,and it can also give you the energy youneed to exercise regularly. Try to eat a dietthat includes several servings a day offresh fruits and vegetables. These arepacked with vitamins and fiber. Eat leanmeats and fish. These will provide you

with protein and also gives your bodyhealthy fats. Make your plate colorful. Themore color on your plate, the morefruits and vegetables you are likely eating.Try for leafy greens, like kale, and vibrant

orange tones, like those in sweet potatoesand carrots. Make your own goals. Tryingto look like someone else isn't going tohelp you achieve your goals. Instead,assess your fitness level by noting if you've

made improvements and if you can seeand feel a difference in your body.

How quickly we eat really does mat-ter, research shows. In one study, fasteaters consumed around three ounces of

food per minute, while slowpokes only ateabout two ounces. Chewing slowly couldmean less calories consumed, so take achill pill when digging into the dinnerplate.

Think about your body frame size.Everyone is different. Some people havesmall frames, while others have a largeframe. Yours might be medium. You canfigure out your frame size by measuringthe circumference of your wrist and con-sulting a height chart. Remember, if youhave a large frame, you will have differ-ent weight goals than someone who is nat-urally smaller. Try keeping a daily jour-nal, where you record positive state-ments about yourself. You can use thisjournal to track your exercise and diet, oryou can just write down happy, self-affirm-ing thoughts to keep you motivated.

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With its sun-bleached shoresand stunning islands, theIndian Ocean washes

some of the most beautiful and exot-ic locations on the planet —Zanzibar, the Seychelles, Mauritius,the Tasman Sea. But the world’s thirdlargest body of water is also crucialto its future — politically, econom-ically and environmentally.

From pirates plaguing ships offthe coast of Somalia, to the Tamilsof Sri Lanka and the rise of militantIslam in Yemen and Sumatra, theregion touches places of extremevolatility. It is also increasingly thehub of global trade and competition,and industrial activity which, in turn,has a huge impact. Author and doc-umentary filmmaker Simon Reevetravelled around the region for hisnew show, Indian Ocean with SimonReeve. Through the show the audi-ence would be able to witness theportrait of a fascinating and increas-ingly important area, as Reevesengages in the lives and struggles ofits varied coastal people. Excerpts:

You’ve called this as your most exot-ic and extreme journey. Which wasthe exotic part of the journey?It’s a tough one to answer. The IndianOcean is home to endless stunningtropical islands like the Seychelles

and Mauritius. But visiting theMaldives was the most beautiful andexotic part of the journey. We trav-elled to breathtaking coral atolls, free-dived with dozens of manta rays, andlanded on stunning remote islands.When I was a child growing-up ingrey west London, I had a poster onmy ceiling of a gorgeous paradisebeach fringed by palm trees. I usedto stare at that beach in wonder,never imagining I’d be able to visitsomewhere similar. But the Maldivesreally is like that. It’s truly exotic. I’venever been anywhere quite like it.

What was the most extreme?At the other end of the spectrum, wealso visited Mogadishu in Somalia,which is often described as themost dangerous city on the planet.Conflict has raged in Somalia fordecades. The government collapsedafter a civil war, warlords took overand battled endlessly. At least onemillion people have died. Because ofthe constant instability and anarchy,Somalia has become the source of thepiracy epidemic that plagues thewestern Indian Ocean. It’s alsoincreasingly becoming a source ofinternational terrorism, and I felt itwas somewhere we had to visit if wewere to tell the story of the ocean. Wewere under the protection of an

African peacekeeping force that istrying to bring peace and stability tothe country after decades of fighting.We had our flak jackets and helmets,of course, and even blast boxer-shorts, which can help to preventblast and fragment injuries to the

groin. But it’s not somewhere youever feel safe. It’s the most extremeplace I’ve ever visited.

Your journey took you from the tipof South Africa to Madagascar, theSeychelles, Somalia, the Maldives,

Bangladesh and Australia, to namea few. Which is your favourite?I loved visiting Australia, Oman, SriLanka, Tanzania, Madagascar, andIndonesia. There’s nowhere we vis-ited that I wouldn’t love to visit again.But I’m particularly fond of

Bangladesh. The country is beauti-ful and although the people faceenormous challenges, they adapt,they struggle and they survive. Wetend to associate it just with disas-ters, flooding and tragedy, but it isalso a lush, beautiful country withsome of the warmest and friendliestpeople on the planet.

You visit some beautiful placesthroughout the series but also findyourself in a number of difficultsituations. What was the scariestsituation you found yourself in?Another difficult question toanswer. I was in a drug-den in SouthAfrica, and on the frontline inMogadishu with bullets whizzingover my head, but the scariest situ-ation was probably driving onIndian roads with huge trucks andbuses rocketing the wrong waytowards us in our lane. In otherscary situations, I had a moment todive behind, cover or flee, butthere’s not much I could do when Iwas strapped into the front passen-ger seat in India, except pray.

You’ve visited more than 110countries over the years and haveencountered many different peo-ple and customs. Were there anyplaces on this trip that took you

completely by surprise?I was endlessly surprised by theplaces we visited. In fact, there was-n’t a single day when I didn’t feelamazed or challenged by what I sawand learnt. In Mozambique, we vis-ited a former 5-star hotel that usedto be one of the grandest in Africa,but has since been stripped bare andis now home to thousands of localsand refugees. It sounds desperate,and it certainly wasn’t luxurious, butthe residents are an inspiring lotwho have elected their own mayorand formed committees for sanita-tion, housing, security and so on.That all came as a surprise. So didfinding a vast, stinking, toxic rub-bish island in the Maldives, whichthey don’t put in the brochures, andvisiting an island off Kenya wherelocals recycle the world’s discardedflip-flops into toys. We also discov-ered a place where smugglers raceillicit refrigerators to Iran on super-powered speedboats, and visitedship-breaking beaches where theworld’s huge tankers go to be rippedapart by an army of workers. Thejourney was fascinating, shocking,hilarious and amazing. And alwayssurprising.

(The series will premiere onMarch 11 and air from Monday toFriday at 9 pm on Sony BBC Earth.)

As they say, life happenswhile you’re busymaking other plansand actress TaapseePannu is a firm believ-

er of that. She says, “Every otherperson in the world can have apeaceful ride, enjoy the presentmoment, yet we can’t help butmake plans for future in order tobe assured. But the actual experi-ence of being alive is beyondthose plans that happens to uswhen they are least unexpected. Iam that point in my life where Ifeel it’s all a dream. I never aimedat becoming an actor. I neverdreamt of it. If I hadn’t steppedinto this industry, I probablywouldn’t have even realised that Icould act.”

Taapsee tries to make the bestout of each and every opportuni-ty. She believes that to stay on path,every person must live in the pre-sent and “let go of fear.”

About her recent thriller,Badla, which is a remake of aSpanish film, she believes that theIndian audience is not quite openwhen remakes of any story aremade, they prefer original contentover anything. However, telling thesame story again doesn’t alwaysmean that it isn’t unique. “A storyis a world view of what a filmmak-er set out to do under the givencircumstances and what they bringout from various characters.Though the structure might be of

a Spanish film but the entireinsight is very different,” she says.

The film, which released yes-terday which opened to goodreviews, is Taapsee’s second outingwith Amitabh Bachchan afterPink, the film which put the spot-light on her.

After portraying disparate andoffbeat characters, there is still oneleft for Taapsee. She says she real-ly wants do X-Men or Avengers asshe is a huge fan of super herofilms. She says, “It hasn’t happenedyet and I’m eagerly looking for-ward to it.”

Bollywood is currently highon the trend of biopics, andincreasingly picking up subjectsthat portray realism or stand for

social causes. The actress dis-agrees. She feels that it would bebetter to say that the industry iscreating good content rather thanforcefully putting realism into itsfocus. She says, “It’s because we aregetting attracted towards moreengaging stories. The content mat-ters and when it is real, peoplehave no choice but to connect withit. A good film is one that keepsthe audience hooked. It could beany genre — thriller or comedy.”

For her, it doesn’t matter whatyou are showcasing but the man-ner in which it is being projected.An instance — Badla.

Taapsee’s next project isMission Mangal.

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Arecent accident in Delhiinvolved a Bentley Bentaygabeing driven by a 19-year old

youth which slammed into an auto-rickshaw killing one of the occu-pants. Being someone who hasdriven in Delhi and across India fora long time, I will not absolve theauto driver of blame. The averageauto-rickshaw driver is cluelessabout concepts like right of way andthe idea of flashing indicators isalien to them. Of course, in thatrespect they much like most folkstaking control of a motorised vehi-cle in India. However, there is lit-tle doubt that the Bentayga driverwas in all likelihood driving avehicle far beyond his competencelevels.

Most of us know that in India,with the exception of some stateslike Delhi, the process of getting adriving licence is a corrupt andflawed one. I have noticed severaltaxi drivers with licences fromother states in Delhi with extreme-ly poor understanding of drivingrules and regulations. But this is notan elitist issue. Many young chil-dren get a licence at the age of 18with little or no understanding ofroad rules and regulations. And thisis the scary part, when you get a dri-ving licence it says which class ofvehicle you can drive — two-wheeler, light motor vehicle or aheavy vehicle. There are no restric-tions on power and performance.So you could technically drive aBentley Bentayga with 500 horse-power the day you get your DLwhen you should ideally be drivinga Maruti Alto or Hyundai Santro.

This is not just specific to Indiathough, across the world you candrive whatever vehicle you want theday you get your DL, and that iseither when you turn 16 or 18. Inmost countries the driving tests arefar more stringent but even thenfew go as far as Finland where dri-vers have to be trained to drive inslippery and icy conditions. Littlewonder Finland has more Rally andF1 World Champions per capita

than any other nation on earth. And while there are young 18-

year-olds in India with the requisitedriving skills to handle a powerfulcar, you can probably count themon your fingertips. Let me assureyou when I turned 18, I did nothave the skills to handle a 100horsepower car back then, it takesexperience and it helps if you getsome training. I have driven somemanic cars on the streets of Delhiand Indian highways but I knowhow to control the power but mostother road users in India are notexpected to comply with rules.That is not accounting for our bur-geoning bovine population on theroads. Handling a powerful car isn’tsomething you should do straightout of basic driving school, it takestime, particularly in India.

In many Western nations, mas-sive insurance premiums foryounger drivers restrict them tosmall, less powerful machines.While this means that the rich can

abuse the system, even rich fatherswould balk at the premium of let-ting his 18-year old drive a moder-ately powerful BMW, because thepremium would be half the carsvalue, and in most nations a crashhistory record would lead to insur-ance premiums doubling. The eas-iest solution in India would be asimilar route, insurance premiumsshould be determined on the basisof the age of the driver and lyingshould be made punishable. Andwhile the Indian auto industry iscribbing about new long-terminsurance requirements, they werenecessary.

However, I am suggestinganother solution. There should bea special driving licence in India todrive a car with more than 250horsepower. The reason for thatnumber? Because 99 per cent ofcars sold in India have less than thatamount of power. And rememberthe saying, with great power comesgreat responsibility.

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What do you get when youhave four powerhousedirectors who have a dis-tinct oeuvre in one place?A swirl of ideas and

thoughts that might not be linear but eachof which is certainly coherent and indi-vidualistic. Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti,Alankrita Shrivastava and Nitya Mehramight have learnt the ropes from some ofthe best in the industry but now are namesto reckon with on their own. The four ofthem have come together to collaborateon Made in Heaven, a show that is beingaired on Amazon Prime, a digital platform.So while Zoya, Reema and Alankrita wrotethe script where the protagonists are wed-ding planners, Nitya was the showrunnerwho ensured continuity as each of themdirected a few episodes. They reveal whatmakes them a part of the new content-dri-ven entertainment, one where they arebreaking barriers beyond just gender.

The show is on Indian weddings, theeconomy and the culture around it.What were some of the discoveries youmade while researching for it?

Reema: For that, you will have towatch the show (laughs). Yes, there was alot of research that we did on the subjectand found out so many aspects that we didnot know about. Marriage is not big inIndia without a reason. It is the problem-solver for everything and an equaliser ofsorts. Some of our personal and familyexperiences have also made it to the show.The idea first came from Zoya as she hasa friend of hers who works in the business.

Nitya: Zoya and Reema recentlyattended back to back weddings of two ofour mutual friends in Delhi. They stayedwith me and since it was like a break fromwork, we observed everything as specta-tors.

Zoya: That’s when I realised that therewas so much of backroom gush to producea great magical spectacle, much like agrand film. It was a fascinating mosaic ofideas and imagination. It inspired me somuch that I actually got to a desk to writeabout it.

How did the four of you manage tomaintain the creative tempo?

Zoya: The slight style difference is wel-come. The bigger picture was that thethree of us (Reema, Zoya, Alankrita) wroteit and so we were already on the same pageas we had come on board from the begin-ning while she (Nitya) was the show run-ner. It was a challenge to treat the subjectvisually. Each wedding is episodically dif-ferent, so each chapter changes how youwant to treat it in terms of design and style.We had a continuity with the crew and ouractors are very good. The moment they gettheir pitch, they do not need the directortelling them what their character graph is,they know it.

Alankrita: What worked for all of usis that we went with our instinct and gutfeeling.

Zoya: All four of us believe in origi-nality and that honesty is the reason whythere is a seamless flow to things.

How did you resolve creative differencesin terms of show continuity, from oneepisode to the next?

Reema: That’s why Nitya was theshowrunner throughout.

Nitya: That is a part of my job pro-file to absorb breaks in movement if thecrew or the director changes. Not toomany people know about this job becauseit is new. The primary job of a showrun-ner is to be able to bring everybody thatis straying away on the same page and towhatever was decided in the beginning.We did have a writers’ and a directors’room but we read the entire series fromthe first to the last episode and if any direc-tor had a problem, it was brought to thetable as were the suggestions. Like Zoya

said, it was nice to have different directorsfor different weddings. And every timesomeone was straying, we just broughtthem back.

Alankrita: We were on the same pagewhile developing it. We knew what thelocation would be or what we were look-ing for in terms of cast. When you’veworked on the material and been a partof the developing process, you kind ofknow what you want. It made it much sim-pler that we did not come in from the cold.

Nitya: Once the crew sets in, it is easywhether directors come in or not. If it isnot working, then you just make it work.

Alankrita: And we are just this amaz-ing set of people, so we do know how towork well. (All of them laugh).

Nitya: We also had Prashant Nair(director of episode 5 and 6) who was nota part of the process. So I understood thathe needed a little more of hand-holding.

Zoya: If you’re clear about yourspecifics and pen them down to the lastdetail, work with your actors to grow intothe characters... in short if your prep isthorough, there are no disputes.

Would you say that you have been ableto break out of that mould of being cat-egorised as women directors?

Zoya: I haven’t directed any typicalwoman-centric film and my subjectshave been vastly different between pro-jects. Yet that is what I keep hearing.

Alankrita: It is a very offensive thingto say that women make typical films. Wenever set a grammar for male directors orattribute content to their worldview. Aprotagonist is a protagonist and a story isa story irrespective of the fact whether itis about a man or a woman. The biggerquestion is whether you are humane andsensitive in your treatment.

Zoya: Absolutely.Alankrita: Also, when 50 per cent of

the population comprises women, whyshouldn’t 50 per cent of the stories be

about them? If men have been telling sto-ries about other men without gettingstereotyped, I don’t know what’s theharm in having women protagonists?

Nitya: Moreover a typical story is atypical story regardless of the gender of themaker.

Zoya: Alankrita’s Lipstick Under MyBurkha was not typical at all.

How do you see the digital platform,since all of you are directing for it for thefirst time?

Reema: Nitya has worked on such aformat before.

Nitya: Yes, I directed some episodesof the first season of 24. It was for televi-sion but still in an episodic format. Thisis definitely the first web series.

Zoya: A series has a different base. Ithas eight hours to tell a story, develop char-acters, get nuances and layers. There is alot of time to develop the arc. There is nocensorship and no pressure of box officeand opening weekend. But you have toshoot very fast and tighten your budget.Yet I thoroughly enjoyed it and consideredit a new training ground. I think I reallygrew up and I want to continue doing it.

Would you say that in films and webseries, the projection of women is chang-ing but the same cannot be said aboutTV?

Zoya: I don’t watch TV honestlybecause the shows don’t appeal to me orspeak to me. I don’t connect with them.

Reema: To be fair, there are also a lotof films and web series that are regressive.It is not as if only this format is regressive.

Zoya: Absolutely. All TV is not regres-sive, just as every web series is not pro-gressive. I guess it depends on who is seri-ous about challenging norms, pushing theenvelope and making a mark.

Would you say that the collaborationbetween the four of you was a learning

process?Zoya: Any project that you do, you

learn. You take something from the teamyou work with and they take somethingoff you. That is a part and parcel of life.There is a certain comfort and cama-raderie that develops. There is a certainamount of trust that you can go to sleepwith while the other person has your back.That is something that is non-negotiable.That is not something that you find eas-ily.

Reema: The project has been going onfor one-and-a- half years, so you cannotexpect us to do nothing but this. So as peo-ple came and went, whosoever was therewould cover for everybody else.

Nitya: It has been a true collaboration.Zoya: That to me is very precious.

So all of you have known each other out-side work?

Alankrita: We (Zoya and Reema)have know each other the longest since wewere assistant directors together in our 20s.We met Nitya on the sets of Lakshyaaround 2003-2004.

Nitya: They were my bosses. (laughs)Zoya: We met and we became bud-

dies. The story about Alankrita is reallyweird because I read her script before Imet her. I had read the script of LipstickUnder My Burkha as part of the SundanceLab which has to be anonymous. I was vet-ting or judging or whatever for lack of abetter word. I read the script and I fell inlove with it. Later, when we were devel-oping the script of Made in Heaven, Icalled up Urmi Juvekar, who is a writerand was part of the same lab, to getAlankrita’s contact. So, I was in love withher before I met her. (Both of them laugh)

Reema: We just fell into a system. Iwas a bit worried as Zoya and I have beencollaborating for long and we have a sys-tem. But Alankrita came and fitted rightin.

Alankrita: For me, it was a huge learn-

ing process as I have never really collab-orated for anything from a scratch. I real-ly wanted to work with Zoya and Reema.And it turned out to be so much fun. Ithink I grew up a lot through it. For meit was very new and exciting. I will real-ly cherish that.

Nitya: In a film you really don’t get the chance to collaborate as much. You willdo it with the crew. There is one DOP andyou are the director. In that sense, the for-mat is very different. Very rarely do yousee that one writer is writing nine episodesor one director is doing all of them. Thiswas more of a collaboration.

Indians are still obsessed with the ideaof a big fat wedding. Is that the reasonwhy you did this show?

Zoya: I mean, yes. World over peopleare obsessed with weddings. Some are bigand fat and some are even one-day, com-pact affairs. Everyone is obsessed withtheir wedding day. The beauty of theIndian wedding is that it is such a mas-sive celebration and with that comes somuch hoopla.

Nitya: Which is a great backdrop fordrama.

Zoya: There are generations, family,money — all of that is involved.

Nitya: The show goes really beyondthe weddings. They are the backdrop, ofcourse. The tracks of the protagonists (thewedding planners) and the turmoil thatthey are going through in their personallives as they are planning them, as well asthe new families that pop up in eachepisode... all jostle for a space in the can-vas. So there is a social commentary aswell.

Zoya: And there are egos.

Is it possible to watch one episodealone?

Alankrita: It is a seasonal story, so no. Nitya: The wedding planners remain

throughout the season, so you are actu-

ally invested in their personal stories.

After watching the trailer, many peoplehave compared it to the film BandBaaja Baaraat. What do you have to say?

Zoya: People say anything. WhenZindagi Na Milegi Dobara released, theysaid it was like Hangover. When Gully Boytrailer went on air, they said it was EightMiles. Now they are saying Band BaajaBaaraat. The thing is that all the films thatthey are comparing with are good.

Nitya: There’s Monsoon Wedding too. Zoya: We are in good company, so we

aren’t comparing.Reema: Any film that breaks the

mould will always be compared.Zoya: That is because they want to

have a reference point.Reema: Sometimes they are jumping

the gun. Sometimes they are being theknow-it-all.

When you were conceptualising theshow, did you know there would be fourdirectors?

Zoya: When the show got green-lit,our individual films also took off almostat the same time. So we knew that wewould not be able to direct the entire sea-son ourselves. Initially, we thought just thethree of us would do it but then we realisedthat we had to add one more because therewas no way I could direct more than two.I had to leave because I had to prep forGully Boy.

Reema: I could not shoot any becauseI was shooting Gold.

Nitya: I could have directed but thenI just became the show runner, so I could-n’t. Despite that, I directed the maximum(three).

Zoya: While we were prepping it, shewas promoting Lipstick.

The actors, how did you zero down onthem?

Zoya: They just worked for the part.Shobhita Dhulipala has something verymysterious about her which kind ofworks with her. She also has this sense thatshe can oscillate between two worldswhich is important for the show. She hasthis appearance of being in control andperfect. She has that cold vibe. You startunravelling and you realise what makesher steely. Her test was very good.

Arjun (Mathur), we love. He is a verygood actor. There is something very frag-ile about him. He is very attractive. Men like hima n dso do women. It is very easy to fall for himon screen. He doesn’t come with rubbishabout whether he should play this part ornot.

Nitya: He is Karan Mehra. He playsthe part of a homosexual in the show. Buthe is not looking at that. He is goingbeyond because that is just his orientation.That is not his character. When Zoya men-tioned him, very soon his picture was upon the board.

Any more plans of collaborating?Zoya: I hope so. I feel like-minded peo-

ple in the industry should collaborate. Thereis learning, fun and it makes for better work.

Reema: Normally when you are writ-ing and directing alone, it can be quite lone-ly. So I loved having so many womenaround.

What went on behind the scenes?Nitya: We were not really together.

Except for me who was there throughout.People would come and go. It was not likesince there were so many of us and justbecause it was a wedding theme, it was goingto be a blast. Weddings are serious work.There are a lot of people and huge setsinvolved. We also wanted to explore thescale that Delhi weddings have. It was chal-lenging.

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On the occasion ofInternational WomensDay, 21 women such

as actresses Neena Gupta andSwara Bhasker, rapper HardKaur and yoga expert NatashaNoel came together to cele-brate womanhood through amusic video titled Fire with-in me.

The video, which featuresthe women, is part of the cam-paign #ishapemyworld byLevi’s brand.

Swara said, “As an artiste,my job is not just to expressbut to engage. Films are trans-formative, they are humon-gous… Kubbra’s (Sait) perfor-mance (of a transgender) inSacred Games was foundinspiring by many peoplefrom that community, it wasa representation of that com-munity.

“Rest is whatever res-onates with the audience, buta performance, a good film, agood story — has a power. So,

we should engage peopleglobally with our art becausewe are not just artistes but alsocitizens.”

Referring to the #MeToomovement, she said, “Onehashtag that started manyyears ago, restarted in 2017...it has changed our mind onhow we look at our workplaceand why certain behaviourfrom people in the position ofpower is not accepted.”

Talking about engagingthe audience with art, come-dian Kaneez Surkha said, “Asa comedian, I find ‘improv’more engaging than stand-upcomedy and every time I amdoing it, I am doing it out ofpassion… without intendingto break the norms.”

“But it made me realisethat I’m pushing the bound-

ary whenever I face obstaclesand stand strong with my con-viction that I will do ‘improv’”.

On one of the definingmoments of her journey thatchanged her life, actress-hostKubbra said, “My mother pro-tected me so much when I wasa child that I was scared to gobeyond my call of duty. Thenone day when I was 21 yearsold, my mother put me on aflight to Dubai saying that ‘Youget yourself a job!’ I was scared.I mean a girl who did not eventravel alone and now in a dif-ferent country, searching for ajob?”

“But when I think about it,my mother gave me constantsupport, had confidence in me,I won every situation. When Itook up the role of Kukko inSacred Games, though peoplesaid that it was a bold choice, Idid not look at it that way. It wasnot courageous to play that (atransgender character), I wasjust doing my job.”

“If it played out that wayand created impact, it is great.But initially, that was not myintention, I did what my job, mycraft allowed me to do,” sheexplained.

Natasha Noel, a survivor ofsexual violence, spoke abouthow she reached a point anddecided not to be defined by thesorrow of her life.

“I was three years old whenmy birth mother burnt herselflive in front of me. Of coursethat affected me but like all ofus would love to believe thatthings will be fine with time,mine got worse.”

“So much so that I startedgetting comfortable with pain…and then, I realised that I wascarrying it with me all thetime. I thought without mypain, I could not be anything.But, I don’t want to be definedby my pain. Thus, I pickedmyself up and found my way toheal,” the yoga expert said.

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Acknowledging RishabhPant's consistent perfor-

mance, the BCCI has rewardedthe young wicketkeeper-bats-man with a grade A retainershipwhile demoting senior openerShikhar Dhawan from the eliteA plus category in the latest listof Central Contracts.

The Indian cricket Board(BCCI) announced the annualcontracts late on Thursday night,handing retainership to 25 crick-eters in four groups of A plus (�7crore), A (�5 crore), B (�3crore) and C (�1 crore).

Last year 26 players werehanded contracts.

Not only Dhawan but pacerBhuvneshwar Kumar has alsobeen dropped from the highest-paying category and now onlythree players — skipper ViratKohli, limited overs deputyRohit Sharma and premier pacerin all formats speedster JaspritBumrah — figure in the elite cat-egory.

While left arm pacerKhaleel Ahmed and batsmanHanuma Vihari are new entrantsin the C group.

Mayank Agarwal, PrithviShaw and Vijay Shankar, whohave made impression in Testsand limited overs respectively,have not been included in the list

since they do not meet the cri-teria of having played eitherthree Tests or eight ODIs.

It seems to be curtains forveterans Murali Vijay andSuresh Raina, who have beendropped from the list after beingin A and C group in last year'slist. They are no longer in reck-

oning for national team.The biggest gainer

is 21-year-old Pant,who wasn't a part ofthe last year's list butdirectly made it to theA group with 10 others.

Pant is expected to be afirst choice in all formats onceMS Dhoni retires. He wasrewarded for being the firstIndian keeper to score Testhundred in England andAustralia.

The notable loser wasDhawan, who has had dip inform in last six months in ODIs.He was also dropped from theTest squad before the Australiaseries.

Bhuvneshwar also lost outon A plus category as he is nolonger an all- format certainty.

The same logic was appliedto Cheteshwar Pujara as he wasretained in A category con-

tract."Pujara did well in

Australia but A plus cate-gory is only for thosewho are excelling in atleast two if not three for-mats. Pujara is only play-

ing one format. SimilarlyIshant Sharma plays one

format and is in A category," aBCCI official said.

Ajinkya Rahane remains inA category while Kuldeep Yadavis also part of second best group.

Hardik Pandya and KLRahul, the two players embroiledin recent chat show controver-sy, remain in B group along withUmesh Yadav and YuzvendraChahal.

Wriddhiman Saha, whomissed out on entire last seasondue to a shoulder surgery, hasbeen demoted from B to C cat-egory. Jayant Yadav, Karun Nair,Parthiv Patel and Axar Patel arealso out of central contracts asthey have fallen off the radar.

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Saina Nehwal's dismal run against neme-sis Tai Tzu-Ying continued as she suffered

yet another defeat against the Taiwanese tocrash out of the $1 million All EnglandChampionship on Friday.

A former finalist, Saina couldn't findanswers to the deceptive strokeplay of theWorld No 1 Taiwanese, going down 15-21,19-21 in the 37-minute quarterfinal clash.

"I had my chances but I got tied up inthe last two points," said the 28-year-oldfrom Hyderabad.

"My coach was saying 'make it slower',but when you are on the edge of winning agame you tend to get a little more hurriedup and I made that mistake again, it cost methe second set.

"I'm happy that I'm getting closer to thetop players. I've not been sleeping becauseof the pain I've been having in my stomach(due to diarrhea), but I'm really happy thatI could play two matches here."

Saina is now 5-15 in Head-to-Headcareer record with Tzu-Ying and it was her13th straight defeat against the Taiwanese,who has not lost to the Indian since 2015.

"It's good that I'm playing her again andagain. I have to learn how to beat her," shesaid.

Tzu-Ying, who had retired at the HongKong Open last year due to a waist injury,seemed to have recovered well as she went

about her job with consummate ease at theArena Birmingham.

Tzu-Ying's arsenal of strokes was in fulldisplay as she rushed to a 11-3 lead. Sainaproduced two superb drops and won nineof the next 12 points to narrow the equa-tion to 12-14.

Tzu-Ying then came out with a flurryof her magical strokes to move to 20-13 andsealed it comfortably.

In the second game, Saina enjoyed afive-point cushion at 8-3 in the second gameafter husband Parupalli Kashyap pleaded herto play disciplined badminton.

Some exceptional strokes helped theTaiwanese to gather a few points but Sainaensured a 11-8 advantage at the interval.

The Indian tried to keep Tzu-Ying at thebackline with her deep tosses but fatigue,perhaps due to the bout of diarrhea aheadof the event, affected her.

Tzu-Ying's deceptive strokes often leftSaina wrong-footed as she moved ahead ofthe Indian to 17-15.

Saina made it 19-19 with a successfulline call. But two precise returns on theIndian's backhand ended the match in theTaiwanese favour.

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Karnataka began their SuperLeague campaign of the

Syed Munshtaq Ali T20 tour-nament in style by defeatingdomestic giants Mumbai bynine wickets in a Group Bmatch here on Friday.

Karnataka bowlers put upa spirited show and restrictedMumbai for a paltry 97 for ninein their 20 overs with pacer RVinay Kumar (2/15) and right-arm medium pacer ManojBhadange (2/11) picking uptwo wickets apiece.

Opting to bat at the HolkarStadium, Mumbai lost out-of-form opener Prithvi Shaw (0)in the first over itself.

The Vinayak Samant-coached team then lost fourwickets in quick succession --Siddhesh Lad (13), SuryaKumar Yadav (14), skipperShreyas Iyer (10) and AdityaTare (0) with Mumbai losinghalf of their side for just 39runs.

All-rounder ShubhamRanjane (15) and Akash Parkar(22) tried to rebuild the inningswith a 25-run stand before

Ranjane was trapped in front ofthe wicket by leg-spinner K CCariappa as Mumbai lost theirsixth wicket for 64 runs.

After that, Mumbai's lowermiddle-order also faltered asthey failed to cross the 100-runmark.

The chase was a walk in thepark as Karnataka overhauledthe total in just 13.2 overs bylosing just one wicket.

Openers Rohan Kadam(62 not out off 45 balls) and BR Sharath (25 off 31 balls) took

the experienced Mumbai attackto task and laid the foundationstone for the win with a 79-runstand for the first wicket.

One down MayankAgarwal (7 not out) then tookKarnataka home in the compa-ny of Kadam, who stuck eightfours and a six.

Bengal also started theircampaign on a winning noteafter beating Railways by sixwickets.

Chasing a modest 143,opener Shreevats Goswami's 80

helped Bengal overhaul thetarget with ease.

Meanwhile, Vidarbhabowlers wreaked havoc as theyshot out Delhi for a meagre 83,with pacers Umesh Yadav,Srikant Wagh and Yash Thakurpicking up two wickets each.

Vidarbha lost just a lonewicket and chased down thetarget with ease to collect allfour points.

Later, Jharkhand bowlersheld their nerves to defeatGujarat by one run in a thrillingcontest.

���!������At Holkar Stadium: Mumbai97 for 9 in 20 overs lost toKarnataka 98 for 1 in 13.2 oversby 9 wickets. At Emerald High SchoolGround: Jharkhand 148 for 7in 20 overs won against Gujarat147 for 8 in 20 overs by 1 run. At Emerald High SchoolGround: Railways 142 for 6 in20 overs lost to Bengal 143 for4 in 18.1 overs by six wickets. At Holkar Stadium: Delhi 83all out in 16.2 overs lost toVidarbha 85 for 1 in 8.3 oversby nine wickets.

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With pride at stake, India batswomenneed to make amends for their

below-par show as the hosts eye a conso-lation victory in the third and final T20International against England on Saturday.

After winning the ODI series 2-1,Indian women lost momentum and subse-quently conceded an unassailable 2-0 leadagainst England.

The hosts endured a comprehensive 41-run defeat in series-opener before losing thesecond game by five wickets. The defeat inthe second T20 was India's sixth in a rowin the shortest format.

India have been doing well in the 50-over format but they have plenty to pon-der about with the T20 format with WorldCup scheduled for early next year.

India have now suffered two back-to-back series defeats. Before losing to Englandat home India had lost their previous seriesin New Zealand 0-3.

In both games, whether chasing or bat-ting first, India managed less than 120 runs,which is below-par against a top team likeEngland.

Harmanpreet Kaur, the regular T20captain, has not yet recovered from injuryand stand-in skipper opener SmritiMandhana failed to shine with the bat scor-ing 2 and 12 in the first and second T20

respectively.India's top-order com-

prising Harleen Deol,Mandhana and JemimahRodrigues failed to live up to the expecta-tions. The middle order batters, led by vet-eran Mithali Raj, offered some resistancebut were unable to capitalise on the starts.What hurt the Women in Blue most wasthe absence of power-hitting skipperHarmanpreet.

With such a paltry target (112) todefend the Indian bowlers bowled tight butcould not pick wickets. Ekta Bisht (2/23)

was the top-wicket taker.Poonam Yadav (1/18)

and Deepti Sharma wereeconomical (1/18) but

couldn't keep the England batters at bay."I think our bowlers bowled well to

limit them(England) and keep the compe-tition close, another 10-15 runs from ourbatters it could have been a differentresult. They did a really good job, they deliv-ered from their side," Mandhana said.

"But out batters need to step up give agood total for our bowlers to defend,"Mandhana added.

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Virat Kohli looked like a 'Man ona Mission' wearing the camou-flage army cap for the better

part of his 41st ODI hundred but thatwasn't enough to prevent India fromlosing the third ODI against Australiaby 32 runs on Friday.

Usman Khawaja's hundred andAaron Finch's 93 saw Australia put upa more than decent 313 for five andIndia could manage only 281 in 48.2overs, that too solely due to Kohli's 123off 95 balls.

It was yet another superlativeeffort from the Indian skipper, wholacked adequate support from theother end as Australia kept the five-match series consequential going intothe fourth game in Mohali on Sunday.

Kohli scored his first 50 off 52balls and the next 50 off just 33 ballswhich was sheer class as always. Theacceleration was so sudden that it eventook the Australian attack by surprise.

The true nature of the pitchhelped him hit through the line as hesmashed 16 fours and a six.

However Adam Zampa (3/70), byfar the most impactful Aussie bowler,yorked the Indian skipper after hav-ing accounted for former skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni (26). He didget hit but he would any day take wick-ets of Kohli, Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav(26) in return.

Kohli had three significant part-nerships -- 59 with Dhoni for thefourth wicket, 88 with Jadhav for thefifth wicket and 45 with Vijay Shankarfor the sixth -- but none good enoughto take India across the line.

Shikhar Dhawan (1), RohitSharma (14) and Ambati Rayudu (2)were dismissed cheaply as India wasleft tottering at 27 for three and it wasalways a difficult task from there on.

Dhawan's slash was grabbed byGlenn Maxwell at point whileCummins angled one to trap RohitSharma plumb in-front.

Rayudu, not the most reliableplayer against quality fast bowlers, wasbeaten for pace by Cummins, whopegged his off-stump back.

After winning the toss, Indianpacers covered up commendably fora rare off-day endured by the spinnersas visitors were restricted to 313 forfive despite a 193-run opening standbetween skipper Finch and Khawaja.

Khawaja (104, 113 balls) scoredhis maiden ODI ton while Finch (93,99 balls) chose this particular matchto get back to form.

Maxwell (47 off 31 balls) also con-tributed with lusty blows.

The Indian spinners -- RavindraJadeja (0/64 in 10 overs) and KedarJadhav (0/32 in 2 overs) -- were cart-ed all around the park.

Kuldeep Yadav (3/64 in 10 overs),however, redeemed himself at theback-end of the innings.

The trio gave away 160 runs in 22overs and it was left to Jasprit Bumrah(0/53) and Mohammed Shami (1/52in 10 overs) to maintain the disciplineduring the final overs as the totalcould have gone close to the 350-runmark.

In the final 10 overs, Australiacould score only 69 runs, despitebeing 244 for two after 40 overs, cour-tesy Bumrah and Shami who bowled64 dot balls between them.

The fielding on the day was alsoway below par as Dhawan, at square

leg, dropped Khawaja, who tried areverse sweep, while batting on 17 offJadeja's bowling.

Kohli, Kedar and Bumrah were allguilty of slip-ups on the field whichalso released the pressure on the vis-itors.

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As a mark of respect for the CRPF per-sonnel who lost their lives in the

Pulwama terrorist attack, the Indian crick-eters on Friday sported special Army capsduring the third ODI and donated theirmatch fee to the National Defence Fund.

Captain Virat Kohli came out for the tosswearing the camouflage military cap, whichhad the BCCI's logo on it. However, a topofficial of the Board made it clear that it wasa one off gesture and rejected media reportsthat this could become an annual practice.

"The circumstances in this case are extra-ordinary, we don't have plans to make it anannual affair," the official said.

Kohli urged everyone to contributetowards the National Defence Fund so thatthe money could be used for the welfare ofthe families of the slain CRPF Personnel.

"This is a special cap, it's a tribute to theArmed forces. We're all donating our matchfees of this game to the National DefenceFund. I urge everyone in the country to dothe same, donate and stick to the families ofour armed forces," Kohli said.

It is learnt that the idea for this tributewas floated by former skipper MahendraSingh Dhoni, who holds the honorary rankof Lieutenant Colonel in the TerritorialArmy.

Dhoni handed the caps to his teammatesand the Indian cricket board put out a videoof it on micro-blogging site Twitter.

A playing XI member gets �8 lakh asmatch fees per game in ODIs and the reserveplayers get half that amount.

Earlier, the BCCI had decided to donatethe entire budget of the IPL opening cere-mony for the benefit of the families of thosekilled in the terrorist attack.

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Virat Kohli on Friday became only thefourth Indian skipper to pile up 4,000

runs in One-Day Internationals.Kohli, who needed just 27 runs to

achieve the feat, accomplished it in his 66thODI as captain during the third ODIagainst Australia here.

Kohli now joins the elite list of formerskippers Mahendra Singh Dhoni,Mohammad Azharuddin and SouravGanguly.

Kohli, who hit a century on Friday, hasso far registered 19 ODI tons and 14 fiftiesfrom 62 innings as the Indian captain.

Kohli also became the fastest player toreach 4,000 runs in 63 innings, surpassingformer South Africa batsman AB deVilliers, who reached the milestone in 77innings.