Daily Pioneer

16
B urying the over-two- decade-long hatchet, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday announced a mega alliance in Uttar Pradesh, deliv- ering the first opposition front to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha election due by May. Both parties will contest 38 seats each and they have left two seats out of 80 for smaller allies. That times have changed was evident from the missing photos of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati’s mentor Kanshiram from the hoarding behind the dais at the venue of the joint SP- BSP press conference. The announcement of the alliance comes ahead of Mayawati’s birthday on January 15. On that day, Mayawati and Akhilesh are expected to share the stage to give out a message of unity among their respective cadres. Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav, too shares her birthday with Mayawati. “This press conference will give ‘guru and chela’ (Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah) sleepless nights. We will contest the 2019 elections in alliance. This will be a new political rev- olution. We have buried the hatchet and decided to come together. We have decided to prioritise national interest, putting behind the incident — the state Guest House incident of June 2, 1995 — so that the BJP is not able to form a Government this t i m e ,” Mayawati said in the joint press conference she addressed along with Akhilesh Yadav here on Saturday. Mayawati said even as there was no alliance with the Congress, both the parties had decided not to field candi- dates from Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, respectively. “I have full confidence that just as our alliance defeated the BJP in the Lok Sabha bypolls, we will crush the saffron party in the general elections,” Mayawati said, referring to the BJP’s defeat in the Phulpur, Gorakhpur and Kairana Lok Sabha bypolls in 2018. On whether it was a “nat- ural alliance”, Mayawati said, “Yeh lamba chaleyga, aagey bhi chaleyga, Lok Sabha chu- nav ke baad, UP Assembly mein bhi yeh sthayee chalega (This will last long, even beyond LS polls and in UP Assembly elections). Mayawati said that the SP- BSP alliance was not limited to Lok Sabha polls but would continue for UP polls and other elections as well. “This alliance will also continue dur- ing the 2022 UP Qssembly elections and media need not be bothered about the longevi- ty of the alliance,” she said. While Mayawati openly criticised THE Congress, a dignified Akhilesh did not say a word against it. This also leaves room for the post-poll alliance of SP-BSP combine with the United Progressive Alliance if needed. “Now, our party has decid- ed not to forge an alliance with the Congress anywhere in the country. Looking at our past experience, when it comes to SP and BSP, our votes get con- solidated successfully. And that is why we have decided to tie- up with SP. We believe that we will dethrone the BJP at the Centre, provided that the BJP does not go for tampering with EVMs like before. The seat share has also been finalised between SP and BSP,” Mayawati said. “Our prior experience with the Congress has not been good. Our votes get trans- ferred to other parties but not of the Congress. In such a sce- nario, Congress gains from us but our own (vote) percentage dips. In the last 2017 UP Assembly elections, even Samajwadi Party lost due to its alliance with the Congress,” the BS chief said. “Why we didn’t take Congress in alliance? Let me tell you, post-Independence, the Congress was at Centre and in many States. Turn to Page 4 A sserting that the country needs a “mazboot sarkar” and not a “majboor sarkar” that compromises on national inter- ests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit hard at the Congress for seeing itself above country’s institutions even as its top leaders were on bail for various offences. In contrast, he outlined how despite his own “persistent persecution” during the UPA rule he never banned the CBI from Gujarat as the Chief Minister and showed no disre- spect to the due process of law deposing even before an SIT for a 9-hour-long questioning of him. But, he pointed out how the Congress-led Opposition banned the CBI in three States as it is fearful of the agency’s probe outcome. In a free-wheeling speech at the concluding day of the BJP’s National Council meet here, Modi also sought to knock the bottom of what, he said, went in the name of ‘Mahagathbandan’ saying par- ties who owe their existence to anti-Congressism are trying to rally around the Congress without having any common ideology or voter base. And against the backdrop of the for- mal announcement of the SP- BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh, leader after leader at the Council also sought to target it as a case of “sheer oppor- tunism” between two arch- rivals. Modi said Opposition par- ties are coming together as they want to form a ‘majboor’ (help- less) Government to promote nepotism and corruption, whereas the BJP wants a strong dispensation for all-round development. Modi said a reflection of ‘majboor’ gov- ernments has come from the Opposition-led dispensations in different States including Karnataka. The Congress and opposi- tion is trying to piece together a ‘majboor sarkar’ at the Centre so that they could take commission in the defence purchases , do bungling in farmers’ fund or engage in other corrupt practices, he charged. He said the 2019 Lok Sabha poll is a battle between ‘Sultanate aur Samvidhan’ - the dynast and followers of the Constitution. Turn to Page 4 T he Modi Government plans to run an ‘express bus ser- vice’ on the Delhi -Meerut expressway, taking note of delay of the Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) on the stretch. The Ministry of Finance has asked the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and Railways besides NITI Aayog to identi- fy a dedicated corridor for buses on the ongoing Delhi- Meerut expressway. “The Ministry of Finance wrote to MoRTH and Railways to this effect. The Ministry has also asked NITI Aayog to explore the feasibility of run- ning electric buses on the cor- ridor,” top sources told The Pioneer. The total length of the expressway project is 82 km, of which the first 27.74 km will be 14-laned, while the rest will be 6-lane expressway. An express bus service (also known as commuter bus service) is a bus service that is intended to run faster than normal bus services between the two commuter destination points. “Express buses operate on a faster schedule by not making as many stops as nor- mal bus services and often taking quicker routes, such as along highways, or by using dedicated lanes,” said officials of MoRTH. The RRTS project is still on paper. The UP Government has already given its approval but the Delhi Government is yet to do so. Turn to Page 4 D ay before the first festivals Lohri and Makar Sakranti of the New Year, air quality in Northern region of India recorded “severe” with Average Air Quality Index (AAQI) recorded 423 microgram per cubic. Pollution monitoring agen- cies attributed low wind speed for the deteriorating air quali- ty in Delhi and neighbouring States. In the National Capital Region (NCR), Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida and Greater Noida recorded ‘severe’ air quality, it said. Twenty four areas record- ed ‘severe’ air quality and seven areas ‘very poor’ air quality, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said. The over- all PM2.5 level — fine partic- ulate matter in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers — in Delhi was recorded at 287, while the PM10 level was at 443, the CPCB said. The Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) said the air quality may improve in the next two days under the influ- ence of light rain which is expected thereafter. “The overall air quality will deteriorate further, with small fluctuations in the next three days if it does not rain. Other meteorological condi- tions are not favourable although foggy conditions are likely to reduce now,” the SAFAR said. It said the air quality will deteriorate further by Sunday to remain in the border of very poor to severe and then to start improving depending on rain. “In any case, the AQI will start receding by Tuesday but to remain in very poor. Other meteorological con- ditions are not favourable although foggy conditions are likely to reduce now,” it said. Meanwhile, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast light rain on Sunday and Monday. The Regional Weather Forecast Wing (RWFC), IMD also forecast foggy days from January 14 onwards. The RWFC in its local weather chart marked shal- low, moderate days for January 14, 15 and 16, however, on January 17 and 18, Delhities may witness dense fog. According to private weather forecast organisation - Skymet, the Western distur- bance is over East Jammu & Kashmir which is likely to move away during next 24 hours. Post this, another fresh Western disturbance which is currently over Afghanistan and adjoining Pakistan is likely to affect the upper reaches of Jammu region by January 15. “Due to the prevalence of this weather system, the spell of light rain and thundershowers is expected over isolated pock- ets of Delhi, Aligarh, Mathura, Meerut and many regions of northwest Uttar Pradesh. However, rain will be for a very short period. Clouding may persist over the region, leading to fall in maximum and improvement in pollution lev- els for good 48 hours. The wind speed will be around 15-20 kmph,” Skymet’s statement quoted. Lucknow: On a day when the BSP and the SP announced a tie-up in UP for the coming Lok Sabha polls, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) kept its hopes alive, saying the talks for find- ing a place in the alliance were continuing. “The alliance of the two parties has been announced today...As far as we are con- cerned, our talks for the same are continuing,” RLD national spokesperson Anil Dubey said. Detailed report on P5 Varanasi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said his party was ready to fight the Lok Sabha elections alone but hoped there would be a rethink on the SP-BSP alliance for Uttar Pradesh. The Congress can’t be underestimated in Uttar Pradesh and will fight on its own strength if required, he said after the two parties announced a seat-sharing pact, keeping the Congress out. Detailed report on P5 RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Burying the over-two-decade-long hatchet, the

Samajwadi Party (SP) and theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) onSaturday announced a megaalliance in Uttar Pradesh, deliv-ering the first opposition frontto take on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the LokSabha election due by May.Both parties will contest 38seats each and they have lefttwo seats out of 80 for smallerallies.

That times have changedwas evident from the missingphotos of SP patriarchMulayam Singh Yadav andMayawati’s mentor Kanshiramfrom the hoarding behind thedais at the venue of the joint SP-BSP press conference. Theannouncement of the alliancecomes ahead of Mayawati’sbirthday on January 15. On thatday, Mayawati and Akhilesh areexpected to share the stage togive out a message of unityamong their respective cadres.Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav,wife of Akhilesh Yadav, tooshares her birthday withMayawati.

“This press conference willgive ‘guru and chela’ (PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP president Amit Shah)sleepless nights. We will contestthe 2019 elections in alliance.

This will be a new political rev-olution. We have buried thehatchet and decided to cometogether. We have decided toprioritise national interest,putting behind the incident —the state Guest House incidentof June 2, 1995 — so that theBJP is not able to form aGovernment this time,”Mayawati said in the jointpress conference she addressedalong with Akhilesh Yadavhere on Saturday.

Mayawati said even asthere was no alliance with theCongress, both the parties haddecided not to field candi-dates from Amethi and Rae

Bareli, represented by Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi andUPA chairperson SoniaGandhi, respectively.

“I have full confidence thatjust as our alliance defeated theBJP in the Lok Sabha bypolls,we will crush the saffron partyin the general elections,”Mayawati said, referring to theBJP’s defeat in the Phulpur,Gorakhpur and Kairana LokSabha bypolls in 2018.

On whether it was a “nat-ural alliance”, Mayawati said,“Yeh lamba chaleyga, aageybhi chaleyga, Lok Sabha chu-nav ke baad, UP Assemblymein bhi yeh sthayee chalega

(This will last long, evenbeyond LS polls and in UPAssembly elections).

Mayawati said that the SP-BSP alliance was not limited toLok Sabha polls but wouldcontinue for UP polls andother elections as well. “Thisalliance will also continue dur-ing the 2022 UP Qssemblyelections and media need notbe bothered about the longevi-ty of the alliance,” she said.

While Mayawati openlycriticised THE Congress, adignified Akhilesh did not saya word against it. This alsoleaves room for the post-pollalliance of SP-BSP combine

with the United ProgressiveAlliance if needed.

“Now, our party has decid-ed not to forge an alliance withthe Congress anywhere in thecountry. Looking at our pastexperience, when it comes toSP and BSP, our votes get con-solidated successfully. And thatis why we have decided to tie-up with SP. We believe that wewill dethrone the BJP at theCentre, provided that the BJPdoes not go for tampering withEVMs like before. The seatshare has also been finalisedbetween SP and BSP,” Mayawatisaid.

“Our prior experience withthe Congress has not beengood. Our votes get trans-ferred to other parties but notof the Congress. In such a sce-nario, Congress gains from usbut our own (vote) percentagedips. In the last 2017 UPAssembly elections, evenSamajwadi Party lost due to itsalliance with the Congress,” theBS chief said.

“Why we didn’t takeCongress in alliance? Let metell you, post-Independence,the Congress was at Centre andin many States.

Turn to Page 4

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Asserting that the countryneeds a “mazboot sarkar”

and not a “majboor sarkar” thatcompromises on national inter-ests, Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday hit hard atthe Congress for seeing itselfabove country’s institutionseven as its top leaders were onbail for various offences.

In contrast, he outlinedhow despite his own “persistentpersecution” during the UPArule he never banned the CBIfrom Gujarat as the ChiefMinister and showed no disre-spect to the due process of lawdeposing even before an SIT fora 9-hour-long questioning ofhim.

But, he pointed out howthe Congress-led Oppositionbanned the CBI in three Statesas it is fearful of the agency’sprobe outcome.

In a free-wheeling speechat the concluding day of theBJP’s National Council meethere, Modi also sought toknock the bottom of what, hesaid, went in the name of‘Mahagathbandan’ saying par-ties who owe their existence to

anti-Congressism are tryingto rally around the Congresswithout having any commonideology or voter base. Andagainst the backdrop of the for-mal announcement of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh,leader after leader at theCouncil also sought to target itas a case of “sheer oppor-tunism” between two arch-rivals.

Modi said Opposition par-ties are coming together as theywant to form a ‘majboor’ (help-less) Government to promotenepotism and corruption,whereas the BJP wants a strongdispensation for all-rounddevelopment. Modi said a

reflection of ‘majboor’ gov-ernments has come from theOpposition-led dispensationsin different States includingKarnataka.

The Congress and opposi-tion is trying to piece togethera ‘majboor sarkar’ at the Centreso that they could take commission in the defencepurchases , do bungling infarmers’ fund or engage inother corrupt practices, hecharged.

He said the 2019 Lok Sabhapoll is a battle between‘Sultanate aur Samvidhan’ -the dynast and followers of theConstitution.

Turn to Page 4

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The Modi Government plansto run an ‘express bus ser-

vice’ on the Delhi -Meerutexpressway, taking note ofdelay of the Rapid Rail TransitSystem (RRTS) on the stretch.The Ministry of Finance hasasked the Ministries of RoadTransport and Highways(MoRTH) and Railwaysbesides NITI Aayog to identi-fy a dedicated corridor forbuses on the ongoing Delhi-Meerut expressway.

“The Ministry of Financewrote to MoRTH and Railwaysto this effect. The Ministry hasalso asked NITI Aayog toexplore the feasibility of run-ning electric buses on the cor-ridor,” top sources told ThePioneer.

The total length of theexpressway project is 82 km, ofwhich the first 27.74 km will be14-laned, while the rest will be6-lane expressway.

An express bus service(also known as commuter busservice) is a bus service that isintended to run faster thannormal bus services betweenthe two commuter destinationpoints. “Express buses operateon a faster schedule by notmaking as many stops as nor-mal bus services and oftentaking quicker routes, such asalong highways, or by usingdedicated lanes,” said officialsof MoRTH. The RRTS projectis still on paper. The UPGovernment has already givenits approval but the DelhiGovernment is yet to do so.

Turn to Page 4

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Day before the first festivalsLohri and Makar Sakranti

of the New Year, air quality inNorthern region of Indiarecorded “severe” with AverageAir Quality Index (AAQI)recorded 423 microgram percubic.

Pollution monitoring agen-cies attributed low wind speedfor the deteriorating air quali-ty in Delhi and neighbouringStates. In the National CapitalRegion (NCR), Ghaziabad,Faridabad, Noida and GreaterNoida recorded ‘severe’ airquality, it said.

Twenty four areas record-ed ‘severe’ air quality and sevenareas ‘very poor’ air quality, the

Central Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB) said. The over-all PM2.5 level — fine partic-ulate matter in the air with adiameter of less than 2.5micrometers — in Delhi wasrecorded at 287, while thePM10 level was at 443, theCPCB said.

The Centre-run System ofAir Quality and WeatherForecasting (SAFAR) said theair quality may improve in thenext two days under the influ-ence of light rain which isexpected thereafter.

“The overall air qualitywill deteriorate further, withsmall fluctuations in the nextthree days if it does not rain.Other meteorological condi-tions are not favourable

although foggy conditions arelikely to reduce now,” theSAFAR said.

It said the air quality willdeteriorate further by Sundayto remain in the border of verypoor to severe and then to start

improving depending on rain.“In any case, the AQI will

start receding by Tuesday butto remain in very poor.

Other meteorological con-ditions are not favourablealthough foggy conditions are

likely to reduce now,”it said.

Meanwhile, IndianMeteorological Department(IMD) forecast light rain onSunday and Monday.

The Regional WeatherForecast Wing (RWFC), IMDalso forecast foggy days fromJanuary 14 onwards.

The RWFC in its localweather chart marked shal-low, moderate days for January14, 15 and 16, however, onJanuary 17 and 18, Delhitiesmay witness dense fog.

According to privateweather forecast organisation -Skymet, the Western distur-bance is over East Jammu &Kashmir which is likely tomove away during next 24

hours. Post this, another freshWestern disturbance which iscurrently over Afghanistan andadjoining Pakistan is likely

to affect the upper reaches of Jammu region by January 15.

“Due to the prevalence ofthis weather system, the spell oflight rain and thundershowersis expected over isolated pock-ets of Delhi, Aligarh, Mathura,Meerut and many regions ofnorthwest Uttar Pradesh.However, rain will be for a veryshort period. Clouding maypersist over the region, leadingto fall in maximum andimprovement in pollution lev-els for good 48 hours. The windspeed will be around 15-20kmph,” Skymet’s statementquoted.

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Lucknow: On a day when theBSP and the SP announced atie-up in UP for the comingLok Sabha polls, the RashtriyaLok Dal (RLD) kept its hopesalive, saying the talks for find-ing a place in the alliance werecontinuing.

“The alliance of the twoparties has been announcedtoday...As far as we are con-cerned, our talks for the sameare continuing,” RLD nationalspokesperson Anil Dubey said.

Detailed report on P5

Varanasi: Senior Congressleader P Chidambaram onSaturday said his party wasready to fight the Lok Sabhaelections alone but hopedthere would be a rethink onthe SP-BSP alliance for UttarPradesh. The Congress can’t beunderestimated in UttarPradesh and will fight on itsown strength if required, hesaid after the two partiesannounced a seat-sharing pact,keeping the Congress out.

Detailed report on P5

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Awar film on an event so near in timeand territory is bound to be engagingand stoke a wave of nationalism,

more so if it is Pakistan on the receivingend of India’s rare wrath. Only in theextreme case can this go wrong. The realsurgical strike on PoK in retaliation to theterror strike in Uri had come as a surpriseto the nation with most of the populacelauding the one-time invasion. Keeping it asa peg to pan out on the trials and travails ofan Army family has worked.

This film works on many levels and thatincludes the controlled but brilliant acting ofa simmering Vicky Kaushal who helms thesurgical strike. The other characters, includingveteran Paresh Rawal who essays the role ofNSA head Ajit Dhoval with a cell phonebreaking idiosyncrasy, are fully fleshed out andsecond to the plot which is a refreshing changecoming from Bollywood.

The director has done well not to take toomany cinematic liberties with the peg and

keeps the action tagged to reality. Soldiers andcommandos sent to the front are as sizzlingas are the huddles in PMO giving shape to theidea of a never before strike.

The action looks well studied andresearched. Silently intruding unmannedvehicles in the form of an eagle, chopperscamouflaged in Indian colours, soldierssneaking into Pakistan through dark caves litonly by night vision devises, slick shootingswithout much ado – everything inexorablybuilds up to a climax which we all know wentin India’s favour.

The action on the other side of theborder, with groovy spy ops and India blindingits neighbour with the unfathomable movegoes a long way in punctuating this movie witha lot of ying and yang energy. The actionblends beautifully with the dilemma Kaushalfaces in choosing his duties between hismother and the nation.

The dialogues are to the point andsometimes jingoistic but it all goes well withthe mood of the story which is otherwisereality meets reality on the big screen whichis otherwise known to go OTT with song anddance around everything that Bollywoodattempts.

A must watch by all ages.

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They are successful, chivalrous,kind and complete men everyonedesires in life. They suit up to kill

and carry themselves with a lot of grace.They wear their heart on their sleeve andbelieve in binding the family together.From Naitik (played by Karan Mehra)of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, toShivaansh Oberoi (Nakuul Mehta), ofIshqbaaaz, the good boys of smallscreen have always grabbed manyeyeballs. Adding to the bandwagon isRahul Sudhir who is making his debutwith Rajaa Betaa on Zee TV.

Some relationships are beyondblood relationships and Rajaa Betaa isthe story of an orphan child VedantTripathi who was found lying in a traincompartment and was brought home byGangadutt Tripathi. He gives theresponsibility to his good-for-nothingson Ramesh to bring him up as his ownchild. Raised by a disinterested father,Vedant grows up to become a successfulgynaecologist but his family neverappreciates him for anything and useshim as a pay-check.

“Vedant is an ideal son andhusband. He is a selfless man who islooking for acceptance in his life. Hewants to make sure that everyone in thefamily is happy and he is ever ready tosacrifice his own happiness for theirsake. He longs for love and affection.Being orphaned at birth, he wasn'tfortunate enough to have therelationships the rest of us inherit atbirth. Though he hasn’t received the lovehe deserves from the family, he still feelsforever indebted to them for lendinghim their surname and wants toconstantly give back to the family inevery way possible.”

Small screen showmakers arebreaking the monotony of women-centric shows, highlighting the fact thatnot all men are bad and vengeful. Showslike Rajaa Betaa celebrates men andintroduces the male-protagonist as theone who go all out and make sacrificesto keep the whole family together. Themakers have gone an extra mile byreversing the role of a woman with aman.

“Every big family needs a Banyantree and Vedant plays this role. He takesup all the responsibilities that aretraditionally considered to be a woman’sdomain in the family. People will get tosee up to what extent a man can go tokeep his family together. Through thisconcept we wanted to move on from theage-old concept where it is only awoman's duty to do all the sacrifice andkeep her family together. The conceptof the show is different and we areconfident that our audience willwelcome this show with open hearts,”producer Smruti Shinde says, addingthat the show goes aired from January15, Monday to Saturday at 6:30 pm.

For Sudhir, to get such an integralrole to play in debut show is sheer luckand comes with lots of responsibility.“Through this role, I am lookingforward to the change in people’sperception of an ideal man. The thingthat attracted me to play Vedant was thathe is a man full of values and despite ofbeing grown up in a negativeenvironment where no one appreciateshim, he still emerges to be a very positivesoul and holds on to the string of

affection that came his way from hisfoster grandparents,” he adds.

Debutant Sambhabna Mohanty,who plays Poorva Mishra— Vedant’swife, says: “The concept of the showis fresh with an interesting tagline —‘Vedant sab sambhal lega.’ Poorva is amodern day girl, she is fierce,independent and abides by herprinciples. The layers of this characteris what attracted me to play this role.”

While Fenil Umrigar will beplaying Poorva’s sister Pankhuri, AnilMisra will essay the role of Vedant’sfather Rakesh Tripathi.

There have been many male-centric shows like Jamai Raja andothers that have showcased an idealson-in-law or an ideal husband but thehighlight of this storyline is an idealson, which not many serials havefocussed. The essence of the show willbe the struggle of Vedant to find thelove that he has been longing all hislife.

Well, whether this family dramasticks to this unique concept or wouldfizzle and turn into a love story, onlytime will tell.

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With over 10 per cent votes’difference between the

BJP and the Congress inrecently concluded assemblypolls, the saffron party is nowstaring at another humiliatingdefeat, this time in Lok Sabhapolls expected by April-May.

The BJP has been winning10 out of the total 11 Lok Sabhaseats in the state for past twoconsecutive parliamentary pollsbut the resurgent Congressand a formidable third front ledby the former chief ministerAjit Jogi, have brought fears inthe rank and file of the BJP thatthe party could not win a sin-gle seat in 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions.

``The Congress is all set tokeep the winning momentumin Lok Sabha polls too inChhattisgarh, voters whoditched the BJP in assemblypolls are highly unlikely tochange their mind in LokSabha polls in the state,’’ asenior BJP leader and former

Lok Sabha MP, told ThePioneer.

``The situation is goingfrom bad to worse for the BJPin Lok Sabha polls inChhattisgarh and fresh inputsemerging from various parts ofstate about voters’ mindsetindicate the BJP might not geta single seat,’’ the leader said,adding ``in the best-case sce-nario the BJP could bag 1-3seats’’.

He further informed thatLok Sabha polls would be avery challenging task for for-mer chief minister and seniorBJP leader Raman Singh to

avoid another embarrassingdefeat for the party inChhattisgarh.

A top BJP functionary whohandles party organisation inChhattisgarh for over a decadeinformed, ̀ `the BJP cadres areyet to overcome from shockdefeat in assembly polls inwhich the faction-riddenCongress walked away with 68out of the total 90 seats in atwo-phased assembly polls heldin November,’’.

He added that the BJP islargely unprepared for LokSabha polls in Chhattisgarh asits frontline leaders in state arenow busy in blame game.

Though Raman Singh whowas chief minister for 15 con-secutive years, had owned upresponsibility for BJP’shumiliating defeat in assemblypolls but a powerful section ofparty leaders such as the sea-soned politician BrijmohanAgrawal wants major changesin leadership in state if partyhas to revive its hope in LokSabha polls.

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Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel said on

Saturday that the message ofSwami Vivekananda is stillhighly relevant and holdsground for the world.

``Swami Vivekananda hadconsidered the service tohumanity as one of the biggestservice and top priorities,’’remarked while addressing anevent organised to mark thebirth anniversary of SwamiVivekananda at premises ofSwami Vivekananda TechnicalUniversity, Nevai, Bhilai.

Chief Minister laid thefoundation stone for construc-tion works at cost of �68 crorein university premises. Heoffered floral tributes to statueof Swami Vivekananda andalso inaugurated the‘Vivekananda Kaushal VikasSetu’ (Skill DevelopmentBridge) in the premises.

He further said that theprime example of SwamiVivekananda’s service tohumanity is of Narayanpurbased Swami VivekanandaAshram. Recalling Swamiji’svisit to Raipur, Baghel said,“Swamiji at age of 12 arrivedfrom Jabalpur to Raipur in abullock-cart. He is source of

motivation for youth.”On constructions work he

said, “The construction workswill be a milestone for univer-sity as the students in futurecan derive benefit of it. Theuniversity is working in line ofextending technical education,training, skill upgradation and

building their future.”Presiding over the func-

tion, Home MinisterTamdradwaj Sahu said,“Technical education is such asector where better educationcan take students to newheights.”

Higher and Technical edu-

cation Minister Umesh Patelhoped that in future SwamiVivekananda TechnicalUniversity will achieve newheights in higher and moraleducation in the region.Industries Minister KawasiLakhma was also present onthe occasion.

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IIM Raipur conducted a net-working event for entrepre-

neurs on titled ̀ EntrepreneursUniversity’ and the key aim ofthe event was to provide a plat-form for entrepreneurs to con-template on the topic ‘TakingSmall and Medium ScaleEnterprises Forward’ andengage in a vibrant discussion.

The Panel discussion wasattended by around 40 entre-preneurs from Raipur. Theevent started off with aninsightful opening addressdelivered by Professor BharatBhasker, IIM Director, Raipur.

Bhasker stressed on theimportance of SME industry bythrowing light on the fact thatalmost half of the employment

in our country is provided bythe SME sector.

He also went on to statethat the true measurement ofour country’s growth can bedone by looking at the situationof MSMEs. He concluded withthe thoughts that even thoughmanufacturing is becomingautomated, MSMEs will havean equal or even bigger rolegoing into the future. This isbecause they would need less-er investment as they evolvefrom the manufacturing sectorto the service sector.

The opening address wasfollowed by a panel discussionand the panel was moderatedprofessionally by Lt. Col. Dr.Samar Singh, AssistantProfessor -Business Policy andstrategy, IIM Raipur and the

panellists were Sunil Mishra,Managing Director,Chhattisgarh State IndustrialDevelopment Corporation Ltd;Mr. Harsh Chopra, Founder,Partners 4 Growth; Dr. JagrookDawra, Associate Professor -Marketing, IIM Raipur, each ofthem a repository of knowledgethemselves.

The panel discussion wasset to motion by the modera-tor and Sunil Mishra was thefirst to share his thoughts. Heemphasized that the govern-ment policies are totallyfocussed

towards the SME sectorand was quite convinced aboutthe government’s good work inthis regard. However, he raisedconcerns about a huge gapbetween the benefits the gov-

ernment offers and the benefitsthe SMEs take. He urged stu-dents and entrepreneurs tobridge this gap by facilitatingthe process so that SMEs canderive maximum benefits.

Dr. Jagrook Dawra gave hisinputs to the discussion bydrawing comparison on thebasis of the Ease of DoingBusiness rankings, with coun-tries like China.

While it was quite dis-heartening to see India rankquite poorly on most parame-ters, Dr. Dawra drew a positiveperspective and said that aslight betterment of the ease ofdoing business rankings wouldensure a huge rise in growthrates, owing to the indomitablespirit of the entrepreneurs ofIndia.

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Congress at any level is notopposed to the screening of

film ‘The Accidental PrimeMinister’ based on formerPrime Minister ManmohanSingh, a party leader claimedon Saturday.

``It is the Bharatiya JanataParty which is making unwar-ranted rant on the issue’’, statesChhattisgarh Pradesh CongressCommittee chief spokespersonSushil Anand Shukla in a state-ment.

He claimed that ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel hasclearly stated that there will beno restrictions imposed forscreening of the film in thestate.

Shukla further added,“Congress follows the princi-ples of tolerance and respectsthe freedom of expression.Intolerance and fascism arethe character of the BharatiyaJanata Party’’.

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Chhattisgarh DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) D

M Awasthi has issued directivesto all Superintendents of Policeand Inspector General of Policeof all range to remain at head-quarters Tuesday andWednesday respectively.

Both officials (IG and SP)will listen to the problemsrelated to police personnel andtheir families at areas of theirrespective jurisdiction.

The DGP’s letter directs theSuperintendent of Police to bepresent at district headquarterson each Tuesday. They will gothrough the problems andissues of police staff, officers

and their families. They willhave to resolve the issues at dis-trict level which are withintheir jurisdiction.

The cases which cannot beresolved within the powers ofSPs, it will have to be forward-ed to office of InspectorGeneral of Police and DirectorGeneral of Police.

Similarly, InspectorGeneral of Police will resolvethe complaints and problems oftheir range on each Wednesdayof the month. They will alsoforward the cases to office ofDirector General of Policewhich are not under their pow-ers but will have to write com-ment on the file related to thecase.

Those cases will only besent to office of DGP, whichcannot be resolved at district orrange level. The IGPs and SPswill send an updated report ofefforts made and status ofresolved problems/complaintsof police personnel on 10th ofevery month to the office ofDGP, states the directive.

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January 31 is the last day forprocurement of paddy under

minimum support price fromfarmers and keeping in mindfor heavy rush of farmers forselling their produces during final days Raipurdistrict collector Basavaraju S.has directed to issue tokens to the registered farmers toavoid any difficulties tofarmers.

He was reviewing thepaddy procurement progress inRaipur district on Saturday.Raipur district has recorded 85percent of target for paddyprocurement so far.

He directed that in placeswhere more than 80 percentprocurement is completed,

Food, Cooperative Bank andCooperative departmentdistrict and block level teamshould be constituted to submitreport.

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Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel said on Saturday

that he would ensure allsupport and resources back upfor the poverty-hit tribaldominated Bastar region’sAbujmarh where there is nodearth of talent and capabilitiesamong children.

He heaped praise onRamkrishna Ashram based atNarayanpur and shaping uptalents of local children. Hereiterated that stategovernment was committedto development of Abujmarh.

He was addressing the‘National Youth Day’ eventorganised to mark the 125thbirth anniversary ofSwami Vivekananda atRamkrishna Mission Ashram,Narayanpur.

“All pray to God but no oneserves the children of God.Swami Ramkrishna Paramhansand Swami Vivekanandaserved humanity.

Today, the Ashram is doing

a great service of humanitywith dedication,” opinedBaghel.

Recalling the past, Baghelsaid, “Former Prime Ministerlate Indira Gandhi calledSwami Atamanand asking himto do something for Abujmarhto bring changes in localpeople’s life. So, Ashram startedin a small hut.

It was period when peopleused to exchange forestproduce ‘Chironji’ with salt.Ashram then ensured peoplegot the right price.”

He further remarked,“Narayanpur Ashram class 5thseven students from Bastardivision topped in exam. Whenpeople asked why only seven,why not eight, then I had to say,in ashram only seven childrenwere studying.

The ashram is working onproviding best education tochildren.”

Industries minister KawasiLakhma, MLA MohanMarkam and ChandanKashyap also addressed thegathering on the occasion.

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To mark the 125th birthanniversary of Swami

Vivekananda, on Saturdaysports and youth welfaredepartment, Government ofChhattisgarh organised‘Sadbhavna Cycle Rally’ onSaturday from Sardar VallabhBhai Patel InternationalHockey Stadium to SwamiVivekananda AthleticsStadium, Kota.

Raipur Mayor PramodDubey, Raipur (West) MLAVikas Upadhayay, Sportssecretary Siddarth KomalSingh, Raipur CollectorBasavaraju S, Raipur MunicipalCorporation CommissionRajat Bansal, departmental staffand children participated in theevent.

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Cooperation MinisterSurjya Naryan Patro on

Saturday said thebeneficiaries of the KrushakAssistance for Livelihood andIncome Augmentat ion(KALIA) scheme would getmonetar y assistance byJanuary 26.

“Money will be directlycredited to the bank accountsof nearly 12.4 lakh farmers,who are having regulartransactions with us rightfrom sel l ing paddy andpurchasing seeds and urea,”said Patro.

Besides, the farmers whohave recently applied under

the KALIA scheme wouldalso get assistance by January26 after necessar yverifications by concernedofficers,” said the Minister.

District Collectors havebeen asked for verification ofthe applications, followingwhich the applicants wouldget the assistance.

The Government hasearmarked �10,180 crore forthe KALIA scheme for three

years. The scheme aims at

providing f inancial ,livelihood, cultivation andinsurance support to small,marginal and landlessfarmers, Patro said.

However, the BJP allegedthat that though the StateGovernment is claiming thatthe KALIA scheme is for thebenefit of farmers, it is beingused to distribute funds toruling party workers.

How can the Governmentidentify the farmers in such ashort period of time? Thescheme is only meant tohoodwink people, said BJPKrushak Morcha presidentSibaji Mohanty.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Saturday

announced several sops forAnganwadi Workers andHelpers including salary hikeand increase in the age ofsuperannuation.

“While the monthlysalary of Anganwadi Workershas been increased to � 7,500from �6,000, Mini AnganwadiWorkers will get a salary of�5,375 instead of �4,125,”Patnaik said.

Similarly, for AnganwadiHelpers, the salar y wasincreased to �3,750 from�3,000. Besides, the age forsuperannuation of theseemployees was increased from

60 years to 62 years subject tocertain conditions to beprescribed by theGovernment.

At the t ime ofsuperannuation at 62 years, anamount of �20,000 toAnganwadi Workers, � 15,000to Mini Anganwadi Workersand �10,000 to AnganwadiHelpers wi l l be paid as a measure of socialsecurity. Besides, a vacation of15 days would be allowedannually to AnganwadiWorkers and Helpers duringsummer.

The new increment insalaries would come intoeffect retrospectively fromOctober 1, 2018, said officialsources.

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True to style, the formerChief Minister Harish

Rawat organised a ‘KhichadiMushroom party’ in Dehradunon Saturday. The party wasattended by a large number ofpeople associated with theCongress aside from the peoplefrom all walks of the life.

Addressing the gathering,the former CM said that the

event was an apolitical oneorganised to greet the peopleahead of Makar Sankranti.Rawat referred to his campaignto promote local produce andcuisine of mountainous area ofthe State in 2014 when he washelming the State Government.“I am now happy to learn thatmillets and other food grainsproduced in the hills ofUttarakhand have been putinto the category of highly

nutritious food by WorldHealth Organisation (WHO),”he added. He added that thesolution to the problem ofmigration from the hills mustbe evolved locally.

Known as ‘MushroomGirl’ for her efforts in thepromotion of mushroomculture in Uttarakhand, DivyaRawat said that her companyis engaged in providingtraining to a large number oflocal people for cultivation ofmushroom.

Those present on theoccasion enjoyed the treat of‘Khichadi’, cuisines preparedfrom mushroom, cordyceps

tea and local dishes preparedfrom millets and pulses.

Among those present onthe occasion were the formerMinister Dinesh Agarwal,Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat,Dhanaulti MLA Pritam SinghPanwar, senior Congress leaderLt Gen T P S Rawat (Rtd),former MLA Rajkumar, JotSingh Bisht and Congressspokespersons-R P Raturi andGarima Dasauni. However, theCongress leaders loyal to theState Congress chief PritamSingh and the leader of theopposition Indira Hridayeshwere conspicuous by theirabsence.

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The All India Congress Committeegeneral secretary and former Chief

Minister Harish Rawat has claimed thatUttar Pradesh would prove to be thegame changer for Congress in theupcoming Lok Sabha election.Responding to a question on Congressbeing left out of the alliance between SPand BSP in UP, the senior Congressleader said on the sidelines of thekhichadi mushroom party he hosted onthe day that the election results wouldput the Congress in the position attainedby it in 2009 when it had won 23 seatsin UP and formed the Government forthe second consecutive term at theCentre. “Time is still left for the electionand I am sure that the people of UPwould prefer Congress to the allianceand BJP,” he said.

Rawat, however, evaded a questionasked about the parliamentary seat hewould contest and said that it was for theCongress president to decide.

But he said in the same breath thathe has been touring the State in hisendeavour to expand the social base ofthe party. Taking strong exception to therecent statement of Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Trivendra Singh Rawat,equating the Prime Minister Narendra

Modi with Bhim Rao Ambedkar forproviding 10 percent reservation to thepoor of upper castes, Rawat said thatthere could not be two Ambedkars.“Ambedkar worked selflessly for theuplift of the backwards and Modi is outand out a politician,” he said.

Rawat reminded that the Congresshad attempted to give reservation to theupper caste poor way back in 1992. “Butthe move was scuttled in the court,” hesaid. “We supported the Bill in theparliament even though we know thatit is another Jumla by Modi,” he added.

“PM should explain to theunemployed why over 25 lakh posts inthe Government have been scrapped bythe Centre and why 24 lakh posts arestill lying vacant. Similarly about 3 croreposts are lying vacant in differentStates,’’ Rawat said.

The Congress veteran tore into theBJP Government for not doing anythingon Gairsain. He also slammed the BJPGovernment for not paying dues to thesugarcane farmers.

“An amount of �22,000 crore ispending to the sugarcane growers in thecountry while in Haridwar districtalone, a payment of �300 crore ispending. This Government is forcing meto undertake a fast in front of the VidhanSabha,’’ he said.

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Three youngsters were killed in an accidentwhen the vehicle they were travelling in

plunged into a deep gorge near Dhanaulti onMussoorie- Suvakholi road on Saturday.

The accident occurred in the wee hoursof the day, but the police and administrativeofficers reached the spot much later after theywere informed by the local people.

The in-charge of the Mussoorie policestation, Bhawana Kaithola said that the policehad received information about the accidentat around 7.30 am after which a team of policeand fire brigade rushed to the spot.

The place where the accident occurred issaid to be a blind curve.

After an operation which lasted for threehours, the police extracted three bodies fromunder the gorge and one badly injured personwas rushed to the Government Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) Hospital.

It is learnt that four friends all in their 20swere heading to Dhanaulti from Delhi tospend the weekend. Their plan went horriblywrong when the I-20 car they were travellingfell into a deep gorge while negotiating a steepcurve at Tambidhar near Suwakholi.

The deceased have been identified as SurajRawat, Prince Tanwar and Mannu whileRahul Rawat was the injured. All the fourfriends were residents of Laxmi Nagar area inDelhi.

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From page 1Even then corruption,

poverty were rampant. TheCongress and the BJP at Centreare two sides of the same coin.Both the parties have madebungling in defence dealsduring their tenures. TheCongress lost due to Bofors,the BJP will lose because ofRafale,” she said.

She further attacked theCongress, saying the grandold party had lost deposit inby-elections.

Mayawati said the SP-BSPalliance was a tie-up of poor,workers, traders, youths,women, backwards, Dalits andreligious minorities.

Mayawati also charged theBJP with spending huge moneyon Shivpal Singh Yadav, whorecently floated his PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (Lohia), tosplit non-BJP votes and said,“The money will go down thedrain. Shivpal Yadav’s party is

BJP’s proxy outfit. I request toall the leaders of BSP and SP tobeware of the party run byShivpal and other partieswhich are run by BJP frombackground.”

On whether Mayawati andAkhilesh Yadav will becontesting the Lok Sabha polls,both said the media wouldcome to know about it in duecourse of time.

During the pressconference at a posh hotel, thesupporters of both the partiesraised slogans outside thevenue. Chants of ‘Darpan jaisasaaf hai janata ka aadesh,maang raha hai desh, ab keMaya aur Akhilesh’, ‘AkhileshYadav-Mayawati zindabaad’and ‘Bua-Bhatija zindabad’rent at air.

Mayawati said, “In 1993,then BSP chief Kanshiram andMulayam Singh Yadavcontested together and won theUP polls. The BSP isdetermined to follow in thefootsteps of Dr BR Ambedkarand give the same results this

time. We had pursued on themission of late Kanshi Ram. In1993, we had got in alliancewith Samajwadi Party. Though,it could not last long becauseof some reasons, including thestate Guest House episode.But we have buried the pastand decided to come together,”Mayawati said.

Mayawati hit out at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,saying that there was an“undeclared emergency in BJPrule”.

In March 2018, the twoparties had decided to team upfor important bypolls toGorakhpur and Phulpur LokSabha seats and won at bothplaces. Later the alliance alsowrested Kairana Lok Sabhaseat and Nurpur assembly seatfrom the BJP in bypolls.

In 2014, the BJP had won71 seats in Uttar Pradesh whileits ally Apna Dal (Sonelal)had bagged two seats. TheSamajwadi Party had won fiveseats, Congress two, while theBSP drew a blank.

From page 1Modi pointed to the “loot” during the

Congress rule and referred to its topleadership (Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi) being on bail in the NationalHerald case to ask: “Can we give thereigns of the country to such people? Canthey be trusted?”

Describing the Congress leadershipas “ye zamanati leaders” (leaders on bail),Modi asked what kind of “pradhansevak” the country needs - the one whoconspires and is a thief or the one whois honest and hard working ?. “Let thecountry decide,” he said.

Addressing the last Council meetingbefore the Lok Sabha poll, the PrimeMinister tore into the Congress and itsallies saying the Opposition parties havealways been opposing the progressivemeasures of his Government and citedexamples of legislations on triple-talaq,rendering constitutional status to OBCbody, National Register for Citizenship,legal status to Aadhaar and enactment ofEnemy Property Act and other policyissues. He said the Bill to give 10 per centreservation in jobs and education to the

general category poor will boost the “self-confidence of new India” and allayed fearsof tinkering with the existing quotapolicy for SCs, STs and OBCs. He askedparty workers to foil any conspiracyagainst it.

In the same breath, Modi said it wasthe Congress which sought to put spokesin the progress of Ram Mandir trial in theapex court (by asking that it be heard afterLok Sabha poll) “Ye hamein bhoolnanahin chahiye, bhoolna dena bhi nahinhain,” he said amidst cheering of delegatesin the council. He said the Congress alsomade a move of impeachment against thelast Chief Justice of India.

“They do not care for institutions beit the Reserve bank of India, the SupremeCourt, probe agencies or foreignministry”, the Prime Minister allegedsaying the Congress leaders were onlyhappy to gang up with “ tukre tukre”gang., The highlight of PM’s speech,however, was that perhaps for the firsttime, he publicly spoke about what hecalled his own persecution by the UPAGovernment at the Centre when he wasGujarat Chief Minister. In 2007, Modisaid, a leader came to Gujarat andannounced that he should get ready to bejailed.

From page 1The project is being implemented by

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.According to sources, the RRTS will be

delayed as the proposal was not approved bythe Project Investment Board till date. On theother hand, the Delhi-Meerut Expresswaywould be India’s first 14-lane highway and hasbeen described by Prime Minister NarendraModi as ‘road to freedom from pollution’. Itis being built at a cost of over Rs 7,500 crore.

The Delhi- Meerut Expressway projectaims to provide faster and safer connectivitybetween Delhi and Meerut and beyond this,with Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Theexpressway involves construction of 11flyovers/interchanges, 5 major and 24 minorbridges, 3 ROBs (rail over bridges), 36vehicular and 14 pedestrian underpasses. Itwill also have elevated section of 5.91 km.

The stretch between Akshardham and UPGate of the expressway, which has beendeveloped in the first phase of the project, isalready functional. The 8-kilometre-longstretch from UP Gate to Vijay Nagar is likelyto be opened in the next two three months.The stretch from UP Gate to Vijay Nagar isa part of the 20-km long highway between UPGate and Dasna, that the National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI) is developingunder the second phase of the wideningproject.

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After the potential partnersof a Rainbow Alliance to be

led by his party cold shoulderedhis proposal to projectCongress president RahulGandhi as the PrimeMinisterial candidate for the2019 Lok Sabha election, MKStalin, the DMK chief is on amission to mobilise villagers inTamil Nadu to ensure they votefor his party. The DMK presi-dent is busy with OoratchiSabai a kind of Gram Sabha)where he visits villages andinteracts with villagers, espe-cially women.

Stalin has been enthusedby the response he receivedduring the Namukku Naame(We For Ourselves) campaignhe held prior to the 2016Assembly election by touringall the 234 Assembly con-stituencies in which he met thevoters and discussed with themtheir grievances. Though theDMK could not cross themagic figure of 118 to form theGovernment, the party fin-

ished the contest with 88 seats,a commendable performancedespite the fact that the party’sthen president M Karunanidhicould not campaign because ofadvanced age.

This time, Stalin is the starcampaigner for the DMK asthere are no leaders in the partywith mass appeal. He may bedepending on his sonUdhayanidhi Stalin, who iswaiting in the wings to take theplunge into active politics. Buthow far Udhayanidhi’s popu-larity as a film star would helpthe DMK to win the election isnot known. Stalin’s focus dur-ing the interaction with the vil-lagers is the “all- round failureof the AIADMK governmentruling the State and the anti-Tamil Nadu and anti-secularNarendra Modi government atthe Centre”.

Stalin said he would pre-pare the election manifesto ofthe DMK for the Lok Sabhaelection by incorporating theissue highlighted by the vil-lagers. The Gram Sabha meet-ings are drawing good crowd,

especially women who pourout their grievances to theDMK chief.

Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswamy was quick topoint out the fallacy behindStalin’s claim that he wouldaddress all issues concerningthe villagers. “Stalin was theminister for local administra-tion and rural developmentduring 2006 to 2011. Had hetaken the trouble of visiting thevillages those days, we wouldnot have faced this muchissues,” Palaniswamy told apublic meeting on Saturday.

The chief minister saidthere were many villages in theState which do not have anysanitation or drinking watersupply schemes. “These issuescould have addressed by Stalinhad he been serious in hiswords,” said Palaniswamy. Healso lambasted the DMK chieffor his locus standi to addressthe villagers. “He is a productof dynasty and family politics.Karunanidhi was the partypresident for 50 years and hewas succeeded by son Stalin.

Karunandhi has also promot-ed his other children M KLagiri and Kanimozhi besidesgrand nephew DayanidhiMaran. Now Stalin is groomingUdhayanidhi to be his succes-sor. AIADMK is the onlydemocratic party in TamilNadu and you have seen anordinary villager neing swornin as chief minister,” saidPalaniswamy.

Political commentators inTamil Nadu are not impressedby Stalin’s mass contact pro-gramme. “He is lucky thatthere are no powerful secondwrung leaders in the DMK tochallenge him. These kind ofprogrammes are not new inTamil Nadu,” said GSatyamurty, veteran colum-nist.

He said situations mayundergo big change in theState as the election fever catch-es p in days to come. “It is notgoing to be a cake walk for theDMK or the AIADMK asJayalalithaa and Karunanidhiare not there this time,” saidSatyamurtty.

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The BJP on Saturday said theSP and the BSP joined

hands for their survival, andnot for the country or UttarPradesh. It also downplayedassertions that the alliance willhave a major impact on theupcoming Lok Sabha polls. Itsaid that any grand alliance ofOpposition parties against theBJP for the upcoming LokSabha elections will bring inanarchy, corruption and polit-ical instability.

Addressing a Press confer-ence on the second day of theBJP National Council meeting,Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad said that theBSP and the SP alliance is fortheir survival. It is not in theinterest of the country or UttarPradesh.”

Prasad said that the partiesknow that they cannot fightModi and so have formed thealliance. Prasad also rejectedclaims made by BSP chiefMayawati and SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav that their com-ing together will have a majorimpact on the parliamentarypoll results. “Elections are notabout mathematics but chem-istry,” he said.

The Minister’s remarkscame soon after BSP supremoMayawati and SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav, at a jointPresser in Lucknow,announced the alliance sayingthey will contest the comingLok Sabha polls together inUttar Pradesh sharing 38 seatseach of the 80 in the state, whileleaving Rae Bareli and Amethifor the Congress, which hasbeen kept out of the alliance.

Reacting on the alliance,UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said “This is acoalition of casteist, corruptand opportunistic mindset thatdoesn’t want development andgood governance. “Publicknows everything and thisunholy alliance will be given aperfect answer. Any grandalliance of Opposition partiesagainst the BJP for the upcom-ing Lok Sabha elections willbring in anarchy, corruption

and political instability. Thosewho who did not like eachother are talking about a mahagathbandhan (grand alliance).This is an alliance for corrup-tion, anarchy and politicalinstability,” Yogi said .

Yogi asserted that in theupcoming Lok Sabha polls,the BJP will perform betterthan it did in 2014 and a“strong and capable”Government under Modi’sleadership will be formedagain. “Ask any impartial per-son — a rural woman, a solid-er, a farmer or youth — theywill all say ‘Kaho Dil Se ModiPhir Se’ (they will vouch forbringing in Modi once again).”

BJP leader and UP DeputyChief Minister Keshav PrasadMaurya termed the SP-BSPjoining hands as an “alliance ofcorruption and goondaism”.“And let me make it clear thatpeople are solidly behind Modiand the BJP will do better thanit did in 2014. The backwardcommunity is backing Modi,”he said at the national conven-tion. The parties kept theCongress out of the alliance,but said they will not field can-didates in Amethi and RaeBareli, represented byCongress president RahulGandhi and UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi.

In the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections, the BJP had won 71out of the 80 Lok Sabha seatsin the State.

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Admitting reverses inrecent three States

Assembly elections, BJP pres-ident Amit Shah on Saturdaysaid the party was “not defeat-ed” as it did not lose groundin Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh. For hispart, Union Minister andsenior BJP leader Arun Jaitleyasked the party workers tobuild the narrative of the LokSabha polls campaign aroundPrime Minister NarendraModi’s “matchless” leadershipand his Government’s perfor-mance as this will ensure thesaffron party’s victory in theelection.

“Three election resultswere not good, ourOpposition won but we werenot defeated,” Shah said andsought to define defeat interms of Congress gettingwiped out from Uttar Pradesh,Bihar and Bengal.

“Humne apni zameennahin khoyi ,” Shah saidaddressing the NationalCouncil on Saturday. Statingthat the upcomingParliamentary polls “veryimportant” for the party, heasked all party workers toensure that the votes of theirfamilies and friends are cast by10.30 am on the polling day.

Speaking just beforePrime Minister NarendraModi took to mike on theconcluding day of the two-daymeet, BJP president for thesecond day attacked Congress,saying the “cancer” ofcasteism, nepotism andappeasement policy was itscontribution, which, he said“weakened the democracyand halted development”.

“In the elections in thethree States (Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh)our opponents won but wewere not defeated. The resultswere not good but we have not

lost our ground. The workersneed not lose their hope,” hesaid at Ramlila Ground here.

“Lok Sabha elections arevery important for us. If we man-age a massive victory, the BJP willrule the country from Panchayatto Parliament for a long time,” hesaid. He asked his party workersto ensure that every voter is con-tacted in an intensive campaignfor the elections. Shah askedthem to go back to their respec-tive states with a pledge toensure BJP's thumping victory inthe Lok Sabha elections andmake Narendra Modi PrimeMinister for a second term.

The Finance Minister toldthe party workers that the nextfive months would be all

about the general election, sowhenever they spoke or deliv-ered a speech, they shouldalways keep the polls and theparty’s victory in mind.Suggesting that Modi’s lead-ership was the BJP’s biggeststrength in the upcomingpolls, Jaitley said the partyworkers should build the cam-paign narrative around it asthe Opposition would try todivert the attention from it.

“Whether it is the princeof the Congress, Didi fromBengal, Babu from Andhra orBehenji of Uttar Pradesh, theyall want to be the PrimeMinister and their swords willcome out after the results ofthe election,” he said.

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Left out of the SP-BSPalliance in Uttar Pradesh,

even as the Congress is likelyto contest the Lok Sabha pollson its own in the crucial Hindiheartland State, nevertheless,former Finance Minister andsenior Congress leader PChidambaram expressed hopethat the two UP parties willrethink their decision toexclude the Congress.

“Perhaps this isn’t the lastword, maybe there will besome rethink as the electionsapproach. A truly broad-basedalliance will be formed in UP.If necessary, Congress partywill contest elections on itsown strength,” he toldreporters. However,Chidambaram asserted thatthe Congress will contest thepolls on its own if necessary.

Asked to comment on thetie-up announced by BSP-SP,senior Congress leader andAICC secretary general in-charge of Uttar Pradesh,Ghulam Nabi Azad said theparty would not react imme-diately and would come outwith a detailed reaction inLucknow on Sunday.

Azad earlier met UttarPradesh Congress chief RajBabbar, Congress LegislatureParty (CLP) leader and RajyaSabha member Sanjay Singhand former MP PramodTiwari at his residence. “Weheard the Press conference ofthe BSP and SP leaders.

The party will come outwith its stand in Lucknow onSunday,” Azad merely said,while refusing to react on theCongress being left out of thealliance.

He said the party wouldnot react on the announce-ment on Saturday and anyleader commenting on theissue would be putting forthhis personal view. Askedwhether the tie-up was a set-back for the Congress, herefused to comment.

Congress spokespersonManish Tewari said Azadwould give a structuredresponse to it on Sunday.

“In so far as alliances areconcerned, we have alwaysbelieved that state-specificalliances, which further theprogressive and pluralisticideals, which further consoli-date the liberalised idea ofIndia, are the way forward and

I think there is space for that,”he said.

On Friday, the Congresshad claimed that it would be a“very dangerous mistake” toignore it in Uttar Pradesh.

For his part, CPI leader DRaja felt that the SP-BSPalliance was not a setback toopposition unity as all theparties were together ondefeating the BJP in the LokSabha election.

“I do not think it is a set-back to opposition unity.Everyone agrees that the pri-mary objective is to defeat theBJP,” he said. Raja asserted thatthere was no difference amongthe secular parties and the seat-sharing arrangement wouldbe amicably worked outamong them.

“All the secular, democra-tic parties and the Left partiesmust work together and ensurethat the BJP is defeated inorder to save the Constitutionand take the country forward.

“The electoral pacts andseat-sharing arrangements willbe state specific, taking intoconsideration the State-levelrealities. The parties must berealistic and accommodative toeach other,” he said.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Saturday decided

to take a leaf out of the way thefive States of MP, Chhattisgarh,Rajasthan, Mizoram andTelangana used technology toconduct the recent Assemblypolls, and emulate it to hold thecoming Lok Sabha elections.

These five States demon-strated how technology can beleveraged to enhance voterexperience and also providecrucial data in an instant to theelection commission officersand made detailed presenta-tions on the takeaways andlearning from the previousAssembly polls.

The EC also reviewed thestatus of vulnerability map-ping, security planning, avail-ability of police forces andtheir requirement during Lokthe Sabha elections.

During the review meet-ing, the EC directed all Statesand Union Territories to acti-vate the voter helpline centre1950 so that the grievances ofthe voters are promptlyredressed and it should be‘first point of care’ for the vot-ers.

According to EC,Chhattisgarh had developed anapp to track their polling per-sonnel which streamlined theprocess while MP developed asoftware to ensure queue lessvoting experience for peoplewith disabilities, pregnantwomen and women withinfants to ensure smoothpolling during polls.

Mizoram highlighted itssuccessful conduct of elec-tions despite initial problems.Mizoram experience was onbuilding bridges with the civilsociety organisations, openingdialogue and also the setting

up of polling stations for theBru community in coordina-tion with the state of Tripurawas a notable achievement.

Both Rajasthan andTelangana cited severalinstances of innovativeSystematic Voters' Educationand Electoral Participation(SVEEP) campaigns incorpo-rating local cultural practiceswhich led to a good turn outin these States.

During the conference, theEC to assess the preparednessfor the coming Lok Sabhapolls, Chief Election commis-sioner Sunil Arora stressedthat States and UTs must assesstheir electronic votingmachine/ Voter verifiablepaper audit trail (VVPAT)requirements and also ensureadherence to the timelinesspecified for completion oftheir First Level checking.

He laid stress upon exten-

sive Hands on experience ofthe EVM and VVPAT amongthe voters as well as during thetraining of polling officials asit helps to minimize the glitch-es and also boosts confidenceamong the stakeholders.

“The commission desiresfrom the CEOs that electionsare made totally voter-friend-ly and accessible for personswith disabilities, senior citi-zens,” the EC said.

EC also reviewed the sta-tus of facilitation provided tovoters provided to voters byboth online and offline meth-ods.

During the conference, thechief electoral officials (CEOs)of all states and UTs madecomprehensive presentationsof their poll preparedness onall important parameters. TheCEOs also informed the com-mission that all States andUTs are ready for polls.

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On a day when the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) and

the Samajwadi Party (SP)announced a tie-up in UttarPradesh for the coming LokSabha polls, the Rashtriya LokDal (RLD) kept its hopes alive,saying the talks for finding aplace in the alliance were con-tinuing.

“The alliance of the two

parties has been announcedtoday...As far as we are con-cerned, our talks for the sameare continuing,” RLD nationalspokesperson Anil Dubey toldPTI. On the SP and the BSPdeciding to contest 38 LokSabha seats each in UttarPradesh and leaving two seatsfor the Congress, thereby spar-ing only two seats for otherparties, Dubey claimed thatseats were not an issue and if

any party had to be included inthe alliance, a way could alwaysbe found.

“If anyone has to be adjust-ed, there will be no problemwith seats as those can befound,” he stressed.

The RLD leader said hisparty's intention was to defeatthe ruling Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), for which like-minded parties had to joinhands.

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MP Bezbaruah, who wasappointed as the head of

a Centre-nominated commit-tee to assess the implementa-tion of Clause 6 of the AssamAccord, has declined to be apart of it, leaving the nine-member body in the lurch.

Bezbaruah is the fifthmember to leave the commit-tee. He has written to theUnion Home Ministry in thisregard.

The development comesclose on the heels of four mem-bers — eminent litterateursNagen Saikia and Rong BongTerang along with education-ist Mukunda Rajbongshi andthe nominee of the influentialAll Assam Students Union —deciding not to be a part of thecommittee.

The committee was formedon January 6 to assess thequantum of seats to be reservedin the Assam Assembly and inthe local bodies of the state forAssamese, besides providingother safeguards.

Clause 6 of the Assam

Accord states “constitutional,legislative and administrativesafeguards, as may be appro-priate, shall be provided to pro-tect, preserve and promote thecultural, social, linguistic iden-tity and heritage of theAssamese people”.

“I have conveyed to theHome Ministry that it is unten-able for me to continue in thecommittee when the repre-sentatives of the civil societyrefused to be a part of the com-mittee. Being the head of acommittee, without civil soci-ety members, does not makeany sense,” Bezbaruah told PTIin New Delhi.

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Nalini Chidambaram, theCBI charge sheeted wife of

Congress strongman PChidambaram, was grantedinterim bail by the MadrasHigh Court in connection withthe Saradha Chit Fund Scamon Saturday.

The CBI had filed a chargesheet against Nalini in aCalcutta court in connectionwith the Saradha Chit Fundscam. Nalini, a lawyer, hasbeen accused of accepting abribe of �1.40 crore from theowner of the Chit Fund,Sudipto Sen.

The Madras High Court ina special sitting held onSaturday granted four weeks ofinterim anticipatory bail toNalini. The bail was granted byJustice G K Ilanthirayan, Thejudge directed the petitioner toappear before the Chief JudicialMagistrate, Egmore, Chennai,and offer sureties beforeapproaching the concernedjurisdictional court to apply forregular anticipatory bail.

The charge sheet againstNalini, which was filed in the

Special CBI Court at Calcuttaalleged that she had enteredinto a criminal conspiracy withSudiptha Sen, the proprietor ofthe chit fund and other accusedpersons with the intention ofcheating and misappropria-tion of funds of the Saradhagroup of Companies, accordingto a spokesman of the CBI.

Nalini’s husbandChidambaram and son Karti,who are accused in the Aircel-Maxis scam too are out on bailas a Delhi court has giventhem interim protection fromarrest till February 1.

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Karnataka Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy and

senior Congress leader MMallikharjuna Kharge haverefuted the remarks of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi whohad said, “Congress inKarnataka is treating ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamy asa “clerk”. Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy who is headinga fragile coalition reactedsharply on the Prime Minister’sremark and said that “suchstatements won’t deter ourcoalition government from thedevelopment agenda”. “I amamused to see Prime Ministersreacting to a statement whichI never made” Kumaraswamytweeted.

Even though there is afighting a within the coalitionpartners, both the JD(S) andthe Congress are putting upbrave face to fight the BJP. TheJD(S) supremo HD Devegowdais also spearheading a cam-paign for a third front to makeCongress president Rahul

Gandhi as the PrimeMinisterial candidate for theensuing general elections.However both the party lead-ers have not come up with theseat sharing arrangements forthe Lok Sabha elections.

This is going to be a majortask and both the party work-ers are demanding to go ontheir own in the Lok Sabhapolls. It is very difficult toassess the political move ofDevegowda who keeps hiscards close to his chest.

Meanwhile Congressleader Kharge attacked PMand said “Prime Minister is notcaring the advice given by hisown members in the Cabinet”.

Dubbing the PrimeMinister’s remark on KarnatakaChief Minister as far fromtruth, he said that “PrimeMinister should not haveresorted to make such baselessobservations”. He also tookexception to Modi’s remarkon the Opposition parties‘ghathbandhan’ and said that “itis unbecoming of a PrimeMinister to say that”.

Expressing dissatisfactionabout the SP-BSP alliance, sansCongress, will not help to keepthe communal parties at bay,Kharge said “anyhow it is thecall of their parties and musthave strong faith on their ownstrength”.

Maintaining that there is adire need for all the secular par-ties to join hands and fight thecommunal forces, he said that“people belonging to exploitedclasses and poor will get theraw deal in the hands of theBJP. Congress is also havingtalks with several parties inmany states in an attempt toput a combined Opposition tothe communal forces.”

Reiterating his charge thatPrime Minister NarendraModi, is not ready to face theCongress on the Rafale dealand running away from it, hesaid that “Modi is avoiding toanswer our leaders on theissue”.

Warning the nation againsta possible mahagathbandhanrule post 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions, Prime Minister Narendra

Modi in Delhi said the pro-posed coalition would be theepitome of misgovernance.Citing a case in point, Modireferred to the state govern-ment of Karnataka, claimingthat the Congress is treatingJD(S) leader and Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy as a “clerk”.“The coalition Government inKarnataka has reduced theChief Minister to a clerk,”Modi said, adding that the sit-uation is grave to an extentwhere Kumaraswamy has tovent his frustration withinmonths of assuming power.”

Only a few months intopower, and he (Kumaraswamy)is already burdened by theCongress,” the PM said, addingthat the state has been plungedinto misgovernance.

Modi’ reference toKumaraswamy comes a coupleof days after the Karnataka CM,while addressing the JD(S)cadres, expressed dismay overthe alleged interference by theCongress in the day-to-dayfunctioning of his Government.

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Yes Bank, India's fourthlargest private sector bank,

Saturday said it has appointedBrahm Dutt as non-executivepart-time chairman to theboard.

In a statement, Yes Banksaid, "Vide its letter datedJanuary 11, 2019, the ReserveBank of India, pursuant to theprovisions of the BankingRegulation Act, 1949...Hasapproved his (Dutt's) appoint-ment as part-time chairman ofYes Bank's board up till July 4,2020 as Mr Dutt attains the ageof 70 years."

Dutt has been on the boardof the bank since July 2013 as

an independent director, andhas contributed to almost allthe sub-committees of theboard over the past 5.5 years,Yes Bank said in a regulatoryfiling.

He is currently also theChair of the Nomination andRemuneration Committee.

During his career in theIAS for 37 years, he held sev-eral posts in Karnataka gov-ernment as well as in theCentral Government.

Before retirement fromthe service, he worked asSecretary in the CabinetSecretariat and in the Ministryof Road Transport andHighways for over three andhalf years.

Yes Bank's board alsoincludes Mukesh Sabharwal,Subhash Kalia, Ajai Kumar,Pratima Sheorey, UttamPrakash Agarwal, TS Vijayan,and Rana Kapoor (ManagingDirector and CEO).

Meanwhile, Yes Bank exec-utive Rajat Monga and a CEOof a foreign bank have beenshortlisted to succeed long-serving Managing Directorand Chief Executive OfficerRana Kapoor at the bank,sources had said Friday.

Earlier this week, the bankinformed stock exchanges thatit has shortlisted the names ofpotential candidates to succeedKapoor, who is to demit officeby month-end.

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Nissan Chief PerformanceOfficer Jose Munoz, who

took a leave of absence aweek ago, has resigned, thefirst high-profile departure atthe Japanese automaker pub-licly acknowledged as relatedto the arrest of formerChairman Carlos Ghosn.

Munoz said in a statementon LinkedIn Saturday hemade the decision after seri-ous thinking because thecompany was "involved inmatters that have and willcontinue to divert its focus,"referring to Ghosn's case.

Munoz is among severalexecutives media speculated

might succeed Ghosn, wholed Nissan for two decades.Nissan confirmed the resig-nation, effective immediately.

There have been otherrecent departures fromNissan, but Nissan hasdenied they were related toGhosn's case. Munoz, aSpaniard who oversawNissan's global strategies,worked for Nissan for 14years.

"I love the company, mytalented co-workers andNissan's industry-leadingdealers," he said.

Ghosn, arrestedNovember 19, has beencharged with breach of trustand fa lsi fying f inancial

reports and remains detainedin Tokyo. He rebutted eachallegation and asserted hisinnocence in a Tokyo courtearlier this week, his firstpublic appearance since hisarrest.

The court rejected arequest by prosecutors lateFriday that Ghosn not beallowed to receive visitors,paving the way for his fami-ly to see him for the first timesince his arrest. Until now,Ghosn could only see pros-ecutors, embassy officials andhis lawyers.

In Japan, suspects are rou-tinely held for months untiltheir trials start. No trial datehas been set for Ghosn

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The Government is comingout with a new industrial

policy that will link the coun-try with the global supply-chain that will be mutuallybeneficial, commerce andindustry minister SureshPrabhu said here Saturday.

Prabhu, who also handlesthe aviation ministry said,businesses can only growwhen there are partnershipsamong several other geogra-phies.

Comments come amidstcontinuous fall in merchan-dise exports from the countryand the growing threats toglobal trade and even ques-tions being raised about theexistence of the global tradebody WTO after the USadministration under DonaldTrump has opened a slew ofanti-trade practices againstmost of its trading partners,including us.

The trade war betweenthe US, the world's largestconsumer, and the world'slargest producer China hascast a pall of gloom overglobal economic growth.

"Manufacturing cannothappen end-to-end only inone geography; it has to bepart of a global value- chain,global supply-chain. And thatis why we are discussing andfinalised from my ministryside, a new industrial policythat 's await ing Cabinetapproval, which focuses

developing mutually ben-eficial value chain and supply-chain," Prabhu said whileaddressing a event organised

by industry lobby CII.It is especially important

when we are working towardsa USD 10-trillion economyby 2035, when we see greatopportunities for all countriesto participate. Because nocountry can grow in isolation,he added.

"So if we were to have aUSD 1-trillion manufacturingGDP, a good part of thatcould be sourced and workedwith so many other coun-tries," he said.

In the services sector,which is the key export seg-ment for the nation worthover billions of dollars,Prabhu said 12 sectors havebeen identified.A

On agriculture, he said,government has already comeout with an agricultureexport policy, which hashelped the farm economy farebetter.

"We have already workedout on plans which are mutu-ally beneficial where we pro-duce under the quality controlregime of the importingcountries."

Further, the minister said,the government has prepareda plan that each district willgrow by 3-4 percent morethan the normal growth tohelp the overall economy clocldouble-digits growth.

"Our strategy is grass-roots development, fromgrass- roots to global, man-ufacturing to services, farm-ing to value added and fromFDI to investment by India inother countries, is the objec-tive of our trade policy," hesaid

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The government wants tofocus on the districts as part

of a bottoms-up approach forboosting growth, industry min-ister Suresh Prabhu said hereSaturday.

The idea is to focus on onedistrict at a time and increase itsGDP growth by 3-4 percentagepoints annually, which will helpincrease the national GDP, theminister said speaking at anAssociation of NationalExchanges Members of Indiaevent here.

Accordingly, the govern-ment has identified six districts,mapped its baseline of theireconomy with help from reput-

ed bodies like IIM and NCAERand then work on specifics toincrease their economic output.

"We've been focusing on themacro all these while, and whilethat continues, now we feel theneed to also have the micro or thebottom," said Prabhu, who alsoheads the commerce and avia-tion ministries. He said the cho-sen districts are in Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,Himachal Pradesh, and UttarPradesh, and these districts willget special attention in ease ofdoing business.

The minister said it is now acertainty that the USD 2.6-trillioneconomy will scale the USD 5-trillion mount over the nextseven-nine years, and touch the

USD 10 trillion-mark by the turnof 2035. The measures beingundertaken to push growth atdistrict level are aimed at achiev-ing this higher target earlier, hesaid, adding there will be a

launch event in the financial cap-ital next Tuesday regarding thesame.

Prabhu said the country isnow targeting to increase theannual FDI inflows to USD 100

billion.The government has identi-

fied the sectors which can attractinvestments and has prepared alist of 150 companies sittingwith huge cash balance whichwill be targeted to get invest-ments, he said.

He said a vibrant capital mar-ket is essential both for mobilis-ing capital as well as make it workeffectively, such that it delivers themaximum returns for the econ-omy. The minister also assuredgovernment help to ensure thatthe capital markets keep per-forming better.

Prabhu said it is one of themost challenging times for glob-al trade and we'll have to increaseour focus on services and mer-

chandise exports and that gov-ernment has asked Exim Bank toundertake an analysis both froma product as well a geographicalperspective to increase exports.

Addressing the event, a topAnmi functionary flagged taxa-tion issues being faced byinvestors, terming it as a price fortransparency which domesticinvestors have to play and soughtto be heard as government is cur-rently preparing the direct taxcode.

M Damodaran, a formerSebi chairman, said he has reser-vations on self-regulatory organ-isations and pointed to the lackof success on this front at thechartered accountants, medi-cines and the legal profession.

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Riding on a firm trend over-seas and increased buying by

local jewellers, gold maintainedits upward march for anotherweek and crossed the Rs 33,000-mark but settled at Rs 32,875 per10 gram at the bullion market.

Silver, too, scored gains onincreased offtake by industrialunits and coin makers.

Besides, the rupee weaken-ing to 70.49 against dollar, goldin demand as a safe haven tomitigate the risk and supportfrom local jewellers aided the

gain in the prices of the yellowmetal that hit the week's high ofRs 33,070 per 10 gram.

Besides, firm trend overseashelped the rise in the goldprices, they added.

Globally, gold ended theweek higher at USD 1,287.80 anounce and silver rose to USD15.67 an ounce in New York.

Bullion traders said apartfrom a firm trend overseas as theweakness in the dollar raiseddemand for the precious metalsas a safe haven, increased buy-ing by local jewellers to meet thewedding season demand at the

domestic spot market, mainlybuoyed sentiment.

In the national capital, goldof 99.9 and 99.5 per cent puri-ties commenced the week high-er and day-to-day increasedbuying in tandem with a firmtrend overseas and persistentbuying by jewellers to meet ris-ing demand in view of weddingseason, reclaimed the Rs 33,000-mark to touch a high of Rs33,070 and Rs 32,920 beforeending at Rs 32,875 and Rs32,725 per 10 gram, respective-ly, showing a significant rise ofRs 375 each.

Sovereign gold followed suitand gained Rs 100 to end at Rs25,300 per piece of eight gram.

In volatile movements onalternate bouts of buying or sell-ing, silver ready ended the weekhigher by Rs 250 to Rs 39,850per kg. It moved between Rs40,100 and Rs 39,800 per kg.Silver weekly-based deliveryalso closed higher by Rs 298 toRs 39,471 per kg after shuttlingbetween Rs 39,766 and Rs39,056 per kg.Silver coins, too,spurted by Rs 1,000 at Rs 77,000for buying and Rs 78,000 forselling of 100 pieces.

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While Air India's passengercount rose by only 4 per

cent in the December 2018quarter, its revenue from pas-sengers increased by 20 per centon the back of better aircraft util-isation, said a senior official ofthe company.

"Due to better and efficientutilisation of aircraft fleet, thepassenger revenue increasedfrom Rs 4,615 crore in thirdquarter of 2017-18 to Rs 5,538crore in third quarter of 2018-19," the official said.

The official added that thenumber of passengers hasincreased to 55.27 lakh duringthe quarter from 53.28 lakh inthe year-ago period.

The official said passengersin December increased by 4 percent but the revenue from themincreased by 23 per cent duringthe month.

"In the third quarter, total 15new flights were started by thecompany," the official added.Speaking about the Air India'swoes, Civil Aviation MinisterSuresh Prabhu Friday said futurerevenues of the company cannot

service its "massive" debt and thislegacy issue has to be segregat-ed from the current challenges ofnational carrier.

"If you feel that future rev-enues can actually service thedebt, it is not possible for the sim-ple reason that the debt is somassive," Prabhu said Fridayduring a livestream held on'Flying for All: Global AviationSummit 2019'. Air India earns 65per cent of its revenues frominternational routes, while theremaining comes from domes-tic network. "Also, the cost ofinterest on the debt, when you

try to service it from your rev-enues, Air India can never be inprofit. Therefore, we have toaddress the debt issue. We areproactively working with theMinistry of Finance to make ithappen," Prabhu added.AirIndia has been making lossessince the merger with IndianAirlines in 2007. The airline hasa fleet size of around 122 air-craft currently."We have pre-pared a plan... We are trying toprofessionalise the entire man-agement of Air India, rightfrom the CEO (chief executiveofficer) downwards.

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Tulsi Gabbard, the firstHindu lawmaker in the US

Congress, has said that she isrunning for the White Housein 2020.

Gabbard, 37, is the secondwoman after Senator ElizabethWarren to enter the presiden-tial race from the Democraticparty.

More than 12 Democraticleaders including Indian-originSenator from CaliforniaKamala Harris are expected toannounce their White Houserun to challenge PresidentDonald Trump in 2020.

Gabbard, a four-timeDemocratic lawmaker in theUS House of Representativesfrom Hawaii, told CNN Friday:"I have decided to run and willbe making a formal announce-ment within the next week".

The Iraq war veteran hasbecome the first-ever Hindu tobe running for the presidencyin the US.

Gabbard, who converted toHinduism early in her life, ishighly popular among Indian-Americans.

If elected, she would be theyoungest ever and first womanPresident of the United States.She would also be the first non-Christian and first Hindu tooccupy the top post. However,at this point of time, Americanpolitical pundits do not give hermuch chance. Hindus consti-tute less than one per cent ofthe American population, anoverwhelming majority of

whom are either from India orare people of Indian-origin.

Gabbard, a co-Chair of thepowerful House India Caucus,was recently re-elected for theUS House of Representativesfrom Hawaii for the fourth con-secutive term. A winner of theprimary elections beginningearly 2020 would be finallynominated by the Democraticparty in its convention laterthat summer to challenge theRepublican candidate in theNovember 2020 elections.

President Trump hasannounced to seek his re-elec-tion. The winner of theDemocratic primary would bepitted against him.

Gabbard, who supportedSenator Bernie Sanders againstformer secretary of state HillaryClinton in the 2016 Democraticprimary, told the CNN thatthere are a lot of reasons for herto take this decision.

"There are a lot of chal-lenges that are facing theAmerican people that I'm con-cerned about and that I want tohelp solve," she said.

She listed access to health

care, criminal justice reformand climate change as keyissues.

"There is one main issuethat is central to the rest, andthat is the issue of war andpeace. I look forward to beingable to get into this and to talkabout it in depth when wemake our announcement,"Gabbard said. Former US vicepresident Joe Biden has alsoexpressed his interest in the2020 bid. Rania Batrice, whowas a deputy campaign man-ager for Bernie Sanders in2016 and is now a top aide toGabbard, will be her campaignmanager, CNN reported.

The 2020 presidential pri-mary cycle is scheduled tokick off from the IowaCaucuses on February 3, 2020,followed by the NewHampshire Primary onFebruary 11, Nevada caucus ofFebruary 15 and SouthCarolina on February 22.

Among other Democratsspeculated to run for the 2020primaries include SenatorsKirsten Gillibrand, AmyKlobuchar and Tim Kaine.

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The FBI has opened aninquiry into whether Donald

Trump was working for Russiansin the days after the AmericanPresident fired James B Comeyin 2017 as the top investigativeagency's director, according to areport.

In May 2017, the USPresident abruptly removed the56-year-old Comey, Director ofthe Federal Bureau ofInvestigation (FBI), who wasoverseeing a criminal probeinto whether the Trump cam-paign colluded with the Russiangovernment to influence the2016 presidential election thatwas won by the real estatemogul. The New York Times,based on unnamed sources,said that such an investigationagainst Trump that was startedby the FBI carried explosiveimplications, as the law enforce-ment agents sought to determineif the president was knowinglyworking for the Russiansor had unwittingly fallen underMoscow's influence.Investigators have to consider ifTrump's own actions constitut-ed a possible threat to thenational security, the paperreported on Friday.

"No evidence has emergedpublicly that Trump was secret-ly in contact with or took direc-tion from Russian governmentofficials," The New York Timessaid. "Agents and senior FBI offi-cials had grown suspicious ofTrump's ties to Russia during the2016 campaign but held off on

opening an investigation intohim, the people said, in partbecause they were uncertainhow to proceed with an inquiryof such sensitivity and magni-tude," the paper reported. TheWhite House has described TheNew York Times story as absurd.

"This is absurd. JamesComey was fired because he's adisgraced partisan hack and hisdeputy Andrew McCabe whowas in charge of the time is aknown liar fired by the FBI.Unlike former president(Barack) Obama who let Russiaand other foreign adversariespush America around, PresidentTrump has actually been toughon Russia,” the White HousePress Secretary said.

The FBI did not respond toa query on the alleged investi-gation against Trump.

But according to the daily,the FBI investigation was takenover by the Special CounselRobert Muller who has beentasked to investigate into the alle-gations of Russian interferencein the 2016 presidential elec-tions. The inquiry is part ofMueller's broader examinationof how Russian operatives inter-fered in the 2016 election andwhether any Trump associatesconspired with them.

Trump has, however, deniedof having any collusion with theRussians and repeatedly criticisedthe Mueller investigation as a"witch hunt" and views it as astain on the legitimacy of hispresidency. "If the president hadfired Comey to stop the Russiainvestigation, the action would

have been a national securityissue because it naturally wouldhave hurt the bureau's effort tolearn how Moscow interfered inthe 2016 election and whetherany Americans were involved,according to James A. Baker,who served as FBI generalcounsel until late 2017," thereport said. Baker privately tes-tified in October before Houseinvestigators who were exam-ining the FBI's handling of thefull Russia inquiry, it said.

"Not only would it be anissue of obstructing an investi-gation, but the obstruction itselfwould hurt our ability to figureout what the Russians had done,and that is what would be thethreat to national security,"Baker said in his testimony, por-tions of which were read to TheNew York Times. He did notexplicitly acknowledge the exis-tence of the investigation ofTrump to congressional inves-tigators.

The report casts pressure onthe White House, which isalready feeling the heat frommonths of investigations.

Trump's former campaignchairman Paul Manafort inAugust 2018 was convicted offinancial crisis and later plead-ed guilty to conspiring todefraud the US and conspiringto obstruct justice.

Trump's longtime lawyerand aide Michael Cohen is setto begin a three-year prison sen-tence in March after pleadingguilty to fraud, campaignfinance violations and lyingunder oath.

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The US government shut-down that has left 800,000

federal employees withoutsalaries as a result of PresidentDonald Trump's row withDemocrats over building aMexico border wall entered arecord 22nd day Saturday.

The Democrats' refusal toapprove $5.7 billion demand-ed by Trump for the wall pro-ject has paralyzed Washington,with the president retaliating byrefusing to sign off on budgetsfor swaths of governmentdepartments unrelated to thedispute.

As a result, workers asdiverse as FBI agents, air traf-fic controllers and museumstaff, did not receive paychecksFriday.

The partial shutdown ofthe government became thelongest on record at midnightFriday (0500 GMT Saturday),when it overtook the 21-daystretch in 1995-1996, underpresident Bill Clinton.

Trump on Friday backedoff a series of previous threatsto end the deadlock by declar-ing a national emergency andattempting to secure the fundswithout congressionalapproval.

"I'm not going to do it sofast," he said at a White Housemeeting. Trump described anemergency declaration as the"easy way out" and saidCongress had to step up to theresponsibility of approving the$5.7 billion.

"If they can't do it... I willdeclare a national emergency.I have the absolute right," heinsisted.

Until now, Trump had sug-gested numerous times that hewas getting closer to taking thecontroversial decision.

Only minutes earlier, pow-erful Republican ally SenatorLindsey Graham tweeted aftertalks with Trump: "Mr.President, Declare a nationalemergency NOW." It was notclear what made Trump changecourse.

But Trump himselfacknowledged in the WhiteHouse meeting that an attemptto claim emergency powerswould likely end up in legalbattles going all the way to theSupreme Court.

Opponents say that a uni-lateral move by the presidentover the sensitive border issuewould be constitutional over-reach and set a dangerousprecedent in similar contro-versies.

The standoff has turnedinto a test of political ego, par-ticularly for Trump, who cameinto office boasting of his dealmaking powers and making anaggressive border policy thekeystone of his nationalistagenda.

Democrats, meanwhile,seem determined at all costs toprevent a president who rel-

ishes campaign rally chants of"build the wall!" from getting awin.

Both Democrats andRepublicans agree that the US-Mexican frontier presentsmajor challenges, ranging fromthe hyper-violent Mexican drugtrade to the plight of asylumseekers and poor migrantsseeking new lives in the world'srichest country.

There's also little debatethat border walls are needed:about a third of the frontier isalready fenced off.

But Trump has turned hissingle-minded push for morewalls into a political crusadeseen by opponents as a stunt tostoke xenophobia in his right-wing voter base, while wilful-ly ignoring the border's com-plex realities.

For Trump, who visited theTexas border with Mexico onThursday, the border situationamounts to an invasion bycriminals that can only besolved by more walls.

"We have a country that'sunder siege," he told the localofficials in the White House.

Some studies show thatillegal immigrants generallycommit fewer crimes thanpeople born in the UnitedStates, although not everyoneagrees on this.

More certain is that whilenarcotics do enter the countryacross remote sections of theborder, most are sneakedthrough heavily guarded check-points in vehicles, the govern-ment's own Drug EnforcementAdministration said in a 2017report.

It said that most smugglingis done "through US ports ofentry (POEs) in passengervehicles with concealed com-partments or commingled withlegitimate goods on tractortrailers." Nancy Pelosi, theDemocratic leader in theHouse of Representatives anda key figure in opposingTrump's agenda, said moneyshould be spent in many areasof border security, but not onwalls.

"We need to look at thefacts," she said. B u tTrump accused the Democratsof only wanting to score pointsagainst him with a view to the2020 presidential elections.

"They think, 'Gee, we canhurt Trump,'" he said. "TheDemocrats are just followingpolitics."

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The US is implementing anorderly withdrawal of its

troops from Syria based onoperational conditions on theground, including talks with itsallies, and with no arbitrarytimeline, the Pentagon hassaid.

It asserted that it is imple-menting the withdrawal offorces from northeast Syriawithin a framework coordi-nated across the US govern-ment. "Operation InherentResolve is implementing theorderly withdrawal of forcesfrom northeast Syria within aframework coordinated acrossthe US Government. The with-drawal is based on operationalconditions on the ground,including conversation withour allies and partners, and isnot be subject to an arbitrarytimeline," Pentagon spokesmanCommander Sean Robertsonsaid Friday.

The US will continue toprovide support to the coali-tion's operation in Syria whilewithdrawing troops in a delib-erate and coordinated mannerin order to ensure the safetyand protection of US forces.

The United States current-ly has some 2,000 troops inSyria.

Last month, Trump hadordered withdrawal of troopsfrom Syria. The then DefenseSecretary James Mattis resignedin protest. In recent weeks,Trump has said that the with-drawal would be slow and

gradual.The Pentagon has taken a

number of logistical measuresto support an ordered with-drawal. "For purposes of oper-ational security, we will not dis-cuss specific troop movementsor timelines. However, we willconfirm that there has been noredeployment of military per-sonnel from Syria to date,"Robertson said.

Noting that the mission of'Operation Inherent Resolve'has not changed, the Pentagonspokesman said that the USand its regional partners con-tinue to pursue ISIS in the lastremaining space the terror out-fit currently holds.

Partner forces recently lib-erated the town of al-Kashmahwhile facing a fierce and deter-mined ISIS force whoemployed complex attacks,improvised-explosive devicesand booby-trapped buildings.

Throughout the fight,forces continued to rescue civil-ians as they fled while ISIS con-tinued to hide in residentialareas and public facilities toprotect themselves, he said.

"We will continue to workwith partners and allies toensure the enduring defeat ofISIS by sustaining militarygains and promoting regional

security and stability. We thankevery member of the Coalitionfor their contributions to thefight against ISIS," Robertsonsaid. On Friday, Indian-American Congressman RoKhanna said that the US need-ed to make sure that its with-drawal from Syria is based onhuman rights.

"That means making surethat we get Turkey's commit-ment not to annex the Kurds,commit humanitarian assis-tance to rebuilding Syria, andaccept Syrian refugees," hesaid.

Senator Jeanne Shaheensaid that the President's hastywithdrawal of US troops fromSyria jeopardises justice forAmericans murdered by ISIS.

"I are urging the admin notto lose sight of the goal of hold-ing these terrorists account-able," he said.

In a joint op-ed in 'TheWashington Post', SenatorsJeanne Shaheen and DianeFoley urged the president tocontinue prioritising justicefor the Americans lost in Syriaand not lose sight of themomentous opportunity thatlies ahead of him.

The president's unexpect-ed decision to withdraw UStroops from Syria has betrayedthe trust the Syrian DemocraticForces (SDF) put in the UnitedStates, they said.

"Without US support, theSDF will be in a battle for sur-vival, degrading the group'sability to oversee the detentionof these Islamic State fighters orcomplete the mission to erad-icate the terrorist group in theregion," the Senators said.

"This not only puts the livesof Syrian Kurds in jeopardy butalso risks a resurgence ofIslamic State violence aroundthe globe. Among the manyramifications, the prospect ofjustice for James and otherAmericans murdered by thegroup could disappear," theywrote.

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Bangkok: An 18-year-oldSaudi woman who said she wasabused by her family and fearedfor her life if deported backhome left Thailand on Fridaynight for Canada, which hasgranted her asylum, officialssaid.

The fast-moving develop-ments capped an eventful weekfor Rahaf MohammedAlqunun. She fled her familywhile visiting Kuwait and flewto Bangkok, where she barri-caded herself in an airporthotel to avoid deportation andgrabbed global attention bymounting a social media cam-paign for asylum.

Her case highlighted thecause of women's rights inSaudi Arabia, where severalwomen fleeing abuse by theirfamilies have been caught try-ing to seek asylum abroad inrecent years and returnedhome. Human rights activistssay many similar cases go unre-ported. Alqunun is flying toToronto via Seoul, South Korea,according to Thai immigrationPolice Chief SurachateHakparn. Canadian PrimeMinister Justin Trudeau con-firmed his country had grant-

ed her asylum. "That is something that

we are pleased to do becauseCanada is a country thatunderstands how important itis to stand up for human rightsand to stand up for woman'srights around the world and Ican confirm that we haveaccepted the U.N.'s request,"Trudeau said. Several othercountries, including Australia,had been in talks with theU.N.'s refugee agency to acceptAlqunun, Surachate said earli-er in the day. "She chose Canada.It's her personal decision," hesaid. Canada's ambassador hadseen her off at the airport,Surachate said, adding that shelooked happy and healthy. Shethanked everyone for helping

her, he said, and added that thefirst thing she would do uponarrival in Canada would be tostart learning the language. Shealready speaks more than pass-able English, in addition toArabic. The office of the U.N.High Commissioner forRefugees welcomed Canada'sdecision. "The quick actionsover the past week of the gov-ernment of Thailand in pro-viding temporary refuge andfacilitating refugee status deter-mination by UNHCR, and ofthe government of Canada inoffering emergency resettle-ment to Ms. Alqunun andarranging her travel were key tothe successful resolution of thiscase," the agency said in a state-ment. AP

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Two security guards havebeen arrested from interi-

or Sindh province on thecharge of stabbing a Chinesenational and stealing Rs 3million rupees other valuablesfrom him in Karachi.

DIG South, SharjeelKarim Kharal told the mediathat the guards were arrestedon Friday from near the townof Jamshoro.

"They had attacked the

Chinese national with knivesin a neighbourhood ofDefence Housing Society androbbed him of �3 million andother valuables on Thursday,"he said.

Kharal said the guardsworked for a private securityagency and were detailed atthe residence of the Chinesenational, Shi Qingpu, whowas residing in Karachi whilebeing engaged in private busi-ness.

The two accused attacked

Shi at his residence onThursday night, stabbed himand made away with the cashand valuables, the DIG said.

"The two guards werearrested at Jamshoro toll plazaafter fleeing from Karachi," headded.

The injured foreigner wasadmitted to a private hospitalin Clifton. Senior police offi-cials met him there andaccording to Kharal, Shi's con-dition is stated to be out ofdanger.

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Rohit Sharma's individual bril-liance was not enough to make upfor a floundering top and middle

order as India suffered a 34-run defeatat the hands of a resilient Australia in thefirst One-day International, here onSaturday.

Sharma conjured up a magnificent133 of 129 balls for his 22nd ODI hun-dred but eventually it only helped inreducing the defeat-margin as Indiaended up at 254 for nine while chasinga 289-run target.

Three of India's top four batsmencould not reach double-digit and lasteda mere 11 balls.

With 10 fours and six sixes, Sharmareached his hundred off 110 balls,equalling Sourav Ganguly's record of 22ODI centuries and is now behind onlySachin Tendulkar (49) and Virat Kohli(38).

India were gasping after losing threebatsmen at a single-digit score of fourbefore Sharma and Mahendra SinghDhoni (51) combined to stitch togeth-er a 137-run stand for the fourth wick-et.

Debutant Jason Behrendorff brokethe partnership by sending back Dhoni,who became only the fifth Indian bats-man to complete 10,000 runs in ODIcricket during the course of his knockthat came off 96 balls.

The hosts owe their 1-0 lead in thethree-match series to a collective battingeffort by their middle-order batsmen,specially Peter Handscomb, whoswitched gears in time to steer his sideto 288 for five with his 73-run knock.

Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis(47 not out) grabbed the momentumwith their 68-run stand for the fifthwicket as Australia scored 93 runs in thelast 10 overs.

Usman Khawaja (59) and Shaun

Marsh (54) also scored half-centuriesfor the hosts who lost skipperAaron Finch (6) in a slow startafter electing to bat.

Young paceman JhyeRichardson (4/26) rockedthe Indian middle order bydismissing India skipperVirat Kohli (3) andAmbati Rayudu (0) inspace of three balls andlater added wickets ofDinesh Karthik andRavindra Jadeja in a career-best performance.

First, Behrendorff (2-39)trapped Shikhar Dhawan lbwfor a first-ball duck beforeRichardson swung into action.Kohli was caught at short squareleg, and then two balls laterRayudu (0) was trapped plumblbw, as the Indian top-orderwas destroyed.

It put huge brakes on thescoring even as Sharma andDhoni struggled to getgoing. So much so, Indiamanaged only a paltry21-3 in the first ten overs.

Their 50-stand came off 82balls, while they took India past100 in the 26th over even asAustralia started to feel the

pressure.Sharma reached his half-cen-

tury off 62 balls, while Dhonireached his 68th ODI half-cen-tury off 93 balls.

Thanks to the initialcaution, India were onlyplaced at 141-4 in the32nd over, when Dhoniwas trapped lbw byBehrendorff.

Sharma was starting torun out of partners thereafteras Richardson castled DineshKarthik in the 40th over.

The run-chase came to an informalend by the 46th over as Ravindra Jadeja(8) and Sharma holed out in the space

of ten balls.Marcus Stoinis (2-66) dismissed

Sharma, and India's hopes perished withhim for there was too much for theremaining tail-enders to do.

Earlier, India spinners Kuldeep Yadav(2/54) and Jadeja (1/48) shared threewickets between them while pacer

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/66) accountedfor two batsmen.

Kumar bowled Finch (6) in thethird over, an inswinger slipping inthrough the gate.

Alex Carey (24) made a good startand was looking set for a longer innings,when Yadav outfoxed him in his very firstover, caught at slip off a quicker top-spin-ner. Australia only managed 41-2 in thefirst 10 overs.

It brought Khawaja and Marshtogether, and they put on 92 runs off 111balls for the third wicket. In doing so, theypushed India to make changes in the mid-dle overs.

Khaleel Ahmed (0/55) had an offday as he struggled with this front-footand control over line and length.

Khawaja-Marsh pair added 50 in61 balls as Australia crossed 100 in the23rd over. Khawaja brought up hisfifth ODI half-century off 70 balls, andopened up a bit more to play someattractive sweeps.

But he perished in that manner asJadeja trapped him lbw in the 29thover, providing a crucial breakthroughfor India. Marsh carried on though,and reached his 13th ODI half-cen-

tury off 65 balls. He put up 53 runs off55 balls with Handscomb for the fourthwicket.

Their 50-run stand came off only 49balls as Australia started to show a littlemore urgency. Australia finally managedto cross 200 in the 42nd over, but had lostMarsh in the process as he holed out offYadav in the 38th over.

Stoinis' arrival at the crease hadhelped press matters as both he andHandscomb opened up with a couplesixes and upped the run-rate.

Handscomb reached his second ODIhalf-century off 50 balls, helping pushAustralia past 250 in the 48th over.

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The seasoned Mahendra Singh Dhoni onSaturday became the fifth player to score

10000 runs for India in One-day International crick-et, adding another feather to his illustrious cap.

Starting the innings at 9999 runs, Dhoni tookseven deliveries to reach the landmark on his wayto a patient 51 in the first ODI of the three-matchseries against Australia, here.

While the right-handed Dhoni had crossed the10,000-run mark in the format in 2017 during theEngland tour, 174 of them came while batting forAsia XI in three matches. On Saturday, he breachedthe mark for the country.

Dhoni thus joined an elite list of Indian crick-eters who had previously achieved the feat, whichinclude Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, RahulDravid and Virat Kohli.

In 330 ODIs for India, the wicketkeeper-bats-man has now over 10,050 runs at an average of49.75, including nine centuries and 67 fifties.

Overall, Dhoni is the 13th player in history toscore 10,000 runs in the ODIs.

#���� �?%,-?

Player of the Match Jhye Richardsonsaid Australia were lucky to get

Mahendra Singh Dhoni out with adubious call in the first One-dayInternational against India here onSaturday.

Dhoni was given out leg beforewicket when the Australian teamappealed after the second ball of the33rd over, bowled by debutant JasonBehrendorff, but TV replays showedthe ball had pitched outside the leg-stump. The veteran could not opt fora review as it was unsuccessfully usedup by Ambati Rayudu, breaking a 141-run partnership with Rohit Sharma atthe Sydney Cricket Ground.

"There was a period there whenthey had a partnership through themiddle and it almost could have takenthe game away from us. But we werelucky to get Dhoni out lbw and we keptgetting wickets from there on,"Richardson said.

Richardson took his best figures inODI cricket, 4-26 in 10 overs, asAustralia won the first match by 34runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. He praised centurionRohit Sharma's effort.

"Rohit batted really well. Credit tohim and he summed up the conditionsjust as well as we did. He batted verypatiently and knew the balls he couldput away. He picked the gaps really welltonight.

"Rohit was very dangerous and weunderstood that. So our plan sort ofchanged to getting him off strike andjust bowling at the batsman down theother end."

The young pacer said that the hostswere confident of defending a "com-petitive" 288 as they thought the SCGwicket was on the slower side.

"It was a really good wicket and weunderstood that it wasn't the quickestwicket in the world. So we knewwhen the ball goes a little softer laterin the innings, when we turn the slow-er balls, we could use change of paceand we thought it would be quite effec-tive," Richardson said.

The 22-year-old's bowling playeda crucial role in Australia's comfortablevictory.

"We saw it at the end and thechange of pace worked really well. Wethought it would be a competitive score

and 280 is a competitive score. Thereare a few long boundaries at the SCGand I think we actually bowled wellaccording to that tonight," Richardsonsaid.

Australia had a slow start and man-aged to score 288/5 after opting to bat,but thanks to Richardson, India had apoor start and were reduced to 4/3 atone stage before finishing at 254/9 asRohit Sharma's 22nd hundred went invain.

This was the first time since 2017that Australia won the opening gameof an ODI series.

"I was actually disappointed whenthe ball came out. I probably bowleda bit too straight," said the pacerabout Virat Kohli's dismissal.

"I had a fielder there who hung onto it, so it is a wicket I will rememberfor a very long time."

"I am ecstatic and really excited forthe team. It's good to put a personalperformance on the board but I amreally excited in the way Australiancricket is heading.

"The way we prepared for thisgame and the research we did onIndian players. Everything leading upto this game, I felt was absolutely per-fect and the result was ideal tonight,"he added.

#���� �?%,-?

Differing with his skipper Virat Kohli's views, India'sODI vice-captain Rohit Sharma on Saturday said

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is "ideal" for the number fourslot, as the team works on getting the batting orderright for the World Cup.

Rohit added it was his personal view and that thecaptain and the coach will have the final say on thebatting slots.

Dhoni on Saturday made a slow 51 from 96 ballsin India's 34-run defeat to Australia in the first ODI,sparking another debate about his current form in aWorld Cup year.

"Personally, I always feel that Dhoni batting atnumber four will be ideal for the team but we havegot Ambati Rayudu who has done really well now atnumber four. It totally depends on what the captainand coach think about it. Personally asking, I wouldbe happy if Dhoni bats at four," Rohit, who scored 133off 129 deliveries, said at the post-match conference.

Kohli had earlier expressed his preference forRayudu to other players for the contentious position.

"If you look at his (Dhoni's) overall batting, hisstrike rate is around 90. Today was a different scenario,when he came out to bat we had already lost three wick-ets and Australia were bowling pretty well. You justcannot go out and get 100-run partnership easily. Sowe took a little bit of time and even I did not score asquickly as I normally do," Rohit said.

"I took my time too because we wanted to get thatpartnership and losing another wicket at that point,the game would have been dead there and then. So,we had to play dot balls and build a partnership," heexplained.

Rohit, who had described Dhoni as the "guidinglight of the group" ahead of the match, also said thatthe former captain was ready to bat anywhere for theteam.

"It is pretty simple with him and he does not com-plicate things. We spoke about building a partnershipbecause it was crucial at that point," he said.

"It was great to see him come and bat at numberfive. We lost three wickets but he is keen to get thoseruns as well. Over the years, he has shown he is readyto bat anywhere for the team and score runs."

#���� ,-��%-:;

CoA chief Vinod Rai hasproposed a quick enquiry

into much-criticised com-ments made by suspendedcricketers Hardik Pandya andKL Rahul but Diana Eduljifears it will be construed as a"cover up" job.

The two-memberCommittee of Administrators(CoA) is yet again dividedand this time on how theinquiry into the latest con-troversy should be conduct-ed.

Pandya and Rahul, whoattracted widespread criti-cism for their misogynisticcomments on TV Show'Koffee with Karan', will beback in India by Saturday orearly Sunday.

In another round ofunfriendly email exchange(in possession of PTI), CoAmember Edulji has expressedher reservation at BCCI CEORahul Johri, who himself wasembroiled in sexual harras-ment case, conducting pre-liminary inquiry and fears a"cover up".

Rai on his part wants theinquiry to be finished by sec-ond ODI as delay in com-pleting the procedure wouldaffect the team strength.

"We should be in nohurry to conduct the inquiryas it would then look like acover up job being done,"Edulji wrote in her email

response after Rai wantedinquiry to be completedquickly as team strength hasgone down from 15 to 13.

"We must take a view bythe time second ODI getsover as we cannot afford todebilitate team strength dueto delinquent behaviour onthe part of some player," Rai

had written.While legal team had

advised appointment of ad-hoc ombudsman for whichRai wants the view of amicus.

However Edulji wantsCoA and office bearers to bepart of the inquiry as CEO'spresence will be perceived as"bad optics" according to her.

#���� ,-��%-:;

Duanne Olivier took his thirdfive-wicket haul of the series

before Pakistan's bowlers foughtback on the second day of the thirdand final Test against South Africaon Saturday.

Olivier grabbed took five wick-ets for 51 as South Africa gained afirst innings lead of 77 at theWanderers Stadium.

But the hosts were unable toforge a position of dominance,struggling to 135 for five at the close,an overall lead of 212.

Hashim Amla made a patient42 not out off 90 balls against tight,

disciplined bowling, while Quintonde Kock lifted the scoring rate latein the day by scoring 34 not out off35 balls. The wickets were sharedbetween four bowlers with medium-pacer Faheem Ashraf taking two for19 — with both his wickets comingin his first over — to reduce SouthAfrica to 45 for four.

Abbas and opening batsmanImam-ul-Haq, who went on tomake 43, were both dropped twiceduring the first hour of play. SouthAfrica also missed two run-outopportunities.

Pakistan were 91 for five whenImam was caught at second slip offVernon Philander but Babar Azam

(49) and captain Sarfraz Ahmed(50) put on 78 off only 61 balls forthe sixth wicket.

Kagiso Rabada ended the standwhen Sarfraz was caught at first slipand four balls later Olivier hadAzam caught at long leg. Oliviermade it a double strike whenFaheem Ashraf was out first ball,splicing a mistimed pull to short leg.

The South African innings wasin disarray when Ashraf dismissedboth Theunis de Bruyn and new capZubayr Hamza in the space of twoballs before Amla and TembaBavuma (23) added 48 for the fifthwicket. It was left to De Kock to liftthe tempo.

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She might not be the US First Ladyanymore, but Michelle LaVaughnRobinson Obama unquestionablyleft the title much richer than itever could have been. In fact,

that’s true for her impact on almost every-thing she did. She managed to pull, what Iwould like to call, an ‘Obama’ — she tookseveral stereotypes, turned them on theirhead, and created a whole new set of defi-nitions and systems to live by. And that’sthe journey which her recently releasedbook recounts. Becoming Michelle Obamais a very American tale about trying, hop-ing, and succeeding, and a truly satisfyingone at that. The former First Lady’saccount reflects her admirably simpleapproach to life — nothing is ever goingto be easy, but as long as you make a gen-uine effort towards your goals, you can‘become’ what you want to be, and some-times even more. This holds true for allaspects of her life that the book deals with.

Growing up as a black girl in 1960sAmerica, choosing a rewarding careerpath, finding love, making marriagestick, raising kids, protecting the self andthe family while living in the WhiteHouse as the First Lady — the book dis-cusses how self-doubt crept in at eachstep in Michelle Obama’s head and howshe overcame it each time, too.

Rarely does one come across such anhonest self-written account of the vulner-ability and human frailty of someonewho has been immensely relevant toworld politics. There have been specula-tions about Michelle running forPresident. It has also been suggested thatthis book is probably one of the firststeps towards painting her as a deservingcandidate for the post. But if one goesthrough even just the preface of thebook, he/she will find that the thoughtseems to be far from the mind of the for-mer FLOTUS and does not quite fit intoher world or ambitions. “There’s a lot Istill don’t know about America,” shewrites in the preface. Further in thebook, she discusses her introversion thatstuck with her even through her journeyof “finding her own voice”. And whiletalking about the contrast in the person-alities of her husband and herself, shesays that unlike him, a career in politicswould have never interested her.

The book opens with the first sigh ofrelief — even if loaded — that the firstAfrican-American First Lady experiencedwhen her family life started inchingtowards somewhat “normal” after herhusband’s tenure as the President ended.The first chapter of the book describes thejoy that she finds in making a toast forherself when she is alone in the not-so-fancy address that followed their stay atthe White House. And right from thatpoint, the reader knows that he/she is infor a humbling narration of feelings thatare anything but common.

The narrative can be read as a person-al account that offers an alternate versionof politics and history. In the first sectionof the book titled ‘Becoming Me’, Michelletalks about the people and experiencesfrom her childhood that helped herunderstand her world better as an adult. Itdiscusses the “massive and uncertainshift” at the heart of American politics in

the 1960s when “the Kennedys were dead”and “Martin Luther King Jr had beenkilled standing on a balcony in Memphis,setting off riots across the country, includ-ing in Chicago”. At this time, Michelle is,of course, only a little girl sitting in herfather’s lap watching television at a vol-ume loud enough to block the noise fromthe neighbourhood. “None of this reallyregistered with me (as a kid),” she writes.But these insights into her countrybecome a part of her personal story as shelooks back at it from the perspective of agrown up African-American who has hadthe opportunity to see it being governed,more closely than almost any of her read-ers ever would have.

She presents her country in all itscolourfulness and diversity, but she stillmakes no claims about knowing it com-pletely. The inexpressible frustration of ablack man who lived through The GreatDepression finds space in her personalstory when she thinks back on what hergrandparents were like and remembershaving ignorantly asked her grandfather,‘Southside’, why he was always angry. Thetransformation that different areas in hercountry faced on account of racial segre-gation is something that stares her in theface as she digs the pictures from herschool yearbook and finds evidence of the“white flight” in the diminishing numberof white faces among the students.

The strength of character that sheshowed during her husband’s tenure canalso be traced back to her childhood.Michelle makes no bones about the factthat even though she mostly tried tolaugh off hurtful comments and negativecoverage of herself as a wife, a mother, anAfrican-American, a woman, or even justan individual, they often hurt. It was atthese difficult times that life lessons fromher childhood about bullies and misdi-rected anger came handy. She goes backall the way to a story where she gotpunched in the face as a kid by a class-mate who was “angry about things thathad nothing to do with her”. And yearslater, this wisdom offered by her motherto a younger her would help her dealwith the hurtful comments made abouther and her family during BarackObama’s presidency campaign. It’s thissense of a strongly internalised sense ofthe self that manifests as grace andcourage when one reads about MrsObama’s reaction to comments about theshape of her butt, or the reason behindher promotion at work, or articles abouther ‘questionable’ loyalty to her husband’scampaign, or even speculative, flimsystories about her being a man!

It’s this investment of MichelleObama’s book in a perceptive approach tolife that puts it in a league of its own. It’snot the biography of someone related tosomeone important; it doesn’t need con-troversies about Obama as crutches towalk on. It’s also not a seedy book abouthow to live one’s life. It is a very upfrontstory of a little African-American girl withsmall dreams and a large spirit. It is thestory of an intelligent woman in love. It isthe story of a woman who strives to be agood mother and a good employee at thesame time. And it is also the story of a girlfinding her voice, taking pride in it, and

sharing it with the world as a woman. The sense of hope in this book is

infectious because it is realistic andgenuine. Michelle takes the guilt out oflife choices, like seeking marriagecounselling or hiring a person to cookeveryday meals or even forgetting tobuy the kids clothes until it’s almosttoo late. She speaks on these froma non-conservative and refresh-ing vantage point and managesto find a fine balance betweenhealthy life habits and sus-tainability. Her take on theseincreasingly common, modernissues faced by workingwomen is enviable tosay the least. Shewrites about themlogically, respectfully,and honestly.Communicationgaps between cou-ples because of thelack of time to look atdifferent issues togetheris one of the issues thatshe offers her wisdomon. “We live by the para-digms we know,” she writes asshe looks back at a rough patch inher marriage and traces it back tothe contrasting ways in which twopeople, even two people in love witheach other, look at the world becauseof the differences in the ways they havebeen brought up. Their individual expe-riences have shaped their understandingof the world. And since those experienceshave been different, their understandingof the same world can’t possibly be thesame at each point of time.

She also writes about how the thoughtof promoting the idea of childhood nutri-tion and healthy habits at the White Housecame from a deeply personal incident whereher doctor alerted her about the need to keepher daughter’s Body Mass Index under check.She writes about what went through her mindas she decided to hire a person to cook every-day meals for the family. Similarly, she writesabout how she needed to get her mother’s helpwith watching her kids so that she could makesome time to work out in the gym. The book evenlets in the readers on one of the big secret behindher confidence — her council of girlfriends whomshe can rely upon whenever she is looking forinsights into an issue. There’s no part of the bookwhich tries to say that she managed to pull it offbecause she is Michelle Obama and has been blessedwith superhuman gifts. All she does is stick to therigour of trying and hoping and finding logical solu-tions to the obstacles that come her way.

Race is an issue that would inevitably have to be apart of this narrative one way or the other. Discussionabout race never reads forced or unnatural in the book.It comes as a natural curve to the flow of the narrativeand is educative each time. Through the journey of thebaby girl Michelle, who takes her own time to understandwhy white faces are disappearing from her school, to thetime when she is aware and proud of being the first blackFirst Lady but expects people to be able to look beyond thedifference in skin colour, too — the book charts the journeyof how far America is expected to have come on the issue ofrace from the 1960s to the recent present.

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As a kid in the 1960sAmerica, MichelleObama came across

bitter experiences like herbrother, Craig, being held upby an African-Americanpoliceman who couldn’tbelieve that a black kid couldown an expensive bike. Shealso remembers the mentaland emotional scar caused bythe bump on her father’s carwhen they visited their blackneighbours who had movedto the suburbs, peopledmostly by white people. “Ourneighbourhood was middleclass and racially mixed…In1950, 50 years before my par-ents moved to South Shore,the neighbourhood had been96 per cent white. By thetime I’d leave for college in1981, it would be about 96per cent black,” she writesexplaining the transforma-tion that society was set to

experience when her aspira-tions were growing alongwith her, even if without acomplete understanding ofthe politics of the world sheinhabited.

But as a grown-up, herfeelings as well as her world-view turn out to be moreinformed. She is pleasantlysurprised by how far hercountry has come from thosedays of painful discrimina-tion when she finds herselffeeling at home in Iowa, oneof the more conservativeareas. She feels reassured ofthis transformation when thegeneral public manages toalmost effortlessly lookbeyond the skin colour of the‘substitute’ presidential candi-date — as she calls herself —and embraces her for sharingher story with them. But sheis also bitter at being repeat-edly asked how it feels to be a

tall black woman talking torooms full of white people. Itmakes her feel like “our dif-ferences are all one sees andall that matters”, she writes.She can’t seem to understandwhy such a regressive ques-tion must be asked when theoutlook of the country andits people in general hasbecome largely progressive.

As an American womanin one of the most “presti-gious” posts one would everhold, she finds herself work-ing and reworking gendernorms for herself. She alsowrites about the process ofthinking back on everydayhabits that she took a con-scious call to not pass on toher daughters because shewouldn’t want them to buyinto ideas of patriarchy andthe hierarchy that comesalong with it. She talks aboutthe general expectation from

a First Lady, which is to lookgood and to make her hus-band look good. And shequickly dismisses it too say-ing that while she could besupportive, she could notreduce herself to a robot. Shewrites about the difficultdecision of not having the

kids wait for a hug from the“man of the family” eachnight before they went tobed. Instead, she puts theonus on Dad to find time forthat hug instead of arrangingher and her kids’ lives aroundhis schedule. Michelle hadonce been accused of emas-

culating her husband whenshe talked about his humanfrailty at home in an inter-view. She points to the preju-dice embedded in thatapproach, too. Most impor-tantly, she weeds out guiltfrom all of these decisionsand manages to look at them

from a more balanced andpractical perspective.

When it comes to fight-ing sexism, she sees nowrong in admiring even herhusband’s opponents. Whilewriting about the campaignthat would eventually lead toObama’s historic win, shesays, “Hillary (Clinton)’s gen-der was used against herrelentlessly, drawing from allthe worst stereotypes. Shewas called domineering, anag, a bitch. Her voice wasinterpreted as screechy; herlaugh was a cackle. Hillarywas Barack’s opponent,which means I wasn’tinclined to feel especiallywarmly toward her just then,but I couldn’t help butadmire her ability to stand up

and keep fighting amid themisogyny,” she writes. Andwith that, she gives anotherexample of her carefullythought out and painstaking-ly fair approach to almosteverything — politics,racism, motherhood, mar-riage, or just life in general.

This book is relevant foranybody who is interestedin American history, inBarack Obama’s personallife, in relationship advice,in tips on motherhood, infighting discrimination withgrace, or even in just livinglife well. Because that’sMichelle Obama’s journeyin a nutshell. She doeseverything with perfection,and she remembers to tellherself as well as her follow-ers that this perfectiondoesn’t come magically.Instead, one has to strive forit. Luckily for her, she learntto do that as a kid and madea habit of it. “I spent muchof my childhood listening tothe sound of striving…thesound of people trying,however, became the sound-track to our life,” she writes,making her story a classicexample of the Americandream coming true.

The results of the recently heldAssembly Elections in five stateshave hogged the limelight formany reasons. While the resur-gence of Congress in Madhya

Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh wasthe silver lining for that party, the state ofTelangana told a completely differentstory. The incumbent political party, theTelangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) won in aresounding manner defeating Prajakutami,a united opposition front. The emphaticvictory of TRS has made many analystsand thinkers across the country ponderover the reasons for the impressive elec-toral performance. Over the past four anda half years, TRS launched many socialwelfare schemes, irrigation projects andfinancial assistance programs. Out of allthese, the Kaleshwaram Lift IrrigationProject (KLIP) is something unique inmany aspects. It is being built at a cost ofmore than �80,000 crore and is the costli-est irrigation project undertaken by anystate in India so far.

KLIP was originally conceived fromthe Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita ChevellaSujala Sravanthi project. This was original-ly supposed to utilise 160 thousand mil-lion cubic feet (TMC) of allocated watersof the Godavari river. Hence, a barrage wasproposed at a place called Tummidihattinear the Maharashtra border to divert 160TMC of water and use it for irrigation

However, irrigation projects acrossrivers have at various stages, issues asso-ciated with them starting from the pre-construction stage to the post-commis-sioning phase. The Pranahita Chevella pro-ject is being built across river Godavari andthis river originates in Maharashtra andhas a catchment basin spreading across thestates of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odishaand Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, it is any-thing but unnatural for this project to fallvictim to the unceasing interstate waterdisputes between the states having stakes.

The Maharashtra Government repeat-edly expressed concerns over fixing of theFull Reservoir Level (FRL) for construct-ing the Tummidihatti Barrage due to sub-mergence of 3,786 acres of land in their ter-ritory. A considerable portion of this landconstitutes the environmentally sensitiveforest areas. Consequently, the FRL had tobe reduced from +152.00 to +148.00 toreduce the submergence from 3,786 to 285acres. This was mutually agreed upon byboth the State Governments and a finalagreement was reached upon to constructa barrage at Tummidihatti with FRL of+148.00 on August 23, 2016.

However, this is where the actualproblems came to the surface. Detailedwater availability studies carried out bythe Government of Telangana and sub-sequently by the Central WaterCommission (CWC), New Delhi foundout that divertible flows at an FRL of+148.00 after deducting the upstreamabstractions by Maharashtra would onlybe 44 TMC against the originally planned160 TMC. Thus, CWC has advised theGovernment of Telangana to look againinto the location of the barrages tomatch the demand and supply of water.This made the Telangana Governmentdependent on the area in the downstreamside on the river Pranahita, the largesttributary of river Godavari.

It is in this context that an alternatelocation for constructing the barrageacross Godavari was investigated by M/SWAPCOS Ltd by using the latest LightDetection and Ranging (LiDAR) techniqueof surveying and the location was proposedat Medigadda near Kaleshwaram in theJayashankar-Bhupalapally District ofTelangana. The water availability by CWC

at this location has been assessed as 284.3TMC which comfortably meets the sup-ply and demand. The original project ofPranahita Chevella has now been dividedinto two components namely BRAmbedkar Pranahita Project by con-structing a barrage at Tummidihetti tofacilitate irrigation and water supply toAdilabad District in Northern Telanganaand the remaining segment is the KLIP.

Geographically, Telangana is situatedon the Deccan Plateau at a higher eleva-tion than the elevation at which the riverGodavari flows in the state. Hence, irriga-tion through gravity canals alone is not afeasible option and lift irrigation should beemployed. In the case of KLIP, the liftheights have become as high as 350meters due to the need for redesigning theproject because of the changed location atMedigadda. This change in location hasalso imposed the need to reverse the flowof the mighty Godavari across theMedigadda Barrage. The project nowconstitutes seven links and 28 packages,thus aiming to create a new ayacut of 18.25lakh acres in 13 districts and stabilisationof existing ayacuts of 18.82 lakh acres. Theproject boasts of 1,531km long gravitypressure canals, 203km long tunnels,98km long pressure pipelines, 1,832kmlong water supply routes, 22 lifts, 22pumps, 14 reservoirs and 19 electricalpower substations. The project has beenracing against time with record concretepours per day. KLIP witnessed reinforcedcement concrete pour of 22,584 cum

from December 22 to 25, 2018 on the spill-way piers in Medigadda Barrage breakingall previous world records in concrete pour.

There are many other firsts andrecords in this project. The surge pools in‘package six’, which are used to store waterfrom tunnels and lift them upwards, arethe largest in the world. The pumpsinstalled in ‘package eight’ which have suc-cessfully completed the dry run, popular-ly called as the “Bahubali Motors”, have acapacity of 89.14 cumecs per second andrequire a whopping 139 MW power foroperation, both of them being worldrecords. Similarly, package 10 boasts ofAsia’s biggest open surge pool. There are

also state of the art gas grid substationswhich occupy very less space under-ground, compared to conventional substa-tions. The civil works being completed alsocater to the possible future expansion.Various allied and associated works likecompensatory afforestation are also pro-ceeding at a breakneck speed. All this hasled to the actual cost of the project asworked out to be �80,190 crore.

The KLIP is being seen as a solutionto end the water woes of Telangana by pro-viding uninterrupted water supply toagriculture for all the three seasons of thecrop and providing drinking water to sev-eral villages, towns and cities of the state-planned under another flagship projectof Telangana “Mission Bhagiratha”.

The other takeaways include thetimely and pragmatic resolution of inter-state water disputes between Maharashtraand Telangana. Despite constitutional andstatutory mechanisms, setting up of var-ious river water boards and tribunals,many states across the country have notbeen successful in resolving contentiousissues on the river water sharing fordecades. Telangana and Maharashtrahave shown the maturity and leadershipto move forward in a rational way with-out harming the interests of each other.They showed the way forward for thecountry in this regard. Similarly, the CWCand Ministry of Water Resources havealso been highly supportive in timelyassessments and clearances. KLIP hasreceived 10 statutory clearances from

CWC within a period of nine monthsincluding cost appraisal, environmentaland forest clearance — an unusual speedfor administrative approvals. DespiteTRS and BJP being at the opposite endsof the political spectrum, the proactivenature of CWC to the State Governmentdisplays a perfect example of cooperativefederalism. The CWC has also appreci-ated the various technical aspects and thespeed of execution of KLIP.

While everything seems to be goingwell, there are matters to be taken care of.The completion of works within theschedule timeline of June 2022 without anycost escalation remains a challenge.Technical issues may crop up duringoperations even if one loose end is leftunaddressed. Apart from these, theTelangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC),an activist group in the State, is claimingthat the project does not necessitate achange in location from Tummidihatti toMedigadda, notwithstanding the CWC’srecommendations. They argue that enoughwater can be drawn through gravity canalsfrom Tumidihetti. They even claim to havedone a scientific analysis on water avail-ability at Tummidihatti.

Apart from this, they are also contest-ing the other stated benefits of KLIP withrespect to crop production, farmer wel-fare etc. While it is true that officials fromGovernment and TRS spokespersonshave been negating these claims of TJACin Television debates, it is in the best inter-ests of transparency and accountability,

the Government of Telangana shouldcome out with more technical andauthentic clarification in this regard.And it is also true that some of the stat-ed benefits can only be noticed once thewhole project becomes operational. Butthe biggest issue is the operation andmaintenance cost that would be neededto keep a project of this magnitude run-ning. Some estimates by civil societyactivists peg it to be around �15,000-20,000 crore per annum.

There are also fears that KLIP beinga State Government project with enormousfinancial burden, can impair the State’seconomy — with regards to its executionas well as subsequent annual maintenancecosts. Probably it is for this reason, theTelangana Government is repeatedly seek-ing the status of National Project for KLIP.Time will only answer whether all thesefears are indeed true or not.

KLIP, in due course of time has thepotential to create an engineering mar-vel and show the path for the country tomove ahead in coming up with bold andinnovative approaches to solve waterwoes. This does not mean to say thatthere are no dangers lurking around. Butthe way in which the TRS Governmentheaded by Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao and IrrigationMinister T Harish Rao have handled thesituation instills more hope than fear.

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Hindu mythology hasseen several reworksover the past couple of

decades whether it be throughthe visual modes of TV andcinema, or via printed formslike novels and short fiction.Most of the popular rework-ings of mythology have beenfor a specific agenda of eitherexcavating the myths,spurring devotion throughbetter circulation, or explor-ing lesser known characters orincidents, or adding to theexisting grand narratives.

Acclaimed mythologicalfiction by writers such asChitra Banerjee Divakaruni,Devdutt Pattanaik and the likehave led to creative and/orcritical progressive reinterpre-tation of several episodes fromHindu mythology. All suchendeavours have been under-taken with a great degree ofresearch and seriousness asbefits the subject matter, andthat translates into a certaingraveness of the plot, andsolemnness of the idiom soemployed. Madhur Prabhakar,who identifies himself as ‘a newage story teller’, a strategic mar-keting leader by profession anda writer by choice, presents hisdebut novel 90 God Days in acompletely dissimilar manner,comfortably and safely nestingit within the category of“Fiction/Fantasy/Humour”.

The intriguing title and thesmartly done cover urge thereader to plunge into the 250pages-long novel, which beginsquite disarmingly, with the‘Writer’s Note’, more of a dis-claimer, about not wishing tohurt religious sentiments, andhow the book is aboutPrabhakar’s version of his God,a God who is ‘vulnerable, at thesame time a lot of fun’ (sic).Prabhakar says he wants torelate to his god rather thanjust read about him, a god who

‘has a sense of humour and hedoesn’t mind letting his chil-dren have a bit of fun’.Prabhakar has no pretensionsabout copious or seriousarchival research before pen-ning his tale and admits relyingon ‘stories as narrated to him’as a child, various online infor-mation, and creative extrapola-tions by his own initiative.

The story lies sandwichedbetween a prologue and an epi-logue in the traditional epicstyle, providing the frame storyof Lord Vishnu landing himselfa punishment to spend time onthe earth, bereft of his godlypowers for a period of 90 Goddays as stipulated in the‘Heaven Charter’ for his over-ruling of another deity, in thiscase, Indra’s actions.

Shiva and Brahma sit in thecouncil meeting, deliberatingupon the quantum of punish-ment for Vishnu, taking duecognizance of Indra’s com-plaints. Prabhakar makes theGods way too relatable to thegeneration Y: “Brahma buddy,we can’t punish Vishnu for this

small offence…” Shiva pleads,while Brahma responds, exas-perated, “Dude, I understandwhat you’re saying…If I don’ttake any actions, then Indraand few of his other deityfriends would be really pissed.”

After the initial shock of theslang lingo subsides, one isincreasingly drawn into the plot,knit deftly with no great com-plexities or surprises. The readersoon takes sides and sympathis-

es with the curiously namedMuslim atheist Karun Ahmed,son of a curiouser AkshatAhmed, retired army officer,and his homemaker wife,Shagun Ahmed, both devoutRoza-observing Muslims.

The tale is spun around themythic and the human runningon parallel planes: GoddessGanga decides to intervene andreclaim for once her righteousplace as Vishnu’s wife over

Lakshmi, while Ganesha, terri-bly concerned about the bal-ance of the world, both earthlyand heavenly, plunges all hispowers: Mental and spiritual,towards thwarting his maternalaunt’s designs and making surehis favourite uncle Vishnu stayson track in his earthly form.

Also interwoven are narra-tives of how another Godresiding in the heavens,Muhammed of the Muslims, is

actually the brother of Brahmaand is extremely unhappyabout whatever is happening‘in his name on Earth’, with a‘lot of extremist idiots to takecare of ’ and requiring to takeaction on the ‘continued geno-cide in a portion that earth-lings call Iraq’. The tale breezesthrough the budding friendshipand romance of Karun with asimple, beautiful earthlingcalled Swastika Sharma, astaunch Hindu.

The twist in the tale comeswith the entry of the mysteriousand stunning Shaina who drawsKarun to herself, toppling allbalance. It is up to the cleverand genius boyish God Ganeshato tread carefully through theHeaven Charter, the variousclauses and sub-clauses of GodsPower Act, and to get the rightset of couple together.

Aiding him in his nobleenterprise are a motley offamous characters: Brahma’saide Chitragupta, the dream-weaver Morpheus, Galileo,Aryabhatta, and, Alan Turing,of The Imitation Game fame.The Hindu-Muslim contrasthowever, seems contrived, anddeliberately stretched most ofthe time, being the weakestlink in the story.

The book shows how at theend of each tale, there’s the tri-umph of Dharma despite sever-al hurdles; order is ultimatelyrestored towards the heart-warming end. Drawing uponseveral episodes and profes-sional technicalities from hisstrategic marketing back-ground, Prabhakar brings theworld of the Gods alive in aslightly more relatable way, asthey discuss their anxieties,commit mistakes and pay forthem, and yet uphold theiroverarching benevolence uponthe entire human race. 90 GodDays is a short and sweet treatto be enjoyed in one go.

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For the strapping, if illiterate,peasants from the “martialraces” recruited into the IndianArmy it meant a salary plusadditional allowances for over-

seas posting, and fifty acres of “irrigatedland” that no money-lender could usurp,plus an “inheritable pension” on retire-ment. For those who joined up voluntari-ly during World War I that ended a cen-tury ago in 2018, it was a fit occupationfor men who liked being soldiers.

Indians who joined as sepoys werenot promoted to the King’s Commissionthen. They could never be officers com-manding British and Indian troopsalike, but enjoyed native ranks likeJemadar, Subedar, and internal promo-tions instead. Nor did they enjoy equiv-alent pay or facilities of White soldiers,though in the European theatre theywere well fed and cared for. This includ-ed excellent medical treatment and hos-pitalisation if injured.

And yet, did the Indians fight, a halfmillion strong at 1918, bravely and withzeal, for the empire? Yes, and in theatres

as widespread as France/Germany andBritish interests in Africa and Iraq. Anumber of Indians won Victoria Crosses,the highest award for valour, just like theEuropean soldiers in the Great War, andnot all of them posthumously either.

Politically, the Indian nationalistsdecided to back the British war effortwithout reservation in the expectationof concessions towards Indian “self-gov-ernment” in line with the Whitecolonies of Australia and Canada thatenjoyed “Dominion status”.

Instead, there was an extension ofthe Defence of India Act of 1915, with its“powers to detain without proof and sen-tence to death without appeal”. And itwas soon after the war, in April 1919,that the infamous Jallianwala Bagh mas-sacre took place. The British betrayal wasacutely felt and sharpened the movetowards independence.

In terms of anti-British activity in theperiod under review — mutinies, mur-ders, desertions — provoked by Britishhigh-handedness, the lead belonged notto the subjects of British India or the

Princely States, but to the “independentPukhtun tribal areas of Waziristan”. TheMahsud and Afridi tribes resisted theBritish always, and with considerablesuccess, irrespective of whether theyjoined their Army, or raided their posi-tions in British India.

Indeed, author George Morton-Jackdwells on the preoccupation the Britishhad with Muslim sentiment as theyconfronted the “Sick man of Europe” orthe “Ottoman Empire”. This mainlybecause Turkey was the custodian ofMecca, and how the Muslim of BritishIndia would react to fighting against theSultan of Turkey and the Caliph, was anissue of the greatest concern. As itturned out, there were isolated out-breaks of Islamic fervour against Britishimperialism, but these were easily con-tained. For the most part, the IndianMuslim had no real problem fightingagainst the “other” Muslim or anyoneelse their officers indicated.

The genesis of the extensive use ofindependent India’s armed forces forUN Peace Keeping activities may have

its origins in the lead up to WorldWar I, during it, and its aftermath,when the British found themselveswith 27 per cent more territory, quitea lot of it in West Asia, which theyintended to hang on to. The BritishIndian Army was used extensively forthis purpose too, and post 1918.

The Great War also went some wayto advance the cause of racial equalityas heavy losses, particularly in Europe,prompted the Allies to lay less stress ofthe “colour-bar”.

The civilians of France treated theIndian soldiers with great kindness andas “Liberators” from the German yoke,and opened their eyes to democraticnotions of liberty, equality and fraterni-ty. Many were able to comprehend forthe first time the demands of a newnationalism that would have to excludethe British in the end.

The Germans, of course, wanted toprovoke a Jihad amongst the MuslimIndian troops and dropped leafletsinto the trenches they occupied. Whileconditions in the Indian front in

France were bad at first, the Britishcountered with a massive increase in“logistical support” and “unprecedent-ed quantities of food”. Top leadership,at least till 1916, such as Kichener,Willcocks, and medical care headWalter Lawrence were all distinguishedold India hands, familiar with the man-ners and mores of their charges.

Things were a lot meaner in theWest Asian theatre. The infamousMesopotamia Report put the finger onthe Viceroy Charles Hardinge andCommander-in-Chief in IndiaBeauchamp Duff for grave lapse thathad thousands of Indian soldiers per-ishing in pitiable circumstances. Itreceived a lot of media play and debatein parliament at Westminster. RudyardKipling, the celebrated author and poetof the Raj took up for the slaughteredIndian soldiers. He asked for thoseresponsible for the British defeats inIraq, the mismanagement and neglect,to be pilloried and punished.

And yet, there was a mood amongstthe top Allied Military Brass as the wardragged on, to use the Indians forfront-line action in various theatres ona relentless basis. It even claimedBritish Indian Army General JamesWillcocks’ job, as his superior DouglasHaig, did not think much of his effortsto shield his Indian troops from attri-tion and casualties. Willcocks becamepersona non grata in the War Officeafter being fired by Haig, and couldonly get a job as the Governor ofBermuda thereafter. The old style car-ing and nurturing of troops thatWillcocks practiced was replaced by amore ruthlessly “scientific” approach.

And then, there were the unevenregulations. Apart from much lesser paythan their European counterparts, whenan Indian was invalidated he had toreturn to the front after recovery. Theoption to retire and return to his countryafter being injured or wounded wasdenied him. Only European troopsenjoyed this privilege.

It follows the ups and downs of mili-tary strategy and tactics, the dramatispersonae, and the sheer blood loss oftrench warfare. The European theatre,particularly the Battle of the Somme,was priority number one, but Indiantroops were sent to a number of lesserstrategic spots around the globe simulta-neously. Recently, Israel made specialmention of Indian troops in connectionwith the liberation of Haifa.

The so called “War to end all Wars”was not successful, despite its millionsin war dead. But it certainly made aninternational fighting force of theIndian soldier and added to the regi-mental histories of many Indian forma-tions that survive to the present day.

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The Lok Sabha passed theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill

2016 despite protest by theOpposition. Why this Bill has drawnso much controversy and oppositionboth from political parties and civilsociety groups within and outsideNorth-East? The proposed Bill ifpassed in the Rajya Sabha willintroduce an amendment in theoriginal Citizenship Act of 1955.Once it becomes an act, it will makecurrent illegal immigrants fromAfghanistan, Pakistan andBangladesh belonging to the Hindu,Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Parsi andChristian communities eligible forIndian citizenship after six years ofresidency instead of 11 years as stip-ulated mentioned in the CitizenshipAct of 1955. This was done by theNDA Government after consideringa 400-page Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC) report that thor-oughly studied the concerns of thelocals after touring the entire Stateof Assam. However, theGovernment clarified that it willensure protection of Clause 6 of theAssam Accord which categoricallydemands the constitutional safe-guards of the Assamese people.The JPC report states that the Stateand the Central Government shouldformulate rules and regulationsunder Clause 6A of the AssamAccord to ensure that the very eth-nic identity of the indigenous peo-ple is not threatened at any cost. TheOpposition, including the Congress,highlighted that the NDAGovernment is trying to diluteClause 5 of the Assam Accordwhich sets the cut-off date as March24, 1971 to detect and deport for-eigners. In the new Bill, theGovernment proposed the cut-offdate as December 31, 1971 which

will not be applicable to BengaliHindu foreigners only. Further, italso says that considering thesecommunities as persecuted ones,they will all be eligible for citizen-ship whoever has entered India tillDecember 2014. This has actuallyopened a hornets’ nest across Assamand the North-East region. That’swhy the call for total revision andrecall of the Bill was echoed withmuch unhappiness as of date.

When the times and eventsdemand, political leadership, irre-spective of their different ideologi-cal shades, must see to it that theindigenous people do not have tolose their identity in Assam. Today,what Assam has witnessed is exem-plified in the writings of MyronWeiner (1983), who said: “Amongthe most precarious political sys-tems in the world are those that seekto hold together a society contain-ing at least two ethnic groups, oneof which has a bare or near major-ity…Some form of power sharing isusually necessary or at least anarrangement under which onegroup wields political power, butprovides some degree of economicsecurity to others.”

But such arrangements are tem-porary as it is affected by demo-graphic changes both due to immi-gration and emigration, furtheraccentuated by gradual populationgrowth among different groups ofpeople. This has eventually dis-rupted the political system of Assamleading to large-scale political vio-lence and public unrest.

Instead of demonstratinggrandiloquence, the leadership ofthe State BJP-led GovernmentSarbananda Sonowal should haveconvinced and conveyed the disas-trous impact of such a legislation

way ahead both to the Centralleadership of the party and theGovernment. Schooled at the cen-tre of regional politics and studentactivism, especially in the historicsix-year long Assam Movement,Sonowal should have been wellaware about the ethnocentric sen-timent of the locals.

Now, as the Asom Gana Parisad(AGP) has moved out of the coali-tion in Assam, it does not help theBJP espouse the cause of regional-ism intertwined with its pan-nation-alist image. At last voters in Assamwill have no “right choice” left. TheAGP, the regional flag-bearer ofAssam, is indirectly making difficultthe BJP’s task to reach out to theindigenous communities. The out-going AGP Ministers in the SonowalGovernment came out in public say-ing that they will not continue asMinisters at the cost of the interestsof the indigenous people of the State.Indeed, what the AGP leaders havedone rightly serves the party’sfuture. Else, the party would haveseriously damaged its electoralprospects and relevance in State pol-itics that is deeply enmeshed with

ethnic, cultural and linguistic iden-tity.

What the Speaker of the AssamAssembly, Hitendranath Goswami,said after the Lok Sabha passed thecontroversial Bill highlights thetension in the State, “As a citizen, myconscience cannot support any Actwhich is unacceptable to the indige-nous people of Assam and detri-mental to the unity and fraternity ofthe people of Assam.” He reiteratedthat views of the “people” should berespected. Meanwhile, former MLAand AICC Secretary Rana Goswamihas lambasted the Speaker by stat-ing that he has failed to take side ofthe public and not taking any con-crete steps to express his oppositionto the Citizenship (Amendment)Bill.

These events bring another per-tinent question to the people: Willthere be a danger for the survival ofthe North East Democratic Alliance(NEDA), a pet project of the BJP tomuster support from like-mindedpolitical parties and groups to anni-hilate the Congress in the North-East? It seems, the NEDA will haveto rethink its strategy to keep its

continued alliance with the BJP. Itis very clear that the regional par-ties across the North-East will real-ly find it difficult to support theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill,though it directly affects Assamonly.

At a time, when the AGP haswithdrawn support to the SonowalGovernment, the National People’sParty (NPP) Government, anotherconstituent of the NEDA, led byConrad Sangma in Meghalaya, hasvoiced his discontent over theCitizenship Bill. Even the NPP wasthe first party to raise the banner ofprotest against the Bill last year bypassing a Cabinet decision. Sangmasaid it was one of the most aggres-sive manners in which their decisionwas conveyed to the Centre. Whatis shocking is that the lone BJP MLAin the Sangma Government, ALHek, has stood united in its oppo-sition to the Citizenship Bill. Equallyconcerned, he stated that he remainscommitted to protecting the inter-est of the indigenous people of theregion. Apart from Meghalaya andAssam, rest of the States of theNorth-East such as Mizoram,Manipur, Nagaland, ArunachalPradesh and Tripura too are affect-ed by Bangladeshi migrants over theyears. Politically, this move by theCentre to bring an amendment tothe Citizenship Bill might be a smartmove so as to create a “new votebank” around the persecutedminorities, particularly the “HinduBengalis” coming from Bangladesh.

But, it does not augur well forNorth-East. Assam has been peace-ful for over a decade, at least fromterrorist-infested violence. But thisBill has once again given opportu-nity to numerous organisationssuch as the All Assam Students

Union (AASU) and North EastStudents Organisation (NESO) tomobilise people. Though UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singh isrepeatedly assuring the countrythat Assam will not have to take thesole burden of the migrants, it is dif-ficult to stop the inflow as oncemigrants settle at one place, itbecomes next to impossible tomove them out to other places.

One may recall that the peopleof the North-East, particularly theAssamese, are chauvinistic,parochial or xenophobic. The inces-sant influx of migrants from thenEast Pakistan, and now Bangladesh,since India’s Independence has seri-ously altered the demographic pro-file of all the North-East States. Thishas largely affected the populationpattern of Assam. What Weinerechoed in the hey days of theAssam Movement in 1983 stillholds true for the locals: “Large scalemigration of illegal migrants fromBangladesh into the North-EasternIndian State of Assam has disrupt-ed a fragile political framework. TheAssamese middle classes feared theloss of political control when theCentral Government ordered elec-tions after there was a markedincrease in the number of migrantson the electoral rolls, whileAssamese and tribal cultivatorsreacted against land encroach-ments.”

This had led to the birth of theAssam Movement which raised analarm against the Bangladeshimigrants across the State. This wasa defining moment for the Assamesepeople as the leadership of themovement called for an all-outprotest to expel the foreigners fromAssam. More significant aspect wasthat it was considered as one of the

largest student-led Movement of theworld. And this evoked much inter-est and attention from all quartersstarting from the CentralGovernment, media, and public.Indeed, this was one of the factorsthat had changed Assam’s perspec-tive on Centre-State relations in sub-sequent years. Academic dialoguesand deliberations that shaped var-ious narratives in the post-AssamMovement years marked the emer-gence of such concepts like step-motherly treatment, centre-periph-ery and India acting against itself inregard to the State. For late IndiraGandhi-led Government at theCentre, the Assam Movement wassimply a “deterioration of law andorder problem”, but for Assamesepeople, it was a question of life anddeath. Assam saw violence for years.After the assassination of Indira,when Rajiv Gandhi took over, hesigned the historic Assam Accordwith the AASU leadership onAugust 15, 1985, which has the verysensitive clauses 5 and 6. And thisClause 6 has envisaged that appro-priate constitutional, legislative andadministrative safeguards shall beprovided to protect, preserve andpromote the cultural, social and lin-guistic identity and heritage of theAssamese people.

This Citizenship Bill has creat-ed chaos across Assam and North-East. Let’s wait and watch how theNDA Governments, particularlythe Sonowal Government, pullthrough this crisis. It’s a testing timefor both these Governments and forthe indigenous peoples of Assam.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs, and an inde-pendent researcher on contemporaryissues)

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The Muslim Women(Protection of Rights on

Marriage) Bill, 2018, whichmakes the practice of instan-taneous triple talaq criminaloffence with three years jail waspassed in the Lok Sabha but iscurrently pending in the RajyaSabha due to vehement protestby the Opposition which hasdemanded amendments.

Given the highly politi-cised discourse surroundingthis practice, it is important toexamine whether the Billwhich makes all declaration oftalaq, including in written orelectronic form, to be void (ienot enforceable in law) and ille-gal, addresses the concern ofgender justice.

The Bill loses sight of theissue at the core of triple talaqdebate: protecting the interestsof women. Ensuring that thedeserter husband gets jail doesnot resolve the daunting taskthat lies ahead of a divorcedwoman of finding economic,social and emotional supportfor herself and her children.

The provision of suste-nance allowance in the Billdoes not seem necessarybecause Muslim women arealready entitled to full lumpsum maintenance to be pro-vided within the iddat periodthat is 90 days after divorceunder the Muslim WomenAct, 1986.

The idea of sustenanceallowance leaves Muslimwomen on the mercy of desert-er husbands, thus underminingthe progress made in Muslimwomen’s economic rights ondivorce through the 1986 Act.

It is not clear whether thesustenance allowance would besubtracted from the mainte-nance amount or will be inaddition to it. Putting the hus-band behind bars for three

years just postpones thedivorce which the husband issure to obtain once he is out ofjail. It penalises the alreadyaggrieved wife and children bykeeping them in limbo andstuck in an unwanted marriagefor three years depending onthe not-yet-defined sustenanceallowance.

The Government couldinstead promote awarenessthat under the Muslim WomenAct, 1986 to address the issuesa Muslim woman faces in thecase of instant triple talaq.

A major challenge in pro-tecting the rights of Muslimwomen is the implementationof laws. There are laws alreadyexisting in India which can beused by Muslim women suchas the Domestic Violence Act,2005, the Muslim Women Act,1986, and the Dissolution ofMuslim Marriage Act, 1939.

The problem is thatwomen are not provided withadequate support in pursuinglong legal battles. A criminal orcivil suit costs time, money andbegets social stigma.Marginalised Muslim womenneed access to free legal aid topursue any civil or criminalsuit. The Domestic ViolenceAct provides for a State-appointed protection officer forproviding free legal aid towomen. However, the majori-ty of victims report their casesthrough private lawyers thanprotection officers due to lackof awareness and availability ofprotection officers.

The Triple Talaq Bill has noprovision of providing freelegal aid to the victims ofinstantaneous triple talaq.

The Bill does not addressthe ambiguities left unan-swered in the Shayara Banojudgment. While the judg-ment and the Bill declare

instantaneous triple talaqinvalid, both are silent on thelegally valid form of divorce.

The State could make peo-ple aware of the more genderjust practices of divorce inIslam such as the right ofwomen to initiate divorce thatis khula and faskh, talaq-e-sunna (divorce over a period of90 days with attempts at rec-onciliation) and mubaraat(divorce through mutual con-sent). The State could alsospread awareness about theDissolution of MuslimMarriage Act, 1939, whichgives Muslim women the rightto dissolve marriage on variousgrounds.

In the nikahnama or mar-riage contract, women canstipulate the terms and condi-tions of marriage. TheGovernment could push forcertain mandatory provisionsto be included in the nikahna-ma such as prohibition ofinstantaneous triple talaq andpolygamy.

There can be a wide gapbetween legal validity and soci-etal validity due to the contin-ued legitimacy of religio-cul-tural practices in the socialstructure. If we penalise a reli-gio-cultural practice, the resultmay be that women who aresituated in these diverse prac-tices are not able to approachofficial legal actors for help.Upholding women’s agency toexercise rights derived frommultiple sources of law may bea more effective strategy inreforming gender unjust reli-gious practices.

(The writer is PhD scholar,JNU, Delhi)

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Syria lies en-route in theOregon trail of Iraq,

Afghanistan and Syria. TheAmerican nation with the phil-anthropic dream and with anavowed objective of democra-tisation and the spread of ruleof law, entrepreneurship andconstitunatilsm has alwaysplayed the role of a vigilante tostymie the vile empires, lead-ers and regimes such as the oneof Saddam Hussein.

Syria has been home to anAlawite sect’s government sincethe times of Bashar-al-Assad’sfather and enjoys the supportof Shia Iran and jehadi groupsbased in Lebanon.

In the current context, thescuffle between Assad and theISIS militia has intensified withthe forces of President Assadscoring victories over ISIS withthe support of Kurdish militiain places such as Manjib as theSyrian forces backed by Russiatriumphed over the ISIS insur-gents in the light of theAmerican withdrawal fromSyria and Afghanistan.

There is an agreed con-frontational truce between theallied-coalition led by the USand the French with the regimeforces, which has been inter-locuted by Moscow. Such is themyriad and complex detail ofthe terror and war terrain inthe nation state of Syria. YPGthe Kurdish group has wel-comed the regime to occupyparts of the Manjib city, which,are further enabled by theUSA. The US establishmenthas refuted the regime’s decla-ration of occupying Manjibwith a call to respect theintegrity and safety of the peo-ple in the town.

American intervention andmediation has a long historyassociated with it. Still, the larg-

er Asiatic space posits theAmerican incursions to bolsterpeace and order, as bland inva-sions and a flouting of the can-nons of international law. Thecritics are always out withtheir “ubiquitous jholas” callingthe American interventions asbeing an acerbic pronounce-ments and the practice of pre-ventive diplomacy and pre-emption being dubious, asenshrined in the Article 51 ofthe United Nations Charter.

Chapters VI and VII of theUN Charter refer to the themesof economic, political sanctionsin the case of war on even amere threat of war by rogueand recalcitrant state actorsacross the global polity at dif-ferent times.

An ace American adven-turist, Colin O’ Brady, hasemerged as the first human totraverse the entire length of theconfines of Antarctica whichhas been ably and gleefullytracked by GPS and othertechnological instrumentali-ties. Thus, in the same spirit ofconquering the Antarctica, theAmerican propensity to makea foray into nations and regionswith its men and equipmenthave been the cynosure of alleyes with the “liberal eye”per-sistently preening with photoops to malign the fundamen-tal tenets of the US ForeignPolicy.

Cheeky tricksters as pro-ponents of InternationalHumanitarian Law (IHL), too,have been taking strategic potshots at the nature and veneerof American interventions.Thus, the cause célèbre of thecore premise of the US hasalways been castigated since thetime it came of age as a globalpower in post World War II.

In the context of Syria,

Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brownhas commented that despitethe partial American with-drawal from Syria, in a snippetfrom an Al Jazeera report,“Our mission has not changed.We will continue to supportour coalition partners, whilealso conducting a deliberateand controlled withdrawal offorces, while taking all mea-sures possible to ensure ourtroops’ safety and that of ourpartners on the ground.”

Thus, the coalitional fun-damentals of the Americanforces remain unchanged andnothing much has comeundone as far as the Americanpolicy and its implementationis concerned. The Syrian YPGhas surmised the Assad regimeis welcome to counter theTurkic forces as the Kurdishmilitia know that they are nomatch for the Turkish forces.

Syria is home to one of theoldest civilisations in the entireglobal polity with a great dealof heritage being destroyed inthe aftermath of the turmoil.The UN terms it as the worsthumanitarian disaster sinceWorld War II with its flow ofmigrants and refugees.Damascus became the avidcentre of the Islamic world butwas replaced by Baghdad lateron in 750 AD. In the contem-porary context, it’s the rivalrybetween Iran and Israel whichdelineates the strategic equa-tion in Syria.

ISIS captured vast swathesof territory of Iraq and Syria,which was to be later militat-ed against by the coalitionforces of the US, the UK andFrance. The US began con-ducting airstrikes on Syria andlocal allies were bolstered withUS military advisers as theISIS’s gory bastions collapsed in

the face of stiff confrontationby the coalition.

Syria saw a great deal ofconfrontation with the Assadforces as American missilesrained on Syrian land.Associated Press in a web feedreported, “The US militarylaunches rare airstrikes andartillery rounds against Syriangovernment-backed troopsafter as many as 500 attackersstarted what appeared to be aco-ordinated attack on US-backed Syrian forces and USadvisers in eastern Deir Ezzorprovince. US officials said thestrikes were in self-defenceafter pro-government forcesbegan firing artillery and tankrounds at the US-backedSyrian Democratic Forces.”

Thus, the conflict in Syriacreated a demeanour of a newcold war confrontationbetween the US and a peskynew Russia. Still, the nomen-clature of new Cold War can-not be talked of as a grosslyadversarial scenario betweenthe US and Russia as they sup-ported opposite sides in theconflict but stayed away fromdirect military friction in a verydeftly planned manoeuvre sothis talk about the dawn of anew “Red October” was therefor the exchange of media andop-ed jibes only, in the inter-national media, including theirwestern counterparts.

Steven A Cook writes inthe Foreign Policy, “Syrianregime forces hoisted their flagabove the southern town ofDaraa. Although there is morebloodletting to come, the sym-bolism was hard to miss. Theuprising that began in thattown on March 6, 2011, hasfinally been crushed, and thecivil war that has engulfed thecountry and destabilised parts

of the Middle East as well asEurope will be over soonerrather than later.”

We also need to delveinside the ramifications of theconflict in Syria. First, it firmsup and concretises the Shiaunity against the Sunni coun-terparts in West Asia. Thetheme of great power inter-vention comes to the fore as aninescapable entity in the larg-er rubric of the region wheremicro nations are sublet andcolonised in a post truth agesense of the term. TheAmericans too have arguedthat it is no longer the muchtom-tommed oil factor whichruns riot in West Asia as theAmerican oil signposts andfootprints have moved awayfrom West Asia, Central Asiaand all the way to the newfound release of shale gas andshale oil through the process offracking in the Americanhomeland.

Thus, the sole malfeasanceof the US with the hiddenambitions of the Russian Empire have beenrevived as attendant themes ofdeliberation.

The Yemen quandary toolies unsolved as Saudi Arabiaand Iran are found to be indi-rectly at loggerheads with eachother. Still, going by its, “GlobalRegular Status” and the fluid-ity of shifting scenarios inWest Asia, the US would dowell to stay put in the region,otherwise the “liberatednations,” might be compro-mised by threatening non-state actors or the regionalthugs such as the ISIS.

(The writer teachesInternational Relations atIndian Institute of PublicAdministration, Delhi)

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The United States andNorth Korea are forgingahead with “back-chan-

nel” talks to arrange a secondsummit between Donald Trump,the US President, and Kim Jong-un, South Korea’s Ambassadorto Washington said. “It appearsto me that back-channel com-munication for a North Korea-US summit is ongoing,”Ambassador Cho Yoon-jebriefed reporters, according tonewswire Yonhap. He did notelaborate on the details butadded: “President Trump andChairman Kim have a firm will,so I’m hopeful that a preparato-ry meeting (for the summit) willbe held in the near future.”

Kim’s unannounced visit toBeijing this week for talks withXi Jinping, the ChinesePresident, has prompted specu-lation that his next meetingwith Trump could be imminent.The leader’s train was spotteddeparting Beijing onWednesday afternoon for theday-long journey back to thenortheast border. His visit hadbeen shrouded in secrecy,although Yonhap reported thathe met Xi for a hour onTuesday, his 35th birthday,before the two leaders dinedtogether with their wives at thecity’s Great Hall of the People.Kim is also believed to have vis-ited a pharmaceuticals factory.

The North Korean leaderconsulted closely with Xibefore and after the historicSingapore summit and thisweek’s trip has been viewed as

a strategy session. South Koreaon Tuesday said it hoped thathis latest trip to Beijing thisweek would act as a “steppingstone” for face-to-face talkswith the US President, withthe aim of overcoming anongoing stalemate overnuclear disarmament.

The state-run Korean CentralNews Agency reported that Kim

had arrived for the four-day visitwith his wife Ri Sol Ju and topofficials at Xi’s invitation.

The two leaders met threetimes last year and Tuesday’sface-to-face talks precede a sec-ond proposed summit betweenKim and Trump. Kim’s visitcould signal that he is seekingXi’s views on the summit orreminding the US of North

Korea’s historically strong tieswith China.Kim is expected tostay at the highly secureDiaoyutai State Guest House inthe Capital’s west, with meetingsheld at the Great Hall of thePeople, the hulking seat of thelegislature that sits next toTiananmen Square.

Kim and Trump agreed inSingapore to move towards

complete denuclearisation of theKorean Peninsula, but the twosides have since hit an impasseover what the vague declarationmeans in practice. However, theSouth Korean Ambassador’scomments suggest that impor-tant back-channel work has notbeen halted by the lack of visibleprogress in handling Kim’snuclear weapons programme.

Earlier this week, SouthKorea’s Munhwa Ilbo reportedthat US officials met with theirNorth Korean counterparts in theVietnamese Capital Hanoi, forsummit scheduling discussions.

Vietnam is a long-standingally of Pyongyang that alsoenjoys good ties withWashington. Speculation aboutlocating the next summit theregrew after Ri Yong Ho, theNorth Korean Foreign Minister,visited at the end of Novemberto early December. Bloombergpointed to reports that MarkLambert, a senior US StateDepartment official handlingNorth Korean issues, also trav-elled to Vietnam in December,although it is unclear if the twovisits overlapped.

Vietnam was previously sug-gested as a neutral location forthe first meeting of the NorthKorean and US leaders in June.

Writing for the East AsiaForum in March, Vu MinhKhuong, associate professor atSingapore University’s Lee KuanYew School of Public Policy,described Hanoi as a symbolicchoice as the US and Vietnamhad reconciled past grievances,transforming the SoutheastAsian nation’s economy.

“Hanoi as a city reflects how,in only one generation, diplo-matic relations can be trans-formed from hostile to collabo-rative and mutually supportive,”he wrote. In the end, Singaporewas chosen as the venue for thehistoric summit. The timing fora second encounter betweenKim and President Trump is

currently on hold amid stalledtalks over the question of NorthKorea’s nuclear disarmament.

North Korea had earlierblamed the US for the delay inprogress, reported Bloombergnews, citing comments from theNorth’s state newswire, KCNA.Pyongyang accused Washingtonof not taking correspondingmeasures to its “excessive gifts”to the US in its denuclearisationprocess. “How can a negotiationtrain move when North Korea isthe only one moving and the USis standing still?” said KCNA.“We are waiting with patience.”

Meanwhile, Canada hasalso revealed that it has beeninvolved in US-approved back-room talks in recent months.According to a report by CBCNews, Canada quietly hosted afive-person delegation of high-level North Korean officials inSeptember, as part of interna-tional efforts to convince thehermit kingdom to abandon itsnuclear arsenal and respecthuman rights.

A senior Government offi-cial told the channel thatCanada used a two-day window“to push for denuclearisationand present very real humanrights concerns directly, face-to-face, with North Korean inter-locutors.” However, the meet-ings were a one-off and aCanadian Foreign Ministryspokesperson confirmed thatthey did not signal an overalleffort to regularise diplomaticrelations with Pyongyang.

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Mamata Banerjee is all setto address a mega rally inKolkata’s Parade Groundon January 19, and theAll India Trinamool

Congress (TMC) has set a target toensure a turnout of 15 lakh people. Therally has a two-pronged purpose: Onone hand, it will be Mamata’s show ofstrength, and on the other, it will be atest of the Opposition’s unity. That iswhy all eyes are on the upcoming rallyto see who turns up. CongressPresident Rahul Gandhi and theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chiefMayawati are among the most eagerlyawaited participants. Both parties havesent a participation confirmation, butit is yet to be seen whether the twoparty chiefs will attend the rally. Thepresence of the Left parties, especiallythe CPM, is also not confirmed.

Apart from these, almost all stal-warts of the Opposition will attend therally. Akhilesh Yadav and TejashwiYadav will certainly be a part ofMamata’s rally, as will Sharad Pawar.Sharad Yadav — who has formed theLoktantrik Janata Dal —will also attend.Former PM HD Deve Gowda will alsoparticipate, and Arvind Kejriwal hasalso given his consent.

One peculiar thing could be thepresence of Chandrababu Naidu — whois trying for an Opposition alliance —alongside KCR, who is trying to puttogether a federal front. From the DMK,either Stalin or Kanimozhi will partici-pate in the mega rally.

The BJD’s participation is also agiven, but the representative’s name hasnot been disclosed yet. It is clear thatMamata is trying to bring all anti-BJPparties on her dais, which is why she hasinvited several activists and leaders whoare against the party. Jignesh Mevani,who is an Independent MLA fromGujarat, has also been invited. Three for-mer ministers of the BJP — ShatrughanSinha, Yashwant Sinha, and ArunShourie — have also received an invite,and are likely to be present in the rally.

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The gap between the Shiv Sena andBJP is widening in Maharashtra, and

the two parties have stopped all com-munication. Sources say that from mid-November to December, two attemptswere made to start talks between them,but to no avail. It is said that in bothmeetings, talks didn’t extend beyondnormal courtesy. A Shiv Sena leadersaid when there was no talk aboutalliance, there was no question of talk-ing about the seat-sharing arrangement.

Now, Amit Shah has told his partyleaders to gear up for a solo fight, andhas set a target to win 40 seats of thetotal 48. The Shiv Sena has also said

that the BJP must test its strength bygoing alone. In fact, the Sena is ready tofinish itself just to weaken the BJP inthe State. A Sena MP said his party did-n’t get strength from the Government.He said that the Shiv Sena had ruled theState from 1995 to 1999, but after that,stayed out of power for 15 years in theState, and for 10 years at the Centre.Despite that, its strength didn’t diminishbut only increased. He said the ShivSena is not bothered about its owndefeat, but would ensure the BJP’s fall.The Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackerayis apparently of the view that when theBJP weakens, he will get more impor-tance, and following that, the BJP willgo into an alliance like it did with theJDU in Bihar. The Sena’s motive is toput the BJP in its old place, so thatUddhav’s status is like that of Balasahebamong the next-generation leaders.

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After defeat in three States, the BJPhas been facing many questions

from within and outside the party. To

put an end to all doubts, Narendra Modiand Amit Shah have roped in five seniorleaders of the party to embark on a mis-sion. Shah has formed several commit-tees, and given some or the otherresponsibility to almost all big leaders.Though most of the responsibilitiesgiven to senior leaders pertain to rou-tine work, which was being accom-plished by middle-level leaders.

Rajnath Singh will prepare theparty manifesto, which, some say, is nodifferent than the previous one. Verylittle new information can be added tothe manifesto, which has mostly beenannounced by Modi in rallies. Ofcourse, Jaitley has been assigned thecharge of election campaign, a befit-ting role at that. Former party presi-dent Nitin Gadkari has been given thetask of coordination of NGOs, a workusually done by State-level leaders.Sushma Swaraj has been told to pre-pare the literature of the party. What isinteresting is that party literaturealready exists, so her role will be clearwhen she begins work on it.

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The BJP has assigned several respon-sibilities to Central Ministers from

the Rajya Sabha, MPs from the RajyaSabha, as well as other MLAs and min-isters to ensure the party’s victory in theLok Sabha Elections. The Lok SabhaMPs have been excluded from this exer-cise as they will be busy fighting elec-tions. Amit Shah has announced elec-tion in-charges for 25 States.

Ten MPs and ministers from theRajya Sabha have been given crucialresponsibilities and the charge of impor-tant States. JP Nadda has been assignedUttar Pradesh and all three co in-charges, who had been deputed earlier,will work under him. Prakash Javadekarhas been given Rajasthan, and ThawarChand Gehlot has been made responsi-ble for Uttarakhand. Piyush Goyal hasbeen roped in for Tamil Nadu andPuducherry, while Nirmala Sitharamanhas been given Delhi. Thus, five minis-ters from the Rajya Sabha have been allo-cated important responsibilities.

Five Rajya Sabha MPs — Bhupendra

Yadav, Anil Jain, Muralidhar Rao, VMuraleedharan, and OP Mathur — havealso been made election in-charges.Bhupendra Yadav will look after Bihar,and Anil Jain has been givenChhattisgarh. OP Mathur will overseeGujarat elections, Muralidhar Rao willlook after Karnataka, and VMuraleedharan will be in-charge forAndhra Pradesh. For the rest of theStates, Amit Shah has roped in MLAsand ministers from various States.Mangal Pandey — the minister fromBihar, who was in-charge for HimachalPradesh — has now been given theresponsibility of Jharkhand. Minister ofHaryana, Captain Abhimanyu, has beengiven Punjab. UP Minister SwatantraDev Singh will steer the campaign inMadhya Pradesh. MLAs Nitin Naveen,Vishwash Sarang, Kiran Maheshwari,and CT Ravi have also been made in-charges. Among the Central officials,Arun Singh has been given Odisha, andAvinash Khanna has been given Tripuraand J&K. Sudhanshu Trivedi has beenmade co-in charge of Rajasthan.

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Britney Spears has announced anindefinite hiatus from work inorder to care for her father, who

is recovering from a life-threateningillness. The decision means that thelaunch of her show in Las Vegas,Britney: Domination, will be put onhold. It was originally scheduled tostart at the Park Theater at ParkMGM in February.

“I am dedicating my focus andenergy to care for my family,” Spearssaid in a statement. “We have a veryspecial relationship and I want to bewith my family at this time just likethey have always been there for me.

“Thank you to all my fans for yourcontinued love and support duringthis time. I apologise for any inconve-nience this may have caused and Ilook forward to the time when I canbe back on stage performing for all ofyou.” Two months ago Jamie Spears,66, was taken to hospital, and after hiscolon ruptured, he was admitted tosurgery. After a post-operative period

he was sent home, where he is expect-ed to make a full recovery.

Spears recently finished a tourin Europe with Pitbull. The singerwas reportedly set to continue workon her 10th album after her latestresidency later this year. Her firstfour-year residency in Las Vegasgrossed close to $138m.

Disney has revealed it spentnearly £100m making MaryPoppins Returns, the sequel to

the 1964 classic starring JulieAndrews, in Britain. The film, withEmily Blunt playing the eponymousnanny, brought some Christmascheer to the British box office gross-ing £30m since it was released twoweeks ago. London is also a star inthe film, with some of the capital’smost famous landmarks used asbackdrops for key scenes. The exteri-or of the Bank of England was usedfor the offices of the villainousbanker, played by Colin Firth, andthe finale of the movie takes place onthe Big Ben clock tower.

It was made at Shepperton Studiosin Surrey last year and Disney has

shone a spotlight on its finances.Movie budgets are usually a closelyguarded secret as the studios don’thave to report the budgets for them.However, the costs of movies filmedin Britain are consolidated in singlecompanies which file publicly avail-able accounts. The production compa-nies usually have code names to stopthem raising attention when filing forpermits to film off-site. Mary PoppinsReturns was made by the Cherry TreeLane Productions — named after theaddress where Poppins works —which is ultimately owned by Disney.Its accounts for the 17 months to theend of June 2017 show that it hadtotal costs of £98.6m and state that“the estimated final cost was forecastto be in excess of the budget”.

From Birdo, the 1988 Nintendocharacter described in the manu-al as a boy who “thinks he is a

girl”, to Robert Yang’s recent Radiatortrilogy, which includes an autoeroticgame about pleasuring a gay car,there’s a surprisingly rich history ofqueer content in gaming. However,these instances are rarely portrayed aspart of broader LGBTQ culture.Berlin’s Schwules Museum has openeda new exhibition called RainbowArcade, that does just this.

The show leads visitors around arainbow, each colour a different sec-tion, covering the last 33 years ofqueer content in games through fanart, memorabilia and video interviewswith designers — as well as playabletitles such as Caper in the Castro, oneof the first explicitly queer games. Inthis 1989 game, based around thefamously queer San Franciscan thor-oughfare, players take on the role oflesbian detective Tracker McDyke tosolve the disappearance of her friend

and drag queen Tessy LaFemme.Made by developer CM Ralph, thegame was only recently rediscoveredand turned into a playable formatwith the help of Dr Adrienne Shaw,who co-curated the exhibition withJan Schnorrenberg from the SchwulesMuseum and German gaming jour-nalist Sarah Rudolph.

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By the time we are half waythrough the roaring twen-ties, I predict that we willlook back on the dying daysof the current millennium’s

teenage years with somethingapproaching horror and disbelief. Wewill barely be able to comprehend howwe existed during a period of suchunregulated danger; we will view thelast decade as a sort of modern dayWild West, complete with 21st centurycowboys, gunslingers and outlaws.

Not sure what I am talking about?Then cast your mind back to last week,to the period between Christmas andNew Year, when you had to wrestleyoung family members off their smartphones so that you could force them toengage in proper conversations withthe living, breathing human beingsnext to them. Think about the firstthing you did this morning. Did yougo to the loo, say good morning toyour other half, make yourself a cup oftea? Or did you check your phone formessages, and your Twitter feed for thelatest news on Brexit?

Social media and technology —and the software and devices we accessthem on — have become a part of lifewe feel we can no longer live without.There is no longer any point in talkingabout the rise of the machines: Themachines have already risen, and theydominate our lives. If I sound like afear-mongering survivalist, preppingfor the end of days, I don’t mean to —because I am just as hopelessly addict-ed to my phone as anyone else, mymood easily crushed or elevated by theamount of likes I get when I post aphoto on Instagram.

I recently did six whole days with-out my phone or laptop (for work, iron-ically) and for the first two days I ragedaround like an addict experiencing coldturkey, before finally falling into the

kind of relaxed state I probably haven’texperienced since I left the womb.When my devices were handed back tome, I felt nothing but panic. Within aday of being reunited with my phone, Iwas exhausted. My brain ached. Mysoul felt withered. I vowed not to getsucked back in, but I did, and quickly:my fingers scrolling through feedsbefore my brain had even registeredthey were doing so. It felt like a relapse;a sort of culturally endorsed form ofaddiction, which it is.

Recently, officials have announcedthere is no safe daily amount of screentime for children. The Royal College ofPaediatrics and Child Health urgedparents to stop their offspring fromusing devices an hour before bedtime,while scientific evidence linkinggreater screen use to depressive symp-toms has been published in BMJ Open.

Last year, a group of 50 psycholo-gists in the US penned an open letterwarning that their profession wasbeing used by social media giants to“manipulate children for profit”, as techcompanies consulted with “unethical”psychologists to find techniques tokeep young people hooked on theirdevices. The letter came just monthsafter a former Vice President atFacebook said he felt “tremendousguilt” about his time at the socialmedia company: “the short-term,dopamine-driven feedback loops thatwe have created are destroying howsociety works,” said ChamathPalihapitiya in a talk to students atStanford University.

His words put me in mind of thetobacco industry during the first halfof the twentieth century; MarkZuckerberg, perhaps, is our MarlboroMan. It pains me to say this, because Ihave found that social media can bebrilliant — in the same way thatchocolate and red meat and wine can

be brilliant if approached in a healthy,boundaried way. Remove those bound-aries, however, and things start to looka little less fantastic.

In recent years, a number of for-mer social media employees have criti-cised the methods the networks use tokeep people scrolling. JustinRosenstein, who first built Facebook’siconic ‘Like’ button in 2007, has sincedescribed the feature as creating“bright dings of pseudo-pleasure” thathave helped create “a problem at acivilisation scale”. The 35-year-old hasnow banned himself from certainsocial networks, such as Snapchat,which he compares to heroin. The cre-ator of the “pull to refresh” feature,Loren Brichter, has also expressedregret over his innovation and calledit “addictive”.

Dr Mark Griffiths, a psycholo-gist at the University of

Nottingham Trent, who specialises inaddiction, told The Telegraph thatsocial media and video game compa-nies had a duty of care to the youngpeople using their products.

“There is nothing unethical aboutusing psychologists,” he said. “But whatis unethical is when you have a prod-uct that is consumptive and causes aproblem in a minority of people andyou do nothing about it. There is a fineline between customer enhancementand exploitation. Anything were youare deliberately trying to get everypenny out of a person can be seen asexploitative.” He said that teenagersand children were particularly suscep-tible when it came to developing prob-lems with overuse. “Children’s brainsare still developing and when youngpeople do things they find it moreexciting,” added Dr Griffith.

The problem we have with socialmedia, of course, is that there are cur-rently no boundaries to remove. Untilnow, there has been scant official guid-ance about how to use it safely, andpeople who have tried to suggest limitshave been poo-poohed as fuddy-duddykilljoys. They will no doubt have thelast laugh — if, indeed, there is any-thing to laugh about. Young adultstoday will eventually be seen as theguinea pig generation, with parentsblindly trying to navigate an addictiveprocess they know precious littleabout: one they themselves have proba-bly fallen into. In future, I hope thatwe will no more leave children alonewith unlimited access to a Facebookaccount than we would a carton of cig-arettes and several litres of vodka. Ourbrains are being rewired, slowly butsurely. We need more rules, regula-tions and recommendations from on

high on this most serious of subjects,before it is too late.

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Alarge sculpture carved from a half-ton of butter was

created in order to pro-mote Pennsylvania’sstruggling dairy indus-try. The sculpture, whichwas unveiledThursday at the103rd annualPennsylvania FarmShow, features asoldier, doctor, fire-fighter and footballplayer as super-heroes wearing acape. The everydayheroes are holding aglass of milk whilestanding in a circlearound a table that fea-tures other dairy prod-ucts such as ice cream.Marie Pelton and her hus-band Jim Victor craftedthe piece.

The phrase “FindYour Power “ is also fea-tured on the sculpture.

It will be moved to the Reinford Farmin Juniata County where it will be con-verted into renewable energy in thefarm’s methane digester.

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf,state Secretary of Agriculture Russell

Redding and former PittsburghSteelers Quarterback Charlie Batchattended the sculptures unveiling atthe Farm Show where they helped topromote the state’s dairy industry.

“It’s more than just butter,” Wolfsaid at the event. “It’s a way for us to

honor our dairy industry in a fun andmemorable way — an industry thatwe work hard to promote and supportyear-round.” Pennsylvania has thesecond largest number of dairy farmsin the United States next toWisconsin. The state lost 120 dairyfarms in 2016 as dairy consumptionnationwide has decreased.

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Awoman in Great Britain issearching for leads on her

missing pet, a goldfish shebought five years ago

named Dave. Thewoman, identified in theSwindon Advertiser as Tanya,has not seen the fish since Tuesday.Dave shared his tank with three otherfish and Tanya told the Advertiser shehas ruled out the possibility her dogs, ashih tzu and Yorkshire terrier, ate Dave.

“Our fish tank has a lid on it,” shesaid. “I’ve emptied the filter, moved allthe stones in the tank. I’ve checked allaround the kitchen, checked under thecounters.” Dave’s disappearance hasinspired a Facebook page, called FindingDavo in homage of the hit 2003 animat-ed film Finding Nemo, and a number ofposters near her home in the Park Northarea of Swindon, west of London.

“This page is to find Davo the fish,”one of the first posts on the Facebookpage says. “There he was last night,swimming around in his tank mindinghis own business...and thenwooosh...he’s disappeared!”

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AMichigan university released itsannual list of “banished” words,

including “thought leader,”“POTUS” and “yeet.”Lake Superior StateUniversity said its 44th

annual List of Words Banishedfrom the Queen’s English for Mis-

use, Over-use and General Uselessnesswas chosen from a pool of submissionsfrom a public fed up with words like“wheelhouse” to mean an area of exper-tise and phrases like “in the books” tomean something concluded.

The list included common wordsusing “-OTUS” as an initialism for “ofthe United States,” including“POTUS” for the president and “FLO-TUS” for the first lady. The list alsoincludes “wrap my head around,”“platform,” “collusion,” “ghosting,”“litigate,” “grapple,” “eschew,” “crusty,”“optics,” “legally drunk,” “important-ly,” “accouterments” and “most impor-tant election of our time.”

“We grapple, litigate, and then yeetirritating words and phrases gatheredfrom the nominations and votesreceived during 2018,” the school saidin a statement. “It’s the most importantelection of our time.”

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Alarge purple penguin statue thatwas swiped from a hotel in

Oklahoma City apparentlymanaged to waddle backhome after police released sur-veillance camera images of aman with the $3,000 piece ofart tucked under his arm.

Oklahoma City police onFriday announced that thestatue, which disappearedSunday night from the 21cMuseum Hotel, had been“returned home.” No arrestshave been announced.

Hotel staff speculatedthat it was stolen by some-one visiting a guest .Surveillance images show aman carrying the artwork byits head. The penguin isabout two-thirds the height ofthe statue thief. A spokes-woman for the hotel saidshe was “thrilled thepenguin has beenreturned to our flock .”

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Montana has a state song, a stateballad and a state lullaby. And,

for goodness sake, DemocraticRep. Jacob Bachmeier of Havrewould like to see the 2019Legislature declare the “HippyHippy Shake” Montana’s officialrock and roll song. It was writtenin 1959 by Chan Romero whenhe was a 17-year-old student atBillings Senior High School.

Romero, who now lives inSouthern California, tells theGreat Falls Tribune his songhas been featured in seven oreight movies and has beenrecorded by about 20 groups,including The Beatles. He sayshe’d be proud to have his songhonored by the Legislature.

The bill’s introductionborrows from the song’s

lyrics in saying: “WHEREAS,Montanans shake it to the leftand shake it to the right anddo everything with all of

their might.”����

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Throughout our lives, we try toachieve some goal, like being self-sufficient, gain respect in society,

etc. However, the biggest achievement ina human life is to achieve God. Becauseas Sanjay has stated in the Gita’s verse#18.78, we get everything desirable likeopulence, victory, wealth, morality,when we get linked with God. This isthe pinnacle of all achievements.

Before we try to do this, we mustknow what does this achieving of Godreally mean? It simply means that wehave successfully linked with God bymaking sincere efforts for a long time.Lord Krishna has put a lot of emphasison achieving God in the Gita, becauseof the benefits one derives by doing so.In the verse #7.23, He states,“Worshippers of Gods achieve theirmercy but fruits obtained from themare temporary. My devotees achieve Meonly.” Because what God gives have per-manent values like peace of mind andhappiness. (2.66) From the verse #9.25,we learn that worshippers of Gods canobtain what Gods can give, whereasGod’s worshippers can get what onlyGod can give, like liberation.

In the verse #9.29, Lord Krishnainforms that those who worship Godwith devotion are in Him and He is inthem. This has huge significance. This islike living in a palace. One is well and

truly blessed. God begins to considersuch a person as His own like a kingtreats his children. God provides whatone does not have. (9.22) God alsoensures safety of such a person. (9.22)This does not mean that one’s materialbody becomes eternal, but God protectslike a mother looks after her child. God’sprotection is much more significantbecause He is omnipotent. God can getus out of any trouble (18.58), and thereare many troubles brewing in thisimpermanent place of misery. (8.15)

God gives knowledge and memory.By His mercy, removal of delusion takesplace. (15.15) This is a very big thingbecause we, with our limited knowledge,repeatedly get confused, even deluded.God is so merciful that He destroys thedarkness born of ignorance by the shin-ing lamp of knowledge. (10.11) God alsofrees His devotees from the painful birthand death cycle. (4.9) We all know how

painful that is. Starting from birth, onehas to be in the womb of one’s mother,which is a small bag, where babiesdevelop prior to their birth. Then, onesuffers many growing pains till suffi-cient immunity is built. Even after that,one is not safe from diseases. (13.8)Then, there is the painful death. Thosewho achieve God go to His abode. (8.21)This place is not destroyed even uponthe destruction of the material creationand all its inhabitants. (8.20-21)

How does one achieve such a mag-nificent goal? Lord Krishna has guidedin the Gita. To begin with, one musthave faith that God exists. There aremany facts, which will convince us; weneed to look for them. We must beginreducing attachment for materialobjects, fear, and anger. We need tospend time with God and surrender toHim. (4.10) We need to become God’sdevotee; worship Him and offer obei-

sance to Him. (9.34) God even helpsthose who are linked with Him withlove in such attempts; He gives them thenecessary spiritual intelligence. (10.10)

In the verse # 11.55, Lord Krishnagives additional details. One needs toperform service to God. I do it by writ-ing spiritual texts. One should acceptGod as shelter more than money, power,etc. One should try to become free fromenmity towards all beings. (11.55) LordKrishna goes further in the verse #12.8when He instructs, “Fix your mind onMe only; engage your intelligence in Meonly.” What will be the result? One willremain in God only. (12.8)

Yes, requirements to achieve Godare a handful but the rewards are phe-nomenal. The best part is getting bene-fits right through the process; we don’thave to wait till reaching the goal.

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Usually these wish lists are prepared aroundthe turn of the year. But the last year being arather tumultuous one from many angles, it

took around two weeks to conceive what to seek forin the present year. However, given the confusionthat prevailed, this was inevitable. Moreover, the sig-nificance of 2019 is going to be of some magnitude.Most importantly, it is going to be the election year.And not just any election year, because electionshave now become a regular feature of our democra-cy. Even the previous years, too, were election years,which always seemed to be like the proverbial strawsin the wind. However, this year will witness a crucialelection that may have a long-term impact on thecountry. We may come to that a little later. The wishlist first. Let us wish there will be more of truth andless of half truths in the present year; the motivatedsocial media campaigns that were packaged andsold, rather effectively. Those lies, damn lies, andstatistics. The most unfortunate part was that thenumber of buyers rose. Hopefully, we pray for rea-son to prevail over unreason, peace and amity overstrife and intolerance, and most importantly politicsof growth over gimmicks. But will we get it? It alldepends. Are the people still willing to live in fan-tasies weaved over falsehoods or will they exercisetheir logical brain? Let us hope that rationality willbe the guiding force this year rather than frenziedrabble rousing ruling the roost. Strongly entrenchedinto the 21st century and wishing India as a globalsuperpower in years to come, we have to realise thatwishes are horses. In fact, you need to plan andorganise, direct and control your resources, whilethinking of a future goal. The roadmaps must bebacked by strong will and scientific approach. As itis said, “Concepts without precepts are empty, pre-cepts without concepts are blind.” It is not merely aphilosophical proposition. It is a solid assertionbased on sound reasoning. We need to think how wecan take India where we want. From economics toeducation, from technology to agriculture, frompolity to society, there is an urgent need to addressissues that are being swept under the carpet. It’s acompetitive world, a challenging world, a no-free-lunches world. Everything has to be earned, andearned by the slog rather than the song. We needentrepreneurs and enterprise, not cheerleaders andfence-sitters. There is still a long way to go. Inwords of Frost, it is miles to go. And we must gotogether. Against the odds, against the restrainingforces that are of our own making, against thethreatening cabal of our hostile neighbours. Howare we going to cope with all these? And are wegoing all right? To put the record straight — we arenot. So it is all about how we go this year that willdecide the future course. It is against this backdropthat the 2019 Elections have that special signifi-cance. It will be the trendsetter. The all-importantquestion will be what to do. I am reminded of anold school time lesson that my English teacher gaveus as we were preparing to appear for the SeniorCambridge exams: “Think before you ink.” Therecannot be a better proposition for the electorate.They must think what the right choice is.

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People do not want a love that is fleet-ing. They do not want a fleetingglance or a brief meeting. They wantan everlasting glance, an everlastingmeeting to be in an eternal state of

union with their beloved. They have realisedthere is no lasting love in this world. Even thebest and closest of relationships in this physicalworld must ultimately end, because that is thenature of this world. Our physical forms aremade to fade. Some people live to one monthof age, some to one year, some to five years,some to 10 years, 20, 50, and some to a 100years or more. However, our physical end isinevitable. When we realise life’s imperma-nence, we seek a love that will not end. Whenwe choose to love God, we love the one whogrants us all the gifts and will never leave us. Itis not a temporary love — God is eternal.When we love God, we love a beloved who iswith us even beyond the gate of death. We willgo to God’s abode and live in eternal wedlockwith our true beloved.

Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj wrote thefollowing verse: “I am seeking a land oflove/Where there is only talk of peace andkindness.” This verse describes how a spiritualdisciple seeks a land of love. The disciple haslived countless lives of suffering and has seenthe pain that one can undergo in the world. Heor she is sick of gossip and hearing the com-plaints of others, exhausted from arguments,and fed up with violence and hatred. The disci-ple is tired of being in a land of ego fights,power struggles and territorial battles andwants to live in a land of love.

The disciple seeks a place in which the talkis of peace and kindness. The disciple wants tospeak and hear sweet and loving words and toenjoy the company of others in a harmoniousstate. The disciple wonders, “Is there such aplace and where can it be found?”

Such a place the disciple is not finding inworldly company. There seems to be nothingbut talk of problems. The disciple wants thecompany of someone filled with peace. He orshe can find that in the company of a spiritualmaster who has realised God. Such a saint isfilled with love, being merged with the source

of all love, with God. Thus, in suchcompany only talk of the love ofGod is taking place. In such com-pany, only kindness is exhibited.

When one comes to a gather-ing with the master, one only wantsto experience a land of love. Thereare many opportunities ormoments in which one can betransported to this land.

People come to enjoy the peaceof being in the spiritual master’spresence. They do not come forgossip. When they are sitting in themaster’s presence in a gatheringsuch as satsang, or are waiting fordarshan, they do not want to talkabout things not loving. In fact,some do not want to talk at all.They remain absorbed within tocatch as much of the master’sglances and radiation as they can.They do not want to be distractedby talk of worldly things.

If we want to be in the land oflove, we should derive maximumbenefit from our time with thespiritual master. We need to comeas empty cups ready to receive asip of love. Think of the time withthe spiritual master as moments inwhich we enter the temple within.If we clear our mind of thoughts ofthe past or future or of the worldand be in a state of loving receptiv-ity, we would be open to receivethe grace pouring out. Instead ofbeing critical, complaining, andfilled with anger, greed, violence,and ego, we can act with non-vio-lence, kindness, and selflessness. Ifwe become the empty cup waitingto be filled, in a receptive state, wecould swim in divine bliss.

The disciple knows there isnothing in the world that will satis-fy him or her. There is nothing elsein the world that brings lastingintoxication. The disciple has

scoured the earth looking for hap-piness but finds it not and knowsthat the only lasting joy is in divinelove. The disciple then seeks outthe company of the master. That iswhere one sees the glimpses ofhope and finds relief from the suf-ferings of the world.

A blissful pool of divine wateris within all the time. We can dipinto it anytime. When we tap intothis pool, we are free from worries.We enter total relaxation. Its sooth-ing waters caress our being, wash-ing away the tensions of the mindand body. When our soul isbathed, bliss also permeates ourmind and body. Mind is undercontrol, so it does not disturb ourtranquility at the level of the soul.

Even when we are not meditat-ing, we can be swimming in ecsta-sy. How? We can keep our atten-tion on the divine beloved allhours of the day and night. Whiledriving, while working with ourhands or body, while cooking,while eating, while exercising, ordoing any other activity, we canremember God. When we go tosatsang, if we are receptive, we canlet the waters of divine love flowinto us. Swimming with God fillsus with love, and we become theabode of non-violence, truthful-ness, purity, humility, and selflessservice. By diving into the pool ofGod, we can swim eternally in bliss.

The disciple also knows theimportance of going withinthrough meditation. The innerjourney begins with the innerlight. Absorption in the lightleads the soul deeper and furtherwithin. The spiritual masterserves as our guide to take us onthe inner journey to the eternalhome in the land of love.

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At the outset, I wish the valued read-ers of this column a very happyLohri and Makar Sankranti. With

the Sun beginning its northerly course, itis time to begin the course of our life on apositive note. That, however, would notbe possible unless we look at our limitingfactors and overcome them. Let us beginour discussion in this light.

Ravana is believed to be armed withimmense virtues. Legend suggests that hehad mastered Vedic scriptures, art andmusic. He was a valiant fighter. Throughintense penance, he had acquired greatpsychic powers. Becoming empoweredthus, he thought that he had becomeinvincible and could lead all the threeworlds to his whims and fancies. Whensuch an inflated sense of ahamkara over-took his mind’s drive, it created situa-tions where all his virtues took a backseat. That brought his end at the hands ofLord Shri Ram. The question now is: Isahamkara that deadly? Ramayana isbelieved to be a real time story. But, younever know. It could even be fictional.But all said and done, its import holdsgood even in contemporary terms.

Going by Samkhya Philosophy,ahamkara is a necessary constituent ofhuman mind, buddhi (faculty of dis-

criminate intelligence), and manasa(sense aided mind) being the othertwo. So, every human being has tohave the sense of ahamkara. Then howcome it played a devil for Ravana andnot Rama who killed him?

Remember, ahamkara brings in thesense of ‘I’ consciousness in a being,which in the first place, makes oneidentify with his/her body-mindorganism, differentiated from all oth-ers. Second, it brings in the sense ofbeing a ‘doer’ in one’s own right. Thechoices you make, the tasks youundertake, the way you respond orreact to any situation, or for that mat-ter any call that you take as an individ-ual is the prerogative of ahamkara.

It is pertinent to note here thatahamkara, or for that matter even bud-dhi and manasa don’t have a reality intheir own right. They all derive theirpower from the eternal element of con-sciousness, and work in togetherness asa unified organism. In the usual run,ahamkara is supposed to invoke buddhifor due diligence before taking any call,which, manasa operating from the fronttranslates into action. Evidently, if duediligence is done before taking any call,the choices made and initiatives taken

shall be by and large reasoned and there-fore, worth doing. The irony, however, isthat whereas ahamkara always remainsin active mode, buddhi doesn’t play outinvoluntarily. It needs to be consciouslyinvoked. That makes it incumbent uponus to be alert enough to consciouslykeep buddhi in active mode.

The irony of the whole situation,however, is that in its usual flow,ahamkara unmindfully identifies itselfwith individual specific samskara.Coming as it may as Karmic carryoverfrom the past, samskara defines theunique character of each being. Thatfinds reflection in our day-to-day con-duct as our inherent mind-traits — indi-vidual specific beliefs, desire trends, likesand dislikes, prejudices and passions,habits and attitudes, virtues and attribut-es. Invariably, it remains loaded with abag full of both good and bad tendencies,depending on the particular set of expe-riences one would have gone through inthe past. It, thus, restricts the scope ofour vision, not allowing scope to lookbeyond for a better lead.

More often than not, ahamkara getsgoing on the promptings of indwellingdesires. Assuming it to be its dream des-tination, it pursues it passionately. In itsoverdrive, it seldom cares to invoke bud-

dhi to discriminate upon ‘what onewants’ and ‘what is worth’ and with obvi-ous consequences. Often, ahamkara doesalso get drawn towards glares and glittersof the seeming world, and then getstempted to passionately chase them.

Evidently, if ahamkara doesn’t care toinvoke buddhi for due diligence, the neg-ative tendencies carried over from thepast will play out unhindered. That, act-ing from the front has to have its bearingon our decision making process. Also,they do not allow our indwelling poten-tial play out in full and evidently to ourdetriment. Here lies the catch. It, there-fore, becomes incumbent upon us topurify our minds of all its unwanted ten-dencies which a human being is capableof. Remember, human mind is a uniqueequipment. It could reflect upon itself toidentify one’s negative traits. It could alsobe fed with fresh educative inputs toaddress the indwelling weaknesses, andreframe the thought process.

The issue continues.*���$$�������������������1���������������

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