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Thousands of Kashmiris,locked down in their hous-

es for over a week, on Mondaycelebrated Eid, their first fes-tivity after the revocation ofArticle 370, without speakingto their loved ones or seeingeach other following “unprece-dented” clampdown in theValley since August 5.

The authorities in Kashmirdid allow worshippers to con-verge at nearby mosques, butmost revered places such as likeHazratbal Shrine, Idgah,remained out of bounds.

In the Valley, clashes brokeout in some sensitive places,but barring minor injuries to afew people, the overall situationremained peaceful. However, inJammu region, pro-Azadi slo-gans were raised by worship-pers while they stepped out ofJamia Masjid in Kishtwar in thepresence of security personneland senior officers, includingDeputy Commissioner AngrezSingh Rana.

However DC could not becontacted due to suspension oftelephone services to confirmthese reports.

According to eyewitnessreports, “over 2,000 worship-pers were present in themosque; and soon after theprayers were over, a large num-ber of them stepped out shout-ing provocative slogans andpro-Azadi slogans in Kishtwar”.Prayers were not allowed in tra-ditional Chougan Paradeground by the local authorities.

The paramilitary forces

deployed in the area, handledthe situation very tactfully anddespite severe provocationrefrained from taking anyaction against them.

Official sources claimednotorious elements were iden-tified by the police in thecrowd and action as per rule oflaw will follow against them indue course of time.

Meanwhile, NationalSecurity Adviser Ajit Doval,who is camping in Srinagar,conducted an aerial survey of

Srinagar and monitored the sit-uation. Several drones camerasand helicopters were seen fly-ing over Srinagar skies to keepa close tabs on the ground zero.

According to SP Pani,Inspector General of Police,Kashmir range, “The overallsituation in Kashmir remainedpeaceful barring minor inci-dents of law and order report-ed from parts of Srinagar”.

He said after Eid prayerspeople were dispersed in apeaceful manner.

Meanwhile, the Jammu &Kashmir Police rebutted mediareports that claimed involve-ment of policemen in a firingincident.

“This malicious content isstrongly rebutted. Matter hasbeen taken up with Twitter foraction,” tweeted the officialhandle of the Kashmir Zonepolice late on Monday.

In Jammu, prayers wereheld in a peaceful atmosphereamid tight security arrange-ments. A large number of

members belonging to theGujjar community celebratedEid holding tricolour in theirhands at the Jeora farms, nearthe International border in RSPura area.

Jammu’s DivisionalCommissioner Sanjeev Vermatold The Pioneer, “Eid prayerswere offered peacefully in allthe 10 districts of Jammuregion.” He said after theprayers, worshippers dispersedpeacefully at all the places.

Officials said 5,000 peoplecame to Eidgah, the mainvenue, and offered prayersamid strict security.

Earlier in Srinagar,Principal Secretary toGovernment of J&K andGovernment SpokespersonRohit Kansal maintained thatEid prayers have been offeredin all districts of Kashmir aswell in Jammu region. All nec-essary arrangements weremade to facilitate the people foroffering prayers at mosquesand other places.

Addressing the mediaper-sons in Srinagar, Rohit Kansalsaid that people in large num-bers came out to offer Eidprayers in their local areas andmosques in entire Kashmirdivision.

He said that in Srinagardistrict, hundreds of people vis-ited various mosques mainlyincluding Maqdoom Sahab,Dastgeer Sahab, Iqra Masjidand other places to offer Eidnamaz. All other districts ofKashmir division also sawmovement of people to themosques for offering prayers.

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India and China on Mondayagreed on a host of initiatives

to improve their relations, withNew Delhi emphasising thatthe future of the ties willdepend on the mutual sensi-tivity to each other’s “core con-cerns” to ensure that any bilat-eral differences should notbecome disputes.

Making his first visit toChina after taking over office,External Affairs Minister SJaishankar held candid talkswith top Chinese leaders.

His three-day visit to Chinacomes amid spiralling tensionsbetween India and Pakistanover the revocation of specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir.

Before he settled for astructured talk with his coun-terpart Wang Yi, Jaishankarmet the tough-talking ChineseVice President Wang Qishan, a close confidant ofPresident Xi Jinping, at the pic-turesque residential complexZhongnanhai, where China’stop leaders reside.

He held a frank discussionwith Wang Qishan about thestate of the bilateral ties in thecontext of China’s concerns over the bifurcation of

Jammu & Kashmir into twoUnion Territories. After Indiarevoked Article 370 last week,China issued two separatestatements outlining its position on Ladakh andJ&K.

In one statement, Chinaobjected to the formation ofLadakh as a Union Territory byIndia, saying it undermined itsterritorial sovereignty.

After his meeting withWang Qishan, Jaishankar heldtalks with Wang Yi — first atrestricted delegation-levelmeeting followed by full-fledged delegation-leveltalks spanning over severalhours.

At the end of the talks, bothJaishankar and Wang madecandid remarks at the 4thIndia-China media summitwhere they announced a hostof initiatives to boost ties aheadof Xi’s visit to India later this

year. “It is natural, both asneighbours and large develop-ing economies, that therewould be issues in our ties.Properly managing differencesis therefore vital.

As our leaders agreed inAstana, differences should notbecome disputes. That is howIndia-China relations canremain a factor of stability in anuncertain world,” Jaishankarsaid.

The positive direction ofties after the Wuhan Summithas opened up a world of newconvergences, he said, referringto the informal summitbetween Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and PresidentXi last year.

“Exploiting this and takingour ties to a new level willrequire strong public support inboth societies. The media canmake a major contribution tothat goal,” he said.

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Faced with criticism by vet-erans and serving soldiers

over the decision to tax dis-ability pension, theGovernment has decided to rollit back in the next few days.The Government now wantsthe Services to devise ways tostop misuse of the facility of taxexemption.

The decision to tax pensiontaken in June applied to allthose soldiers and officers whohad served their entire tenureof service. However, those offi-cers who were invalidated dueto serious injuries were exemptfrom tax. Moreover, the dis-ability pension and normalpension were exempted fromtax before the controversialdecision.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh had assured Parliament

after the Opposition raised adin over the issue that he hasasked his officials to seek clar-ification from the FinanceMinistry regarding taxing thepension.

The June 24 order issuedby the Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) removing taxexemption on disability pen-sion led to massive uproar in the armed forces fra-ternity.

However, the Governmentmaintained the step was takento stop misuse of the facility inpractice since 1922 by someunscrupulous elements, includ-ing senior officers.

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On a mission to cut debt inReliance Industries, bil-

lionaire Mukesh Ambani onMonday announced plans tosell stakes in the firm’s oil andchemicals business to Saudi oilgiant Aramco and in fuel retailnetwork to BP plc for �1.15lakh crore, and said its telecom unit Jio will beginoffering fibre-based broadbandservices from next month.

Saudi Aramco will buy a 20per cent stake in the oil andchemicals business of Reliance,including the 1.36 million bar-rels a day Jamnagar refiningcomplex in Gujarat, for anenterprise value of $75 billion.BP will buy 49 per cent stake in

the firm’s 1,400 petrol pumpsand aviation fuel selling facil-ities at 31 airports for another�7,000 crore.

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Having failed to decongestSouth Delhi in the last five

years, the Public WorksDepartment (PWD) hasplanned to construct a “signalfree” 14-km elevated corridorfrom INA Market to IndiraGandhi International Airport(IGIA) to unclog traffic. Theflyway will rest on the single-pillar series design.

According to the detailedproject report, the elevatedstretch will start from BrigadierHoshiyar Singh Marg and willconnect the Mahipalpur under-pass at the National Highwayvia Africa Avenue Marg,Vivekanand Marg. With this,the Ring Road traffic that cur-rently clogs the stretch will bediverted and commuters willreach IGIA smoothly.

The corridor will also helpthe National BuildingConstruction Corporationredevelop Nauroji Nagar.

The Central Governmentproject is yet to select anagency/company to carry outthe work. However, the PWDhas submitted the proposal tothe UTTIPEC, which in turnhas sought the suggestions ofDelhi Traffic Police on theproposal.

“The entire 14-km stretchwill be built on a single pillardesigning and the work on thisproject will start by 2020. Theestimated budget of the projectwill be �3,000 crore approxi-mately. It may decrease orincrease, once everything isfinalised,” said sources.

Officials involved in thisambitious project said buseswill be allowed to ply on thisflyover. Entry and exit will beprovided at four points wherepedestrians can climb the fly-over to board buses. “Lifts andstaircases will also be provid-ed. Besides, ramps facility willbe provided at BrigadierHoshiyar Singh Marg, Netaji

Marg, JNU”. Another round-about will be constructed onthe top of the existing round-about. The extension will pro-vide a route towards AfricaAvenue, Sarojini Nagar, NetajiMarg and will cross the RingRoad via Bhikaji Cama PlaceFlyover. The stretch will thenconnect Outer Ring Road viaVivekananda Marg. The fly-over will be constructed fivemetres above the existingMunirka flyover. Taking aright from this chowk, the cor-ridor will move towards AbdulGaffar Marg and will connectthe Mahipalpur Underpasssituated on NH-8.

“After reaching thisunderpass, the commuterscan easily reach IGI Airport,”said an official.

The Barapullah Phase IVproject from INA to IGIA maybe abandoned as the planfalls on the Railway andSafdarjung airport land,sources said.

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At least six persons have diedin the destruction caused

by heavy rain/cloudburst inthree villages of Chamoli dis-trict on Monday morning.

Four homes weredestroyed, five damaged and 46domesticated animals, includ-ing cattle and goats, were alsokilled in these villages.

The human fatalities werecaused due to homes collapsing following heavy rainin the Ghat Tehsil of Chamoli district.

A mother and her daugh-ter were buried in the debris oftheir collapsed home inBanjbagad village, while inLakhi village two eight-year-oldsisters died along with a 24year-old-man.

In Aali village, a 21-year-old woman died after beingburied in debris of a home.Apart from the human casual-ties, a number of roads in theState have been blocked due tolandslides and inclementweather.

State Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawatexpressed grief at the deathsand directed officials to ensureswift rescue and relief efforts.

Detailed reports on P3

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New Delhi: Celebrities makingbeeline for the ruling BJP con-tinued as international wrestlerBabita Phogat and her fatherMahavir Phogat, the real lifecharacters behind blockbustersHindi film Dangal, joined theBJP on Monday.

Phogat family hails fromHaryana — which is expectedto go to polls later this year —and the BJP hopes to reap polit-ical dividends by inductingthe sports icon from the State. Babita Phogat is aCommonwealth Games goldmedalist.

Arjuna awardee BabitaPhogat told reporters that Modihad written history by scrap-ping Jammu & Kashmir’s spe-cial provisions and described herself as a “big fan”of him.

Babita, 29, had also defend-ed Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar after hecourted a controversy on his“brides from Kashmir” remarks.

“Manohar Lal Khattar jihas not made any such state-ment which portrays womenwrongly and I urge the medianot to distort his statement,” shehad said. PNS

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Raising the demand to spendthe amount to be given by

the Central Government asgreen bonus in the next fouryears to Uttarakhand as royal-ty to the people living in moun-tainous regions of the State,noted environmentalist JagatSingh Chaudhary ‘Junglee’ saidUttarakhand people have taken the responsibility to pro-vide fresh oxygen and water tothe country.

It is important for the country to take respon-sibility of Uttarakhand’s futuregeneration.

Addressing the mediaper-sons at the Press Club onMonday, he said, “Nearly 20years ago in the year 1997 wedemanded royalty from thethen Central Government forthe betterment and benefit of thepeople living in the village areasof the State. In the same yearwhen I along with 30 peoplemarched on foot from HariyaliDevi to Rajghat in Delhi, peo-ple in Uttarakhand were buyinggas cylinders for �450 whereascitizens in Delhi were getting itfor �300. Even then we haddemanded that the people ofUttarakhand should be provid-ed subsidy. Most villagers can-

not afford gas cylinders at suchhigh rates. Ultimately, they haveto rely on firewood to cook food.This will not only affect the bio-diversity of our State but also ofthe world.”

When asked about the effectall weather road and otherdevelopment works have on thebiodiversity of the State he said,“Development is necessary, butthe State Government needs toensure development withoutharming the biodiversity and

environment around. We havesubmitted a proposal to themthat plantation of bamboos andringal (hill bamboo) should bedone on the roadsides after thework is done.

Bamboos and ringal bothhave good soil gripping capac-ity and are good for soil con-servation.” When asked aboutthe plantations that were doneon the banks of Rispana dur-ing Harela festival he said,“The whole plan was a waste.

There is proper mechanism forthis. Plants alone cannot sur-vive, there should have beenbushes planted with the trees.”

He added, “If even half ofamount given under greenbonus is used for benefit of peo-ple living in mountainousregions we can effectively stopmigration. Also, citizens shouldbe given 50 per cent rebate onelectricity bill. Villagers willstart saving jungles on their ownif they start getting royalty.”

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The World Elephant Daywas celebrated at the

Wildlife Institute of India(WII) on Monday with theState’s Forests and WildlifeMinister Harak Singh Rawat asthe chief guest. The ElephantCell was also inaugurated atthe WII on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion,Rawat said despite its compar-atively small geographical area,Uttarakhand has about 28 percent of the nation’s biodiversi-ty. The considerable proportionof forest area in the State posesvarious challenges to the peo-ple and the Government withthe human-wildlife conflictbeing one of them. Forest andwildlife experts should guide allpossible efforts to mitigate this human-elephant conflict,he added.

The Ministry of Forests,Environment and ClimateChange additional secretaryPraveen Garg said swift actionis being taken on recommen-dations being made by insti-tutions with expertise in this

subject to mitigate human-elephant conflict. Studies con-ducted so far have shown thatthere are 101 elephant corri-dors in the country and thepressure is rising on most ofthem, he added.

A video message by theUnion Minister of Forests,Environment and ClimateChange, Prakash Javadekar wasalso played on the occasion.Earlier, the director of Project

Elephant, Noyal Thomas wel-comed the gathering. A shortvideo film on glimpses of tech-nology application for address-ing rail-induced elephant mor-tality was also screened by theinstitute.

An elephant art piece sig-nifying the importance of ele-phant corridors was unveiledby the Rawat on the occasion.Prizes were also distributed tothe school children who won

in the painting competitionand wildlife, environment andelephant quiz competition.

Over 500 participants werepresent in the celebration.

The WII director VBMathur, ADG (Wildlife) MSNegi, director general offorests, Siddhanta Das and thestate’s principal chief conser-vator of forests Jai Raj alsoexpressed their views on theoccasion.

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Ever thought what a whitesmoke cloud like structure

coming out from any nuclearpower station is composed of?It is not a gas coming out of thehuge bell shaped structure vis-ible from miles away but juststeam. No dangerous radiationis emitted from generation ofelectricity in a nuclear plant, infact radiation occurs naturallyin the environment too.

The site director ofRajasthan Atomic PowerStation site, VK Jain said, “Youwill not see a nuclear powerplant erupting into a mush-room cloud of gases, there isnothing to fear. It is physically

impossible for a reactor toexplode like a nuclear weaponor atomic bomb. All reactorsare built with many layers ofsafety controls and design, andIndia has excellent safety recordof 50 years. There has been noincident of radioactivitybeyond stipulated limits inpublic domain.”

Highlighting the efficiencyof the nuclear facilities in India,head of the public awarenessdivision, Department ofAtomic Energy, Ravi Shankarsaid, “Kaiga GeneratingSystems KGS-1, has worldrecord for continuous opera-tion of 962 days which is note-worthy.” The steam generatedfrom a nuclear plant is notradioactive because it does not

come into contact with the pri-mary circuit. It is convertedback into water and cooled ina cooling tower.

The water is either usedagain as a water bath or isreleased into a river, lake, orocean as most of the powerplants are built near rivers.

Notably, radiation dosearound nuclear power plants isa negligible fraction of natur-al background added RaviShankar.

About 18 per cent of nat-ural radiation comes frombuildings or soil, 14 per cent iscosmic, 42 per cent fromradon, 11 per cent from food ordrinking water making it a totalof 85 per cent while nuclearindustry is just one per cent.

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The Islamic festival Eid-al-Adha was observed on

Monday with religious fervouralong with the last Monday ofthe Sawan month commemo-rated by Shiva devotees inShivalayas. Long queues ofpeople were seen outside majorShiva temples in Haridwar andmany devotees performedRudrabhishek in temples.

August is the month of ZilHijjah in which financially abledMuslims perform Haj, theannual pilgrimage to Meccafollowed by the Bakrid or Eid-ul-Adha celebrated on the 10thof ‘Hijjah’ month. Of the twoEids, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid ulAdha, Eid-ul-Adha is consid-ered holier by the communitymembers. With the economicaspect attached to it, Padma Shrirecipient Khalid Zaheer saidthat most of the people in Asiaand Arab countries are notfinancially sound to afford meat.

But on this day there is apractice of distribution of meatto the poorer sections whichensures that at least once in ayear these people feast on non-vegetarian food which theycannot afford otherwise.

Explicating the spirit

behind the festival, Zaheersaid, “The goat is sacrificed inthe name of Allah and the meatis divided into three parts.One part of the meat is to bedistributed among the poorpeople, one part among the rel-atives and friends and onethird of it is brought home forpersonal use. It is a very mean-

ingful ritual and the peoplemust refrain from show offwhich has crept in this ritualthese days to purchase costliestof the goats for sacrifice. Thisdilutes the spirit of sacrifice.”

Suggesting ways to cele-brate Eid in a better way, Arzoosaid Governments and Muslimassociations must come up by

assigning areas for animal sac-rifice and people should not beallowed to sacrifice at any nookor corner posing problems formunicipal authorities to main-tain sanitation and cleanliness.In metro cities, it is alreadybeing maintained but in otherparts of the country, this mustbe enforced, added Arzoo.

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Resentment is brewingamong primary teachers

of the State on educationdepartment’s initiative to make a school cadre for pri-mary teachers.

The President of theUttarakhand PrathmikShikshak Sangh (PSS), thepowerful association of thePrimary teachers ofGovernment schools of theState, Digvijay Singh said thedepartment should first of alltake the teachers in confi-dence. He said in past too, theeducation department had setup a block cadre of the prima-ry teachers but this systemfailed miserably.

Singh added in the blockcadre system, teachers wereappointed mostly in the schoolslocated in hard to access areasbut it resulted in absence ofteachers in the easy to assessschools. It proved to be a fail-ure and the department had toabolish the block cadre andreconstitute the district cadre ofprimary teachers.

The PSS president said

that the education departmentshould refrain from taking anyunilateral decision on changingthe cadre of the teachers.

A teacher posted inChakrata block of Dehradunsaid, “It appears that the Stateadministration has made edu-cation department as the placefor experiments.

The plan to make schoolcadre of primary teacherswould be a disaster. The teacheronce posted in a school wouldnot be transferred to otherschool which is very impracti-cal and unfair step. “InUttarakhand, the primary andthe junior school teachers havea district cadre which meansthat they would be transferredwithin one district.

The Lecturer Teachers (LT)have divisional cadre whilelecturers have State cadre. In arecent directive, EducationMinister Arvind Pandey haddirected the department toprepare a proposal for creatingschool cadre for primary teach-ers. By this exercise the depart-ment wants to ensure that theteachers remain posted in oneschool only.

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Doon Library and ResearchAssociation committee

celebrated the NationalLibrarian Day on the birthanniversary of SR Rangnathanat the Doon Library andResearch Centre here onMonday. Several speakers onthis occasion spoke about thecontribution of Rangnathanand the importance of books ina person’s life.

Chief guest and senior lit-terateur Madan Sharma said,“Library is a centre where read-ers get to know about literatureand society, history and cultureat one place. Doon Library is atreasure in itself with wonder-

ful books for book lovers andstudents preparing for com-petitive exams.”

Research associateChandrashekar Tiwari said,“Doon Library and ResearchCentre has always tried to pro-vide books to readers andresearchers according to theirrequirement and interest.

The DLRC is consistentlyworking in this direction.“Member of association,Rakesh Joshi said, “In the worldof new and digital media,libraries are becoming lesspopular in some places. It isimportant to remember thatlibraries will always play animportant part of a student’slife.”

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Six personsincluding one

nine month oldgirl and two eightyear old girls diedafter their homescollapsed follow-ing heavy rain inthree villages ofGhat Tehsil inChamoli districton Mondaymorning. Fourhomes weredestroyed, fivedamaged and 46domesticated ani-mals including cattle and goatswere also killed in these vil-lages.

According to informationreceived from the StateEmergency Operation Centre(SEOC), at about 5:40 AM onMonday, heavy rain/cloudburstwas reported in Banjbagad,Aali and Lakhi villages of GhatTehsil in Chamoli district. Theresulting collapse of homescaused the death of 35 year oldRupa Singh and her ninemonth old daughter Chanda inBanjbagad village. In Aali vil-lage, 21 year old Naurati wasreported to have died. In theLakhi village, eight year old sis-ters Arti and Anjali along with23 year old Ajay Lal werereported to have died. Onreceiving information aboutthe disaster, the revenuedepartment team, disaster

management team, StateDisaster Response Force(SDRF) team and local policereached the sites of the disas-ters and began search and res-cue efforts along with the localresidents. Meanwhile, 24 ruralmotor roads in the districthave remained closed to trafficwith efforts underway to openthese.

Meanwhile, in Dehradun,the bodies of two students ofUPES who were swept awaywhile bathing in the Nimi riverin Bidholi on Sunday werefound on Monday. They havebeen identified as Dehradunresident Abhishek Kandpal andDelhi native Mihir Bateja.

Expressing grief at thedeaths and destruction causedby heavy rain in Ghat Tehsil ofChamoli district, the chief min-ister Trivendra Singh Rawat

directed the Chamoli districtmagistrate to execute rescue andrelief works swiftly. Necessaryfinancial assistance and otherrelief should also be provided tothose affected by the disaster.According to information pro-vided by the Chamoli districtadministration, rescue and reliefworks were started as soon asinformation about the disasterswas received. Relief material hasalso been sent to the affectedareas. Further, expressing griefat the incident wherein two stu-dents were swept away in a riverin Dehradun, the chief ministersaid that the level of water inseasonal rivers can rise sud-denly. He has appealed to thepublic, especially the youth toavoid going for picnics nearrivers and waterfalls in view ofthe heavy rains being experi-enced these days.

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Taking cognisance of the warn-ing issued by state meteoro-

logical centre, Dehradun SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)Arun Mohan Joshi on Mondayissued instructions to all police sta-tions and posts in-charge to ensuresafety of the families living in theslum areas on the banks ofRispana and Bindal rivers. Anumber of homes on the riverbanks were flooded during themorning as the water level rose toabove the danger level.

Following the instructions of

the SSP, public address system wasused to warn people living in theriverside slums to stay alert dur-ing heavy rainfall. Women andchildren residing in slums on thebanks of Bindal river near Bindalbridge said, “Our water pipelinewas broken due to heavy rainfallin the morning. The water cameinside the rooms in some of thehomes but no long lasting harmwas done. The only problem is thatwe have to go to a distant site tocollect potable water.”

When asked about the prob-lems they had to face on daily basisthey said, “Where else can we go?

Most of the families that are liv-ing here are from Bihar. We are onour own.”

Families living in slums onthe banks of Rispana river alsohave accepted water enteringparts of their homes during mon-soon season as part of their life.When asked whether any localrepresentative had come toinquire about their condition,they said that politicians onlyremember them during the timeof elections.

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The state Meteorological Centre has issued warningabout the possibility of heavy to very heavy rain-

fall likely to occur at isolated places especially inChamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh,Dehradun, Nainital and Pauri districts of Uttarakhandduring four days from August 13 to 16. Overall, theweather is likely to remain generally cloudy with pos-sibility of light to moderate rainfall and thundershow-ers at most places in the state on Tuesday.]

The meteorological centre has issued advisory stat-ing that due to continuous light to moderate rainfallactivities during the week with isolated heavy to heavyrainfall over Uttarakhand especially from August 13to 16, the inundation of low lying areas in plains andlandslide in mountains at a few places is very likelyto occur from August 13 onwards. The Met centreadvised the district authorities to monitor the situa-tion closely and take necessary precautionary measures.The local commuters and tourists moving in moun-tainous areas and people residing in low lying areasin plains have been advised to take precautionary mea-sures especially from August 13 onwards and coordi-nate closely with the state government authorities.

In the provisional capital Dehradun, few spells ofrainfall and thunderstorms are likely to occur, one ortwo maybe heavy in some areas on Tuesday. The max-imum and minimum temperatures are likely to be 30degree Celsius and 24 degree Celsius respectively.

Meanwhile on Monday, the maximum and mini-mum temperatures recorded at various places in the stateon Monday were 30.5 degree Celsius and 24.3 degreeCelsius respectively in Dehradun, 32.6 degree Celsiusand 24.4 degree Celsius in Pantnagar, 21 degreeCelsius and 15.4 degree Celsius in Mukteshwar, 22degree Celsius and 18.8 degree Celsius respectively inNew Tehri.

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The vice president of thestate unit of Congress party,

Surya Kant Dhasmana hasaccused the state governmentof failing miserably in provid-ing timely relief to people suf-fering from the natural disas-ters. He said the recent inci-dents of cloud bursts, floodingand landslide in the state haveexposed serious flaws in thedisaster management machin-ery of the state. Dhasmanatold The Pioneer thatUttarakhand is the only state inthe country which has a sepa-rate ministry of disaster man-agement but during disastersthe whole machinery has failedto function properly. “In therecent incidents it has come tothe notice that administration

has failed to react in a mannerit should have and the reliefoperations have got delayed.Interestingly, Chief Ministerhimself holds the disaster man-agement portfolio,’’ he said.

The Congress leader saidthat after receiving informationabout Ghat tragedy on Mondaymorning, he rang up ChiefSecretary Utpal Kumar Singhand told him about the destruc-tion in Ghat. “I told him aboutGhat and informed him that

dozens of houses have beendestroyed in Doodhli. I alsoinformed him that SDRF per-sonnel and local administrationhas not reached the site ofdestruction. He assured me totake appropriate action,’’ hesaid.

Dhasmana added that theCS later informed him that thedistrict magistrate of Chamoliwas about to leave the districtbut she was asked immediate-ly to go back to the district.

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The number of dengueaffected patients reached

350 mark on Monday withdistrict health authoritiesreporting 36 new cases of thedisease. The surge in the num-ber of patients affected by thedisease could be understoodfrom the health departmentdata that in last eleven days,250 new patients have beenreported in the provisionalstate capital.

The district vector bornediseases officer, Subhash Joshisaid that a camp was organ-ised by the department atTapowan road, Ladpur pan-chayat Bhawan on the day.

In the camp, the residentswere informed about dengueand ways to prevent the men-

ace of the disease. Joshi askedthe people present in thecamp that they should ensurethat the breeding places ofmosquitoes inside their homesand vicinity are destroyed.

He said that since Aedesmosquito, the vector of thedisease bites during day timeit is advisable that everyoneshould wear full sleeve clothesto reduce exposure of theirbody for the mosquito to bite.

Joshi said that combinedteams of health departmentand Municipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD) are visitingthe affected areas and activi-ties like fogging and spread ofinsecticides are being under-taken apart from spreadingawareness on preventive mea-sures to be adopted for thedisease.

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The appointment of UPAchairperson Sonia Gandhi

as interim President ofCongress party has infused asense of purpose in the partyunit of Uttarakhand. The partyis now gearing up to make theweek long programme com-memorating the birth anniver-sary of former Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi as a success. Likein other parts of the country,the Uttarakhand Congress wasdisillusioned and demoralisedafter crushing defeat in the LokSabha elections and the resig-nation of Rahul Gandhi fromthe post of President had fur-ther deteriorated the situation.

The morale of the partywas at its lowest ebb as thegrand old party was unable tosolve the leadership puzzle.With Congress leaders man-aging to persuade SoniaGandhi to take over the reinsof the party back, confidenceseems to have came back in theparty.

The President of thePradesh Congress Committee(PCC), Pritam Singh said thatthe election of Sonia Gandhi asparty President would instilnew confidence in the party. Hesaid that her experience wouldstrengthen the party.

In his Facebook post, for-mer Chief Minister and mem-ber of the Congress Working

Committee (CWC), HarishRawat welcomed election ofSonia Gandhi. Terming SoniaGandhi as a motherly figure forthe party, he said that RahulGandhi would now assumerole of Arjun of Mahabharataand like Lord Krishna, Soniawould be his charioteer.

The Vice President of theUttarakhand Congress, SuryaKant Dhasmana said that SoniaGandhi is like a cementingforce and her election wouldprevent migration of leadersfrom the party.

The party now hopes thatthe upcoming week long pro-gramme of birth anniversary ofRajiv Gandhi would act as abinder for the faction riddenparty and help in boosting themorale of the party cadre.

It is a well know fact thatthe Congress party inUttarakhand is divided intofactions headed by former chiefminister Harish Rawat, PradeshCongress Committee (PCC)president Pritam Singh andformer PCC President KishoreUpadhyaya.

Incidentally, the pro-gramme is first mega event ofthe party after it received asevere drubbing in Lok Sabhaelections. In Uttarakhand theBJP not only won all the fiveseats but its candidates secured

a staggering 61 percent of thepopular vote.

The Congress candidateslagged far behind with only31.40 percent of the vote polled.In such a situation, the imme-diate challenge before the partyleaders is to infuse confidencein the rank and file of the party.

Programme of 75th BirthAnniversary of Rajiv Gandhi

The week long programmewould commence on August14. On the day seminars oncontribution of Rajiv Gandhi in

development of the nationwould be organised at all blockheadquarters. Blood donationcamps and fruit distributionprogrammes would be held inthe hospitals. TheIndependence Day celebra-tions would be held at all dis-trict headquarters on August15. On August 16, district levelprogrammes would be heldby the party. In these pro-grammes, assay writing com-petitions on role of RajivGandhi would be held inschools. Apart from them plan-tation drives and blood dona-tion camps would be held in alldistricts. On August 19, a megastate level programme would beheld in Haridwar where anation unity march would betaken out.

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On the last Monday ofShrawan, a considerable

number of people had gone to theShiva temple near Itharna atRanipokhari to attend the fair andspecial prayers in the temple.Most of the people had come inprivate vehicles. Due to heavyrainfall Itharna road was blockeddue to the load of debris that cameflowing with the water. Afternearly two hours of work bylocal police and members of dis-aster management team the roadwas cleared for traffic.

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Welcoming revocation ofArticle 370 from Jammu

and Kashmir, renowned singerKailsah Kher said that therevocation is like end of leprosy.Kher, himself being a Kashmiri,said that his forefathers hailfrom the land and had facedsevere atrocities. During a pressmeet here, he said that byrevoking Article 370, UnionGovernment has ended theleprosy from the forehead ofthe country.

Kher said that theGovernment has taken the rightdecision and this will pave wayfor development. Sharing hislove for the homeland, thePadma Shri awardee said that hewould not like to built a homethere but would like to set amusic academy Kala Dhaam.

Kailash has been impressedwith the divine beauty ofKashmir. And later on, one ofthe songs from his album‘Rangeele’, ‘Yaadan Teriyan’ hadKashmir based music video.

It may be mentioned here

that Kailash Kher was born 7July 1973 in Meerut, UttarPradesh to a family withKashmiri roots. His father’sname is Pt. Mehar Singh Kherand his mother ChandrakantaMehar Singh Kher. His fatherwas an amateur musician whoseperformances of traditional folksongs were a regular householdevent.

Kailash learned music fromhim in his childhood. KailashKher was brought up in a musi-cal atmosphere and from hisschool days he was fascinated bymusic and used to listen to hisfather's Indian folks songs all theday. Meanwhile, the 'Har HarMahadev' chant and sounds ofbell resonated across the city as

thousands of devotees throngedtemples to seek blessings of LordShiva on the last Monday of theauspicious Shravan month.

Temples were decked upwith colourful lights and flow-ers. The devotees waited inlong queues since early morn-ing to offer prayers to the deityand sung bhajans. Inside thetemples, the fragrance of agar-battis, sandalwood and flowersgave a pious feel.

While the serene air thataccomplishes religious festivitiesinstilled a positive feeling amongthe devotees. Latter in theevening famous singer KailashKher performed at Sakchigurudwara ground andenthralled the devotees.

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At least 25 policemen riskedtheir lives and rescued

three youths from beinglynched by an irate mob ofnearly 500 villagers in EastSinghbhum’s Ghatshila block,around 165 Kilometres southeast of Capital Ranchi, policesaid on Monday.

In course of the rescueoperation, three SAF jawanswere held captive by the vil-lagers and allegedly thrashedfor trying to rescue the youths.At around 5pm on Sunday, thepolice received informationthat some residents ofBurakanti village had tiedthree youths to a tree oncharges of teasing a womanand were thrashing them sinceafternoon.

Initially, a team of sevento eight policemen were sentto the spot, but reinforce-ments had to be sent to the vil-lage after the mob turned hos-tile, said East Singhbhum’sSenior Superintendent ofPolice (SSP) Anup Birtharey.“Ithink our men have done agreat of job of averting an inci-dent of mob lynching. At least

seven police personnel havesustained injuries during theoperation and are being treat-ed at Tata Main Hospital,”Birtharey said.

Police have lodged a FirstInformation Report (FIR)against some of the villagersfor instigating the mob tolynch the youths and attackpolice personnel who came totheir rescue.

Police sources said that thethree youths, who had alleged-ly teased a woman ofBurakanti village while she wasout with her husband, are alsoundergoing treatment. “Theyare out of danger. A manhuntis on to arrest the main culpritswho instigated the villagers toturn hostile,” Birtharey said.

The incident assumes sig-nificance as Jharkhand hasfound itself in the crosshairs ofhuman rights activists andpoliticians for the rise in thenumber of mob lynching caseslately.

At least 39 cases of moblynching, including a few inwhich villagers had beatenmen accused of rape to death,are currently under investiga-tion in the State. Last week,

police in Chatra rescued a 40-year-old man from the clutch-es of irate villagers. The man,accused of raping a 14-year-old, was being thrashed by vil-lagers when the police arrest-ed him.

Since Tabrez Ansari’slynching in Saraikela on June17, the State has witnessed atleast five cases of mob lynch-ing. On July 21, at least fourelderly members of the tribalcommunity, including a cou-ple, were dragged out of theirhouses and beaten to death byan enraged mob on charges ofpracticing witchcraft in theinteriors of Gumla district.

On August 1, a 40-year-old man was beaten to deathby vil lagers in Dumka’sChihutiya village on charges oftheft.

Chief Minister RaghubarDas recently asserted thatthose involved in mob lynch-ing incidents will not bespared and the Governmentwill take strict actions againstsuch offenders. According tofigures with the State police, atleast 51 people have been con-victed in four cases of moblynching here so far.

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Abomb threat led to an evac-uation at Elante Mall, the

largest shopping destination inChandigarh on Monday after-noon. The search operationswere called off after more thanfour hours and the bomb threatturned out to be a “hoax”. “Athorough search operation wascarried out by ChandigarhPolice in and around the ElanteMall. All field units ofChandigarh Police were swunginto action after receiving a call.

There is no bomb or anyother threat in Elante Mall.Search operation has finishedand mall is open to public,” saida senior UT police officer onMonday evening. He said thatthe caller who supplied falseinformation to Chandigarhpolice control room is beingbooked under relevant provi-sions of law and we are work-ing to identify the fake callerwho used VOIP to place thecall.

Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) allows to makevoice calls using a broadbandinternet connection.TheChandigarh police controlroom had received a call around1 pm, claiming that a bomb hadbeen planted in Elante Mall.Following this, the UT Policeand mall authorities used loud-speakers to ask people to leavethe shopping complex. Panic

had gripped the people as theystarted rushing out of the Mallpremises, leading to chaos inthe premises and nearby areas.

At that time, hundreds ofpeople were in the mall that hasa footfall in excess of one lakhpeople on holidays and week-ends.The police’s operation celland its bomb disposal squadhad sealed off the area and con-ducted a search operation formore than four hours. Bombdisposal team, anti-sabotageteams, operation cell teams,crime branch teams and localpolice teams also conducted

intensive searches of the areaaround the mall. As the bombsquad entered the Elante Mallto conduct the search, thereports first suggested it was amock drill by police ahead ofthe Independence Day.

However, the UT Policelater clarified that it was not amock drill and urged people tocooperate. UT SeniorSuperintendent of PoliceNilambari Jagdale , who wasoverseeing the search operationsaid that police control roomhad got a call saying therewere explosives inside the

mall.While making multipleappeals to people to maintaincalm, she said that profession-al teams are on the job andintention is not to trouble any-one. After the search operationin more than 200 shops in thecomplex besides the cinemahalls in the Mall, theChandigarh police stated thatnothing was found and nowthey are turning their attentionon the caller who made thehoax call.

Notably, the UT Police havebeen on high alert ahead ofIndependence Day. In a state-

ment issued, the Elante Mallmanagement stated, “Therewas a report of an unclaimedobject which turned out to bea bomb hoax, at the mall. It wasa hoax call in view of theheightened security alert acrossthe country.” “All the people,including the shoppers andstaff members, are absolutelysafe.

While the entire mall wasevacuated in less than 20 min-utes, 100 percent normalcy wasrestored in four hours. Since5:30 PM, mall operations wererestored,” the mall stated.

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Even as the World ElephantDay was celebrated on

Monday, the jumbo popula-tion of the Athagarh jungle isnot safe and their free move-ments are obstructed.

Once the Athagarh forestwas an ideal habitat for hun-dreds of tuskers where they gotdense forest cover with avail-ability of abundant foodstuffsand adequate natural watersources. After India’s inde-pendence, when the forestdivision was formed, it wasconsidered as one of the safestforests for the very survival of

the wildlife. Hundreds of ani-mals and plant species of rarenature were present in the jun-gle. But with the changes oftime and development of peo-ple’s negative behaviour here,the jungle has lost its past sta-tus.

Many departmental offi-cers engaged here from time totime were in connivance withthe jungle mafias and poach-ers, with rampant tree cuttingand free transportation oftrees to urban areas and killingof wildlife, including ele-phants, going unabated.

At present we find thatthe elephants living in thejungle are largely unsafe.Their free movements areobstructed at different pointsby the people either for pass-ing the roads or protectingtheir farmlands from the

scourge of the elephants. Inmost of their passing zones,

great walls have been erectedby different industries for

which they turn the directionof passing from one jungle to

another. As they don’t findadequate foodstuffs anddrinking water in the jungle,they are being forced to strayinto the human habitationand crop lands for their food.For the reason, when theowners of the farmlands tryto disperse them, the latterbeing irritated resulted inman-elephant conflict.

Even as the forest divisionis regarded as a protectivezone, the forest officials arerequired to protect it throughdifferent methods.

The people here are fre-quently poaching animals likedeer, wild boars etc for fleshand tuskers for tusks and inmost of these incidents forestofficials don’t succeed in nab-bing the culprits whereallegedly the forest officialsremain a party in the event.

Asked, Athagarh DFOSasmita Lenka told this paperthat since the Governmentdoesn’t provide funds for fuelsand modern vehicles to patrolthe jungle, this hinders pro-tection of the jungle andwildlife.

Manpower crunch is alsoanother cause of concern.

The local intelligentsiahas alleged that the forestof f icers here f requent lyremain absent in duty givingample opportunity to thejungle mafias and poachersto loot the jungle and killwildlife including elephants.

Since as per allegation,the DFO herself leaves theheadquarters every night forBhubaneswar, taking theopportunity, mafias andpoachers have become activehere.

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Away from home and feel-ing lonely on the Eid,

hundreds of Kashmiri stu-dents, who are studying invarious colleges and univer-sities in Punjab and could nottravel home to celebrate thefestival with their families,were in for a pleasant surpriseon Monday morning.

The invitat ion f romPunjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh for lunch atPunjab Bhavan made it anoccasion to cherish, and tofeel at home for around 125students from various uni-versities of Punjab.

Assuring them that hewas confident that thingswould improve soon inKashmir, the Chief Ministergreeted the youngsters withbest wishes for normalcysoon. “We cannot replaceyour families but I hope youconsider us as your familytoo,” he told the students,assuring them of their safetyand security in Punjab.

Though he had not beento Kashmir for a long timedue to his busy politicalschedule, he considered thebeautiful Valley his secondhome, said Capt Amarinder,

adding that it was his heart-felt desire to share the hap-piness of this festival with thestudents.

He reassured the studentsthat he was confident theirfamilies back home wouldalso be well and safe, and theywould be able to meetsoon.Reciprocating the Chief

Minister’s sentiments, thestudents said that they tooconsidered Punjab their sec-ond home, where they hadalways felt safe, even after thePulwama attack.

“We have seen thatPunjabis have a big heart,”quipped a student, FaiqSalem, while another thanked

Capt Amarinder for hearingtheir voice“Coming heretoday reminds us of our fam-ilies,” said Farzana Hafeez,another student, admittingthat till they received theinvitation, they had beenfeeling very lonely at thethought of not being homefor Eid.

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The Raj Bhavan will be opento general public from 5

pm to 10 pm on August 13before Independence Day.People will also be able toenjoy the presentations of chil-dren along with attractiveelectric decoration. The cul-tural evening will be held at 7pm.

The cultural programmesto be held at Raj Bhavan willbe presented by children fromfamilies residing in the RajBhavan, 130 children of RajBhavan Government School inKumharpura and children ofGovernment Kamla NehruSchool. This will be an inno-vative achievement by the RajBhavan to provide a platformfor the children of weakerand backward classes to show-case their talents.

The cultural evening willbegin with the SaraswatiVandana dance performance.A grand collective presenta-tion with the message of unityin diversity will be given by 25children. Regional presenta-tions are also included in theprogramme. A collective andcolourful presentation of'Rangilo Maro Dholana' will begiven by five children.

Among dance perfor-mances folk dance Kalbeliyaand Terah Talika fusion will bepresented by 17 children.Songs will also be presented.The main attraction will be theperformance of 9 children inthe song 'Qaum ki khadim kihai jagir' Vande Mataram.Similarly, songs like 'SumanArpit Aazadi Ke' and 'KashmirNa Denge' will also be per-formed.

A special theatrical per-formance will also be staged tocommemorate Gandhiji 's150th birth anniversary. Thepurpose of the presentation isto make the children aware ofGandhi's ideologies and tounderline his contribution inthe freedom struggle. In thepresentation, 86 children willgive a stage performance oftheir theatrical arts.

Citizens visiting the RajBhavan on this day will also beable to see an attractive exhi-bition. The helmsmen of thefuture will be introduced tothe heroes of the freedomstruggle through the exhibi-tion. This will stir feelings ofpatriotism and dedication tothe country among them.

The exhibition will alsogenerate curiosity to get moreinformation regarding the per-sonality-achievements of thefighters, which is recorded inthe pages of history.

Parents will also be able toexplain the details of the free-dom struggle and the impor-tance of freedom to the chil-dren. The attractive electricdecoration will also generatesensitivity towards the impor-tance of the day.

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With a policy decision takenby it for a strategic disin-

vestment of its shares in theNilachal Ispat Nigam Limited(NINL), the Government ofIndia has asked the OdishaGovernment for its concur-rence of the proposal so that itwould go ahead with its move.

Union Secretary forDisinvestment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM), AtanuChakraborty has requested theState Government to take adecision in this regard immedi-ately. The NINL is running aone-million-tonne-per-annum-capacity integrated steel complex

at Kalinganagar and has a poten-tial of 10 MT, said Chakraborty.It will need substantial capitalinfusion for tapping its fullcapacity. But its major promot-er MMTC is not in a soundfinancial state and cannot pumpin more funds for achieving itsfull potential.

The MMTC has so faradvanced a loan of ��2,800 croreto the NINL and has a paid-upcapital of �459 crore and has alsogiven a Corporate Guarantee for�1,346 crore. A high-poweredcommittee of the Department ofCommerce and Industry hasrecommended for a strategic dis-investment of the MMTC equi-ty in the NINL. Chakraborty has

informed the State Governmentthat as the Union Governmenthas embarked upon a policy ofstrategic disinvestment of certainCentral Public SectorEnterprises (CPSEs), the NINLis one of them. The NINL dis-investment proposal has beenapproved by Core Group ofSecretaries on Disinvestment,chaired by the Cabinet Secretary.The NITI Aayog has also sup-ported the move for NINL dis-investment.

Meanwhile, theDisinvestment and Public AssetManagement AdditionalSecretary has held discussions with senior officialsof the Government of Odisha in

this regard. The NINL is a JointVenture Company (JVC) withthe shares of Union GovernmentPSUs MMTC, NMDC,MECON and BHEL and thoseof State Government undertak-ings IPICOL and OMC.

Once the State Governmentconcurs the present initiative, allthe stakes of these PSUs, both ofCentre and State Government,would be divested for strategicsale through the extant approvedprocedure in place.

This would facilitate infu-sion of capital by a strategicbuyer which would generatefurther employment opportu-nities in Odisha, the UnionSecretary has said.

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Rajya Sabha MP MaheshPoddar on Monday said

that Tanginath Dham inGumla’s Dumri block wel-comed several devotees fromacross the State during theholy month of Shravan and willsoon develop into a majorattraction for devotees andtourists from across the globe.Several ministers fromJharkhand and the MP himselfhave been working for spread-ing awareness about the beau-

ty and uniqueness of the shrine,he said in a press communiquéreleased on Monday.

Like Tanginath Dhamthere are several other shrinesand destinations that canemerge as major tourist attrac-tions if the State focuses onspreading awareness aboutthem, he added. “Every yeardevotees in at least 30 busesthrong the shrine. Around 150devotees from Ranchi too visitthe shrine annually,” he said.

The Government, he said,is working on developing

infrastructure at the temple.Construction of waitingrooms, electrification of thetemple premises, constructionof railings and more will bedone soon, he added. Thetemple oozes old-world charmand is among one of the less-er explored tourist destinationsin Jharkhand.

Here all the rituals areperformed by tribal priests atthe temple built atop a hill. Awaterfall in the vicinity of thetemple adds up to the scenicbeauty, said Poddar.

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While a tight security coveris in place in Jammu &

Kashmir to prevent any unto-ward incident after the Centre’smove on Article 370, the secu-rity establishment is worriedover a “new trend” of terror-ists sneaking in from across theLine of Control (LoC) andleaving behind weapons osten-sibly to be retrieved by terror-ists active within the State.

One such incident tookplace in Uri earlier this weekwhere the Army recoveredsome AK-47s after a firefightwith militants who came in andthen ran back towards PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK).Given the rugged terrain there,it is feared that many moreweapons must have found theirway to the users in the pre-ceding days to bolster thedepleting firepower of the mil-

itants.Incidentally, the recovery

of three AK-47s, three pistolsand nearly 15 under barrelgrenades took place a day afterthe Government announced itsdecision on Article 370 onMonday. At least three to fourmilitants came in after thePakistan Army gave them cov-ering fire. An Indian armypatrol had a brief firefight withthe militants who escaped intoPOK leaving behind theweapons.

Admitting that the Armywas lucky to foil the bid andrecovered the weapons, officialsin the security establishment onSaturday did not rule out thepossibility of many moreweapons already reaching themilitants through the localnetwork. They also said "on theface of it the recovery of onlythree AK-47s and three pistolsmay look small but the new

trend is definitely is a cause ofconcern."

As nearly all the ingressroutes in North Kashmir arelocated in rugged terrain dot-ted by ravines and dense jun-gles, covering each and everyinch is difficult. Moreover,

dense fog and cloudy weatherprovides excellent umbrella tothe militants to either infiltrateor drop the weapons, officialssaid.

The new phenomenon alsoindicated that there is appar-ently a dearth of arms and

ammunition for the militants inthe Kashmir Valley, witnessingan unprecedented securityclampdown in view of repealof special status to State underArticle 370.

Even though no infiltrationbid or adopting the new tactic

of leaving behind weapons tobe retrieved by the local net-work came to light in the lastfew days, the Army is not leav-ing anything to chance. Thecounter-terrorism and counter-infiltration grid has been fur-ther strengthened.

Security forces brace up foraction along the LOC and fearterror attack actively backed bythe ISI and Pakistan Army inany part of the country in theaftermath of abrogation of arti-cle 370. This comes in thebackdrop of the corps com-manders of Pakistan Armydiscussing the issue on Tuesdaylast.

Faced with domestic pres-sure, the Pakistan Army islikely to go in for 'visible action'on the border in terms ofceasefire violations on the onehand and stoking terrorist vio-lence in Jammu and Kashmiron the other. The possibility of

such incidents taking place inother parts of the country wasalso feared, they said.

Chairing the CorpsCommanders meet, PakistanArmy chief General QamarJaved Bajwa had said his troopsare prepared to "go to anyextent" to help Kashmiris. Themeeting had single point agen-da of Kashmir. "Pakistan Armyfirmly stands by the Kashmirisin their just struggle to the veryend. We are prepared and shallgo to any extent to fulfill ourobligations...," Bajwa told thearmy commanders.

In a statement, the Armysaid the forum fully supportedthe Pakistan Government's"rejection of Indian actions"regarding Kashmir. OnMonday, Pakistan had con-demned and rejected theIndian government revokingArticle 370 of the Constitutionand vowed to exercise "all pos-

sible options" to counter India's"illegal" and "unilateral" step.

Explaining the rationalefor the all powerful PakistanArmy to resort to such strate-gy of turning the heat on theLOC, officials said here domes-tic compulsions will force it notto 'keep quiet' and the LOCmay see relentless cease fireviolations within the next fewdays.

Moreover, if the PakistanArmy does not do anything tostoke trouble in India, it maylose the support of the Pakistanbased terrorist groups includ-ing the Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM)and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba(LeT). These twogroups are active in Jammu andKashmir. Also, the ISI andPakistan Army was alreadyusing social media to spreadmisinformation and the Indiansecurity agencies were takingcounter measures, they said.

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Senior Congress leaders — PChidambaram and Digvijay

Singh — have come underattack by the BJP for their lat-est comments on abrogation ofspecial status to Jammu &Kashmir under Article 370 ofthe Indian Constitution.

A day after senior Congressleader P Chidambaram saidthat Jammu &Kashmir wasstripped off its special statusbecause it is a Muslim-major-ity State, several UnionMinisters and several BJP lead-ers slammed the former HomeMinister and said the com-ments are regrettable andunfortunate.

While Chidambaram saidthe BJP would not have"snatched away" the specialstatus had Jammu &Kashmir

been a Hindu-dominated state,Digvijay Singh came underline of fire for stating thatIndia may lose Kashmir if theGovernment is not careful, a

statement dismissed by LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The Law Minister accusedChidambaram of making a veryirresponsible and provocative

statement while UnionMinisters Mukhtar Abbas Naqviand Giriraj Singh regretted thefact that Congress' appease-ment mentality still exist.

Prasad said the decisiontaken by the Government is inthe interest of the people ofJammu & Kashmir, and theirdevelopment. Hitting out at theCongress, he asked if it was nottrue that over 42,000, mostlyMuslims, had died in the Valleyduring decades of violence.

Defending the decision onArticle 370, Naqvi said theGovernment has rectified avery big mistake made decadesago by the Congress. "What hehas said is an attempt to givecommunal colour to the issueeven though the decision is innational interest," he said.Former Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan said the Congresswas giving the issue a commu-nal angle.

Alleging that BJP revokedthe Article with its "musclepower", Chidambaram had

said the situation in Jammu andKashmir was unstable and thatinternational news agencieswere covering the unrest, butnot Indian media houses.

Prasad also took to task theformer MP CM Digvijay Singhand remarked the moreDigvijay Singh speaks on thisissue, BJP's vote share increas-es. "I want to ask Sonia ji(Congress President SoniaGandhi), now that she hasbecome Congress presidentagain if this is Digvijay Singhspeaking or it is their party's lineas well," Prasad said.

Bihar's Deputy ChiefMinister Sushil Kumar Modisaid: "Unfortunately, formerfinance minister PChidambaram and DigvijaySingh are trying to inciteMuslim community against thegovernment on the issue (ofJammu and Kashmir)."

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Attacking the Centre overrestrictions on people of

Jammu & Kashmir post-Article 370 decision, CPI(M)general secretary SitaramYechury on Monday allegedthat the people of Kashmir havebeen kept "imprisoned" in theirown homes and it is unfair todo so on the occasion of Eid.

“Eid is an occasion of joyand celebration, and ourthoughts are with the people ofKashmir who have been keptimprisoned in their own

homes. We still don't knowhow or where our Comrades inKashmir are," he tweeted.

"We are a country ofdiverse languages, religions,cultures & ideas; this is ourstrength. The impact of unde-mocratically and forcibly alter-ing Jammu and Kashmir's sta-tus will be felt in other stateswith special status. Let's notforget that most are on India'sborders," Yechury said.

Last week, Yechury andCPI general secretary D Rajawere detained in Srinagar air-port and sent back to Delhi,when reached the troubled valley to meet theirparty workers.

Eid al-Adha prayers wereheld at various mosques in theKashmir Valley on Monday.The authorities had on Sundaysaid that people will be allowedto visit neighbourhoodmosques to offer prayers. Largegatherings, however, were notallowed in any part of the Valley.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Courtis scheduled to hear on Tuesdaya plea challenging the Centre'sdecision to impose restrictionsand "other regressive measures"in Jammu &Kashmir followingthe revocation of the provisionsof Article 370.

The plea filed by Congressactivist Tehseen Poonawalla islisted for hearing before a benchcomprising Justices ArunMishra, MR Shah and AjayRastogi.

Besides, a separate petitionfiled by Anuradha Bhasin,Executive Editor of KashmirTimes, seeking removal ofrestrictions imposed on workingof journalists in the state after the

scrapping of provisions ofArticle 370 is likely to be men-tioned for urgent listing in theapex court.

Poonawalla has said he isnot expressing any opinion onArticle 370 but seeking with-drawal of 'curfew/ restrictions'and other alleged regressivemeasures including blocking ofphone lines, Internet and newschannels in J&K.

He has also sought a direc-tion from the top court for therelease of leaders like formerchief ministers Omar Abdullahand Mehbooba Mufti, who areunder detention.

He has further sought set-ting up of a judicial commission

to inquire into ground realitiesthere.

The activist has claimedthat the decisions that havebeen taken by the Centre violatefundamental rights guaranteedunder Article 19 and 21 of theConstitution.

Besides the petitions filed byPoonawalla and Bhasin, theNational Conference (NC) hasalso moved the apex court chal-lenging the changes made in theconstitutional status of J&K,contending that these have takenaway rights of its citizens with-out their mandate.

The petition has been filedby Mohammad AKbar Loneand Justice (retd) Hasnain

Masoodi, both Lok Sabha mem-bers belonging to the NC.

Advocate Manohar LalSharma has also filed a separateplea challenging the PresidentialOrder on Article 370 whichrevoked Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status.

President Ram Nath Kovindhas declared abrogation of theprovisions of Article 370 of theConstitution, which gave specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmir.

Parliament had approved aresolution abrogating specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmirunder Article 370 of theConstitution and a bill for split-ting the state into two union ter-ritories. PTI

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Rajya Sabha has launched aResearch Scheme to pro-

mote the study of functioning ofparliamentary institutions andimpact of legislations for grantsworth Rs 58.50 lakh for threecomponents.

The 'Rajya Sabha Researchand Study Scheme' wasapproved by Rajya SabhaChairman M.Venkaiah Naiduwith three components i.e oneDr.S Radhakrishnan Chair witha grant of Rs.22.50 lakhs, fourFellowships with a grant ofRs.8.50 lakhs each and 10 RajyaSabha Student Engagement

Internships with a stipend ofRs.10,000 each per month.

The scheme has been for-mulated after extensive discus-sions with Members of RajyaSabha, present and formerSecretaries General of bothHouses of Parliament and lead-ing academics and researchersfor the socio-economic trans-formation and efficacy of vari-ous parliamentary devices likevarious committees.

To ensure timely submissionof research and study reports,grants will be released based onthe progress of the project andthe awardees will have to submitreports every six months.

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Amid the continuing floodcrisis, the India

Meteorological Department(IMD) has predicted more rainin parts of central India andKerala, due to the formation ofa low pressure area over north-west Bay of Bengal on Tuesday.

The death toll in Keralareached 78 due to heavy rainsand flooding in the past fourdays while more than 160 per-sons lost their lives in Gujarat,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and Maharashtra overthe past one week. The overallmonsoon rains since June 1 is insurplus now at 1%, east andnortheast India has a deficiencyof -15%, -9% in northwest India,15% surplus in central India,+5% surplus in peninsular India.

Former Prime Minister andJanata Dal (Secular) HD DeveGowda has written to PrimeMinister Narendra Modirequesting him to notifyKarnataka flood as a naturaldisaster or natural calamityand release Rs 5000 crore asinterim relief.

All rivers are in spate inKarnataka where the UNESCOworld heritage site in Hampi, onthe banks of the TungabhadraRiver in Ballari district, has beeninundated after over 1.70 lakhcusec water was released from areservoir on Sunday morning.Tourists in Hampi have beenshifted to safer places. Six per-sons, including a woman and hernine-month-old daughter, wereburied alive in landslides inthree different villages in

Chamoli district, Uttarakhand.Erosion caused by swirlingwaters of the flooded ChuflagadRiver also washed away twobuildings on its banks.

According to IMD, underthe influence of low pressurearea, heavy to very heavy rain-fall at isolated places is likely overnorth Odisha, south Jharkhand,north Chhattisgarh and eastMadhya Pradesh during next 48hours (August 13 to 14). Keralais also likely to experience heavyto very rainfall at isolated placesduring the same period," theIMD bulletin said. The IMDissued alert for Kannur,Kasaragod and Wayanad inKerala and Rudraprayag,Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Tehri,Haridwar, Bageshwar,Pithoragarh, Champawat,Nainital and Udham SinghNagar in Uttarakhand for heavyrainfall. There is an 'orange' cat-egory warning for parts of east,central India and Kerala forAugust 13 and 14. The orangecategory implies that authoritieswill have to remain prepared forany emergencies.

With rains subsiding inmany parts of Kerala, searchoperations are on in landslide-hit

Kavalappara and Puthumala inMalappuram and Wayanad dis-tricts, as the toll in the monsoonfury climbed to 76 and 2.87 lakhpeople have sought refuge inrelief camps. The toll is expect-ed to go up as 50 people are stillmissing in Malappuram. Thereis no 'red alert' of torrential rainsfor any of the 14 districts onTuesday, but "orange alert" hasbeen issued for six districts toremain prepared for any emer-gencies.

A total of 5,81,897 peoplehave been evacuated and res-cued so far, and 1,181 reliefcamps have been opened where3,32,629 people are taking shel-ter in Karnataka. . As many as2,694 villages in 17 districtshave been affected. Accordingto information available fromthe state government, the deathtoll is 42 so far, while 12 weremissing.

In Jammu and Kashmir,three members of a family diedafter they came under a boulderduring a landslide in Resai dis-trict. Two others were alsoinjured in the incident that tookplace on Sunday evening inLaar village in the district'sMahore belt.

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As his pet campaign'Swachchh Bharat Mission'

(SBM) completes five years onOctober 2, 2019, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has decided toexpress his gratitude by e-mail-ing 'Swachch Aabhaar' letters in12 Indian languages to around10 lakh citizens, includingcelebrities, from various sectorsthanking them for their supportto the cleanliness drive.

The Government hasclaimed that implementation ofthe SBM has led to sanitationcoverage to 99.22 per cent fromits earlier status of about 38 percent since its launch on October2014.

"In recognition of their out-standing contributions towardsOpen Defecation Free (ODF)

sustainability, Aabhaar lettershave been planned to be dis-patched through emails," said asenior official from the Union JalShakti Ministry, which wasformed recently after clubbingUnion Water and SanitationMinistry and Union Rural andDevelopment Ministry. TheGovernment had said that byOctober, 2, 2019, entire countrywill be ODF.

"At the time of launch, thePrime Minister had given aclarion call for a 'janandolan' forswachchta. Swachch Bharat hassince become the world's largestbehavioral change campaign.The success of the mission isgreatly attributed to the peopleof different sectors of the soci-ety who have demonstratedexemplary leadership in thecleanliness mission," the official

added.Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar

and cinestars like Akshay Kumarand Anushka Sharma, NitaAmbani, wife of industrialistMukesh Ambani, were amongseveral personalities who joinedthe 'Swachhta hi Seva' campaignfollowing the Prime Minister'sclarion call.

The Ministry is now scout-ing for an agency that can do thejob which will also includetranslating the text of the letterin 12 Indian languages includ-ing Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali,Tamil, Kannada, Marathi andGujarati among others.

To promote sanitation, thePrime Minister had In 2017

written personalised letters toiconic celebrities, prominentindustrialists, sportspersons,film stars, inter-faith leadersand other noted personalities toenlist their support for the'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement,saying it is the most noble ser-vice.

He wrote, "Let us ensure thatthe coming days are about liv-ing the Mantra of 'Swachhata HiSeva'."

The Swachh BharatAbhiyan aims to make India acleaner place by emphasising onsanitation and health as alsochanging age-old attitudestowards hygiene. "I personallyinvite you to lend your supportto the 'Swachhata Hi Seva' move-ment and dedicate some time forthe cause of a Swachh Bharat,"PM Modi wrote.

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Bringing back memories ofthe multi-crore fodder scam,

the CBI has booked a privatecontractor and officials of theFood Corporation of India(FCI) for transporting 2,901quintals of rice through scoot-ers, cars and even water tankers.In the fodder scam, instances ofcattle having been ferried onscooters/two wheelers wereshown in records to make up forthe money siphoned off fromthe treasury.

In the bizarre case, the CBIhas registered an FIR against aprivate transport contractor andofficials of FCI for allegedlystealing 2,901 kg of rice worthRs 85 lakh.

The accused persons stolethe rice and in the records of thetransshipment cited the licencenumbers of scooters, motorcycles, buses and water tankers.

The CBI has launched theprobe into the matter after reg-istering an FIR on a complaintfrom the FCI.

It was alleged that a total of9,191 quintals (9,19,100 kg) ofrice was dispatched fromSalchapra rail terminal in Assamfor Koirengei in Manipurbetween March 7, 2016 toMarch 22, 2016 on 57 trucks ofa private transporter, ZenithEnterprises. Each truck wasgiven a road movement permit.

The consignment reachedthe destination after two months

for covering a distance of 275.5km, which in the normal coursetakes about nine hours.

Verification showed that2901.63 quintals (2,90,163 kg) ofrice worth Rs 84.98 lakh beingtransported by 16 vehicles hadbeen misappropriated.

This rice was not deliveredat Koirengei depot but wasshown in records as havingbeen received, the FIR alleged.

In sown affidavit, the trans-porter claimed that the delaywas due to breakdown of truckswhich required transhipment ofthe food grains through othertrucks.

The CBI enquiry revealedthat license numbers of tran-shipment vehicles, replacingtrucks which had allegedly bro-ken down, were not trucks butLML and Honda Activa scoot-ers, motorcycles, water tankers,bus, Maruti van, cars and ghostvehicles whose numbers hadnot been even registered by theRoad Transport Offices con-cerned, according to the FIR.

The license numbersrecords showed that two tranch-es of 16,300 kg and 10,000 kg ofmissing rice were transported byscooters and another tranche of16,300 kg of stolen rice was

transported by a motorcycle, theFIR alleged.

Non-transportation of theaforesaid 2601.63 quintals of riceto Koirengei and its misappro-priation is further substantiatedby the fact that the vehiclenumbers mentioned in records,including the vehicles used intranshipment in respect of afore-said 16 road movement permits,were not entered in the in thecheckpost betweenLeingangpokpi police check-post and Keithelmanbi policecheck post, according to the FIR.

It is alleged that officials ofFCI at Salchapra, Ashish KumarPaul and Rajnish Kumar Gupta,had fraudulently issued these 16permits without loading therice, and L Johson, a represen-tative of the transporter ZenithEnterprises, had falsely signedthese permits, the FIR said.

It said Soibam Surjit Singhof the transporter company hadallegedly submitted false affi-davits regarding the breakdownof trucks en route and tran-shipment by other vehicles.

False entries of receipt wereallegedly made by officials atKoirengei, they said adding thatthe transport company alsoraised fake bills of 16 trucks, offi-cial said adding all of them havebeen booked under IPCSections relating to criminalconspiracy, cheating, forgery,using a forged document as gen-uine and falsification of accountsbesides relevant provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act.

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The flood toll in Sangli,Kolhapur and three other

districts of Pune revenue divi-sion mounted to 43 on Monday,even as the MaharashtraGovernment — in a surprisemove — clamped prohibitoryorders in Kolhapur district for 12days from Monday, anticipatingtrouble during Bakri Eid,Independence Day and DahiHandi.

Sangli, which is one of thetwo worst flood-hit districtsafter Kolhapur, accounted for 21deaths that included 12 personskilled in a boat tragedy onThursday last, while sevendeaths each were reported fromKolhapur, Satara and Pune dis-tricts. There was one rain-relat-ed death in Solapur district.Three persons are reported to bemissing.

At a time when the author-ities continued to carry on therelief work on a massive scale,the Kolhapur district adminis-tration clamped section 37 (1)and 37 (3) of the MaharashtraPolice Act, 1951 relating powersprohibiting certain acts for pre-vention of disorder for 12 daysbeginning from Thursday.

In a statement issued afterclamping prohibitory ordersfrom August 12 to August 24,Additional District CollectorSanjay Shinde said that theywere anticipating some troublefrom flood victims and citizensduring Bakri Eid (August ,Independence Day and DahiHandi. “We do not rule out thepossibility of political parties andsocial organisations — takingadvantage of these occasions —

resorting to suicides, fast-unto-death and relay hunger strike inthe district. These may result inuntoward incidents and law &order problems. That’s why wehave chosen to impose pro-hibitory orders,” the AdditionalCollector said.

Slamming the state forclamping prohibitory orders inKolhapur district, theOpposition leaders charged thatthe State Government —through its prohibitory orders —was trying to cover up its failureto handle the flood situationeffectively.

“They are resorting to suchtactics since the people are fum-ing with anger since the pastnearly two weeks. Is this ademocracy or the rule of Gen.Dwyer”? NCP’s Maharashtraspokesperson and Mumbai unitchierf Nawab Malik asked. StaeCongress President BalasahebThorat said: “Instead of coop-erating with the people andrushing them all aid materials,the state has resorted to pro-hibitory orders”.

Though there was a notice-able drop in flooding in Sangli,Kolhapur and three other dis-tricts of western Maharashtra, asmany as many as 46 villages —involving a total of 66,837 fam-ilies — continued to be inac-cessible for the sixth consecutiveday. Of the total marooned vil-lages, Kohapur accounted for amaximum of 18 villages, whilethere were such 16 and 12 suchinaccessible villages Solapur andSangli districts. “We have so farevacuated 78,484 people fromthese marooned villages, PuneDivisional Commissioner DrDeepak Mahaisekar said.

“We are continuing to shiftthe marooned people to reliefcamps. So far, we have evacuat-ed 4,74,226 marooned peopleand moved them to 596 reliefcamps set up across five districtsof the Pune revenue division. InSangli and Kolhapur districts, wehave collectively evacuated4,74,226 people and movedthem to 370 relief camps,”

Mahaisekar said In a related development,

Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis has sentMumbai's MunicipalCommissioner Parveen Pardeshito Sangli and Satara to coordi-nate the relief operations.Pardeshi, who was the districtcollector during the 1993 Laturearthquake, has the expertise to

deal with the relief work duringnatural calamities.

Simultaneously, theMaharashtra Government hasurged the RBI and largest pub-lic sector bank SBI to makeATMs operations functional inthe flood-hit areas. State chiefsecretary Ajoy Mehta is in touchwith SBI chairman RajnishKumar in the regard.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Withrains subsiding in many parts ofKerala, search and relief oper-ations are on in landslide-hitKavalappara and Puthumala inMalappuram and Wayanad dis-tricts, as authorities on Mondayreported 83 deaths in the mon-soon fury since August 8.

Over 2.55 lakh people havesought refuge in 1,413 reliefcamps, officials said.

The toll is expected to go upas 50 people are still missing inMalappuram, one of the worst-hit by the rains.

There is no 'red alert' for anyof the 14 districts on Tuesday,but "orange alert" has beenissued for six districts.

The state's northern dis-tricts of Malappuram, Wayanadand Kozhikode and Idukki incentral Kerala were ravaged bythe torrential rains.

Malappuram was rockedby a series of landslips triggeredby heavy rain since August 8 atKavalappara and Kottakunnu inwhich 27 people have died.

With the recovery of morebodies, including 27 fromMalappuram, 17 fromKozhikode and 12 fromWayanad since August 8, the tollhas gone up to 83 as per theupdate at 7 pm.

Authorities are searchingfor those feared trapped inmud-slips at Wayanad andMalappuram.

In Malappuram, 59,351people have been lodged in 240camps.

In neighbouring Wayanad,which was also rocked by a mas-sive landslide at Puthumala, 12people have lost their lives andseven are still missing.

In the 212 relief camps inthe district over 35,000 peoplehave taken shelter, an officialrelease said.

In Kozhikode district, 17deaths have been reported andover 60,000 people shifted to209 camps.

Congress leader RahulGandhi visited relief camps andflood-hit areas in his WayanadLok Sabha constituency, includ-ing worst hit Puthumala, andinteracted with people.

"It is a tragedy not only forWayanad, but for Kerala andalso some southern states. Thisis not only a Wayanad issue, thisis a Kerala issue, this is aKarnataka issue.

I think the Central govern-ment needs to pay attention andaggressively support the peopleof these states," the Congressleader told reporters at Kalpettaafter attending a review meet-ing with government officials onthe flood situation in his con-stituency.

He also tweeted that he hadvisited the epicentre ofPuthumala landslide atMeppadi in Wayanad.

"This is the site of a terriblelandslide that destroyed anentire village, many people arestill feared to be trapped & res-cue work is ongoing," he said.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan on Monday directeddistrict collectors to ensure allnecessary facilities for peopleliving in relief camps and sani-tation drive is being conductedin a proper manner in flood-hitplaces.

Steps should be taken torestore power supply and drink-ing water distribution in rain-hitareas, he said.

Vijayan, during a reviewmeeting with collectors throughvideo conference, also asked dis-trict authorities to provide tem-porary lodging for those whohad lost their houses, even afterthe relief camps are wound up.

As the rains receded, rescueoperations in affected areas havebecome smooth, he said, addingthat the next major rescue taskwas to evacuate people frommudslide-prone areas. PTI

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Wayanad (Ker): Congressleader Rahul Gandhi onMonday visited flood-hit areasin his Wayanad Lok Sabhaconstituency, including worst-hit Puthumala, and urged theCentre to "aggressively sup-port" the people hit by floodsand landslides in Southernstates.

"It is a tragedy not only forWayanad, but for Kerala andalso some southern states. Thisis not only a Wayanad issue,this is a Kerala issue, this is aKarnataka issue.

I think the Central gov-ernment needs to pay attentionand aggressively support thepeople of these states," theCongress leader told reportersat Kalpetta after attending a

review meeting with govern-ment officials on the flood sit-uation in his Lok Sabha con-stituency.

Gandhi, who is currentlyvisiting people affected byfloods and landslides inWayanad, said he had spokento Prime Minister NarendraModi about the Kerala floodissue.

"I spoke to the PrimeMinister and I mentioned tohim some of the details that Iknew about Kerala andWayanad.

And I told him to makesure that central governmentgives full support," he said inresponse to a question on thecentral aid to Wayanad ravagedby floods and landslides. PTI

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Bengaluru: Former PrimeMinister HD Deve Gowda onMonday requested PrimeMinister Narendra Modi torelease �5,000 crore as interimrelief to flood-ravagedKarnataka and to notify it as"national calamity."

In a letter to Modi, theJD(S) patriarch said he had notseen such destruction to bothhuman lives and properties inhis six decades of political career.

"I request you to releaserupees five thousand crore asinterim relief pending submis-sion of final memorandum bythe State Government followedby assessment from a high-level central team and recom-mendation of the inter-minis-

terial committee on disastermanagement on assessment andquantification of the damagesuffered by the state due to floodhavoc," Gowda said in his letter.

"I hope that theGovernment of India wouldextend its helping hand in thehours of need to wipe the tearsof vast population of the statewhich has facing a major tragedyand to rebuild their lively hoodwith all form of assistance fromthe state and central govern-ments," he said.

However, the KarnatakaGovernment has requested theCentre to immediately release�3,000 crore. A total of 2,694 vil-lages in eighty-six taluks of 17districts in Karnataka have been

affected due to floods and rains.According to information

available from the StateGovernment, the death toll sofar was 42, while 12 were miss-ing. A total of 5,81,897 peoplehave been evacuated and res-cued so far, and 1,181 reliefcamps have been opened where3,32,629 people are taking shel-ter. Gowda said this naturalcalamity is unprecedented, rareand severe and beyond the cop-ing capacity of the StateGovernment and extremely dif-ficult for it to provide rescue,relief and rehabilitation mea-sures through normal allocationavailable under the nationaland state disaster responsefunds. PTI

Mumbai: Shiv Sena MLA UlhasPatil on Monday blamed the"bureaucratic lethargy" forfloods in Kolhapur and Sanglidistricts following heavy rains inwestern Maharashtra.

Patil, who represents ShirolAssembly seat in Kolhapur, saidhe urged the district adminis-tration last month-end to takesteps like releasing water fromdams in view of the predictionof heavy rainfall in the area.

"I wrote a letter to Kolhapurcollector on July 31, pointing out

that Koyna dam was 80 per centfilled. There was a forecast ofextremely heavy rain in the firstweek of August and I request-ed the collector to take steps likereleasing some water from damsin advance," he said.

"But nothing happened,only because of the bureaucraticlethargy. Today we are witness-ing loss of lives and property,"Patil said.

The MLA said in his letterhe also urged the collector totake steps for increasing the dis-

charge of water from Almattidam on the Krishna river inneighbouring Karnataka.

"Despite my request, nopreventive action was initiatedand the entire region was affect-ed by floods last week," herued.

Notably, Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray on Sundayrefused to comment on anycontroversy over floods, sayinghis focus was on providing allsupport to those affected by therain fury. PTI

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Ahmedabad: The Indian AirForce (IAF) has rescued nearly125 people stranded on a roadwashed away by floods due toheavy rainfall in Kutch districtof Gujarat, officials said onMonday.

Several parts of Gujarat,including Saurashtra and Kutchregions, received heavy rainfallin the last few days.

After the heavy downpour,a large number of people werestuck on a road washed away byflood waters at Bhuj in Kutchdistrict.

On Sunday evening, theAir Force received a request torescue a large number of people

stranded on a road that waswashed away at a causewaynear Hajipir dargah at Bhuj inKutch district, a defence officialsaid. "The South Western AirCommand (SWAC) respondedswiftly and sent a Mi17 heli-copter from Jamnagar. The heli-copter took three shuttles andrescued 125 people. They wereshifted to a safer location, hesaid. The area is located near theIndia-Pakistan border.

The region was flooded dueto heavy rains following whicharound 300 people, mostlyworkers of a factory and theirfamily members, were stranded.

Initially, teams of the

National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) and local policerescued around 175 people, adistrict administration officialsaid.

Later, the district adminis-tration sought help of the IAF torescue the remaining people, hesaid. The IAF helicopters werealso used to rescue flood- affect-ed people from Navsari in southGujarat and Jamnagar in last fewdays, a defence release said.

"The operation began onAugust 4 when two helicopterswere deployed to rescue 45 peo-ple, including women and chil-dren, from some flooded areasof Navsari," it said. PTI

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Bengaluru: The BJP'sKarnataka unit on Monday hitout at Congress Legislatureparty leader Siddaramaiah fornot visiting his flood-hit BadamiAssembly constituency andinstead attending a "biryaniparty."

The BJP has also posted pic-tures of Siddaramaiah purport-edly having food along withKPCC president Dinesh GunduRao, veteran congress leaderMallikarjun Kharge, party leg-islators B Z Zameer AhmedKhan, M B Patil, K J George,Krishna Byre Gowda, amongothers.

"Twitter preacher @sid-daramaiah has time to attendbiryani party at Congress MLCshouse, but he doesnt have timeto visit flood affected Badamiconstituency.

If eating biryani is over,make some effort to visit yourconstituency & listen to pleas ofpeople who voted u (sic)," theBJP's Karnataka unit tweeted.

Siddaramaiah had citedcataract surgery and doctors'advice for not visiting Badamiin Bagalkot district that is affect-ed by floods.

He had deputed his son andMLA of Varuna constituency in

Mysuru Yathindra to visitBadami and take stock of the sit-uation.

Siddaramaiah has been flay-ing the central government overthe delay in releasing funds totake up relief measures.

He has also hit out at ChiefMinister Yediyurappa over thedelay in cabinet expansion andhis ability to handle the floodsituation on his own, withoutany ministers in his govern-ment.

Monday also marked thebirthday of the former chiefminister who completed 71years. PTI

Kochi: Noushad did not thinktwice while opening the sealedbundles of new clothes, kept inhis godown for Eid sale, anddonate it to the distressed peo-ple, who are living in reliefcamps after losing everythinginthe floods and massive land-slides in north Kerala.

He himself stuffed a lion'sshare of his fresh apparelstocked in huge carry bagsand took them on his head tothe parked vehicles, to be takento the relief camps.

Noushad, a street vendor inKochi, had donated nearly 10sacks of new clothes kept forfestival sale, when a group ofvolunteers approached him fordonation to help people livingin relief camps on Sunday, theeve of Eid.

At a time when majority ofpeople prefer to give usedclothes and only a portion oftheir savings to help the needy,Noushad has donated almostall his earnings to bring asmile on the faces of people

whom he has neither met norknown, thus showcasing amodel of compassion andbrotherhood.

The video of the vendor, inhis 40s, busy packing theclothes in a narrow godown

and transporting them to thevehicles, along with the volun-teers, has gone viral on socialmedia.

When Noushad startedstuffing new clothes in carrybags, volunteers cautioned himthat he was giving away toomuch and it might effect hisfestival sales.

"When we depart fromthis world, we cannot carryanything... My profit is to helpthe needy... Isn't this the way weshould celebrate Eid? My Eid islike this...," a smiling Naushadsaid.

He said he was certain theclothes donated would reach tothe affected people.

"It is meant for the poorpeople. I am not botheredabout profit or loss", he added.

Film and theatre artist,Rajesh Sharma, who wasamong the volunteers, posteda video of the noble vendor onFacebook, which had beenviewed and shared by a largenumber of people.

A number of peopleincluding state PWD ministerG Sudhakaran, Ernakulam dis-trict Collector S Suhas andactor Asif Ali have lavishedpraise on the vendor's selflessact.

State Health Minister K KShylaja extended her Eid greet-ings on the social media shar-ing Noushad's photo andwords.

The monsoon fury has sofar claimed 76 lives and dis-placed over 2.7 lakh people inthe southern State. PTI

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Minister BS Yediyurappa onMonday announced an assis-tance of �5 lakh each to thosewho have lost their housescompletely in the floods andlandslides, to take up con-struction work.

The Chief Minister hasalso announced �1 lakh tothose whose houses have beendamaged, to take up repairwork, and �5,000 monthly tothose staying in rental accom-modation till their houses areready.

"�1 lakh assistance will beprovided to those whose hous-es have been damaged due tofloods, to take up repair work,"Yediyurappa was quoted as

saying by his office in a release.He made this announce-

ment during his visit toBelthangady in DakshinaKannada district.

Yediyurappa said, "�5 lakhwill be given to those whohave completely lost theirhouses, to take up construc-tion work, and �10,000 will begiven as immediate measure."

He also said �5,000 permonth will be given to thosestaying in rental accommoda-tions adding that those with-out site will be provide withplot. A total of 2,694 villagesin eighty-six taluks of 17 dis-tricts in Karnataka have beenaffected due to floods andrains. PTI

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The medical educationdreams and hopes of hun-

dreds of students who passedout successfully in the NationalEligibility-Cum-Entrance Test(NEET) have been shattered bythe indifferent and dubiousapproach of the board of direc-tors of the Employees StateInsurance Corporation-ownedmedical colleges in the country, allege parents of stu-dents who face uncertaintyabout their future.

“This has tarnished theimage of the Ministries ofHealth, Human Resources ingeneral and that of the Centrein particular,” according to acandidate whose admission tothe first year MBBS is hangingin the balance.

There are nine ESI-runmedical colleges in India where20 per cent of the total seats arereserved exclusively for thechildren of subscribers of theState promoted organisation.The number of seats allocatedfor MBBS course is 317 and forBDS is 22. “This reservation isinclusive of the candidatescoming under ScheduledCastes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCand EWS,” said the father of agirl student who scored moregrades in the NEET than whatwas prescribed by the Board forbeing considered for admissionto the MBBS/BDS courses.

But the aspirations of this

candidate and hundreds of oth-ers like her suffered a setback inJune this year when a singlebench judge of the Madras HighCourt issued an order stayingthe admission of students underthe ESI quota against a petitionfiled by an open quota studentwho questioned the legality ofthe admission process. Her con-tention was that though she hadscored more marks in the NEET,she was being denied admissionto facilitate the admission of theESI quota students.

The ESI posted the courtorder on its website on June 28and the first list of selected can-didates was published on July1. The parents who contactedthe ESI board about the fate oftheir children were told that anappeal was being filed seekingthe cancellation of the stayorder. Though the second andfinal allotment list was pub-lished on July 12, it too did notcarry the names of the ESIquota students. What made

matters worse was that thesestudents, who were confidentof making it to the medicalcolleges did not apply for anyother colleges or courses.“Though we were told by theESI Board that it wouldapproach the Madras HighCourt nothing happened andthis forced us to file a complaintwith the Supreme Court. Theapex court asked us toapproach the Madras HighCourt pleading for a hearing bya Division Bench,” said thefather of another applicant.

The Division Bench of theMHC on July 18 stayed theorder by the single bench andasked the ESI management tohasten up the admission pro-cedure as per hitherto followednorms. Though the court orderwas received by the ESI head-quarters on July 23, the directorgeneral of the body rejected theorder stating that there was noclarity. The students and theparents again approached the

High Court seeking the clarifi-cation asked by the DG, theywere told by the additionalsolicitor general that whateverclarification had been asked bythe DG was there in the courtorder and all that the latter hadto do is to admit the students.

Despite these develop-ments, the ESI Board hasrefused to comply with theCourt Order which has neces-sitated the parents and thestudents deciding to file a con-tempt of court in the SupremeCourt against the ESI Board.

“There is an apprehensionamong us that the ESI Boardmay be hand in glove with theprivate management colleges toforce some of the studentsfrom the reserved quota seekadmission paying hefty fees. Bydelaying the admission processof the reserved quota students,the ESI management may beindirectly helping the selffinance medical colleges,” saidP Ramadas, an aggrieved fatherof a student who has been qual-ified but denied admission forreasons best known to themanagement. But K SureshBabu, leader of the INTUCwho was a board member ofthe ESIC till last year has takenup the cudgels on behalf of thestudents. “I have been given asassurance by the ESI manage-ment that the qualified studentswould be granted admissionand there is no need for themto be upset,” he told The Pioneeron Monday.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday paid rich

tributes to space pioneerVikram Sarabhai on his 100thbirth anniversary and said hisvision helped India become amajor science and technologyplayer in the world.

Modi offered tributes toSarabhai, the father of India’sspace programme, through avideo message which wasplayed at an event held here tocommemorate his birth cente-nary, which comes just weeksafter Chandrayaan-2 mission tothe Moon was launched.

The function marks theinauguration of year-long cen-tenary celebrations in honourof Sarabhai, born on August 12,1919 in Ahmedabad.

“This is a special occasionas we are celebrating DrSarabhai’s birth centenary. Thishas come at a time when Indiais about to land on the moon.

“When Vikram Lander (ofChandrayaan-2) would landon the Moon next month, itwill be a befitting tribute to DrSarabhai from 130 crore citi-zens of India,” said Modi in hisaddress was played at the event.

The programme wasorganised jointly by theDepartment of Space, theISRO, which was founded bySarabhai, and the Departmentof Atomic Energy.

“He used to say that peo-ple of India must not hesitateto use latest technology to

solve problems faced by thesociety. “It was this vision of DrSarabhai which played animportant role in making Indiaa major player in the field ofscience and technology.

“We are now making use ofspace technology and nucleartechnology for the benefit ofcommon men,” said Modi.

Modi said it was Sarabhaiwho filled the void created bythe death of legendary scientistHomi Bhabha, who had con-ceived India’s nuclear pro-gramme. RememberingSarabhai’s initial days, Modisaid the first rocket launched byhim at Thumba in Kerala dur-ing the 1960s became the basefor today’s rocket technologywhich is being used to launchIndia’s Moon and Mars mis-sions. “Dr Sarabhai gave a newdirection to our space andnuclear programmes. We cansay that the rocket launched byhim at Thumba has now takendifferent forms to help us reach

to the Moon and Mars.“Today, the entire world is

amazed by our achievements inspace and showering praises onus,” said Modi, adding apartfrom being a legendary scien-tist, Sarabhai was a greathuman being and a teacher.

The prime minister urgedthe young generation to takeinspiration from Sarabhai andmake new inventions to solvevarious problems being facedby the society. The functionwas attended by ISRO chair-man K Sivan, one of his pre-decessors K Kasturirangan,former Director of the SpaceApplication Centre PramodKale and Sarabhai’s sonKartikeya Sarabhai amongother dignitaries.

As per the ISRO website,Sarabhai founded the PhysicalResearch Laboratory (PRL) inAhmedabad in 1947 when hewas just 28 years old. He wasalso chairman of the AtomicEnergy Commission andplayed a major role in the cre-ation of the Indian Institute ofManagement, Ahmedabad.

Some other well-knowninstitutions established bySarabhai are: Faster Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR),Kalpakkam, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,Thiruvananthapuram, VariableEnergy Cyclotron Project,Kolkata and UraniumCorporation of India Ltd(UCIL), Jaduguda (Jharkhand).

Sarabhai died onDecember 30, 1971.

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Kolkata: West Bengal BJP pres-ident Dilip Ghosh on Mondaysaid his party is not in favour ofa separate Gorkhaland Stateand wants a permanent politi-cal solution in Darjeeling hills.

He said those who do notwant development of the hillsare doing politics over it.

The comment comes inthe backdrop of the word‘Gorkhaland’ by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah in a letterto Darjeeling MP Raju Bista,who had sought protection forGorkhas in the national Capital.

The use of the word haskicked up a row in West Bengalwith the ruling TMC seeing init a “plot” to divide the state.

The BJP, which hasemerged as a major politicalforce in the state after the LokSabha polls, has rejected thecharge as “baseless”.

“We have never said wewant Gorkhaland. We want apermanant political solutionto the problem in the hills sothat development can take placethere. We have said this before and we are repeating it,”Ghosh said.

“We had won theDarjeeling seat with a hugemargin under very tough cir-cumstances. We will work forthe development of the peopleof the hills,” he added.

Several hill parties haddemanded UT status forDarjeeling after the Kashmirdevelopments. PTI

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Rejecting Mamata Banerjee’sallegations that the BJP-led

Central Government wasthreatening to bring theKolkata Durga Puja commit-tees under Income Tax net sothat the organisers who enjoymuch leverage in their localareas can be arm-twisted to jointhe saffron outfit, the BengalBJP on Monday said it was theduty of the Centre to preventmoney laundering through thePuja committees.

“Nothing should be readinto the Centre’s move to tax thePuja committees. It is just beingdone to prevent money laun-dering,” Bengal BJP presidentDilip Ghosh said adding it wascommon knowledge that thechit fund often cash got routedthrough Puja committees.

“After all they are dealingwith public money. They col-lect cash and donation from thepeople of the society and theymust account for that money,”

Ghosh said. “Lakhs of rupees earned

through chit fund are oftenlooted and laundered in thismanner and it is theGovernment’s duty look intothis entire business,” he said.

Slamming the Centre fortargeting the Kolkata DurgaPuja committees with incometax notices Bengal ChiefMinister on Saturday said thatthe Centre was trying to brow-beat the local clubs into sub-mission so that they could beforced to work for the BJP infuture. “I want the centre tostop bringing the Puja com-mittees in tax net,” Banerjeesaid showing how the senti-ments of lakhs of people wereinvolved with the Durga Pujawhich was the biggest festivalof the Bengali people.

“Even we have withdrawntax from Ganga Sagar Melabecause it involves sentimentsof lakhs of devotees. TheCentre will only earn people’sire by taxing the Pujas,” she said

adding only about 25 Pujacommittees out of 2,800 havea budget beyond �50 lakh.“Most of them have a budget of�15 lakh or so and that too iscollected through donationand sponsor,” she maintained.

Pooh-pooing Banerjee forshedding crocodile’s tears forthe Durga Puja committeesanother senior BJP leader andparty national secretary RahulSinha said if she is so con-cerned about these committees,then why did the TMCGovernment on several occa-sions try to stop Durga Puja rit-uals, in order to allowMuharram in the State.

He asked “what is the harmif IT looks into the money flowin Durga Puja committees. Insome puja committees, seniorTMC leaders and Ministersoccupy important positionsand use it to launder their blackmoney looted through cutmoney and chit fund scams.The TMC is afraid that this linkmight be revealed.”

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Jaipur: A bust of Bharatiya JanaSangh founder Syama PrasadMookerjee has been foundvandalised in Rajasthan’sBhilwara district, police said on Monday.

A case was registeredagainst unidentified accused inthis connection, they said.

Some unidentified anti-social elements vandalisedthe bust of Mookerjee installed at the Ummed Sagarcrossing in Shahpura police sta-tion area of the district onSunday night, BhilwaraSuperintendent of PoliceHarendra Kumar said.

A delegation of BJP workers met theBhilwara SP on Monday andpresented a memorandumdemanding arrest of theaccused at the earliest.

Kumar said the matter isbeing probed and the law andorder situation is being moni-tored. PTI

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Aday after thedelivery person-

nel of food deliverycompany Zomatowent on an indefinitestrike in Howrah alleging they were forced by theiremployers to supply beef and pork to customers themanagement said that they were trying to resolve the issue.

Even as the workers protested and raised slogansat Howrah, the company, in a statement, said “a smallgroup of partners” have raised concerns and it waslooking to resolve the issue. There is a small groupof partners in Howrah who have raised concerns andwe are looking to resolve the issue as quickly as pos-sible,” a company spokesperson said even as BengalMinister Rajib Banerjee who is a local MLA toobacked the demands of the protesters.

The striking Zomato staff said, “We are on strikeas we have to deliver beef food items which are againstour religious sentiments. We are not going to do it,”adding the company was not listening to theirdemands and forcing them to deliver beef and porkwhich go against their religious sentiments. Both theHindus and Muslims staff were raising similar issues,workers said.

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Chennai: Congress in Tamil Nadu onMonday took potshots at top film starRajinikanth for likening PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah duo to LordKrishna and Arjuna and wanted himto read Mahabharat properly.

A day after the actor made theremark while appreciating Shah forscrapping Article 370, Tamil NaduCongress Committee President K SAlagiri said he did not expect such areaction from him adding he was sur-prised by it.

States including those in theNorth East enjoyed special privilegeslike Kashmir did (previously), he saidin a statement and wanted to knowwhy these were not scrapped by theCentre. The reason for doing awaywith Article 370 in Jammu andKashmir alone was due to its “Muslimmajority” status, he alleged.

The Congress leader wanted toknow if the actor toed the “one kindof justice for Kashmir and another forother states,” policy of Shah.

Modi and Shah combine are notKrishna and Arjuna, he said and asked:“How can those who snatched awaythe rights of crores of people could beKrishna and Arjuna ? dear MrRajinikanth, please read Mahabharatagain, please go through it againproperly,” he added.

On Sunday, the actor had con-gratulated the Union Home Ministerfor the Centre’s initiative on Kashmir.Prime Minister Modi and Shah werelike Lord Krishna and Arjuna, he hadsaid. However, “we don’t know who isKrishna and who is Arjuna,” added theactor. The Krishna-Arjuna combina-tion is credited with playing a key rolein the Pandavas winning theMahabharata battle against theKauravas. PTI

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Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir GovernorSatya Pal Malik on Monday hit out atCongress leader Rahul Gandhi for hisremarks that there have been reports ofviolence in Kashmir, saying he will sendhim an aircraft to visit the valley andobserve the ground situation.

The Governor said Gandhi shouldfeel ashamed about the behaviour of oneof his leaders who was talking like an“idiot” in Parliament.

“I have invited Rahul Gandhi tocome here. I will send you a plane, toobserve (the situation) and then speakup. You are a responsible person and youshould not speak like this,” Malik said.

Malik was replying to a questionabout statements and reports by someleaders and the media about the violence

in Kashmir. On Saturday night, Gandhi said that

some reports had come in from Jammu& Kashmir about the violence there andPrime Minister Narendra Modi mustassuage concerns over the matter in atransparent manner.

The Governor said there was nocommunal angle in scrapping provisionsof Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir.

“Scrapping of Article 370 and Article35-A was for everyone. There is no com-munal angle (for scrapping it) in Leh,Kargil, Jammu, Rajouri-Poonch andnot here either (Kashmir). There is nocommunal angle to it,” he said.

Malik said that the issue was beingfanned by some people but they were notsuccessful in it. PTI

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Kohima: Nagaland Chief SecretaryTemjen Toy on Monday said theRegister of Indigenous Inhabitants ofNagaland (RIIN) will strengthen theimplementation of Inner Line Permit(ILP) in the State, especially in Dimapurdistrict.

The State Government found it nec-essary to conduct the exercise to iden-tify the indigenous inhabitants of thestate and therefore notified creation ofRIIN, Toy told reporters here

Extension of ILP has also been thedemand of several Naga tribal organi-sations and student bodies taking intoconsideration the influx of illegal immi-grants, he said.

The chief secretary said that it hasbeen found that a robust IT enabled ILPsystem is required to be put in place tocheck such influx which threatens thevery existence of the indigenous inhab-itants.

Expressing that ILP should havebeen put into force in Dimapur after the1979 order declaring it as a tribal belt,Toy, however, said the present govern-ment accepting the submissions of thetribal bodies and civil societies hasdecided to extend ILP to Dimapur.

He said that creation of RIINbefore implementation of ILP is amust. Toy said that following thedemand of the Naga tribal bodies andcivil society organisations asking for for-mulation of proper modalities for RIIN,the government has constituted RIINcommission headed by Banuo Z Jamir.

He said that the RIIN is an ongo-ing process and it has not been put onhold, except for enumeration process,which will commence only after con-sensus is achieved on Banuo Z Jamir

Commission recommendations, whichwill be submitted next month.

RIIN will be a one-time exercise butthere will be continuity in the entry asthe family members of those entered inthis exercise will be added as and whenneeded, he said.

He also asserted that rights andproperties including land of non-Nagainhabitants of Nagaland before state-hood, December 1, 1963 and thosebefore declaration of then Dimapur sub-division under Kohima as a ‘tribal belt’in 1979 will have to be protected.

He affirmed that RIIN will firstidentity the Naga indigenous inhabi-tants of the state and than other non-Nagas who have settled in Dimapurbefore 1979 and those settled in otherparts of the state before December 1,1963, the year of Nagaland statehood.

The non-Nagas cannot be taken asindigenous inhabitants but they willhave to be considered as domicile orpermanent residents of the state as theyhave been in the state for such longdurations.

Differentiating all this people willhelp enforce Inner Line Permit (ILP) fordifferent categories of people while theauthorities will be able to introduce IT-enabled ILP to have proper records anddatas of ILP holders entry and exit intothe state, Toy said.

The chief secretary said that theBanuo Z Jamir commission on RIINwill also recommend the cut of dates,thereafter it will taken for deliberationwith the general public.

RIIN will be implemented only afterall the stakeholders arrive at a consen-sus through proper discussions, thechief secretary asserted. PTI

Lucknow: Six women inmates,one of them five months preg-nant, fled from a Government-run shelter home here, an offi-cial said on Monday.

The district probation offi-cer of Lucknow, SudhakarPandey, said the six women fledfrom the Rajkiya MahilaSharnalaya on Prag NarainRoad on Saturday at around

2.30 am.He said three of them were

from Lakhimpur, two fromHardoi and one from Lucknow.

The CCTV footage of theincident shows that “thewomen climbed on emptydrums with the help of a watersupply pipe and reached theroof of a bathroom on the cam-pus,” Pandey said.

“From there, they crossedthe boundary wall fenced withbarbed wires,” he said.

Pandey admitted that noworker was present near theCCTV monitor at night.

He said action will be takenagainst the centre superinten-dent and four security person-nel who were on duty when theincident happened. PTI

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Aligarh (UP): Kashmiri stu-dents at the AMU boycottedthe lunch invite from the liai-son officer of the centralgovernment on the occasionof Eid al-Adha on Monday toprotest the abrogation of pro-visions of Article 370 thatgave special status to Jammu& Kashmir.

The issued a statementrejecting the invite and claim-ing that it was aimed at “rub-bing salt on the wounds of thepeople of Kashmir”.

Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU) officials,when contacted, confirmedthe boycott call, stressingthat they were taking steps “toinstil confidence” in studentsfrom the Valley and ensuringtheir safety and security, asadvised by the CentralGovernment.

There are about 1,300students from the Valleystudying at AMU. PTI

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It appears as if every prominentleader of the Indian NationalCongress (INC) is running aroundlike a headless chicken after themomentous decision taken by the

Narendra Modi Government to abrogateArticle 370 and fully integrate Jammu &Kashmir into the Indian Union.

That the INC is no longer “national”or “nationalist” is now obvious going bythe utter confusion at top-level decision-making but the party was not always likethis. It had robust and patriotic leadersin the past and there is sufficient evidenceof this in our parliamentary records. Hereis a sample of what tall leaders of theparty, including K Hanumanthaiah,Member of the Constituent Assembly, for-mer Chief Minister of Mysore and laterUnion Minister for Railways, had to sayin the Lok Sabha on September 11, 1964,on abrogation of Article 370 and of theirdisillusionment with the pusillanimity ofthe Congress:

Hanumanthaiya (Congress): “Notmerely Members of Parliament fromKashmir but irrespective of parties —from the extreme right to the extreme leftof this House — we are all of one opin-ion that this Bill (abrogating Article370) should be made into a law. To goagainst it or to say anything against thisunanimous opinion of this House is todisown Constitutional responsibility in aconvenient manner. Article 370...standsin the way of full integration.”

Hanumanthaiya also dealt with theconstant fear in the Government aboutworld opinion. Referring to the Westernnations he said, “They are not our mas-ters. It is not they, who have to dictate...Itis the responsibility of this House to directthis...”. He said he would appeal to theGovernment “not to be nervous aboutworld opinion or about opinionsexpressed by the UK, the US, Soviet Russiaor any other power.” The Government, hesaid, should shake off “inferiority com-plex” that it had inherited from theBritish days and stop worrying about theresponse of foreign powers.

He said, “Here is a case where wecould show equal determination andcourage and solve the problem once andfor all.” He told his Government to stopbeing so modest and realise that India wasstronger and more influential than mostcountries in the world...”.

Considering how Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah executed the plan toabrogate Article 370 — with quiet deter-mination and the virtual endorsement ofit by many nations, thanks to Modi’s sus-tained, calibrated diplomatic contactswith global leaders over the last five years— it appears as if they were following theadvice given by Hanumanthaiya to hisown party 55 years ago.

In fact, some parts ofHanumanthaiya’s speechsound like he was deliveringthem on August 5, 2019. Hesaid, “This is the unanimousopinion of this House (toabrogate Article 370) and it isapplauded by the whole coun-try. Therefore, I want theGovernment to take a deter-mined stand...”

In conclusion, he thankedPrakash Vir Shastri for bring-ing the private Bill for repealof Article 370, which hadwon the admiration of mem-bers across the political divide.

Many other Congress stal-warts forcefully demandedrepeal of Article 370 duringthis debate.

Bhag wat Jha Azad(Congress): The Governmentmust fearlessly declare its pol-icy on Kashmir. FromKashmir and across theGangetic plains and theNarmada to Kanyakumari,people want to see full integra-tion. No Government or partycan go against the wishes ofthe people.

Ram Sahay Pandey(Congress): He blamedJawaharlal Nehru for rushingto the United Nations to com-plain about infiltration ofPakistani troops into Kashmirafter it acceded to India. He

said by seeking UN’s interven-tion and accepting its ceasefireorder, Nehru had squanderedaway a fine opportunity torecapture the territories, whichwere in illegal possession ofPakistan. Gen Thimayya, whowas handling the militaryoperations, had pleaded withthe Government for just twomore days to recapture theseterritories but Nehru’s moveand the ceasefire wrecked theIndian Army’s plans.

Gopal Dutta Mengi(Congress): I support thisBill. All over India, peoplewant Jammu & Kashmir to befully integrated with the coun-try. Constitute a committee oflegal experts to extend theUnion Government’s power tothe State.

Inder J Malhotra(Congress): I...agree thatArticle 370 be omitted. Thepeople of the State have nospecial liking for Article370...and we shall be veryhappy as soon as this is omit-ted. I request the HomeMinister that this Bill shouldnot be opposed.

These sentiments wereechoed by MPs across parties,including MV Kamath (PrajaSocialist Party) and RamManohar Lohia (Socialist Party).

But the clincher came from

DC Sharma, an IndependentMP. He said, “Our Article 370has disfigured ourConstitution. This Article isnothing more than aConstitutional anachronism. Isay that for the good name ofIndia, for the Constitutionalpropriety of India, for the legalcorrectness of this country,this Article should be scrappedforthwith without any hesita-tion, without any doubt...thisArticle refers to those condi-tions, which no longer exist andwhich are not operative now.Therefore, this Constitutionalimpropriety, which is embed-ded in...370, must go.”

When we reflect over theadvice Sharma gave to theCongress Government wayback in 1964, which was notacted upon, the clarity ofthinking in the presentGovernment on such a tan-gled issue and the precisionwith which Prime MinisterModi and Shah have acted atthis juncture, we realise theyawning gap between theCongress and the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) on criticalissues pertaining to nationalintegrity and national securi-ty. Here is another example.

DC Sharma (Ind):Wisdom consists in settlingunsettled things. The act of

statesmanship is an act ofboldness, firmness and deci-siveness. But I do not knowwhat has happened to mycountry that instead of settlingunsettled things, we haveunsettled settled things.

Finally, the clincher :“Article 370...is not a wall...itis a big mountain, whichstands between India andJammu & Kashmir. I feel thismountain should be blastedwith dynamite, with the dyna-mite of goodwill, firmnessand decision. That way lies thesalvation of India and that waylies the good and welfare ofthe people of Jammu &Kashmir.”

Thanks to Modi, India nolonger suffers from an “infe-riority complex” thatHanumanthaiya lamentedabout. Also, Modi and Shahhave acted with “boldness”,“firmness” and “decisiveness”— the qualities that MPswanted the CongressGovernment to exhibit in1964, “to settle unsettledthings” and to blast the moun-tain called Article 370 “withthe dynamite of goodwill,firmness and decision!”

(The writer is an authorspecialising in democracy stud-ies. Views expressed are personal)

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Sir — After Sonia Gandhi deftlyled the Congress for 20 long yearsand wrested power twice at theCentre and in several States, herre-election as the Congress’ chiefwill surely steer the grand oldparty out of troubled waters.Almost 20 months after she hand-ed over the reins of the party toher son Rahul Gandhi, the CWC’sdecision to put an experiencedand tested leader at the helm toregain the pristine glory of a 134-year-old party is correct.

With her, forging Oppositionunity will come handy as she isacceptable among regional forcesand has strong connections, too.Her sharpest weapon is silence,as she spoke little and seldom inpublic, but wielded enormouspower within the Congress. Buthuge challenges lie ahead for thenew Congress president. Underher stewardship, the grand oldparty has to take up the electoralchallenge. Among all otherthings, will she be able to reju-venate and revive the party at atime when its cadre standsdemoralised?

Vijaykumar HK Karnataka

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Sir — Yielding to the party’spleadings to rescue it from thecrisis created by Rahul Gandhi’srefusal to lead, the Congressmade a safe bet to re-elect Sonia

Gandhi as party president.Few of us had expected her to

take this responsibility, especial-ly because of Rahul Gandhi’s “noGandhi” stand and the BJP’s suc-cessful projection of the Congressas a family party. Her electionspeaks volumes about the grand

old party, which could not find aleader outside the Nehru-Gandhifold as also about Rahul Gandhiwho could not sustain the gener-ational transformation.

But why did Sonia Gandhiplay along? In the hope thatsome Gandhi stands a chance of

regaining leadership of the party, somewhere down the line,probably.

KS Jayatheertha Bengaluru

��

Sir — Both the protesters as wellas the Government in HongKong must share the blame forthe protests that have continuedfor almost two months now.While the former kept making ahost of demands, the latter, too,could have just ended matters bysimply withdrawing the anti-extradition Bill.

Peaceful protests are the bestway to register unhappiness at theperformance of the ruling regime. In fact, such democratic protestsand sensible speeches will createmore positive impacts on thesociety. At least now, theGovernment as well as the pro-testers must work towards find-ing a common ground and thusensure peace. This will be ineveryone’s interest.

P SenthilVia email

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In my last opinion piece in The Pioneer onAugust 3, I had concluded my piece with aplea for the real Narendra Modi to please

stand up. Well, the Prime Minister answeredmy question quite definitively the very next day.Whatever may be his faults — undoubtedlythere are many — self-confidence and the willingness to take risks are certainly not among them.

Undoubtedly, the high-stakes gamble inJammu & Kashmir is one such. Whether thePrime Minister’s actions will turn out to be agrave miscalculation or a hugely successful oneonly time will tell. But whatever the future mayhold, nobody can fault him for lacking incourage for his “bold” attempt to cut the“Gordian Knot” ie, the Kashmir dispute, whichhas strangled peace and progress in the sub-continent for over seven decades now ever sinceindependence.

While the unholy pact between theNational Conference (NC) and the Congress tosuborn the 1987 local elections in the Stateresulted in insurgency, that continues to hauntus to this day, it was the British meddling —the true unfinished agenda of Partition — thathas finally been laid to rest. The only disputethat now remains and requires early resolution— either bilaterally or through third partymediation — is for the return of Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir (PoK) to us.

Though in the interest of peace and good-will in the region, we should be willing to foregoour claims in exchange for recognition of theLine of Control (LoC) as the internationalboundary. Then, open borders in the not toodistant future, something that many on bothsides crave, could be a distinct possibility.

Every counter-insurgency practitioner knowswell and understands that no insurgency can everbe successfully defeated through just militarymeans. Insurgencies are political in nature and,thus, can only be resolved through political ini-tiatives. Yet, over the past three decades that thisinsurgency has ebbed and flowed in Jammu &Kashmir, never has any Government expendedthe necessary political capital required to resolvethe issue satisfactorily.

Thus, we have seen repeated cycles of vio-lence that have adversely impacted develop-mental activities in the State. Moreover, giventhe law of diminishing returns, controlling vio-lence and returning the State to relative calm-ness after each successive cycle of violence hasgot much more difficult and complex. Thus,undoubtedly, this initiative of the PrimeMinister will be wholeheartedly welcomed bythe security forces, especially the Army, as thegoal of winning hearts and minds has a moresubstantive focus.

Whether the manner in which Article 370has been employed to supersede thePresidential Order of 1954 with a new order ofAugust 2019 — which allows for the superses-sion of Article 35A as well as the applicationof the entire Indian Constitution in the State— is unconstitutional or not is for the courtsto decide. But clearly, as a temporary provisionthat it was stated to be, it had long outlived itsutility. By no stretch of imagination did it pro-tect the Kashmiri identity or culture,

Kashmiriyat, as many suggest. It had instead become a potent

weapon in the hands of vested inter-ests, which allowed them to exploit theState for personal ends. The truth thatKashmiriyat died the very day theHindu minority in the Valley was tar-getted and forced to flee, most of whocontinue to languish in refugee camps,cannot be wished away.

In this context, therefore, those,who allege that this initiative of theGovernment was against our “secular”framework and aimed at further mar-ginalising the Muslim minority, arebeing parochial in their outlook apartfrom being extremely hypocritical,given that they have done little or evenshown any concern or compassion forthose rendered homeless within theirown country.

Pakistan’s reaction to all of this hasbeen along expected lines. For itsArmy to respond in any other man-ner, given that its primacy within thecountry is directly linked to the situ-ation in Jammu & Kashmir, is simplynot viable. If this dispute were to besomehow resolved, the importance ofthe Pakistan Army would be greatlydiminished, which would hurt notonly the ego of many Generals but alsotheir extensive business interests.

Yet, their room for manoeuvre isseverely constrained, especially givenPakistan’s economic situation.Nevertheless, the threats of war ema-nating from there need to be taken

seriously and bankruptcy has neverstopped warmongers.

Obviously, given the meticulousmanner in which this political initiativehas been planned, one can be certainthat the Government is well preparedto deal with any foolishness the PakistanArmy may decide to indulge in.

In a just-concluded conferenceorganised by the Observer Researchfoundation (ORF) on ‘TacklingInsurgent Ideologies 2.0’, a speakermade a pertinent point that while acompromise on financial issues is arelatively easy possibility, given thatboth sides can negotiate to reach amiddle ground, it is not so easy to doso when negotiations involve the pol-itics of identity, which tend to be seenas a zero-sum game.

A seemingly intractable problemthat has been around for sevendecades is not going to just disappearand it will require much patience andunderstanding before the generalpopulation comes around and acceptsthe new reality. In the interim, thepossibility of sporadic street violencecannot be ruled out.

But what probably scares Pakistanand even more local mainstreampolitical and separatist leaders themost is the possibility that the gener-al population in the Valley may notrespond with violence to the newscheme of things. This could well bebecause they have, over a period otime, realised that the price

paid by successive generations for suchopposition has been extremely high;while its fruits have only been enjoyedby those who have instigated themobs.

Moreover, given the thoroughpreparations made by theGovernment, the large quantum offorce deployed will also be a very bigdeterrent as well.

Finally, the optimistic view couldbe that the average Kashmiri is quitetired of the way things have gone inthese last few decades and would bewilling to give this game-changing ini-tiative a try.

Whatever be the reason, if thatwere to happen, the credibility of thePakistani Generals and local politi-cians alike would be badly hurt,which in turn would certainly deci-mate the business of insurgency inquick time.

One can only hope and pray thatgood sense will prevail and the courseof events turns out just this way. Thatwould not only be a victory for thecountry but also for the long suffer-ing people of Jammu & Kashmir, whohave been held hostage by circum-stances for far too long and have beenforced to pay a very high price inblood. We all deserve better.

(The writer, a military veteran, aconsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior VisitingFellow with The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

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�� In an astute political move, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi andUnion Home Minister Amit Shah

have taken steps to resolve theKashmir problem, which has beensimmering for the past 70 years. Thescrapping of Article 370 is a decisivemove taken by a bold political lead-ership, focussed on finding a solutionto a never-ending crisis. Whether theinsertion of Article 370 was justifiedin the first place or not has been amatter of major debate for the past 70years but its scrapping should receiveapprobation of one and all.

The “special status”, whichArticle 370 accorded to the erstwhileState of Jammu & Kashmir, ratherleft it languishing and held it to ran-

som. As the young Member ofParliament from Ladakh JamyangTsering Namgyal pointed out, “by afew political families.” For sevendecades, the State was in limbo forbeing a left-over of the Partition.While Junagadh and Hyderabad,the two other contentious princelyStates which did not easily integratewith India after independence, aretoday an undisputed part of Indiansovereignty, we, on the other hand,allowed the wound in Jammu &Kashmir to fester for seven decades.

The move by the present leader-ship has ended 70 years of intellec-tual debate on the subject and hastaken decisive action, which shouldor rather will yield positive results.Article 370 was a temporary provi-sion from the very beginning but wasmade to settle into a deceptive per-manent status to suit an entire rangeof political schemas, none of whichparticularly pertained to the welfareof the common people, forget aboutthe entire State, even of the Valley.

Namgyal hit the nail on its headwhen during a speech in Parliamenthe said, “Members of two families are

still intoxicated and think thatKashmir is their father’s property.”The two families, which he referredto are the Muftis and the Abdullahs,whose members have been ChiefMinisters of the State of Jammu &Kashmir. In addition to the two,there are other families in Kashmir,aligned to either of the two families,who have dominated politics in theValley.

Namgyal’s speech came in forappreciation by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. In a tweet, he said,“My young friend, Jamyang TseringNamgyal, who is an MP from Ladakh,delivered an outstanding speech in theLok Sabha while discussing key Billson Jammu & Kashmir. He coherent-ly presents the aspirations of our sis-ters and brothers from Ladakh. It isa must hear!”

The concentration of power andsubsequently, wealth, became theprimary motives driving governanceand administration that influencedthe entire State. As Namgyal point-ed out in his speech, “Everyone hasbeen talking about equality, sayingthat if Article 370 is removed, equal-

ity will cease to exist. I want to askwhy is it that in the past, when fundswere allocated for the developmentof entire Jammu & Kashmir, theamount earmarked for Ladakh wastransferred to Kashmir? Is this yourequality?”

What Namgyal did not mentionin so many words was that these fundsostensibly spent on the developmentof the Valley finally ended up fillingthe coffers of a few. Kashmiri awam(common people) today largely livesin a state of penury as they have notbeen allowed to be part of the Indianmainstream and the growth story.

The Berlin Wall artificially divid-ed East and West Germany. It sepa-rated people belonging to one culture.But Kashmir is home to an Indic cul-ture. Article 370 stood like a wallbetween the integration of the peopleof the Valley with the rest of the coun-try, both of which have roots inIndic culture. Kashmir is home to theMartand temple, Amarnath shrineand Lalded’s poetry.

The wall has now been broughtdown with the passage of theConstitutional amendment Bills in

Parliament. It’s time to rejuvenate andintegrate Kashmir socially and cultur-ally with the Indian mainstream. Theonus is on us to prove that this his-torical move is right and convince theKashmiris that we’re with them.

A few word warriors in theirenthusiasm are saying that they areplanning to buy plots in Kashmir.They should realise that by saying so,they are undoing and trivialising thefine political move made by our lead-ers Prime Minister Modi and Shah.Let’s not indulge in any ludicrous act,which can demoralise the Kashmiricommoner and inhibit his/her inte-gration with the Indian mainstream.

It’s time to show sagacity andlarge-heartedness. Our unwarrantedaggression in worthless dialoguemay shoo away those who look fora future in India. Let’s not give anopportunity to India’s rivals to fishin the troubled waters.

(The writer is Chairman,Vivekananda Institute of ProfessionalStudies, GGSIP University, New Delhiand former Chairman, Syama PrasadMukherjee College and KeshavaMahavidyalaya of Delhi University)

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China on Monday promisedto address India’s growing

concerns over the ballooningtrade deficit and suggestedexpanding cooperation in areaslike industrial production,tourism and border trade toachieve “overall balance” inbilateral commercial relations.

India has repeatedly voicedconcern over the trade imbal-ance which last year crossed awhopping $57.86 billion over$95.5 billion total bilateraltrade. The trade deficit in 2018,according to the officialChinese data, climbed to$57.86 billion from $51.72 bil-lion in 2017.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar, who is here fortalks with the Chinese leader-

ship to prepare for the secondinformal summit betweenPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Chinese President XiJinping later this year in India,mentioned the trade deficitissue during talks as well asduring a bilateral event.

India-China economicrelationship too has seen “someprogress, Jaishankar said. Thebilateral trade has increased butso too has our deficit, which isa matter of some concern.

“We appreciate the stepstaken in the last few months bythe Chinese side to enhanceimports from India. These effortscould expand to include mea-sures to enable greater access forour pharmaceutical and IT prod-ucts and services in the domes-tic Chinese market,” he said at the2nd meeting of the India-China

High Level Mechanism onCultural and People-to-PeopleExchanges here.

Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi, who was also presentat the meeting, said Chinaappreciates India’s concernsover the trade imbalance.

Wang said, “We standready to continue provide facil-ities to Indian exports to China.

“At the same time, we needto think broadly and need toexpand cooperation in indus-trial production tourism, bor-der trade and other areas sothat we can achieve overall bal-ance in our economic traderelations”, he said.

This year, the bilateraltrade is expected to touch $100billion, a historic figureendorsed by the leadership ofthe two countries.

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The umbrella body for digi-tal transactions, NPCI, on

Monday said that Aadhaarenabled Payment System(AePS) crossed the milestone ofover 200 million transactionsduring July this year.

AePS is a bank led modelwhich allows basic interopera-ble banking transactions at pointof sale (PoS or MicroATM)through the business corre-spondent of any bank by usingAadhaar authentication.

“AePS has become instru-mental in driving the financialinclusion program in India. InJuly 2019, the transaction countof AePS stood at 220.18 millionwith transaction value Rs9,685.35 crore, compared totransaction count of 194.33million and a transaction valueof Rs 8,867.33 crore in themonth-ago period same year,”NPCI said in a release.

A total of 6.65 crore Indiancitizens availed banking ser-

vices through AePS platform inJuly, it said.

“AePS crossing 200 milliontransactions mark is a signifi-cant achievement for NPCI,benefiting financial inclusion inIndia. AePS is delivering the4As’ for financial inclusion torural part of India, authentica-tion of customer, availability ofservices, accessibility throughAePS channel and affordabili-ty as it’s free of cost to the cus-tomers,” NPCI COO PraveenaRai said.

AePS empowers a bankcustomer to use Aadhaar asidentity to access respectiveAadhaar enabled bank accountand perform basic bankingtransactions like cash with-drawal, intrabank or interbankfund transfer and balanceenquiry.

The only inputs requiredfor a customer to do an AePStransaction are the name of thecustomer’s bank, Aadhaarnumber and fingerprint cap-tured during enrollment.

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Jio, the telecom arm ofReliance Industries, is tar-

geting 35 million subscriberswithin the first year of com-mercially operationalising itsfibre-based broadband businessfrom next month, a seniorofficial said.

A senior Jio official said thecompany will bundle in not justTV sets, but also desktops aspart of the Jiofiber plan whichwill go commercially live fromSeptember 5.

He also hinted that thecable TV subscription is not apart of the plans ranging fromlow Rs 700 to a high Rs 10,000per month.

Subscribers will have to payseparately for receiving the TVservices which will be deliveredeither through the cable fibre orby getting a DTH service, headded.

He said Jio, which unveileda set top box earlier in the day,wants to grow in the market“very quickly”.

“We want the people toagain feel excited. We couldn’tdo that with LTE phonesbecause our price points werereally low,” the official said,referring to the mobile con-nectivity service which retailsfor as low as under Rs 150 permonth.

The official said the com-pany will target 1,600 townsfrom the first day of the launchand will initially try to reachout to the rest of the countrythrough 30,000 local cableoperators who are aligned tothree multi-system operatorsacquired by it recently.

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Like a s leek Mercedescrunched between two

freight trucks, Europe’s econ-omy is being knocked offcourse by the conflict betweenthe US and China over trade.

The bill for damages fromthe U.S-China collision couldbe painfully high, startingthis week if new growth fig-ures on Wednesday show thatEurope’s economic motor,Germany, is stalled or shrink-ing.

Beyond that, economistssay there are signs that yearsof jobs growth since thedepths of the Great Recessionand the eurozone debt crisismay be ending.

And if the trade warsescalate to include higherU.S. Tariffs on cars made inEurope, the picture couldlook even worse.

The heart of the matter isGermany, Europe’s largesteconomy and a key tradepartner of both the US andChina.

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India currently hosts morethan 450 startups in the agri-

tech segment, and the sectorhas received more than $248million funding in the first sixmonths this year, IT industrybody Nasscom said onMonday.

In a report titled ‘Agritechin India — Emerging Trends in2019’, Nasscom said that grow-ing at 25 per cent year-on-year,India currently hosts morethan 450 startups in the agri-tech sector.

“Over the recent years, theagri-tech sector in India has wit-nessed some of the global andsector-focused funds directlyinvesting in agri-tech startups ...As of June 2019, the sector hasreceived more than $248 millionfunding, a massive growth of300 per cent as compared to theprevious year,” it said.

Interestingly, every ninthagri-tech startup in the worldis originating from India.

The report said there hasbeen a 1.7-times increase inaverage farmer income in lastdecade, enabling farmers to trynew tech solutions.

More than 50 per cent ofagri-tech startups offer supply

chain solutions like marketlinkage, better access to inputs etc.

“India’s agriculture sector isadvancing steadily towards itsdigital transformation and thestartup ecosystem is playing acritical role here, bringinginnovation and disruption inmuch-needed areas,” NasscomPresident Debjani Ghosh said.

Adoption of technology inagriculture has always neededa structured institutional focusand technology firms are try-ing to break into the agricul-tural landscape using newerbusiness models, she added.

“The findings of the reportare a testimony to the potentialof the Agritech industry andthe opportunities that Indiapresents in the agriculture andfarming landscape,” Ghoshsaid. The report said Indiancompanies are increasinglylooking at global markets toexpand with focus on regionslike Southeast Asia, Europe,Africa and South America.

According to the report, inthe last five years more thanfive global agri-tech companieshave ventured in India, ascompared to more than 25Indian agri-tech startups withglobal presence.

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An aviation studies portalhas been restrained from

offering counterfeit ‘Vistara’branded products by the DelhiHigh Court, which said that itposed security risks at airportsas it is a distinctive Tata-SIAairline trademark in the airlineindustry.

The high court said thatPilot 18 Aviation Book Store,which operates the web portalwww.Pilot18.Com, was not justselling products bearing themark ‘Vistara’ but also productsof various other airlines includ-ing Jet Airways, SpiceJet andAir India and this posed a seri-ous security threat.

Justice Prathiba M Singhdirected Pilot 18 to pay Rs 2lakh as cost to the operator ofVistara Airlines within amonth.

The court’s order camewhile deciding a suit filed byTata SIA Airlines Ltd seeking torestrain the portal from usingits trademarks and sellingbadges, name tags and otheraccessories, including mugsand baggage tags, bearing themark ‘Vistara’ with an identi-cal device mark/logo form.

The plaintiff said it came toknow in February about‘Vistara’ branded products onthe website of the defendants as

also on various e-commerceportals such as Amazon andSnapdeal.

Justice Singh took strongexception to the incorrect state-ment made by the portal thatthey have never used the trade-mark ‘Vistara’. This constitutesperjury, the court said andnoted that the portal had noremorse whatsoever whilemaking the statement.

The portal owner was notonly liable to be permanentlyinjuncted from using the mark‘Vistara’ but are also liable topay costs and damages.

“The mark Vistara is quitepopular in India and hasacquired a unique status. It isa distinctive mark that enjoysenormous goodwill and repu-tation in the airline, travel andtourism industry. Use of thismark, even in respect of unre-lated services would createconfusion and deception. Itdeserves to be declared as a‘well-known mark’,” the courtsaid and passed a decree in thefavour of the airlines.

The airlines said the mark‘Vistara’ is registered in India,Singapore, and various otherjurisdictions. It said the defen-dants are not only offeringthese products on their website,but also claim that they weresupplying ‘Vistara’ brandedaviation products to Vistara

Airlines.The portal, however, claimed

that it had not used the trade-mark ‘Vistara’ and that the plain-tiff had concocted a false story.After perusing the report by thelocal commissioner, the courtsaid it was clear that the portalwas taking a false stand that theyhave not used the mark.

“The sale of so much mer-chandise with the names of var-ious airlines is not only violativeof the trademark rights of therespective parties, including theplaintiff, but also poses a seri-ous threat owing to the fact thatsome unauthorised personsmay try to seek entry into air-ports etc., on the basis of thecounterfeit badges, labels, uni-forms and other merchandiseillegally bearing the trademarksof these airlines,” it said.

“Such a threat cannot beignored by this court in themanner in which it is sought tobe done by the defendants,” thecourt said. It said the writtenstatement given by portal is notonly a misstatement but clear-ly constitutes misrepresentationto the court. The court said thaton the next date, September 12,it will consider if any furtheraction is required to be takenin view of the false plea takenin the written statement andthe apology that has been ten-dered.

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Gold prices rose by �229 to�38,221 per 10 gram in

futures trade on Monday dri-ven by high demand at phys-ical markets and firm globaltrends.

On the Multi CommodityExchange (MCX), the most-traded October contract of themetal rose by �229, or 0.6 percent, to �38,221 per 10 gramin a business turnover of 1,150lots.

The yellow metal for deliv-ery in December also rose by�273, or 0.71 per cent, to�38,850 per 10 gram in abusiness turnover of 33 lots.

Silver prices were alsotrading up on the bourse.The white metal to be deliv-ered in September was trad-ing up by �115, or 0.27 percent, to �43,439 per kg in1,499 lots.

Market analysts said theprecious metal advanced inphysical markets which sup-ported the futures prices. Goldin the National Capital rose by�50 to regain the all-timehigh level of �38,470 per 10grams.

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Gulf carrier Etihad, whichholds 24 per cent stake in

Jet Airways, on Monday said ithas decided not to reinvest inthe airline due to unresolvedissues concerning liabilities.

Jet Airways, which shut-tered operations on April 17, isundergoing insolvency pro-ceedings and at least threeentities have put in initial bidsfor the carrier.

In a statement, Etihad saidit declined to lodge anExpression of Interest (EoI) toreinvest in Jet Airways becauseof unresolved issues concern-ing the airline’s liabilities.

The deadline for submis-sion of EoIs was August 10.

While noting that it was“neither feasible for nor respon-sible of Etihad to reinvest in JetAirways at this time, Etihadasserted that the decision doesnot affect its commitment toIndia.

“Since then, Etihad hasconsistently and constructive-ly sought and advanced solu-tions to help resolve Jet’s issues.But as a minority shareholder,Etihad has had limited capac-ity to secure required changes,”the statement said.

The national carrier of theUAE picked up 24 per centstake in Jet Airways in 2013.

Earlier this year, Etihadsaid it made a conditionalexpression of interest to rein-vest in the Indian airline as aminority stakeholder, with anagreed partner, but unfortu-nately this did not materialise.

“Etihad remained engagedin the process, but despite theendeavours of everyoneinvolved, there remained verysignificant issues relating to Jet’sprevious liabilities,” the state-

ment noted.“Regrettably, in these cir-

cumstances, it was neither fea-sible for nor responsible ofEtihad to reinvest in Jet at thistime. This decision is unrelat-ed to and does not affectEtihad’s continued commit-ment to India, the airline’slargest single market, and onewhich it has served for 15years,” it said.

According to the state-ment, Etihad flies between AbuDhabi and 10 destinations inIndia, and is continuallyincreasing the frequency of itsflights, the size of its aircraft,the quality of its product andthe international route con-nections it offers beyond itshub in Abu Dhabi.

On Sunday, mining baronAnil Agarwal’s investmentcompany Volcan Investmentssaid it has shown interest inacquiring stake in Jet Airways.

Of the three entities thatsubmitted EoIs, two are finan-cial players and another isPanama-based fund AvantuloGroup, sources said onSaturday.

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The CompetitionCommission of India (CCI)

has imposed a penalty of near-ly �14 crore on JaiprakashAssociates for abusing its dom-inant market position byimposing “unfair” and “dis-criminatory” conditions onhome buyers.

“The Opposite Party(Jaiprakash Associates) perpe-trated undesirable industrypractices causing substantialharm to the competition and toconsumers, ignoring its respon-sibility as a dominant player toset fair standards of industrialpractices for other players inthe market to emulate,” CCI said.

The ruling came on a com-plaint filed by one NaveenKataria who had booked avilla at Jaypee Greens inGreater Noida, Uttar Pradesh,in 2011. In February 2019, thecomplainant informed the CCIthat she did not wish to pursuethe instant case, since all thepending disputes with the firmhave been settled.

Under the CompetitionAct, complaints filed under acertain section cannot be with-drawn. It was alleged that con-ditions in ProvisionalAllotment Letter (PAL) wereunfair, one-sided and loaded in

the favour of the company.In 2015, the regulator

ordered the Director General(DG), its investigation arm, toconduct a detailed probe intothe matter.

For the case, the CCI con-sidered ‘the market for provi-sion of services for develop-ment and sale of independentresidential units such as villas,estate homes, town homes androw-houses in integrated town-ships in Noida and GreaterNoida regions’ as the relevant one.

The regulator foundJaiprakash Associates to be indominant position in the rele-vant market.

Based on the DG’s reportsand regulator’s examination ofthe issues, CCI found clausepertaining to defaults in thePAL was heavily in favour ofthe Jaiprakash Associates.Under the pact, there was onlya marginal penalty on the firmfor any default while the allot-tees were to pay a huge fine.

Similarly, the fair traderegulator found that there werevarious clauses which wereone-sided and tilted in favourof real estate firm.

By doing so, the real estatefirm contravened Section 4 ofCompetition Act which per-tains to abuse of dominant position.

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Insurance regulator Irdai hasasked insurers to take imme-

diate steps for speeding upsettlement of claims in flood-affected areas of Karnatakaand Maharashtra.

Monsoon rains have alsocaused widespread damaged tolife and property in three otherstates of Madhya Pradesh,Uttrakhand and Kerala.

The Insurance Regulatoryand Development Authorityof India (Irdai) has issued advi-sory to general insurance andstandalone health insurancecompanies to expedite settle-ment of claims in Maharashtraand Karnataka. The recentfloods have caused immenseloss to property in the state ofKarnataka and Maharashtra,said the regulator while issuingguidelines on insurance claimsof victims of recent floods inparts of the two states.

“There is an urgent needfor the insurance industry totake immediate steps to miti-gate the hardships of the affect-ed insured population by

ensuring immediate registra-tion and settlement of eligibleclaims,” Irdai said.

It has asked the insurers toensure that all claims are sur-veyed immediately and claimpayments are disbursed at theearliest. They have also beenasked to engage adequate num-ber of surveyors in the affect-ed areas.

A total of 2,694 villages ineighty-six taluks of 17 districtsin Karnataka have been affect-ed due to floods and rains.

According to informationavailable from the state gov-ernment, the death toll is 42 sofar, while 12 were missing.

Meanwhile, KarnatakaChief Minister B S Yediyurappaon Monday expressed hopethat the situation in flood-rav-aged parts of the state will beback to normal in four to sixdays as there had been a let-upin the rains.

According to reports, so farover 70 people have died inKerala due to floods and over2.8 lakh people have takenshelter in 1,654 relief centres inthe state.

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Hepatitis is a disease causedby viral infections of theliver. It is classified into five

major types, namely Hepatitis A, B,C, D and E. All of these differenttypes of virally transmitted hepati-tis are caused by different viruses.

The major differences amongthese types are that Hepatitis A isalways an acute, short-term disease,while hepatitis B, C and D are mostlikely to become ongoing andchronic. Hepatitis E is usuallyharmless and acute but it can getparticularly dangerous in preg-nant women.

�Hepatitis A: The hepatitis Avirus (HAV) is mainly responsiblefor causing Hepatitis A. It is con-tagious and commonly gets trans-mitted by consuming food or watercontaminated by feces from a per-son infected with hepatitis A.

Treatment: Does not requiretreatment. Bed rest is recommend-ed in case of too much discomfort.

�Hepatitis B: This type ofhepatitis gets transmitted throughcontact with infectious body fluidsof any kind.

Treatment: Does not requirespecific treatment if it is acute.Antiviral medications are used forthe treatment of chronic hepatitisB.

�Hepatitis C: Hepatitis Cvirus is mainly responsible for thisdisease and it is transmittedthrough direct contact with infect-ed body fluids, commonly throughinjection drug use and sexual con-tact.

Treatment: Both acute andchronic hepatitis C is treated withantiviral medications. People withchronic hepatitis C are commonlytreated with a combination ofantiviral drug therapies.

�Hepatitis D: Hepatitis D is aserious liver disease caused by the

hepatitis D virus (HDV) that getscontracted through direct contactwith infected blood. It is a ratherrare form of hepatitis that onlyoccurs in conjunction with hepati-tis B infection.

Treatment: Vaccinations forhepatitis B is usually used to pre-vent and treat Hepatitis D. HepatitisD can be prevented by getting thevaccination for hepatitis B, as infec-tion with hepatitis B is responsiblefor the development of hepatitis D.

�Hepatitis E: A waterbornedisease, Hepatitis E is caused by thehepatitis E virus (HEV). It practi-

cally occurs due to the con-sumption of unhygienic andcontaminated food and water. Itoccurs mainly in areas withpoor sanitation.

Treatment: There are nospecific medical therapies avail-able to treat Hepatitis E. It isoften an acute infection and typ-ically resolves on its own, exceptwhen it involves pregnantwomen, then it gets dangerous.)��'��(��,��%�C>'��*��'��%�3��

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!��"��The onset of non-communicable diseases (NCD) has spread it’s

tendrils amongst unsuspecting mankind, with the major chunkof the race suffering from one or the other form of NCD. Theselifestyle-related diseases have reared their ugly head, sending goalsof peerless health into toss, while putting lives at stake. Strokes ofall kind fall under this category, but where we need to throw lightis on Brain Stroke. It is an open thing that stroke is one of the lead-ing causes of death and disability in India, with estimated preva-lence rate of stroke range being 84-262/100,000 in rural and 334-424/100,000 in urban areas.

How is it caused?A stroke often takes place when the brain is cut off from the

necessary blood flow that it requires, thereby leading to malfunc-tioning of the body and lack of response. This leads to halt in prop-er functioning of the body, and if not controlled — death. Causescan vary from a blocked artery (ischemic stroke), the leaking orbursting of a blood vessel (hemorrhagic stroke) or a temporary dis-ruption of blood flow to the brain (transient ischemic attack or TIA).

How to prevent it?Fortunately, a healthy lifestyle and apt management of health

are the solutions to combating a host of ailments including brainstrokes. These healthy lifestyle recommendations include:�Control hypertension: This is the first step to prevention of stroke

as hypertension can aggravate tostroke. Activities such as exercis-ing, stress control, weight man-agement and limiting the amountof sodium keeps the blood pres-sure in check.�Cut off cholesterol and satu-rated fat: Saturated fat is no goodfor our body and this pointproves that. Food teeming intrans-fat and cholesterol oftenclog the arteries, disrupting theflow of blood. Eating less choles-terol and fat, especially saturatedfat and trans-fats, may reduces thehindrances in passage of blood.�Quit tobacco: Smoking is anunsightly habit that does farharm than good — effectinghow the body functions. It weak-ens the efficacy of the heart and

often raises the risk of stroke. Hence, it would be a prudent ideato cut off this ugly habit.�Control Diabetes: Diabetes works hand in hand with all the heart-related issues as it involves excess in blood pressure and fat. Propermanagement of diabetes via diet, exercise, weight control and med-ication often prevent the occurrence of stroke.�Maintain a healthy weight: All this boils down to apt weight man-agement — rise in weight often leads to complications in blood,organs and the whole body. A burgeoning weight brings in otherstroke risk factors, such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular dis-ease and diabetes, creating the need to lose weight.�Consume a fruit and vegetable rich diet: What we eat reflectsaptly on the state and output of the body. As mentioned before,improper diet, laced in fat and cholesterol laden food, increasesthe risk of heart issues, creating space for strokes to take place. Here,Mediterranean diet, which emphasises olive oil, fruit, nuts, veg-etables and whole grains, may be helpful.�Exercise regularly: Sedentary lifestyle is often the bane of all thingsthat are hale and healthy and it is said that inactivity often increas-es the chances of stroke. Therefore, it is advised to incorporate reg-ular exercises in your daily routine.

Preventing stokes may not be the mountain of a task-know-ing the risk factors, following doctor’s recommendations and adopt-ing a healthy lifestyle.

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%��" A pear is juicy freenwhich is green in colour.Pears are rich in fiber whichpromotes digestive health. Itis also known for it’s anti-inflammatory properties.Certain studies suggeststhat pears containanti-cancercompounds.

Eventhough thefruit is slightlysweet, it helpsin controllingDiabetes, dueto the lowglycerinindex andhigh fibercontent. It alsopromotes goodhealth.

Pears are low in caloriesand high in water content

that makes them the perfectfood to lose weight. It alsohelps to keep the bodyhydrated throughout the day.

Pears are also known asenergy boosters due to thehigh water content in them.

The high content ofanti-oxidants like

vitamin C and copperhelps in boosting the

immune system ofthe body to fight

against variousdiseases.

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Indian millennials arecompletely different

from any generationbefore them andOkCupid’s one million plususers are proof of it. Their ask is to — FindMy Kind — not their parent’s kind, not soci-ety’s kind and not their friends’ kinds .

While planning their first ever 360-degree brand campaign in India, the appwanted to understand what Indian millen-nials really want from life and relationships.They gathered responses from users, in theage group of 25 and 35 years, to questionson the app that inform OkCupid’s algorithmto make suggestions of compatible match-es.

The data found that expectations with-in this group regarding an ideal partner areevolving fast, and so are social and cultur-al expectations. Instead of being told whatto do, or having other people choose forthem, young, single Indians want to maketheir own choices based on the connectionthey share with a person. They are in nohurry to ‘settle down’ or ‘compromise’ untilthey feel comfortable with their choice. Itwas found out that the millennials are voic-ing their independent opinion on mostthings in their lives and redefining what aserious relationship means for them today.

Taking insights from the data gathered,OkCupid launched its first brand campaignin India including their first TVC, ‘Find MyKind’. The campaign builds on the insightthat people of this generation want ameaningful relationship with a like-mind-ed partner to share their values and beliefs.

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Not all of us can go forregular manicures tokeep our nails healthy,

in shape and shiny. But thisdoesn’t mean that one can’thave beautiful and healthynails. There are severalhome remedies thatone can follow.

First, regular-ly use olive oil.The oil, helpskeep nailsshiny by nour-ishing the cuti-cles. It also hasm oi s tu r i s i ngproperties. Cleanyour nails. Warmsome olive oil anddeep your fingers for 15minutes. Wipe the nails. Dothis daily.

Second, one can usecoconut oil as well to improvethe strength and appearance ofthe nails. Massage the nails

with organic cold-pressedcoconut oil.

Third, soak your nails infresh orange juice for 10 min-utes to improve their strengthand appearance. Rinse your

hands to remove the citricacid from your skin

and nails. Apply anatural mois-

turiser likeolive, orcoconut oil.

Fourth, ifyour nails arebrittle or dis-

coloured, soakthem in apple

cider vinegar oncea day to get rid of the

yellow colour.Fifth,, rose water is not

only great for skin, it workswonders to keep the nailshealthy as well. Use rose waterto clean your nails daily.

Would you want to shake handswith a person who has dirty and

unkempt nails? The answer is no.ROSHANI DEVI shares easy to

follow home remedies to keep thembeautifully shaped, clean, healthy

and shiny

The Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati researchers have developed

a low-cost, hand-held device to detect bac-teria. This research will enable rapiddetection of bacteria, which isimportant not only in healthcare,but also in anti-bioterrorismmeasures and environmentalmonitoring applications.

Bacterial infection is acommon cause of morbidityand mortality worldwide anddespite development of a rangeof antibiotics, the challenge con-tinues to lie in detecting and diag-nosing bacterial infection early on, aspresent detection techniques tend to betime-consuming.

The research team led by ProfParameswar K Iyer, Department ofChemistry, and Prof Siddhartha S Ghosh,Department of Biosciences andBioengineering, IIT Guwahati, has devel-

oped this novel, low-cost, bio-compatiblesensor that can detect bacteria almostinstantaneously without the need for cellculture and microbiological assays. The

Organic Field Effect Transistor(OFET)-based bacterial diagnos-

tic device has been shown tohave the ability to detect 103cfu mL-1 of bacteria and dis-tinguish between Gram pos-itive and Gram negative types.

Their work has beenpatented as well as published in

the July 2019 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Materials

Chemistry A of the Royal Society ofChemistry.

At present, the detection of bacteriain body fluids is done in laboratories. Thecells that are derived from the patient areinitially cultured or grown so that enoughof the bacterial cells are available formicrobiological analysis.

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Monsoon brings relief from heaps of perspir-ing and obstacles of searing summer. This

is the time when people start enjoying the fresh-ness of their favourite season of the year. Itaccompanies raindrops, tea-pakoda, plenty of joyyet lamentably with a lot of infections with it.As reason of which monsoon is otherwise calledthe period of season of cold virus. Hence, it’s thetime to implement ‘prevention is better thancure’ into real action.

There are numerous diseases and infectionsthat are sitting tight for us in this season. Someof them are effectively preventable with precau-tions and mindfulness while the other requiresappropriate medicinal consideration or it mightprompt significant issues.

Here are some most common diseasesduring monsoon alongside their preventive mea-sures.�Viral fever: It is a common disease that canhappen throughout the year but is most likelyduring monsoons. Severe cold and cough fol-lowed by fever are some common symptoms.This may last from three to seven days.Nevertheless, it is always recommended to con-sult a doctor before diagnosing anything.

Precaution: It’s dependably a smart thoughtto adhere to your hand crafted nourishment andclean drinking water. Introduction to virus andbacteria prompts this illness. So keeping up legit-imate cleanliness with appropriate sustenanceand way of life is the key to keep this ailmentfar away.�Vector borne disease (Malaria and Dengue):Due to the rain, water remains clogged that givesthe mosquitoes a space for breeding process. Asa result of which cases of dengue and malariarise during monsoon.

Precaution:Make sure the clogged areas areclean in order to prevent these diseases fromspreading. Besides, use of mosquito repellentsand insect repellent plants like citronella, lemongrass, tulsi, sabja and others, helps to prevent themosquito from entering your work station orhome. Moreover, wearing clothes that fully coveryour body will also be useful. Use of insect repel-lents and mosquito nets should be encouraged.�Food and water-borne illnesses (HepatitisA/E, Diarrhea, Cholera and Gastroenteritis):The intake of contaminated foods and water isthe main reason for these diseases. These dis-eases are exceedingly preventable and treatablemaladies on the off chance that you are cautious.These diseases largely affect your liver and thatis why you experience vomiting, loose motionsand stomach pain. However, if not treated ontime, you may also suffer from fever.

Precaution: It is advised to have clean andboiled water, have home-cooked food anddrinking enough healthy liquids. Avoid havingunhygienic food from outside, especially road-side junk. Moreover, maintaining proper hygieneis the only key to prevent you from these dis-eases.�Road safety: There is one more importantaspect that we need to consider during monsoonis road accidents. Monsoon is connected to anincreased rate of road accidents. And, you willhave to extra careful while driving your vehiclein the rain. Here are some preventive tips toensure road safety during the monsoon:

�Avoid accelerating and drive slowly�Heavy braking is a strict ‘No’!�Maintain a proper distance between the

vehicles in front of you�Switch on the headlights for improved vis-

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The chronic infection andinflammation result in exten-

sive scarring of the liver (cirrho-sis), which will impair the func-tions of the organ. Diagnosingand detecting the infection at theright time is essential. Spotting thesymptoms, you need to diagnosethe condition to learn the typeand severity of the condition.Conducting laboratory tests, thedoctor or certified medical prac-titioner will find the type andseverity. The normal ways ofdiagnosing the condition includeblood tests, liver biopsy, nucleicacid tests, paracentesis, surrogatemarkers and elastography. Thetype of treatment largely dependson the diagnosis report.

Acute Hepatitis infection willresolve on their own, which mighttake several weeks or months.However, the chronic conditionwill require treatment of antiviralmedication. Though there is noparticular treatment for the dis-ease, supportive therapy and med-

ication will improve the comfortlevels and prevent the complica-tion associated with the disease.

Self-care is essential for treat-ment as well as prevention ofHepatitis.

�A patient must take plentyof rest.

�Staying hydrated is the keyto minimise the symptoms andeffects.

�The person infected withthe virus must also eat a balancedand nutritious diet. Includinghigh-calorie food in the dietchart is essential for persons hav-ing a poor appetite.

�Avoiding alcohol is essen-tial to protect the liver.

The common steps one should fol-low for prevention of Hepatitis are:

�Get vaccinated against HAV andHBV if you had missed the vaccinationas a child.

�Make sure to follow the properrules of maintaining hygiene, like wash-ing hands with anti-bacterial soap orfluid and clean water after using the bath-room or changing diapers of a child.Make sure to wash your hands cleanbefore handling water or food.

�Make it a habit to drink bottled orboiled or chemically water.

�Traveling to a new location, remaincautious about your food habit and con-sumption style.

�Never use a syringe, needles,razors, or toothbrushes of another per-son.

�Make sure to use gloves while per-forming first aid.

�Pregnant and nursing mothersmust remain extra cautious as the infantsget easily affected by the virus for lowimmunity power. Seeking doctor adviceand following the treatment measurescan prevent transmission of the virus tothe infant.

�Consulting a certified doctor andseeking advice can help you to preventthe condition and control the effects.

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The protesters streamed intoHong Kong airport and

quickly transformed the arrivalshall at one of the world's busiesttransport hubs into a sea ofblack.

Instead of being met bysmiling relatives and friends,passengers arriving at the airportwere greeted by thousands ofpro-democracy activists chant-ing "fight with Hong Kong,fight for freedom!" Most weredressed in the movement'strademark black clothing, somesporting construction hard hatsor gas masks. And many addeda new accessory on Monday:eyepatches or bandages to paytribute to a woman who suffereda serious face injury at a proteston Sunday night.

The woman, who has notbeen identified, was reportedlyhit by a beanbag round fired bypolice, and rumours circulatedthat she lost her vision.

Images of blood pouring

from her face as she lay on apavement quickly went viraland featured in posters callingfor demonstrations under thebanner: "an eye for an eye".

"HK police are killing us,"read a sign held by one protest-

er. "Hong Kong is no longersafe," said another.

And on walls, pillars andbarriers in the airport, protest-ers sprayed painted red graffitiin English and Chinese reading"an eye for an eye".

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China on Monday slammedviolent protesters in Hong

Kong who had thrown petrolbombs at police officers andlinked them to "terrorism", asBeijing ramps up its rhetoricagainst pro-democracy demon-strations in the financial hub.

"Hong Kong's radicaldemonstrators have repeated-ly used extremely dangeroustools to attack police officers,which already constitutes aserious violent crime, and alsoshows the first signs of terror-ism emerging," said YangGuang, spokesman for theHong Kong and Macao AffairsOffice of the State Council.

"This wantonly tramples onHong Kong's rule of law andsocial order," he said at a press

briefing in Beijing.Yang's remarks came a day

after thousands of pro-democ-racy protesters defied warningsfrom authorities to hit thestreets for the 10th weekend ina row.

Hong Kong police firedvolleys of tear gas Sunday atprotestors after denying theirrequests for permits to stage amarch. But Yang focused on theviolent behavior of a "tinyminority", which he con-demned as "a serious chal-lenge to Hong Kong's prosper-ity and stability."

The two-month crisis,which was triggered by oppo-sition to a planned extraditionlaw, has morphed into a widermovement for democraticreform and a halt to erodingfreedoms.

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South Korea said Mondaythat it has decided to remove

Japan from a list of nationsreceiving preferential treat-ment in trade in what was seenas a tit-for-tat move followingTokyo's recent decision todowngrade Seoul's trade statusamid a diplomatic row.

It wasn't immediately clearhow South Korea's tightenedexport controls would impactbilateral trade.

Seoul said some SouthKorean companies exporting toJapan will be able to receiveexceptions from case-by-caseinspections that are normallyapplied on sensitive shipmentsto nations with lower trade sta-tus and go through the samefast-track approval process thatthey currently enjoy.

Masahisa Sato, Japan's viceminister for foreign affairs,said he believes the impact of

Seoul's move would likely belimited as Japan doesn't importmuch sensitive materials fromSouth Korea.

Japan provided similarexceptions while removingSouth Korea as a favored tradepartner, which eased some ofthe fears in Seoul about a pos-sible blow to its export-depen-dent economy, where manymanufacturers heavily rely onparts and materials importedfrom Japan.

After spending weeksberating Tokyo for allegedlyweaponizing trade and vowingretaliation, South KoreanPresident Moon Jae-in struck amore conciliatory tone onMonday, saying that his gov-ernment will refrain from"emotional" reactions to Japanover the trade dispute.

"While maintaining unwa-vering resolve and calmness, weneed a long-term approach tolook for fundamental counter-

measures," Moon said in ameeting with senior aides.

South Korea's trade minis-ter, Sung Yun-mo, said Seouldecided to remove Japan froma 29-member "white list" ofcountries that enjoy minimumrestrictions in trade because ithas failed to uphold interna-tional principles while manag-ing its export controls on sen-sitive materials.

Sung and other SouthKorean officials did not specify what they saw asTokyo's problems in exportcontrols.

Sato said South Koreawould be violating World TradeOrganization rules if it wasretaliating against Japan's ear-lier measures. Park Tae-sung, aSouth Korean trade official,said that South Korea is making a legitimate effortunder domestic and interna-tional laws to improve itsexport controls.

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The details of how JeffreyEpstein died in his

Manhattan jail cell over theweekend have yet to be released,but medical officials have per-formed an autopsy on the high-profile inmate accused of sexu-ally abusing underage girls andpaying them hundreds of dol-lars in cash for massages.

Epstein's abrupt deathSaturday cut short a criminalprosecution that could havepulled back the curtain on theinner workings of a high-flyingfinancier with connections tocelebrities and presidents,though prosecutors have vowedto continue investigating.

Epstein, 66, had beendenied bail and faced up to 45years behind bars on federal sextrafficking and conspiracycharges unsealed last month. Hehad pleaded not guilty and wasawaiting trial.

The manner in which hedied remains a mystery , butguards on Epstein's unit wereworking extreme overtime shiftsto make up for staffing shortagesthe morning of his apparent sui-cide, a person familiar with thejail's operations told The

Associated Press.The person said that the

Metropolitan CorrectionalCenter's Special Housing Unitwas staffed with one guardworking a fifth-straight day ofovertime and another who wasworking mandatory overtime.The person wasn't authorized todiscuss jail operations publiclyand spoke Sunday on the con-dition of anonymity.

Epstein had been placed onsuicide watch after he was founda little over two weeks ago withbruising on his neck, accordingto the person familiar with thematter. But he was taken offthe watch at the end of July andtherefore wasn't on it at the timeof his death, the person said.

Epstein's removal from sui-cide watch would have beenapproved by both the warden ofthe jail and the facility's chiefpsychologist, said Jack Donson,a former prison official whoworked for the Bureau ofPrisons for more than twodecades.

Last week, more than 2,000pages of documents werereleased, related to a since-set-tled lawsuit against Epstein's ex-girlfriend by Virginia Giuffre,one of Epstein's accusers.

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Taliban and US negotiatorshave wrapped up their latest

round of talks for a deal thatwould see America shrink itstroop presence in Afghanistan,a Taliban spokesman saidMonday.

According to ZabihullahMujahid, the eighth round oftalks, which had been takingplace in Doha, finished aftermidnight.

"Work was tedious & effec-tive. Both sides agreed to con-sult their respective leadershipsfor next steps," he wrote onTwitter.

There was no immediatecomment from the US embassyin Kabul.

On Sunday, US peace envoyZalmay Khalilzad tweeted: "Ihope this is the last Eid whereAfghanistan is at war," referringto the Eid al-Adha festival cur-rently taking place in the Muslimworld.

Speculation has reachedfever pitch in Kabul in recentdays that an announcementabout a US-Taliban deal may beimminent.

The US has been negotiat-ing with its longtime foe over thepast year for a pact that would

see the Pentagon begin to with-draw its 14,000 troops fromAfghanistan.

Washington is keen to endits 18-year involvement inAfghanistan, where it has spentmore than $1 trillion, andPresident Donald Trump hassaid he wants troops out.

In return, the Taliban wouldcommit to various security guar-antees, including that theIslamist hardliners who longharboured Al-Qaeda would notallow Afghanistan to become ajihadist safe haven.

A US-Taliban agreementwould not in itself bringAfghanistan's war to an end, asthe insurgents would still needto make a deal with the Kabulgovernment.

Many Afghans had beenhoping for a ceasefire to beannounced over Eid. This hasnot happened, but recent dayshave been relatively calm.

On Monday, Afghanistan'sintelligence service announced35 Taliban prisoners would bereleased "as a gesture of good-will".

"The release of these pris-oners is a clear sign of thestrong will of the government forpeace and end to war", theagency said in a statement.

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Pakistan Foreign MinisterShah Mehmood Qureshi

on Monday asked Oppositionparties to come together onKashmir, saying the countryshould have a united stand onthe issue.

Addressing the media inMuzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir where hecelebrated Eid al-Adha andvisited a refugee camp, Qureshisaid the entire "Pakistani nationand political leadership is unit-ed on the issue of Kashmir andone voice will be sounded onAugust 14 in support ofKashmiris."

Pakistan has announcedthat it will observe August 14as 'Kashmir Solidarity Day'and August 15 as 'Black Day'after India scrapped Article 370of the Constitution that gavespecial status to Jammu andKashmir and bifurcated thestate into two UnionTerritories.

Qureshi urged for unityamong political parties inPakistan on Kashmir andwarned that doing politics onthe issue would harm the cause.

He urged political partiesto come together on theKashmir issue, saying thatPakistan must have a unitedstance on the matter.

"We have our differ-ences...But there is no differ-ence on the issue of Kashmir.If there was any difference, ajoint resolution would not havebeen passed," he said.

Last week, a joint sitting ofParliament was marred due to

differences between treasuryand opposition over languageof resolution against India

Opposition lawmakers lastweek condemned the arrest ofMaryam Nawaz, former primeminister Nawaz Sharif 's daugh-ter and vice-president ofOpposition PML-N, saying theImran Khan government'saction amounts to dividingthe nation at this crucial junc-ture when unity is required togive a befitting response to theIndian government for scrap-ping the special status ofJammu and Kashmir.

Qureshi said India's "uni-lateral" abrogation of the spe-cial status of Kashmir has leftKashmiris with no option butto stand against it.

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Beijing: The strongest typhoonto hit China this year has killedat least 45 people, state-mediareported on Monday, as author-ities stepped up rescue efforts tolocate 16 missing people afterthe storm displaced more thana million residents. Lekima, theninth typhoon, hit Wenling cityon Saturday afternoon, packingwinds of 187 kilometers perhour and bringing heavy rain-storms.

The typhoon has left 45people dead and 16 missing inthree Chinese provinces, wreak-ing havoc there with torrentialrains and strong gales, Xinhuanews agency reported. In theZhejiang Province, Lekima land-ed at around 1:45 am (localtime) on Saturday in the city ofWenling.

By Monday morning, thedeath toll in the province rose to39 while nine others remainedmissing, said the Zhejiangprovincial flood control head-quarters, the report said.

The typhoon has affected6.68 million residents inZhejiang, among whom 1.26million were evacuated. It dam-aged 234,000 hectares of crops,inflicting a direct economic lossof 24.22 billion yuan (about USD3.4 billion), it said. PTI

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan has called

Indonesian President JokoWidodo as part of his outreachto the world leaders on theKashmir issue, according to amedia report on Monday.

India last week revokedArticle 370 to withdraw the spe-

cial status to Jammu andKashmir and bifurcated theregion into two UnionTerritories - J & K, and Ladakh.

In reaction to India's move,Pakistan downgraded thediplomatic relations byexpelling the Indian HighCommissioner on Wednesdayand suspended trade ties withNew Delhi.

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Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivingsuspect in the November 2015 Paris

attacks, has been formally charged inconnection with the Brussels suicidebombings months later, federal prose-cutors said Monday.

Abdeslam was charged with "par-ticipating in the activities of a terroristgroup," the federal prosecutor's officetold AFP, confirming reports in theBelgian media in recent days.

The prosecutor's office did notgive details of his alleged role in the sui-cide bombings at Brussels airport anda city metro station on March 22, 2016,which killed 32 people and wounded340 others.

The Islamic State group claimedresponsibility for the attacks whichoccurred within an hour of each other.

Investigators say the attacks wereordered from Syria and organised by a

French-Belgian cell in Brussels, whichwas also behind the November 13, 2015attacks in Paris that killed 130 peopleand wounded hundreds of others.

In April, a Belgian court sentencedAbdeslam to 20 years in prison over agun battle with police in Brussels thatled to his capture days before theBrussels suicide bombings.

Abdeslam, a Belgian-born Frenchnational who hails from the BrusselsMolenbeek neighbourhood, is beingheld in jail in France pending a sepa-rate trial over the Paris attacks.

Abdeslam is alleged to havedropped off three suicide bombers at

a Paris sports stadium the eveningof the November attacks before aban-doning a suicide belt he was apparent-ly going to detonate.

Before Abdeslam's indictment wasconfirmed in the Belgian capital, 12people had been charged in connectionwith the Brussels bombings.

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Australia will step up pro-duction of rare earths and

other militarily sensitive "techmetals", the country's defenceminister said Monday, asdoubts grow over the reliabil-ity of Chinese supplies.

Linda Reynolds told anaudience in Perth thatresource-rich Australia haddeposits that could safeguardsupplies for allies including the United Statesand Britain.

So-called tech minerals areused in everything from smart-phones and lasers to avionicsystems and electronic warfaretechnologies.

But trade tensions haveled China to warn that suppliesof could be choked.

China produces more than95 percent of the world's rareearths, and the United Statesrelies on it for upwards of 80

percent of its imports. Reynoldsstressed the importance ofWestern allies obtaining themetals from outside China.

"(In) Australia we have atleast 40 percent of the knownreserves of tech metals, whetherit's lithium, cobalt, nickel,graphite but also most of therare earths that our currenttechnology and our lifestylestoday relies on," she said.

She added that it had beendiscussed at length at recentAustralia-US ministerial con-sultations and in discussionswith British counterparts.

"What we want to do ismake sure we have a guaranteeof supply," she told reporters inPerth.

"A lot of our defence equip-ment and capability actuallyuses rare earths in its produc-tion." The key issue forAustralia, the US and otherallies "is the continuity andguarantee of supply of these

rare earths and tech metals asthey're now called is an issue of national importance", shesaid.

Jeffrey Wilson, head ofresearch at the Perth USAsiaCentre, said there is roughlyUS$350 million global trade inrare earths per year, with Chinaalso having a disproportionateshare of processed productssuch as carbonates and mag-nets.

In the case of dysprosium-- which can be used in mag-nets for electric vehicles ornuclear reactor rods -- it is 100percent.

"China's near monopolymeans there's no real genuineor reliable international marketfor rare earths trade," Wilsonsaid.

"Its outsize market poweralso gives the Chinese govern-ment considerable scope tocontrol and shape global tradepatterns," he added.

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Singapore said Monday it willimpose a blanket ban on the

domestic sale of elephant ivory andproducts from 2021 as the govern-ment tightens its campaign againstillegal wildlife trade.

The announcement on WorldElephant Day followed two years ofconsultations with non-governmentgroups, ivory retailers and the pub-lic.

Authorities in the city-state madetheir largest ever seizure of smuggledivory last month, impounding a haulof nearly nine tonnes of contrabandtusks from an estimated 300 Africanelephants valued at $12.9 million.

The illegal cargo was discovered

in a container from the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo being shippedto Vietnam via Singapore and alsoincluded a huge stash of pangolinscales.

Singapore has banned interna-tional trade in all forms of elephantivory products since 1990.

Such items could be sold domes-tically if traders could prove they wereimported before that year or acquiredprior to the inclusion of the relevantelephant species in an internationalconvention protecting endangeredspecies.

In a statement Monday,Singapore's National Parks Boardbanned the sale of elephant ivory andproducts with effect from September1, 2021.

Violators face a jail term of up toone year and fines on conviction.

Traders can donate their ivorystocks to institutions or keep themafter the ban takes effect, the boardsaid.

Public consultation by the gov-ernment last year showed that 99 per-cent of those who responded were infavour of a total ban.

Elephant ivory is coveted becauseit can be fashioned into items likecombs, pendants and other jewellery.

The global trade in elephantivory, with rare exceptions, has beenoutlawed since 1989 after the popu-lation of the African giants droppedfrom millions in the mid-20th centuryto around 600,000 by the end of the1980s.

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Aday care centre where chil-dren could stay overnight as

their parents worked was rav-aged Sunday by a fire that killedfive and sent the owner to thehospital, authorities said.

The victims in the lakesidecity of Erie ranged in ages from8 months to 7 years, Chief GuySantone of the Erie FireDepartment said.

At least four of the victimswere staying overnight at the res-idential house that had beenturned into a day care centre,

Erie Chief Fire Inspector JohnWidomski told the Erie Times-News.

The fire, reported at about1:15 am Sunday, was funnelingout of every first-floor windowwhen firefighters arrived,Widomski said.

Valerie Lockett-Slupski,standing across the street fromthe fire-damaged house, told thenewspaper she was the grandmother of four of the chil-dren, and that they were stayingat the day care center becausetheir parents were workingovernight.

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For those who take clean washroomsin cities for granted, there is ashocker in store. A recent online

survey asked Indian women about therisk of using public washrooms and thefindings were quite disturbing. Ninetyper cent of women feel that the publicwashrooms, be it at workplace, shoppingmalls or even hotels, are not clean andsuitable to use in the country.

The survey report, titled Say no todirty toilets, conducted by a womenempowerment organisation and a fem-inine hygiene brand, covered about20,000 women between the age group of 18-50 years across Delhi, Mumbai,Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bengaluru,Lucknow, Chennai, Pune, Patna andKolkata. It founded that women usealternatives to tackle the issue which canhave serious future implications onhealth. Most of the travellers and shop-pers admitted controlling urine insteadof using dirty toilets, followed by pee-ing in semi-squat position and wipingfilthy toilet seats. Holding urine for along period can lead to severe conse-quences like kidney stones, weakenbladder muscles and other severe kid-

ney disorders. Semi-squatting leads toprolonged pain in joints and pelvic mus-cles.

Dirty toilets not only make youcringe but can also land you in the hos-pital because of the severe health risksthey have — gut infections, lung andskin infections, viral infections andSTDs. It has been found that one of themost common bugs found in a publictoilet are faecel-borne bacteria like E coli,streptococcus, staphylococcus andshigella. An infected person’s faeces cantransmit infection to the surface andcause diarrhoea, abdominal cramps anddysentery. While streptococcus in pub-lic toilets can lead to contagious throatand skin infection, prolonged stay ofstaphylococcus on surfaces can causepneumonia and food poisoning.Another commonly found infection ina public toilet is flu. Viruses that causecommon cold do not survive for a longtime but harmful viruses such as influen-za and norovirus can stay for days on toi-let surfaces. Although the chances arerare, you are still likely to get an STD byusing an infected toilet seat.

The survey highlighted that womenare not ready to compromise when itcomes to feminine hygiene and safety.Women in smaller cities are awareabout the grievances of UTI (UrinaryTract Infection) and are concernedabout the state of public washrooms intheir respective regions. Unhygienicmenstruation practices and dirty wash-rooms are key triggers of UTIs. Around65.2 per cent of women respondentsrevealed the risk of UTI is associatedwith contaminated public toilets.

The survey highlighted the magni-tude of the issue and the grave need forinnovative and affordable solutions forclean washrooms. As per the report, 26per cent of women are willing to standand pee by changing their convention-al way of urinating which can reduce the

chances of UTI significantly because ofelimination of physical contact with thedirty toilet seats. It also revealed thatwomen have a strong preconceivednotion about the public toilets as 51.3per cent consider restrooms as dirty, 40.8per cent consider as less clean and onlyeight per cent feel that they are dirt-free.Respondents were well aware of all theinfections caused by dirty public wash-rooms.

One of the most workable solutionsthat women healthcare start-ups aroundthe world have been working on thesedays are pee cups, which are now avail-able here too. Made from waterproofcardboard, these cups are single-use fun-nels, which allow women to urinatewithout having to squat on a dirty toi-let seat and risk infection. Ideal for con-ditions like pregnancy, diabetes, arthri-tis, while travelling or trekking and alsofor cancer patients, who have very lowimmunity.

However, it is usually advised by thepee cup brands to practise using the peefunnel at home once or twice beforeusing it while you’re on the go. Tryingit out in the shower is generally ideal.

It can take a little time to get used topeeing while standing up as it mightresult in a mess by dirtying your handsor even be directed towards your feet ifnot used or held properly. One alsoneeds to be mindful of controllingone’s flow, so that one doesn’t overflowthe funnel.

A cup made from medical-gradethermoplastic, infused with antibacte-rial, antifungal and antimicrobial agents,might work better than other card-board-based cups. It also allows “self-cleansing” since it repels liquids.Measuring about six inches long and3.75 inches wide, these cups are knownto be more convenient, durable, andhassle-free. There are funnels which arealso made from polypropylene, a typeof plastic that can be recycled. In oneof the other most-used funnels, there isa rounded edge for comfort and a loop-style handle to make it easier to hold itduring use. It uses flexible, medical-grade silicone and doesn’t contain anylatex or phthalate plastic.

None of them is risk-free but giventhe exigency, at least there is some hopefor urban women professionals.

When it comes to Hollywood, thereare certainly more than fifty

shades of grey. The world of Hollywoodisn’t ceased to black and white anymorewith the political climate around theworld, environmental concerns andracial undertones changing the face ofvillainy.

Long gone are the traditionalHollywood villains, who just liked tospread evil for sadistic pleasure or withthe purpose of world domination.Today, socio-political issues are defin-ing the antagonists of Hollywood films.

If supervillain Thanos in theAvengers series wanted to wipe out halfof the world’s people to cure the ills ofoverpopulation, the Godzilla was areflection of the consequences ofhumanity’s actions in Godzilla: King ofthe Monsters. King Orm of Aquamanstood against humanity for polluting theocean.

“Environment is such a big real lifeissue. It is only getting worse and worseas we see climate change affecting all ofus. So it naturally and organicallybecame part of the story but the coolthing was I got to do it from the pointof view of the villain of the film. Youkind of understand why King Orm isangry at us. I think it gives it more tex-ture and more meat,” Aquaman direc-tor James Wan said.

There’s Idris Elba as a genetically-enhanced terrorist of colour hell-bent ondestroying the human race in Fast &Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw; actorJake Gyllenhaal entered the superherouniverse as the villain Mysterio whopoints out how people lose trust easilyand are ready to question a much-lovedsuperhero at the slightest doubt — andhe proves his point in the end ofSpider-Man: Far From Home.

Michael B Jordan as ErikKillmonger, the villain of the critically-acclaimed blockbuster Black Panther

won as many hearts as the superheroT’Challa, because in the end he is justdriven by his father’s death to helpoppressed people of colour.

Samuel L Jackson as Valentine inKingsman: The Secret Service is disgust-ed by humanity’s excesses, and takesmatters in his hand to rectify it. Even inIncredibles 2, the central villain EvelynDeavor is obsessed with the idea of free-ing humans from the enslavement oftechnology.

In Hollywood, the identity of thebad guy has always been a reflection ofthe world’s realities. Consider Magneto,the man living with the horror of

Holocaust in the X-Men franchise or thetwisted Arthur Fleck who becomes theinfamous Batman villain Joker or Yokaithe antagonist trying to reunite with hisdaughter and family in Big Hero 6 orKingpin in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and the bullied Severus Snapefrom Harry Potter universe.

Villains in Hollywood are no longerjust born due to avarice but due to whathappens in their lives — sometimessocial injustice — and due to an urge tomake the world a better place. Themethods they adopt are evil but they areeither trying to solve the problem orstruggling with their identities. And thatmakes many feel compassion for them.

“If we can have compassion forsomeone who inflicts harm based on thefact that harm is being inflicted onthem, that is good news because itmeans that we have compassion for lit-erally everyone,” Ezra Miller, who essaysthe role of villain Obscurus in theFantastic Beasts franchise, said.

One of Joker’s quotes explains it allperfectly. “They’re only as good as theworld allows them to be. When thechips are down these civilised peoplewill eat each other. See, I’m not a mon-ster, I’m just ahead of the curve,” Jokerhad grandly stated.

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Winning the National Award wasalways on Ayushmann Khurrana’s

bucket list, contends the actor, who is“ecstatic” as his wish has been fulfilledwith a double dose of delight.

At the National Film Awards, after all,not only did Ayushmann win Best Actorfor his role in Andhadhun, but his otherrelease last year, Badhaai Ho, ended upwinning the honour for Best Popular FilmProviding Wholesome Entertainment.

“I am feeling ecstatic. Actually, I amstill trying to digest this. It on my buck-et list when I came to Mumbai tobecome an actor,” Ayushmannsaid. “The kind of films thatI do are about credibility andcontent. I was actually look-ing forward to this to happensomeday in my life. Actually,when you’re doing a particu-lar film, you don’t do it think-ing about an award but I amglad this happened withAndhadhun,” he added.

Ayushmann, whohas been impressingall with his uniquechoice of films thatfocus primarily oncontent, informedthat his family isoverwhelmed afterhis win. “My fatherwas almost chokingon the phone whenwe spoke, after hear-ing the news. He wasso overwhelmed thathe could not talk proper-ly. I feel it was even moreoverwhelming for him thanme. Tahira (the actor’s wife)was also emotional,” said he,who shared his Best Actor tro-phy with Vicky Kaushal’s per-formance for Uri: The SurgicalStrike.

Ayushmann was shootingfor an ad-film when the newsreached him. “I was shooting foran ad-film and there were peo-ple around me. So it wasn’t exact-ly a ‘me moment’ for me. I wasbusy with the shot when sudden-ly congratulatory messages startedpouring in on my phone. I was soshocked to learn that all this hashappened. It was all so surreal.Incidentally, I was shooting withthe cinematographer of Uri

(which won Best Actor and BestDirector). So both of us did a high fiveand the entire crew started applauding.They arranged for a special celebrationfor me on the set. It was quite overwhelm-ing,” he recalled.

In fact, the actor is so overjoyed thathe has penned a poem and posted it onsocial media, to commemorate his bag-ging the honour, where he recalls the dayswhen he used to travel to Mumbai in sec-ond-class sleeper compartments in therains, just as it is has been happening overthe past few weeks.

Reminiscing, the Article 15 actorsaid, “When I was in college, I used totravel to Mumbai in second classsleeper compartments along with myfriends. Every year, we used to travelby second class sleeper for differentcompetitions. That’s my best memory.

The journeys used to be quite long.The trains would sometimes

take between 28 to 48hours. But the journeyfrom being a radio per-son to a TV guy to anactor and finally thenational award, hasbeen a really long one.

Ayushmann andVicky, the two youngartistes who haveshared the Best Actoraward, seem to share awarm respect for eachother. The Andhadhunactor described the Uri

star as a “gem of a per-son.”

“Vicky was the firstperson to call me after get-ting the news. It was verysweet of him. Even as I gotto know of the news,there was a call fromVicky. We virtual lyhugged each other over

the phone. He is such agem of a person. It wasvery gracious of him togive me a call,” Ayushmannsaid.

On the work front,Ayushmann will soon beseen in the romantic com-edy Dream Girl. The

film, directed by RaajShaandilyaa, is slated tohit theatres next month.

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With empty pockets but a smil-ing face, rejection yet a heartfull of hope, helplessness yet a

soothing voice, children with specialneeds could act as a helping hand and aguiding light to many. PhotographerBindi Sheth’s exhibition, Like Us, featur-ing children with special needs at thePrabhat Education Foundation inAhmedabad, documents their undyingspirit through her DSLR camera.

She tells us how she initially used torandomly click their photos through herphone and the children used to get soexcited. “I used to teach them and shootsome pictures of them randomly. I thenrealised I could actually use a profession-al camera to take their shots and wecould put it for our website. And then,we finally decided to put up an exhibi-tion for the photos, which would alsotake their stories forward in the publicdomain. What better than a photogra-phy exhibition then?,” says Bindi, whosees the children as one of her manyinspirations and someone who are no lessthan other regular children.

The photographs show children ofthe foundation engaging in different day-to-day activities. From a young girl, whois seen being cradled in her teacher’sarms, to a boy, who is trying to makesense of the playing blocks and put theminto a structure, from little hands at draw-ing to a toddler with twisted feet learn-ing to come to terms with walking thefloor — the photographs display all kindsof emotions these children go throughin their everyday lives. She narrates howshooting them has been an overwhelm-ing experience for her. She says, “It wasemotionally stressful. The kids are so lov-ing and ever-curious about things. I won-der how people can help others so effort-lessly and lovingly at a place where eventhe navigation of their bodies and soulsis a difficult task. Emotions need to bereined there. And I am overwhelmed tosee their spirit sometimes. I have endedup with tears many a times. Aftershoots, I used to be restless, agitated andirritable. I was not the same. As photog-raphers, we are told not to get involvedand just observe, shoot and leave. I didall three, a little more and cried. I walkedinto their homes, heard their stories andfelt their unsaid pain.”

Most of the photographs, from aseries of 35-40 of the exhibited, have beenshot in black and white. Why though?“Not all of them are black and white.Keeping them coloured would havebeen looked too realistic. I wanted toconcentrate on their emotions and theirbackgrounds. And keep them colouredwouldn’t have brought to the photos theright connect,” explains the Ahmedabad-based photographer.

Don’t these children feel shy or con-

scious while facing the camera? Howchallenging was it? Bindi explains that“there were all kinds of responses” fromthem. On one hand, where some of themignored her and continued doing whatthey were doing, on the other, some ofthem smiled and a few others got excit-ed and wanted to look at what had beenclicked.

She explains the exhibition title, LikeUs, “I have a habit of putting myself inother people’s shoes and wonder as towhat do these children think and feelwhen they look at the world. I thenrealised that even they want to be asmuch a part of the regular routines thatother children go through. They alsowant to be included. And even thoughthey struggle with daily chores, which attimes could be a task for them, are capa-ble of doing everything. They are dis-abled yet smart and talented. Many ofthem could draw, sing and make jokes.They have a lot of problems yet they areso much ‘like us’, after all they are humanstoo. The photographs convey that theirhope, joy and tears are just like us.”

The idea of the exhibition, she says,seeks to reflect the perspective of thesechildren who’re so often stigmatised anddiscriminated against yet representextraordinary capacities for growth andnormal citizenship. One of the younggirls in the school, suffering from micro-cephaly, wherein, the child’s head is muchsmaller than the body, leaving her intel-lectually disabled, died six months ago.Her body weight had remained static forseven years. It’s evident with such casesthat the attention to this lot needs to beincreased. And given that 21 million peo-ple suffer from one or the other disabil-ity in the country, the issue demandsgreater attention.

Starting with just one child, thefoundation has now touched some3,000 lives in a few disadvantaged areaslike Danilimda, Vatva and Lamba ineast Ahmedabad.

After being exhibited inAhmedabad, Gandhinagar and at IndiaInternational Centre (IIC) in NewDelhi, Bindi is now working on a bookto take the photographs to a wider audi-ence. The photographs will also beavailable for sale on the foundation’swebsite.

As they say, “Viewing a good painting begets goodluck.” The belief forms the basis of Gond art which

represents the ancient tribal art forms of MadhyaPradesh. Artist Japani Shyam, daughter of famousGond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam, is all set for a solo showTribal Traditions. She says, “I like to delve into the mean-ing and significance of flora and fauna in Gond art. Myworld is mostly inhabited by animals and rituals. I inte-grate nature through forests in which these animals live.”Like her father then, Japani too narrates stories of nature,though she believes her style differs a bit. “That is thebeauty of Gond art,” she says, adding, “Every artist hastheir own unique language. While my father had morevariation and complexity in his sketching, I drawstraighter lines.” Her colour palette is also different. Usingdarker and subtler shades, Japani’s work is cleaner, qui-eter and almost meditative.

Using brushes and colours that Japani’s father usedto give her, she painted regularly, even while accompa-nying him to various galleries and exhibitions. She soonbegan assisting him as well. However, the motif thatinspired her most was that of trees. “My work is nature-based but my designs are purely by imagination. Noneof the forest creatures is really a copy of what they looklike in real. I sketch free hand and whatever shape thecreature takes in my mind, I go freely with it. It shouldonly appeal to me and please my eyes,” she says.

Indeed, it is tradition and legacy that Japani is car-rying forward that of her father who is credited for cre-ating a new school of art in India called the Jangarh Kalamschool. “I was always around my father even as a seven-eight year old, totally enamoured by his paintings, espe-cially the way he used to tell folk tales through his art,”says the 30-year-old, who also has achieved FICCI YoungAchiever’s Award 2018.

The artist has won several accolades but the one thatis closest to her heart is the Kamala Devi Award that shewon at the Crafts Museum when she was 11. “That wasthe beginning of my journey as a serious artist,” she says.

Though Japani admits that she has consciously car-ried forward her father’s style, in terms of figures anddesigns, she has experimented too to carve her own niche.One of the styles she has come with is white-on-blackstyle of painting. “Also, I want to start working with nat-ural colours once again, even though they are very toughto get now.” Her main aim is that Gond art continues toflourish and receive bigger recognition. “Every house-hold in Patangarh, my father’s village in MadhyaPradesh, has an artist who continues to make quality artbut so many of them are not recognised. They are notable to communicate with the mainstream market andoften fall prey to middlemen.” No wonder why Japanicredits her father for all her success. She believes that thestruggle for a tribal artist is much less now than it wasin the olden times. “My father worked so hard to makeGond art a well-known name and paved the way for me.Now galleries have started showing tribal art but still thereis a long way to go. I want to take it to new heights.”

(The exhibition starts from August 22 to September22, 11 am to 7 pm at Gallerie Ganesha.)

There are 90 installations thatspeak volumes, make us

think and raise questions aboutthe reality we live in today at theSouth East Asian ContemporaryArt Auction by AstaGuru. Ofcourse, Tushar Sethi, CEO,points out to the four evocativeones by Jitish Kallat, RavinderReddy, Valay Shende andKrishnaraj Chonnat. The best ofthe lot is Kallat’s playfully artis-tic automobile created in 2007,a skeletal wonder made out ofresin, paint, steel and brass.

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vre of Jitish Kallat is alwaysexpansive and cutting edge. Hisuniquely layered autobiograph-ical works spring from classicalthemes, the history of art, birthand death and the narrative ofthe human struggle for sur-vival. The car is caught betweenits past and its future.

Fashioned out of the skele-tal forms of the human body,Collidonthus isthe wreckedcarcass of alife-sized auto-mobile. Resin,mimics of bonesand teeth make upthe body ofthe car.Figuratively,the skeletal body of theautomobile evokes the grimreality of India’s chaotic andover-crowded cities.The pandemonium ofthe urban life, wheretransport, animals andhumans collide, is notsustainable. In fact,Collindonthus, a titlereferenced fromp r e - h i s t o r i cdinosaurs, could beexhibited in a muse-um in the future.

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The second installation is adelightfully decorated woman’sbraid by Ravinder Reddy, who isknown for his heads. The braidmakes a statement of sheer fem-ininity, referencing lifestyle anda cultural symbolism to sacredart in many ways. Braidingwomen’s hair in India, especial-ly in the South, is a rich tradi-tion. Reddy gives us a braiddecked with plastic flowers andcreates a rich analogy of every-day idioms. He takes us back tothe time when

growing hairwas naturaland lookingafter it was a

ritual thatbespoke of a discipline,unlike the extensionsand deceptive wigs intoday’s world. What’sendearing is the plait’sposition on the woodenflat pedestal as it speaksto us about many leg-ends of yore and arare insight into a

world where short hair-styles are considered

less cumbersome.

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Created in 2006,Krishnaraj Chonnat’s

Private Sky is yet another beau-ty. Made of steel, fibreglass, fakefur and plastic, the artist aims toquestion people’s perceptionsof landscape, urbanisation,progress, waste disposal andsmell. He explains how andwhy he uses these themes.“Everything’s so well construct-ed and simulated that you don’tknow if you have to trust yourinstincts or experience andbelieve what you’re seeing,” hesays. He questions society’s ten-dency to perceive technologicaldevelopment as progress. Hisartwork investigates the impactthat changes in a landscapehave on the native population.“I was very much interested inworking with the idea of hous-

ing. Personally, I’ve been verydrawn to this because my ownexperience of having lived in andmoved out of the city to thisbeautiful place. Over the years,all these lands around weredenotified and all this construc-tion suddenly happened. Newroads were laid right through liv-ing colonies. Everything wasthrown up. Private Sky actuallyhappened somewhere aroundthat same time of realisation.”

In the artwork, a woodenhouse, which is a replica of hous-es found in southern California,sits in the branches of a deadtree. A huge mosquito squats atthe foot of the tree and a moonmade of faux fur hangs over-head. The design for the house

was inspired by a brochuredescribing a housing colony(residential development) thatwas being built on what wasonce a mosquito-infested lake.

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In the first glance, in ValayShende’s artwork, an upsidedown horse, whose legs flung inthe air, seems to be at odds withthe nature. However, the horseis a victim of the time, lifestyles,atrocities and man’s insensitiv-ity towards animals. The steeldiscs make his anatomy shinebut halt us in our understand-ing of it. Shende here dealswith colonialism in Mumbaiand his city in different realms.

For Shende, art is a language andlike most languages, he likes hisart to be clear and precise so thatthe meaning is not lost duringcommunication. “I don’t likeconfusion in art. So I alwaysmake a clear statement. I wantmy artworks to freeze the cur-rent times so that the cominggenerations can look back andstudy our time period throughmy art,” said Shende. That ispartly the reason he used metal-lic elements to construct hissculptures, which are not onlydurable but also represent thecurrent times. Their shiny ele-ment attracts the eyes easily, hepointed out.

(The auction begins fromAugust 22 to 23.)

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Paris Saint-Germain brushedoff the ongoing Neymar

transfer saga by kicking off theirLigue 1 title defence with astraightforward 3-0 victory overNimes on Sunday.

The 27-year-old Neymar wasleft out of the squad the day afterPSG sporting director Leonardosaid talks about a possible sale ofthe Brazilian were “moreadvanced than before”.

On Sunday, coach ThomasTuchel told Canal+ he had “nonews” on Neymar’s future andthat he would have to “findsolutions without” him.

Edinson Cavani’s controver-sial VAR penalty in the 24thminute set PSG on their way atthe Parc des Princes, after sup-porters had made their negativefeelings towards the absentNeymar clear.

A fine second-half displayfrom Kylian Mbappe — with agoal and an assist for Angel DiMaria — showed Tuchel theobvious solution to Neymar’simpending exit, and gave thecapital club a perfect start to theirbid for a third straight French

title and ninth in total.“We are not going to lie. We

will see what happens withNeymar — but it’s not the sameteam,” said Mbappe.

PSG sit level with Lyon, whobeat Monaco 3-0 on Friday, atthe top of the fledgling table, andwill be hoping to occupy thatposition for the rest of the sea-son. Former Barcelona forwardNeymar’s two years in the Frenchcapital since PSG made him theworld’s most expensive playerhave been plagued by injuries

and controversies.Home fans unfurled a ban-

ner before kick-off translating to“Neymar. Get out”.

Other banners slammed hisrecent comment that his fondestmemory in football was inspir-ing Barcelona’s stunning 2017Champions League comebackagainst PSG, while one calledNeymar “heartless”.

Neymar has been linkedwith a return to Barca or amove to their arch rivals RealMadrid.

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Atearful Serena Williams saw herUS Open preparation thrown

into disarray on Sunday as backspasms forced her out of the WTAToronto final after just four games,handing Canadian teenager BiancaAndreescu the title.

Andreescu, 19, was up 3-1 witha break of serve when 23-time GrandSlam champion Williams decided shecouldn’t continue.

She called for a medical timeout,but within a minute, the umpireannounced she was retiring.

“I just knew,” said Williams,adding she’d undergone hours oftreatment before the match to com-bat the back spasms she’d first felt ina semi-final win on Saturday night.“I knew I wasn’t going to be able to

continue.”A n d r e e s c u

approached her chair,offering words ofencouragement and aconsolatory hug as

Williams tried to fight back tears.“I’m sorry I couldn’t do it today,”

Williams told the crowd, her voicecracking. “I tried but I just couldn’tdo it.”

Williams said the spasms start-ed during her come-from-behindwin over Czech qualifier MarieBouzkova on Saturday “and it just gotworse.”

“Just my whole back just com-pletely spasmed, and to a pointwhere I couldn’t sleep and I could-n’t really move,” she said.

Nevertheless, she wanted to giveit a go in the final.

“I don’t want to get this far andnot at least try,” said the 37-year-old,who was eyeing her 73rd WTA title— and her first since the birth of herdaughter, Olympia, in September2017.

Beaten by Simona Halep in theWimbledon final in July, Williamswas playing just her 24th match of ayear already disrupted by naggingknee trouble.

“Well, that’s the most frustratingpart is that I’ve had this before andit’s, like, 24, 36 hours where I’m justin crazy spasm and then it’s, like,gone,” said Williams, who wasn’timmediately sure whether she’d playnext week in Cincinnati.

“So that’s a little bit frustrating forme because I know that I could play.I just can’t play today.

“If it’s what typically happens, Iwill be fine, but I have to wait and see.”

For Andreescu, Sunday’s eventswere a bittersweet achievement as shebecame the first Canadian to win thetitle since Faye Urban in 1969.

“I know how it is to pull out oftournaments and be injured — it’s

not easy,” Andreescu said, address-ing Williams directly during thetrophy presentation.

“This wasn’t the way I expect-ed to win and for you to go off thecourt. I’ve watched you play somany times. You are truly a cham-

pion on and off the court.”Andreescu claimed her second

WTA Premier level title of the year,having rocketed to prominence inMarch when she became the first wildcard to win at Indian Wells.

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Rafael Nadal completed a 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Russian DaniilMedvedev to win in Montreal

on Sunday and extend his recordhaul of Masters 1000 titles.

The world number two securedhis 35th Masters crown, pullingclear by two in that category fromNovak Djokovic, who has won 33 ofthe elite tournaments.

Claycourt king Nadal successful-ly defended a hard court title for thefirst time in his career.

“It was important to start thematch in a good shape,” the 18-timeGrand Slam winner said.

“He came in playing so well,playing a lot of matches the lastweeks,” Nadal added of Medvedev,who was runner-up to Nick Kyrgiosin Washington last week.”

Nadal, in contrast, had playedjust three hard court matches sincestarting his build up to the US Openthis week — reaching the final on awalkover when injured Gael Monfilspulled out of their scheduled semi-final.

“I played a solid match, my bestof the week so far without a doubt,”Nadal said. “I did a lot of things well:changing directions, changingrhythm during the point. The sliceworked well this afternoon.

“I think I played smart, I had a

good feeling on the ball.”With all that going for him,

Nadal needed just 70 minutes to sub-due Medvedev, breaking the Russianfour times.

The top seed, who now ownsfive Canadian title dating to 2005,swept the last seven games in thehardcourt blowout against his 23-year-old Russian opponent — whohad never played Nadal before.

“I’ve played Roger (Federer)two times, Novak (Djokovic) fourtimes,” Medvedev said.

“I knew how itwas going to be, I waskind of ready for it. ButI didn’t manage toprobably show my besttennis. Rafa was incredible today.Congrats to him.”

Despite the lopsided defeat,Medvedev was pleased with histime in Toronto.

“I believe this was the best weekever,” said Medvedev, who will moveup to a career high of eighth in theworld on Monday, making him thehighest-ranked Russian. “My levelduring all the matches was extreme-ly good. “I would have liked to dobetter today, but it happens. I willtake experience from this match andtry to do better next time.”

For Nadal it was a third title of2019, after clay court success atRome and the French Open.

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Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicuetainsists Tammy Abraham and

Mason Mount will live up to theirpotential after stinging criticismfrom Jose Mourinho following their

4-0 thrashing at Manchester United.Mourinho claimed new Chelsea

boss Frank Lampard was wrong topick inexperienced youngstersAbraham and Mount against a lead-ing Premier League team likeUnited.

The former Chelsea managersaid he was surprised proven veter-ans N’Golo Kante, Olivier Giroudand Marcos Alonso started on thebench as United ran riot at OldTrafford on Sunday.

Lampard expressed surprise atMourinho’s comments andAzpilicueta made it clear he didn’tagree with the assessment of two ofChelsea’s more highly-rated acade-my graduates.

“If they are here it is becausethey deserve to be. They are fight-ing in every training session. Wetrust in them,” Azpilicueta said.

“All the boys, they train to playfor the Chelsea first team since theywere young and now we have a mas-sive opportunity to create a fantas-tic group, to learn from every game.

“Obviously everyone would liketo start in a better way but we haveto face the reality and becomestronger from it.”

Abraham and Mount startedbrightly at Old Trafford, the formerrattling the post, and Chelsea wereperhaps unfortunate to be trailing atthe break following MarcusRashford’s penalty.

But they collapsed in the secondhalf, making it a miserable firstPremier League game in the dug-outfor Chelsea legend Lampard.

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Andy Murray on Sunday pronouncedhimself ready to go as he prepared to

resume his singles career with a first-roundtest at the ATP Cincinnati Masters.

“I’m feeling good, I’ve had three of fourgood practice sessions,” said Murray, athree-time Grand Slam champion who hastumbled to 325th in the world. “I have zeropain.

“I’m not expecting to move as well asI used to. There is still some improvementto be made, though it will take time.

“I started training singles a few weeksago, it’s the best to train with players at thehighest level who hit the ball big.”

The 32-year-old will face off againstFrenchman Richard Gasquet in the open-ing round with the winner to face fourthseed Dominic Thiem.

Murray said that as he increases his sin-gles workload, everything seems to befalling into place.

“I’ve been recovering fine from prac-tices, I’ve not had issues later in the day, Ithink I’ve handled myself pretty well.”

But he admitted: “It’s different playingmatches. But at some stage you have to take

the step to try and play.“My team felt this was the time, that’s

why I’m giving it a go.“The quickest way to get back up to

speed is to practice with the top players, Ithink that means I can get back quicker.”

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After a chastening few months following OleGunnar Solskjaer’s appointment on a

permanent basis as Manchester United man-ager, there is cause for optimism again at OldTrafford after romping to a 4-0 win overChelsea on the opening weekend of thePremier League season.

Solskjaer insisted ahead of the match thathe did not sense the negativity that appearedonline from fans in the wake of Thursday’stransfer deadline passing with only threenew arrivals in the form of Harry Maguire,Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James,while no replacement was brought infor the departing Romelu Lukakuup front.

And the Norwegian was ini-tially proved right as all three newboys played their part in aresounding victory, while thewantaway Paul Pogba came tolife after half-time andMarcus Rashford andAnthony Martial showedtheir capability to cope with-out Lukaku.

United paid a world-record fee for a defenderto match Leicester’sdemands for Maguire at

£80 million ($96.2 million) last week and thehope that the England centre-back can matchthe transformative impact made by Virgil vanDijk on Liverpool got off to a good start.

United recorded just two clean sheets athome in the league all of last season, and arealready halfway to that tally as Maguire mar-shalled the back line, while at right-back, 21-year-old Wan-Bissaka played with a maturitybeyond his years.

“He’s done exactly what we signedhim for — his presence in both boxes,his composure and calmness on theball, and he is a leader,” said Solskjaerof Maguire.

The Red Devils still needed toride their luck at times. Chelsea

twice hit the woodwork in thefirst half through TammyAbraham and EmersonPalmieri, but crucially Davidde Gea also played his part inkeeping a clean sheet.

The Spaniard embracedthat responsibility withimportant saves from Ross

Barkley and Emerson to pre-serve United’s lead either side of

half-time.“He’s contributed on and off

the ball today,” said Solskjaer of DeGea’s steadying influence.

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Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters forthe second year in a row after polishing off his US Open

preparation with a Montreal title on Sunday.The oft-injured Spaniard decided against playing any

more before the August 26 start of the US Open in newYork.

“I am very sorry to announce that I won’t be playingin Cincinnati this year,” Nadal posted onFacebook. “No other reason than per-sonally taking care of my body andtrying to keep as healthy as I feelnow.”

Also, Canadian Bianca Andreescumade history with a TorontoWTA title withdrew fromnext week’s big date.

The first Canadian inhalf a century to win thehome trophy said she didnot want to taken anyrisks after missingmore than twomonths with shoul-der problems beforereturning to actionthis week.

Williams, 37, said shewould make the trip toCincinnati before decidingwhether she would play.

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US and Australian Openchampion Naomi Osaka

returned to the world numberone spot in the WTA rankings onMonday.

The 21-year-old lost toSerena Williams in the quarter-finals of last week’s Rogers Cupbut benefitted from the secondround defeat of former numberone Ashleigh Barty and the fail-ure of Karolina Pliskova to reachthe semis in Toronto.

Osaka first hit top spot inJanuary, after winning back-to-back majors in New York andMelbourne, making history asthe first Japanese player toachieve it.

After seven weeks on top,Barty slips to second withPliskova in third. The only othermovement in the top 10 seesWilliams, finalist in Toronto,climbing two places to eightwith Sloane Stephens going in theother direction.

Canadian Bianca Andreescu,who won the Rogers Cup follow-ing Williams’ withdrawal withback spasms in the opening set ofthe final, climbs 13 places to 14.

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Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale played for the first timein four pre-season matches on Sunday to suggest

he could yet regain his place under coach ZinedineZidane.

Bale came off the bench as Madrid drew 2-2 againstRoma in the Stadio Olimpico, before losing the friend-ly on penalties.

After the game, Zidane was also asked about a pos-sible move for Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar buthe refused to address the issue.

It was Madrid’s seventh and final warm-up fixtureahead of the start of La Liga next weekend but Balehas only played three of those, and each time as a sub-stitute.

James Rodriguez, who has also been expected toleave Madrid this summer, was not even named on thebench against Roma.

“Bale and James are players of Real Madrid,” Zidanesaid afterwards. “Anything can happen until August31 but we are counting on all the players.”

On a potential move for Neymar, who is report-edly keen to leave PSG and could rejoin Barcelona,Zidane said: “We are here with the squad that we haveand we are only thinking about that.”

Bale was back in the squad against Roma and cameon for the last half an hour.

With the score level, he could have won it forMadrid, firing into the side-netting and then just widein the 92nd minute after two impressive breaks for-ward.

Their display against Roma was one of their bet-ter showings of a patchy pre-season, which has seenthem register two wins, two draws and three defeatsafter normal time.

All four goals were scored in the first half as twiceRoma came from behind, Diego Perotti and EdinDzeko cancelling out efforts from Marcelo andCasemiro. Bale scored his penalty but Marcelo missed,his shot hitting the crossbar to confirm Roma’s win.

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Skipper Virat Kohli’s incom-parable batting form cou-pled with Bhuvneshwar

Kumar’s four-wicket haul script-ed a dominant 59-run win forIndia in the rain-curtailed sec-ond ODI against the WestIndies, continuing their unbeat-en streak in the Caribbean.

By virtue of the win onSunday, India took a 1-0 lead inthe three-match series. Thefirst ODI between the two sideswas washed out.

The third and final ODIwill be played here onWednesday.

India rode on Kohli’s 120off 125 balls and Shreyas Iyer’s71 to post a challenging 279 forseven after opting to bat.

West Indies were then set arevised target of 270 off 46 oversunder D/L method after raininterrupted the proceedings forthe second time.

In pursuit, the hosts wereon course at 148 for four beforethey lost their last six wickets for62 runs to be bundled out for210 in 42 overs.

Bhuvneshwar (4/31) wasthe pick of the bowlers forIndia, while Mohammed Shami(2/39) and Kuldeep Yadav(2/59) scalped two wicketsapiece.

Earlier, coming on to bat inthe fourth ball of the innings,Kohli played aggressively asIndia posted 279 for 7. He hit14 fours and one six during hiselegant knock.

Besides Kohli, Iyer struckthird half-century of his careeroff 68 balls and shared 125 runswith his skipper for the fourthwicket.

West Indies started theirchase on a cautious note with

Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis(65) stitching 45 runs in 9.3overs for the opening stand.

Playing his 300th ODI,Gayle achieved a big milestonewhen he surpassed legendaryBrian Lara to become the high-est scorer for West Indies inODI cricket.

Needing seven runs toachieve the feat, Gayle reachedthe milestone with a single off

Khaleel Ahmed in the ninthover.

Gayle, who now has 10,353runs as compared to Lara’s10,348, departed soon afterachieving the feat, out LBW toBhuvneshwar in the 13th over.His stay at the crease was astruggle as he managed just 11runs off 24 balls.

Shai Hope didn’t last long ashe played on a Khaleel delivery.

Shimron Hetmyer (18)showed glimpses of his talentbefore he was holed out to Kohliat short cover off Kuldeep. Heshared 40 runs for the thirdwicket with Lewis.

Battling cramps, Lewis car-ried on and completed his half-century. Lewis and NicholasPooran (42) shared 56 runsbefore Kohli took a one-hand-ed catch to sent back the open-

er off Yadav’s bowling.Thereafter, West Indies lost

the plot as Bhuvneshwar dis-missed Pooran, Roston Chase(18) and Kemar Roach (0).

Shami polished off the tail,picking up the wickets ofSheldon Cottrell and OshaneThomas.

Earlier, India lost ShikharDhawan in the third ball of theinnings, caught plumb in frontof the wicket by Cottrell.

Then came in skipper Kohliand in the company of RohitSharma (18) played fluently tostabilise the Indian innings.

Kohli played some delight-ful shots through the covers andoff his pads to register his 55thODI fifty with an outside edgepast West Indies keeper Hopeoff Carlos Brathwaite (3/53) inthe 15th over.

Rishabh Pant made 20 off35 balls with the help of twoboundaries before inexperiencedid him in.

Kohli and Iyer then played

aggressively and milked theWest Indian bowlers to keep thescoreboard ticking.

The duo rotated the strikeand found the fence when baddeliveries were on offer.

But hot and humid condi-tions got the better of Kohli inthe 42nd over as the Indian skip-per played a tired-looking shotonly to be caught by Roach atlong-off off Brathwaite.

Iyer played a good knockbefore some brilliant bowlingfrom West Indies skipper JasonHolder got the better of him.Iyer was bowled around his legsas he went across the stumps foran extravagant shot. He hit fiveboundaries and one six duringhis knock.

But West Indies came backstrongly in the last 10 overs topeg back the Indians with someclever bowling display.

Comfortably placed at 212for 3, the Indians could onlymanage 67 runs for the loss offour wickets in the last 10 overs.

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Skipper Virat Kohli haseclipsed former captain

Sourav Ganguly to becomethe second highest run-getterfor India in one-day interna-tionals.

Kohli achieved the featduring the second ODIagainst West Indies when hehit Jason Holder for a bound-ary in the 32nd over.

The 30-year-old, who hada relatively quiet World Cupin England, went on to scorehis 42nd ODI century, his firstsince March.

His 125-ball 120 took hisaggregate to 11,406 runs in238 innings, surpassingGanguly’s record of 11,363

runs in 311 ODIs.“Virat Kohli another

master class in one day crick-et @imVkohli @BCCI.. Whata player,” Ganguly wrote onTwitter.

Kohli is now only behindSachin Tendulkar, who hasscored 18,426 runs in hisillustrious ODI career. Kohliis also seven hundreds shortof Tendulkar’s record of 49ODI hundreds.

Overall, Kohli is in theeighth spot in the list of high-est run-scorer in ODIs.

Earlier in the day, theIndian captain had shattereda 26-year-old record when hesurpassed Pakistan’s JavedMiandad for most runs byany batsman in ODIs againstthe West Indies.

Kohli was 19 runs shy ofthe landmark and he over-took Miandad’s tally of 1930runs with a single in the fifthover bowled by Jason Holder.

This was Kohli’s 34thODI against the West Indieswhile Miandad had accumu-lated his runs from 64 match-es.

The prolific Indian cap-tain has so far hit seven hun-dreds against the West Indiesand has an average of over 71in ODIs against theCaribbeans.

Kohli's dominationagainst the West Indies can begauged from the fact that hestruck four back-to-back cen-turies against them betweenJuly 2017 and October 2018.

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India batsman Shreyas Iyer is hopingthat his 71-run knock in the second

ODI against the West Indies will help himkeep a consistent place in the team, cred-iting his stint with the A side for theimpressive show.

Coming into the team after a year,Iyer, who has a couple of fifties in the fiveODIs that he has played, produced a 68-ball 71 to play a crucial role in India’s 59-run win.

Batting at number five, Iyer added125 runs with skipper Virat Kohli (120).Kohli, in the post-match presentation,lauded the batsman for keeping thepressure off him during the partnership.

“I want to stay in the team for a while,the consistency is always important, Iwant to play well and contribute to theteam,” said the 24-year-old, who didn’tget game time during the T20 series.

Iyer, who scored two fifties for IndiaA during their tour of West Indies lastmonth, said familiarity with the condi-tions gave him the confidence of doingwell in the ODI series.

“It was a fruitful day. I knew I wasgoing to do well, I played for India A andI played in these grounds, paced myinnings well and think it went well,” saidIyer.

Talking about his partnership withcaptain Kohli, Iyer said: “I decided thatI wouldn’t take any risks, Virat told methat we needed to build a partnership and

take the innings deep.“He supported me very well, we took

the ones and twos, hit the boundarieswhen it came. We decided 250 was agood score, obviously we got 30 runsextra. He told me to bat at least until the45th over, I am thankful for what I man-aged.”

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West Indies coach Floyd Reifer said themiddle-order batsmen need to show

more grit and fighting spirit in order to winmatches after they suffered a 59-run loss.

Lack of partnerships once again put paidto West Indies’ hopes as they handed a 0-1lead to India in the three-match ODI series.

“We got to continue to learn from thisexperience. Guys in the middle order, we gotto show more fight, a bit more grit. Moredetermination to build those longer partner-ship,” Reifer said at the post match confer-ence.

Opener Evin Lewis (65) and NicholasPooran (42) had kept West Indies in the huntbut the loss of wickets at regular intervalturned the match in India’s favour.

“Again we were in front today and thenwe found a way to give away our wickets, soit’s just a matter of us now to learn from ourmistakes, continue to learn from our mis-takes and try to dig deeper,” he said.

The 47-year-old, however, lauded theefforts of his bowlers who restricted Indiato 279 for 7.

“I thought the bowlers bowled very wellto restrict India to 279, I thought it was a verygood effort from the bowlers. Great bowl-ing line and length, variation of pace.Carlos Brathwaite really bowled well, Chasehad a good spell, all the other bowlers,Cottrell again, a champion.”

Asked about the final ODI, which is

scheduled to take place here on Wednesday,Reifer said the team, which is in the rebuild-ing process, can still pull off a win.

“It’s not an uphill task (to win), we arerebuilding, we are building our side again.

“And when you are building a side, youget speed bumps along the way. It’s how youbounce back from them. Our meeting willbe how we assess today and things we needto do better going the next game,” he added.

Reifer also congratulated Chris Gayle forbecoming the highest run-scorer for WestIndies surpassing batting legend Brain Laraduring his 300th ODI.

“300 game for a West Indian, obvious-ly he is the first to have done it. It is a greatachievement I feel honoured to be hereworking with him.”

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England pacer JofraArcher warned the

Australian batsmen onMonday that he is not justa one-day cricketer andsaid he will try to “workmiracles” if he faces themat Lord’s in the Ashes thisweek.

The 24-year-oldBarbados-born seamer,who starred for his adopt-ed country in their WorldCup triumph, missed thefirst Test defeat atEdgbaston because of aside strain.

But, with JamesAnderson ruled out witha calf injury, Archer is nowin line to to play in the sec-ond Test which starts atLord’s on Wednesday.

Archer proved his fit-ness playing for Sussex ina 2nd XI match againstGlucestershire duringwhich he took 6-27 in thefirst innings and then

scored 108. He said theAustralians would be fool-ing themselves if theythought he would offerrich pickings on his Testdebut.

“I’ve played a lot morered-ball cricket and it’s mypreferred format,” Archersaid at a press conferenceon Monday.

“If you don’t have agood 10 overs (in white-ball cricket) that’s it.You’ve got to wait to thenext game, but you’veample chances in Test

cricket.“I’m more ready than

I’ve ever been.“I bowled 50 overs in

one game for Sussex andam the one usually bowl-ing at the end.

“Test cricket is prettymuch the same as first-class. Know what yourstrengths are and stick tothem.”

Archer, said Lord’sbrought back happymemories of England’svictory over New Zealandin a thrilling World Cup

final in July during whichArcher was entrusted withbowling the Super Overwhich clinched the tro-phy.

“The first one(appearance) is alwaysspecial, and (to be) atLord’s where we hadrecent success will becomforting as well,” saidArcher.

“It’s a good ground tocome back to, and hope-fully keep our winningways here. “I’ll try andwork miracles but I canonly give my best.”

Australia coach JustinLanger said his batsmenwould hopefully be able toweather the storm fromhis first spell and thenscore freely in his latersessions.

“Hopefully our guyshave got the answerswhatever he (Archer)dishes up for us,” Langersaid at his press confer-ence.

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Former Australia quick MitchellJohnson says he would make

one change to Australia’s XI for thesecond Ashes Test, with MitchStarc to replace James Pattinson forthe clash.

Johnson can also see veteranPeter Siddle playing all five Tests inthe series having impressed in thefirst Test at Edgbaston whereAustralia won by 251 runs.

The iconic slope at Lord’s,which drops 2.5 metres across theplaying surface, is why Johnsonwould draft in Starc for Pattinsonfor the second Test despite theVictorian’s successful comebackto international cricket inBirmingham.

“I’d go for Starc and probablyhave Pattinson out,” Johnson toldcricket.com.au.

“As much as I want to see(Josh) Hazlewood go well youcan’t drop Sidds.

“He’s been really useful and

especially on the slope I think he’dbe very good and he just backed up(off-spinner Nathan) Lyon reallywell.

“And (Pat) Cummins is in hisown little world, just leave him be.

Johnson continued: “It’s hardto change a winning side but I’d liketo see Starc still come charging in.

“The slope comes into it, bigtime. Left-armer, bit of a differentangle.

“We saw in the last Test the

(Australian fast bowlers) comingaround the wicket a fair bit … I’mnot too sure about that. Someone’sgot to stay over and one around toleft-hand batters.

“So maybe a left-hand bowlerwould be ideal.”

Starc was overlooked for thefirst Test but bowled with histrademark pace and hostility inAustralia’s tour match againstWorcestershire at new Road, wherehe captured 2-56 from 15.5 overs.

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Six candidates, including incumbentRavi Shastri, were on Monday short-

listed for the high-profile post of theIndian cricket team’s head coach.

The six candidates are former NewZealand coach Mike Hesson, ex-Australiaall-rounder and Sri Lanka coach TomMoody, former West Indies all-rounderand Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons, ex-India team manager Lalchand Rajput,former India fielding coach Robin Singhand Shastri.

The candidates will give a presenta-tion to the Cricket Advisory Committee(CAC) headed by the legendary KapilDev, and a final decision will be arrivedat by end of this week or early next week.

“These six will give presentation forhead coach before CAC. It has been learntthat these six have been short-listed forinterview with the CAC,” a senior BCCIofficial said.

While the names of Hesson andMoody have been doing the rounds fora while, Simmons, who has had success-ful stints with Ireland and Afghanistancricket teams, is also in the fray now.

Simmons also served West Indies fora brief while, helping them to victory inthe 2016 World T20 tournament inIndia before taking over as head coachof the Afghanistan national team in 2017.

Among the Indians, Robin served asthe fielding coach of the Indian teamwhen it won the inaugural World T20under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captain-cy in 2007.

Rajput, who was the head coach ofthe team when it won the World T20, alsohad stints with Afghanistan andZimbabwe.

Hesson recently parted ways with IPLfranchise Kings XI Punjab. Hessoncoached the Black Caps for six years,highlighted by their memorable run tothe 2015 Cricket World Cup final inMelbourne, a semifinal finish at the 2016World Twenty20 in India and a home Testseries win over England in April 2018which lifted them to third on the worldrankings.

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Former skipper Sunil Gavaskarbelieves Shreyas Iyer is better suit-

ed for the number four spot in ODIsthan Rishabh Pant and should begiven a permanent slot in the Indianmiddle-order.

“In my view, Rishabh Pant is muchbetter like an MS Dhoni at 5 for 6 as afinisher because that’s where his natur-al game and natural flair will come intoplay,” Sunil Gavaskar told Sony Tenchannel.

“If India get to a great start withVirat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan andRohit Sharma batting for 40-45 overs,then Pant at No 4. But if it’s a questionof batting for 30-35 overs, then I thinkit should be Shreyas Iyer at No 4 andPant at No 5.”

Heaping praise on Iyer, Gavaskarsaid: “He has grabbed his opportunity.He came at No 5. He had plenty ofovers. He had the company of his skip-per, Virat Kohli. Nothing quite like itbecause the skipper takes the pressureoff you. “The best place to learn in crick-et is the non-striker’s end. That’s whatShreyas Iyer was doing with ViratKohli at the other end,” he added.

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