PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA VOL. 12, ISSUE 344 | Thursday, 14 December 2017 | New Delhi | Pages 16 | Rs 3.00

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EC notice to Rahul over TV interview

OUR CORRESPONDENT

GANDHINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi’s interviews to Gujarati TV channels aired on Wednesday on the eve of final phase of the Assem-bly elections sparked a complaint by the BJP with the Election Commis-sion which sought his explanation for “prima facie” violating the poll rules.

As the BJP and the Congress were locked in a war of words over the interview, the Election Commis-sion issued a show cause notice to the Congress president-elect to explain by 5 pm on December 18 as to why action should not be taken against him. Counting of votes is due to be taken up on December 18.

The poll body in its 2-page order on Wednesday night also said it would decide the matter without any reference to him if he fails to respond to the notice.

In a press statement earlier, the EC said it had asked TV channels to “forthwith stop” airing interviews of Rahul Gandhi as they violated the election law and directed the Guja-rat poll authorities to lodge FIRs against anyone for infringement of legal provisions.

It said Rahul Gandhi talked about the Gujarat assembly elections in which the polling for the second phase will be held on Thursday.

The notice said the display of his interview by channels falls within the definition of election matter under

Section 126 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and display of such election matter within 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for con-clusion of the poll, amounts to a vio-lation of the prohibition contained in Section 126 (1) (b) of the Act, 1951.

“...by giving such interview and its display on TV channels on Decem-ber 13 you have, prima facie, violated the...provisions of para 1 (4) of the Model Code of Conduct, Section 126 (1) (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Election Com-mission’s lawful instructions in this regard,” it said.

The BJP in its complaint alleged that Rahul Gandhi has turned so “des-perate” fearing defeat in the Gujarat polls that he “violated” the Model Code of Conduct to giving the media interviews. The Congress on its part accused Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and others of threatening journalists for airing Rahul Gandhi’s interview and urged the Election Commission for action against them including reg-istration of cases.

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to have a web portal ready by January 10 next year to enable citizens to register com-plaints of child sexual abuse, child pornography and gangrape videos.

The Centre apprised a bench of Justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit that a portal has been pre-pared and it would be ready within a month, and standard operating procedures were also being developed for the use of the portal.

However, the bench said it was “high time” that the Centre gets the portal ready and avail-able to the public at large.

“The matter has been pending for quite some time, and we find from the affidavit filed by the CBI on October 8, 2015, that steps are being taken to enable complaints being filed through a portal,” the bench said in its order. P7

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednes-day directed the Centre to hold a meeting with stakeholders like search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, to find a solution to ensure that materials violating Indian laws prohibiting prenatal sex determination are not hosted on websites.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also directed that the meeting is held within six weeks from Wednesday and the suggestions of the petitioner be also considered.

Sanjay Parikh, appearing for petitioner Sabu Mathew George, said search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, were competent to remove materials on sex determination from the web-sites on their own. The contention was vehe-mently opposed by the counsel for the search engines. P7

Make portal for complaints on sexual abuse videos: SC

Sex determination: SC asks Centre, 3 search engines to meet

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The bitter slug-fest ahead of the Gujarat polls receded into the background on Wednesday as political leaders, including Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh, gathered to pay homage to the martyrs of the 2001 Parliament attack.

Modi and Singh greeted each other warmly at the sombre cer-emony, held in the Parliament House complex.

Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, the prime minister, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Manmohan Singh, BJP veteran L K Advani, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul, several senior ministers and politicians

showered petals at the portraits of the bravehearts killed in the attack 16 years ago.

When Singh greeted Modi with a ‘namaste’ just before the

ceremony, the latter cupped his hands.

Earlier this week, Modi had accused Singh of colluding with Pakistan to ensure BJP’s defeat

in Gujarat.Singh had hit back at Modi

for allegedly spreading “false-hood and canards” to “score political points in a lost cause”.

On December 13, 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament complex and opened indiscriminate fire.

Five Delhi Police personnel, a woman Central Reserve Police official, two Parliament watch and ward staff, a gardener and a camera person were among those who lost their lives in the attack.

“The nation is ever grateful to the martyrs who laid down their lives to protect the Parliament, the temple of democracy,” the vice president tweeted.

Prime Minister Modi said the sacrifice of those killed will not be forgotten.

“We pay homage to those who laid down their lives pro-tecting the temple of our democ-racy on 13th December 2001.

Their sacrifices will never be forgotten,” he wrote on Twitter.

Union ministers Smriti Z Irani and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also paid their tributes.

“Homage to martyrs whose supreme sacrifice to protect our temple of democracy will never be forgotten by a grateful Nation. #ParliamentAttack,” Irani said in a tweet.

“13th December, 2001. Today marks 16 years since the cow-ardly terrorist attack on our Parliament: the shrine of our democracy. I pay homage to all the brave security personnel who laid down their lives protecting it,” Rathore said.

Modi, Manmohan pay tribute to Parl attack martyrs

NEW DELHI: Former prime minister Manmo-han Singh on Wednesday hit out at his successor Narendra Modi again on the eve of the second and final phase of the Guja-rat polls, accusing him of spreading “falsehood and canards” to score politi-cal points and seeking an apology for his “ill-thought transgression”.

Upping the ante two days after his sharp out-burst, Singh put out a video message to attack Modi over his remarks insinu-ating that the Congress leader colluded with Pak-istan in the Gujarat polls, and said it was unfair to question the nationalism of public servants.

“I am deeply pained and anguished by the false-hood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Min-ister Narender (sic) Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable,” he said. P6

Manmohan attacks Modi again on Pak

collusion issue

BOTH LEADERS GREET EACH OTHER WARMLYCBI takes over probe into Chhattisgarh ‘sex CD’ case

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The CBI has taken over investigations of the two cases related to the alleged circulation of a “fake sex CD” allegedly involving a Chhattis-garh minister, agency sources said on Wednesday.

Chhattisgarh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rajesh Munat had lodged complaints against senior journalist Vinod Verma, who was arrested from Ghaziabad in October, and also state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel for allegedly tarnishing his image through the CD.

According to the procedure, the CBI has re-registered the FIRs of the Chhattisgarh Police which were registered against Verma on Munat’s complaint.

The two cases are related to alleged possession and circulation of fake porno-graphic video and allegations of a ransom demand, CBI sources said.

The journalist had denied the allegations.

According to the Raipur Police, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station based on a complaint by BJP leader Prakash Bajaj who had said that he “was being harassed

over the phone by an unidentified caller who told him that he had a CD of his ‘aka’ (master)”.

After an investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi and Verma was held from Ghaziabad, the police had said, claiming to have recovered 500 CDs, pen drives etc.

The case against Baghel, Verma and others was registered under section 67 (A) of the Information Technology Act follow-ing the minister’s complaint, Station House Officer (SHO) Civil Lines, Raipur, Hem Prakash Nayak had said.

Both the cases have been taken over by the CBI, the sources said.

I FEEL SMALL IN FRONT OF SOHA: KAREENA PG16

BJP, CONG IN SPARRING MATCH RO-HIT SHOW Records tumble as Rohit extends lead in 200-plus club

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MOHALI: He was the only batsman with two scores of 200-plus in ODIs. On Wednes-day, Sri Lanka’s nightmare from 2014 when Rohit Sharma hit the world’s highest individ-ual score of 264 returned when the explosive opener smashed 208 in the second ODI to add to his tally of double centu-ries. Thanks to his strike rate of 135.94, India managed to set a target of 393.

Captaining the side in the absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit’s performance was under scan-ner — especially after a dia-bolical batting collapse in the first ODI in Dharamsala. More than making up for the nightmare in the hills, Rohit unleashed batting mayhem

after Sri Lanka opted to field at the Punjab Cricket Associa-tion Stadium.

Rohit got off to a steady start with Shikhar Dhawan. The duo brought up India’s first 100 runs in the 20th over with Dhawan doing bulk of the scoring. The Delhi batsman was also the first to reach 50 off 47 balls. He, however, fell two overs later — allowing Rohit to take over.

The Mumbai batsman first brought up his 50 off 65 balls — courtesy nine fours and a solitary six. Soon after, he switched gears and batting with young Sheryas Iyer, pul-verised Sri Lankan bowlers with carefree aggression. He brought up his 16th ODI ton as India captain off 115 balls.

It was the 44th over though

that was the main highlight with Rohit targeting medium-pacer Suranga Lakmal. The sequence was: 43.2: Low full-toss whacked over midwicket; 43.3: Full toss outside off stump put to the stands behind square-leg; 43.4: Full toss on middle stump dispatched over square-leg; 43.5: Slower one rocketed beyond midwicket.

The writing was already on the wall. A barrage of sixes followed Lakmal over as wife Ritika could hardly contain her smile from the special enclo-sure. In the stands down below and all over, it was a cricketing carnival.

Rohit dedicated his third double century to his wife Ritika Sajdeh on the occasion of their second marriage anni-versary on Wednesday.

PM DISPELS RUMOURS BEING SPREAD ON FRDI BILL

DHIRENDRA KUMAR

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the previous Congress-led UPA regime, saying that banks were pressured to give loans worth thousands of crores of rupees to select industri-alists in a scam bigger than 2G, coal and Commonwealth Games scams.

Speaking at the 90th AGM of industry association Ficci, Modi said the non performing asset (NPA) or bad loans problem is a “liability” handed over by “econo-mists” in the previous regime.

Hard-selling his government’s pro-poor policies, he listed out ini-tiatives like free cooking gas con-nections to women, bank accounts to every household, loans to the youth and affordable housing, taken since 2014.

Questioning the role of insti-tutions like FICCI for not raising their voice against the wrongdoing of the previous governments, the PM said, “I want to know whether FICCI raised its voice when banks were pressured to give loans worth thousands of crores of rupees to select industrialists.”

Hitting at the opposition for misleading people by spreading rumours that depositors’ money has been put at risk through pro-

visions of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, Modi said, “The government is working to protect the interests of the account holders, but rumours that are being spread are the exact

opposite. Organisations such as FICCI have a responsibility to gen-erate awareness about such issues.”

Modi said his government is formulating policies keeping in mind the need of businesses, abol-

ishing archaic and obsolete laws.Talking about an obsolete law

that prohibits cutting of bamboo trees, the PM, said, “We were sur-prised to know that there are two laws for bamboo — first law puts it under the tree category while another terms it as grass that pro-hibited MSME sector from using the tree for manufacturing of agar-batis, matchstick, etc. We changed the law. ”

Slamming prominent indus-trialists for delaying payment to MSME entrepreneurs, Modi said, “The big corporate houses must pay the dues of MSME entrepreneurs on time as they don’t enough funds to run their businesses.”

Modi attacks UPA, big industry for banking crisis

Aadhaar-bank a/c linking deadline

extended to Mar 31MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The govern-ment on Wednesday extended by three months until March 31, 2018, the deadline for mandatory quoting of Aad-haar and PAN for all bank accounts and certain finan-cial transactions.

The government had made quoting of the 12-digit bio-metric identifier Aadhaar mandatory for old and new bank accounts as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.

The previous deadline was December 31, 2017.

“It has been decided to notify 31 March, 2018 or

six months from the date of commencement of account based relationship by the cli-ent, whichever is later, as the date of submission of the Aad-haar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity,” an official release said here.

The decision to extend the deadline was taken after vari-ous representations as well as inputs received from banks, it added.

This is in line with the Cen-tre last week informing the Supreme Court that it is will-

ing to extend until March 31 the deadline fixed for manda-tory linking of Aadhaar to avail various services and welfare schemes.

On December 7, the dead-line for linking PAN with Aad-haar was extended by three months to March 31, 2018.

Under the PMLA, Aad-haar, PAN and other official documents are required to be obtained by banks and finan-cial institutions from anyone opening a bank account as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.

The notification issued on Tuesday stated that accounts, where Aadhaar and PAN are not furnished by the date noti-fied by the government, will cease to be operational.

If the account holder “fails to submit the Aadhaar num-ber and PAN by such date as may be notified by the central government, the said account shall cease to be operational till the time the client submits the Aadhaar number and Perma-nent Account Number”, it said.

Highlights » Banks were pressured to give loans worth thousands of crores of rupees to select industrialists

» Government is formulating policies keeping in mind the need of businesses, abolishing archaic and obsolete laws.

» The government is working to protect the interest of bank customers and their deposits

Runs 208*Balls 153Strike rate 135.94

4s13

6s12

ROHIT SHARMA Strikes Third Double Ton in ODIs

PM Modi and formerPM Manmohan Singh exchange greetings during the tribute paying ceremony for the martyrs of 2001 Parliament attack PTI

CITY

DTC RIDERSHIP SEES RISE 3

NATION

UP APPROVES DRAFT OF UPCOCA BILL 5

EDIT

INDIA SHOULD WAIT AND WATCH 8

INTERNATIONAL

DEMOCRATS DEFEAT ROY MOORE 11

BUSINESS

I-T DEPT SURVEYS BITCOIN EXCHANGES 12

SPORT

OZ HOPE TO CLINCH SERIES 14

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2 mp townMILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

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GMI NIGHTTo showcase the strength and diver-sity of students and faculties Global Music Institute is organizing GMI Night. Performances by different ensembles will feature a range of genres including Jazz, Rock, Pop, Blues and Brazilian music. The performance will cover various popular artists such as Stevie Wonder, Chick Corea, Beatles, Chainsmokers, Led Zeppelin, Radio-head, Lian LaHavas, Gregory Porter, to name a few.WHEN: December 16WHERE: The Piano Man Jazz Club TIMINGS: 8:45 pm onwards

CHRISTMAS MENUVoila it’s Christmas paving way for a brand new year!! And the lobby at The Imperial will welcome you with a beautiful installation on the colourful forest of Christmas with hanging multi-hued trees. Spearheaded by Executive Chef Prem Kumar Pogakula, plethora of packages with extensive menus have been put together by master chefs for you to experience the festive occasion in style. The exotic spread features Roast turkey, Brussel sprouts, pork loin in a blanket, bread stuffing, giblet gravy, cranberry sauce on the Western Roast station and a selection of international cuisine like Shepherd’s pie, Grilled chicken, celeriac, blue cheese crumble.WHEN: December 24 – 25 WHERE: 1911 Restaurant, The ImperialTIMING: 6:30 pm – 11:45 pm

MATILDA COMES TO DELHIGood news for the theatre lovers in Delhi. Oye! Matilda! Tu hai Ustaad! an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic tale, Matilda is coming to town. get ready to soak in the story of a wonderful little girl, who happens to be a genius. Her story revolves around her pleas-ing teacher versus her not-so-good parents and the worst school principal imaginable. This musical Drama has been scripted & directed by Indian stage actor and director Lushin Dubey & Bubbles Sabharwal from KidsWorld theatre group.WHEN: December 14 – 17WHERE: HUB @ DLF PromenadeTIMING: 5:30 pm onwards

DAYINDAYOUT What’s on Around Town

EVERGREEN ASRANI

Starring Asrani, the legend of comedy, ‘The Makhi-Choos’ will be held on December 16 and 17 in Gurugram and Delhi. The show is directed by Pranav Sachdeva who has worked for television serials like ‘Agar Tum Saath Ho’ and ‘Airlines’ as well as popular web shows like ‘Hadh’ and ‘Dilliwood’. A family entertainer, brought out by LCM Entertainment, this play is the modern adaptation of classic comedy – The Miser by Moliere. It shows the story of Topan Lal, who is obsessed with wealth. Being a widower, he is trying to arrange his marriage with an attractive young woman – Madhuri. The comedy of errors sprouts up when it is revealed that Topan’s son Shikhar is also trying to marry the same girl.

Writer’s desk: How writers buildTHE SANCTUMS WHERE THEY WRITESome find solace in a small corner in the library, some in a park, beneath the open blue sky and some on a bus. Writers curate the existing surroundings to suit their mood

Solitude and silence are what most writers seek to produce a full-length novel or non-fiction book. But what do writers do when all around them is chaos and noise? They

sit back and build a peaceful environment where their creative juices flow seamlessly.

There is no denying the fact that some of the best novels have been written by writers with few resources at their disposal, often at the early stage of their careers when they struggled to make ends meet. A perfect writing universe, thus, may not be a prerequisite for quality writing. But even then, some writers carefully curate the existing surroundings to suit the mood of their

novel.Consider, for instance, Brit-

ish writer Chris Cleave,

whose books are published in 30 languages and have been adapted for screen and stage world-wide. The writer’s highly acclaimed book “Every-one Brave is Forgiven” was written in a corner of the The London Library, surrounded by stacks of books. There was no view but the one that he brought with him. Usually the light from the small window was leaden and the soft buzzing of the electrical transformer box drowned out any dis-tracting background noise.

“The writing desk was steady and just the right age, 50 or 60 years, I should think – so that it offended neither with antiquity nor with recency. Scratched into it were the ini-tials of people I couldn’t guess at. As a place to write, it was neutral. It was notable for not even belonging to me, so that I felt no irritating obligation to fix anything broken, or to clutter it with proofs of my existence. Apart from my lap-top and water bottle, I never took anything with me to the writing desk. I kept the laptop clean and

my mind in the early 1940s. When the novel was finished, I was finished with the space I had writ-ten it in,” said Cleave.

Then there are those like Meena Alexan-der, one of India’s foremost poets, who like to move around when they write. Alexander is, in her own words, essen-

tially nomadic in this essential practice, and carries her little notebook and pens on buses or on the subway. Sometimes when she is walking in the park, she is writing her poems in her head, in inner space, so that the colour of the sky, or a child suddenly running across the path enters into what she is composing, the words and breath co-mingling in that fluid state essential for the creation of the poem she composes.

But Alexander also has a deep desire to be tethered, to be housed.

“I have a favourite bench I sit on in a crowded café with a cup of coffee. The clatter and bustle do not trouble me. In a strange way they comfort me, provide a fellow feeling. We are all in this world together and the poem, even as it nestles in the crevices of the brain, is in and of the world,” elaborated Alexander, who lives and works in New York City, where she is Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College.

In her apartment in Washington Heights is a desk where she sits exclu-sively to write. It is made of solid wood and behind it is an old piano that her son rescued when it was being

thrown out. It is on this desk that Alexander sets her pen and paper to create books that have been adored by readers and critics alike.

“And then there is another desk, in the studio I have recently rented, in a room

above a stone church, part of the Cor-nerstone Studios. I go there when I

can for the utter quiet it gives, the seclusion that protects the soul,

a space of meditation. Out of the window, I can stare at the

leaves of the elm tree outside. The hope is that, bit by bit, the rhythm of thought and feeling can be sculpted into form,” she added.

While both Alexander and Cleave are based outside India and seek a rather simple, unadorned environment to pen their books, some of the most popular contemporary Indian writers like Ashwin Sanghi, Amish Tripathi and Shashi Tharoor have built rather fascinating writ-ing rooms for themselves, in the very heart of noisy New Delhi and Mumbai. IANS

Try spices at home to ward off cough and cold. They not only emit tanta-lizing aromas and make your meals delicious, but also protect you from

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damom resolves digestive issues and nutmeg boosts immunity, suggest experts.

4STAR ANISE: Rich in anti-oxidants and vitamins A and C,

star anise is effective in eas-ing sore throats and colds. Its antifungal and anti-

bacterial abilities can keep

you away from flu and other viral infections . If you are suffering from a sore throat or a bad cough, drink tea made with this star-shaped spice. Add two anise seed pods in boiling water for over 15 minutes. Strain the tea and add a few drops of honey. Drink this tea thrice daily to avail immunity-boosting benefits.4SAFFRON: Apart from adding a vibrant

colour to your dishes, saffron has several health benefits too. If you’re looking for an instant relief from cold, mix a few strands in milk and apply the same on your forehead. This technique is a sure-shot one to treat colds due to seasonal change. 4TURMERIC: A glass of turmeric milk

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and pungent aroma, this spice contains various anti-oxidants that accelerate the body’s metabo-lism. Add this incredible spice to any cuisine or use it as a condiment and enjoy the fine flavour along with its myriad health benefits.4 CLOVES: Rich in antioxidants, cloves

have anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and den-tal-soothing properties. Widely recognised the world over for its medicinal and culinary quali-ties, these dried flower buds have distinct fla-vour and intense aroma. Add cloves to your salad dressings, meats and desserts and relish the bursts of flavours. IANS

Try Indian spices to ward off sickness

OUR CORRESPONDENT

AIMING TO ACHIEVE excellence in skill development, cleanliness, women empowerment, and to encourage the devel-opment of soft skills for the underprivi-leged children of the society, ‘Le Rythme’ will conduct its 10th Annual Cultural Fes-tival “Meri Maa”. The event will be held on December 23 and 24 at Mela Ground, C R Park, New Delhi where the students will perform along with the legends of India.

Renowned playback singer and founder of ‘Le Rythme’, Rini Mukherjee said, “Le Rythme is going to organize a magnifi-cent event where Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Ronu Mazumder, Pandit Kumar Bose, Pandit Rajendra Prasanna, Drums Sivamani, Babul Supriyo, myself and students of Rythme School of Music are going to perform. This will enable us to encourage the younger generation thereby inculcating the rich cultural heritage of our motherland in them.”

In past 10 years, ‘Le Rythme’ has wit-nessed performances by legends of Indian music and other renowned personalities like Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Har-

iprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Rajan-Shajan Mishra, Pandit Kumar Bose and Pandit Rajendra Prasanna. ‘Le Rythme’ conducts best in class cultural events and provides excellent platforms and opportunities to its students including vast underprivileged children so as to showcase their skills and get necessary exposures. To have a healthy and powerful society, it also conducts reg-ular yoga and self-defence classes for dif-ferent age groups for free. Rini Mukherjee along with 17 renowned faculty members continuously trains the students to develop their soft skills in art and music.

Rajib Mukhapadhyay, secretary of the

trust mentioned, “We need to continu-ously upgrade the underprivileged class of the society through skill development programme for their self-reliance so that eventually they become the real contribu-tor to the society. Education in any form is indispensable to build a strong society. Music acts as a therapy. This unique form of education can even support the physi-cally and mentally challenged students to grow and showcase their talents.”

‘Le rythme’ is being organised under the directions of Rini Mukherjee. She is a versatile playback singer who has mesmer-ized the audience across the globe.

A bid to uplift underprivileged children of society

Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Left) and Rini Mukherjee will be performing at ‘Meri Maa’ festival

3mp cityMILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

Between June and October, DTC reaped benefits of Metro fare hikeSAYANTAN GHOSH

NEW DELHI: Since the second hike this year in Delhi Metro fares was effected in October, buses of the Delhi Transport Cor-poration have witnessed nearly a 20 per cent rise in ridership per day between June and October.

However, the yearly ridership saw a dip of 5 per cent from the last year, a senior DTC official said.

“After the Metro fare hike, there has been

a significant rise in DTC ridership. But the total yearly ridership is less than that of last year,” the official told Millennium Post.

He said that after the first Metro fare hike came into effect in May, the ridership per day of DTC buses in June was nearly 25.8 lakh. In July, the ridership per day jumped by over two lakh to 27 lakh.

The official added that the daily rider-ship in August was 28.7 lakh, followed by 30.8 lakh in September. In October, the number was 31.2 lakh.

In 2016, the daily ridership of DTC buses was 30 lakh, which dropped to nearly 28 lakh in 2017.

A study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed that DTC’s daily average ridership declined by over 35 per cent between 2012-13 and 2016. From 47 lakh in 2012-13, it dropped to 30 lakh by the end of 2016, the CSE report said.

As per latest available DTC statistics, about 30 lakh passengers are carried daily, of which a mere 14 lakh (45 per cent) are

ticketed. The rest (16 lakh) use passes, it noted. The DTC official noted that in 2012, DTC had nearly 6,200 buses. Now, it has only 3,944 buses.

“The number of buses has declined and later, the frequency of buses was affected. The combination of these factors is the main reason behind the decline in ridership,” he said, asserting that after the Metro fare hike, there has been an extended need for DTC buses; but the Transport department has failed procure more buses.

“Even when we plan to buy the buses, bus companies do not want to take care of maintenance of these buses and the whole pressure comes to DTC. But this time, the Cabinet has approved and we have said that DTC will do the maintenance. The process of buying 1,000 buses is on,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday wrote to Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, seeking a review of the hike in Metro fares and reit-erated his offer to partially bear the cost of

the proposed “claw back”.Puri, however, said that neither the Cen-

tre nor the Delhi government has powers to rollback the fares fixed by the fixation committee headed by a retired judge and claimed that the ridership on three differ-ent days in October this year were higher than the last year.

Hitting back, the Union minister said that the 35 per cent fall in the DTC riders and shortfall of buses called for an urgent attention.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Wednesday set up a nine-member expert committee to recommend it the norms to be followed by private hospi-tals in the city, including on capping the margin of profit from the sale of medi-cines, in medical investigation and for behavioural protocols.

Making the announcement at a press conference here, Health Minister Saty-endar Jain said the committee will be headed by Director-General Of Health Services Kirti Bhushan.

The minister, in response to a ques-tion on the Centre’s Clinical Establish-ments (Registration and Regulation) Act, said the city government is work-ing on its own Delhi health act, which should come into being soon.

On what prompted the setting up of the panel, Jain said his department had received several complaints related to alleged overcharging, refusal or delay

in providing immediate medical care to victims of crime or road accidents, or hospitals compelling patients to buy drugs from in-house pharmacy, rude behaviour by healthcare workers and delay in initiating medico-legal cases.

“So, we have formed this commit-tee, which would also include Indian Medical Association president Dr K K Aggarwal, Delhi Medical Council presi-

dent Dr Arun Gupta, former president of Delhi Medical Association, Dr R K Gupta, and experts from our govern-ment,” he told reporters.

The panel has been requested to sub-mit its recommendations by Decem-ber 31.

“They will not be mere recommen-dations. The Delhi government will use them to come up with protocols related to medical services,” Jain said.

Asked if the step was prompted by the recent alleged incidents of over-charging and medical negligence by two upscale private hospitals, he said: “No. We have been pro- actively working on it for months.”

Registered private hospitals and nursing homes will come under its purview.

“We have been saying that open loot and criminal negligence by any private hospital will not be tolerated. And, the panel will, among other recommenda-tions, also suggest the capping limit on

the margin of profit availed from the sale of medicine. So, it will tell what per-centage of profit margin can they go for,” the health minister said.

They will also recommend measures for norms to be followed in medical investigation and suggest behavioural protocols, he said.

The government, later in a state-ment, said the panel will suggest mech-anism so that all private hospitals and nursing homes should, as far as pos-sible, only prescribe drugs mentioned in the National List of Essential Medi-cines (NELM).

Price to be charged by them for medicines and consumables and not compelling patients to buy drugs from in-house pharmacy and price charged for various diagnostic investigations would also be deliberated by the panel.

They will also offer suggestions that will seek to “develop a mechanism for eradicating cuts and commissions in medical practice”, the statement said.

Nine-member expert panel to suggest hospital norms

ROUSHAN ALI

NEW DELHI: Cracking the whip against private schools arbitrarily hiking fees under the pretext of implementing the Seventh Pay Commission, the Delhi government on Wednes-day released notification for setting up the ‘Fee Anomaly Committees’ in each district, as recommended by the Justice Duggal Committee constituted by Delhi High Court.

As per the notification, any parent/guardian of a student of any recognised unaided school individually or jointly aggrieved by the amount of fees or any other charge being levied by the school may register a complaint with these committees.

“Aggrieved parents can file complaint with committee and can be registered with the com-

mittee of the respective districts in the prescribed proforma along-with a processing fee of Rs 100,” the notification stated.

The notification also directed all recognised unaided schools to make available their records and submit their accounts to the Fee Anomaly Committee.

The formation of the com-mittee comes in the wake of many parents approaching the Delhi government with com-plaints of illegitimate fee hikes.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had met at Delhi Secretariat on Monday to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, the Delhi gov-ernment has also called a meet-ing of all MLAs and officials of the Education department of Thursday.

Delhi govt cracks the whip against pvt schools hiking fee

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Air quality in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday morning again dropped to ‘very poor’, after staying in the ‘poor’ category on Monday, in the wake of moderate rain.

According to the Cen-tral Pollution Control Board (CPCB), air quality at 11 of the

21 monitoring stations across NCR was ‘very poor’, as against only four regions on Tuesday night.

In Delhi, the concentration of major pollutant PM2.5 was 133 units at 15 active monitor-ing stations, and 131 units at 21 stations across NCR, con-sidered ‘very poor’.

On Wednesday, the num-

ber of areas exposed to toxic air jumped from four (Tuesday night) to 11 towards Wednes-day noon.

The most-polluted areas included Anand Vihar in east Delhi, Delhi Technical Univer-sity in north Delhi, ITO, Man-dir Marg and Lodhi Road in central Delhi, Siri Fort and RK Puram in south Delhi, Sec-

tor-125 in Noida and Vasund-hara in Ghaziabad.

PM2.5 levels in these areas ranged between 123 and 194 units — five to eight times the permissible limit.

According to SAFAR (Sys-tem of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research), the overall air quality index across 10 stations in the NCR was 252

at noon, as compared with 219 at 4 pm on Tuesday after 7.8 mm rainfall.

As per the India Meteoro-logical Department, on account of high moisture, Delhi-NCR has no chance of rains on Thursday. “Currently, Delhi is experiencing north-westerly winds with low speeds of 5 to 10 kmph,” an IMD official said.

Days after drizzle, air quality drops to ‘very poor’

Eighth arrest in Mansarovar murder caseOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested eight people in connection with the gruesome murder case of four women and a security guard in their residence in Mansarovar Park area of Shahdara district.

Police said they have arrested one Rahul, the nephew of another accused Sunny who is in police cus-tody, for his involvement in the murder-cum-dacoity.

Rahul had a contractual job as a sweeper at the office of the Election Commission of India.

DCP(Crime) G Ram Gopal Naik confirmed the arrest.

Police sources claimed that after several hours of question-ing, the accused was arrested.

“We have recovered cash and bloodstained clothes from the accused. He was present at the house where the incident happened and was involved in dacoity,” said police sources.

SAYANTAN GHOSH

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta on Wednesday directed the Union Ministry of Environ-ment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF) to notify the comprehensive action plan for-mulated by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) for Delhi-NCR within the next two weeks.

“This is the first ever com-prehensive action plan that has been adopted officially to mandate time-bound short, medium and long-term mea-sures to clean up the air of Delhi and National Capi-tal Region with a compliance strategy.

“This also helps create a template of action for all other cities of India," said Sunita Narain, member, EPCA.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the think tank for the EPCA, also wel-comed the apex court order.

"This is a very important step forward as according to the comprehensive action plan, Delhi and NCR will have to reduce particulate pollution

by at least 74 per cent from the current level of annual average PM2.5 to be able to meet the clean air standards.

Such a daunting chal-lenge can be met only with time-bound action and strong compliance and deterrence framework," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research and advo-cacy, CSE.

She added that the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) has already helped to reduce the frequency and intensity of smog episode this winter in Delhi-NCR.

In fact, CSE’s analysis shows that while in November 2016

as much as 54 per cent of the days were in a severe category, this year in November it has reduced to 41 per cent.

However, for lasting and enduring results, the com-prehensive action plan must be implemented with utmost urgency and stringency.

Meanwhile, the apex court allowed the cement industry to use pet coke as a feedstock, after it was banned last month to clean up the air in Delhi and its neighbouring states.

The SC also relaxed the ban on the use of furnace oil at power plants till December 31, 2018, saying its usage stands at just 0.03 per cent.

Delhi pollution: Apex court tells Centre to notify action plan

The Supreme Court also relaxed the ban on the use of furnace oil at power plants till December 31, 2018

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi cabi-net, in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, approved the proposal of the empowerment of the weaker sections.

Earlier, the Social Welfare department had approved free coaching to target the mar-ginalised sections by way of running a pre-examination coaching centre at Ramjas Road, Karol Bagh, through the hiring of teachers on the con-tractual basis.

Delhi Cabinet approves

free coaching scheme

MCDs allowing illegal

construction, alleges AAP

15-year-old boy stabbed to death in scuffle

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday alleged that BJP-led MCDs were allowing unauthorized construction in the city -- if bribes were paid.

AAP Leader Dilip Pandey told the media that the AAP had filed a petition against the South Delhi Municipal Corpo-ration (SDMC) in this regard.

He said the SDMC was unable to provide complete information on the “sealing, de-sealing and demolition of the illegal construction and action taken.

“Despite all efforts to gather this information, we have been unable to do so. The solitary reason in all probabilities appears to be the corrupt prac-tices of the SDMC,” he said.

Pandey showed what he said was a vague SDMC reply which showed no action was taken against more than 5,000 illegal constructions. He said the MCDs had become a hub of corruption and it was impos-sible to undertake construction without bribing civic agencies.

Earlier this week, the party had launched a protest against East Delhi Municipal Corpora-tion against its proposal to hike property tax. MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A 15-year-old boy was murdered and two others injured in Pul Prahlad-pur area of south east district on Tuesday night, after they were assaulted by three men.

Details of the sudden mur-der are not known, though police said that on Tuesday Rajesh and associates Danish and Tinku met Tara Chand, who was accompanied by two persons, in Pul Prahaladpur market in Lal Kuan, where a commotion ensued between them. Tara Chand and his asso-ciate Ramji Lal survived the knife injuries in the bloody scuffle, but 15-year-old boy Rahul sustained multiple inju-ries. Passersby soon called police, and a police team sub-sequently took the injured to the hospital, where Rahul suc-cumbed to his injuries.

“We have registered a case under sections 302, 307, 341, 34 of IPC at Pul Prahladpur police station. Two accused Danish, a resident of Nainital in Utta-rakhand, and Mohan Singh, a resident of Baghpat presently resided at Lal Kuan have been arrested. Search of the other accused is on,” said Chinmoy Biswal, DCP South East.

NEW DELHI: Max Health-care on Wednesday moved a "government authority" against the cancellation of licence of its hospital in Shalimar Bagh in north-west Delhi, even as it appealed to the DGHS to "reconsider" its decision.

The development comes four days after the Director-ate General of Health Services (DGHS) of the Delhi govern-ment's heath department had cancelled licence of the hos-pital for alleged medical neg-ligence in multiple instances, including a case in which one of the twins was found alive after being declared dead by doctors.

"Following the due process of law, we have filed an appeal with the appropriate author-ity against the cancellation of registration of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh," the Max group said in a statement Wednes-day night.

A spokesperson of the Max Healthcare, when asked to elaborate about the appropri-ate authority approached, only said, "It is not a court author-ity but a government authority.

And, the appeal was filed today."

The hospital group also appealed to the government to "reconsider their decision of cancelling the hospital's

registration"."Earlier, we had also

requested the Delhi govern-ment to review their decision and restore the registration," the statement said, while claiming that the "decision has caused significant inconvenience to thousands of patients and local residents and this is further compounded by unavailability of suitable alternatives for their medical needs in the vicinity".

Max Healthcare authori-ties declined to share details on the appropriate government authority approached by them.

However, Delhi High Court advocate Ashok Agar-wal, claimed, in such cases, "the appellate authority is the Lieu-tenant Governor's office".

"As per the Delhi Nurs-ing Homes Registration Act, 1953, in cases related to can-cellation of licence, the appel-late authority is the L-G office," Agarwal, also a member of the Delhi High Court-appointed EWS Monitoring Committee for hospitals, said.

Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh on a monthly basis treats around 14,000 patients in the OPD, attends to over 1,600 emergency patients and addi-tional 3,000 are treated in inpa-tient wards, the hospital group said. AGENCIES

Max group moves govt authority on

licence cancellation

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain at a press conference PIC/NAVEEN SHARMA

mp city4MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

In surprise move, JNU scraps integrated MPhil/PhD courseAspirants will now have to sit for a separate entrance examination for PhD course

YOGESH KANT

NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has scrapped its integrated MPhil/PhD programme, with the aspirants will now have to sit for a separate entrance exami-nation to avail the varsity’s PhD programme.

“Candidates who have applied for MPhil/PhD for the academic year 2018-19 will be considered for MPhil pro-gramme only. The programme will now be a ‘terminal degree’ as per the decision taken in the 144th Academic Council (AC) meeting held on December 1,” said a notification printed on admit cards for JNU Entrance Examination (JNUEE).

An official of the university claimed the move would ben-efit a wide section of students.

“The new UGC regulations allow even MA (postgradu-ate) students to compete for the PhD programme directly. Now, MA and MPhil students,

from across the country, can apply for the JNU’s prestigious doctorate programme,” he said. Earlier, the integrated MPhil/PhD programme had allowed

MPhil students with adequate pass percentage to pursue PhD without having to sit for an entrance examination. Even the MPhil students, from out-side the university, could pur-sue the doctorate programme after clearing an interview. But the recent notification makes it compulsory for PhD aspirants to crack the varsity entrance examination.

However, the JNU Teach-ers Association (JNUTA) called it an “illegal move” and claimed that the Aca-demic Council meeting had not taken any such decision. “Rather it was the Vice-Chan-cellor who announced that he would be setting up a commit-tee to look into the proposal. It was not endorsed by any other member of the AC. It should also be noted that there was

no discussion or even unilat-eral announcement regarding delinking the MPhil and PhD programme for the ongoing admissions,” JNUTA president and an AC member, Ayesha Kidwai said.

The JNUTA demands the immediate withdrawal of the announcement, she said. The JNU Entrance Examination for 2018-19 academic session is scheduled between December 23 and 27.

Accusing the JNU admin-istration of crossing all lim-its of ethics and responsibility over the latest move, which she says ‘unprecedented in the history’ of JNU, JNUSU presi-dent Geeta said, “JNUSU will fight tooth and nail against this undemocratic and anti-student policy of integrated M.Phil PhD delinking.”

The JNU Teachers Association called the move “illegal” and claimed that the Academic Council meeting had not taken any such decision

False robbery case in south west Delhi solved, 3 held

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Wednesday stated that they solved the case of a shooting incident, in which a woman was shot in south west Delhi last week, with the arrest of three people.

A police officer investigat-ing the case said all the accused in the incident were known to the victim and they themselves cooked up a story about a gold chain robbery to dodge police investigation of their crimes.

The arrestees were identi-fied as Bunty Grover, Tushaar Barua and Akash Tyagi.

Revealing details of the inci-dent, the police officer said that in the early hours of December 10, a caller – identified as Bunty Grover – dialled at Police Post Subroto Park informing them about a gold chain snatching incident.

The caller also informed that a shot was fired at her ‘wife’ by four unidentified armed persons injuring her right leg

near Dhaula Kuan flyover.He was now carrying her to

Safdurjung Hospital for treat-ment, he told police.

Sensing the gravity of the incident, a police team rushed to the hospital and met with the victim, identified as Piya Malhotra.

Incidentally, the police team found the caller, Grover, in a drunken condition.

DCP (South West) Mil-ind Mahadeo Dumbere said, “During the course of inqui-ries the conduct of Bunty was found suspicious. On suspi-cion of his false stories, he was cross-checked with the version of injured Malhotra and finally he disclosed about the whole incident.”

Police said Bunty – who had recently been released on bail – fell in love with the injured Piya, who lived in Dev Nagar area of Karol Bagh with her grandmother.

The two soon began a court-ship and planned to marry each other. Bunty would often ask Piya to give up drinking, but she refused.

On the night of incident, Bunty’s friend, Tyagi had an illegal loaded pistol with him. The accused, with his associ-ates, reached the residence of Piya, who was in a drunken condition, and an altercation ensued between them.

In a fit of rage, Bunty took the pistol from Tyagi and fired at her, injuring her right leg.

Mastermind of Ashok Vihar businessman murder arrested

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Wednesday said that they have arrested a most wanted and dreaded inter-state gangster, Rajesh Kumar, alias Raju, who was wanted for a robbery and murder case at Delhi’s Ashok Vihar police station.

The accused, a resident of Haryana’s Kaithal district, had earlier escaped twice from police custody in Haryana and Punjab, while being produced in the court in his cases.

A cash reward of Rs 50,000 had been announced for his arrest in the Ashok Vihar mur-der case by Delhi Police.

27-year-old Rajesh was arrested on Tuesday, around 4 pm, from near the Ring Road Mall at Sector-3, Rohini, Delhi.

On sensing that a police team was approaching him, Rajesh took out a loaded coun-try-made pistol to fire at them. However, he was overpow-ered by the police team and apprehended.

On August 22, Rajesh’s gang followed Sanjiv Gajwani, (42), a

resident of Ashok Vihar, Phase-II, Delhi, on their bikes from his hosiery factory at Shastri Nagar to his house in Ashok Vihar.

Gajwani was travelling on his scooty and carrying a bag containing cash.

As soon as Sanjiv parked his scooty in front of his house, Rajesh jumped on him and tried to snatch away his bag.

When Sanjiv resisted, Surya shot him 3 times at point blank range.

Sanjiv fell down and the gang escaped on their bikes

taking the bag containing cash Rs 4.15 along with them.

The entire incident was helplessly witnessed by Sanjiv’s elder brother Ashok, who was standing on the house balcony.

“In the month of Septem-ber 2017, both first timers, Dalip and Sanjay were appre-hended by Ashok Vihar police. However, the main accused, Surya and his associate Ravi were never caught. Delhi Police headquarters had announced a cash reward of Rs. 50,000 for their arrest.” said Joy Tirkey, DCP Crime.

Ryan murder case: JJB refuses plea to treat accused as minor

Afrazul murder: Protesters gather under ‘Not In My Name’ banner

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a major set-back for juvenile the accused in Pradyuman murder case, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Gurugram on Wednesday rejected the petition filed by the juvenile’s family to treat the accused as minor till the time chargesheet is not filed by the Central Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI).

The JJB also accepted the application filed by the agency in which they had requested to take finger-prints of the juvenile accused for further

investigation.The court directed the CBI

to take fingerprints of juve-nile accused on December 19 in presence of his parents and counsel. The accused has been lodged at Faridabad’s remand home.

On Friday, the court is expected to deliver order on the bail application of juvenile which was filed by the family of the accused on Wednesday. The court has asked the inves-tigative officer of the case to file a reply on the bail application.

Earlier, the family of Prady-uman Thakur – who was killed

on September 8 inside the washroom of Ryan Interna-tional School Bhondsi – asked to treat the juvenile accused as adult and not minor. The accused is 16 years and five months old.

The juvenile, a student of Class XI, was booked by CBI after investigations by the agency revealed that he killed Pradyuman because he wanted school’s exam and parents-teachers meeting to be post-poned. CBI also identified the shop from where the accused had purchased the knife to kill Pradyuman.

ZAFAR ABBAS

NEW DELHI: As part of the ‘Not In My Name’ campaign, people from all walks of life gath-ered at Parliament street on Wednesday, hold-ing banners and posters protesting the brutal Killing of Afrazul, a labourer from West Ben-gal, in Rajasthan.

Amid heavy police presence, many profes-sionals gave speeches defying the hate that led to the brutal murder of the migrant worker and filming the whole episode on camera.

Filmmaker Saba Dewan, along with eminent personalities, spoke against the barbaric kill-ing and the need for propagating brotherhood and saying ‘No’ to hate on the basis of religion or region.

“It is an organised hate campaign ..... Murder could be in any country, but nowadays murder on the basis religion is the worst possible thing we could afford in our country. If my name is Kashif instead of Kamlesh, I could be murdered. This is where the problem comes. We want to

exist in peace as we always did,” said KK Kohli, who runs a performing arts organisation.

“Let us say this loud and clear, we stand with the people of this country, we stand for their free-dom, for their right to live in peace and dignity.” said Jayshee Shukla, a photographer.

Nonagenarian Urdu poet Gulzar Dehlvi also made it to the event, denouncing the hate crime that took place in Rajasthan.

The speakers advocated the need for peace-ful co-existence and denounced hate at every level to foil the attempts of hate mongers across the country.

Three months later, two held for murder of MNC directorOUR CORRESPONDENT

GURUGRAM: The Gurugram Police said they have arrested two people involved in the murder of Ramesh Kumar Vij, the director of the Japa-nese auto ancillary company in Manesar.

The arrested persons have been identified as Rahul and Ajay, who reportedly killed 53-year-old Vij to rob his valuables.

On the night of August 30, while on his way home, the victim had withdrawn money from an ATM, at which point the accused threatened him on knifepoint and entered his car to abducted and rob him.

When he resisted, the accused assaulted him and subsequently stabbed him to death. According to police, the brazen incident occurred after he had left his office around 8 pm. After having diner, he had decided to withdraw some from a nearby ATM, so as to celebrate his daughter’s birth-day, which was on the same day.

However, as he ventured out towards his Toyota Corolla car, the two men dragged him forcibly into his car and forced him to drive few kilometres away from his residence in Gurugram’s Sector-5 area.

After reaching Dhanwapur Road in Sector-4, one of the assailants, who was seated on the rear seat, pulled the victim and stabbed him multiple times till he died.

Modified ‘katta’ a new challenge for copsABHAY SINGH

NEW DELHI: Homemade firearms - ‘Katta’ - have long featured strongly in Indian criminology.

Earlier, the weapon had shorter range, but now gangs indulging in illegal activities have modified country-made firearms such that they can give maximum firepower and effec-tive range.

Delhi Police investigators claimed they recently saw a spike in the sale of such modi-fied guns.

Police sources told Millen-nium Post that the demand for such modified Katta has increased not just in rural areas of the country, but also in the outskirts of the national Capital.

“The gangs are now add-ing barrel in the Katta, so that

the range increases. With the modification, it can easily hit an object of 80-90 metres afar; whereas without any change, the shooting range of a pistol is around 20-25 metres,” said a police source.

The increased demand is coming from rural parts of the Capital and Baghpat, Meerut from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

“In urban areas, most shooting cases happen from close range. In rural areas, we

have seen a trend of shooting from long distance and also these modified weapons have been used to show supremacy in the area,” an investigator disclosed.

Recently, a team of Anti Auto Theft Squad (AATS), Dwarka – formed under super-vision of ACP (Operations) Aditya Gautam and led by Inspector Raj Kumar – busted a gang from UP involved in sup-plying illegal arms of different calibres in Delhi-NCR.

“The gang members were illiterate but they had skills in modifying katta,” said a police officer.

The accused would make the barrel with a fine quality of iron rod, after which they cut the rod and drill it in such a way that it can be attached easily.

The cost incurred on man-ufacturing one improvised pis-tol was about Rs 1,200. Pistols were manufactured in three sizes and sold at Rs 8,000 for small, Rs 10,000 for medium and Rs 14,000 for large size. The price may go up to Rs 15,000 per piece, depending on the urgency of the customer.

According to NCRB data, around 686 cases of such ille-gal activities were reported in Delhi last year. Around 765 unlicensed country-made arms were seized.

AAI TO HELP DEVELOP INTERNATIONAL AVIATION HUB IN HISAR

NEW DELHI: Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Haryana government for development of civil avi-ation infrastructure in the state, especially for creation of a world class international aviation hub in Hisar. The MoU was jointly signed by Ashok Sangwan, Advisor Civil Aviation, Civil Aviation Department (DCA), Hary-ana government and Anil Gupta, General Manager (Business Development) AAI, on December Monday.

THREE MEN HELD FOR TRIPLE MURDER IN SOHNA FARMHOUSEGURUGRAM: Three men were arrested on Tuesday for murder of three labourers in a farmhouse at Sohna who were strangulated to death on December 7. The accused Dalip (33), Rajkumar (23) and Lalit (19), had reportedly killed the victims to recover the grass cut-ting machine, which the farmhouse’s owner Satbir had seized after Dalip failed to pay him Rs 3 lakh.

DMRC CHIEF INSPECTS TRIAL RUNS AT MUNDKA-BAHADURGARH CORRIDORNEW DELHI: To check overall progress of the Mundka-Bahadurgarh corridor of Delhi Metro’s Phase-III, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) MD Dr Mangu Singh inspected the trial runs on Wednesday. Singh, accom-panied by senior officials, travelled from Tikri Kalan to City Park and thoroughly inspected the progress.

CITY BRIEFS

PIC/MPOST

PIYUSH OHRIE

GURUGRAM: Crores of rupees may be pumped in by the state government to improve the condition of city roads, but safety of commuters and pedestri-ans continues to be a big challenge in Gurugram where an average of two people lose their lives daily due to road mishaps.

This year, till October, already 368 deaths have been reported due to road accidents. The figure has surpassed last year’s 357, with pedestrians and people on two wheelers the most vul-nerable groups.

Faulty road designs, poor sig-nages and mismanagement of traf-fic on Gurugram’s major roads make them accident prone, claim experts.

There also are 108 lives lost to over-speeding and rash driving.

While the highest number of fatal accidents was reported from outer areas of Gurugram, such as Pataudi, Bilaspur and Farukhnagar, within the city centre, areas of Sector-10, Shivaji Nagar have been deemed to be unsafe.

National Highway-8, popularly known as Delhi-Jaipur Highway, is the busiest route in the city. But it seems to not have fared better in terms of

safety, with over 108 fatal accidents reported this year.

The loss of valuable lives can be gauged from the fact that on Wednes-day, a three-year-old girl died while crossing the road at Manesar.

Several factors make driving extremely unsafe in Gurugram. To begin with, there are no proper cuts and diversions for commuters.

“There is negligible action taken by authorities for over-speeding and rash driving,” says Rajeev Verma, a Guru-gram resident.

“With the area seeing massive jams due to ongoing construction activities,

most two-wheelers try to violate the traffic rules and makes themselves as well as other susceptible to accidents,” he added.

Shortage of useful infrastructure, like foot over bridges (FOBs), on busy city roads also adds to the dangers for pedestrians.

In the past, local residents forced district authorities to build FOBs, after death of pedestrians due to high speed vehicles at Gurugram-Faridabad area.

Yet, residents complain that poor maintenance and incomplete work has resulted in people still not using the FOBs.

Gurugram’s killer roads claimed 368 lives this year

Some of the country-made weapons seized by Delhi Police PIC/MPOST

Noida Authority begins financial audit of builders’ projects

Now, make online payments in GDA against your property

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NOIDA: In order to end the buyer-builder impasse and help those aggrieved investors get their homes, the Noida Authority has expedited the financial audit of various errant developers in the area who have failed to deliver flats to home buy-ers on time.

Officials said that audits will be completed by the beginning of Jan-uary next year, report of which will be submitted to the Chief Executive Officer of Noida authority by Janu-ary 10.

“The audits are covering accounts and construction status, including other aspects that are required to determine as to why the builders have failed to finish projects despite

collecting funds from homebuyers” said a senior official from Noida authority.

The authority also is planning to act tough against the defaulting builders who have made home buy-ers suffer.

The authority is focusing on the fact that nothing is done wrong to the home buyers.

“Once a report is submitted to the CEO, a list of such builders who have cheated home buyers and have diverted funds into some other proj-ects or businesses will be prepared. Strict legal actions will be followed against such builders. The authority will also black list such builders” the official warned.

Sources also say that the names of some senior authority officials can

also be revealed in the audit report, who have been actively helping the builders in investing the money col-lected from buyers in other new projects.

Home buyers, for a long time, have been demanding forensic audit of each errant builder’s accounts.

The home buyers have alleged that the builders have diverted their hard earned money into other busi-nesses or realty projects in the wake of which the authority ordered to probe the alleged diversion of funds.

The diversion of money by the builder to start new projects instead of investing them in the complexes for which they had got the funds, has resulted in delaying the projects by four to eight years in area, hence making the home buyers suffer.

RAHUL SINGH

GHAZIABAD: Residential, commer-cial and industrial plot/flat owners can now pay installments and all type of fee linked with their properties to Ghazi-abad Development Authority, online, said GDA officials.

The authority’s move is aimed at col-lecting revenue and other fees through digital payment system which they believe will curb corruption and will bring transparency in the system.

The move is also aimed at providing relief to the allottees as one can make payments by sitting at their home and in just few clicks.

“The authority will now accept pay-ments through online payment system. ICICI bank, HDFC bank, PAYZAPP, BHIM App are among such payment gate ways through which payments can be easily made via debit card, credit card

or net banking” said an official of GDA finance department.

According to the new system, in order to get started, a person needs to install the application in their android or IOS mobile phone through applica-tion store.

Post download the person has to enter the bank account details and then has to click on the authority’s website-www.gdaghaziabad.com and select the payment details by clicking on make the payment online option.

“A person can easily pay the install-ments, lease rent, development fees, mutation charge, freehold charge and other such payments through the pay-ment gateways. A person can also download Bharat QR code mobile application and can get the payment done online though other government owned banks such as SBI and PNB” the officer continued.

A police officer investigating the case said all the accused in the incident were known to the victim and they had cooked up a story about a gold chain robbery to dodge police investigation

Protesters at Parliament street on Wednesday PIC/MPOST

Accidents like these are becoming common on National Highway-8, where 108 lives were lost this year PIC/MPOST

5mp nationMILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

No chants or bells at the Amarnath shrin e: NGT

UP cabinet approves draft of UPCOCA bill

SAYANTAN GHOSH

NEW DELHI: In a bid to preserve the eco-sensitive Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, the National Green Tribu-nal on Wednesday declared it a “silence zone” and prohib-ited chanting of ‘mantras’ or ‘jaykaras’, or ringing of bells in the shrine. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said the Amarnath Shrine Board should ensure that proper infrastruc-tural facilities are provided to the pilgrims so that they are not deprived of a clear ‘darshan’, and the ecology of the area is maintained.

The NGT had earlier asked the committee to consider declaring the area around the Amarnath Shrine cave as “silence zone” to prevent ava-lanches and ensure there is the prohibition on carrying of reli-gious offerings inside the cave to maintain its pristine nature.

The Amarnath Shrine Board had faced the wrath of the National Green Tribu-

nal for not providing proper infrastructural facilities to pil-grims going to the cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, saying it can’t “deprive people of proper darshan”.

“Nobody would be permit-ted to carry anything from the stairs leading to the holy cave and everybody should be prop-erly frisked at the entry point. From the point of stairs and the area inside the cave should

be declared silence zone,” the bench said. “You are giving pri-ority to commercial activities over pilgrims. This is unfair. The sanctity of the shrine has to be maintained but you can’t deprive people of proper dar-shan,” a bench added.

The green panel ordered the removal of iron grills in front of the ice stalagmite resembling the ‘Shiva Linga’ so that devo-tees could get a better view of

it and said there should be no noise pollution near the sacred structure. It also restrained carriage of personal belong-ings including mobile phones beyond the last checkpoint and asked the shrine board to con-struct a place where pilgrims can keep their valuables.

The green panel also directed the committee of experts headed by an addi-tional secretary of the Minis-try of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to submit an action plan on providing facilities to the pilgrims within three weeks. Environment activ-ist Gauri Maulekhi, on whose plea the directions were passed, welcomed the NGT order and termed it “progressive”. “The Amarnath cave is located in a delicate ecosystem. The direc-tions would make the Amar-nath Yatra safe and convenient for the devotees. This would protect the shrine from deg-radation and ensure it is protected for the coming gen-erations. It is indeed a very good and progressive direc-tion,” Maulekhi said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday approved the draft of a bill to enact a stringent law on the the lines of the Maha-rashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to com-bat land mafia, mining mafia and organised crime in the state.

The bill is expected to be introduced in the winter ses-sion of the state legislature, which commences here on Thursday.

The Uttar Pradesh Con-trol of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) was approved in a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here, state govern-ment spokesperson and power minister Srikant Sharma told reporters.

“The rule of law is the top priority of the government and for this it is essential that those indulging in mafia and ‘goonda’ activities, and dis-turbing peace in the society are identified and a special drive is launched against them... The bill is being brought with this purpose in mind,” he said after the meeting.

The draft of the proposed

legislation has been prepared in consultation with the law department to check organ-ised and white-collar crime, and mafias, he said, adding that there are 28 provisions in the draft bill which are not present in the existing Gangsters Act.

The committee set up to examine the draft bill also took into account a similar act in Maharashtra. It was headed by the home department’s secre-tary with the additional direc-tor general of police for crime and special secretary law as its members, the minister said.

“Organised crime has been defined in detail in the (draft) bill. Kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, manufactur-ing illicit liquor and its sale,

acquiring contracts on the basis of muscle power, organ-ised exploitation of forest pro-duce, trade in wildlife, fake medicines, grabbing of govern-ment and private properties, and ‘rangdari’ (extortion) will come under the ambit of the new law,” Sharma said.

He said that arrangements have also been made to check the misuse of the bill and that cases under it will be filed only on the recommendations of the committee of divisional com-missioner and range deputy inspector general of police.

The permission of the zonal inspector general of police will be required before filing of charge sheet after thorough inquiry, he said.

AMARNATH CAVE IS A ‘SILENT ZONE’ Parliament session: Govt

convenes all-party meet today

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The govern-ment has convened an all-party meeting tomorrow, ahead of the winter session of Parlia-ment where the opposition is likely to raise the issue of a delay in calling the session.

The parliamentary affairs ministry has sent out invites to the leaders of major political parties that have representa-tives in both Houses of Parlia-ment for the meet.

The winter session will be held from December 15 to Jan-uary 5. There would be a total of 14 working days.

Last year, the session began on 16 November and ended on 16 December, with 22 sittings.

The opposition has claimed that the ruling BJP delayed the session fearing that it would raise various issues ahead of the Gujarat assembly polls government.

The government has, how-ever, maintained that there were precedents of session dates being changed in view of elections.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will also host a dinner for the leaders of all parties on Thursday.

India to push for deeper strategic cooperation with ASEAN

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Eyeing to play a more pro active role in the Indo-Pacific, India is expected to push for a deeper strategic cooperation with ASEAN to balance the China- dominated power dynamics in the region when the two sides hold talks here next month.

A range of key issues includ-ing effectively tackling threat of terrorism, boosting mari-time security cooperation and enhancing connectivity will be the other areas of deliberations at the India-ASEAN commem-orative summit to be held on January 25, sources said.

They said there is no fric-tion point between India and ASEAN over formation of the proposed quadrilateral coali-tion comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia which is seen as a move to counter Chi-na’s expansionist behaviour in the Indo- Pacific region.

All the 10 ASEAN mem-

ber countries have already confirmed that their participa-tion at the summit as well as at the Republic Day celebrations will be at the level of heads of state, they said. The summit is being hosted by India to cele-brate 25 years of India-ASEAN engagement.

The sources, while referring to the evolving security situa-tion in the Indo-Pacific, said India supports the ASEAN’s centrality and the bloc’s unity in the regional security archi-tecture, in the wake of “emer-gence” of China.

They also said, at the same time India believes there must be a balancing factor in the regional security architecture when there have been com-peting claims of various coun-tries in maritime disputes, in a clear reference to South China Sea issue.

The sources said India’s benign presence in the Indo- Pacific region would be a welcome one considering its

historical and civilisational links with the resource rich region. India’s presence defi-nitely helps balance the power dynamics in the region, they said.

A number of ASEAN mem-ber countries have territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea.

Widening the security cooperation under the pro-posed quadrilateral coalition, officials of India, the US, Japan and Australia had held exten-sive talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Manila for pursuing common interests in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.

The sources said India wants to see further deepen-ing of ties between India and ASEAN in the strategic and political spheres, besides rekin-dling its focus on “commerce, connectivity and culture” with the bloc.

While attending the India-ASEAN summit in Manila last

month, Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi had invited the lead-ers of the 10 South East Asian countries to attend India’s next Republic Day celebrations as well as participate at the com-memorative summit marking 25th anniversary of the coun-try’s ties with the bloc.

Modi is also expected to have separate bilateral meet-ings with all ASEAN leaders.

India has also invited groups from all the ASEAN countries for performance on themes based on Ramayana as it reflected India’s civilisational links with the bloc.

The ties between India and ASEAN have been on an upswing, particularly in the areas of trade and investment.

The ASEAN region along with India together comprises combined population of 1.85 billion people, which is one fourth of the global popula-tion and their combined GDP has been estimated at over USD 3.8 trillion.

Sonowal, Gadkari discuss Assam road connectivity issues

OUR CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today called on Union minis-ter Nitin Gadkari at New Delhi and discussed various issues related to road connectivity in the state, officials said.

The chief minister apprised the Union minister for road transport, highways and ship-ping about the state’s initia-tive to expand Guwahati city for establishing a state capital region (SCR) and also pro-posed construction of a ring road for improving the road connectivity within the state capital region area, they said.

The Union minister agreed

to the proposal and asked the chief minister to allot land for building the proposed ring road, an official release said here. The state government would take steps for providing land for building the ring road.

According to the Assam chief minister, the ring road

would ease the problem of traf-fic congestion in Guwahati city and also ensure speedy devel-opment of the city’s outskirts.

The ring road would add to the beauty of the SCR area and would prove to be a vital asset, he said.

During the meeting, the chief minister also invited Gadkari to Majuli on Decem-ber 29 to inaugurate the Rs 237 crore project, for protecting the island from erosion, the release said, adding, the Union minis-ter accepted the invitation.

The issue of construction of express highways on both sides of the Brahmaputra river also came up for discussion in the meeting, the release added.

‘Chintan Shivir not an excursion, blueprint of new

Haryana to be prepared’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BHIWANI/ROHTAK: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khat-tar on Wednesday said the ‘Chintan Shivir’ (brainstorm-ing session) at the Timber Trail resort in Himachal Pradesh would not be an “excursion” and asserted that a blueprint of a “new Haryana” would be prepared.

The session, set to be held from December 15 to 17, faced flak from the opposition, which dubbed it as “holidaying in the hills”.

“Blueprint of a new Hary-ana would be prepared through deliberations on development at the Shivir,” Khattar said here, adding, “Various ongoing development works and other schemes will also be reviewed.”

The BJP government is making all out efforts to bring a positive change in the system,

the chief minister said.“A blueprint to take the state

and the society further ahead on the path of economic devel-opment in the next two years would be prepared during the Shivir. Various welfare policies and laws would also be deliber-ated upon in the Shivir,” he said in Rohtak.

Asked about the opposi-tion’s criticism that the session to be held at a luxury private resort was a waste of pub-lic money, Khattar said, “The chintan shivir is not being organised for the purpose of excursion.”

Former chief minister Bhu-pinder Singh Hooda said the ruling BJP’s concern should have been the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and not “holidaying in the hills”. He alleged that the gov-ernment was wasting public money.

Maha launches programme to

help undertrials who got bail: CM

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NAGPUR: The Maharash-tra government has referred around 589 cases to a commit-tee headed by a retired High Court judge wherein under-trials continue to remain in jails despite securing bail from various courts, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said.

In a written reply to a starred question submitted in the Legislative Council, Fadna-vis said a programme has been launched by the government in collaboration with Tata Trust to offer help to undertrials who have been granted bail.

He said the programme has been introduced in central jails at Taloja in Navi Mumbai, Yerwada in Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, and Nashik Road.

The chief minister stated that the committee was set up under Justice (retired) Dr Rad-hakrishnan on the directions of the Bombay High Court.

The panel was set up to give recommendations on the release of undertrials who have been granted bail by courts.

He said the government has forwarded the informa-tion to the committee about the undertrials facing cases in which they could be sentenced up to seven years conviction.

NIA to probe 6 cases with suspected

Khalistan angle OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into six cases in Punjab in which the role of terror groups owing allegiance to the so- called Khalistan movement are sus-pected, officials said. Earlier, these cases were being probed by the Punjab Police.

An NIA spokesman said in a statement that the cases relate to the killings of Hindu leaders and a priest, and firing at an RSS ‘shakha’ (centre).

The first case relates to the firing at the Rashtriya Sway-amsevak Sangh (RSS) ‘shakha’ in Ludhiana city on January 19 last year, the spokesman said. Two people riding a motorcycle and wearing monkey caps fired a single shot at the ‘shakha’.

The second case relates to the attempt to murder of Pun-jab Shiv Sena youth wing pres-ident Amit Arora in Ludhiana in February this year.

Thirty-five-year-old Arora, a hosiery unit owner, was at Basti Jodhewal Chowk in his car waiting for someone when the two motorcycle-borne men fired at him and fled. He was rushed to a local hospital and survived the bid on his life.

Another case relates to the killing of Shiv Sena leader Durga Dass Gupta in Khanna in Punjab on April 23 last year.

The two cases of killings of Amit Sharma, the publicity manager of Sri Hindu Takht, and two followers of the quasi- religious cult Dera Sacha Sauda were also taken over by the NIA. Amit Sharma was killed in Ludhiana on January 17, while the killings of the Dera followers took place on Feb-ruary 25. The NIA also took over the case of killing of the pastor of a local church, Sultan Masih, who was shot dead by two assailants in Ludhiana in July this year.

All these cases were claimed to have been cracked by the Punjab Police in the first week of November when Chief Min-ister Amarinder Singh said that four people had been arrested in connection with the kill-ings of Sharma, Gupta, Masih in Ludhiana and Dera Sacha Sauda followers.

I&B ministry asks Assamese channel to go off air for 3 days, Gujarati channel for a day

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The informa-tion and broadcasting minis-try has ordered an Assamese television channel to go off air for three days and a Gujarati channel for a day for violat-ing the cable television net-work rules.

The Assamese channel had aired a news report on a ritual, wherein a man was seen toss-ing a newborn up and down in

the air without a “shred of care and concern”.

The video, aired in June last year, was reportedly meant to expose a superstition prevalent in some parts of Assam, as per which it is believed that the dangerous practice of tossing a child up and down in the air would keep it safe.

The ministry said the visu-als were “extremely disturbing and not suitable for unre-stricted public exhibition”.

However, the channel had claimed that by airing the “informational” video, it had tried to “educate the masses against such evil practices”.

“The Central Govern-ment...orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmis-sion of the...channel for three days on any platform through-out India with effect from 0001 hrs on 15.12.2017 till 0001 hrs on 18.12.2017,” the order of the ministry read.

In another order, the min-istry asked a Gujarati chan-nel to go off air for a day on December 16.

The Gujarati channel had telecast a news programme in March, in which a man was seen brutally beating up children.

The order said the video of the incident, which the chan-nel claimed took place in a Gujarat school, had started trending on the social media.

The CM apprised the minister about the state’s initiative to expand Guwahati city for establishing a state capital region

6MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

mp nationManmohan again slams Modi on ‘Pak conspiracy’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Escalating his attack on Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi, former premier Manmohan Singh on Wednes-day released a video message on the eve of the final phase of the Gujarat polls, accusing him of spreading “falsehoods and canards” to score politi-cal points.

The sharply-worded attack was virtually the same as the written statement that the 86-year-old Congress leader had released on Monday fol-lowing Modi’s remarks insinu-ating that Singh had colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls.

“Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable,” Singh said in the message released to TV stations.

The second salvo by Singh in three days serves to ensure that there is no let up in Con-gress’ charge against Modi ahead of tomorrow’s polls in 93 constituencies of Gujarat. The remaining 89 constituen-cies voted in the first phase on December 9. Results will be known on December 18.

The campaign was marked by a fiesty and often acrimo-nious speeches where Modi and Congress president-elect

Rahul Gandhi locked horns repeatedly.

“I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said and demanded an apology.

Singh and Modi ran into each other earlier on Wednes-day at an event to pay hom-age to the victims of the 2001 Parliament attack, and greeted each other briefly.

The BJP hit back at Singh

with party chief Amit Shah and senior leaders including Piyush Goel questioning the former prime minister’s track record when he headed the UPA government.

“We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days.

We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot and plun-der was happening under his watch? The nation missed his anger then!” Shah tweeted.

Singh urged the prime min-ister to show “maturity and

gravitas, as expected of the high office he holds, instead of con-centrating his energy solely on scoring “erroneously conceived brownie points”.

“I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies,” he said.

Strongly rejecting the “innuendos and falsehoods” made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elec-tions with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by any-one else present at the dinner.

“The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations.

It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of jour-nalists, diplomatics and public servants present at the dinner,” he said.

Singh also asserted that Modi “is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every consti-tutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief”, and described it as sad and regrettable.

The Congress Party needs no sermons on “nationalism” from a party and prime minis-ter, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known, he added.

PRESIDENT KOVIND TO GRACE ANNUAL CONVOCATION OF MNNIT ALLAHABAD: President Ram Nath Kovind would be the chief guest at the 14th annual convocation of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) to be held here on Friday. Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be the guest of honors, said Professor Rajeev Tripathi, Director MNNIT, while addressing the pre-convocation press meet on Wednesday. “MNNIT has created a coveted niche for itself in the field of education, research, industry-institute interface at large,” he said. In the last academic year, MNNIT had organized seven International Conferences and 18 patents were filed, he added. Professor Ramesh Tripathi, Dean Academics, said that around 655 recipients, including 875 BTech, 337 MTech, 90 MCA and 78 PhD scholars will receive the degrees in various disciplines at the convocation on December 15.

RAID NETS 1000 LITRES SYNTHETIC MILK, FOOD INSPECTOR SUSPENDED MORENA: Authorities raided a factory in Chinnoni village here on Tuesday and seized 1000 litres of syn-thetic milk, a senior official said. A food inspector had been suspended for failing to check the malpractice, the official added. Additional collector KP Mishra said that a joint team from the food and revenue depart-ments had raided the factory at Chinnoni village and seized 1000 litres of synthetic milk on Tuesday. The team recovered glucose, detergent and other ingre-dients that went into making the synthetic milk, he added. He said that the raid was carried out following complaints to the district collector. Mishra informed that the collector had yesterday suspended food inspector Savita Saxena. “She did not pay heed to senior of-ficials who had been asking the food inspector to crack the whip on people involved in milk adulteration,” Mishra said. Mishra said that the adulterated milk from the factory used to be supplied to Nova Dairy in Malanpur, Gwalior. The owner of the raided factory has been under Food Safety and Standards Act.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS RESUME AT SRINAGAR AIRPORT SRINAGAR: Flight operations to and fro Srinagar air-port resumed on Wednesday after remaining suspend-ed for the first half of the day due to poor visibility caused by intermittent snowfall in Kashmir, officials said. Earlier, 12 inbound and as many outbound flights had to be cancelled due to bad weather and poor vis-ibility, according to an official of the Airports Authority of India. “The flight operations at the Srinagar Interna-tional Airport resumed in the afternoon as the visibility improved. We were able to operate 10 inbound and as many outbound flights,” the official added. Intermit-tent snowfall in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley has snapped the state’s transport links with the outside world as the arterial Srinagar-Jammu National High-way remains closed since Monday night. The air traffic has also been affected due to poor weather conditions since on Tuesday.

HOUSEBOAT EMPLOYEE HELD FOR TRYING TO MOLEST TOURIST ALAPPUZHA: A houseboat employee has been ar-rested here for allegedly attempting to molest a British tourist on the pretext of giving her a body massage. The accused, Anjelose, was arrested on Tuesday, Deputy Superintendent of Police P V Baby said. The tourist along with another woman was on a boat ride on Monday when she enquired if they could be taken to a massage parlour. The accused volunteered, saying he was a certified masseur following which the woman allowed him to massage her, police said.

NATION BRIEFS

Nation missed Manmohan’s anger when loot took pl ace under his watch: ShahOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday hit back at former prime minister Man-mohan Singh over his criticism of Narendra Modi and asked the “angry” Congress vet-eran why he was silent when a “monumental loot” took place during his tenure at the Centre.

“We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry and anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut Ka Saudagar’. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called neech ,” Shah said in series of tweets.

The BJP president’s ref-erence was to remarks made against Prime Minister Modi by Congress leaders.

“When it comes to respected Manmohan Singh ji s honesty, I would not like to say anything. The monumen-tal loot and plunder under his watch speak for him in abun-dance!,” Shah tweeted.

He said the nation missed Singh’s anger when the “monu-mental loot and plunder” were taking place during his tenure as the prime minister.

“Amused to see the Con-gress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Shri Rahul Gandhi and respected Man-mohan Singh ji are only mali-ciously attacking PM,” he said.

Shah was responding to Singh’s remarks earlier this

week when he accused Modi of “spreading falsehood and canards” to score political points and sought an apology for his “ill- thought transgres-sion”. On the eve of the second and final phase of Gujarat’s Assembly elections, Shah also accused Singh of taking a U-turn in declaring that he had attended a meeting with Paki-stani diplomats after denying it.

“Only after the secret meet-ing was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh ji said that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations,”

Shah said, asking him why he had not apprised the govern-ment of the meeting. Shah also took Singh on over party leader Rahul Gandhi publicly tear-ing up an ordinance during the UPA rule.

“Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Minister s office,” Shah asked. Describing the attacks and alle-gations by both Singh and Gan-dhi as the “desperation” of the Congress party a day before polling, Shah said both leaders had “maliciously” attack the Prime Minister.

TENDER NOTICE Sealed Tender are invited by the Medical Superintendent-Cum-Vice principal, North Bengal Medical College & Hospital, P.O. Sushrutnagar, Dist Darjeeling from intending bidders for “TENDER FOR SUPPLY OF DEAD FETUS BOX / BABY MORTUARY CHAMBER REFRIGERATOR FOR NBMC&H” For more details visit office of the undersigned during working hours or departmental or official website www.nbmch.org/www.wbhealth.gov.in.

Sd/-Medical Superindent-Cum-Vice

Principal NBMC&H,Sushrutanagar,

Darjeeling.

Government of West Bengal North Bengal Development Department

Branch Secretariat Uttarkanya, Annex Building, Fulbari, Jalpaiguri 734015

ICA/T 6216(2)/2017

ICA/T 6211(3)/2017

eNIT No. 15 of EE/MD of 2017-18 Tender ID : 2017_PHED_142601_1 to 5

Sinking of INDIA Mark-II Tube wells at different Primary & Upper Primary Schools in Paschim Medinipur District & it’s Corrigendum Notice Memo No. 1519/MD, dated - 13.12.2017. For details please see website: https://etender.wb.nic.in.

Sd/- Executive Engineer, Midnapore Division, PHE Dte

Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority

Rajya Sabha first row seat for Shah;

3 Oppn leaders bid adieu

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah will join Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Arun Jaitley in the front row of the treasury benches, adding weight to the NDA’s voice in the Rajya Sabha.

With M Venkaiah Naidu at the chairman’s seat in the upper house of Parliament, the front row position he occupied as a senior leader will now be taken up by Shah. The seating arrage-ments have been issued by the Rajya Sabha secretariat for new members. Shah will be in the front row, on the other side of the aisle from Prime Minister Modi and BJP’s leader of the house, Arun Jaitley.

While Shah will add to the strength of the ruling party, the opposition side will be weakened with the absence of three leading and vocal occu-pants of its first row -- rebel JD(U) member Sharad Yadav, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and Mayawati of the BSP.

With Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) joining the NDA, its members will move from the opposition to the treasury benches.

BJP demands NIA or CBI probe into mysterious death of youth

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU: Rejecting the ruling Congress party’s charge that it was fomenting commu-nal trouble, the BJP on Wednes-day demanded an investigation by the CBI or the NIA into the mysterious death of a young fisherman last week, which has sparked tension in the coastal Uttara Kannada district.

Paresh Kamalakar Mesta (19) had gone missing on December 6. His body was found near a lake in Honna-var in the district on the night of December 8 under mys-terious circumstances. Sirsi and Kumata towns in the dis-

trict have been hit by violence since then. Mesta’s family and local residents have alleged he was abducted and killed amid reports the body bore marks of attack by sharp objects.

Police, however, have rejected the claims, citing a report by doctors, pending a postmortem examination.

The BJP has blamed “jihadi elements” for Mesta’s death, while Chief Minister Siddara-maiah has accused the saffron party of using the incident for “political gains”.

The party has been saying that nearly 15 activists of the Sangh Parivar and pro-Hindu organisations have been killed

in coastal Karnataka and else-where in the past a few months.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, senior BJP leader and Lok Sabha mem-ber Shobha Karandlaje accused the Congress party of “shying” away from a National Investi-gation Agency probe.

Rubbishing state Home Minister Ramalinga Red-dy’s claim that Mesta’s death was not mysterious, she said he was ignoring eyewitnesses account that the victim’s face was blackened.

“There were injuries on his face. ‘Jai Sri Ram’ tattooed on his hand was burnt and his pri-vate parts were mutilated.

Govts talk of poll sabotage when promises

fail: Varma of JD(U) OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: When govern-ments fail to keep their prom-ises, they talk about a former Prime Minister “conspiring with Pakistan to sabotage a par-ticular party”, Janata Dal (U) leader Pavan Varma has said.

The former Member of Par-liament and spokesperson of the JD(U), an NDA ally, yester-day said democracy was threat-ened by populist governments which made emotional state-ments to deflect voters’ atten-tion from governance.

“When faith in the prom-ises made by you is lost, when it becomes transparent to peo-ple and they rather wish to talk about governance, then you start talking about issues like ‘Khilji ki aulaad’, ‘Aurangzeb’... or say that a former PM is con-spiring with Pakistan to sabo-tage a particular party. That is the ultimate threat to democ-racy,” Varma said. Though the former diplomat did not name any party, the reference was to the BJP’s electoral campaign in

Gujarat. Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi had insinuated at a recent rally that former prime minister Manmohan Singh had colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls.

Varma, who, along with Congress leader Shashi Thar-oor, took part in a panel dis-cussion on “Populism is the Greatest Threat to Democracy” at the curtain raiser here of the 11th Jaipur Literature festi-val, said populism devalued democracy because it shifted the focus of attention from gov-ernance to promises.

When populism was turned into a tool to win an election, never-to-be-fulfilled promises were made, he said. “It becomes a contest about who can tell the biggest lie,” Varma said.

“When there are false promises all around, com-mon people don’t trust even the legitimate ones,” he added.

Former Union minister Tharoor said populism pre-sumed it spoke for the masses, often ending the scope for pluralism.

HC notice on journalist

killingOUR CORRESPONDENT

AGARTALA: The Tripura High Court has issued sepa-rate notices to the state govern-ment, the Centre and the CBI seeking a reply as to why a CBI probe should not be ordered into the killing of TV journal-ist Shantanu Bhowmik.

The journalist was hacked to death on September 20 last when he went to Mandai in West Tripura district to cover a protest by the Indigenous Peo-ples Front of Tripura (IPFT).

The writ petition filed by the journalist’s father Sadhan Bhowmik, seeking a CBI probe, came up for hearing yesterday.

A division bench compris-ing Chief Justice T Vaiphei and Justice S Talapatra served the notices after studying the sub-mission of advocate Samrat Kar Bhowmik, who represented the petitioner.

Tripura Advocate General Bijan Chandra Das said the court had issued notice to all the three parties. The petition will be again heard on Decem-ber 20, he said. The journalist s father had filed the case on December 7 last.

Rs 305-crore central aid for

Manipur, Kerala, Mizoram

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A total of Rs 305.14 crore has been sanc-tioned as central assistance to Manipur, Kerala and Mizoram, which faced various natu-ral calamities in 2016-17, the home ministry said.

A decision to grant the amount was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Agriculture Min-ister Radha Mohan Singh and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba among others.

The central assistance has been approved to Manipur and Mizoram affected floods and landslides, and drought-hit Kerala, according to a home ministry statement.

The committee approved an assistance of Rs 130.65 crore from the National Disas-ter Relief Fund (NDRF) to Manipur.

7mp nationMILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

Make portal for complaints on sexual abuse videos: SC

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to have a web portal ready by January 10 next year to enable citizens register complaints on child sexual abuse, child por-nography and gangrape videos.

A bench of Justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit was apprised by the Centre that a portal has been prepared and it would be ready within a month and standard operating proce-dures were also being prepared for use of the portal.

However, the bench said it was “high time” that the Centre gets the portal ready and avail-able to public at large.

“The matter has been pend-ing for quite some time and we find from the affidavit filed by the CBI on October 8, 2015 that steps are being taken to enable complaints being filed through a portal,” the bench said in its order.

“Therefore, we direct that the Union of India to have the portal ready on or before Jan-uary 10, 2018. We would like the report to be given on the next date of hearing i.e. Janu-ary 8 with regard to the prog-ress made,” it said.

The bench has been hold-ing in-camera hearing on this matter. The court also noted the submission of the petitioner’s counsel that the portal should be given adequate publicity so that people could make com-plaints on it.

It also took note of a sta-tus report filed by the Centre but said that, “unfortunately, on going through the status

report, it is found to be more in the nature of comments rather than a status report”.

“We expect the Union of India to file a proper detailed status report rather than com-ments on the orders passed by this Court,” the top court said.

The apex court was hear-ing a letter sent in 2015 to then Chief Justice of India H L Dattu by Hyderabad-based NGO Pra-jwala, along with two rape vid-eos in a pen-drive.

The top court had on its own taken cognisance of the letter about posting of these videos on WhatsApp and asked CBI to launch a probe to appre-hend the culprits.

On September 18 the apex court termed it as “very strange” that internet majors were objecting to making pub-lic certain recommendations in a report of a panel set up to

explore technical solutions to block videos of sexual offences on social sites.

Earlier, cyber security offi-cials who function under the CBI, had told the bench that internet was a “wild high-way” and blocking objection-able content at the source was a technical challenge for which clear guidelines needed to be issued to stop circulation of such material.

The Centre had informed the court that it would set up a specialised agency to block and curb the sharing of sexual offence videos on social net-working platforms.

The NGO’s letter had also mooted the idea of maintain-ing a national sex offenders’ register which should contain details of persons convicted for offences like eve-teasing, stalk-ing, molestation and other sex-

COAL SCAM

Ex-J’khand CM Madhu Koda, ex-coal secy H C Gupta, 3 others convictedOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal sec-retary H C Gupta were on Wednesday convicted in a case of coal block allocation scam by a special court for corruption and criminal conspiracy.

They were convicted along with three others for irregulari-ties in the allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based private com-pany, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL).

With today’s verdict, four of the 30 cases arising out of the coal block allocation scam unearthed during the previ-ous UPA regime, have been decided.

Besides the former chief minister and Gupta, others who have been held guilty are ex-Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu, Koda’s close aide Vijay Joshi and the company VISUL under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and section 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, which entails maximum pun-ishment of seven years.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar will hear arguments on the quantum of punishment tomorrow.

The court also acquit-ted four persons VISUL’s for-mer director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Bas-ant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and char-tered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan of all charges levelled against them.

All the accused per-sons were present before the court when the verdict was

pronounced.Koda is also an accused

along with Gupta in another case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand. The case also involves Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao as accused.

Gupta, who was the coal secretary from December 31, 2005 to November 2008, was earlier awarded two year jail term along with then joint secretary K S Kropha and then director K C Samaria in the Ministry of Coal, for cheat-ing, criminal conspiracy and corruption in a case relating to irregularities in the allocation of Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL).

Gupta is currently on bail.Among the politically sen-

sitive cases in the coal block scam is one which also involves the name of then Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh.

The case relates to the allo-cation of Talabira II coal block in Odisha to M/s Hindalco in

2005, in which the name of Singh has been dragged as an accused along with then Coal Secretary P C Parakh and industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla besides others.

The proceedings in the case was stayed by the Supreme Court on April 1, 2015 after Singh moved it opposing the order of the special court which had on March 11, 2015 sum-moned him and others.

In the present case, Koda and eight others were earlier summoned as accused after the court had taken cognisance of offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (crimi-nal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI had alleged that the firm had applied for allo-cation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007.

It said although the Jharkhand government and Steel Ministry did not recom-mend VISUL’s case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee rec-ommended the block to the accused firm.

The CBI said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh, who at that time headed the Coal Ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recom-mended VISUL for allocation of a coal block.

Koda, Basu and two accused public servants con-spired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had alleged.

Maneka writes to top filmmakers to provide safe workplace for women OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has written to leading film production houses of Bollywood, urging them to comply with the prevention of sexual harassment law to pro-vide a “safe, secure and inclu-sive” work environment for women.

Top filmmakers like Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Ekta Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Sajid Nadiadwala, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowari-kar, Subhash Ghai, among oth-ers, were personally written a letter by the minister.

With this effort, the minis-try wants to extend the reach and implementation of the Sex-ual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Pro-hibition Redressal) Act, 2013.

The minister has also asked the filmmakers to acquaint themselves of the Act and other relevant laws and implement all relevant actions without delay.

“The aim of this law is to ensure that no woman is sexu-ally harassed at her workplace. This is to be followed in letter and spirit by all organisations in the country and I expect you to personally lead these efforts with sincerity and commit-ment, in accordance with all the applicable laws,” she said in the letter. The minister said that as the leaders of their organisa-

tions, they are “ethically and legally accountable to provide a safe, secure and inclusive work environment for the safety of not only their direct employees, but all outsourced and tempo-rary staff as well”.

On November 7, Gan-dhi had launched an online complaint management sys-tem titled ‘Sexual Harassment electronic Box (SHe-Box)’ for registering complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace.

The complaint manage-ment system has been devel-oped to ensure the effective implementation of the Act, the

minister had said.This portal is an initiative

to provide a platform to work-ing women to file complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace under the Act.

Late last month, Gan-dhi had tweeted, “Thanking Finance and Corporate Affairs minister Arun Jaitley for con-sidering the WCD’s request to amend relevant rules under the Companies Act, 2013, for women’s safety”.

The amendment would ensure that the Board of Direc-tors of all the companies duly report on the constitution of ICC under the Act.

CBI books 5 customs officials

in duty scamOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (cbi has registered five cases five Examiners of the Customs Department, Air Cargo Com-plex, Mumbai Zone-III, one customs house clearing agent; three Importers and some oth-ers for duty evasion, leading to a loss of Rs 17.39 lakh to the Customs Department, dur-ing import of mobile accesso-ries through five bills of entry in April.

The Customs Officials had also allegedly conspired with Customs House Clear-ing agent and importers to not properly examine the con-signments after comparing the imported goods with the pack-ing list.

The accused allegedly gave false examination reports about the type of articles imported and number of arti-cles imported which exceeded the quantity mentioned in the packing lists, resulting in revenue loss to the Customs Department.

Sex determination: SC asks Centre, 3 search

engines to meetOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to hold a meeting with stakeholders like search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, to find a solution to ensure that materials violating Indian laws prohibiting pre- natal sex determination are not hosted on websites.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Jus-tices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also directed that the meeting be held within six weeks from today and the sug-gestions of the petitioner be also considered.

Sanjay Parikh, appearing for petitioner Sabu Mathew George, said search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, were competent to remove materials on sex determina-tion from the websites on their own. The contention was vehe-mently opposed by the counsel for the search engines.

The apex court, while dis-posing of the PIL, said the Centre, its nodal agency and experts “shall take steps so that mandate of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Tech-niques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 are not violated”.

It directed the representa-tives of search engines shall also take part in the meet-

ing which would endeavour to find a “holistic” solution to the problem of posting of such materials on websites which violate the PCPNDT Act.

“However, we make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on merits,” the bench said, adding that the petitioner would be at liberty to file a fresh plea if he felt aggrieved in future.

SC also directed that the meeting be held within six weeks from on Wednesday and the suggestions of the petitioner be also considered

Rlys introduce bill tracking system for contractors

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a significant move to enhance transparency in the processing and settle-ment of bills, Indian Railways have introduced a bill tracking system for contractors and ven-dors of Indian Railways to track status of their bills.

This is in line with the emphasis given by Minister of Railways & Coal Piyush Goyal on increased use of informa-tion technology to go digital and online with a view to pro-mote transparency and effi-ciency in the system.

The vendor/contrac-tor need to register with the online IT platform developed in house by CRIS, New Delhi called Indian Railways E-Pro-curement System (IREPS). The registration enables the ven-dor/agencies to see their bill

status with dates through vari-ous stages of processing of bills, the stage at which it is lying, the amount for which it is passed and other details.

The history feature is also available so that a vendor can see the history of the bills sub-mitted. The bill tracking facility is available to the vendors/con-tractors of goods and services.

The infirmities in the bill that need to be addressed are also visible to the vendor/contractor. The bill details are available on http://ireps.gov.in. It has been further reiter-ated that all bills will be settled within 30 days of its receipt.

To facilitate the vendor, a help facility has also been added. Detailed user Manu-als are uploaded on the site for easy access and is available on the learning centre link of the home page of IREPS.

Examine economic loss of health hazards due to pollution: SC

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre whether they have looked into the aspect of eco-nomic loss due to health haz-ards caused by severe air pollution in the Delhi-national capital region (NCR).

The top court raised the question while referring to an affidavit filed by Minis-try of Environment and For-est (MoEF) which said it had constituted a high-level task force to look into the issue of stubble burning and options to discourage the burning of crop residues.

“Air pollution also causes lots of health hazards. Large number of people were admit-ted to hospitals, particularly children. So there is a huge eco-nomic loss,” a bench of Justices

Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said. “Have Union of India looked into it? Have you looked into the aspect of eco-nomic implication and eco-nomic loss to the state,” the bench asked Additional Solici-tor General A N S Nadkarni.

The bench also said that no one concerned with health like medical professionals were involved in discussions of the task force about the impact of air pollution on health.

“In our opinion, it would be appropriate if the high level task force also take assistance of medical professional .... and also discuss the issue of health impact of air pollution,” the court said. Nadkarni said he would inform the chairperson of the task force about it.

At the outset, the bench told Nadkarni that the task force has held meetings but what have been the result of these deliberations.

Kannada tabloid editor gets interim bail on health grounds

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU: A city court on Wednesday granted interim bail on health grounds to Kannada tabloid editor Ravi Belagere who was arrested for allegedly hiring a con-tract killer to kill one of his colleagues.

The 65th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court granted a three-day bail till December 16 to Belagere who made the plea for relief citing his health condition.

Belagere, who brings out “Hai Bangalore”, was sent to Parapanna Agrahara Cen-tral Prison two days ago after a local court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody till December 23.

He was staying in the hos-pital ward of the jail.

The court had directed the police to provide proper medi-cal treatment to Belagere, who is suffering from different ail-ments, at the prison.

Belagere was arrested from his house here on December 8 on charges of hiring a “supari” (contract) killer from Vijaya-pura in north Karnataka to kill Sunil Heggaravalli.

He was produced before a magistrate at the latter’s res-idence on December 8 and remanded to police custody.

The police had got the lead about the alleged plot to eliminate Heggaravalli when contract killer Shashidhar Mundewadi was questioned in connection with a probe into

the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

Based on the inputs, Bel-agare was arrested and a pistol and double barrel gun were seized from his possession.

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly had earlier passed a resolution sentencing Bel-agare and Anil Raju, the editor of tabloid Yelahanka Voice, to one year in jail for their alleged defamatory articles against state legislators.

The assembly recently rejected a plea by both the journalists to reconsider its decision.

On a petition by the jour-nalists earlier this week, the Karnataka High Court directed the assembly not to pursue the proceedings against them until further orders.

The police had got the lead about the alleged plot to eliminate Heggaravalli when contract killer Shashidhar Mundewadi was questioned in connection with a probe into the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh

The minister has also asked the filmmakers to acquaint themselves of the Act and other relevant laws and implement all relevant actions without delay

Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority

1ST CORRIGENDUM NOTICE The u/s on behalf of the Government of West Bengal circulate the lst corrigendum notice against memo no. A-61/992, dated:- 05.12.2017, that read as No. of Vacancies 4 (four) nos. and last date of Submission of Application within 5.00 pm of 29th December 2017. All other terms and conditions remain same.Details may be downloaded from the following website. (https.// www.pwdwb.in .) Sd/-

S.E/N.H.Circle-III, Matigara, Siliguri

NADIA ZILLA PARISHAD Krishnagar, Nadia

E-Tenders have been invited by the under signed from the bonafied Contractors for the following works at different sitesNIT- 70 / NZP of 17-18: Supplying of veterinary Hospital instruments as per list. Total estimated cost is Rs. 14.31 Lakh. Last date of submission of e-tender is 26.12.2017. Please see website www.wbprd.gov.in or contact to this office.

Sd/- District EngineerNadia Zilla Parishad

Memo No./0976Dated. NBMC&H the 12/12/17

E.O.I. NOTICESealed E.O.I. are invited by the undersigned from the reputed firms for for the job of disposal of use of X-ray film and hypo solution of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Sushrutanagar, District Darjeeling, Pin-734012.

The detail information provided from the office notice board of the MSVP, NBMCH on any working day from 12/12/2017 to 18/12/2017. Medical Superindent-Cum-Vice Principal

NBMC&H,Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling.

ICA/T6245(3)/2017

mp editorial8MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

SANKAR RAY

In June 2017, British medical jour-nal Lancet published a review of the prevalence of diabetes in 15 states of India. This study by a group of med-

ical practitioners, funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has worrying numbers. It finds that while some 7 per cent people in India (based on 15 states’ data) had diabetes, the prevalence of pre-diabetes (early signs, particularly elevated blood sugar levels) was a staggering 10-15 per cent, depending on the criteria used. This is no small health burden on a poor country.

Their conclusion is we are undergo-ing an epidemiological transition. States with higher GDP—Gujarat, Maharash-tra, Tamil Nadu, and Chandigarh—have a higher prevalence of this disease as compared to Bihar or Jharkhand. Delhi and Goa, with high-income levels, are still awaiting sampling. Rural areas have lower diabetes rates than urban ones. But

most worryingly, the study finds that the poor in urban well-off states have a higher incidence of diabetes than the rich in the same cities. In other words, the rich in rich cities have started to learn good food habits.

But the poor are now falling into the trap of bad food. The study also found that conversely, in rural areas it was the more socio-economically advanced that were falling prey to diabetes. “It is an epidemic that is in a state of transi-tion,” the study noted. With such large numbers of poor in urban areas and such large numbers of the getting-rich in rural areas, this can easily get out of hand. We are going from lack of food or malnutrition to over-nutrition because of bad food. This is a transition that must be avoided.

The fact is that India has what can only be described as a double burden of diseases. We have the diseases of the

poor—everything from malnutrition to cholera. But we also have the diseases of the rich—cancer and diabetes. Worse, as the ICMR study shows, the poor, who can ill-afford the diseases of the rich are now afflicted by them.

But this is where the policy of preven-tion must kick in. We know that these diseases—called non-communicable by the health community—are connected to our lifestyles. What do we eat? What air we breathe? And what environment we live in? These are part of the pack-age of “toxic” development. A model of development where we first pollute and then think of cleaning up. A model where we first industrialise-chemicalise our food, eat unhealthy junk and then think of going to the gym to exercise or eat organic food. But the question is can we not avoid the transition?

Can we not go from being poor but unhealthy to being rich and healthy?

Why should we inherit the diseases of a lifestyle that can be junked?

This is where change is essential. This is where we need to make crucial link-ages—between our health and the health of the environment. Today, it is polluted water, which is visible in the deliberate murder of our rivers, that is also one of the largest-killers of babies in the coun-try. Today it is the lack of clean energy in homes that makes women cooking on biomass fuel suffer from killer respi-ratory disorders. It is also responsible for pollution that is making air toxic to breathe in our cities. So, health is an indicator for the environment.

The good news is that our health is also the only real trigger for environ-mental action. We will act to improve the environment, when we know it impacts us directly. For instance, today, in Delhi there is an outrage against the pollution in the air. This is because the 2016 win-ter’s public health emergency—when pollution levels spiralled out of control—has brought about a clear understand-ing of the link between toxins and our bodies. It will drive change.

It is for this reason that the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs)—13 global goals that the world needs to achieve by 2030—must put chil-dren at the very centre. Every goal has a link to the child and every goal has a link to the health of the child and so the health of the Planet. This is the human face of the SDGs that would define our progress, or not.

It is the health of our children that must be put at the centre of the health of our planet. One can’t survive without the other. DOWN TO EARTH

(The author is Director General of Centre for Science and Environment

and the Editor of Down To Earth magazine. The views expressed

are strictly personal.)

The first national parliamentary elections in Nepal in the post-royal era connotes the most spectacular political transition

from the bullet to the ballot, fitted into a Constitutional revolution from the world’s only Hindu state into a secular democratic polity. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres hailed the elections as “a historic moment for Nepal in implementing its federal structure as enshrined in the 2015 Constitution”. This was preceded by a decade-and-a half civil war, ended in 2006, killing of about 17000 people. But perhaps even more significant is the victory of communist alliance of Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) and Com-munist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) that achieved a near-two-thirds majority, its pragmatic and nationalistic cushion notwithstanding.

The CPN(UML) will just miss the majority in the new national assembly. It has won 80 out of 165 seats in the Fed-eral Parliament in direct election (First-Past-The-Post system), and is expected to win another. It polled 1637694 votes (36 per cent) in the seats already won. In the second Constituent Assembly (2013), it got less than 30 per cent. Its ally CPN(MC) has got 36 seats, thanks to seat-sharing with the CPN(UML). The latter got 649136 votes (14 per cent) .In the last national elections to Con-stituent Assembly in 2013, the Maoists who fought alone bagged 26 out of 240 FTPT seats and over 17 per cent of votes. Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, formed by merger of six Madhesist Parties bagged 11 seats. Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal, opened its account winning 10 seats. Naya Shakti, Jan Morcha and Nepal Majdur Kishan each won one each. An independent candidate too was elected.

The final shape of the law-making body will be known after proportional seats are filled in. The strength of NC will be larger than the Maoists. FSFN will also have a significant presence as it got 3 per cent of votes. In the election to provincial assemblies, CPN(UML), CPN(MC) and NC got 168, 73 and 40 seats respectively, followed by FSFN and RJP winning 24 and 16 seats respectively. Janmorcha and Nayashakti got one each. NMK won one, while three went to Inde-pendents. Others drew blank.

The mass support of CPN(MC) is shrinking, if one looks at the per-formance in the Federal Parliament. Whether the party will learn the les-son from this is to be awaited, although

its chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda will most probably be offered the post of President by the CPN(UML) which is almost certain to choose the former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli as the PM. He won by a margin of 28,000 votes from Jhapa-5. He polled the highest number of votes - 57,139 votes. Consider the contrast with his comrade and a prominent leader Deepak Prakash Bhatta who scraped through by a slender margin of 258, defeating the Nepali Congress heavy-weight Ramesh Lekhak from Kanchan-pur-3 constituency. Bhatta secured 26,364 votes whereas Lekhak garnered 26,106 votes.

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda has been elected from Chitwan-3 by a margin of 9,327 votes. Nepali Congress President and PM Sher Bahadur Deuba won from Dadeldhura constituency for the sixth time. He bagged 28,044 votes, almost 7000 votes more than UCPN (MC). The NC, despite fractured within by internal bickering, is the second larg-est party, having polled 1,437, 709 votes (34 per cent). In 2013, it got less than 30 per cent of votes. Sagaciously enough, K P Oli promised that the new govern-ment would take the Opposition into confidence.

One of the main reasons for the set-back of NC is the inept handling of nationwide economic crisis during the

Indian blockade by the NC-led gov-ernment and inability to curb wide-spread corruption – together building anti-incumbency, afflicting the Deuba government.

The Constitution puts a bar on the Opposition from registering a no-con-fidence vote for two years, but does not bar coalition partners from pulling out. Observers await how the political parties – mainly CPN (UML), NC and CPN (MC) which together received 84 per cent of votes – build the Himalayan state into a model of secular democracy. Well-known constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari observed in a precautionary tone that nothing – no rule or statute – can ensure guarantee for stability, implying that all this depends on the players – not only the law-makers but political parties and individuals too. The land-locked state confronts “a constitu-tional experiment, and we are yet to see whether it works in our favour.”

The CPN(UML) mixing pragma-tism and developmentalism have to strengthen the emerging democratic polity. Both K P Oli and Prachanda are keen on bonhomie with China but the spirit behind this is more emotional than political. Which is why the new govern-ment may scale up the priority on exten-sion of the Chinese railway network into Nepal and implement hydroelectric, air-port and other infrastructure projects which are expected to open substantial

employment potentials. But it cannot reverse the cancellation of Budhi Gan-daki hydel project (storage type) with the Chinese Gejuwa as it was a sequel to a recommendation by the parliamentary committee, which having gone into the doings-on during the gestation phase, found that the agreement was. ‘marred by irregularities and lack of transpar-ency”. Whether the new regime will keep the Indian government in loop on this issue, is to be seen. Nepal is a natural buffer between China and India.

Political analysts are keen on assess-ing the modalities of merger of the two communist parties, particularly the pat-tern of sharing leadership. The impera-tive for togetherness is stronger after the spectacular performance of Left in the national elections. The leaders of two parties announced the move for merger almost synchronously with the forging of Left alliance. This had an effect on the elections. But the question is whether Maoist party accepts the status of junior partner, as the CPN(UML) is way above the CPN(MC) in poll performance.

The Left alliance with big majority, has enough leverage to start the pro-cess of economic rejuvenation in Nepal. For India, the moot issue is how the new Communist leadership shapes Nepal’s future relations with India and China. IPA

(The views expressed are strictly personal.)

India should wait and watchEDITORIAL

Left victory in Nepal may ensure stability

Rural areas have lower diabetes rates than urban ones. But most worryingly, the study finds that the poor in urban well-off states have a higher incidence of diabetes than the rich in the same cities. So, the rich in rich cities have started to learn good food habits

The Constitution puts a bar on the Opposition from registering a no-confidence vote for two years, but does not bar coalition partners from pulling out. Observers await how the political parties which together received 84 per cent of votes build the Himalayan state into a model of secular democracy

The biggest challenge for the Indian economy today is undoubtedly managing the rapidly increasing popu-lation of our country. Standing at 1.324 billion and presenting a 1.2 per cent annual growth rate, the num-

bers in the near future are only expected to escalate. Given the numbers, what is even more frightening is that 23.6 per cent of our population still lives below the poverty line: a staggering 276 million people. The lack of education, the absence of access to basic resources and a general disengagement from the panthe-ons of modern civilisation has further cemented their position at the bottom of our society. What plagues their condition is possibly this: the endless entrapment in a vicious cycle of illit-eracy, growing population, lack of access to facilities, disease, debt and further poverty. Given this milieu, the need to advo-cate for contraception to nip the problem at its bud is categori-cally enhanced. Families living in rural areas or those among the urban poor dwelling on pavements and under flyovers, are commonly witnessed having over five children in each family, sometimes exceeding even ten. The lack of access to contracep-tion and birth control measures, along with the physiological need of coitus, has left them distraught. Amid this crisis, the new regulation to discontinue the broadcast of condom ads on television between 6am-10pm, is a distant departure that does not attend to the imminent need of our society. Despite pov-erty, television and educated advertisements still continue to permeate the sensibilities of even the poorest. With commu-nity watching, or huddling up before electronics showrooms to catch a game of cricket—the average Indian, even the poorest, remains connected to technology, first through the television and the radio. This decision emanates from the view that con-dom advertisements are unsuitable for children’s knowledge. Given their explicit content, often bordering on sensual dis-play of sexualised tendencies, they do, unquestionably present content not viable for children. However, this reason cannot be sufficient to discontinue the entire act of advertising condoms during the prime hours of television viewing. Regulation could be utilised as a far more critical tool than complete restriction. Authorities could control the appropriate broadcasting of these advertisements, by preventing their telecast on channels that are meant for children or young adults. Further, regulation could be exercised in the nature of these advertisements. Instead of displaying the act of sexual engagement, the advertisements could come out as statutory warnings without graphic details. The act of entirely dismantling these advertisements, sight-ing the concern for children, does not suit the sensibilities or requirements of our society today. In fact, measures should be undertaken to further propel the knowledge and information propagating the use of condoms and birth control pills that safely prevent unwanted pregnancies, putting a cap on our growing population while assisting those who are entrapped in the vicious cycle of poverty-overpopulation-illiteracy-dis-ease. Repeated pregnancies have been a growing concern that has today made India the country with the largest number of stunted children in the world. Malnutrition among children and a low mortality rate for new mothers has plagued the health of our society. Amid this, a new study by The Lancet Global Health medical journal, disclosed on Monday that a total of 1.56 crore abortions had been conducted in India in the year 2015; of this, 81 per cent has been done at home through oral medication, shying away from visiting hospitals and clinics in the fear of stigma. While oral pills do not impinge upon health, provided they are consumed within a nine-week gestational period, they do present complications if not consumed at cor-rect intervals under proper guidance. These figures of growing population, numbers living in abject poverty and the reality of abortions conducted behind closed doors, should be an awak-ener for our authorities and members of the civil society to begin a motivated drive to control the entire process of birth and birth control in our country. Rather than being forced to follow the crude measures of forced sterilisation or adopting a one-child policy, we must open our perceptions to the possi-bilities of utilising the technology that is at our disposal today. We cannot regress into further primitivity by dismantling the idea of contraception. Our society needs condoms to be used correctly. Television access paves the way for an effective dis-semination of this knowledge. Besides advertisements, the gov-ernment should concentrate more efforts to discuss the need for birth control measures in and propagate its use among the poorer sections. We mustn’t deny that better birth regulations will protect our children and their health more effectively than constrained television viewing.

In a welcome move, the Centre has instructed the estab-lishment of 12 special courts for the trial of 1581 MPs and MLAs, who have found themselves on the wrong side of the legal ladder. This decision addresses two pri-

mary concerns that have been impinging upon the success-ful functioning of our democracy in modern times. First, the nature of ministers and their discrete nefarious activities that show little regard towards law or towards the preservation of any kind of ethics in the face of maintaining the decorum of public administration. And second, the onerously long time that is spent in the judicial conundrum without an adequate final verdict ever being reached within respectable time. Over the years, there are a handful leaders in our country who have managed to escape the flipside of power—the possibility of manhandling it, leading to widespread corruption. This phe-nomenon was particularly potent during the tenure of the successive UPA governments, with endless scams coming to the forefront and regional parties too flourishing with their underhand network. From the RJD in Bihar to the AIADMK and DMK in Tamil Nadu to the TMC in Bengal to the BJP in Maharashtra, never have we found a political party that pres-ents an entirely clean chit. The current BJP government rose to power partially with this sentiment, that it would undo the cor-ruption that has plagued Indian politics. The Commonwealth Games scam and the 2G scam being the most noteworthy, for which DMK leaders Kanimozhi and A Raja still await a verdict. The Narada scam had shown the shameful face of how Bengal’s leaders practice a freehand, despite the Chief Minister abstain-ing from any kind of illegal engagement. These instances just bring to fore the fact that Indian politics is synonymous with corruption. From the days of intellectuality being central to political authorities, the ability to launder money and engage in illegal scams now forms the pivot.

BJP at the Centre has, from the days of its campaign, spo-ken unequivocally in favour of eradicating this generic disease from the roots of our society. Coming closer to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, this promise is being converted into reality. Though this may entail BJP in bringing down the curtains on some of its members and allies, this initiative is compulsory to set a new precedence in our society that has become so habit-uated of leaders being petty thieves. 228 Members of Parlia-ment will be tried in two special courts while the total number of pending cases stands at approximately 13,500. The judicial system must now buckle up to fulfil this duty, coming out of years of slumber, to ensure that our democracy receives bet-ter servants. Tainted leaders must be harshly reprimanded for compromising upon their service to the Nation and thereby failing the holy Constitution.

Regulation before restriction

Shameful servants

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millenniumpost.inDRUG ABUSE IN KOLKATAdear

EDITOR

The proverb “Give the devil his due” is now more pertinent to the drug peddler who destroys youths irrespective of class and condemns our country into hell. Due to the abysmal spate of unemployment, split of family, etc. people indulge themselves in crimes regardless of magnitude with an addictive euphoria inject-ed by some demon-like businessmen at the length and breadth of the country---our Kolkata has now succumbed to dreaded drugs.

Can we not go from being poor and unhealthy to being rich and healthy? Why should we inherit diseases that can be junked?

Diseases of a lifestyleSAMIR CHAKRABORTY Via email

It is hard to understand addiction unless you have experienced it

Quote martial

KEN HENSLEY

SUNITA NARAIN

Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli might return as Prime Minister

We are going from malnutrition to over-nutrition because of bad food (Representational Image)

9mp in focusMILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

RAJ LIBERHAN

The male of the spe-cies hogs the Inter-net in India says the Unicef, warning that

the gender digital divide could have serious consequences for girls. That said, when they get the chance to access the Inter-net, they can take a man to jail like it happened on a flight to Mumbai.

“The Internet in India is still a ‘male preserve’, with on aver-age only a third of users being female,” says the Unicef report on the well-being of children in the digital space. The report says girls in India will face isolation in the socio-cultural sphere if they are deprived of access to digital technology.

“There are potentially seri-ous consequences for girls excluded from the digital age: continued isolation in coun-tries and cultures where girls are restricted in their movement or activity online and offline because of their gender,” the

report says.“Inability to access online

services and information on issues related to their health; inability to further their educa-tion; and no chance to further skills that could help them par-ticipate in the global economy of the 21st century.”

The report titled ‘The State of the World’s Children 2017: Children in a digital world’ was released globally on Monday. After the event a Unicef rep-resentative acknowledged that there was a strong push for digi-tisation in India. “It is important to see who is being left out of the experience,” he said.

Globally, every third inter-net user is a child. Up to 71 per cent of children use the Inter-net. But not much was being done to protect children from threats that digital exposure pose.

“Despite children’s massive online presence – 1 in 3 inter-net users worldwide is a child

– too little is done to protect them from the perils of the digi-tal world and to increase their access to safe online content,” says the report.

This was Unicef ’s first look at the different ways digital technology affects children’s lives and their life chances – “For better and for worse, digital technology is now an irreversible fact of our lives,” said Unicef executive direc-tor Anthony Lake. “In a digital world, our dual challenge is to mitigate the harms while maxi-mising benefits of the internet for every child.”

The report says the benefits of digital technology can help the most disadvantaged chil-dren, including those growing up in poverty or hit by human-itarian emergencies. But the report shows that millions of children are missing out. About a third of the world’s youth – or 346 million young people – do not have access to the Internet.

The report says the Inter-net increases children’s vulner-ability to risks and harms. That includes misuse of private infor-mation, access to harmful con-tent and cyberbullying.

The easy availability of mobile devices has made online access for many children less supervised – and potentially more dangerous.

The Dark Web and crypto-currencies are enabling forms of exploitation and abuse that includes trafficking and ‘made to order’ online child sexual abuse The report uses current data and analysis to line up the dangers the Internet presents to children.

But the fact remains that girls are kept out of the Internet experience and that is worrying.

In all the din at the politi-cal plane, social media, which is very much part of the Inter-net, allowed a teenage filmstar to scream molestation and a man with an offending foot got

picked up and was tossed into the caboose with bars.

The new POSCO was pretty clear: A girl or woman alleges sexual harassment, you better look forward to a long stay in the caboose with bars. The girl, in this case, was Internet savvy and had access to the Internet. She was not one of the girls in India deprived of access to the benefits of the Internet. She has the money and the status to get on the Internet bandwagon and go to town with any troubles that come her way.

How many parents in small-town India and the villages have the means to provide access to Internet? The answer to that will be ‘Very few’. And that was the message Unicef wanted to con-vey to the decision-makers of India: Women and girls should not be barred from being part of the ‘Smartphone Generation’. IPA

(The views expressed are strictly personal.)

A biased commitment, if any, has to be towards the rule of law rather than to the rule of personalities. The latter will and must invite judicial reproach and intervention. The Judiciary, on its part, must do the same and do all it can to retrieve its dignity beyond doubt while the Executive must enhance its capability to be efficient

The report says that girls in India will face isolation in the socio-cultural sphere if they are deprived of access to digital technology. The report also says that the benefits of digital technology can help the most disadvantaged children, including those growing up in poverty or hit by humanitarian emergencies

Governance out of syncThe famed three pillars of governance are stacked as columns in tension and spatial contest

Gender divide, too, goes digital

The scales of governance have become unhinged and appear to be leaning heav-ily towards the Judiciary, at

least in the eyes of the Executive and the Legislature. And to add insult to injury, this is not because of any embedded Constitutional design of our forefathers, but has been the incremental consequence of what is ubiquitously called ‘judicial activ-ism’. The political executive has been unanimous in their acquired con-viction that deep inroads have been made into their imagined domain and with the full assistance of the permanent executive, atmospher-ics are being generated that this extended reach of the judiciary needs to be cut to size.

To be sure, governance rests on the three pillars of Executive, Leg-islature, and the Judiciary fulfilling their respective mandates under the Constitution, yet it often hap-pens that one set of actors overplay their roles, thus endangering the del-icate balance within which the three wings function best. Restraint has always been a virtue in the perfor-mance of Constitutional duties, yet it is not unusual, in our times, to see personas overtake the competing egos to establish a ‘new normal’ or engrave their place in history. But the institution will suffer, in such a contest.

Walter Bagehot, who wrote extensively on the English Consti-tution, as far back as 1867, asserted that, ‘a Constitution needed two parts, one to excite and preserve the reverence of the population and the other to employ that homage in the work of the government. The first he called ‘dignified’ and the second, ‘efficient’. The monarch was the prime example of dignity and the cabinet of efficiency. The distinction is relevant even today, particularly in parliamentary democracies and should be respected as the prime ele-ments of the sanctity of the oaths of governance. This is the only way for the Executive and the Judiciary and the Legislature to harmonise.

Sure, we are all witness to the debasement of public discourse with the contenders for the right to gov-ern reaching for the depths of gut-ter exchange, but this is a sure road to anarchy, which is closer than we like to think. We have got as far as chaos and the next stop is only anar-chy, let no one be in any doubt. To begin with, our journey since Inde-pendence was quite staid and despite

the testing times, on occasions, the inter-institutional relationships were cordial with the Executive having the necessary leeway to arrange its man-date autonomously. The first serious assault on the dignity and sanctity of institutional spaces came in 1975 with the declaration of Emergency by the government of that day. The Constitution got mauled, the Judiciary was intimidated through supersessions and the Executive got the run of the entire play and it did not respect any law except to per-form as per command. The Legisla-ture abdicated too and was prepared to even amend the Constitution to suit the convenience of a personality instead of being attuned to the aspi-rations of the people. And it did so

without demur.The recovery and reconciliation

from this assault had necessarily acquired a tinge of vengeance with mutual suspicion amongst the three pillars of governance. The evident propensity of the Executive to pan-der to political masters induced the overt effort of the Judiciary to insu-late itself from any further Execu-tive manipulation and over a series of pronouncements of the highest Court, all appointment matters were appropriated within its own exclu-sive jurisdiction. The last effort of the legislature to move the appointments in higher Judiciary to a judicial com-mission has also been thwarted and the famed three pillars of governance are again stacked as columns in ten-

sion and spatial contest.It is true to say that the Execu-

tive has been guilty of many failures of governance. For one, the country is, in any event, a hugely complex nation to govern and it has to be said that against many hostile winds and forces, the Executive has preserved the integrity of the country, which is indeed a no mean achievement by any standards. At the same time, public policy has been by and large inclusive in content and approach. However, it is in the process of implementation that the Executive has been found wanting, and very woefully wanting, on account of various reasons. Implementation failures have been compounded by demand overtaking the supply in

every needed service the citizen was bound to receive as per law. And the crowning deficit of governance has been the complete absence of accountability and responsiveness to the people thus driving them to judi-cial platforms for redressal of griev-ances and enforcement of rights.

It really started in 1979, when a petition was filed on the condi-tion of the prisoners detained in Bihar jails, whose cases were pend-ing in the Court. This was not filed by a single prisoner but by vari-ous prisoners in Bihar jail. It was in the name of a prisoner, Hussain-ara Khatoon and came to be known through that name. The Supreme Court held that the prisoners were entitled to legal aid and fast trials.

The non-performance of the Exec-utive has been highlighted through many public interest petitions and the Courts had to compel the execu-tive agencies to provide answers. In the ensuing consequence, domain distinctions have blurred and some-times even disappeared. In a sense, it is open season where every Exec-utive action and inaction is under court scrutiny. The resulting pre-scriptions from the Bench could not provide better answers nor could their interventions make the exec-utive competent in handling their domain any more efficiently. The trademark lethargy of bureaucracies combined with lack of inspirational leadership have failed to ignite the changes that are so obviously needed to get a performing executive. The judicial ‘overreach’ thus becomes a much-needed alibi for the execu-tive as well as a counter-offensive to limit and restrict the expansive ten-dency to the minimum. Alongside, is the obvious inability of the judi-ciary to conceive or manage public policy as they have no decision sup-port systems of any calibre for deliv-ery of such frameworks. And over the years, their own systems needed re-engineering, which has impacted image and credibility, in particular in so far as the subordinate judiciary is concerned. Nor is it humanly possi-ble for every person to seek judicial help, as it is an expensive process and can take a long time to coming to one’s rescue. At the end of the day, in every circumstance, the citizen is left short-changed and bereft of his due.

A way forward has to be found. The executive arm has to fulfill its mandated obligations in governance. It is the prime doer and the only one that can bring prosperity to the country. Yes, it can be helped by the other co-pillars of governance, but the leadership role, truly, belongs to the political and the permanent Executive. Therefore, it necessarily, has to be fair and impartial in its performance. A biased commitment, if any, has to be towards the rule of law rather than to the rule of per-sonalities. The latter will and must invite judicial reproach and inter-vention. The Judiciary, on its part, must do the same and do all it can to retrieve its dignity beyond doubt while the Executive must enhance its capability to be efficient. Our col-lective and only homage has to be to the rule of law.

(The views expressed are strictly personal.)

As per a Unicef report, internet in India is a ‘Male Preserve’, elaborates Aditya Aamir

tweetRETWEET

NARENDRA MODI@narendramodi

SANJAY JHA @JhaSanjay

ARUN JAITLEY@arunjaitley

MAHESH BHATT@MaheshNBhatt

No Gujarati will let go off a golden opportunity of development of our youth and coming generations. Victory of BJP is a guarantee for a bright future.

President Donald Trump has unleashed perpetual turmoil in West Asia through his Jerusalem decision, that will boomerang on the USA itself. It has already started.

On 13/12/2001 our brave soldiers dispelled a terror attack on the Parliament house and displayed exemplary courage. We remember and salute the valour and national service of our security forces and pay respectful tribute to the martyrs.

Social media world over is tearing down every society to shreds. This is the age of mistruth & misinformation. Today it's scary how politicians can manipulate large swathes of people to do anything they want. "It’s just a really, really bad state of affairs."

The image and credibility of the Judiciary has impacted as systems are in need of re-engineering (Representational Image)

It is worrying that girls are largely kept out of the Internet experience (Representational Image)

mp world10MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi |Thursday, 14 December, 2017

NORTH KOREA CRISIS

Arctic permafrost

thawing faster than ever

Permafrost in the Arctic is thawing faster than

ever, according to a new US government report that also found Arctic seawater is warming and sea ice is melt-ing at the fastest pace in 1,500 years.

The annual report released on Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration showed slightly less warm-ing in many measurements than a record hot 2016. But scientists remain concerned because the far northern region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe and has reached a level of warming that’s unprece-dented in modern times.

“2017 continued to show us we are on this deepening trend where the Arctic is a very different place than it was even a decade ago,” said Jeremy Mathis, head of NOAA’s Arctic research pro-gram and co-author of the 93-page report.

Findings were discussed at the American Geophysi-cal Union meeting in New Orleans.“What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic; it affects the rest of the planet,” said acting NOAA chief Timothy Gallaudet. “The Arctic has huge influ-ence on the world at large.”

Permafrost records show the frozen ground that many buildings, roads and pipe-lines are built on reached record warm temperatures last year nearing and some-times exceeding the thawing point. AGENCIES

Two Reuters journalists arrested in MyanmarYANGON: Two Reuters journalists were arrested on Tuesday evening in My anmar’s main city, Yangon, a government spokesman said. “Yes it is correct that they were ar-rested,” spokesman Zaw Htay said. “Not only your reporters, but also the policemen who were involved in that case. We will take action

against those policemen and also the reporters.” He did not say why the journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, had been arrested, provide details of the action they faced or explain what case he was referring to. Wa Lone, who joined Reuters in June 2016, has covered a range of stories. AGENCIES

Palestinians no longer accept US role as

mediator: Palestinian prez

JERUSALEM: The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has formally declared that Pal-estinians will no longer accept the US as a mediator in the Middle East peace process fol-lowing Donald Trump’s rec-ognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In his strongest public state-ment since Trump’s announce-ment last week, Abbas called the move a “crime” that threatened world peace. He demanded the United Nations take charge of the peace process as Washington was no longer “fit” for the task.

Abbas was speaking at a hastily convened meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, where members were called upon to recognise a Palestinian state amid strong condemnations of both the US and Israel.

“Jerusalem is and will for-ever be the capital of the Pal-estinian state,” Abbas told delegatees. “We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel.”

Also in attendance were King Abdullah of Jordan, the Lebanese president Michel Aoun, the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait, and the Iranian pres-ident Hassan Rouhani, who called on all Muslim nations

to unite to defend the rights of Palestinians.

The summit was opened by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who regards himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause. He hopes to unite Muslim leaders behind a tough final statement from the meeting.

Erdoğan called for the acceleration of the recognition of Palestine by international institutions, denouncing the US move as an unlawful and provocative “red line” for Mus-lims, and describing Israel as an occupying and “terror” state.

In a sign of cracks in the unity of Muslim countries – and reflecting the wider ten-sions in the region – Saudi Arabia and Egypt were rep-resented at a relatively junior level, and took a backseat in the proceedings.

In comments pointedly aimed at Saudi Arabia, Rou-hani said the only reason Trump “dared” recognise Jeru-salem as the capital of Israel was because some in the region were seeking to establish ties to Israel. Rouhani’s remarks – and the prominence of countries closer to Iran at the summit – suggest that the contentious issue of Jerusalem risks being sucked into the escalating con-frontation between Riyadh and Tehran. AGENCIES

Tillerson overture to N Korea: US ready to talk without pre-condition

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered on Tuesday to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key US demand that Pyong-yang must first accept that any negotiations would have to be about giving up its nuclear arsenal.

“Let’s just meet,” Tillerson said in a speech to Washing-ton’s Atlantic Council think tank, presenting a new diplo-matic overture amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile advances and harsh rhetoric between the two sides.

The White House later issued an ambiguous statement that left unclear whether Presi-dent Donald Trump – who has said in the past that Tillerson was wasting his time pursuing dialogue with North Korea – had given his approval for the speech.

“The president’s views on North Korea have not changed,” the White House said. “North Korea is acting in an unsafe way. … North Korea’s actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea.”

The apparent shift in Til-lerson’s thinking came nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinen-tal ballistic missile in what it called a “breakthrough” that put the United States main-land within range.

While reiterating Wash-ington’s position that it can-not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the

United States was “ready to talk any time they’re ready to talk.” But he insisted there would have to be a “period of quiet” without nuclear and mis-sile tests to have productive discussions.

Tillerson also disclosed that the United States had been talking to China about how to secure North Korea’s nuclear weapons in the event of a col-lapse of the government in

Pyongyang, and that Beijing had been given assurances that if US forces had to cross into North Korea, they would pull back across the border into South Korea.

But he made clear that the United States wants to resolve the North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy, and in terms far more tempered than Trump’s recent threats against Pyong-

yang, offered to hold explor-atory talks. “We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it’s going to be a square table or a round table,” Tillerson said “Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards,” Tillerson said, sug-gesting that any initial con-tacts would be about setting the ground rules for formal negotiations.

Tillerson – whose influence has appeared to wane within the administration – said in his speech that Trump “has encour-aged our diplomatic efforts.

Trump, however, tweeted in October that Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” using his derisive nickname for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un North Korea, for its part, has made clear that it has lit-tle interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not achieved. AGENCIES

San Francisco native becomes city’s 1st black woman mayor

LOS ANGELES: San Fran-cisco native London Breed became the city’s acting mayor Tuesday following the sudden death of Mayor Ed Lee, and is the first Afri-can-American woman to lead the city in the midst of a seemingly endless technol-ogy-driven economic boom.

Breed, 43, is a lifelong San Francisco resident who was raised by her grandmother in the city’s predominantly black and lower-income Western Addition neighbor-hood, part of the same dis-trict she now represents as a city supervisor. She said she and Lee bonded over their shared experience of grow-ing up in public housing.

“He was from the dawn of his career an advocate for the powerless,” Breed told reporters and a crowd of sev-eral hundred city workers who gathered to honor Lee in City Hall. Breed, like Lee a Democrat, graduated from a San Francisco public high school and earned a bach-elor’s degree from the Uni-versity of California, Davis and a master’s degree in pub-lic administration from the University of San Francisco.

She got her start in poli-tics as an intern in the city’s housing department dur-ing the tenure of Mayor Willie Brown that ended in 2004. Brown has not held public office since then but continues to exert consid-erable influence on city pol-itics, and helped elect Lee. Nationally, Breed’s politi-cal positions on issues like funding housing projects for the homeless and support for marijuana legalization are viewed as solidly liberal.

But within the insu-lar politics of San Fran-cisco, she has had to defend her credentials from attacks from the left that she is a moderate and beholden to Brown, Lee and other Democrats. AGENCIES

South Korea’s Moon visits China to discuss PyongyangSEOUL: South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday left for China on a four-day visit. He will meet his Chinese counter-part Xi Jinping to discuss the North Korean crisis and bilat-eral issues. Moon and Xi are set to hold their third summit on Thursday, when they are expected to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program,

Efe news reported. They would also discuss ways to improve bilateral relations strained in the wake of the installation of US-built anti-missile system — the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD)— on South Korean soil. Beijing re-gards the missile system as a threat to China’s internal security. AGENCIES

Mahmoud Abbas

MOSCOW: Two FBI officials who would later be assigned to the spe-cial counsel’s investigation into Donald Trump’s presidential cam-paign described him as an “idiot” and “loathsome human” in a series of text messages last year, according to copies released. One said in an election night text that the prospect of a Trump victory was “terrifying”.

Peter Strzok, an FBI counterintelli-gence agent, was removed from spe-cial counsel Robert Mueller’s team earlier this year following the discov-ery of text messages exchanged with Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer. Hundreds of the messages, which surfaced in a jus-tice department investigation of the FBI’s inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. AGENCIES

FBI agent removed from Russia investigation called Trump an ‘idiot’

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA Office of the Executive Engineer, P.W. Division Panvel

Email : panvel.ee@mahapwd.comPh.No. 022-27482778 NOTICE INVITING e-TENDER

(NIT No.39) EE.PWD/PNL/Tender/NIT-3 9/ /20 17- 1 8 Date:-

Bids for the work detailed in the table given below are invited online (e-tender) on NIC Portal of Government of Maharashtra through website http://mahatenders.gov.in by the Executive Engineer, P.W. Division, Panvel on the item rate basis (B-2) from the bidders meeting the basic eligibility criteria as stated in the bid document. The bidders are advised to examine carefully all instructions including addendum/ amendments to ITB, conditions of contract, contract data, forms, terms, technical specifications, bill of quantities etc. in the bid Document. Sr. No.

Name of Work Approximate value of work in Rs.

Bid Secu-rity (Rs.)

Cost of Docu-ment (Rs.)

1 Improvement & Maintanance for two years to Panvel Wavanje Road SH-85 Km. 2/00 to 16/100 Tal Panvel, Dist.Raigad.

2.64/- Crore 1,50,000/- 2360/-

- Improvement & Maintanance for two years to Kan Savle Road SH-106 Km. 0/000 to 8/400 Tal-Panvel Dist.Raigad.

2.84/- Crore 1,50,000/- 2360/-

1) Period of Download-ing of bid documents

:- 02/12/2017 to 20/12/2017 (From 10.00 Hrs to 18.00 Hrs)

2) Bid Submission :- 02/12/2017 to 20/12/2017 (From 10.00 Hrs to 18.00 Hrs))

3) Pre bid conference Date and Place

:- Chief Engineer, Mumbai (P.W.) Region, Mumbai Dated 13/12/2017 at 15.30

4) Online opening of Technical bid.

:- Probably on date 22/12/2017 at 15:00 Hrs. in the office of the Superintending. Engineer, Raigad (P.W.) Circle, Navi Mumbai

5) Online opening of Price bid

:- The date of opening of financial bid will be noti-fied later.

• Bid documents are available on http://mahatenders.gov.in • Right is reserved to reject any or all tenders without assigning any reason thereof

by the authority. Executive Engineer

DGIPR/2017/2018/4737 P.W. Panvel

DETAIL NOTICE INVITING TENDER e-Tender is invited for work of below mentioned items in single stage two cover system i.e. Request for Pre-

Qualification/Technical Bid (online Bid under PQQ/ Technical Envelope) and Request for Financial Bid (comprising at price old Proposal under online avaliable Commercial Envelope)-Memo No: EE.I/MCG/2017/63034 Date: 11/12/2017Sr. No

Tender No.

Description of work / Items DNIT Amount

EMD to be deposited by Bidder

Tender Document Fee & eService Fee (Rs.)

Tender DocumentDown-load and Bid Preparation/SubmissionStart Date Expiry Date

1 36144 Providing and fixing of 80mm thick interlocking tile on road around kabir park in Sector-10A, Gurugram

857073 17200/- 1000 + 1000 = 2000

11-12-2017 17:00 PM

02-01-2018 17:00 PM

1 Tender will be opened to be intimated later.) 2 The detail tender notivce and Tender Document can be seen on website: https.//haryanaeprocurement.gov.

in and download online from the Portal. https.//haryanaeprocurement.gov.in by thefirms/individual regis-tered on the Portal.

3 Possession of Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) and registration of the contractors on the portal i.e. http//haryanaeprocurement. gov.in is a prerequisite for e-tendenng

4 For any other queries please contact Executive Engineer-I. Municipal Corporation Gurugram No 9821395205. 5 As the Bids are to be submitted online and are required to be encrypted and digitally signed, the Bidders are

advised to obtain Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) at the earliest For Further details. the Bidders should follow “Instruction to the Bidder’ , given in DNIT on the above said pertal.

6 The payment will be done as per actual work done at site. 7 Road safety arrengement and other safety precautions shall be made by contractor. in case of any mishappning/

accicent occured during the execution of work, the contractor shall be responsible. 8. If found any vioiation to the direction issued by NGT court, panelty will be imposed Rs 5000/- .

Executive Englneer-I PRDH-Advt. No:-1078/11/6054/1718/58792 For Commissioner Dated: 13/12/2017 Municipal Corporation Gurugram

Haryana Irrigation & W.R. Department Notice for Re-Inviting E-tendering

Sr. No

Name of work Esti-mated cost (In lacs)

Earnest money con-tractor/socicty

Period of com-pletion

Tender Fee

1 Rehabilitation Sardhana Disty from RD. 32000 to 48000 (CM Announce-ment Code No. 18084)

19.56 2% 1% 3 months

1000/-

2 Internal clearance of 1.-R Rajpura Minor from RD. 0 to tail before Rabi 2017-18.

0.85 2% 1% 15 days 500/-

Key Dates:-1. The last date/time of online submission the tender is 19/12/2017 upto

5:00 PM. 2. The last date/time of submission of document physically is 20/12/2017

upto 12:00 PM. 3. The time & date of online opening of tender is 20/12/2017 at 3:00 PM For further details visit website:- www.etender.hry.nic.in

Executive Engineer Rai Water Services Division,

PRDH-Advt. No:-1069/11/3460/1718/58776 Sonipat

mp world 11MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi |Thursday, 14 December, 2017

Theresa May faces parliamentary showdown with Brexit rebels

LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May’s control of the Brexit process will undergo its stiffest parliamentary test yet on Wednesday, when she faces a showdown with rebels in her party over the laws that will take Britain out of the Euro-pean Union. May’s government is trying to pass a bill through parliament that will repeal the 1972 legislation binding Britain to the EU and copy existing EU law into domestic law to ensure legal continuity after ‘Exit Day’ on March 29, 2019.

After six days of debate in parliament ranging from the legal minutiae of Brexit to the gaping differences between ‘Remainers’ and ‘Leavers’, May could face a defeat as lawmak-ers demand more say over the final exit deal.

Wednesday’s likely flash-point is an amendment put forward by a member of May’s own party, the government’s former attorney general, Dom-inic Grieve, who wants parlia-ment to have a meaningful vote

on any deal before it is finalised.If passed by a simple majority vote, the amendment would require parliament to approve the government’s final Brexit deal by passing a separate written law once the terms of the withdrawal agreement are known.

That could allow lawmakers

to send May back to the negoti-ating table if they do not like the deal. The opposition Labour Party has said it will support the amendment, with some believ-ing it would give lawmakers a greater chance to reopen talks – something that might not be supported by EU negotiators.

Grieve said on Wednesday

that he did not want to “sabo-tage” Brexit, but to make sure parliament was allowed to play its role of holding government to account. “My impression of the last few days, when I’ve been talking to the government, is it seems to be a bit of a dia-logue of the deaf. They’ve sort of turned this into a battle of

wills,” he told Sky News. “This is a completely pointless exercise. They need to listen to the point that’s being made and they need to respond to it.”

May is in a precarious posi-tion. In June, she gambled on a snap election to strengthen her party’s majority in the 650-seat parliament but instead bungled her campaign and ended up with a minority government propped up by the 10 votes of a small, pro-Brexit Northern Irish party.

Since then she has struggled to assert her authority over a Conservative Party which is deeply divided over the best route out of the EU.

The government has said it is listening to parliament’s concerns and has conceded that a separate piece of legis-lation, allowing members of parliament (MPs) more say on the deal, would be necessary. The government is planning to pass another bill once the final Brexit deal with Brussels is agreed which will implement

the terms of the withdrawal agreement. The government has been forced to give ground on several issues to ward off other rebellions over the Brexit laws.

On Monday, it accepted a proposal to allow lawmakers greater scrutiny over the pas-sage of EU law into British law. Still, after striking a deal with Brussels last week to move exit negotiations on to the next phase, covering trade and tran-sition arrangements, May won approval from both the Remain and Leave factions of her party, suggesting attempts to unseat her were on hold.

The government has not ruled out making last-minute concessions to appease Grieve and the 20 or so Conservative rebels who could join forces with the opposition to inflict defeat. “I think what the MPs are looking for is clarity … We’re looking at the amend-ment and will respond in due course,” May’s spokesman said on Tuesday. AGENCIES

ALABAMA: The Democrat Doug Jones has beaten his Donald Trump-backed Repub-lican rival Roy Moore in the diehard Republican state of Alabama, setting off a polit-ical earthquake that shook Washington.

His victory in a special elec-tion for a US Senate seat – by a margin of 49.9 to 48.4 with 100% of precincts reporting – is a major personal blow to the president and his efforts to pass tax reform on Capitol Hill.

Jones was able to become the first Democrat in a decade to win any statewide office in Alabama by beating Moore, who had faced multiple alle-gations of sexual assault dur-ing a campaign which exposed Republican party faultlines.

Moore, who late on Tues-day was refusing to concede the race, had been favored in the deep red state until two women came forward to claim that Moore assaulted them when they were teenagers; a number of other women said the Ala-bama Republican had roman-tically pursued them when they were underage. Moore has denied all the allegations.

Alabama has long faced a profound racial divide, which was reflected in the results. According to an exit poll, Jones won 95% of the African-American vote but only 27% of the white vote in the Yel-lowhammer State. However, widespread African-American turnout on Jones’s behalf over-came Moore’s margins in rural, predominantly white parts of Alabama.

Jones also made significant inroads among college-edu-cated whites. He won well-educated Madison county by a margin of 57-40. A center of the aerospace industry, the county voted for Trump by a

margin of 55-38 in 2016.Jones emerged to a euphoric

reception just before 10pm local time. “Folks, I gotta tell you, I think that I have been waiting all my life and now I just don’t know what the hell to say,” he said, beginning a 10-minute speech. “I have always believed that the peo-ple of Alabama had more in common than what would divide us.”

The election had never been either about him or Moore, he insisted. “This entire race has been about dignity and respect. This campaign has been about the rule of law. This campaign has been about common cour-tesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state, regardless of what zip code you live in, is going to get a fair shake.”

His speech was met with cheers and applause and chants of “USA! USA!”

The Democratic victory will reduce the Republican major-ity in the Senate to 51-49 once Jones takes his seat on Capitol Hill. This significantly reduces the margin for error as Repub-licans attempt to push through a major corporate tax cut.

They already have one defector in senator Bob Corker, and Jones’s election means a single additional Republican breaking ranks would sink the legislation.

Moore’s defeat also marks a major personal blow to Trump, who endorsed the Ala-bama Republican and held a rally on his behalf just over the state line in Pensacola, Flor-ida. Although most national Republicans rushed to dis-tance themselves from Moore in the aftermath of the allega-tions, Trump reaffirmed his support through tweets and public statements. AGENCIES

Democrats defeat Roy Moore, dealing huge blow to Trump

Doug Jones

No evidence New York bomb suspect linked to Bangladesh militants

DHAKA: Bangladesh has found no evidence linking a Bangladeshi man charged with an attempted suicide bombing in New York with militants in Bangladesh, its counter-terrorism chief told Reuters on Wednesday.

U.S. prosecutors on Tues-day brought federal charges against Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of Islamic State, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organization.

Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground pedes-trian corridor between New York’s Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Termi-nal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others.

“We have collected evi-dence and information from his family members: his wife, father-in-law and mother-in-law,” Monirul Islam, head of the Bangladesh police’s coun-ter-terrorism unit, said in an interview.

“In Bangladesh we have

not found any connection or have not been able to identify any of his associates who were or are involved with any ter-rorist groups.”

A U.S. enforcement official familiar with the investigation of the attack said officers had found evidence that Ullah had watched Islamic State propa-ganda on the internet.

Islam and his team inter-viewed Ullah’s wife and other relatives for several hours, after picking them up at their rented apartment in central Dhaka. Ullah, a US resident since 2011, had come back to Bangladesh to see his family in September, spending most of the time at home with their

six-month-old son, Islam said.“Usually, he did not mix

with any of his friends or rel-atives here. Most of the time he spent time in the house,” Islam said.

“We’re looking for his associates who he used to go to college or school with. We’re looking for them, we’ve not identified anyone yet.”

Members of the family declined to talk to Reuters when approached at the apart-ment on Wednesday.

Islam said Bangladesh had passed on information on Ullah to U.S. security agen-cies, although there was no joint investigation.

“I‘m not sure whether they will send any formal request for an investigation or inquiry. If they do, we’ll com-ply with the request because we’ve given highest prior-ity on this issue because we have a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism.” Ullah’s rela-tives were under surveillance and would not be allowed to leave Dhaka without police permission. AGENCIES

WASHINGTON: Omarosa Manigault Newman, one of Donald Trump’s most promi-nent African American sup-porters, plans to leave the administration next month, the White House has said.

FBI agent removed from Rus-sia investigation called Trump an ‘idiot’

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Manigault Newman’s resignation is effective 20 January, one year since Trump’s inauguration.

Manigault Newman’s decision comes at the start of what’s expected to be a round of departures heading into the new year.

The White House said last week that deputy national secu-rity adviser Dina Powell will leave the administration early next year.

Manigault Newman is a for-mer contestant on Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice.

She joined the admin-istration as director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, working on outreach to various constituency groups. AGENCIES

Omarosa resigns from Trump

administration

Pak court orders police to explain activist’s disappearanceISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court on Wednes-day called on the police to explain the disappeara nce of Raza Mahmood Khan, an activist who formed a group to promote peaceful relations with India. Judge Anwar ul Haq ordered the chief of police in charge of the investigation to update the court on December 19 on the progress of the inquiry into the disappearance of Khan, who was last seen on December 2. The hearing was conducted on a petition filed by Hamid Nasir Mahmood, the missing activist’s brother. Khan, in his late 30s, reportedly formed a group called Aaghaz-i-Dosti, a platform to further the cause of peace between India and Pakistan. He was also active with a group working for environmental protection. The activist is also known for posting messages on social media critical of the Army and its alleged links with extremist groups. Activists belonging to various rights groups, along with friends and family, have been agitating for Khan’s release. Amnesty International strongly criticized Khan’s disappearance and called on Pakistani authorities to take all available measures to locate him. “Scarcely does a week go by without Amnesty International receiving reports of people going missing in Pakistan. Many of them may have been subjected to enforced disappearances, which is a crime under international law”, it said. AGENCIES

Nepal’s CPN-UML emerges largest party in historical polls

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s CPN-UML emerged as the largest party in the Hima-layan nation as vote count-ing of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) for Parliament and provincial assembly elec-tions in Nepal came to an end on Wednesday, the Election Commission said.

The Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Lenin-ist was able to secure 80 out of the total 165 seats under the FPTP category of the Parlia-ment. The party garnered 166 out of 330 seats in provincial assembly polls, the Kathmandu Post reported.

The CPN (Maoist Centre)

led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” became the sec-ond largest party by winning 36 seats in Parliament and 73 seats in provincial assembly under the FPTP category.

The Nepali Congress (NC), which was the largest party in the last election, man-aged to win 23 seats in Par-liament and was elected in 45 provincial constituencies,

said the Election Commission.It became the third largest

party this time.Though the Election Com-

mission announced the final outcomes of the federal and provincial assembly elections on Wednesday, vote count-ing for the proportionate rep-resentation category was still underway.

Navaraj Dhakal, a spokes-man for Nepal’s Election Com-mission, told Xinhua news agency that the vote count-ing for the proportionate rep-resentation category was also coming to an end and the results will be made public soon. AGENCIES

Islamic summit declares East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capitalISTANBUL: A summit of Islamic countries held in Istan-bul on Wednesday declared East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

The summit of the Organi-zation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also invited all the coun-tries to “recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital”, said the draft final communique unveiled at the conclusion of the one-day meeting.

The heads of states and gov-ernments present at the sum-mit “reject and condemn in the strongest terms” the unilateral decision by US President Don-ald Trump to recognize Jerusa-

lem as the capital of Israel, the communique was cited as say-ing by Efe news.

The OIC communique declared Trump’s move “null and void” and considered it an “attack” on the rights of the Pal-estinian people.

It accused the US of “delib-erately undermining” peace efforts and warned that it has given “impetus to extremism and terrorism”.

Palestinian President Mah-moud Abbas earlier said the UN should take over. In a speech to the OIC summit, he said it would be “unacceptable” for the US to be the mediator “since it is biased in favour of

Israel”.The communique said

Washington will be held “fully liable for all the consequences of not retracting from this ille-gal decision”.

The leaders at the summit asked the UN to assume its responsibilities and reaffirm the city’s legal position.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Trump’s Jerusalem decision a “threat to all humanity”.

“The US decision ... means punishing Palestin-ians who have proven numer-ous times that they side with peace instead of violence,” he said. AGENCIES

Akayed Ullah

New York to adapt New Year’s Eve security

NEW YORK: New York police will adjust security plans for the traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations attended by hun-dreds of thousands of revel-ers in Times Square after a botched suicide bombing in a subway tunnel beneath the famous district, the city’s counter terrorism chief said on Tuesday.

The New York Police Department will conduct both an immediate and an in-depth review of Monday’s incident for lessons on how to deal with this type of attack, said John Miller, deputy com-missioner for intelligence and counter terrorism. “This is the first time I believe that we have seen an individual with a sui-cide bomb in mass transit and actually have that bomb func-tion. So we’re going to take a hard look at it,” Miller told

Reuters in an interview.The New Year’s security

plan will also consider other attacks such as the Las Vegas sniper shooting on Oct. 1 that killed 58 people and wounded more than 500, Miller said. On Tuesday, a 27-year-old Ban-gladeshi man was charged in federal court with terrorism crimes for detonating a pipe bomb in a pedestrian tunnel

beneath Times Square. Chem-icals inside the pipe bomb ignited, but the pipe itself did not explode, officials said, lim-iting injuries to the suspect and three bystanders. As a result, New Yorkers will see an increased police presence around mass transit and places where people gather, Miller said. He did not elaborate on the specific measures. AGENCIES

Baby survives after being born with heart outside her body in UKLONDON: A baby girl born with her heart outside her body is believed to be the first in the UK to survive with the extremely rare condition after undergoing three operations, the first within an hour of her birth. At a nine-week scan, Vanellope Hope Wilkins was discovered to have the condi-tion ectopia cordis, with her heart and part of her stomach growing externally. Her parents, Naomi Findlay, 31, and Dean Wilkins, 43, of Bulwell, Not-tinghamshire, were advised “termination” was the only option, they said. But three weeks after her premature birth, by caesarean section on 22 No-vember, Vanellope, who is named after a Disney princess, has survived three operations at Glen-field Hospital, Leicester, to move her heart back inside her chest. Experts, including the consultant cardiologist, have said they do not know of another case in the UK where a baby has survived such a condition. Describing their emotions on first be-ing told of her chances, Findlay said: “I burst into tears. When we did the research, we just couldn’t physically look because the condition came with so many problems.” AGENCIES

Omarosa Manigault Newman

mp business12MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

MUMBAI: With the RBI's deadline ending on Wednesday to resolve the 28 large stressed accounts that the regulator had identified on its second list, banks are set to refer as many as 23 of them for insolvency proceedings.

In August, the Reserve Bank had asked banks to either resolve the 28 more large stressed accounts by Decem-ber 13 or refer them to the National Company Law Tri-bunal (NCLT) by December 31.

These 28 accounts together account for 40 per cent of bad loans of around Rs 4 trillion.

"Except for Anrak Alumin-ium, Jayaswal Neco Industries, Soma Enterprises and Jaip-rakash Associates, all other accounts are going to the NCLT (for resolution)," a senior banker said.

Some of the large accounts which are likely to go to the NCLT include Asian Color Coated Ispat, Castex Technol-ogies, Coastal Projects, East Coast Energy, IVRCL, Orchid Pharma, SEL Manufacturing,

Uttam Galva Metallic, Uttam Galva Steel, Visa Steel, Essar Projects, Jai Balaji Industries, Monnet Power, Nagarjuna Oil Refinery, Ruchi Soya Industries and Wind World India.

In the case of Anrak Alu-minium, the lenders are look-ing for a one-time settlement while for Soma Enterprises, the banker said the account is closer to resolution.

For Jaiprakash Associ-ates -- its EPC business arm

-- the lenders are seeking the Reserve Bank approval for a "deep restructuring", another banker said.

The lenders have also sought RBI permission to extend the December 13 dead-line for Videocon Industries, where they have huge exposure, said another banker.

"If the RBI gives us some extension for Videocon Indus-tries, then it is fine. Otherwise, it will also have to go to the

NCLT," said the banker."For these accounts, there is

hardly any traction for us to do it in another 10-15 days," said a senior official from a state-owned bank.

The lenders have the restructuring option under S4A (Scheme for Sustainable Struc-turing of Stressed Assets), SDR (Strategic Debt Restructuring) or 5/25 schemes till Wednesday.

Many bankers said that though they asked for exten-sion on Wednesday's deadline, they don't expect the RBI to oblige.

Once these accounts pass the resolution deadline, banks will have to refer them to the NCLT in the next 18 days, that is December 31.

Banks will also have to make a provision of 50 per cent on these accounts by March 2018. It can be noted that of the 12 largest accounts that the RBI had named on the June list, 11 of them are under the NCLT. These 12 accounts were worth a quarter of over Rs 10 trillion dud loans in the system. PTI

Banks to refer 23 of 28 large dud A/Cs to NCLT

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department on Wednesday conducted survey operations at major Bitcoin exchanges across the country on suspi-cion of alleged tax evasion, offi-cial sources said.

They said various teams of the sleuths of the depart-ment, under the command of the Bengaluru investiga-tion wing, on Wednesday vis-ited the premises of nine such exchanges in the country including in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Guru-gram, since early morning.

The survey, under section 133A of the Income Tax Act, is being conducted for "gathering evidence for establishing the identity of investors and trad-ers, transaction undertaken by them, identity of counter-parties, related bank accounts used, among others," they said.

The survey teams, sources said, are armed with various financial data and inputs about the working of these exchanges and this is the first big action against them in the country.

Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause of concern among cen-tral bankers the world over for quite a while now.

The Reserve Bank of India has also cautioned users, hold-ers and traders of virtual cur-rencies, including bitcoins.

In March, the Union finance ministry had consti-tuted an Inter-Disciplinary Committee to take stock of the present status of VCs both in India and globally and suggest measures for dealing with such currencies. PTI

I-T dept carries out national survey of Bitcoin exchanges

NEW DELHI: Domestic steel giant SAIL on Wednesday said its board has approved the pro-posal to enter into a joint ven-ture with the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal for manufacturing high-end auto-motive steel.

"The Board of SAIL in its meeting held on December 12, 2017, has approved the pro-posal for signing of a legally non- binding term sheet with ArcelorMittal S.A for entering into a JV for automotive Steel Business," Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said.

However, definitive agree-ments in this regard will be finalised in due course subject to financial viability, the PSU said in a filing to the BSE.

SAIL and ArcelorMittal had entered into an MoU in May 2015 to explore the possibility of setting up an auto-grade steel manufacturing facility under a joint venture in India.

Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh last week had said that the JV was likely soon and the proposed Rs 15,000-

crore auto-grade steel plant project with a capacity of 1.5 million tonne per annum could be scaled up to 2.5 MT. Singh had said that ArcelorMittal has the technology and they are keen to have a JV with SAIL.

The minister has said that in the next 3-4 years, India would be a hub for car manufacturing and that it is estimated that the country would manufacture about 28 per cent of the total cars manufactured in the world.

Steel Authority of India Lim-ited is one of the largest state-owned steel making company based in New Delhi, India and one of the top steel makers in world, headed by P K Singh, with an annual turnover of 43,337 crore. AGENCIES

SAIL okays JV with ArcelorMittal for automotive steel

SEOUL: North Korea's intri-cate overseas financial network is creaking under the strains of Washington's economic screws on the impoverished nuclear armed regime, a research report said.

The United Nations, United States, European Union and sev-eral individual countries have slapped multiple sets of eco-nomic sanctions on the North for its menacing nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, forcing Pyongyang to come up with illicit ways to evade them.

The North operated a com-plex offshore financial network to maintain the flow of hard currency, said a report by Wash-ington-based security research group C4ADS and the Sejong Institute in Seoul.

But doing so meant Pyong-yang had lost control of its assets, it added.

"By nesting its illicit activ-ity in its overseas networks, North Korea has maintained its access to the international financial system, but its assets

are inherently vulnerable," the report said.

The report, citing find-ings by the US Department of Justice, said a network of China-based firms had raked in billions of dollars for the North Korean regime for years through the coal trade -- with Washington estimating 95 per cent of the funds were prob-ably funnelled to the weapons programme.

From 2013 to 2016, four Chinese companies -- Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Develop-

ment Co. (DHID), Dandong Zhicheng Metallic Material Co. Ltd (DZMM), Dandong Tianfu Trade Co., and Jin-Hou Inter-national Holding Co. Ltd. -- accounted for 30 percent of the North's coal exports, the report found.

"During this four-year period, these imports would have provided an estimated 1,331,024,223 to the North Korean military and WMD pro-gram," it said. DZMM -- the top importer of North Korean coal to China from 2014 to 2016

-- followed the general busi-ness pattern of "moving coal out of North Korea and mov-ing illegal goods -- including military munitions and items -- into North Korea", it added.

But the North's strategy of offshore finances may backfire in the face of stronger sanctions.

Washington has been fil-ing civil forfeiture complaints against funds held by North Korea-linked companies since September last year and con-fiscated 84 million from DHID funds across 25 bank accounts and 12 banks alone.

"The Department of Justice's seizures since September 2016 amount to three times what was frozen in 2005 from Banco Delta Asia," the report said.

The US Treasury Depart-ment placed restrictions on the Macau-based institution in 2005 under suspicions that it was laundering millions for North Korea. The Macau gov-ernment subsequently froze roughly fifty accounts held in the bank by Pyongyang. PTI

North Korea overseas financial network being squeezed by USAABU DHABI: Investor interest was strong on Wednesday as Abu Dhabi's state energy com-pany listed a stake in its retail distribution arm, the first time the emirate has sold shares in one of its oil firms.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said it had raised $845 million by floating 10 per cent of its subsidiary ADNOC Distribu-tion, a landmark share offering as Gulf energy firms open up to outside investments.

The initial public offering price for the shares was at 2.5 dirhams (68 US cents) and by 0915 GMT they were trading at 73 cents. ADNOC said the IPO brought the subsidiary's market capitalisation to 8.5 bil-lion, making it the fourth-largest firm on the Abu Dhabi Securi-ties Exchange.

The statement said the IPO was oversubscribed several times and that 90 per cent of the shares were sold to institu-tional investors, a third of them

international, and the rest to individual investors. Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital which holds more than 90 per cent of the country's 98 billion barrels of crude reserves, has never before offered public shares in one of its oil companies.

Hit hard by the sharp drop in oil prices, energy- depen-dent Gulf states have resorted to a string of reforms including hiking fuel and power prices, imposing taxes and selling off part of their strategic assets to raise funds.

Neighbouring oil kingpin Saudi Arabia is planning to eventually float up to five per-cent of its national oil company Aramco, in what many expect would be the biggest IPO in his-tory. With 360 fuel stations and more than 235 stores, ADNOC Distribution is the UAE's largest operator of petrol stations and the sole retail fuel operator in the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. PTI

For first time, UAE sells shares of state oil firm

SEOUL: South Korea on Wednesday banned its finan-cial institutions from dealing in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency soars in a bubble fuelled by retail speculators, many of them from the country.

The hyper-wired coun-try has emerged as a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for some 20 per cent of global Bitcoin transactions -- about 10 times its share of the world economy.

About one million South Koreans, many of them small-time investors, are estimated to own Bitcoins, and demand is so high that prices for the unit are around 20 percent higher than in the US, its biggest market.

World Bitcoin prices have surged globally this year, soaring

from less than 1,000 in January to 17,000 this week.

And at the weekend futures trading in the digital currency started on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the first time it has appeared on a traditional platform. It is also expected to list on the rival Chicago Mer-cantile Exchange next week.

The Prime Minister's Office said Seoul would ban financial institutions from dealing in vir-tual currencies -- including buy-ing, possessing, or holding them as collateral. Prices on Bithumb, South Korea's biggest Bitcoin exchange, fell nearly five per-cent after the announcement.

But the measures fell short of speculation that authorities might ban Bitcoin trading in South Korea altogether, or tax profits from it. PTI

S Korea bans its banks from dealing in Bitcoin

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the December 8 order of the com-pany law tribunal NCLT allow-ing the Centre to take over the management of embattled realty firm Unitech Limited.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Jus-tices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the statement of Attorney General K K Venugopal that the govern-ment should not have moved the National Company Law Tri-bunal (NCLT) when the apex court was seized of the matter.

The apex court, which had on Tuesday expressed unhap-piness over the Centre's move to approach the NCLT, said the stay on the company law tribu-nal's order would meet the ends of the justice.

The top court had on Tuesday

asked the Centre why it had not taken the apex court's per-mission to move the NCLT for suspension of Unitech's direc-tors and their substitution by government nominees.

Senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the real estate firm and its promoters, had said that the apex court had given time to Unitech chief Sanjay Chan-dra to negotiate from jail to sell assets to generate INR 750 crore for refunding money to home buyers but, in the meantime, the Centre has approached the NCLT.

Rohatgi had claimed that the NCLT did not issue notice to the firm and its directors and passed the interim order, which was virtually a final order, and allowed the Centre to take over the firm.

Earlier, the apex court had agreed to hear on Wednesday the appeal of Unitech Limited challenging the NCLT order allowing the Centre to take over its management. The NCLT, on December 8, had suspended all

the eight directors of the realty firm over allegations of mis-management and siphoning of funds and had authorised the Centre to appoint its 10 nomi-nees on the board.

The NCLT order had come after the Centre moved the panel with a view to protect the interests of nearly 20,000 home buyers.

Unitech alleged that the takeover of the management of the company by the Cen-tre would make it difficult for them to deposit INR 750 crore as directed by the apex court to safeguard the interests of homebuyers.

Sanjay Chandra, head of the embattled real estate group, was asked on October 30 by the apex court to deposit INR 750 crore with it by December end for the sake of the homebuyers.

The apex court had on Octo-ber 30 said Chandra will be granted bail only after the real estate group deposited money with its registry by December end.

Chandra's lawyer had told the apex court that he has been required to be produced in vari-ous courts, consumer forum and commissions on a regu-lar basis which hampered his endeavour to arrange money and hence, the production war-rants issued against him by vari-ous judicial bodies be stayed for 15 days. PTI

SC stays NCLT order giving Unitech management to GovtMUMBAI: India's second

quarter current account def-icit (CAD) more than dou-bled to $7.2 billion or 1.2 per cent of GDP fiscal on annual basis, mainly due to higher oil imports.

However, CAD in the sec-ond quarter narrowed sharply from $15 billion (2.5 per cent of GDP) in the preceding quarter, the RBI said on Wednesday.

Though, it was substantially higher than $3.4 billion (0.6 per cent of GDP) in second quarter of 2016-17.

In general terms, CAD refers to the difference between

inflow and outflow of foreign exchange that has a bearing on exchange rate.

"The widening of the CAD on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit ($32.8 billion) brought about by a larger increase in merchandise imports relative to exports," the RBI said.

On a cumulative basis, the CAD increased to 1.8 per cent of GDP in the first half of 2017-18 from 0.4 per cent in compa-rable period of last fiscal on the back of widening of the trade deficit.

India imported 124.6 mil-lion tonnes of crude oil and petroleum products in April-September for $43.5 billion (Rs 2.8 lakh crore) as against 126.1 MT imported for $37 billion (Rs 2.48 lakh crore).

During the September quarter, the RBI said net ser-

vices receipts increased by 13.1 per cent on a y-o-y basis mainly on the back of a rise in net earnings from software ser-vices and travel receipts.

"Private transfer receipts, mainly representing remit-tances by Indians employed overseas, amounted to US$ 17.4 billion, increasing by 14.7 per cent from their level a year ago," the central bank said.

In the financial account, net foreign direct investment at $12.4 billion in the second quarter of 2017-18 moderated from its level in similar period of last fiscal.

Further, portfolio invest-ment recorded net inflow of $2.1 billion, lower than $6.1 billion in second quarter last year on account of net sale in the equity market, the RBI said.

In the quarter ending Sep-tember, there was an accretion of $9.5 billion to the foreign exchange reserves as compared to $8.5 billion in similar period of 2016-17 and $11.4 billion in the preceding quarter.

India's trade deficit increased to $74.8 billion in the first of 2017-18 from $49.4 billion in comparable period of 2016-17. PTI

India’s CAD more than doubles to $7.2 bn in Q2

NEW DELHI: Unitech shares settled 13 per cent down on the bourses on Wednesday, erod-ing market capitalisation of the company by Rs 278.5 crore after the Supreme Court stayed the NCLT order allowing the Centre to take over the management of the embattled firm.

During the day, Unitech stock fell to an intra-day low of Rs 6.39 on BSE, down 16.90 per cent over the previous clos-ing price. At the end of Wednes-day's trade, the stock was quoted at Rs 6.63, down 13.78 per cent.

Accordingly, the market capitalisation of the company declined by Rs 278.5 crore to Rs 1,733.50 crore.

On NSE, the stock opened at Rs 7.55, but fell to a low of Rs 6.35, down 16.99 per cent and finally ended the day at Rs 6.65, down 13.07 per cent.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Decem-ber 8 order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in the case.

The NCLT, on December 8, had suspended all the eight directors of the realty firm. PTI

Unitech shares collapse by 13%; m-cap declines by ̀ 278 croreNEW DELHI: Telecom regula-

tor Trai will come out with its recommendations on allow-ing in-flight connectivity by December-end, a top official said on Wednesday.

Also, the regulator will “soon” provide its inputs to the telecom department on the proposed New Telecom Policy (NTP), which is cur-rently in the works.

Trai has formed four work-ing groups to discuss various aspects of the NTP, including licensing, infrastructure, and broadband, among others.

Referring to recommenda-tions on in-flight connectivity, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman R S Sharma said: “We are working on this and certainly in the cur-rent calender year, it will come out... which means in next 15 days or so.”

Sharma declined to divulge more, but said “the broad point is that in-flight connectivity shall be allowed”.

“Basically the recommenda-tions will set broad parameters of that,” he said. Sharma was speaking to reporters on side-

lines of a conference on ‘Accel-erating Satellite Broadband for Inclusive Growth’.

On the NTP, Sharma said Trai has already held various rounds of discussions -- both internally and with the telecom department, which is working on the new policy.

“We will soon be giving them our inputs,” he said.

On the open sky policy, Sharma said that while the pol-icy mandated that the service provider or anyone that wants to provide broadband will be able to contract satellite opera-tors, there were still some “defi-ciencies” in the system.

“That, we will need to work out,” he said, but ruled out a

separate consultation paper on the same. The new telecom policy will exemplify all those issues, Sharma noted.

Trai had begun the con-sultation process for framing guidelines for full-fledged in-flight mobile services in late September.

In its consultation paper on In-Flight Connectivity (IFC), the regulator had then said, “Given the rapidly expanding demand for In-Flight Com-munication, there is a proposal to introduce In-Flight Con-nectivity for voice, data and video services over Indian air-space for domestic, interna-tional and over-flying flight in Indian airspace.” PTI

Trai to give views on in-flight connectivity by month-end

BENGALURU: Almost 90 per cent of India's car buying has a "digital influence" as a major-ity of buyers research online and watch videos before mak-ing the purchase, a report by Google India-Kantar TNS on Wednesday said.

This is higher compared to trends in 2016 when the num-ber stood at about 75 per cent, the report titled 'The Drive to Decide' said.

The report said these auto shoppers exhibited three key digital behaviours -- 96 per cent said they searched online, 80 per cent said they watched online videos and 88 per cent said they prefer to research on their smartphones.

"Online video has emerged as the biggest disrupter for the four-wheeler industry in India... auto content (on You-Tube) itself has witnessed an astounding 225 per cent year-on-year watchtime growth," Google India Industry Direc-tor Vikas Agnihotri said.

From an advertiser per-spective, what makes this trend even more relevant is that car manufacturers can now mea-sure the exact impact that online is having on offline sales,

and that is a real game changer, he added.

The report said 41 per cent of the videos watched were vehicle safety tests; 41 per cent showcased the technology and features of the car, 38 per cent were about performance and 33 per cent were customer reviews.

Gabri Herrmann from Kan-tar TNS said the modern auto shopper walks into the dealer-ship armed with a staggering array of information.

"Delivering on research needs and inspiring the con-sumer is critical -- brands that succeed in this will win the sale," he added.

The research covered over 13,800 respondents from 27 markets. PTI

89% of India's auto sales digitally influenced: Study

mp business 13MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

Small towns get 35,000 seats under Govt BPO scheme

DHIRENDRA KUMAR

NEW DELHI: In a major boost to Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi’s vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas through digital inclusion, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has allot-ted over 35,000 out of 48,300 seats under the India BPO pro-motion scheme.

According to Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the process of allot-ment of remaining seats would be get completed in the next six month.

As of now 10,297 people have been employed under the BPO scheme and once all 35,000 seats become opera-tional, it will create employ-ment opportunities for over 70,000 people, the minister said, adding that more funds would be pumped into the scheme to give a major push to BPO scheme.

Terming the BPO scheme a game changer in the growth of rural economy, the minister said, “We are planning to open BPO in every home. The min-istry is also planning to write to Chief Ministers of all the states to encourage setting up of BPOs focused on sector issues, education, amenities, etc.”

The flagship scheme, which

aims to promote BPO opera-tions in smaller towns and cit-ies, provides special incentives of up to Rs 1 lakh per seat in form of viability gap funding and disbursement of financial support is directly linked to job creation.

“BPO is becoming a plat-form for digital aspiration in smaller towns, as part of this scheme. BPOs in smaller cit-ies and towns will be the big-gest accelerator of digital empowerment,” Prasad said on Wednesday.

The minister further add that of the 48,300 seats that the ‘India BPO Promotion Scheme’ provides, as many as 35,160 seats have already been allo-cated after the multiple rounds of bidding.

“I think it will be completed very early. In six months, it (target) should be complete,” Prasad said when asked about the timeframe for allotting all the seats available under the ambitious programme.

Providing an update on the scheme, the minister said that

after four rounds of open bid-ding process, 18,160 seats had been allocated to 109 units of 87 companies across 60 loca-tions (19 states). Of these, 76 units have begun operations on 13,480 seats distributed across 48 locations. This has already resulted in initial employment for 10,297 people, he pointed out.

Moreover, in the fifth round that closed last month, 68 companies submitted bids for 17,000 seats, and these are cur-rently under evaluation.

NEW DELHI: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is slated to meet the industry on Thursday to discuss the roadmap for India to become a $1 trillion digital economy in the coming years.

This is a follow-up to a simi-lar meeting held in June this year with tech leaders where the min-ister had exhorted the industry to help India build a $1 trillion digital economy over the new few years by creating afford-able technology and an inclu-sive environment. The country's digital economy is estimated at $450 billion presently.

"There is a presentation on digital economy on Thursday...

This will be a follow-up of a meeting held earlier this year," Prasad said.

IT industry representatives as well as secretaries of various government departments are expected to participate in the closed-door discussion, which will also review the progress made after the first meeting in June. PTI

Prasad, IT leaders to discuss how to create $1 tr digital Indian economy

NEW DELHI: IndiGo, Jet Air-ways and SpiceJet have sub-mitted bids under the regional connectivity scheme's second round of bidding wherein the government has received 141 initial proposals, a senior offi-cial said on Wednesday.

The financial bids in the second round of the scheme -- Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) -- would be opened on Thursday while the tech-nical bids were opened on December 5.

IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Air-ways and Zoom Air are among the applicants that have put in their bids for the second round of UDAN, according to the civil aviation ministry official.

UDAN seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make fly-ing more affordable. The par-ticipating airlines are provided Viability Gap Funding (VGF) -- which is contributed by the ministry and respective state governments.

The official said IndiGo and SpiceJet have not sought any VGF for their proposed flights under the scheme.

While SpiceJet is already operating UDAN flights after winning bids in the first round, this is the first time IndiGo and Jet Airways have officially expressed interest to partici-pate in the scheme. In the first round too, SpiceJet did not seek

VGF. For the second round of bidding, as many as 25 propos-als with zero VGF requirement have been received, including from IndiGo and SpiceJet, the official said.

A total of 141 initial and 55 counter proposals have been received. There are altogether 18 applicants, including 17 who have put in their initial propos-als, the official added.

Routes would be awarded in a phased manner in the sec-ond round wherein consider-ation would be given to zero VGF proposals as well as those for operating fixed wing planes and helicopters to priority areas under the scheme.

The initial proposals involve 502 routes that seek to connect a total of 126 airports

and helipads. These include 49 unserved and 15 under-served airports as well as 24 helipads, the ministry said last month.

Out of them, 108 are for fly-ing fixed wing aircraft and 33 for operating helicopters.

In the first round of bidding under the scheme, 128 routes that would connect 70 airports were awarded to five airlines. Some of the routes are already operational.

The official said that Air Deccan would start operations from December 23 while Air Odisha is expected to get its aircraft by end of this month. Both airlines won routes in the first round of bidding.

Under UDAN, fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights. PTI

IndiGo, Jet Airways submit bids to operate Udan flights

NEW DELHI: With crude breaching two-year high of $65 per barrel, Petroleum Minis-ter Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said the govern-ment is concerned about mid-dle class and poor man, but did not say if it will cut excise duties to cushion the price hike.

He attributed the spike in international oil prices to "some pipeline turbulence" in Europe and winter demand.

"Let us wait and watch," he said. "Today, price is under con-trol in India."

Asked if the government is considering excise duty cut, he said excise duty was cut recently and some states also reduced VAT.

"Let us see how things are unfolding," he said. "But the government is very concerned about middle class and poor man."

The government in October cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre in a bid to moderate the relentless rise

in fuel prices witnessed in the previous three months.

After the cut, petrol price came down to Rs 68.38 per litre and diesel to Rs 56.89 in Delhi on October 4. Rates have since climbed to Rs 69.07 per litre for petrol.

The excise duty cut cost the government Rs 26,000 crore in annual revenue and about Rs 13,000 crore during the remain-ing part of the current fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2018.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices.

In all, duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 11.77 per litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre in those 15 months that helped government's excise mop-up more than double to Rs 242,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15. PTI

NEW DELHI: A conference titled India-ASEAN Partner-ship@25 was held on Decem-ber 13 at the Taj Mansingh. The eventwas organised by Kalinga International Foun-dation (KIF), a think tank that brings together the east and north-eastern region of India with our neighbours, the ASEAN states and the wider Indo-Pacific region.

The Conference started at 2 PM and had as its Chief Guest, Dharmendra Pradhan, Minis-ter of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, at the inau-gural session.

There were five thematic-sessions that included the inau-gural and valedictory,with the participation of distinguished scholars, former diplomats and ambassadors of the ASEAN states.

The inaugural session called the India-ASEAN Strategic Partnership and the Act East Policy was followed by a session on economic co-operation with ASEAN, Regional and bilateral co-operation, Security Chal-lenges, and The Importance of the North East and Eastern Region of India for the Act East Policy.

Dharmendra Pradhan spoke of Odisha’s deep inter-actions seeped in history with South-East Asia.

“Our interactions over cen-turies have extended beyond Indonesia to includeexpres-sions of shared heritage and culture that are dotted across the region and findexpression in strands of everyday life of the people. Historically and culturally,the links between India and South-East Asia have been deep and profound,” Prad-han said.

“India embarked on the policy of ‘Look East’ for a long time. However, ourPM, has given further impetus by ini-tiating the policy of ‘Act East’,

to galvaniserelations with the economically vibrant ASEAN region. The upgrade from the LookEast to Act East policy, with the ASEAN at the core, was among the earliestinitia-tives of the Modi government,” he added. Guest of Honour, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North-Eastern Region, touched upon practical initiatives for overall economic development of the North-East and its economic integration with the larger region.

Specific sectorsthat he mentioned were tourism, cross-border trade facilita-tion, connectivity, start-up. He emphasised the importance

of north-east an an impor-tant engine of future growth for India.

The inaugural session was attended by the ambassadors of Philippines to IndiaHer excel-lency Teresita C. Daza and Viet-nam to IndiaHis excellency Ton SinhThanh,.

Lalit Mansingh, former for-eign secretary of India and the Chairman of KIF, said that KIF’s mandate is the entire spectrum of foreign policy and secu-rity issues but its focus is on two critical geographies, the North-East and the Eastern region of India and the east-ern and south-eastern periph-ery of India.

Paraphrasing Rabindra-nath Tagore who invited people from across the oceans to con-gregate on the shores of India and celebrate their human-ity, Mansinghsaid that it is in this spirit that Prime Minister Modi has invited the 10 heads of State and governments of ASEAN countries as Guests of Honour for India’s Repub-lic Day next month. Calling Pradhan “a true Kalinga per-sonality” he thanked him for making “millions of the poor-est homelands in India glow with energy”. MPOST

NEW DELHI: Retail inves-tors are preferring systematic investment plan (SIP) option for investing in mutual funds, with the industry garnering around Rs 5,900 crore through the route in November, an increase of 52 per cent from the year-ago period.

With this, the total money garnered by fund houses through systematic investment plans has touched Rs 40,780 crore in the first eight months of the current fiscal, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) data.

In comparison, Rs 27,468 crore was collected through the investment plan in April-November 2016-17.

The increased interest in SIPs can be attributed to strong performance of equity schemes and investor education initi-ated by Amfi and mutual fund houses, Bajaj Capital CEO Rahul Parikh said.

SIPs have been the pre-ferred route for retail investors to invest in mutual funds as it helps them reduce market tim-ing risk.

"SIP has been gaining pop-ularity among MF investors,

as it helps in rupee cost aver-aging and also in investing in a disciplined manner without worrying about market vola-tility and timing the market," Amfi noted.

It is an investment vehicle that allows investors to invest in small amount periodically instead of lumpsum. The fre-quency of investment is usually weekly, monthly or quarterly. It is similar to a recurring deposit where investors deposit a small or fixed amount every month.

As per the latest data, the industry garnered about Rs 5,893 crore last month through SIPs against Rs 3,884 crore col-lected in November 2016. In October this year, Rs 5,621 crore was collected.

The industry added about 9 lakh SIP accounts each month on an average during the ongoing fiscal, with an aver-age SIP size of about Rs 3,250 per systematic investment plan account.

Currently, mutual funds have about 1.8 crore system-atic investment plan accounts through which investors regu-larly invest in Indian mutual fund schemes. PTI

MFs up Nov SIP flows by 52% to ̀ 5,900 cr

India, Asean have profound historical links: Pradhan‘Govt is concerned about middle class & poor man’

NEW DELHI: Cholaman-dalam, a Murugappa Group firm, said on Wednesday that it will finance earthmoving and construction equipment for JCB India's customers.

Announcing the tie-up between the two companies, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company (Chola) said that as part of the agree-ment, it will finance JCB's entire range of construction equipment and machinery.

It will also customise the products and offerings to suit the needs of JCB customers,

Chola said in a statement."India is today witnessing

massive development wherein the infrastructure sector is a key driver for the Indian econ-omy...this alliance is also in line with our continuous endeavour in enabling our customers to enter a better life," said N Srini-vasan, Executive Vice Chair-man and Managing Director, Chola.

Managing Director and CEO of JCB India, Vipin Son-dhi said: "JCB India is a full range infrastructure equip-ment partner and together

we will explore opportuni-ties of growth in the construc-tion equipment sector in the country."

A fully owned subsidiary of UK-based JC Bamford Excava-tors, JCB India has five state-of-the-art factories in the county and manufactures over 50 products in 8 product catego-ries. Chola with assets under management of Rs 35,000 crore and 725 branches across India offers financial services such as vehicle finance, home loans, home equity loans, SME loans and investment advisory. PTI

Chola inks deal to finance JCB India construction equipment

IOC POWERS SECURITY DRIVE

IndianOil commenced countrywide observance of Security Week 2017 at its Corporate Office in New Delhi on Wednesday with the theme “Respect All, Suspect All, Inspect All” and by felicitating select Territorial Army (TA) personnel in the company for their outstanding contributions in times of natural calamities and national emergencies. IndianOil Director (Finance)AK Sharma launched the Security Week

NEW DELHI: Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo Cars on Tues-day launched the new version of its SUV XC60 priced at Rs 55.9 lakh (ex-showroom all India).

The company plans to sell 2,000 units this year, a growth of 25 per cent over the last year.

"We are confident that the all new XC60 with its segment defining features, modern Scan-dinavian design and luxury will prove to be an attractive prop-osition for customers," Volvo Auto India Managing Direc-

tor Charles Frump told report-ers here. The XC60 is not only one of the company's largest selling models globally but has been received well in India too, he added.

The model accounts for almost a third of company's sales in India, Frump said. It is imported as fully built unit.

The new XC60 comes with various advanced safety fea-tures including technology to detect pedestrians and cyclists and steer assist. PTI

Volvo launches new XC60 at ̀ 55.9 lakh

REC raises $400 million via dollar bondsNEW DELHI: State-run Rural Electrification Corp on Wednesday said it has raised $400 million through Dollar Bonds in London on December 11. "The REC concluded a $400 million Reg S bonds deal in London on December 11, 2017," an REC statement said on Wednesday. According to the statement, the bond is priced at 115 basis points over three years US Treasury and is for refinancing the existing ECB, being first of its kind by any Indian PSU. The equivalent pricing of 6M Libor plus 83bps spread is the best for any Indian PSU in the last decade. REC priced its bond at the tighter end of the pricing guidance, highlighting a strong appetite from investors, it said. PTI

KOLKATA: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) jointly with the Indian Association of Struc-tural Engineers (IAStructE), and the Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI) organized a two-day national workshop on "NBC 2016 & Recently Revised Seismic Codes on Design, Construc-tion & Safety of Built Struc-tures" in Kolkata recently.

Governor of Tripura, Tatha-gata Roy while inaugurat-ing the same, urged the state authorities and all local bodies for urgent implementation of the recently revised National Building Code of India 2016 (NBC 2016) and the seismic codes to ensure that all build-ings and structures including

the large number of high rise buildings being constructed in the country are safe against nat-ural disasters like earthquakes. Shri Roy mentioned that the Indian Standards including the NBC 2016, although vol-untary in nature, incorporate comprehensive administrative and technical provisions which can be readily adopted by the

implementing authorities to suitably revise and revamp their building bye-laws.

In the workshop, a series of technical presentations were made by various experts from-different IITs and practicing structural engineers, who are chairman and members of the BIS technical committee and by BIS officials. MPOST

BIS holds national workshop on NBC 2016 & Recently Revised Seismic Codes

Volvo XC60 launch Pic/Naveen Sharma

Hawa Badlo Movement reaches common man

NEW DELHI: Hawa Badlo is an movement for Indians citi-zens motivating them to help in protecting the environment and reduce pollution levels. It aspires to transform India’s current air quality index and spread the awakening in rest of the coun-try. Hawa Badlo intents to con-nect with the citizens who are currently at massive health risks due to constant rise in lethal pollutants in the air.

Its objective is to create awareness about the conse-quences of environmental con-tamination caused by human activity and it motivates people to inculcate air-friendly hab-its such as switching to CNG/electric vehicles, carpooling, and use of public transport. As individuals, there are multiple

things one can do to save our planet, our environment and, indeed ourselves.

Hawa Badlo movement is also a step towards building a sustainable environment for the country and creating a mean-ingful difference. Hawa Badlo connects with the citizens to a single platform and protects human health and country from the effects of Air Pollution. MPOST

CHENNAI: Telecom major Bharti Airtel, as part of expand-ing its services, has launched Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) facility for its custom-ers in the city.

Airtel VoLTE works over 4G services that will enable custom-ers across the city to enjoy HD quality voice calls with faster call set up time, a company state-ment said here on Wednesday.

Customers can call any mobile, landline network using Airtel VoLTE and would not be charged for additional data for VoLTE. Calls would be billed as per the existing plan, it added.

"Having built a world class 4G network in Chennai, we are delighted to extend our service portfolio by rolling out VoLTE calling in the city," Bharti Air-tel Ltd, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, HUB CEO, Manoj Murali said.

"We invite our customers to experience the service. We plan to expand our VoLTE footprint across Tamil Nadu over the next few months," he said. PTI

Airtel rings in its VoLTE services

in Chennai

mp sport14MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi |Thursday, 14 December, 2017

AZARENKA GETS AUSTRALIA OPEN WILDCARD AMIDST CUSTODY BATTLE MELBOURNE: Two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Aza-renka, who has been locked in a custody battle over her baby son, was handed a wildcard into January’s Australian Open. Tournament director Craig Tiley said every assistance would be provided to the former Belarus world number one so she can compete where she has achieved her greatest success.

EX-REAL MADRID DEFENDER HEINZE NAMED COACH OF VELEZ SARSFIELDBUENOS AIRES: Former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze has been named coach of Velez Sarsfield, the Argentine club announced. The 39-year-old replaced Marcelo Gomez on Tuesday, who was named interim manager in November after the sacking of Omar De Felippe.

GUANGZHOU EVERGRANDE PLAYMAKER GOULART SET FOR BRAZIL RETURNRIO DE JANEIRO: Guangzhou Evergrande’s Brazilian midfield-er Ricardo Goulart has told the club he wants to return to his homeland in a bid to play at next year’s World Cup. Goulart, who is contracted to the Chinese Super League side until Janu-ary 2020, said his representatives were in talks to “resolve the matter the best way possible,” reports Xinhua news agency.

‘Was looking to keep my shape, hit through the line’MOHALI: It was difficult to believe that someone complet-ing his first hundred before the start of the back 10 would be able to reach his double hun-dred by the end and Rohit Sharma did just that en route his unbelievable 208 not out against Sri Lanka in the sec-ond ODI. India beat Sri Lanka by 141 runs to level the three-match series 1-1.

Asked to rate his three double ODI centuries, Rohit refused to pick one.

“Very difficult to pick one. All three came at crucial times. 264 is obviously very close to me. I’ve said it many times, but I honestly cannot pick one.

“The Australia one was a decider, the Sri Lanka 264 - I came back after a three-month layoff after a big injury, and this one also - after a humili-ating loss, we wanted to come back as a team, as a batting unit especially,” he said.

The stand-in skipper is happy because of the turn-around that happened.

“It was a great day. Win-ning the game was important for me and the team after that loss in Dharamsala. I can keep talking about the batting that

we did, right from the start, with Shikhar (Dhawan) giving us a brilliant start, and Shreyas Iyer - it didn’t look like he was only playing his second ODI,” Rohit said.

“There was dew later, so it was important to get that big total.

Sri Lanka captain Thisara Perera rued the below-par per-formance of his bowling unit and said no plans worked for them against Rohit. “Unfortu-nately our bowling didn’t click. Especially, Rohit batted really well. That is cricket. We will take positives from this match and flush out the negatives,” he said. AGENCIES

READY, STEADY, GO...

Dhoni decided to take on 24-year-old Hardik Pandya in a sprint during the pre-match warm-up session in Mohali, ahead of the second One Day International against Sri Lanka. Dhoni emerged victorious in the 100m dash

‘World changed for English

cricket after Stokes incident’

PERTH: Senior batsman Alastair Cook says the world has changed for English cricket in the wake of the damaging Ben Stokes affair, and warned the team cannot afford any more “mistakes”.

The star all-rounder is cur-rently banned from the inter-national game while authorities probe his alleged involvement in a late-night fight outside a nightclub.

Cook, a former captain who will become the first English-man to play 150 Tests when he appears against Australia in Thursday’s crucial third Ashes clash in Perth, admits his side has been slow to learn from the fall-out. Dubbed a “behavioural cleanskin”, Cook senses Eng-land should have learnt their lesson months ago that stan-dards would be intensely scru-tinised in the wake of the Stokes scandal.

“It has been a very strange thing,” he told reporters in Perth on Tuesday. “The world has obviously changed for the English cricket team from Sep-tember. We have taken a couple of months to really realise that.

“These last two incidents have proved that. I’ve seen words written down, ‘trivial misdemeanour at best’, but since the Stokes incident times have changed for the English cricket team.” Cook was referring to an off-field alcohol-related scan-dals involving Jonny Bairstow and Ben Duckett on the tour of Australia. “It’s sad in ways because we have always been a bit different to football and been able to go under the radar and enjoy cricket for England and enjoy seeing the country out-side that,” Cook said. AGENCIES

Australia aim for series clinching 3rd win vs EnglandPERTH: After winning two consecutive matches, hosts Australia will aim for a series clinching win when they take on beleaguered England in the third Ashes Test at the WACA Ground here on Thursday.

In the first two matches, the Australians proved superior in every department of the game as the hosts beat the Joe Root-led side by big margins.

On paper as well as on the field, the Australian side looked solid. For England, on the other hand, it will be an uphill task to stay alive in the series as they have not won a match here since 1978.

Apart from the game, the English team is also battling off-field issues. So it might be tough for them to remain

focused on this Test match.“As professionals — with

the young kids watching and hearing all the news — it’s very important we are on our best

behaviour. Off-field behav-iour needs to improve and we all know that,” England spin-ner Moeen Ali was quoted as saying by the International

Cricket Council (ICC) website.Australia also gave a hint

that all-rounder Mitchell Marsh might be included in the squad for the WACA Test.

“Other people might be unlucky to miss out but Mitch-ell fills the role we need for this particular Test match,” Aus-tralia coach Darren Lehm-ann said. “As a batter, he was in some good form. But we needed his bowling as well. Now he’s bowling, we can con-sider him,” he added. AGENCIES

For England, on the other hand, it will be an uphill task to stay alive in the series as they have not won a match here since 1978

ALASTAIR COOK

MOHALI: Skipper Rohit Sharma rose to the occasion when it mattered most as his record breaking third dou-ble hundred guided India to a series-levelling 141-run win against Sri Lanka in the second ODI on Wednesday.

Rohit smashed an unbeaten 208 off 153 balls to fire India to a mammoth 392 for four, a total that proved to be too much for Sri Lanka as the visitors ended way behind at 251 for 8 with Angelo Mathews’ unbeaten 111 going in-vain.

While Rohit stole the show with another sensational knock, Shikhar Dhawan (68 off 67) and rookie Shreyas Iyer (88 off 70) played the supporting role to perfection.

India virtually batted Sri Lanka out of the game by post-ing the highest-total at this ground, surpassing the 351 for five South Africa made against Netherlands in 2011.

It was not the only record that was shattered on a day when India were under pres-sure to perform after the deba-cle in Dharamsala.

Rohit, captaining the side in his first full series, singlehand-edly won the game for India with an innings that comprised as many as a dozen sixes and

13 fours.After completing his first

100 runs off 115 balls, the styl-ish opener was simply unstop-pable, blasting the next 100 runs off 36 balls to complete a famous double ton in the 50th over of the innings. His last double hundred, 264 at the Eden Gardens three years ago, had also come against Sri Lanka while the maiden one (209) was recorded against Australia at Bengaluru in 2013.

Sachin Tendulkar, Viren-der Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Martin Guptill are the others who have breached the 200-run mark in 50-over cricket.

However, the Rohit spe-cial came on a batting beauty, two days after Indian batsmen failed miserably against the moving ball in Dharamsala.

Sri Lanka pacers were on the money in the series opener but they put up a performance they would like to forget sooner than later. They offered too many freebies including lead pacer Suranga Lakmal who had an off day leaking 71 runs in eight overs. The other pacers, captain Thisara Perera (3/80) and Nuwan Pradeep (0/106), too were guilty of bowling too many low full tosses and half trackers, making the job easier

for Rohit and Co. Though Rohit ran amok in

the death overs, he took time early on. It was Dhawan who attacked the opposition bowl-ers initially before the danger-ous opening duo completed their 12th century stand to lay the foundation for a big total.

En route to his double hun-dred, Rohit crossed the 100-run mark in ODIs for the 16th time in his career, sixth this year and first ever as captain.

Another record shattered was of the highest individual score here with Rohit surpass-ing the 154 Virat Kohli made against New Zealand last year.

After Dhawan departed, Iyer batted well alongside Rohit and came up with the big shots just when his team needed to step on the accelerator.

It was cold and overcast over the past two days but the sun came out just before the start of the game, sucking the moisture out of the pitch to make batting easier.

Sri Lanka had no hesita-tion in bowling first, just like they did in Dharamsala, but the conditions changed quickly to the favour of the hosts.

Unlike the first ODI, there was not enough swing early on to trouble the Indian batsmen,

who exploited the conditions to good effect.

Rohit and Dhawan got the measure of the pitch in the first Powerplay, where they made just 33, and started playing their strokes thereafter to take India to 108 for no loss in 20 overs. Rohit and Iyer then got together to hammer the Sri Lankan bowlers all around the park. Lakmal tormented the Indian batsmen two days ago but today he bowled too full or too short. Most of his low full-tosses were sent sailing over midwicket by Rohit, who bat-ted like a six hitting machine in the last 10 overs. One such instance was the 43rd over when Rohit smashed Lakmal for four sixes off four legal balls in an over that went for 26 runs.

It was raining runs in the last 10 overs where India added as many as 147 for the loss of three wickets. In response to India’s huge total, Sri Lanka were never in the game despite a fighting effort from Mathews.BRIEF SCORES:INDIA: 392-4 (Rohit Sharma 208, Shreyas Iyer 88; Thisara Perera 3/83).SRI LANKA: 251-8 (Angelo Mathews 111, Gunaratne 34; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/60). AGENCIES

Hitman and his men paint Mohali blue

If I am not wrong, the first 100 I got was around the 38th or 39th over. So I was telling myself, if I have got this far, I am not going to get out. I was only looking to keep my shape and hit through the line. It was the same thing I did in my first two 200s. I started off pretty slow then too

Rohit Sharma celebrates his century as Shreyas Iyer greets him, during the 2nd ODI match against Sri Lanka in Mohali PIC/PTI

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

E-TENDER NOTICE NO 13 FOR 2017-2018 (ONLINE)Online E Tenders in B-2 form for the following work invited by Executive Engineer P.W.

(North) Division Nashik Tal Dist Nashik Phone No 0253-2576249 for and on behalf of Gover-nor of Maharashtra State from Contractors who submit tenders are not required to be contrac-tors of the Public Works Department, and any competent contractors fulfilling the terms and conditions of the contract can participate in the tender process. with Governent of Maharashtra

Tender Notice is also available on Notice board of P.W. Division Malegaon and on our website 1) www.mahanwd .com 2) https://mahatenders.gov.in

1] All eligible/ intrested tenders are required to be enrolled on portal https://mahatenders.gov.in before down loading tender documents and participate in e-tendering

2] Tenderers are reaquested to contact on following telephone numbers any doubts/ information/ difficulty regarding on line enrollment or obtaining degital certificate [NIC] The 24x7 Toll free Telephonic Help Desk No 180030702232 Mob. No 91-7878107985 / 86, 987878007972 /73

3] Document Tender Fee and EMD to be paid via online Payment Gateway mode only. 4] The information of E-Payment Gateway available on E-Tendering website https://maha-

tenders.gov.in 5] Other instructions can be seen in the tender form. All or any one of the tender may be

rejected by the competent authority 6] The electric tendering system for Public Works Department of Government of Maharash-

tra will be available on separate sub portal with URL https://mahatenders.gov.in as part of the Electronic Tendering system of Government of Maharashtra which is available on the portal https://mahatenders.gov.in

7] Search Organisation === Public Works Region === Department === Public Works Region Nashik - and get list Select Tender

8] The Bidder shall submitted the Hard Copy in “Sealed Envelope” of Technical and Finan-cial Bids as specified in NIT after the Online Submission of Bid (“Bid Lock”) within 72 hrs.

DGIPR/2017-2018/4714 Executive Engineer Public Work(North) Division Nashik

PRESS NOTICE HARYANA PWD (B&R)

Notice for inviting Tenders The Governor of Haryana invites the bids from eligible bidders through online bids in the website: https://haryanaeprocurement.gov.in for the work detailed in the table. Sr. No

Name of work Approxi -mate value of work (Rs.)

E/Money Societies/ Contractor (Rs.)

Cost of docu-ment / E- ser-vices fee (Rs.)

Time limit

Date & time for bid prepa-ration to Hash submission

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Special repair by improvement of various 6

nos. roads in Palwal Hodal Constituency in PD PWD B&R Br., to Palwal under CM Announce-ment Code 15203 in Palwal Distt. (Re-invited]

271.00 lacs 2.71 lacs / 5.42 Lacs

15000/-1000/-

06 (Six Months)

09.12.2017 17:01 Hrs. to 26.12.2017 17:00 Hrs.

2. Special repair by Improvement of various 3 nos. roads (Road IDs: 3574, 3573 & 3606) in Prithla constituency to in PD, Palwal under work pro-gramme for the year 2017-18 in Palwal- Dis-trict. ,[Re-invited]

159.00 lacs 1.59 lacs / 3.18 Lacs

15000/-1000/-

06 (Six Months)

09.12.2017 17:01 Hrs. to 26.12.2017 17:00 Hrs.

3. Collection of Toll on TP-50 [Palwal- Zewar-Aliagarh Road Km. 0.000 to 15.660 .(Haryana Uttar Pradesh (Eighteen to Border) [Re-invited]

- 127.26 Lacs 20000/-1000/-

18 Months (Eighteen Months)

09.12.2017 17:01 Hrs. to 26.12.2017 17:00 Hrs.

For further details and e-tendering schedule visit website http://haryanapwd-bandr.org/ https://hary-anaeprocurement.gov.in

For & on behalf of Governor of Haryana

PRDH-Advt. No:-1081/11/4407/1718/58777 Superinding Engineer Dated: 14.12.17 Gurugram Circle

mp sport 15MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi |Thursday, 14 December, 2017

Chelsea rebound, Burnley climb to 4th position

HUDDERSFIELD: Chelsea salved the wounds from last weekend’s loss to West Ham United with a decisive 3-1 vic-tory here over Huddersfield Town, while surprising Burnley beat Stoke City to claim fourth place in the English Premier League (EPL).

The Blues, who were never really tested by the newly pro-moted Terriers, are now tied on points with second-place Man-chester United, though the Red Devils have a game in hand, reports Efe.

Playing without the injured Alvaro Morata and David Luiz, Chelsea led 2-0 at the half on goals by Tiemoue Bakayoko and Willian. Pedro Rodriguez made it 3-0 soon after the re-start and Laurent Depoitre got a consolation goal for Hudders-field in the final minutes.

Meanwhile, 41 kilometers (25 miles) to the northwest in Burnley, the hosts needed a goal in the 88th minute from Ashley Barnes to beat Stoke City 1-0 and continue their improbable rise into the top four. The team have won three of their last four matches, vault-ing over Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham into the Champions League spots.

Burnley’s grip on fourth place may be short-lived, how-ever, as Liverpool can take back the spot with a win on

Wednesday.Tuesday’s other match was

in London, where last-place Crystal Palace hosted Watford, who are ninth in the table.

The visitors jumped out to an early lead with a goal in the 3rd minute by Daryl Janmaat and remained in control of the contest until the 87th minute, when they went down to 10 men with Tom Cleverley’s ejec-tion for a second yellow card.

Palace’s Bakary Sako got the equalizer a minute later and James McArthur completed the comeback with a goal in the 90th minute. It was only the third win of the season for the South London club, but the fans at Selhurst Park were ecstatic to see their side climb out of the cellar and into 17th place: out of the drop zone, at least for a day. AGENCIES

Dortmund take down Mainz

2-0 in Bundesliga

BERLIN: Struggling Dortmund returned to winning ways after beating Mainz with two second-half goals in the opener of the 16th round of Bundesliga foot-ball action.

As the first game of new head coach Peter Stoeger, Borussia Dortmund were able to snap their eight-game win-less run as goals from Sokratis and Shinji Kagawa were enough to edge Mainz on the road on Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Mainz grabbed a promis-ing start going into the game as Suat Serdar came close with six minutes played after rattling the crossbar from 18 meters. The midfielder remained in the thick of things as he had another chance to open the scoring, but he pulled the assist from Emil Berggreen over the target at 13 minutes of play.

As the match progressed, Dortmund took control of the ball but were unable to produce clear-cut opportunities. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wasted Dortmund’s best chance before the break as he missed the target from inside the box. After the restart, the “BVB” increased the pressure and their efforts were eventually rewarded 55 min-utes into the match as Mainz were unable to clear a free kick cross, allowing Sokratis to drill the ball past Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner. Mainz remained dangerous and collected a num-ber of chances but they lacked in accuracy to restore parity. Dortmund punished the host’s wastefulness after Shinji Kagawa benefitted on a square pass from Aubameyang to seal all three points.

With the victory, Dort-mund secured their first vic-tory since October and jumped to 4th place for the moment, whereas Mainz slumped to 15th place after suffering their eighth loss of the season. AGENCIES

Aizawl FC defeat Churchill Brothers 1-0 at home

AIZAWL: Defending cham-pion Aizawl FC defeated Churchill Brothers by a solitary goal to garner full three points from their first home match of the ongoing Hero I-League, here on Wednesday.

Yugo Kobayashi scored a late goal in the 88th minute to bring a sigh of relief for the home fans.

William Lalnunfela, who scored a brace for Aizawl against Kingfisher East Ben-gal, was the notable absentee against Churchill Brothers.

Shylo Malsawmtluanga, the most experienced player in the squad again had to sit out today meaning he will have to wait longer to make his debut for Aizawl FC in I-League.

Churchill coach Shevchenko made three changes to his playing XI that faced Mohun Bagan in their previous match.

Suraj and Israil Gurung took the field as Karthik Gov-indswamy and Emuejeraye Precious failed to retain their place in the starting line-up.

The home side did not waste time in carving out their first chance of the match.

Centre back Saighani per-fectly weighted a through ball which was chased down by Mka to deliver a perfect cross for Ivorian forward Dodoz, but

the forward who have played for Aizawl’s rival Chanmari FC earlier could not convert the golden chance.

His header was parried away by Churchill goalkeeper Kithan. Japanese forward Kobayashi’s shot from inside the box was blocked by cen-tre-back Osagie Monday a few seconds later. Though Aizawl

dominated possession for the better part of the first half, they could not create any clear-cut chance. After the hour-mark, the home side upped the tempo and created several good chances but Kobayashi failed to convert the opportunities that fell on his path.

Just when Churchill thought they deserved a point

from the game Kobayashi scored the only goal of the game in the 88th minute.

Having calmly tucked in Dodoz’s pass, the shrewd for-ward slotted the solitary goal of the match.

Aizawl with four points from two games now move up to the fifth spot on the table but Churchill’s nightmare contin-

ues as the Red Machines con-tinue to totter at the bottom of the table.

The Goan team have to quickly shrug off the loss as they travel to Kolkata to play the high-flying Kingfisher East Bengal on December 16.

Aizawl will play their next home game against Shillong Lajong two days later. AGENCIES

The visitors jumped out to an early lead with a goal in the 3rd minute by Daryl Janmaat and remained in control of the contest until the 87th minute

SOKRATIS

Mohun Bagan not taking Shillong Lajong lightly KOLKATA: Plagued by inju-ries, former champions Mohun Bagan will look to continue their winning run when they face Shillong Lajong FC in a fourth round encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.

Having held by Minerva by a last-minute equaliser in the season opener, Mohun Bagan have bounced back in style with a derby win followed by a 5-0 thrashing of Churchill Brothers at Barasat. But their

big win saw four players sus-tain injuries on the artificial turf of Barasat.

Japanese Yuta Kinowaki (collarbone) has been ruled out for about a month with Arijit Bagui also on the injured list.

Sony Norde and Ansumana Kromah still have hopes of making it into the squad despite training through pain on the eve of the game.

“It is not a major injury (that I have). I believe in

myself. With the treatment, I feel much better. I believe I can play. I watched Lajong’s game. They have a good team. They run a lot,” Kromah, who scored and assisted a goal in the last game, said. The opposition in its rank has Kromah’s Liberian countryman Lawrence Doe.

“Lawrence (Doe) is my senior player. When he started playing I was small. He left the country as his style was not liked by national coach. He is

an idol,” Kromah said.Gurjinder Kumar and Shil-

ton D’Silva will look to reprise their roles as Nikhil Kadam has been kept as standby to Norde.

After opening his account with a brace, the spotlight will be on Aser Pierrick Dipanda Dicka who welcomes his old side as he steps out onto the pitch to play against the team he won the Golden Boot last season with 11 goals for the Reds. AGENCIES

Sindhu wins, Srikanth sinks in Dubai Super Series Final opener

DUBAI: Olympic silver medal-list P V Sindhu made a positive start to her campaign in wom-en’s singles but Kidambi Sri-kanth suffered a straight game loss on the opening day of the $1 million Dubai Super Series Final, here on Thursday.

The 22-year-old Sindhu, who had a 4-5 head-to-head record against World No. 9 He Bingjiao, dished out a gritty per-formance to overcome the left-handed Chinese 21-11 16-21 21-18 in a Group A match that lasted an hour and four min-utes. World No. 4 Srikanth, however, couldn’t bring out his top game as he suffered a 13-21 17-21 loss to World No. 1 and defending champion Vik-tor Axelsen in a Group B men’s singles match that lasted just 38 minutes. Sindhu faces Japan’s Sayaka Sato next, while Srikanth will take on Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen. Playing an opponent she has faced twice

this year, Sindhu showed good defence as she engaged her rival in rallies by putting the shuttle in awkward positions and tried to close out the points.

Sindhu showed immaculate defence to counter Bingjiao’s strokes and pushed the Chinese to commit errors. The Indian led 10-6 when the Chinese pro-duced a cross court return but she hit the net next as Sindhu held the advantage at the break.

Sindhu continued to domi-nate the proceedings after the break, moving 17-8 ahead when Bingjiao committed a judge-mental error at the baseline. Sindhu grabbed nine game points when her opponent hit long and closed out the game with a cross court smash.

In the second game, Bingjiao surged to 4-0 lead early on before Sindhu drew parity at 7-7 but the Chinese once again moved ahead to 10-7 when the Indian hit wide. AGENCIES

Yugo Kobayashi scored a late goal in the 88th minute to bring a sigh of relief for the home fans

KOLKATA: Wriddhiman Saha and Mohammed Shami were on Wednesday named in Bengal Ranji squad for their semifinal against Delhi in Pune from December 17.

The duo are part of the India Test squad for South Africa tour but the Board has allowed them to represent their state team for the upcoming Ranji semi-final.

Lanky young pacer Ishan Porel who is in the India Under-19 camp for the World Cup, however, will miss out in the squad led by Manoj Tiwary. Ishan will be joining the India U-19 camp.

Bengal vice-captain and No 3 Sudip Chatterjee, who was indisposed missing the quarter-final, is also back in the side.

Bengal edged out defending cham-pions Gujarat on basis of first innings

lead to seal their semi-final berth.“We are playing well. We want to

carry the momentum against Delhi. The team is in a very good shape and more

importantly, everyone is a performing,” Bengal coach Sairaj Bahutule said.

“The semi-final is going to be a tough one. Delhi are a very good and

young side. But we just need to execute our plans.”

Squad: Manoj Tiwary (captain), Sudip Chatterjee (vice-captain), Abhi-manyu Easwaran, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Shreevats Goswami, Anustup Majumder, Abhishek Raman, Aamir Gani, Pradipta Pramanik, Ashok Dinda, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kanishk Seth, B Amit and Writ-tick Chatterjee. AGENCIES

Saha, Shami boost for Bengal Ranji semi-final vs DelhiBengal edged out defending champions Gujarat on basis of first innings lead to seal their semi-final berth

millenniumpost NO H ALF TR U THS

millenniumpost.in

I, Tarun Kulshreshtha S/o Santosh Kumar Kulshrestha R/o 831, Radhika Apartment, Pocket-1, Dwarka Sec-14, New Delhi-110078 That I have changed my name from Tarun Kulshreshtha to Tarun Kulshrestha for all future purposes. That Tarun Kulshreshtha and Tarun Kulshrestha are one and the same perons.

I, Mohd. Sabir S/o Babu Khan R/o H.No. 1887, Gali Kullumal, Mohalla Swiwalan, Darya Ganj, Delhi-02 That I have changed my name from Mohd Sabir to Mohd Sabir Ali for all future purposes. That Mohd Sabir and Mohd Sabir Ali are one and the same perons.

CHANGE OF NAME

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER

PUBLIC WORKS DIVISION, WAMAN NAGAR, KHAMGAON - 444303

email - khamgaon.ee@mahapwd.com Telephone no. 07263 - 254897 Fax No.07263 - 255248

E-TENDER NOTICE No. 34 / 2017-18 Executive Engineer ,Public works Division Khamgaon invites tender on B-2 (item

rate tender ) tender form on online e tendering system.Tender document are available on Maharasthra Government website https:// pwd.maharashtra.etenders.in and can be downloaded . competent authority reserves the right to reject any or all tender without assigning any reason. Conditional Tenders are not accepted. Sr. No

Name of work Etimated Tender Cost (Crore)

1 2 31 Improvement to Khandavi Bhendwad Paturda Ukali Ner Nandkhed Kinkhed Dary-

apur Aasegaon Chandurbajar (SH-278) Km.0/00 to 33/500 Tq. Jalgaon Jamod and Sangrampur Dist.Buldana

92.00

Tender download period :- Dt. 14.12.2017 to Dt. 15.01.2018 Pre-bid Conference Date :- 30.12.2017 Time11.30 am. ( office of the Chief Engineer P.W.Region,Amravati ) Tender opening :- As per online Schedule Place :- office of the Superintending Engineer, P. W. Circle Akola All Information related to Tender are available at following Web site. (1) http://mahapwd.com (2) https://pwd.maharashtra.etenders.in (3) Copy available at E.E. P.W. D. office Khamgaon on information Board. (Any Corrigendum / changes will not Published in News Papers & can be seen Only on web site ) On Line Schedule is Applicable & Final Term and conditions 1. Contractor submitting bids need not be registered with public works Department.,.Any eligi-

ble contractor who satisfies tender term and conditons can participate in the tender , Foreign companies having sub companies in India can Participate in the tender process.

2) Post Qualification Criteria is Applicable 3) Tenderers are requested to contact on following telephone numbers regarding any doubts/

information / difficulty regarding on line enrollment or obtaining digital certificate Sify Technologies Ltd. Nextender (India) Pvt. Ltd. On 020-25315555/25315556 (pune) or 022-26611117/26611287 Extn 25/26) Mumbai.

Out word No. 10081 /Tender /2017/Dt. 07.12.2017 Office of the Executive Engineer Public Works Division Khamgaon.

DGIPR/2017-18/4740

Sd/-Executive Engineer

Public Works Division, Khamgaon.

16MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Thursday, 14 December, 2017

mp Entertainment

MUMBAI: Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan is all praise for her sister-in-law Soha Ali Khan, saying she is the fam-ily’s torchbearer and someone they all turn to for advice. Lauding Soha’s knowledge, Kareena said she is always nervous while listening to the conver-sations between husband Saif Ali Khan and Soha as she struggles to understand what they are talking.

Kareena said she finds herself in a similar position as that of Soha’s hus-band Kunal Kemmu, who said he can’t get some of the English words Soha uses while they are talking.

“I have rarely been intimidated by anyone and media knows. But if there’s one person in the family I am com-pletely in awe of, it is Soha. I’m always a little nervous when I am having din-ner with Saif and Soha, I’m like ‘Oh my God, I am never going to understand this conversation’,” Kareena said.

“If Kunal can’t, there’s no way I can! Soha has always been so polite, like ‘Hi, what’s up, did you buy anything, so what’s the gossip?’ I’m like, ‘Oh God, I feel so small and lame! But it’s okay. I think we have found our way,” she added. Kareena was speaking at the launch of Soha’s book, ‘The Perils of Being Moderately Famous’, last night.

In her book, Soha talks about find-ing herself in different capacities – as legendary cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and veteran Bollywood star Sharmila Tagore’s daughter, and actors Saif Ali Khan’s sister and Kareena Kapoor Khan’s sister-in-law.

“If there’s anyone in the family who we all can turn to, when Amma (Sharmila) is all worked up, if there’s one person that can control the situa-tion, that’s Soha. I truly believe that she is the torch-bearer of the family and this title doesn’t do justice (to her) because famous or no famous, she is the ground-ing on which all of us stand,” she said.

The Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor also recalled how Soha took care of her father in the last days with compassion and a “breaking heart”.

“I’ve never seen any other daugh-ter, I am a daughter myself, I don’t know if I could’ve done the way she looked after him. And that to me, is a solid woman. So here’s to you Soha. I’m sure Abba is listening to

all of this,” Kareena added as Soha became teary eyed. Also present at the launch were Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Kemmu and Saba Ali Khan. PTI

I feel small in front of Soha: KareenaKareena says that she has rarely

been intimidated by anyone but if there’s one person in the family she is completely in awe of, it is Soha

NEW DELHI: Entertainment continued to fuel India’s Search momentum in 2017 with Baahubali 2: The Conclusion topping Google’s trending charts and six other bolly-wood movies featuring among the ‘Top 10 Trending’ queries this year, Google said recently.

Bollywood and cricket remained the top two themes that ruled the charts, acccoding to Google India 2017 Year in Search results.

“After breaking several records at the Box office, India’s most expen-sive movie also broke the language boundaries attracting humon-gous search interest from movie buffs across the nation,” the search giant said.

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion was followed by searches around Indian Premier League and searches on ‘Live Cricket Score’. Also making it to the Top 10 list were Bollywood blockbusters Dangal and Badrinath Ki Dulhania.

Among the top trending songs this year, ‘Hawa Hawa’ from the Arjun Kapoor starrer Mubarakan held the top spot on the charts, fol-lowed by sufi track ‘Mere Rashke Qamar’ originally sung by legend-

ary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and rec-reated by vocalist Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

Songs like ‘Despacito’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ also fea-tured in the top trending tracks. Sunny Leone once again featured among the top entertainers this year, followed by Big Boss entrant Arshi Khan, Sapna Choudhary and YouTube singing sensation Vidya Vox.

“CBSE results, UP elections, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Budget featured among the trend-ing news events that witnessed huge interest among Indian users,” Google said.

Indian users were also interested when it came to knowing more about Bitcoin prices or expressing interest about ransomware. India’s historic win at the Miss World ceremony generated much traffic which catapulted Manushi Chhil-lar to fame. Among the top ‘What is’ queries this year, GST, Bitcoin, Jallikattu and BS3 vehicle remained the most trending themes. Top-ics like ‘How to link aadhaar with PAN card’ to buying Jio phone were majorly searched. IANS

‘Baahubali 2’ top trending search query

on Google in 2017

NEW DELHI: Neha Dhupia feels ‘#MeToo’ – the campaign to raise awareness about sexual harassment – is not only valid for people associated with the entertainment industry, but for everyone. The actor says a vic-tim should not hesitate to share one’s ordeal, and instead save innocents from facing same fate by talking about it.

Life is getting more and more gender neutral, Neha said, adding that there are still miles to go.

“Things are changing for women. They are getting a position of power, and profes-sionally they are doing excep-tionally well. They are getting roles with projects like Secret Superstar, Tumhari Sulu or Padmavati that are made around women. There are many films which I can name.

Life is getting more and more gender neutral,” Neha told in an interview. “It is getting bet-ter, but unfortunately there is always that question of #MeToo and there is a Harvey Weinstein that comes across.”

Neha was referring to the slew of sexual misconduct allegations levied against the Hollywood mogul. Numerous leading men from Hollywood like Ben Affleck, Brett Ratner,

Charlie Sheen, Dustin Hoff-man, James Toback and Kevin Spacey, have been accused for sexually harassing people asso-ciated with showbiz.

The controversy has rocked the entertainment industry the world over. Like many other actors, Neha too asserted that harassment is not restricted to showbiz.

“I promise you that is not just in this business. But

it is about women across whatever profession they are in. This is happening to them at their home. Any-body could be a victim. My plea is that if you are a vic-tim come out and talk about it because you are not only just protecting yourself but you are also putting a lot of other inno-cent women in danger.”

“Talking about it doesn’t make you weak. It makes you

brave, so be the braver one in this situation,” said the actor, who has never shied away from calling a spade a spade.

Neha, a former Miss India who eventually turned to Bol-lywood, said: “Life is getting better, but there are things that are being questioned and it is a good thing that people are talk-ing about it.The fact is why stay quiet for that long. You need to speak up sooner.” IANS

If you’re a victim, come out and talk about it: Neha

LONDON: Singer Christina Perri has tied the knot with longtime partner Paul Costa-bile. The couple got married in New York City.

“On this day four years ago, we met,” she shared on Insta-gram while showcasing her wedding attire. “Today, WE GOT Married!”

Paul added, “Four years ago today I met my dream girl in this room. Four years later today I married my

dream girl and best friend. Pretty sure I’m the proud-est I’ve EVER been to be able to call the most bellissima person plus woman I’ve ever known now my wife!”

“Whoa. I thank Gof for the gift of her, our relationship, our bambino on the way, our fam-ily’s love and support and this unforgettable year.”

Back in June, the couple first announced to their follow-ers that they were engaged. PTI

LOS ANGELES: Actor Jessica Chastain said she was worried that she would face consequences for her outspoken stance on the recent wave of sexual harassment and assault allegations.

Speaking with The New York Times about her Golden Globe nomination, Chastain said she was afraid that her career would be hurt after she spoke out against the many alleged harassers and assaulter’s in the entertainment industry.

The actor has taken a strong stand on social media ever since the first alle-gations against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein were reported by The Times more than two months ago.

“To be honest, I’m mainly surprised about my nomination. As an actor, I have a lot of fear, thinking that if I speak my mind, or something that feels like it deviates from the norm as a woman, am I going to be made to disappear in my industry?”

“When the article came out about Weinstein, I immediately started tweet-ing. I’ve got a good group of girlfriends on WhatsApp, and I said, ‘I’m really ter-rified I’m destroying my career right now. I wonder if people will still see me as an actor and want to work with knowing I have these opinions.’” Chastain said.

The 40-year-old actor credits her friends for helping her stay strong.

“In the way that only good girlfriends can do, they helped me eliminate fear

and understand that the only way to change something that’s wrong

is to change it, not ignore it. And rather than saying it’s

an industry-wide issue, it’s more than that. It’s a

society.” PTI

Chastain was worried her stance on assault

could hurt career

Christina Perri marries Paul Costabile

LOS ANGELES: Actor Jada Pinkett Smith is upset with the omission of her film and its breakout star from Golden Globe nominations. The Girls Trip actor took to Twitter to voice her displeasure, alleg-ing that the Hollywood For-eign Press Association did not even watch the film.

“I’m not upset about Tiffany Haddish or Girls Trip not get-ting a (nomination)... I’m dis-couraged about the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press/ Golden Globes wouldn’t even watch the movie,” Pinkett Smith wrote. Girls Trip stars Pinkett Smith, Haddish, Queen Latifah and Regina Hall as a group of friends reconnecting, after years apart, on a trip to New Orleans’ annual Essence Music Festival.

The actor continued her condem-nation of the Globes by relating their nominations to Hollywood at large, tweeting, “Hollywood has systems in place that must learn to expand its concepts of race, gender equality and inclusion in regard to its perceptions of art across the board.”

Pinkett Smith has also been very vocal in the past during the #OscarsSoW-hite campaign the last two years. PTI

Jada Pinkett Smith slams Golden Globes for ‘Girls Trip’ snub