`UZ d\Zad AR\ cRZdVd eVcc`c Re F? - Daily Pioneer

16
T here is no sign of the with- drawal of the southwest monsoon till the first week of October, more than a month later than the usual. The long spell of monsoon may damage the ongoing kharif crops. According to Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the with- drawal of the monsoon, which is already delayed, has been ruled out for at least next 10 days because of unfavourable weather conditions. The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over Gujarat, Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in next few days. Low pressure area will develop over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal by Saturday and expected to inten- sify, said the IMD. Under its influence, the “low” is likely to form over Saurashtra and neighbourhood by Saturday and is likely to become “more marked” during the subse- quent two days. This will bring more rain in eastern parts of the country. According to the IMD, India has recorded 7 per cent excess rainfall so far: 931.6 mm against the normal of 869.4 mm till date. Not only the monsoon withdrawal is likely to delay by a month, but also the weather pattern is showing high activity till very late in the season. This month’s rainfall has intensified over central, southern and western India, causing floods that have swamped cane and rice fields. In fact in several years in the past decade monsoon retreat started only after September 15-20. “Rainfall is continuing. Retreat was to begin on September 1. We do not have any indication for retreat to begin in the next five days. We can see that monsoon rains have improved steadily after a weak, delayed start in June and we now believe that overall rainfall this season will be either normal or above nor- mal,” Mohapatra said. As per latest data of the Agriculture Ministry, 1062.72 lakh hectare has been planted during the current kharif sea- son so far as against the 1063.24 lakh hectare during the same period last year. Rice sowing reported to have declined by 4.58 lakh hectare till date. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday exhorted the international community to stand united against terrorism, which he described as one of the biggest challenges not for any single country, but for the entire world. Modi also told the world that India was initiating a very large campaign to make the country a plastic-free nation. Addressing the 74th ses- sion of the UN General Assembly, Modi lamented the lack of unanimity amongst the member states on the issue of terrorism, saying it dents those very principles, that are the basis for the creation of the United Nations. “We believe, that this is one of the biggest challenges, not for any single country, but for the entire world and humani- ty,” Modi said while speaking in Hindi. “We belong to a country that has given the world, not war, but Buddha’s message of peace,” the PM said. “And that is the reason why, our voice against terrorism, to alert the world about this evil, rings with seriousness and the outrage,” he said in his nearly 18-minute address to the world body. “And that is why, for the sake of humanity, I firmly believe, that it is absolutely imperative, that the world unites against terrorism, and that the world stands as one against terrorism,” he asserted. But he rued that there was lack of unanimity among mem- ber countries on how to tack- le terrorism. “The lack of una- nimity amongst us on the issue of terrorism, dents those very principles, that are the basis for the creation of the UN,” he said. India had proposed a draft document in 1996 on the ‘Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism’ (CCIT) at the General Assembly but it remained a blueprint as the member states were unable to reach a con- sensus. The CCIT intends to criminalise all forms of terror- ism and deny terrorists, their financiers and supporters access to funds, arms and safe havens. This was Modi’s second address to the General Debate at the UN, five years after his maiden speech as Indian Prime Minister in 2014. The Prime Minister also noted that the largest number of supreme sacrifices made by soldiers of any country for UN peacekeeping missions is from India. At least 160 Indian peace- keepers have paid the ultimate price while serving with the United Nations. Modi said the world is cel- ebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, whose message of truth and non-violence is “very relevant for us even today, for peace, development and progress in the world.” F ormer Finance Minister P Chidambaram and the CBI were locked in a bitter slugfest on Friday in the Delhi High Court on denial by the former that he ever met Indrani Mukerjea in connection with the FIPB approval granted by the then Finance Ministry in the INX media case. The Government has also issued sanction to the CBI to prosecute former NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Kullar and three other officers in connec- tion with the FIPB clearance granted. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented the for- mer FM, told the HC that there was no record of any meeting taking place between Chidambaram and Indrani in the Finance Ministry, but the CBI told the High Court there was evidence to establish that such a meeting did take place despite the fact that that the vis- itors’ logbook had been destroyed. Objecting to Chidambaram’s bail petition, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the agency has got Hotel Oberoi’s taxi records that showed that Indrani and her husband visited Chidambaram at the Finance Ministry. However, Mehta did not dis- close when was the tampering of visitors’ logbook happened. Justice Suresh Kait reserved order on bail plea of Chidambaram, jailed in the INX Media corruption case. Opposing Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi’s argument, Mehta said Chidambaram is a very influential person and the agencies have found that he had tampered the visitors’ log- book in the Finance Ministry to sabotage the records of his meetings with approver Indrani and her husband. Mehta reit- erated in the HC that Chidambaram should not be granted bail, citing his non- cooperation with agencies. According to Indrani, she met Chidambaram in 2008 after she received prose- cution notice from Income Tax for illegally bringing 305 crore as FDI in INX media, while she had approval for foreign investment of only 5 crore. At present the trial court has put Chidambaram in judi- cial custody till October 3 and his release from Tihar jail will be decided after the Delhi High Court’s order, which was reserved on Friday. Meanwhile, the Government has issued sanc- tion to the CBI to prosecute former NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Kullar and three other officers in connection with the FIPB clearance to the INX Media. Other officers are former secretary of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Anup K Pujari, then Director in the Finance Ministry Prabodh Saxena, and former Under Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs Rabindra Prasad. The Government had sanctioned the prosecution of Chidambaram in February, the officials said. Khullar served as Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs during 2004 and 2008. Pujari was the Joint Secretary during 2006 and 2010; Saxena served as the Director of the department between 2008 and 2010, and Prasad also worked during the period under inves- tigation, they said. T hak Thak gang continues to target residents on Delhi roads with impunity. An Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) of Saket District Courts has been the latest victim. In an incident which took place in South East Delhi on Tuesday night, members of Thak Thak gang targeted ASJ’s vehicle and stole a bag from her car when she was going to the court from the judges’ resi- dential complex in Okhla Phase-1, said a police official. “When she reached near Sarita Vihar underpass, two men on bike signalled her that something was wrong with the car. However, she kept on dri- ving but when she stopped her vehicle at the red light on Maa Ananda Mai Marg in Okhla, the men broke the windscreen and took away the bag which had ATM cards and money,” said the senior police official. “A case under relevant sec- tions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the Okhla Industrial Estate Police Station and police teams have been formed to nab the crim- inals. CCTV cameras are being scanned in the area to identi- fy criminals,” said another police official tasked with the investigation. “There is a definite pattern in their modus operandi as they keep lurking near busy inter-sections, bridges and even near less frequented places. They strike by distracting dri- vers and by the time victims realise what is amiss, they disappear,” said the police official. T he Government has com- pulsorily retired 15 more tax officers in the fourth such crackdown against officials accused of corruption and other malpractices. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the agency responsible for GST collection as also import tax collections, com- pulsorily retired 15 senior offi- cers under Fundamental Rule 56(J) on corruption and other charges. Since June, this is the fourth round of sacking of corrupt tax officials. In the pre- vious three rounds, 49 high ranking tax officers, including 12 from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), were compulsorily retired. Nearly half of the officials retired were those who were arrested by the CBI in separate cases for allegedly receiving bribes. One of the officers was caught for allegedly accepting a bribe of 15,000. Another officer is accused of having assets disproportionate to his known source of income. A n Indian Army officer and one Bhutanese Army offi- cer were killed when their Cheetah helicopter crashed in Bhutan on Friday afternoon. While the Indian Army Lt Colonel was piloting the single engine Indian Army helicopter, the Bhutanese officer was his co-pilot. The wreckage of the heli- copter was located later and sal- vage operations were on. The deceased were identified as Rajneesh Parmar of Indian Army and Kalzang Wangdi of the Royal Bhutan Army. T he probe into the honeytrap case in Madhya Pradesh has revealed that a former Union Minister’s son too was a victim and the politicain had to pay a hefty sum of money to the hon- eytrapper gang to get his son out of trouble. The matter came to light after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) stumbled upon a video of the Minister’s son while sifting data of mobile phones seized from the hon- eytrap gang. The video is part of 1,000 multimedia files recovered from the cell phones of the gang members who said to have ensnared several top politicians, babus and traders. P akistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday raised the Kashmir issue in his maiden address to the UN General Assembly and demanded that India must lift the "inhuman curfew" in Kashmir and release all "polit- ical prisoners". In his speech that went on for about 50 minutes, far exceeding the 15-minute limit for UN speeches during the General Debate, Khan devot- ed half of his address to the Kashmir issue, warning that if there's face-off between two nuclear-armed neighbours, the consequences would be far beyond their borders. His war rhetoric was in sharp contrast to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's peace message from the same podium few minutes earlier in which he said India is a coun- try, that has "given the world, not war, but Buddha's message of peace." Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue after India with- drew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, but New Delhi has asserted the abrogation of Article 370 was its "internal matter". India's decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian ambassador. T he process of dropping arms through drones start- ed almost a month back. The revelation was made by the Punjab Police on Friday which clarified that at least two drones have, so far, been recovered — one in August and another in burnt condition about three days back. Alarmed over the devel- opment, the Punjab Police has launched elaborate investiga- tions to account for the weapons consignments appar- ently smuggled into India from across the border by the two drones recovered near the Indo-Pak border over the last around one month. Police teams are also on the job to ascertain the links of the terror groups involved in send- ing these drones from Pakistan, said the police spokesperson late on Friday night. At the same time, the spokesperson clarified that so far, only two such drones had been recovered — one last month and the second in a burnt condition three days ago in Jhabal town in Tarn Taran district. The clarification came in the wake of certain media reports referring to the recov- ery of another drone on Friday. “Investigations, so far, sug- gest that several Pak-based ter- rorist groups were engaged in smuggling weapons into India since August, post the abroga- tion of Article 370 in Kashmir, and both the recovered drones were apparently sent by differ- ent terror groups, linked with the Pak ISI, and the state- sponsored Jihadi and pro- Khalistani terrorist outfits working under its command,” said the spokesperson. These recoveries had exposed that these outfits had managed to acquire the capac- ity to deliver various types of terrorist and communication hardware over drones, said the police spokesperson. Spokesperson said that the police had stepped up its vigil at the border after the recovery of a crashed ‘Hexacopter Drone’ on August 13, 2019, from Mohawa village in Gharinda police station, Amritsar (Rural) district — mere 1.5 kms from the Indo- Pak border. The recovery followed an anonymous call received by Amritsar (Rural) police that a fan type object had been seen in the paddy or fodder fields of a farmer in Mohawa village. “On examination, it was found that the model of the recovered drone was ‘U10 KV100-U’, and it had been designed and manufactured by T Motors, a Chinese com- pany. Four brick-sized batter- ies (model Tattu - made in China) were also found installed in the Hexacopter,” said the spokesperson. Spokesperson added, “The airframe of the drone was found to be a make TAROT 680 PRO. Enquires revealed that this kind of Hexacopter (6 electric motors) has a payload capacity of 21 kgs and it could have been assembled from parts, which are available com- mercially-off-the-shelf.” Further physical examina- tion of the recovered drone revealed that the Hexacopter, weighing about 20-25 kgs, had suffered minor damage to one of its ports and motor pro- pellers, most probably from the impact of the crash landing. Parts of white nylon rope were also recovered from the drone. Spokesperson said that details of the drone were promptly shared with the Central Government for facil- itating detailed technical inves- tigations by concerned central agencies. “The State Government expressed concern over the movement of large sized drones from across the Indo-Pak bor- der to the Union Home Ministry. It was pointed out that acquisition of such capac- ity and skills by Jihadi and pro- Khalistani terrorist outfits in deployment of drones had seri- ous implications for national security, especially for securi- ty of vital installations, securi- ty of public meetings or events and highly threatened pro- tectees,” said the spokesperson. Continued on Page 4

Transcript of `UZ d\Zad AR\ cRZdVd eVcc`c Re F? - Daily Pioneer

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There is no sign of the with-drawal of the southwest

monsoon till the first week ofOctober, more than a monthlater than the usual. The longspell of monsoon may damagethe ongoing kharif crops.

According to MrutyunjayMohapatra, director generalof the India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), the with-drawal of the monsoon, whichis already delayed, has beenruled out for at least next 10days because of unfavourableweather conditions.

The IMD has forecastheavy to very heavy rainfallover Gujarat, Uttarakhand, EastUttar Pradesh and Bihar in nextfew days. Low pressure area willdevelop over the Arabian Sea

and the Bay of Bengal bySaturday and expected to inten-sify, said the IMD. Under itsinfluence, the “low” is likely toform over Saurashtra andneighbourhood by Saturdayand is likely to become “moremarked” during the subse-quent two days. This will bringmore rain in eastern parts ofthe country.

According to the IMD,India has recorded 7 per centexcess rainfall so far: 931.6 mmagainst the normal of 869.4mm till date. Not only themonsoon withdrawal is likelyto delay by a month, but alsothe weather pattern is showinghigh activity till very late in theseason. This month’s rainfallhas intensified over central,southern and western India,causing floods that have

swamped cane and rice fields.In fact in several years in

the past decade monsoonretreat started only afterSeptember 15-20.

“Rainfall is continuing.Retreat was to begin onSeptember 1. We do not haveany indication for retreat tobegin in the next five days. Wecan see that monsoon rainshave improved steadily after aweak, delayed start in June and

we now believe that overallrainfall this season will beeither normal or above nor-mal,” Mohapatra said.

As per latest data of theAgriculture Ministry, 1062.72lakh hectare has been plantedduring the current kharif sea-son so far as against the 1063.24lakh hectare during the sameperiod last year. Rice sowingreported to have declined by4.58 lakh hectare till date.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday exhorted

the international community tostand united against terrorism,which he described as one ofthe biggest challenges not forany single country, but for theentire world. Modi also told theworld that India was initiatinga very large campaign to makethe country a plastic-freenation.

Addressing the 74th ses-sion of the UN GeneralAssembly, Modi lamented thelack of unanimity amongst themember states on the issue ofterrorism, saying it dents thosevery principles, that are thebasis for the creation of theUnited Nations.

“We believe, that this is oneof the biggest challenges, notfor any single country, but forthe entire world and humani-ty,” Modi said while speaking inHindi.

“We belong to a countrythat has given the world, notwar, but Buddha’s message ofpeace,” the PM said.

“And that is the reason why,our voice against terrorism, toalert the world about this evil,rings with seriousness and theoutrage,” he said in his nearly18-minute address to the worldbody.

“And that is why, for thesake of humanity, I firmlybelieve, that it is absolutelyimperative, that the worldunites against terrorism, andthat the world stands as one

against terrorism,” he asserted.But he rued that there was

lack of unanimity among mem-ber countries on how to tack-le terrorism. “The lack of una-nimity amongst us on the issueof terrorism, dents those veryprinciples, that are the basis forthe creation of the UN,” he said.

India had proposed a draftdocument in 1996 on the‘Comprehensive Conventionon International Terrorism’

(CCIT) at the GeneralAssembly but it remained ablueprint as the member stateswere unable to reach a con-sensus. The CCIT intends tocriminalise all forms of terror-ism and deny terrorists, theirfinanciers and supportersaccess to funds, arms and safehavens.

This was Modi’s secondaddress to the General Debateat the UN, five years after hismaiden speech as Indian PrimeMinister in 2014.

The Prime Minister alsonoted that the largest numberof supreme sacrifices made bysoldiers of any country for UNpeacekeeping missions is fromIndia.

At least 160 Indian peace-keepers have paid the ultimateprice while serving with theUnited Nations.

Modi said the world is cel-ebrating the 150th birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi, whose message oftruth and non-violence is “veryrelevant for us even today, forpeace, development andprogress in the world.”

����� *26'2&7,

Former Finance Minister PChidambaram and the CBI

were locked in a bitter slugfeston Friday in the Delhi HighCourt on denial by the formerthat he ever met IndraniMukerjea in connection withthe FIPB approval granted bythe then Finance Ministry inthe INX media case.

The Government has alsoissued sanction to the CBI toprosecute former NITI AayogCEO Sindhushree Kullar andthree other officers in connec-tion with the FIPB clearancegranted.

Senior advocate KapilSibal, who represented the for-mer FM, told the HC that therewas no record of any meetingtaking place betweenChidambaram and Indrani inthe Finance Ministry, but theCBI told the High Court therewas evidence to establish thatsuch a meeting did take placedespite the fact that that the vis-itors’ logbook had beendestroyed.

Objecting toChidambaram’s bail petition,Solicitor General Tushar Mehtasaid the agency has got HotelOberoi’s taxi records thatshowed that Indrani and herhusband visited Chidambaramat the Finance Ministry.However, Mehta did not dis-close when was the tamperingof visitors’ logbook happened.Justice Suresh Kait reservedorder on bail plea ofChidambaram, jailed in the

INX Media corruption case.Opposing Sibal and

Abhishek Singhvi’s argument,Mehta said Chidambaram is avery influential person andthe agencies have found that hehad tampered the visitors’ log-book in the Finance Ministryto sabotage the records of hismeetings with approver Indraniand her husband. Mehta reit-erated in the HC thatChidambaram should not begranted bail, citing his non-cooperation with agencies.

According to Indrani, shemet Chidambaram in 2008 after she received prose-cution notice from IncomeTax for illegally bringing �305crore as FDI in INX media,while she had approval forforeign investment of only �5 crore.

At present the trial courthas put Chidambaram in judi-cial custody till October 3 andhis release from Tihar jail willbe decided after the DelhiHigh Court’s order, which wasreserved on Friday.

Meanwhile, theGovernment has issued sanc-tion to the CBI to prosecuteformer NITI Aayog CEOSindhushree Kullar and threeother officers in connectionwith the FIPB clearance to theINX Media. Other officers areformer secretary of theMinistry of Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises Anup KPujari, then Director in theFinance Ministry PrabodhSaxena, and former UnderSecretary in the Department ofEconomic Affairs RabindraPrasad. The Government hadsanctioned the prosecution ofChidambaram in February, theofficials said.

Khullar served asAdditional Secretary in theDepartment of EconomicAffairs during 2004 and 2008.Pujari was the Joint Secretaryduring 2006 and 2010; Saxenaserved as the Director of thedepartment between 2008 and2010, and Prasad also workedduring the period under inves-tigation, they said.

��������������� *26'2&7,

Thak Thak gang continues totarget residents on Delhi

roads with impunity. AnAdditional Sessions Judge (ASJ)of Saket District Courts hasbeen the latest victim.

In an incident which tookplace in South East Delhi onTuesday night, members ofThak Thak gang targeted ASJ’svehicle and stole a bag from hercar when she was going to thecourt from the judges’ resi-dential complex in OkhlaPhase-1, said a police official.

“When she reached nearSarita Vihar underpass, twomen on bike signalled her that

something was wrong with thecar. However, she kept on dri-ving but when she stopped hervehicle at the red light on MaaAnanda Mai Marg in Okhla,

the men broke the windscreenand took away the bag whichhad ATM cards and money,”said the senior police official.

“A case under relevant sec-

tions of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) has been registered at theOkhla Industrial Estate PoliceStation and police teams havebeen formed to nab the crim-inals. CCTV cameras are beingscanned in the area to identi-fy criminals,” said anotherpolice official tasked with theinvestigation.

“There is a definite patternin their modus operandi asthey keep lurking near busyinter-sections, bridges and evennear less frequented places.They strike by distracting dri-vers and by the time victimsrealise what is amiss, they disappear,” said the police official.

����� *26'2&7,

The Government has com-pulsorily retired 15 more

tax officers in the fourth suchcrackdown against officialsaccused of corruption andother malpractices.

The Central Board ofIndirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC), the agency responsiblefor GST collection as alsoimport tax collections, com-pulsorily retired 15 senior offi-cers under Fundamental Rule56(J) on corruption and othercharges.

Since June, this is thefourth round of sacking ofcorrupt tax officials. In the pre-vious three rounds, 49 highranking tax officers, including12 from the Central Board of

Direct Taxes (CBDT), werecompulsorily retired.

Nearly half of the officialsretired were those who werearrested by the CBI in separatecases for allegedly receivingbribes. One of the officers wascaught for allegedly acceptinga bribe of �15,000. Anotherofficer is accused of havingassets disproportionate to hisknown source of income.

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An Indian Army officer andone Bhutanese Army offi-

cer were killed when theirCheetah helicopter crashed inBhutan on Friday afternoon.

While the Indian Army LtColonel was piloting the singleengine Indian Army helicopter,the Bhutanese officer was hisco-pilot.

The wreckage of the heli-copter was located later and sal-vage operations were on. Thedeceased were identified asRajneesh Parmar of IndianArmy and Kalzang Wangdi ofthe Royal Bhutan Army.

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The probe into the honeytrapcase in Madhya Pradesh has

revealed that a former UnionMinister’s son too was a victimand the politicain had to pay ahefty sum of money to the hon-eytrapper gang to get his sonout of trouble.

The matter came to lightafter the Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) stumbled upon avideo of the Minister’s sonwhile sifting data of mobilephones seized from the hon-eytrap gang.

The video is part of 1,000multimedia files recoveredfrom the cell phones of thegang members who said tohave ensnared several toppoliticians, babus and traders.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Friday

raised the Kashmir issue in hismaiden address to the UNGeneral Assembly anddemanded that India must liftthe "inhuman curfew" inKashmir and release all "polit-ical prisoners".

In his speech that went onfor about 50 minutes, farexceeding the 15-minute limitfor UN speeches during theGeneral Debate, Khan devot-ed half of his address to theKashmir issue, warning that ifthere's face-off between twonuclear-armed neighbours, theconsequences would be farbeyond their borders.

His war rhetoric was insharp contrast to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'speace message from the samepodium few minutes earlier in

which he said India is a coun-try, that has "given the world,not war, but Buddha's messageof peace."

Pakistan has been tryingto internationalise theKashmir issue after India with-drew the special status ofJammu and Kashmir on

August 5, but New Delhi hasasserted the abrogation ofArticle 370 was its "internalmatter".

India's decision evokedstrong reactions fromPakistan, which downgradeddiplomatic ties and expelledthe Indian ambassador.

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The process of droppingarms through drones start-

ed almost a month back. Therevelation was made by thePunjab Police on Friday whichclarified that at least two droneshave, so far, been recovered —one in August and another inburnt condition about threedays back.

Alarmed over the devel-opment, the Punjab Police haslaunched elaborate investiga-tions to account for theweapons consignments appar-ently smuggled into India fromacross the border by the twodrones recovered near theIndo-Pak border over the lastaround one month.

Police teams are also on thejob to ascertain the links of theterror groups involved in send-ing these drones from Pakistan,said the police spokespersonlate on Friday night.

At the same time, thespokesperson clarified that sofar, only two such drones hadbeen recovered — one lastmonth and the second in aburnt condition three days agoin Jhabal town in Tarn Tarandistrict.

The clarification came inthe wake of certain mediareports referring to the recov-ery of another drone on Friday.

“Investigations, so far, sug-gest that several Pak-based ter-rorist groups were engaged insmuggling weapons into Indiasince August, post the abroga-tion of Article 370 in Kashmir,

and both the recovered droneswere apparently sent by differ-ent terror groups, linked withthe Pak ISI, and the state-sponsored Jihadi and pro-Khalistani terrorist outfitsworking under its command,”said the spokesperson.

These recoveries hadexposed that these outfits hadmanaged to acquire the capac-ity to deliver various types ofterrorist and communicationhardware over drones, said thepolice spokesperson.

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Spokesperson said that thepolice had stepped up its vigilat the border after the recoveryof a crashed ‘HexacopterDrone’ on August 13, 2019,from Mohawa village inGharinda police station,Amritsar (Rural) district —mere 1.5 kms from the Indo-Pak border.

The recovery followed ananonymous call received byAmritsar (Rural) police that afan type object had been seenin the paddy or fodder fields ofa farmer in Mohawa village.

“On examination, it wasfound that the model of therecovered drone was ‘U10KV100-U’, and it had beendesigned and manufacturedby T Motors, a Chinese com-pany. Four brick-sized batter-ies (model Tattu - made inChina) were also foundinstalled in the Hexacopter,”said the spokesperson.

Spokesperson added, “The

airframe of the drone wasfound to be a make TAROT680 PRO. Enquires revealedthat this kind of Hexacopter (6electric motors) has a payloadcapacity of 21 kgs and it couldhave been assembled fromparts, which are available com-mercially-off-the-shelf.”

Further physical examina-tion of the recovered dronerevealed that the Hexacopter,weighing about 20-25 kgs, hadsuffered minor damage to oneof its ports and motor pro-pellers, most probably from theimpact of the crash landing.Parts of white nylon rope werealso recovered from the drone.

Spokesperson said thatdetails of the drone werepromptly shared with theCentral Government for facil-itating detailed technical inves-tigations by concerned centralagencies.

“The State Governmentexpressed concern over themovement of large sized dronesfrom across the Indo-Pak bor-der to the Union HomeMinistry. It was pointed outthat acquisition of such capac-ity and skills by Jihadi and pro-Khalistani terrorist outfits indeployment of drones had seri-ous implications for nationalsecurity, especially for securi-ty of vital installations, securi-ty of public meetings or eventsand highly threatened pro-tectees,” said the spokesperson.

Continued on Page 4

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���������� ����������������������������������������������������� ��������������� ������������������������������������������ ��������������� �� ��������������� ����� ��������������������������������������� ����������� ���� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �!����������������"���������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ���� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������#��������������������������� ���� ����$����%����&�������������������������� ��������������� �����������������������'����������������������������������� ���������������"��������������������(�����������������������������

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Single-use plastic productshave been banned in the

union territory of Chandigarh.The violators could face impris-onment for a term which mayextend to five years with finewhich may extend to one lakhrupees, or with both.

The ChandigarhAdministration on Fridayissued a notification in thisregard.

As per notification, no per-son including a shopkeeper,vendor, whole seller or retailer,trader, hawker or rehriwala,shall manufacture, store, import,sell, transport, supply or useplastic, thermocol or styrofoamitems from now onwards.

While most of the single-use plastic products have beenbanned in the city, seven cate-gories will be banned afterthree months.

The products that havebeen banned included single useplastic cutlery, Thermocol orStyrofoam cutlery, single useplastic containers, plastic (soldin the name ofSilver/Aluminium) bag/pouchfor packing food items, drink-ing water sealed glasses andplastic mineral water pouch,single-time use razors, single-time use pens, use of thermocolfor decoration purpose and , useof plastic material for decorationpurpose such as wrappingsheets, frills, garland, confetti,party bloopers, plastic ribbons.

Non-woven polypropylenebags and polythene or plasticcarry bags with or without han-dle irrespective of size, shapeand colour (excluding bags per-missible under Bio-MedicalWaste Management Rules,2016) have also been banned inthe city.

The products that will bebanned after three monthsincluded industrial packaging

less than 50 microns, single useplastic containers (used forcurd, kheer, ice creams etc.)less than 250 microns used forpackaging of dairy items, plas-tic sachets with packagingcapacity of 50 ml/50 gm andless, plastic sticks for ear buds,balloons, flags and candies,plastic refill pouch havingquantity less than 500 ml,straws attached with tetrapacks and multilayered pack-aging used for food or snackspacking.

Debendra Dalai, DirectorEnvironment, Chandigarh saidthat any person causing breachof the ban shall be liable for thepenalties as per the provisionof Environment (Protection)Act, 1986 and orders of NGT.

Under Section 15 of theEnvironmental (Protection)

Act, 1986, whoever fails tocomply with the orders, shall bepunishable with imprisonmentfor a term which may extend tofive years with fine which mayextend to one lakh rupees, orwith both, he said.

The violator may also facethe closure, prohibition or reg-ulation of any industry, oper-ation or process, stoppage orregulation of the supply ofelectricity or water or any otherservice.

Also, the NGT had direct-ed that any person who isfound to be using, storing,purchasing, dealing with ordistributing plastic bags, plas-tic plates or plastic glasses andsuch allied items will be liableto pay environmental com-pensation at the rate of Rs 5000per event, he added.

����� �7,/&$

Apple is the backbone ofagrarian economy of the

State and it also has immensepotential for attracting thetourists to have a glimpse ofapple orchards, Himachal ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur saidon Friday.

Inaugurating the HimachalApple Festival- 2019 here atGaiety Theatre, organizedjointly by State Tourism andHorticulture departments, theChief Minister said that thehorticulturists of the State wereadopting latest technologieswhich was proving a boon tothem as they were gettingremunerative prices of theirproduce.

"The apple growers shouldalso go for latest varieties ofapple so that they could com-pete with the apple comingother parts of the country andabroad," he said adding that theState Government would pro-vide all possible help to theapple growers by providingquality inputs so that they canincrease apple production.

Thakur said that on theoccasion of World TourismDay, the department has adopt-ed 'Himachal Apple Festival' astheme which shows the impor-tance of apple in the economy

of the State. He said that applecultivation and apple orchardscould prove an added attractionto the tourists visiting the Stateas they would get opportunityto stay in salubrious climate inthe lap of nature.

The Chief Minister saidthat the climatic conditions ofHimachal Pradesh were wellsuited for floriculture andfarmers were adopting it in abig way. He said that there wasa huge market for floricultureand farmers of the State couldadopt it as an avocation forsupplementing their income.

Thakur crownedShivankita Kanwar as ApplePrince, Deepanshi Thakur asApple Princess, Yogesh asApple King and VanshikaKatoch as Apple Queen on theoccasion.

He also went around the

exhibition put up by the hor-ticulturists of the State high-lighting different varieties ofapple and flowers.

The biggest apple cake pre-pared by the Tourism depart-ment alongwith the Institute ofHotel Management, Cateringand Nutrition, Kufri Shimlawas cut by the chief minister onthe occasion. This huge cakewith the dimension of 4.5 feetinto 3.5 feet weighing over200 kg. has entered into theIndia Book of Records asbiggest Apple cake.

Chief Whip NarenderBragta, Mayor Kusum Sadret,Chief Secretary Shrikant Baldi,Director, Tourism Yunus, pro-gressive horticulturists fromdifferent parts of the State andother senior officers were pre-sent on the occasion amongothers.

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To address various envi-ronmental issues of the

State, the Punjab Governmenton Friday signed a memoran-dum with CSIR-NationalEnvironment Engineering andResearch Institution (NEERI).

The MoU was exchangedby the Principal SecretaryScience, Technology andEnvironment Rakesh Vermaon behalf of PunjabGovernment and Senior MostScientist of CSIR-NEERI,Nagpur, Dr Hamant Purohit atCSIR Science Centre, VigyanKendra, New Delhi, to carryforward collaborative activi-ties for a period of five years.

Giving details regardingMoU, Verma said that NEERIwould extend requisite tech-nical support to Science,Technology and EnvironmentDepartment for effectivemonitoring of EnvironmentalProtection Action Plans pre-pared for clean rivers, clean airand waste management.

The expertise of NEERIwould also be utilised for car-rying out performance auditof regulatory bodies and thirdparty audit of major STPs,CETPs and ETPs.

NEERI would also extendsupport to the State for pro-viding IoT based solutionsfor online environmentalcompliance to strengthen cor-

rective measures for abate-ment of pollution. This col-laboration would go a longway in mitigating air andnoise pollution besides wastemanagement with the activeinvolvement of different stake-holder departments, saidVerma.

Pertinently, the NEERI isa part of Council of Scientificand Industrial Research(CSIR) Network and hasestablished Research andDevelopment expertise in thearea of environmental sci-ence, engineering and moni-toring besides addressing arange of environmental prob-lems posed by Industry andgovernment institutions.

����� �7,/&$

Heavy rain lashed severalparts of Himachal Pradesh,

particularly in Kangra andSirmour districts, disruptingnormal life on Friday.

The MeT department hasalready issued a yellow warningof heavy rain for Friday andSaturday.

While it has been raining instate capital Shimla and severalother parts of the state sinceFriday morning, Kangra receivedthe highest 102.4 mm rainbetween 5.30 pm Thursday and8.30 am Friday, Shimla MeT cen-tre director Manmohan Singhsaid. As per data provided bythe MeT office, Dharamshalawitnessed 80.4 mm rain, Nahan(71.3 mm), Paonta Sahib (54.4mm), Sundernagar (30.4 mm),Palampur (28.8 mm), Una (26.2

mm) and Bilaspur (24 mm)during the period. Besides,Chamba received 17 mm rain,Dalhousie (13 mm) and Mandi(11.4 mm) between 5.30 pmThursday and 8.30 am Friday, headded.

Kufri remained the coldestplace with a low of 11.2 degreesCelsius. The minimum temper-ature in tribal districts Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centreKeylong and Kinnaur's Kalpawere 11.3 and 11.4 degreesCelsius, respectively. Similarly,the minimum temperature instate capital Shimla was record-ed as 14.8 degrees Celsius,whereas that in tourist placesDalhousie and Manali was 12. 9and 15.2 degrees Celsius, respec-tively. Besides the minimumtemperature in Nahan alsodipped to 15.4 degrees Celsius onThursday night.

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Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)president Sukhbir Badal on

Friday advised Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh to put a stop to his “dailyflip-flops” aimed at creatingand prolonging confusionamong the Sikh masses on the“profoundly sensitive issue ofthe tragic sacrilege of ShriGuru Granth Sahib”.

He said that CaptAmarinder only wanted toprolong this confusion till theFebruary 2022 poll with theaim that the sacrilege issuedominated the political dis-course in the State for full fiveyears so that people’s attentionremained distracted from hisabject failures and his othercrimes like non-fulfilment of

his solemn promises to thepeople of Punjab, especiallyyouth and the farmers.

Sukhbir said that Captain’slatest flip flop was also aimedat wriggling out of his confes-sion before a national daily theother day in which he hadadmitted that he was wrong inblaming the Akali leaders,especially Parkash SinghBadal, for the acts of sacrilege.

He asked the ChiefMinister to tell the people thatthe SAD-BJP government hadreferred the case to the CBIonly in response to the strongand persistent demand for thisby the Amarinder-ledCongress party and its spon-sored side-kicks acting underthe mask of ‘Sikh’ bodies. “Thisis public knowledge,” he said.

Stating that there was a

method in Captain’s “mad-ness” and his “countless self-contradictions” on the issue,Sukhbir said: “CaptAmarinder wants to keep theissue hanging till the February2022 Vidhan Sabha electionsso that people’s attentionremains distracted from hisabject failure to fulfil hispromises to provide jobs toevery household or giveunemployment allowance ofRs 2500 per month, write offfarmer loans, eradicate drugmenace, raise old age pensionto Rs 2,500 and Shagun to Rs51,000.

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The ‘American Gandhi’Bernie Meyer, who has

been the star attraction of thepeace festival all these years,joined students of Peace Clubstudents of St Joseph’s SeniorSecondary School, Chandigarh,Hotel Management Instituteand Members of ChandigarhBeopar Mandal at Sector 44market to promote the message

of ‘Discard Single Use Plastic’.Meyer was at the curtain

raiser event of the GlobalYouth Peace Festival (GYPF)2019. A group of 100 studentsand senior members support-ed by UT EnvironmentDepartment went from shop toshop in markets of Sector 44-C and 44-D motivating thepeople to shun single use plas-tic items for green and cleanChandigarh.

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After the lone ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) MLA in

Haryana joined BJP, partychief Sukhbir Singh Badal onFriday lashed out at hisalliance partner in Punjabsaying what the BJP had doneis “unethical and unfortu-nate”.

He said every relationshiphad a ‘maryada’ (dignity) andinducting SAD’s sitting MLAin its fold violated the digni-ty of their alliance.

Meanwhile, the ShiromaniAkali Dal has decided to gosolo in the Haryana assemblyelections after its lone MLA inthe state switched sides, join-ing the saf fron outf it .Kalanwali MLA Balkaur Singhjoined the Bharatiya JanataParty in New Delhi on

Thursday, where he praisedChief Minister Manohar LalKhattar for providing an "hon-est" government to the state.

SAD spokesperson DaljitSingh Cheema said, "Toprotest this unethical step ofmaking our MLA join theirparty at a time when we werein talks with them over seatsharing, we have called off theall iance with them inHaryana."

In a statement issued afterthe core committee meeting inAmritsar under the leadershipof party chief Sukhbir SinghBadal, the SAD said the BJPhad not only betrayed it butalso backtracked from thecommitments it had madewith regard to the Haryanaassembly elections.

Terming the BJP moveagainst the principle of "coali-

tion dharma", the SAD panelsaid the induction of the MLAinto the BJP was "undesirable",not "expected" from an oldally.

"It is condemnable thatthe BJP has chosen to ignore

the steadfast sup-port of the SAD anddecided to inductan Akali MLA intoits fold," the panelsaid, adding that theSAD had alwaysstood through thickand thin with theBJP in the nationalinterest. The corecommittee alsonoted that it wasthe BJP which hadcommitted to con-test the Haryanaelections jointlywith the SAD.

In Haryana, SAD previ-ously had alliance with theIndian National Lok Dal.However, after the disinte-gration of INLD, SAD want-ed an alliance with BJP. SADis one of the longest alliance

partner of BJP in Punjab andhas fought all Lok Sabha andAssembly elections togetherfor the last over two decades.

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Union Minister RaoInderjit Singh wants BJP tick-et for his daughter Aarti Raofor Haryana Assembly elec-tions even as the saffron partyfollows a convention not togive tickets to two members ofthe same family, except underexceptional circumstances.

The BJP, which had for thefirst time formed a govern-ment in Haryana on its own in2014, has set a target of win-ning at least 75 seats in the 90-member Assembly.

Ahead of the Assemblyelection in the State, finalising

candidates has become anuphill task for BJP this time asit faces a number of problems,with several leaders from theINLD also joining the saffronparty and also relatives ofsome incumbent MPs fromthe state were among the tick-et aspirants.

BJP sources said that anexception may be made incase of Prem Lata, as she is asitting MLA. Lata is wife offormer Union MinisterBirender Singh, who is a RajyaSabha MP. Her son BrijendraSingh was elected MP fromthe Hisar Lok Sabha seat thisyear. So three members of thefamily presently representAssembly, Lok Sabha andRajya Sabha.

BJP president SubhashBarala recently said, “We havereceived a large number of

applications of ticket seekers.When there are so many aspi-rants, to finalise (shortlistcandidates) is a challenge, butwe have been doing ourhomework. We will shortly sitand have a meeting with ourcentral leadership and theparliamentary board.”

Party sources indicatedthat Union Minister RaoInderjit, who wants ticketfrom Rewari for Aarti, hasgiven the example of formerUnion minister BirenderSingh, who got ticket for hisson Brijender though he is aRajya Sabha member and hiswife is an MLA. BirenderSingh had offered to resign asRajya Sabha member at thetime of seeking ticket for hisson though the party neveraccepted his resignation.

Inderjit has apparently

told the party leadership thatthere could not be separaterules for different people andrules cannot be applied selec-tively.

Months before the 2014Lok Sabha polls, Rao Indrajit,who was then sitting CongressMP from Gurugram, hadsnapped his nearly four-decade association with thegrand old party to join theBJP. The Lawrence School,Sanawar educated and a lawgraduate, has also been a four-term MLA from Haryanabetween 1977 and 2004. Aprominent leader from Ahircommunity of southernHaryana, sources said thathis request could be accom-modated as BJP may not wantto alienate the Ahir commu-nity in what is known as theAhirwal belt of the state.

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On World Tourism Day,Punjab Government on

Friday announced to create10000 self employment oppor-tunities for the Youth in thetourism Industry.

In a statement issued here,Tourism & Cultural AffairsMinister Charnajit SinghChanni said that this would notonly help in attracting touristin the state but would alsoempower Youth of the state.

The Minister also said thatthe Punjab Government woulddevelop 15 properties of thetourism department as worldclass tourist attractions to pro-mote tourism in the state.These properties includeAmaltas Hotel, Ludhiana, SilverOak Tourist Complex, Malout,Pinckassia Tourist Complex atRopar, Kadamba TouristComplex, Nangal, SurajmukhiTourist Complex, Khanauri,Tourist Oasis, Ludhiana, HotelBlue Bell, Phagwara, Lajwanti

Filling Station, Hoshiarpur,Bougainvillia FloatingRestaurant, Sirhind, MagnoliaTourist Complex Kartarpur,Tourist Complex-Chohal Dam,Hoshiarpur, Ethnic Centre atChamkaur Sahib, TouristReception Centre AnandpurSahib, Land at village Treti,Shahpur Kandi, DistrictPathankot, IHM BoothgarhDistrict Mohali.

The Minister said thatmost of these properties arelocated on very beautiful nat-ural locations if they are devel-oped they would easily attracttourist from all over world

the. He also said that he hadalready asked the officials of thedepartment to chalk out theblue print to develop theseproperties.

Channi also said that thetourism department would alsotake concrete steps to promoteFarm Tourism in the state. Asthe department has launchedhigh-end Bed & BreakfastScheme, with the aim to pro-vide comfortable home stayfacilities as per internationalstandards to tourists and tosupplement the availability ofaccommodation in and aroundtourist destinations.

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More than 800 roadwaysbuses in Haryana will

display banners to encouragethe electors of the state toexercise their right to vote inthe State Assembly elections,scheduled to be held onOctober 21.

Apart from this, shortfilms, documentaries and mes-sages will be displayed on theLED screens installed in thebus stands across the state tourge voters to participate in theelectoral process.

The voter’s turnout duringthe previous Haryana VidhanSabha elections 2014 was 76.5per cent.

With the poll season in fullswing, the governmentDepartments have been direct-ed to work together to ensuregreater voters’ turnout espe-cially of women voters on thepolling day.

“To encourage greatervoter turnout, messages will bedisplayed on more than 800roadways buses, around 25percent of the total roadwaysbuses in Haryana. Banners willdisplay messages to urge thevoters to step out of theirhomes to cast their vote on thepolling day in 90 assemblyconstituencies of Haryana,”said Haryana joint chief elec-toral officer, Inder Jeet whiletalking to The Pioneer.

He said that it has also beendecided to display electionrelated messages and docu-mentaries on LED screensinstalled in bus stands in

Haryana.To ensure greater voter

participation in urban areas ofthe state, we have decided toinvolve the Resident WelfareAssociations (RWAs). Variouscampaigns would be conduct-ed for RWAs ahead of the

polling day, he said.Apart from this, posters

and banners would be distrib-uted in all schools, colleges anduniversities, health centres,Angwandi Centres and subhealth centres across the state.

Also, to facilitate the voters

belonging to the Persons withDisabilities (PwD) in Haryana,the District Administrationshave been directed to ensurepick and drop facility fromhome to the polling station.

The joint chief electoralofficer said that at present,

there are around 1.36 lakhPwD voters in the state.

The DistrictAdministrations and con-cerned Departments have beendirected to provide wheelchairsand volunteers to the PwD vot-ers. Transportation arrange-ments will also be made forthem on the polling day, headded.

Notably, as per the ElectionCommission guidelines,polling stations should havefacilities like ramps, drinkingwater, medical kits, help desksand sheds, for the convenienceof PwD voters.

Also, the voter slip forblind Divyang voters should beprinted in Braille script andmade available to them so thatthey do not face any inconve-nience in voting.

A total of about 1.81 crorevoters (18,191,226) including97.30 lakh males (9730169)and 84.61 lakh females(8461059) constitute the elec-toral roll across Haryana, whichhas a population of 2.53 crore(according to Census 2011).

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The simmering discontent-ment amidst the party lead-

ers over the allocation of seatsfor the assembly bypolls onFriday surfaced with the IndianYouth Congress national sec-retary Jagdeep Kamboj ‘Goldy’cementing the severing tieswith the party by filing thenomination papers as an inde-pendent candidate against theparty’s official nominee fromJalalabad.

Already appearing to be ona slippery wicket in Jalalabad —known as SAD chief SukhbirBadal’s citadel, the Congress isfacing strong opposition in theconstituency that fell vacantafter Sukhbir’s election to theLok Sabha.

Besides Kamboj, who hadresigned from the party tomark a protest against the tick-et to state unit chief SunilJakhar’s aide Raminder Awlafrom Jalalabad, many otherslocal leaders have raised thebanner of revolt, which includ-ed the former minister HansRaj Joshan, Anish Sidhana,among others.

The seat has been withAkali Dal since 2007 whenSukhbir Badal contested theelections.

Upset over giving partyticket to the former state YouthCongress president RaminderAwla from Jalalabad, Kambojon Tuesday resigned from theparty’s primary membership,and also from the post of thenational secretary of the YouthCongress, alleging that theparty has fielded “a parachutecandidate” from Jalalabad.

The development came asthe party is making all outefforts to reach out to the dis-gruntled leaders, upset with thedistribution of tickets for thebyelection to the four assemblysegments — Dakha, Jalalabad,Phagwara, and Mukerian.

The party has fielded

Raminder Awla from Jalalabad,Capt Sandeep Singh Sandhufrom Dakha, Balwinder SinghDhaliwal from Phagwara andIndu Bala from Mukerian — adecision that has left manyaspirants sulking.

In Phagwara, the formerminister Joginder Singh Mann,who was eyeing party ticket,has expressed his unhappinessfor fielding IAS officerDhaliwal, who is a MazhabiSikh, from a Ravidasia-domi-nated constituency. However, ithas been learnt that the partyhas managed to placate him.

In Dakha, the ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh himself reached out tothe former SAD-MP-turnedCongress leader Amrik SinghAliwal to support his closeaide Capt Sandhu in his firstelectoral battle.

The party is also facing dis-sidence in Mukerian assemblysegment too. Party leaders,even before the announcementof party candidates, had madeclear their intentions of notsupporting the candidature ofsocial activist Indu Bala, thewidow of party’s local MLARajneesh Kumar.

AYALI, FOUR OTHERSFILE NOMINATIONS ONFIFTH DAY

A total of five candidates,including SAD’s candidate forDakha Manpreet Singh Ayali,filed the nomination papers onFriday.

The state Chief ElectoralOfficer said that total five can-didates filed their papers for theBy-poll of Dakha and Jalalabadassembly constituencies on thefifth day of the filing of thenominations, while no nomi-nation has, so far, been receivedfor Mukerian and Phagwara.

The spokesperson said thatSeptember 30 is the last and theonly day left to file nominationpapers for by-polls.

SAD-BJP’s joint candidate

f o rDakha

Manpreet Singh Ayali filed hisnominations while HarkinerSingh fiiled papers as his cov-ering candidate. Aam Aadmiparty’s Amandeep Singh andGurpreet Kaur Thind also filedtheir nomination papers forDakha. Already, Jai ParkashJain, an Independent candidate,had filed his papers for Dakha.

Jagdeep Kamboj has filedhis nomination papers forJalalabad Assembly con-stituency.

SAD SELECTS DIBIPU-RA FOR JALALABAD

SAD has finalised thename of Dr Raj Singh Dibipuraas its candidate from Jalalabadassembly segment, earlier rep-resented by the party chiefSukhbir Badal. However, theparty is yet to make the formalannouncement.

On the other hand, LokInsaaf Party has alsoannounced candidates for by-elections. it has fielded SukhdevSingh Chak from Dakha con-stituency, and Jarnail Nangalfrom Phagwara constituency.

Till now, BJP has notannounced the names of itscandidates for Phagwara andMukerian — the seats it is con-testing in alliance with theSAD.

CEO PRESIDES OVERMEETING OF STATE LEVELSWEEP COORDINATIONCORE COMMITTEE

To sensitize general publicregarding electoral verificationprogram meeting of State LevelSWEEP Coordination coreCommittee was held on Friday

under the chairmanship ofPunjab Chief electoral officerDr S Karuna Raju.

Officers of SchoolEducation, TechnicalEducation, Local

Government, RuralDevelopment and Panchayats,e-Governance Society, Punjab,Social Security Woman andChild Development,Information and PublicRelations, Youth services,Director Sports, CulturalAffairs, Director Health andFamily Welfare, DPI (Colleges),DPI (Secondary) and DPI(Elementary), were present inthe meeting.

‘SAD-BJP TO CONTESTPOLLS TOGETHER INPUNJAB’: MALIK

SAD and BJP are foes inHaryana, but friends in Punjab!This was clarified by the Punjabunit president of the saffronparty, Shwet Malik, on Friday.

Even as the Akali Dal is allout to criticise its ally, the BJP,for poaching his lone MLA inHaryana, saffron party’s Punjabunit on Friday made it clearthat the two alliance partnerswould be contesting the assem-bly bye-elections “together” inthe state.

“The bond between thetwo parties is very old. BJP andSAD will be contesting thePunjab assembly bye-electionstogether,” said Malik.

The statement came a dayafter the SAD, upset with theBJP’s move to induct SAD’sKalanwali MLA Balkaur Singhin the party fold, declared tocontest the Haryana assemblypolls “alone”.

Reacting, Malik said: “Itwas the Akali Dal's decision tocontest on its own in Haryana(assembly polls) but ouralliance will continue in Punjabfor the polls.”

He said that the partywould soon announce the can-didates for the four seats.

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Liquor, cash and drugsamounting to around Rs

3.31 crore has so far beenseized by the Police and ExciseDepartment in Haryana inview of State Assembly pollsscheduled to be held onOctober 21.

Fake currency notes of Rs14, 94,000 have also been seizedby the police.

Haryana joint chief elec-toral officer Inder Jeet said thatthe police have so far recovered19157 litres liquor, worth overRs 30, 24,314. Similarly, theExcise Department has so farrecovered 6,573 litres of liquor,which is worth Rs 16, 05,981.

A total of 25, 730 litres ofliquor has been seized by theExcise and Police Departments,which costs Rs 46,30,295. Thedrugs and toxic substancesworth Rs 2, 53, 62,702 havebeen seized by the flying squadand the static surveillanceteams, he said.

He further shared that till

now, the Police Department hasseized illegal cash amount of31, 97,465.

Inder Jeet said that thepolice have also recovered16342 bottles of countrymadeliquor, 7955 bottles of Englishliquor, 1097 bottles of beer,81.848 kg hemp, 41.840 kgpoppy husk, 612 gm heroin,5.650 kg opium, 1.925 kgsmack, 15 kg lahan, 1.852 kgchurapost, 634 gm Chitta and1.75 kg charas.

He said that the 489 policecheck-post have been set up atvarious places in the state.

In order to maintain lawand order in the state duringthe elections, 78992 licensearms have so far been deposit-ed by the Haryana Police.Apart from this, the policehave also seized 44 illegalweapons, he added.

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On the first day of filingnomination papers for the elec-

tions, 10 candidates from sevenAssembly Constituencies havefiled their nomination papers.

Joint Chief ElectoralOfficer, Inder Jeet said that onenomination paper fromRewari Assembly Constituency,one from Kosli AssemblyConstituency, one from BeriAssembly Constituency, onefrom Nalwa AssemblyConstituency, one from RaiAssembly Constituency, onefrom Kharkhoda AssemblyConstituency and four nomi-nations from Sonipat havebeen filed. He said nominationpapers will not be filled onSeptember 28 and 29September (Saturday andSunday) and 2 October beinga public holiday.

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A State Control Room ofSocial Media and Media Centerhas been setup to monitor andcontrol all types of electionprocesses in Haryana.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Friday

urged the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to ensure thatdairy products are kept out ofthe purview of the RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) negotia-tions.

Amid apprehensions ofinclusion of such products inthe negotiation ambit, theChief Minister said that anysuch move would have seriousadverse effect on the econom-ic interests of farmers.

Capt Amarinder, in a let-

ter to the Prime Minister,underscored the importance ofthe dairy sector in the state’sand the nation’s overall eco-nomic prosperity.

“Negotiations for enteringinto Free Trade Agreementwith participating countriesmay lead to grant of permis-sion to import dairy productsunder HSN Code 0401 to 0406under RCEP from countrieslike New Zealand andAustralia,” he pointed out,adding that this would bedetrimental to the farmers,especially the landless, mar-ginal and small farmers tradi-tionally involved in allied

farming activity.Noting that successive ini-

tiatives undertaken by theUnion and StateGovernments, since thelaunch of Operation Flood,had resulted in exponentialspurt in the sector, the ChiefMinister pointed out that cur-rently, more than 80 millionIndian rural households in thecountry were actively involvedin dairying.

The sector, he said, hadimmense significance forPunjab’s economic growth,besides contributing to thenutritional component valuefor the masses.

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Expressing strong concern atthe loss of precious lives

every day in the state owing tothe stray cattle menace, PunjabLocal Bodies Minister BrahmMohindra on Friday issuedstrict instructions to the UrbanLocal Bodies and DistrictAdministrations to launch acollaborative action to grapplewith this serious socio-eco-nomic threat posed by straycattle.

Mohindra had categori-cally asked the PrincipalSecretary (Local BodiesDepartment) to hold an emer-gency meeting in this regardwith all the MunicipalCommissioners and ExecutiveOfficers of the Municipal

Committees to fix their respon-sibility to check the menace ofstray cattle in their respectiveareas.

Likewise a Demi Officialletter had also been written toall the Deputy Commissionersof the State whereby they hadbeen asked to personally checkall the Government and Privategaushalas in their districtswithin 15 days for creating database of the all the animalshoused therein.

DCs had also beeninstructed to send compre-hensive report in this regardwithin two weeks to thePrincipal Secretary LocalBodies.

The Minister had instruct-ed the Principal Secretary ofthe Local Bodies Department

to exhort all MunicipalCommissioners and EOs ofthe Committees to put in extraefforts to control the risingmenace of stray cattle.

He said that henceforth, ifany untoward incident per-taining to the stray cattle was

reported from any area of thestate, the concerned officer orofficial in whose area of juris-diction it happened would bepersonally held responsiblefor it and departmental actionwould be initiated againsthim.

The Minister had alsosought detailed report in thisregard from the PrincipalSecretary, Local Bodies withinthree weeks.

Spokesperson said that inthe DO letter addressed to theDC, the Minister expressedhope that as Head of theDistrict Administration as wellas Animal Welfare Society theDeputy Commissioners werebetter informed about theground realities and were in aposition to evolve workablestrategy to deal with the straycattle menace.

DCs had been told thatapart from NGOs teams fromdiverse fields could support theadministration in its efforts tograpple with the stray cattlemenace.

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From Page 1It was also impressed that it was imperative to develop suit-

able measures for detection of such drones and to identify anddeploy appropriate counter-measures against the use of suchdrones.

�� ������,�!�����������������-������Spokesperson said that the vigil was increased by the state

police after the recovery of the first drone in August. Owing tothis, the police busted a terror module consisting of AkashdeepSingh, and his associates, including Baba Balwant Singh,Harbhahan Singh, and Balbir Singh alias Binda.

Subsequently, Shubhdeep Singh was also arrested for hisinvolvement in the handling of a large consignment of weapons,including hand-grenades, satellite phones, wireless sets and othercommunication devices, which were recovered from the arrest-ed persons. Interrogation of the arrested men led to the recov-ery of the second, half burnt drone, three days ago.

Akashdeep has revealed that two 9 mm pistols had beensmuggled over the half-burnt drone around the beginning ofSeptember. The drone had apparently crashed in the Indian ter-ritory before it could fly back to Pakistan after dropping armsnear the Indo-Pak border. The foreign handlers, Gurmeet Baggaof Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), and his terrorist associatesbased in Pakistan, including KZF chief Ranjeet Singh alias Neeta,who were handling the Akashdeep terror module, had informedAkashdeep and his associates about the crashing of this droneinside Indian territory.

They had also shared the coordinates of the crash landingsite and further directed Akashdeep to go to the crash site anddestroy the drone by burning lest the police came to know aboutthe weapon deliveries over drones.

Accordingly, Akashdeep and his associates burnt the droneand also disposed of the steel frame of the drone in a drain, saidthe spokesperson.

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Moved by the pathetic pic-ture of school education

in India presented by theAnnual Status of EducationReport (ASER) some yearsago, a Boston based technocratHridayesh Kant Gupta decid-ed to do some research on theinherent gaps in the educationsystem in India. After travers-ing many areas of the country,the IIT Roorkee alumnusdevised a simple yet efficientmechanism of education deliv-ery which according to himenhances learning among thestudents independent of thequality of teachers. Six yearslater, the Kant process devisedby him is being followed in as

many as 150 schools in thecountry. The parents of stu-dents of these schools are wit-nessing a remarkable change inthe approach of their wardstowards the studies.

In an exclusive conversationwith The Pioneer during hisvisit to Dehradun, Gupta elab-orated about his easy and lowcost solution for enhancing thequality of education. “Theobjective behind this processwas to engineer a solution forthe lack of student engagementin resource constrained schools.In our process, we divide a classinto three groups on the basis oftheir level. Every group com-prises pairs of the students.The students are placed beforea TV set which displays a seriesof questions of different subjectswithin a short period of time.The students are supposed tosolve these questions in theirnotebooks. At the end of thequiz, each pair of studentsexchanges answers and evalu-ates them with the help of theanswers flashed on the screen,’’he said. Explaining furtherGupta said that the name of thewinner of the pair is placed ona board placed in front and theprocess is repeated.

“This process minimisesrole of the teacher who nowassumes the role of a facilitator.An innate urge develops in thechild to beat his rival andunlike in a normal class whereonly top five to six students areinvolved in engagements, everystudent is involved in thisprocess. We have innovativelydesigned the process for stu-dents of classes I to XII and forevery class, he have ten mod-

ules. We have also set up anelaborate monitoring system inplace,’’ he said. Gupta claimedthat the Kant process is analmost zero cost change to theexisting education system.

“All it does is to change fiveminutes of a period from lis-tening mode to engagementmode without any increasedload on teachers. Even thequizzes can be pre-made andsupplied. No internet or anyother thing other than a 32 inchTV is needed for it. We providethe software and connecting apen-drive to the televisionstarts the quiz. The cost per stu-dent per month is only Rsthree. The children love thisprocess as it removes the fearof evaluation by teachers. Forstudents used to video games,it is an engrossing activity.Students are able to manage theprocess by themselves,’’ headded.

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The bypoll results for fourAssembly seats in four

States on Friday saw the rulingdispensations winning all ofthem, including wresting twofrom the Opposition. The BJPwon two seats while the LDFand Congress emerged victo-rious in one each.

The BJP won the Assemblyseats of Hamirpur, UttarPradesh and Badharaghat,Tripura while the Congresswon the naxal-affectedDantewada assembly seat inChhattisgarh to strengthen itsdomination in the State whereit had trounced the BJP in theAssembly polls last year. Thebypoll in Dantewada wasnecessitated after the death ofBJP MLA Bhima Mandavi in aNaxal attack in April.

In Hamirpur, BJP's YuvrajSingh emerged victorious in atough race with SamajwadiParty's Manoj Prajapati with amargin of 17,000 votes. Thethird place was attained by theBSP and the Congress trailedlast. The Hamipur assembly

seat in Uttar Pradesh fell vacantfollowing the conviction ofBJP MLA Ashok KumarChandel in a 22-year-old mur-der case.

In Dantewada, Congresscandidate Devti Karma defeat-ed slain Bhima Mandavi's wifeOjaswi Mandavi of the BJP by11192 votes. With the win onthe seat, which was held by theBJP , the Congress has now all12 seats from Bastar and 68 ofthe 90 seats overall in the state,while the BJP will drop to 14seats.

The Left Democratic Frontcandidate (LDF) also created anupset by wresting the Pala seatin Kerala from the Congressbacked United Democratic

Front (UDF)in Kerala. Mani CKappan of the LDF defeatedthe UDF opponent Jose Tomby 2,943 votes in a close con-test. The Pala Assembly seat fellvacant after Kerala Congress(M) veteran K M Mani died inApril. It recorded a 71.41 percent turnout.

Ending the five-decade-old supremacy of the KeralaCongress (M) in the PalaAssembly constituency in cen-tral Kerala, Kappan, nominat-ed by the ruling LDF, clincheda close victory over his UDF-backed opponent Jose Tom onFriday.

Kappen, leader of theNationalist Congress Party,defeated Pulikkunnel, a faction

leader of the Kerala Congress(M). Pala was a bastion of theCongress-led UDF, held byveteran leader and formerFinance Minister K M Mani forthe last five decades. With thisvictory, the number of LDFMLAs in the 140-memberassembly has gone up to 91.

In Tripuira's Badharghat(SC) seat, BJP's MimiMajumder won defeating hernearest rival,

CPI(M)'s Bulti Biswas, by5,276 votes. Congress nomineeRatan Chandra Das secured thethird place. Both the BJP andthe CPI(M) got fewer votes incomparison to what theybagged in the assembly elec-tions.

The ruling BJP has 36 seatsin the assembly while itsalliance partner IPFT has eightin the 60-member house.

The Badharghat Assemblyconstituency in Agartala fellvacant due to the death of six-time MLA and former minis-ter Dilip Sarkar. Sarkar, a for-mer Congressman, had joinedBJP in 2018 just before assem-bly polls.

New Delhi: Senior advocate RS Cheema, who was appointedspecial public prosecutor in2014 by the Supreme Court inthe coal block allocation scamcases, on Friday expressed hiswillingness to be relieved fromthe money laundering casesarising out of the matter.

Cheema, in his applica-tion to the top court, saidthere is shortage of law officersassisting him in dealing withsuch money laundering cases.

A bench of justices DeepakGupta and Surya Kant refusedto pass any order on Cheema'sapplication and said, "You havedone a great service to thenation and our view is that youwill be provided all requiredassistance. You make a team,train them and after two-threemonths, we will see if they cantake over."

It said, "At this stage, we arenot willing to accept yourrequest of being relieved fromthe money laundering casesand all we are saying, we willnot pass any orders. We willhear the matter again in themonth of December."

Cheema said there are 20complaints filed in the specialcourt by the EnforcementDirectorate and cognizancehas been taken only in fourcomplaints.

He said the shortage of lawofficers is affecting the speedydisposal of the matters.

In his application, Cheemahad also referred to his age, say-ing it has been causing diffi-culties in carrying out his work.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theEnforcement Directorate, toldthe bench that he will talk toCheema and would try to per-suade him.

He said Cheema will beprovided all required assis-tance in the cases. PTI

New Delhi: The ASI report of2003 on the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidsite was not an "ordinary opin-ion" as the archaeologists wereacting on behalf of theAllahabad High Court to givetheir views on the excavatedmaterials, the Supreme Courtsaid Friday.

The High Court, throughits court-commissioner, hadasked Archeological Survey ofIndia (ASI) in 2002 to excavatethe site and give its findings onwhether the "disputed building"was constructed on the site ofan "alleged Hindu temple" afterdemolishing it.

The ASI, which had foundartefacts, idols, pillars andother remains, stated in itsreport about the existence of amassive structure beneath the"alleged Babri Masjid".

On being told by a counselfor the Muslim parties that theASI report was "merely anopinion" and not binding on

the court, a 5-judgeConstitution bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoisaid the inferences from thereport were drawn by "culti-vated and studied minds"(archeological experts).

"You (lawyer) cannotequate the (court)Commissioner's report to anyother ordinary opinion. They(ASI experts) conducted it(excavation) after theCommissioner asked them,"said the bench, which alsocomprised Justices S A Bobde,DY Chandrachud, AshokBhushan and S Abdul Nazeer.

The bench said the expertsexcavated and analysed thematerials at the direction of theCommissioner who was dele-gated the powers by the highcourt.The top court said it wasconscious of the fact that bothsides have their argumentsbased on inferences and therewere no eyewitnesses to theseevents. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Friday directed demoli-tion of flats built on the coastalzone of Kochi's Maradu with-in 138 days, a timeline given bythe Kerala government, andasked the state to pay Rs 25lakh interim compensation toeach flat owner within fourweeks.

The top court said that itwas not against anyone but theprimary concern is illegal con-structions in CoastalRegulation Zone (CRZ) areas,which eventually lead to nat-ural disasters.

It also ordered setting up ofone-member committee ofretired high court judge tooversee the demolition andassessing of total compensationpayable to affected flat owners.

A bench, comprisingJustices Arun Mishra and SRavindra Bhat, directed freez-ing of assets of builders andpromoters who were involvedin the construction of illegalbuildings in the coastal zoneareas of Kochi.

The bench further said thegovernment may considerrecovering the interim com-pensation amount, which willbe paid to flat owners, from thebuilders and the promoters.

Kerala Chief Secretary TomJose was present at the hearing.The court said his presencewould not be required duringthe next hearing on October 25.

The chief secretary in itsaffidavit had said, "There are343 flats in the four multi-storeyed apartment buildings

covering an area of 68,028.71square metre. The municipal-ity has an area of 12.35 sq kmand is densely populated witha population of 3,619 sqkms.Two national highwaysnamely NH-47 and NH-47(A)pass through this area."

Senior advocate HarishSalve, appearing for the Keralagovernment, informed thebench that power and watersupply were disconnected tothe four apartment complexesin Kochi on Thursday.

The apex court said thereshould not be any reason forthe delay in carrying out thedemolition and gave the exam-ple of Kant enclave inFaridabad, where illegal struc-tures were razed on its order,and modalities of recovering

the money from those respon-sible for such constructions hasbeen worked out.

The bench clarified that thecourt's primary concern wasthat no construction shouldhave been carried out at theeco-fragile coastal zone and thequestion was not regardingany individual."Question is notto evict everyone from an area.We are not against anybody.Our primary concern is theillegal construction in thecoastal zone area, which lead tonatural disaster," it said.

While Salve was makingsubmissions relating to the nittygritty of demolition exercise thathas to be carried out, the benchsaid, "If you cannot do it, we willthink of involving some otheroutside agency." PTI

New Delhi: There are 389 districts in thecountry where the number of pendingchild abuse cases exceeds 100 and as pera Law Ministry proposal, one fast trackspecial court will be set up in each ofthese districts to exclusively try suchcases.

According to a Law Ministry docu-ment, "Scheme on Fast Track SpecialCourts (FTSCs) for expeditious disposalof cases of rape and Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act",there are 389 districts in the country wherethe number of pending cases under thePOCSO Act exceeds 100.

"Therefore, as per the order of Apex(Supreme) Court, in each of these districts,one exclusive POCSO court will be set upwhich will try no other case," it said.

Depending upon the pendency ofPOCSO cases, the state or the Union ter-ritory governments, in consultation withthe high courts concerned, could, howev-er, decide if more number of exclusivePOCSO courts need to be established with-in the overall number of FTSCs providedunder this scheme.

The Union government has proposedto set up a total of 1,023 fast-track specialcourts for expeditious trial of over 1.66

lakh pending cases of crime againstwomen and children across the country.

Each of these special courts are expect-ed to dispose of at least 165 such cases peryear, the scheme document prepared bythe Department of Justice of the LawMinistry said.

A total of 1,023 FTSCs will be set up,out of which 389 courts, as per a SupremeCourt direction, will exclusively handlecases registered under the POCSO Act, itsaid.

The remaining 634 FTSCs will deal

with either rape cases or both rape andPOCSO Act cases, depending upon thependency and requirement.

"Each FTSC is expected to dispose of41-42 cases each quarter and at least 165cases in a year," the document added.

According to the document, a total of1,66,882 cases of rape and those underPOCSO Act are pending trial in variouscourts across the country.

The process of setting up of theseFTSCs is likely to begin on October 2, theLaw Ministry had earlier said. PTI

����� *26'2&7,

Air pollution is not onlyassociated with respirato-

ry diseases and strokes but alsoincreased mental health disor-ders like anxiety and depressiontoo among children, a studyhas found.

Published in the latest issueof Environmental HealthPerspectives journal, the studyfound that short-term exposureto high ambient air pollutioncorresponded with a rise in vis-its to the children's psychiatricemergency department.

The study holds impor-tance for India which is hometo 15 of the 20 most pollutedcities in the world with somestudies indicating nearly 700million Indians are exposed tounhealthy air.Children are theworst hit.

According to the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO),

over 1 lakh children under agefive died because of air pollu-tion in India in 2016.

The new study should comeas a cause of concern for Indiawhich is already battling withrising cases of mental health.

Carried out over five years,the international study said therewas previous evidence linkingharmful particulate matter withincreased psychiatric disorders inadults, but that this effect on chil-dren's mental health has not yetbeen examined.

The study focused on fineparticulate matter known asPM2.5. The microscopic par-ticles, which are smaller than2.5 micrometers in diameter,can lodge deep into the lungsand pass into other organsand the bloodstream. Theycause irritation, inflammationand can lead to respiratoryproblems, while longer termexposure can even cause can-

cer and heart attack.Researchers at the

University of Cincinnati andthe Cincinnati Children'sHospital Medical Center exam-ined psychiatric patient visits,and then traced the concen-tration of PM2.5 in their resi-dential areas. Researchersfound that whenever therewere increases in PM2.5, therewould be more psychiatric vis-its within the following fewdays.

Visits on the same day asthe pollution spike were oftenrelated to schizophrenia, whilemore visits for adjustment dis-order and suicidal thoughtscame one or two days later.

They also found that chil-dren in disadvantaged areas, oflower socioeconomic class orless access to healthcare, weremore vulnerable to the psychi-atric effects of pollution spikes— particularly the disorders of

anxiety and suicidal thoughts."Collectively, these studies

contribute to the growing bodyof evidence that exposure to airpollution during early life andchildhood may contribute todepression, anxiety, and othermental health problems in adolescence," said Patrick Ryan,a lead author.

He and Cole Brokamp, theother lead author, cautionedthat more research is neededinto this connection — but thefindings could offer new pre-vention strategies for childrenexhibiting those symptoms.

The fact that children liv-ing in poverty experiencedgreater negative effects from airpollution also proved that boththe pollutant and neighborhood conditions com-bine to create "synergisticeffects on psychiatric symptomseverity and frequency," saidBrokamp.

����� *26'2&7,

Fresh turmoil has gripped theCBI. A Deputy

Superintendent of the agencyhas written to the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO) alleg-ing that CBI Joint Director AKBhatnagar was involved in afake encounter of 14 persons inJharkhand and corruption.

DSP NP Mishra in hiscomplaint has sought immedi-ate removal of Bhatnagar fromthe agency. “It is submitted thatAK Bhatnagar , who is present-ly working as JD(Administration) of CBI isgrossly involved in fake crim-inal and fake encounter of 14innocent persons in Jharkhand.It is also learnt that related caseis under investigation in CBISpecial Crimes Branch, Mishraalleged.

It would be fit to uphold theimpartiality of the CBI. services

of AK Bhatnagar in CBI mustbe terminated at once , or elsethere is every likelihood ofcasting aspersions on the work-ing of CBI in as much as influ-encing the process of investi-gation by Bhatnagarby virtue ofhis high placement in the orga-nization . It is also submittedthat family members of the vic-tims have already made similarcomplaint in this regard, he fur-ther alleged in his complaint.

"Besides the heinous crimi-nal act, involvement ofBhatnagar in various corruptpractices in the organizationhas been brought to the notice ofyour good self on various occa-sions by various representa-

tion/complaints," Mishra alleged. Mishra further alleged that

Bhatnagar has sought earlyhearing of a petition relating tohis transfer pending beforethe Delhi High Court andscheduled for hearing onOctober 1.

"It is once again requestedthat services of AK Bhatnagarin CBI must be terminated atonce for benefit the organiza-tion," he added.

Infighting in the CBI hasresurfaced after about a yearafter the agency was embroiledin a serious spat between thenchief Alok Verma and hisdeputy Rakesh Asthana whenboth accused each other ofbeing involved in corruption.The controversy led to prema-ture removal of Verma fromthe CBI chief 's post and trans-fer of Asthana from the agencyto Bureau of Civil AviationSecurity.

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New York: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has reaffirmedIndia's support for giving pri-ority to diplomacy, dialogueand confidence- building formaintaining peace and securi-ty in the Persian Gulf amidsttensions in the region, as heheld in-depth talks with IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani.

Modi met Rouhani on thesidelines of the high-level 74thSession of the GeneralAssembly on Thursday amidstfresh tensions between Iran andthe United States.

"Delighted to meetPresident @HassanRouhani.We had in-depth discussionson the full range of India-Iranties, and regional & globalmatters," the prime ministertweeted.

The two leaders discussedbilateral relations andexchanged views on regionaland global developments ofmutual interest.

According to an officialpress release, the prime minis-ter reiterated India's support forgiving priority to diplomacy,dialogue and confidence build-ing in the interest of main-

taining peace, security and sta-bility in the Gulf region, whichis of vital importance for India.

The meeting was keenlyawaited as it comes amid esca-lating face-off between Iranand the US on Tehran's nuclearprogramme. Iran is alsoaccused by the US and its alliesof attacking two key oil facili-ties in Saudi Arabia, triggeringa new phase of tensions in theregion.

The September 14 attackscaused oil prices to spike by thebiggest percentage since the1991 Gulf War.Noting thatIndia and Iran shared old andcivilisational ties, the two lead-ers assessed the progress inbilateral relations since theirfirst meeting in Russian city ofUfa in 2015.

They especially mentionedovercapitalisation of ChabaharPort and noted its importanceas gateway to and for the land-locked Afghanistan and theCentral Asian region.

During the meeting, it wasagreed to mark the 70thanniversary of the establish-ment of diplomatic relationsnext year. PTI

New Delhi: DespiteWhatsApp's efforts to reducethe spread of fake news by lim-iting the number of forwards tofive, the platform was exten-sively abused to spreadunfounded rumours and createmisinformation campaignsduring recent elections in Indiaand Brazil, a study has revealed.

F a c e b o o k - o w n e dWhatsApp particularly failed inblocking the propagation ofmisinformation campaignsthrough public groups, said thestudy conducted by researchersfrom Federal University ofMinas Gerais in Brazil andMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) in the US.

In the study, theresearchers wanted to find outhow effective WhatsApp'sefforts were in countering thespread of misinformation cir-culating on the platform.

They analysed the dataaround the election day, 60days before and 15 after, inthree countries -- India, Braziland Indonesia.

"Our results suggest thatthe current efforts deployed byWhatsApp can offer significant

delays on the informationspread, but they are ineffectivein blocking the propagation ofmisinformation campaignsthrough public groups whenthe content has a high viralnature," the authors wrote in apaper published on pre-printrepository arXiv.org.

The research pointed outthat WhatsApp allows the con-nection among like-mindedindividuals through chatgroups which have a limit of256 users and can be private orpublic.

While in the case of privategroups, new members must beadded by a member whoassumes the role of groupadministrator, for publicgroups, the access is by invita-tion links that could be sharedto anyone or be available on theWeb.

As chat groups onWhatsApp are mostly private,harder to monitor thanFacebook or Twitter discus-sions.

The researchers joined sev-eral WhatsApp public groupsand analysed messages postedon these platforms. IANS

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Araria (Bihar): Former BiharChief Minister Jitan RamManjhi on Friday launched afresh attack on Lalu Prasad'syounger son Tejashwi Yadav,blaming him for bringing thegrand alliance on the verge ofdisintegration.

Manjhi also claimed thatthe RJD heir apparent washelping the NDA in the State.

A five-party formationheaded by the RJD, the GrandAlliance includes Manjhi'sHindustani Awam Morcha(HAM) besides the Congress,former Union MinisterUpendra Kushwaha's RLSPand Bollywood set designer-turned-politician MukeshSahni's VIP.

The coalition has been inturmoil ahead of next month'sby-polls to five assembly seg-ments and one Lok Sabha con-stituency in the state.

"If the Grand Alliancefinally disintegrates, it would beblamed on Tejashwi Yadav andno one else. The young leaderis, wittingly or unwittingly,helping the NDA, defeatingwhich has been the very mottoof the coalition," Manjhi - whowas in this north Bihar town

for a membership drive - said."It is not that I made any

unreasonable demands. Allconstituents were in support ofmy claim over Nathnagarassembly seat. But the RJDditched us by allotting ticketsfor four seats, unilaterally,including Nathnagar," healleged.

Although the RJD is yet toformally announce its candi-dates for the by-polls, therehave been unconfirmed reportsthat it has distributed tickets forall but Kishanganj assemblyand Samastipur Lok Sabhaseats, leaving the two for theCongress.

The development has leftallies fuming, with Sahni

announcing that he wouldenter the fray from SimariBakhtiyarpur and supportManjhi's candidate inNathnagar.

He also asserted that "thecoalition will survive even if theRJD ceases to be a part of it."

The Congress, which isthe RJD's oldest ally, seems tobe in a dilemma as its state unitrecently moved a proposal thatthe party should aim atstrengthening itself in the longrun and go it alone in the by-elections.

The resolution has beenforwarded to the party highcommand for final approval.

Notably, in the Lok Sabhapolls, the Congress was theonly Grand Alliance con-stituent to have won a seat inthe state. Its Kishanganj MLAMohd Jawed retained for theparty the Lok Sabha seat of thesame name.

Manjhi, on his part, urgedthe Congress to support theHAM candidate in Nathnagarand the VIP nominee in SimariBakhtiyarpur and promised"whole-hearted support toCongress candidates in theremaining seats". PTI

<��:��%6�� ������'(����" �����((���������(�� Bengaluru: The Congress in

Karnataka on Friday said the ElectionCommission was functioning like an"agent of BJP" and termed its moveto defer bypolls to 15 Assembly seg-ments in the State till the SupremeCourt decides on the case of dis-qualified Congress-JD(S) legislatorsas "arbitrary."

In the country's history,this is thefirst time the Election Commission(EC) has cancelled elections afterissuing notification without givingany reason, the party claimed.

"This proves EC is compromisedand is acting to the benefit of BJP &Disqualified MLAs," it tweeted.

The party said it would write tothe EC and ask on what grounds itcancelled the election.

"Why this arbitrary decision?EC is acting like an agent of BJP," itsaid.

"Election Commission has com-promised itself, it has lost its auton-omy, people have lost trust in it. Imake a serious allegation that theElection Commission has not con-ducted itself in a non-partisan man-ner," state Congress President DineshGundu Rao told reporters here.

Without any stay from the courtor grounds the commission has post-poned the election, he said.

"Election commission has staredworking like an agent of a politicalparty, we condemn and questionit.The commission has to clarify thegrounds of postponement of election.

It is shame that the EC that is

supposed to be independent is todayacting as an agency of a politicalparty," he added.

The EC had told the apex courton Thursday that it would defer theupcoming bypolls to 15 Assemblyconstituencies in Karnataka till thetop court finally decides the pleasfiled by 17 disqualified MLAs of thestate challenging their disqualifica-tion.

The poll panel had last weekannounced bypolls to 15 Assemblyseats in Karnataka and had said vot-ing would be held on October 21 andcounting of votes on October 24.

The EC's submission came aftera bench headed by Justice NVRamana said it would be "better" ifthe pleas filed by these disqualifiedMLAs were decided finally as virtu-ally two-third arguments in the mat-ter were already over.

Elections are governed underarticle 324 of the constitution andRepresentation of the People Act, andclause 57 states that elections can beadjourned only in case of riots, openviolence, natural calamity, Rao said.

"It says nothing about powers ofthe EC to arbitrarily adjourn pollsafter issuing a notification.

In this case, Supreme Court hasnot stayed the disqualification, norhas issued verdict in favour of dis-qualified MLA," he said.

Any cancellation or abrogation ofpolls can happen only with the con-sent of the President,he added.

The EC had earlier told the

Supreme Court that formerKarnataka Speaker's order disquali-fying 17 MLAs from the Assemblycannot deprive them of their right tocontest the bypolls for 15 con-stituencies in the state.

The EC had then sought from theapex court, which agreed to examinethe pleas of the MLAs seeking stay ondisqualification and for contesting theby-elections, that the bypolls shouldnot be stayed.

Stating that the EC was notinvolved in any way in this case, butit intervened stating that electionshould not be stayed as notificationhas been issued, Rao said the com-mission's reason to "enter" the casewas to see to that elections are notpostponed.

Among the 15 constituenciesgoing for polls, 12 were representedby Congress and 3 by JD(S).

Absence and resignation of 17Congress-JD(S) MLAs during thetrust vote had led to the collapse ofthe H D Kumaraswamy headed coali-tion Government in July, and helpedBJP to come to power.

After examining the petitionmoved by leadership of both parties,the then Assembly Speaker RameshKumar had disqualified 17 Congressand JD(S) MLAs under the anti-defection law, which they have chal-lenged in the Supreme Court.

The then Speaker had ruled thatthose disqualified, cease to be MLAswith immediate effect till the expiryof the 15th assembly (in 2023). PTI

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With the Supreme Court hearing thematter of disqualification of 17

Karnataka MLAs, the Election Commission(EC) on Friday rescheduled the bypolls to15 Assembly seats in the State from October21 to December 5. This is the first time theEC has cancelled elections after issuing noti-fication without giving any reason.

As per the EC's fresh notification, the elec-tion process will be completed by December11. The EC had last week announced bypollsto 15 Assembly seats in Karnataka on October21, along with the Assembly polls inMaharashtra and Haryana. The counting ofvotes was to be held on October 24.

As things stand, the Supreme Court haslisted the case for October 22, a day after thebypolls were originally scheduled.

"Nomination filed between September23 and September 28 before the respectiveReturning Officers as per the schedulementioned, shall be taken up for scrutiny onNovember 19 along with other nominationsreceived between November 11 and 18," theEC said in the notification issued on Friday.The nomination will start from November11 while the last date will be November 18.

The 17 disqualified MLAs from theCongress and JDS are seeking directions tostop the bypolls at 15 Assembly seats till theircase against the suspension by the Speakeris pending with the Supreme Court. PTI

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BJP acting president JPNadda on Friday slammed

Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee for placing personalambitions ahead of nationalinterests even as the rulingTrinamool Congress hit backquestioning the real reasonbehind saffron leaders likeAmit Shah and Nadda’s visit toBengal ahead of Durga Pujas.

Condemning the politi-cians who put their personalinterest ahead of the nationalinterest Nadda asked whyBanerjee had opposed the

repealing of Article 370 fromKashmir. “Is the nation sec-ondary to personal interests?Do chair, power and pelf mat-ter more than the nationalinterest?” he asked wonderingwhy Banerjee always gavemore emphasis on vote bankpolitics.

“Is preservation of votebank more necessary than pre-serving the interests of one’scountry!” he wondered askingwhy the Chief Ministeropposed the annulment ofArticle 370. “Where was aneed of opposing the move ofwithdrawing 370 from

Kashmir? Was it only for pre-serving vote bank or for thatmatter nurturing personalinterests?”

Circuitously alleging thatJawaharlal Nehru was the mainmastermind behind the preser-vation of Article 370 fordecades Nadda said, “the spe-cial status accorded to Kashmirin the Constitution was only a‘temporary and transitional’arrangement which had to betaken away some day in theinterest of the nation … and itwas rightly done by ourGovernment this time round.”

Nadda has come toKolkata to observe religiousrituals on the Mahalaya Day —when people offer sacred waterto their deceased ancestors.Mahalaya also proclaims thearrival of Devi Paksha or thevenerated fortnight associatedwith the arrival of MotherGoddess Durga on earth.

Apart from Nadda Union

Home Minister Amit Shah isalso likely to come to Kolkatato inaugurate 3-4 Durga Pujas.

Countering Nadda’s state-ments Trinamool Congressleaders said it was not MamataBanerjee but the BJP whichwas playing vote bank politics.

“They are cleverly missingreligious sentiments withnationalism to mislead thenation,” senior Bengal MinisterFirhad Hakim said. Hakimhimself organizes one of thebiggest Pujas of Kolkata atChetla Agrani Club.

“They are coming toBengal to inaugurate the Pujasto influence the people whichis itself a part of vote bank pol-itics by using religious festi-vals,” he said adding the localpeople who plan the Pujas forthe whole year and eagerly waitfor the Mother to arrive are thereal devotees and not thosewho come to use the occasionto garner votes,” he said.

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Gorakhpur (UP): Two yearsafter over 60 children died in lessthan a week at the BRD MedicalCollege here, an Uttar PradeshGovernment inquiry hasabsolved suspended paediatri-cian Kafeel Khan of any negli-gence.

“I have got a clean chitnow. The question arises whokilled the 70 children,” Khan,who was also arrested after thedeaths, said on Friday.

About 30 children died dur-ing the night of August 10,2017 and 34 more over the nextfew days, officials had said then.

Many of the infants diedallegedly because of disruptionin oxygen supply on the night ofAugust 10 due to pending pay-ments to the supplier, a chargerefuted by the state govern-ment.

The Government had main-

tained that the children died dueto different illnesses, includingJapanese encephalitis and therewas no shortage of oxygen.

Khan was accused of negli-gence and corruption, sus-pended and arrested followingthe outrage over the deaths at theBaba Raghav Das MedicalCollege. His suspension is yet tobe revoked.

An advisor to ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, how-ever, said the inquiry had notdisproved the charge that the

doctor also ran a private prac-tice.

"It is not right to say that DrKafeel has got a clean chit in thedepartmental inquiry. He hasmade a wrongful conclusion ofthe report," Mrityunjay Kumarsaid in a statement.

The doctor on Friday hopedthat the report would wipe offthe “murderer” and "infamous"tags attached to him after thetragedy.

“But I believe justice willreally be done only when the realculprits of the BRD oxygentragedy are put behind the bars,”he said.

Principal Secretary (Stampand Registration) HimanshuKumar, who investigated Khan'scase, absolved the doctor ofany medical negligence.

Khan, who was given theletter clearing him of this charge

on Thursday, said the inquiryreport is dated April 18. He hasquestioned the “delay”.

"BRD Medical College prin-cipal Ganesh Kumar gave me theUP Government letter. It clear-ly says that I am free fromcharges of medical negligence,corruption and not performingmy duty on that fateful day,” hetold PTI.

Ganesh Kumar said the let-ter was handed over to Khan inperson on Thursday, followingthe Government procedure.

The doctor spent abouteight months in prison beforesecuring bail.

"My bail order of AllahabadCourt of April 25, 2018 con-firmed that I was not part of thetendering process for oxygensupply, and also there is no mate-rial on record which proves mymedical negligence," he said.

The investigation reportsaid Khan was not the nodalmedical officer in charge of theencephalitis wards at the BRDHospital when the deaths tookplace. The documents providedby his department to contest thiswere not adequate and consis-tent, it said.

The report said Khan wasnot involved in the process ofallotting tenders for oxygensupply and absolved him ofcorruption, as well as of medicalnegligence on the day of thetragedy.

The report said Khaninformed his seniors about theoxygen supply shortage andarranged seven cylinders withhis own money on August 10-11 night, 2017.

Khan questioned why hissuspension has not been revokedso far. PTI

����� � �"���&�� �&��������� ��#�����#�� ���� "���Lucknow: Forty-four peoplewere killed in rain-related inci-dents in Uttar Pradesh in thepast 24 hours, officials said onFriday as heavy rains continuedto lash different parts of thestate disrupting normal life.

Due to heavy rains, districtadministration of Lucknow,Amethi, Hardoi and some oth-ers districts have announcedclosure of schools on Saturday.

"Forty-four persons havedied in rain related incidents ofhouse and wall collapse, snakebites, drowning, lightning inthe state since Thursday (past24 hours)," a report from theRelief Commissioner's officesaid.

Six deaths each werereported in Pratapgarh andRaebareli, five in Amethi, four

each in Chandauli andVaranasi, three each inPrayagraj, Barabanki andMahoba, two in AmbedkarNagar, and one each in Kanpur,Gorakhpur, Sonebhadra,Ayodhya, Saharanpur, Jaunpur,Kaushambi and Azamgarh, theofficials said.

In the wake of continuingrains, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hasdirected the divisional com-missioners and the districtmagistrates to take all mea-sures and extend immediaterelief to those affected, an offi-cial said.

He said the chief ministerhas asked the officials concernedto visit the areas which have beenaffected by rains and witnessingflood-like situation. PTI

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Sending a firm message, theCentral Bureau of

Investigation on Friday direct-ed BJP leader Mukul Roy toappear before its officials latestby Saturday, thus rejecting theformer Railway Minister’srequests to extend the time ofappearance by a few days con-sidering his pre-scheduledpolitical engagements.

Roy has been summonedfor interrogation regarding hisalleged connection to theNarada payoff case in whichthe central Agency made itsfirst arrest on Thursday bytaking into custody IPS officerSMH Mirza who was shown ina sting footage accepting cash— from sting journalist

Mathew Samuel — to berelayed to other people inpower.

Roy was earlier asked toappear before the CBI officerson Friday but he sought a fewdays’ time on account of hisprescheduled political engage-ments. “I told them that two ofour senior party leaders arecoming to Kolkata and I will bewith them all that while and soI requested for some time,” Roysaid adding he would be freefor questioning earliest bySaturday afternoon.

Jammu: A Border SecurityForce personnel committedsuicide by allegedly shootinghimself with his service rifle inJammu & Kashmir's Doda dis-trict, officials said on Friday.

Vinood Kumar, 28, whowas posted as one of the secu-rity guards to the deputy com-missioner, Doda, shot himselfThursday night, they said.

He was shifted to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, theofficials said.

He belonged toMuzaffarnagar in UttarPradesh, they said, adding thebody has been sent to hisnative place for last rites. PTI

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Shahjahanpur (UP): SamajwadiParty workers staged a dharnahere on Friday after not beingallowed to meet the jailed lawstudent, who has accused formerUnion Minister SwamiChinmayanand of rape.

On the directions of theparty president, Akhilesh Yadav,the delegation comprising for-mer spokesman Nahid Lari andformer students union leader ofAllahabad University RichaSingh arrived at the jail wherethe law student is lodged onextortion charges.

On being denied permis-sion to meet the woman, the del-egation and party workers sat ondharna for hours and raised slo-gans against the government.They later visited her residenceto meet her family members.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Richa Singh said that aCPM team was allowed to meetthe woman on Thursday, how-ever, they were denied permis-sion by the jail superintendentas he did not have orders fromhis seniors.

"Our local leaders hadmoved an application for themeeting in the morning itself,"Richa Singh said.

Alleging that the womanwas made to give her statementunder pressure by the SIT, RichaSingh asked if "this is the reali-ty of 'beti bachao-beto padhao'

campaign of the BJP".Nahid Khan said the SIT

has not included sections of rapein the FIR againstChinmayanand and it appearsthat "under the BJP government,cases will be filed after asking theaccused what sections he wantsto include".

Chinmayanand gets pic-tures clicked with Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath and RSS chiefMohan Bhagwat. He was theUnion Minister in Atal BihariVajpayee Government. This isthe reason as to why BJP is sav-ing him, she said.

We have collected informa-tion from the family membersof the woman and will submitthe report to our president. SPis with the victim and her fam-ily, she added. PTI

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Chennai: After being on the runfor over two weeks, a local levelAIADMK functionary wasdetained on Friday in connec-tion with the death of a womantechie after an illegal hoardingput up by him fell on her in a citysuburb, police said.

Jayagopal, a former coun-cillor who had been booked bythe police on charges of attemptto commit culpable homicide,was nabbed from Krishnagiridistrict in western Tamil Nadu,police said.

Amid public outrage, hehad been evading arrest forabout two weeks ever since RSubhashri, the 23-year oldwoman techie riding a two-wheeler, was overrun by a tankerlorry after the illegal hoarding

put up by him for his familywedding fell on her on an arte-rial suburban road here.

The Madras High Court hastaken serious note of the issueand frowned over such illegalbanners besides questioning thedealy in arresting Jayagpal.

The state AdditionalAdvocate General had onWednesday submitted in thecourt that though special teamshave been formed, they were stillnot able to get any clue about hiswhereabouts. PTI

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Ajit Pawar has resigned fromthe post of legislator and thesame has been accepted,Maharashtra Assembly SpeakerHaribhau Bagade said onFriday.

Bagade said he receivedthe resignation of Pawar, formerdeputy CM and nephew ofNCP chief Sharad Pawar, in theevening.

The Speaker said Ajit Pawardid not disclose the reasonwhile tendering the resignation.

"He gave his hand writtenresignation letter to my PS. Hecalled me up from there. I wassurprised. I asked Dada (AjitPawar) why he was doing so.Dada told me he would tell melater. He insisted me to acceptthe resignation letter," Bagadetold a news channel. PTI

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In an anti-climax, NCP pres-ident Sharad Pawar on Friday

cancelled his much-publicisedvisit to EnforcementDirectorate’s office in southMumbai — in connection withthe �25,000 crore MSC Bankscam case registered againsthim— after the ED advisedhim against it and the Mumbaipolice requested him to drophis plan in view of the law andorder situation.

Pawar’s decision not tovisit the ED’s office at BallaradEstate in south Mumbai forwhat he had said to ascertain as“what is my crime all about”,came after Congress’ formerpresident Rahul Gandhi, notedGandhian and anti-corruptioncrusader Anna Hazare andShiv Sena spokesperson SanjayRaut their weight behind him.

Ahead of his scheduledvisit to ED’s office at 2 pm on

Friday, the ED shot off anemail to Pawar, saying that hewas not required to visit to EDon Friday and when it requiredhis presence at its office, theagency would intimate him. Ataround 1 pm, Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Sanjay Barvecalled on Pawar and requestedhim to cancel his visit to theED’s office in view of the lawand order situation in the state.

Talking to media personsoutside his residence at around1.45 pm, Pawar said he hadcancelled his visit to the ED’soffice, as he had received ancommunication from theinvestigation agency that “Iam not required to come theretoday and the agency willinform me when I amrequired” and that the MumbaiPolice Commissioner hadrequested him not to go to EDin view of the law and order sit-uation in the city.

Later in the afternoon,

Pawar tweeted: “I had emaileda letter yesterday, intimating theEnforcement Directorate ofmy visit to their office. Inresponse to my letter, theauthority (ED) informed methat my presence in notrequired today and I will beduly informed if required, inrelation to above mentionedmatter”.

“In this context, the seniorpolice officers from MumbaiPolice personally met andapprised me about law andorder situation in Mumbaiand Maharashtra State, whichthey felt would lead to somedisturbance and thereforerequested me to avoid today’svisit,” Pawar said in anothertweet.

“Considering the aboverequest and to avoid any kindof inconvenience to the com-mon man in Maharashtra, Ihave decided to not visit to theED office,” Pawar added.

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Srinagar: Security around vitalinstallations in Srinagar hasbeen strengthened and freshbunkers set up in and aroundthe city following threats thatterrorists may carry out strikes,officials said on Friday.

They said the security hasbeen beefed up around armycamps, military stations andother formations. Also newbunkers have come up nearmajor hospitals, police instal-lations and the Srinagar airport,

which has been targeted twiceby terrorists in the past, theyadded.

A multi-tier securityarrangement has been activat-ed in some very importantinstallations, they said.

National Security AdvisorAjit Doval had chaired severalmeetings over the past two daysduring which security agenciesdrew his attention towards thethreats posed by Pakistan-sponsored terror outfits who

may stage some demonstrativeand sensational acts of terror.

Troops guarding the armycamps, military stations andother formations have been puton high alert and ordered to beon round the clock vigilance,they said, adding the BSF andCRPF authorities have alsoincreased the security level inand around their installations,particularly in the camps.

The state police has alsodirected police stations andother formations in borderbelts to remain alert, theysaid. PTI

Lucknow: Former RajasthanGovernor Kalyan Singh wason Friday put on trial by a spe-cial CBI court here in the 1992Babri Masjid demolition caseafter he appeared before itresponding to summons.

Special Judge SK Yadav,however, granted bail toSingh, who was Uttar Pradeshchief minister when the 16th-century structure was razedon December 6, 1992. Thejudge also exempted him frompersonal appearance in thecase.

The court is already hold-ing trial of several BJP leaders,including LK Advani, MurliManhor Joshi and UmaBharti, for allegedly conspir-ing to demolish the mosque atthe disputed RamJanmbhoomi-Babri Masjidsite in Ayodhya.

The court had issuedsummons to Singh after histerm as Rajasthan governorexpired in the first week ofthis month, stripping him ofthe constitutional immunityfrom the trial in the case.

Singh was first taken injudicial custody by the courtafter he appeared before it.Special Judge Yadav thenframed charges against himunder various penal offencesand put him on the trial asSingh pleaded "not guilty".

The offences on whichSingh was put on trial includ-ed promoting enmity ongrounds of religion (section153 A), making assertionsprejudicial to national inte-gration (153 B), defiling aplace of worship (295) andcriminal conspiracy (120 B)under the Indian Penal Code.

After framing chargesagainst Singh, the court, how-ever, granted him bail ,responding to a plea by him.

Judge Yadav granted bailto Singh and released him ona personal bond of �2 lakh.Singh's counsel subsequentlyfiled another application, seek-ing exemption for him frompersonal appearance in thecourt during the trial. PTI

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United Nations: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFriday said the various welfareschemes initiated by hisGovernment gave "the world a new hope" for a better tomorrow as he exuded confi-dence that the experience fromthese projects could be benefi-cial to those nations, who like India, are striving fordevelopment.

Addressing the 74th ses-sion of the United NationsGeneral Assembly here, Modisaid, "When a developingcountry is able to successfullyimplement the world's biggestsanitation campaign withinthe 'Clean India Mission',building over 110 million toi-lets in just five years for itscountrymen, all its achieve-ments and outcomes are aninspirational message for theentire world."

The Clean India campaignwas launched by the Modigovernment on Gandhi's birthanniversary on October 2,2014. The components of thegovernment's flagship schemeinclude the construction ofhousehold toilets, communityand public toilets and solidwaste management.

On Tuesday, the Bill andMelinda Gates Foundationhonoured the prime ministerwith the 'Global GoalkeeperAward' for his contributions tothe cleanliness drive and effortsto "improve access to sanitationin India through 'SwachhBharat Abhiyaan'".

Referring to the Aadhaarinitiative, Modi said, "When adeveloping country, launchesfor its citizens, the world'sbiggest digital identificationprogram, giving them a bio-metric identity, thereby ensur-ing they can avail of theirrights, and saves more than 20billion dollars by checking cor-ruption, the modern systemsthat result from it, give theworld a new hope."

Under the Aadhaarscheme, a unique 12-digitnumber is allotted to each andevery registered Indian citizen.This 12-digit number housesbiometric details, address, dateof birth and all major details ofan individual.

Modi underlined that thepublic welfare projects initiat-ed by his government are notis "not confined within theborders of India", but for theentire world. PTI

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United Nations: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFriday told the world that Indiawas initiating a very large cam-paign to make the country aplastic-free nation.Addressing the 74th session ofthe United Nations GeneralAssembly here, Modi called forthe United Nations to be free ofsingle use plastic.

"As I came in here, on a

wall at the entrance to thisbuilding, I noticed the call tomake the United nations free ofsingle use plastic," Modi said.

"I am pleased to informthis august assembly that evenas I am addressing you today,a very large campaign is beingstarted across the entire coun-try to make India free of singleuse plastic," he said during hisaddress. PTI

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United Nations: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFriday said Mahatma Gandhi'smessage of truth and non-vio-lence is very relevant eventoday for peace, developmentand progress.

Addressing the 74th ses-sion of the United NationsGeneral Assembly here, Modi

said it is a very special occa-sion because this year theentire world is celebrating the150th birth anniversary ofGandhi.

"His message of truth andnon-violence is very relevantfor us even today, for peace,development and progress inthe world," Modi said. PTI

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United Nations: Seeking col-lective efforts to address seriousglobal challenges, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in hisUNGA speech on Fridayinvoked famous Tamil philoso-pher Kaniyan Pungundranar'squotes as well as those of SwamiVivekananda to emphasise thata fragmented world is in theinterest of no one.

Addressing the 74th sessionof the United Nations GeneralAssembly here, Prime MinisterModi said in the last five years,India has worked towardsstrengthening its centuries oldgreat tradition of "fraternityamong nations" and welfare ofthe world, which is indeed, inline with the key objectives of

the United Nations.Modi said the issues that

India raises, the kind of newglobal platforms that the coun-try has come forward to build,seek collective efforts to addressserious global challenges andissues. "India is a great culturethat is thousands of years old, aculture that has its own vibranttraditions, and which hasencompassed universal dreams.Our values and culture seedivinity in every being andstrive for the welfare of all."

He said the very core ofIndia's approach is public wel-fare through public participa-tion and this public welfare isnot just for the country but forthe entire world. PTI

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United Nations: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidon Friday the world was wit-nessing a "new era" with mod-ern technological advancesand urged the internationalcommunity to give a newdirection to multilateralismand to the United Nations.

Prime Minister Modidelivered his much-awaitedsecond address to the annualUnited Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) sessionhere.

For long, India has beencalling for the reform of theUN Security Council along

with Brazil, Germany andJapan. The four countries sup-port each others' bids for thepermanent seats in the top UNbody.

"In this new era, we haveto give new energy and direc-tion to multilateralism and theUnited Nations," Modi said.

India has repeatedly reaf-firmed the need for an earlyreform of the UN SecurityCouncil including the expan-sion of both permanent andnon-permanent categories ofmembership to enhance itslegitimacy, effectiveness andrepresentativeness. PTI

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Anumber of critical developments,pertaining to climate change,held centrestage among eventsmarking the week that isapproaching its end. The one that

stood out for its importance in terms of itsimpact on governmental actions was theUnited Nations Climate Action Summit(UNCAS) in New York on September 23.There were demonstrations of youths andschool children in an estimated 185 countriesto accelerate the implementation of steps tocombat global warming.

The first was convened by the UnitedNations Secretary-General, António Guterres,to accelerate and strengthen governmentalefforts to restrict the rise in global temper-ature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial revolution level. According to TheSpecial Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C(The Special Report), released by theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) on October 7, 2018, this level is like-ly to be reached sometime between 2030 and2052. Perhaps more alarming is the fact thatthe report states that the risk of global warm-ing and its adverse impact will not be reducedeven if the increase is limited to 1.5 degreesCelsius. Sea levels will continue to rise beyond2100, threatening coastal ecosystems andinfrastructure. Flooding, drought andextreme weather events will wreak havocaround the world. Many species will contin-ue to be driven towards extinction andmarine ecosystems could face “irreversibleloss.” All this is widely known, as is whatneeds to be done to limit global warming to1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrialrevolution level. IPCC lists a number of these,including those requiring an unprecedent-ed reduction in fossil-fuel use by half in lessthan 15 years, and a total elimination of theiruse in 30 years.

This will require drastic changes in pub-lic policies and life-styles. There will have tobe no gas or oil heating of homes, businessor industry establishments; no running ofvehicles by diesel or gasoline; closing downof all coal and gas power plants; and whole-sale conversion of the petrochemical indus-try to green chemistry. Heavy industries likesteel and aluminium will have to use carbon-free energy sources or employ technology tocapture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions andpermanently store these.

The Special Report further states thatdepending on the speed at which emissionsare reduced, between 0.4 and 2.7 millionsquare miles of land may have to be convert-ed to growing bioenergy crops and up to 3.86million square miles of forests added by 2050.Even that, it says, will not be enough. Everypound of CO2 emitted in the last 100 yearswill continue to trap heat in the atmospherefor hundreds of years to come. By 2045 or2050, there will still be excessive CO2 in theatmosphere.

The current pledges to cut CO2 emissionsare so inadequate that the global warming rate

is set to rise by at least threedegrees Celsius by 2100, riskingnatural tipping points such asthawing of large areas of per-mafrost. President DonaldTrump’s withdrawal of the USfrom the Paris Agreement hasmade things worse. While itwould become effective from2020, steps to dismantle measuresto implement the goals by theParis Agreement, as well as otherenvironmental regulations, havealready been initiated. The mostrecent of these has been the rever-sal of automobile emission rules.Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro wants toopen up the Amazon to freshcommercial activity. ThoughChina is taking steps to curbemissions, its state-owned com-panies want to take up coal pro-jects at home and abroad.

An important cause of poorprogress on the environmentfront has been the close linksbetween corporations and polit-ical leaders. Here, two develop-ments require attention. Thefirst is the UN’s 195-nation cli-mate science body’s approval onTuesday of the IPCC’s SpecialReport on the Ocean andCryosphere in a ChangingClimate, detailing the dire impactof global warming on oceans andearth’s frozen zones and high-lighting the urgency of prioritis-ing timely, ambitious and coor-dinated action to addressunprecedented and enduringchanges in the ocean and cryos-phere. The second is UNCAS’

decision to set up a new leader-ship group, led by India andSweden, to help guide the world’sheaviest greenhouse gas emittingindustries towards a low carboneconomy. Both measures have tobe welcomed with the rider — itwill all depend on the results.

Public pressure is veryimportant. I had written in thesecolumns under the heading“Chronicle of a death foretold”(Published in The Pioneer onOctober 13, 2018), “The answerclearly lies in building up pressurefrom below to compelGovernments to take politically-difficult decisions and groups ofpeople to abandon their opposi-tion to measures critically impor-tant for combating global warm-ing, which affect their individualor sectional interests. This wouldrequire a mass movement. Thelatter is also necessary to persuadepeople to give up ways of living— such as compulsive use of airconditioners — that conduce toglobal warming and adoptlifestyles — shifts to vegetariandiets — that hinder it.”

An early indication that atransnational mass movementdemanding urgent action onglobal warming was in theworks came in the form of theexplosive youth movementstarted by the 16-year-oldSwedish school girl, GretaThunberg, just over 12 monthsago, when people protestedfrom the Pacific islands, throughAustralia, across Southeast Asia

and Africa into Europe andonwards to the Americas. Thenext notable indication camewhen Wee Rebellion, a youngpeoples’ group combatting cli-mate change and associatedwith a bigger group, ExtinctionRebellion, held a “die-in” protestdemonstration on April 27,2019. Referred to in my columnin The Pioneer titled, “Sign up fora new crusade” (May 2, 2019),it involved protesters in France,Australia, New Zealand,Finland, Sweden, Norway, Italy,the Netherlands and the UnitedKingdom, lying on the groundat transport hubs and culturaland shopping centres on April27, demanding action to preventan environmental collapse.

All earlier events were, how-ever, overshadowed by the mas-sive demonstrations staged in 185countries on September 21, 2019,by youths who were joined byadults. These issued stridentdemands for urgent action tolimit greenhouse gas emissionsand stabilise the climate. The cli-max was Thunberg’s stingingspeech at the UN on September23, where she warned worldleaders, “The eyes of all futuregenerations are upon you. And ifyou choose to fail us, I say we willnever forgive you.”

The tocsin has been sound-ed. The crusade of the young andold has begun.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor))������������#�������������(

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Sir — This refers to a surveyreleased by a Pune-based RSS-linked think-tank, Drishti StreeAdhyayan Prabhodhan Kendra,which has said that marriedwomen had a higher level ofhappiness, “whereas the lowestpercentage was among thosewho had live-in relationships.” Ithas also said that happinessdepends on a woman’s age, edu-cation and marital status and hasnothing to do with income.Happiness is very subjective.How one measures it is the realquestion and that differs fromperson to person.

Well, indirectly, it may be saidthat if an average person feelssecure in his/her life and if everynow and then the peace of mindis not disturbed, one is consideredto be happy. But how should oneattain happiness? Nobody earnsthe peace of mind either byhis/her own existence or throughpersonal income? It comesthrough social security.

A couple, who is enjoying alifestyle called living together, ifless happy compared to a mar-ried couple, then the needle ofsuspicion points to the admin-

istration in general which restson certain beliefs in a society,termed as “morals.” Any surveydone with a specific purpose andwhen a political leader isinvolved speaks volumes about“ideological” propaganda.

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Sir — The Reserve Bank of India’s(RBI) decision to increase thecash withdrawal limit to �10,000per account-holder from theexisting �1,000 has come as amajor relief to the hapless cus-

tomers of the crippled Punjab &Maharashtra Cooperative bank.Some of the ill decisions of thebank landed the depositors in asoup. The present crisis speaksvolumes about the the governancestructure of cooperative banks.Needless to say, the PMC’s prox-imity with a real estate company

made matters worse. The RBImust revisit the regulatory frame-work of cooperative banks.

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Sir — Desperate to secure a secondterm, US President Donald Trumpis ready to do all it takes to achievehis goal. He has gone all out todestroy the man who, he thinks, willsquare up to him in the next pres-idential contest, former VicePresident Joe Biden. Trump seemsto have taken a leaf out of the bookof leaders who try to destroy theiropponents politically, or even oth-erwise, before elections. But opin-ion is divided on the moves beingmade to impeach Trump. TheRepublicans, save a few, have ralliedbehind him. It is too early to saywhether the Democrats will be ableto oust their bete noire but they arebound to go to any length toembarrass and discredit Trump andthe Republicans in time for the nextpresidential poll.

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One of the critical sectors to have sufferedduring the first term of the NarendraModi Government was agriculture, with

just 2.9 per cent growth, down from 4.3 per centduring the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA’s)second term.

Even though agriculture continues to be themain driver of the economy of rural India,declining prices of farm commodities in the inter-national market and fall in food inflation in thecountry have reduced the returns from farming.Small and fragmented land holdings on accountof repeated divisions have also contributed to thedecline in agri-incomes. Hence, there is a needfor providing structured income support to smallgrowers, for procuring seeds, fertilisers, equip-ment, labour and so on. Such support will helpthem in avoiding indebtedness as well and fallinginto the clutches of money lenders. Fortunately,the Government is aware of the crisis in the farmsector and the aim of the Union Budget 2019-20 is to revive the ailing rural economy. However,as in all things, implementation would be the keyto success here.

The agriculture sector needs care and visionnot just because over 70 per cent of the peopleof the country are still dependent on it for theirlivelihood but also because it will play a key rolein India becoming a $5 trillion economy as envi-sioned by the Prime Minister. The Budget hascome with multiple measures and promises,which will add not only vibrancy to the farm sec-tor but will also lay the foundation for its sus-tainable growth.

At a time when a farmer’s son does not wantto pursue his family’s age-old occupation becauseof the multiple challenges as well as lack ofreturns, there is an immediate need to make agri-culture more enterprising. The announcementto create 75,000 skilled agriculture entrepreneursin the country is a novel move and if taken toits logical conclusion, will unleash the innova-tive and enterprising spirit in rural India. It willalso dispel the image of the farm sector beingdependent only on hand-outs and encouragegrowers to be self-reliant. There are many suc-cessful models of skill development increasing-ly leading to rural youth becoming entrepreneursin the areas of mechanisation, input suppliers andadvisory services in the private sector.

The emphasis on creating more PublicPrivate Partnerships (PPPs), therefore, in creat-ing agri-businesses will go a long way. In mostof the countries, including the United States (US),PPPs have played an important role in value cre-ation in agriculture. Unfortunately in India,which adopted the policy of liberalisation wayback in 1991, the pace of PPPs in the agriculturesector has not been so bullish. This new push willalso improve the low percentage of private sec-tor investment in the agriculture sector.

Another announcement in the Union Budgetregarding creation of around 10,000 moreFarmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) is aimedat enhancing the collective decision-makingpower of the farming community. However, themajor thing to watch out for over here would beimplementation, as many of the FPOs createdthus far have not been able to achieve the objec-tive of improving the collective bargainingpower of farmers in India. The focus on incul-

cating more professionalism will ensurethat the FPOs are successful and hereagain the experience of the private sec-tor can be harnessed in the PPP mode.The vision of the Government to turnfarmers into powerhouses instead ofdole receivers will unleash a new waveof entrepreneurial spirit in rural Indiaand strengthen the aim of theGovernment to double farmers’ incomeby 2022.

Overall the clear articulation of theGovernment’s focus on “Gaon, Gariband Kisan” will hopefully translateinto many more initiatives where theprivate sector can partner with thegrowers. The Budget shows a rarecommitment for not only providing theimpetus that the farmers need througha series of progressive programmes butalso creates for them an enablingecosystem by ensuring electricity, accessto cooking gas, roads, housing and hon-ing their entrepreneurial abilities.

The Finance Minister has rightlypointed out that the ‘Ease of DoingBusiness’ and the ‘Ease of Living’should apply equally to farmers too,going beyond the conventional frame-work, which looked at farmers only vis-à-vis his field and not his entire lifecycle. All these measures will give a fur-ther boost to the schemes already inexistence like Grameen and the onlineagri-trade portal, e-Nam, and so on andtake agriculture on the path of consis-tent high growth.

It is heartening indeed that theGovernment has not allowed numbersto be an issue and this is reflected in theallocations for the farm and allied sec-tors. Against the Budget 2018-19

(revised) estimates of �86,602 crore foragriculture and allied activities, Budget2019-20 proposed to invest �1,51,518crore in this sector. The Governmenthas also been pushing for the imple-mentation of schemes aimed at shift-ing focus from a production-led toincome-led strategy.

To achieve this objective, theGovernment is urging farmers to adoptthe multi-dimensional seven-pointstrategy suggested by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. This includes empha-sis on irrigation along with end-to-endsolutions on creation of resources for‘More crop, per drop’; provision of qual-ity seeds and nutrients according to thesoil quality of each farm; large invest-ments in warehouses and cold chainsto prevent post-harvest losses, promo-tion of value-addition through foodprocessing; creation of a national farmmarket, removing distortions and e-Nam across 585 stations; introductionof a new crop insurance scheme to mit-igate risks at an affordable cost and pro-motion of ancillary activities like poul-try, bee-keeping and fisheries.

The Agriculture Export Policy,2018 is another important initiative,which the current regime has undertak-en. It has a stated objective of doublingfarmers’ income by 2022 and theexport of agricultural products will playa pivotal role in achieving this goal. Thepolicy aims to harness the exportpotential of farm products through suit-able instruments, make India a globalpower in agriculture and raise farmers’income. It intends to double farmexports from the present $30 billion toover $60 billion by 2022 and reach $100

billion in the next few years thereafter,with a stable trade policy regime.There is no denying the fact that thereis a need to diversify our export basket,destinations and boost high-value andvalue-added agricultural exports,including perishables, and promotenovel, indigenous, organic, ethnic, tra-ditional and non-traditional farmexports. There is also a need to providean institutional mechanism for pursu-ing market access, tackling barriers anddealing with sanitary and phytosanitaryissues.

As harnessing the potential of agri-culture is a matter of long-term plan-ning, the Government is rightlyfocussing on infrastructure and logis-tics upgradation, greater involvementof State Governments in agri-exports,clusters, value-added exports, privateinvestments in production and process-ing, establishment of a strong qualityregimen and research and development.

The Government aims to investwidely in agriculture infrastructureand allied areas and will seek supportfrom entrepreneurs for value-additionin the farm sector, especially in the foodprocessing industry. One hopes that pri-vate entrepreneurships play a pivotalrole in driving value-addition to farm-ers’ produce and generate renewableenergy. The time is ripe to make themost of India’s farm potential and scripta new story of success, which will bringan everlasting smile on the faces of mil-lions of farmers.

(The writer is Chief SustainabilityOfficer of an agricultural products man-ufacturing company and the viewsexpressed in the article are personal)

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The period drama Mad Menbased in the 1960s America,pilots with an advertising com-

pany tasked with selling cigarettes asa “safe” product in response to a fair-ly new research claiming otherwise.They appealed to the aesthetic andbrand managed cigarette to stand formore than just a product, a cultivat-ed taste. Liquor, cigarettes and otherinjurious products have all been soldas acquired taste, though it is nosecret that smoking will lead to ill-nesses, including lung cancer. Assuch, there has never been anyshortfall in its demand.

The E-cigarette, once considereda healthier substitute, is being tout-ed as the new-age addiction on sim-ilar lines as cigarette. Unburnt nico-tine used in e-cigarette was consid-ered preferable to byproducts like tarand burned nicotine produced onsmoking. At present only 0.02 percent people in the country use it butglobally it is being conjectured to riseto the level of an epidemic.

If smoking cigarettes is injuri-ous to health; vaping is not only (lit-

tle less) injurious to health but alsoheavy on the pockets. The instru-ment used for vaping was alreadycostly and now as per the Prohibitionof Electronic Cigarettes (production,manufacture, import, export, trans-port, sale, distribution, storage andadvertisement) Ordinance, 2019,consumption, production, manu-facturing, import, export, transport,sale, distribution, storage and adver-tisement of e-cigarettes wouldbecome illegal. Fines would rangefrom �50,000 to �5 lakh and impris-onment from six months to threeyears.

Is it not true that like gums,lozenges and patches and evenElectronic Nicotine Delivery System(ENDS) were developed as an alter-native to smoking which is a defin-itive cause of cancer? TheGovernment cites a US study whichstates that youth and children are theparties at risk of addiction. If adoles-cents are at risk, then is it not pos-sible to regulate it like liquor andtobacco instead of putting in place ablanket ban?

As acorollary, itwas seen thatshares oftobacco com-panies likeITC gained1.8 per cent;G o d f r e yPhillips Indiasoared 7.8 percent, VSTI n d u s t r i e srose 1 per centand GoldenTobacco advanced 4.5 per cent onannouncement of the ordinance.The Centre and State Governmentshave been accused of helping the cig-arette industry in the past. In 2017,auction of custom-seized/confiscat-ed cigarettes without pictorial warn-ing was banned. Prima facie, thisseems like a well-intended objective.But you scratch the surface and yourealise that this only means thatimported cigarettes cannot be sold inIndia (as they do not have pictorialwarning) while the big Indian brands

continue tooperate open-ly. Is theGovernmentcorrect in dis-tinguishing e-c i g a r e t t e sfrom ciga-rettes? Article14 of theConstitutionprovides forre a s on ab l eclassificationbased on

“intelligible differentia,” somethingwhich is capable of being under-stood. Logically vaping is nothing buta sub-set of smoking and theGovernment is free to ban res extracommercium (a thing outside com-merce). As per recorded data though,there are manifold smokers thanvapers in the country. The recent stepraises eyebrows on why have ciga-rettes not been banned in equal mea-sure like e-cigarettes. Is it “welfare”alone or the fact that the economy,at the moment, is in the doldrums

and a fresh impetus is needed fromwherever possible? Last year’s data ofboth ITC and Golden Tobacco showsthat they have been in the red.Godfrey Phillips India Limited wasin the red for the past six months.

It is acknowledged that startingfrom 2014, vaping has already beenbanned in 15 States and two UnionTerritories, including Punjab,Karnataka, Mizoram, Kerala, UttarPradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, TamilNadu, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh,Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Odisha,Nagaland. UTs include Jammu andKashmir and Puducherry. Yet allthese places freely allow sale ofordinary cigarettes.

No one is suggesting that theGovernment should not regulateaddictive products but all actionmust bear a reasonable nexus withobject it wants to achieve. Is it onlyhealth and curbing addiction or is iteconomics too?

In the case of Murli S Deora onthe ban on smoking in public, theapex court opined that “Tobacco isuniversally regarded as one of the

major public health hazards and isresponsible directly or indirectly foran estimated eight lakh deaths annu-ally in the country. It has also beenfound that treatment of tobacco-related diseases and the loss of pro-ductivity caused therein cost thecountry almost �13,500 crore annu-ally, which more than offsets all thebenefits accruing in the form of rev-enue and employment generated bytobacco industry.” Perhaps regulat-ing sale/consumption of e-cigarettesalong with normal cigarettes was thebest way forward, health wise as well.

There is no lesser evil here. Allintake is harmful, and should be reg-ulated on the same yardstick.Chewing tobacco and smoking areboth proven health hazards and anybeneficial steps by the Governmentto better health under Article 47 ofthe Constitution will always be wel-comed. But the steps should not beseen to protect one hazardous indus-try at the cost of another.

(Srivastava is Law Officer inMSTC Ltd, and Kant is a SupremeCourt Advocate)

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday said

various ministries have cleared�40,000 crore out of �60,000crore due mainly to MSMEs forsupply of goods and services,and the remaining amount notlocked in litigation too will bepaid by the first week of nextmonth.

The Minister also saidMinistries and departmentshave been asked to providetheir detailed capital expendi-ture plans for the next fourquarters as the Governmentlooks to boost growth by giv-ing a push to spending.

“Government should notsit on over due payments...Theidea here is to ensure thatthere are no outstanding duesto services and goods suppliedto different departments.

“My intention is to havegovernment departments clearall pending payments whoev-er it should go,” she said aftermeeting top officials of 21 keyinfrastructure ministries.

The meeting assumes sig-nificance as the Government istaking various steps, includinga big reduction in corporate taxrates, to push the economicgrowth that slowed to a six-yearlow of 5 per cent during the firstquarter of the current fiscal.

Expenditure Secretary GCMurmu, who was also presentat the Press conference, said themost infrastructure ministrieshave reached 50 per cent oftheir capex target for the cur-rent fiscal.

Expenditures, both revenueand capital, made by the UnionGovernment provides a majorboost to aggregate demand.Total expenditure projection ofthe Central Government for2019-20 as per the Budget is�27.86 lakh crore. Of this, cap-ital expenditure is budgeted at�3.38 lakh crore.

The Finance Minister saidthe Government’s capitalexpenditure was on track andBudget estimates would bemet. She added the consump-tion was on the rise and cred-

it offtake was growing, whichtogether should result in“bouyancy” in the economy.

To a query on the fiscal dis-cipline with rebate in corporatetax and expenditure, the min-ister said the government willreconcile fiscal deficit numberslater. The Finance Ministerwill be meeting heads of pub-lic sector enterprises onSaturday to review capitalexpenditure plans.

Giving details, Murmu saidapart from the budgeted allo-cation under capital head of�3.38 lakh crore for 2019-20,the total amount given to min-istries/ departments as Grant inAid (GIA) for creation of capital assets amounts to�2.07 lakh crore.

Thus the total amountavailable for CAPEX for 2019-20 is �5.45 lakh crore and thetotal CAPEX till August undercapital head has been reportedat �1.36 lakh crore (40.28 percent) and that under GIA hasbeen reported at �0.82 lakhcrore (39.7 per cent) totalling�2.18 lakh crore (40 per cent),he added.

Apart from GrossBudgetary Support (GBS),ministries have been sanc-tioned �0.57 lakh crore extrabudgetary resource (EBR), outof which �0.46 lakh crore hasbeen approved.

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Mumbai: Union road transportminister Nitin Gadkari onFriday said using bio-fuels canreduce crude oil imports whichwill help save foreign exchange on one hand alsoachieve the USD 5-trillion GDPgoal by 2025. Gadkari said hisministry has taken various stepsto promote bio-fuels likeethanol and butanol which arenot only feasible but also desir-able for the nation as it will alsohelp reduce the emissions.

“Every year we spendaround �7 lakh crore on oilimports. In this scenario if wehave alternate bio-fuels likeethanol and butanol which canbe used in cars and aircraft,why should we not explorethose options. They are not justcheap but also pollution-free,”Gadkari said.

He said the aviation sectorimports �40,000 crore worth offuel and if they explore bio-fuels, it opens a �40,000-croremarket for domestic players.

“Aviation bio-fuels arewidely accepted in the US andBritain. If we also use it, we willsave lots of foreign exchange,”Gadkari said, adding steps arebeing taken to reduce coalimports as well.

“We are studying the feasi-bility of using napier grasswhich has higher calorific valueinstead of coal. I strongly feelthat if we undertake these mea-sures, we will be able to achieveour USD 5-trillion GDP target,”he said. PTI

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As decks are being cleared forprivatisation of national

carrier Air India, Governmentis considering five key sugges-tions given by Ajay Singh-con-trolled SpiceJet to make India aglobal aviation hub.

Niti Aayog, the govern-ment’s think tank, has writtento the Civil Aviation Ministryfor giving its recommenda-tion on the five concessionssought by SpiceJet.

Although forwarded bySpiceJet, the suggestions havebeen termed as recommenda-tion of Indian carriers.

Official sources said thatNiti Aayog in a letter to CivilAviation Ministry last monthforwarded the recommenda-tions on “industry-wide con-cerns and recommendation ofIndian carriers for urgent intervention.” The key pro-posals include bringing jet fuelunder GST, making India glob-al aviation hub and developingcommercially viable alternatefuel supply. SpiceJet is learnt tohave pointed out that foreignairlines ferry 60 per cent ofIndia’ international traffic pri-marily due to scarcity of wide-body aircraft in India.

“Niti Aayog’s infrastruc-ture connectivity vertical hadwritten to the AviationMinistry. The matter is beingconsidered on urgent basis,” a

source told IANS.Air India is the only carri-

er after Jet Airways’ shutdownwhich has wide-body aircraftand is a dominant player on theinternational routes. Changesin tax regime would make AirIndia attractive for potentialbidders. While no Indian car-rier has so far shown interest inacquiring Air India, expertsconsider SpiceJet as a strongcontender.

Acquisition of Air Indiawill allow a rival carrier to getsome of the best flying slots andflying rights to operate interna-tional services. The sizeablefleet of Air India would allow theacquirer to instantly strengtheninternational operations.

A ministerial panel headedby Home Minister Amit Shahis currently working on con-tours of Air India’s disinvest-ment. The panel held its firstmeeting last week but could nottake any major decision.

Civil Aviation MinisterHardeep Singh Puri, who is amember of the panel, toldreporters that another meetingwould soon happen to take callon terms of sale.

Among many issues onthe meeting agenda was trans-ferring more debt, over andabove �29,464 crore decidedearlier, to Air India AssetsHoldings Ltd (AIAHL) to makethe deal attractive for privateparties.

New Delhi: The Governmentwill launch fourth tranche ofBharat-22 ETF on October 3,which will help garner up to�8,000 crore from investors,sources said. They added theissue will open for anchorinvestors on October 3 and forother institutional and retailinvestors, the next day. Theinvestors would get a 3 per centdiscount over the issue price.

“The offer is likely to havea base issue size of �2,000crore, with a green-shoe optionto retain another �6,000 crore,taking the total amount to�8,000 crore,” a source privy tothe development said.

The decision has beentaken after receiving robustresponse for earlier stake saleby the Government in theproduct. The Government hasso far raised around �35,900crore through the Bharat-22Exchange Traded Fund —�14,500 crore was garnered inNovember 2017, another�8,400 crore was mopped up inJune 2018 and �13,000 crore inFebruary this year. PTI

New Delhi: Vendors of now-defunct HomeShop18 onFriday alleged that theteleshopping firm committed afraud of �150-200 crore by notpaying them the dues even afterselling their products on its net-work and collecting moneyfrom customers.

“HomeShop18 has fraudu-lently not paid around �200crore collected from the cus-tomers on behalf of 150 sellers,who have sold their productsthrough its platform fromMarch,” Khatter said at a pressconference here.

The HomeShop18 VendorsAssociation, which claimed to

represent around 150 vendors ofthe company, has filed a com-plaint with the police and theMinistry of Corporate Affairs.“The dues (of �150-200 crore)have been accrued since Marchthis year and the company closedits business in June,”HomeShop18 VendorsAssociation President HimanshuKhatter said. Reliance did notrespond to e-mail and repeatedphone calls seeking comments.

Reliance Industries boughtHomeShop18 as part of a 2014deal to acquire Network 18Media and Investments Ltdfrom its founder Raghav Bahl.

PTI

New Delhi: Promotion of pub-lic procurement portal GeMwill now be included in annualperformance assessment report(APAR) of central civil serviceofficers as one of the parametersin their appraisal form. Thecommerce ministry launchede-Marketplace (GeM) for publicprocurement of goods and ser-vices in August 2016 with anobjective to create an open andtransparent procurement plat-form for the government agen-cies, ministries and departments.

The value of total annualGovernment procurement is

estimated at �8 lakh crore.According to an official mem-orandum, “to ensure that thisdigital e-commerce portal forprocurement of goods and ser-vices is appropriately utilised byall the ministries/departments,it has been decided, with theapproval of the competentauthority, that a reflection ofthe work done through GeMby the Officer Reported Uponshall be made in the APAR ofGroup A, B and C officersbelonging to central civil ser-vices (other than All IndiaServices)”. PTI

New Delhi: Telecom regulatorTrai has extended, to November11, the deadline for implemen-tation of new mobile numberportability rules for consumerswanting to switch to a newoperator without changing theirmobile number.

The revamped mobile num-ber portability (MNP) or port

out rules aim to makes theentire process faster and simpler,and Trai has prescribed twodays timeline for port outrequests within a service area,cutting the migration processfrom seven days.

The deadline for imple-mentation of MNP Regulations,which was earlier slated to comeinto effect from September 30,2019, was extended after the tele-

com operators and MNP ServiceProviders (MNPSPs) soughtmore time to perform testingbefore migration to the newprocess, in order to ensure thatsubscribers are not inconve-nienced. “According to theresponses provided by TSPs(telecom service providers),MNPSPs and TelecomDepartment; the authority...Hasextended the timeline for imple-

mentation of ...Mobile NumberPortability Regulations, fromSeptember 30, 2019 toNovember 11, 2019,” Trai said ina statement. Trai had issuedmobile number portability reg-ulations in December, and therevised process was scheduled tocome into force from September30, 2019. The push back in time-lines is expected to offer a reliefto operators. PTI

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The rupee spurted by 32paise to close at a nearly

two-month high against the UScurrency on Friday as crude oilprices receded followingreports that Saudi Arabia hadagreed on a temporary cease-fire in Yemen.

The domestic currencyclosed higher by 0.44 per centat 70.56 to the US dollar, a levelnot seen since August 2 whenit had ended at 69.60.

The rupee had openedweak and declined to the day’slow of 70.93 in early trade dueto a stronger dollar and lossesin stock markets. Easing crudeoil prices provided a fillip to thelocal currency that reversedlosses in the mid-session andclimbed to an intra-day high of70.53, before finally ending at70.56. The local unit notchedup gains of 38 paise on a week-ly basis.

Global crude oil pricesdropped on Friday after reportsthat Saudi Arabia has agreed toa partial ceasefire in Yemenagainst Houthi rebels, reducingrisk of military action by itsallies. PTI

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New Delhi (PTI): India’s crude oilimports from the US have jumped byover 72 per cent in the first five monthsof the current fiscal as the country looksto diversify oil purchases beyond its tra-ditional suppliers in the Middle East,official data showed.

According to data sourced from theDirectorate General of CommercialIntelligence and Statistics, the US suppliedabout 4.5 million tonnes of crude oil dur-

ing April to August 2019 as compared to2.6 million tonnes oil sourced from thatcountry in the same period a year back.

Iraq continues to be India’s topcrude oil supplier, meeting close to one-fourth of the country’s oil needs. Iraq sold21.24 million tonnes of crude oil to Indiaduring April to August, almost 12 percent more than 18.99 million tonnes ithad supplied in the same period of theprevious fiscal. India provisionally

imported 91.24 million tonnes of crudeoil in April-August 2019, down from93.91 million tonnes a year back.

Saudi Arabia has traditionally beenIndia’s top oil source, but it was for thefirst time dethroned by Iraq in the 2017-18 fiscal year. Saudi Arabia, which hassince then been relegated to the secondspot, exported 17.74 million tonnes ofcrude oil, up from 15.66 million tonnesin the previous year.

India stopped importing crude oilfrom Iran following the reimposition ofeconomic sanctions in May by the US,pushing down imports from the PersianGulf nation to just 2 million tonnes from13.3 million tonnes in the previous year,according to the data. Nigeria grabbed thethird spot vacated by Iran. The Africannation supplied 7.17 million tonnes ofcrude oil in April-August, up from 5.81million tonnes a year back.

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Equity benchmarks closedwith losses after a volatilesession on Friday, large-

ly in tandem with other Asianmarkets, as optimism over theUS-China trade talks was off-set by rising political uncer-tainty in Washington.

After swinging 325 pointsintra-day, the BSE Sensexended 167.17 points, or 0.43per cent, lower at 38,822.57.Similarly, the broader NSENifty shed 58.80 points, or0.51 per cent, to end at11,512.40.

However, the indices post-ed strong numbers for theweek. The Sensex advanced807.95 points or 2.12 per cent,while the Nifty gained 238.20

points or 2.11 per cent duringthe week.

Top laggards in the Sensexpack on Friday were Vedanta,IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, TataSteel, ONGC, Tata Motors,Sun Pharma, M&M, TCS andHero MotoCorp, dropping upto 5.39 per cent.

On the other hand, BajajFinance, Bharti Airtel, ITC,RIL, Kotak Bank and NTPCemerged as the top gainers, ris-ing up to 1.61 per cent.

According to traders, opti-mism over the upcoming US-China trade talks faded asmarket volatility increased onconcerns over US PresidentDonald Trump’s impeachmentinquiry, keeping globalinvestors on the edge.

In Asia, Hang Seng, Nikkei

and Kospi ended in the red,while Shanghai CompositeIndex settled on a positivenote.

Stock exchanges in Europewere trading in the green intheir respective early sessions.

“The Sensex gained 2 percent in the week as the marketsentiment remained positiveafter the previous week’s gov-ernment announcement ofreducing corporate tax rates...Global markets remained lack-lustre though, especially the USmarkets, which was weak oncontinued trade tensions withChina and initiation ofimpeachment proceedingsagainst President Trump.

“Going ahead the focuswould shift to trade talks relat-ed development between US

and China and earningsannouncements,” said SanjeevZarbade, VP PCG Research,Kotak Securities.

Sectorally, BSE metal, real-ty, healthcare, auto, basic mate-rials, industrials, oil and gas,capital goods and utilitiesindices ended up to 2.77 percent lower.

Telecom and energy spurt-ed up to 1.53 per cent.

The broader BSE midcapand smallcap indices mirroredthe benchmarks, dropping upto 0.81 per cent.

On the currency front, therupee appreciated 20 paise to70.67 against the US dollar(intra-day).

Brent crude futures slipped0.33 per cent to USD 62.55 perbarrel.

New Delhi (PTI): Swiss-based EST Group on Friday saidit is planning to invest USD 250million (around ̀ 1,770 crore) innext 18 months into Indian star-tups that are focused on fintechapplications and related businessmodels. The group is very bull-ish about India market andbelieves that when markets areslow they provide new opportu-nities, its chief executive officerand director Sindhu Bhaskarsaid in a statement.

“India’s largest asset is itsintelligent and educated humancapital and it is important to usethese resources by allowing themto innovate in a problem area andthen giving access to capital,” headded. “EST Group is planningto invest USD 250 million in next18 months into India-based star-tups focused on fintech applica-tions and related business mod-els that will plug into largerEST’s vision of building an aggre-gated platform for capital that willallocate impactfully to helpgrowth sectors in our economy,”the statement noted.

Sajid Jamal, who is headingthe venture fund of EST Group,said capital is not scarce but scat-tered and EST’s vision is toaggregate unused capital byinvesting in technology and thenuse AI voice command technol-ogy to disburse capital to SMEs,startups and agriculture verticals.

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New Delhi (PTI): Thecountry’s largest carmakerMaruti Suzuki India (MSI) onFriday said it had reduced theprice of its performance hatch-back Baleno RS by �1 lakh.Earlier this week, MSI hadreduced prices of select modelsby �5,000 (on ex-showroomprices). These included all vari-ants of Alto 800, Alto K10,Swift Diesel, Celerio, BalenoDiesel, Ignis, Dzire Diesel, TourS Diesel, Vitara Brezza and S-Cross, MSI said in a statement.These models are priced in therange of �2.93 lakh and �11.49lakh. In a regulatory filing, MSIsaid that along with the abovereduction, it had also reducedthe ex-showroom price ofBaleno RS by �1 lakh. Themodel now starts at a price of�7,88,913 (ex-showroom Delhi).

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Script Open High Low LTPPHOENIXLTD 708.00 708.00 680.35 687.55YESBANK 50.00 52.85 48.40 48.80BAJFINANCE 4000.00 4084.45 3988.80 4065.35RELIANCE 1293.80 1314.90 1284.00 1308.75MARUTI 6852.30 6909.90 6739.30 6773.15SBIN 283.00 286.05 280.00 281.25INFY 788.00 794.25 780.05 782.35IBULHSGFIN 412.05 414.25 383.65 389.45ZEEL 285.45 289.50 271.40 273.75TATAMOTORS 122.50 122.50 118.25 119.90ICICIBANK 449.80 451.75 443.75 449.15INDUSINDBK 1544.00 1545.00 1470.80 1483.05HDFC 2063.25 2096.65 2025.95 2035.85TATASTEEL 374.00 374.05 358.00 359.55BPCL 476.00 481.60 466.15 469.65AXISBANK 701.90 707.50 692.80 700.85ITC 250.60 258.10 250.10 252.90PEL 1830.05 1830.05 1711.00 1726.55HDFCBANK 1249.80 1253.00 1237.75 1244.15RBLBANK 384.00 388.30 361.00 366.40VEDL 166.10 166.10 156.40 157.20EDELWEISS 109.75 110.70 105.00 105.70HINDPETRO 306.80 312.50 302.00 305.60BANKBARODA 94.90 96.70 93.85 95.15TCS 2087.00 2087.00 2053.00 2056.70HDFCLIFE 567.00 585.00 567.00 582.75ASHOKLEY 73.40 73.40 71.20 71.90STAR 332.00 332.00 297.05 304.20ESCORTS 610.50 610.50 584.70 590.50JINDALSTEL 107.55 108.00 102.05 102.85KOTAKBANK 1623.90 1650.00 1606.10 1644.20ONGC 137.45 137.45 130.50 131.45HEG 1139.65 1146.90 1016.60 1026.50BAJAJFINSV 8472.00 8575.00 8401.85 8546.20TITAN 1290.00 1293.00 1265.15 1284.35IOC 146.40 147.65 144.20 145.35MCX 981.95 1019.95 971.00 1009.60ICICIPRULI 451.00 464.25 446.20 458.75GRAPHITE 340.90 342.85 314.50 316.50NMDC 94.00 96.45 90.85 91.45FEDERALBNK 94.00 95.50 92.30 93.75LT 1486.75 1491.45 1462.30 1473.15MOTHERSUMI 110.00 110.80 106.85 107.60HDFCAMC 2850.00 2876.05 2778.05 2802.80RAMCOCEM 771.70 773.95 754.15 756.95GRASIM 744.60 744.60 722.00 726.60COLPAL 1535.00 1555.65 1511.25 1546.25EICHERMOT 17799.95 18178.80 17552.45 17785.90NCC 62.15 62.25 58.10 58.30CANBK 193.45 194.60 188.60 189.65COALINDIA 204.45 204.80 196.85 199.40ACC 1650.00 1652.60 1624.00 1634.65SBILIFE 814.20 848.00 814.20 843.75DLF 161.05 161.95 156.95 158.40IBVENTURES 187.95 192.95 149.50 154.65SUNPHARMA 413.70 413.70 400.75 401.80ADANIENT 152.00 152.55 147.30 149.30IDEA 5.12 5.80 5.10 5.65SIEMENS 1481.15 1520.65 1476.95 1508.75HEROMOTOCO 2759.00 2778.45 2708.00 2727.65M&M 564.80 568.00 549.55 555.15HINDUNILVR 2029.80 2044.45 2004.65 2009.70TATAMTRDVR 56.50 56.50 53.60 54.65BIOCON 218.00 224.35 212.40 218.05SPICEJET 131.90 132.05 127.10 127.75CONCOR 619.00 620.45 587.50 591.20TATAGLOBAL 279.85 287.60 278.60 281.95RECLTD 128.30 128.35 124.15 126.25HINDALCO 196.50 196.50 189.55 190.90PNB 63.00 63.70 62.40 62.85EQUITAS 103.15 107.55 103.15 106.10SUNTV 470.25 492.00 469.75 482.95PETRONET 258.90 263.40 258.00 260.40PFC 101.85 102.20 98.60 100.20JSWSTEEL 235.30 236.50 230.85 232.20INDIGO 1870.00 1875.70 1830.00 1855.60TATAELXSI 686.35 701.05 681.05 682.65L&TFH 96.00 96.15 92.90 93.15ADANIPOWER 68.50 69.05 66.70 66.95JUSTDIAL 690.40 718.25 686.00 690.80BATAINDIA 1720.00 1762.35 1701.00 1754.70BHEL 52.00 52.10 49.80 50.00DISHTV 20.90 21.75 19.05 19.30MANAPPURAM 135.85 144.95 135.75 143.45ASIANPAINT 1770.00 1780.40 1736.40 1776.25SAIL 34.20 34.25 32.75 33.10POWERGRID 196.25 199.75 196.05 198.10BEML 945.10 967.25 935.80 940.75ULTRACEMCO 4361.40 4417.00 4339.45 4393.30BANKINDIA 67.50 67.70 64.85 66.10JAGRAN 63.85 65.25 62.45 64.10DMART 1875.00 1913.00 1869.00 1891.00NESTLEIND 13800.15 13897.70 13600.00 13741.85HCLTECH 1045.00 1053.25 1033.75 1041.30BRITANNIA 3093.60 3107.90 3006.65 3014.80GODREJPROP 1096.00 1101.15 1050.00 1062.05CHOLAFIN 313.00 322.20 308.50 310.10NIITTECH 1390.00 1407.20 1361.90 1393.95BEL 110.10 111.10 107.95 108.15PIDILITIND 1454.00 1488.55 1441.00 1473.65GMRINFRA 17.05 17.75 16.70 17.20LTTS 1605.00 1607.05 1571.00 1580.90UJJIVAN 318.60 325.00 314.05 315.00NTPC 117.90 119.10 116.35 117.05DHFL 43.25 44.70 41.80 42.25ADANIPORTS 418.95 420.50 406.35 408.75MGL 930.45 940.00 914.00 916.45DIVISLAB 1676.00 1696.00 1656.10 1661.25

SRTRANSFIN 1103.00 1117.20 1087.80 1094.95M&MFIN 353.40 354.00 344.40 345.70PAGEIND 22017.00 22451.10 21845.35 22309.80JUBLFOOD 1400.00 1405.15 1365.00 1370.35LUPIN 729.70 734.00 714.85 716.50TVSMOTOR 412.75 417.15 406.50 412.40NBCC 38.05 38.05 36.15 36.50LICHSGFIN 393.60 401.90 392.00 394.25IBREALEST 56.00 56.20 50.75 50.95WIPRO 238.40 238.95 235.95 236.45TATAPOWER 63.70 63.90 61.95 62.10MRF 62510.00 63899.00 62274.50 62734.90TECHM 711.05 718.05 702.05 704.35CIPLA 440.00 445.95 436.10 439.45HAVELLS 729.90 732.25 710.50 714.20INFRATEL 257.85 259.35 252.30 257.05DRREDDY 2800.00 2800.00 2722.50 2731.05ATUL 3960.95 4052.00 3944.00 4035.45RADICO 322.00 337.90 318.00 321.95UNIONBANK 56.55 57.10 55.10 55.90BHARTIARTL 344.00 354.80 339.30 348.80APOLLOHOSP 1430.50 1432.70 1394.25 1400.10SRF 2766.50 2798.55 2739.10 2751.40BERGEPAINT 432.00 442.60 427.30 441.50FRETAIL 390.50 394.40 383.60 386.35HINDZINC 212.50 219.00 211.00 217.10AUROPHARMA 608.55 610.45 595.55 596.75HONAUT 28400.00 28675.00 28365.00 28585.35UPL 584.00 588.15 574.00 581.95WOCKPHARMA 290.95 292.85 272.55 274.50STRTECH 162.80 164.70 158.60 161.45VOLTAS 682.00 686.20 673.05 682.30ICICIGI 1193.45 1217.50 1189.95 1203.75ABB 1466.00 1550.90 1466.00 1545.75LTI 1515.30 1525.00 1507.00 1518.45DELTACORP 195.00 195.00 180.80 181.75MFSL 412.50 435.00 412.50 430.65RAJESHEXPO 676.00 679.20 671.25 675.20MUTHOOTFIN 685.00 697.70 681.00 687.85DCBBANK 206.00 207.40 199.40 200.70IDFCFIRSTB 43.95 43.95 42.25 42.50SCI 43.50 44.90 41.85 42.30GAIL 138.00 138.00 132.55 134.15INFIBEAM 39.65 43.40 39.60 42.05RVNL 25.00 25.80 24.55 25.30PVR 1870.00 1895.85 1857.60 1864.40SUZLON 2.79 2.79 2.46 2.53MOIL 135.00 144.30 134.65 143.40BAJAJ-AUTO 2968.95 2989.40 2937.15 2956.00CENTURYTEX 931.90 936.40 913.00 915.35DBCORP 147.30 147.90 144.55 146.45RELCAPITAL 29.20 29.40 27.70 28.00GODREJCP 682.05 694.70 680.55 691.75LAXMIMACH 3750.00 3790.00 3678.40 3702.15CEATLTD 985.00 988.85 970.00 979.85MINDTREE 696.15 716.60 696.00 708.40RITES 273.00 282.55 268.90 269.90BALKRISIND 785.40 796.75 768.00 771.50HSCL 87.75 90.00 83.10 83.70MARICO 387.30 392.45 385.35 391.15TATACHEM 605.50 610.30 595.30 596.55BBTC 1235.05 1254.40 1171.95 1185.80TORNTPOWER 289.25 294.80 286.50 291.70GODREJIND 417.00 426.30 410.25 413.20SUNTECK 433.15 434.40 420.40 425.40BALRAMCHIN 168.00 170.70 161.60 162.85NATIONALUM 46.50 46.95 45.55 46.45DABUR 447.25 448.70 442.25 447.15BHARATFORG 454.00 454.00 444.20 446.65INDHOTEL 155.00 156.80 151.70 154.65ADANIGREEN 59.00 60.10 56.00 57.30IDBI 35.70 35.70 32.95 33.55RNAM 267.85 268.95 264.50 265.45POLYCAB 701.00 708.90 685.35 697.70GLENMARK 346.00 347.10 331.65 333.30HEXAWARE 373.50 381.10 373.45 375.80RELINFRA 34.90 34.90 32.40 33.40SPARC 139.10 141.60 132.05 132.60BANDHANBNK 504.00 510.95 495.50 499.00JAICORPLTD 90.55 91.65 86.70 87.30FORTIS 137.55 138.40 134.70 136.50VENKYS 1740.40 1763.90 1681.00 1686.25DALBHARAT 851.00 855.10 809.60 816.40KEI 526.70 549.50 526.65 545.75INDIACEM 84.80 85.00 82.15 82.40IGL 352.65 356.15 345.55 347.10AMBUJACEM 212.90 212.90 206.00 206.95AMARAJABAT 731.85 732.00 710.15 713.95EXIDEIND 195.00 198.00 193.50 194.00RPOWER 2.53 2.60 2.36 2.41

DEEPAKNI 314.70 320.05 305.05 306.40SWANENERGY 108.60 116.10 108.60 110.10MAHLOG 395.00 395.00 328.00 373.60JUBILANT 546.90 546.90 521.10 523.90ENGINERSIN 116.50 119.50 114.30 118.30GODFRYPHLP 983.50 1004.90 980.00 985.00WHIRLPOOL 1906.00 1975.35 1891.75 1937.50GNFC 214.95 220.00 208.30 209.60FSL 48.30 48.90 46.85 47.10RAIN 103.10 103.70 97.75 98.35OBEROIRLTY 521.85 522.00 504.00 505.00APOLLOTYRE 185.00 185.60 181.15 181.75VIPIND 484.00 487.95 473.00 474.25FORCEMOT 1185.00 1205.70 1149.05 1159.00BOSCHLTD 14115.00 14190.20 13875.20 13987.55BLISSGVS 104.10 106.95 102.00 103.90ABCAPITAL 91.75 91.75 89.15 89.65JINDALSAW 83.50 88.50 83.50 86.90PGHH 11500.00 12189.10 11500.00 12020.55BOMDYEING 86.90 87.90 84.10 84.60VGUARD 227.00 235.00 227.00 229.20DEEPAKFERT 103.00 108.80 101.15 104.45PIIND 1285.80 1340.00 1284.00 1329.90AVANTI 378.25 391.55 376.50 386.85PCJEWELLER 35.50 35.50 34.50 34.70ASTRAL 1160.35 1173.55 1136.00 1162.15DBL 450.00 456.55 437.25 442.70PTC 57.80 58.55 56.85 57.10PHILIPCARB 127.60 129.00 122.60 123.40QUESS 461.00 470.50 448.70 463.80PFIZER 3283.00 3317.00 3216.15 3300.15NOCIL 113.30 114.20 110.10 111.25ALLCARGO 115.15 115.90 110.10 110.80CASTROLIND 132.45 135.55 132.00 132.45AEGISLOG 183.25 186.65 178.15 179.65AUBANK 654.10 666.40 646.35 659.10CHALET 324.20 325.00 315.00 316.75CADILAHC 244.95 245.50 239.60 241.55RCF 51.80 52.20 49.80 50.25OIL 148.75 149.75 146.70 147.00UBL 1365.00 1365.00 1343.00 1351.50ITI 84.60 85.75 82.00 82.30RCOM 0.73 0.78 0.72 0.78COFFEEDAY 50.55 51.30 50.55 50.55CUMMINSIND 593.50 596.00 574.30 577.20IBULISL 144.00 150.75 136.45 136.45GICRE 204.90 224.00 202.00 217.50KAJARIACER 568.10 575.50 548.25 554.75VINATIORGA 2272.50 2276.10 2222.15 2233.35RAYMOND 574.75 578.20 563.00 567.30AJANTPHARM 1020.55 1072.00 1018.80 1055.80SUPREMEIND 1223.90 1246.00 1200.20 1205.30SHANKARA 379.80 381.95 356.00 357.30GSFC 82.55 83.80 79.60 79.90THOMASCOOK 140.00 148.00 135.00 138.35OFSS 2975.00 3056.80 2924.40 3039.10CANFINHOME 414.05 414.05 400.75 403.80NATCOPHARM 597.45 607.20 593.75 600.95INDIANB 138.50 138.50 132.40 133.35TRENT 507.00 508.35 496.20 497.45GREAVESCOT 141.70 149.00 141.50 146.45ORIENTBANK 62.15 63.10 61.45 61.65LAKSHVILAS 36.55 37.30 36.55 36.55SUVEN 283.00 289.90 280.70 282.70PNBHOUSING 634.50 635.00 610.00 612.75IPCALAB 915.30 926.50 909.00 923.00IRB 84.85 84.85 79.05 79.50ADANIGAS 133.20 135.90 131.90 132.35GLAXO 1440.00 1440.00 1383.20 1402.10AKZOINDIA 2000.00 2048.10 1940.65 1976.45ABBOTINDIA 10939.00 10995.35 10667.55 10688.65HEIDELBERG 193.90 196.80 191.00 193.80JSWENERGY 63.30 65.35 62.95 65.15ASTRAZEN 2339.00 2339.00 2161.50 2232.65NAUKRI 2070.30 2093.15 2026.00 2050.80PARAGMILK 163.45 164.75 157.00 162.15KTKBANK 80.05 80.05 77.10 77.35KALPATPOWR 493.95 493.95 469.00 473.60ADANITRANS 233.65 237.85 232.35 233.20BAJAJELEC 406.50 418.05 406.50 409.05JSLHISAR 66.35 66.65 64.00 64.75BAJAJHLDNG 3506.90 3582.15 3500.20 3562.35CENTURYPLY 157.40 163.60 156.90 162.05IRCON 376.10 389.00 376.10 377.90JISLJALEQS 21.00 21.75 20.10 20.15HFCL 18.70 18.90 18.70 18.80CHENNPETRO 169.15 171.50 167.70 169.25JBCHEPHARM 355.65 366.30 351.75 355.90CUB 224.00 224.00 216.30 216.95SHREECEM 19375.00 19448.65 19188.90 19330.35IDFC 36.45 36.65 35.85 36.10KANSAINER 514.75 523.50 503.60 518.05JAMNAAUTO 37.85 39.25 37.20 37.85PGHL 4640.00 4695.45 4600.00 4641.95NESCO 591.85 600.00 575.10 582.40FCONSUMER 29.00 29.20 27.90 28.05HINDCOPPER 37.55 37.90 36.45 36.60SJVN 24.60 24.75 24.40 24.55GRUH 269.70 274.90 264.75 266.00MEGH 57.60 57.90 54.85 55.05TRIDENT 59.40 60.50 58.15 58.70JKTYRE 70.75 73.05 69.35 72.153MINDIA 20115.95 20573.25 19900.00 20529.00SOUTHBANK 11.50 11.71 11.13 11.19SHK 131.55 147.80 131.50 141.35NAVINFLUOR 771.65 784.00 750.10 753.45GEPIL 805.00 850.00 801.00 822.40RELAXO 523.00 523.00 495.05 497.15TORNTPHARM 1690.50 1701.60 1678.40 1690.70

JSL 37.60 39.00 36.50 36.80CHAMBLFERT 161.90 163.10 158.00 159.45CROMPTON 259.50 262.95 251.00 258.20DCMSHRIRAM 422.30 426.95 412.00 415.05WABAG 285.85 285.85 274.55 275.50INTELLECT 187.30 188.85 181.35 182.60EMAMILTD 319.25 328.00 316.25 320.10BDL 310.00 311.70 302.00 305.75SUDARSCHEM 378.95 384.00 372.15 375.50GDL 111.00 117.00 107.75 108.25HUDCO 36.45 36.90 35.70 35.80INOXLEISUR 335.80 345.90 332.60 334.80WELCORP 139.00 140.05 137.55 138.70OMAXE 193.75 193.75 191.55 191.80FINEORG 1745.00 1750.00 1688.00 1697.30NILKAMAL 1239.75 1265.90 1211.85 1231.75GODREJAGRO 476.00 486.05 474.20 482.90GUJGAS 183.00 183.00 171.70 172.30RALLIS 172.10 176.60 172.10 173.95MAHLIFE 415.00 445.45 408.90 424.00TATACOFFEE 81.00 81.30 79.45 79.80ISEC 282.75 286.75 276.55 284.70ASHOKA 104.00 105.00 102.00 102.55KEC 277.00 279.45 274.00 275.50MOTILALOFS 680.40 681.05 651.00 658.75KRBL 226.00 231.35 222.50 223.55JKCEMENT 1050.00 1072.95 1044.00 1065.60LAURUSLABS 368.00 373.20 365.95 367.00GSKCONS 8748.10 8748.10 8622.40 8637.15IEX 121.00 124.55 120.65 121.45ABFRL 208.65 210.65 204.50 205.15MMTC 18.00 18.05 17.50 17.65TNPL 205.00 208.30 204.50 206.30BALMLAWRIE 172.00 173.55 169.75 170.25MPHASIS 954.90 956.80 935.50 938.70NIACL 103.20 106.75 100.00 105.80GSPL 214.10 220.90 214.10 218.95JMFINANCIL 82.75 83.25 80.50 82.60J&KBANK 36.45 36.45 34.85 35.10SUNDRMFAST 480.45 483.50 471.30 474.30LEMONTREE 57.55 57.85 57.05 57.50NHPC 22.95 23.10 22.85 22.90TV18BRDCST 23.80 24.40 23.80 24.10TAKE 109.00 110.90 104.00 107.10GHCL 222.75 227.00 220.05 222.10REPCOHOME 314.75 320.00 314.75 315.85ENDURANCE 1014.00 1036.55 991.20 1003.45SOBHA 507.00 512.00 500.00 502.45GUJALKALI 477.95 478.95 464.00 466.95ITDC 255.10 256.35 241.85 244.30GESHIP* 283.00 283.95 274.45 283.35GICHSGFIN 154.00 156.10 148.60 149.20EIDPARRY 165.90 167.90 165.00 166.95

VBL 638.70 647.00 638.05 643.55TATAINVEST 831.00 833.75 823.00 826.65GET&D 196.90 196.90 170.00 176.00LALPATHLAB 1407.90 1411.40 1382.15 1387.10LINDEINDIA 514.45 524.00 506.90 508.80BIRLACORPN 612.60 612.60 581.00 583.50SONATSOFTW 325.00 325.00 303.95 304.70SYNDIBANK 29.20 29.55 28.45 28.65GALAXYSURF 1449.00 1479.65 1448.60 1471.65MINDACORP 90.00 93.80 89.00 91.80GILLETTE 7150.00 7168.55 7084.15 7102.80NETWORK18 22.45 22.65 21.75 21.80AAVAS 1589.40 1599.00 1577.60 1586.60REDINGTON 111.80 111.80 107.00 109.60SOMANYCERA 187.60 199.05 187.15 189.80FINOLEXIND 578.35 588.90 577.50 583.20ZYDUSWELL 1733.20 1737.60 1700.00 1717.50TVTODAY 307.85 308.55 301.15 303.65EIHOTEL 175.75 177.75 171.80 176.25CGPOWER 15.80 15.85 14.82 14.82WELSPUNIND 54.70 54.80 52.65 53.05EVEREADY 45.80 47.55 45.80 47.55CREDITACC 660.00 663.45 633.05 640.95TEAMLEASE 3010.30 3054.10 2940.00 2966.10GRANULES 102.25 102.80 101.00 101.95WESTLIFE 311.90 314.60 298.00 300.15PRSMJOHNSN 90.00 90.65 86.00 86.60HATHWAY 22.20 22.50 21.40 21.50BLUESTARCO 760.05 798.85 760.05 794.30SCHNEIDER 82.30 84.70 79.75 80.15ALKEM 1903.00 1961.25 1876.00 1931.65ITDCEM 51.60 52.20 49.25 49.85

THERMAX 1160.00 1164.00 1150.00 1154.55COROMANDEL 414.00 414.00 407.15 410.00JPASSOCIAT 2.04 2.10 2.00 2.04CAPPL 435.00 441.00 422.65 433.05VARROC 467.90 474.30 455.10 460.45ALBK 29.80 30.30 29.50 29.60COCHINSHIP 345.30 351.00 341.20 342.65IFCI 7.21 7.45 7.20 7.22GPPL 83.00 87.55 82.50 87.15TTKPRESTIG 6464.00 6485.85 6144.00 6225.85GRINDWELL 603.00 619.00 603.00 606.65PNCINFRA 186.25 186.50 181.20 182.45BAYERCROP 3360.00 3404.00 3333.00 3376.90SANOFI 5850.00 6000.00 5850.00 5962.60WABCOINDIA 6220.55 6297.05 6220.55 6240.60MAHSCOOTER 4452.00 4489.00 4434.00 4452.10APLLTD 530.70 530.70 507.25 512.85IFBIND 708.00 711.90 683.00 687.70CARBORUNIV 303.90 307.70 297.20 299.05MAGMA 55.05 56.70 54.55 55.30UCOBANK 14.40 14.40 13.20 13.65TIMKEN 784.00 794.00 772.05 776.00CCL 242.00 242.45 237.80 238.85SYMPHONY 1301.85 1301.85 1266.00 1287.50NLCINDIA 58.50 58.50 57.50 57.70MAHINDCIE 172.20 172.35 168.20 169.45ADVENZYMES 171.00 171.00 163.30 164.65TIINDIA 390.35 399.90 384.00 385.85TRITURBINE 102.25 104.40 96.30 103.80PRESTIGE 292.80 295.80 285.60 289.80MINDAIND 342.60 344.15 330.00 333.30MAHSEAMLES 390.00 392.80 384.80 389.00CHOLAHLDNG 494.15 494.15 485.45 491.35MHRIL 238.40 243.00 236.80 237.05MRPL 49.15 49.15 47.80 48.05SREINFRA 9.65 9.81 9.37 9.65KNRCON 245.00 245.00 232.20 235.10GMDCLTD 65.60 65.70 62.70 62.85CENTRALBK 19.95 19.95 19.10 19.20AIAENG 1791.70 1819.95 1750.00 1777.95HIMATSEIDE 147.80 149.50 144.80 145.30LUXIND 1249.30 1249.35 1210.00 1215.65ORIENTELEC 164.10 167.80 163.25 166.40VMART 2144.00 2190.85 2100.00 2172.35GULFOILLUB 861.50 866.00 849.00 864.45RATNAMANI 957.00 976.40 957.00 958.55ECLERX 440.85 445.80 440.05 442.45INDOSTAR 229.00 232.00 227.40 229.20CARERATING 528.00 540.00 525.00 538.05SKFINDIA 2152.50 2184.00 2150.00 2164.75TEJASNET 83.40 84.90 80.25 82.40MAHABANK 11.53 11.54 11.40 11.43CERA 2651.70 2728.45 2620.35 2695.15DHANUKA 325.00 328.00 320.30 320.30ESSELPRO 117.00 117.50 114.00 115.85UFLEX 222.40 222.40 216.25 217.20VTL 963.30 963.90 944.90 949.20FINCABLES 397.00 397.00 385.85 389.95SCHAEFFLER 4237.00 4314.95 4152.65 4288.25HAL 745.25 745.25 726.00 728.45TATAMETALI 564.25 565.00 549.05 555.60FLFL 441.85 441.85 421.75 427.20JKLAKSHMI 317.00 317.50 308.40 312.05IOB 10.01 10.10 9.85 9.86MASFIN 701.35 703.15 691.00 698.10DCAL 174.00 174.00 169.00 170.10ERIS 421.40 444.25 421.40 439.00PERSISTENT 568.00 577.05 567.00 572.45TIMETECHNO 63.75 64.50 62.20 62.45CENTRUM 24.40 25.20 24.20 24.80APLAPOLLO 1371.60 1383.60 1370.00 1375.45MAXINDIA 60.55 63.85 60.15 62.60BLUEDART 2310.40 2380.00 2289.95 2351.10NH 246.00 246.00 235.05 235.90BAJAJCON 250.60 250.60 248.05 249.35ZENSARTECH 214.75 216.90 214.75 215.30CYIENT 456.60 460.50 447.65 453.80JYOTHYLAB 166.75 166.80 164.75 165.70CRISIL 1360.00 1363.35 1350.25 1359.65CORPBANK 16.20 16.45 15.35 15.75TVSSRICHAK 1965.00 1975.00 1888.00 1905.20ORIENTCEM 94.75 94.75 92.05 92.30LAOPALA 185.90 188.85 182.95 183.85ANDHRABANK 18.15 18.55 18.15 18.25THYROCARE 519.20 529.00 514.90 527.85SYNGENE 312.00 312.00 307.00 308.75NBVENTURES 85.65 86.10 83.40 84.00STARCEMENT 97.15 99.00 97.15 97.50BASF 1027.15 1027.90 1013.40 1020.85SUPRAJIT 171.95 177.15 170.90 171.75HERITGFOOD 407.00 407.00 385.00 387.90UNITEDBNK 8.88 8.95 8.51 8.80GAYAPROJ 107.00 108.55 105.00 107.60INOXWIND 35.95 36.00 32.10 35.50ASTERDM 121.20 122.25 119.25 120.15JCHAC 1827.00 1850.00 1806.00 1845.55JSWHL 2763.05 2807.95 2760.00 2807.75VSTIND 3752.50 3789.70 3730.00 3771.35SHOPERSTOP 413.75 415.00 405.65 408.75SOLARINDS 1127.90 1127.90 1111.00 1115.00TCNSBRANDS 730.00 754.35 730.00 752.20SADBHAV 136.60 136.60 134.05 135.00KPRMILL 560.35 560.35 547.15 551.10SHILPAMED 294.55 294.55 286.00 291.10FDC 173.00 175.05 173.00 173.85APARINDS 584.85 584.85 557.20 560.60SIS 854.90 854.90 843.00 844.40SFL 1310.75 1310.75 1275.00 1281.00SHRIRAMCIT 1343.15 1343.15 1339.45 1339.45

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11556.35 11593.60 11499.75 11512.40 -58.80BHARTIARTL 344.00 354.90 339.25 354.00 9.95BAJFINANCE 4006.00 4085.00 3990.00 4065.25 64.45ITC 250.00 258.00 250.00 253.80 3.40BAJAJFINSV 8480.00 8577.00 8404.00 8560.00 95.40KOTAKBANK 1615.85 1649.40 1605.95 1642.65 15.80RELIANCE 1292.50 1315.00 1284.00 1307.50 10.70IOC 146.60 147.80 144.15 145.65 1.10CIPLA 438.45 446.00 435.70 441.50 3.05NTPC 117.90 119.10 116.30 117.10 0.55AXISBANK 700.20 707.95 692.50 702.50 2.60HDFCBANK 1248.25 1253.50 1237.60 1245.60 3.10INFY 787.05 794.25 780.10 782.20 -0.35WIPRO 237.40 239.00 235.80 236.55 -0.55ULTRACEMCO 4335.10 4419.65 4335.10 4385.00 -10.60UPL 584.50 588.15 573.50 582.00 -1.60HCLTECH 1045.50 1053.60 1034.10 1042.00 -3.15SBIN 282.70 286.05 280.00 281.00 -0.85ASIANPAINT 1770.00 1781.40 1735.35 1763.90 -7.05ICICIBANK 449.50 451.85 443.30 450.00 -1.95TITAN 1291.00 1293.95 1265.15 1280.00 -8.30BAJAJ-AUTO 2964.00 2989.55 2936.15 2951.10 -19.20EICHERMOT 17701.00 18184.30 17550.00 17779.00 -132.55POWERGRID 197.80 199.75 196.05 197.70 -1.55INFRATEL 258.00 259.20 252.30 256.50 -2.05HINDUNILVR 2026.00 2044.65 2005.50 2010.50 -23.90HEROMOTOCO2756.40 2778.45 2707.00 2727.50 -32.60LT 1484.05 1491.70 1462.00 1471.90 -17.95TECHM 710.00 718.65 702.05 704.30 -9.40MARUTI 6860.00 6915.00 6735.00 6765.30 -92.15TCS 2085.00 2085.20 2051.40 2059.00 -28.60HDFC 2061.25 2096.70 2025.60 2034.00 -29.20DRREDDY 2782.00 2786.00 2720.50 2732.60 -42.25NESTLEIND 13840.00 13898.15 13600.00 13720.00 -214.60GAIL 136.50 136.95 132.50 134.80 -2.30JSWSTEEL 233.60 236.50 230.60 231.20 -4.25COALINDIA 203.30 204.80 196.70 199.50 -3.80SUNPHARMA 412.00 412.50 400.25 402.10 -9.85M&M 562.80 567.80 549.15 553.00 -13.95HINDALCO 194.55 194.95 189.50 190.95 -5.00GRASIM 746.40 746.40 722.00 724.75 -19.05BRITANNIA 3100.05 3109.70 3005.95 3010.00 -82.80BPCL 475.00 481.80 465.50 466.85 -13.20ADANIPORTS 418.00 420.50 406.10 406.85 -12.30TATAMOTORS 122.00 122.45 118.20 120.10 -4.40ONGC 135.90 136.10 130.45 131.20 -5.85ZEEL 281.00 289.70 271.65 273.40 -13.30TATASTEEL 373.00 373.50 358.00 358.10 -17.65INDUSINDBK 1539.60 1545.00 1470.85 1471.80 -76.20YESBANK 50.00 52.90 48.40 48.50 -2.55VEDL 165.50 165.50 156.30 156.65 -9.45

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27790.70 27955.20 27710.05 27818.10 7.10IDEA 5.25 5.80 5.10 5.80 0.60PGHH 11619.95 12198.00 11521.05 12190.00 681.65GICRE 205.00 222.75 201.05 213.00 9.05NIACL 103.70 106.90 102.00 105.95 2.90SBILIFE 819.35 847.65 819.35 838.90 22.50COLPAL 1517.95 1555.00 1510.85 1552.95 40.75HDFCLIFE 567.10 585.60 567.10 584.25 14.95ICICIPRULI 450.85 464.45 447.00 459.00 9.50OFSS 2940.00 3063.00 2920.05 3035.10 61.15BAJAJHLDNG 3508.90 3573.00 3481.00 3550.00 68.05BERGEPAINT 427.90 443.00 427.00 441.00 6.90GODREJCP 681.00 695.30 679.95 690.10 10.20HINDZINC 212.90 218.20 211.10 215.80 2.90SIEMENS 1487.00 1520.00 1477.55 1510.00 20.20PAGEIND 22021.55 22500.00 21800.65 22320.00 298.45ICICIGI 1200.00 1219.00 1191.00 1207.00 14.65PIDILITIND 1449.90 1489.80 1440.45 1470.00 15.90BIOCON 216.00 224.40 212.20 218.45 2.30DMART 1886.00 1914.00 1868.30 1894.00 15.20MARICO 388.10 392.45 385.00 390.70 2.60PETRONET 258.00 263.55 257.70 260.15 1.25NMDC 94.00 96.50 90.80 91.30 0.40HINDPETRO 304.65 312.70 302.00 305.60 0.95PNB 62.90 63.70 62.35 62.85 0.05DABUR 446.20 448.90 442.00 447.00 -0.20UBL 1354.70 1366.05 1341.80 1353.60 -1.10BANKBARODA 94.50 96.70 93.85 95.50 -0.25NHPC 23.10 23.15 22.80 22.85 -0.10SHREECEM 19486.05 19486.05 19200.00 19270.00 -95.00DIVISLAB 1671.00 1696.90 1655.25 1664.80 -10.25ACC 1643.00 1653.55 1623.05 1633.60 -12.45SRTRANSFIN 1090.00 1117.40 1087.80 1092.00 -10.25BANDHANBNK 505.00 511.00 495.50 499.00 -4.80BOSCHLTD 14135.00 14201.95 13822.30 14000.00 -138.45PFC 100.60 102.20 98.55 99.40 -1.00HAVELLS 722.90 732.40 710.10 712.30 -7.45CADILAHC 244.30 245.70 239.30 242.50 -3.20MCDOWELL-N 670.95 674.00 659.10 662.05 -8.90LUPIN 726.10 734.20 714.65 717.90 -11.35AMBUJACEM 210.10 210.60 205.85 207.00 -3.50DLF 161.00 161.90 156.75 159.00 -2.75HDFCAMC 2855.10 2878.00 2777.70 2800.00 -48.40MOTHERSUMI 108.85 110.85 106.85 106.95 -2.00ASHOKLEY 73.00 73.00 71.15 72.10 -1.40INDIGO 1859.00 1874.65 1829.70 1832.60 -38.40AUROPHARMA 608.00 610.80 595.80 596.00 -14.75L&TFH 96.00 96.00 92.90 93.00 -2.95CONCOR 618.00 621.35 587.05 592.00 -26.55IBULHSGFIN 410.75 414.50 383.40 388.50 -25.25PEL 1825.00 1825.00 1710.00 1718.10 -141.45

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In a move that would give atremendous boost to the

startup ecosystem in India,social media major Facebook isgearing up to make substantialinvestments in technology star-tups, a top company officialsaid here on Friday.

We now have shown will-ingness to make direct invest-ments in technology startups inIndia. We are willing to spendour time, and energy to tap themassive depth of engineeringtalent in the country, Facebook India Vice-Presidentand Managing Director AjitMohan said.

He was addressing theopening session of the secondedition of Huddle Kerala 2019,one of Asias largest congrega-tions on startup ecosystem,here. The two-day event isbeing organised by the KeralaStartup Mission (KSUM) inassociation with Internet andMobile Association of India(IAMAI).

In his keynote address,Mohan said, A couple ofmonths ago, we announcedthe first minority investmentthat Facebook has done any-where in the world in a com-

pany called Meesho. WhatMeesho does is it relies on theexisting behaviour of commu-nities in India and leverages onwomen entrepreneurs essen-tially pitching products to theirfriends and families.”

The best thing about theirmodel was it could bring2,00,000 first-time femaleentrepreneurs online, he noted.

It is an innovation that wascoming out of India whichcan be exported to rest of theworld, and that model hasscaled a dramatic impact in jobcreation. Any analysis of econ-omy, most of the job creationhappens from small business,the Facebook executive said.

Citing the Governmentdata, he said womens repre-sentation in the technologysector stood between 30 percent and 35 per cent. A lot ofour energy must go to breakgender imbalance. We have tothink about what are the bar-riers that limit women fromcoming online, he said.

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The White House is dustingoff its playbook from the

special counsel's Russia inves-tigation.

Caught off guard by thespeed at which a whistleblow-er's claims have morphed intoan impeachment inquiry,President Donald Trump andhis team are scrambling torespond.

They're turning, at least fornow, to some of the samestrategies they used to counterspecial counsel RobertMueller's investigation.

The basic tactics deployedby the short-staffed WhiteHouse: Attempt to discreditgovernment officials at theheart of the story. DispatchTrump lawyer Rudy Giulianiand other allies to muddy thepicture. Lean on Republicans inCongress to provide cover.

And, most of all, presiden-tial counterattacks.

"Corrupt CongressmanLiddle' Adam Schiff," Trumptweeted on Friday about thechairman of the HouseIntelligence committee, whomhe also called on to resign forreading a dramatized version ofTrump's call with Ukraine'spresident during a hearing theday before.

Stepping up his attacks onthe anonymous complainant,Trump on Friday suggestedwithout elaboration that it's

"Sounding more and more likethe so-called Whistleblowerisn't a Whistleblower at all" andalleging the person is a "parti-san operative." The commentcould presage an effort by thepresident to argue that protec-tions laws don't apply to thecomplainant and that they canbe personally maligned — amove that may open a newfront in his battles withCongress.

Just as the Republican pres-ident considers himself to behis own best adviser, he oftenacts as his own most vocaldefender.

"It's a disgrace to our coun-try. It's another witch-hunt.Here we go again," an agitatedTrump said Thursday as hereturned to Washington afterfour days at the United Nationsin New York.

"They're frozen — theDemocrats. They're going tolose the election; they know it.

That's why they're doing it. Andit should never be allowed,what's happened to this presi-dent."

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosivoiced concern on Friday

over President Donald Trump'scomments that suggested retal-iation against people who helpedan intelligence whistleblowerwhose complaint about Trump'sphone call with Ukraine's leaderis at the center of the Houseimpeachment probe.

In the call, Trump proddedUkrainian President VolodymyrZelenskiy to investigateDemocratic rival Joe Biden.

White House officials tookextraordinary steps to "lockdown" information on Trump'scall, even moving a transcript ofit to a secret computer system,according to the whistleblower'scomplaint.

Trump lashed out onThursday, saying whoever pro-vided information to thewhistleblower is "close to a spy."Trump suggested that was trea-son, an act punishable by death.

Pelosi told MSNBC's"Morning Joe" show, "I'm con-cerned about some of the pres-ident's comments about thewhistleblower."

She said the House panelsconducting the impeachmentprobe will make sure there's noretaliation against people whoprovided information in thecase.

Pelosi declined to provide atimeline for the House impeach-

ment investigation, saying "thefacts will lead us."

"They will take the time thatthey need, and we won't have thecalendar be the arbiter," shesaid, but she added, "it doesn'thave to drag on."

She said she expects theimpeachment probe to focus onTrump's pressure on theUkrainian president at a timewhen he was temporarily with-holding military aid to the coun-try.

"I think we have to stayfocused, as far as the public isconcerned, on the fact that thepresident of the United Statesused taxpayer dollars to shakedown the leader of anothercountry for his own politicalgain," she said.

She said Trump's actions putnational security at risk.

"This is about the nationalsecurity of our country, thepresident of the United Statesbeing disloyal to his oath ofoffice, jeopardizing our nation-al security and jeopardizing theintegrity of our elections," shesaid.

Pelosi also had some choicewords for Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr, who is mentionedin the rough transcript theWhite House released this weekof the July 25 call in whichTrump urges Zelenskiy to workwith Barr and with Trump's per-sonal lawyer Rudy Giuliani toinvestigate Biden.

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The British-flagged oil tankerStena Impero, which had

been held off the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas for more than two months, set sailand reached internationalwaters Friday, its Swedishowner said.

Seven Indian nations out ofthe 23 crew members werereleased on September 4.

A total of 18 Indian nation-als were among the 23 crewmembers of the tanker.

The ship's seizure waswidely seen as a tit-for-tat moveafter authorities in the Britishoverseas territory of Gibraltardetained an Iranian tanker on

suspicion it was shipping oil toSyria in breach of EU sanctions.

Tehran repeatedly deniedthe cases were related but aGibraltar court last monthordered the Iranian tanker's release despite an 11th-hour US legal bid to keep it indetention.

"She (the tanker) reachedinternational waters about 15minutes ago," Erik Hanell, CEOof the company that owns thevessel, Stena Bulk, told AFP at12pm (1000 GMT) on Friday,adding that the ship was head-ing for Dubai.

On Wednesday, an Iranianforeign ministry spokesman,Abbas Mousavi, said the liftingof the seizure was finalised in

a procedure coordinated bythe foreign ministry, Iran's judi-ciary and its port and maritimeauthorities.

After the ship had left Iranand reached internationalwaters on Friday Hanell said itwas "obviously a relief " andadded that the priority now wasthe crew.

"When we reach Dubai we will firstly take care of thecrew and then try and get theship in operational order again,"he told AFP.

Iran's RevolutionaryGuards seized the tanker in theStrait of Hormuz on July 19after surrounding the vesselwith attack boats and rap-pelling onto its deck.

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Iran's foreign ministry onFriday condemned new

United States sanctions againstChina and Russia, saying theyendanger "international tradesecurity".

"As the primary victim ofeconomic terrorism, Iranstrongly condemns the desta-bilising act of sanctioning cer-tain Chinese companies," saidIran's foreign ministryspokesman Abbas Mousavi inan official statement.

"The actions of (USPresident Donald) Trump'seconomic terrorism team goagainst international tradesecurity," he added.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo said Wednesday theactions against Chinese entitieswere in response to violationsof unilateral US sanctions overbuying Iranian oil.

Mousavi also slammed USsanctions against Russian entities allegedly involved inSyria, and called on the worldto stand up against US "bully-ing".

Three individuals, fiveshipping vessels and a Moscow-based front companywere sanctioned over an oper-ation to move money and fuelto Russian forces supportingthe government of Syria'sPresident Bashar al-Assad, theUS Treasury announcedThursday.

Iran and Russia have sup-ported Assad during Syria'seight-year conflict.

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Saudi Arabia urged the worldto apply "utmost pressure" on

Iran, while Tehran dismissed thatpolicy as already having failed.

Saudi Foreign MinisterIbrahim al-Assaf took the stageThursday at the U.N. GeneralAssembly and urged world lead-ers to cut off Iran's financialresources. But across town,Iranian President HassanRouhani insisted that wouldkill all chances of successful

negotiations. Saudi Arabia insistsIranian weapons were used in aSeptember 14 missile and droneattack on Saudi oil facilities,which jolted global oil prices.Iran denies involvement.

Gulf tensions took centerstage again on the third day ofdebate at the U.N. GeneralAssembly. Two more adver-saries will face off Friday, whenIndian Prime Minister NarendraModi and Pakistani PrimeMinister Imran Khan take thestage in the morning.

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Hong Kong’s beleagueredleader Carrie Lam faced

her public with humility, butshe may not get the responseshe hoped for.

In a face-off with an antag-onistic audience, Lam quietlytook blow after blow as citizensat a town hall session Thursdayvented anger at her refusal togive more concessions to final-ly end more than three monthsof anti-government proteststhat have rocked the semi-autonomous Chinese ter-ritory.

After the dialogue ended,Lam stayed holed up in thebuilding for another four hoursto avoid confrontation withangry protesters outside.

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Hong Kong police saidFriday that students

account for 29 per cent ofnearly 1,600 people detained inanti-democracy protests sinceJune and urged young peopleto take the "straight and narrowpath" as more major ralliesloom this weekend.

Police public relations chiefTse Chun-chung said 207 highschool and university studentswere detained this month alonedespite the resumption of class-es after the summer holiday, upfrom 257 over the June-Augustperiod.

He said there was a rise inteenagers participating in vio-lent crimes, with some alreadycharged in court.

This included a 16-year-old charged recently witharson, which carries a lifeimprisonment upon convic-tion, a 13-year-old girlcharged with desecratingChinese flags and others withattacking police officers andcarrying dangerous weapons.

"It is an alarming trend tous," he said at a news con-ference.

"It is worrying to seethese youths breaking the lawand possibly having criminalrecords at such a young and tender age. We appeal toall youngsters to rethink their actions and hope theeducation sector and parentswill help our young people towalk the straight and narrowpath."

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Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu's main

rival party says it has rejectedhis demands to form a unityGovernment under his lead-ership and include his right-wing and ultra-Orthodoxallies. The centrist Blue andWhite Party said after talksFriday with Netanyahu'sLikud that it "was made clearfrom the outset" that the partywould reject the prime min-ster's conditions.

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Asenior adviser to BritishPrime Minister Boris

Johnson has dismissed con-cerns that politicians' heatedrhetoric over Brexit is polaris-ing society, telling supportersthat it isn't surprising that peo-ple are upset about the coun-try's failure to leave theEuropean Union.

The prime minister hasbeen accused of whipping updivisions with his charged lan-guage about Brexit opponentsin the House of Commonsthis week.

But adviser DominicCummings told backers at abook launch that the only wayto calm tensions over Brexit isfor British lawmakers to respectthe result of the 2016 referen-dum and take the country out

of the European Union.Cummings claimed that

Britain's current political chaosis "a walk in the park" com-pared with the referendumcampaign in which the coun-try narrowly voted to leave theEU.

Three years later, Britainand its politicians remain bit-terly divided over how, or evenwhether, to leave the 28-nationbloc.

"We are enjoying this," saidCummings, one of the archi-tects of the 2016 "leave" cam-paign.

"We are going to leave andwe are going to win."

In a raucous, ill-temperedparliamentary debateWednesday, Johnson arguedthat he is safeguarding the willof the public against the inter-ests of the political establish-

ment, which wants to remain inthe EU.

He said postponing thecountry's departure would"betray" the people, referred toan opposition law ordering aBrexit delay as the "SurrenderAct" and brushed off concernsthat his forceful language mightendanger legislators as "hum-bug."

Bishops at the Church ofEngland on Friday appealed forcalm amid the growing acri-mony.

"We should speak to others with respect," the bish-ops said in a statement. "Andwe should also listen ... Weshould not denigrate, patron-ise or ignore the honest viewsof fellow citizens, but seek torespect their opinions, theirparticipation in society, andtheir votes."

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Egyptian President AbdelFattah al-Sisi on Friday dis-

missed a call for a secondweekend of protests as "noreason for concern", with hun-dreds already arrested in anintensifying crackdown on arare show of discontent on thestreets.

Last week's open defianceof President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — triggered by viral videosfrom exiled Egyptian busi-nessman Mohamed Aly — hassurprised observers in a coun-

try where opposition of allstripes has been severely cur-tailed.

Elected president in 2014after pushing predecessorMohamed Morsi and hisMuslim Brotherhood frompower the previous year, Sisi isseen by many as one of themost authoritarian figures inthe Middle East.

Construction magnate Aly has called for a "million-man march" to take placeFriday and a "people's revolu-tion" to unseat the uncompro-mising head of state.

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The whistleblower whosecomplaint has shaken the

foundations of Donald Trump's presidency is a maleofficer of the CentralIntelligence Agency who wasseconded to the White House,the New York Times reportedThursday.

The man "was detailed towork at the White House at onepoint" but has since returned tothe CIA, the Times said, citingthree people familiar with hisidentity.

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�How was your experiencedirecting the episodes ofSeason 2? Will we see moreepisodes directed by you?

Yes, I will direct again inSeason 3. I am very excited forit. I am grateful to David Shorethat he gave me the opportuni-ty to get involved in the show notonly from an acting perspectivebut writing and directing too.However, I am more inclinedtowards directing and wouldlove to take my interest forwardwith this series. I had directedBates Motel before this, it’s a per-fect place to learn and to startdeveloping directing skills. Theyoffer a supportive environmentand an understanding crew. Iloved directing in that familialenvironment.

�You’re dating in this seasonwhich has become the talk ofthe town. What would you sayto your fans who seem to havean opinion on who you shouldbe dating?

It will be wrong on my partto partner with anyone at theend of this hopeful, long explo-ration journey of love. But thisdramatises the central questionfor Shaun. Will he find love thisseason?

One of the wonderful thingsabout David Shore’s writing isthat he has always managed todig into the nuances of thecharacters. The idea that Season2 ended with Shaun asking Carly

on a date and then saying yes tosome one else, is a good indica-tion as to where things will go inSeason 3. We see Shaun learningto explore what love and datingcould be, which is exciting forthe audience to watch. It issomething everyone will be ableto relate to.

�It is said that in Season 3Shaun won’t be able to saveeveryone. Will he go throughmore extreme situations? Didyou get pushed for this?

I wouldn’t say it that I waspushed for it. David Shorealways has a very strong under-standing of what he wants to do.And he is ultimately trying tosupport that vision in the bestpossible way. Yes, there wasmore emotional turmoil forShaun this season. Things wentto the next level in terms ofresponsibility. The residents havetheir first surgery this year andeveryone at the beginning ofSeason 2 is battling it out for whowill be the first person to get thatopportunity.

�Does this season represent abrand new start for Shaun.And if so, will it be more dra-matic?

The stakes are higher as inShaun has more to lose now thanhe did at the beginning. He wastrying to find his place at thehospital but if we go back intime, had someone fired Shaun

early, it would have been easierto imagine him moving to a dif-ferent path or ending up in a dif-ferent hospital. Whereas now, hehas so many people around. Hehad a connection with Clairefrom the very beginning and hehas his friend in Lea now. I feellike Shaun and Dr Park are get-ting closer in this season. Shaunfinally finds his place.

�There are so many amazingveteran actors on the showthat you get to work with.Would you like to share whatyou learned from them?

It’s a very collaborative andloving environment on set.Everyone feels that they cangive an input into every sceneand feel creative about them-selves. We enjoy on the sets butat the same time maintain a pro-fessional working environmenttoo. Though this is the third sea-son of the show but we stillmaintain that standard of everyscene and episode because all ofus are aware of the need to main-tain the quality.

It was wonderful that I gotthe opportunity to spend somany seasons with Richard

Schiff. He is a brilliant actor anda wonderful person. He is alwaysexcited to try something differ-ent. He never comes to sets withpre-conceived ideas of howsomething should be and isalways open to new ideas. He isconstantly pushing himself, it’s ajoy to work with him.

�What was the biggest chal-lenge you faced as an actor forthis season?

I watched a documentaryway back before shooting thepilot called Autism and Lust.There is so much of the narra-tive around autism, focussing onthe real struggles that people

with the disorder go through.Same was the case with mycharacter Shaun. The focus ofthe documentary is the fact thatpeople with autism are often cat-egorised as emotionless. Theidea of showing someone withautism was the most wonderfulfeeling. I try to dig into anuanced level of what Shaun isdealing with and what he feels ashe tries to navigate falling in lovefor the first time. How he is tak-ing those little steps of going ona date or being physically clos-er to someone. This new pool ofsensation has been interesting.

�You were nominated for theGolden Globes with BestPerformance in the series.What does it mean to you?

The awards were undoubt-edly amazing. It was such a greathonour to receive recognitionand being a foreigner myself, itmattered a lot. Of course, whenpeople see my face, they recallShaun but there are so manymore elements that go into cre-ating one particular character.

�You’re filming the season atVancouver. Is the place begin-

ning to feel like a second homefor you?

It certainly is, especiallybecause of Bates Motel, the showthat I was on before the GoodDoctor. So this is my eighth yearin a row filming something inVancouver. I have spent most ofmy life working in Vancouver,which is a funny thing toacknowledge. I love the city andwhenever this wonderful jour-ney comes to an end, I’m suremy connection with the placewill remain special.

�You said that you have fansworldwide for this show. Doyou remember a fan reactionthat stayed with you?

Without going into person-al stories, I would like to shareabout the most meaningfulresponse that we’ve received arefrom people within the autismcommunity, either people whosee themselves reflected inShaun and some big or smallway or people who have familymembers who are on the spec-trum or children and seeing towhat extent Shaun can offer acertain amount of hope or evenjust someone to identify withand point to and say, “Shaun isa little bit like me.” Those havebeen the most rewarding inter-actions.

�You started your career as achild actor. We see that a lot ofyoung actors are not successfulwhen they mature. What rea-sons would you credit to yoursuccess?

I am lucky that I have a verysupportive family. While pursu-ing my education during child-hood, acting was not the focus ofmy life. I was fortunate enoughto make a transition from youngactor to an old one. I am glad thatI did Bates Motel because therewas never a moment where Ineeded to change myself fromchild to adult in the span of fiveyears of that show. It felt like thetransition was not a consciouseffort. I went into the show as ayoung guy and left as an adult.

(The show is live onSonyLIV.)

Be it jaw-dropping stunts a thousand feetabove the ground or fighting with foes, wehave all seen Tiger Shroff ’s extreme action

sequences, recently in Baaghi 2 and in manyad campaigns. But he never tires of the genre

and he chose War only because it allowedhim to excel in it. He says, “I have

always been a fan of action heroes.Their larger-than-life persona and

heroism attract me the most. It’ssomething I have always want-ed to do.” That’s the reason hehas trained in martial artssince childhood.

The film revolves aroundthe story of two secretagents (played by HrithikRoshan and Tiger). One isa mentor and the other aprotégé. They land up onthe opposite ends of thespectrum as one of themturns rogue.

Normally, creativi-ty is something you donot associate withaction films. But Tiger

says that War is very dif-ferent. “We have tried to

scale up the level of action andoffered a variety of such

sequences to the audience. We havefought on everything possible, be it ice,

air, land or water,” he adds.“There are very different styles of action,

location and get-up. It’s more on the lines ofMission Impossible. It’s like Ethan Hunt versus

James Bond and Superman versus Batman on thebattlefield. The film is a visual spectacle and agreat action entertainer,” Tiger says.

Though he has never played the role of a spe-cial agent, he was impressed by his character,Khalid, and his ability to learn new things. Hesays, “I had to push myself out of my comfortzone in order to offer something new to the audi-

ence. I worked a lot on my body lan-guage and fighting style. It needs timeeven to bring a minute change in yourbody language. It was challenging but Iam glad I was able to do it.” Even aftergoing through the struggles of the char-acter, Tiger says that he enjoyed the rela-tionship with his guru, Hrithik, and thedynamism of the duo.

The actor had to work on everynuance of the character in order toappeal the audience differently. Says he,“I read a lot of books, which helped meunderstand my character better. I learnthow to ride a bike and car on the ice. Thevariety of action is so wide that I had totrain myself separately for each of them.Not only this, in order to do the stuntsperfectly, the repetitive rehearsals thatwent into this role were quite a tedioustask.”

He recalls an incident while he wasrehearsing for his introductory actionsequence for the film. I could hear hispalpable voice on the other end of thephone as he mentions that the scene wasshot without cuts for two-and-a-halfminutes.

With Hrithik on the sets, Tiger hadhis own fantasy moments. “It was anabsolute pleasure working with Hrithik.He is my hero and idol. I still can’tbelieve that I got a chance to work withsomeone I look up to. I have learnt a lotfrom him. It was amazing and such aneasy experience. He is such a gooddancer and is equally good in action,which is all about timing. Whenever wefought with each other, our (action)sequences complemented so well,” hesays, adding that he felt inspired bywatching him because he is always

hungry for more. He aims for perfectionand never settles for less. Whenever heasked Hrithik about anything, he usedto oblige him with a yes.

The actor feels that after Baaghi 2,which was his major hit, people’s expec-tations have gone up. More important-ly, he has higher expectations of himself.

The actor is both nervous and excit-ed. He says, “It’s because I got anopportunity to work with my hero, it ishuge for me. I am working with Yash RajFilms for the first time, and of course,my director Siddharth Anand, who isfantastic. I am looking forward to work-ing with him again soon.”

The actor is all set for his forthcom-ing, Rambo, the second time with Wardirector Anand and Baaghi 3.

(The film releases on October 2 inHindi, Tamil and Telugu.)

Singer-actor Jennifer Lopez will be hosting the2020 Super Bowl halftime show alongside

Hips Don’t Lie hitmaker Shakira. If they remainthe only performers for the show, it will markthe first time two women have co-headlined aSuperbowl show, without another male act.

Lopez, 50, and Shakira, 42, both posted aphotograph of them standing side by side onsocial media to announce the news. “Going toset the world on fire,” Lopez wrote. “It doesn’tget any bigger than this! So excited about get-ting on that #SuperBowlLIV #PepsiHalftimestage,” posted Shakira.

The singers, who have released music inSpanish and English, will perform on February2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens,Florida.

The duo follow in the footsteps of Maroon5, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, KatyPerry, and Lady Gaga, who have headlined thepopular show in the US. Jay-Z’s Roc Nation com-

pany is co-producing the NFL’s 100thanniversary halftime show. It willbe the first collaboration betweenthe two chart toppers. The per-formance happens to fall onShakira’s 43rd birthday.

“I’m so honoured to be tak-ing on one of the world’s

biggest stages in the com-pany of a fellow femaleartist to represent Latinosand Latinas from the USand all over the world —and to top it off, on mybirthday. This is a true

American dream and weare going to bring the show ofa lifetime,” Shakira said.

To this, Lopez said,“Because I am performingwith a fellow Latina, I can’twait to show what us girls cando on the world’s biggeststage. Ever since I saw DianaRoss fly off into the sky at theHalftime Show, I dreamed ofperforming at the SuperBowl.”

Lopez’s fiance AlexRodriguez, also sharedtheir announcement toInstagram, saying “So

proud and so excited! Bringing ithome.”

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In a country as large and diverseas India, with hundreds of lan-guages, dialects and cultures, it

is often difficult to find a commonunifying thread. Some could arguethat it is cricket, others could makethe case for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the first politicalleader in decades who attractsstrong opinions one way or theother across India. However, Ibelieve that there is one thing thatunites Indians — our style of dri-ving. In the past 12 months, I havedriven in several States and citiesacross the country and other thansome notable exceptions, one actu-ally in the Union Territory,Chandigarh, I can state that theynow have an Indian style of driving.I’m afraid it is godawful and that’swhy, I wholeheartedly support thenew Motor Vehicles Act. While I dobelieve that some nuances can bemade to the act but the new stricterpunishments and fines are some-thing we really need to stop theseeming continuation of the civildisobedience movement on ourroads. With the conservative esti-mate of a million deaths over thepast decade, Indian roads havebeen — I do not use this term light-ly — genocidal.

Now on to the cars in question— the updated Datsun Go and Go+,which now come with aContinuously Variable Transmission(CVT) automatic. Another thingthat has united Indians over the pastfew years has been the sudden trans-

formation of the Indian car markettowards automatics and while we allknow the weakness in the car mar-ket right now, when you delve into thesales figures, you will see that almosta third of all new car sales, in somemodels over half of new car sales areequipped with automatic transmis-sions. A car launched without that,particularly in a pricier segment, isalmost guaranteed to see a tepidresponse.

The automatic option that pop-ularised the concept in India was the‘Automated Manual Transmission’(AMT), which you can find on sev-eral Maruti, Mahindra, Tata Motorsand Hyundai cars. The AMT is basi-cally a regular manual transmission,which has a hydraulic or electron-ic activated actuator, which you canthink of as a robotic leg that engagesthe clutch and shifts gears. Andwhile gradual improvements havemade AMTs better over the years,they’re not what one would callstate-of-the-art. Gear changes arelanguid and even in better AMTcars, one would feel what isdescribed as “shift shock.” It is thesudden jerk that occurs when youeither upshift or downshift thegear. But AMTs are cheap, which iswhy, despite selling more advancedgearboxes in international markets,both Maruti Suzuki and Hyundaihave stuck to them in India.

This brings us to the CVT,which is essentially a transmissionthat on the face of it is the perfectgearbox, which instead of toothed

gears uses a belt to connect theengine output shaft and the drive-shaft, whereas, in an ideal world,delivers the right amount of powerthrough the right ratio and is a vehi-cle with unlimited gears. CVTs arevery common in automatic scoot-ers and Japanese manufacturers, in

particular, have taken to CVTs in abig way. So you see them across allHonda and Toyota vehicles and evenon the occasional Maruti Suzuki(like Baleno) and now Datsun. Theentry-level brand brought to thecountry by Nissan has brought in aCVT as well. What’s interesting is

that Datsun has brought the CVTon a small hatchback in the Go andGo+. These are the cars that go upagainst the Maruti Suzuki Alto K10and Celerio as well as the HyundaiSantro, all cars that have AMTs. It’sinteresting because the CVT is, byvirtue of its more complicated engi-

neering, more expensive than AMT.This is a brave decision in such acost-conscious market, althoughwe are yet to see how the cars willbe priced.

So how are the Go and Go+CVTs to drive? Well, not bad, powerdelivery is far more consistent thanany AMT rival, and the “kick-down”, that is when you floor theaccelerator and the gearbox has toswitch gears, is fast. Now, the Go andGo+ have Nissan-Renault’s one-litre engine, which isn’t the mostpowerful unit in the market, albeitit is at par for the course in its seg-ment, but this is not a car, whichcould be very comfortable at highspeeds. And while CVTs are clear-ly superior in urban-driving condi-tions, due to the fact that they don’thave “gears”, they are not what onewould call enthusiastic cars to drive.Some manufacturers get around thisby adding a torque-converter to theCVT (Honda), but that makesCVTs more expensive. As a result,if you floor the accelerator to try andachieve highway speed limits, withor without pressing the “sport” but-ton on the gearbox, you will see theengine tachometer almost hit themaximum limit. You’d start wonder-ing why. Long story short, the Goand Go+ (CVT) are great vehiclesto be driven in urban conditions andby more sedate drivers.

The problem for the Go andGo+ CVT is that despite improve-ments to the fit and finish improve-ments to both cars during the last

facelift, a few months ago, the plas-tic quality still feels poor and worsestill, not sturdy enough. Sure the carnow has Apple CarPlay andAndroid Auto through a fairlysnappy touchscreen, but the lack ofsteering controls does restrict usageon smartphone interfaces, buttonsto accept calls or activate the arti-ficial intelligence assistance throughGoogle or Siri have to be there. Andwhile the Hyundai Santro AMT willstill possibly end up being moreexpensive than either of these cars,it feels far better and even if it maynot be as good to drive, it is nicerto sit in. And at the end of the day,when you are stuck on a 3 km-longtraffic jam on the Mathura Road, I’drather be in the car that feels nicerinside.

Before I conclude, I would liketo use this opportunity to announcethat I will be joining the Indian CarOf The Year (ICOTY) jury this year.The ICOTY is India’s most impor-tant car award and is given to themost important and influentialvehicle to have been launched in thepast year. The jury consists of over20 of India’s most influential andimportant automotive writers andreviewers and is currently headed upby Yogendra Pratap, the editor ofAuto Today magazine. The 2018ICOTY was the Suzuki Swift and the2019 one will be announced in mid-December 2019.

(Got a question on cars? Ping Kushan on Twitter at @kushanmitra.)

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The murals of Ajanta havebeen the greatest source ofinspiration for Indian paintersand many artists of the Asiancountries ever since they were

re-discovered in the 19th century. Andartist Richa Dhamija, too, finds greatsolace in the gentle and compassionatefigures overwhelming the mind in thecavernous depths of Ajanta. She hasbeen an avid reader of art, culture, lit-erature and history. And her passion forart led her to visit museums and art gal-leries across the globe where she wouldspend hours absorbing what she felt isbeing communicated through the worksdone years ago.

“My collection of artworks for exhi-bition Mauj-E-Junoon is inspired by therich art heritage at the Ajanta Caves. Myconnection and fascination with ancientIndian art began with a book that I cameacross three years ago — The AjantaCaves, Ancient Paintings of BuddhistIndia by art historian, filmmaker andauthor Benoy K Behl. I fell in love withthe narration and expression about artat the caves, which spurred me to read,research and watch documentariesabout the same,” says Richa.

The more she absorbed and under-stood, the more intrigued and enthralledshe was with the thought and philoso-phy behind the majestic creations. “Thebeauty, grace and compassion that tran-scend the work done in those ancient

times, ‘the whole oneness’ as the booksays, is communicated through thepaintings at Ajanta — the gentle curvesof human f igures, the gracefuldemeanour, the rich textiles and detailedornaments worn by the royals and thecommon people, the architecture, pat-terns and designs on pillars and ceilingpanels of fruits, flowers and animals, themusical instruments. I was deeplytouched, moved and immensely inspiredto do a series based on my own inter-pretation,” adds she.

Since her interest was initiallyevoked by Behl’s work, she has dedicat-ed this collection to him. And Benoy isequally delighted to see Richa’s inspira-tion. The art historian feels that the phi-losophy and imagination of India is bestpreserved and displayed in the world ofAjanta. This is the finest gift that theartistic and philosophic traditions ofIndia can offer to the modern world.

He says that in the 19th century, theBritish Government sponsored threemajor attempts to make reproductionsof the Ajanta paintings, so that theycould be brought before the world.Major Robert Gill from 1844 to 1863,John Griffiths from 1872 to 1885 andJames Burgess from 1877 to 1882 madeHerculean efforts to reproduce thepaintings. Gill’s paintings were dis-played at the Crystal Palace at Sydenhamin 1866. Unfortunately, the exhibitioncaught fire and most of the work wasdestroyed. Griffiths, Superintendent(later Principal) of the Sir JamshedjiJijibhai School of Art, Bombay, alongwith many of his students were next inundertaking the challenging task. In themeantime, Fergusson and James Burgessof the Archaeological Survey of Indiacarried out a systematic study of thepaintings of Ajanta. From 1909 to 1911,Lady Herringham and her assistantsagain laboured long hours in the AjantaCaves and produced a set of some of thepaintings. Lady Herringham had takento Ajanta to assist her three artists fromKolkata, all students of the famousAbanindranath Tagore — NandalalBose, Asit Haldar and SamarendraGupta. For these painters, who had tillthen not known of the existence of anybeautiful paintings from India’s past,this journey to Ajanta became a greatpilgrimage. They came back to Kolkataand shared their joy of discovery withall their colleagues. Soon the schoolsprang up of a new art form which wasinspired by the country’s own rich tra-dition.

“Since then Ajanta has always hada very special place in the imaginationand in the minds of the Indian people.It became and has remained a symbolof the great beauty of India’s rich pastand has been an immense inspiringforce for exploration in the fields ofother Indian art forms as well,” saysBenoy.

(The group show is on display fromOctober 2 to 6, 11 am to 8 pm, at OpenPalm Court Gallery, IHC.)

Abody armour-wearing PrinceHarry followed in the footstepsof his late mother, Princess

Diana, whose walk through an activemine field in Angola years ago helpedlead to a global ban on deadly weapons.

The prince walked through a dustymine field marked with skull-and-crossbones warning signs, and was vis-iting the spot where Diana was famous-ly photographed on a similar walk dur-ing her own Africa visit in 1997. Thatfield in Huambo is now a busy street.The southern African nation is nowyears past a grinding civil war and hopesto be land mine-free by 2025, a goal ofscores of countries around the world.

“Land mines are an unhealed scarof war,” Harry said in the town of Dirico.“By clearing the land mines, we can helpthis community find peace, and withpeace comes opportunity,” he added.

Diana’s visit is still very much dis-cussed today in Huambo after peoplewere struck by her warmth and willing-ness to acknowledge their country’s dev-astating 27-year conflict, the Angolacountry director for mine-clearingorganisation The HALO Trust said.

“The main impact of Diana’s walkin 1997 was the level of global exposureit provided for land mines not only inAngola but the world,” Ralph Legg said.She was a great advocate for a land mineban, and “her willingness to visit anactual mine field, to place herself rightin that context, provided great impetusand gave it a boost.”

The international ban on anti-per-sonnel mines was signed that year andentered into force two years later. So far164 countries have signed on. “Morethan 48 million stockpiled mines havebeen destroyed and 31 countries havebeen completely cleared of land mines,”The HALO Trust said, while productionof the weapons has almost dried up.

Harry on his visit also remotely det-

onated a decades-old mine, met withmine-clearing teams and was visiting theorthopedic hospital his mother visitedfor her meetings with mine victims.

“I think that will be a verypoignant moment of coming full cir-cle,” Legg said. “Very striking oncepeople compare those images from thetwo visits to see how far Angola hascome.”

The world, however, is hardlyfree of mines, and Legg said Angolaitself still has about 650 mine fields leftto clear. Some countries that remainheavily mined include Afghanistan,Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, andAfghanistan led the world with at least2,300 casualties in 2017, according tothe Landmine Monitor 2018 report.

“Myanmar was the only knowninstance of government forces active-ly planting the weapons” in the year-long period between October 2017 and2018, the report said.

Angola now hopes to turn some ofits mine-free areas into sites for wildlifeconservation and eco-tourism. Theprince was unveiling a project meantto protect wildlife corridors near thesprawling Okavango Delta, a rareinland delta in neighbouring Botswanathat doesn’t flow into a sea or ocean andis home to several endangered species.

Harry called on for internationaleffort to help clear mines from theOkavango watershed in Angola.“Everyone who recognises the pricelessimportance of safe-guarding Africa’smost intact natural landscape shouldcommit fully to this mission,” he said.

His first official family tour with hiswife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex,and their baby, Archie, will continuewith stops in Malawi and furtherevents in South Africa with a focus onissues including mental health andwomen’s empowerment.

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Real Madrid and AtleticoMadrid have each averted a

mini-crisis already this seasonand one of the rewards for thewinner of the derby today wouldbe to stall their rival’s recovery.

At the WandaMetropolitano this weekend, itwill be La Liga’s first againstthird, even if the ascendancy ofMadrid’s two premier clubs per-haps says as much about thechaos of the opening few weeksin Spain as it does about thestrength of their revivals.

Real Madrid are top andwhile Zidane discounts the fact,their turnaround has beenimpressive.

It began against Sevilla, whocould have gone top themselves,and at the Ramon SanchezPizjuan, where Madrid had pre-viously won just once in sevenyears.

Beating Sevilla and thenpromoted Osasuna onWednesday has turned the tide,not least because there was aresilience and purpose so previ-ously lacking.

In each game, Madrid man-aged not to concede a single shoton target. “What has changed isthat we believe in what we do,”Zidane said.

“Now we are at our begin-ning.”

Atletico is an opportunity tomaintain momentum and itmight be that a draw, at this earlystage in the season, is acceptableto both, particularly ahead of thesecond round of ChampionsLeague group games next week.

Certainly, Atleti neededtheir win away at Mallorca onWednesday, even if AlvaroMorata’s mindless sending off,eight minutes after coming on asa substitute, means the Spaniardwill be suspended for the derbythis weekend.

Morata’s absence makes it allthe more likely Diego Costa willkeep his place up front alongsideJoao Felix, particularly after itwas their goals that sealed theMallorca win.

After starting the seasonwith three consecutive victories,Atletico were being circled asgenuine contenders for the titlebut defeat to Real Sociedad andthe stalemate against Celta hadtempered expectations.

One win has restored beliefbut this game will be taken as anearly litmus test for the threatthat these teams pose. Neitherwill want to fail it.

Barcelona’s stuttering starthas arguably been the mostworrying of all but they tooenjoyed a rejuvenating win overVillarreal in midweek, ahead oftheir visit to Getafe today.

Scepticism around coachErnesto Valverde is never farfrom the surface at Camp Nouand it remains to be seenwhether Barca can now leavebehind their own sticky patch,and without Lionel Messi, whois nursing a thigh injury.

Valverde might take encour-agement from last season whenhis side won only once in fivegames through the end ofSeptember and early October.They went on to win the title by11 points.

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Liverpool and Manchester Cityare again threatening to streakclear in the Premier League title

race with their main challengerslooking ill-equipped to keep up.

Both teams were irresistible lastseason, with runners-up Liverpoolfinishing 25 points ahead of third-placed Chelsea, and they look aclass apart again in this campaign.

The two front-runners will eachexpect to pick up another threepoints this weekend despite being ontheir travels as Liverpool go toSheffield United and City visitEverton.

Leicester, Arsenal and West Hamare their closest challengers and

early leaders in the fight for the finaltwo Champions League placesdespite just three wins apiece after sixrounds of matches.

Tottenham, Chelsea andManchester United, all of whomhave struggled badly, are under pres-sure to get back on track on home soilthis weekend.

SEVEN HEAVENCity showed no mercy against

Watford last weekend, hammeringthe Hornets 8-0 in a staggering dis-

play of dominance that even visitinggoalkeeper Ben Foster admittedcould have resulted in aneven more damaging score-line.

Yet Pep Guardiola’s mencould find themselves eightpoints behind in the titlerace come kick-off atGoodison Park today shouldLiverpool maintain theirrelentless run.

Jurgen Klopp’s side havethe chance to win their 16thconsecutive Premier League game inthe early kick-off in Sheffield.

Liverpool have not lost in theleague to a side outside the tradition-al “Big Six” since January 2018.

But Blades boss Chris Wilder is

demanding his players are not star-struck by the European champions.

MUST-WINSTottenham f luffed another

chance to land a first trophy underMauricio Pochettino in midweek,with an embarrassing third-roundLeague Cup defeat by fourth-tierColchester on penalties.

Spurs have won just two of theiropening eight games in all competi-tions and four of their past 17 dat-ing back to last season.

With Bayern Munich to visit onTuesday in the Champions League,that record threatens to get evenworse unless Pochettino can get aresponse from his stale-looking sideagainst Southampton.

Chelsea fared far better in theLeague Cup as a 7-1 rout of Grimsbyhanded Frank Lampard his first vic-tory in charge at Stamford Bridge.

In contrast to Spurs, though,Chelsea are at the start of a new era

and there were encouragingsigns for Lampard in lastweekend’s 2-1 loss toLiverpool.

Defensive issuesremain, with the Blues yetto keep a clean sheet in ninegames under Lampard, butN’Golo Kante’s return frominjury does offer somemuch-needed protectionfor the backline.

Brighton’s visit to the Bridgealso starts an enticing run of fixturesfor Chelsea to haul themselves backinto the top four, with Southampton,Newcastle, Burnley, Watford andCrystal Palace to come.

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Skipper Andrea Belotti’squick-fire second-half dou-

ble, including a sensationaloverhead kick in front of goal,sealed a 2-1 comeback win inSerie A over AC Milan onThursday.

Polish striker KrzysztofPiatek had put AC Milan aheadfrom the spot after 18 minutesin the clash between midtablerivals in the Olympic Stadium.

But in four-minute spell,Belotti sealed all three points forWalter Mazzarri's side who hadsuffered back-to-back losses intheir previous two games.

Torino move up to sixth inthe table, equal on nine pointswith Napoli and Cagliari afterfive games, but six pointsbehind leaders Inter Milan.

AC Milan drop to 13th, fol-lowing on from last weekend’s2-0 derby defeat.

“We didn’t want to lose athird in a row,” said Belotti.

“They made us dance in thefirst half but when we returnedafter the break we were a differ-ent side.”

Both northern Italian rivalswere desperate to get back to

winning ways with Milan goingahead early after a penaltyawarded when Lorenzo DeSilvestri fouled Rafael Leao.

Piatek — third top scorer inSerie A last season with 22 goals— stepped up to slot in theresulting penalty.

Belotti missed a chance toequalise just before the break,sending the ball over whenalone in front of goal, with

Piatek also wasteful firingAlessio Romagnoli’s perfectcross wide on 53 minutes.

But Torino piled on thepressure and it paid off withBelotti breaking through on 72minutes with a blisteringequaliser which left GianluigiDonnarumma with no chancein the Milan goal.

And the 25-year-old addeda second minutes later amidconfusion in front of the Milangoal.

Belotti sent the ball throughfor Simone Zaza, butDonnarumma cleared with therebound finding the Italy inter-national again who finishedoff an acrobatic overhead kickinto goal for his fourth goal infive games.

Milan missed two latechances to snatch a point withFranck Kessie hitting the ballwide while Piatek’s header wascleared by Torino goalkeeperSalvatore Sirigu.

“It was a game we hadunder control, but we didn’thave the cynicism to kill it off,”said Milan coach MarcoGiampaolo.

“It is clear that this defeathits our self-esteem.”

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Zinedine Zidane insists EdenHazard will fulfil his poten-

tial at Real Madrid despite aslow start since his 100 millioneuros ($109 million) movefrom Chelsea in the summer.

Hazard picked up a thighinjury the day before Real’sopening La Liga game againstCelta Vigo and missed their firstthree matches of the season.

He has since come off thebench against Levante andstarted against Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla, but theBelgian is yet to register a goalor an assist for his new team,who face capital city rivalsAtletico Madrid today.

“Listen we know the qual-ity of player we have and weknow he is going to deliver,” saidZidane in a press conference onFriday.

“Everyone expects a lotfrom him and he knows that.But we support him and he iswith us. As the games go by Iam sure he is going to be theplayer we want him to be in thisReal Madrid team.”

“We are going to giveeverything,” Zidane said. “Ourideas haven’t changed, we knowhow tough it will be tomorrowagainst a difficult opponent butthey are going to find it toughas well.”

Atletico thrashed Madrid7-3 in a pre-season game in July,a match Zidane said his teamplayed like a friendly and their

opponents treated like a com-petitive fixture.

Zidane’s response was briefwhen asked about whether thatresult had any significance onthe upcoming derby. “No it hasnothing to do with this game,”he said.

Marcelo, Luka Modric andIsco have all recovered frominjury and trained with the restof the squad on Friday.

But Rodrygo, the 18-year-old Brazilian who scored on hisdebut against Osasuna, oneminute after coming on, willreturn to Madrid’s reserve team,Castilla, this weekend.

“He knows we’re going togo bit by bit with him,” Zidanesaid. “For tomorrow we havealready taken the decision andthat’s it. For thenext gamewe’ll see buttomorrowhe plays forC a s t i l l aand he’shappy withthat.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo looks setto return for Juventus today

as Serie A leaders Milan headfor Sampdoria seeking a boostahead of their ChampionsLeague blockbuster againstBarcelona next week.

Antonio Conte’s sideare the only Italian teamwith maximum 15 pointsfrom five games withMaurizio Sarri’s championsJuventus second two pointsbehind before they hoststruggling SPAL.

“Five wins in a row is nofluke, we’re getting into theright frame of mind,” saidConte, whose side followed upon their dire 1-1 Europeanstalemate to Slavia Prague with

wins in the Milan derby andagainst Lazio midweek. “But westill have to grow a lot. We’re

newborns at a pro-ject level,” addedthe former Chelseaboss of Inter wholast won Serie A in2010.

Eusebio DiF r a n c e s c o ’ s

Sampdoria have had a night-mare start to the season — withthe Genoa club sinking to fourdefeats in five games.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, looksset to return for Juventus athome against SPAL having

missed last weekend’s gameagainst Brescia with a muscularproblem, with the Turin giantshosting Bayer Leverkusen inEurope next week.

In Naples, Serie A run-ners-up Napoli host MarioBalotelli’s Brescia desperate fora win after their surprise mid-week reversal to Cagliari butwithout defender KalidouKoulibaly.

Carlo Ancelotti’s southern-ers slipped six points behindInter following their shock defeatto the Sardinians with Koulibalysent off late in the game.

Atalanta are third after theirlate 2-0 win over Roma and nexttravel to midtable Sassuolobefore their first ever ChampionsLeague home game againstShaktar Donetsk.

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Former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener

was on Friday appointed ashead coach of the theAfghanistan cricket team.

He will take charge of

Afghanistan in the seriesagainst West Indies inNovember.

“I am extremely excitedand honoured to be given theopportunity to work withsome of the best talent in

world cricket. Everyoneknows the fearless brand ofcricket Afghanistan play,”said Klusener.

“I am very confidentthat with some hard workwe can become one of the

best sides in the world. I amreally looking forward toworking with the Afghanistanteam and helping them taketheir cricket to the next level,”said the 48-year-old who hasplayed 49 Tests and 171 ODIs.

Klusener is a certifiedLevel 4 coach and has servedas bowling coach of MumbaiIndians in the IPL, consultantto South Africa NationalAcademy and batting coach ofSouth Africa Test team.

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Paul Pogba is a doubt forManchester United’s match

against Arsenal, giving belea-guered manager Ole GunnarSolskjaer a fresh headache as hejuggles his scant attackingresources.

The France midfielder hurthis ankle again in the LeagueCup match with Rochdale inmidweek on his return to theside after not playing since lateAugust.

Solskjaer revealed on Fridaythat his ankle knock was thereason he did not join his team-mates.

“The situation is Paul fin-ished the game, 90 minutesfantastically, but he got a knockto his ankle which is veryswollen,” said Solskjaer.

“So it was better for him notto go there with the team andhe’s in a race for Monday. He isa doubt, but that is the way it is.”

Forwards Anthony Martialand Marcus Rashford are alsofacing a battle to be fit forMonday’s game at Old Trafford,with Solskjaer short of attack-ing options.

Martial is still trying torecover from a thigh injurysustained last month whileRashford limped off with agroin problem in the 2-0 defeatat West Ham on Sunday.

If neither of those twomakes it, Mason Greenwoodwill be in line to start his firstPremier League game.

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Former India cricketerYuvraj Singh has suggested

that Rohit Sharma can be con-sidered for T20 captaincy ifVirat Kohli feels “overloaded”by leading the side in all threeformats.

Rohit, the vice-captain ofIndia’s limited-overs sides, hasbeen the most successful cap-tain in the IPL, leadingMumbai Indians to four titlewins and Yuvraj said it won’tbe a bad idea for India to tryout split captaincy to ease theworkload of the best batsmanin the world.

“Earlier there used to bejust two formats — ODI andTests, so it was perfect to haveone captain. Now there arethree formats and if Virat isfeeling overloaded, maybe theyshould try somebody else forthe T20 format. Rohit hasbeen a very successful captain,”Yuvraj told 'Aaj Tak' newschannel.

“I don’t really know. They(team management) have todecide how much workloadVirat can take. Do they needto try somebody else for T20?It completely depends on howthey want to go for the future.Virat has been the best bats-man. How to manage hisworkload? It is completely

team management’s call.”Yuvraj also took a dig at

the team management for get-ting the crucial No 4 positionwrong in the ICC World Cupin England earlier this year.

“You need to identify whois your best talent and thenback him. The highest score inNo 4 position at the World

Cup was 48. The captain,coach and the selectors shouldhave known that No 4 is a veryimportant position, especiallyin England where the ballseams,” he said.

“The No 4 batsman has tobe technically strong. VijayShankar didn’t have that expe-rience, Rishabh Pant didn’t

have the experience. DineshKarthik was an experiencedguy who was sitting out andsuddenly went to bat in thesemifinal.”

He said any cricketerneeds a sense of security toexcel.

“I really didn’t understandwhat the think-tank was doing.

If you had to get the best outof a player you have to securehim. A player can never playwell if he is insecure. That wasthe big reason why India did-n’t win the World Cup,” Yuvrajsaid.

Meanwhile he has claimedthat the team management lethim down towards the fagend of his international careerand he could have playedanother World Cup after the2011 heroics if he had enoughbacking.

“(I) Regret that I couldn'tplay another World Cup after2011. There was hardly anysupport from the team man-agement or people around. Ifthat support was there thenmay be I would have playedanother World Cup,” Yuvrajsaid.

“But whatever cricket Iplayed it's on my own. I neverhad any godfather.”

Yuvraj, who retired fomthe game earlier this year,reiterated that he was ignoreddespite clearing the mandato-ry yo-yo test for fitness.

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SARAH TAYLOR QUITS INT'L CRICKETDoha: ��� ��#��+�����2�# ����������������������� �� ��� �������� ��� ������"��� ���"������������ �������� ��� HC������� � "��� ���2�# �����%� �� �CC>� ������#����� ��"�����>����������������������������"������� ��J���+�������������������%� �������1�����#�"��������� ������ ��������# �� ��� 2�# ��� ���6� ��)������ ���� @2) A� ��� ���"�� �� � 3��#���������4%�������������"������3��#����"�4�3,��CC>"�����"��"�������,%��"��������������� ,J�������������� ���������� ��#���� ���%���� ������������ �� ,� �� �����#����"����"����"���� �����������%�,���� ���������"������ �� 2�# ��� ������ ����� �� �� �������� �����������#"��4��� ����������

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World ChampionshipSilver medallist wrestler

Deepak Punia has jumped toworld number one positionin 86kg but Bajrang Punialost the top rank in the 65kgcategory in the latest rank-ings issued by the interna-tional federation (UWW).

Competing in his maid-en senior WorldChampionship, Deepak set-

tled for a Silver after an ankle

injury forced him to pull out ofthe final against Iranian greatHasan Yazdani.

The 20-year-old now has 82points, four more than WorldChampion Yazdani.

This year, Deepak had won aSilver Yasar Dogu and Bronzemedals at Asian Championshipand at Sassari tournaments. Hehas been rewarded for his con-sistent show.

However, Bajrang, who wentinto the World Championship asworld number one, dropped to

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Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap pro-gressed to the men’s singles semi-finals

of the Korea Open World Tour Super500 with a straight-game win over for-mer world No 2 Denmark’s Jan OJorgensen on Friday.

In a clinical display, the 33-year-oldfrom Hyderabad, who is the lone Indianleft in fray, outsmarted Jorgensen 24-22,21-8 in 37 minutes to make it to his sec-ond semifinal of the season. He hadreached the last four at the India OpenSuper 500 tournament.

The 2014 Commonwealth GamesGold-medallist will now face world No1 and two-time world champion KentoMomota of Japan today.

A former World No 6, Kashyap,who was promoted from the qualifyinground, had last played Jorgensen fiveyears ago at the Denmark Open.

The Indian entered the match witha 2-4 record against Jorgensen, a 2015World Championship Bronze medallist.

In the first game, the duo engagedin short rallies initially and spilt the first8 points. A couple of backhand error andKashyap was lagging 5-8.

Another miscued shot at the net anda wide smash gave Jorgensen an 11-8advantage at the break.

After the interval, Kashyap garnereda few quick points to turn the tables onhis rival, reaching 14-12. The Dane hitthe net thrice and also went long, whileKashyap unleashed two powerful crosscourt smashes.

A precise slice helped Jorgensenbreak the run of points and then levelpar when kashyap committed an error.

The duo fought hard, moving from14-14 to 18-18. A timely video referrelgave Kashyap another point but he sentone to the net as it was 19-19.

Jorgensen then held the game pointopportunity after a precise smash at thebackline. However, a jump smash fromthe Indian made it 20-20.

Kashyap then earned a game pointonly to give it away. However, the Indiangrabbed a second game point opportu-nity and converted it when his opponenthit the net. He thus sealed the first gamewhich lasted 22minutes.

The second game started on a sim-ilar note with the duo tied 3-3 initially.Kashyap then took control of the net andcurbed his errors to reel off five straightpoints. Jorgensen tried to up the pacebut unforced errors pegged him back askashyap held a 11-7 lead at the breather.

It was mostly one way traffic afterthe break as Kashyap found the gaps eas-ily even as his rival got buried in a heapof unforced errors. Kashyap grabbed thenext nine of the 10 points to move to thematch point and then sealed it with asmash.

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Indian boxers are headed in the rightdirection and will do something big

at the Tokyo Olympic Games, reckonsHigh Performance Director SantiagoNieva, who wants his wards to emergeas outright winners and secure at leastfive Olympic spots during the Asianqualifiers.

The Indian boxers produced theirbest-ever show at the WorldChampionships with Amit Panghal(52kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg)winning Silver and Bronze respective-ly in Russia. Before this, the countryhad never won more than one Bronzein a single edition of the showpiece.

“Every tournament we go, wealways compare the results to whatcould have happened if it were theOlympics. Are we on the right track?So far, we have shown in every singlecompetition that we are doing well,”Nieva said.

“In Olympics, there are no guaran-tees but we are in the right directionand we are confident we will do some-thing big in the Olympics.”

Indian boxers will now train theireyes on the Asian-Oceania qualifiers

scheduled to be held in Wuhan, Chinafrom February 3-14.

In the qualifiers, Olympic spots willbe up for grabs in eight men’s weightclasses — Flyweight (52kg),Featherweight (57kg), Lightweight(63kg), Welterweight (69kg),

Middleweight (75kg), LightHeavyweight (81kg), Heavyweight(91kg) and Super Heavyweight (+91kg).

“The qualifiers will be tremendous-ly tough. We want all eight to qualifybut realistically 5 to 6 boxers shouldqualify for the Olympics,” Nieva said.

“In lower weights, there are worldchampionship and Olympic medallists,so we can’t sleep. We have to ensure thatwe beat them by enough margin so thatthere is no doubt in the judges’ mindsand that is our challenge,” Nieva said.

Nieva is happy with the progressthat Indian boxing has made in the lastfew years but stressed on the impor-tance of infrastructure for the coun-try to emerge as a dominating nationin the sport.

“This was India’s best ever perfor-mance at Worlds. If this would havebeen an Olympic qualifier, we wouldhave had four boxers qualified. It wasa great performance but we wantmore medals and champions. So wecontinue to work to stay at this level,”he said.

“There are many countries whowould like to be in our position but insome other ways, we still lack a lot ininfrastructure to compare with topnations such as Kazakhstan,Uzbekistan, Russia.

“They have more complete set up,from grassroots level to all the way up,so that is what we are trying toachieve...Otherwise it will be very dif-ficult,” he signed off.

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Opener Aiden Markramstruck his second successive

hundred in as many games asSouth Africa scored steadily toreach 199 for 4 in 50 oversagainst Board President’s XI onthe second day of the rain-cur-tailed warm-up match here onFriday.

Markram had earlier scored161 for South Africa A againstIndia A in a first-class game lastweek.

On the day, he retired aftercompleting his hundred in agame which has not been accord-ed first-class status. Markram’sinnings was an attacking one ashe faced 118 deliveries, hitting 18boundaries and two sixes.

Markram’s good form augurswell for the Proteas as the 24-year-old right-hander wasmarked as one for he future byIndia captain Virat Kohli, whenthey toured the rainbow nationback in 2018.

Earlier, opener Dean Elgarwas snuffed out by senior pacerUmesh Yadav (1/34), caught byPriyank Panchal in the slip cor-don. One down batsman Theunisde Bruyn got one from IshanPorel (1/11) that jagged back in

to trap him plumb in-front.The talented Zubayr Hamza

(22) hit three fours and a sixbefore left-arm spinnerDharmendra Jadeja (2/52) hadhim leg before with an arm ball.The lesser-known Jadeja fromSaurashtra also had rival skipperFaf Du Plessis (9) trapped leg-before.

However before that,Markram and the stodgy TembaBavuma (55) had a century part-nership. The slightly builtBavuma also hit nine fours in his92-ball unbeaten knock.

The two pacers who didn’tperform up to the mark wereAvesh Khan (0/44 in 10 overs),who got a bit of stick andMumbai man Shardul Thakur(0/34 in 10 overs), who sharedthe new ball with Umesh.

The most impressive amongpacers was young Bengal speed-ster Ishan but unfortunatelyBoard President’s XI skipperRohit Sharma only gave him asix-over spell during which hegot De Bruyn.Brief Scores: SA 199/4 in 50overs (Aiden Markram 100retired, Temba Bavuma 55,Dharmendra Jadeja 2/52, IshanPorel 1/11, Umesh Yadav 1/31) vBP XI.

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Out of favour Indian batsman SureshRaina has not given up on his India

dreams and believes that he can bat at themuch-debated No 4 spot for the team inthe shortest format of the game.

Raina, who last played for Indiaagainst England in 2018, is eyeing a come-back to the national side with two T20World Cups in successive years, 2020 and2021.

“I can be the No 4 for India. I have bat-ted in that slot before and delivered. I amlooking forward to an opportunity withtwo T20 World Cups coming up,” the 32-year-old told The Hindu on Thursday.

The No 4 batting spot has been a hottopic of discussion for Team India in thelast two years. While they tried AmbatiRayudu for some time, right before theWorld Cup, Vijay Shankar was handed theresponsibility to play at the spot. But, onceShankar got injured during the course ofthe tournament, Rishabh Pant wasappointed as the batter to play at the No4 slot.

However, Pant has not been able to dojustice to his role and has been facingharsh criticism from several quarters. Hehas been accused of poor shot selectionand not putting price on his wicket.

Raina, who has scored 5,615 ODI and1,605 T20I runs, believes the 21-year-oldappears to be confused at the moment andsomeone needs to sit down and talk withhim.

“He appears confused, is not playinghis natural game. He is looking for singles,blocking, and appears lost,” said thesouthpaw.

“Someone needs to talk to him as MSDhoni would do to players. Cricket is amental game and Pant has to be backedto play his attacking brand of cricket. Rightnow he seems to be playing under instruc-tions and it is not working,” he added.

The left-handed batter, who is count-ed as one of the most energetic fielders inworld cricket, also said Dhoni has a lot tooffer to Indian cricket and can prove tobe a worthy asset for the team in nextyear’s World T20.

“He is still fit, still a terrific wicket-keeper and still the greatest finisher in thegame. Dhoni will be an asset for India inthe T20 World Cup.”

Rohit T20 captaincy can manageVirat's workload: Yuvi

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Jammu & Kashmir registered afacile 55-run win over host

Rajasthan in a Group C matchof the Vijay Hazare Trophy hereon Friday.

Put in to bat, J&K made 317for 5 in 50 overs thanks toimpressive knocks by ShubhamKhajuria (94) and ShubhamSingh Pundir (96 not out).

Leggie Rahul Chahar, whorecently broke into the IndianT20 side, finished with 2 for 50in 9 overs while Deepak Chaharwent wicketless in 9 overs givingaway 53 runs.

Rajasthan struggled in thechase and ended up with 262,being dismissed in 49 overs.

Captain Mahipal Lomrortop scored with 88 while ChetanBist made a strokeful 72 but theteam was always behind the

run rate.Ram Dayal finished with 4

for 45 as J&K wrapped up theRajasthan innings in 49 overs tosecure four points.

Services rode on RaviChauhan's knock of 104 to beatTripura by 19 runs.

Chauhan's ton helpedServices make 241 for 9 in 50overs.

Tripura was bowled out for222 in the 48th over as Servicesgained a win and 4 points.

In another match, GouravYadav (5/45) and Naman Ojha(60 not out) helpedMadhyaPradesh post a three-wicket win over Railways toearn four points.

In Dehradun,skipperUnmukt Chand hit an unbeaten80 to help Uttarakhand defeatAssam by seven wickets in arain-curtailed Plate group match.

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number two spot after man-aging a Bronze.

The 25-year-old now has63 points while Russia’sGadzhimurad Rashidov, whowon Gold in Nur Sultan, isthe new world number one in65kg.

In 57kg, world Bronzemedallist Ravi Dahiya hasentered the top-five bracket.He is ranked exactly five with39 points while Rahul Aware’sBronze medal has pushedhim to world number two.

Meanwhile, in women’srankings, Vinesh Phogat, whoalso won a Bronze in NurSultan along with TokyoOlympic quota, has jumpedto number two in 53kg cate-gory, gaining four places afterher stupendous show lastweek.

In 50kg, Seema Bisla hasdropped a rung to numberthree while Pooja Dhanda(32) is ranked five in 59kg,two places behind compatri-ot Manju Kumari (40).