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The Indian Army on Sundaycarried out punitive strikes

on Pakistani Army posts acrossthe Line of Control (LoC) aftertwo Indian soldiers and a civil-ian were killed in Tangdharwhen Pakistan violated cease-fire and tried to push in ter-rorists from across the LoC. Atleast five to six Pakistani sol-diers were killed in the retalia-tory action.

Firing from across the LoCbegan in early hours when thePakistan Army tried to push interrorists into Jammu &Kashmir by giving them cov-ering fire. Two Indian soldiersand a civilian were killed in thePak firing. The Indian Armythen hit terrorist launch padsand Pakistani Army positions,Army officials said later here inthe day.

They said the Indian Armyhad to resort to punitive actionafter Pakistan resorted to heavy“unprovoked firing on civil-ians” on Saturday night. “As aresult, calibrated escalation ofarea weapons was undertakenby the Indian Side in which ter-rorist launch pads, Pakistanarmy posts giving incidentalprotection to these launch padsand certain gun positions werehit,” an Army spokespersonsaid. This action was takenPakistan Army initiated unpro-voked Cease Fire Violation(CFV) to assist infiltration byterrorists into Indian territories,the spokesperson stated.

Army Chief General BipinRawat said around six to tenPakistani soldiers and as manyterrorists have been killed inthe action.

“Last evening an attemptwas made in Tangdhar to infil-trate terrorists, we retaliated,Pakistan carried out attack fir-ing at our post in which we didsuffer, but before they couldattempt the infiltration it wasdecided that we target that ter-ror camps across,” Rawat said.

“In the retaliatory action,we have caused severe damageto terrorist infrastructure.Terrorist camps oppositeTangdhar sector have beendestroyed. On the basis ofreports that we have been get-ting, six to ten Pakistani soldiershave been killed, three campshave been destroyed. Similarnumber of terrorists have alsobeen killed…” he added.

Pakistan, however, hasrejected reports that the IndianArmy targeted their terrorcamps in the POK and said itcan arrange a visit of diplomatsfrom P5 nations to the area toexpose Indian “falsehood”.

Rejecting reports, ForeignOffice spokesman MohammadFaisal said, “Pakistan categor-ically rejects Indian mediareports about alleged launch-pads being targeted by Indiaalong the LoC.”

The Foreign Office saidthat Pakistan has called uponthe P-5 countries (permanentmembers of the United NationsSecurity Council) to ask India

to provide information aboutthe terror launchpads. It saidPakistan is willing to arrange avisit of the P5 diplomats tothose locations to expose“Indian falsehood”.

Pakistan Army spokesmanMaj Gen Asif Ghafoor alsorejected the reports saying theIndian media is “falsely claim-ing” targeting of alleged terrorcamps.

Meanwhile, Pakistan sum-moned Indian envoy Gaurav

Ahluwalia to condemn the fir-ing by Indian troops that it saidkilled five civilians along theLine of Control (LoC) in Jura,Shahkot and Nausehri Sectors.

Giving details of the puni-tive action, the Army said onecivilian Mohammad Sadiq waskilled and three others wereinjured belonging toGhundhishat Village ofTangdhar district in “Pakistanarmy artillery firing.”

The spokesperson said

Indian Army “retains the rightto respond at a time and placeof it’s choosing” in casePakistan Army continues toassist terrorist activities acrossIndian borders.

Defence sources said fourlaunch pads in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK)weretargeted after civilians causal-ities in Tangdhar district on theIndian side. “It was a directassault at the same time usingheavy artillery. Atleast six

Pakistani soldiers were killed inthe firing,” one source saidadding each launch pad hadover 15-20 terrorists waiting toinfiltrate.

The launch pads were locat-ed South of Zura in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK)andposts included Athmuqam andKundalshahi and sources con-firmed that Indian Army hasused 155mm heavy artilleryguns. Usually during ceasefireviolations, small arms are usedand as caliber escalation happensheavy mortar is used eventual-ly leading to the use of heavyartillery which has been inter-mittently used by both sides onthe LoC in recent times.

During the day, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh spoketo Army Chief Rawat whoapprised Singh of the develop-ments and the situation alongthe LoC. Tangdhar is one of thetraditional infiltration routes inNorth Kashmir. The ingressroutes there will be closed inthe next few weeks after snow-fall and therefore the Pakistanarmy is desperate to push in asmany terrorists possible before it.

Moreover, the punitiveaction on Sunday is one of thebiggest since abrogation ofArticle 370 giving special sta-tus to Jammu & Kashmir onAugust five. So far, more than2,300 cease of fire violationshave taken place since Januarythis year as compared to 1,600odd last year.

Continued on Page 4

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Polling will be held onMonday in all 288

Assembly constituencies ofMaharashtra and the 90Assembly seats of Haryana asthe ruling BJP, a good five-months after its win in the LokSabha elections, is looking fora second consecutive terms inboth the States.

While abrogation of Article370 and anti-Pakistan rant has

been the main poll planks ofthe BJP, the Oppositionclaimed that economic slow-down, unemployment and gen-eral anti-incumbency couldwork in their favour.

Bypolls will also be held to51 Assembly seats and two LokSabha constituencies spreadacross 18 States. Eleven ofthese bypolls would be in UttarPradesh where poll resultswould be seen as a litmus testfor the Yogi AdityanathGovernment which has com-pleted 30 months in office.

BJP’s incumbent ChiefMinister in MaharashtraDevendra Fadnavis and ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarin Haryana are seeking secondterm, but the campaign face forthe ruling BJP is PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Continued on Page 4

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Family members of theHindu Samaj Party leader

Kamlesh Tiwari, who waskilled two days ago, met ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath anddemanded capital punishmentfor the killers.

Tiwari’s mother, wife andthree sons met the ChiefMinister at his official resi-dence of 5, Kalidas Marg, andstayed there for over 30 min-utes. The Chief Ministerassured the family of all helpand said police are doing theirjob and the guilty will not bespared. Officer privy to themeeting told this reporter thatthe CM intently listened to thefamily members who demand-ed a Government job forTiwari’s son, security to thefamily and an arms licence tothem for security purpose.They also demanded thatKhurshid Bagh should berenamed as Kamlesh Park anda statue should be installed atthe park.

Speaking to reporters aftermeeting the CM, the slainleader’s wife Kiran said, “Yogihas assured every possibleaction in the matter. We feelsatisfied after meeting him.Our demand is that the killersshould be given capital pun-

ishment.”Tiwari’s mother Kusuma

Tiwari said, “I told the CM Iwant justice for my son andstrict punishment should begiven to the killers. We havebeen assured by the CM.”

However, after reachingSitapur she changed her state-ment and said she was nothappy after meeting Yogibecause he did not look seri-ous and concerned about ourplight and his reaction was notsympathetic towards us.

“We were forced to go to

Lucknow and meet the CM.The local administration wasafter us saying the CM wantsto meet us. As per Hindu rit-ual family does not move outof house before tehravi (13-dayritual) still we were forced togo there,” Kusuma toldreporters in Sitapur here onSunday.

“I wanted to ask the CMwhy his security was reducedbut was not allowed to ask thisquestion. The response wewanted or we were looking forfrom CM was not there,” she

said.Recently a video has sur-

faced where Kamlesh is seencastigating Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister Yogi for reducing hissecurity. In that video he wasseen saying he would be killedas some Muslim fundamen-talists are after him.

Hindu Samaj Party chiefTiwari, 45, earlier associatedwith a faction of the HinduMahasabha, was killed at hishome in Khurshid Bagh hereon Friday.

� �� 3/�&34)�

The online registration ofdevotees visiting Kartarpur

Guruwara could not start onSunday as India and Pakistanfailed to agree on a number ofissues, including Islamabad’sinsistence of charging $20 fromeach pilgrim. Non-completionof infrastructure connectingto India from Pakistan side alsois cited as big hurdle in for-malising agreement.

India and Pakistan weresupposed to sign a pact onSaturday on a few unresolvedissues of the pilgrimage, butthat did not happen yet.

“Since some issues are yetto be resolved, the online reg-istration for the Kartarpur pil-grimage could not be started onSunday,” an official privy to thedevelopment said. Key unre-solved issues include Pakistan’sinsistence of charging $20 fromeach pilgrim and the timing ofthe pilgrimage every day (firstentry and last exit time).

India had asked Pakistan to

reconsider the decision oncharging $20 per pilgrim, allow10,000 pilgrims on specialoccasions and an Indian pro-tocol officer to accompany thedelegation that visits Kartarpurevery day. Pakistan is yet torespond to India’s requests, theofficial said.

On October 16, chairmanof the Land Ports Authority ofIndia and Additional Secretaryin the Ministry of Home AffairsGovind Mohan had said theonline registration for pilgrimsvisiting Gurdwara DarbarSahib Kartarpur is expected tocommence on October 20,provided a pact is signed onremaining issues.

Last month, India andPakistan agreed on visa-freetravel of Indian pilgrims toGurudwara Darbar Sahib usingthe Kartarpur corridor.Pilgrims will only have to carrytheir passports to visit therevered gurdwara in Pakistan.

Persons of Indian origin hold-ing OCI (Overseas Citizenshipof India) card too can visit theGurdwara using the Kartarpurcorridor.

It was also decided that5,000 pilgrims can visit theshrine everyday and that addi-tional pilgrims will be allowedon special occasions, subject tocapacity expansion of facilitiesby the Pakistan side.

Both sides agreed to builda bridge over the Budhi Ravichannel near the border cross-ing point. Pending the con-struction of the bridge on thePakistan side, both partiesagreed to the crossing pointcoordinates of the temporaryservice road. India has con-structed a four-lane highway inDera Baba Nanak inGurdaspur district in Punjabconnecting the ‘zero point’ foronward journey to Pakistan.

A state-of-the-art passen-ger terminal with facilitationcentre to host government offi-cials responsible for ensuringhassle-free travel of pilgrims,food kiosks, parking areas andsecurity points will also comeup by November 8 when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willformally inaugurate the much-awaited Kartarpur corridor.

Continued on Page 4

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After a long wait, the Centrehas brought Navratangarh,

a magnificent 900-year-olddilapidated nine-storey fortlocated in Jharkhand’s Gumladistrict under the fold of theArcheological Survey of India(ASI).

Situated 80 kms fromRanchi, the seat of Nagvanshikings who ruled the ChotaNagpur region from the 1stcentury in Sisai block of the dis-trict has historic significance asthe kings there had a link withMughal emperor Jahangir.

An official from the coun-try’s premier conservationCentral agency said a notifica-tion to bring the monumentunder the ASI was issuedrecently. The ASI tag wouldensure much-needed mainte-nance as well as conservationmeasures to the monument

shrouded with mysteries. Navratangarh is also

referred to as ‘Doisagarh’ for itslocation in Doisa, the secondcapital of the Nagvanshi kings.Though it is visited in bignumbers by tourists and his-torians, the heritage site hasbeen in a dire straits.

According to AmitabhaGupta, a heritage enthusiastand blogger, the interiors of thepalace are in a shambles and itis difficult to say how manyrooms there were in eachstorey. “There is a ruined struc-ture with a small hall flankedby two rooms adjacent to thepalace. There is a gate in themiddle of this structure whichleads to the palace.

“The watch tower that wasvisible from a distance is nowwithin reach. The upper storeyof the two-storey tower wasonce accessed by a staircase.

Continued on Page 4

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The police team probing themurder of Hindu Samaj

Party leader Kamlesh Tiwarirecovered saffron clothessoaked in blood and a blood-stained knife from a hotel inKaiserbagh police station areain the intervening night ofSaturday and Sunday. Theteams also got a CCTV footagein which suspects were spotteddonning saffron clothes andcarrying a sweet box.

During interrogation, thehotel manager told the policethat two suspects had checkedinto a room on October 17 andleft around 11 am. Sourcesprivy to the investigation dis-closed that the miscreants hadfixed a meeting with the slain

Hindutva leader on the fatefulday. The sources said theyreached Tiwari’s house andsent his helper Saurashtra tobring paan masala so that theyhad time to execute the crime.“The prime accused who wasleading the operation had

befriended Tiwari throughFacebook and wrote posts suit-ed to latter’s ideology,” theysaid. Well placed sources saidthe probing teams had nettedthe suspects who were beinginterrogated at some undis-closed location. They said thehotel room was raided by ateam of police and expertsfrom the forensic science lab-oratory (FSL). A sharp-edgedknife, shaving kit, new mobilephone box, saffron clothes,blood-soaked towel and bagswere recovered from there.

CCTV cameras installed inthe hotel also showed that theduo resembled those spotted outside Tiwari's resi-dence in Khurshed Bagh(Naka) on the fateful day.

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Lucknow (PNS):Swatantra Dev Singh ofBharatiya Janata Party andAjay Kumar ‘Lallu’ of Congressare keen to hit a victory noteas their party’s Uttar Pradeshunit chiefs in the bypolls to 11assembly seats on Monday toboost morale of their workersbefore the 2022 state elec-

tions. Leaders of both theseparties took the command ofthe state unit of their respec-tive parties recently. Of the 11seats going to the bypolls, BJPhas the highest stake as it facesthe challenge of retaining itseight seats and one of its allyApna Dal (Sonelal).

Details on Page 2

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Uttar Pradesh Sunni CentralWaqf Board has said that

whatever proposal it has placedbefore the mediation panel setup in the Ayodhya case is forthe good of the country andwill be approved by all peace-loving people of Hindustan.

UP Sunni Central WaqfBoard Chairman Zufar AhmadFarooqui said on Sunday thatthey had filed the proposal toseek “complete justice” in theAyodhya case after holdingtalks with all members.

He said the Ayodhya issuewas very sensitive and the

stance of key parties related toit would affect the future of thecountry, so it had to be handledvery carefully.

Farooqui said that he wasconfident that the SupremeCourt would do “complete jus-tice” in the case.

The UP Sunni CentralWaqf Board Chairman said,“Any proposal we have madebefore the mediation panel is inthe good of the country and ifthe court approves it then allthe favoured Hindus will agreeto it.”

He said that at this timemany people were supportingthe UP Sunni Central Waqf

Board. “For legal reasons, wecannot disclose the proposalmade to the mediation panel,”he added.

Farooqui maintained thatthe Sunni Waqf Board hadnot dropped its claim on thedisputed 2.27 acre land atAyodhya.

“Our proposal should notbe interpreted as withdrawal ofour claim. The Supreme Court,under Article 142 of theConstitution, has the full juris-diction to decide on this issue,”he said, and added, “Wheneveran effort is made for the settle-ment of a dispute, some are inits favour while some oppose it.”

� �� 45�6�7/

The Uttar Pradesh Sugarcaneand Cane Development

department has decided to gofor e-tendering to maintaintransparency and allow con-tractors registered with anystate of Central governmentdepartment to bid for its con-struction works to create ahealthy competition.

“The participation of con-tractors from departments otherthen the Cane Developmentand PWD will gave rise tohealthy competition and ensurebids at lowest possible rates. Thiswill also ensure completion ofconstruction works at mini-mum possible amount,”Commissioner, Sugarcane andCane Development, Sanjay RBhoosreddy, said.

It may be mentioned thatthis year e-tendering systems hasbeen implemented in CaneDevelopment department.Earlier, only contractors regis-tered with Cane departmentand PWD were eligible to par-ticipate in the tenders.

“Complaints were beingreceived about adoption of mal-practices in registration of con-tractors in the department anda healthy competition was notexpected from the limited num-ber of contractors,” he said.

“With a view to maintainabsolute transparency and cre-ate healthy competition in bid-ding, it has been decided that all

� �� 45�6�7/

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that his

government was committedfor the protection of cows anddirected the AnimalHusbandry department to takecare of stray cattle and con-struct cowsheds for themacross the state.

Reviewing the work ofAnimal Husbandry depart-ment, Chief Minister YogiAditynath sked the officials tosupervise maintenance of state-run cowsheds and regularlysend reports to the govern-ment.

“All these cowsheds shouldbe geo-tagged so that theirexact location could be known,”he said.

“Our government is con-structing cow shelters for theprotection of stray cattle. Ifany farmer is keeping straycattle at his home and takingcare of it, the state governmentis helping such farmers by giv-ing them �900 for each ani-mal,” the Chief Ministeradded.

The government hasalready sanctioned �1.20 crorefor day-to-day expenses ofgaushalas (cowsheds) but no one knows whether thismoney is properly used.

Cow has been a big polit-ical issue for the BharatiyaJanata Party. Incidents oflynching of people alleged tobe smuggling cows have beenreported. Muslims in UttarPradesh have stopped rearingcow and the cattle fairs wherefarmers used to sell their ani-mals are no longer being heldin the state.

It is no secret that themembers of the so-called cowvigilante groups enjoy politi-cal patronage. The result isthat the number of stray cat-tle has gone up in villages.Tension builds up in villagewhen these stray cattle destroycrops.

At several places, the vil-lagers have been forced to lockthe stray cattle in schools orhospital compounds to savetheir crop.

The Chief Minister saidthat farmers should beapprised of the benefits of bio-fuel. This, he said, would dou-ble the income of farmersand increase the acceptabili-ty of cowsheds.

Chief Minister YogiAditynath also asked officialsto ensure ban on one-time useplastics.

� �� 45�6�7/

Swatantra Dev Singh ofBharatiya Janata Party andAjay Kumar ‘Lallu’ of

Congress are keen to hit a vic-tory note as their party’s UttarPradesh unit chiefs in thebypolls to 11 assembly seats onMonday to boost morale oftheir workers before the 2022state elections.

Leaders of both these par-ties took the command of thestate unit of their respectiveparties recently.

Of the 11 seats going to thebypolls, BJP has the higheststake as it faces the challengeof retaining its eight seats andone of its ally Apna Dal(Sonelal). The Samajwadi Partyand Bahujan Samaj Party arefighting to retain one seat eachwhile Congress has none.

The BJP, BSP, SP and theCongress have fielded theircandidates on all the seats.The ruling party is hoping toincrease its tally in the legisla-tive assembly by registering awin in Rampur, a seat held bythe SP, and in Jalalpur, the seatheld by the BSP.

On the other hand, theopposition parties are expect-ing to repeat the success theytasted in the bypolls toGorakhpur, Phulpur andKairana Lok Sabha seats in2018 and in Noorpur assemblyconstituency last year.

The Congress, in particu-lar, hopes to show signs ofrevival in UP after its battering

in the Lok Sabha polls in whichit won just one seat — partychief Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareliconstituency.

In contrast, the BJP won 62of the 80 parliamentary seats inthe state and its ally bagged twomore.

The BSP and the SP, whichwere in an alliance in the gen-eral elections, ended their tie-up after the polls. The BSP-SPcombine won 15 seats. In the2017 assembly polls, the SP hadforged alliance with theCongress.

Campaigning for thebypolls saw Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath targeting theCongress on the issue of abro-gation of Article 370. He alsohit out the SP and the BSP overcorruption.

Both Swatantra Dev Singhand Ajay Kumar ‘Lallu’ exudedconfidence that their partieswould emerge victorious in thebypolls. While Singh claimedthat the bypolls would be “one-sided” for the BJP, Lallu saidthere were “indication of goodresults for the party”.

Voting will be held daysafter the murder of KamleshTiwari, a leader of a lesser-known political outfit Hindu

Samaj Party in Lucknow, withthe Congress latching onto it tohighlight the “poor” law andorder situation in the state.

There are 109 candidates inthe fray for the bypolls to theassembly seats of Gangoh,Rampur, Iglas (SC), LucknowCantonment, Govindnagar,Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur(SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC) andGhosi. The bypolls were neces-sitated after some MLAs wonthe Lok Sabha elections andresigned as members of theassembly.

There are 13 candidateseach in Lucknow Cantonmentand Jalalpur constituencies,followed by 11 each in Ghosi,Gangoh, Pratapgarh and Balha(SC); nine each in Govindnagarand Manikpur; seven each inRampur, Iglas (SC) andZaidpur (SC) seats.

In the UP LegislativeAssembly, currently the BJP has302 members, the SP 47 andthe BSP 18. BJP’s ally Apna Dal(Sonelal) has eight legislators,while the Congress has sevenMLAs in the House.

Meanwhile, Chief ElectoralOfficer of UP, Ajay KumarShukla, said elaborate arrange-ments had been made to con-duct free, fair and peacefulbypolls.

He said 41.08 lakh voterswere expected to exercise theirfranchise in 2,307 polling sta-tions having 4,529 pollingbooths and arrangements hadbeen made for webcasting in429 critical polling booths.

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The UP Police helpline num-ber 100 will change to 112

from October 26 to enhance itsperformance.

As per an official commu-niqué, the citizen will have todial 112 in place of 100 to gethelp in emergency from police.

The government of Indiahas decided to change the dis-tress call number to 112 acrossthe country in a phased manner.

The police spokesman said112 was a more upgraded tech-nically and by dialling thisnumber, one could seek helpfrom police, fire brigade, ambu-lance and life saving agencieslife State Disaster ResponseForce (SDRF).

The spokesman added thatthe helpline number 100 wouldalso remain in existence untilpeople were fully aware of thechange of number to 112.

The police official said 112was easy to dial and as many as80 countries were using it asemergency call/helpline number.

Under the arrangements,the SHO will be responsible forthe call made on 112. The calltakers will be expert in languageand have adequate informationabout the topography of area toguide the police to reach thescene. The PRV will reach evenon getting the missed calls.Also 108, 1090 and CM helplinewill be integrated with 112.

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Describing PriyankaGandhi Vadra as the “sec-

ond Indira Gandhi” and a“storm of change,” UP Congresschief Ajay Kumar Lallu onSunday exuded confidence thatthe party will emerge victoriousunder her leadership in the2022 state assembly polls.

He also claimed that theYogi Adityanath governmentin UP “fears” both PriyankaGandhi Vadra and RahulGandhi.

“Priyanka Gandhi is thesecond Indira Gandhi. She isa storm of change (badlaav kiyeh aandhi, jiskaa naamPriyanka Gandhi hai). Underher leadership, the Congresswill emerge victorious in the2022 UP Assembly elections,”he said.

“This BJP government(headed by Yogi Adityanath)fears both Priyanka Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi, as it knowsthat if the brother-sister duo hitthe streets, it will start sweat-ing,” the UPCC chief said hereon Sunday.

Asked whether he will bethe chief minister face of theparty in the 2022 polls, Lallusaid, “No. I am only a partyworker, and my dharma is towork for the party’s ideology.Congress has a glorious histo-ry of participating in variousstruggles. And on the basis ofthese struggles, history hasbeen changed.”

On Samajwadi Party andits president Akhilesh Yadav,the UP Congress chief said,“The people of the state hadgiven a mandate to theSamajwadi Party as the princi-

pal opposition party in thestate. But, it has failed on thatfront.”

Terming the ongoingbypolls as quite significant, hesaid party candidates wereselected in consultation withlocal party workers and officebearers.

“The party workers andoffice-bearers are working veryhard, and there are indicationof good results for the party.”

He also said that theCongress adheres to the ideol-ogy of Mahatma Gandhi, andserves the country by embark-ing on the path of truth andnon-violence.

“On the contrary, theBharatiya Janata Party’s style ofworking and policies are divi-sive,” he charged.

The newly-appointedUPCC chief said, “We willstrive hard to regain the lostsupport and mandate. For thiswe have to work very hard,and devise strategies at the vil-

lage level as well as districtlevel”.

“All the frontal organisa-tions of the party are workinghard, and the target is tostrengthen the organisation byholding seminars, workshops,meetings, training pro-grammes and night halts at thedistrict, block, tehsil and pan-chayat levels. The Sewa Dal isbeing strengthened with regu-lar training programmes,” hesaid.

Lallu said, “Our fight isagainst wrong policies of theBJP, as the farmer has beendevastated, there is increasingunemployment, the conditionof the poor and labourers hasgone from bad to worse.Industrialists are now shyingfrom coming to UP, and thosewho are already in the state,they are mulling to leave thestate.”

“The facilities and securi-ty, which they (industrialists)should have got from the BJPgovernment is negligible. Ourfight is on these issues,” he said.

Asserting that the truth canbe harassed, but not defeated(satya pareshaan ho sakta hai,per parajit nahi ho sakta hai’),Lallu said, “We have startedmoving towards our target,and now no one can stop theUP Congress from surgingahead.

”A two-time MLA fromTamkuhi Raj constituency,Lallu is considered close toparty’s general secretary(incharge, Uttar Pradesh East)Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Priorto becoming the UP Congresschief, he was the CongressLegislature Party leader in UPLegislative Assembly.

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Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav has asked

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathto also meet the kin of all thosewho have been victims of crimeand killed due to bad law andorder in Uttar Pradesh.

The SP chief said this onSunday shortly after ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath metthe family members of slainleader of Hindu Samaj Party,Kamlesh Tiwari, at his officialresidence in Lucknow.

“The CM’s meeting thefamily members of the victimwho was murdered in Lucknow

is a welcome step. I hope theCM will visit Allahabad,Kannauj, Jhansi and Meerutalso where family members ofthose killed due to bad law andorder reside,” he said.

Separate murder incidentswere reported in Allahabad,Kannauj, Jhansi and Meerutdistricts in past few days.

Tiwari’s family membersmet the Chief Minister at hisresidence and demanded cap-ital punishment for his killers.Tiwari’s distraught mother, hiswife and three sons spent

around 30 minutes with theChief Minister.

The Samajwadi Party, dur-ing the 30-month-long rule ofYogi Adityanath, has consis-tently targeted the BharatiyaJanata Party government onlaw and order issue.

“Constables are yours, SOsare yours, COs are yours, SP isyours, SSP is yours, DIG isyours, IG is yours and DGP isalso yours. Despite this, therehas been a daring murder in thestate capital. The CM shouldgive a reply,” the SP chief said.

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contractors registered with anydepartment of the state orCentral government will be eli-gible to bid in equivalent cate-gory when e-tenders are floatedfor construction works by theCane Development depart-ment,” Bhoosreddy said.

He said in financial year2017-18, �25.05 crore was savedin construction works given bythe Cane Development depart-ment. “This saving enabled thedepartment to bear �4.87 crorecost increase due to hike in bitu-men prices, without demandingany additional budget from thestate government. Besides, con-struction/repair of 109 addition-

al roads of more than 117 kmlength was possible from thesesavings,” he added.

Likewise, in financial year2018-19, a saving of �12.20 crorewas made due to widespreadcompetition in various tendersfloated for construction of roads.The saved amount enabled thedepartment to construct/repair54 additional roads of morethan 36 km length, he said.

Bhoosreddy said that thisincreased competition wouldimprove the roads in manyother sugarcane areas and facil-itate sugarcane growers in sup-plying their sugarcane to sugarmills.

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��%��#��) � �� #��Mathura (PTI): The Mathura district administra-tion has made elaborate arrangements in RadhaKund area to host the couples and other pilgrims whowill reach here for the Ahoi Ashtami Snan and fairon Monday.

According to the belief, a childless couple isblessed with a baby if they together take a dip in theRadha Kund (pond) at midnight on Ahoi Ashtami,said Anand Tailang, an astrologer of Dwarkadhishtemple here.

Security in the area has been tightened andpolicemen in plain clothes have also been posted atsome places to prevent incidents like pickpocketingand chain snatching, District Magistrate SarvagyaRam Mishra said. He said woman constables will alsobe present at the ghats and floodlights have beeninstalled in the area.

The District Magistrate said 20 divers have beendeployed at Radha Kund to prevent drowning inci-dents.

The administration has also asked the UPRoadways to ply at least 100 buses to facilitate thepilgrims to reach Radha Kund.

7��%�� 7��%%Muzaffarnagar: Two men were arrested forallegedly harassing a girl at a shopping mall here,police said on Sunday. The incident took place onSaturday at the mall under New Mandi PoliceStation limits. The girl raised an alarm followingwhich the security guards caught hold of theaccused, identified as Kashiram and Adnan. Thepolice were informed about the incident afterwhich a case was registered and the accused werearrested.

�� %��%�Mathura: Two criminals carrying a reward of�15,000 each were held from near the Jai Gurudeotemple here on Sunday. Those arrested were iden-tified as Manvendra of Khamani village and VijaiSingh of Nagla Ghisa village. “They were nabbedon a tip-off from a reliable source,” SP (Crime)Ashok Kumar Meena said, adding their two asso-ciates managed to flee. On October 14, all fourhad attacked their friends Neeraj Gautam andDhiru Jaat near the Fenchari drain following somedispute, he said, adding that a country-made pis-

tol and live cartridges were recovered from them.Neeraj and Dhiru, who had received bulletinjuries in the attack, are undergoing treatment ata private hospital.

8��%%�� 9��%%�� Muzaffarnagar: Three persons including anelderly woman and her daughter-in-law were killedwhen the e-rickshaw in which they were travel-ling was hit by a truck on Shahpur Road underMansurpur police station on Sunday evening. Fiveother passengers were seriously injured. Lado (55),her daughter-in-law Nisha (28) and Rajender (18)died in the accident.

�� %%7��:��%�:�%�� 2��7��Gorakhpur: A 26-years-old woman here allegedthat her husband sexually exploited her formoney after she gave birth to their seconddaughter. In a complaint to the BastiSuperintendent of Police, she alleged that her hus-band forced her to sleep with other men afterwhich police lodged an FIR against the her hus-band on Sunday. PTI

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The stage is set for by-elec-tion to the Cantonment

Vidhan Sabha constituencyon Monday. The seat wasvacated by former MLA RitaBahuguna Joshi, who won theLok Sabha Elections held ear-lier this year.

District MagistrateKaushal Raj Sharma moni-tored the despatch of thepolling parties from RamabaiAmbedkar Rally Sthal onSunday morning. He said allpolling parties weredespatched by 12.30 and onlytwo were left. He said that by2.30 pm, all the polling partiesreached their respectivepolling booths. The DM saidall arrangements had beenmade at the venue and a med-ical camp was also set upthere. The DM appealed topeople to come out in largenumbers and vote to inspireothers.

He said voters can come tothe polling booth by theirown vehicles but the entry ofvehicles will remain restrictedwithin 100 metres of thepolling booth. He said any per-son using his vehicle again andagain to enter the restrictedarea will be considered a can-didate’s party member andaction will be taken againsthim. He said all the politicalparties who place their tablesnear the polling booths shouldbe at a distance of 200 metres.The DM said that voters willnot be allowed to carry theirmobile phones inside thepolling booths. He said therewas no arrangements at thepolling booths to keep mobilephones. Tobacco products willnot be allowed at the pollingbooths and no one will beallowed to bring any sharpweapon, matchbox or lighterto the polling booths.

“If the name of a person isnot found on the voter list, heor she will not be able to voteunder any circumstances andif any person tries to spreadrumours through WhatsAppgroups, action will be takenagainst the admins,” the DM

said. The DM pointed outthat voters can vote with EPICcards or with 11 other alterna-tive IDs as announced by theState Election Commission.

The DM said women in‘ghoonghat’ (veil) or thosewith their faces covered in anymanner will have to revealtheir faces to women copspresent at the polling booths.All those who reach thepolling booths by 6 pm will beallowed to vote no matterhow long it takes but thosewho arrive after 6 pm will notbe allowed to exercise theirfranchise. The polling day hasbeen declared a holiday and allthe eateries will remain closedsince people working at theseeateries also have to cast theirvotes.

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Unidentified miscreantsstrangled to death a 25-

year-old woman and dumpedher body in a field in Banthrasome time on Saturday night.Police recovered the body onSunday and sent it to morgueafter the identity of the victimcould not be ascertained.

As per reports, some resi-dents of Purai Kheda spottedthe body lying in a furrow ina field in the area and alertedvillage head Santosh, whocalled the police. Subsequently,a police team reached theplace for investigation.

A police spokesman said ared dupatta was foundwrapped around the throat ofthe woman, whose identitycould not be ascertained.“There were marks of stressaround the throat of thewoman and it is believed thatshe was strangled to deathwith the dupatta,” he added.However, villagers did notappear convinced with thepolice claim and said thewoman’s body was in adisheveled state and it seemedthat she was also subjected tosexual assault. “Hundreds ofvillagers flocked to the scene

but none could identify thedeceased. This indicates thatshe did not belong to any of thevillages in Banthra. If she wasa stranger, why and for whatpurpose did she visit the vil-lage. The place where she wasfound is mostly visited byfarmers or field owners, and itis not a common route,” theysaid. The police said thewoman was clad in dress andthey did not find her indisheveled state. “Ascertainingthe identity of the woman isour priority as it will give us alead if she was subjected to sex-ual assault,” the police said.

Meanwhile, a 32-year-oldwoman, identified as Vandana

Shukla of Talkatora, consumedsome poisonous substance ather house following a disputeover the titleship of a house onSunday. Locals, with the helpof the police, rushed the victimto KGMU Trauma Centrewhere she is under treatment.

The police said theyrushed to the scene on timeafter getting the informationand admitted her to hospital,thus saving her life. The policesaid the house which belongsto Vandana's mother-in-lawVidyawati was registered in thename of her sister-in-lawMayadevi in 2017. The regis-tration was done by Vidyawatiwho died in 2018.

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Passengers travelling fromSonauli (Nepal) to New

Delhi had a providential escapeafter a speeding truck collidedwith their bus near Ekana sta-dium at Shaheed Path underGosainganj police stationaround 3.25 am on Sunday.“Ten passengers suffered minorinjuries and they were rushedto Ram Manohar LohiyaHospital where they are out ofdanger,” Gosainganj SHO DKUpadhyay said.

Those injured were identi-fied as Arvind Kumar (bus

helper), Saran Visht of NewDelhi, Ramesh of Ghaziabad,Naveen Thapa of Nepal,Ramesh Kumar of GreaterNoida, Tek Bahadur, Aneeta,Nandu Lal Rana, Dhan KumariThapa and Roshan (all ofNepal).

Elsewhere inMohanlalganj, two persons,identified as Arvind of Nagramand Rajwati of Unnao, sufferedinjuries after the tempo theywere travelling in overturnednear the highway on Sundayafternoon. The police said thepassengers were travelling toMohanlalganj from Nigoha.

“Both the injured were rushedto hospital and later shifted toKGMU Trauma Centre,” thepolice said.

Meanwhile, a 70-year-oldman, identified as JaswantYadav of Maal, was killed in aroad mishap on Sunday after-noon. Reports said Yadav wasgoing for some work on hisbicycle when hit by a motorcy-cle. He suffered injuries in themishap. He was rushed to theCHC from where doctorsreferred him to KGMUTrauma Centre. “He died onthe way to Trauma Centre,” thepolice said.

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The candidates in fray forthe Cantt by-elections

looked confident and relaxedon the eve of polling day andvisited temples and gurud-waras. There are 13 candidateswhose fate will be sealed in theEVMs on Monday.

BJP candidate SureshChandra Tewari said he wouldwin by a large margin. “Myforefathers have stayed in thisplace and the mohallas ofCantonment have been con-

structed on their land. I havea direct dialogue with peopleliving here and the best part isthat Yogi and Modi’s nameswill ensure my victory,” he said.

SP’s Major AshishChaturvedi said he went to theNaka Gurudwara, SindhiAshram and Khamman PeerBaba Mazaar on the eve ofpolling day. “I am confident ofmy victory with the kind ofresponse that I am getting,” hesaid.

Dilpreet Singh of Congressalso said he was confident

about his win. Singh visitedDeva Sharif and and a gurud-wara. “I am confident that Iwill win and if the BJP was soconfident, why did they callChief Minister Yogi Adityanathto campaign for its candidate,”he said. He added that hespent the day with party work-ers and reviewed the arrange-ments required for polling.

BSP’s Arun Dwivedi saidthere was a lot of enthusiasmamongst party workers. Hesaid the day with his family.

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Chhath Puja this time willsee the banks of the river

Gomti turn into red and yellowhues. Secretary, All IndiaBhojpuri Samaj Party,Prabhunath Rai said this timethey have imposed a dress andcolour code on devotees andasked them to come dressed inred and yellow. Addressingmediapersons on the banks ofthe Gomti to give details of theChhath Puja which will beheld on November 2, he saidthat men will be dressed in redkurta and yellow dhoti whilewomen in red sarees and yel-low blouses. “Men will be wear-ing dhotis because as per pujarituals, the men are supposedto wear unstitched garments.Also, red is the colour of the

sun, hence this decision.Wearing colours of the sunadds on to one’s personal ener-gy,” he said.

He added that usually, 9-10lakh devotees visit LaxmanMela but owing to less spaceprovided to them, most of thedevotees celebrate Chhath bymaking arrangements of pondsnear their areas.

“However, even then over2 to 2.5 lakh people are regu-lars at Laxman Mela ground.This time, we have also madearrangements for cleaning thevenue after the puja is complet-ed,” he said. Rai said they willhave over 100 Bhojpuri artistesand all of them will be singingonly Chhath songs. “We willnot be having any filmy songson the occasion,” he added.

He said a request has been

made to Chief MinisterAdityanath Yogi and a lettersent to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi that Chhathshould be declared a public hol-iday. “We have been persistent-ly been making this requestbecause many states havealready declared it a holidaykeeping in mind the arduousnature of the fast which has tobe kept for three days. It hasbeen declared a holiday inMaharashtra, Uttarakhand,Gujarat etc,’ he pointed out.

Rai said when they hadstarted in 1984, the celebrationshad only nine people. “Now,people all across the world arecelebrating Chhath. We havereceived images from Sydneyand other parts of the globewith people celebrating thefestival,” he added.

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Five well-known ‘kothis’ ofthe city will be conferred

INTACH Heritage awards at afunction to be organised in thecity on Monday. Key organis-er Vipul Varshney said theawards will be given to KotwaraHouse, Khun Khunji Kothi,Ahmad Manzil, Sharga Haveliand Shanti Sadan. Varshneysaid the kothis have beenselected through nominationswhich were invited byINTACH. “A selected panelchose these homes,” she added.

Kotwara House, the homeof renowned film-makerMuzaffar Ali, lies at one end ofwhat was once the magnificentQaiserbagh complex.“Muzaffar Ali, the Raja ofKotwara, is known world overfor his iconic feature film‘Umrao Jaan’ set in 19th centu-ry Lucknow, a city he holdsdear to his heart. Togetherwith his architect-designer wifeMeera, they have ushered in acultural renaissance inLucknow through their couturelabel ‘Kotwara’. Muzaffar Ali’swife Meera combined with herpassion and skills for history tocarry out meticulous restora-tion work in Kotwara House,”said Varshney.

Itaunja House, in the areaknown as Chhachhi Kuan, wasbuilt by Indra Vikram Singh,Raja of Itaunja. “He continuedto acquire land, aspiring to owntracts of land that would con-nect Itaunja to Lucknow. IndraVikram Singh acquired thisplot and finished constructingItaunja House in 1913, one yearafter the Medical College wasformally inaugurated.

Raghavendra has completedtraining in accessory design atthe National Institute ofFashion Technology (Delhi),which gave him the requiredknow-how to bring the houseto its present beautiful condi-tion. The airy, hexagonal lobbyis painted two shades of a bril-liant orange. The edges of thegraceful, cusped arches of thedoors are picked out in white

and gold. The small squarepanes of the white-painteddoors are in red, blue andgreen glasses,” she added.

Khajurgaon Palace is situ-ated near Charbagh railway sta-tion in Naka Hindola, an areathat has a prominent place inthe history of the Uprising of1857. “It was on this tense bat-tlefield that the rebels tried tostop the advance of British

forces into Lucknow acrossthe old bridge at Charbagh. InSeptember 1857, it witnessed agrim battle in which the Indiansepoys thwarted GeneralHavelock’s advance intoLucknow,” Varhsney said.

She added that the palacewas built in the Anglo-Awadhstyle of architecture. QueenVictoria’s profile can be seen ina decorative motif on the win-dow grills of the first floor.

“The palace looks like acolonial bungalow with a por-tico from which a set of stone-clad steps lead up to a wideverandah. A small, enclosedgarden with a fountain deco-rates the front. In the past, therewere large gardens all aroundwith peepal, anwala and mangotrees used for Hindu religiousceremonies, planted every-where. The residents of thelocality referred to the addressas ‘Raja ki Baghiya’ or Raja’sgardens and will come to wor-ship the trees or pray at the twowells that, though dry, stillexist,” she said.

Varshney said that Awadhielements and the skill ofLakhnavi craftsmen can beseen in the fine stucco work. Afew Hindi films like ‘BulletRaja’ and ‘Jaanisar’ have beenshot here,” she added.

%��In a recently-held

election, VirendraDev Arya has beenelected as president ofState Leprosy MedicalE m p l o y e e s ’Association while Ajit

Pratap Singh secretary, defeating their rivals comfort-ably. The election was held in two phases. Arya defeat-ed his rival by 42 votes while Singh beat his nearest oppo-nent by 21 votes. Harish Chandra Chaubey was elect-ed as vice-president, Vinod Kumar Maurya as joint sec-retary and Ravi Prakash Sharma as treasurer. Sharma alsodefeated his nearest rival by a margin of 42 votes. Thenewly-elected office-bearers were administered oath ofoffice and secrecy by returning officer PK Singh.

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At a special meeting held onSunday, Lucknow

Development Authority onceagain refused to issue the com-pletion certificate to a privatedeveloper for a prestigioushousing scheme on FaizabadRoad consisting of 530 shelters.

The project is said to havebeen completed and the own-ers had asked for the comple-tion certificate last month, butthe development authorityturned down the request as theowners did not submit docu-ments related to the layout ofthe entire project. They also did

not present the blueprint of aportion, which came up on therear side later, with the map-ping department for approval.

The owners again movedan application urging the LDAadministration to issue thecompletion certificate onSunday, but it was rejected.They were told by the officialsthat their case would be consid-ered only after they submittedall the documents.

The owners said theywould challenge the decisionbefore the Real EstateRegulatory Authority (RERA)as builders were sufferingfinancial losses. Chief engineer

IS Singh said that the privatedevelopers had violated rulesand regulations and that aphysical inspection wasrequired in that regard. Thecosts of flats in the housingscheme range from Rs 40 lakhand Rs 50 lakh. Over 40 percent flats have been sold but thepossession has not been givenas the completion certificate isawaited. A senior office-bear-er of Residents’ WelfareAssociation (RWA) urged LDAVice-Chairman PN Singh toissue the completion certificateonly after a thorough inspec-tion in terms of quality of thematerial used in flats.

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� ��2��%��***The hotel manager told

the police that on October 17at 11.08 pm, two youths wear-ing trackpants and a t-shirtsreached the hotel by anautorickshaw and asked for aroom. “They showed Aadhaarcards according to which theirnames were Ashfaq Hussainand Moinuddin Ahmad andboth were residents of JeelaniApartments in Surat,” he toldthe police. He added thataround midnight, they ordereda simple ‘thali’ and asked forextra chapatis. However, theydid not allow the waiter to enterthe room and Ashfaq came outto collect the chapatis.“Unusually, the duo came outwith their plates after dinner.Around 12.30 am, they wentout for smoking and cameback around 12.50 am,” themanager told the police.

On the next day (October18), the duo did not havebreakfast and left the hotelaround 11.38 am. “They werewearing saffron clothes andcarrying a box of sweets. Theduo enquired about BabaAbbas Ki Mazaar, BadaImambara and left. The duoreturned around 1.21 pm andwent into the room. They cameout again dressed in trackpants and t-shirts, and left thehotel. The duo told us that theywere leaving for lunch andwould return shortly. But theynever returned,” the managersaid. “On October 19 night,when the room was still locked,we took permission from theowner and reached inside. Werecovered suspected objectsand informed the police,” themanager said, adding that hedid not see blood stains ontheir saffron clothes and theynever appeared to be in ahurry or nervous.

SSP (Lucknow) KalanidhiNaithani said the police teamwas tipped off that saffronclothes and bags were foundstuffed in an almirah of thehotel room. A team, alongwith forensic experts, was sentto the place. “The team recov-ered the items from the hotelroom,” he said. The SSP saidsenior police officials alsoinspected the hotel room.

Meanwhile, senior offi-cials, including IG (LucknowRange) SK Bhagat and the SSP,had a meeting to get updatesfrom the investigating teams.

On Saturday, the policehad a breakthrough after threepersons, including the master-mind, were taken into custodyin Surat (Gujarat) in a jointoperation by the police forcesof the two states. Two morearrests were made in Bijnor dis-trict of UP where Muslim cler-

ics Mohammed Mufti NaeemKazmi and Imam MaulanaAnwarul Haq were held afterbeing named in an FIR lodgedby Tiwari’s wife Kiran.

The three persons takeninto custody in Surat wereidentified as Maulana MohsinSheikh, Faizan Yunus, andRashid Ahmed.

About the arrest of thethree persons in Surat, theDGP said, “On the basis of apacket of sweets obtained fromthe crime spot, the Gujaratpolice were contacted and ateam was sent there. A CCTVfootage of a Surat-based sweetshop was examined and FaizanYunus was identified.”

The DGP said all the threeaccused detained by theGujarat ATS confessed to theirinvolvement in the crime andall three were linked to the casein some manner. Singh saidthat the probe so far pointedthat Rashid was the master-mind while Faizan purchasedthe box of sweets that thekillers used to hide their gun.

� ��;��***Also, nine Indian soldiers

have died in ceasefire violationsso far since August 5.Responding to the Army’sstatement, Pakistan accusedIndia of resorting to unpro-voked ceasefire violations tar-geting civilians. Pakistan’sDirector General Inter-ServicesPublic Relations (DG ISPR)said on Twitter that Indianunprovoked firing in Jura,Shahkot and Nousehri sectorsdeliberately targeted civilians.Stating that they effectivelyresponded, DG ISPR claimed,“Nine Indian soldiers killed,several injured. Two Indianbunkers destroyed. Duringexchange of fire one soldier andthree civilians shaheed, two sol-diers and five civilians injured.”However, defence sourcesrejected any fatal casualties onthe Indian Army while observ-ing that if there was one casu-alty “we have to declare” as thesystem is so and there are pro-cedures to follow. “We have noscope to hide causalities,” thesource added.

9�� 7��***A total of 55 immigration

counters are being set up at thepassenger terminal. The corri-dor will connect the Dera BabaNanak shrine in India’s Punjabwith the gurdwara at Kartarpur,just about four kilometres fromthe international border, locat-ed at Shakargarh in Narowaldistrict of Pakistan’s Punjabprovince. Guru Nanak Dev, thefounder of Sikhism, had spentmore than 18 years

at the Kartarpur gurdwara,

located on the banks of theriver Ravi. India and Pakistanhad planned to open the cor-ridor before the year-long cel-ebrations to mark the 550thbirth anniversary of GuruNanak Dev beginning nextmonth. In November 2018,India and Pakistan had agreedto set up the border crossinglinking Gurdwara Darbar Sahibin Kartarpur, the final restingplace of Guru Nanak Dev, toDera Baba Nanak.

��% ��%%�***Shiv Sena chief Uddhav

Thackeray’s son AadityaThackeray is making his debutin the electoral politics by con-testing Assembly poll fromWorli in Mumbai. The 29-year-old Thackeray is the firstin the family to take plunge inelectoral politics.

Counting of votes for boththe Assembly polls and bypollswill be held on October 24.

In Maharashtra, where the‘Mahayuti’ alliance of BJP, ShivSena and smaller parties isagainst the ‘Maha-agadhi’ ledby the Congress and the NCP,a total of 8,98,39,600 people,including 4,28,43,635 women,are eligible to vote.

As many as 3,237 candi-dates, including 235 women,are contesting in 288 seats and96,661 polling booths are inplace with 6.5 lakh staff for thevoting exercise. The ruling BJPis locked in a contest with theopposition Congress and thefledgling JJP for the 90 assem-bly seats in Haryana which hasover 1.83 crore voters, includ-ing 85 lakh women and 252transgenders, while 19,578polling stations have been setup. Polling will be held from7 am to 6 pm. Tight securityarrangements have been madewith deployment of more thanthree lakh personnel from statepolice and central forces inMaharashtra, while over 75,000security personnel have beenmobilised in Haryana. Thehigh-voltage electioneering bythe BJP saw participation of agalaxy of leaders led Modi andhis cabinet colleagues AmitShah and Rajnath Singh, as itcontinued to aggressively raisethe nationalism plank by focus-ing on scrapping of Article 370provisions on special status toJammu and Kashmir and tar-geted the opposition on nation-al security and corruption.

The opposition tried tocorner the BJP governments atthe Centre and in the states onthe handling of the economywith Congress leader RahulGandhi blaming the rulingparty for the economic slow-down and unemployment andhighlighting issues like “failure”

of demonetisation and GSTrollout. The BJP, which is seek-ing a second straight termunder Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis in Maharashtra, iscontesting 164 seats, whichinclude candidates of smallerallies contesting on its lotussymbol, while Sena has fieldedcandidates on 126 seats.

On the other hand, theCongress has fielded 147 can-didates and the ally NCP 121.

Among other parties, theMaharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS), led by Raj Thackeray,has fielded 101 candidates, theCPI 16, the CPM 8. The BSPhas fielded candidates in 262constituencies. A total of 1400Independents are also in thepoll arena. The oppositioncampaign was, however, lack-lusture as both the Congressand the NCP were plagued byinfighting and desertions in therun-up to the polls.

The high-pitch campaignby the BJP has prompted itstaciturn ally Shiv Sena to ask ifChief Minister thought therewas no opposition in the statepoll why BJP had deployed itsall big-wigs in the campaigntrail. The campaign inMaharashtra was marked bypersonal attacks and sharpexchange of barbs between thechief minister and NCP chiefSharad Pawar, who hit thehustings at the age of 79 andaddressed a number of rallies.However, the Congress andNCP failed to hold even a sin-gle joint rally. While Modiaddressed nine rallies acrossthe state, Rahul Gandhi spokeat six public meetings.

The campaign also saw anundertone of jostling forsupremacy between the BJPand the Sena, which had foughtthe last assembly elections sep-arately, winning 122 and 63seats respectively. The Congresshad bagged 42 and the NCP 41seats. In the April-May LokSabha elections, the BJP-Senaalliance won 41 of the 48 LokSabha seats in Maharashtra,while the Congress won oneand NCP four seats.

Prominent candidates inthe fray are Chief MinisterFadnavis and his predecessorsfrom Congress, Ashok Chavan,who is in fray from Bhokar inNanded district, and PrithvirajChavan seeking re-electionfrom Karad South in Satara dis-trict. In Haryana, theCongress is hoping to make acomeback following a changein guard in the state, while theBJP led by Khattar has set a tar-get of winning 75 seats out of90 in which 1,169 candidates ofvarious political outfits arecontesting. Currently, the BJPhas 48 members in state assem-

bly. The Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP),a breakaway faction of theIndian National Lok Dal(INLD), is also hoping for animprovement in its prospectsfollowing the Lok Sabha deba-cle. The party had emerged onthe scene following a feud inthe Chautala clan in Decemberlast year. The BSP, AAP, INLD-SAD combine, Swaraj Indiaand the Loktantra SurakshaParty (LSP) have thrown theirhat into the ring, though noneof them is fighting on all 90seats. Prominent amongstthose in the contest are ChiefMinister Khattar (Karnal), for-mer chief minister andCongress Legislative Partyleader Bhupinder Singh Hooda(Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), RandeepSingh Surjewala (Kaithal),Kiran Choudhary (Tosham)and Kuldeep Bishnoi(Adampur) and JJP’s DushyantChautala (Uchana Kalan).

The BJP has fielded threesportspersons -- Babita Phogat(Dadri), Yogeshwar Dutt(Baroda in Sonipat) andSandeep Singh (Pehowa) --besides TikTok star SonaliPhogat (Adampur).

In Haryana, among thefew women in the fray LatikaSharma of the BJP is wellpoised to retain her seat fromKalka. Latika practiced law inPanchkula courts before she gotinto politics and won fromKalka in 2014 assembly polls.She counts of a host of devel-opmental works , especiallyroad and bridge construction,that has help in transformingthe face of the small town thatis gateway to HimachalPradesh. While Prime MinisterModi addressed seven rallies inthe state, Congress leaderRahul Gandhi addressed twoelection meetings.

�� 7(� ��***Very little remains of it

exist now and what does existdoesn’t exactly afford access tothe top,” said Gupta in hisblog. The legend is that theKing Durjay Sal after his releasefrom Mughal captivity estab-lished this beautiful palace.He got inspired from theMughal architecture and builta nine-storey fort from whichthis place got its name“Navratangarh”; of which onlythree storeys are left at present.The Jharkhand Governmenthad identified Navratangrah asone of the 27 selected heritagesites for conservation a fewyears ago. The ASI officialadmitted that this site has thepotential to be a tourist placeas a number of legends associ-ated with this place need recognition.

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Continuing with its socialcommitment, Bondhu

Mahal sponsored the educationof 30 poor students of Boys’Anglo-Bengali Inter Collegeand honoured 12 teachers ofstate-run schools for the exem-plary work in education sectorin a function held on Sunday.

Urban DevelopmentMinister Ashutosh Tandonhanded over a fee cheque of 30students to principal of Boys’Anglo-Bengali Inter CollegeAK Kirti. Four students per-sonally came to receive thecheque. The minister also felic-itated 12 teachers of the gov-ernment schools who excelledin various fields. In his address,

Tandon said it was an exem-plary work by Bondhu Mahal.“This group not only organis-es Durga Puja but also fulfil itssocial commitment from themoney saved from Durga Puja.The state government is doingits bit, but it is not possible toreach every nook and corner.Organisations like BondhuMahal indirectly help the gov-ernment in carrying forwardour social responsibility,”Tandon said.

“I am now a brand ambas-sador of Bondhu Mahal. As aminister, I go to different placesand I talk about Bondhu Mahalas to how it is helping poor stu-dents through scholarships anddistribution of stationery,” theminister said. The principal of

Boys’ Anglo-Bengali InterCollege said Bondhu Mahal hasshown the path to other DurgaPuja committees. “If all com-mittees adopt a school andfinance education of the needyfrom their puja funds, it willtransform the lives of poor stu-dents,” he added.

Corporator DilipSrivastava also spoke on theoccasion. The teachers whowere felicitated included HariRam Jaiswal, Meena Maurya,Shweta Shukla, Ajita Singh,Kusumlata Tripathi, RashmiKher, Smriti Bharadwaj,Mohini Abha, Shiksha Singh,Smriti Singh, Vikrant Guptaand Manish Khare. SudhirSehgal was the convener of thefunction.

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��% ��The second day of the four-day International

Sports Olympiad organised by City MontessoriSchool, RDSO Campus, was interesting withyoung players of India and abroad making their

mark in karate, badminton, soccer, track and fieldevents and winning applaud of the viewers. Theraces, jumps and throws picked up momentumwhile karate and badminton won the attention ofall. Football was played with enthusiasm and CMSteams entered the semi-finals.

�� Akash Singh Rana, a student

of City Montessori School,Mahanagar, has been offeredadmission by three universities ofUSA, Australia and Canada.Akash has been offered admis-sion by the University of Cincinnati (US), TheUniversity of New South Wales (Australia), andDalhousie University (Canada).

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday cautioned

against efforts to “demonise”technology, saying attemptsare being made to create anatmosphere of fear.

Addressing a gathering athis official residence at thelaunch of a book, he said“major effort is being made todemonise technology. Attemptsare being made to create anatmosphere of fear”.

Specially in the context ofIndia, technology is being pre-sented as a challenge to thecountry’s demographic divi-dend, the Prime Minister said.

He said the debate shouldnot be on the dangers of arti-ficial intelligence or when willrobots outsmart humans. “Butthe debate should be on how tocreate a bridge between artifi-cial intelligence and humanintentions.”

The Prime Ministerstressed on the need to under-stand that technology is abridge and not a divider.“Technology builds bridge

between aspirations andachievement, demand anddelivery, government and gov-ernance in order to achieve‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ (withall, for everyone’s develop-ment),” he said according to a

statement issued by his office.The book ‘Bridgital India’

has been co-authored by NChandrasekaran, the chairmanof Tata Sons, and RoopaPurushothaman, the ChiefEconomist at Tata Sons.

Ratan Tata, ChairmanEmeritus of Tata Sons, was alsopresent on the occasion.

Talking about the need toconvert challenges posed bytechnology into opportunities,the prime minister cited the

example of the creation ofIndia Post Payments Bank.

He said the disruptioncaused by technology to theentire postal organization wasconverted into a technology

intensive banking system, ben-efitting millions through postalbank which transformed“dakiya” (postman) into a“bank babu” (banker), thestatement said.

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Over 25,000 of the nearlyone lakh overseas Indians

who had registered themselvesas voters flew down to India toexercise their franchise in the2019 Lok Sabha polls, according to data released bythe Election Commission.

As many as 99,807 overseasIndians, who are living abroadand have not surrendered theircitizenship, are in the voters’lists of various States.The figureinclude 91,850 men, 7,943women and 14 transgenders.

Out of the 25,606 whovoted in the Parliamentarypolls, 24,458 were men and1,148 women.

In the national capital, 336overseas Indians, including 231men and 105 women, had reg-istered as voters but none cameto cast their votes, according tothe EC data. The UnionTerritory of Puducherry alsorecorded a similar trend withnone of the 272 overseas elec-tors casting their votes in theGeneral Elections this year.

In West Bengal too, where34 overseas Indians were

recorded in the State’s electoralrolls, none voted.

However, the case wasentirely different in Keralawhich has the maximum num-ber of overseas Indians in thevoters’ list as well as highestlevel of participation in thepolls.

Kerala has 85,161 overseasIndians on its electoral rolls and25,091 persons voted in the LokSabha polls earlier this year.

Overseas Indians are free tocast their votes in the con-stituencies they are registered.

According to Ministry ofExternal Affairs estimates, thereare about 3.10 crore NonResident Indians (NRIs) livingin different countries across theworld.

An expert committee of theElection Commission had in2015 forwarded the legal frame-work to the Law Ministry toamend the electoral laws toallow the overseas Indians touse proxy voting.

Not many overseas Indiansturn up to cast their votes as theydo not want to spend foreign cur-rency to come to India for the purpose, officials said.

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As antibiotic-resistant bac-teria, known as “super-

bugs,” are becoming morenumerous and more virulentowing to rampant overuse ofantibiotics, researchers areexploring herbal medicines asan alternative to these increas-ingly ineffective drugs.

In this direction,researchers from Bhopal-basedAIIMS have found that Fifatrol,a herbal drug can be a goodsubstitute to allopathic antibi-otics to treat bacterial and fun-gal infections, and that toowithout causing any sideeffects.

“Fifatrol, an ayurvedic

drug, enriched with immune-enhancing herbs has beenfound to be effective in curingmajor bacterial infections suchas dreaded staphylococcusspecies of bacteria,” said DrSamran Singh, Director ofAIIMS Bhopal.

Staphylococcus speciescauses fever, cold and cough,skin diseases, etc and if nottreated in time can be fatal.

Beside these, the Fifatroldrug has also been found suit-able in controlling spread ofinfectious diseases caused dueto echolalia, pneumonia, kleb-siella aerogenes, etc.

Talking about the research,Dr Singh said that normally,the ayurvedic medicines have

been seen as supplements toincrease immunity, but Fifatrolhas shown very promisingresults against bacteria too. Ithas been found effective againstbacteria P Ruzinivosa too.

“We are in the midst ofdoing detailed research toarrive at the final result.” Theseare compelling evidence thatmedicinal herbs can be a firstline of defense against infec-tious diseases.

Singh, who heads the teamof researchers, furtherexplained, “Staphylococcusbacteria is responsible for skin,respiratory and stomach infec-tions. In people who have weakimmune system, its infectioncan also be fatal.”

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AParliamentary panel head-ed by former Union

Minister Jual Oram will assessthe cases of accidents involvingdefence assets and also exam-ine the defence procurementpolicy currently in vogue.

The ParliamentaryStanding Committee onDefence has selected a numberof subjects for examination,which include reviewing theselection procedure of officersin the armed forces, accordingto the Lok Sabha secretariat’sbulletin.

“Accidents involvingdefence assets — a criticalreview, an assessment ofdefence procurement policy”are also among the subjectsselected by the panel for exam-ination, the bulletin said.

The committee had, in itsreport tabled in Parliamentlast year, said accidents had

become a continuous feature inthe Navy.

The Indian Navy witnessed62 accidents between 2007 and2017, and 177 officers werefound guilty during inquiriesordered into such incidents,according to the report.

As many as 44 aircraft andhelicopters — 26 fighter jets,six helicopters, nine trainer

aircraft and three transportplanes — of the Indian AirForce were lost in crashessince 2014-15, in which 46personnel were killed, accord-ing to official data.

The details of the crasheswere provided in the Lok Sabhaby Minister of State for DefenceShripad Naik, while replying toa question.

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Over 380 police personnelbelonging to Ladakh and

working in different places inKashmir and Jammu regionswill soon be transferred toLadakh and posted under theadministrative control of thenew Union Territory. The newUnion Territory of Ladakh willcome into existence on October31. The Ministry of HomeAffairs has given nod for thetransfer of police personnelworking in different wings ofthe Jammu & Kashmir Police.

“Approval has been givenfor the transfer of about 385Ladakhi-origin police person-nel to Ladakh and they willfunction under the new UTwhich will come into exis-tence on October 31,” aMinistry official said. Thepolice personnel will workwith the Ladakh UT Police,which will be under the directcontrol of the MHA. The policepersonnel — from the rank ofconstable to inspector — willalso get the pay and perks avail-able to police personnel ofother UTs like Chandigarh and

Andaman and Nicobar Islands.According to The Jammu

& Kashmir Re-organisationAct 2019, Ladakh will not havea legislative assembly. The Actsays cadres of IAS and IPS forthe existing state of Jammu &Kashmir, on and from theappointed day (October 31),shall continue to function onexisting cadres. However, infuture, the all India service offi-cers to be posted to UTs ofJammu & Kashmir or Ladakhshall be from the Arunachal,Goa, Mizoram, UnionTerritory cadre, more popularlyknown as UT cadre.

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India has expressed its con-cern on the global emergence

of anti-microbial resistance(AMR) and called upon the relevant United Nations agen-cies to contain this threat topublic health. India has one ofthe highest rates of resistanceto antimicrobial agents usedboth in humans and food ani-mals. The environment, espe-cially the water bodies, has alsoreported the presence of resistant organisms or theirgenes.

While attending the G20Health Ministers’’ meeting heldin Japan’’s Okayama , HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan par-ticipating in the deliberationson health risk and health secu-rity, made an intervention onAMR, seen as a serious emerg-ing threat to global publichealth.

According to an officialstatement, while voicing hisconcern on AMR, he calledupon all relevant UN agenciesto align themselves in theirendeavour to combat antimicrobial resistance.

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New Delhi: A little over 20 percent students in Kashmir and100 per cent in Jammu havestarted attending schools andthere is no restriction on themovement of people anywherein Jammu & Kashmir, officialssaid on Sunday.

While all of the 1,02,069landline phone connectionswere restored till October 18, atotal of 84 per cent mobilephone connections wererestored in 22 districts till lastFriday.

The landline connectionsin Kashmir valley were restoredabout two months ago, post-paid mobile connections wererestored on October 14.

Restrictions on the move-ment of people, vehicles andphone connections wereimposed on August 5 followingthe announcement by the cen-

tral Government the abroga-tion of the special status givento Jammu & Kashmir underArticle 370 and its bifurcationinto two Union Territories.

A total of 20.13 per centstudents are attending schoolsin Kashmir valley, while 100per cent students are attending

in Jammu region, a home min-istry official said, quoting areport from the Jammu &Kashmir administration.

Also, 86.3 per cent teach-ers in Kashmir valley and 100per cent teachers in Jammu areattending schools till Friday.

A total of 21,328 schools in

Jammu and Kashmir havestarted functioning, which is 98per cent of the total schools.

The Jammu & Kashmiradministration last weekannounced the dates for year-end examinations from Class 5-12, apparently to enhance theattendance of students inschools.

There have been no restric-tions in any of the 202 policestations while essential com-modities like food items, babyfood, petroleum products areavailable in adequate num-bers, the official said.

As many as 130 major hos-pitals, 4,359 health centres inJammu & Kashmir are func-tioning normally and on anaverage 600 surgeries are con-ducted and 65,000 people availOPD care every day, anotherofficial said. PTI

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New Delhi: Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onSunday slammed the BJPGovernment in Uttar Pradeshover the state’s law and ordersituation, alleging that it hadfailed to rein in crime.

The Congress general sec-retary also shared a snapshot ofnews headlines of major crimeincidents in the state. Amongthe headlines was a reference tothe killing of Hindu SamajParty chief Kamlesh Tiwari.

The collage of news head-lines had the caption, “Har dinapraadh ke naam, bhajpasarkaar puri nakaam (everydaycriminal incidents, BJPGovernment a complete fail-ure)”.

The Congress on Saturdayhad hit out at the BJPGovernment in Uttar Pradeshover the law and order situationin the state, alleging “jungle raj”was prevailing there.

Reacting to Uttar Pradeshpolice chief ’s comments thatTiwari was killed probablybecause of a controversial state-ment he made in 2015, seniorCongress leader Kapil Sibalhad said, “A State for which theapex court of the country saidthat there is ‘jungle raj’, shouldwe believe the DGP or theSupreme Court?” PTI

New Delhi: A PIL has beenfiled in the Delhi High Courtseeking direction to the Delhigovernment and the DirectorGeneral of Prisons to convenethe meeting of Sentence ReviewBoard (SRB) every threemonths in compliance withthe rules.

The plea said as per theSRB order of July 16, 2004 andDelhi Prison Rules, 2018, theboard shall meet at least oncein a quarter to convene themeeting and pointed out thatbetween October 2018 toOctober 2019, the board hadconvened only once on July 19this year.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C HariShankar is likely to hear on

Monday the petition filed byadvocate Amit Sahni.

The SRB was constituted toreview the sentence awarded toa prisoner undergoing lifeimprisonment and make rec-ommendations about cases ofpremature release in appropri-ate cases.

“The respondents (Delhigovernment and DirectorGeneral of Prisons) are dutybound to comply with the noti-fication/rules but to the reasonsbest known to the respondents,between October 2018 toOctober 2019 the SRB hadconvened only once, that is, July19, 2019, thereby causing hard-ship to those, who otherwisequalify all parameters for con-sideration but are not consid-

ered since SRB meetings are notconvened in every quarter asenvisaged under the SRB Orderdated July 16, 2004 and DelhiPrison Rules, 2018,” the petitionsaid.According to the SRB orderand the prison rules, it shall beopen to the chairman of theboard to convene the meetingmore frequently as may bedeemed necessary, it added.Thepetitioner said he has made arepresentation to the authoritieson October 4, requesting themto implement the mandate ofthe SRB order and the prisonrules and ensure that the boardmeeting is convened in everyquarter without fail.He saidthe authorities have notresponded to the representationyet. PTI

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Congress Lok Sabha leaderAdhir Chowdhury has

expressed apprehensions abouthis future citizenship statusgoing by the fact that his fam-ily too hails from Bangladeshand considering the “vindictiveapproach” of the CentralGovernment in its plans regard-ing the implementation of theNational Register of Citizens.

Warning that the Hinduswill have to bear the brunt ofNRC more than any othercommunity, the seniorMember of Parliament fromBehrampore on Sunday said atthe end of an anti-NRC rally inKolkata that “no one will bespared. More so the Hindus…The Hindus will be moreaffected by NRC than anyother community,” citing theexample of Assam where morethan 11 lakh Hindu Bengalishad been targeted by the NRC.

Warning the citizensagainst “devastating impact ofthe proposed Citizens (amend-ment) Bill and NRC,” in Bengal,

Chowdhury, a highly vocalpolitician with a long history ofstruggle both against the LeftFront and the TrinamoolCongress, said a whole cross-section of the society will beaffected by the NRC that theBJP was planning to implementin Bengal.

“The NRC (BJ) they areplanning will target every sec-tion of the society be it acelebrity or a common man,” hesaid apprehending the tormenthis own family might have togo through on account of polit-ical victimisation in the nameof NRC as “my family toohails from Bangladesh.”

He said “I openly acknowl-edge that I too am a refugee inthat sense as my father hadmigrated from that side of theborder to India. I am alsoapprehensive of my citizenshipfuture on account of the polit-ical persecution that one isexpected to suffer in the nameof NRC,” he maintained.

“Will they throw me out?Will they throw my family outof India?” he asked saying

however that the BJP will notbe allowed to amend theConstitution the way it likes.“Our Constitution has beendrafted in such a manner thatit cannot be amended the waythe BJP wants it to be,” he saidadding his party would con-tinue to fight against the saffronoutfit’s “nefarious designs.”

Meanwhile, in a separatedevelopment State Congressleader Sanmay Banerjee whowas arrested for allegedly vio-lating Cyber laws was releasedon bail on Sunday.

Banerjee was arrested forallegedly writing “defamatorystatements” against some ofsenior Trinamool Congressleaders. All the opposition par-ties including the Left,Congress and the BJP hadraised their voices againstBanerjee’s arrest.

Accusing the police forarresting Sanmay Banerjee forcirculating posts against TMCleaders, Adhir Chowdhury saidthe Congress leaders arrestwas a classic example of intol-erance of the highest order.

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Kishanganj (Bihar): An FIRhas been lodged against BiharBJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal andSweety Singh, the party's can-didate for Kishanganj Assemblybypoll, for allegedly violatingthe model code of conduct, anofficial said.

The FIR was registered atSadar police station onSaturday evening following awritten complaint byKishanganj Sadar Circle OfficerShafi Ahmad after a video sur-faced on social media pur-portedly showing Jaiswalexhorting businessmen to closetheir establishments on thepolling day, Sub-DivisionalMagistrate (SDM) ShanawazAhmad Niyazi said.

Jaiswal had also allegedlypromised to pay Rs 500 toemployees of business firms forvoting in favour of the BJP.

The state BJP chief alleged-ly made the remarks, in thepresence of the party candidate,during a meeting of local busi-nessmen on Thursday at theresidence of Kishanganj

Municipal Council vice-chair-person Aanchi Devi.

Reacting to the FIR lodgedagainst her and Bihar BJP chiefSanjay Jaiswal, Sweety Singhsaid that the state chief 's state-ment had been "misconstrued".

"Jaiswal had talked aboutgiving money for food andsnacks to party workers but hisstatement has been miscon-strued," the Kishanganj partycandidate said.

Jaiswal, a Lok Sabha mem-ber from West Champaran,could not be contacted for hiscomment.

Bypolls to Kishanganj andfour other Assembly seats inBihar will be held on Monday asthe incumbent MLAs were elect-ed to Parliament in the April-May general election. PTI

Kathua (J&K): Union MinisterJitendra Singh on Sunday thatJammu & Kashmir would get"true" self-rule and autonomyunder the Modi Government,and it would be quite differentto the "frivolous slogans" ofsuch demands raised byKashmir-centric political par-ties.

Addressing a meeting ofBJP candidates contesting theblock development council(BDC) election, Singh said it isimportant for party workers tounderstand and also make oth-ers understand that this is forthe first time afterIndependence the concept ofthree-tier grassroots democra-cy comprising panchayats,BDCs and district councils andis being introduced in the State.

"Jammu & Kashmir will gettrue self rule and true autono-my under the Modi govern-ment, and that will be quite incontrast to the frivolous slogansof self-rule and autonomyraised by Kashmir-centric polit-

ical parties, which have beenbefooling the people of thestate for decades, only to per-petuate their dynasty rule gen-eration after generation," theBJP leader said.

Singh said the question tobe asked to the "champions ofso-called autonomy" is whetherthey have any moral authorityto "fool" the people of Kashmirby making such demands afterthey boycotted the panchayatand BDC elections, which hesaid are meant to confer auton-omy to the representatives elect-ed at the village level.

The "champions" of self-rule, he said, must reply whichself-rule they are talking aboutwhen their own Government"resisted" all efforts to holdpanchayat elections and, whenthe election did happen duringthe Governor's rule, they boy-cotted it.

The Minister of State in thePrime Minister's Office (PMO)said the response to both pan-chayat and BDC elections had

been "enthusiastic" in Kashmir,adding that the highest numberof candidates for the BDC elec-tion were not from any districtin the Jammu region, but fromKupwara and Baramulla dis-tricts in the valley.

According to the minister,the central grant has startedreaching directly to the localbodies for the first time, due towhich many of the panchayatshave already received �20-30lakh in the first phase itself,which is "more than the totalamount" received by them inthe last several decades.

"Will the Congress partyanswer why they were hesitantin introducing this provision inJammu & Kashmir even thoughit was brought in by their ownPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,"Singh asked. "And, whether bydoing so, were they not hand inglove with the Kashmir-centricdynasties seeking to appeasecertain section of voters at thecost of the poor man living inrural areas?" PTI

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Patna: Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar on Sunday flaggedoff 'Krishi Jagrukta Mahabhiyanand Beej Vikas Vahan Rath' tocreate awareness among farmersabout Government schemesbeing run for them during theRabi season.

Kumar flagged off 76 rathsfor all the 38 districts — two'raths' each for every district —at a function held in front of CMSecretariat on the occasion of'Krishi Jagrukta Mahabhiyan(Rabi season 2019-20) and BeejVahan Vikas Rath, an officialrelease said.

The 'raths' would travel toblocks, gram panchayats and vil-lages to tell the farmers about theschemes being run by theAgriculture department duringRabi season, it said.

The raths will be move in sixdistricts of Patna division to cre-ate awareness among farmersasking them not to burn stubble(crop residue), go for cropresidue management and aboutbenefits of other schemes beingrun by Agriculture department.Farmers would be made awareby showing them the docu-mentary film, it said. PTI

Patna: Six months after joiningthe Janata Dal (United), formerUnion Minister Nagmaniresigned from Nitish Kumar'sparty on Sunday, giving a call toreplace the Bihar Chief Ministerwith a ‘Koeri’ leader in the nextyear’s Assembly polls.

Nagmani, who had joinedthe JD(U) in April after beingsacked as RLSP national work-ing president in February, alsocharged the chief minister withneglecting the Koeri commu-nity to which he belonged.

"My only objective is toinstall a son of Koeri to the postof chief minister of Bihar afterassembly elections in 2020. I willtake sanyas from politics if I failto do it," he said after announc-ing his resignation from theJD(U) at a meeting attended byhis supporters and communitymembers. Nagmani said he has

dedicated his life for the better-ment of the Koeris andannounced to hold a megameeting of the community inPatna on February 29 next year.

Nagmani said he wouldtake out "Jagdeo Rath" namedafter his father late JagdeoPrasad from December 1 witha slogan "Nitish Bhagao, KoeriLao". The rath would visit everyassembly segment to unite thecommunity members, he said.

Nagmani had won theChatra seat in 1999 on an RJDticket but engineered a split inthe party headed by Lalu Prasadand joined the BJP-led NDA,becoming a minister in theAtal Bihari Vajpayee govern-ment at the Centre. After theNDA lost power at the Centre,he switched over to Ram VilasPaswan's LJP before crossingover to the JD(U). PTI

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Mangaluru: The Congress inKarnataka on Sunday deploredthe BJP's proposal to conferBhara Ratna on Veer Savarkar.

Addressing reporters here,KPCC spokesman IvanD'Souza MLC said the saffronparty's agenda was to scoregains in Maharashtra Assemblyelections by mooting such aproposal.

The BJP was attempting topromote "traitors" as patriotsonly during elections.

The BJP Governmentshould not choose a person likeSavarkar for the nations high-est award, despite the fact thathe was named in the conspir-acy case to eliminate MahatmaGandhi, he said.

The Maharashtra BJP unithad said in its election mani-festo that the party would askthe Centre to confer the BharatRatna on Vinayak DamodarSavarkar, popularly known asVeer Savarkar.

Pointing out that Savarkarhad written six letters to theBritish revealing his wish tosurrender within two weeks oflanding in jail, D'Souza sought

to know how such a personcould be called a freedomfighter.

He wanted the Centre toconsider former State ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah's pro-posal to confer Bharat Ratna onSiddaganga seer ShivakumaraSwami.

The BJP was creatingunnecessary narratives duringpolls just to divert attention ofthe people from the real issues,he alleged.

Former mayor KavithaSanil was also present. PTI

Panaji: Stray cattle in Goa'stourism savvy coastal belt,which includes popular beachvillages like Calangute andCandolim, have "turned non-vegetarian" and only eat scrapsof chicken and fried fish, claimsthe state's GarbageManagement Minister MichaelLobo.

Lobo, who is a BJP MLAfrom Calangute Assembly con-stituency, also said that 76stray cattle from Calangutevillage, impounded and relo-cated to a gaushala, were refus-ing to eat vegetarian food andthat specialist veterinarianshad been roped in to weanthem of their meat fetish.

"We have lifted 76 cattlefrom Calangute and takenthem to the gaushala run by theGomantak Gosevak Mahasang

in Mayem village, where theyare being well looked after. Wealways say cattle are vegetarian.But cattle from Calangute haveturned non-vegetarian and donot eat grass, gram or the spe-cial cattle feed given to them,"Lobo said, on the sidelines ofa village function in Arpora vil-lage in North Goa on Saturday.

"The cattle from Calanguteand Candolim are used to eat-ing non-vegetarian food likeleftover chicken scraps, stalefried fish from restaurants. Dueto consumption of such non-vegetarian food, their systemhas become like that of humans.Earlier they were vegetarian,pure vegetarian. They wouldsmell non-vegetarian food andmove on, but now cattle fromCalangute only eat non-vege-tarian food," he said. IANS

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and civic amenities are deterringtourists from visiting several sig-nificant historical monuments inAgra, the city immortalised bythe Taj Mahal, say a group oflocal industry leaders.

Though the number oftourists at the historical monu-ments in Agra show an encour-aging trend, hoteliers and trav-el agents complain of patheticlack of civic amenities.

"Tourists generally avoidvisiting other monuments in thecity after a 'darshan' (seeing) ofthe Taj Mahal, because they aretoo scared of bumpy roads,"tourist guide Ved Gautam said.

An estimated 35,000 touristsvisited the Taj on Saturday, saiddata on the ASI website.

While Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hasdirected the district adminis-tration to complete patch work

and road repairs within a fort-night, the Agra MunicipalCorporation, is still dragging itsfeet.

"To an outsider, Agraappears, as if it's ravaged by a warsince most roads have developedpotholes and cracks after themonsoon rains. The continuousdigging by one governmentdepartment or the other not onlyraises a lot of dust but makesmobility difficult," a local resi-

dent said."The city administration is

yet to wake up to repair andclean up the roads in the citywhich have not only become asafety hazard but also assault theaesthetics," complains hotelierSurendra Sharma.

A new tourist season hasbegun, and the number of vehi-cles bringing in tourists via theYamuna Expressway or theAgra-Lucknow Expressway,

have gone up appreciably due tothe long holiday interval.

The local tourism industryis alarmed at the lack of concernand general apathy towardsstreamlining vital civic ameni-ties.

"When tourists, particular-ly those from the developedworld, arrive in Agra, they areaghast at the dismal conditions.This results in short visits, same-day return by most visitors," saysPresident of the Agra Hotels andRestaurants Association, RakeshChauhan.

The rains have exposed theclaims of the city administrationof having patched up or filled allpotholes and completed repairwork on most roads.

The municipal corporationcommissioner Arun Prakashsays filling of potholes is con-tinuing. Mayor Navin Jain hasassured citizens that prompt

remedial measures would betaken to ensure safe mobility.Even during the festival season,nothing was being done. Manystretches still require patchworktreatment to avoid accidents,"said Pandit Jugal Kishor.

The city police has failed todemolish encroachmentsaround monuments.

"All they do is to sendnotices. For want of police force,no action to evict illegal occu-pants is possible. You also needpolitical will," Goswami NandanShrotriya of Yamuna KinaraRoad said.

The city appears in sham-bles, with heaps of garbagedumped along railway tracks,the dry Yamuna river bed andpollution, but the official agen-cies entrusted with the task oftransforming Agra into a smartcity dry continue to show nourgency . IANS

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AProminent Malayalam daily,Mathrubhumi, has institut-

ed a �5 lakh ''Book Of The Year''award. The first award will bepresented at the MathrubhumiInternational Festival of Letters(MBIFL) in Thiruvanathapuramfrom January 30-February 2,2020, said the newspaper's JointMD Shreyams Kumar.

"The House ofMathrubhumi has been themother lode that has enrichedMalayalam literature since ourinception in 1923. For close toa century, the best of writing inthe world and in Indian lan-guages has been mined by us forthe enrichment of Keralites.Thus was envisaged theMathrubhumi InternationalFestival of Letters. It hosts thebrightest and the best fromacross the world, debating, dis-cussing and dissenting on con-cepts, ideas and thoughts,"Shreyams Kumar explained.

"The Mathrubhumi Book ofthe Year award is a commitmentfrom Mathrubhumi to honourthe best in Indian literatureevery year. We are inspired tohonour and celebrate brilliantworks, and encourage the pub-lishers to look for the best writ-ing by Indian authors,"Shreyams Kumar said.

The award is open to Indianwriters whose works are pub-lished in India. Works in region-al languages should be translat-ed to English to be eligible forthe award. Kerala's prominentnewspaper Mathrubhumi waslaunched in 1923, supporting thefreedom movement in the coun-try. This award is considered asbiggest in the publication sectorin India.

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The already fragile NationalDemocratic Alliance in

Tamil Nadu is all set to deteri-orate further with one of theconstituents expressing its dis-pleasure and thinking loudly ofpossible alternatives.

Puthiya Tamilagam, a Dalitoutfit led by Dr K Krishnasamy,which is a prominent partnerof the AIADMK-led NDA inTamil Nadu may quit the fronton its own as the alliance hasfailed to address an importantdemand raised by the party. DrKrishnasamy, a medical doctor-turned-politician wants theCentre and State Governmentsto remove seven sub sects fromthe list of Scheduled Casteand elevate them to the statusof Other BackwardCommunity (OBC). This is thefirst of its kind demand inSouth India where most castes

prefer to be designated as SC orScheduled Tribe to enjoy thebenefits of reservation in edu-cation and employment.

Dr Krishnasamy, whobelongs to the Pallar commu-nity is of the view that his castewas designated as scheduledcaste erroneously by the thenBritish colonial masters, a mis-take which was not rectified bythe post-independence gov-ernments. He says there areseven such sub sects designat-ed as SC by the colonial gov-ernment. “We want to save ourcommunity from this imposedidentity and to reclaim thehistory of the community,” DrKrishnasamy told The Pioneer.

The communities Pallar,Kudumbar, Pannadi, Kaaladi,Kadayar, Devendra Kulatar andVadhiriyar are the communi-ties which were listed asScheduled Caste communities.“All these communities shouldbe integrated as Devendra Kula

Vellalar and re-designated asOBC,” said the doctor.

Quoting from authentichistory books, records andarchive materials, the doctorsays that all these sects and subsects were land-owning com-munities. “Our communitieswere engaged in wet-land farm-ing. The Chola-Chera-Pandyadynasties arose from theDevendra Kulla Vallalar com-munities. But over a period oftime, we came under invasionand all our land were annexedby the aggressors. Thus we lostour position as rulers,”explained Dr Krishnasamy.

He said the communitymembers lost rights to their ownland because of a rule enactedduring the Chola period. “TheKudi Neeki system introducedby the Chola rulers mandatedthat those who could not paytaxes would not have any rightson their lands and they weredenied even citizenship. The

Devendra Kula Vellalar com-munity members who were indire straits following the loss oftheir farm lands couldn’t paytaxes and thus ended up as vic-tims of many atrocities perpe-trated on them. During theBritish rule, we were designat-ed as marginalized and poorsections and listed as ScheduledCaste,” he said.

The then leader of thecommunity, Sreenivasan Pillai,wrote to the British authoritiesin 1927 itself stating that theywere culturally and tradition-ally different from Adi-Dravidar. “The Nadars too hadbeen facing this discrimination.But they took up the matterand travelled to London formeeting the SimonCommission. Since our com-munity had been ruined finan-cially, the leaders could notmobilise money for the Londonmeeting with the SimonCommission,” he said.

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The Delhi governmentbelieves in investing in peo-

ple and it is its responsibility toextend all kinds of facilities toits people, the AAP said,responding to the opposition’scriticism of “freebies” beingoffered by Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal’s dispensation.The Delhi government hadrecently announced its plans tomake metro rides free forwomen. In August, the DelhiCabinet gave in-principleapproval to a scheme for freebus rides for women in the cityfrom October 29.

The Aam Aadmi Party-ledgovernment had alsoannounced free electricity of upto 200 units for domestic con-sumers and later extended thescheme to tenants residing inthe city. It had also announceda waiver of water bill arrears for

city residents. The oppositionparties have criticised the Delhigovernment for giving “freebies”,saying it may lead to losses.With the Delhi Assembly pollsscheduled early next year, theyhave also questioned the timingof these announcements. “Lookat any developed country in theworld, you will find free health-care and education. In somecountries even the public trans-port is completely free, forexample Luxembourg,” an AAPvolunteer said in a minute-long video posted on the newlylaunched AK mobile app.

“When a government relax-es tax on corporates, it makes aninvestment in the corporatesand expects the corporates togive it something in return.AAP believes that such aninvestment must also be madeon the common man and thatis what is being done by us,” thevolunteer explained.

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In its bid to recapture powerin Maharashtra, the ruling

BJP-Shiv Sena alliance goesinto Monday’s Assembly pollsas favourites against a dispirit-ed Opposition Congress-NCPalliance that is fighting a des-perate battle for political sur-vival in a State that it ruled for15-long years.

As much as it is for the rul-ing saffron alliance, it is ahigh-stake election for 49-year-old Devendra Fadnavis who, ifthe BJP-Shiv Sena is votedback to power, will re-occupythe saddle as the Chief Ministerfor the second consecutiveterm. Incidentally, he is theonly second Chief Minister ofMaharashtra after late VP Naikto have completed his full five-year term.

Monday’s polls are also alitmus test for the Congress,which ruled the State for fivedecades either as a single partyor in alliance with the NCP butcurrently finds itself in totaldisarray. Going by the fact thatRahul Gandhi addressed justsix public rallies and Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi (asalso Priyanka Gandhi Vadra)stayed from the poll campaign,the Congress appears to havegiven up on Maharashtra evenbefore the polls.

The polls will also test thecontinued acceptability or oth-erwise of 78-year-old SharadPawar, who shouldered theresponsibility of being the solefull-fledged campaigner forthe NCP. Dismissing the rulingBJP’s claim that he would“retired” permanently after theAssembly polls, Pawar went totown with much-discussedcomment “Abhi tho mainJawan hu... I will pack offeveryone home first then Iwill go..”. As against 24 publicrallies he had addressed in the2014 Assembly polls, Pawaraddressed 65 political rallies–including the one in Satara

amid pouring rain—in the cur-rent polls.

The electoral battle is alsosignificant from the Shiv Sena’spoint of view. The 53-year-oldShiv Sena launched AdityaThackeray into electoral poli-tics. Incidentally, 29-year-oldAditya is the first Thackeray infour generations of Thackeraysto be contesting an election. Ifthe saffron alliance returns topower in the State, Aditya –who is contesting from Worliconstituency in south-centralMumbai – will be part of thenew government. It remains tobe seen if he will land thedeputy chief minister's post.

The election will also makeor mar the Raj Thackeray-ledMaharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS), which had skipped the2019 Lok Sabha polls but iscontesting 101 seats in theAssembly election. The MNS,which had made an impressivedebut in the 2009 Assembly bywinning 13 seats, put up apathetic performance in the2014 Assembly polls, by win-ning a mere one seat out oftotal 219 seats it had contested.

An estimated 8.98 crorevoters, who are eligible to exer-cise their franchise inMonday’s, will decide the fateof 3,237 candidates includingscores of political bigwigs, per-haps the only chief ministeri-al aspirant, scores of minister-ial aspirants and Gen-nextpoliticians, in Monday's polls.

With dice loaded heavily inits favour, the ruling saffronalliance is going all out not onlyto post a highest winning tally,but also to decimate theCongress and NCP which hadcollectively won just 83 seatsout of the total 288 seats in the2014 State Assembly polls andtogether established leads inmere 45 Assembly segments inthe 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

While the BJP-Shiv Senaalliance has a lot to look for-ward to — even in the face ofa threat posed by 50-odd rebelsin the fray, the Congress-NCPalliance hopes against hope toput up a respectable perfor-mance that will help the twoparties to set their respectivehouses in order and stage acomeback at a later stage.

In the current polls, theBJP is contesting as many as164 seats, while the Shiv Senahas fielded candidates in theremaining 124 constituencies.The break-up of seats contest-ed by other political parties isas follows: Congress- 147,NCP-121, MNS- 101, BSP-262, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi(VBA)- 288, CPI-16 andCPI(M)- 8. There are 604 can-didates from other registeredparties, while the remaining1,400 candidates areIndependents.

In the 2014 polls whichthe saffron alliance partnershad contested on their respec-tive strengths, the BJP hadwon an all-time high of 122seats as against 260 out of thetotal 288 seats it had contest-ed. The Shiv Sena had walkedaway with 63 seats out of 282seats it had contested. On theother hand, the Congressbagged 42 seats out of 287seats it had contested, whilethe NCP emerged fourth bywinning 41 out of 278 it hadcontested.

More than Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and BJP pres-ident Amit Shah, the focus inthe Assembly polls has been onFadnavis, who led the BJP-ShivSena alliance’s campaign. Hehad hit the campaign trail asearly as August 1, seven weeksbefore the ElectionCommission declared the datefor the Assembly polls. In all,he covered 220 Assembly con-stituencies during his cam-paigning.

Fadnavis is contesting fromthe prestigious Nagpur South-West seat. His main rival isCongress' Ashish Deshmukh.There are also 18 contendersincluding seven independents,in the fray. Two former ChiefMinisters Prithiviraj Chavanand Ashok Chavan are twoother key candidates. WhilePrithviraj is taking on BJP’sAtulbaba Suresh Bhosale inhis home constituency of Karadsouth in Satara district, AshokChavan is contesting againstthe BJP's Shrinivas aliasBapusaheb DeshmukhGorthekar in Bhokar con-stituency of Nanded.

Two former Deputy Chief

Ministers —Ajit Pawar andChhagan Bhujbal — are in thefray. While Ajitdada — as AjitPawar is known in theMaharashtra politics — islocked in a contest with BJP'sGopichand Kundlik Padalkarin his home constituency ofBaramati, Bhujbal is seeking re-election from his strongholdYevla against Shiv Sena'sSambhaji Sahebrao Pawar andsix others including three inde-pendents. Maharashtra BJPpresident Chandrakant Patilis contesting polls fromKothrud in Pune, while hisCongress counterpartBabasaheb Thorat and StateNCP chief Jayant Patil are con-testing from Sangamner inAhmednagar and Islampur inSangli in western Maharashtra,respectively. Late GopinathMunde's daughter and Stateminister Pankaja Munde andhis nephew and leader of theOpposition in the StateLegislative Council are lockedin a fierce contest in Parli con-stituency of Beed district inMarathawada region.

From among the Gen-next

politicians, veteran Congressleader Sushilkumar Shinde'sdaughter Praniti Shinde is seek-ing re-election from SolapurSouth Central in westernMaharashtra, while formerChief Minister ShivajiraoNilangekar's son Ashok PatilNilangekar is contesting fromNilanga constituency.FormerChief Minister Narayan Rane’sNitesh Rane is contesting as aBJP candidate against NarayanRane’s former aide SatishSawant of the Shiv Sena.

Similarly, late VilasraoDeshmukh's son elder Amit isseeking re-election from LaturCity seat, while his younger sonDhiraj is contesting from LaturRural. Sharad Pawar’s grand-nephew Rohit Pawar is makingelectoral debut from Karjat-Jamkhed in Ahmednagar dis-trict. Prominent candidates inMumbai are BJP’s city presidentMangalprabhat Lodha, who iscontesting from upmarketMalabar Hill constituencyagainst Congress' Hira NavajiDevasi and eight others andNCP’s city president NawabMalik, who is taking on Sena's

Tukaram Ramkrushna Kateand 13 others from AnushaktiNagar.

Mumbai MayorVishwanath PandurangMahadeshwar of the Shiv Senais battling it out against Sena’srebel and sitting party MLATrupti Prakash Sawant, whowas expelled recently by theSena, and the Congress’Zeeshan Baba Siddique.

In Nala Sopara, formerencounter specialist and Senacandidate Pradeep Sharma ispitted against Bahujan VikasAghadi's sitting MLA KshitijHitendra Thakur.

Excepting in constituencieswhere there are strong candi-dates of the MNS or thePrakash Ambedkar-led VBA,there are straight contests allover state.

On its part, the BJP is tak-ing on the NCP candidates in60 constituencies, while it is pit-ted against the Congress can-didates in 94 constituencies.The BJP is engaged in contestswith other parties in 10 remain-ing seats. The Shiv Sena islocked in a straight contest withthe NCP in 57 seats, while itslugging it out against theCongress in 52 seats. The Senais fighting other parties in theremaining 15 seats.

The MNS may cut into theShiv Sena and BJP vote banksin a dozen of the 101 seats it iscontests. Interesting, the ShivSena is covertly supportingthe MNS in several of the con-stituencies where the BJP hasput up its candidates.

There are nearly 50 rebelsbelonging to the BJP and ShivSena in the fray. At least 30 to35 of them may votes of eitherBJP or the Shiv Sena.

The VBA, which damagedthe chances of the Congressand NCP in Lok Sabha polls, iscontesting 270-odd seats. But,its presence in the Assemblypolls may not do much ofharm to any of the parties inthe State Assembly polls.

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T h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m :Veteran CPI(M) leader andformer Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan turned 96 onSunday and celebrated theoccasion by cutting a cake.

In the persence of closefamily members and well wish-ers, Achutanandan cut a cakeand his wife gave him a smallpiece to mark the occasion.

As leaders from variouspolitical parties, friends, wellwishers and media personnelturned up to wishhim,Achutanandan thankedeveryone. Kerala Governor ArifMohammed Khan was amongthose who extended birthdaywishes to the senior leader.

"Conveyed my heartiestwishes to Shri VS

Achutanandan, former ChiefMinister and senior leader onhis 96th birthday. Shri VSAchutanandan is one of themost respected political figuresof Kerala," Khan tweeted. TheGovernor would be visitingAchutanandan tomorrow towish him personally. CPI(M)state secretary, KodiyeriBalakrishnan, Senior Congressleader AK Antony, telephoni-cally wished Achutanandan onhis birthday. PTI

Srinagar: With the abroga-tion of article 370, Jammu andKashmir is treading on the pathof peace and development andanyone who tries to createhurdles in the way will bedealt with sternly, BJP nation-al general secretary RamMadhav said here on Sunday.

"Till now everything usedto be done for a few families ora few leaders in Kashmir, butnow whatever is happening, ishappening for lakhs of familiesof this state... For the commonKashmiri," Madhav said.

"There will now be onlytwo paths for J&K-- peace anddevelopment and whosoevercomes in between will be dealtwith sternly. There are many

jails in India for those," headded.

The BJP leader wasaddressing a convention of theparty's youth wing at TagoreHall here which was the firstpolitical event in Kashmir afterthe abrogation of article 370and bifurcation of the state intotwo Union territories. Askingpoliticians not to treat the peo-ple of Jammu and Kashmir asfodder for their politics,Madhav who visited the valleyfor the first time since the abro-gation of article 370 said if 200-300 people are to be kept insidejails to achieve the path topeace and development, "thenwe will keep them".

"You can do your politics

without disturbing the peace.Some leaders are sending mes-sages while sitting inside jails

that people will take to gun andsacrifice themselves. I want totell those leaders to come for-ward first and sacrifice them-selves," he said. "Politicianshere were making commonpeople a fodder for their poli-tics and the general public wasbeing used. But, we will notallow such politics now. Wewant politics of developmentand corruptions will be eradi-cated fully from here," headded. Wanting to assure thepeople of Kashmir on theapprehensions about losingjobs or land, the BJP nationalgeneral secretary said no stepwould be taken against theinterests of the people. "Somepeople are talking nonsenseabout job losses and losing landwith the abrogation of article370. No step will be takenagainst your interests. Eachjob in the state will be provid-ed to the youth of the State." PTI

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Kolkata: West Bengal BJP chiefDilip Ghosh on Sunday said hewas hopeful that Nobel laureateAbhijit Banerjee, who hasdrawn criticism from a sectionof saffron party leaders, will givevaluable suggestions for over-coming the economic crisis.

Distancing himself fromthe unpleasant remarks madeagainst Banerjee by some BJPleaders, Ghosh said people mayhave divergent views about theacclaimed economist.

"He is a big personality andhas made a huge achievement;many people are expressingtheir views, they are all entitledto their opinion," he said.

Union Commerce Minister

Piyush Goyal, at a media brief-ing in Pune, recently describedBanerjee as a "Left- leaning" per-son. Goyal on Friday also saidBanerjee's suggestion of a min-imum income scheme has beenrejected by Indian voters andthere was no need to "acceptwhat he thinks". Echoing simi-lar sentiments, Rahul Sinha, anational secretary of the BJP,also claimed that Banerjee'seconomic theories have notbeen proved on the ground inIndia. Ghosh, also a Lok SabhaMP from Medinipur, assertedthat that he was among the firstto congratulate the Indian- bornAmerican economist after theannouncement. PTI

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The AAI is planning to mon-etise 759 acres of land near

eight major airports so that pri-vate companies are able toestablish warehouses, hotelsor restaurants, and the moneygenerated is utilised to devel-op airport infrastructure, asenior official said.

“The AAI has identifiedthe following land parcels ofairports for city side develop-ment: 145 acres near Kolkataairport, 45 acres near Amritsarairport, Bhubaneswar airport,35 acres near Jaipur airport, 60acres near Varanasi airport, 217acres near Lucknow airport, 80acres near Raipur airport and117 acres near Tirpuati air-port,” a senior AAI officialtold PTI.

“All the above land parcelsare located at respective airportsites only...The non-traffic rev-enue thus generated (fromland monetisation) shall beutilised for the airport infra-structure development inunconnected and under-servedareas” the official clarified.

The Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI), which worksunder the Ministry of CivilAviation, owns and manages129 airports across the coun-try, out of which 94 were run-ning in loss in the financial year2017-18.

“The (aforementioned)land is likely to be leased to anycompany or organisation for aperiod of 25-30 years for a fixedannual rental income,” the offi-

cial said. The revenue generat-ed from such land monetisa-tion is classified as non-aero-nautical revenues or non-traf-fic revenues.

The AAI is in the processof monetisation of its city sideland as per the AAI Act for“planning, development, con-struction and maintenance ofinstitutions/training centres,workshops, hotels, restaurantsand rest-rooms, warehouses,cargo complex catering to theneeds of passengers and airtraffic services”, the officialnoted.

The study of demandassessment and financial via-bility of some of the afore-mentioned land parcels is com-plete and the tenders for eachone of them would be issuedsoon, the official said.

On June 27 this year, CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri had talked aboutthis plan to monetise land ofthe AAI in Lok Sabha.

In a reply to a question, hehad said in his written answer,

“In order to enhance the non-aeronautical revenue poten-tial of its land assets and to fur-ther improve passenger facili-ties and convenience at its air-ports, AAI is in the process ofmonetisation of its city sideland by developing trainingcentres, workshops, hotels,restaurants and restrooms,warehouses, cargo complex tothe extent permitted underthe provisions of AAI Act.”

Last year, the governmenthad decided to privatise air-ports in Lucknow, Ahmedabad,Jaipur, Mangaluru,Thiruvananthapuram, andGuwahati for operation, man-agement and developmentthrough the public-privatepartnership (PPP) model. InFebruary this year, the AdaniGroup won the contract for allthe six airports.

The government plans touse the revenues earned fromprivatising airports into devel-oping airport infrastructure inunconnected and under-servedareas.

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Commuters passing by the VidyutBhawan on Patna’s famous Bailey

Road are now stopping to admire it asa team of Indian and foreign artists havetransformed its dull facade into avibrant thematic artwork with a subtlemessage on preserving nature.

Over the last three weeks, fiveartists, including two from Argentina,laboured on four separate wall artsspanning the facade of the high-risebuilding that houses offices of thepower department of the Bihar gov-ernment.

The most prominent among themis a 70 ft-high mural themed on preser-vation of environment and biodiversi-ty painted by Argentine duo EmmanuelAlaniz and Federica, roughly titled ‘Weare all light’.

The giant artwork on the side wallof the Bhawan is the first thing any vis-itor or passer-by notices, which standsout in its colourful glory.

The wall divided by windows shaftin the middle, on the right depicts a girlin salwar kameez, sporting plaited hairand holding a bird in her hand, in thebackdrop of a tree, running stream anda bright sun, while a deer stands nextto her.

The left portion portrays a boyholding a plant in his hand surround-ed by lush vegetation, vibrant flowersand wildlife, including a monkey thathangs upside down from a tree branch,as depicted on the top of the wall.

“Can art make people think? Canit hold their attention? We feel, it can,and that is why these messages havebeen embedded into our work. Thework portrays the desire to co-exist withnature, and the boy represents the florawhile the girl represents fauna. So, wehumans must respect flora and fauna,”Emmanuel told PTI.

His partner Federica who jointly

executed the work, said, she andEmmanuel first took a little tour ofPatna to understand the people and cul-ture of the city and the wall art reflectsthose aspects.

“The two characters are inspiredfrom real life, and we met a boy and agirl who are hearing-impaired, andthese two characters in our paintingrepresent them,” he said.

The project is being executed byMumbai-based art group St+Art, whoseprojects have literally transformedLodhi Colony in Delhi into a ‘Lodhi ArtDistrict’.

“Senior officials of the powerdepartment of Bihar government con-tacted us and they wanted a similar pro-ject done at Vidyut Bhawan. The pro-ject includes four separate wall arts,including the one on its main facade,and below which an art installationshould be put up soon,” ProjectManager at St+Art, Ritesh Sharma

said, adding the plastic paint has beenprovided by Asian Paints.

The other two arts are depicted onthe side walls, on the other side of theblue-hued building, and one portraysa woman switching on a light while theother shows an old man reaching outto protect a flame kept in a recess, theglow of light in both cases depictedexquisitely.

Artist Johnson Singh, who hailsfrom the Northeast said, he researchedon clothing style of Bihar, both for menand women, before conceptualisingthe two art works, which has been exe-cuted by Rajkot-based artist MunirBukhari.

Singh also conceptualised andpainted the mural on the centre of theBhawan’s facade which has plenty of flo-ral elements, and spans about 60 ft x 6ft. Sharma said, the secretary of thepower department really appreciatedthe Lodhi Art District and plans to

replicate something similar in BiharState Electricity Board (BSEB) Colonyin Patna.

“We saw the Madhubani paintingdone on the walls here when we arrivedin Patna. Around the same time therewas incessant rain that eventually led toflooding in most parts of the city. Wewere affected too and had to be shift-ed to a hotel after the guest house gotflooded,” he said.

The idea was to give Patna a the-matic artwork of a scale that has notbeen done before, and transform ordi-nary buildings into vibrant culture-dri-ven landmarks while sending out a mes-sage on environmental preservation,energy saving and green energy, he said.

Emmanuel feels that public art ismore powerful than those kept in gal-leries for a select audience.

“Art has power and in this case wehave turned a building associated withpower or electricity into an artwork.People are curiously stopping by, as theywere when we were painting it. And, Ialways believe in the ‘butterfly effect’. Ifour art can inspire one child and instillove for nature in him, and maybe whenhe or she grows up to become a primeminister or CEO or actor or engineer,that person will be kind to nature.

“In our greed, we are today destroy-ing jungles and creating concrete jun-gle, drying up lakes to make buildings.And, we think, wider streets and fac-tories are only metrics of development.But, it is not. We need to strike a rightbalance, otherwise, more cities will seewhat Patna saw recently,” he said.

Bihar State Power HoldingCompany Ltd, already runs an ‘EnergyCafe’ in the premises of Vidyut Bhawanstarted in 2017 with recycled scrap.

Inside the cafe, old oil drums andunused power equipment have innov-atively been used as chairs and tables.A rear portion of an old Ambassadorcar is used as a sofa.

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Afew days ago, a mass men’s labellaunched the Nehru jacket as anassembly line product, as regu-lar as corporate wear, and not anethnic fancy meant for festive or

ceremonial rituals. This signals a shiftfrom the formal code of the Western suit asthe only boardroom qualifier and legitimis-es the ethnic identity as an equally drivennegotiator. Latest brand campaigns of otherlabels show the young flaunting ethnic wearunabashedly and one significant advertise-ment has designer Manish Malhotra, theman who set the grammar of popular fash-ion through the porous matrix of Hindifilms, advising a young woman on how towash the zari in the traditional silks and saristhat she has proudly stacked up in herwardrobe. The assumption is clearly of thesenot being just occasion wear or a one-timestatement but meant to be worn regularlyand, therefore, frequently washed at home.This attribute of everydayness is freeing upIndian fashion from the dictates that we haveso long assumed as a given.

For long, fashion has been the most vis-ible barometer of anthropological studies.And by that measure, India’s millennial storyis to be found in what we wear, rather howwe live our mindset. One that has come fullcircle after liberalisation and opened us tothe world. Post-WTO, there was a rush toco-opt a Western standard of brand con-sciousness and grammar. And no matterwhat the unease or inhibition, there was awillingness to engage with the currency ofglobalisation, even open acceptance of it.There was a McDonaldisation process aswell that brought us out of our stiffness andmade casual Friday dressing a linking codeof behaviour, both in formal and informalspaces. The open democracy and genderneutrality of the casual wear market had alasting social consequence, that of lookinggood everyday and being comfortable in acrowd. The exposure to refined silhouettesand minimalism of boutique fashion hous-es meant that we could structure ourappearances better. It further meant that wecould define the global Indian by what s/hewore and the accessories s/he carried; thetags could be identified anywhere. It wasalso the time when our designers soughtinternational collaborations, using the lux-urious heritage of our craftsmanship, to lendsome accents to the ramps in New York,Milan and London.

Post-1990s, we were taking strides to beat one with the world. Almost three decadeson, we are a significant player, our new-found politico-economical heft giving us theconfidence to own our cultural identity.That’s why Banaras is not just about saris buthas emerged as a concept and motif of oneof our many identity markers. We have co-opted Western structures and silhouettes tothe extent of blending them with our sen-sibility and becoming the Indian-globalrather than the global Indian. Fashion todayalso has finally broken through the Western

concept of seasonality of spring-summer and fall-winter anddecided its own timeline. Free-flowing drapes are in, khadi isin the middle of an evolution-ary explosion and the kurta-churidaar-wasitcoast ensemblehas become the most androgy-nous and modernist statementthere is. Our designers, too, nowsee a potential in the domesticmarket and instead of interna-tional collaborations, are takingtheir craftsmanship to highstreets in fashion capitals of theworld, choosing to be an ethnicIndian label that is not just aboutidentity but about philosophy, ofhandmade skills and originali-ty, sustainability, vibrancy,colour and people. In the neo-Indian assertion of why theworld ought to be at our feet, weare literally wearing it on oursleeves. And doing so with arefined sense of style that hasfinally taught us how fusionought to be, a cultural memo-ry blended with functionalgrammar, the deep-rootedknowledge of both now defin-ing our body consciousness.

According to a study byTechnopak, India’s ethnic wearindustry is expected to grow to� 1,26,210 crore at the end ofthis fiscal, 83 per cent of it inwomen’s wear. A survey byclothing brand Biba showedthat ethnic wear is a preferred

outfit for women aged between16 to 50 years, particularly inTier II and Tier III cities.

This is significant since itreflects the empowerment ofwomen in the social, econom-ic and political space and theiremergence as a sizeable chunkof the market. It also points totheir greater buying capacity byvirtue of their increased partic-ipation in the workforce.Particularly in the boardroom,where the woman had to beseen mannish in every aspect,be it in approach or powerdressing to break the glass ceil-ing, the rules of appearance havechanged completely. Womenare keeping to their traditionalpreferences and body typeswith different cuts and drapes.The salwars have transformed topalazzos and long-flowingskirts, the embellishment streaksthrough short kurtis, theanarkali is becoming an asym-metrical cape, the kurtas arenow long floor-length dresseswhile saris are being structuredas cocktail gowns. Fusion wear,in fact, is now about day, casu-al and even evening wear. TheIndo-Western genre hasemerged as a good option forthe youth who may still want thecool quotient of the universityjeans and T-shirt routine andwant to look ethnic at the sametime.

A new consciousness aboutwhere we come from has meanta renewed interest in the sari,fabrics and our metals. Onlinesari-wearing challenges havetranslated into a revivalist searchof the diversity of fabric anddesign and a rediscovery of cot-ton. This has helped designersand cooperatives rescue weav-ing clusters and organise thelocal market. India’s metal andmineral wealth has also fuelleda demand for tribal jewellery asstandout avant-garde state-ments. The comfort with drapesand flowing lines has beendirectly proportional to a greaterembrace of “otherness”, be it ofthe LGBTQ community or evenmen themselves, who have beenstrait jacketed so far by colonial-ism but are now at home withcivilisational logic in sartorialchoices, that we need to useorganic and breathable fabricsand feel light and easy in a trop-ical land. Fluidity is in.

Fashion then has becomethe most accurate reflection ofthe empowerment of the mindbeyond causes or politics. Infact, it has become a tapestry ofour neo-consciousness. Onethat is proud of expressing per-sonal experiences and narra-tives, localised contexts, embroi-dery and fabrics (like Bhagalpursilk and Assam muga) and evenarchitectural motifs from our

heritage sites and structures. Of course, in climate chal-

lenged times, matching India’sinitiatives in environment pol-itics, Indian fashion hasemerged as one of the most sus-tainable choices there is as cre-ators reuse, re-engineer andrecycle heirlooms. Be it zero-waste production processes,locally-sourced and woven linenor use of natural dyes, sustain-ability is gradually becoming thewardrobe mainstay. Particularly,fair-trade practices and thedirect sourcing from and ben-efits to weavers’ and craft clus-ters have meant that socialresponsibility is dominatingpopular choice. Designers arenow working independentlywith craft clusters, often pickingout the under-utilised ones,value-adding to their dead stockand joining hands with othersocieties/groups that are knownfor mastering a particular craft.This Gandhian essence of thegrassroots, that mirrors the pri-macy of rural India in the polit-ical space, has made our fash-ion industry truly inclusive in itssense of purpose.

In fact, India’s new fashionmantra is not about ethnocen-trism or muscularity. But yes, itis robust, meaningful and con-fident.

(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Sonia gives Haryana rally amiss…fill void” (October 19).Congress president SoniaGandhi’s son Rahul cited hismother’s viral fever to be the rea-son behind her inability to turnup at an election rally in Haryana.However, Sonia has not beenattending any public functions oflate, apparently on the advice ofher doctors.

Officially, the rally inMahendragarh was the only onewhich she was to address. Therecould be two reasons for sched-uling the rally for Sonia by theCongress’ campaign managersdespite knowing about her poorhealth. First, they might havehoped she would be up andabout in time to address therally. Second, since Sonia remainsthe tallest leader in the Congresswith a crowd-pulling potential,party bosses continued bandyingher name about till the lastminute to gain maximum tractionand build up expectations. Ofcourse, it fuelled speculationabout the old vs new war.

Navin ChawlaChandigarh

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Still too hungry” (October18). The UNICEF’s State ofWorld’s Children and the GlobalHunger Index report for Indianchildren are not too surprising. Itonly states the truth that Indiahas not made much headway inreducing malnutrition and is

wasting food. Yes, natural calami-ties do play havoc and compoundthis situation. But when we canstrive for 100 per cent electrifica-tion and complete polio eradica-tion, why not target this menace,too, with the same zeal? IfBangladesh can do it, why can’t we?India needs to learn. What itneeds is great political will.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Lessons from PMC” (October17). Increasing instances of bankscams in India mean that fraud-sters are looting the public moneywith impunity. These scams arethe brightest examples of how thepoor account holders are beingcheated out of their hard-earned

money deposited in safe custodyof banks. No doubt, higher offi-cials have mastered the art offudging books to play aroundwith the poor depositors’ money.Both the Union and StateGovernments must take credible,pragmatic and effective steps forexpeditious solution of the crisis-ridden PMC.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Snatchers have free run! Secy toDelhi Speaker latest victim”(October 19). Instances of chain,purse and mobile snatching are onan alarming rise in the nationalCapital. So much so that one hasstopped wearing chains, necklacesand carrying mobiles in handwhen out on the street. And girlsare concentrating more on clutch-ing their purses while travelling. It’shigh time the authorities resort totechnology and camera devices totrack gangs.

ShristiVia email

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Has the attitude of the Centrechanged towards North-Eastern states. Can you elab-orate on the difference thatyou have witnessed as Chief

Minister?I just wait for the right moment and

then say what I have to as the situation pre-sents itself. But overall, this is somethingthat I have seen happening during the lastone-and-a-half years after taking over asChief Minister. There are many senior peo-ple in my team and they tell me that therewas a time when they went to Delhi butcouldn’t meet the officials, the minister con-cerned or the Prime Minister. But now wedo not face any difficulty and there is acces-sibility in terms of human connectivity.There is a different sense of importancegiven to the North-East. The PrimeMinister himself is very concerned. The lasttime I went and met a Minister to invitehim to Shillong, his response was that,“Even if you don’t call, I will have to go, orelse PM nahin chodenge hamein (the PMwould be displeased with us).” That is thekind of response that we get now, whichindicates the pressure on every Ministrywhen it comes to any issue related to theregion.

I am of the firm belief that you cannotget work done in Shillong while sitting inDelhi. You have to see what is happeningat the grassroot level with your own eyesto understand what is needed. So whenMinisters come here, they understand therequirements. That is what I meant whenI said that there is a change. I am sure thatmore will happen in the coming years dueto the approach of the Government.

❚ The Government has formulated theLook East policy. Is there anything in par-ticular that Meghalaya would like to focuson as part of this initiative?

It has moved ahead and has now beenrenamed as Act East. For Meghalaya, I havebeen very clear even before I became theChief Minister that we need to “LookSouth” and “Act South” which meansBangladesh. I have been a strong advocateof this. Kolkata, the nearest Indian port toexport our products, is 1,200 km away.Before Independence, it was Chittagong inBangladesh which is half that distance at650 km. If this was to open up, theexports from the North-East would go uptremendously. At the moment, the regioncomprises only one per cent of the totalexports from the country.

I have proposed an eight-lane highwayconnecting Guwahati, Shillong, Dauki inIndia and Chittagong in Bangladesh. Ifneeded, the Government should invest andfund this project so that the North-East getsaccessibility. One very important andgood thing that has happened recently isthat Bangladesh has agreed to allow accessof goods from the North-Eastern States toChittagong port which wasn’t there earli-er. This is a big diplomatic achievement forthe Indian Government.

In order to ensure that exports increase,many policy decisions need to be cleared.For instance, there is a rubber plant inBangladesh, which is running at 50 per centdeficiency and sourcing raw material fromMalaysia even though Tripura andMeghalaya, which grow rubber, are veryclose. The current policy means that if Ihave to export rubber to Bangladesh, I haveto go through Kolkata, even though the fac-tory in Bangladesh is 40 km away. A pol-icy decision is needed to get over such hur-dles.

Then there is connectivity in terms oftelephony. If Airtel or Jio go 5 km intoBangladesh, and there is a complaintagainst them, they have to pay a fine of �5lakh every time. So these service providersdo not put up a tower near the Bangladeshborder. As a result everyone, including theBSF personnel, uses the Bangladesh net-work. It is a massive security lapse. Ofcourse there are a lot of challenges, includ-ing illegal infiltration, but we have to tack-le those while looking at the positive sidealso.

I will be visiting Bangladesh along witha big delegation. I have suggested that allthe Chief Ministers of the North-East cango together in a bus. We should drive ratherthan take a flight to focus on connectedcorridors of mutual benefit. Tura, my hometown and constituency, is a four-hour drivefrom Dhaka. To put it in perspective, ittakes equal time to reach Guwahati by road.So for me, the entire “Look and Act East”policy should be focussed on Bangladesh.

❚ One of the important changes that you

have initiated is the Public RedressalMechanism. How does it operate andreach out to people?

There are multiple layers. We realisethat connecting with people is one part andcan be done easily through a WhatsAppComplaint System but the more importantchallenge is how to address the problemsand connecting them to the departmentconcerned. We created a system where acode is generated for every problem andthen a message goes to officials concerned,both at the ground level and the seniorones. If there is no reply, then remindersare given. It is not a very complex systemwhere a lot of money is needed. However,we are trying to understand how to makethe system more efficient, accountable anddeliverable.

Since we started this, approximately500-600 complaints have come to us.There were personal problems as well ascomplaints like a transformer had brokendown and hadn’t been repaired for months.We are trying to segregate the problem intodelivery mechanism problems and thosewhich are more personal in nature anddealing with them accordingly.

I am not satisfied because the systemhas never been response-oriented. Earlier,there was no concept of addressing com-plaints within a certain time period. I amhoping this will improve from the 50 percent redressal rate that we have managedto achieve till date.

More importantly, I try to make it apoint to connect with my officers all thetime through two programmes. There is adepartmental review that is done at mylevel through video-conferencing or phys-ically when I am present. Another impor-tant programme is a block visit. In two

years, I want to target all 46 blocks. I start-ed this one month ago and have coveredthree blocks. So every month I hope tomeet a similar target. Every time I have ameeting with my deputy commissioners(DCs), I keep telling them that I am nothere to “catch you or find faults with yourworking, rather I want to find faults in thesystem and we will find a solution togeth-er. Let’s work as a team.” People-first is thecrux of my approach.

❚ You have signed MoUs to create smartvillages. How do you intend to undertakethe exercise considering rural people willalways aspire to move to urban centres?

There are multiple objectives of mak-ing smart villages, including the one to stemmigration to towns. People migrate insearch of better facilities for health, edu-cation and employment opportunities.We can actually resolve these problemsthrough technological interventions.

In health, for instance, our focus wason expectant mothers getting access to

institutional delivery. Initially, we were ofthe opinion that they were not open to theidea but we were wrong. We started withone district and used technology to mapevery would-be mother. There were 3,000of them and after the exercise, we knewexactly which village they were from, whichweek the delivery would take place, thenames of Asha volunteers taking care ofthem, the medical officer involved, the con-tacts of husbands and mothers-in-lawand a shortlist of high-risk mothers due toblood pressure problems or diabetes. Ineach area, there is an ambulance driver cov-ering a certain radius, who is connectedwith the expectant mothers and we givetheir phone numbers to him and his num-ber to the next of kin. Additionally, we haveconnected auto-rickshaw drivers to theexpectant mothers as a back-up ambulanceand promised to give them �300 if theyferry mothers to hospitals. This hasimproved the overall institutional deliveryin that district from a mere 40 per cent to90 per cent in six months. That is how I

envision smart villages rather than withhuge towers and buildings. Such basic tech-nological interventions without huge finan-cial inputs have improved health facilities.

Similarly, in education there are nofancy smart classes or thousands of croresof investments. We identified the bottom20 per cent of the schools where the resultswere below a certain benchmark andlaunched a pilot project in one districtwhere students from those schools, whowere doing badly, were brought togetherin clusters. Incentives were given to teach-ers to bring in students and they were pro-vided with additional tuitions on Saturdays.

It is not so difficult to improve thenumbers from 20 to 60 per cent becauseif you are getting a 20 per cent pass per-centage in any school, that means the mod-ules there are simply not working. So justby making simple tweaks, you improve itto 60 per cent. The toughest is reaching thelevel of 80 to 100 per cent. But as of now,we are focussed on reaching 60 per cent andthen we will think about moving ahead.

A third initiative is setting up a Self-Help Group (SHG) network of aboutthree to four lakh women. My target is tohave one woman in each household in anSHG. We use the National Rural LivelihoodMission (NRLM) funding patterns. Somemoney is collected and these SHGs will actas micro financing banks and give loanswithout paperwork. We are not just doingthat but we are motivating women and giv-ing them ideas about the industries thatthey can develop.

We will connect SHGs with peoplefrom Berkeley University to whom wehave given seven challenges, includingfood processing as a part of the MoU. Ihave asked them to study every district ofMeghalaya and zero down on certainproducts from the area and figure outwhich technological intervention at anaffordable cost can be implemented toimprove the livelihood of people and, also,where the products can be sold. A studyof bamboo was undertaken by Berkeleyand it highlighted that it was not the plyor the brush that would give margins. Thehighest profits, of about 25 per cent, wouldcome from bamboo charcoal. The insti-tution connected us to Chinese companieswhich make the machines to create bam-boo charcoal and they gave us the cost andhow much time it would take for theprocess. Berkeley developed an entirebusiness plan and also, an end to end solu-tion.

Besides food, researchers will studymicro-financing, tourism, food process-ing, turmeric and more. We have to focuson our strengths and see what the require-ments are outside and within the coun-try. We need close to 2 lakh MT of milkwhereas we produce 50,000 MT. Welaunched a milk mission at a cost of �250crore. Then there is a huge requirementfor pork not just locally, but also outside.In India, good quality pork is not avail-able and we have to rely on imports. Sowe are seeing these gaps in local consump-tion and exports and plugging those.These are low-hanging fruits as there isan existing demand. We are doing themarket research to figure out the require-ments, giving money to the SHGs andtraining them but we let them do it ontheir own.

The key aspect of the SHG movement,which is so important to understand, iscreating an institutional network. Forinstance, at three, the fertility rate is thehighest in the country where some fam-ilies have as many as seven or eight chil-dren. If we want to address the issue of fer-tility, we will have to talk about contra-ceptives. A lot of rural mothers have nosay in when they wish to get pregnant,which is sad. Once these SHGs have awoman in every house, I can get a con-traceptive network going with their help.The same applies to a nutrition pro-gramme. If we want to provide every childwith one glass of milk, it is not just a doc-tor or a health specialist which can do this.The women in this institution can beroped in. If you pour anything on top ofthis network, it will trickle down. Health,social welfare, education — it will ensureall the benefits reach everywhere.

❚ The first road with plastic waste wasbuilt in Meghalaya. You are also provid-ing plastic to a cement factory. What arethe other ways that you plan to incorpo-rate sustainability in the Government’sfunctioning?There are more initiatives. Of course, plas-tic is an issue and we ensured that the CM

office and the Secretariat were plastic-free.However, it is essential to give people alter-natives, otherwise they will go back totheir old ways. We roped in cement com-panies which are providing people withbottles in place of plastic ones. While wedo not have to spend money, these com-panies can advertise and put their logo onthe bottle.

For all these initiatives, we are ropingin NGOs and media houses as well andat the same time, trying to make it a funactivity. So when people see the Governorcleaning an area or the Chief Ministerdoing so, they are connected with the idea.It is a very powerful way to motivate peo-ple.

Our target is to make all Governmentoffices fully sustainable in water and elec-tricity. My first target is my own office andwe will start it in the Secretariat inNovember. We are creating a rainwaterharvesting system so that when the nextrains come in, the Secretariat doesn’t haveto draw water from the Public HealthEngineering Department (PHE).

In the energy segment, we haveswitched over to LED lights whichreduced the cost by 50 per cent. So somepart of the installation cost is getting cov-ered by these savings.

In the meantime we have also talkedto the Ministry of New and RenewableEnergy (MNRE) and the Centre and theyhave sanctioned some funds for rooftopsolar panels. The good thing about ouroffices is that they do not need a lot of lightduring their diurnal operations. We calledin some experts who told us the numberof panels and batteries to be set up aftera survey of the roof. Even if we meet 50per cent of our demand, it will be good.The programme will be gradually extend-ed to the Secretariat and AdditionalSecretariat by the next financial year aswell as the DC offices gradually.

❚ Meghalaya has a lot of potential intourism. There is history, since it wasinhabited in the Neolithic age, wildlifeand natural beauty. How do you plan tofocus on tourism and at the same timemake it sustainable?

We are looking at developing it in asustainable manner and focussing on thestrengths that we have. We would preferto have a lesser number of tourists, whoare looking at a niche experience.Something like the Bhutan model. Itmight not be as strict but our product linewill move in that direction.

We are selecting areas that everybodyconnects to like Cherrapunji and haveidentified eight tourist spots. We want topull the tourists there while developingthem in an eco-friendly manner. We havebuilt log houses, which give a local and nat-ural feel in place of the cement and brickones. Then there are events like the cher-ry blossom festival which is specific to theregion and has become big over the years.People in the State are also fond of music,so we are building activities around suchpassions too.

Plans are already afoot for a hot air bal-loon experience so that you can seeCherrapunji and even Bangladesh from thesky. We are planning to develop choppertourism, which will be a premium service.Tourists can see the double-decker rootbridge more frequently as the chopper canland right next to it. This will naturallycater to a high-end market.

Then there is history. Geologistsfound a stalagmite in the Mawmluh Cavewhich was classified to be 4,200 years oldand dated to what is called as theMeghalayan Age. Mawmluh is a 28 kmlong sandstone cave which is the longestin the world. There are other caves of vary-ing lengths. We are developing a systemwhere people can actually enter these.Some of the caves are massive and couldhold an amphitheatre inside. You enter oneand find yourself in a huge hall where theceiling is 30-40 feet high. There are caveswith rivers flowing inside them, almost likea swimming pool, and one where theentrance is hidden behind a waterfall andwill remind people who love comics ofPhantom’s cave. To experience somethinglike this, you can travel to Meghalaya orspend a lot of money to go to distant lands.

❚ You love music and also perform...All people in the North-East do. I used

to be in a band in school. I played guitar,my brother was a singer. Earlier we playedthe music. Now, as Chief Minister, I faceit (guffaws).

(Photo: Md. Meharban)

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Scheme NAV 1Yr%Tata Banking & Financial 19.90 27.60Services Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Fin Serv Opp 44.05 25.50Fund(G)BNP Paribas India Consumption 12.41 25.39Fund-Reg(G)Axis Bluechip Fund(G) 31.41 24.49SBI Tax Advantage 26.88 23.99Fund-III-Reg(G)Axis Multicap Fund-Reg(G) 12.54 23.43SBI Banking & Financial 18.38 23.03Services Fund-Reg(G)Canara Rob Consumer 42.01 22.34Trends Fund-Reg(G)JM Tax Gain Fund(G) 18.15 21.92DSP Equity Fund-Reg(G) 41.74 21.91JM Multicap Fund(G) 34.22 21.79Baroda Banking & Fin Serv 23.75 21.67Fund(G)DSP World Gold Fund-Reg(G) 13.54 21.28BNP Paribas Large Cap 95.62 20.98Fund(G)Invesco India Financial 58.50 20.62Services Fund(G)Axis Long Term Equity Fund(G) 48.00 20.39SBI Focused Equity 147.69 19.49Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL India 88.08 19.27GenNext Fund(G)JM Core 11 Fund(G) 9.39 19.24SBI Tax advantage Fund-II(G) 38.69 19.17Motilal Oswal Focused 25 23.22 19.12Fund-Reg(G)Kotak World Gold Fund(G) 9.86 18.80DSP Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) 50.17 18.75Invesco India PSU Equity 18.20 18.34Fund(G)Axis Focused 25 Fund(G) 29.91 18.22Sundaram Services 11.86 18.14Fund-Reg(G)BNP Paribas Long Term Equity 39.97 17.86Fund(G)SBI Magnum Equity ESG 109.70 17.70Fund-Reg(G)DSP Focus Fund-Reg(G) 24.25 17.42Axis Midcap Fund(G) 38.64 17.27Aditya Birla SL Banking & 28.82 16.77Financial Services Fund-Reg(G)Canara Rob Bluechip Equity 26.06 16.70Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Multi Cap 10.64 16.70Fund-Sr II-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Banking & Fin 63.17 16.66Serv Fund(G)DSP Top 100 Equity 215.51 16.65Fund-Reg(G)IDBI India Top 100 Equity 25.04 16.57Fund(G)Sundaram Large and Mid Cap 36.14 16.51Fund(G)Sundaram Multi Cap 10.66 16.43Fund-Sr I-Reg(G)Tata Large & Mid Cap Fund(G) 208.42 16.21Nippon India Consumption 68.43 16.20Fund(G)SBI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 15.48 16.15Edelweiss ETF - Nifty Bank 2967.8016.12Sundaram Select Small Cap 14.66 15.86Series-III-Reg(G)Tata India Tax Savings 18.39 15.82Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Small Cap 10.00 15.81Series-VI-Reg(G)Mirae Asset Great Consumer 36.37 15.75Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Small Cap 14.68 15.53Series-IV-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage 10.39 15.37Fund-V-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Multicap 50.24 15.36Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Small Cap 10.21 15.29Series-V-Reg(G)JM Value Fund(G) 33.04 15.23SBI BlueChip Fund-Reg(G) 40.32 14.81Mirae Asset Emerging 54.03 14.64Bluechip-Reg(G)Canara Rob Equity Diver 136.84 14.63Fund-Reg(G)HDFC Sensex ETF 4132.5614.39BNP Paribas Focused 25 9.89 14.32Equity Fund-Reg(G)L&T India Large Cap 28.06 14.31Fund-Reg(G)DSP Equity Opportunities 226.96 14.29Fund-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage 13.55 14.28Fund-IV-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Focus(G) 185.29 14.24IDFC Sensex ETF 405.47 14.23Axis Capital Builder 10.61 14.21Fund-1-Reg(G)Motilal Oswal Multicap 26.70 14.1835 Fund-Reg(G)Motilal Oswal Long Term 17.92 14.15Equity Fund-Reg(G)Canara Rob Equity Tax Saver 66.44 14.12Fund-Reg(G)Tata Large Cap Fund(G) 223.55 14.12Kotak Standard Multicap 35.88 14.09Fund(G)ICICI Pru LT Wealth 11.03 14.06Enhancement Fund(G)HDFC Index Fund-Sensex(G) 349.52 13.87Tata Index Fund-Sensex Plan(G)97.02 13.83Kotak Bluechip Fund(G) 239.62 13.72DSP India T.I.G.E.R 91.25 13.64Fund-Reg(G)DSP A.C.E. Fund-Sr 2-Reg(G) 10.55 13.59ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.49 13.53Fund-4-(G)ICICI Pru Sensex Index Fund(G) 12.22 13.41Kotak Equity Opp Fund(G) 119.67 13.37SBI LT Advantage 10.63 13.37Fund-VI-Reg(G)Mirae Asset Tax Saver 17.91 13.35Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Growth Opp 35.29 13.33Fund(G)Axis Emerging Opp 12.57 13.24Fund-1-Reg(G)Franklin India Focused Equity 40.15 13.24Fund(G)DSP A.C.E. Fund-Sr 1-Reg(G) 10.54 13.09

HDFC Nifty 50 ETF 1223.0713.07SBI LT Advantage 13.86 13.04Fund-II-Reg(G)Axis Nifty ETF 1201.5313.03Baroda Large Cap Fund(G) 14.80 12.98Nippon India Index Fund - 19.34 12.98Sensex Plan(G)UTI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 52.00 12.94DSP 3Y Close Ended Equity 15.84 12.94Fund-Reg(G)

Kotak Tax Saver Scheme(G) 44.32 12.91IDBI Equity Advantage 27.69 12.88Fund-Reg(G)IDFC Nifty ETF 120.57 12.87UTI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 76.51 12.86Tata Mid Cap Growth Fund(G) 136.34 12.71ICICI Pru FMCG Fund(G) 253.56 12.67IDFC Nifty Fund-Reg(G) 24.20 12.62HDFC Index Fund-NIFTY 106.52 12.6150 Plan(G)Principal Focused 65.34 12.60Multicap Fund(G)Axis Emerging Opp 12.10 12.56Fund-2-Reg(G)Mirae Asset Large Cap 51.61 12.53Fund-Reg(G)Tata Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 55.33 12.52Edelweiss Large Cap Fund(G) 36.50 12.45Tata Index Fund-Nifty Plan(G) 70.72 12.43Edelweiss ETF - Nifty 100 288.02 12.41Quality 30ICICI Pru Nifty Index Fund(G) 113.09 12.35Tata Value Fund-Sr-1-Reg(G) 10.11 12.23SBI LT Advantage 13.43 12.22Fund-III-Reg(G)SBI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 100.41 12.21Aditya Birla SL Sensex ETF 367.39 12.16Edelweiss Large & Mid Cap 31.90 12.16Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Nifty Index Fund(G) 21.55 11.97SBI Magnum Global 177.61 11.91Fund-Reg(G)Nippon India Index 19.55 11.88Fund - Nifty Plan(G)Aditya Birla SL Index 114.63 11.87Fund-Reg(G)Edelweiss Long Term Equity 47.05 11.78Fund (Tax Savings)-Reg(G)SBI Equity Opp 16.24 11.68Fund-Sr I-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-18(G) 11.61 11.63UTI India Consumer 26.90 11.58Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Index 92.43 11.58Fund-NSE Nifty(G)Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 25.70 11.57Fund-Reg(G)DSP Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 54.72 11.50SBI Equity Opp Fund-Sr 15.62 11.39IV-Reg(G)Kotak India EQ Contra Fund(G) 53.27 11.29Aditya Birla SL Global Real 21.06 11.27Estate Fund(G)IDBI Banking & Financial 10.51 11.22Services Fund-Reg(G)BNP Paribas Multi Cap Fund(G) 47.91 11.21PGIM India Large Cap Fund(G) 171.48 11.19Franklin Asian Equity Fund(G) 22.59 10.84Franklin Build India Fund(G) 40.33 10.84PGIM India Diversified Equity 13.44 10.80Fund-Reg(G)Parag Parikh Long Term 25.98 10.79Equity Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Diversified Equity Fund(G) 21.82 10.76Tata Value Fund-Sr-2-Reg(G) 9.81 10.71Aditya Birla SL Focused Equity 59.99 10.64Fund(G)SBI LT Advantage 13.38 10.55Fund-I-Reg(G)Edelweiss Multi-Cap 14.67 10.55Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Resurgent 11.90 10.49India Fund-2-Reg(G)Invesco India Infrastructure 17.00 10.46Fund(G)ICICI Pru Smallcap Fund(G) 24.97 10.44Nippon India Value Fund(G) 72.88 10.33Kotak Infra & Eco Reform 19.70 10.15Fund(G)ICICI Pru Bluechip Fund(G) 42.92 10.14UTI Equity Fund-Reg(G) 144.07 10.09UTI Mastershare-Reg(G) 122.77 10.02ICICI Pru NV20 ETF 56.94 9.97ICICI Pru Nifty Low Vol 30 ETF 92.58 9.84Nippon India US Equity 16.38 9.77Opp Fund(G)PGIM India LT Equity 14.42 9.66Fund-Reg(G)SBI PSU Fund-Reg(G) 10.29 9.59IDFC Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) 32.95 9.58Sundaram Rural and 41.56 9.53Consumption Fund(G)

UTI MEPUS 107.73 9.45ICICI Pru S&P BSE 500 ETF 153.39 9.43Canara Rob Emerg Equities 92.30 9.23Fund-Reg(G)IDFC Equity 10.54 9.22Opportunity-6-Reg(G)IDFC Multi Cap Fund-Reg(G) 94.37 9.20ICICI Pru Growth Fund-1(DP) 11.18 9.18Kotak Emerging Equity 38.05 9.10Scheme(G)Sundaram TOP 100-Sr 12.57 8.99VI-Reg(G)UTI Focussed Equity Fund-IV(G)9.58 8.99Nippon India Large Cap Fund(G)33.86 8.97L&T Business Cycle 15.13 8.95Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Largecap Fund(G) 28.66 8.93Kotak India Growth 10.45 8.93Fund-Sr 7(G)Invesco India Tax Plan(G) 51.62 8.93Baroda Multi Cap Fund(G) 97.41 8.89ICICI Pru Growth Fund-2(DP) 12.18 8.85Tata Ethical Fund-Reg(G) 161.66 8.83HDFC Top 100 Fund(G) 482.04 8.74Edelweiss Tax Advantage 40.22 8.73Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Diversified Equity(G) 100.21 8.71Sundaram TOP 100-Sr 12.34 8.66VII-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Frontline Equity 223.12 8.60Fund(G)Tata Resources & Energy 14.51 8.56Fund-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Comma 37.09 8.54Fund-Reg(G)Nippon India Banking Fund(G) 261.79 8.53SBI Large & Midcap 218.93 8.50Fund-Reg(G)UTI Banking and Financial 93.20 8.49Services Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Equity Fund(G) 719.50 8.42Canara Rob Infrastructure 44.02 8.40Fund-Reg(G)HDFC Equity Fund(G) 644.74 8.39Aditya Birla SL MNC 757.79 8.37Fund-Reg(G)UTI Focussed Equity Fund-I(G) 13.27 8.28PGIM India Large Cap 12.47 8.26Fund-2-Reg(G)UTI LT Equity Fund (Tax 86.51 8.17Saving)-Reg(G)Nippon India Vision Fund(G) 519.30 8.14Nippon India Multi Cap Fund(G) 93.31 8.10ICICI Pru US Bluechip Equity 29.45 8.07Fund(G)UTI-Nifty Next 50 ETF 287.41 7.96UTI Focussed Equity Fund-V(G) 9.41 7.91Aditya Birla SL Equity 403.43 7.88Advantage Fund(G)UTI Value Opp Fund-Reg(G) 60.70 7.85Nippon India Growth Fund(G) 1086.66 7.84Templeton India Equity Income 45.92 7.65Fund(G)Nippon India India Opp 10.34 7.52Fund-Sr-A(G)Nippon India Quant Fund(G) 25.72 7.50Franklin India Taxshield(G) 562.30 7.45Franklin India Prima Fund(G) 942.23 7.44ICICI Pru Value Fund-9(G) 12.15 7.43Franklin India Opportunities 72.40 7.26Fund(G)Principal Emerging Bluechip 103.74 7.24Fund(G)Tata Equity P/E Fund(G) 134.16 7.18ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 ETF 28.23 7.18UTI Focussed Equity Fund-VI(G)9.81 7.16SBI Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 52.27 7.13IDBI Focused 30 Equity 9.97 7.09Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram World Brand 16.01 7.00Fund-Sr II-Reg(G)HDFC Growth Opp Fund-Reg(G)111.02 6.99Sundaram World Brand 16.19 6.96Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)ICICI Pru LT Equity Fund 370.23 6.87(Tax Saving)(G)UTI Nifty Next 50 Index 9.98 6.84Fund-Reg(G)SBI Technology Opp 65.90 6.83Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.47 6.73Fund-1-(G)IDBI Nifty Junior Index Fund(G) 21.14 6.69ICICI Pru Infrastructure Fund(G) 48.81 6.67SBI Magnum TaxGain'93-Reg(G)139.76 6.62ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 Index 24.83 6.61Fund(G)Sundaram Infra Advantage 30.90 6.59Fund(G)Nippon India Focused Equity 44.83 6.58Fund(G)Kotak India Growth 9.69 6.55Fund-Sr 5(G)ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.54 6.36Fund-3-(G)SBI Consumption Opp 116.48 6.35Fund-Reg(G)HDFC Focused 30 Fund(G) 76.09 6.34Tata India Consumer 17.57 6.08Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Contra Fund(G) 47.22 6.06Sundaram Value 16.41 6.04Fund-III-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-17(G) 10.54 6.04Sundaram LT Tax Adv 14.46 6.01Fund-Sr II-Reg(G)UTI Dividend Yield Fund-Reg(G) 65.57 5.84Kotak India Growth 9.34 5.80Fund-Sr 4(G)Edelweiss Mid Cap 26.18 5.80Fund-Reg(G)Edelweiss Emerging Markets 12.88 5.78Opp Eq. Offshore Fund-Reg(G)Principal Dividend Yield Fund(G) 52.95 5.77UTI MNC Fund-Reg(G) 198.56 5.77ICICI Pru Value Fund-15(G) 10.46 5.76Kotak Global Emerging Mkt 16.02 5.75Fund(G)ICICI Pru Growth Fund-3(DP) 10.13 5.63ICICI Pru Value Fund-11(G) 12.26 5.60ICICI Pru Value Fund-13(D) 10.59 5.58Principal Nifty 100 Equal Weight 70.82 5.56Fund(G)Nippon India Capital Builder 9.64 5.53Fund-IV-A(G)

HDFC Capital Builder Value 277.37 0.43Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Dividend 154.83 0.31Yield Fund(G)Sundaram Emerging Small 10.04 0.28Cap-Sr-VII-Reg(G)HDFC Equity Opp Fund-Sr 10.07 0.232-1126D-May 2017(1)-Reg(G)IDBI Midcap Fund(G) 10.23 0.10DSP US Flexible Equity 26.08 0.05Fund-Reg(G)DSP Natural Res & New Energy 31.33 0.02Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Infrastructure 29.21 -0.14Fund(G)L&T Emerging Opp 9.17 -0.19Fund-I-Reg(D)IDFC Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G)14.07 -0.21ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 9.64 -0.31Fund-2-(G)IDBI Small Cap Fund(G) 8.99 -0.33Kotak US Equity Fund(G) 17.12 -0.42ICICI Pru Value Fund-8(D) 10.19 -0.49Sundaram Emerging Small 8.96 -0.56Cap-Sr-IV-Reg(G)Invesco India Feeder -Invesco 13.14 -0.62Global Equity Income Fund(G)Tata India Pharma & Healthcare 8.88 -0.66Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Exports & Services 55.55 -0.70Fund(G)L&T Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 15.32 -0.84Sundaram Value 10.31 -0.93Fund-VIII-Reg(G)Sundaram Emerging Small 7.99 -0.97Cap-Sr-II-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Focused Equity 28.93 -1.06Fund(G)Sundaram Emerging Small 8.63 -1.14Cap-Sr-III-Reg(G)SBI Contra Fund-Reg(G) 100.29 -1.18Sundaram Emerging Small 7.77 -1.34Cap-Sr-I-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Technology Fund(G) 58.63 -1.59Principal Global Opportunities 29.33 -1.68Fund(G)Mirae Asset Healthcare 10.24 -1.87Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Value Discovery 139.39 -2.02Fund(G)Edelweiss Eur Dynamic 11.08 -2.07Equity Off-shr Fund-Reg(G)UTI LT Adv Fund-VII(G) 8.18 -2.14Aditya Birla SL Midcap Fund(G) 264.97 -2.19Sundaram Select Micro 12.34 -2.24Cap-Series VIII-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro 12.27 -2.42Cap-Series IX-Reg(G)PGIM India Euro Equity Fund(G) 13.82 -2.81Sundaram Emerging Small 9.09 -2.96Cap-Sr-V-Reg(G)DSP Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 50.61 -2.98IDFC Equity 7.37 -3.79Opportunity-4-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Dividend Yield Equity 15.68 -3.86Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Global 12.99 -3.91Emerging Opp Fund(G)Sundaram Select Micro 12.01 -3.98Cap-Series X-Reg(G)Nippon India Small Cap Fund(G)37.37 -4.20IDFC Sterling Value 45.98 -4.25Fund-Reg(G)UTI LT Adv Fund-VI(G) 7.85 -4.33Franklin India Smaller Cos 49.02 -4.37Fund(G)DSP World Agriculture 16.59 -4.91Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Value 8.07 -5.27Fund-VII-Reg(G)DSP World Mining Fund-Reg(G) 8.10 -5.31Aditya Birla SL Resurgent 7.78 -5.81India Fund-7-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 7.63 -5.93III-Reg(G)Nippon India Capital Builder 7.32 -6.00Fund-IV-B(G)Sundaram Small Cap Fund(G) 72.81 -6.02HDFC Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 38.71 -6.11UTI Transportation & Logistics 91.65 -6.64Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Value 8.56 -7.10Fund-IX-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 8.82 -7.20IV-Reg(G)Invesco India Feeder - Invesco 10.68 -7.23Pan European Equity Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Value Fund-X-Reg(G) 8.51 -7.26Aditya Birla SL CEF-Global 23.71 -7.41Agri-Reg(G)Nippon India Pharma Fund(G) 142.54 -7.46L&T Emerging Businesses 22.35 -7.99Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Small Cap 30.17 -8.56Fund(G)UTI Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 78.83 -8.59Aditya Birla SL Pure Value 46.25 -8.66Fund(G)Sundaram Select Micro 8.55 -9.21Cap-Series XII-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro 8.88 -9.52Cap-Series XI-Reg(G)SBI Healthcare Opp 110.45 -9.68Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro 7.85 -9.85Cap-Series XIV-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap 9.05 -10.23Tax Adv Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap 7.71 -10.38Tax Adv Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G)Nippon India Capital Builder 7.12 -10.70Fund-IV-D(G)Sundaram Select Micro 7.19 -11.31Cap-Series XVI-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap 7.49 -11.31Tax Adv Fund-Sr V-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro 7.68 -11.80Cap-Series XV-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax 7.04 -11.91Adv Fund-Sr VI-Reg(G)Nippon India Capital Builder 6.85 -12.56Fund-IV-C(G)DSP World Energy Fund-Reg(G) 12.76 -12.57Sundaram Select Micro 6.77 -12.94Cap-Series XVII-Reg(G)

Baroda ELSS 96(G) 43.57 5.52Invesco India Midcap Fund(G) 47.66 5.49Sundaram Value Fund-II-Reg(G) 15.76 5.47L&T Equity Fund-Reg(G) 80.89 5.45BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund(G) 31.27 5.36Sundaram Smart NIFTY 100 11.65 5.36Eq Weight Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Digital India 54.45 5.32Fund(G)ICICI Pru Multicap Fund(G) 287.36 5.23UTI LT Adv Fund-IV(G) 9.98 5.23Sundaram LT Tax Adv 13.33 5.12Fund-Sr I-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Large & Mid 319.86 5.08Cap Fund(G)IDFC Equity 9.91 4.98Opportunity-5-Reg(G)Franklin India Equity Advantage 77.65 4.96Fund(G)JM Large Cap Fund(G) 67.07 4.69Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96(G) 30.80 4.66Aditya Birla SL Tax 30.80 4.66Relief '96(ELSS U/S 80C of ITACT)(G)Franklin India Equity Fund(G) 573.73 4.60Franklin India Bluechip Fund(G) 451.47 4.54IDFC Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 43.95 4.49Invesco India Multicap Fund(G) 46.85 4.46Kotak Small Cap Fund(G) 69.91 4.35Aditya Birla SL Resurgent 11.28 4.35India Fund-3-Reg(G)L&T Large and Midcap 46.46 4.30Fund-Reg(G)PGIM India Global Equity Opp 18.80 4.21Fund(G)L&T Emerging Opp 9.80 4.20Fund-II-Reg(D)DSP Equal Nifty 50 9.66 4.15Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Global Advt(G) 17.20 3.95UTI LT Adv Fund-III(G) 13.14 3.85Aditya Birla SL Resurgent 9.51 3.82India Fund-5-Reg(G)Nippon India Power & Infra 94.20 3.81Fund(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-16(G) 11.01 3.67L&T India Value Fund-Reg(G) 34.72 3.57SBI-ETF Sensex Next 50 316.80 3.56IDFC Focused Equity 36.35 3.41Fund-Reg(G)UTI LT Adv Fund-V(G) 9.20 3.29ICICI Pru Value Fund-10(G) 11.11 3.25ICICI Pru Value Fund-14(G) 10.49 3.25Principal Multi Cap Growth 137.56 3.22Fund(G)SBI Magnum Midcap 68.31 3.19Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Manufacture in India 10.37 3.18Fund(G)Tata Digital India Fund-Reg(G) 15.03 3.18Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity 22.25 3.14Fund-A(G)HDFC TaxSaver(G) 502.06 3.11Baroda Mid-cap Fund(G) 8.68 3.09

Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity 18.10 3.Fund-B(G)Aditya Birla SL Resurgent 9.58 3.01India Fund-4-Reg(G)Sundaram Mid Cap Fund(G) 445.59 2.82Franklin India Feeder - Franklin 31.87 2.74U.S. Opportunities Fund(G)Principal Tax Savings Fund 199.52 2.61ICICI Pru Global Stable Equity 16.14 2.61Fund(G)HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities 51.65 2.55Fund(G)DSP Global Allocation 12.90 2.54Fund-Reg(G)IDFC Tax Advt(ELSS) 53.10 2.31Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Long Term Value 10.20 2.00Fund-Reg(G)UTI Mid Cap Fund-Reg(G) 96.12 1.98Principal Personal Tax 186.48 1.98saver FundICICI Pru Midcap Fund(G) 91.37 1.87Sundaram Emerging Small 10.20 1.84Cap-Sr-VI-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Mfg. Equity 12.88 1.82Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Technology 159.09 1.55Fund(G)L&T Tax Advt Fund-Reg(G) 53.08 1.47UTI Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 58.85 1.30Nippon India Tax Saver 51.80 1.01(ELSS) Fund(G)HDFC Infrastructure Fund(G) 15.04 0.98PGIM India Midcap Opp 17.28 0.93Fund-Reg(G)L&T Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 128.24 0.93Templeton India Value Fund(G) 234.57 0.76Nippon India Japan 13.47 0.53Equity Fund(G)

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Nearly a month after the RBIclamped down on the

operations of scam-hit PMCBank, the depositors say theirwoes have only worsened, withsome unable to pay schoolfees of their wards, while oth-ers finding it difficult to meetmedical expenses.

Many fear that they mightlose their lifetime earningsdeposited in savings accounts,or in the form of fixed deposits.

Businessmen like MAChaudhary complained thatthey were unable to either paysalaries to their workers, norpay taxes or even the electric-ity bills after the cheques issuedby the PMC Bank bounced.

So far, three depositorshave lost their lives, apparent-ly due to the crisis.

Established in 1984 in Sionin central Mumbai, the banknow has branches in six Statesbut most of them are concen-trated in the metropolises ofMumbai and Delhi.

On September 24, thebank’s Managing Director JoyThomas sent an SMS to its

depositors about the ReserveBank of India imposing regu-latory restrictions, capping thewithdrawals up to �1,000 forsix months.

Since then, he has beenarrested, along with the pro-moters of HousingDevelopment InfrastructureLimited (HDIL) Rakesh andSarang Wadhawan, in analleged fraud case.

After protests from accountholders, the RBI raised theamount to �10,000 and then to�40,000 earlier this month.

However, the depositors,who have deposited lakhs andin some cases even crores in thebank, said the amount is tooless even to meet the monthlyexpenses, .

Tek Chand (71), a retiredGovernment servant and a res-ident of Janakpuri in westDelhi, said his family has over�18 lakh deposited in the TilakNagar branch of the bank.

His wife has to undergodialysis which costs him�10,000 per month and half hismonthly pension goes into it.

There are many like Chandwhose source of sustenance is

the interest they get from theirfixed deposits.

Anuradha Sen (61), a res-ident of Malviya Nagar insouth Delhi, said she deposit-ed �15 lakh in the bank.

“My livelihood is depen-dent on the interest from it,” shesaid.

Sen said she was also upsetwith the government for notdoing enough to help theaccount holders get back theirhard earned money.

“I am annoyed. We gavethem a thumping majority notto put us in this crisis. If thiscontinues, I am surely not

going to vote in their favournext election,” she said.

Malviya Nagar residentRavindra Kumar Jha (40), aninterior designer by profes-sion, said he was struggling topay the school fees of his twochildren and manage thehousehold expenses.

He said he has �32 lakhdeposits in his PMC Bankaccount but cannot accessthem.

Jha also complained ofblood pressure after the irreg-ularities in the bank surfaced.

“I have two school goingkids. I need to manage theirfees and household expenses.Recently, I met with an accidentand I have not recovered yet. Inever had a blood pressureproblem, and now with eachpassing day, it is becoming dif-ficult to survive in Delhi.Sometimes I feel like commit-ting suicide.

“I had planned to start anew business this Navratri.Unfortunately, I deposited thesurplus cash of �4 lakh that Ihad kept for emergency. NowI feel so helpless. It is my hard-earned money,” he said.

MA Chaudhary, anotherbusinessman, said he hasdeposits of �35 lakh in savingsaccount and �16 lakh in hiscurrent account but he is notable to access his money.

“A PMC Bank chequeissued to pay electricity billsbounced because no one wouldprocess it. I do not have moneyeven to pay my quarterly GST,”Chaudhary said.

For several depositors, thePMC Bank scam has shatteredtheir trust in the banking sys-tem. Gurjyot Singh Keer (25)was eight when he first opened

an account in the bank’sMulund west branch in north-west Mumbai under the ‘BaalBachat Yojana’.

The lender has been centralto the Keers, residents ofMulund west, and the familymembers have a deposit of over�3 crore.

“I was in awe of the banksince my childhood. Our fam-ily always believed in cash andI fought with them sayingdepositing money in banks isgood. Today, I am fighting forthe same money stuck in thebank,” 25-year-old Keer, who

runs a coaching institute, said.There has been a domino

effect of the crisis, where thewhole “circle of money” hasstopped, he said.

Students hailing from theMulund area, a lot of whosefamilies have accounts in thebank, are unable to pay theirfees, Keer said, adding he is alsonot able to pay his teachers whoare paid on a weekly basis asthe money is stuck.

Twenty-four year-oldManali Narkar, a resident ofKanjurmarg in northwestMumbai, said her family hasbeen banking with the PMCsince last 27 years.

The biology teacher andher family have over �28 lakhin accounts with the bank. Itwas the good service that madeNarkar and her family contin-ue with the bank, she said.

“I am losing my patienceand money with every passingday. I have put all my hardearned money in the bank andthis is what I get in the end.What wrong did I do that I ambeing made to beg for my ownmoney?” 71-year-old Chandasked.

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Top leaders and corporateexecutives from India and

the US will gather in New Delhion October 21 for a day-longbrain storming session on tradeand geopolitics.

To be hosted by US IndiaStrategic and PartnershipForum (USISPF) with thetheme “Partners of Growth”, thesecond annual IndiaLeadership Summit would alsobe attended by former USSecretary of State and states-man Henry Kessinger,Condoleezza Rice, India’sExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar among others.

“The relationship betweenIndia and the US is not justabout trade. It’s not just aboutgeopolitical. Now it has gonebeyond that. It is about learn-ing how you build research-leduniversities, learning on man-aging waste, learning on qual-ity of air exchange of scientists,”USISPF president MukeshAghi told PTI in an interview.

“What I’m saying is thatthere has to be a platformwhich encourages, supportsand propagates these discus-sions,” Aghi added.

Over 300 influential andpowerful people from Indiaand the US are joining thesummit which aims to focus onthe immense potential that theUS-India relationship has in

areas beyond trade includingsustainability, security, energyaccess and innovation.

“The whole objective is tokeep the momentum going inthis relationship and come upwith some plus factors, someaction items so we can moveforward next 12 months thisrelationship,” Aghi said.

“Because we don’t have thebureaucratic limitation, we arenimble, run and build busi-nesses, we can react, movethings much faster,” he added.

Aghi said the objective isbasically to enhance the rela-tionship between the twonations.

“We have no politicalagenda. Our objective is toenhance this relationship,” hesaid.

He said that for the topAmerican CEOs to fly only for

this conference and spend a fewdays in India is a reflection oftheir commitment to India.

“If you would want to callit India’s Davos, start of that..That’s what I see it,” he said.

“Our theme is partners inprogress, what is a win win forboth countries. That’s whatwe’re going to focus on. Forexample, India is energy deficitand US is energy surplus. Howdo you basically collaborate notjust purely from procuring oiland LNG, but more research inthis area?” he said.

“Does India need to followthe same economic growthmodel what the western devel-opment took place. Is it possi-ble to explore our different togrowth agenda for India?” heasked, referring to some of thethought provoking issues forthe brain storing sessions.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman has said she

will prepare a blueprint forinternational companies thatare looking beyond China tomake India as their preferredinvestment destination.

She said industry leaderswho are contemplating get-ting their businesses out ofChina are “definitely consider-ing India as the pitch”.

Therefore, she said, itmight be important for the gov-ernment to now see and meetup with a lot of industry lead-ers and invite them to India.

“I’d certainly be doingthat…I go back and design insome way whereby I will iden-tify those multinational cor-porations, all American busi-nesses or any other countryEuropean or a British originwho are moving out of Chinaor who probably are even con-templating,” she said.

“I will make a blueprintwith which I will approachthem and put forward to themas to why India is a far morepreferable destination,”Sitharaman told a group ofIndian reporters on Saturday atthe conclusion of her interac-tions at the annual meeting ofthe International MonetaryFund and the World Bankhere.

That could also be in spe-

cific areas in which India hascommon capacity ecosystembuilding, whether it’s electron-ics, lithium ion battery or anyother semiconductors, sheadded.

However, Sitharaman saidthe government’s decision isnot just going to be purely onthe basis of what is happeningpresently between the UnitedStates and China.

“That could either aggra-vate the situation or probablyjust influence at some level. Butthe fact remains that there arecompanies which are looking atrelocating for various otherreasons also,” she said.

“That is why I gave that lit-tle fine line that I’m drawingabout companies which wouldwant to locate elsewhere out-side of China. Even as I saidthat, I said that not every com-pany wants to lock, stock andbarrel get out of China, thereare companies which willremain there to service theChinese market.

“After all little China as avery big domestic market andthe their purchasing power,consumption style may be verydifferent from what it is inIndia, but I’m making thatmargin already that companieswill probably be there to servicethe Chinese market tension ornot tension,” the Union minis-ter said.

She said India wants to cre-ate an ecosystem to invite thecompanies to tap the country’smarket.

“I’m allowing that marginalready. Over in about that forthose companies, even if theycontinue to be in China but stillwould want to produce fromelsewhere either to export or tocapture a new hub, domesticmarket like India,” Sitharamansaid.

“There was one thing veryclear that India is still for them(companies), one of the biggestoptions to consider,” she added.

The minister said it is per-ceived that the opportunities inVietnam are not that muchattractive.

“In fact, today, one of theconversations that I was havingwith some of the bank and thegovernment representativeswas that even Vietnam nowprobably is getting saturated.They don’t have enough man-power to address expansionaryprogrammes of investment,”she said.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman has said the

negotiations between India andthe US on a trade deal are goingin “full speed” and expressedhope that an agreement will bestructured soon.

The ongoing trade dealnegotiations briefly came up fordiscussion during a pull asidebetween Sitharaman and USTreasury Secretary StevenMnuchin at the IMF head-quarters. Mnuchin is scheduledto visit India early next month.

“In fact, I broadly men-tioned it to Secretary Mnuchin,but that is something on whichthe Commerce minister andMr (Robert) Lighthizer (USTrade Representatives) areworking. My inputs are that thenegotiations are going in fullspeed and there’s a great inten-sity with which both sides areengaging and hopefully thedeal will be structured soon,”Sitharaman said on Saturday.

India is demanding exemp-tion from high duties imposedby the US on certain steel andaluminium products, resump-tion of export benefits to cer-tain domestic products undertheir Generalised System ofPreferences (GSP), greater mar-ket access for its products fromsectors, including agriculture,

automobile, auto componentsand engineering.

On the other hand, the USwants greater market access forits farm and manufacturingproducts, dairy items and med-ical devices, and cut on importduties on some ICT products.The US has also raised concernsover high trade deficit withIndia. In 2018-19, India’s exportsto the US stood at $52.4 billion,while imports were $35.5 billion.Trade deficit dipped from $21.3billion in 2017-18 to $16.9 bil-lion in 2018-19.

Responding to a question,Sitharaman said a totalisationagreement with the US hasalways been on the cards.

Totalisation agreementseeks to eliminate dual taxationwith regards to social securityand medicare taxes in theUnited States.

“One of the reasons whythat was never responded towas that India did not have asocial welfare net or socialinsurance cover for Indians inIndia. And therefore, if theyhad to give it, they wouldn’t begiven in the sense where wouldit be used?” she said.

“Today, I think most pri-vate insurances or for many ofthe families which are belowthe certain level of income,Ayushman Bharat is a fantas-tic big coverage.

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New Delhi: After repeatedcomplaints by theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) over allegedviolation of FDI norms by e-commerce majors, theDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade(DPIIT) has sent a question-naire to Amazon and Flipkartover their adherence to thenorms for Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI).

The questions are con-cerned with their fund flow,business model and inventorymanagement, people in theknow of things said, adding thatit also asks the names of theirrespective top five sellers andprice list of vendors on theseplatforms. Official sources saidthat the department wouldlook into their replies and thendecide whether more clarifica-tion is required or any actionneeds to be taken.

“It is basically related to thecomplaints of small retailers,and a series of questions havebeen sent to them which arerelevant to understand the alle-gations which small retailersmake about these online plat-forms which are under FDI,” asource told IANS.

Questions sent to Amazonand Flipkart by IANS, howev-er, were not immediatelyreplied. Traders’ body CAIT

has time and again approachedthe government for its inter-vention regarding the “deep”discounts offered by these plat-forms during festival sales.CAIT recently sought an inde-pendent audit of the businessmodels of both Amazon andFlipkart on the charges ofpredatory pricing and deepdiscounting, among others.

The move by DPIIT comesafter Commerce MinisterPiyush Goyal last week warnedof strict action against e-com-merce companies if they werefound violating India’s e-com-merce policy.

In a related development,CAIT on Sunday alleged thatnot only the e-commerce com-panies, but even large numberof brands in mobile, FMCG,electronics, electrical appli-ances, footwear, garments, giftarticles, watches and other seg-ments as well as several banksare also responsible for distor-tion of prices of different prod-ucts on online portals.

“It is apparent that thesebrand-owning companies arealso exploiting the offline mar-ket being hand in glove with e-commerce companies havingseparate price policy for bothonline and offline marketswhich is a clear violation of theCompetition Act,” CAIT said ina statement. IANS

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Mukesh Ambani-ledReliance Jio has alleged

that review of call connectcharges by Trai “sabotages” thePrime Minister’s vision forDigital India, and will hit notonly the regulator’s credibilitybut also investor confidence asthe move protects vested inter-ests of some old operators.

Continuing its relentlessattack on the regulator and oldoperators over the contentiousIUC (interconnect usagecharge) issue that has polarisedthe industry, Jio alleged thatTrai’s move is arbitrary, bad inlaw, unwarranted, and anti-poor. Any change in imple-mentation of original timelineof January 1, 2020 will end thefree voice regime and is likelyto increase tariffs which isagainst consumer interest, Jioclaimed.

Typically, a telecom oper-ator pays for completing callsmade by its subscribers to arival network. This is done bypaying the rival network aninterconnect usage charge,which currently is 6 paise perminute.

Trai’s move to reopen thedeadline for ending charges forterminating calls on rival net-works beyond January 2020had forced Jio to levy a 6 paisaper minute charge on its usersrecently, effectively ending itsfree call regime.

Submitting its officialresponse to the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(Trai) on the IUC matter, Jioalleged that “certain incumbenttelcos” want their large body of2G customers to forever remaindigitally disempowered anddeprived of the fruits of the dig-ital revolution. Trai’s consulta-tion paper “protects and per-petuates the vested interests” ofsuch players, it added.

Jio accused certain oldoperators of exploiting their 2Gcustomers by charging “extor-tionist rates” for voice calls,which are offered free to all Jio’s4G-only customers.

“The ConsultationPaper...Undermines and sabo-tages Prime Minister’s DigitalIndia vision and mission,” Jiosaid in its comment to Trai’sconsultation paper.

It is unfortunate thatinstead of profiting the poorand marginalised sections ofIndian society, the consultationpaper has chosen to help prof-iteers in the telecom business,Jio alleged.

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Paddy acreages in the currentfiscal have grown by 6.5 per

cent and basmati acreages haveincreased by a whopping 36 percent in comparison to kharif2018 but the increased culti-vation may turn out to be achallenge due to growth con-cerns at the global level andwithin India.

National CollateralManagement Services con-ducted a field-based crop sur-vey for assessment of acreage,crop health and production ofbasmati rice during kharif2019. The survey was com-

missioned by the BasmatiExport DevelopmentFoundation, founded by theAgricultural and ProcessedFood Products Export

Development Authority.As per the latest kharif

sowing report released by theAgriculture Ministry onSeptember 27, all India paddyacreages are reported at 382lakh hectares which are 1 percent lower than 2018 paddyacreages of 387 lakh hectares.

This survey is at variancewith the government reportand paddy cultivation is high-er as per the NCML surveywith total paddy acreages dur-ing kharif 2019 estimated at6,204,000 hectares which are6.5 per cent higher than lastyear’s acreage of 5,825,000hectares.

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SpiceJet plans to induct wide-body planes early next year

and is looking at variousoptions as the budget airlinesteers ahead with its ambitiousexpansion plans, according toa senior official.

The low-cost carrier is look-ing at options from Boeing andAirbus. An industry source saidthat SpiceJet might bid for AirIndia’s wide-body operationsin case the government puts updomestic and internationaloperations for sale separately.

Currently, SpiceJet operatesonly Boeing and Bombardierplanes.

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Two-wheeler exports roseby over 4 per cent in the

April-September period of thecurrent fiscal, with Bajaj Autoleading the segment by ship-ping over 9 lakh units to vari-ous markets, including Africaand Latin America, as per latest data by industrybody SIAM.

Two-wheeler dispatches,including motorcycles, scootersand mopeds, stood at 17,93,957units in the first half of the cur-rent fiscal, as compared to17,23,280 units in the sameperiod of 2018-19.

Scooter exports during theperiod under review stood at

2,01,277 units, down 10.87 percent from 2,25,821 units in theApril-September period of2018-19.

Motorcycle shipments,however, rose by 6.81 per centduring the period at 15,85,338units as against 14,84,252 unitsearlier. On the other hand,exports of mopeds were downby a massive 44.41 per cent at7,342 units as compared to13,207 units in April-September period last year.

Pune-based Bajaj Auto ledthe segment with shipments of9,34,581 units, up 7.5 per centfrom same period last fiscal, thedata by the Society of IndianAutomobile Manufacturers(SIAM) showed. It was fol-

lowed by TVS Motor Companyand Honda Motorcycle &Scooter India (HMSI) whichexported 3,43,337 and 1,74,469units, respectively, during theperiod under review.

Bajaj exports its bikes toover 70 countries and last yeardispatched around 40 per centof its total production to Africa,Latin America and MiddleEast markets. The companyexported around 20 lakh unitslast fiscal.

Similarly, TVS MotorCompany exported 3,43,337units in the April-Septemberperiod this fiscal, up 6.24 percent from same period last fis-cal. On the other hand, HMSI’soverseas dispatches were 23.09

per cent lower than the April-September period of last finan-cial year. India Yamaha Motorexported 1,56,058 units, up21.38 per cent from last fiscal.It was followed by domesticmarket leader Hero MotoCorpat 92,823 units. The company’soverseas shipments were 12 percent down this fiscal as com-pared with the same period of2018-19.

Suzuki Motorcycle India’sforeign dispatches stood at54,372 units, up 35.61 per cent.

Other notable exportingcompanies during the periodincluded Royal Enfield (22,956units), Piaggio Vehicles(14,050) and Mahindra TwoWheelers (297).

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British Prime Minister BorisJohnson was on Sunday

branded a “spoilt brat” by theOpposition after he sent anunsigned letter seeking a three-month extension to the October31 deadline from the EuropeanUnion (EU).

The UK PM was bound bylaw to issue a letter seeking adelay to Brexit after MPs votedin a historic Super SaturdayParliament session to delay vot-ing on his motion on a newBrexit deal.

Johnson has previously saidhe would rather be “dead in aditch” than miss the October 31deadline and had triggered spec-ulation soon after the House ofCommons vote by declaringthat he would not negotiate anextension.

However, given the BennAct passed by MPs last monthto avert a no-deal crash-out fromthe economic bloc meant that hewas obliged to send an extensionletter by the end of October 19

unless a new Brexit deal hadbeen passed through by theCommons.

"The United Kingdom pro-poses that this (extension) peri-od should end at 11.00pm GMTon 31 January 2020. If the par-ties are able to ratify before thisdate, the government proposesthat the period should be ter-minated early,” reads theunsigned letter sent to EuropeanCouncil President Donald Tuskon Saturday night.

While the Downing Streetstance is that the UK PM hascomplied with the Benn Act bysending the Parliament's letter,there is some speculation if itopens up the prospect of legalaction by it being an unsignedrequest.

In an accompanied signedletter to Tusk, Johnson repeatedhis pledge of leaving the EUwithin the October 31 deadlineby pressing ahead with the req-uisite legislation next week toseek Parliament's ratification

for his withdrawal agreement."I have made clear since

becoming Prime Minister, andmade clear to Parliament againtoday, my view, and the gov-ernment's position, that a furtherextension would damage theinterests of the UK and our EUpartners, and the relationshipbetween us," he states, insistingthat the prolonged Brexit processmust be brought to a conclusionto prevent a “corrosive impact”from further delays.

Tusk took to Twitter to saythe UK's extension request hasbeen received and that he wouldconsult with EU leaders on“how to react”.

Meanwhile, the OppositionLabour Party warned thatJohnson could be in contempt ofParliament and possibly even thecourts with his latest actions.

Labour's shadow Chancellorsaid: "He may well be in contempt of Parliament or the courts themselves because he's clearly trying toundermine the first letter andnot signing the letter.

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Hillary Clinton has gonecrazy, US President Donald

Trump has said as he slammedthe former secretary of state forcalling Democratic presidentialaspirant Tulsi Gabbard and for-mer Green Party candidate JillStein as Russian assets.

During a Thursday podcastinterview, Clinton said Russiahad groomed Stein to be aspoiler third-party candidatein 2016 and implied that theKremlin is doing the same withGabbard in order to take votesaway from the 2020 Democraticticket and secure Trump'sreelection.

"Hillary's gone Crazy!”Trump said in a tweet onSaturday night.

"So now Crooked Hillary isat it again! She is callingCongresswoman Tulsi Gabbard'a Russian favorite', and JillStein 'a Russian asset'. As youmay have heard, I was called abig Russia lover also (actually, Ido like Russian people. I like allpeople!),” Trump said.

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European Union officialscalled Sunday for a ceasefire

in Afghanistan, saying thebreakdown in talks between theUS and the Taliban presentedan opportunity to push anewfor a truce.

US President DonaldTrump last month declaredtalks with the insurgents"dead", citing a Taliban attackthat killed a US soldier.

Negotiations had been inthe final stages for a deal thatwould have seen the US pulltroops from Afghanistan after18 years in return for variousTaliban guarantees.

But to the dismay of manyAfghans and internationalobservers, the deal included noimmediate, comprehensiveceasefire, rather it would supposedly have paved the wayfor a reduction in violenceand later talks between theTaliban and the AfghanGovernment.

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Kurdish-led fighters andTurkish-backed forces

clashed sporadically on Sundayin northeastern Syria amidefforts to work out a Kurdishevacuation from a besiegedborder town, the first pull-backunder the terms of a US-bro-kered cease-fire.

Turkey said one of its sol-diers was killed in the day's vio-lence.

The planned evacuationof Kurdish fighters and civiliansfrom the town of Ras al-Aynwould open the way to a pull-out of the fighters from abroader swathe of territoryalong the border, a senior offi-cial in the Kurdish-led forcestold the Associated Press Theofficial, Redur Khalil, saidSaturday evening that the evac-uation could take place Sundayif there were no new problems.

Both sides accuse eachother of repeatedly violating thethree-day old cease-fire.

Turkey's Defense Ministrysaid the soldier was killed in aKurdish attack with anti-tankweapons and small arms firenear the border town of TalAbyad.

That brought the Turkishmilitary's death toll to seven

soldiers since it launched itsoffensive against Kurdish-ledfighters in northeast Syria onOctober 9.

The Kurdish-led SyrianDemocratic Forces said Turkishtroops and their allied Syrianfighters have continued theiroffensives the past 24 hours,forcing its fighters to retalia-tion.

It said 16 SDF fighters hadbeen killed and three wound-ed in Turkish attacks around

the border town of Ras al-Aynand nearby villages.

Ras al-Ayn, under siege byTurkish-backed fighters, hasbeen the scene of continualfighting since the cease-firecame into place on Thursdaynight.

Khalil told the AP that theforce had reached understand-ings with the Americans toevacuate its fighters from thetown from the start of thecease-fire but the siege had

delayed the plans.Turkish officials have

denied they were preventingthe withdrawal of any fighters.

On Saturday, medical con-voys were able to enter for thefirst time into neighbourhoodsstill in the hands of the Kurdishfighters, delivering medicalsupplies and bringing out 30wounded and four dead.

Khalil said the full evacu-ation could follow the next dayunless there were new delays.

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Responding to stinging crit-icism, President Donald

Trump has abruptly reversedhis plan to hold the next Groupof Seven world leaders' meetingat his Doral, Florida, golf resortnext year.

Trump announced a rarebacktrack Saturday night afterfacing accusations that he wasusing the presidency to enrichhimself by hosting the interna-tional summit at a private resortowned by his family.

"Based on both Media &Democrat Crazed andIrrational Hostility, we will nolonger consider TrumpNational Doral, Miami, as theHost Site for the G-7 in 2020,"Trump tweeted. He said hisadministration "will begin thesearch for another site, includ-ing the possibility of CampDavid, immediately."

The striking reversal raisesfurther doubts about the posi-tion of the president's acting

chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney,who held a press conferenceThursday announcing thechoice of Doral for the summit.He insisted his staff had con-cluded it was "far and away thebest physical facility."

Mulvaney said the WhiteHouse reached that determi-nation after visiting 10 sitesacross the country.

In the same press confer-ence, Mulvaney acknowledgeda quid pro quo was at workwhen Trump held up U.S. Aidto Ukraine in exchange forUkraine's investigation ofDemocrats and the 2016 elec-tions. Mulvaney later claimedhis comments had been mis-construed, but not before draw-ing the ire of the president andfrustration from other senioraides.

Trump had been the firstadministration official to pub-licly float the selection of hisproperty to host the summitwhen in August he mentionedit was on the short-list and

praised its facilities and prox-imity to Miami's internationalairport. His comments, morethan a month before the officialannouncement, drew instantcriticism from good gover-nance groups and Democrats,who said it raised concerns thatTrump was using the WhiteHouse to boost his personalfinances The vociferous criti-cism did not die down, even asTrump insisted he would hostthe summit at cost, though herefused to disclose financialdetails. The annual heads-of-state gathering would at mini-mum have provided good-willvalue to his property.

Noah Bookbinder, execu-tive director of Citizens forResponsibility and Ethics inWashington, said Trump'sreversal Saturday "is a bow toreality, but does not change howastonishing it was that aPresident ever thought this was appropriate, or that it was something he could getaway with."

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Large crowds of HongKongers defied a police ban

and held an illegal march onSunday, their numbers swollenby anger over the recent stab-bing and beating of two pro-democracy protesters.

Authorities had forbiddenthe march in Tsim Sha Tsui, adensely packed shopping districtfilled with luxury boutiquesand hotels, citing public safetyand previous violence fromhardcore protesters.

But tens of thousands joinedthe unsanctioned rally regard-less as the movement tries tokeep up pressure on the city'spro-Beijing leaders after nearlyfive months of protests andpolitical unrest.

Tensions were running highafter the leader of the grouporganising the weekend rally,Jimmy Sham, was hospitalisedby men wielding hammers ear-lier in the week. Then onSaturday night a man handingout pro-democracy flyers wasstabbed in the neck and stom-ach.

A sea of protesters shuffled

through the streets under acanopy of umbrellas to protectfrom the bright sunshine onSunday. Many said they wantedto show they were unbowed bythe attacks and authoritiesincreasingly banning marches.

"The more they suppress,the more we resist," a 69-year-old protester, who gave her sur-name Yeung, told AFP. "Canpolice arrest us all, tens of thou-sands of people?" Philip Tsoi, aself-described frontline protest-

er, said they needed to keep get-ting numbers out even thoughmany more hardcore activistslike him had been "arrested orwounded" in recent weeks.

"What I want is a trulydemocratic government whoseleader is elected by Hong Kongpeople instead of selected by aCommunist regime," he toldAFP.

In a now familiar pattern,the large march remained peace-ful, but smaller groups of black-

clad protesters vandalised somesubway station entrances andmainland Chinese banks alongthe route.

Police fired tear gas volleysat crowds of hardcore activistsoutside Tsim Sha Tsui police sta-tion.

Vigilante violence hasmounted on both sides of theideological divide. In recentweeks pro-democracy support-ers have badly beaten peoplewho vocally disagree with them-- although those fights tend tobe spontaneous outbursts ofmob anger during protests.

In contrast, pro-democracyfigures have been attacked in anoticeably more targeted way,with at least eight prominentgovernment critics, includingpoliticians, beaten by unknownassailants since mid-August.

Protesters have labelled theattacks "white terror" andaccused the city's shadowyorganised crime groups of form-ing an alliance with Beijingsupporters. Beijing hasdenounced the protests as a for-eign-backed plot and con-demned attacks on those voic-ing support for China.

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An 8,000-year-old pearl thatarchaeologists say is the

world's oldest will be displayedin Abu Dhabi, according toauthorities who said Sunday itis proof the objects have beentraded since Neolithic times.

The natural pearl wasfound in the floor of a roomdiscovered during excavationsat Marawah Island, off thecapital of the United ArabEmirates, which revealed theearliest architecture found inthe country.

"The layers from whichthe pearl came have been carbon dated to 5800-5600BC, during the Neolithic period," Abu Dhabi'sDepartment of Culture andTourism said.

"The discovery of the old-est pearl in the world in AbuDhabi makes it clear that somuch of our recent economicand cultural history has deeproots that stretch back to the

dawn of prehistory," said itschairman Mohamed Al-Muabarak.

The excavation of theMarawah site, which is madeup of numerous collapsedNeolithic stone structures, hasalso yielded ceramics, beadsmade from shell and stone, andflint arrowheads.

The "Abu Dhabi Pearl" willbe shown for the first time inthe exhibition "10,000 years ofLuxury" which is opening onOctober 30 at the Louvre AbuDhabi -- the outpost of thefamous Paris museum.

Emirati experts believe thatthe pearls were traded withMesopotamia -- ancient Iraq -- in exchange for ceramics andother goods. They were alsolikely worn as jewellery.

"The Venetian jewel mer-chant Gasparo Balbi, who trav-elled through the region, men-tions the islands off the coast ofAbu Dhabi as a source of pearlsin the 16th century," the culturedepartment said.

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The Pakistan Governmentwill achieve all targets sets

by the Financial Action TaskForce in time to get the coun-try out of the anti-money laun-dering watchdog's grey list,Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi has said ashe accused India of trying toblacklist it.

Qureshi's remarks cameafter the Paris-based FATF putPakistan on notice on Friday,warning that it will be black-listed if it does not control ter-ror funding by February.

The FATF plenary notedthat Pakistan addressed onlyfive out of the 27 tasks given toit in controlling funding to ter-ror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad andHizbul Mujahideen, responsi-ble for a series of attacks inIndia.

"India has failed to getPakistan included in the FATFblacklist. The country has beengiven various tasks untilFebruary 2020,” Qureshi said,adding the government wouldachieve all targets in time andbring the country out of thegrey list.

He said the FATF hasrecognised the steps taken bythe Government to controlmoney laundering and terrorfinancing.

The FATF is an inter-Governmental bodyestablished in 1989 to combatmoney laundering, terrorist financing and otherrelated threats to the integrityof the international financialsystem.

During the FATF meeting,several countries voiced con-cern on Pakistan's failure to doenough to contain terror fund-ing on its soil.

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Police in northern Nigeriahave rescued 147 people

from an Islamic boarding schoolwhere the students were beingabused, the fourth such raid ina month, a local official told AFP.

Armed officers found theinmates when they raided aschool in the Rigasa district ofKaduna, said Hafsat Baba,Kaduna state women affairscommissioner.

"All the inmates were foundin chains and said they werebeaten. There are 22 womenamong them and some of themcomplained of being sexuallyabused," she added.

Two Cameroonians and two

people from Niger were amongthose rescued, she said. Therewere also four children at theschool. The inmates had beentaken there by family membersfor "petty theft, delinquencyand drug addiction," Babaadded. "Some of them havepsychological problems and arementally unstable."

Last month police rescuedmore than 300 male studentsfrom a similar boarding schoolin the same neighbourhood.They too said they had been tor-tured and sexually abused.

That led to police raids ontwo other boarding schools innearby Katsina state this week,where officers said they rescuedmore than 400 male students.

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Preliminary results expectedSaturday after last month's

presidential election inAfghanistan have been delayed,the election commission said.

Officials had previouslyindicated that results wouldlikely be pushed back.

But in her announcement,Awa Alam Nuristani, who headsthe Independent ElectionCommission (IEC), did not sayhow long the vote count will bedelayed.

"Unfortunately, because ofsome technical issues and fortransparency, we could notannounce the results based onthe election timetable," she said,apologising at a press confer-ence.

The IEC previously saidthat less than one-third, orabout 2.7 million ofAfghanistan's 9.6 million regis-tered voters, cast ballots in theSeptember 28 first-round poll.

With fears of fraud andthreats of deadly Taliban vio-lence, it was a record lowturnout.

The contest featured 18candidates but President AshrafGhani, seeking a second five-year term, and Afghanistan'sChief Executive AbdullahAbdullah, are the favourites.

Just two days after the elec-tion and before all votes hadeven arrived in Kabul for count-ing, Abdullah claimed victory ina move that international andlocal observers panned as pre-mature.

On October 12, his runningmate Asadullah Saadati com-plained of "systemic fraud"organised by "circles within theelection commission and thepalace".

Voting this year was sup-posed to be more secure thanever, with each voter verifiedthrough biometric machines toensure no one could cast mul-tiple ballots.

Saadati claimed the IECwas counting "fraudulent" andnon-biometric votes.

The IEC has repeatedly saidit would not count votes unlessthey had been verified biomet-rically.

But use of biometric read-

ers to prevent repeat votingcomplicated the process, partlybecause communication break-downs prevented data fromnumerous readers being trans-mitted to the IEC on voting day.

Instead, the machines had tobe taken to the commission inKabul to extract the data.

Highlighting the challengesit faces, the commission has saidunidentified hackers unsuc-cessfully attempted to breakinto its computer servers.

After a recent visit to theIEC, Canada's ambassador toAfghanistan Dave Metcalfe saidhe was "impressed" by the com-mission's attempts to fight voterfraud. Election officials havecalled on candidates to showrestraint and wait for the pre-liminary results in a bid toavoid a repeat of 2014.

That year's election wasmarred by duelling claims of vic-tory and fraud by Abdullahand Ghani. The IEC's initialtimetable called for final resultson November 7, after which asecond electoral round would beheld within two weeks if neces-sary.

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Tens of thousands ofLebanese people took to the

streets Saturday for a third dayof protests against tax increasesand alleged official corruptiondespite several arrests by secu-rity forces.

They streamed into thestreets around the country'sparliament in Beirut, as well aselsewhere across the country,AFP journalists said, despitecalls for calm from politiciansand dozens of arrests on Friday.

The number of protestersgrew steadily throughout theday, with major demonstrationsin second city Tripoli, in thenorth, and other locations.

Many waved billowingLebanese flags and insisted theprotests should remain peacefuland non-sectarian.

The demonstrators aredemanding a sweeping overhaulof Lebanon's political system, cit-ing grievances ranging fromausterity measures to poor infra-

structure.They have crippled main

roads and threatened to topplethe country's fragile coalitionGovernment.

Most Lebanese politicianshave uncharacteristically admit-ted the demonstrations arespontaneous, rather than blam-ing outside influence.

In Tripoli demonstratorHoda Sayyur was unimpressedby the contrition some leadersdisplayed on television andechoed a widely-held hope thatthe entire political class bereplaced.

"They took all our funda-mental rights... We are dying athospital gates," the woman in herfifties said.

"I will stay in the street...Since I was born, we've beenspectators to their quarrels andcorruption," she said.

The army on Saturday calledon protesters to "express them-selves peacefully without harm-ing public and private property".

Saturday evening thousands

were again packed into theRiyadh al-Solh Square in centralBeirut, despite security forcesusing tear gas and water cannonsto disperse similar crowds a daybefore.

The Internal Security Forcessaid 70 arrests were made Fridayon accusations of theft andarson.

But all of those held at themain police barracks werereleased Saturday, the NationalNews Agency (NNA) said.

It said that the father of oneman detained tried to set him-self on fire in front of a policestation.

The demonstrations firsterupted on Thursday, sparked bya proposed 20 cent tax on callsvia messaging apps such asWhatsApp.

Such calls are the mainmethod of communication formany Lebanese and, despite theGovernment's swift abandon-ment of the tax, the demon-strations quickly swelled into thelargest in years.

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Deepawali – the festival of lights is widely cele-brated across the globe by Hindus to commem-

orate the triumph of good over evil, knowledge overignorance and hope over despair.

The festival falls on a day before the new moonin the month of Ashwin as per Hindu calendar.There are a number of rituals associated with thisfestival. One should know the spiritual and philo-sophical aspect of them and why people celebratethis occasion with such great festivity.

During Diwali, peo-ple lit oil lamps and keepthem at the entrance oftheir homes, along withcolourful strings of elec-tric lights. But what is thespiritual significancebehind lighting thelamps? In Hindu culture,l ight is a powerfulmetaphor for knowledgeand consciousness. Thus,it is a reminder of theimportance of educationand self-inquiry, whichbrings harmony to the individual, community andbetween communities. This promotes respect andacceptance of others.

Lighting lamps reminds us to walk on the rightpath, to dispel darkness from our hearts and minds,and to embrace knowledge and goodness.

During the festival, utmost importance is givento Lakshmi Pujan, which means worshipping god-dess of wealth — Laxmi. The word Lakshmi isderived from Lakshya or Lakshma, which means,goal. So, by semantic implication, Goddess Lakshmirepresents ‘the final goal’ of life. The symbols asso-ciated with her and the rituals followed on the dayof Deepawali imply that she stands for the higheststage of perfection and development which ahuman soul can reach. Her hands signify Dharma,Artha, Kama and Mukti, which represents the stageof fruition or beatitude. Her abhaya mudra showsthe pose of assurance and safety. The 100 petal lotusflower on which she sits is symbolic of purity anddetachment. There are many other lotus flowers too,which float in the ocean of milk which are symbol-ic of purity, peace and prosperity. Gold coins con-tinually coming from her left hand signify unend-ing material prosperity. An interesting feature of herportraits is the four elephants which pour water onher. They are symbolic of the four directions —East,West, North and South. Moreover, elephant isan emblem of strength, wisdom and faithfulness tothe master. It is a sign of grace, majesty and the faith-fulness of all her subjects and constant affluence.It also shows that she had her sovereignty on thewhole world.

Invoking the goddess on a dark night by light-ing lamps and candles is thus symbolic of enlight-enment of the souls to attain the stage of perfec-tion. Cleaning of houses and offices in advance isindicative of the observance of complete purity. Theuse of four elephants is symbolic of victory over theself to attain world sovereignty or chakravarti rajyain the golden age.

The door (of knowledge) is kept open all nightto achieve knowledge, virtue and fulfillment of goal.But its sad to note that people only remember NagadNarayana which means cash, worship mammon andforget the Almighty or the goal of life. Hence, theneed of hour is to keep the lamp of knowledge light-ed within us. We must try to enlighten everyonearound us so that each one of us become helpinghands in the process of world transformation by thesupreme. So let’s celebrate this Diwali by focussingon our destiny and helping others too to make theirlife resolute.

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Until a year ago, no one hadheard of Greta Thunberg.Today, the 16-year-old

Swedish environmental activisthas taken the world by storm.Speaking at world’s biggest plat-forms on issues around climatechange, she has inspired peopleacross generations. Millions ofpeople from across the globe havejoined her protest against worldleaders urging them to startworking to end the climate crisis.While Greta is busy challengingthe global leaders, a young socialentrepreneur in India is trying toconvince people to do their bit bytaking the responsibility at avery small level, albeit, for a larg-er good. Twenty-four-year-oldHarshit Baveja’s idea is simple —gift a plant, gift a life.

In 2016, the state of pollutionin Delhi-NCR had alarmed notonly its residents but every con-cerned citizen of the country. Itwas reported that air pollutionhad reduced life expectancy ofDelhiites by 10 years. With theintention of finding a cure tocombat air pollution, Harshit,along with his friend, startedlooking for most effective, envi-ronment-friendly and sustainableoptions to address the same.They talked to experts, looked forsolutions online and researchedat various levels. And finallythey came across the NASAClean Air Study. It was a projectled by the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration(NASA) to research ways to cleanthe air in space stations. Itsresults suggested that in additionto absorbing carbon dioxide andreleasing oxygen through photo-synthesis, certain commonindoor plants may also provide anatural way of removing toxicagents such as benzene,formaldehyde and trichloroeth-

ylene from the air.Taking a cue from this report,

Harshit decided to gift indoorplants to his family, friends andneighbours. “Besides helpingthem to stay healthy during thosedays when air pollution was real-ly high, we wanted to understandthe acceptability of the conceptamong common people. To oursurprise, we received quite apositive response,” says Harshit.

The acceptance of plants bypeople around him encouragedHarshit to explore this idea at abigger platform. He registered acompany, Gift a Life, with theintention of selling the air-clean-ing indoor plants. However, it wasnot just the simple task of sellingindoor plants, it involved a cer-tain procedure for the installation.“We understand every space dif-fers and has different needs.Taking this into consideration, wesuggest plants which are suitablefor the location. We invented theidea of ‘Plant Doctors’ who wouldvisit the concerned spaces anddetermine crucial factors likearea, number of peopleoccupying the spaceand surroundings,”says Harshit explain-ing the steps involved.Once the data is col-lected from the site,it is analysed andmajor sources ofpollutions and thetypes of pollu-tants present inthat particularspace are deter-mined. A final‘site report’ is pre-pared along with acustom plan totackle the prob-lems. After this in-depth analysis, theair cleaning planters

are installed.The idea, however, did not

take off as expected. The compa-ny did not receive any order forthe first three months and theuncertainties had taken over thepeople involved. “We had becomereally frustrated. We did not

know what to do next to ensurethat ‘Gift a Life’ creates a space ofits own. We had started losinghope,” says Harshit, who was stillin college at that time.

One day when he entered hisfriend’s hostel room, the lattersaid, “Look Baveja, I have put aplant in my room.” In thatmoment, Harshit knew that hisidea was here to stay. He says, “Itwas quite a small impact that ouridea had on my friend who madethe effort of installing and takingcare of a plant. But for me, it wasbig enough to help me continuemotivating people to do theirbits.”

The company started con-tacting various other organisa-tions to pitch the idea of installingthe air-purifying plants. Manyrejected it straight away whilesome at least listened. Sharing onesuch incident, Harshit says, “I canrecall approaching a client. Theywere loud and clear that they donot want indoor plants in theiroffice. We shared the benefits andinstalled some at no cost just togive a demo. It was for them tosee the difference a small changecould bring into their office life.”

After three months, Harshitmet the client who was immense-ly happy with the changes.Positivity, productivity and atten-dance had improved in thosethree months. Today, the compa-ny is taking care of six branchesof the office. In the last threeyears, they have installed thesebeneficial plants in over 50 com-panies in Delhi-NCR.

Not just in numbers but theyhave also evolved in terms ofideas and sustainability in thesethree years. On Diwali, they tryand launch a new product. Theyhave come up with the conceptof ‘Eco-Glass Planters’. Its madeusing easily recyclable products.

The plants for this product areselected on the basis of threeparameters — it should be an airpurifier, available in personalisedsizes and should be mainte-nance-friendly. These are grownin glass-jars. Initially, to make itcost effective, they used picklebottles and jam jars. But later, tomaintain uniformity, these jarswere procured from localvenders.

They have collaborated witha school being run at a local park.It has around 150 students thatattend evening tuition in variousclasses. Teachers, volunteers andsenior students finance the schoolby using the craft as a skill. Forthis project, a few teachers andstudents (all above the age of 15years) were trained and given nec-essary skills required to preparethese plant-jars. Each personearns approximately seven to 15per cent of the total cost per bot-tle depending on the size, ofcourse. A percentage of this earn-ing is reinvested in the school anda part of it goes to the makers.

Not just this, a certain per-centage of the profits goes intoplantation drives. “Plants needcare. A few simple but dedicatedsteps are required to ensurehealthy growth of plants,” saysMehak Baveja, consultant, busi-ness development at the compa-ny and sister of Harshit Baveja.

In the next two years, theyplan to plant around two lakhtrees in Delhi-NCR. “We knowour effort is small but this willsurely make a difference in thelong run. We want people tobecome more responsible towardsnature. Adopting new eco-friend-ly ways of celebrating and giftingon festivals is one easy way of tak-ing care of our environment,”shares Harshit.

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As per the Oxford dictionary, adultingmeans the practice of behaving in a

way a responsible adult does, especiallythe accomplishment of mundane but nec-essary tasks.

After gaining popularity among mil-lennials, the term has been looked at asderisive in the media. And there is a rea-son for it as adulting indicates a feelingof accomplishment which young peopleoften boast about after doing certainresponsible tasks like paying bills, rent,taking care of their cars, which they aresupposed to do as an adult anyway.

However, I disagree. There’s more toits meaning. As a millennial, I argue thatthe term captures the essence of what alot of young people feel while coming togrips with the world. Unless we’re verylucky to have grown up in a bubble oftuition classes or headed to university forgraduation and masters. The formativeyears, which our parents, the babyboomers or the gen X, have had in theirgrowing up days is something we expe-rience only when we enter our first jobs.For me, this is adulting.

Indeed, we get more exposure todayand have many options to explore. We geta disposable income right from ourschool for canteen or through pocketmoney to college trips. But we thinkthrough Twitter, talk on Whatsapp, partyon Instagram, look for jobs on Linkedinand watch TV on Netflix. Every thing iscreated well and intuitively but the col-lateral damage is that we have no time tothink amid all this. We don’t really knowwho we are. In such a scenario, how willwe have a deep conversation about ourlives, goals and career with other peoplewhen we ourselves have no time to intro-spect? Our bodies are conditioned tocomputers, postures are hunched andthumbs unconsciously scrolling throughInstagram feeds every few minutes. Thelist doesn’t stop here. Soon you will losethe ability to sit through your favourite

Marvel film. It is an art to sit still and youwill have to work for it. This is adulting.

However, one can attribute all this tothe ease that mobile phones provide. It hasapps which could solve almost everyproblem, be it getting married, sellingyour furniture, buying groceries or start-ing a SIP. But is making decisions froma screen healthy?

If we spend time comparing whichapp will help us solve a problem or taketime to evaluate all possible options, arewe not losing all our time and possibili-ties? If we spend a day evaluating all theinformation that we have, indecision willhit us hard. Now wonder, is this adulting?

The older generations utilised India’seconomic policies that helped manybusinesses evolve. We, the gen Y, hold the

golden key to the kingdom of content.Let’s not drown ourselves in an Tsunamiof technology. We should use it well anddivide our time efficiently. It is high timewe pause and think about how socialmedia is paving its way into our sched-ules and consuming most of our time.

There is a lot of creativity in terms ofbusiness, job options, recreational activ-ities and travel experiences. The qualityof life, adventure and interesting oppor-tunities that we want to do are out there,we just need to recognise it. Creating valu-able space in our lives for things that canmake a difference should be the focus. Itis important for us to excel in content-cre-ation but we also need to engage physi-cally with the world around us.

My book Adulting (published byHarper Collins India) has three smartalbeit fictional individuals who havebeen used as case studies. The protago-nist Aisha Oberoi played the socialmedia game and rose to the top. She hadthe talent (and the looks) but does she hasthe strength to live a successful adult life?It’s a whole new ball game and she does-

n’t know the rules. Aisha does not get thepsychology behind social media and howsociety’s tacit acceptance of it doesn’tchange the fact that it can take over one’speace of mind and affect lifestyle. It is easyto get addicted to social media to the pointof no-conversation or worse and lack ofattention span. All of this signals towardsthe question, is social media the newsmoking trend?

The other thing I’m advocating isdepth. We all share posts on socialmedia. But if someone leaves a lengthycomment, people ignore, they eitherscroll up or swipe left. We are so used toscrolling the feed, that we don’t have timeto pause and read. I recall having in-depthconversations years ago at the fag-end ofparties when most people have gonehome. But that is not the case now. I mightlook like a cynical millennial when I saythis, but now meeting people is some-times cursory and just a status update inreal life with no depth.

Tejas Sahni, my second protagonistdemonstrates this well. He is a writingrockstar, who gets it right the first time

with his first novel but cannot seem tomake it work for the next. When he’s astay-at-home writer and can Netflix andchill all day, why will he spend time writ-ing a book or reading one? One would saythat he should pause and ask himself whyhe wants to write but between Tinder andwhiskey, where’s the time? He doesn’tunderstand the importance of a deepexploration into what makes him go fora craft.

Ruhi Singh, the third protagonist isthe managing editor of a publishinghouse. She is in a tumultuous relation-ship that is tough on her but she likes itbecause it fulfills her desires. If she wouldhave time to converse with herself andask about the kind of person she is with,she will save herself a lot of time and tears.But she can’t because of her hustlemindset and work responsibilities. She isguilty of not being at a successful levelin her life.

While my characters may seemkooky and lost (they are) they find theirNorth star eventually. I firmly think, thiscoming back to the path is adulting.

Whether you are one or not, whetheryou like it or not, you are living in a mil-lennial world where we have commonproblems. I want my readers to take awalk and think, how can we do more ofwhat makes us happy? Can we be braveand ask ourselves what we really wantright now? We should make a five or 10year logical plan which will help us dis-cover ourselves more.

Let’s grab this raging fast and under-stand how we need to supplement ourhigh-flying lifestyle with slow hoursthat would initiate deep thoughts. Whileyou read all this, even now your mindand body longs for the next episode ofFamily Man (an online series). But stopand think once again, do you want towatch his family or invest time in yours.

(The writer is a writer, poet, yogi andmartial arts practitioner.)

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Every year, with Diwali round thecorner, there is a place where allthe Dilliwallas make a beeline to.

Yes, you’ve guessed it at the first go,Blind School Diwali Mela it is. The fan-ciest of candles, the latest in-homeaccessories, traditional crafts, gift items,gardening material and the last word inethnic fashion for which you do nothave to necessarily break your bank iswhat you have on offer.

A walk around the mela puts you inthe midst of a festive vibe that is evidentall around. There is everything whichcan cater to every whim — from a fash-ionista who wants to be impeccablyturned out during the festival to thehomemaker looking to buy utensils forDhanteras. There are traditional arte-facts from different states exhibitingtheir history which made people fromall walks of life delve into the arts andculture of the various states.

However, it is a stall selling Japaneseflowers with huge multicolour petalsthat is in for a lot of attention. Made ofsilk and leather, the flowers have nylonnetting stretched over them. The cher-ry blossom flowers especially are indeeda replica of natural ones. The leaves aredyed with organic colours and thepetals are shaped into natural roundedforms with the help of goffering irons.Then there are camelias, bonsais, small-er flowers and more. And the colours —a burst of purple, pink, bright red, peachwhich can liven up any room.

There are 270 stalls, each peddlingwares with a personal, innovative touch.The ones drawing the crowds havehandmade colourful candles, diyas,paper products including bags,envelopes, papier-mache plates, cupsand cloth products made by visually-impaired trainees.

However, even here, innovation isthe key to make the customers keepcoming back year after year. SwapnaMerlin, one of the members of the BlindRelief Association, which organises themela says, “This year, we have addedmore variety in our existing products,in terms of the designs and colours aswell. There are 75 varieties now. Knitteditems, like sling bags, which were notthere until last year are also on sale thistime.”

There are a queue of stalls and anattractive kids carnival store whichdraws attention because of its brightdresses but it is the yellow ones thatoverpower all other colours. The ownerSonali Singh said, “Earlier we only hadsweatshirts. But now we have printed

theme-based clothes in organic fabric.”The clothes have figures of LordGanesha, Krishna, Hanuman, GoddessLaxmi, Durga and other deities. Sonalisays that the idea is to initiate a conver-sation with the children about mythol-ogy and religion. “When they weardresses with Goddess Laxmi or LordHanuman, it makes them curious. Thiswill not only help them know about ourrich cultural history but also strength-en their bond with parents or grandpar-ents when they want to know more,” sheadded.

The fair also provides a platform tothe NGOs to showcase the productsmade by differently-abled persons andget exposure to a world of opportuni-ties. Aanchal, an NGO owner has onoffer handmade bags made of recycledpaper to carry gifts in. These are paint-

ed with beautiful floral designs by thementally-challenged kids of her NGO.She says, “I’ve come here for the firsttime here. Through this I am able topromote what my kids have made.When I tell my children about the scaleof the market, it gives them a sense ofempowerment.”

Adjacent to her stall is that ofGoonj, a development organisationknown for recycling products andbridging the gap between urban surplusand rural poverty. They have jute totebags with cotton tapes and blue colourjute wallets which are perfectly stitchedby rural women and ensure sustainabil-ity and durability.

Next in line is a stall decorated witha creative cluster of wine bottles andfairy lights with messages such as ‘cre-ate your own vibe’, ‘own it all’ and more.

Each bottle has a rope tied around itsneck so that one can hang it anywhere.The stall also has Portuguese chande-liers in gold and a teepee (in the shapeof a tent) light in black. Its vendor, RuchiMalik says, “This is the time wheneveryone wants to revamp their homeseconomically. So, I have used wine bot-tles to create an aesthetic look. Insteadof painting their homes people can usedesigner fairylights and bottles to accen-tuate the some corners.”

A collection of multicolour knittedbags and mufflers made of jute, cotton,paper and textile waste are kept belowa banner which says ‘A story of hardwork, passion and skill’ attracts peoplein droves. The stall has macrame bag ofdifferent sizes, cotton pouches, crossknit small bags, crochet bags, flowerbasket bags, mountain knit tote, moon-

doggie bags and others. A NIFT grad-uate, the owner Vrinda Khemka saysthat this initiative aims to improve theknitting and stitching skills of womenof surrounding villages to make themfinancially independent through craft.

Additionally there are cotton andwoolen quilts in pastel shades, Lucknawichikankari, clay products, food stalls —more of what we have been seeing foryears at the mela, though the charmnever wears off.

The executive secretary of the asso-ciation, Kailash Chandra Pandey saysthat this year they have started a cam-paign of no plastic. So, all the productsare covered by white Braille sheets. “Wealso have storytelling sessions on RajaKe Sau Chere, Sheikh Chilli Ke KhayaliPulao and many others,” he adds.

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If there was one thing that Karl Lagerfeld desiredto have invented in fashion, it’s the white shirt.

For him, it was the basis of everything. Rest comesafter. Known worldwide for his aspirational, rel-evant and cutting-edge approach to style, he wasa force of nature, coupled with an enigmatic per-sona and an original perspective on fashion andpop culture. And such a design philosophy hasfinally made its way to the Indian fashion scene.In collaboration with homegrown Indian fash-ion retail label, Cover Story, Maison KarlLagerfeld has presented its timeless, signaturestyles across ready-to-wear and accessories forFall-Winter 2019, created in London.

So is there an Indianness to the Lagerfelddesign philosophy? Manjula Tiwari, CEO ofCover Story, describes that the designs have beencreated keeping in mind the Indian body-types,seasonal and cultural preferences. “The day-wearcaptures Lagerfeld’s crisp, minimalist aesthetic,fashioned in a monochrome palette. The play ofathleisure with casual-chic makes for elegant sil-houettes that can be worn to the board-room oreven at brunch. Key looks are crafted in black-and-white with highlights of red. A snow-leop-ard mono-print and bold houndstooth design,along with boucle fabrics, brings texture anddimension to the range,” she says.

Must-haves for the day include — the icon-ic, fitted white blouse with a black-tie, oversizedas well as peplumed white shirts, the poplin shirt-dress, elegantly cinched at the waist with a logobelt and a fit-and-flair dress in houndstooth.

“The evening wear celebrates the glamour ofParis at night. From sequins ad bodycon silhou-ettes to tux detailing, chains and studs, the rangepays a fashionable tribute to rock-chic,” she adds.

Must-haves for festive evenings include — ablack sequined wide-leg jumpsuit, an androgy-nous tuxedo suit, a tuxedo-dress juxtaposed witha georgette sleeve and a deep red halter-neckknitted dress worn with a studded leather jack-et.

Manjula feels that during his lifetime,Lagerfeld has influenced multiple generationsof women with his inimitable design philoso-phy. “A mix of Parisian chic with a touch of theavant-garde — this ethos is reflected in the col-lection and is deeply inspired by every-woman.We have always believed in the substance ofstyle,” she says.

There have been numerous collaborationsbetween Indian and international brands suchas Coach, Burberry, H&M and Tiffany. Similarly,this will also certainly broaden the horizons ofboth the fashion houses, believes Manjula. “Weaim to celebrate the individual spirit thatshapes a woman’s sense of style. When itcomes to fashion, the Indian woman and her sar-torial preferences are truly unique,” she says.

However, the question that arises here is howdid the collaboration happened? Manjula tellsus that Lagerfeld approached her while she wasin London. It has been in process from the lastyear. “We wanted to bring the best of interna-tional fashion to India but made exclusively asper the needs as well as requirements of theIndian consumers and what could be moregrand than Karl Lagerfeld?” she adds.

The collection included a comfortablerange of trench-coats, leather jackets and logosweatshirts, which not only make for ideal trav-el companions but can also be used to layer day-looks this winter.

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I had participated in an internation-al forum in January 2015 when one

of the speakers put up a presentationfeaturing all the countries that had sig-nificantly contributed to the world ofdesign and luxury. As I went throughthe slides, I confronted a reality —despite an array of timeless arts andcrafts, India had no mention in theglobal world of luxury and design.

‘That can’t be true!’ I thought tomyself. India has had an age-old tra-dition of royalty and richness in pre-cious jewels and luxury textiles. Andthe magnificence of its heritage sites isincomparable. I realised that an appro-priate branding of India and its “lux-ury” was what was required. It wasthen that I decided to take it uponmyself and launched The LuxuryLeague (TLL) in October 2015.

However, little did I know theheadwinds I would face. In a countrywith low GDP like India, where manypeople struggle for subsistence, theword luxury was synonymous withdecadence and expensiveness.Everyone shied away from associatingwith TLL. Government officials, whosesupport was important for the successof this venture, refused to support TLLand its initiatives. I knew that I had tochange perceptions and mindsets. Irecognised very early that the reasonIndian arts and craft haven’t foundglobal recognition because of the waythey were packaged, marketed andbranded.

In a conversation with PatrickThomas, CEO of world’s premier lux-ury brand Hermes, I realised that peo-ple considered the quality of Indianproducts shabby due to the packaging.Patrick told me about his fascinationwith the incense sticks sold by Indianvendors in Paris. However, it wasshocking for him to see that such a lux-urious product was sold for only €2. “IfHermes was selling it, we would pack-age it as a luxury product and sell it for€100”, he said.

I instantly recognised the problemand the opportunity that it presented.I developed a forum where the top lux-ury brands of the world could interactwith decision-makers, artisans, crafts-men, corporate global brands, con-sumers as well as the Indian govern-ment to reimagine the connotations ofluxury in an Indian context. The TLLwas formed as a not-for-profit founda-tion with the mission to create an envi-

ronment of conducive and creativethinking through dialogue andexchange of ideas. I felt that theessence of Indian luxury lies in our her-itage and there was no better way toappreciate our country than by cele-brating its rich cultural legacy.

We, hence, aimed to enhance theluxury of Brand India globally throughits arts and craft and by reflecting allthat is distinctly Indian and authenti-cally unique. The board of variousdecision-makers and luxury creatorslisted the objectives are as following:� Promote collaborations betweenIndian and global art forms and cre-ate mutually beneficial opportunitiesand joint ventures.

� Foster, strengthen cultural rela-tions through mutual understandingbetween India and Italy thus expand-ing India’s cultural space, globally. � Recognise opportunities for emerg-ing Indian talent by developing busi-ness opportunities and partnershipsthrough networking and create invest-ment interests in sustainable Indianproducts.� Help evolve a greater sense ofappreciation for Indian quality, skilland creativity among world players.� Bring greater recognition to Indianhandicrafts and cultural art formsand generate employment opportuni-ties for the unorganised sector.� Promote India as a preferred invest-

ment destination for textiles, jew-ellery and rich craftsmanship via part-nering programmes and kick-startcommunications, traffic through glob-al networking.� Formulate ideas to utilise ourresources in the best way possible andcreate opportunities for global startups.� Create employment and entrepre-neurship opportunities for the Indiantalent through strategic positioningand digital marketing.� Create forums to support govern-ment’s skill development initiatives forthe unorganised sector and developtheir skills as well as knowledge.

Today, it’s been four years since Ilaunched the initiative. Ever since, ithas grown manifold. It has madetremendous progress towards its objec-tive of promoting the luxury of BrandIndia. Initially, there were huge debateson the concept of luxury and itsapplicability to India. The debate isnow over. It is time for everyone toembrace its true vision. It has alsomade remarkable progress in provid-ing a forum for Indian companies tointeract with foreign brands. Withinjust four years, we have managed tobring over 60 Indian and internation-al companies to exchange ideas on howIndia can be promoted as a globalbrand. There is now a growing under-standing among people about how theuniqueness of India’s art can be usedto brand Indian products.

Established with the purpose ofpromoting the the richness of our her-itage, design, arts and crafts, we havebeen able to convince the global con-sumer. In the past editions, with coun-try partners like France and Italy, aglobal forum has been created whereideas have evolved and developed todirectly benefit artisans and craftsmen.

(TLL begins today. The author is afashion designer, an advisor to Khadi &Village Industries Commission,Government of India and the Cultural& Tourism Ambassador of Uzbekistanin India by the Ministry of Tourism inUzbekistan.)

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Cristiano Ronaldo andMiralem Pjanic sealed a2-1 win for Juventus over

Bologna to consolidate top spotin Serie A.

Ronaldo was presented witha special jersey before kick-offto mark his 700th career goalscored playing for Portugal dur-ing the week.

The 34-year-old hit his701st after 19 minutes, withPjanic adding a second eightminutes after the break follow-ing a blunder by Braziliandefender Danilo, who had ear-lier pulled Bologna level.

The defending championsare now four points clear of sec-ond-placed Inter Milan, whotravel to Sassuolo on Sunday.

Atalanta stay third afterthrowing away a three-goallead to draw 3-3 with Lazio,with fourth-placed Napoli clos-ing the gap to just one pointafter Arkadiusz Milik’s doublesaw off Verona.

“The road is the right one,but we need to work on somedetails. It was a good matchblighted by three or four errors,”said Juventus coach MaurizioSarri whose side hostLokomotiv Moscow inChampions League action onTuesday. Bologna coach SinisaMihajlovic returned to thebench in Turin after his secondcourse of chemotherapy as hebattles cancer.

And the visitors were givenreason to hope of snatching arare point against the Turin

giants when Danilo respondedto Ronaldo’s opener with a29th-minute volley.

But Pjanic sealed victorywith his third goal in fourgames in the 54th minute amidchaos in front of the Bolognagoal.

Bologna keeper LukaszSkorupski denied Ronaldo andin-form Gonzalo Higuain latebefore both the crossbar andGianluigi Buffon frustratedFederico Santander’s push fora last-gasp equaliser for the vis-itors who slip to 12th place.

“We watched the

Santander goal again, it was off-side so VAR would have ruledit out,” said Sarri.

“But I told the lads wemustn't sit back on a lead, weshould attack, otherwise weleave ourselves in these riskysituations to the very end.”

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Serie A leading scorer CiroImmobile’s late brace of penal-ties helped Lazio wipe out athree-goal deficit in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Atalanta.

Atalanta, who travel to

Manchester City in theChampions League on Tuesday,had led 3-0 with 21 minutes togo at the Stadio Olimpico.

But Immobile scored fromthe spot on 69 minutes and lessthan 60 seconds later set upJoaquin Correa for the second,before capping the comebacktwo minutes into injury timewith his ninth goal in eightleague games this term.

“With penalties, nobodycan understand a thing nowa-days,” blasted Atalanta coachGian Piero Gasperini.

“Immobile went for a walk,

felt someone touch him slight-ly and dived.

“Even more, on the secondpenalty, Immobile put his foot infront of De Roon.”

Colombian Luis Murielscored a first-half double for theBergamo side as compatriotand star striker Duvan Zapatawas sidelined injured.

Alejandro Gomez got thethird eight minutes before thebreak in a rematch of last sea-son’s Italian Cup final which theRomans won.

But the visitors lost momen-tum after the hour mark.

Immobile got one backfrom the spot after beingbrought down by Jose LuisPalomino and then combinedwith Correa for their second.

Immobile earned a latepenalty after a Marten de Roonfoul, celebrating wildly afterconverting to grab a dramaticpoint before Lazio’s EuropaLeague trip to Celtic next week.

“I’m losing years of my lifekicking penalties in the 90thminute,” said 29-year-oldImmobile, after scoring his thirdleague goal from the spot thisseason.

Polish striker Milik scored ineither half as Napoli got back towinning ways at the Stadio SanPaolo, after a goalless draw atTorino before the internationalbreak, before their ChampionsLeague trip to Salzburg.

“I started the season with fit-ness problems so I’m hungry nowfor goals,” said Milik, who alsoscored as Poland qualified forEuro 2020 during the week.

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Barcelona sailed back to the top of thetable and trouble returned to Real

Madrid after they endured their first LaLiga defeat of the season at newly-pro-moted Real Mallorca.

Zinedine Zidane, David Beckhamand Robinho were in the last Madridteam to lose a league game at San Moixin 2006 and 13 years later, Mallorcarepeated the trick thanks to a scintillat-ing strike by Junior Lago in the first halfon Saturday.

Alvaro Odriozola allowed Lago toomuch room to cut inside and was thensent off late on, even if Madrid’s attemptsat a comeback looked doomed wellbefore they were reduced to 1-0.

“The problem is we have to showevery three days that we are good,” Realcoach Zidane said.

“That is what we don't do. We haveto be consistent. We have to put more lifeinto our game if we want to achieve any-thing this year.”

The 1-0 defeat halts the resurgenceof Zidane's side just as Barcelona’sappears to be gathering pace, a 3-0 winaway at Eibar giving the Catalans theirfifth consecutive victory in all competi-tions. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez andAntoine Griezmann scored the goals.

In between, Atletico Madrid werepegged back by Valencia as a brilliantDani Parejo free-kick earned the visitorsa hard-earned 1-1 draw at the WandaMetropolitano.

It means Barca will finish the week-end top of the table for the first time this

season as the defending championscontinue to leave their stumbling startfurther behind them.

For Real, five games unbeaten andthree of them victories had not erased thedoubts, but at least seemed to offer evi-dence Zidane’s team were turning a cor-ner.

But Mallorca, who climb to 14th,deserved their triumph in what is theirfirst season back in the top flight sincerelegation ended a run of 16 consecutive

years there in 2013.Lago collected the ball on the left in

the seventh minute, drove at the retreat-ing Odriozola before cutting inside andunleashing a shot into the far corner.

Madrid lacked purpose and cuttingedge, with their hopes all but dashedwhen Odriozola capped a miserablenight by flying in late on Lago in the 74thminute and collecting a second yellowcard.

Zidane will hope to have at least one

of the injured Luke Modric, Gareth Baleand Toni Kroos back for their crucialChampions League group match away atGalatasaray on Tuesday.

'��7��Barcelona’s autumn injury crisis is

over and their ‘MSG’ attack is finallyclicking into gear as Messi, Suarez andGriezmann all scored in a ruthless winover Eibar.

Griezmann’s place in the newly-formed attacking trident has not beensecure but the Frenchman opened thescoring at Ipurua before teeing up Messiand then playing the crucial pass forSuarez to make it three.

“There will be good and bad days butwe are getting to know each other andbit by bit we will do even better,” saidGriezmann.

Victory also dismissed suggestionstheir players might be affected by Friday’spostponement of next Saturday's Clasicodue to protests in Catalonia. Barcelona’sfans chanted in support of the nineCatalan leaders imprisoned last week fora failed independence bid in 2017.

The match against Real Madrid isnow expected to go ahead in December.

“It is fashionable not to agree onpolitical issues but at least let's agree onthe date of the Clasico,” Barca coachErnesto Valverde said afterwards.

“It doesn’t seem to me that difficult.”The only blot on the result was an

injury to Sergi Roberto, who will be adoubt for the Champions League gameat Slavia Prague on Wednesday afterhurting his left knee.

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Ethiopia’s defending champion TsehayGemechu retained her Airtel Delhi

Half Marathon title on Sunday by smash-ing the course record she had set 12months ago in the national capital whenshe ran 66:00.

21-years old, Gemechu took 50 sec-onds less then the time she ran in 2018to win the $27,000 first prize at the IAAFGold Label road race and also pocketeda course record bonus of $10,000.

The women’s race came down to athrilling head-to-head duel over thefinal five kilometres between the defend-ing champion and her compatriotYelamzerf Yehualaw and when it brieflylooked like African Games half marathonchampion Yehualaw is going to cause anupset with the finish line approaching,Gemechu dug deep and managed to clawher way past her rival to also notch up apersonal best while becoming just thesecond woman to defend here.

“I was tired after Doha (where shefinished fourth in the world champi-onships 5000m two weeks ago) but Iwanted to come here and fight for thecourse record. I knew I was mentallystrong,” reflected Gemechu.

Yehualaw, even younger than thewinner having just turned 20 in August,took more than three minutes off her pre-

vious best for the distance when finish-ing just one second behind Gemechu in66:01. It was yet another double forEthiopian racers as the men's winnerAndamlak Belihu also retained his title.

Belihu finished just under sevenminutes earlier after improving his per-sonal best by eight seconds from his win-ning time of 12 months ago, stopping theclock on this occasion at 59:10.

However, in sharp contrast toGemechu, he had the frustration ofonce again just missing out on beating themen's course record of 59:06, held since2014 by yet another Ethiopian GuyeAdola.

“At about 18km I started to suffersome back pain, that possibly cost me thecourse record. I’m a bit disappointed thatI missed out on the course record againbut I got a personal best so I cannot com-plain too much,” commented Belihu, whoimmediately declared his long-termintention to come back to Delhi in 2020with the aim of attacking the courserecord again and trying to become thefirst man or woman to win a hat-trick ofADHM title.

“I have been mainly focusing on thetrack season in my training until recent-ly but I always knew I was going to comehere and so I had that in mind. I amalways very pleased to come to Indianraces and especially Delhi as it was here

that I had my first successes, and thischanged my life.

“This race has put the frustration offinishing fifth at the world champi-onships (in the 10,000m in Doha twoweeks ago) behind me,” he added.

Meanwhile, 20-years old Berihu post-ed one of the fastest half marathondebuts ever when he came home secondin 59:17 while Kandie hung on for thirdin 59:33.

As for the domestic stalwarts, SrinuBugatha continues addded another lau-rel in his kitty as he backed up his TataMumbai half marathon win with a vic-tory here with a timing of 1:04:33.Suresh Patel clinched Sliver after finish-ing the race in 1:04:57 and half marathondebutant Harshad Mhatre (1:05:12) wonthe Bronze medal in the Indian elitemen's category.

“I tried very hard to beat my best tim-ing, but unfortunately I couldn't. BecauseI broke away from the rest of the runnersand took a lead early on in the race, Icouldn’t record a better timing. I didn’thave anyone who could pace me through-out the race,” said Srinu Bugatha.

In the Indian elite women’s category,Loganathan Suriya, the Airtel Delhi HalfMarathon course record holder, emergedfirst (1:12:49), followed by ParulChaudhary (1:13:55) and Chinta Yadav(1:15:28).

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World champion MarcMarquez of Repsol

Honda Team rode a brilliantrace to claim his 10th title of theseason at the Motul Grand Prixof Japan at the Twin RingMotegi circuit here on Sunday.

Starting from the pole posi-tion for the first time inMotoGP at Motegi, the 26-year-old Honda rider clinchedthe title with a timing of42:42.492 seconds.

Yamaha SRT's FabioQartararo, who started thirdfrom the grid, finished second,0.870 seconds behind Marquezwhile Ducati’s AndreaDovizioso (42:48.817 seconds)climbed up four places to takethe third spot in the 24-lap race.

Marquez’s win also clinchedthe Constructor's title for RepsolHonda with three races stillremaining in the season.

Sunday’s win also gaveMarquez his third Japan MotoGP title after having clinchedthe crown in 2016 and last year,while finishing second in 2013,2014 and 2017.

Before coming here,Marquez had already securedhis fourth consecutive worldchampionship title at the lastrace in Thailand.

In total, the 26-year-oldSpaniard has eight world cham-pionship titles, including six inthe premier class MotoGP.Marquez’s other crowns came inthe 125cc World Championshipin 2010 and Moto2 WorldChampionship in 2012.

Already assured of theworld championship title,Marquez meant business fromthe word go and held off anearly challenge from 'Rookie ofthe Year’ Quartararo.

It was immaculate ridingfrom Marquez in dry conditionson a circuit, which has alwaysbeen tricky for him.

Marquez took an early leadand maintained that till the end.His strategy was simple — takethe lead and increase the gap —and he executed that with per-fection.

Marquez was leading thepack with nearly a lead of 2.2seconds early on, butQuartararo pushed hard andgave him a tough fight towardsthe end to close the gap by 0.870seconds.

“I was pushing from thebeginning because the strategywas clear. I tried to open a gapfrom the beginning but honest-ly speaking I started to play a lot

with the switches (gears),”Marquez said after registeringhis fourth consecutive win ofthe season.

“It wasn’t easy because youneed to think about a lot ofthings while riding but I wasable to manage in a good wayto finish the race.Congratulations to the team.They did a very good job. Theytried to find the best package forme,” he added.

Second place holderQuartararo of France was madeto sweat in the final stages byDovizioso, who claimed his100th Grand Prix podium.

But it turned out to be apretty disappointing outing foranother Yamaha SRT riderFranco Morbidelli as he finishedfifth after starting second fromthe grid.

Maverick Vinales ofMonster Energy YamahaMotoGP finished fourth afterstarting from the same spot,while Cal Crutchlow of LCRHonda Castrol took the fifthplace.

The final race witnessedtwo non-finishers in AprillaRacing Team Gresini’s AndreaIanone and the legendaryValentino Rossi of Yamaha,who crashed out in the 20th lap.

Marquez’s teammate Jorge

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Delhi beat Sports Hostel XI3-0 in the opening matchof the 39th All-India KDSingh ‘Babu’ HockeyChampionship at MohdShahid Stadium on Sunday.Gunshekhar, Iktidar Ishratand Umar scored for thewinner. In other matches,SAI, Bhopal edged pastNCR, Allahabad 1-0 whileCAG, Delhi played a2-2draw with NCR, Haryana.Earlier, director (sports)RP Singh inaugurated thechampionship.

��%�� %Akhil Infra Cricket Club defeated Hari Singh Cricket Academy by four wickets to enter the

final of the 1st All-India Sports Galaxy Cricket Tournament at Seth AR jaipuria Stadium on Sunday.BRIEF SCORES:HSCA: 46 (Aryan Kapooor 13, Aman Gurnani 11; Akshdeep Nath 8/4, Sandeep 10/3)AICC: 47 (Upendra 17, Sufiyan 11; Abhishek 14/4, Mukesh 29/2)

%�� %�%2��7��7%��Lakhan Lal Arora and

Rajesh Kanaujia of UttarPradesh bagged yellowmetal each on the conclud-ing day of the 16th MastersNational AquaticChampionship at SAI cen-tre on Sunday. UttarPradesh annexed 51medals, including 13 gold,18 silver and 20 bronze.Minister of stateVidyasagar Gupta andVirendra Tiwari gave awaythe prizes. Others presentwere Deepak Diwan,Ranjit Singh Judeo andRavin Kapoor.

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Pawan Batham defeated Viay Mishra in the last round to take the 1st Christchurch ChessChampionship trophy on Sunday. Pawan fnished with 6.5 points from seven rounds. Both Vinayand Medhansh Saxena were at six points each but Vinay finished second on better tie-breakerwhile Medhansh settled for third place. DPS, Eldeco bagged the school championship trophy whileExcellia School finished second. KVM Group director Kirti Singhand Vivek Singh gave away theprizes to the winners. Other results:U-16: 1-Vamsi Krishna, 2-Aryan Singh, Rohan Pandey; (U-12) 1-Aryan Pandey, 2-Divyansh Pandey,3-Saanvi Agarwal; (CCC) 1-Arihant Shukla, 2-Sameer Khan, 3-Akshat Srivastava.

�� %Mayank Agarwal of Lucknow won the Nawab Emad-ud-din Ashraf Memorial Sub-Junior

Snooker UP State Championship at Lucknow Golf Club on Sunday. His citymate Tarandeep Singhfinished runner-up while Faisal Khan of Aligarh scored the highest break. Tournament DirectorRajeesh Chopra. gave away the prizes.

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Deep Kumar Singh edged past Anuj Yadav in atie-breaker to lift the 29th Shivani Cup SundayOpen Chess Tournament at Shivani Public School on Sunday. Anuj settled for the second placewhile Kumar Anshuman, Ajitesh and Mukesh finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.Other results: (U-16) 1-Akshat Bhatnagar, 2-Ujjawal Prajapati, 3-Akash Tripathi; (U-10) 1-AkshatAbhinav, 2-Ariz Hussain, 3-Ojaswa Agarwal; (U-10) 1-Pranav Rastogi, 2-Jaideep Rai, 3-KushagraKishore.

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Rohit Sharma once again providedunbridled joy with his maidenTest double hundred before India’s

pacers dented an already scarred SouthAfrica top-order to gain complete con-trol in the third and final match here onSunday.

Revelling in his new avatar, the styl-ish Mumbaikar smashed his way to 212off 258 balls in the company of vice-cap-tain Ajinkya Rahane (115), as Indiadeclared their first innings at 497 fornine.

Before bad light stopped play on thesecond day, South Africa were reducedto nine for two in five overs. MohammedShami and Umesh Yadav removed DeanElgar (0) and Quinton de Kock (4)respectively in their single over bursts,creating all sorts of discomfort.

The second day again belonged toRohit, who scored his first double cen-tury in the longest format, having scored176 and 127 in his ‘debut’ as Test open-er in Visakhapatnam.

His innings had 28 boundaries andsix sixes but, more importantly, it was thelanguid grace that stood out. The extrasecond to play those square cuts and thepull shots were exactly what a sparseSunday crowd needed to rejuvenatethemselves.

Batting on 199, the effortlessness withwhich he dispatched an express deliveryfrom Lungi Ngidi into the mid-wicketstands with a front-foot pull, was wortha million dollars. His double hundredcompleted, Rohit, as if to taunt thepacer, repeated the shot and the resultwas same.

Rahane, who has been back in formsince the tour of the West Indies, alsolooked solid during his 11th Test hundredand the first in India in three years — thelast coming against New Zealand (October,2016) in Indore.

The duo added 267 runs for thefourth wicket to set a solid platformbefore Ravindra Jadeja (51 off 119 balls)and Umesh Yadav (31 off 10 balls with fivesixes) provided the final impetus.

Rohit, who has already broken theworld record for most number of sixes ina series, has so far amassed 529 runs tobecome only the fifth Indian opener toscore 500-plus runs in a bilateral face-off.

Gavaskar had achieved it five times inhis Test career and Sehwag was the lastIndian to achieve the feat, having scored544 runs against Pakistan in a three-Testseries at home in 2004-05.

Rohit also joined Sachin Tendulkar,Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle tonotch 200-plus scores in both ODI and Testformats.

The lack of penetration in the Proteas

attack, save Kagiso Rabada (3/85 in 23overs), has been the real problem for thevisitors.

In the three Tests so far, India have hadthree double centurions —MayankAgarwal, skipper Virat Kohli and nowRohit — which tells the tale.

While debutant left-arm spinnerGeorge Linde (4/133 in 31 overs) was themost successful bowler, Yadav took him tothe cleaners, scoring all his sixes off hisbowling.

When South Africa batted under fad-ing light, the Indian pacers were too hot tohandle.

Shami looked ominous, extractingextra bounce as he struck off the secondball. Elgar tried to remove his bat but theball kissed the gloves en route toWriddhiman Saha’s waiting hands.

De Kock was done in by a brilliantbouncer, failing miserably in his attempt toevade as Saha timed his jump to perfection.

Faf du Plessis and Zubayr Hamza sur-vived the remaining three overs as debu-tant Shahbaz Nadeem bowled two tidymaidens under floodlights.

With light deteriorating quickly in thispart of the world, the Indian bowling attackwould like to take advantage of the pitchon which cracks are beginning to open up,and the uneven bounce could only makelife more difficult for the beleagueredSouth African batting line-up.

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Rohit Sharma always knew that he hadto make best use of the opportuni-

ties in his new role as a Test opener orelse “a lot could have happened” as faras his stint in the longest format is con-cerned.

“Kafi kuch hone wala thaa naahintoh kaafi kuch aap likh dete mere bareinmein (A lot could have happened had Inot performed and you guys (media)would have written a lot about me,” a sat-isfied Sharma said at the day end pressconference.

“So it was about making most of theopportunities I got. I knew I had to makefull use of it, otherwise media would havewritten against me. Now I know every-one will write good things about me,” headded.

Rohit has amassed 529 runs fromfour innings thus becoming the only fifthIndian opener to score 500-plus runs ina Test series.

“It was a good opportunity for me toopen the batting. As I said during theVizag Test, the communication betweenme and my team management was hap-pening for a long time about opening thebatting. So mentally, I was ready for it. Iknew it could come at anytime.”

His double century came after Indiawere left reeling at 39/3 in the first morn-ing as he along with Ajinkya Rahane(115) staged a remarkable turnaroundwith a mammoth 267-run fourth wick-ekt partnership, the highest versus SouthAfrica.

“Speaking of this particular knock,I would say it was most challenging. Ihave not played much. I played only 30

Tests. In terms of what was thrown at me,I would definitely say it was probably themost challenging one,” the talentedMumbaikar said.

While he has had a blockbuster startto his career as a Test opener, Rohit him-self acknowledged that he has a long wayto go.

“In Tests, it has it’s challenges.Having played only three Tests as anopener, I know I have long way to go. Iam not reading too much into these threeTests. Of course, I will take a lot of pos-itives but I am not reading too much intoit.”

Talking about the challenge of open-ing the batting, he said, “Opening the bat-ting is a different challenge to batting atNos 6-7. It’s just about how you prepareyourself, what you talk to yourself in yourmind about what do you want to go out

there and achieve.“Playing the first ball of the match,

compared to facing a delivery after 30-40 overs is a different ball game altogeth-er. There's nothing in particular that I'vedone in terms of technique.”

The 32-year-old is now eyeing toreplicate the success overseas when thetour New Zealand next year.

“Wherever you play the new ball, youhave to have some understanding of thebasics of the game. Which ball you haveto play and leave. In certain aspects of thegame you have to be mindful of.

“I was allowing myself to take timerather than going after the ball straight-way. It’s not a good idea with a new ball.You got to play with a little lower back-lift. In overseas, of course, it’s a differentball game. That’s a challenge and I amawaiting.”

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Pakistan’s former stalwarts on Sunday lashed outat the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for act-

ing in haste in removing Sarfaraz Ahmed as cap-tain in all three formats of the game.

Most of the former captains and playerstermed the removal of Sarfaraz on Friday asunjust. Not surprisingly the head coach and chiefselector Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coachWaqar Younis were also targeted and blamed forengineering the ouster of Sarfaraz.

The wicketkeeper-batsman is also unlikely tobe part of the touring Pakistan T20 or Test squadto Australia later this month.

Batting great Javed Miandad said sinceSarfaraz had gained considerable experience asa captain in the last two years, he should have beengiven time to regain his form instead of just sack-ing him.

“Azhar’s appointment as Test captain is okaybut if the Board wanted to appoint Babar as white-ball captain, they should have first groomed himas I fear the burden of T20 captaincy will affecthis batting,” Miandad said.

Former Test batsman and ex-head coach andchief selector Mohsin Khan said, “He (Sarfaraz)took Pakistan to number one in T20 cricket andhe is a fighter. This is a decision taken in hasteand it could also affect the career of Babar.”

Former captain Rashid Latif minced nowords in stating that the Board had erred by mak-ing Babar captain of the T20 side.

“He is a selfish player and we have seen thisin international cricket and now in the nationalT20 championship. Sarfaraz is not a selfish cap-tain and sacrificed his position many times for theteam. He did not deserve this treatment,” he said.

Former skipper Moin Khan said he wasshocked at the way the Board had treatedSarfaraz.

“He (Sarfaraz) has shown himself to be a finecaptain and yes he was struggling a bit for formbut when a senior player is under pressure youhave to encourage and back him, not dump himlike this,” Moin said.

He noted that Misbah and Waqar had neverbeen fond of Sarfaraz and with them in charge,this sacking was expected.

Former Test pacer Aaqib Javed also criticisedthe Board for taking a strange decision.

“Idon’t know from where these decisions arecoming but they make no sense at all to me.Sarfaraz should have been relieved as Test cap-tain but the Board should have given him sometime as captain of white-ball cricket.”

Another former captain Ramiz Raja, howev-er, felt that the Board had taken a brave decisionto appoint Babar Azam as T20 captain and saidpeople defending Sarfaraz should accept his poorform in recent months as skipper.

“We were struggling in Test cricket, we didnot reach semifinals of the World Cup. We lostto a Sri Lankan ‘B’ team in T20 cricket and hisown form is on a decline. I think the Board actedproperly by investing in a young player in thewhite-ball formats. If Babar develops into a goodleader he can also become Test captain," he said.

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Opener KL Rahul continued his good formas his stroke-filled 90 guided Karnataka

to the semi-finals even as another out-of-favour opener Shikhar Dhawan’s failureproved costly with Delhi exiting from anoth-er quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophyhere on Sunday.

While Karnataka cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Puducherry in one of thequarter-finals, Delhi lost by six wickets toGujarat via VJD Method in another last eightclash.

Put into bat, Puducherry crawled to 207for 9 with Vikneshwaran MM Marimuthu topscoring with an unbeaten 58.

The Karnataka bowlers led by the vastlyexperienced Abhimanyu Mithun (2-35) ranthrough the Pondicherry top and middleorder before Mariumuthu and Sagar Trivedi(54) tried to rally their innings.

Pondicherry were reeling at 41 for 6 at onestage before Mariumuthu and Trivedi pulledthem out of trouble and gave the score somesemblance of respectability.

The Karnataka bowlers kept striking atregular intervals to ensure that their oppo-nents were restricted to a sub-par total. Leg-spinner Pravin Dubey (3-44) and seamerVasuki Koushik (2-33) also shared the spoils.

In the second quarterfinal, Gujarat defeat-ed Delhi by 6 wickets via the VJD method.

Put into bat at the Just Cricket ground,Gujarat dismissed Delhi for 223 in 49 oversas no Delhi batsman barring skipper DhruvShorey (91) showed any fight.

India player Shikhar Dhawan's horren-dous form continued as he fell for a zero.

IPL specialist Nitish Rana (33) andyoung Himmat Singh (26) failed to converttheir starts.

For Gujarat, pacers Chintan Gaja (3-27)and left armer Arzan Nagaswalla (3-75) wereamong the wickets.

While chasing, skipper Parthiv Patel(76) and his opening partner Priyank Panchal(80) put on 150 runs for the first wicket totake game away from Delhi.

Delhi did try to make a comeback but itwas too little too late as Gujarat overhauledthe target In the 37th over.

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India’s second Grandmasterand Arjuna awardee Dibyendu

Barua plans to bring a contemptof court plea against All IndiaChess Federation after a three-members AICF committee gaveclean chit to the Federation jointsecretary and Bengal chessAssociation suspended secretaryAtanu Lahiri on a plethora ofcharges when the matter wassub-judice.

“This is clear case of contemptof court. The court is seized withthe matter and had rejected Lahiriprayer against his removal as BCAsecretary by the working commit-tee of the BCA,” Barua told ThePioneer.

On October 15, late at nightthe AICF issued a report in whichthe three-member committee hadgiven clean a chit to Lahiri.

Barua had accused Lahiri ofrouting huge amount of fundreceived from the state govern-ment to his own chess promotioncompany in a clear case of conflictof interest. Barua produced doc-uments to show that Rs 23 lakh incash was withdrawn from LahIri’s

company--Global Chess- inaround 53 weeks.

Interestingly, the committeehas dismissed this charge sayingthe routing of fund to a personalcompany didn't not amount tomisappropriation of fund andrefused to to treat it as a case ofconflict of interest. “ Since the funddoes not relate to either the BCAor AICF, the question of any mis-appropriation of chess associationfund does not Arise,” it said in itsreport.

This is a clear case of tryingto deflect attention from the cru-cial charge that Lahiri used hisposition as the BCA secretary todivert fund to his company GlobalChess— a clear case of conflict ofinterest.

And that is how it should havebeen treated by the committeeinstead of making an attempt toobfuscate the issue by talkingabout “misappropriation of funds.”

Barua also accused Lahiri ofnot allowing him to hold a youthtournament and banning two ofIndia top players, GrandmasterSurya Sekhar Ganguly and DeepSen Gupta, from taking part inBengal Chess events. Lahiri also

barred under-9 national girls'champion Sneha Haldar fromplaying in a tournament on dis-ciplinary grounds.

Obviously, the committee hadno intention to reach to the bot-tom of truth. Its members just metin Chennai without caring tovisit West Bengal and meet thecomplainants and other stakehold-ers . The members did not care tomeet the minister or secretary ofthe trial development departmentof West Bengal . The ministry hadtaken cognizance of Barua's com-plaint and terminated its agree-ment with Global Chess of Lahiri.

When a similar case of con-flict of interest rocked the Indiancricket, there was so many hue andcries than an expert committee

consisting of people from outsidethe BCCI were roped into probethe matter. But in the case of AICF,the task was given to a chosen fewwho were colleague of Lahiri him-self.

To begin with the composi-tion of the committee itself lookedsuspect since the AICF secretarywas kept out of it. As per AICFconstitution any such committeemust include the AICF secretary.This makes the committee itselfillegal.

Secondly, Barua had also writ-ten to the AICF President PRVenketrama Raja expressing hisreservation about the committee. The AICF President should haverealized that Barua is not woodpusher but a chess player of reputewho had brought much laurels tothe country and played a stellarrole in popularizing chess. If aplayer of his stature makes someplea, it must be taken seriously.Alas, Barua was treated withsheer contempt and nothing else.His letter to the AICF Presidenthad no impact and the commit-tee remained unchanged.

The committee’s finding fliesin the face of the Court's proceed-

ings.The Court’s order clearly

states the presence of a “primafacie” case even as it directed theAICF not to issue any direction tothe BCA to hold election or takeany other decision regarding thedispute.

The most intriguing thingsabout the AICF clean chit toLahiri on October 15 is that itcame on the day when AICF cen-tral council met to discuss amongothers, the West Bengal affairs.The issue was foremost on theagenda, but AICF secretary BharatSingh Chauhan announced that itwould not be taken up becausethe matter was sub-judice. Only afew hours later, the AICF came outwith the clean chit to Lahiri.

Why was not the reportplaced before the council? This isthe question which has baffled theBarua camp.

“I never expected this com-mittee o do any justice. I've neverheard of such a farce. They con-fined themselves to Chennai anddidn't even summon me to deposebefore them. Why didn’t theysummon Surya Sekhar Gangulyand other chess players, who were

banned by Lahiri? ““ I’m going to fight till the bit-

ter end. We can't allow a handfulof self seeking officials to destroythe dignity of this game,” he said.

Of later, the India chess hasbeen in the news for all the wrongreasons. Charges of high-hand-ness, illegal dismissal of stateassociations, threats and abuses byofficials against players and juniors, and allegation of sleaze havedestroyed the image of a gamewhich was once linked with” gen-tlemen”.

“ The situation has become sogrim that the day is not far whenwe will have some scandalousviedo involving some top officialsout in open. That day we will haveto hang our head in shame,” saida senior player.

“ I don't blame the AICFpresident. He is gentleman. Sincehe is a top businessman of thecountry , I don’t expect him to beinvolved in day to day affair ofchess. Some people around himare taking advantage of the sit-uation and trying to create acoterie. I hope the president willsee through their design and dojustice,”

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Former world number one AndyMurray reached his first final in

more than two and a half years andadmitted it was a “big surprise”.

Murray, steadily rebuilding his sin-gles game after career-saving hipsurgery in January, defeated France’sUgo Humbert 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to make thechampionship match at the EuropeanOpen.

“It’s been a big surprise to me. I’mhappy to be into the final,” he toldAmazon Prime.

“It’s been a long road to get backto this point. I certainly didn’t expectit to come so soon since I started play-ing again.” On Sunday, the 32-year-oldBriton will tackle fellow three-timeGrand Slam title winner StanWawrinka in the final.

Murray, now ranked a lowly 243,last reached a final in Dubai in March2017 where he won the most recent ofhis 45 career titles.

He is now playing for the fourthsuccessive week on tour having onlyreturned to singles at Cincinnati inAugust.

Murray leads Wawrinka 11-8 in

head-to-head meetings.“I think it will be a nice match to

play,” added the Briton of Sunday'sduel.

“Me and Stan have played a lotagainst each other. It is nice that we areboth able to be back playing againsteach other in a final."

Wawrinka earlier ended Italianteenager Jannik Sinner’s fine run inBelgium, the Swiss veteran defeatingthe 18-year-old 6-3, 6-2 to reach his30th career final.

Sinner was the youngest player tomake the semi-finals of an ATP tour-nament since 17-year-old Borna Coricin 2014.

But he met his match in 18th-ranked Wawrinka, with the 34-year-old taking one hour and 59 minutes toedge closer to a first title since winningthe Geneva Open in May 2017.

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