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U S President Donald Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged him to mediate with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue rocked Indian Parliament on Tuesday. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reiterat- ed in both the Houses that all issues with Pakistan can only be discussed bilaterally, but the Opposition demanded a reply from Modi. The Rajya Sabha saw repeated adjournments, while the Lok Sabha witnessed vociferous attack and walkout by the Opposition. While hosting visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Trump claimed that Modi had asked him to play a role of mediator on the Kashmir issue. Refuting the US President’s statement, Jaishankar said in both the Houses that the Prime Minister made no such request about mediating. “I would like to categorically state that no such request has been made by the Prime Minister to the US President,” he said. Making the country’s posi- tion clear, he said it has been the consistent position of India that all outstanding issues with Pakistan can be discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan will require end to cross-border terrorism, he said, adding Shimla and Lahore accords provide the basis for res- olution of all issues bilaterally. Jaishankar first gave this categorical denial in the Rajya Sabha soon after it met for the day after Congress leader Anand Sharma raised the issue. He said Trump stated Modi had, at the recent G20 meeting in Osaka in Japan, sought his mediation on Kashmir. Sharma said India’s position has been consistent and clear on Pakistan and Pakistan- Occupied Kashmir (POK) and has always maintained that it will not accept third party medi- ation in a purely bilateral issue. Since Parliament is in ses- sion and considering that the comments were made by the President of the world’s most powerful nation to the Prime Minister of another country, Modi should come to the House and clarify on the issue, Sharma demanded. CPI leader D Raja wanted to know if there was any change in India’s position on third party mediation on the Kashmir issue, adding the denial issued by the External Affairs Minister on late Monday night was not enough. Opposition parties were not satisfied by Jaishankar’s statement and insisted the Prime Minister should come to the House and clarify. This led to heated exchanges between Opposition benches and Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who adjourned proceedings for nearly an hour. He said the issue was of national importance and con- cerned security when the Opposition members including Congress, AAP, TMC, SP and Left parties raised a din. Naidu quipped that the members were ready to believe a foreign leader instead of the Indian Minister and then adjourned the House till 12 pm at 11.15 am. Similar scenes were wit- nessed in the Rajya Sabha when the House reassembled with the Opposition members coming into the Well and rais- ing slogans demanding Modi’s clarification. Deputy Chairman Harivansh tried to pacify mem- bers but to no avail. Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the demand for the Prime Minister’s pres- ence was not justified as the statement by the External Affairs Ministry is the collec- tive responsibility of the Cabinet. However, the Opposition continued to raise an uproar forcing the Chair to adjourn the proceedings till after lunch. T he 14-month-old Congress-JD(S) Government in Karnataka finally fell on Monday ending more than a fortnight of polit- ical drama which saw 15 rebel MLAs camping in Mumbai and repeated intervention by the Supreme Court. The confidence motion moved by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy was defeated in the Assembly, with 99 mem- bers voting for the motion and 105 against it. After the Congress leaders failed in their efforts to estab- lish contact with the rebels enjoying a cozy retreat in a plush hotel in Mumbai, Kumaraswamy had no option but to end this drama in view of his mounting criticism for delaying the vote on the motion and extending the debate for well over three days. “The motion moved by the Chief Minister has fallen through,” Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar announced. Kumaraswamy watched the proceedings sitting in a pensive mood after a spirited reply to the debate. The writing on the wall was clear ever since the Supreme Court ruled that rebel law- makers could not be com- pelled to attend the proceed- ings of the House tipping the scales in favour of the BJP. The rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs camping in Mumbai will leave for Bengaluru after BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa is sworn in as Chief Minister of the southern State, sources said. A BJP leader said the rebels, who have been staying at a luxury hotel since early this month are “very happy” after the JD(S)-Congress coalition Government lost the trust vote. The rebels had earlier denied any BJP role in their res- ignations and withdrawal of support to the Government. Twenty one MLAs — Congress-JDS (17), BSP (1), Independents (2) — skipped the proceedings, reducing the effective strength of the House to 204. The magic figure required was 103. In his reply, Kumaraswamy said discussions were on why he had not resigned and was sticking to the chair. Sounding philosophical, he said when the 2018 Assembly polls results were out, he had plans to quit politics. “My political entry itself was all of a sudden and unexpected,” he said. Kumaraswamy lashed out at the BJP for repeatedly trying to topple his Government and told the saffron party that its Government would not last long and in the event of col- lapse, it is better to go for elec- tions. “First bomb will explode in Ministry formation,” he said. Asserting that his Government was not shame- less, he asked, “What wrong have we committed. We tried to create history. We have worked honestly to provide people friendly Government.” Accusing the BJP of being in a hurry, he said, “I am not going to run away after speech. Let the people of the State know why I was removed. I am not going to run away fearing numbers. Let the votes be counted. Chief Minister’s seat is not a permanent to anyone.” C racking its whip on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by homebuyers, the Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled the registration of Amrapali Group under the real estate law RERA, and ousted it from its prime properties in the NCR by nixing the land leases. “The registration of Amrapali Group of Companies under RERA shall stand can- celled... The homebuyers can- not be made to suffer when we are governed by law and have protective machinery. Question is of will power to extend the clutches of law to do the need- ful. We hope and trust that hope and expectation of home- buyers are not going to be belied,” the SC said in its 270- page judgment. The apex court also lashed at bankers for conniving with the Amrapali Group in siphon- ing money from projects, leav- ing thousands of homebuyers without flats despite paying for apartments. It pulled up Bank of Baroda, Syndicate Bank, Bank of India, and Corporation Bank for not monitoring the utilisation of funds advanced by them to the real estate compa- ny. “The Authorities and bankers have violated the doc- trine of public trust and their officials, unfortunately, acted in collusion with builders,” the top court said. The verdict, which is first of its kind, may have far-reach- ing consequences and impact across the country on other realtors like Unitech and Jaypee, which are facing simi- lar litigation in the top court from hassled homebuyers for not handing over possession of flats on time despite being paid the hard earned money of the homebuyers. The apex court, which directed a probe by the Enforcement Directorate into alleged money laundering by realtors, provided relief to over 42,000 homebuyers of Amrapali group with the ver- dict. It directed the state-run National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to complete the stalled projects of the realtor, whose directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar are behind bars on the top court’s order. “As it (NBCC) is a Government undertaking, NBCC has to ensure that DPR (detailed project report) is pre- pared reasonably and the work to be completed as expedi- tiously as possible,” the apex court said. Emphasising on the “pub- lic trust doctrine”, a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit said the public authorities are duty-bound to observe that the leased property is not “frit- tered away” along with the homebuyers’ money. “Concerned ministry of Central Government, as well as the State Government and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, are directed to ensure that appropriate action is taken against leaseholders con- cerning such similar projects at Noida and Greater Noida and other places in various States, where projects have not been completed,” the SC said. Noting that homebuyers cannot be left in the lurch, the Bench directed the Centre and States to ensure that projects are completed in a time-bound manner as contemplated in RERA and homebuyers are not defrauded, and ordered the Noida and Greater Noida authorities to give completion certificate to the homebuyers of Amrapali Group who are already residing in various projects. B oris Johnson on Tuesday comfortably won the Conservative Party’s leadership race to become the UK’s next Prime Minister and vowed to “get Brexit done” by the October 31 deadline, amid the polit- ical uncertainty over the country’s divorce deal with the European Union that cost his predecessor her job. Johnson, the 55-year-old former Foreign Secretary and London Mayor, was widely expected to beat foreign secre- tary Jeremy Hunt in the battle for 10 Downing Street, which was triggered last month when a Brexit-battered Theresa May resigned as party chief and Prime Minister amid a mount- ing rebellion from within the Conservative Party. “We are going to energise the country. We are going to get Brexit done on 31 October and take advantage of all the oppor- tunities it will bring with a new spirit of can do,” Johnson said in the his first speech as the new Conservative Party leader. “We are once again going to believe in ourselves, and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self doubt and negativity,” he said, in his char- acteristic ebullient style. The west London MP from Uxbridge and Ruislip sought to strike a unifying note by thank- ing his predecessor, May, and his challenger Hunt as a for- midable opponent whose good ideas he plans to “steal”. Johnson said, “No one per- son or party has the monopoly of wisdom. Time and again it is to us (Conservative Party) that peo- ple have turned. I will work flat out to repay your confidence. The work begins now.” D elhi, adjoining States and other northern States will witness heavy rainfall activities due to reduction in rainfall over Kerala and Coastal Karnataka from July 25 to 27. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), rainfall activities will be increased over northern plains and Central India during this period. Dr Rajendra Jenamani, Met scientist, said, “Rainfall activity is very likely to increase over central India, adjoining northern parts of peninsular India and also along the north- ern plains during 24-27th July with peak intensity on 25th and 26th July, 2019.” Jenamani added, “Hence fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls are likely over Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Goa during same period.” W ith the onset of Shravan (Saawan), many snake charmers are displaying snakes outside temples, flouting the wildlife the law. In a joint operation by Uttar Pradesh Wildlife SOS and the Forest Department, 16 snakes were seized from the illegal custody of snake charmers outside three different temples in Mathura and Vrindavan. It is believed that due to Lord Shiva’s frequent depiction with a serpent coiled around his neck, snake charmers often display their snakes at gather- ings during Saawan. According to initial reports, the rescued snakes were in bad condition, especially the cobras as they were defanged and their venom glands extracted. “During an anti-poaching raid by the forest department on Monday, we rescued 16 snakes, including 11 cobras, 3 red sand boas, one rat snake and a juvenile snake, from the illegal possession of snake charmers outside Galteshwar and Rangeshwar temples in Mathura and Gopeshwar Mahadev temple in Vrindavan. They have been transferred to the rescue facility,” a Wildlife SoS official said. The member of rescue team said the most horrifying sight was that of the rat snake. “One of the snake charmers had forcibly pierced a handful of mongoose hair through its head to make it look attractive,” the official said. Divisional Forest Officer, Mathura, Mukesh Kumar Sharma, said, “Using snakes for public demonstration is a punishable offence and is banned under to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the Government of India’s notification in 2014. This is a cruel and inhumane practice which exploits the lives of innocent wildlife species that are protected under Indian laws.” Co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS Kartick Satyanarayan said, “No animal deserves such barbaric treat- ment. The truth about snake charming is nothing short of horrifying. Venomous snakes like cobras have their fangs extracted and their venom glands are painfully gouged out or punctured, thus disabling the snake’s only means of defence, feeding and digestion. “Non-venomous snakes are not spared either. Their mouths are stitched making it impos- sible for them to eat.” Director Conservation Projects, Wildlife SOS, Baiju Raj MV, said, “The snakes are starving for months, without food or water, and will drink milk or water in a desperate attempt to alleviate dehydra- tion, leading to the common myth that snakes at festivals will drink milk presented to them as offerings from devo- tees. We saw maximum num- ber of such cases during Saawan, every year.” Wildlife Conservation vet- erinarians are treating reptiles to determine whether releasing them back into natural habitat will be feasible. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam by a month to August 31 while rejecting the pleas seeking per- mission for 20 per cent sample re-verification. The Centre and the Assam Government had sought per- mission for sample re-verifica- tion to find out wrongful inclu- sions, especially in districts bordering Bangladesh, and exclusions of persons in the NRC which was to be pub- lished by July 31. While dismissing the pleas of the Centre and the State, the apex court took note of the report of Assam NRC coordi- nator Prateek Hajela that in the course of consideration and adjudication of the claims, of those who have been left out in the draft NRC, re-verification of 27 per cent persons has already been done. The top court, which had been reiterating that it will not extend the deadline for publi- cation of the final NRC, took note of the report and the rea- sons for seeking extension put forth by the Assam NRC coor- dinator and allowed him to fin- ish the task by August 31 RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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US President DonaldTrump’s claim that Prime

Minister Narendra Modi hadurged him to mediate withPakistan on the Kashmir issuerocked Indian Parliament onTuesday. External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar reiterat-ed in both the Houses that allissues with Pakistan can only bediscussed bilaterally, but theOpposition demanded a replyfrom Modi. The Rajya Sabhasaw repeated adjournments,while the Lok Sabha witnessedvociferous attack and walkoutby the Opposition.

While hosting visitingPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan, Trump claimed thatModi had asked him to play arole of mediator on theKashmir issue.

Refuting the US President’sstatement, Jaishankar said inboth the Houses that the PrimeMinister made no such requestabout mediating. “I would liketo categorically state that nosuch request has been made bythe Prime Minister to the USPresident,” he said.

Making the country’s posi-tion clear, he said it has been theconsistent position of India thatall outstanding issues withPakistan can be discussed onlybilaterally. Any engagementwith Pakistan will require endto cross-border terrorism, hesaid, adding Shimla and Lahore

accords provide the basis for res-olution of all issues bilaterally.

Jaishankar first gave thiscategorical denial in the RajyaSabha soon after it met for theday after Congress leaderAnand Sharma raised the issue.He said Trump stated Modihad, at the recent G20 meetingin Osaka in Japan, sought hismediation on Kashmir.

Sharma said India’s positionhas been consistent and clear onPakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) andhas always maintained that itwill not accept third party medi-

ation in a purely bilateral issue.Since Parliament is in ses-

sion and considering that thecomments were made by thePresident of the world’s mostpowerful nation to the PrimeMinister of another country,Modi should come to theHouse and clarify on the issue,Sharma demanded.

CPI leader D Raja wantedto know if there was any changein India’s position on thirdparty mediation on theKashmir issue, adding thedenial issued by the ExternalAffairs Minister on late

Monday night was not enough.Opposition parties were

not satisfied by Jaishankar’sstatement and insisted thePrime Minister should come tothe House and clarify. This ledto heated exchanges betweenOpposition benches andChairman M Venkaiah Naidu,who adjourned proceedingsfor nearly an hour.

He said the issue was ofnational importance and con-cerned security when theOpposition members includingCongress, AAP, TMC, SP andLeft parties raised a din. Naiduquipped that the members wereready to believe a foreign leaderinstead of the Indian Ministerand then adjourned the Housetill 12 pm at 11.15 am.

Similar scenes were wit-nessed in the Rajya Sabhawhen the House reassembledwith the Opposition memberscoming into the Well and rais-ing slogans demanding Modi’sclarification.

Deputy ChairmanHarivansh tried to pacify mem-bers but to no avail. Minister ofMinority Affairs MukhtarAbbas Naqvi said the demandfor the Prime Minister’s pres-ence was not justified as thestatement by the ExternalAffairs Ministry is the collec-tive responsibility of theCabinet. However, theOpposition continued to raisean uproar forcing the Chair toadjourn the proceedings tillafter lunch.

����� $217�58�8�

The 14-month-oldC o n g r e s s - J D ( S )

Government in Karnatakafinally fell on Monday endingmore than a fortnight of polit-ical drama which saw 15 rebelMLAs camping in Mumbaiand repeated intervention bythe Supreme Court.

The confidence motionmoved by Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy was defeatedin the Assembly, with 99 mem-bers voting for the motion and105 against it.

After the Congress leadersfailed in their efforts to estab-lish contact with the rebelsenjoying a cozy retreat in aplush hotel in Mumbai,Kumaraswamy had no optionbut to end this drama in viewof his mounting criticism fordelaying the vote on the motionand extending the debate forwell over three days.

“The motion moved bythe Chief Minister has fallenthrough,” Speaker KR RameshKumar announced.

Kumaraswamy watchedthe proceedings sitting in apensive mood after a spiritedreply to the debate.

The writing on the wall wasclear ever since the SupremeCourt ruled that rebel law-makers could not be com-pelled to attend the proceed-ings of the House tipping thescales in favour of the BJP.

The rebel Congress-JD(S)MLAs camping in Mumbaiwill leave for Bengaluru afterBJP leader BS Yeddyurappa issworn in as Chief Minister ofthe southern State, sourcessaid. A BJP leader said therebels, who have been staying

at a luxury hotel since early thismonth are “very happy” afterthe JD(S)-Congress coalitionGovernment lost the trust vote.

The rebels had earlierdenied any BJP role in their res-ignations and withdrawal ofsupport to the Government.

Twenty one MLAs —Congress-JDS (17), BSP (1),

Independents (2) — skippedthe proceedings, reducing theeffective strength of the Houseto 204. The magic figurerequired was 103.

In his reply, Kumaraswamysaid discussions were on whyhe had not resigned and wassticking to the chair. Soundingphilosophical, he said when the

2018 Assembly polls resultswere out, he had plans to quitpolitics. “My political entryitself was all of a sudden andunexpected,” he said.

Kumaraswamy lashed outat the BJP for repeatedly tryingto topple his Government andtold the saffron party that itsGovernment would not lastlong and in the event of col-lapse, it is better to go for elec-tions. “First bomb will explodein Ministry formation,” he said.

Asserting that hisGovernment was not shame-less, he asked, “What wronghave we committed. We triedto create history.

We have worked honestlyto provide people friendlyGovernment.”

Accusing the BJP of beingin a hurry, he said, “I am notgoing to run away after speech.Let the people of the Stateknow why I was removed. I amnot going to run away fearingnumbers. Let the votes becounted. Chief Minister’s seatis not a permanent to anyone.”

����� 123�4256�

Cracking its whip on errantbuilders for breaching the

trust reposed by homebuyers,the Supreme Court on Tuesdaycancelled the registration ofAmrapali Group under the realestate law RERA, and ousted itfrom its prime properties in theNCR by nixing the land leases.

“The registration ofAmrapali Group of Companiesunder RERA shall stand can-celled... The homebuyers can-not be made to suffer when weare governed by law and haveprotective machinery. Questionis of will power to extend theclutches of law to do the need-ful. We hope and trust thathope and expectation of home-buyers are not going to bebelied,” the SC said in its 270-page judgment.

The apex court also lashedat bankers for conniving withthe Amrapali Group in siphon-ing money from projects, leav-ing thousands of homebuyerswithout flats despite paying forapartments. It pulled up Bankof Baroda, Syndicate Bank,Bank of India, and CorporationBank for not monitoring theutilisation of funds advanced bythem to the real estate compa-

ny. “The Authorities andbankers have violated the doc-trine of public trust and theirofficials, unfortunately, acted incollusion with builders,” the topcourt said.

The verdict, which is firstof its kind, may have far-reach-ing consequences and impactacross the country on otherrealtors like Unitech andJaypee, which are facing simi-lar litigation in the top court

from hassled homebuyers fornot handing over possession offlats on time despite beingpaid the hard earned money ofthe homebuyers.

The apex court, whichdirected a probe by theEnforcement Directorate intoalleged money laundering byrealtors, provided relief to over42,000 homebuyers ofAmrapali group with the ver-dict.

It directed the state-runNational BuildingsConstruction Corporation(NBCC) to complete the stalledprojects of the realtor, whosedirectors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and AjayKumar are behind bars on thetop court’s order.

“As it (NBCC) is aGovernment undertaking,NBCC has to ensure that DPR(detailed project report) is pre-

pared reasonably and the workto be completed as expedi-tiously as possible,” the apexcourt said.

Emphasising on the “pub-lic trust doctrine”, a Bench ofJustices Arun Mishra and UULalit said the public authoritiesare duty-bound to observe thatthe leased property is not “frit-tered away” along with thehomebuyers’ money.“Concerned ministry of CentralGovernment, as well as theState Government and theSecretary of Housing and UrbanDevelopment, are directed toensure that appropriate action istaken against leaseholders con-cerning such similar projects atNoida and Greater Noida andother places in various States,where projects have not beencompleted,” the SC said.

Noting that homebuyerscannot be left in the lurch, theBench directed the Centre andStates to ensure that projects arecompleted in a time-boundmanner as contemplated inRERA and homebuyers are notdefrauded, and ordered theNoida and Greater Noidaauthorities to give completioncertificate to the homebuyers ofAmrapali Group who are alreadyresiding in various projects.

����� 5�14�1

Boris Johnson onTuesday comfortably

won the ConservativeParty’s leadership race tobecome the UK’s nextPrime Minister andvowed to “get Brexitdone” by the October 31deadline, amid the polit-ical uncertainty over thecountry’s divorce dealwith the European Union thatcost his predecessor her job.

Johnson, the 55-year-oldformer Foreign Secretary andLondon Mayor, was widelyexpected to beat foreign secre-tary Jeremy Hunt in the battlefor 10 Downing Street, whichwas triggered last month whena Brexit-battered Theresa Mayresigned as party chief andPrime Minister amid a mount-ing rebellion from within theConservative Party.

“We are going to energisethe country. We are going to getBrexit done on 31 October andtake advantage of all the oppor-tunities it will bring with a newspirit of can do,” Johnson saidin the his first speech as thenew Conservative Party leader.

“We are once again goingto believe in ourselves, and likesome slumbering giant we aregoing to rise and ping off theguy ropes of self doubt andnegativity,” he said, in his char-acteristic ebullient style.

The west London MP fromUxbridge and Ruislip sought tostrike a unifying note by thank-ing his predecessor, May, andhis challenger Hunt as a for-midable opponent whose goodideas he plans to “steal”.

Johnson said, “No one per-son or party has the monopolyof wisdom.

Time and again it is to us(Conservative Party) that peo-ple have turned. I will work flatout to repay your confidence.The work begins now.”

������������� 123�4256�

Delhi, adjoining States andother northern States will

witness heavy rainfall activitiesdue to reduction in rainfall overKerala and Coastal Karnatakafrom July 25 to 27.

According to IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), rainfall activities will beincreased over northern plainsand Central India during thisperiod.

Dr Rajendra Jenamani,Met scientist, said, “Rainfallactivity is very likely to increaseover central India, adjoiningnorthern parts of peninsularIndia and also along the north-ern plains during 24-27th Julywith peak intensity on 25th and26th July, 2019.”

Jenamani added, “Hence

fairly widespread to widespreadrainfall with isolated heavy fallsare likely over Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, West Bengal,Odisha, Uttar Pradesh,Haryana, Chandigarh andDelhi, Punjab, Rajasthan,Maharashtra and Goa duringsame period.”

������������� 123�4256��

With the onset of Shravan(Saawan), many snake

charmers are displaying snakesoutside temples, flouting thewildlife the law. In a jointoperation by Uttar PradeshWildlife SOS and the ForestDepartment, 16 snakes wereseized from the illegal custodyof snake charmers outside threedifferent temples in Mathuraand Vrindavan.

It is believed that due toLord Shiva’s frequent depictionwith a serpent coiled aroundhis neck, snake charmers oftendisplay their snakes at gather-ings during Saawan. Accordingto initial reports, the rescuedsnakes were in bad condition,especially the cobras as theywere defanged and their venomglands extracted.

“During an anti-poaching

raid by the forest departmenton Monday, we rescued 16snakes, including 11 cobras, 3red sand boas, one rat snakeand a juvenile snake, from theillegal possession of snakecharmers outside Galteshwarand Rangeshwar temples inMathura and GopeshwarMahadev temple in Vrindavan.They have been transferred tothe rescue facility,” a WildlifeSoS official said.

The member of rescueteam said the most horrifyingsight was that of the rat snake.“One of the snake charmershad forcibly pierced a handfulof mongoose hair through itshead to make it look attractive,”the official said. DivisionalForest Officer, Mathura,

Mukesh Kumar Sharma, said,“Using snakes for publicdemonstration is a punishableoffence and is banned under tothe Wildlife Protection Act,1972 and the Government ofIndia’s notification in 2014.This is a cruel and inhumanepractice which exploits thelives of innocent wildlifespecies that are protected underIndian laws.”

Co-founder and CEO ofWildlife SOS KartickSatyanarayan said, “No animaldeserves such barbaric treat-ment. The truth about snakecharming is nothing short ofhorrifying. Venomous snakeslike cobras have their fangsextracted and their venomglands are painfully gouged

out or punctured, thus disablingthe snake’s only means ofdefence, feeding and digestion.

“Non-venomous snakes arenot spared either. Their mouthsare stitched making it impos-sible for them to eat.”

Director ConservationProjects, Wildlife SOS, BaijuRaj MV, said, “The snakes arestarving for months, withoutfood or water, and will drinkmilk or water in a desperateattempt to alleviate dehydra-tion, leading to the commonmyth that snakes at festivalswill drink milk presented tothem as offerings from devo-tees. We saw maximum num-ber of such cases duringSaawan, every year.”

Wildlife Conservation vet-erinarians are treating reptilesto determine whether releasingthem back into natural habitatwill be feasible.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday extended thedeadline for publication of thefinal National Register ofCitizens (NRC) in Assam by amonth to August 31 whilerejecting the pleas seeking per-mission for 20 per cent samplere-verification.

The Centre and the AssamGovernment had sought per-mission for sample re-verifica-tion to find out wrongful inclu-sions, especially in districtsbordering Bangladesh, andexclusions of persons in theNRC which was to be pub-lished by July 31.

While dismissing the pleasof the Centre and the State, theapex court took note of thereport of Assam NRC coordi-nator Prateek Hajela that in thecourse of consideration andadjudication of the claims, ofthose who have been left out inthe draft NRC, re-verification of27 per cent persons has alreadybeen done.

The top court, which hadbeen reiterating that it will notextend the deadline for publi-cation of the final NRC, tooknote of the report and the rea-sons for seeking extension putforth by the Assam NRC coor-dinator and allowed him to fin-ish the task by August 31

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As companies and coun-tries look to extract min-

erals such as cobalt, copper,manganese and lithium con-centrated on the ocean floor todevelop faster technologies,the first animal under the seathat would be first affected dueto deep-sea mining has beenidentified: It’s the slow moving‘Scaly foot snail’ (Chrysomallons q u a m i f e r u m ) . T h eInternational Union forConservation of Nature(IUCN) added it to its Red Listof endangered species on July18.

The Scaly foot snail isfound 2,400-2,900 metresdown in the Indian ocean, anarea where the InternationalSeabed Authority, has issued 29exploration leases to companiesfor mining besides in vast areasof the Pacific and AtlanticOceans, covering an area of 1.3million km2 - five times the

surface area of the UK. The ISA is currently devel-

oping regulations to managedeep sea mining beyondnational boundaries. However,there are rising concerns aboutthe potential for widespreadand lasting impacts of deepseabed mining including theloss of species such as theScaly-foot Snail, said a state-ment from the IUCN.

The scaly-foot snail isknown from three locations

restricted to hydrothermalvents on deep-ocean ridges inthe Indian Ocean, at depths ofup to 2,900 metres.

The researchers say anassessment under the Red Listof species found on such deepsea vents would help protectthem from the surging interestin seafloor mining in theoceans.

Dr Julia Sigwart, seniorlecturer in marine biology andassociate director at Queen’s

University Belfast’s MarineLaboratory, said: “The deep seais home to thousands of speciesand new species are being dis-covered all the time.

“These deep sea marineanimals like the scaly-foot snailare out of sight, out of mind,but they are still threatened byhuman activities.”

The companies are keen toextract large supplies of nick-el, cobalt and rare earth metals,important for products such aselectric car batteries, smart-phones and other technology.

UP in arms against thedeep sea mining, Greenpeacehas called for an immediatemoratorium on all deep-seamining for fear of severe andirreversible harm it may do tothe oceans. In its report, InDeep Water, the nongovern-mental environmental organi-sation calls for the reprieve andtighter environmental safe-guards against the risks ofdeep sea mining.

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The CBI has registered a caseagainst unknown persons

for offences under IT Act andIPC section relating to cheat-ing a Gujarat resident whowas duped of Rs 18,999 fromhis bank account by a personclaiming to be from the PMOInsurance Cell. The agencyregistered the case following areference from the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO).

The PMO reference to CBIwas sent following an onlinecomplaint from UmeshchandraTank who alleged that oneMathew allegedly claimed to befrom PMO Insurance Cell andcheated him by fraudulentlytransferring the money fromhis bank account.

“Prima facie, this is a caseof impersonation wherein thename of PMO has been mis-used for committing financialfraud,” Assistant Director inPMO PK Issar said in his let-ter to the CBI.

In his online complaint onPMO public grievance portal,Tank alleged that Mathewasked him to furnish his debitcard number and One TimePassword for processing hiscomplaint against the insurancecompany.

����� 123�4256�

Defence Minister RajnathSingh has approved an

increase in the number ofawards given to cadets ofNational Cadet Corps (NCC)from existing 143 to 243 and abig hike in cash incentives invarious categories, the ministrysaid on Tuesday. The totalexpenditure incurred willincrease from �1.44 lakh to�3.44 lakh.

Giving this informationhere on Tuesday, officials saidat present NCC cadets are nowentitled to receive two RakshaMantri Padaks carrying cashincentive of �30,000 as againstone Padak of value �20,000 ear-lier, four Raksha MantriCommendations of �20,000each in place threeCommendations of value�15,000 each earlier.

Singh has also approved asubstantial increase in DG’scommendations from the exist-ing 102 to 200. Approval has alsobeen given for nine new BestCadet Awards for NCC cadets invarious categories taking thetotal number of such awards to27 and the cash incentive foreach award has also been hikedsubstantially. These awards aregranted during Republic DayCamp in New Delhi.

����� 123�4256�

The BJP on Tuesday dis-missed as “inappropriate”

and “irresponsible” theOpposition parties’ demandthat Prime Minister NarendraModi make a statement on USPresident Donald Trump’sKashmir claim and accusedthem of putting “politics abovenational interest”.

Senior party leader andunion minister PrakashJavadekar told reporters thatthe row over Trump’s com-ments that Modi wanted him tomediate with Pakistan on theKashmir issue should haveended with External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar’s state-ment in Parliament in which he“stoutly denied” the US presi-dent’s claim.

“The way Congress andsome opposition parties haveprotested in Rajya Sabha andcreated a disorder just todemand the prime minister’sstatement is condemnable...They are putting politics abovenational interest,” he said.

This attitude is inappro-priate and irresponsible, hesaid.

Javadekar claimed thatthe opposition’s stand showsthat it has been unable to rec-oncile with the Modi govern-ment’s big win in the recent LokSabha polls. These parties arestill depressed, he said.

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In what could lead to anoth-er face off between the

Centre and the DelhiGovernment, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(HUA) on Tuesday said theKejriwal dispensation cannotappoint non-government rep-resentatives to the Delhi MetroBoard of Directors. TheMinistry has, in the meantime,circulated a Cabinet note toregularise 1797 unauthorisedcolonies except posh coloniesahead of the Delhi Assemblyelection early next year. TheCentre is likely to issue an orderto regularise unauthorisedcolonies in Delhi within amonth.

Making it clear that theCentre will not accept repre-sentation of AAP leadersRaghav Chadha, AtishiMarlena Jasmine Shah and theparty’s Rajya Sabha MP NDGupta’s son Naveen Gupta tothe Delhi Metro Board ofDirectors, Union MinisterHardeep Singh Puri said onTuesday there is no scope fornon-government official peo-ple in the Board.

He cited the case of BJPleader Madan Lal Khurana,who had resigned from theDelhi Metro chairmanship,after the then chief ministerSheila Dikshit objected to hisappointment in 2003. Chadha

and Atishi had contested theLok Sabha polls from South andEast Delhi seats respectivelyearlier this year but they lost.

Taking a dig at Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal, Purisaid, “We have now differentsituation where Kejriwal is notsuggesting the name of an MPand he is suggesting names oftwo people who lost electionsfor MP. The Delhi govern-ment should adhere to theconventions and norms andnominate government officerson the Board of Delhi Metro ashas been done earlier.”

“I have a situation wherethe DMRC board is handledwith great competence by theserving secretary in the min-istry. There is no scope for non-official people in that board,”Puri added.

On July 17, the HUAMinistry had objected to thenomination of Chadha andAtishi and two others to theDMRC board of directors andasked the AAP government towithdraw its non-bureaucratnominees citing official guide-lines. According to the guide-lines issued by the Departmentof Public Enterprises, officialshandling the issue concernedshould be appointed as gov-ernment nominee directors.

In a letter to Delhi ChiefSecretary Vijay Kumar Devdated July 17, AdditionalSecretary (HUA) K Sanjay

Murthy had said the govern-ment nominee director bringnot only domain knowledge andexpertise but are also account-able to various tasks of the com-pany for ensuring time boundimplementation of the project

On the regularization ofunauthorized colonies, theHUA minister termed as“incorrect” Kejriwal’s claimthat the Centre has approvedthe Delhi government’s pro-posal on the issue sent inNovember, 2015. Puri said theCentre has circulated among itsstakeholders, including theDelhi government, a Cabinetnote based on the report of apanel headed by the lieutenantgovernor for the regularisationof these colonies and not on theAAP dispensation’s proposal.

In the next seven to 10days, the ministry will getcomments as sought fromstakeholders and then it will getapproval from the Union cab-inet, he said.

As per the proposal, thecolonies would be categoriseddepending on the land theyhave come up on - governmentland, agricultural or gram sabhaland. The regularisation feewould vary as per ownership.

This is not the first time aneffort has been initiated toempower residents of unau-thorised colonies on Delhi. In1993, 567 of 607 such colonieswere regularised.

����� 123�4256�

The Government on Tuesdayinitiated debate on the

Unlawful Activities (Prevention)Amendment Bill, 2019 envis-aging strengthening of NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) andempowering of its chief to seizethe properties related to theprobe on terrorism. Movingthe Bill, MoS Home KishanReddy said, “This Governmentwas working against terrorismwith zero tolerance.”

The Bill seeks to allow anindividual suspected to haveterror links to be designated asa ‘terrorist’. In order to put acheck on terrorism, he said, “wehave given a free hand to thesecurity forces” and added thatin the north eastern states in thelast five years there has been adecline in the insurgency relat-ed incidents. Due to the sus-tained effort of the government,the minister said, the situationhas improved in the left-wingextremism affected states. The

Bill amends the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

He also said the number ofterrorist incidents in hinterlandduring last decade as comparedto the previous decade has

reduced by 70% from 71 to 21and the number of terroristincidents in Jammu & Kashmirhas reduced by 86% i.e. 23,290to 3187.

Under the Act, an investi-

gating officer is required toobtain the prior approval of theDirector General of Police toseize properties that may beconnected with terrorism. TheBill adds that if the investiga-tion is conducted by an officerof the National InvestigationAgency (NIA), the approval ofthe Director General of NIAwould be required for seizureof such property.

Under the Act, investiga-tion of cases may be conduct-ed by officers of the rank of

Deputy Superintendent orAssistant Commissioner ofPolice or above. The Bill addi-tionally empowers the officersof the NIA, of the rank ofInspector or above, to investi-gate cases.

Opposing the proposedamendments, Manish Tewari(Congress) said in this countryfalse propaganda is beingspread that the law was solutionto all the problems. The solu-tion to the problems, he said,was through political initiatives

and not strict laws. Meenakshi Lekhi (BJP)

spoke in favour saying theamendment bill is dedicated tothe people who have sacrificedtheir lives defending the sov-ereignity and integrity of thenation. Moreover, she added,most of the provisions in theamendment bill were of thetechnical nature and aimed atremoving technical glitches.Union Home Minister AmitShah is expected to reply onWednesday.

��9����9�������� 123�4256�

Former Chief Ministers ofBihar and Uttar Pradesh

Lalu Prasad and AkhileshYadav respectively are nolonger in the Central List ofVIP protectees after the UnionHome Ministry reviewed a listof 130 protectees and decidedto withdraw or scale down thesecurity cover of many politi-cians, media personalities andbureaucrats.

Akhilesh was secured bythe elite National SecurityGuards, while Lalu was a Z cat-

egory protectee. Among otherprominent personalitiesremoved from the Central Listinclude Z+ protectee and BSPRajya Sabha MP SatishChandra Mishra and Z cate-gory protectees like formerminister in the ModiGovernment Rajiv PratapRudy, former CRPF DG andadvisor to Jammu and KashmirGovernment K Vijay Kumarbesides UP GovernmentMinister Suresh Rana. Theseprotectees were being securedby the CRPF.

Others removed from theCentral List include ViceChancellor of ManipurUniversity Adya PrasadPandey, former Congress MPand MLA Avtar SinghBhadana, Deputy CM of UttarPradesh Dinesh Sharma,Jitendra Swami (son of formerMP, Bihar, Umashankar Singh,Punjab MLA Rana GurmeetSingh Sodhi , former MP fromBihar Sabir Ali, Editor-in-Chief

of Samachar Plus UmeshKumar, Publisher of AnandaBazar Patrika, Kolkata AveekSarkar, former MP from BiharUday Singh and MP fromBihar Veena Devi who weregetting security cover from theCRPF.

Security cover of PunjabKesari Editor AK Minha hasbeen downgraded from Z+ toZ and CRPF cover has beenwithdrawn. Earlier, he wasavailing all-India security coverfrom CRPF except in Delhi.Former Jharkhand CM BabulalMarandi will now get Z cate-

gory protection Jharkhand onlyinstead of the earlier Z+ cate-gory cover from CRPF.

BJP MLA from UttarPradesh Sangeet Som’s coverhas also been downgradedfrom Z category to Y and lim-ited only to Uttar Pradeshinstead of the earlier protectionin the States of Uttarakhand,Delhi, Haryana and Punjabbesides UP.

LJP MP Chirag Paswan’scover has been downgradedfrom Z category to Y type andhis CRPF cover has also beenremoved. IG Nalin Prabhat

will get ‘Z’ cover in AndhraPradesh, Chandigarh andPunjab only. Likewise, protec-tion of former MP RajeshRanjan alias Pappu Yadav andLok Sabha MP SachidanadhariSakshi has been downgradedfrom Z to Y and their CRPFcover has also been removed.Former CRPF DG PrakashMishra’s CRPF security coverhas been removed but hasbeen retained in the ‘X’ cate-gory Central list.

Sources said the ‘Z’ coverof former BJP members KirtiAzad and Shatrughan Sinha,

newly- appointed HimachalPradesh Governor KalrajMishra, former Lok SabhaSpeaker Meira Kumar, twogranddaughters and a grand-son of former President PranabMukherjee, daughter andgrandson of former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh hasbeen taken off from the centrallist or has been removed. TheseVIPs were being secured by thearmed commandos of para-military forces like the CISFand the Delhi Police.

Others whose security hasbeen withdrawn include Uttar

Pradesh minister BrajeshPathak, BJP politician AnupamHazra, ISRO Chairman KSivan, former scientific advis-er R Chidambaram andCongress leader DeependraHooda.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP O PMathur, Achrya PramodKrishnam, who unsuccessful-ly contested from the LucknowParliamentary constituency ona Congress ticket, RSS leaderIndresh Kumar, former BJPMP Udit Raj; and sitting BJPMP from Etawah Ram ShankarKatheria have also been takenoff from the protection list ofcentral security forces.

The cover of Congress MPfrom Punjab, Pratap SinghBajwa, space scientist T K Alexand few others have also beentaken off the Central list.

The protection category ofAbhijeet Mukherjee, MP son offormer President PranabMukherjee, Congress leadersAnand Sharma, Raj Babbar,

Digvijay Singh, A K Antony,Manish Tewari, LoktantrikJanata Dal Party leader SharadYadav, CPI (M) leader SitaramYechury, former PrimeMinister Atal Behari Vajpayee’sfoster daughter Namita KaulBhattacharya and former BJPleader Yashwant Sinha has alsobeen downgraded.

Former Congress MPRavneet Singh Bittu, formerPunjab minister Bikram SinghMajithia, NIA InspectorGeneral G P Singh, MadhyaPradesh CM Kamal Nath andAdditional Sessions Judge inDelhi O P Saini are among oth-ers whose security cover hasbeen downgraded.

Some of those who havebeen removed from the Centrallist will be provided security bythe police units of various Stategovernments, officials said.

The Home Ministry hassought compliance of securitycategory by the Central para-military forces by Thursday.

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The Congress onTuesday sought

explanation fromPrime MinisterNarendra Modi overUS PresidentDonald Trump’sclaim that the Indian leaderasked him to mediate on thematter.

While Congress presidentRahul Gandhi asserted that a“weak” foreign ministry denialwouldn’t do and PM Modimust tell the nation what tran-spired in the meeting betweenhim and the US president,UPA Chairperson SoniaGandhi said her party woulddemand an immediate expla-nation from Prime Minister.“You will see it in theParliament. We will raise theissue and Congress is doingnow also,” Sonia said in her firstreaction outside the Parliamentbefore the House started itsproceedings.

“President Trump says PMModi asked him to mediatebetween India and Pakistan onKashmir! If true, PM Modi hasbetrayed India’s interests &1972 Shimla Agreement,” saidRahul Gandhi in a tweet mes-sage.

Though the Congress wel-comed the government’s reit-eration of India’s “no third

party involvement”stand on theKashmir issue butasked why Modiwas “mum” overTrump’s claim.Ministry of ExternalAffairs has rejectedTrump’s remarks,

made during his meeting withPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan, that Modi had asked himto mediate in resolving theKashmir issue with Pakistan.

Reacting to the MEA’sassertion, Congress’ chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala said reiteration ofthe time tested line on “nomediation on Kashmir” is wel-come. The US president’sremarks “relate to a meetingbetween him and PM Modi,wherein our PM had askedhim to mediate”, he said in atweet.

“Why is PM ‘mum’ onwhat transpired between thetwo heads of states, more sowhen it affects our sovereign-ty?” Surjewala asked.

Congress along with otheropposition parties on Mondaynight demanded a clarificationfrom Modi on whether therehas been a shift in India’s posi-tion of no third party involve-ment in the Kashmir issueafter Trump offered to mediatebetween India and Pakistan onthe matter.

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | WEDNESDAY | JULY 24, 2019

Players of wheelchair rugby called on Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday evening. The CM congratulated thedifferently-abled players for clinching bronze medal for the state in national sports event. Pioneer Photo

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Arousing welcome wasaccorded to newly

appointed Governor ofTripura Ramesh Bais on hisarrival to state capital fromNew Delhi.

He reached SwamiVivekanand Airport onTuesday afternoon. BJPlegislator BrijmohanAgrawal, former speaker ofChhattisgarh State Assemblyand senior BJP leaderGaurishankar Agrawal,former minister RajeshMunat, former MLAShrichand Sundarani,District BJP president RajivAgrawal were present in the

airport to welcome Bais.Speaking to media per-

sons, Bais said he will makeevery possible effort to matchthe expectations of seniorparty leaders who assignedhim an important task. “I willalso work for betterment ofTripura and will make effortin this direction”, he said.

Traditional welcome wasaccorded to him by folk bandand folk artistes whoperformed their art at theairport premises. Notable,the seven times Member ofParliament was denied ticketduring this Lok Sabhaelections as nomination of allthe sitting MPs of the statewas denied keeping in viewthe anti incumbency factor.

Ramesh Bais accorded rousingwelcome on his arrival to capital

STAFF REPORTER n BILASPUR

Under the corporate socialresponsibility of NTPC

Limited's Sipat Super ThermalPower Station, waterproof schoolbags and umbrellas were distrib-uted among the children of vil-lage Sukhripali, Janji and GatoraU.P. school in association withwomen's welfare wing SangwariMahila Samiti on Monday.

All together 254 school bagsand umbrellas were distributedamong the students by presidentSangwari Mahila Samiti, KamalaPadmakumar and other officialsof Mahila Samiti.

Speaking to the children,Padmakumar advised thestudents to focus on their study

which is most important at thisstage of their life. She alsoadvised the students to dreamand try to achieve it by their hard

labour and strong determination.The distribution intended to

curb absenteeism amongstudents during the rainy season.

Principal and school staffexpressed their gratitude for thisnoble gesture of NTPC andSangwari Mahila Samiti, the

NTPC- Sipat said in a statement. Similar programme for the

distribution of school bags andumbrellas among students ofupper primary schools ofNawadih and Sipat was held onJuly 19 where 381 students getthese items. So far in this mon-soon season, 635 school bags andumbrellas have been distributedto the students of nearby schools.

Apart from these activities,NTPC-Sipat has built schoolbuilding in the all associatevillages and provided furniture,green boards. Reverse osmosistreatment based drinking waterfacility has been provided atGovt High School of villageRank, Janji and Gatora.

NTPC-Sipat distributes schoolbags, umbrellas among students

STAFF REPORTER n SUKMA

ANaxal, carrying a reward of`1 lakh on his head, was

killed in an encounter with secu-rity forces in the insurgency-hitSukma district on Tuesday morn-ing, police said.

The skirmish took place in aforest near Birabhatti village,located around 500 km from thestate capital Raipur, when aDistrict Reserve Guard team wasout on a counter- insurgencyexercise, Deputy InspectorGeneral (anti-Naxal operations)Sundarraj P informed.

The security personnel wereadvancing through the forestwhen Naxals started firing atthem, leading to the gun battlebetween the two sides, he said.

The Naxals soon fled the spotand escaped into the dense forest,the official said.

After the exchange of firestopped the body of a rebel andtwo country-made guns wererecovered from the spot, he said.

The killed Naxal was identi-fied as Madkam Hidma, secretaryof the rural party committee ofMaoists in the area, the DIG said,adding that he was carrying areward of `1 lakh on his head.

Search operation was stillunderway in the area, he added.

Hardcore Naxalkilled in Sukma

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Members of ChhattisgarhPolice team, who

recently attended All IndiaPolice Duty Meet, onTuesday paid courtesy callon Director General ofPolice (DGP) DM Awasthi atPolice Headquarters, NavaRaipur and presented himthe memento and letterreceived from his UttarPradesh counterpart.

Awasthi encouraged themembers of Chhattisgarhpolice team to participate inpolice meet competitions tobe held in near future. Hegave them necessaryguidance and motivated

them to give excellentperformance.

It is noteworthy that62nd All India Police DutyMeet was organized inLucknow, Uttar Pradeshfrom July 16 to July 20.Teams from all the states andUnion Territories of thecountry along with CentralPolice Union participated invarious competitions organ-ized under this meet.

Under the leadership ofMN Pandey, Director CID,Chhattisgarh Police Teamgave excellent performancein categories such as 'scien-tific aids to investigation',photography, videography,computer awareness, andsecured sixth rank.

Chhattisgarh police teampays courtesy call on DGP

CM’s Jan Chaupalto be held today

RAIPUR: Jan Chaupal, Bhent-Mulaqat, will be organised atChief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’sresidence on Wednesday.During this chaupal doors ofChief Minister’s residence willbe opened for visitors. He willgive patient hearing to the visi-tors on public grievances andwill also receive suggestions andfeedback of public welfareschemes. Jan Chaupal willcommence from 11am.

Elderly womankilled by wildelephantJASHPUR: A 60-year-oldwoman was killed in an attackby a wild elephant in Jashpurdistrict, a forest official saidhere on Tuesday.

Etwari Bai was attacked bythe pachyderm in forest nearKharijhariya village onMonday evening when she wasgathering mushrooms, saidKrishna Kumar Jadhav,Divisional Forest Officer(Jashpur).

This is the sixth such inci-dent in the area in the last 45days, according to the official.

The kin of the deceasedwere given immediate relief ofRs 25,000, he said.

In a separate incident onMonday night, an elephantwhich was separated from itsherd, reached Jashpur townand damaged boundary wallsof some houses in Police Linearea, the DFO said, adding thatit also destroyed hutments nearbus stand.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

State Congress onMonday alleged that

the BJP which had inthe past acted as a guar-anteer for chit fundcompanies was now try-ing to shield them asBhupesh Baghel-ledCongress governmentwas acting tough onthem.

PCC SpokespersonDhananjay SinghThakur in a statementalleged that BJP wasputting spanner on thestern actions been takenagainst chit fund com-panies. “Actually, during

the BJP rule the partyleaders acted as a guar-anteer of the fraudstercompanies, he accused.

The chit fund com-panies, which were

inaugurated by seniorBJP leaders, dupedinnocent state populaceand fled with their hard-earned crores of rupees,he further charged.

“It was the formerRaman Singh govern-ment during whoseregime the chit fundcompanies mush-roomed and walkedaway after committingscams”, he said

Thakur furtherquestioned why BJPnational president AmitShah and state BJPPresident VikramUsendi not takingactions on accused BJPleaders.

BJP shielding chit fundfraudsters: Congress

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Minister for public health, familywelfare and medical education

T.S. Singhdeo on Tuesday reviewedthe state of affairs in the MedicalCollege Hospital Raipur (MECA-HARA).

In the review meeting held hereat his official residence in civil lines,Singhdeo took details of availabilityof doctors, staff, equipment, techni-cians, nursing staff and otherresources. He reviewed the depart-ment wise works and also soughtdetails of number of beds in eachdepartment, number of OPDpatients per day, arrangements atsuper specialty hospital and also

financial details such as budget andincome-expenditure.

On this occasion, he instructedfor better management of availableresources and administrative con-trol. He also instructed to affiliateKalibadi hospital for maternitypatients and Dr Bhimrao AmbedkarHospital for pediatric treatments. Bydoing so, these hospitals will also getthe services of expert doctors, hesaid.

Secretary, Health Niharika BarikSingh, Commissioner HealthServices, Bhuvanesh Yadav, DirectorHealth, Dr S.L. Adile and Dean,Medical College, Dr Abha Singhwere present in the review meeting.

Singhdeo reviews healthfacilities in MECAHARA

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The union Minister of state fortribal affairs Renuka Singh on

Tuesday demanded judicialinquiry into alleged suicide of atribal youth in police custody.

A tribal youth, Pankaj Bek,who was detained by Ambikapurpolice for questioning in connec-tion with Rs 13 lakh theft case,went out of the police facilitywhere he was detained in thepretext of attending nature’s call.His body was later found hangingfrom window of a nearby privatehospital.

“The cyber cell of Ambikapurpolice has a toilet facility. So thepolice’s claim that the suspect wentout of the complex to attendnature’s call creates suspicion,”Renuka Singh said in a pressstatement.

The union minister, whorepresents Surguja Lok Sabha seat,alleged that there were serious

injury marks on victim’s bodywhich suggest that cops hadthrashed the tribal youth to deathand later hanged the body toportray it as a suicide case.

Police is now trying tohush-up the case as pressure werebeing mounted from victim’sfamily members and BJP partyworkers, she claimed.

“I demand judicial inquiryinto the case and registering ofcases against police officersresponsible for Pankaj’s death.Also, Pankaj’s family membersshould get sufficientcompensation along withgovernment jobs,” she said.

Notably, five police persons --- a Thana in-charge, two SubInspectors and two Constables--were suspended over the death ofthe youth during interrogation.BJP youth wing members onMonday had staged a chakka jamwith the body of the accused onAmbikapur-Banaras highway.

Renuka Singh demandsjudicial inquiry over allegedsuicide of tribal youth

The skirmish took placein a forest near

Birabhatti village,located around 500 kmfrom the state capital

Raipur, when a DistrictReserve Guard teamwas out on a counter-insurgency exercise,

Deputy InspectorGeneral (anti-Naxal

operations) Sundarraj Pinformed

STAFF REPORTER nKORBA

The lone tusker, who wasresponsible for over 20

human deaths and severedamages caused to house andfarms, was successfully cap-tured by forest department onTuesday.

“Ganesh (wild elephant)was tranquilized and captureby a team of forest depart-ment officials and scientistfrom Wildlife Institute ofIndia (WII). Three Kumkielephants that were broughtfrom Karnataka were alsoused for the first time in thecapture,” Principal ChiefConservator of Forest Atul

Shukla told The Pioneer. It was a challenging and

difficult mission for the team tofind the wild elephant in denseforest area where it is reallyhard to locate a single elephanthiding behind vegetation, thePCCF said while adding, “Icongratulate the team on suc-cess of the mission.”

On what would happen to

the captured elephant, heinformed that based onphysical condition, overallnature and after evaluatingthe threats it poses to humanlives and property in theregion, it could be kept incaptivity at elephant rescuecenter in Tamor Pinglasanctuary or could bereleased in the jungle.

Rouge wild elephantcaptured in Korba

“Ganesh (wild elephant) was tranquilized andcapture by a team of forest department officialsand scientist from Wildlife Institute of India(WII). Three Kumki elephants that were broughtfrom Karnataka were also used for the firsttime in the capture”

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Gujarat Education MinisterBhupendrasinh Manubha

Chudasama on Tuesday saidthe 182 metres world’s talleststatue of Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel, to be dedicated to thenation by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on October 31will inspire the youth about thecontribution of Iron Man inunity of India.

“We had envisaged con-struction of the Statue of Unityin 2013. At that time, manypeople had doubted us… Butthe construction work began in2014 and now, the world’stallest statue will be dedicatedto the people of the country onthe 142nd birth anniversary ofSardar Vallabhbhai Patel,” saidChudasama.

Chudasama led high-levelState delegation to Haryana onTuesday to invite people for theunveiling ceremony of Statue ofUnity in Gujarat on October31. The delegation comprisedof Member of Parliament, LalSingh Vadodiya, MLAs name-ly Babu Bhai Patel, ManishaBen and Ratan Singh Rathore,IAS Sunaina Tomar and IPSAjay Tomar.

Haryana EducationMinister Ram Bilas Sharmaand Agriculture and Farmers’Welfare Minister, OP Dhankarwere also present on the occa-sion. He added after the inau-guration of statue by the PrimeMinister, it would be open forother guests from November 1onwards.

Apart from this, advertise-ment have also been releasedabroad for inviting the foreigntourists to visit the Statue ofUnity. The world’s tallest stat-ue will also be a main tourist

attraction now, he said.A Shrestha Bharat

Complex has been set up nearthe Statue of Unity which willhouse Bhavans of differentStates. Gujarat Chief MinisterVijay Rupani had sent a writ-ten communication to ChiefMinisters of all States for set-ting up their respective bha-vans, to which Haryana andUttar Pradesh have alreadyconsented, he said.

Chudasama added theStatue of Unity has been con-structed at a cost of about Rs2,332 crore and about 15,000tourists from country andabroad are likely to visit thestatue everyday.

It will also have museum,exhibition and research centre.The research centres wouldfacilitate the scholars to doresearch work on life of greatpersonalities like SardarVallabhbhai Patel, MahatmaGandhi and Dr BR Ambedkar.

Chudasama also appreci-ated the efforts made by thethen national president of BJPsKisan Morcha and HaryanaAgriculture and Farmers’Welfare Minister, OP Dhankarin collecting iron and soil forthe statue from different partsof the country.

When asked whether theChief Ministers headingCongress-led Governments oraffiliated to other political par-ties are invited for the October31 ceremony, the Minister saidthat the Gujarat Chief Ministerhas written to all ChiefMinisters and invited them toattend the ceremony.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Tuesday paved way for his visitto Israel next week, with theconfidence that it would opennew vistas of growth and coop-eration in key areas of mutual interest, particularlythe agriculture, horticultureand dairy sectors.

The Chief Minister, accom-panied by a high-level delega-tion, is scheduled to leave forhis five-day visit to Israel onOctober 21.

At a meeting with Chargede’ Affairs of Israeli EmbassyMaya Kadosh, the ChiefMinister also hoped to shareIsrael’s expertise in the field ofinternal security to furtherstrengthen the State’s defencepreparedness.

Seeking to position Punjabas the most favoured invest-ment destination among for-eign investors, Capt Amarinder said that hisGovernment was keen to tapthe technological advance-ments on offer by Israel.

India and Israel share glo-rious historical ties whichshould be fully harnessedthrough mutual cooperation toensure overall growth and pros-perity for both sides, said CaptAmarinder.

The visiting delegateapprised the Chief Minister ofthe elaborate arrangementsbeing made to make his visitresult-oriented, and said thatentrepreneurs, especially fromthe defence segment, werekeenly awaiting the visit.

The Chief Minister said helooked forward to signing thetwo MoUs in the field of agri-culture and water conservation,as these would propel the StateGovernment’s efforts towardsmaking farming more viable forthe agricultural community.

“I am keen to adopt Israeliknow-how to boost the dairy

sector and also wanted tovisit the Israeli orchards andnurseries to secure first-handknowledge of the technologicaladvancements in hybrid pro-duction of plants,” he told thedelegates.

Capt Amarinder soughtIsraeli assistance in improvingthe quality of citrus fruits asPunjab was the leading pro-ducer of Kinnow and wanted togo for mass plantation of sweetoranges, which finds a remu-nerative market in the multi-national companies. He alsodiscussed cooperation in live-stock development with the vis-iting delegate.

The Chief Minister furtherevinced keen interest in tappingIsrael’s state-of-the-art tech-nology and expertise in intel-ligence and homeland securi-ty in order to boost Punjab’ssecurity apparatus.

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Providing monetary relief tothe citizens, Punjab Local

Bodies Department has, inprinciple, decided to put a capon the fees, charged by thearchitects, for drawing up abuilding plan.

The decision was takenafter the Department receivedthe complaints regarding thehuge amount to be paid to thearchitects for uploading thedrawing of building plansonline, said the state LocalBodies Minister BrahmMohindra on Tuesday afterholding a high level meeting toreview progress on the projectof e-Naksha.

Mohindra said that themotive of the launch of e-Naksha plan was to enhanceGovernment’s capacity andstrengthen institutional capac-ity to deliver sustainable accessto effective services for theurban poor.

He said that e-naksha planwas launched on January 15,2019, and with this, automatebuilding plan approval processwas started in 165 urban localbodies (ULBs) and 27Improvement Trust providingone-stop platform for all archi-tects or citizen to submit draw-ings or documents for buildingplan approval process.

Total 13,500 cases havebeen successfully entered inonline system and more than7,700 plans are cleared, hesaid.

The Minister said thatthough this project was run-ning very successfully, “thereare certain objections raised bythe citizens, and the majorone is regarding the architectswho are demanding huge feesfor drawing up their buildingplan”.The Minister alsoinstructed the officers to takefeedback and suggestions fromthe general public on the e-naksha project the State.

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Himachal government iscontemplating to start

multi-dimensional, multi-sen-sory, multi-media light showsin few strategic locations of theState to provide an addedattraction to the locals as wellas tourists, Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur said on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister saidthat the virtual cultural hubwith assistance of multi-medialights would create a viableand sustainable model for cul-tural enterprises with latestmedia-entertainment tech-nology.

He said efforts would alsobe made to showcase mythsand legends of the Himalayanregion with giant size imagesprojected directly on to themountain landscape. Thiswould be a mesmerizing for thetourists as it would appear thatmountains have come aliveand were speaking to the view-ers, he added.

Thakur was speaking dur-ing the presentation made byacclaimed actor, producer andmedia entrepreneur DeepaSahi, here. She is also chair-person of Mayanagri WorldOne, a heritage tourism themepark initiative currently devel-oping Govindgarh fort inPunjab as high tech cultural

hub.The chief minister said

that the epic show createdthrough computer generatedimagery, digital visual effects,live shooting, paintings andlaser light and sound wouldcreate a gigantic and impressiveshow.

He said that the touristswould be provided 7-Dthrilling adventure sports expe-riences through stereoscopic 3D project through hydraulicallymoving platform.

Thakur said that naturepark at Mohal near Kullu,Baragah near Manali andReporting Room Shimla etc. arefew places where such showscould be organized.

He said that the state gov-ernment could also considertaking up the matter with UnionHuman ResourcesDevelopment Ministry forallowing Indian Institute ofAdvanced Studies, Shimla fororganising these activities.

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Swaraj India, which is con-testing the upcoming

Haryana assembly election onall the 90 seats, released its firstlist of 10 candidates here onTuesday.

The party’s national presi-dent Yogendra Yadav said thatone-third seats have been givento women and another one-third to youths and all candi-dates have clean image and nocorruption and criminalrecord.

Yadav said that some of theissues the party will focus onduring election are "agrariandistress, remunerative prices tothe farmers, unemploymentrelief for educated unemployedyouth, improvement in lawand order situation amongothers.”

He alleged that BJP hasfailed to address important

issues like unemployment,agrarian distress, remunera-tive prices to farmers accord-ing to SwaminathanCommission, improvement inlaw and order situations amongothers. “As of now, there are noopposition parties in Haryanaas their leaders are fightingthemselves. At the same time,I am not here to form the gov-ernment in the state but tosecure as many as seats to sit inthe opposition and raise peo-ple’s issue in the assembly,” hesaid.

Swaraj India President saidthat his party candidates are selfmade activists with a vision tobring change and not a singlecandidate is related to anyestablished political lineage,no one has become a candidatebecause of money or musclepower. Most of the candidatesdeclared by Swaraj India havebeen associated with the anti-

corruption Lokpal movement,the farmers' association of thestate or the struggles of socialjustice.

Yadav said that JoginderSingh Tur, the well knownlawyer of the Punjab andHaryana High Court hasaccepted to be the Lokpal ofHaryana for the candidateselection process of SwarajIndia. If any person has anycomplaint regarding any can-didate on issues of corruption,character abuse, criminal orcommunal, he will be probedby the Lokpal. He will also bemandated to oversee that can-didates don't take to wrongdo-ing like money or liquor dur-ing election, he said, adding anydecision in this regard from theLokpal will be final and validfor the party. Tur is not amember of Swaraj India, and isknown for his independentnature.

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Rainfall deficit in Jharkhandhas sparked a political row

with the opposition partiesslamming the Governmentover its alleged apathy towardsfarmers at a time of crisis.Jharkhand is set to go to pollsby the end of this year, and thenear-drought situation is like-ly to develop into an electionagenda, political gurus said onTuesday.

“Given the current cir-cumstances, farmers’ distresscan become a major electionagenda in the near future,”said V P Sharan, formerProfessor of Political Sciencesin Ranchi University.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) and Congress partyhave been pressing theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ledGovernment here to declare theentire State drought-affectedthis year – a demand that wasturned down during the lastmonsoon. “Even last year, wewanted the Government todeclare all the 24 districtsdrought-affected, but it onlydeclared 18 districts drought-hit. The centre had sanctionedaround Rs.373 crore for thedrought-hit farmers last yearand the amount has yet notbeen utilized by theGovernment,” said Lal Kishore

Nath Shahdeo, Spokesperson,Jharkhand Pradesh CongressCommittee (JPCC).

JMM and Congress legis-lators staged a protest outsidethe Vidhan Sabha on Mondaydemanding a declaration ofdrought across the State. Thedeclaration, they said, wouldreduce the financial burden onfarmers at a time when the raingods have refused to obligeJharkhand. “We will stick toour stand. The State has to

declare all the 24 districtsdrought-affected with imme-diate effect. They cannot playwith the lives of farmers,” saidTanuj Khatri, Spokesperson ofJMM.

BJP’s Spokesperson PratulShahdeo, however, defendedthe Government, claiming thatit was too early to take any callon the situation of rainfall.“The BJP is extremely sensitivetowards the issues of farmersand cultivation. The opposition

should stop playing petty pol-itics. Our Government willtake proactive steps at the righttime,” he said.

In 2018, the State declared18 of 24 districts drought-affected. As many as 93 blockswere declared severely affect-ed, while 36 were told to bemoderately affected. As perweather experts, seven districts–Koderma, Bokaro, Chatra,Deoghar, Garhwa, Khunti,Pakur—recorded rain deficit

of 40 per cent and above dur-ing monsoon in 2018.Koderma and Pakur districtsreceived 55 per cent less rainsthan its normal monsoonquota. The delayed onset ofmonsoon caused a rain deficitof at least 33 per cent last yearin June, which disturbed thesowing process.

According to the latest fig-ures provided by theDirectorate of Agriculture, thepaddy sowing process this yearis yet to begin in at least 10 of24 districts here. According tothe data, at least 14 districts inthe State have witnessed a raindeficit of around 40 per centthis year so far, which is addinginsult to the injuries of farmers,many of who are yet to recov-er from the jolts of last year’sdrought. The Department ofAgriculture here, however, ishoping for heavy rains duringthe remaining days of mon-soon. Officials from theDepartment have said that theywill pitch in with assistance ifthe condition does not improveby August 15. Meanwhile,Scientists from theMeteorological Centre inRanchi on Tuesday said thatJharkhand is likely to witnessheavy rainfall July 25 onwardsdue to formation of a low pres-sure system in the Bay ofBengal.

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Haryana Chief Secretary,Keshni Anand Arora on

Tuesday said the State shouldmake its mark in trade fairs andpreparations should be done ina planned and meticulousmanner at large scale.

Presiding over 30thGoverning Body meeting ofTrade Fair Authority of Haryanato discuss the preparations ofthe India International TradeFair, starting from November 14Pragati Maidan, New Delhi,she directed officials of theAuthority to increase their activ-ities, prepare calendars of activ-ities and directed them to co-ordinate with the IndustriesDepartment as per the need ofthe market and participate ininternational fairs with completeplanning and preparation inorder to encourage export ofproducts of the state.

She also directed to explorethe possibility of further orga-nizing other fairs in the state toencourage the small, micro andmedium enterprises of Haryanaand to promote the productsprepared by self-help groups.

Arora said that theHaryana pavilion in IndiaInternational Trade Fair shouldbe made attractive with morecreativity. The preparations ofthe Fair should be done incoordination with otherdepartments concerned a time-bound manner. Apart fromthe international fairs beingorganised through IndianBusiness PromotionOrganization (ITPO), discus-sion was also held in the meet-ing regarding participation ofTrade Fair Authority ofHaryana in Aajeevika Mela tobe held at Pragati Maidan inFebruary/March, 2020 andAahar Mela to be held atPragati Maidan in March 2020.

In the meeting, the pro-posal for budget of Rs. 2.64crore for the year 2019-20 wasalso approved. It was informedin the meeting that the themeof the Indian InternationalTrade Fair-2019, which startson November 14, 2019, will be'Ease of Doing Business'.

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Boris Johnson on Tuesdaycomfortably won the

Conservative Party’s leader-ship race to become the UK’snext Prime Minister and vowedto “get Brexit done” by theOctober 31 deadline, amid thepolitical uncertainty over thecountry’s divorce deal with theEuropean Union that cost hispredecessor her job.

Johnson, the 55-year-oldformer foreign secretary andLondon Mayor, was widelyexpected to beat foreign secre-tary Jeremy Hunt in the battlefor 10 Downing Street, whichwas triggered last month whena Brexit-battered Theresa Mayresigned as party chief andprime minister amid a mount-ing rebellion from within theConservative Party.

“We are going to energisethe country. We are going to getBrexit done on 31 October andtake advantage of all the oppor-tunities it will bring with a newspirit of can do,” Johnson saidin the his first speech as thenew Conservative Party leader.

“We are once again goingto believe in ourselves, and likesome slumbering giant we aregoing to rise and ping off theguy ropes of self doubt andnegativity,” he said, in his char-acteristic ebullient style.

The west London MP fromUxbridge and Ruislip sought tostrike a unifying note by thank-ing his predecessor, May, andhis challenger Hunt as a for-midable opponent whose goodideas he plans to “steal”.

Addressing the Tory partymembers at the QueenElizabeth II Centre in London,near the Houses of Parliament,

soon after the results weredeclared, Johnson said: “Noone person or party has themonopoly of wisdom. Timeand again it is to us(Conservative Party) that peo-ple have turned.

“At this pivotal point in his-tory... I know that we will do it.The mantra is deliver Brexit,unite the country and defeat(Labour leader) JeremyCorbyn. “I will work flat out torepay your confidence. Thework begins now.”

The co-chair of the Toryparty’s 1922 Committee CherylGillan MP declared thatJohnson won 92,153 votescompared to 46,656 polled forHunt by a voting base of159,320 Tory membership,with 509 rejected ballots.

The poll turnout waspegged at 87.4 per cent, withJohnson racing ahead with avote of nearly two to one.Hunt said he was “very disap-pointed”, but Johnson would do“a great job”. He said he had“total, unshakeable confidencein our country” and that was avaluable quality at such a chal-lenging time.

The EU Commission’sBrexit negotiator, MichelBarnier, said he was lookingforward to working withJohnson “to facilitate the rati-fication of the withdrawalagreement and achieve anorderly Brexit”. Johnson haspreviously said the agreementMay reached with the 28-member EU was “dead”. Theflambouyant politician isexpected to spend some timefinalising his key Cabinet andministerial posts.

A number of Brexiteers,including Indian-origin MPs

Priti Patel and Rishi Sunak —both supporters of Johnson, are expected to be part of hisnew team.

“With Boris Johnson lead-ing the Conservative Party andas Prime Minister, the UK, willhave a leader who believes inBritain, will implement a newvision for the future of thecountry and a roadmap tomove forward and thrive as aself-governing nation that re-establishes our ties with ourfriends and allies around theworld such as India,” said Patel.

Many Cabinet ministers,including Chancellor PhilipHammond and justice secre-tary David Gauke, have alreadysaid they would step downrather than serve underJohnson as Prime Ministerwith his “do or die” pledge overthe Brexit deadline.

Foreign Office ministerAlan Duncan became one ofthe first to step down in oppo-sition of Johnson’s Brexit strat-egy even before the resultswere declared. Another minis-ter, Anne Milton in the educa-tion department, also resignedahead of the result.

Johnson’s colourful per-sonal life has also been undersome scrutiny during themonth-long leadership con-test, with speculation rife in theUK media on whether his girl-friend Carrie Symonds is like-ly to join him as partner at 10Downing Street.

May, who chaired her lastCabinet meeting on Tuesday,will address her final PrimeMinister’s Questions in theHouse of Commons onWednesday and then be drivento Buckingham Palace to meetthe Queen.

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Iran said on Tuesday it willattend an urgent meeting

with countries still party to thetroubled nuclear deal, as itdeclared itself the “guardian ofsecurity” in the Gulf amid atanker crisis.

The planned July 28 meet-ing is aimed at salvaging thehard-won deal, on life-sup-port since the US withdrewfrom it last year and reimposedbiting sanctions against Iran.

Amid rising hostilities withthe United States, Iran’sRevolutionary Guards onFriday seized a tanker sailingunder the flag of US allyBritain. State television airednew footage of the crew aboardthe Stena Impero which Iranhas impounded at its port ofBandar Abbas for allegedlybreaking “international mar-itime rules”.

In the video, the crew of 18Indians, three Russians, aLatvian and a Filipino are seensitting around a table andseemingly going about theirdaily routines. The seizure ofthe Swedish-owned vessel hasbeen seen as a tit-for-tat move

after British authoritiesdetained an Iranian tanker onJuly 4 in the Mediterranean onsuspicion it was shipping oil toSyria in breach of EU sanctions.

“Throughout history, Iranhas been and will be the mainguardian of security and freenavigation” in the Gulf, PresidentHassan Rouhani said late onMonday. “There is still no ade-quate and lasting stability andsecurity in the region,” he added,emphasising Tehran was notseeking to stoke tensions. Thehead of Iran’s navy said in aninterview published Tuesdaythat Iran closely observes “allenemy ships” going through theGulf using drones. “We observeall enemy ships, especiallyAmerica’s, point-by-point fromtheir origin until the momentthey enter the region,” RearAdmiral Hossein Khanzadi said,quoted by YJC news agency.

“We have complete imagesand a large archive of the dailyand moment-by-momentmovements of coalition forcesand America.” Iran’s civildefence chief Gholam RezaJalali said the seizure of theUK-flagged tanker marked the“end to British rule in seas.”

London: Boris Johnson willenter Downing Street as BritishPM for the first time onWednesday amid speculationover whether his far youngergirlfriend, Carrie Symonds, willaccompany him. Twice-marriedJohnson, 55 — declared theConservative Party’s new leaderon Tuesday and now set to beconfirmed as premier by QueenElizabeth II — is dating theparty’s 31-year-old former direc-tor of communications.

The two have been public,but largely discreet, couple sinceserial philanderer split last yearfrom his wife of 26 years. In therun-up to Johnson’s takeover,British newspapers have beenrife with rumours over Symonds’future role as the nation’s “firstgirlfriend” and whether she willalso live at his 10 Downing Streetheadquarters. AFP

Tehran: Iran warned Britain’snext PM Boris Johnson onTuesday that it will “protect”waters of the oil-rich Gulf, amida standoff between the twocountries over the seizure oftankers. In the face of rising hos-tilities with the United States,Iran’s Islamic RevolutionaryGuard Corps on Fridayimpounded a tanker sailingunder the flag of US ally Britain.

The seizure of the StenaImpero ship has been seen asa tit-for-tat move after Britishauthorities detained an Iraniantanker on July 4 in theMediterranean on suspicion itwas shipping oil to Syria inbreach of EU sanctions.

“Iran does not seek con-frontation. But we have 1500miles of Persian Gulf coastline.These are our waters & we willprotect them.” Iran’s top diplo-mat warned Britain AFP

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With debates on triple talaq anongoing process, the ShahBano case resurfaces timeand again not only inParliament but even in the

media. Recently, during an interview with anews portal, a former Union Ministerdescribed the Shah Bano case as being relat-ed to triple talaq. Although the latter did sur-face during the parliamentary debate on theShah Bano case, it was not an issue and thejudgement did not say a word on triple talaq.The core issue in the said case was related tothe provision of “maintenance” by a Muslimhusband after he divorced his wife. Being awitness to this debate in the Lok Sabha, I wasprompted to write on this subject.

Mohammad Ahmad, a resident of Indore,Madhya Pradesh, divorced his 62-year-oldwife, Shah Bano, in 1978. The case was final-ly heard by the Supreme Court in April 1985.The court ruled that under Section 125 of theCode of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), adivorced Muslim woman was entitled toreceive maintenance from her husband. Thecourt also observed that Section 125 overridesthe personal law. The court, while referringto interpretation of Verses (Aiyats) 241 and242 of the Quran, contended that “there is anobligation on Muslim husbands to provide fortheir divorced wives.” The court observed that:“It is also a matter of regret that Article 44 ofour Constitution has remained a dead letter.”It provides that: “The State shall endeavourto secure for the citizens a uniform civil codethroughout the territory of India....” (MohdAhmad Khan vs Shah Bano Begum, 1985). OnMay 10, 1985, GM Banatwala, the thenMember of Parliament from the MuslimLeague, moved the Code of CriminalProcedure Bill for amendment of Section 125and 127. Speaking on the Bill, Banatwalaargued that “under Islamic law, a husband isbound to maintain a divorced wife only dur-ing the period of Iddat, which is nearly threemonths and not thereafter.”

Arif Mohammad Khan of the Congressand the then Union Minister supported theSupreme Court judgement. A few weeks laterthere was a wave of protest in States such asKolkata, Patna, Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur andHyderabad among others. “One must admit”,conceded Asghar Ali Engineer, a socialactivist and the then director of the Instituteof Islamic Studies, that this “agitation is thebiggest ever launched by Muslims in post-independent India” and that “another paral-lel is impossible to find.”

A 19-member delegation of the AllIndia Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB),led by former president Maulana Abul HasanAli Hasani Nadwi, met the then PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi and handed over amemorandum stating: “The Muslim commu-nity regards this judgment of the SupremeCourt as a clear interference with the Shariat(Muslim personal law) and their freedom ofreligion and conscience contained in theArticles 25, 26 and 29 of theConstitution…The Supreme Court in its

judgement has misinterpretedtwo isolated verses of the Quran,quoted by it out of context, andhas ignored other verses …”

Ziaur Rahman Ansari, thethen Union Minister of State forEnvironment, during his three-hour speech (delivered in twoparts) in the Lok Sabha, lambast-ed the court’s judgment anddescribed it as prejudice, discrim-inatory and full of contradictions.He wondered how there is goingto be a complete national integra-tion by merely changing theMuslim personal law.

After Rahman’s interven-tion, no one from the Congressopposed his views in Parliamentdespite the persistent Oppositionfrom its MPs, who were in sup-port of the judgement. TahirMahmood, then a teaching fac-ulty at the Delhi Universityobserved: “The provision ofmodern Hindu law that a Hinduwife, who ‘ceases to be Hindu’ (byconversion to Islam orChristianity) cannot claim main-tenance from her Hindu husband(Hindu Adoption andMaintenance Act 1956, Section18 read with Section 24) is tooprogressive to earn any criticism.But the rule of Muslim law thata wife, who has been subjected byher husband to the indignity ofdivorce, need not look to him formaintenance beyond a certainlimit must earn strictures in foullanguage.” Is this, indeed logical?

On the contrary, ShailendraNath Ghosh, in an article (April5, 1986) claimed: “While Egypt,Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Libya, Qatar,Indonesia, Sudan, Tunisia,Jordan, Syria, Yemen and evenPakistan have made new mar-riage, divorce and compensationlaws, Indian Muslims persist in

defending practices…” He won-dered if the prevailing practicesare just the opposite of the teach-ings of the Quran and Hadith.

Prof Mahmood, an author-ity on Islamic law, who was alsoquoted in the Shah Bano casejudgement, asserts: “If anybodyhas said that a Muslim woman inany of the Islamic countries canseek maintenance from her for-mer husband after the expiry ofthe period of iddat with or with-out the help of the court, it isabsolutely baseless.” (SundayObserver, March 9, 1986).

Ahmad Hasan, quoting anexpert opinion from theMinistry of Justice of the UnitedArab Emirates (UAE), contendsthat, “...living allowance given toa woman after divorce extendsup to three months. This hasbeen an accepted fact allthrough the Islamic history. Allwell-known schools of Islamiclaw are unanimous on this”(March 9, 1986). Anotherresearcher, Nadia Barakat fromthe Ministry of Justice, UAE,known for her contribution to“family laws”,maintains:...[A]ccording tojurists, the Quranic injunction‘Tasreeh bin Ahsan’ did providefor a compensation amount.(However) it was left to theMuslim judge....to rule howmuch compensation should bepayable to a woman who, in theopinion of the judge, does nothave any means to support her-self. This, of course, did notapply to a divorced womanwho had relatives capable ofsupporting her (March 9, 1986).

After a great deal of consul-tation with the Muslim intellec-tuals, academia, the MuslimPersonal Law Board (MPLB)

members, particularly MaulanaAbul Hasan Ali Nadwi, thenpresident of MPLB as alsoMuslim MPs, Rajiv Gandhidecided to introduce theMuslim Women (Protection ofRights on Divorce) Bill. Itintended to exclude the formerhusband of a divorced Muslimwoman from the liability ofmaintaining her beyond thethree months of iddat andinstead said that it should bemaintained by her father orbrother. It excluded the Muslimwomen from Section 125 and127 of the CrPC to ensure thatthe apex court judgment onShah Bano case did not apply tothem. Amid strong resentmentfrom a section of membersfrom the then ruling Congressas well as Opposition parties, theMuslim Women (Protection ofRights on Marriage) Bill wasintroduced in the Lok Sabha onMay 5, 1986.

While Arif MohammadKhan resigned from the Councilof Ministers in protest against theintroduction of the Bill, severalheads rolled to check the dissi-dence in the Congress. Justice VRKrishna Iyer, retired judge of theSupreme Court, in a letter datedFebruary 29, 1986, to RajivGandhi wrote: “The Bill is a sinagainst the Quran. Many Islamicscholars hold that the Quraniccommand to husbands to payupkeep expenses to a divorceebeyond iddat is clear.”

The outpouring sympathyshown by non-Muslims forMuslim women was seen withscepticism and suspicion ratherthan appreciation. There wereclaims by many that the SupremeCourt judgement in the ShahBano case will enhance secular-

ism and national integration inthe country. Asghar Ali Engineerargued that the Shah Bano casehad adversely affected the Hindu-Muslim relations besides causingharm to secularism. Justice VRKrishna Iyer, in a letter datedFebruary 28, 1986, to PrimeMinister wrote, “The best gift fornational integration and incendi-ary communalism is the anti-sec-ular, anti-Shah BanoAmendment Bill now underway. Please desist.”

Mahmood argued: “Thereare maintenance provisions alsoin the Hindu law enactments(1955-56), Hindu Adoption andMaintenance Act (1956). TheCrPC has not repealed them.Nobody has ever regarded themaintenance law under theHindu law statues as un-Constitutional. How can, then, acodified Muslim law on mainte-nance be called un-Constitutional? Similarly, if spe-cial laws applicable to Hindus donot make them ‘separatists’, howcan a special law enacted for theMuslims make the Muslims ‘sep-aratists?’”

Pondering on the issue ofnational integration and citingexamples of some of the pastActs, Rajshekar, an eminent jour-nalist, questioned the rationale foradhering to religious identity.When the Hindu Marriage Actwas passed in 1955 and theHindu Succession Act in 1956;there was already an IndianSuccession Act. If the intentionthen was for Common CivilCode, they could have straightaway called the Hindu MarriageAct as the “Indian” Marriage Actand the “Indian” Succession Actwith suitable amendments ifnecessary. This would have takencare of all Indians. Still, theypassed the Hindu Marriage Actand the Hindu Succession Actexclusively for themselves. Wherewas their sense of “national inte-gration” at that time?

Describing the merits andshortfalls of the Muslim WomenAct, Prof Mahmood wrote: “TheMuslim Women Act … does notleave divorced Muslim women ina ‘total state of vagrancy’ or to ‘begfrom door to door’, as is claimedby some of its critics. … Underthe 1986 Act, a Muslim divorcedwoman can be awarded by thecriminal courts �50,000 (or fivelakh or more, there being nostatutory ceiling) — as a lumpsum or payable in installments —never to be re-opened in a civilcourt.” Yet, it is believed, said andpropagated that the Act has“taken away” from Muslimwomen all that the CrPC had“given” them along with otherwomen and has left them to“beg” from “door to door.”

(The writer is author of Wingsof Destiny: Ziaur Rahman Ansari-A Life)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “India on the Moon” (July 23).It is often said, “do not ask for themoon”, meaning, one should notmake requests or demands thatare perceived to be extraordinary,unreasonable or difficult toaccede. With India on the moon,thanks to the successful launchof Chandrayaan-2, we can sure-ly ask for the moon. The launchhas proved that nothing is impos-sible. Every single person, whoworked for the mission, deservespraise.

VS JayaramanChennai

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Sheila Dikshit: A requiem” (July21) by Chandan Mitra. In thepassing away of Sheila Dikshit,we have lost a person with rareacumen and ability, who trans-formed the capital into a vibrantand modern city. Her contribu-tion to the development ofDelhi was immense and shecan rightly be called the archi-tect of modern Delhi.

Further, she also transformedthe public transport system. Themany expressways, flyovers, roadsand elegant roundabouts thatwere built during the time whenshe served as three-time ChiefMinister of Delhi have led to has-sle-free access to public transport.

Although, the staging of theCommonwealth Games in Delhiduring her tenure was marked by

some controversies, she will beremembered as one of the bestperforming Chief Ministers thatthe country had.

The fact that scores of peopleturned up to pay homage to herindicates that she will be remem-bered as an affectionate and ahumble person.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Sheila Dikshit: A requiem” (July21) by Chandan Mitra. SeniorCongress leader and three-termChief Minister of Delhi SheilaDikshit can be called a “trans-former” of Delhi. It used to be afull-fledged Union Territory till

1991 and even today has multi-ple power centres, but she wasable to manage Delhi much bet-ter than many others who heldpower before she took over thereins in 1998.

Gujarat used to be touted asthe best governed State underNarendra Modi, but unlike Delhi,the State did not face the problemof people migrating in large num-bers. Unlike other homogenousStates, Delhi has became the res-idence of people from all acrossthe country and she did struggleto handle the law and order as theDelhi Police continued to beunder the Central Government.

Later, many unsubstantiatedallegations of corruption againsther over the 2010Commonwealth Games spoilther clean image. She was luckyas during her term, she had thesupport of the then PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayeeand then Manmohan Singh,unlike the present ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal, whocontinues to face hostilities fromthe powers that be.

N Nagarajan Secunderabad

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In India, start-ups are growing at an astound-ing rate with a record fund raising of $3.9 bil-lion for the first six months of 2019. Last year,

they clocked more than 100 per cent growth withfunding doubling from $2 billion to $4.2 billion,from 2017 to 2018, according to NASSCOM.The country is on its way to becoming a start-up hub with more than 1,200 new businessescoming into existence in 2018, including eightunicorns, thus taking the total number to 7,200start-ups last year. When compared to the firstsix months, investments this year across 292deals saw a 44.4 per cent jump from the $2.7 bil-lion received by domestic start-ups in the firsthalf of 2018, according to Venture Intelligence.

Private funding through private markets likeequity, venture capital and angel investing, is thereason for this phenomenal growth of start-upsin India. In the past, private firms often wentpublic when their need for capital exceeded whatinvestors could provide. However, in the lastdecade, firms have found a good alternative inprivate markets. This because of two reasons.First, drawn by the potential of high returns,more investors have entered the space, thus cre-ating an influx of available capital. This has inturn altered the trajectory of private companiesbecause they are no longer forced to raise cap-ital on public markets. Second, as more investorspour money into private markets, it has nowbecome easier for new private companies to getfunding needed for growth. As a result, there hasbeen a sharp influx in the number of Venturecapital (VC)-backed startups and PE-backedcompanies in recent years. In other words, asmore money flows into this space and as morefirms stay within, private markets will contin-ue to grow in value and opportunity.

Even though the private funding market isbooming, it is not easy for start-ups to raisefunds. They require several things — capital,strategic assistance and introduction to poten-tial customers, partners and employees amongother things. Entrepreneurs will be better pre-pared to obtain funding if among other things,they understand the basic difference betweendistinctive type of private funding available. VCis the finance that investors provide to start-upcompanies and small businesses. These arebelieved to have long-term growth potential andcan be provided at different stages of the com-panies evolution. VC generally comes from well-off investors, investment banks and any otherfinancial institutions. However, it does notalways take a monetary form; it can also be pro-vided in the form of technical or managerialexpertise. It is basically a subset of Private Equity(PE), which focusses on emerging firms seek-ing substantial funds for the first time. PE tendsto fund larger and more established firms thatseek an equity infusion or a chance for compa-ny founders to transfer some of their ownershipstakes. Apart from the stage of investment, PEfirms make investments in a few companies onlyand provide funds to matured firms that havea good record while VC firms make their invest-ments in a large number of small companies,who may not necessarily have the desired trackrecord.

Third, PE investment can be made in anyindustry as opposed to VC in which investmentis made in high growth potential industries likeenergy conservation, biomedical, quality upgra-dation, information technology and so on.

Fourth, the risk profile in VC is comparativelyhigher than PE. Lastly, the use of funds is dif-ferent in both cases. In PE, funds are utilised infinancial or operational restructuring of thevendee company. On the other hand, VC fundsare utilised in streamlining business operationsby way of developing and launching new prod-ucts or services.

While the roots of PE can be traced back tothe 19th century, the birth place of VC was inthe US. It developed as an industry only afterthe Second World War. Georges Doriot, HarvardBusiness School professor, is generally consid-ered to be the “Father of VC”, who raised $3.5million fund to invest in firms that commer-cialised technologies developed during WWII.ARDC’s first investment was in a company thathad ambitions to use X-ray technology for can-cer treatment. The $200,000 that Doriot invest-ed turned into $1.8 million when the firm wentpublic in 1955. In a VC deal, large ownershipchunks of a firm are created and sold to a fewinvestors through independent partnerships thatare established by VC firms. Sometimes thesepartnerships consist of a pool of several simi-lar enterprises.

Another important way of raising funds,particularly for small business and companiesin emerging industries, is through angelinvestors, which is typically a diverse group ofindividuals, who have amassed their wealththrough a variety of sources. However, they tendto be entrepreneurs themselves or executivesrecently retired from the business empires builtby them. Self-made investors providing VC typ-ically share several key characteristics. Themajority look to invest in companies that arewell-managed, have a fully-developed businessplan and are poised for substantial growth. Theseinvestors are also likely to offer to fund venturesthat are involved in the same or similar indus-tries or business sectors with which they are

familiar. If they haven’t actually worked in thatfield, they might have had academic training init. Another common occurrence among angelinvestors is co-investing where one angelinvestor funds a venture alongside a trustedfriend or associate, often another angel investor.

Although angel investors and venture cap-italists have a number of similarities like cater-ing to innovative start-up businesses, there arealso a number of differences between them. First,an angel investor works alone. Venture capital-ists are part of a company. Angels are rich, ofteninfluential individuals, who choose to invest inhigh-potential companies in exchange for anequity stake. Given that they are investing theirown money and there is always an inherent risk,it’s highly unlikely that an angel will invest in abusiness owner who isn’t willing to give away apart of their company. Venture capital firms, onthe other hand, comprise a group of profession-al investors. Their capital comes from individ-uals, corporations, pension funds and founda-tions. These investors are known as limited part-ners. General partners, on the other hand, arethose, who work closely with founders orentrepreneurs; they are responsible for manag-ing the fund and ensuring that the company isdeveloping in a healthy way.

Second, they invest different amounts.While angel investing is relatively limited in itsfinancial capacity, this mode of investing can’talways finance the full capital requirements ofa business. Venture capitalists, on the other hand,can raise large amounts of fund.

Third, they have different responsibilitiesand motivations. Angel investors are primari-ly there to offer financial support. While theymight provide advice if asked for or introduceto important contacts, they are not obliged todo so. Their level of involvement depends on thewishes of the company and the angel’s own incli-nations. A venture capitalist looks for a strong

product or service that holds strong competi-tive advantage, a talented management team anda wide potential market. Once venture capital-ists are convinced and have invested, it is thentheir role to help build successful companies,which is where they add real value. Among otherareas, a venture capitalist will help establish astrategy and recruit senior management. He/shewill be on hand to advise and act as a sound-ing board for CEOs. This is all with the aim ofhelping a company make more money andbecome more successful.

Fourth, angel investors only park funds inearly-stage companies. They specialise in early-stage businesses, funding the late-stage techni-cal development and early market entry. Thefunds an angel investor provides can make allthe difference when it comes to getting a com-pany up and running. Venture capitalists, on theother hand, invest in early-stage companies andmore developed firms, depending on the focusof the venture capital firm. If a start-up showscompelling promise and a lot of growth poten-tial, a venture capitalist will be keen to invest.

A venture capitalist will also be eager toinvest in a business with a proven track recordthat can demonstrate it has what it takes to suc-ceed. The venture capitalist then offers fundingto allow for rapid development and growth.Lastly, they differ in due diligence. Venture cap-italists focus more on due diligence. These aresome of the differences between PE, venture cap-ital and angel investors and the decision of whichto approach is personal. To improve the oddsof securing investment and appealing to aninvestor, a start-up company should take thetime and consideration to create a detailed, com-pelling pitch. With sufficient luck, it can end upwith the financial and entrepreneurial supportto skyrocket its business.

(The writer is Assistant Professor at AmityUniversity)

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Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra took thelead last week by visiting Uttar

Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district, whereallegedly 10 tribals were gunned downby the village headman over a land dis-pute. While other Opposition partieslike the Samajwadi Party (SP) and theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) werecaught napping, Priyanka went aheadwith her gamble even as the policestopped her. She responded by sayingthat she was visiting the village only tocommiserate with the affected families.Thereafter, she spent a night at theMirzapur State guesthouse, refusing tofurnish a bail bond.

Senior Congress leader DigvijayaSingh compared her visit to Indira

Gandhi’s Belchi visit and tweeted,“Aap ka ye kadam Indiraji ki Belchiyatra ki yaad dilatha hai. Priyankaji aapsankarsh kare ham sab aap ke saath hai.”He was referring to Indira Gandhi’s bigpolitical moment after her defeat in1977 when she visited Belchi village inBihar where there was a Dalit massacre.She even rode an elephant to reach thevillage. Priyanka made similar effortsby refusing to return without meetingthe affected families and remained inthe front-page news for at least twodays.

Priyanka’s visit has created somecheer in the local Congress as her cam-paign earlier had lost sheen when shecould not even get her brother RahulGandhi elected from the family pock-et borough Amethi. The ‘Brahmastra’,as the party touted her, had misfired.She was lying low until now. ButPriyanka has now snatched the firstpolitical opportunity with her ownBelchi moment. Blaming Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanath, sheheld that the shooting was the latest signof deteriorating law and order in theState.

Priyanka’s visit was part of her

Uttar Pradesh strategy. Her goal is the2022 Assembly polls. Now that she hasbeen made the general secretary incharge of the entire State, she isaddressing the important issue of howto build up the party. The Congress’impact on past elections for decades —barring 2009 — has been largely mar-ginal. Her tweets and her statementstargetted against Chief MinisterAdityanath are meant to achieve thisgoal.

At another level, after futile effortsto make Rahul Gandhi withdraw hisresignation, the Congress is readyingitself for a post-Gandhi phase. With no

takers outside the family, will theparty choose Priyanka to take the placeof her brother? For this, she needs thesupport of the old guard but seniors areupset at the way Priyanka reacted to the2019 electoral defeat in the CongressWorking Committee (CWC) meetingon May 25, where she blamed those inthat room for the defeat. According toinsiders, Priyanka said, Congress “kehathyare” are sitting in this room.

This is why there has been a mutedresponse from the old guard. Also,Congress leaders have not pushed hername openly as Rahul Gandhi had saidthat the party should find someone out-

side the Nehru-Gandhi family for theposition. But now, a lobby for Priyankaled by Congress leaders SriprakashJaiswal and Bhakta Charan Das hasdemanded that she be made the nextparty president.

While the party is dilly-dallyingabout Rahul’s successor, insiders saythat the problem appears to be thatthere’s no consensus within the Gandhifamily itself. Priyanka is not averse totaking over the party though SoniaGandhi would like to persuade her sonto withdraw his resignation. Moreover,it is not clear what the family willdecide.

If chosen as party president, willPriyanka be able to deliver at a timewhen there is large-scale erosion? Thisis a difficult time as the party is total-ly demoralised after the humiliatingdefeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.There is no organisation or second-rung leaders. There is no strategy. Shehas to spell out what the Congressstands for today. She has to find a newteam and also placate the old guard,who are weary of her.

Elections to States likeMaharashtra, Jharkhand and

Haryana are due in a few months andthe party is still ridden with faction-alism, groupism and indiscipline.There are too many issues to beresolved. Moreover, though she is acrowd puller and charismatic, whatexperience does she have to steer theparty during difficult times likethese? She has not been tested on herorganisational skills nor has sheworked at the grassroot level. Shebecame a full-time politician only inthe last six months. So she will onlybe wearing a crown of thorns.

Clamour for Priyanka has gatheredsteam in recent days after Jaiswal andDas had started it. She may well go onto prove herself at some point in thefuture, but so far, she has shown noneof Indira Gandhi’s political skills. TheUttar Pradesh results have proved thatthere is no Priyanka magic but her sup-porters dismiss this by pointing out thatshe came into the scene too late.Ultimately the party cannot live with-out the family and the family cannotgive up its hold over the party. So theyare stuck with each other.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)

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Sonbhadra (UP):Investigations into the clash,which left 10 people dead in aSonbhadra village last week,might face a major hurdle asthe 1955 revenue records of theland disputed by the rival par-ties have been missing.

On Saturday, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathhad suggested the genesis of theland dispute was laid in 1955,during the Congress rule, andsaid the committee set up toinvestigate the shooting inci-dent in Gharowal area ofSonbhadra district will lookinto this.

Opposition parties, includ-ing the Congress, havedemanded a CBI probe into theincident.

"The records of the landbelong to the time whenSonbhadra was a part ofMirzapur district, till 1989. Somerecords are destroyed after aspecified period of time. Thesame is the case here," AdditionalDistrict Magistrate YogendraBahadur Singh told PTI.

Some records, which aretaken as time barred, aredestroyed in a routine manneras every paper cannot be

stored, the ADM said.The committee constituted

by Adityanath under the addi-tional chief secretary (rev-enue)has to give its reportwithin 10 days.

At a press conference aftervisiting the village, Adityanathhad sought to pin the blame onthe Congress rule from 1955 to1989. His government hasclaimed that the 90-bigha plotwas illegally transferred toAdarsh Co-operative Society,which held the land till 1989.

It claimed that the owner-ship of the land was changed toindividual that year. Later, theindividual reportedly sold the

land to gram pradhan YagyaDutt, the main accused in thefiring incident on July 17.

Ten Gond tribals weregunned down while resiting aviolent attempt by the villagehead and his men to take con-trol of the land.

On Tuesday, ADM Singhsaid Dutt also had held the pos-session of another land in frontof his house illegally and thedistrict administration has gotit freed.

District Magistrate AnkitKumar Agarwal has ordered aninquiry into all development-related work undertaken inthe area. PTI

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Rajouri: Thirteen months afterthe abduction and killing ofrifleman Aurangzeb by terror-ists in South Kashmir'sShopian district, his two broth-ers have joined the Army toserve the nation and "avengehis death".

Mohmmad Tariq andMohmmad Shabir joined the156 Infantry Battalion ofTerritorial Army at a passingout parade at headquarters ofthe counter insurgency force'Romeo' in Jammu &Kashmir's Rajouri district onMonday, a defence spokesmansaid.

The duo aspires to join'operation all out' against ter-rorists in Kashmir and fightagainst the enemies of thenation.

Their father MohammadHanif, who also served inIndian Army, is proud of hissons joining the Army "toserve the nation to stamp outterrorism" in Kashmir and"avenge the killing of theirbrother".

"I have sent my sons toserve Indian Army and ensurestamping out of terrorism in abid to avenge the killing oftheir brother Aurangzeb by ter-rorists in Kashmir," Hanif said.

"Their fight against ter-rorism will be tribute andhomage to his martyr son", he

said.Aurangzeb was abducted

in Pulwama and later killed byarmed terrorists on June 14,2018, when he was on his wayback home in Poonch to cele-brate Eid with his family. Hewas a rifleman in the army's 44Rashtriya Rifles.

After his killing, we weredetermined to join the army,the duo said.

"We have joined the Army.Our mission is to avenge thekilling of our brother. This isour father's resolve and direc-tive to us. We will abide by it,"Shabir said.

The duo, who were select-ed among 101 new recruitsfrom over 11,000 participantsin a recruitment rally inSurankote belt of Poonch dis-trict on March 7, will gettraining in the Punjab regi-ment, the defence spokesmansaid.

The Army conducted theenrolment parade in Rajouridistrict on Monday, thespokesman said.

Haling from Salani ham-let of Surankote in Poonchborder district, their elderbrother Mohmmad Qasimalso has joined Army 12 yearsago and younger brothersAasim and Sohial are studying.They also aspire to followtheir brothers. PTI

������������#���7��8����������6������ Arambagh (WB): A

Trinamool Congress workerwas beaten to death in WestBengal’s Hooghly district, fol-lowing which six people werearrested, police said onTuesday.

The ruling party's districtpresident Dilip Yadav accusedBJP activists of killing LalchandBag for attending ChiefMinister and TMC supremoMamata Banerjee's Martyrs'Day rally in Kolkata on July 21,a charge refuted by the saffronparty.

Bag (40), a resident ofNakunda village in Goghat 1

block, was beaten up onMonday night when he wasreturning home from a market,a police officer said.

He was taken to theArambagh sub-divisional hos-pital, where doctors declaredhim brought-dead, police said.

Superintendent of PoliceTathagata Basu said, "On thecomplaint of Bag's fatheragainst 27 people, six havebeen arrested so far and inves-tigation is underway."

Meanwhile, BJP'sArambagh organisational dis-trict president Biman Ghoshsaid the death of Bag was aresult of infighting within theruling party of the state.

The Trinamool Congressorganises Martyrs' Day rally onJuly 21 every year in memoryof 13 Youth Congress workers,who were killed in police firingon July 21, 1993. PTI

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As top brass of the IndianArmy is busy participating

in series of events marking 20years of 'Operation Vijay',Pakistan Army is bent uponprovoking strong Indian retal-iation to further escalate ten-sions along the Line of Control.

Pakistan Army on Tuesdayresorted to 'unprovoked' cease-fire violations for the secondday in succession in Poonchsector. A rifleman of the IndianArmy had sacrificed his life inSunderbani area of Rajouri onMonday.

According to groundreports, "several forward vil-lages, falling in the direct lineof fire, were targeted by thePakistan army using mortars".

Official sources said, overone dozen posts were directlytargeted by the Pakistan armyin Poonch, Krishna Ghati,Mendhar and Mankote areas ofPoonch.

Defence PRO in Jammu, LtCol Devender Anand said,"Pakistan army initiatedunprovoked ceasefire violationalong the line of control usingsmall arms firing in Poonchsector around 12.20 p.m". Hesaid the second ceasefire vio-

lation was reported along theline of control in Krishna Ghati,Mankote and Mendhar sectors.In all these place Pakistanarmy shelled civilian areasusing mortars. In response,Indian army retaliated strong-ly and effectively, Defence PROadded.

Meanwhile, a coffee tablebook showcasing the historyand achievements of the 'Fireand Fury' corps was released byGoC-in-C, NorthernCommand Headquarters, Lt-Gen Ranbir Singh at Leh onTuesday, in the presence of Lt-Gen YK Joshi, GoC 'Fire andFury' Corps.

Speaking on the occasion,Lt-Gen Ranbir Singh said thatmajestic Ladakh has seen someof the fiercest battles in its hos-tile terrain and is also witnessto the epitome of valour andsacrifices of the Indian Army.

Lucknow: The Uttar PradeshLegislative Assembly onTuesday witnessed unrulyscenes as OppositionSamajwadi Party charged theState Government withattempts to frame its leaderAzam Khan in land grabbingcases in Rampur.

The matter was raisedthrough an adjournment noticegiven by SP member NarendraVerma during the Zero Hour.

Speaking on the admissi-bility of the notice, Leader ofOpposition Ram GovindChaudhary (also fromSamajwadi Party) alleged of aconspiracy to crush oppositionparties in the state.

He said FIRs were regis-tered against the Rampur MPalmost 12 years later "out ofvendetta" to humiliate theSamajwadi Party and the

minorities.Choudhary also suggested

that an all-party committee ofthe House be sent to Rampurto look into the allegationsagainst the former StateMinister.

In his reply, stateParliamentary Affairs MinisterSuresh Khanna asserted thatthe cases were registeredagainst Khan as per law.

Reading out a detailedreport of the district adminis-tration of Rampur, he said theland on which the SP leader'sMaulana Mohammad AliJauhar University has beenbuilt, belongs to Dalits.

"If someone sets up an edu-cational institute, it should bewelcomed, but if the land of thepoor, deprived and labourers isgrabbed, it cannot be praised,"the Minister hit out. PTI

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Jaipur: The Rajasthan HighCourt has acquitted six liferswhile upholding the deathsentence to one and the lifeterm to another in the 23-year-old case of bomb blast in a busat Samleti in Dausa district, inwhich 14 people were killed.

The six lifers who werefreed on Monday by a Jaipurbench of the high courtinclude f ive Jammu andKashmir natives Javed Khan,Latif Ahmed, Mohammad AliBhatt, Mirja Nissa Hussainand Abdul Ghani.

The sixth one, Rais Beg,who was acquitted, is fromAgra in Uttar Pradesh.

A trial court at Bandikui inDausa had awarded deathpenalty to one person, AbdulHamid, and life terms to sevenothers in the 1996 bomb blastcase.

The division bench of jus-tices Sabina and GoverdhanBardhar, however, upheld thedeath penalty awarded toAbdul Hamid, saying he wasthe key person behind plant-ing of the bomb in the busgoing to Bikaner from Agra onMay 22, 1996.

The bench also upheldthe life term awarded to Pappualias Salim, holding him to beresponsible for supplying theexplosives.

The court acquitted the sixlifers ruling that the prosecu-tion has failed to prove theirlinks with the conspiracy ofthe blast, said defence counselShahid Hasan.

All eight were convictedby the Bandikui sessions courtfor various offences underIndian Penal Code, theExplosive Act and the

Prevention of Damage toPublic Property (PDPP).

The high court bench alsoupheld the acquittal of a ninthperson, Farukh Ahmed Khan,by the Bandikui court in thecase earlier in 2014.

The state government hadchallenged the acquitted ofKhan, but the high courtbench dismissed the appealagainst him.

The blast had taken placein a state roadways bus, goingto Bikaner from Agra on May22, 1996. Fourteen personswere killed and 37 injured inthe blast.

Hamid whose deathpenalty was upheld in theSamleti bomb blast case is alsoa key accused in the caserelated to planting of bombs inthe SMS Stadium of Jaipur onJanuary 26, 1996. PTI

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Pune: A day after the Lok Sabhapassed amendments to the Rightto Information (RTI) Act, socialactivist Anna Hazare on Tuesdayaccused the Union Governmentof betraying Indian citizensthrough the move.

On Monday, the Lok Sabhaamended the RTI Act thatallowed the Centre to prescribethe term of office, salaries,allowances and other terms andconditions.

It also changes the status ofthe Information Commissioners,who were on a par with ElectionCommissioners as per the orig-inal RTI Act.

"It is expected that whiledrafting a legislation, the gov-ernment take the opinion of cit-izens. If the draft and the Act areboth made only by the govern-ment, then it is not a democra-cy but a dictatorship," Hazaresaid.

"India got the RTI Act in

2005 but with this amendmentin the RTI Act, the governmentis betraying the people of the thiscountry," he said.

Hazare, 82, said his health isnot in a good condition but ifpeople of the country take to thestreets to safeguard the sanctityof the RTI Act, he would beready to join them.

Hazare, whose movementprompted the then Maharashtragovernment to enact a revisedMaharashtra Right toInformation Act which wasconsidered as the base docu-ment for the Right to

Information Act 2005, wasspeaking to reporters at his vil-lage Ralegan Siddhi inAhmednagar district.

Hazare said he does notknow whether the governmentwill listen to him or not but hewill still write a letter to thePrime Minister Narendra Modiasking him to rescind thechanges in the RTI Act.

After 13 years, the govern-ment is trying to amend the Act,he said. Such Acts are made withpeople's consultation and sochanges, if any, should also bemade in consultation with peo-ple of the country, he said. PTI

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Visakhapatnam: SevenMaoists, including threewomen, surrendered onTuesday, police sources said.

Of the three women, two—Pangi Talso (28) and VantalaMangamma (34)—are areacommittee members ofGalikonda, Korukonda andGurtedu Dalam and were car-rying a reward of Rs 4 lakh eachannounced by the government.

They were allegedlyinvolved in some shootouts,attacks on police camps andmurders, sources said.

They surrendered beforeVisakhapatnam Range DIGKalidas Venkata Ranga Raoand superintendent of policeBapujee Attada.

They two had abandonedtheir squad about 20 days agoand surrendered here official-ly on Tuesday, police said.

"We came out withoutinforming the party. We areafraid of continuous combingoperations and also vexed withthe party line," Pangi Talsotold reporters.

The other Maoists whosurrendered were squad mem-ber Killo Relli alias Durga,Vantala Babu Rao, Korra Siva,Korra Subbali andButari NukaRaju, police said. PTI

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In a major development ini-tiative taken ahead of the

Maharashtra Assembly polls,the BJP-led saffron allianceGovernment on Tuesdayapproved three Metro corridorsinvolving 50 km-long routeand a cost of �24,000 crore.

At a meeting chaired byChief Minister DevendraFadnavis, the State Cabinetgave a go ahead to the threemetro corridors — one ofwhich caters to the people liv-ing in south central and southMumbai and the two othersserve the extended suburbs inthe Mumbai MetropolitanRegion (MMR).

While one route will serveparts of eastern and south

Mumbai, the other two routesshall serve the extended sub-urbs in Thane, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said afterthe cabinet meeting.

Two of the approved met-ros cater to the extendednorthern suburbs of Thane,Kalyan and Taloja — all locat-ed in the MMR, while the thirdokayed metro is for a routebetween Wadala in south cen-tral Mumbai and General PostOffice (GPO) in southMumbai, both points locatedin the Island city.

Estimated to be built at acost Rs. 8,000 crore, theWadala-GPO Metro 11 corri-dor will be a 14 km-long route.It will be partly elevated andpartly underground with 14stations en route. The stations

are: Wadala RTO, GaneshNagar, BPT Hospital (elevated)and Sewri Metro, Hay Bunder,Coal Bunder, Darukhana,Wadi Bunder, Clock Tower,Carnac Bunder and CSMTMetro (all underground).

Slated to be developed atan estimated cost of Rs. 5000-crore, the Gaimukh-ShivajiChowk Metro 10 corridor willbe 11 km long and it will havefive stations en route. The fivestations are: Gaimukh,Gaimukh Retibunder, VersovaChaarphata, Kashi-Mira andShivaji Chowk in adjoiningThane district.

The Kalyan-Taloja Metro12 corridor is both longest andcostliest among the threemetro corridors. Set to cost anestimated cost of Rs 11,000

crore, the 25 km Kalyan-TalojaMetro 12 has 18 stations enroute. This metro caters tomost important industrial cen-tres in the MMR.

The 18 railway stations inthis corridor are: APMCKalyan, Ganesh Nagar,Pisawali Gaon, Golwali,Dombivli MIDC, Sagaon,Sonarpada, Manpada,Hadutane, Kolegaon,Niljegaon, Wadavali, Bale,Vaklan, Turbhe, Pisawe Depot,Pisawe and Taloja.

According to a govern-ment spokesperson, the threenew metro corridors areexpected to reduce the journeytimings by 50 to 75 per centcompared to the road and con-tribute to shifting of road usersto metro by 30 to 35 per cent.

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Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Government has sent 94 repeatoffenders to jail under the Prevention of Anti- Social ActivitiesAct (PASA) for their involvement in crimes related to cowslaughter and transportation of beef in the last five years, theLegislative Assembly was told on Tuesday.

In his written reply to a query of Congress MLA NathabhaiPatel seeking details on the action taken against repeat offend-ers, CM Rupani, who also handles Home Ministry, said policehad identified as many as 310 repeat offenders during December2013 to November 2018. "Of the 310, 94 persons have been sentto jail under PASA," Rupani said in his reply. Responding to arelated question, Rupani said the State had permanently forfeited370 vehicles involved in illegal transportation of beef, cows andits progeny between Sept 2017 and Dec 2018. PTI

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Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Government on Tuesday said thatthe order pertaining to deduction of salary of Government pri-mary school teachers for not sending their selfies during themorning assembly to mark their attendance has been with-drawn.

Speaking in the Legislative Council during the Zero Houron an adjournment notice, Minister of State (IndependentCharge) for Basic Education Anupama Jaiswal said, "The orderpertaining to cutting the day's salary of teachers of governmentprimary schools for not sending their selfie during the morn-ing assembly has been withdrawn."

The matter was raised by Teachers group MLCs Om PrakashSharma, Hem Singh Pundir and others, who said that the sys-tem of sending the selfie has provisions of encouragement andalso punishment, which is wrong.

"The people of the villages used to complain that the teach-ers did not come on time. Hence, the selfie system was imple-mented in the schools. The government is with the teachers andwill never insult them," Jaiswal said.

Earlier this month, primary teachers were asked to marktheir presence by clicking a selfie in their school as the author-ities looked to address the problem of absenteeism and proxyattendance. PTI

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Bengaluru: A day after launch-ing the country's second moonmission, the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO)on Tuesday said theChandrayaan-2 spacecraft is in"good health" and moving inthe "right direction".

India had on Mondaylaunched Chandrayaan-2 on-board its powerful rocketGSLV-MkIII-M1 from thespaceport of Sriharikota inAndhra Pradesh with the aimof landing a rover in the unex-plored lunar south pole.

The 3,850 kgChandrayaan-2, a three-mod-ule spacecraft comprisingorbiter, lander and rover, hasbeen injected into the earth'sorbit. It will be subjected to aseries of orbit manoeuvres inthe coming weeks to take it tothe vicinity of moon, with therover soft landing planned onSeptember 7.

"The Chandrayaan-2 is ingood health. There is no doubtabout it. It is moving in theright direction," an official ofthe Bengaluru-headquarteredISRO told PTI here.

He said at present, noupdates on the mission havebeen made because there is noneed for it at this juncture.

"However, there is a littlemilestone which we will notreveal now, but will updatewhen the right time comes," theofficial said.

In a giant leap for thecountry's ambitious low-costspace programme, ISRO hasundertaken the most complexand its prestigious missionever aiming to land the roveron the moon.

If successful, it will makeIndia the fourth country after

Russia, the US and China topull off a soft landing on themoon.

The ISRO is aiming for asoft landing of the lander(spacecraft) in the South Poleregion of the moon where nocountry has gone so far.

Immediately afterChandrayaan-2's separationfrom the rocket, the solar arrayof the spacecraft automatical-ly got deployed and the ISROTelemetry, Tracking andCommand Network atBengaluru successfully tookcontrol of the spacecraft, theISRO has said. PTI

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Kolkata: Former Kolkata PoliceCommissioner Rajeev Kumartold the Calcutta High Courton Tuesday that the CBI hasnot examined Assam FinanceMinister Himanta Biswa Sarmathough his name has croppedup in the Saradha chitfundscam case.

Kumar's counsel MilanMukherjee submitted beforeJustice Madhumati Mitra thatthe IPS officer has, on theother hand, been singled outamong 121 officers of the WestBengal government-formedSpecial Investigation Team(SIT).

Mukherjee submitted thatSarma has not been examinedby the CBI despite his namehaving cropped up in the probeby the SIT five years backwhen the scam was unearthedin 2013.

Mukherjee accused theCBI of malafide intention tomalign his client by pickinghim for questioning amongthe 121 officers of the SIT.

Kumar, who was the com-missioner of Bidhannagar

Police when the scam brokeout, looked after the day to dayoperations of the SIT.

Kumar has moved theHigh Court seeking quashingof a CBI notice to him in Mayfor appearing before it forassisting in probing the multi-crore Saradha chitfund scam.

Hearing in the matter wasadjourned till Thursday whenit will be taken up again. PTI

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Two months after a postgraduate medical student

Payal Tadvi of TopiwalaNational Medical Collegeallegedly committed suicidein her hostel room, theMumbai police crime branchsleuths on Tuesday filed avoluminous chargesheetagainst three accused doctorsbooked for alleged caste-baseddiscrimination and abetmentof suicide.

Confirming that the inves-tigators had filed thechargesheet in the allegedPayal Tadvi suicide case,Advocate for Tadvi’s family,Gunratna Sadavarte said: “Thepolice submitted thechargesheet today. The matterwill now come up for hearingbefore Justice DS Naidu at theBombay High Court onThursday”.

The three doctors whohave been named in the 1,600-page chargesheet are AnkitaKhandelwal, Bhakti Mehareand Hema Ahuja, who havebeen in the police custody eversince their arrest on May 28-29, 2019.

Earlier in the day, SpecialPublic Prosecutor (SPP) RajaThakre told the Bombay HighCourt that the charge-sheet inthe Payal Tadvi suicide casewould be filed either later inthe day or on Wednesday."Wewill file the chargesheet eitherby the end of the day today orby tomorrow," Thakreinformed the court.

Justice DS Naidu was hear-ing the bail application movedby three accused seeking bailin the case. A Sessions Courthad earlier rejected the bailplea filed by the three accused.

A second-year PG studentof Gynaecology and Obstetricsat the Topiwala NationalMedical College, attached tothe BYL Nair Hospital, Payal(26) was found hanging in herhostel room that she sharedwith three other students onMay 22.

Payal who was from theAdivasi Tadvi Bhil communi-ty, which is a Scheduled Tribe,hailed from Jalgaon in northMaharashtra.

The three arrested doctors

have been charged under theScheduled Castes and theScheduled Tribes (Preventionof Atrocities) Act, MaharashtraProhibition of Ragging Actand abetment of suicide,destruction of evidence andcommon intent under theIndian Penal Code.

The victim student’s hus-band Salman and motherAbida Salim have accused threesenior women doctors of dis-criminating, harassing and tor-turing Tadvi. They havedemanded "strictest action"against the three women doc-

tors.In their chargesheet, the

investigators have incorporat-ed the statements of Payal’s col-leagues, other staff membersand seniors in the hospital.Among the crucial pieces ofevidence submitted by thepolice is the statement ofPayal’s friend Snehal who hastold the police that her friendwas being victimised andharassed by the accused doc-tors on the basis of on heradmission as a student from aScheduled Tribe, the Bhil Tadvicommunity.

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��)����������;����$������������������"�30�6����&�������$� Jaipur: A Rajasthan Minister

has invoked RSS ideologueVeer Savarkar's scepticism overcow worship, triggeringprotests by the Opposition BJP.

Speaking in the Assemblyon Monday night,Parliamentary Affairs MinisterShanti Dhariwal said Savarkarhad described the cow as ahighly useful animal but addedthat there was no sense inworshipping.

"A superhuman is wor-shipped and there is no sensein worshipping an animal," hesaid, in an apparent referenceto Savarkar's views.

The minister's statementsinvited sharp reaction on

Tuesday from BJP MLAVasudev Devnani, who allegedthat it was an attack on Indianvalues in which cows are wor-shipped since long.

"Our sentiments are hurt.The context of Savarkar's viewson cows in that time was dif-ferent to what the minister hassaid in the house yesterday,"Devnani told reporters.

In the Assembly, Dhariwalclaimed the current views ofthe Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) about the defini-tion of a Hindu are contradic-tory to what had beendescribed in Savarkar's book,'Hindutva'.

The minister criticised

Savarkar's ideology and said theSangh ideologue's haddescribed Hindus as thosewhose ancestors were born inIndia and their holy places arein this country.

Dhariwal said when it issaid one has to be a Hindu forliving in 'Hindustan', it createsdisturbance in the society.

"He (Savarkar) had saidthat a man cannot be calledHindu whose holy land is inMecca, Medina, Jerusalem,Israel (or) Rome," Dhariwalsaid.

The Minister claimed thatRSS chief Mohan Bhagwat hadnow changed the definition ofHindu. PTI

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Lucknow: The Uttar PradeshGovernment on Tuesday tabledin the Assembly a Bill seekingan undertaking from privateuniversities that they will notallow their campuses to beused for “anti-national activi-ties”.

The Uttar Pradesh PrivateUniversities Bill, 2019 lists sev-eral conditions for setting upsuch institutions, including fol-lowing a transparent admissionprocess and a common acade-mic calendar prescribed by thestate government.

If the Bill becomes law, pri-vate universities will awardhonorary degrees to people inpublic life only with the stategovernment's approval.

The Bill demands anundertaking from the sponsorsof private universities that theirinstitution will not be involvedin or permit anyone to “causeor promote anti-national activ-ities”.

If any such activity takesplace on the campus, it shall beconsidered a major violation of

the conditions for setting upthe university, the draft legis-lation warns.

The government may thentake action according to theprovisions under the Act or anyother law in force, it says.

The Bill is meant to enactumbrella legislation to governall private universities, it adds.

A statement on the objec-tives of the Bill said 27 privateuniversities have been estab-lished and incorporated underdifferent state Acts in UttarPradesh. This means there isno uniform law to monitorsuch private universities, itadded. It has become difficultto collect information andensure quality standards inhigher education, the gov-ernment said.

The draft Bill wasapproved by the state cabinetrecently.

An official had then saidthe universities will have toensure that patriotism,national integration, com-munal amity, social harmony,

secularism, ethics and inter-national goodwill are includedin the curriculum.

The Bill proposes that atleast 75 per cent of teachers ineach department will have to bethe university's regular employ-ees. The proposed legislationdemands that the private uni-versities will also conform tothe standards specified by cen-tral regulatory bodies like theUniversity GrantsCommission. PTI

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Gandhinagar: IndependentMLA Jignesh Mevani onTuesday challenged GujaratChief Minister Vijay Rupani todeclare any one village "untouch-ability-free" before the upcom-ing Independence Day andmaintained the social evil wasstill prevalent in the state.

Speaking in the legislativeAssembly, he came down heav-ily on the BJP government inGujarat over the issue of atroc-ities against Dalits.

Referring to the successfullaunch of Chandrayaan-2 mis-sion on Monday, Mevani said

while it shows expertise in space,there exists no technology toprevent death of sanitationworkers engaged in cleaningsewers or septic tanks.

"It is the need of the hour forthe government to visit villageswhere Dalits are subjected tountouchability and discrimina-tion such as not allowing themto fetch water from commonwell. "The government shouldbook the guilty under theProtection of Civil Rights Act.But, the sad part is that nooffence is registered," the Dalitleader said. The MLA from

Vadgam in Banaskantha districtwas speaking on his 'cut-motion'moved against the budgetarydemands of the Social Justiceand Empowerment department.

"Whenever an incident ofatrocity takes place, media per-sons ask me `when will I visitthat place'. Now, it is my hum-ble appeal to Vijay Rupani,known to be a sarva-mitra'(friend of all), to be a 'Dalit-mitra' and visit such places.

"I want him to declare anyone village of Gujarat untouch-ability-free before August 15,"he said. PTI

>������"������������������������7���"������������"������#3���#����� ������Kolkata: West Bengal Chief

Minister Mamata Banerjee onTuesday wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi tostall and reverse the process ofcorporatising ordnance facto-ries in the interest of nationalsecurity and the country'sdefence.

Her missive comes in thebackdrop of the Centre's bid tocorporatise all the ordnancefactories of the country,including the OrdnanceFactory Board (OFB), whichhas its head quarters inKolkata.

The OFB with its 41 fac-tories, nine training institutes

across the country and about1.6 lakh officers and employ-ees has often been called thefourth pillar of the IndianDefence apparatus which pro-duces a vast range of arms andequipment for the armedforces, she wrote.

"I am shocked and sur-prised to know that this vitalpillar of the country's defenceand this key industrial initia-tive for our land is now beingcontemplated to be subjectedto a sudden exercise of degov-ernmentalisation, for whichthere has been not even an iotaof stakeholders' consultationsuptill now", she said. PTI

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal on

Tuesday dismissed a contemptpetition filed against RelianceGroup Chairman Anil Ambaniand other officials by minori-ty shareholders alleging non-payment of dues by RelianceInfratel.

A two-member benchheaded by NCLAT ChairmanJustice S J Mukhopadhaya, dis-missed any contempt pleaagainst Ambani and his officials.

“We have found that nocase has been made out forcontempt,” said NCLAT.

Earlier on July 3, NCLAThad reserved its order sayingthat it will decide whether the

the contempt petition filed byHSBC Daisy Investments(Mauritius) and others shouldbe admitted as RelianceCommunications (RCom) isgoing through insolvency pro-ceedings.

Reliance Infratel, is a sub-sidiary of RCom, and ispresently under corporateinsolvency resolution process.

HSBC Daisy had movedthe appellate tribunal overalleged default of payment of�230 crore by Reliance Infratel.

As per the consent terms ofthe agreement among RelianceInfratel, HSBC Daisy and oth-ers, recorded by the NCLAT inits order dated June 26, 2018,the Anil Ambani-owned firmwas to pay the amount in the

following six months.After the six-month peri-

od ended, HSBC Daisy andnine other minority share-holders holding 4.26 per centstake in Reliance Infratel filedthe contempt plea.

The counsel appearing forresolution professional saidthat as RCom was goingthrough insolvency proceed-ings and was under the mora-torium period under the IBC,it cannot pay money.

In May this year, theMumbai bench of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) started the corporateinsolvency resolution processof RCom, which has a totalbank debt of over �50,000crore.

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Luckystar, the owner of Jet’ssix-storey headquarters in

Andheri, on Tuesday movedthe National Company LawTribunal against the interimresolution professional (IRP)seeking possession of the SiroyaCentre.

The airline has its registeredoffice in Siroya Centre, locatedin Andheri suburb of Mumbai,which is worth �150 crore.

The counsel for Luckystaralleged that the IRP refused togive back the property, whichwas leased to Jet Airways, eventhough the lease agreement ter-minated due to non-paymenton June 7.

He argued the IRP cannotseek protection of the morato-rium issued by the tribunal asthe lease had ended before thecompany was admitted underthe insolvency process.

The tribunal had initiatedinsolvency process on the air-line on June 20 while the leasewas terminated on June 7.

Further, he said that onJune 27, they had sent a noticeto the airline’s IRP, asking himto facilitate repossession of thebuilding. However, goodsincluding computers and filesof Jet Airways are still lying inthe office premises, he added.

He claimed that the IRPhad asked him for the securi-ty deposit worth �10 crore.

The security depositamount, he said, according to

the lease agreement was adjust-ed when the corporate debtordefaulted and the money nowbelongs to Luckystar.

The building is worth �150crore, he added.

Earlier, mortgage lenderHDFC on July 4, had movedthe NCLT seeking to keep theJet Airways headquarters in theBandra Kurla Complex inMumbai out of the bankrupt-cy process.

The HDFC counsel hadtold NCLT that three floors ofthe building are mortgagedwith the lender.

Meanwhile, in a separateapplication, the employees’association of Jet Airwaysmoved the tribunal seekingpayment of salary backlogs.

The IRP said even onemonth salary is not possible onthe back of running expenses.

The tribunal, comprisingjudges VP Singh andRavikumar Duraisamy, askedthe IRP for Jet Airways, AshishChhawchharia of GrantThornton India, to discussemployee’s salary concerns withthe Committee of Creditors(CoC).

The tribunal said even if100 per cent cannot be paidsome amount of the salaryhave to be given as it is impor-tant for the survival of theemployees.

The IRP also submittedtheir second progress report onthe resolution process for theairline.

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The Government on Tuesdayextended the due date for

filing income tax returns byindividuals for financial year2018-19 by a month till August31.

Individuals, includingsalaried taxpayers, and entities— who do not need to get theiraccounts audited — wererequired to file their income taxreturns for fiscal 2018-19(Assessment Year 2019-20) byJuly 31, 2019.

“The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) extendsthe ‘due date’ for filing ofIncome Tax Returns fromJuly 31, 2019 to August 31,2019 in respect of the said cat-egories of taxpayers,” theFinance Ministry said in astatement.

There have been demandsfor an extension in filing ITRdate since issuance of taxdeducted at source (TDS) state-ment for 2018-19 fiscal wasdelayed.

Income Tax departmenthad last month extended thedeadline for employers to issueForm 16 TDS certificate forfinancial year 2018-19 to itsemployees by 25 days till July 10.

This left the salaried tax-payers with a limited time-frame of just 20 days to filetheir income tax returns.

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The telecom department isplanning to challenge

merger of Tata Teleservicesconsumer business with BhartiAirtel in the Supreme Courtnext month.

“The DoT has not takenmerger of Airtel and TataTeleservices on record. Airtelhas operationalised it (themerger) based on a order fromthe TDSAT. The department isplanning to file special leavepetition in the Supreme Courtagainst the TDSAT order nextmonth,” an official source toldPTI.

Airtel declined to com-ment on the query sent in thisregard.

Bharti Airtel on July 1announced that the consumermobile business of TataTeleservices Ltd (TTSL) hasnow become its part.

The company sources,however, said that telecom tri-bunal TDSAT had directedthe DoT to take the merger on

record.“The TDSAT had cate-

gorically allowed operational-isation of the spectrum and totake all consequential actionsfor completing the merger.The NCLT approved thescheme and allowed for the fil-ing with the Registrar ofCompanies within the stipu-lated period. In line with theorders of the TDSAT and theNCLT, the merger was com-pleted,” the company source said.

The confirmation from theRegistrar of Companies (RoC)for completion of the mergerhas also been received by thecompany, the source said.

The Telecom DisputesSettlement and AppellateTribunal had ordered theDepartment ofTelecommunications to takeon record the merger andapproval of the schemes ofarrangement by Delhi andMumbai bench of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT).

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Viral Acharya ended hisstint as the Deputy

Governor of the Reserve Bankon Tuesday, after last month’ssurprise resignation where theoutspoken academic chose tocut short his time in office.

Forty-five-year oldAcharya will be going back toteach at New York University’sStern School of Business.

Acharya was one of theyoungest deputy governors inthe Central bank’s history andwas in charge of the criticalmonetary policy departmentwhich also made him a part ofthe rate-setting panel.

A Mumbai boy who wasborn and grew up in the finan-cial capital, Acharya will bemost remembered for speakinghis mind on protecting theautonomy of the RBI.

His October 2018 speech,warning of the wrath of mar-kets if the Government tram-ples on it, amid concernsincluding reports ofGovernment eyeing the RBI’sexcess reserves, was the rare

occasion when a top officialchose to go public with theRBI’s concerns.

“Governments that do notrespect Central banks inde-pendence will sooner or laterincur the wrath of financialmarkets, ignite economic fires,and come to rue the day theyundermined an important reg-ulatory institution; their wisercounterparts who invest inCentral bank independencewill enjoy lower costs of bor-rowing, the love of interna-tional investors, and longerlife spans,” he had said.

His then-boss, GovernorUrjit Patel resigned onDecember 10, triggering spec-ulation about Acharya follow-ing the suit, which was denied.

His work NPA problemwherein his work focused on get-ting the banks out of the legacyissues which is an ongoing workand a steadfast focus on inflationthat earned him the sobriquet ofbeing a policy hawk.

Some experts, however,also question the departmentunder him getting inflationprojections wrong, which may

have had delayed the growth-propping rate cuts.

Acharya often resorted topoetry and the creative artsincluding Bollywood songs, toexplain his state of mind onvarious subjects.

The most memorable woulddefinitely be finding refuge inErnest Hemingway’s melan-cholic lines before going with themajority view of cutting the ratesfor the third time in the lastmeeting of the monetary policycommittee he attended.

Quoting Santiago the oldfisherman in the novel, Acharyaexpressed his melancholy invoting with the majority: “It isbetter to be lucky. But I wouldrather be exact. Then when luckcomes, you are ready.”

Quoting Bollywood num-bers in speeches was anotherfavourite for Acharya, a pas-sionate singer himself. In hislast published speech, hepraised S D Burman’s mini-malistic approach to music inthe film “Pyaasa” to drive homethe concern around excess gov-ernment borrowing crowdingout the private sector.

����� 123�4256�

The Government on Tuesdaysaid there is no official

estimation of black money inthe country, however, it hastaken several concrete steps tocrack down on illicit funds.

“There is no official esti-mation of black money in thecountry,” Minister of State forFinance Anurag Singh Thakursaid in a written reply inParliament.

In 2014, the BJP-led gov-ernment came to power with athumping majority and one ofthe key poll promised was tobring back black moneystashed abroad. Also, one of thekey objectives enlisted by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inthe November 8, 2016, high-value note ban or demonetisa-tion was to curb the ill-gottenmoney.

Thakur was responding toa query on estimation of totalblack money in the countryand the reasons behind suchamount generation.

����� 123�4256�

Lok Sabha on Tuesday gaveits nod to a bill which seeks

to weed out corruption,improve road safety and usherin use of technology to regulatetraffic, as the Governmentassured the House that rights ofthe states will not be takenaway.

The Motor Vehicles(Amendment) Bill, 2019 waspassed by a voice vote.

Several amendmentsmoved by opposition memberswere also rejected by voicevote.

Transport and HighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkari said heis here “not to show any dream”but to fulfil promises made onbetter, smoother roads and lat-est transport technology.

While several memberscutting across party lines sup-ported safety and traffic viola-tion aspects of the Bill, they atthe same time accused theCentre of trying to take awaystate’s powers with certain pro-visions of the draft law.

Gadkari said that theGovernment has no intentionto intervene with the power ofstates.

The bill proposes aNational Transportation Policyfor ushering guidelines on the

transportation of goods andpassengers.

The Minister said it will beframed only after holding con-sultation with the states.

“We will not take away anypower of the states...If somestates would not like to adoptthat, they would be free to dothat. It is not a mandatory pol-icy,” he said.

The Minister alsoannounced that the Ministrywould end the system of roadmonitoring being undertakenby independent engineers andit would be carried out by anexperts’ company.

On initiatives being taken bythe Government to give a pushto the country’s transport sector,he said that soon two-wheelertaxis would be a reality.

This facility will help peo-ple living in villages and tehsils.

“We have suggested this tostates. It’s upto them to accept,”Gadkari said.

The minister said severalstates including Delhi, andHimachal Pradesh are buyingelectric vehicles for publictransportation.

“We are thinking of thepoor and not for rich,” he said.

He added that work is infull swing to attract domesticand international cruize inMumbai.

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The veteran duo of SunilNarine and KieronPollard were on Tuesday

recalled to a 14-member WestIndies squad for the first twogames of the three-match T20International series againstIndia, beginning August 3 atFlorida in the United States.

Wicketkeeper-batsmanAnthony Bramble is the onlyuncapped player in the squadselected for the first two T20Isto be played on August 3 and4 at the Broward CountyStadium, Lauderhill, Florida.

The selection panel couldmake changes to the squad forthe third T20I on August 6 atthe Guyana National Stadium,the West Indies Cricket Boardsaid.

The squad, to be led bycaptain Carlos Brathwaite, alsoincludes all-rounder AndreRussell subject to passing a fit-ness assessment prior to theseries. Russell had made anearly exit from the World Cupto undergo an operation on histroublesome left knee.

Interim chairman of theselection panel Robert Haynessaid veteran opener ChrisGayle had notified that hewas unavailable for the seriesdue to playing commitments atthe GT20 in Canada. This hasgiven the opportunity for left-handed compatriot JohnCampbell to fill the slot.

Left-handed opener JohnCampbell and left-arm spinnerKhary Pierre have also beenincluded alongside a numberof regulars, as the interimselection panel seeks to exploreoptions with the ICC T20World Cup looming next yearin Australia.

“This squad is an excellentbalance of experience andyouth. It is not just about thepresent — the India Tour of theWest Indies — but we are alsolooking at the T20 World Cupcoming up next year and it isimportant that we find theright combination of players

and the right formula fordefending our title,” saidHaynes.

“We have to make sure thatwe put certain things in placenow, so that when it comes topicking the squad for the T20World Cup, it becomes easier,so we are giving more playersthe opportunity to play and getthe exposure.”

Haynes said he expects

the T20I series to be a keenlycontested one.

“Most of the players thatwe have selected have played inthe IPL and they know all ofthe Indian players well. We willhave the edge for sure becausewe are playing at home. At theend of the day however, it isimportant that the players goout there and play to win, notjust to compete, and I think we

have the right balance todo so.”

Mystery spin-ner Narine lastplayed in a T20Ifor West Indiesagainst Englandalmost two yearsago at Chester-le-Street andbatting all-r o u n d e r

Pollard appeared lastNovember on the Tour ofIndia.

“We felt that players likeNarine and Pollard, who haveplayed well in T20 leaguesaround the world, once theyare fit and mentally ready toplay, we must give them theopportunity to represent theWest Indies again,” saidHaynes.

The 28-year-old Bramblewill provide wicket keepingback-up to Nicholas Poorandespite not having played anofficial T20 in close to threeyears. He did, however, captainWest Indies ‘B’at last year’sCanada GLT20 and was pickedup by Guyana AmazonWarriors in the CPL draft inMay.

“Though Nicholas Pooranwill be the first-choice wicket-keeper, we needed to havesomeone to deputise in casesomething unexpected hap-pens and he (Bramble) is theperfect choice,” said Haynes.

India play three ODIs andtwo Tests against the WestIndies after the T20Is.West Indies Squad for first

two T20 Internationals:Carlos Brathwaite (capt),Sunil Narine, Keemo

Paul, Khary Pierre,Kieron Pollard,

Nicholas Pooran(wk), RovmanPowell, AndreRussell, Oshane

T h o m a s ,Anthony Bramble

(wk), John Campbell,Sheldon Cottrell,

Shimron Hetmyer,Evin Lewis.

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Wriddhiman Saha will beginhis reintegration after a

major shoulder injury with hisfirst first-class game in 18months when India A take onWest Indies A in an unofficialTest starting on Wednesday.

Wriddhiman and HanumaVihari the two Test specialistswho have been included in theA squad to prepare for the two-Test series starting late August.

Wriddhiman, who is onlythree months shy of his 35thbirthday, is returning after acareer-threatening injury thatmany believe has been com-pletely mismanaged at theNational Cricket Academy.

It will not be out of place tolabel his comeback‘Wriddhiman 3.0’ with the keep-er-batsman beginning every-thing from the scratch, some-thing that is not easy in the mid30s.

Having stayed under MSDhoni’s shadow for the betterpart, Wriddhiman was findinghis mojo in a injury-riddencareer but the injury during thelast IPL was a massive blow.

With Rishabh Pant provinghis credentials with centuries inEngland and Australia, it’s againthat phase in his career where hecould be seen wearing theorange or green bib and rushingwith the towel and energy drinkduring breaks.

The teamman that he is,Wriddhiman will do it withoutbatting an eyelid but the ques-

tion that crops up is what exact-ly will be left for him post WestIndies tour, when India play twinseries against South Africa andBangladesh at home.

People in the know of thingsare still at their wits end as tohow the same kind of injury thathad K L Rahul back in action intwo months, saw the Bengalstumper out for more than a yeartill the Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

“KS Bharath just aboutmissed out on an India teamberth. For the first time in 18months, Wriddhiman will bekeeping for a day or may be 120overs if required. Then he willhave to bat. The NCA had ini-tially messed up his rehab andit required a surgery. It needs tobe seen how it holds up,” a seniorBCCI official privy to develop-ments at the NCA said.

For Vihari, a good inningswill keep Virat Kohli and RaviShastri interested for the onemiddle-order slot even thoughvice-captain Ajinkya Rahane isthe favourite to take up the No5 spot for now.

The two openers, PriyankPanchal of Gujarat andAbhimanyu Easwaran of Bengal,will like to continue their goodwork and keep Rahul on toes,especially after two below-partours of England and Australia.

Bharath is expected to get achance in the third Test and agood knock can make him thesecond keeper at home as theAndhra player is considered tobe good keeping up to the spin-ners.

����� 5�14�1

James Anderson has been ruled out ofEngland’s four-day Test against Ireland

at Lord’s starting on Wednesday butWorld Cup star Jason Roy will make hisdebut.

Opening bowler Anderson has failedto recover from the right calf injury hesustained when playing for his countyLancashire against Durham on July 2.

“Jimmy will continue to be assessed”ahead of the first Ashes Test at Edgbastonon August 1, an England and WalesCricket Board statement said on Tuesday.Chief selector Ed Smith stated whennaming the squad last week thatEngland’s record wicket-taker would notbe risked ahead of the Ashes series if therewere any lingering doubts over his injury.

Bowling resources have already beenstretched by side strains sustained byMark Wood and Jofra Archer in therecent World Cup victory over NewZealand.

Warwickshire paceman Olly Stonewill make his Test debut in Anderson’sabsence, with World Cup-winning bats-man Roy also playing his first Test afterfeaturing in 84 one-dayinternationals.

England willplay two spinnersin Jack Leach andMoeen Ali in anattack led by StuartBroad, withuncapped all-rounder LewisGregory missing outfrom the original 13-man squad.

Test skipper Root,speaking at Lord’s onTuesday, saidAnderson couldhave playedagainst Irelandbut stressed thatEngland did notwant to take anychances withtheir prizeasset ahead ofa five-TestAshes series.

“Jimmyp r o b a b l ywould havebeen able toget throughthis Testmatch but(it’s) just making surethat he’s absolutely

ready,” Root explained.“We thought the last thing we want is

him carrying a niggle going into a seriesso we tried to be sensible about it and givehim as much time to be 100 percent goinginto that series — a five-match series. Sowe’re very confident that he’ll be fit (forthe Ashes).”

The powerful Roy will open theinnings, as he did during the World Cup,even though he is a middle-order batsmanin first-class cricket.

“With Jason, we want him to be him-self, express himself and trust his instinctsas much as possible,” Root said.

“He brings something different to ourTest batting side, he’s a proven performerin international cricket and fully capableof making big contributions. I hope hedoesn’t try to play differently, I hope he’llgo and be himself.

“There were occasions in the WorldCup when he had to trust his defence andhe might have to draw that out a bit longer

in Test cricket —but he can goand put thepressure back

on the opposi-tion. He’s one of

the best in theworld at that.”

Anderson, 36, nolonger plays ODI crick-

et so did not play in theWorld Cup.

The Lancashire swingbowler, with 575 scalps,

trails only the spin trioof Sri Lanka’s MuttiahMuralitharan (800wickets), Australia’sShane Warne (708)and India’s AnilKumble (619) inthe all-time list ofTest wicket-tak-ers.England teamto play Ireland:Jason Roy,Rory Burns,Joe Denly, Joe

Root (capt),Jonny Bairstow (wkt),Moeen Ali, ChrisWoakes, Sam Curran,Stuart Broad, OllyStone, Jack Leach.

����� 247$��#�1

Australia off-spinner NathanLyon says it would be a dream

come true to win the Ashes inEngland and he has even thoughtabout how he would celebrate if ithappened.

The 2019 campaign will beLyon’s third Ashes tour to the UK,where Australia have not won aTest series since the 4-1 triumphof Steve Waugh’s men in 2001.

In the 18 years since, fourtouring parties have returnedhome empty handed, twice undercaptain Ricky Ponting (2005 and2009) and twice (2013 and 2015)with Michael Clarke at the helm.

Clarke was Lyon’s captain onhis previous visits to Englandwhere the off-spinner has playedeight Tests with a record of twowins, four losses and two draws,a stats sheet he is desperate to

improve.Lyon has been part of

Australian Test teams that havewon the Ashes at home, includinga 5-0 whitewash in 2013-14. Hehas won away in South Africa andAsia, and been part of the Test sidecrowned No1 in the world.

But the 31-year-old says win-ning an Ashes series in England isthe ultimate.

“It’s like a dream,” Lyon said onthe latest episode of TheUnplayable Podcast.

“As a kid you always dream offirstly playing cricket for Australiabut then winning the Ashes.

“Winning the Ashes is always(up) there but winning it awaymakes it more special.”

Driving Lyon as much as any-thing is the vision of Test legendShane Warne jubilantly celebrat-ing winning the 1997 Ashes seriesat Trent Bridge with a Test to play.

With the stumps in bothhands above his head, Warnedanced victoriously after Australiawon the fifth Test by 264 runs totake an unassailable 3-1 lead in thesix-match series.

The memory of Warne groov-ing on the away dressing room bal-cony in front of thousands of fansis a fantasy he hopes to live in lessthan two months.

And he’s been practicing justin case it comes to fruition.

“The big memory for me isseeing Shane Warne with thestump,” Lyon said.

“That’s the biggest thing. I’mdesperate to replicate that. I reck-on it would be brilliant.

“If we win the Ashes I’ll do it.I’ve been practicing, don’t worryabout that.

“Like Steve Smith batting inhis room, I’ve got a stump upthere.”

������ �<412<

Former captain Allan Borderfeels Australia should pick

their best six batsmen for theupcoming Ashes series againstEngland beginning August 1 inBirmingham.

Border revealed his first choiceteam to foxsports.com.au, namingsouthpaws David Warner, MarcusHarris and Usman Khawaja as hispreferred top three.

“The top three batsmen areleft-handers, which is not neces-sarily the wrong thing,” Bordersaid.

“A lot of people jump up anddown about picking too many left-handers but if they are your bestplayers then go with them. If theywere right-handers, no one wouldsay anything,” he added.

The former Australia skipperalso stated that wicketkeeper-bats-man Matthew Wade should comeinto the side considering his gooddomestic form.

“I’d be very tempted to go withWade. You talk about picking theguys in form, and he’s in greatform. (Marnus) Labuschagnemight get that guernseys in that hecan bowl some pretty handy leg-spin and he’s good in the field too,”Border said. “Wade can bowlsome medium pace. He can get itthrough alright, you could sling

him half a dozen overs if you hadto here and there.”

The 63-year-old also advisedthe Australian team to resist fromtemptation of playing an all-rounder at the number six spotand instead play a proper bats-man.

“I wouldn’t go the all-rounderat No 6. I’d pick a straight out-and-out batsman. England’s conditionsare a bit softer underfoot and tem-perature wise. There’s not as muchphysicality and stress on thebowlers,” he said.

Allan Border’s XI: DavidWarner, Marcus Harris, UsmanKhawaja, Steve Smith, TravisHead, Matthew Wade/MarnusLabuschagne, Tim Paine (c,wk),Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc,Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

���������� ���#�0�

Antoine Griezmann made hisBarcelona debut on Tuesday

but was unable to prevent theLaLiga champions slipping to a 2-1 friendly defeat to Chelsea inSaitama.

World Cup winnerGriezmann — who joined theclub in a �120million move ear-lier this month — made littleimpact during his 45-minuteappearance against FrankLampard’s side, who went in frontthrough Tammy Abraham’s 34th-minute goal.

Barcelona looked bright at thestart of the second period beforeRoss Barkley’s fine finish nineminutes from time sealed the win,despite Ivan Rakitic’s late strike.

Chelsea continue their prepa-rations for the 2019-20 seasonwith a game againstChampionship side Reading onSunday, while Barca take on VisselKobe — and their former playerAndres Iniesta — a day earlier.

Barcelona could — and per-haps should — have gone aheadinside the opening minute butOriol Busquets’ header from eightyards sailed over KepaArrizabalaga’s goal.

Abraham was equally waste-ful in the 23rd minute, blazing a

half-volley over from six yardsafter Marc-Andre ter Stegen hadfailed to hold Christian Pulisic’spowerful strike.

The striker made up for thatmiss soon after, though, coollyrounding Ter Stegen and slottinginto an empty net after Jorginhohad cut out Sergio Busquets’ slop-py pass on the edge of the penal-ty area. Pulisic could have doubledtheir advantage five minutesbefore the interval but crashed aleft-footed effort into the side net-ting, while a subdued OusmaneDembele saw his low strike keptout by Kepa at the other end.

Barca were a team reborn

after making 11 changes at thebreak, Rafinha, Carles Perez andCarles Alena all testing Kepawith low strikes in the openingstages of the second half.

Chelsea substitute Kenedyinexplicably headed well wideafter latching onto Barkley's loft-ed pass but the England interna-tional made no mistake in the 81stminute, squeezing an effort insideNeto’s right-hand post from 18yards.

The Spanish side at leastended the game on a positive note,Rakitic thundering into the topcorner from distance in stoppagetime.

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Virgil van Dijk admits win-ning the Ballon d’Or after an

exceptional season withLiverpool would be a dreamcome true.

No defender has claimed theaward since Fabio Cannavaro in2006, the year he lifted theWorld Cup with Italy, but cen-tre-back Van Dijk is a strongcontender to break the drought.

The 28-year-old shone asLiverpool won theChampions League lastseason and was crownedPFA Players’ Player ofthe Year for his part inhelping the Reds finishsecond in the PremierLeague.

Already arevered figure atAnfield, VanDijk couldbecome theclub’s secondBallon d’Orrecipient afterM i c h a e lOwen in2001.

“If peopleare talking aboutit — you can’t sayit doesn’t [exciteyou],” Van Dijk toldSky Sports.

“But it’s a subjectwe don’t have anyinfluence on. I can’tchange anythingright now otherthan get fit, stay fitand that’s the situa-tion.

“ W i n n i n gsomething like thatis a dream cometrue for every foot-baller in the world. If youdon’t then you just get onwith it and try to performbetter than last year.

“It would be fantasticand I would be veryproud.

“But the main thingwill be to focus on what wedo all together and achiev-ing the bigger goal — that’sgetting silverware with theclub.”

Van Dijk and Liverpoolare in the United States forpre-season ahead of anoth-er gruelling campaign.

The European championsmust contend with the usualdomestic and ChampionsLeague commitments alongwith a trip to Qatar for the ClubWorld Cup in December.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Kloppviews the demands on modernplayers, including regular inter-national matches and tourna-ments, as unsustainable.

“It looks like nobody canimagine a week without footballin the year,” Klopp told reporters.

“When did that happen?A game again, a gameagain.

“It is difficult for theboys. Everything will befine this season, but in the

long term we have tochange it. There must be

breaks.“Come on,

let them go.Be brave.Don’t treatevery gamelike it is thelast of adecade.”

���������� 0�4��4

Eden Hazard stressed the impor-tance of winning trophies every

season at Real Madrid as the star sign-ing eyes silverware in 2019-20.

Hazard swapped Chelsea forMadrid in a big-money move duringthe off-season after the LaLiga club’sdifficult 2018-19 campaign.

Madrid finished third behindbitter rivals Barcelona in LaLiga,crashed out of the Champions Leaguein the last 16 and lost in the Copa delRey semi-finals.

Hazard — who led Chelsea toEuropa League glory last term —

understands the importance oftitles at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“When you play for RealMadrid you need to win thingsevery season. You need to win,

win, win,” Hazard told JayShetty via Madrid’s official web-

site.“If you don’t win the Champions

League the fans get down and that’sto be expected. At this club youalways want to win and that’s why I’mhere.

“I want to play games, scoregoals and, come the end of the sea-son, lift trophies.”

Hazard made his debut forMadrid in last week’s 3-1 loss toBayern Munich at the InternationalChampions Cup.

The Belgium international andMadrid are back in action againstArsenal in Maryland on Tuesday

late night.“I play with freedom. That’s dif-

ficult in football because there aredefenders, midfielders... but that’s thekind of player I am,” Hazard said.

“If I don’t have that freedom Idon’t play well and end up on thebench. I like to get on the ball, moveto the right, to the left, shift aroundand play with my instinct.

“I don’t think: I have to do this,play the ball to the right, to the left.I just play, get on the ball and decidewhat to do.”

���������� 5<�1

Nabil Fekir has left Lyon and joined Real Betis,potentially paving the way for Giovani Lo

Celso’s departure.France international Fekir, 26, entered the final

12 months of his deal at the start of July and LaLigaclub Betis swooped to complete a transfer that couldcost them �29.75million, with the deal also includ-ing a potential 20 per cent sell-on bonus for Lyon.

His younger brother, Yassin Fekir, has alsomoved to the Benito Villamarin, and Lyon willreceive 50 per cent of any future transfer fee for the22-year-old.

The versatile attacker, who has hit 36 Ligue 1goals in the last three years, almost moved toLiverpool in 2018 and was linked to Arsenal afterdeclining to discuss new terms with Lyon, the clubhe captained for two seasons.

Fekir progressed through the Ligue 1 side’sacademy and helped France win the World Cup inRussia last year.

His arrival in Seville is expected to free up mid-fielder and fellow left-footer Lo Celso for a switchto Tottenham.

A full Argentina international, the 23-year-oldis reportedly keen to work with compatriotMauricio Pochettino in London.

Lo Celso joined Betis on loan from Paris Saint-Germain at the start of last season, before the movewas made permanent in April.

����� 3��6�17#�1�

Real Madrid boss ZinedineZidane has denied disre-

specting Wales star GarethBale as he discussed theexpected transfer of the 30-year-old forward from the LaLiga giants on Monday.

Speaking to reporters onthe eve of Real Madrid’sfriendly with Arsenal atFedEx Field — home of theNFL’s Washington Redskins— Zidane said it was Balewho chose not to play inMadrid’s 3-1 friendly defeatto Bayern in Houston onSaturday.

“I did not disrespect any-one, least of all Gareth,” a

frustrated-sounding Zidanesaid. “I said that the club isworking to facilitate Bale’sdeparture, nothing more.“The other day, Gareth didnot dress for the game, he didnot want to because the clubwas negotiating his depar-ture,” he added.

Zidane had been brand-ed a “disgrace” by Bale’s agentfor his comments after theSaturday match, when hesaid he hoped Bale’s movefrom the club happened soon“for everyone’s sake.”

Bale has been frozen outin Madrid by Zidane despitehelping his side to a Spanishtitle and four ChampionsLeagues since arriving from

Tottenham Hotspur six yearago.

His brace, including abrilliant bicycle kick, sankLiverpool in the 2018 final,but he was shunted aside byZidane as soon as hereturned to the Real bench inearly March.

After Zidane’s reappoint-ment, Bale played 90 minutesin just three of the remaining11 matches, was left outcompletely four times andfrequently substituted whenhe did play.

“Today, he is a RealMadrid player,” Zidane said,adding that the striker wouldtrain with the team Mondaynight.

����� 123�4256��

The Wrestling Federationof India (WFI) on

Tuesday shifted the men’strials for the WorldChampionship from Sonepatto Delhi’s IG Stadium, keep-ing in mind “better organisa-tion facilities”.

The parent body alsoinsisted that the decision toshift venue was not taken inanticipation of disruptionfrom unruly fans at theBahalgarh complex.

Recently a few refereeshad requested the WrestlingFederation of India (WFI) tochange the venue for Friday’strials since they feared fortheir safety at the small hallat SAI centre in Sonepat.

There is no place for fansto sit and watch the proceed-ings at the Bahalgarh Centreand it usually becomes diffi-cult to contain supporters incase they do not agree withthe decision of the officiatingreferee and judges.

“We have shifted thevenue to IG stadium in Delhibecause there is huge interestin World Championship tri-als. Fans, thousands in num-ber, are expected to come andwatch. The small wrestlinghall at Bahalgarh cannotaccommodate so many fans,”

WFI Assistant SecretaryVinod Tomar said.

Asked if the referee’srequest has forced them tochange the venue, Tomarreplied in negative.

“No no. It’s not about ref-erees. Wherever the WFIconducts trials, the refereeswill have to report. It’s aboutbetter management. IG stadi-um has good seating capaci-ty and trials can be conduct-ed smoothly there,” he insist-ed.

However, history sug-gests that even IG stadiumwitnessed ugly scenes duringthe 2018 CommonwealthGames trials when support-ers of star grappler SushilKumar and Praveen Ranaexchanged blows.

The men’s trials willbegin at 8am on Friday andit has been decided to holdtrials for only six Olympicweight categories — 57kg, 65kg, 74 kg, 86 kg, 97kg and 125kg.

Two-time Olympicmedallist Sushil Kumar, whocompetes in 74kg, has senthis entry for the trials.

The trials four other cat-egories which are part of theWorld Championship will beconducted later. The trials forwomen are scheduled to beheld on Sunday in Lucknow.

����� ��5�0$��

Sri Lanka will start looking toreplace key wicket-taker andformer skipper Lasith Malinga

when the shaggy-haired fast bowlercalls it quits after the first one-dayinternational against Bangladesh onFriday.

Both teams go into the three-game series nursing a World Cuphangover, with Sri Lanka facing anespecially tough rebuilding task withthe loss of the instantly recognisableMalinga.

The blond-highlighted bowlerwith the distinctive sling actionproved his enduring worth when hetormented England during the WorldCup, taking four for 43 as Sri Lankastunned the eventual champions inthe group stage.

Malinga, 35, is Sri Lanka’s third-highest ODI wicket-taker with 335wickets from 225 matches, behindonly Chaminda Vaas (399) andMuttiah Muralitharan (523). Malinganeeds three wickets to overhaul AnilKumble’s 337 for ninth place on theinternational list.

Sri Lanka captain DimuthKarunaratne said finding a replace-ment for Malinga, who is retiringfrom one-day internationals, is justone of many challenges ahead follow-ing a disappointing World Cup.

“I think if you take the WorldCup, we did fairly good. In patches wedid really well and sometimes we did-n’t do very well,” he said.

“We know we need to find a wick-et-taking bowler because LasithMalinga is not available after thisseries.

“We need to find the bowlers whocan take wickets in the middle partand the early overs. Those are theareas. I need some good youngsters,we need to groom some youngstersfor the next World Cup,” he said.

However, Sri Lanka’s problemsdon’t end there, as coach ChandikaHathurusingha and his assistantswill be shown the door after theBangladesh series because of theirsixth-place finish in England.

Bangladesh, who finished eighthof the 10 teams, are also entering anew era after they sacked coachSteve Rhodes following the WorldCup.

The visitors are also without keyplayers, including skipper MashrafeMortaza and inspirational vice-cap-tain Shakib Al Hasan.

Mashrafe has a hamstring injurywhile Shakib, who scored 606 runsand claimed 11 wickets in the WorldCup, is being rested.

Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal,interim captain for the series, saidBangladesh’s younger players will geta chance to impress.

“I thought we had a pretty decentWorld Cup. There were a few gamesthat we should have won. We, thecricketers also felt that we could havedone more,” said Tamim.

“I think that whoever plays thefirst one-day match they need to cashin on the opportunity,” he added.

Bangladesh are the first foreignsports team to visit Sri Lanka sincethe Easter Sunday suicide attacks thisyear, which killed more than 250 peo-ple.

The team were given securityusually reserved for visiting state dig-nitaries, with extra forces at theirhotel and armed guards for their bus.

“I think the security has been fan-tastic. All the facilities they have givento us have been top notch,” saidTamim.

����� 5�14�1�

Nominated for NewZealander of the Year

award, England’s World Cuphero Ben Stokes has gracious-ly turned it down, sayingBlack Caps skipper KaneWilliamson is the “worthyrecipient” of the accolade.

The 28-year-old Stokeswas born in New Zealand’sChristchurch but moved toEngland aged 12, going on toestablish himself in theEngland setup.

The all-rounder wasnamed Man of the Matchafter he broke Kiwi heartswith his gallant show in theepic World Cup final recent-ly.

“I am flattered to benominated for NewZealander of the Year,” heposted on his social mediaaccounts.

“I am proud of my NewZealand and Maori heritagebut it would not sit right withme to be nominated for thisprestigious award. There arepeople who deserve thisrecognition more and havedone a lot more for the coun-try of New Zealand.”

Stokes amassed 465 runsand took seven wickets in the

World Cup as England edgedout New Zealand in a thriller,decided by boundary count,at Lord’s on July 14 to clinchtheir maiden title.

“I have helped Englandlift a World Cup and my lifeis firmly established in theUK — it has been since I was12-years old,” he said.

“I feel the whole countryshould align their support toNew Zealand captain KaneWilliamson. He should berevered as a kiwi legend. Heled his team in this WorldCup with distinction andhonour.

“He was the player of thetournament and an inspira-tional leader of men. Heshows humility and empathyto every situation and is anall-round good bloke. Hetypifies what it is to be a NewZealander. He would be aworthy recipient of this acco-lade. New Zealand, fully sup-port him. He deserves it andgets my vote,” Stokes conclud-ed.

In the final, Stokessmashed 84 runs to helpEngland level the scores at241 and take the match to theSuper Over. Along with JosButtler, Stokes then plun-dered 15 runs in six balls.

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Veteran Sri Lankan pace bowlerLasith Malinga on Tuesday con-

firmed he will retire from one-dayinternational cricket after the firstmatch against Bangladesh but hopesto play T20 cricket.

Malinga invited fans to hisfarewell ODI at the R PremadasaStadium in Colombo on Friday andsaid the cricket board agreed to hisrequest to retire from the 50-over for-mat of the game.

Posting a video message to hisfans on his wife’s Facebook page,Malinga said he felt no ill willtowards officials and players whomay have tried to push him out of theteam.

The 35-year-old said he wassidelined by selectors two years agobut was able to prove his value to the

national team at the recent WorldCup.

“Friday will be the last day youwill see me playing a ODI match,”Malinga said. “If you can, pleasecome for the match.” During practiceon Tuesday ahead of the first ODIagainst Bangladesh, Malinga said hehoped to play T20 cricket and had hissights on the 2020 World Cup inAustralia.

“I hope to be able to take SriLanka to the next T20 World Cup,”he said.

“I hope I will have an opportu-nity to play in that tournament, butif there are better players than me, Idon’t mind being left out.” Malinga’sretirement was first announced byskipper Dimuth Karunaratne, who onMonday told reporters the right-armfast bowler indicated Friday's matchwould be his last ODI appearance.

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Gareth Bale will not beleaving Real Madrid on

loan during the transferwindow despite falling out offavour under ZinedineZidane, his agent said onTuesday.

The Real boss said at theweekend the La Liga giantswere poised to offload the30-year-old Wales star.

But his representative,Jonathan Barnett, told SkySports News any deal wouldhave to be a permanent one.

“There will be no

makeshift deals to get himout of the club,” said Barnett.

“Gareth is one of thebest players on the planet. Ican guarantee you he willnot be going on loan to anyclub.”

“Gareth is a Real Madridplayer and for now he’s stay-ing as a Real Madrid player,”said Barnett.

“If something comesalong that suits us, thenthings could change and hecould be gone in a day or aweek. Or he could still be aReal player in three years,when his contract ends.”

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