16
S uspense mounted over death of Jaish-e- Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar even as the terror outfit has denied the reports and said he is alright. Indian intelligence agencies were trying to ascertain the veracity of the claims and counter-claims. Unconfirmed reports have emerged in the Indian media and social media that the JeM chief Masood Azhar is dead. The reports claimed that Azhar was seriously injured during the airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Balakot. But Pakistani officials categorically denied reports of his being injured in the airstrike. According to the inputs with the agencies here, Azhar was facing renal problems and he had undergone a kidney transplant six months back at the base hospital of Pakistan army at Bahawalpur. The kid- ney transplant on Azhar was successful and he continues to undergo medical check-ups at the army hospital there, sources said. Following a flood of mes- sages on social media regard- ing claims of death of Maulana Masood Azhar, the terror group issued statement, saying, “Respectful Mr Masood Azhar by the grace of Allah, is safe, sound and alright.” The Gulf News quoted a top Pakistani official who has also denied rumours about the death Azhar. “All I can say is that reports in the media about Masood Azhar’s death are not true,” a Pakistani official told the Gulf News. The Pakistani official quoted by the Gulf News said Azhar is not dead as rumours are being spread on social media. A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Azhar formed the Jaish-e- Mohammed in 2000. The 50- year-old Azhar, who was released by the NDA Government in 1999 in exchange of hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814, has been accused of being the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu & Kashmir State Assembly, attack on Pathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terror strike. In an interview to CNN, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi earlier admitted that the JeM chief is in Pakistan and is “very unwell”, but said the Government can act against him only if India presents “solid” and “inalien- able” evidence that can stand in a court of law. “He is in Pakistan, accord- ing to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he can’t leave his house, because he’s really unwell,” Qureshi had claimed. Jaish terror group’s Balakot camp, where training was imparted to recruits to carry out suicide attacks, was target- ed by the IAF in an airstrike last week, following the Pulwama suicide bombing in which 44 CRPF personnel were mar- tyred. The Government has said that a large number of Jaish ter- rorists were killed in the air raid at Balakot. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the Congress-led Opposition accusing it of focusing solely on trying to “finish” him off while he is working to quell terrorism, ensure national security, erad- icate poverty and corruption, and generate employment. Addressing an NDA rally here in the presence of his Bihar allies — including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan — Modi came down heavily on Opposition for their skepticism over surgical strikes by the Army post the Uri ter- ror attack, and the air strikes in Balakot after the Pulwama sui- cide bombing. “Is it appropriate for these parties to speak in a language that suits Pakistan? Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully,” Modi said. On Saturday, Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had asked the Centre to present evidence of the air strike on terrorist camps in Balakot. He had also “congrat- ulated” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for releasing IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. Before that, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on February 28 said lives of jawans are much more valuable than electoral politics, but the nation has a right to know what actually happened at Balakot following the IAF’s air strike. The PM alleged on Sunday the Opposition parties were conspiring against him “while I want to eliminate terror. They are conspiring to fin- ish me off.” “When the coun- try needed to speak in one voice, 21 Opposition parties gathered in Delhi to adopt a resolution condemning us. They are demanding proof from the Armed forces for their act of bravery,” he stated. Without naming Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who has coined the slogan “Chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is the thief), Modi said, “Those who run their political shops in the name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas- ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled dig at jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, saying, “The people of Bihar have seen a lot in the name of purchase of fodder. Our Government has worked for doing away with middle- men who siphon off public money. I ndian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face of the tense military con- frontation between India and Pakistan post-Pulwama, con- veyed to the Air Force brass that he wants to return to the cockpit and resume flying as soon as possible. After his hand over on Friday night by the Pakistani authorities, the pilot has been undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital here for the last two days as part of a cooling down process. Through debriefings, the security agen- cies are seeking to know the kind of questions put forth by the Pakistani agencies during his captivity there, sources said. Varthaman told senior IAF commanders visiting him at the hospital and the doctors treat- ing him that he wants to resume duties at the earliest, officials said. On Wednesday, Varthaman became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F- 16 fighter jet, a fourth genera- tion aircraft, during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force with a second generation MiG 21 Bison fighter which is a second generation jet. This besides, the pilot of the downed F-16 fighter jet could not even eject whereas Varthaman was able to do it as soon as it was hit by the Pakistani ground forces. R ash driving has yet again claimed a life in the nation- al Capital. Twenty-four-year-old Mohammad Afaq, a resident of Zakir Nagar in Delhi, was killed when a speeding Chevrolet Cruze driven by a 26-year-old girl allegedly hit him while he was changing the punctured tyre of a car on the roadside near the Moolchand underpass in South-east Delhi, police said. The accused girl identi- fied as Ananya Khurana, a res- ident of Lajpat Nagar-II, was arrested by police on Sunday evening. An eyewitness claimed that there were two girls in the car. “The girls manage to flee in the presence of police person- nel, leaving their car behind,” said the eyewitness. According to Chinmoy Biswal, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, on late Saturday night Rudra Aashish Pandey, his friends Nitish and Gaurav were returning back to their home in Okhla after attending a marriage at Moti Bagh when their car’s right side front tyre got punctured. “Nitish called a mechanic and at around 1.40am, when the mechanic Afaq was replac- ing the burst tire of their car, a speeding Cruze came from AIIMS side and hit him. Nitish and Gaurav also sustained injuries in the incident,” said the DCP. “The offending car was being driven by a girl who fled away from the spot leaving her car behind. Afaq was rushed to a nearby hospital where he suc- cumbed to his injuries during treatment, while Nitish and Gaurav were discharged after minor treatment,” said the DCP. C ommuting will become easier for the people of Delhi -National Capital Region (NCR) after in a meeting on Saturday, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government approved the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the 82 km long Delhi Ghaziabad Meerut corridor. The big day is on March 8 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to lay the foun- dation stone for the inaugura- tion work of the much await- ed Delhi-Meerut-Ghaziabad Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor, along with the inauguration of Hindon airbase and the extension of Red Line Dilshad Garden to New Bus Adda metro corridor. A ddressing a public meeting after dedicating an Ordnance unit which will man- ufacture world’s best assault rifle AK-203 and launching development projects worth over 538 crore at Korwa in Amethi on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said these modern rifles will be made in Amethi under a Russia-India joint venture. These rifles will be known as ‘made in Amethi’ and will help our jawans in encounters with naxals and terrorists, he said. “Amethi will get a new identity now,” Modi said. Modi attacked the Gandhi family for the neglect of the region and said the region suf- fered because of the apathy of one family who gave fake assur- ances of development and actu- ally did nothing. Detailed report on P8 M inister for Tribal Development, Nomadic, Semi Nomadic and Denotified Tribes Welfare Omkar Singh Markam and Minister for Social Justice, Handicapped Welfare and Scheduled Caste Welfare Lakhan Ghanghoria on Sunday transformed the prison of the Martyrs of the Freedom Struggle, Amar Shaheed Gondwana Raja Shankar Shah and his son Kunwar Raghunath Shah located in Jabalpur in the form of Krantikari Prerna Kendra. Memories of both the martyrs will be endured in the Prerna Kendra. Minister Markam while address- ing the large public gathering at Veterinary College Ground of Jabalpur said that the Amar Shaheed Gondwana King Raja Shankar Shah and his son Kunwar Raghunath Shah were kept in the prison together for a full night after sentencing them death punishment by killing them by cannon and a condition was laid that if they beg pardon, their death pun- ishment will be pardoned. He informed that both the martyrs chose a path of sacrifice for the country in place of slavery of Britisher. These martyrs were kept in the prison after arresting them on September 14, 1857 and were killed by cannon on September 18, 1857 after pronounc- ing death sentence. Markam further stated that he being a son of the community, him- self joined the cleaning work of this prison before transforming it into the Prerna Kendra. He said that the moment has come after 162 years, when we are able to establish the inspiration of courage, patriotism and sacrifice for the country, which used to be there on September 18, 1857. Markam administered pledge to the people that they will be always ready to sacrifice themselves to make the unity and freedom of the coun- try everlasting by believing in the sac- rifice of Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Shah as their ideals. He men- tioned that there is a need for over- all development of the tribal com- munity. The state government is committed to fulfill its responsibili- ty, he added. Minister Lakhan Ghanghoria said that the sacrifice of Amar Shaheed Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah is unparallel. Their sacrifice will always inspire us. MLA Phunde Lal Singh Marko, Shri Narayan Singh Patta, Nandini Marawi, Vijay Raghvendra Singh, Bhupendra Marawi, Vasantsingh, Arjun Singh Kakodia, representatives of tribal community and people in large number were pre- sent at the programme. Minister Duo completed the for- malities for the establishment of the Prerna Kendra. Floral tribute was paid at the statues of both the mar- tyrs inside the Kendra. After this, trib- ute was paid by garlanding the live size statues installed at the square of the city by commemorating their sac- rifice. A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed and the body dumped in an unused biogas tank in Katni district of Madhya Pradesh. After a foul smell emanated from the tank located underground in Barhi area, around 80 km from Katni, a farmer looked into it on Saturday and spotted the body, senior police officer Sandeep Mishra said. "The post-mortem report con- firmed the girl was raped and strangled to death before the body was dumped," he said. The girl went out of her house on Wednesday with her uncle, who stayed in their neighbourhood, but did not return home. When her parents enquired, her uncle told them he thought that she had returned home, the police offi- cial said. The family members then searched for the minor and after being unable to find her, they lodged a police complaint the next day. Mishra said they were investi- gating the case from all angles to trace the culprit. So far, a case has been registered against the uniden- tified accused under Indian Penal Code sections for rape, killing and other offences, as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), he added. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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Page 1: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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���� 9:6�':;<)

Suspense mounted overdeath of Jaish-e-

Mohammad chief MaulanaMasood Azhar even as theterror outfit has denied thereports and said he is alright.Indian intelligence agencieswere trying to ascertain theveracity of the claims andcounter-claims.

Unconfirmed reports haveemerged in the Indian mediaand social media that the JeMchief Masood Azhar is dead.The reports claimed that Azharwas seriously injured duringthe airstrike carried out by theIndian Air Force (IAF) inBalakot. But Pakistani officialscategorically denied reports ofhis being injured in theairstrike.

According to the inputswith the agencies here, Azharwas facing renal problems and

he had undergone a kidneytransplant six months back atthe base hospital of Pakistanarmy at Bahawalpur. The kid-ney transplant on Azhar wassuccessful and he continues toundergo medical check-ups atthe army hospital there, sourcessaid.

Following a flood of mes-sages on social media regard-ing claims of death of MaulanaMasood Azhar, the terrorgroup issued statement, saying,“Respectful Mr Masood Azharby the grace of Allah, is safe,sound and alright.”

The Gulf News quoted a topPakistani official who has alsodenied rumours about thedeath Azhar.

“All I can say is that reportsin the media about MasoodAzhar’s death are not true,” aPakistani official told the GulfNews. The Pakistani officialquoted by the Gulf News said

Azhar is not dead as rumoursare being spread on socialmedia.

A resident of Bahawalpurin Pakistan’s Punjab province,Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2000. The 50-year-old Azhar, who wasreleased by the NDAGovernment in 1999 inexchange of hostages of the

hijacked Indian Airlines planeIC-814, has been accused ofbeing the mastermind of the2001 Parliament attack, suicideattack on Jammu & KashmirState Assembly, attack onPathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terrorstrike.

In an interview to CNN,Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah

Mehmood Qureshi earlieradmitted that the JeM chief isin Pakistan and is “very unwell”,but said the Government canact against him only if Indiapresents “solid” and “inalien-able” evidence that can stand ina court of law.

“He is in Pakistan, accord-ing to my information. He isunwell to the extent that hecan’t leave his house, becausehe’s really unwell,” Qureshi hadclaimed.

Jaish terror group’s Balakotcamp, where training wasimparted to recruits to carryout suicide attacks, was target-ed by the IAF in an airstrike lastweek, following the Pulwamasuicide bombing in which 44CRPF personnel were mar-tyred.

The Government has saidthat a large number of Jaish ter-rorists were killed in the air raidat Balakot.

������������ ��������������������� ������������� ��� ���� ������ ��������� � �� ���� ������� ����� ��� ����� �����

����� �.�9.�

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday launched

a blistering attack on theCongress-led Oppositionaccusing it of focusing solely ontrying to “finish” him off whilehe is working to quell terrorism,ensure national security, erad-icate poverty and corruption,and generate employment.

Addressing an NDA rallyhere in the presence of hisBihar allies — including ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar andUnion Minister Ram VilasPaswan — Modi came downheavily on Opposition for theirskepticism over surgical strikesby the Army post the Uri ter-ror attack, and the air strikes inBalakot after the Pulwama sui-cide bombing.

“Is it appropriate for theseparties to speak in a languagethat suits Pakistan? Leaders ofthe neighbouring country areusing it as a shield to protectthemselves against the charge ofpromoting terrorism. They areclapping gleefully,” Modi said.

On Saturday, SeniorCongress leader DigvijayaSingh had asked the Centre topresent evidence of the airstrike on terrorist camps inBalakot. He had also “congrat-ulated” Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan forreleasing IAF WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman.

Before that, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee had on February 28said lives of jawans are muchmore valuable than electoral

politics, but the nation has aright to know what actuallyhappened at Balakot followingthe IAF’s air strike.

The PM alleged on Sundaythe Opposition parties wereconspiring against him “whileI want to eliminate terror.

They are conspiring to fin-ish me off.” “When the coun-try needed to speak in onevoice, 21 Opposition partiesgathered in Delhi to adopt aresolution condemning us.They are demanding prooffrom the Armed forces fortheir act of bravery,” he stated.

Without naming Congresschief Rahul Gandhi, who hascoined the slogan “Chowkidarchor hai” (the watchman is thethief), Modi said, “Those whorun their political shops in thename of the poor and care fornothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems withthe chowkidar. But thechowkidar is alert and on thejob.”

Modi also took a veiled digat jailed RJD supremo LaluPrasad, saying, “The people ofBihar have seen a lot in thename of purchase of fodder.Our Government has workedfor doing away with middle-men who siphon off publicmoney.

���� 9:6�':;<)��

Indian Air Force WingCommander Abhinandan

Varthaman, who became theface of the tense military con-frontation between India andPakistan post-Pulwama, con-veyed to the Air Force brassthat he wants to return to thecockpit and resume flying assoon as possible.

After his hand over onFriday night by the Pakistaniauthorities, the pilot has beenundergoing medical treatmentat a military hospital here forthe last two days as part of acooling down process. Throughdebriefings, the security agen-cies are seeking to know thekind of questions put forth bythe Pakistani agencies duringhis captivity there, sources said.

Varthaman told senior IAFcommanders visiting him at thehospital and the doctors treat-

ing him that he wants toresume duties at the earliest,officials said.

On Wednesday,Varthaman became the firstIAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet, a fourth genera-tion aircraft, during an aerialcombat with the Pakistani Air

Force with a second generationMiG 21 Bison fighter which isa second generation jet. Thisbesides, the pilot of the downedF-16 fighter jet could not eveneject whereas Varthaman wasable to do it as soon as it washit by the Pakistani groundforces.

��������������� 9:6�':;<)

Rash driving has yet againclaimed a life in the nation-

al Capital. Twenty-four-year-oldMohammad Afaq, a resident ofZakir Nagar in Delhi, was killedwhen a speeding ChevroletCruze driven by a 26-year-oldgirl allegedly hit him while hewas changing the puncturedtyre of a car on the roadside nearthe Moolchand underpass inSouth-east Delhi, police said.

The accused girl identi-fied as Ananya Khurana, a res-ident of Lajpat Nagar-II, was

arrested by police on Sundayevening. An eyewitness claimedthat there were two girls in thecar. “The girls manage to flee inthe presence of police person-

nel, leaving their car behind,”said the eyewitness.

According to ChinmoyBiswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police, on late

Saturday night Rudra AashishPandey, his friends Nitish andGaurav were returning back totheir home in Okhla afterattending a marriage at MotiBagh when their car’s right sidefront tyre got punctured.

“Nitish called a mechanicand at around 1.40am, whenthe mechanic Afaq was replac-ing the burst tire of their car, aspeeding Cruze came fromAIIMS side and hit him. Nitishand Gaurav also sustainedinjuries in the incident,” saidthe DCP.

“The offending car wasbeing driven by a girl who fledaway from the spot leaving hercar behind. Afaq was rushed toa nearby hospital where he suc-cumbed to his injuries duringtreatment, while Nitish andGaurav were discharged afterminor treatment,” said theDCP.

�������������� 9:6�':;<)

Commuting will becomeeasier for the people of

Delhi -National Capital Region(NCR) after in a meeting onSaturday, the Uttar Pradesh(UP) Government approvedthe revised Detailed ProjectReport (DPR) of the 82 kmlong Delhi Ghaziabad Meerutcorridor.

The big day is on March 8when Prime Minister NarendraModi is going to lay the foun-dation stone for the inaugura-tion work of the much await-ed Delhi-Meerut-GhaziabadRegional Rapid Transit System(RRTS) corridor, along with theinauguration of Hindon airbaseand the extension of Red LineDilshad Garden to New BusAdda metro corridor.

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Addressing a public meetingafter dedicating an

Ordnance unit which will man-ufacture world’s best assaultrifle AK-203 and launchingdevelopment projects worthover �538 crore at Korwa inAmethi on Sunday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidthese modern rifles will bemade in Amethi under aRussia-India joint venture.

These rifles will be knownas ‘made in Amethi’ and willhelp our jawans in encounterswith naxals and terrorists, hesaid. “Amethi will get a newidentity now,” Modi said.

Modi attacked the Gandhifamily for the neglect of theregion and said the region suf-fered because of the apathy ofone family who gave fake assur-ances of development and actu-ally did nothing.

Detailed report on P8

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Minister for Tribal Development,Nomadic, Semi Nomadic and

Denotified Tribes Welfare OmkarSingh Markam and Minister forSocial Justice, Handicapped Welfareand Scheduled Caste Welfare LakhanGhanghoria on Sunday transformedthe prison of the Martyrs of theFreedom Struggle, Amar ShaheedGondwana Raja Shankar Shah andhis son Kunwar Raghunath Shahlocated in Jabalpur in the form ofKrantikari Prerna Kendra. Memoriesof both the martyrs will be enduredin the Prerna Kendra.

Minister Markam while address-ing the large public gathering atVeterinary College Ground ofJabalpur said that the Amar ShaheedGondwana King Raja Shankar Shahand his son Kunwar Raghunath Shahwere kept in the prison together for

a full night after sentencing themdeath punishment by killing them bycannon and a condition was laid thatif they beg pardon, their death pun-ishment will be pardoned. Heinformed that both the martyrs chosea path of sacrifice for the country inplace of slavery of Britisher. Thesemartyrs were kept in the prisonafter arresting them on September 14,1857 and were killed by cannon onSeptember 18, 1857 after pronounc-ing death sentence.

Markam further stated that hebeing a son of the community, him-self joined the cleaning work of thisprison before transforming it into thePrerna Kendra. He said that themoment has come after 162 years,when we are able to establish theinspiration of courage, patriotism andsacrifice for the country, which usedto be there on September 18, 1857.

Markam administered pledge to

the people that they will be alwaysready to sacrifice themselves to makethe unity and freedom of the coun-try everlasting by believing in the sac-rifice of Raja Shankar Shah andKunwar Shah as their ideals. He men-tioned that there is a need for over-all development of the tribal com-munity. The state government iscommitted to fulfill its responsibili-ty, he added. Minister LakhanGhanghoria said that the sacrifice ofAmar Shaheed Raja Shankar Shahand Kunwar Raghunath Shah isunparallel. Their sacrifice will alwaysinspire us. MLA Phunde Lal SinghMarko, Shri Narayan Singh Patta,Nandini Marawi, Vijay RaghvendraSingh, Bhupendra Marawi,Vasantsingh, Arjun Singh Kakodia,representatives of tribal communityand people in large number were pre-sent at the programme.

Minister Duo completed the for-

malities for the establishment of thePrerna Kendra. Floral tribute waspaid at the statues of both the mar-tyrs inside the Kendra. After this, trib-ute was paid by garlanding the livesize statues installed at the square ofthe city by commemorating their sac-rifice.

��������������� 5<1�.;

A10-year-old girl was allegedlyraped and killed and the body

dumped in an unused biogas tankin Katni district of Madhya Pradesh.After a foul smell emanated fromthe tank located underground inBarhi area, around 80 km fromKatni, a farmer looked into it onSaturday and spotted the body,senior police officer SandeepMishra said.

"The post-mortem report con-firmed the girl was raped andstrangled to death before the bodywas dumped," he said. The girl wentout of her house on Wednesdaywith her uncle, who stayed in their

neighbourhood, but did not returnhome.

When her parents enquired, heruncle told them he thought that shehad returned home, the police offi-cial said. The family members thensearched for the minor and afterbeing unable to find her, theylodged a police complaint the nextday.

Mishra said they were investi-gating the case from all angles totrace the culprit. So far, a case hasbeen registered against the uniden-tified accused under Indian PenalCode sections for rape, killing andother offences, as well as theProtection of Children from SexualOffences Act (POCSO), he added.

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Page 2: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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The tips for a successfulbusiness were shared with

the members ofEntrepreneurial Organisation(EO) Bhopal channel. Here onSunday a daylong seminar washeld in city.

The seminar was organisedto teach success in manage-ment and business for its mem-bers. The golfer, runner, authorand the motivational speakerJack Daly taught sales man-agement and business tricks tothe members of the EO BhopalChannel.

Jack Daly explained how tokeep entrepreneurs better salesmanagement, managing, com-pliance, concepts, reflexesthrough theory and their strate-gies. Suggest tips on how toextend the business by referringto the book "Hyper SalesGrowth" made by them. Theparticipants also appreciatedthe tips made by Jack Deli in hisspeech.

It is noteworthy that JackDaly has more than 30 years ofsales management experience.He had travelled to the CPAfirm, Arthur Anderson, andemerged as CEO of many large

companies, during which hemade his experience.

On the occasion of thelecture, Pallavi Rao Chaturvedi,chairman of the EO BhopalChannel, said that Jack's Dalyshared very important infor-mation and his session was afruitful one. She said that intoday's session, all the partici-pant members of the channelwill grow their business senseby taking advantage of theirbenefits. She also said, the EOBhopal Channel will continueto organise new business, man-agement skills and technicalseminars for its members sothat the members of the EO canmake their business animprovement. All the officersand members of the EO BhopalChapter were present on thisoccasion.

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The noted Kathak maestro ofthe city V Anuradha Singh

will be showcasing her flair byperforming at Bhojpur Utsav tobe held at Bhojpur Temple onMonday.

It is to be noted that Singhhas performed at variousnational and internationaldance festivals as well. It is tobe noted that Bhojpur Utsav isan annual festival of MadhyaPradesh. Anuradha about herperformance says, “I am real-ly contented to be a part of thisprogramme. I will be per-forming Kathak on devotion-al songs. It will be a mes-merising event for dancelovers.”

Anuradha is one of the wellknown dancers of solo classi-cal Kathak dance. Withenchanting stage presence shehas earned acclamation forintense and sensitive dancepresentations. She has per-formed solo Kathak interna-tionally in addition to morethan 45 prestigiousGovernment organized festi-vals in India and has also givenacross the world.

Anuradha hailing fromBhopal is noted Kathak dancerfor her innovation and impro-

visation in traditional Kathaktechnique. Rhythmic under-standing, ability to extemporizewith speedy rhythms and pre-serving pure Kathak classicalstyle are some of her qualities.

Experimenting with clas-sical Sufi Kathak, she hasevolved a refined, sophisticat-ed style in pure classical form,based on fast speeds, swiftturns, mind thrilling footwork,delicacy of movements andimpressive expressions.

She also gave a heart melt-ing performance at JheelMahotsav 2015 which wasmuch appreciated. Later, shealso performed at theKhajuraho dance festival. Sherecently performed at MahaKathak festival held at Ujjain in2018.

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The collection of specialbooks of Hindi was

released at Swami VivekanandaLibrary on Sunday. More than100 books are being put on dis-play in this special collection.

The members of the libraryhave happy news as in this col-lection; the members can issuethe books instantly after select-ing it. According to theManager of the library YatishBhatele such collection is ondisplay for the first time in thelibrary.

The manager, YatishBhatele, said that the collectionincluded the titles of books andother authors of writers fromthe Hindi, Yuwal Noah Harari,Paulo Koelho and ArundhatiRai.

The books that are includ-ed in the collection includes,The House of immense joy byArundhati Roy, Night Train-to-Collector by Alok Ranjan,October Junction by PrakashDubey, The ever green by DevAnand, Sialkot Saga by AshwinSakghi, India's foreign policy bySumit Ganguly, Great Gatbeeby F. Soot, From the corridorof Memories by Surya Nagar,Sunny in the Shadows byKumar, Ghalib by Prakash

Pandit, Boru by AnujaChauhan, Stories of Manto,India is a market by VishnuNagar, Autobiography byKaran Singh Vivekananda'sbiological novel by RajendraMohan Bhatnagar, Psychologyin Demonic life by VinayMishra and many more.

Yatish Bhatele said thatmost of the books in this col-lection are translated books inHindi. The library launches 4to 5 collections every month inthe library, he added. YatishBhatale said that most of thebooks in this collection includeHindi literature, biography, fic-tion and non-fiction.

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A45-year-man died after hismotorbike rammed into a

road divider at Chopda Kalanvillage under Sukhisewaniapolice station area late in thenight on Saturday. Police saidthat an injured man was rushedto a nearby hospital where hedied during treatment.

The deceased identified asBahadur Singh Kayampur vil-lage Raisen was on his way toVidisha riding on his bikewhen he met accident.

Motorbike skid andrammed into a road divider inwhich he sustained serioushead injuries and was rushed toa hospital where he succumbedto the injuries while undergo-ing treatment on Sunday in theearly morning hours. The

police was informed and on thereceipt a police team reachedthe spot and started investiga-tion. The body was sent for thepost mortem.

After the preliminaryinvestigation police have reg-istered a case under section 174

of the CrPC and started furtherinvestigation. The deceasedwas in an inebriated state or hewas hit by some vehicle couldnot be ascertained at themoment and would be revealedlater in the investigation saidpolice.

Meanwhile 37-year-oldArmy personnel died after hefainted during physical trainingon Saturday at 3 EME center inBairagarh. Police said that thedeceased identified asNagendra Singh fainted duringphysical training and was takento Army hospital where he wasdeclared dead.

The deceased hailed fromBihar was posted inDronanchal Core at airportroad. The body was sent forpost mortem and further inves-tigations were started.

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Bhopal: In a joint operation bypolice of Shahjehanabad,Teelajamalpura and Koh-e-Fiza police stations have bust-ed a gambling den, nabbed twodozen gamblers and recoveredRs 2.88 lakh; den was operat-ed by woman who used CCTVcameras to keep eye on policepersonnel visiting area to con-duct raids. Police said that forlong complaints regardingoperations of gambling denbeing operated by a womanidentified as Bhuri Bai in herhome located near CongressNagar culvert were received bypolice and acting on the com-plaints when it was checked theden was found and teams weremade of three police stations.

The team conducted raid ataround 4 in the morning onSunday and nabbed aroundtwo dozen persons gamblingand conducting gambling.

During the investigationpolice found that the den oper-ator woman to escape raid hadinstalled CCTV cameras nearthe place where gambling wasconducted. The team was leadby CSP ShahjehanabadNagendra Pateria. The policerecovered Rs 2.88 lakh cash,two dozen mobile phones andplaying cards. In the actionCCTV cameras and DVR werealso seized. Arrested areMohsin Qureshi (18) of KaziCamp, Farooq Ali (35) ofMangalwara, Shadab (38) andSuryakant Thakur (40), both ofNariyalkheda, Mohd Shakeel(46) of Ashoka Garden, SunilAhirwar (34) of Gandhi Nagar,Mukeeb Qureshi (45) ofNishatpura, Suleman (38) ofTeelajamalpura, Raheem (46) ofTalaiya, Naseem (45) of GandhiNagar, Shahid (28) of Talaiya,Vinod (35) of Bairagarh,Jitendra Kahar (22) of GandhiNagar, Zakir Hasan (34) ofBudhwara, Faeem (33) ofBajaria, Manoj (38) of GandhiNagar, Imran (32), Javed (28) ofKazi Camp, Deepak Rai (30) ofChhola, Akash (25) of GandhiNagar, Mohd Irfan (30) ofNishatpura and Waseem (40) ofTeelajamalpura. SR

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In the All India InvitationalPrize Money Women's

hockey tournament MadhyaPradesh Women's HockeyAcademy, Gwalior, won thetitle of the runners-up.

The team has won theprize money of �1 lakh at thechampionship.

The championship wasplayed at Gorakhpur. Theteam of Maharashtra Elevenwon the title on winner withthe 2-1 goals.

On this achievementbagged by the Academy'splayers, the State Sports andYouth welfare Minister Jitu

Patwari has expressed happi-ness and congratulated thedaughters of all the playersinvolved in the team.Director Sports and YouthWelfare S. L. Thoussen hasalso given greetings and bestwishes to all the players of therunners-up team.

It is noteworthy that inthe last year's tournament, theMadhya Pradesh HockeyAcademy was a winner team.

In the thrilling match ofthe time played on Sunday,Maharashtra eleven teamplayer Lily M scored the firstfield goal in the first minuteof the match, in response tothe Madhya Pradesh Hockey

Academy player. Aman made a penalty

goal in the 27th minute,bringing the team to an equal.

In the 45th minute of thematch, Maharashtra eleventeam player Pinky T won thepenalty goal by winning theteam by 2-1 and becameMaharashtra Eleven teamwinner in the title of two lakh.

MLA Fateh BahadurSingh and U. P. 's sportsdirector R. P. Singh felicitat-ed the players with the trophyand the medals. MadhyaPradesh Hockey Academy,Gwalior team is trained by theChief Coach Paramjeet SinghBrar.

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The three day CentralCommand Annual Sailing

Regatta concluded on Sundayat the Berchha Lake under theaegis of Army War College. Thegrand finale was flagged off byLieutenant General DushyantSingh, PVSM, AVSMCommandant Army WarCollege, Mhow.

The race witnessed someintense competition betweensailing teams from Army WarCollege, Infantry School,Military College ofT e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o nEngineering (MCTE), UttarBharat Area and 6 MountainDivision.

Instituted in 2005, theCentral Command SailingRegatta is a flagship event in theAnnual Sailing calendar of theCommand.

It aims at inculcating a spir-

it of adventure, waterman shipand camaraderie amongst var-ious institutions under theCommand.

Races were also organizedfor Kayaking in Singles andPairs category with active par-ticipation of eight teams. Thesailing event had a total ofseven teams participating. Theraces were witnessed by a num-ber of senior Army officers,ladies, veterans and jawans. 50Cadets from National CadetCorps were also invited to wit-ness the event. CommandantArmy War College and DeputyCommandant MCTE present-ed the trophy and prizes to thewinners.

The Sailing Championshipwas won by Sapper NepalSingh and Sapper Sarwan ofUttar Bharat Area whileCaptain Anant Goyal andLieutenant Subham Mehta ofMCTE came second.

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In the wake of upcoming LokSabha elections 2019 Madhya

Pradesh police conducted spe-cial drive of preventive action8943 miscreants and hooliganswere booked under minor Actsin all divisions and in railways.

Action was taken inGwalior, Chambal, Indore,Ujjain, Jabalpur, Balaghhat,Sagar, Rewa, Bhopal, Shahdol,Hoshangabad divisions fromFebraury 15, 2019 to February28, 2019 under section 109,110,151, 107/116 and 145 CrPCand externment, NSA,Gambling Act, Arms Act, ExciseAct, NDPS Act against 8943persons. In the action 2967persons were booked under110 CrPC, 1786 were bookedunder 151 CrPC, 108 wereexterned, 9 were booked under

NSA, 71 were booked underNSA, 3542 were booked underExcise Act and 400 were bookedunder Arms Act. Police haveseized drugs worth Rs 8513600and liquor worth Rs 7910564.

Meanwhile, in the state cap-ital regarding preparation of theupcoming Lok Sabha electionstraining was organised at PRTIand police control room onSunday.

At the police control roomRI Vijay Dubey provided detailsof the duty during the LokSabha elections and said that theduty during the elections is themost important duty foremployee and official. He saidseveral difficulties are faced atfield level during the electioncampaigning and elections andmost of these could be resolvedif the pre-election duty prepa-rations are made properly.

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Page 3: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas said that the State

Government has worked everymoment in the last 65 days forthe welfare of the people.

He stated that thisGovernment believes in workalone. The coming years willensure happiness among thefarmers, youth, women and ineach section of society.

Nath was addressing thefoundation laying programmeof irrigation and potable waterschemes and programme fordedication of plant of 132/33KV in Rajgarh on Sunday.

He mentioned that this

will facilitate irrigation andelectricity to the people of1580 villages of Rajgarh district.

He said that the importantdecisions have been taken bythe state government in orderto fulfill promises of the man-ifesto in the last 65 days.Farmers’ loan has been waivedoff. Electricity bills have beenreduced to half.

In the next 4 days, loan of25 lakh farmers will be writ-ten off. A procedure to waivecrop loan of the remainingfarmers will continue, headded.

The Chief Minister statedthat the state government isanxious particularly to provide

the employment opportunitiesto the educated youth. Skilldevelopment programme hasbeen started to provideemployment opportunities toyouth. Constant efforts arebeing in the state for enhanc-ing industrial investment inthe state.

This will help in generat-ing new employment oppor-tunities. The state govern-ment is making every possibleeffort to meet the aspirationsof the people.

Kamal Nath distributedcertificates of loan waivers tothe farmers. Farmers’ loansworth Rs 144 crore of Rajgarhdistrict have been waived off.

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All India women conference 2019under the auspices of all India

Malayalee Association MP Chapterheld here on Sunday at Hotel PalashResidency. Women delegates frommore than 20 states and union territo-ries have participated in this event.

Various subject and topics likewomen for empowerment, child abuse,self help group, women health, inter-national women’s day, safety and pro-tection of women, mind managementsession etc were taken up. There was aninteractive session as well.

In the inaugural function in theevening was inaugurated by Hon’bleMinister of Culture and MedicalEducation Dr.Vijaylaxmi Sadho, guestof Hon’ble PR Minister Shri. P.CSharma, Shri. Gokulam, NationalPresident All India MalayaleeAssociation were present on the occa-sion.

Various culture programs like clas-sical dance by Kalanjali and Natyashrigroup and orchestra by Kochu Babu

and group. Dr Sarla Menon, MedicalDirector, JK Hospital, Bhopal, PN

Sreekumar. National General Secretary,RS Pillai, Sr Vice- President, AIMA.

Minister of Culture and MedicalEducation Vijaylaxmi Sadho said, "It ismy pleasure that I could be a part of theassociation's celebrations. It is one ofthe biggest associations in the countryand doing great service to the society.I wish them all best for their futureendeavour."

Gokulam Gopalan, NationalPresident, AIMA said, "We are happythat we are celebrating our first nation-al womens' conference and award 2019in Bhopal. I am very happy that mem-bers from different regions could taketime off their schedule and ensure theirpresence for the celebration. I thankone and all for their participation andsupport.”

Adv Prema Menon, Chairperson,Ladies wing, AIMA, Dr Bina J Kurian,Convenor, RS Pillai, Secretary, CAshokan, President and coordinator,AIMA MP Chapter was also present onthe occasion.

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The Chief Minister KamalNath has said that a new agri-

culture policy will be formed inthe State in order to make thefarmers self-reliant and for theiroverall development.

Along with this, the place ofthe penance of the Chief SantShree Singaji of Nimad area willbe developed in the form ofmajor religious tourism hub.Nath also mentioned that effec-tive steps are being taken by thestate government to make thefarmers economically self-reliantand better implementation isalso being ensured by taking rev-olutionary decisions in the inter-est of the farmers. Crop loansworth Rs 180.59 crore of over45,000 farmers of Khandwa dis-trict have been waived off underthe Jai Kisan Fasal Wrin MaafiYojana.

The Chief Minister wasaddressing a programme in

Moondi of Khanwa district ofIndore division near Sant SingajiThermal Power Plant on Sunday.He distributed citations to thefarmers under the Jai Kisan FasalWrin Maafi Yojana and dedicat-ed the second phase of theSingaji Power Plant. On thisoccasion, he also dedicated andlaid foundation of various con-struction works.

The Chief Minister said thatthe state government has exhib-ited its public welfare policies andintentions during the last 65days. The state government isworking with commitment forthe welfare of each citizen of thestate. Dedicated efforts are beingmade to fulfill each promise of

the manifesto. Works are beingdone constantly to meet theaspirations and trust of the peo-ple.

The state government hastaken several historic decisionsand implementation on them isbeing ensured. In order toimprove the living standard of thefarmers, works are being carriedout constantly to make them eco-nomically self-reliant and fortheir overall development. Effortsare being made to make thefarmers free from the debt.Farmers’ loan upto Rs 2 lakh hasbeen waived off in the entire state.

Nath further stated that wewant to see happiness on the faceof the farmers of the state.

A new revolution will beensured in the agriculture sectorand the new agriculture policywill be formed in this regard.Paying obeisance to Sant Singaji,he said that the place of hispenance will be developed in theform of major religious tourismhub. Positive use of youth powerof the state will be made.Employment opportunities willbe made available to them andindustrial investment will beencouraged to achieve this goal.The state government will makeconcrete efforts to realize trust ofeach citizen of the state, headded.

Minister for Public Healthand family welfare TulsiramSilawat said that several decisionshave been taken by the state gov-ernment for the welfare of thefarmers and implementation onthem is being ensured.

The Minister for FarmersWelfare and AgricultureDevelopment Sachin Yadav stat-ed that there is no dissimilarityin the statement and practice ofthe government and works arebeing carried out to fulfill eachpromise of the manifesto.

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The statement of formerChief Minister Digvijay

Singh seeking evidence of casu-alties in airstrike, has createdflutter in political circles inMadhya Pradesh.

Digvijaya Singh had askedCentre to provide proof of IAFair strikes in Balakot and calledPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan a good neighbor.

While addressing a mediagathering in Madhya Pradesh’sIndore on Saturday, the formerChief Minister of MadhyaPradesh said that he was notquestioning the operation butthe government could providesatellite pictures of air strike asthis is the technical age.

Citing an example of theUnited States, which had givensolid proof of the Osama oper-ation to the world, theCongress leader demanded theCentre that India should alsogive a solid proof for the airstrike it conducted recently.

While dubbing PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan asa good neighbour, Singh appre-ciated Khan for ensuring thesafe return of IAF pilot WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman to India.

The BJP leaders have crti-cised Singh for his statementsand demanded action againsthim. On Sunday evening, the

BJP leaders at all the districtheadquarters demonstratedagainst Singh.

Former chief minister andsenior BJP leader Babulal Gaurhas said that the heads of thethree services of Indian ArmedForces have given statementregarding airstrike. Since, theyare not associated with anypolitical party, they are sayingtruth. Whatever action Primeminister Narendra Modi hastaken, was not taken by the pre-vious Congress government, headded.

BJP’s national general sec-retary Kailash Vijayvergiya at aprogramme said that the coun-try is capable of dealing withenemies of the country, but dif-ficult to deal with those with-in the country. Singh shouldfirst send his son to Army andonly then he should ask for evi-dences. “It seems, the age ofSingh has affected his mind,” headded.

Meanwhile, Minister inMadhya Pradesh governmentand son of Singh, JaivardhanSingh has advocated the state-ment of his father.

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The Awadhpuri police haveon Sunday booked an

Additional District ProsecutionOfficer (ADPO) posted inRaisen on the charge of harass-ing and physically assaulting hiswife after she refused to providemoney for buying property inRaisen.

Police said that the victimwoman Sunanda Kumrelodged complaint regardingher husband RameshwarKumre who harassed her overmoney.

In her complaint the victimstated that her husbandRameshwar Kumare works inRaisen and wanted to buy afarm house in the same area.He is posted as AdditionalDistrict Prosecution Officer(ADPO).

He was demanding moneyfrom her for long but she keptrefusing in the past and frus-trated over the refusal heassaulted her after which shedecided to inform police andapproached Awadhpuri policefor complaining against herhusband.

The victim also allegedthat her husband used to actviolently in the past and afterthe incident this time shelodged police complaint.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-tered a case under sections 294,323 and 506 of the IPC andstarted further investigation.

The accused is not arrest-ed yet and would be nabbed inthe further investigation. Thevictim woman is posted assteno at Secretariat.

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Page 4: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangrahalaya has

selected all north-east states asthe theme of its 43rdFoundation Day. Under the cel-ebrations IGRMS is organisingvarious programmes and activ-ities at its premises from March

8 to 10, 2019.On this occasion a special

exhibition on handloom textiletradition of North-East entitled‘Hath-Kargha’ will be inaugu-rated at Veethi Sankul, IGRMSand artists, resource person,retired museum personnel willbe honoured. On the eve ofFoundation Day, country’s

largest lamp with 1001 wicks‘Aal-Vilakku’ will be lighted.Later traditional artists fromNorth-East will give perform-ing arts presentation at VeethiSankul open air auditorium.The other major attractions ofthe three day long festival areas follows Exhibitions, AnnualLecture, Seminar, Cultural

Performance, Craft Fair andFood Festival. A group madeup of Assam, ArunachalPradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya,Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripuraand Sikkim states is called theNortheast. This area is veryimportant in geographical,mythological, historical andstrategic terms. With the viewof culture, language, tradition,lifestyle, diet, customs, festivals,traditions etc, this area isdiverse so that it is not exag-gerated to call this region thecultural laboratory of India.The northeast has the highesttribal population. Almost theentire population of ArunachalPradesh, Mizoram, Nagalandand Meghalaya is tribal. Theranges, evergreen forests andriver is enhances the naturalbeauty of this area. Biodiversity,cultural virginity, collectivelyrealization, nature love andUnwavering commitment toyour tradition are unique fea-tures of this area. This area isunique in terms of food.

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Medi-Caps Universityorganised an in-house

Faculty DevelopmentProgrammeon on Friday inmajor auditorium of universi-ty for polishing the skill of itsfaculties.

In order to grown the fac-ulties of all discipline anothersession has been planned withthe very same significant objec-tive.

The session was taken bythe eminent speaker and veryexperienced academician ProfArun Bhatnagar; DirectorGeneral of IIST Group ofInstitutes.

He started his session in avery humble and docile way.The way he boosted the audi-ence made the session veryinteractive and informative.His mastery was leveled ourvarious fronts from his discus-sion. He encouraged audience

to lead a very disciplined life.His sound knowledge on eco-nomics, academic, finance,technology yoga, sociology wasvery finely mingled in his pre-sentation.

Through his questionanswer session he made theaudience alive.

The programme wasgraced by the presence of chan-cellor of Medi-Caps University;

RC Mittal, Pro-ChancellorGopal Agrawal, ViceChancellor Prof Sunil KSomani along with those dig-nitaries all Deans, HODs andprofessors were enlightenedand benefited with the versatileand unique ideas share byArun Bhatnagar.

The programme was endedby offering memento toBhatnagar.

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The National Human RightsCommission has sought

an action-taken report from theOdisha Health and FamilyWelfare Secretary and Anguldistrict SP regarding the deathof a woman due to adminis-tering of a wrong injection.

The NHRC passed theorder taking cognisance of apetition filed by civil societyorganisation Human RightsWatch secretary Sangita Swain.

In her petition Swain hadalleged that a woman PranatiPradhan, wife of SamerndraPradhan of Kulhada village inAngul district died in ChandanNursing Home in Similipadadue to administering of wrong

anesthesia injection given byuntrained nurse.

She alleged that ChandanNursing Home and other clin-ics have mushroomed in thedistrict violating theGovernment norms and guide-lines.

The Collector, DWO,CDMO are silent and encour-aging such practices for whichseveral aforesaid incidents areincreasing violating humanrights, she further alleged.

She prayed the commissionto probe the incident by itsinvestigating team and takesuitable action against theguilty. She also requested forpayment of compensation of Rs25 lakh to next of kin of thedeceased.

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With Odisha having a hugescope for development of

small hydropower projects, ademand has been presented tothe Union Government toallow subsidies for such plantsfor another five years.

Energy Secretary HemantSharma has sought financialsupport for these plants fromthe Union Ministry of Newand Renewable Energy(MNRE) in the All India PowerMinisters Meet held here lastweek.

The Ministry of Powerconvened the two-day longmeet to discuss issues in powersector and Union Minister ofPower RK Singh is taking a lotof interest in Odisha as it is per-forming well in the sector.Secretary Sharma, CESU CEOMd Sadiq Alam and othersenior officials attended the

meet.Sharma said that the

MNRE was extending finan-cial support in shape of grant,assistance, subsidies, whichwere valid till March 31, 2017and the same was notrenewed.

As there is enough scopefor small hydro power projectsin Odisha, the much sought-after extension will certainlyprove to be a right direction inaugmenting renewable energycapacity of the nation as awhole, said Sharma.

He said it is heartening thatthe Ministry of Power has rec-ognized hydro power plants of25 Mega Watt (MW) as renew-

able energy.So, the Energy Secretary

urged to include all new andupcoming as well as existingsmall, medium and largehydro power projects asrenewable nature because theyperform the same functionand are non-polluting innature.

It is observed from aMinistry of Power notifica-tion on February 1 that theRenewable PurchaseObligation (RPO) Trajectoryfor Captive Power Plants(CGP) has been capped at theRPO Level applicable in theyear in which the CGP wascommissioned.

And the notification haspointed out that there wouldnot be an increase in RPO ofsuch CGPs without any fossilfuel capacity being added.

However, the OdishaGovernment has suggested thatthe provisions should beextended to all other obligatedentities in the State and all suchentities should be treated alikethe CGPs in the matter ofreckoning the RPO obliga-tions.

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Unemployment problemmostly among the youths

has increased manyfold inSambalpur district with onlyone per cent of the total registeredunemployed having secured jobs.Despite having many small andmedium industries in the district,the figure of unemployment hasbeen speedily rising.

According to official sources,during the last 4 years total22,371 unemployed boys andgirls have registered in the localemployment exchange.

Out of them only 329secured employment which issaid to be only 1.4 per cent.Interestingly, most of them gotemployment as security guardsand salesmen in private com-panies.

As per the reports, out of

21 employment notifications in2016, only 117 youths regis-tered in the employmentexchange were engaged.

Similarly, during 2017, onlytwo notifications published inwhich only 61 persons securedemployment.

In that year, a total 6,167job seekers registered theirnames in the employmentexchange.

There was also no notifi-cation published for employ-ment during 2018.

To provide self-employ-ment, the district administra-tion conducted three trainingprogrammes for women andprovided sewing machines intribal based Kuchinda sub-division in 2014.

In Rairakhol sub-division,a training programme for woodwork was conducted in 2015.

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BRAHMAPUR: Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik inaugurated theState’s first integrated water sup-ply project, “Janibili MegaDrinking Water Project”, inGanjam district on Sunday.

With this, the much-awaitedproject of Brahmapur denizensand people of nearby rural areasbecame a reality as they are nowassured of getting sufficient drink-ing water every day.

The `431-crore project, thefirst phase of which was launchedon the day, would benefit morethan 5 lakh people in rural andurban areas.

Besides, the Chief Ministerlaid foundation-stones of 19 otherdevelopmental projects totallyworth ̀ 42 crore. He also launcheda fishing harbour constructed at`3.58 crore. In all, the Chief

Minister gifted projects worth`477 crore to people of theBerhampur MunicipalCorporation.

Patnaik reached the CityHigh School ground at around 11am. He was then escorted in ahuge rally to the inaugurationvenue at the Khallikote CollegeStadium.

Ahead of his visit, police haddetained many Congress andBJP members.

Among others, FoodSupplies and Consumer WelfareMinister Surjya Narayan Patro,MP Siddhanta Mopatra, MLS DrRC Chyaupatnaik, PadeepPanigrahi, Priyanshu Pradahn,Srikant Padhy, Purna ChandraSwain and former Union MinisterChandra Sekhar Sahu were present. PNS

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Ludhiana: The foundationstone for new ultra-modernautomatic dairy of five lakh litrecapacity and a butter plant atVerka Milk Plant at Ludhianawas laid on Sunday.

The plant, foundationstone for which was laid byPunjab’s Cooperation and JailsMinister Sukhjinder SinghRandhawa, would be con-structed with a cost of Rs 104crore and would help in pro-viding good quality dairy prod-ucts to the residents.

During the event, bonus anddividend of around Rs 3.5 crorewere also distributed to thedairy cooperative societies forthe year 2016-17 and 2017-18.

“For this particular plant,advanced machinery would beinstalled, through which dairyproducts would be manufac-tured as well as packed auto-matically in a clean atmos-phere. Besides, another plantfor storage of Verka butter isalso being constructed,” saidRandhawa. PNS

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Page 5: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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In a pot shot at the ModiGovernment for claiming

that the Organisation of IslamicCooperation (OIC)’s decisionto invite India to attend its ple-nary was a diplomatic success, the Congress has saidthe resolution on Kashmirpassed by the 57-nationsgrouping was “disturbing” hap-pening for India.

“External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj attended theOIC meeting in Abu Dhabi. The NDA-BJPGovernment touted it as ahuge diplomatic success forIndia that it has been invited toattend the plenary...But whathappened in Abu Dhabi isextremely disturbing for India,”Congress spokesperson ManishTewari said.

“In a resolution, the OICmember states reiterated that

Jammu & Kashmir remainsthe core dispute betweenPakistan and India and its resolution is indispensablefor the dream for peace inSouth Asia.

Tewari said the Congress would like to askPrime Minister Narendra Modi and EAM Swarajwhether this was “the diplo-matic achievement”.

Reacting to the resolution,New Delhi had on Saturdayasserted that Jammu &Kashmir is an integral part ofIndia and the issue is strictlyinternal to the country.

“As regards the resolutionson Jammu & Kashmir, ourstand is consistent and wellknown. We reaffirm thatJammu & Kashmir is an inte-gral part of India and is a mat-

ter strictly internal to India,”Raveesh Kumar, Spokespersonfor the Ministry of ExternalAffairs had said.

Swaraj had attended theinaugural plenary of the 46thsession of the Council ofForeign Ministers (CFM) ofOIC on Friday. She was the firstIndian minister to address theOIC meeting.

India’s participation camedespite strong demand byPakistan to rescind the invita-tion to Swaraj to address thegrouping which was turneddown by the host UAE, resulting in Pakistan’s ForeignMinister Shah MehmoodQureshi boycotting the plenary.

Swaraj attended the meet-ing in Abu Dhabi on March 1as the guest of honour at theinvitation extended by theForeign Minister of the UnitedArab Emirates.

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President Ram Nath Kovindhas given his assent to the

Ordinance that allows volun-tary use of Aadhaar as IDproof for obtaining mobileSIM cards and opening bankaccounts. The Ordinance —necessitated because the RajyaSabha could not approve a Billafter its passage by the LokSabha — was promulgated onSaturday.

Last week, the Cabinetapproved the promulgation ofan Ordinance to give effect tochanges proposed in Aadhaarand two others legislations. Theamendments provide for stiffpenalties for violation of normsset for the use of Aadhaar andviolation of privacy.

It bans storing of core bio-metric information as well as

Aadhaar number by serviceproviders in cases of individu-als who have voluntarily offeredthe national ID as a means ofauthentication. The Ordinance

gives effect to the changes inthe Aadhaar Act such as givinga child an option to exit fromthe biometric ID programmeon attaining 18 years of age.

The amendments make itclear that anyone not offeringAadhaar cannot be denied anyservice, be it opening of abank account or obtaining amobile phone SIM card.

The changes also lay downthe procedure for offline verifi-cation of an Aadhaar numberholder and confer enhancedregulator-like power on theUnique Identification Authorityof India (UIDAI) to give direc-tions as it may consider neces-sary to any entity in the Aadhaarecosystem.

Every requesting entity towhom an authentication requestis made will have to inform theAadhaar number holder ofalternate and viable means ofidentification and will not denyany service to them for refusingto, or being unable to undergoauthentication.

The changes entail a civilpenalty of up to Rs 1 crore onentities that violate the provi-sions of the Aadhaar Act, withan additional fine of up to Rs10 lakh per day in case of con-tinuous non-compliance.

Unauthorised use of iden-tity information by a requestingentity or offline verificationseeking entity would be pun-ishable with imprisonment ofup to three years with a fine thatmay extend to Rs 10,000 or incase of a company with a fine ofup to Rs 1 lakh. The Ordinancewill omit the Section 57 of theAadhaar Act relating to the useof Aadhaar by private entities.The changes have been broughtabout through amendments inAadhaar Act, the IndianTelegraph Act and thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act.

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As many as six cities havebeen selected as “Live

Laboratories” for a project underwhich 1,000 houses will be builtusing innovative technologiesthat are low-cost, sustainable,disaster-resistant and adapted tosuit Indian conditions.

These cities are Rajkot,Ranchi, Indore, Chennai,Agartala and Lucknow. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasdeclared the next year, April-2019 to March, 2020 as“Construction Technology Year”.

These projects wouldreceive the regular PrimeMinister Awas Yojna (Urban)assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh fromthe state and the same amountfrom the Centre besides theinnovation grant of Rs 2.5 lakhfor each residential unit.

On the sidelines of theConstruction Technology India-

2019 (CTI-2019) Expo-cum-conference here, Housing andUrban Affairs Secretary DurgaShanker Mishra told reportersthat 54 Proven TechnologyProviders with 32 new tech-nologies from 25 countriesincluding technologies fromUSA, Finland, Australia, Spain,France, South Korea and Italywere evaluated by the Technical

Evaluation Committee (TEC) atthe exposition.

Mishra said technologyadoption will happen in not onlythese six States, but also in otherStates and Union Territories.Over the recent launch of thethird edition of the VulnerabilityAtlas of India, the official said hewould soon be writing to allStates to use its assessment

before beginning constructionactivities in their cities.

Vulnerability Atlas of Indiais a collation of the existinghazard scenario of the entirecountry.

“The conventional systemof housing construction is time-consuming as well as resource-intensive and emphasised thatthere is a need to look for newemerging, disaster-resilient,environment-friendly, cost-effective and speedy construc-tion technologies. The shift intechnology transition will alsoaddress the challenges of large-scale housing construction inminimum time and cost withoptimum use of resources andenvironment friendly practices,”HUA officials said.

The HUA Ministry saidthe conventional system ofhousing construction is time-consuming as well as resource-intensive and emphasised that

there is a need to look for newemerging, disaster-resilient,environment-friendly, cost-effective and speedy construc-tion technologies.

The technology adoption isexpected to take place not onlyin the winning States, but alsoin other States/UTs.

At the Global HousingTechnology conference, 78Potential Technology Providersfrom across the country, with 55post-prototype and 23 pre-pro-totype made their presentationsto the expert jury that includedpresentations on Robotic MobileConstruction from Mumbai to3D Printing in Constructionfrom Bangalore, fromHempcrete construction systemfrom Auroville to use of treatedBamboo for Low Cost Housingfrom Assam to presentations onCast-in-situ- monolithic Domes/Shells for various types of Habitatin Jammu & Kashmir.

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Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Sunday

accused the Congress of creat-ing “political divide” and “hurt-ing national interest” on theissue of India’s airstrike at theterror camps in Pakistan even as he said public opinionoverwhelmingly backed theGovernment action for defending the sovereignty ofthe country.

He charged the Congress-led UPA with running a ‘terri-ble’ Government and even a‘more terrible’ Opposition andhurting India’s national interestand giving handle to Pakistan todiscredit the country.

“Statements made by theOpposition parties (after IAF’scounter terror operation inBalakot) hurt India’s nationalinterest. They give smiles toPakistan and become aninstrument in Pakistan’s handsto discredit India’s operationagainst terrorism,” Jaitley saidin a blog, stressing that on suchoccasions the nation ought tospeak in one voice as was doneby Atal Bihari Vajpayee and JanSangh during the 1971 war.

Describing the resolutionpassed by 21 Opposition par-ties criticising the Governmentas inappropriate, he said, it gavea handle to the enemy andPakistan’s media used the state-ment as a trump card.

The Government had twice taken the leaders ofOpposition parties into confi-dence, he said.

The Finance Minister saidas against the Opposition, thepublic opinion in the countryhas overwhelmingly supportedthe Government on the issue.

Referring to the statementof former Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh, the FinanceMinister said he sought to ele-vate himself to the status of aneutral third party while rais-ing doubts about India’s rightto defend its sovereignty fromthose who want to damage itthrough terrorism.

“I was most disappointedwith a brief but a highly objec-tionable statement of the for-mer Prime Minister DrManmohan Singh,” Jaitley said.

While receiving the PVNarasimha Rao Award for thelifetime achievement, Singhhad stated that he was dis-turbed with the “Mad rush ofmutual self-destruction” by thetwo nations. Singh further saidthat poverty, ignorance and dis-ease were the real problems inthe two countries and thatsaner counsel on both sidesneeded to think on the issue.

Jaitley wondered that therewas no condemnation of ter-rorism in that speech of theformer Prime Minister.

Implicitly, he doubts India’sright to defend its sovereigntyfrom those who want to dam-

age it through terrorism, hesaid. Jaitley added, “TheCongress-led UPAGovernment from 2004 to2014 ran a terribleGovernment. From 2014 to2019, it was even a more terri-ble Opposition”.

He said West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeewent a step further by doubt-ing the veracity of the incidentand wanted to know the oper-ational details.

“The credibility of both theGovernment and our Air Forceis being doubted. EvenCongress leaders have raisedsimilar questions,” he said in aFacebook post titled “India’sOpposition Has A Lot toLearn.”

Jaitley emphasised that theOpposition is entitled tooppose and ask questions, butthen restrain and statesman-ship are also essential ingredi-ents of public discourse.

He hoped that India’sOpposition revisits its positionand does not let down thenation.

New Delhi: Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora willbe paying a two-day visit toJammu & Kashmir fromMonday to assess the groundsituation in the state for hold-ing the Lok Sabha andAssembly polls together.

A poll panel team led byCEC Arora would also takestock of the State’s preparednessfor the Lok Sabha polls due inApril-May, sources said.

The Election Commissionteam would hold meetingswith state administration offi-cials and political parties inSrinagar on March 4 and inJammu on March 5.

As per a Supreme Courtruling, the outer limit for hold-ing fresh polls after dissolutionof a House is six months and incase of J&K, this deadline endsin May 2019. PTI

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The eighth edition of jointmilitary exercise ‘Sampriti’,

aiming to increase mutualcooperation, bonhomie andcamaraderie between thearmies of India andBangladesh, began Sunday withan impressive ceremony, offi-cials said.

Sampriti 2019 is being con-ducted in Tangail, Bangladesh,till March 15. The exercise, partof the ongoing India-Bangladesh defence coopera-tion, began on March 3 at theBongobondhu Cantonmentwith an impressive openingceremony, the defence ministrysaid in a statement.

“A company group fromBangladesh Army and an equalnumber from Indian Armyare taking part in the two-weeklong exercise that will see themhone their tactical and techni-cal skills in countering insur-gency, counter terrorism andaid to civil authorities for dis-aster management in an UNpeace keeping scenario involv-ing a combined deployment ata battalion level,” it said.

At the opening ceremony,the participating contingentsmarched in and stood side byside, and gave a ceremonialsalute to the national flags of

both the countries to the strainsof “Jana Gana Mana” and the“Amar Shonar Bangla”.

“The aim of the exercise isto increase mutual cooperation,bonhomie and camaraderiebetween the two armiesthrough interoperability andjoint tactical exercises,” thestatement said.

The Bangladesh contin-gent was represented by 36 EastBengal Battalion, while Indian side was represented by 9th Battalion the RajputanaRifles.

“Major General MizanurRahman Shamim, GeneralOfficer Commanding, 19Infantry Division, BangladeshArmy welcomed the Indiancontingent and in his inaugur-al remarks highlighted thecommon shared beliefs ofdemocracy, freedom, equalityand justice that are precious toboth the nations,” it said.

In this eighth edition of theexercise, which started in 2009as a platoon-level exercise andgraduated to a company-levelexercise in 2015 onwards, bothsides will jointly train, plan andexecute a series of well devel-oped tactical drills for neutral-isation of likely threats that maybe encountered during simu-lated UN peace keeping oper-ations, the statement said.

����� 9:6�':;<)

Defining the Women andChild Development

Ministry and making it morethan just a “post office min-istry” was the biggest challengeafter coming to power, UnionMinister Maneka Gandhi hassaid. Speaking on the chal-lenges faced by her in dealingwith women and child issues inthe past five years, Gandhisaid when she took office, thejob of her ministry was onlyhanding out salaries toAnganwadi workers.

“The major challenge rightat the beginning was definingthe ministry. The ministry wasundefined even though it hasbeen there for 10 years. It wasa post office ministry simplyhanding out salaries toAnganwadis who are on strikefrom morning to night,” shetold reporters. She said anoth-er challenge faced by her whenshe took office was bringingeveryone on board, to get opin-ion from the whole country.

“We started by dividingeverything into three categoriesof policy, defence and econom-ic regeneration. We thenrepaired CARA (CentralAdoption Resource Authority)which was almost closed. Wethen worked on RashtriyaMahila Kosh which was then indebt of Rs 60 crore,” she said.“Defining NCPCR (NationalCommission for Protection of

Child Rights) was another chal-lenge. We knew it was for chil-dren but what (it does) for chil-dren was to be understood,” shesaid. She said when she assumedoffice, 18,000 complaints werepending with the NationalCommission for Women.

“We now have legal advi-sory board for the NCW andensure that women get time-bound action. Now this min-istry responds to everything,”she said. Gandhi said the gov-ernment is working on a mech-anism on direct monitoring ofchild care institutions.

She accepted that it was a“mistake” reporting to the statethat something was wrong at theMuzaffarpur shelter home sixmonths before the Bihar gov-ernment finally shut the childcare institution, run by an NGOand funded by both the Centreand the state. “We had firstcome to know that there issomething horribly wrong withthe Muzaffarpur shelter homeand shared the lead with the stategovernment, which turned out tobe a big mistake,” Gandhi said.The issue of sexual abuse ofminor girls first made headlinesin April after the Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences (TISS) submittedits audit report of shelter homesin Bihar to the state social wel-fare department. It raised thepossibility of sexual abuse of girlsat a shelter home in Muzaffarpur,which was later confirmed bytheir medical examination.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has commuted to lifeterm the death penalty award-ed to a man for murdering achild, saying he wanted toreform himself and poemswritten by him in jail indicatethat he realised his mistake.

A bench headed by JusticeAK Sikri noted thatDnyaneshwar Suresh Borkarwas 22 years old when he com-mitted the crime and while injail, tried to “join the society”and become a “civilised man”.The bench, also comprisingjustices S Abdul Nazeer and MRShah, said Borkar was lodged injail for last 18 years and his con-duct showed that he could bereformed and rehabilitated.

“... We are of the opinionthat, in the facts and circum-stances of the case, capital pun-ishment is not warranted.Striking the balance between theaggravating and mitigating cir-cumstances, we are of the opin-ion that mitigating circum-stances are in favour of theaccused (Borkar) while com-muting the death sentence to lifeimprisonment,” the bench said.

It noted several mitigatingcircumstances which were infavour of convict, including“from the poems, written byhim in jail, it appears he hasrealised his mistake which wascommitted by him at the timewhen he was of young age andthat he is reformative”. PTI

����� 9:6�':;<)

Troops of the CISF onSunday created history by

achieving a Guinness worldrecord feat in ‘single line bicy-cle parade’ to mark the 50 yearsof the paramilitary force, anofficer said.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) wasraised in 1969 and it has about1.80 lakh personnel in its ranks.The record was created at theYamuna Expressway in Noida

when personnel of the centralforce rode a total of 1,327bicycles “non-stop with uni-form distance between bicyclesin a single line,” the official said.

“The bicycle parade cov-ered 3.2 km distance non-stop.Earlier, this record was held byHubballi bicycle club of Indiawhich had 1,235 bicycles insingle chain,” a CISF spokesper-son said.

It was an attempt requiringhigh degree of discipline asentire formation has to be

moving, keeping in mind thatthe distance between two cyclesshould not exceed the length ofthree cycles for the worldrecord to be broken, he added.

The Guinness WorldRecord presented a certificate toCISF Director General RajeshRanjan and other senior officials,authenticating the feat, he said.

The CISF is tasked to guarda majority of civil airports inthe country apart from vitalinfrastructure in the aerospaceand nuclear domain.

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Discovery Channel is set toair a documentary series

called ‘Planet Healers’ featuring eight of India’s envi-ronment-friendly startups, whoare working towards sustain-able development, a statement released by thebroadcaster said.

The documentary series,which will be in four parts, willbe hosted by Bollywood actorJim Sarbh and is likely to bepremiered on March 8 on thechannel at 7 pm.

The series will show thejourney of how these startupsare working out innovativetechnology-led solutions toenvironmental hazards facedby the country, the statementsaid. One of the startups, calledFarm2Energy, claims to havefound a solution to use stubble

burning which creates air pol-lution in northern India everywinter. Another startupAbsolute Water claims that itconverts 17 lakh litres ofsewage water into drinkingwater everyday, while SaahasZero Waste specialises in treat-ing and recycling waste with-out disturbing the ecosystem.

The other startups includeNaMo E Waste, Rudra, ChakrInnovation and Urban Kisaan.

While Namo E Wasteclaims to be working towardsrecycling and ensuring safe dis-posal of e-waste, Rudra convertsplastic into poly fuel and ChakrInnovation has created world’sfirst retro-fit emission controldevice for diesel generatorswhich can capture over 90 percent of particulate matter emis-sions, the statement said.

Urban Kisan empowerspeople to grow their own safe,

fresh and high quality foodwith the help of Hydroponicfarming technique, the state-ment said. “Planet Healers isnot just a TV show; it is anattempt by Discovery to createmass awareness about envi-ronmental hazards faced by ourcountry which will have sig-nificant long-term impact,”said Zulfia Waris, VicePresident, Premium and Digitalnetworks, DiscoveryCommunications India in astatement.

“We have focused thisseries on individuals who havededicated themselves to createinnovative technology-led solu-tions for the conservation andpreservation of our planet.

“They are common people with uncommon ambi-tions and incredible self-beliefwho are making a difference,”Waris said.

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Page 6: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

News spread like wildfire onTuesday (February 25) morningthat the Indian Air Force (IAF)had struck at Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camps

at Balakot across the LoC in the wee hours.The strike reportedly led to massive casual-ties and confusion in the ranks of terrorists.One thousand kilos of bomb, one was told,had been dropped, leading to hundreds offatalities. The triumphant mood provedinfectious and the social media exploded injubilation and jibes. Television journalists chat-tered with such conviction as though theywere reporting from the site. Even though theybehaved as “embedded journalists,” surelynone of them had been flown in an aircraftto witness the massacre. The images used werealso representative rather than actual.

Then one noticed the confusion about thelocation of Balakot. In war reporting, like inwar history, maps are as important as the text.But journalists thought it was in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where intuitively most ter-ror camps are located. There was an exchangeof Twitter-fire between two well-knownjournalists regarding the spelling Balakot andBala Kote as there was confusion about theprecise strike location. But another journal-ist, perhaps aided by quick search onWikipedia, informed on Facebook thatBalakot is in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, meaningIndia had crossed the international border andnot just the Line of Control (LoC).

In this melee, this writer scrambled forthe official version of events. During the lastsurgical strikes of September 29, 2016, Lt GenRanbir Singh, the then Director-General ofMilitary Operations, had issued a Pressstatement hosted on the Press InformationBureau (Ministry of Information &Broadcasting) website. There was significantdifference between what Lt Gen Singh hadsaid and how the media narrated the surgi-cal strikes. But this time around, there was nosuch statement from the military and thedefence establishment.

This writer looked into the Twitter han-dles of the IAF, Raksha Mantri (official han-dle), Nirmala Sitharaman (personal handle)only to notice that there was absolute silenceon the issue. The only thing they tweeted dur-ing the day was the inauguration of theNational War Memorial by the Prime Ministerthe previous evening. In fact, the airstrike wasa non-event for Raksha Mantri, Defencespokesperson and the IAF Twitter handles onFebruary 26, 27 and 28 for reasons best knownto them. While the first two Twitter handlessprung to action again after the tri-servicePress conference on February 28 evening, theIAF Twitter handle maintained silence.

Getting back to the subject, the text of theofficial version of the strikes was finally locat-ed on the Ministry of External Affair’s web-site. Why the Foreign Secretary shouldreport an air campaign and IAF shouldobserve silence over it is puzzling. But it wasmore perplexing to find that Foreign Secretary

Vijay Gokhale’s statement madeno mention of the IAF. In fact, itdescribed the strike as “non-mil-itary pre-emptive action”, whichreminded this writer of an inno-vative Bengali recipe of the 1960s,strangely named ‘vegetarianduck-egg curry’. It does mentionBalakot but not whether it is inmainland Pakistan or PoK.

Subsequently, a string ofpictures, presumably of thedestruction wrought in Balakotdue to IAF’s bombing, went viralon social media. Little notice waspaid to the fact that the victimslooked overwhelmingly civil-ians, including women, a fact thatcontradicted the ForeignSecretary’s statement that civiliancasualties were avoided. But sub-sequently, they turned out to beold photos, capturing thedestruction caused by an earth-quake in Balakot in 2005.

Can the paradox get biggerthan this? On the one hand, theGovernment is flaunting a zero-tolerance policy towards fakenews. The heads of social mediacompanies are being summonedbefore the Standing Committeeon Information Technology. Onthe other, relevant Governmentinstitutions and Ministers in-charge maintain silence on sucha vital matter or give insufficientand puzzling versions. TheGovernment is, thus, itself help-ing unsubstantiated or fake newsto proliferate.

Some people cite compul-sions of secrecy about surgicalstrikes. One wonders what kindof secrecy is this where mediaknows more and social mediastill more about an event with-

in hours but Government insti-tutions provide little or con-fused information. GeraldVincent Bull (1928-1990), theCanadian defence engineerwho was developing a long-range artillery called ProjectBabylon “supergun” for SaddamHussein, was assassinated inBrussels in 1990. His murder,still unsolved, is widely believedto be carried out by the Israeliintelligence service, Mossad.Did the then Israeli PrimeMinister Yitzhak Shamir evenrefer to the action in public letalone taking political credit;although he might have autho-rised it in the first place?

How is it known which airbases the Miraj squadron flewout from and where was thecampaign coordinated? Eitherthe news is incorrect or sup-plied by some highly-placedsources within the IAF. Doesthat then mean that the IAF isleaking out confidential newswhile officially keeping silent onit? Is it the way to deal with mil-itary issues in a republic?

The Kargil War was a highpoint in that sense. It was India’sfirst “televised war.” Not onlywere images from the world’shighest battle theatre streamedinto our homes throughout theday, but every evening, the thenMEA spokesperson, SardarRaminder Singh Jassal, kept usabreast of the developments.Having seen that era in one’s earlyyouth, one finds this approach toinformation quite strange. OnNovember 18, 2016, a largenumber of Lok Sabha memberswanted to know about the num-

ber of camps destroyed and ter-rorists killed in the strike. TheMoS, Defence, avoided giving ananswer. Nor was any answergiven to that effect in the RajyaSabha. After that, the issue sur-prisingly went cold. TheGovernment has not given anydetails about the event till date.

Many would like to con-vert the issue of “proof ” intoone of believing and notbelieving in the Indian armedforces. A “non-believer” wouldbe immediately branded asanti-nationalist. But the issuehere is actually different. It iswhether or not citizens havethe right to know the exactposition from their electedGovernment? Is it whetherthe Government, in this era offake news, should leave suchinformation about such vitalmilitary event to the mercy ofmedia and social media?

It appears in hindsight thatSardar Baldev Singh, India’s firstDefence Minister, was charitablein his remarks. He said ourArmy, Air Force and Navy (sic)were fighting against Pakistanbacked infiltrators in Jammu &Kashmir (1947). He reportedlydid not buckle when peopleasked how could the Navy fightin mountains and valleys? He wasmerely providing some superflu-ous information, without beingeconomic with the truth. Do weneed an Official Version Act forthe Government, which has con-ventionally been governed by theOfficial Secrets Act?

(The writer is an independentresearcher. Views expressed here-in are his personal)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Now, some calm talk” (March2). Pakistan, too, like us, mustfocus within. It should give uphosting terror bases and consid-er investing in quality educationfor all, production of goods,innovative and profitable agricul-ture, industries, renewable cleanfuel (solar and hydrogen energy)and on stopping plastic usage.Above all, it should nullify terror-ist activities and the arms buyingrace urgently.

Elsewhere, people are unitingand working on the developmentof their countries peacefully.Koreans are sending united teamsto international competitions.Take, for example, China’s Beltand Road Initiative across landand maritime route or think ofthe two Germanys uniting tobreak the wall.

In every country, the com-mon man wants to simply goabout his business. While thispresumably is the case inPakistan, too, it does not preventthe country from indulging indestructive activities, all of whichis a waste of money and results inthe loss of precious lives of sol-

diers, innocent citizens and evenassets on both sides of the border.Who can solve problems betweentwo nations arising from man-made issues?

PVM Rao Secunderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-

al, “Now, some calm talk” (March2). The announcement on thefloor of Parliament by PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan thathis country would release WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman helped us heave a sighof relief. Captured by locals,Abhinandan was badly beatenbefore being rescued by an offi-cer of the Pakistan Army.

If Pakistan has seen sense in

releasing the captured Indian AirForce pilot, after it was roundlypressured by international pow-ers and even its own allies, its peo-ple should not see it as a come-down but a practical decision.India asserted that no concessionswere made for the release of thecaptured pilot, Wing CommanderAbhinandan.

KS JayatheerthaBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the article,“De-escalate Indo-Pak ties”(March 2) M Ashraf Haidari.Certainly, terrorism and all itsingredients are an obstruction todevelopments not only in Indiaand Pakistan but they alsoadversely influence other coun-tries irrespective of their size.The world has been sufferingfrom deep-rooted militancy.Iraq, Syria, Libya andAfghanistan are good examples.

As far as Pakistan is con-cerned, its democracy is in noway trying to change the civil-ian outlook, where religioussentiments play a huge role.

Educated young peoplemust effect a shift in the per-spectives of citizens of thatcountry. Pakistan being a coun-tr y of unrest sinceIndependence, uncertainty inad-vertently affects the youth. Timeonce lost will never be returned.Only collective efforts can helpin changing perspectives.

Ramachandran NairMalappuram

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Page 7: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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Last week’s forest fires in Karnatakamust serve as a reminder that forestmanagement in our country is inurgent need of attention. More than3,000 hectares of forest land were gut-

ted in the inferno in the Bandipur NationalPark in Mysuru district of Karnataka. TheBandipur National Park is spread over morethan 900 sq km area and bears dry deciduousforests, which are vulnerable to fires. Bandipuris one of the most vital habitats for the tigerand has the highest density area wise, almostone tiger per 7 sq km. It is home to around 80tigers besides several elephants, deer, bisonsand antelopes. It shares a contiguous landscapewith the Nagarhole National Park And TigerReserve, which in turn connects with theunique ecosystem of the Niligiri hills and ulti-mately merges with the rich forests of Kerala.

The fires are very damaging to the ecosys-tem as they kill the entire gamut of ecologi-cal capital built over thousands of years. WithIndia being most vulnerable to climate changeand hosting sensitive tropical ecosystems, it isall the more necessary for us to pay adequateand immediate attention to the prevention offorest fires. These not only cause irreparableecological damage to life-sustaining naturalresources for both humans and wild animalsbut also threaten the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities, and particularlyresults in destabilising the agriculture andwater sources.

In recent times, forest fires have become aregular phenomenon in our country. Over thelast few years, Uttarakhand and the hills in theNortheast have seen forest fires with regular fre-quency, causing severe damage to the vegeta-tion and precious bio-diversity. Similar inci-dents have been noticed in other States, too. Iffires continue ravaging our forest resources,days are not far enough when the country willbe in the vortex of social strife as the life sus-taining resources will be gradually lost and pre-cious bio-diversity may become extinct. It isessential that we draw up an actionable planto control forest fires so that remedial steps canbe taken with al l seriousness by theGovernment as well as the civil society. Forestfires are but a national calamity and must beclassified as a disaster of the highest magnitude.

The Bandipur fires were so severe thatmore than 1,000 village people and the avail-able forest guards were not able to control it.The Karnataka Chief Minister had to seek thesupport of the Defence Minister, who readilyobliged and deployed two helicopters of theIndian Air Force, who due to the availabilityof water bodies inside the park, were able tospray 30,000 litres of water to douse the fire.

There are three main reasons why suchinfernos are occurring so frequently. First, isclimatic vagaries and recalcitrant local weath-er conditions. Last year, Bandipur receivedample rains in September, which allowed thegrass to grow very tall and soon after the endof the rainy season, they became a veritable fuelload, waiting to set the forest afire.

The second reason is the culpability of the

local population, who lit the fires accidental-ly by throwing cigarette butts and sometimesdeliberately to facilitate the timber mafia. It issaid that in Bandipur, the fire was set off bygraziers. However, what contributed a greatdeal to this inferno was the sheer negligenceof the forest staff and officers of Karnataka,who failed to take timely action as per the firecontrol protocol sent to all States regularly bythe Ministry of Environment, Forest andClimate Change. In forest fire management, thebest strategy is prevention rather than fire-fighting and control. The moot point to ask is:Are the foresters of Bandipur, or for that mat-ter all over the country, prepared with a firemanagement plan? Each year, a strategy hasto be made with respect to the actual fuel load,maintenance of fire lines, burning the forestfuel load and involvement of the local popu-lation. Based on this, early warning systemsmust be prepared, vulnerable areas mappedand strategies suggested. It is also to beascertained if the Forest Survey of India’s (FSI)fire warning system reached the field officers.The FSI is well-equipped to detect the forestfires through satellite within seconds and oncea fire incident is detected, it sends SMSes tofield divisional forest officers and wildlife war-dens and other officers. Yet another cause ofa galloping blaze, which many foresters right-fully argue for, is the lack of adequate fundsto place a sound forest fire management sys-tem in place.

The Government of India, the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC) as also the Karnataka Governmentmust inquire into these lapses, find the realcause of fires and fix responsibility. In mostcases, the incident is forgotten after sometimewhen the matter subsides, especially in themedia. Now, the time has come that theMoEFCC must take a call and put a national

programme in place on forest fire managementand pin-point the role of officers at various lev-els, including of those who are responsible forproviding funds. Without control of forest fires,we are putting up hiccups in achieving our tar-gets for climate change. It is felt by a large num-ber of people and professionals within and out-side the forestry circles, that fires happen dueto the lackadaisical attitude of policy plannersand programme implementers.

The Compensator y Planning andManagement Authority (CAMPA) has hugefunds parked with it and a portion of it mustbe earmarked for fire prevention. TheGovernment’s Disaster Management author-ities in respective States should — in collab-oration with financial support from MoEFCC(for which CAMPA funds could be lined up),FSI and forestry research organisations —come out with a proposal to develop a three-month course for all field formulationsof the forests and other departments on fireprevention and control. For senior and mid-dle level officers, special modules of one to twoweeks duration should be created and mockdrills conducted. Similar programmes shouldbe arranged for local people and every year,District Magistrates should constitute a com-mittee for coordination in fire prevention,planning and control. All of those, whoreceive emoluments from the Government,must be duty-bound to assist the forestdepartment for fire control. At the State level,the Chief Secretary should monitor the prepa-ration at the beginning of the fire season.Incentives must be given to the local peoplefor fire prevention and punitive action mustbe taken against those who deliberately settwigs fire. It is high time that MoEFCC takesthese initiatives and the country is rid of themenace of forest and bio-diversity destruction.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

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The chain of events following thePulwama attack has plungedthe security environment in the

Indian sub-continent to its lowestpoint since Operation Parakram.Media-led clamour for retaliatory useof force against Pakistan has been gain-ing decibels ever since. And such hasbeen the predictability of Governmentresponse in the post-truth world thatlimited use of military force wasinstantly foretold.

However, the air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammad training camps insidePakistani territory came as a surpriseto both Pakistan as well as analysts onboth sides of the border. While Indiatermed the strikes as “non-military”and “pre-emptive”, the use of sophisti-cated terminology did not deterPakistan from carrying out retaliatory

airstrikes, which led to an Indian AirForce (IAF) pilot and his Mig-21being shot down.

Amid claims and counter-claims ofwho inflicted how much damage, thetwo nuclear powers are once again onthe verge of a full-fledged military con-flict. What is appalling is that despitethe criticality of the situation, promi-nent intelligentsia is suggesting thatIndia must seek escalation. Their argu-ment is that previous piecemeal mili-tary actions have failed to establishcredible deterrence. While precedentsmay favour this argument, there is afundamental flaw with the use ofescalation as a deliberate policy mea-sure — its propensity to spiral out ofcontrol.

Numerous externalities impactthe deviation between intended objec-tives and actual outcome of an escala-tory action. To begin with, what shouldbe the escalatory threshold? The sub-jectivity of escalatory threshold is oneof the reasons that escalation is so dif-ficult to manage and/or successfullyexploit. Escalatory threshold may besymmetric — where a threshold isviewed similarly by both parties orasymmetric — situations where a

threshold may loom large for one partybut may seem obscure to the other.Second is the anticipated response froman adversary. Generally, when one partyto a conflict crosses the escalatorythreshold, it expects the other side tofollow suit. Once again, this responsemay be symmetric, asymmetric orsometimes even absent.

For example, during World War I,when the German Army introducedgas warfare, the Allied forces respond-ed in equal measure, which kept theperceptive breach of escalatory thresh-old in balance. However, such a sym-metric response may not be availableif the prospect of equal retaliation seemsless appealing or unavailable to theother party. For example, duringOperation Desert Storm, frustrated bythe sustained air strikes of the US-ledforces, Iraq deliberately sought to esca-late the conflict by firing ballistic mis-siles at Israel. The idea was to irk thecoalition forces and draw them intowar. However, Israel did not retaliateand coalition forces refused to bedrawn into a premature full-blown war.

To sum up, achieving intended out-comes by deploying escalation as a pol-icy objective is dependent on external

factors which are beyond effective con-trol of parties to a conflict. Most of thesefactors are presumptive in nature andmay or may not exist in objective real-ity. This increases the chance of a mis-calculation exponentially and that isexactly what two nuclear-armednations cannot afford.

Even if India is certain to attainescalation dominance, it makes for lit-tle practical sense, given that stakes arehigher for India as compared toPakistan. An armed conflict at thispoint will have a multi-modal impacton India. The immediate casualtywould be the economy. Wars areexpensive. Just to add to perspective,the US federal price tag for the post9/11 wars is pegged over $5.9 trilliontill date (more than double of India’sGDP). The Indian economy is alreadyfacing headwinds from a rebound inglobal oil prices amidst a host of othermacro-economic concerns, besidesuncertainty over the upcoming gen-eral elections. While the near $3 tril-lion economy may stay resilient in theface of a limited armed conflict, anescalated conflict may lead to dimin-ished foreign investment and conse-quent economic slowdown. India is

currently jockeying, some wouldargue not particularly successfully, alimited time-frame during which itcan leverage its demographic dividendto transition into a higher-income andproductive economy.

Further, an armed conflict at thispoint will also derail the modernisa-tion of the armed forces. The much-needed force modernisation has onlyrecently started to show some form.Indian armed forces are in the processof acquiring as well as developing newplatforms and structures to boostdefence preparedness. Key amongstthese is the restructuring of theIndian Army into a leaner force bycreating integrated battle groups.Strides have also been made in cre-ating a separate command for cyberand space warfare. These reforms arecritical to the enhancement of thecombat capability of the Indianforces. China, too, is undergoing sim-ilar reforms, under which its territo-rial Army has been downsized. Aneconomically and militarily fragileIndia will not enjoy the same strate-gic advantages as it currently does,which puts at risk its membership ofthe Nuclear Suppliers Group and the

UN Security Council.The risks of an escalation gone

wrong far outweigh any perceived ben-efits. With the release of the capturedIAF pilot, India’s option to escalate hasbecome politically unviable. In thisbackdrop, non-military escalationwould be the most viable strategy.

It would be in India’s utmostinterest to maintain sustained multi-pronged pressure on Pakistan andensure that it is declared an interna-tional pariah. To begin with, Indiamust rise over the rhetoric and offi-cially treat Pakistan as a terror-spon-soring state in its foreign policy.India’s economic heft and the recentuptick in Indo-China relations postthe Wuhan summit, must also beleveraged to score a diplomatic upperhand in its initiatives to blacklist ter-rorist organisations breeding onPakistani soil. Non-military punitiveactions like weaponising the IndusWater Treaty must be duly consid-ered. Above all, India must carve outa consistent Pakistan policy as theextant mixture of hard and softapproach has far outrun its course.

(The writer is legal associate anddefence analyst, Koan Advisory Group)

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The Jammu and Kashmirunit president of the

Congress, GA Mir on Sundayadvocated dialogue betweenIndia and Pakistan for resolu-tion of political issues throughpeaceful means.

He also asked PakistaniPrime Minister Imran Khan toconvert his words into actionand ensure an end to terrorismin the region.

“Both the countries (Indiaand Pakistan) need to sit on thetable and work out a solutionto the political issues political-ly,” Mir told reporters duringhis visit to forward villagesalong the Line of Control (LoC)in Poonch district.

Mir led a party delegation toareas hit by shelling by Pakistaniforces to take stock of the situa-tion. The delegation met the bor-der villagers and expressed theirsolidarity with them.

Mir said the tension alongthe borders are resulting inavoidable fatalities.

“Innocent civilians on thisside and the other side of theborder are getting killed,injured and dislocated andtheir properties are being dam-aged. What is their fault? Thepeople on the other side arepart of the state and are ourown people,” Mir said.

Referring to the recentstatements by Imran Khan thathis country does not supportterrorism, he said the groundrealities are different.

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Claiming that Amethi is atrue reflection of BJP

Government’s Slogan of ‘SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas’ , PrimeMinister Narendra Modiattacked the Gandhi family forneglect of the region saying theregion suffered because of theapathy of one family who gavefake assurances of develop-ment but actually did nothing.

“One family is solelyresponsible for the backward-ness of Amethi as they havelaunched development pro-jects to fulfill their vested inter-ests. The glaring example is acycle factory , whose land wastransferred to a trust run by thefamily ,” the PM said withouttaking any name.

PM in an apparent refer-ence to Rahul Gandhi in hisAmethi constituency com-mented, “Some people keepgiving “made in..” speeches,But Modi walks the talk. Wehave made “Made in Amethi” areality. This factory should havecome into being 8-9 year back.But the full potential of the ini-tiative was never realised.”

“Saab ka saath and sab kavikas is our mantra. Those whovoted for us and who did not,everyone belongs to us. After 5years, I humbly say that SmritiIrani was a new face to the peo-ple in Amethi, but your love hasmade us popular and helpedSmriti Irani to develop Amethion a large scale,” he said addingthat those who voted for us andthose who did not they are allour people. Smriti Irani was yourcandidate. Though we could notwin, but we won your hearts.

Addressing a public meet-ing after dedicating theOrdinance unit which willmanufacture world’s bestassault rifle AK-203 andlaunching development pro-jects worth over Rs 538 croreshere at Korba on Sunday, Modialleged that land was taken forfood park but no industriescame up. Land was transferredin their name through theback door. Houses given toDalits in 2008 started crum-bling, he said.

“They sat on Rafale deal foryears. Now they do not want tosee the deal through due totheir benefit. They wantedtheir cut in the deal and hencewas obstructing it. But thefirst Rafale jet will be on Indiansky soon,” he said.

“They sat on Rafale foryears. We are trying to bring inthe jets and some people aretrying to object to the purchase.Supreme Court too is support-ing the government's decisionon the Rafale deal, “PM said.

The PM said: “Was not itunfair not to provide latestweapons to our forces? Thatgovernment did not botherabout our armed forces. Peopleshould be reminded how thegovernment delayed acquisi-tion of bulletproof jackets forour forces. Who were thesepeople who delayed productionof weapons and acquisition ofbulletproof jackets.”

Claiming that now Amethiwill get an international recog-nition when our forces will userifles made in Amethi. This

work should have started 8-9years ago.”Our forces had thenmade a request to the govern-ment mentioning their needs.This was the reason this facto-ry was sanctioned. Those whocannot do this much, how cansomeone trust them? Theycould not even decide on thearms to be manufactured here.They could not decide upon theland to be allotted,” PM said.

Modi thanked RussianPresident Vladimir Putin forthis joint venture. “This couldbe possible in very short timedue to him. Also thank Russianfriends associated with theproject. Some people roam allover the world and then in ral-lies, say ‘Made in Ujjain, Madein Indore’ but we have made‘Made in Amethi’ a reality,” he

added.The PM said 12 lakh farm-

ers in Amethi will be benefit-ted through the Kisan Nidhischeme.” They never tried toestablish and empower farmers.The farm loan waiver schemehas only benefited middlemen.But our Kisan Nidhi schemehas in true sense benefitedfarmers,” he said.

He said gas connection,free electricity have been madepossible because of our gov-ernment. We are trying to helpthe poor to develop and letfamilies come above the pover-ty line.

The meeting was alsoaddressed by defence ministerNirmala Sitaraman, union tex-tile minister Smriti Irani andUP CM Yogi Adityanath.

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Several police officers andsome BJP workers were

injured even as saffronactivists on Sunday clashedwith the Bengal police force atvarious points they werestopped by the administrationfrom taking out “unautho-rised” Sankalp Yatra.

Among the injured policestaff was a deputy superinten-dent of police and an inspec-tor, sources said adding thepolice had to resort to lathicharge on a BJP motorbikerally in Midnapore where thebikers refused to stop evenafter being asked to do so as“they had no permission tostage such a rally and attackedthem with stones,” a seniorBengal Minister said chargingthe BJP with “trying to fomenta communal disturbance in theState ahead of the elections.”

BJP president Amit Shahhad earlier inaugurated theYatra with an aim to tone upthe organization and spice upthe saffron cadres ahead of thecoming elections. The rulingTrinamool Congress leadersalleged “they spent hugeamount of money brininggoons from neighbouringJharkhand who attacked thepolice.”

Similar clashes erupted atGoaltore, Asansol, Durgapurwhere a police officer in-charge was injured, Balurghatand other places police said.

The BJP and the TMC hadbeen involved in a fierce turfwar in Bengal with Shah fix-ing a target of at least 23 LokSabha seats for his party in thecoming elections. Aware of thesaffron outfit’s known practiceof fanning communal dishar-mony ahead of elections ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeehad refused permission to aBJP Rath Yatra early this yearprompting the latter to movethe Supreme Court. It howev-er failed in its objective.

Subsequently the BJP lead-ership decided to take outlimited rallies throughoutevery district to tone up itsparty men. Sunday’s rally wasan exercise in that direction,sources said.

Reacting to the police lathicharge and the clashesbetween the two sides StateBJP president Dilip Ghoshsaid “Mamata Banerjee is try-ing to stop the popular emo-tion with her police. But Iwarn both the administrationand the TMC cadres to desistfrom putting unnecessary hur-dles in the way of our politi-cal programmes failing whichthey will see more incidentslike the one that took placetoday.”

State Minister ParthoChatterjee however said “theBJP would fail in its attempt tocommunalise Bengal,” addingthe hired goons from neigh-bouring States would not beable to make their journey asuccess.

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NC chief Farooq AbdullahSunday said India and

Pakistan should start a “resultoriented” and “time bound”dialogue for the “greater good”of both the nations, especiallythe welfare of Jammu andKashmir.

Addressing a meet of partyfunctionaries here, Abdullahsaid National Conference (NC)founder and his father SheikhMohammed Abdullah was ofthe opinion that greater Indo-Pak interaction would benefitthe people of the state the most.

“Our party still deems Indo-Pak friendship essential to apeaceful sub-continent. Iimpress upon the sane voices inboth the countries to push theirrespective governments to ini-tiate a result oriented dialogueprocess for the greater good ofthe two nations,” he said.

“The bonhomie betweenthe two nuclear powerednations is the key to peace in J-K,” the former chief minister ofthe state said.

The NC took upon itself toemancipate the people of thestate from abject poverty andshackles of feudal strife under thedynamic leadership of SheikhMohammad Abdullah, he said.

“The ideals of Sher-e-Kashmir (Sheikh MohammadAbdullah) will continue toguide us for all times to come,”he said.

“Our party has been replete

with scarifies that we relent-lessly lent for our people. Wewill continue to shoulder themission of working for all thesections of society irrespectiveof region or religion in ourstate,” he added.

Urging both India andPakistan to respect the 2003ceasefire agreement and makeborders peaceful, Abdullahsaid the continuous skirmish-es between the two nationshave wrecked havoc on thelives of those living on eithersides of the border.

“Yesterday only, (a) num-ber of innocent people includ-ing children got killed in crossborder shelling on both sides ofLoC in Poonch area,” he said.

“People are being forced torelocate to safer areas resultingin large scale migration. Itstime that both nations put animmediate end to such hostil-ities along LoC and IB areas,”he added.

The member of Parliamentfrom Srinagar said peacebetween India and Pakistanwill help the sub-continentachieve a multitude of devel-opment goals in all vital sectors.

While denouncing theoption of war, the former Unionminister said both soldiers andcivilians suffer due to war.

“The consequences of warand conflict are beyondkillings. I am hopeful that thestate of affairs between both thecountries is moving towardsbetterment with each passing

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In a significant move theBengal Government entrust-

ed former Kolkata PoliceCommissioner Rajeev Kumarwith the charge of AdditionalDirector of Economic Offence.Apart from this he will alsohead the Special Task Force ofthe Kolkata Police. The 1989batch IPS officer had alreadybeen functioning as theAdditional Director General ofthe State CID.

Kumar’s new assignmentsassume importance in thebackdrop of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee taking astance in his favour followinga botched CBI raid in thesenior IPS officer’s house whenhe was the Commissioner ofKolkata Police.

The Chief Minister stageda two-day dharna against theCentre’s alleged policy of arm-twisting the State Governmentand the opposition leaderswho dared raise a voice againstits policies. She read the CBI’smove as an attack on the con-stitutional norms and federalstructure of the country.

The CBI subsequentlygrilled the senior officer andobtained his statements in theSharada chit fund case. Kumarwas the first IPS officer who hadinvestigated the chit fund case--- as the head of the SpecialInvestigation Team --- when itfirst came to light in 2013.

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Jammu and KashmirNational Conference vice-

president Omar AbdullahSunday said the ban on theJamaat-e-Islami “is having amajor social impact” inKashmir and appealed to thegovernment to “urgentlyreview” its decision to sealschools and mosques run byit.

The central governmentput a ban on the Jamat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmirlast week under anti-terrorlaw on grounds that it was “inclose touch” with militantoutfits and was expected to“escalate secessionist move-ment” in the state.

“The politico-religiousrole of the Jamaat (JeI) is oneaspect but there is also thesocial aspect. The recent banis having a major socialimpact which isn't being takeninto consideration,” Omarwrote on Twitter.

The former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister saidpeople were being “turnedaway from mosques” wherethey usually congregate forprayers and schools with tensof thousands of students andemploying thousands ofteachers were being “sealed”.

“There is nothing to sug-gest (that) sealing mosqueswill improve the security envi-ronment. Sealing schools risksforcing so many young kidsout on the streets rather thanstudying to make a future for

themselves,” he said.Omar said that while the

government may take sometime to review the need to banthe organisation, “there is aneed to urgently review theban on schools and the seal-ing of mosques”.

The Kashmir Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(KCCI) also opposed the banon the Jamaat-e-Islami.

“The ban is part of aprovocative and motivatedcrusade against a particularcommunity. Political advan-tage is being extracted out ofthe prevailing hostile situationby creating deep divisionsamongst sections of the soci-ety,” a KCCI spokesman saidin a statement here.

“The onus is on the gov-ernment to start explaining tothe public the compulsionsjustifying targeting of reli-gious institutions belonging toa particular community.Sealing of residential housesand schools violates the basicprinciples of humanity anddemonstrates the desperationof people after global rejectionof their politics of hate, com-munalism and perniciousdesigned propaganda,” theKCCI spokesman said.

The ban on the Jamaatwas imposed days after theJammu and Kashmir Policehad arrested around 100cadres of the group in the statefollowing the February 14 ter-rorist attack in Pulwama, inwhich 40 CRPF personnelwere killed.

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Indicating that he was agree-able to showing some flexi-

bility in seat sharing talks forthe coming Lok Sabha pollswith ruling coalition partnerCongress, JD(S) supremo DeveGowda Sunday said his partywould not be 'rigid' in itsdemand to contest from 12 ofthe total of 28 seats.

Gowda said he had alsoasked the Congress to have asimilar mentality during theseat sharing discussions as thereshould not be any room for dif-ferences on seat sharing betweenthe parties, whose main aim wasto halt the BJP's growth.

“I have said 12 seats shouldbe given to us, but I will alsonot be rigid in saying thatthey should give us 12,” theformer Prime Minister said.

Speaking to reporters inMangaluru, he said, “By loos-ening our stand a bit... A finaldecision should be arrived at.

You (Congress) should alsohave that mentality, I have

said. Finally we will come to adecision cordially.”

Gowda said he was statingthis to bring to an end all spec-ulation and talk that differencesmay emerge within the coali-tion during discussions on seatsharing.

The JD(S) leader said hewould not be 'adamant' in hisdemand for seats as the mainfocus was to halt the BJP'sprogress and nothing shouldcause a threat to the alliance.

Congress and JD(S) leadersare likely to discuss seat shar-ing for the coming Lok Sabhapolls at the coalition coordi-nation committee meeting onMonday.

The coalition partners hadheld the first round of talks onseat sharing on February 25,during which Congress insist-ed that winnability would bethe criteria, while the JD(S)maintained its stand to contest12 seats.

As per their coalitionagreement, both Congress andJD(S) have decided to fight the

Lok Sabha polls together.However, seat sharing is

likely to be a major test for bothparties as the JD(S), which isbanking on two-third, one-third formula adopted in min-istry formation and allocationof boards and corporations, hasdemanded 12 seats out of thetotal of 28 seats.

According to sources,JD(S) is said to be keen on con-testing from Mandya, Hassan,Bangalore North, Mysuru,Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru,Chitradurga, Raichur, Bidar,Bijapur, Uttara Kannada andShivamogga.

Congress is opposed tothis and has maintained thatsharing of seats will be based on'merit'.

According to party insid-ers, the grand old party islooking at limiting the JD(S) tosix seats.

Also, there is pressure fromwithin the Congress not to cedetoo many seats to JD(S), spe-cially 10 seats where the partyhas sitting MPs.

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradeshgovernment will sign an agree-ment with the Gujarat govern-ment seeking technical supportfor the construction of a mas-sive Statue of Lord Ram inAyodhya.

A cabinet meeting chairedby Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Saturday nightgave its approval for signing anMOU for guidance and sup-port on technical proposal,design etc, an officialspokesman said on Sunday.

The cabinet also cleared Rs200 crore for the preparation ofa detailed project report andthe acquisition of 28.28hectares of land identified forsetting up the statue by the dis-trict magistrate of Ayodhya, thespokesman said.

On the lines of Gujarat'sStatue of Unity, a chief minis-ter-headed trust would overseethe project, he said, adding ahigh-powered committee willbe set up for smooth conductof the construction work. PTI

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Page 9: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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AParliamentary panel hasraised objection at the

Union Environment Ministry'smove of drafting the NationalForest policy 2018 without con-sulting the Union Tribal AffairsMinistry which is mandatory asper the Government of India(Allocation of Business Rules,1961).

In fact, the Union TribalAffairs Ministry has alreadyrejected the Draft NationalForest Policy (DNFP) allegingthat it disregards the role oftribals in conservation effortsand that it does not reflect theparadigm shift in forest gover-nance, management and con-servation by the enactment ofthe Forest Rights Act 2006(FRA) and the PanchayatExtension to Scheduled AreasAct, 1996 (PESA).

Furthermore, the TribalAffairs Ministry during itssubmission before theParliamentary panel led byRajya Sabha MP AnandSharma said that the proposed

policy goes against the spirit ofamendment made in GoI(Allocation of Business) Rules,1961 on March, 17th 2006whereby all matters relating tothe rights of forest dwellingScheduled Tribes on forestlands has to be brought underits purview.

The tribal and greenactivists too have slammed theEnvironment Ministry forignoring the rights of tribals inits DNFP, which the activistshave alleged "shift away fromthe goals laid down in NationalForest Policy 1988 and priori-tize production forestry." Theyhave also alleged that the pol-icy proposes the idea of publicprivate partnership in forestsector to divert the forest landsto the private players; it is alsosilent on the issue of usage ofCAMPA funds; etc.

The panel in its report 'sta-tus of forests in India' hadasked "whether the steps envis-aged in the draft National ForestPolicy, 2018 by the EnvironmentMinistry in the direction ofEssential Principles of Forest

Management and Strategy areadequate enough to safeguardthe ecological and livelihoodsecurity of our people and incontributing towards achiev-ing the national goal and eco-logical security of the country."

The Committee also ques-tioned the move commentingthat "the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change on its own,should not have taken this ini-tiative to bring about this pol-icy or propose a policy withoutthe Ministry of Tribal Affairsbeing fully in agreement. Thisis very clear in the Allocationof Business Rules, 1961."

The Committee further saidin its report tabled in Parliamentrecently that, "actually no stake-holders' consultations had beenheld while preparing this draftpolicy. The Committee alsoobserved that clear cut defini-tion of forest should be includ-ed in the Draft Policy and theremust be synergy with ForestRights Act, 2006 and other rel-evant Acts which affect thetribals and other forest dwellers

predominantly dependent fortheir livelihood on the forests,"said the report.

Defending the provisionsin the DNFP 2018, however,the Director-General (Forest)and Special Secretary, said thatit aims to safeguard the eco-logical and livelihood securityof the people, of the presentand future generations as wellincreasing tree cover outsideforest among other benefits.

However, the NGOs in thesector were not convinced.

Ashoka Trust for Researchin Ecology & Environment(ATREE) submitted before thepanel that unlike the ForestPolicy of 1988 that clearly stat-ed that "ecological balance wasprimary but local needs were tobe given priority over industrialrequirements, the DNFP 2018prioritize production forestry."

Another NGO,Environment Support Groupsuggested that the policy has tobe made jointly by theEnvironment and Tribal AffairsMinistries as required underAllocation of Business Rules

1961 and also keeping the syn-ergy between the proposedpolicy and the Forest Right Act2006.

Similarly, The Energy andResources Institute (TERI) sub-mitted before the Committeethat ecological security of thenation, sustenance and liveli-hood needs of the people liv-ing in and around forest havethe first right on forest and anyeconomic derivative is subor-dinate to these objectives whilethe WWF-India stressed theneed to strengthen the imple-mentation of legal and policyinstruments.

The parliamentary panelhas now asked theEnvironment Ministry to keepin loop the Tribal AffairsMinistry and other stakehold-ers such as NGOs and localbodies before giving it a finalshape. It has also sought ade-quate safeguards for the pro-tection of vulnerable forestcommunities such as tribalsand other communities whoare dependent on the forest fortheir sustenance and survival.

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Bahujan Samaj Party presi-dent Mayawati on Sunday

accused the BJP of indulging in"petty" politics after thePulwama terror attack andclaimed people feel that thecountry's honour and securityare not in safe hands.

Mayawati also paid tributesto security force personnelkilled in the February 14Pulwama attack and other ter-ror incidents.

"The ruling BJP shouldnot have indulged in politicsafter the Pulwama terrorstrike...The worried 130-crorepeople have seen as to how theBJP could not desist fromindulging in petty politics evenat such a time and they havenow realised that country'shonour and security is not instrong and safe hands," the BSPchief said.

Mayawati also convened ameeting of senior party leadersand office bearers at the BSP'sheadquarters here.

The BSP president ,whoreturned to the state capital onlya couple of days ago after a longstay in Delhi, also called for a"strong and dependable policyfor issues concerning the safe-ty and security of the country."

Mayawati appealed to thepeople to stand with the fam-

ilies of those killed in terrorattacks and extend all possiblesupport.

She also asked the govern-mentto fulfil promises made tothem promptly.

The BSP president said it isimportant that all preparationsare made for the country's

safety, security and honour,and to ensure that no countryis able to either ignore orthreaten India.

Directing BSP workers tostrengthen the organisation upto the booth level in prepara-tion for the Lok Sabha polls andincrease the party's base, she

asked workers of the BSP andSamajwadi Party (SP) to forgetpetty differences and strength-en the alliance so as to defeatan anti-people BJP in the gen-eral elections.

The SP and BSP enteredinto an alliance recently.

"Only the BSP and SP arein a position to defeat the BJPin Uttar Pradesh," she said.

Mayawati, who held a strat-egy session with her partyleaders, said in the presentscenario, the SP-BSP coalitionhas to be careful and decide theway forward.

The SP and BSP are con-testing the parliamentary elec-tions in three states - UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh andUttarakhand - which accountfor 110 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Though she has not yet for-mally announced the names ofBSP candidates, the party willcontest in 38 of the 80 LokSabha seats in Uttar Pradeshand its ally SP will contest in 37seats as per the understandingreached between them.

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The Indian saree may be anobject of curiosity and

amusement for the globalcommunity because of itsunique size and how it isdraped around with perfec-tion. More than that, it hasbeen scientifically found thatthis age old attire dating backto Indus Valley Civilisation iscapable of helping the personwho wears it with positiveenergy.

Many times, we comeacross ladies wearing the cus-tomary Indian sarees execut-ing their jobs with élan andperfection. Whether it beSumitra Mahajan , theSpeaker of the Lok Sabha orSushma Swraj and NirmalaSitaraman, union ministers ,Latha Mangeshkar or AshaBhosle, India’s nightingalesor Sudha Murthy of Infosys,they stand out in their professional fieldsthanks to the positive energy they garner fromthe attire, the saree.

A team of researchers at Spiritual ScienceResearch Foundation Maharshi AdhyatmaVishwavidyalay, led by Dr Nandini Samant, amedical doctor turned scientist cum educa-tionist, have found that the nine yard sareewrapped around by women help them to gar-ner positive spiritual energy or Sattva guna.(Sattva, Raja and Tama are the very fabric of cre-ation as per Indian philosophy). In contrast,wearing the skirt has a detrimental effect.

“We found that what we wear can affect usat a spiritual level. Our studies were based onthe findings of a comparative experiment inwhich energy generated in four women in theage group of 29 to 55 years who were asked towear first a skirt and then a saree,” explainedDr Samant.

The research team that included engineersin energy sciences measured the energy gener-ated by the subjects upon wearing the skirt andsaree using the Electro somato graphic tech-nique, an instrument with which the energy lev-els could be recorded.

“The measurements found that the nine-yard saree (closely followed by the six-yard saree)is the most sattvik or spiritually beneficial femaleattire compared to other dress materials attire.The saree has a spiritual healing effect whichcould be completely understood only if we havethat sixth-sense, also known as extra sensoryperception” said Dr Samant, who headed the

research team of the MaharshiAdhyatma Vishwavidyalayunder the Sanatan Sanstha,based in Ramnadthi, Ponda,Goa.

She said that when theenergy levels of those wearingskirts and other western cos-tumes were measured, it wasfound that they emitted moreRaja-Tamoa vibrations , andled to manifestations of neg-ative energies.

Dr Samant, a doctor ofmedicine in psychiatry fromUniversity of Bombay, saidthat the conclusions from thestudies showed that spiritualvibrations of clothes dependon factors such as the type ofcloth, shape, colour, design,stitching , fit and other suchfactors. “As we wear a set ofclothes throughout the day,the vibrations they emit influ-ence our spiritual state whichin turn can affect us at thephysical, psychological and

intellectual levels. Spiritually impure or Raja-Tama predominant clothes affect us negatively.The affected gross manifestations of this couldinclude lethargy, lack of clarity of thought, a dis-turbed mind and an increase in personalitydefects. Spiritually positive clothes impart calm-ness, concentration, clarity of thought, confi-dence, vitality etc.,” says the research paper pub-lished by the SSRF which is being analysed bypeers.

Vijayashree Ramesh, a Chennai basedlawyer-cum-author, said that sh e was alwayscomfortable in the traditional nine-yard sareefollowed by the six-yard. “I do not know any sci-entific reason but I am at home in saree. I pre-fer to wear saree all the time as I find it safe,secure and of course simple,” said Ramesh.

Dr Samant said the Maharshi AdhyatmaVishwavidyalay (MAV) has also conductedresearch on dress worn by males attire and theyhave come across some interesting findingswhich would be released after review by thecommunity of scientists.

Prof B M Hegde, eminent cardiologist andchief editor of “Journal of the Science of HealingOutcomes” said the SSRF MAV findings wereimportant and should be studied further.“Energy plays a major role in our physical andmental systems. I accept the observations madeby them because we ourselves have found thatmany medical disorders could be addressed withenergy therapy,” said Prof Hegde, a former vicechancellor of the elite Kasturba Medical College,Manipal.

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Army Chief General BipinRawat Sunday visited var-

ious forward locations alongthe International border inJammu region, expressing con-fidence of thwarting any hos-tile activity.

The Chief of Army Staff(COAS) visited various forwardlocations of Samba andRatnuchak in Jammu region toreview the operational deploy-ment and preparedness, adefence spokesman said.

Gen Rawat was briefedabout the situation and pre-paredness by the GeneralOfficer Commanding, RisingStar Corps, Lt Gen J S Nain.

The Army chief also inter-acted with the troops in for-ward locations, the spokesmansaid.

Gen Rawat expressed com-plete confidence in capabilitiesof the Indian Army to thwartany nefarious design of ene-mies of the country and han-dle any situation.

The COAS also praisedthe high state of moral and pre-paredness of the troops, the

spokesman said.General Rawat arrived here

on Saturday and visited the

headquarters of White KnightCorps to review the operationalpreparedness of the forces in

the Corps Zone in view of thecurrent situation along theLine of Control (LoC) and the

International Border (IB).Northern Army

Commander Lt General RanbirSingh also accompanied him.

During the visit, the COASwas briefed and updated byGOC White Knight Corps LtGen Paramjit Singh about thecurrent operational situation,prevailing security scenarioand the preparedness of the for-mation.

This was the first visit ofthe Army chief to the regionafter India's pre-emptive strikeson Jaish-e-Mohammed's terrorcamps at Balakot in KhyberPakhtunkhwa province inPakistan.

Barring ceasefire viola-tion in Nowshera sector ofRajouri district from 12.30pm to 2.30 pm on Saturday,there were no reports of firingin the rest of the sectors since11 pm Friday.

More than 80 forward vil-lages were targeted by Pakistanin over 50 ceasefire violationsin Rajouri and Poonch districtssince Tuesday, which left fourcivilians, including three mem-bers of a family, dead and sev-eral others injured.

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Notwithstanding his differ-ences with the BJP,

Shatrughan Sinha said Sundayhe will not change his con-stituency in the coming LokSabha election "whatever thesituation", making clear hewould contest again from PatnaSahib seat irrespective of theparty decision.

"Situation kuch bhi ho,location wahi hogi (Whateverthe situation, location would besame)," Sinha told PTI on thephone from Ranchi.

The sitting Patna Sahiblawmaker has been at logger-heads with the current BJPleadership since the 2015 Biharelection, over several issues.

He has often taken a stanceat variance with the officialparty line, including on demon-

etisation and Goods andServices Tax, and shared thestage with opposition leaders atan anti-BJP rally in Kolkata inJanuary, where he was project-ed as the "star speaker".

On a recent visit toLucknow, he had held a meet-ing with Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav, giving rise tospeculation his wife PoonamSinha may enter active politicsfrom the Uttar Pradesh capital,currently represented in LokSabha by Home MinisterRajnath Singh.

Asked about it, the actor-turned-politician said he willneither confirm nor deny this.

"Poonam Sinha has beenbusy with social work for long.She is liked by all. People wanther to contest but whether thiswill happen or not only time willtell," Shatrughan Sinha, 72, said.

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Beleaguered carrier JetAirways has groundedtwo

more of its aircraft due to non-payment of lease rentals, takingthe total number of planes onground to 23.

With the grounding of twomore planes, almost 20 per centof aircraft in the airlines fleetare now out of operations.

"An additional two aircrafthave been grounded due tonon-payment of amounts out-standing to lessors under theirrespective lease agreements,"the airline said in a filing to the

stock exchanges on Saturday.It also said that it is active-

ly "engaged" with all its aircraftlessors and regularly providesthem with updates on theefforts undertaken to improveits liquidity.

The company said it wasmaking all efforts to minimisedisruption to its network due tothe grounding of these planesand was pro-actively informingand re-accommodating itsaffected guests.

The airline also continuesto provide the required andperiodic updates to theDirectorate General of Civil

Aviation (DGCA) in thisregard, it added.

After announcing thegrounding of four of its planeson February 7 for non-paymentto lessors, the airline tookanother two aircraft out ofoperations due to similar rea-sons on February 23.

On February 27 and 28, JetAirways grounded seven and sixaircraft, respectively, due to thenon-payment of lease rentals.

Later, two aircraft weregrounded on Friday and asmany on Saturday, taking thetotal number of planes out ofoperations to 23.

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Foreign investors poured inclose to �17,220 crore on a

net basis into Indian equitiesin February this year, thehighest since November 2017,amid clarity on governmentspending plans and positivesentiments.

Foreign portfolio investorshad pumped in a net amountof around �19,728 crore intoIndian stocks in November2017.

As per the latest data fromthe depositories, foreigninvestors pumped in�1,17,899.79 crore into equi-ties and pulled out�1,00,680.17 crore inFebruary, a net investment of�11,183 crore into the stockmarket.

In the previous month(January 2019), however, for-eign portfolio investment

(FPI) outflows from equitiesstood at �5,263.85 crore.

Foreign investors haveturned into net buyers inFebruary mainly on accountof clarity on governmentspending post budget andvalue buying in several pock-ets, according to Vidya Bala,Head, Mutual Funds Researchat FundsIndia, said.

She further said thatinflows into the equity marketcan be attributed to positiveview on budget and dovishstance taken by the centralbank.

"The Reserve Bank's deci-sion to change its stance toneutral from calibrated tight-ening while cutting the reporate by 25 basis points cement-ed the belief that bringinggrowth back is on the top ofits agenda," Alok Agarwala,Head of Investment Analyticsat Bajaj Capital, said.

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In a bid to promote Bahrain asfinancial tech hub, the Middle

Eastern country is seeking par-ticipation from Indian firms tobecome a part of the growingfintech space in the region.

Bahrain provides a pletho-ra of opportunities to Indianfintech firms for open banking,blockchain, crypto assets, roboadvisory and remittances.

Financial service sector isthe second biggest contributorto the GDP behind oil and gasand the effort is to grow thesector further, BahrainEconomic Development Board(EDB) Senior Manager (busi-ness development - financialservices) Dalal Buhejji said.

"Central Bank of Bahrainhas put in the right ecosystemto support growth and inno-vation. We have seen differentnew regulations coming outrecently to support open bank-ing, crypto asset trade regula-tion and draft regulation onrobo advisory," she said.

Bahrain acts as the test bedfor innovations in financial ser-vices space as the country pro-vides many advantages includ-ing low cost of doing business,right accelerator and incubators,among others, she said, adding

some Indian companies haveapplied for sandbox.

Generally, sandbox is seenas a safe zone to test financialinnovation which sees a limit-ed rollout of new products toselect customers.

Terming India as a keymarket, Buhejji said EDB hada roadshow in Mumbai toattract fintech companies inDecember.

The EDB, the investmentpromotion arm of Bahrain,also signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withthe Maharashtra governmentto provide a framework for co-operation to promote fintech intheir respective markets.

To promote startups, apublic private partnership plat-form in the name of BahrainFintech Bay has been createdthat provides physical space forfintech companies.

Established last year, it hasnow become a home for 36companies from 15 differentcountries, Bahrain Fintech BayCEO Khalid Saad said.

"India is absolutely keymarket. We do have couple ofcompanies founded by Indianentrepreneurs in Bahrain andthe other Malaysian-Indiancompany in the cryto assetspace," he said.

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Coal India isaiming to

meet the 610million tonneproduction andoff-take targetas per the pactit signed withthe CoalM i n i s t r y ,despite a pro-d u c t i o nmomentum dipin the initialmonths of thecurrent fiscal,officials said.

After thehigh produc-tion growth rateof 15 per cent inthe Apr-Junquarter ofFY19, the dryfuel miner hadattempted tomeet an inter-nal aspirationaltarget of 652MT for the yearbut things did not work out asper Coal India's plans, sourcessaid.

Coal India said the mem-orandum of understanding(MoU) target for productionand off-take is 610 MT.

Based on the trend, pro-duction could be around 590MT, an analyst tracking CoalIndia said, declining to benamed.

Coal stock at the pitheads

of the miner was at 34.76 MTat the end of February.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltdand South Eastern CoalfieldsLtd, which were facing agita-tions, saw an uptrend in pro-duction in February, by 17 and6 per cent respectively overthe corresponding month ofthe previous year.

The two subsidiariesaccount for about half of CoalIndia's total production. But

strikes and disruptions insome of the mines thereimpacted production.

Officials said efforts werebeing made to resolve issuesbut with the election roundthe corner, they are keepingtheir fingers crossed.

Coal India's total produc-tion as on February stood at528 MT, up 6.6 per cent in thefirst 11 months of the currentfiscal. Off-take was at 548 MT

during the period.A Coal India official said

the company clocked 6.6 percent growth in productionwhich is an increase of 32.62MT in absolute terms.

Total coal off-take topower sector in the 11 monthstill February 2019 was 440.8MT, against 411.5 MT duringthe same period of the previ-ous year, registering a growthof 7.1 per cent.

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Essar Oil & Gas Explorationand Production (EOGE-

PL) has received environ-ment clearance for exploringshale gas reserves in itsRaniganj block in WestBengal, an official said.

This fol lows theGovernment's decision toallow operators freedom toexplore both conventional oiland natural gas as well as non-conventional sources likecoal-bed methane (CBM) andshale reserves within a explo-ration acreage.

Previously, companiescould explore only oil andnatural gas or CBM depend-ing on their licence for theblock.

The off icial said theexpert appraisal committee(EAC) in January 29 meetingallowed Essar to drill 20 wellsto explore shale gas in itsRaniganj CBM block.

It has been awarded anexploration lease for shalegas, CBM and hydrocarbonsin the Raniganj block.

EOGPL has got approvalto drill 20 shale wells at a costof Rs 10 crore. To start with,it will drill five wells in theblock to test the shale poten-tial.

When contacted, compa-ny Managing Director and

CEO Vilas Tawde said: "Wewill start off with collectingthe data. For this, we will needto drill the coal, identify thesweet spot and then drill hor-izontally for almost a km.Thereafter, we will analyse thecoal, the shale, the strength ofthe shale, and the requiredvolume."

"If this exploration is suc-cessful, we plan to drillaround 220-250 wells thatwill require an investment of�7,000 crore," he said.

EOGEPL has investedaround �4,000 crore in theRaniganj block, which willproduce 1.7 million standardcubic metres per of gas fromcoal seams (CBM) in the nexttwo years and ramp up to 2.5mmscmd in the next three tofour years.

With the policy for simul-taneous exploration of uncon-ventional resources in place,EOGEPL is looking into theshale prospect in the sameblocks which is in the rangeof 7.7 trillion cubic metres.

The official said the com-pany could spend up to $1 bil-lion in development of shalereserves if the explorationprogramme was successful.

Essar has already signedan agreement to sell entireproduction from RaniganjEast CBM block to state gasutililty GAIL India Ltd.

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The Railways have alwaysbeen in the forefront of

nation building by creatingbetter travel opportunities.Northern Railway has effec-tively contributed towardsPrime Minister’s “DigitalIndia” initiative under thevisionary leadership ofMinister of Railways in turn-ing many Railway stationsover the zone into platformsfor Digital inclusion by pro-viding free Wi-Fi service. Inthis regard entire Delhi-Ambala and Ambala-Chandigarh sections havebeen covered with free Wi-Fifacility at stations. RailTelCorporation of India Ltd., a‘Miniratna’ PSU underMinistry of Railways, has pro-vided the facility.

Passengers will now beable to stay connected to freeinternet at all the stations ofthese two sections. With thisall the stations in route ofDelhi Chandigarh ShatabdiExpress train are now enabledwith high speed free Wi-Fi.

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The Government hasapproved a �14,000-crore

special economic zone (SEZ)project of Adani Power inJharkhand, which will exportentire power generated toBangladesh, an official said.

The project was approvedby highest decision makingbody on SEZ — Board ofApproval — chaired by thecommerce secretary, in itsmeeting on February 25, theGovernment official said.

Adani Power (Jharkhand)Ltd has sought approval for set-ting up of sector specific SEZfor power at villages - Motia,Mali, Gaighat and adjacent vil-lages in Godda district,Jharkhand over an area of 425hectare.

It has received formalapproval for the land in pos-session of 222.68 hectare areaand in principle approval forremaining 202.32 hectare.

Two supercritical units of800 MW each would be set up

with an investment of �14,000crore which would include set-ting up of a water pipeline andpower evacuation system.

It will be ready by the endof 2022. The company hasalready signed power purchaseagreement for supply of 100 percent power generated fromthis plant to Bangladesh.

The SEZs are major exporthubs in the country as theGovernment provides severalincentives including tax bene-fits and single window clear-ance system.

The developers and unitsof these zones enjoy certainfiscal and non-fiscal incen-tives such as no licencerequirement for import, fullfreedom for subcontracting,and no routine examinationby customs authorities ofexport/import cargo. Theyalso enjoy direct and indirecttax benefits.

Exports from special eco-nomic zones grew by about 15per cent to �5.52 lakh crore in2017-18.

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China's rubber-stamp par-liament opens its annual

session on Tuesday as PresidentXi Jinping faces growing con-cerns about the slowing econ-omy, a major challenge to thecountry's pre-eminent leader.

One year after the legisla-ture abolished presidential termlimits and etched Xi's name onthe constitution, his "new era"vision of a resurgent China atthe centre of world affairs hashit unforeseen road bumps.

Economic growth is slow-ing, a festering trade war withthe United States has erodedconfidence and Xi's signatureBelt and Road global tradeinfrastructure initiative hasfaced setbacks in some coun-tries.

Bubbles of discontent haveappeared as the state haspushed deeper into the econ-omy and people's lives.

"This will be a much moredifficult situation for Xi Jinpingthan last year. Last year he wasriding high," said Hong Kong-based political analyst Willy

Lam.Premier Li Keqiang is

expected to open the NationalPeople's Congress by announc-ing a lower GDP growth fore-cast for 2019, setting the tonefor a session heavy on eco-nomic legislation and expect-ed to last two weeks.

Nearly 3,000 delegates willratify a raft of bills in a sessionexpected to last two weeks,including a foreign investmentlaw that could address someUS demands and possible taxcuts.

"Xi Jinping has been criti-cised by party members for nothandling the economy well,and failing to tackle the chal-lenges posed by DonaldTrump," said Lam.

Lam believes Xi avoidedholding a fourth plenum of theparty's Central Committee lastautumn because of his weak-ened position.

But he convened a meetingwith hundreds of provincialand ministerial leaders inBeijing in January to warnthem on the need to prevent"major risks" in politics and the

economy."We must increase our

readiness for unexpected devel-opments, take precautions, andproperly prepare for majorrisks that may arise in the eco-nomic field," Xi warned.

China reported 6.6 percent growth in 2018, the slow-est in nearly three decades.Independent analysts estimateit was worse.

Three-quarters ofprovinces have lowered annu-al growth targets for 2019.

Delegates from aroundthe country will convene forthe NPC session and theChinese People's PoliticalConsultative Conference, anadvisory body that runssimultaneously and beginsdiscussions Sunday.

"Behind closed doors NPCmembers from the provinceswill demand Xi Jinping dosomething about reviving theeconomy," Lam said, adding hewill face "angry voices".

Still Xi presides from aposition of strength with nopotential challengers on thehorizon.

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Niti Aayog has been taskedwith drawing up a list of

non-core assets of variousCPSEs, both healthy and sickones, as a first step towardsFinance Ministry's plan tomonetise such assets andunlock value to shareholders.

This is part of the overallplans of the Government to laydown procedure and mecha-nism for monetisation of non-core assets of central public sec-tor undertakings (CPSEs), whichinclude mainly land and building.

"Niti Aayog will draw upthe list of non-core assetsowned by CPSEs which can besold separately after discussionwith a consultative group com-prising officials from adminis-trative ministries, Departmentof Economic Affairs,Department of Investment andPublic Asset Management(DIPAM)," an official told PTI.

The process would takeabout six months' time, the offi-cial added.

The report of Niti Aayogwill be taken up by the alter-

native mechanism on disin-vestment, headed by FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, followingwhich the CPSE and therespective administrative min-istry will further proceed withthe monetisation process, theofficial added.

"So far the disinvestmentprocess was confined to cor-porate level. Now, it will go onestep down and monetise non-core assets of CPSEs to unlockwealth and generate value onequity for shareholders," theofficial added.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that in 2016 Niti Aayog wasalso asked to draw up a list ofCPSEs which could go in forstrategic sale. It has alreadyidentified about 35 CPSEs whichcould go in for outright sale.

The Union Cabinet hadlast week approved laying downof institutional framework formonetisation of identified non-core assets of the CPSEs understrategic disinvestment andassets relating to immovableenemy property under the cus-tody of Custodian of EnemyProperty for India (CEPI).

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Unauthorised surchargingand high MDR charges are

some of the reasons for imped-ing growth and sustenance ofdigital payments despite allefforts to promote it, accordingto a study.

"This is, inter alia, due tothe distortionary pricing ofpayment products (i e MDR)and the continued fraudulentpractice of surcharging byacquirer banks and big mer-chants.

"Small/medium merchantson the one hand and cus-tomers on the other hand arelosing out, hindering the gov-ernment's intent of broad bas-ing digital payments," as per thestudy done by IIT Mumbai.

It is estimated that themerchants were burdened withnearly Rs 10,000 crore towardscredit card Merchant DiscountRate (MDR) in 2018 alone, itsaid, adding that this is exor-bitant in contrast with theoverall cost of Rs 3,500 croretowards debit card MDR, eventhough in value terms, creditand debit card transactionsare nearly the same — Rs 5.7lakh crore each in 2018.

The study done by AshishDas, a professor of statistics,highlighted that unauthorisedsurcharging has also burdenedthe payment system users withhuge additional costs.

"Just for the online pay-ments, it has led to extortionsby the acquirer banks and theirpayment facilitators/aggrega-tors to the tune of Rs 200 crore

in 2018 alone. This is a con-servative estimate since werestrict only to the online cred-it and debit card payments.Naive card users, oblivious ofthe set rules and regulationsthat prohibit surcharging, areignorant of the fact that it is thebanks that owe them thisfraudulently extorted money,"it said.

The study, titled 'To sur-charge or not to surcharge',said, the acquirer banks havebeen vested with the responsi-bility to protect the card andBHIM-UPI users in the coun-try from illegal incidence ofmerchant surcharging, but thefact seems otherwise.

Unfortunately, rather thanmerchants, it is banks them-selves who are causing fraud-ulent surcharging by resortingto outsourcing of their pay-

ments' services, it said.Citing an example, it said,

in the case of online transac-tions, the acquirer banks,through their payment facili-tators/aggregators, add a sur-charge amount in the finaltransaction amount.

As a consequence, theacquirer banks/payment facil-itators/aggregators expand theirbusiness and revenue at the costof card and BHIM-UPI users.

"An analogy is a situationwhere an autorickshaw has afast tempered meter, ordemands extra money to takeyou to your destination; andone doesn't know how tosmoothly get a redressal. Thisdoes not mean that not high-lighting the issue absolves theautorickshaw driver of hisfraudulent act ofcheating/extortion," it said.

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Page 11: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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In a slashing speech packedwith braggadocio and griev-

ance, President Donald Trumpdenounced Democrats as theparty of “the socialist night-mare,” relitigated his crowdsizes back to the inaugurationand took on “sick,” ‘’lunatic”and “dirty” foes at every turn,earning him the unvarnishedadoration of cheering conser-vatives.

After a trying week oftumult and setbacks, Trumpdelivered a stemwinderSaturday that extended beyondtwo hours and hardly left himwinded.

Trump let loose againstHouse Democrats, who arebroadening their investigationsof him, predicted he would winre-election by a greater marginthan his 2016 victory, tauntedhis potential White House chal-lengers and sounded themesthat are staples of his rallies.

He complained often ofgetting “no credit” for his

achievements as he proudlydrifted “off script” at theConservative Political ActionConference.

His remarks capped a weekthat saw his nuclear summitwith North Korea’s leader col-lapse without an agreement, his

former lawyer deliver damag-ing congressional testimonyabout his character and busi-ness practices and Congresstake action to nullify his emer-gency declaration to securemoney for the border wall thatlawmakers have denied him.

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ASyrian jihadist grouplinked to Al-Qaeda killed

21 regime and allied forcesSunday near Idlib province, inone of the deadliest breaches ofa six-month-old truce deal, amonitor said.

“At dawn, 21 fighters fromthe regime forces or alliedmilitia were killed in an attackby Ansar al-Tawhid jihadists,”the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said. “Fivejihadists were also killed,” RamiAbdel Rahman, the director ofthe Britain-based monitoringgroup, said.

Ansar al-Tawhid has ties tothe larger Hurras al-Deengroup, which is also active inthe area. Both are consideredsemi-officials franchises of Al-Qaeda in Syria.

The area of Idlib and smallparts of the adjacent provincesof Hama and Aleppo are most-ly controlled by the rival Hayat

Tahrir al-Sham organisation.HTS is led by fighters who

formerly belonged to Al-Qaeda’s ex-affiliate in Syria. Amilitary source quoted by statenews agency SANA confirmedsoldiers had been killed andwounded in an attack on theirpositions near Idlib province.

Loyalists forces had killedsome assailants, the sourceadded without giving precisefigures. Referring to the attack,the foreign ministry said Syria“will not allow terrorists andthose who are behind them tocarry on with their attacksagainst innocent civilians andthe armed forces”.

Sunday’s deadly assault wascarried out against regime posi-tions in the village of Masasna,in the north of Hama province,the Observatory said.

“It was one of the highestcasualty figures among regimeranks since the Putin-Erdogandeal,” the Observatory’s AbdelRahman said.

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Malaysia is open to restart-ing the hunt for Flight

MH370 if firms come forwardwith credible leads and con-crete proposals, the transportminister said Sunday, five yearson from the plane’s disappear-ance.

The Malaysia Airlines jetvanished in March 2014 with239 people -- mostly fromChina -- on board, en routefrom Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.No sign of it was found in a120,000-square kilometre(46,000-square mile) IndianOcean search zone and theAustralian-led hunt, the largestin aviation history, was sus-pended in January 2017.

US exploration firm OceanInfinity mounted a fresh hunton a “no find, no fee basis” lastyear for several months, usinghi-tech drones to scour theseabed, but did not locate theplane.

Hundreds of people,

including some of the relativesof those onboard, gathered ata Kuala Lumpur shopping mallSunday to mark the anniver-sary of the jet’s disappearance.

Only a few fragments ofMH370 have been found, all ofthem on western Indian Oceanshores. Two of those pieceswere put on display Sunday forthe first time at the memorial.

There is no new searchplanned, but TransportMinister Anthony Loke said atthe event that the governmentwas open to hearing proposalsto resume the hunt. “If there areany credible leads and anyspecific proposals, especiallyfrom Ocean Infinity, we aremore than willing to look at it,”he said.

Jacquita Gonzales, whosehusband Patrick Gomes was acrew member on the flight, saidthere was “no closure until theplane is found, until we exact-ly know what happened to theaircraft and our loved ones onboard.

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Brazil’s ex-president LuizInacio Lula da Silva

returned to prison on Saturdayafter being allowed to attendthe funeral of a grandson whodied suddenly at age seven.

Early in the day, the popular leftist leader steppedout of his cell in Curitiba —where he is serving two con-current 12-year sentences forcorruption -- and then flew ina small plane to Sao Paulo,some 400 kilometres to thenortheast.

A crowd at the SaoBernardo do Campo ceme-tery in a Sao Paulo suburbgreeted Lula warmly upon hisarrival for the service, shouting“Free Lula” and “Lula, warriorfor the Brazilian people”.

Young Arthur Araujo Lulada Silva, whose father Sandrois one of Lula’s five sons, wasfelled by a sudden bout ofmeningitis.

As dozens of armed mili-tary police surrounded thearea, the crowd of supporters atthe cemetery numbered per-haps 500, including Lula’s suc-cessor Dilma Rousseff andFernando Haddad, theWorkers’ Party candidate forpresident in 2018. Hundreds ofsupporters wore the red colour

of Lula’s Workers’ Party.At the crematorium room

where close friends gatheredbefore Arthur’s open coffin —and where Lula made briefremarks — there were flowerwreaths from Lula’s politicaland trade union allies, even onefrom Venezuela’s embattledsocialist president NicolasMaduro, the daily Folha de S.Paulo reported.

As Lula left two hourslater, a grim expression on hisface, he waved briefly to sup-porters and somberly shook afew hands before being hustledaway by military police for thereturn back to jail, where hearrived some nine hours afterhis departure.

A federal court had ruledlate on Friday that the 73-year-old Lula could attend the funer-al service.

Arthur, who had twice vis-ited his grandfather in his cellin Curitiba, died on Friday ina Sao Paulo hospital.

Gleisi Hoffmann, the Workers’ Party leader, vis-ited Lula in prison after helearned of Arthur’s death andsaid the aging leftist was“downcast”. “He cried severaltimes and we tried to consolehim,” she said.

While news of Arthur’sdeath provoked sympathetic

messages on social media —including from a former polit-ical foe of Lula, the head of theNational Assembly RodrigoMaia — a son of President JairBolsonaro sparked a contro-versy by criticising Lula’srelease.

“Lula is an ordinary pris-oner,” Eduardo Bolsonaro, alawmaker in his father’s SocialLiberal Party, said on Twitter.“When a relative of anotherprisoner dies, is he escorted bythe federal police to go to theservices?” He called the tem-porary release “absurd”, adding,“It only allows a high-profilethug to pass himself off as a vic-tim.”

That remark prompted anangry social media backlash,which prompted a more con-ciliatory tweet from theyounger Bolsonaro. Politicsaside, he said, the death of achild was “dreadful”.

His father, the president,has made no comment on thematter. During his electoralcampaign in 2018, he said hehoped Lula would “rot inprison”.

Lula, who was presidentfrom 2003 to 2010, has consis-tently denied the corruptioncharges for which he was jailed,saying he was the victim ofpolitical machinations.

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Opponents and supportersof Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu took tothe streets on Saturday eveningafter the country’s attorneygeneral said he intended to filegraft charges against him.

In central Tel Aviv,Netanyahu loyalists waved blueand white Israel flags and car-ried placards, reading“Netanyahu, the people

are with you” and“Netanyahu, my prime minis-ter”.

Separated from them by apolice cordon, opponentswaved signs proclaiming“Crime Minister” and “Timefor Netanyahu to Go”, an AFPphotographer said.

Police declined to give anestimate of numbers.

Under Israeli law, the pre-mier is not obliged to resignunless he is charged, convict-ed and loses all appeals -- alengthy process.

Netanyahu is running for afifth term in an April generalelection.

He said after the attorneygeneral’s Thursday announce-ment that he planned on beingprime minister for a long timeto come, despite the allegations.

In Ramle, near Tel Aviv,opposition Labour activistsprojected onto a wall of theMaasiyahu prison a giant mes-sage, reading “Netanyahu,Israel is ashamed”, a partystatement said.

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Bangladesh is cracking downon chemical warehouses in

an historic Dhaka district aweek after a fire killed 70 peo-ple in buildings used fordeodorant and plastics storage,an official said Sunday.

Five task forces led by mil-itary officers, police and officials have raided Old Dhaka buildings and cut offutilities to at least 50 buildingsin the past three days afterchemical warehouses werefound in their basement andunder floors.

The owners of the build-ings have been ordered to relo-cate the flammable chemicalsto safer places outside the cap-ital as part of the initiativelaunched on Thursday.

“We are determined therewill be no flammable chemical

warehouses in any Old Dhakaresidential area,” Dhaka’s mayorSayeed Khokon told AFP. Hesaid the drive would continueuntil April 1.

The crackdown is inresponse to a massive firewhich broke out on February21 at Chawkbazar, a 300-year-old historic Old Dhaka district,killing at least 70 people andinjuring another 50.

Fire service officials said awarehouse of deodorant andgranular plastic in one of thefive buildings that caught firefuelled the inferno, which tookmore than 12 hours to control.

The disaster recalled a June2010 fire in the nearby neigh-bourhood of Nimtoli in which123 people were killed.

Again a blaze rippedthrough residential buildingsthat doubled as chemical ware-houses.

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China’s top political adviso-ry body on Sunday started

its ten-day annual session withPresident Xi Jinping, Premier LiKeqiang and other senior lead-ers attending the opening meetbeing held here amid trade wartensions with the US and theslowdown of the world’s secondlargest economy.

The Chinese People’sPolitical ConsultativeConference (CPPCC) with over2,000 nominated membersbegan the session at the GreatHall of the People ahead of thelegislature, the National People’sCongress (NPC), raising thecurtain of a key season in thecountry’s political calendaramid trade war tensions withthe US.

The NPC, regarded as therubber stamp Parliament for itsroutine endorsements of theproposals and laws forwardedby the ruling Communist Partyof China, will begin its sessionon Tuesday.

Every year the two sessionswith over 5,000 delegates setsthe tone for China’s politicalseason in the one-party system.

The CPPCC is essentially agroup of political advisors fromdifferent backgrounds who are

tasked with conducting politi-cal consultation, putting for-ward proposals on currentaffairs, discussing the govern-ment’s work reports, and car-rying out democratic supervi-sion.

The CPPCC members rep-resenting cross sections of peo-ple including top film starslike Jackie Chan, industrialistsand academicians serve as advi-sors for government, legislativeand judicial organs and putforward proposals on majorpolitical and social issues.

During the opening meet-ing, Wang Yang, chairman ofthe National Committee of theCPPCC, delivered a report onthe work of the CPPCCNational Committee’s StandingCommittee.

Wang reviewed the com-mittee’s work, highlighting theefforts made in strengtheningand improving CPPCC work,state-run CGTN reported.

In 2018, the CPPCC con-ducted consultations focusedon the central tasks of fightingthe three critical battles againstpotential risk, poverty, and pol-lution, and on promoting high-quality development, Wangsaid, adding it also activelyworked to develop friendly tieswith other countries.

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US national security advisorJohn Bolton denied

Sunday that last week’s nuclearsummit with North Korea wasa failure, despite PresidentDonald Trump coming homeempty-handed.

A high-stakes secondmeeting to strike a nuclear dis-armament deal between theNorth’s leader Kim Jong Unand Trump broke up in disar-ray Thursday, without even ajoint statement.

But Bolton told CBS’s “Facethe Nation” Trump’s failure ingetting commitments fromPyongyang on destroying itsnuclear capability should beseen as “a success, defined asthe president protecting andadvancing American nationalinterests.”

The White House aide saidthe issue was whether NorthKorea would accept what thepresident called “the big deal”-- denuclearizing completely orsomething less, “which wasunacceptable to us.”

“So the president held firmto his view. He deepened hisrelationship with Kim JongUn. I don’t view it as a failureat all when American nation-

al interests are protected.” The outcome in Hanoi fell

far short of the pre-meetingexpectations, after critics saidtheir initial historic meeting inSingapore -- which producedonly a vague commitment fromKim to work “toward completedenuclearization of the Koreanpeninsula” -- was more styleover substance.

Others pointed to a lack ofpreparation, with the two sidesunable to bridge the gapsbetween them in time.

According to senior USofficials, in the week leading upto the Hanoi summit the NorthKoreans had demanded the lift-ing of effectively all the UNSecurity Council economicsanctions imposed onPyongyang since March 2016.

In return, Pyongyang wasonly offering to close a portionof the Yongbyon complex, asprawling site covering multi-ple different facilities -- and theNorth is believed to have otheruranium enrichment plants.

“Sometimes you have towalk and this was just one ofthose times,” an unusuallydowncast Trump told reporterson Thursday, adding that hewould “rather do it right thando it fast.”

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Amajor Nigerian oil pipelinehas exploded, local police

said Sunday, forcing nearby residents to flee andraising suspicions of possiblesabotage.

The Nembe Creek Trunkpipeline runs from an oil ter-minal in Bonny to the state ofBayelsa with capacity of150,000 barrels per day.

The explosion happenedon Friday.

“We have not been offi-cially briefed on the incident,but it occurred,” Bayelsa StatePolice spokesman AsinimButswat told AFP.

“No lives were lost as aresult of the explosion and wecan’t confirm if it was an attackby militants or an equipmentfailure unless the people man-aging the facility go there” todetermine the cause, he said.

OPEC member Nigeria isAfrica’s biggest producer ofcrude oil.

Ndiana-Abasi Mathew, apublic relations official forAiteo, the company that man-ages the pipeline, confirmedthe incident in a text messageon Saturday.

“There is no official state-ment at the moment but I cangladly inform you that the firehas been contained and no liveswere lost,” Mathew said.

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C M Y K

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Page 12: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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India's star wrestler Bajrang Punia haswon the Gold medal at the Dan Kolov-

Nikola Petrov tournament in Ruse,Bulgaria and dedicated the victory toIndian Air Force (IAF) Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman.

Punia, a World Championship Silvermedallist, overpowered Jordan Oliver ofUSA 12-3 in the men's 65kg freestyle finalto begin the season on a resounding notein the Bulgarian city.

However, Asian Games Gold medal-list Vinesh Phogat lost her women's 53kgfinal to China's Qianyu Pang 2-9 to settlefor a Silver on her debut in the UnitedWorld Wrestling ranking series, which isalso her first tournament since movingfrom the 50kg category.

Down 0-3 before scoring 12 straightpoints, Punia also secured the maximumranking points from the tournament.

"I want to dedicate my Gold to WingCommander Abhinandan Varthaman. He

has inspired me. I want to meet him oneday and also shake hands with him," Puniatweeted after his victory.

Punia, who bagged the top prize at theCommonwealth Games and the AsianGames last year, has won four Goldmedals and one Silver in the last five tour-

naments.This was Punia's 10th medal in as

many international tournaments sincefailing to finish at the podium in the 2017World Championships in Paris.

Earlier, Pooja Dhanda claimed theGold in 59 kg while Sakshi Malik wonSilver in 65 kg women's freestyle.

In the men's freestyle events, SandeepTomar had to be content with a Silver in61kg.

Vinesh beat World ChampionshipsSilver medallist Sarah Hildebrandt in thesemifinals on Saturday.

Vinesh was a far cry form the impres-sive self she was on Saturday.

"I have to work on my upper bodybecause my opponents are strong. I tookpart in this event as I need to know myopponents," Vinesh told the United WorldWrestling official website after her semi-final win.

Earlier, Sarita Mor won a Silver inwomen's 59kg though she lost to her com-patriot Dhanda.

����� ',5.)

West Indies swashbuckling batsmanChris Gayle, who blasted 77 runs in

27 balls in his final home one-day inter-national match reflected on his two-decade international career, and what itmeant playing for the national side.

The 39-year-old expressed his grati-tude to the people of the Caribbean fortheir support through this series and hiscareer, according to the ICC's website.

"This is my last ODI series in theCaribbean so I was giving the fans a nicewave. Right through the tournament,they have been superb from both sides:West Indies and England sides. It wouldbe nice if it was in Jamaica, but the crowdshave been fantastic," Gayle was quoted assaying by ICC's website on Sunday.

"It's been an honour to wear the crestand entertain the people around theCaribbean. West Indies is No 1. This is thebest achievement you can have in theCaribbean as a cricketer. This is the bestthing, to be honest with you," he added.

Since announcing his retirement,Gayle has scored 424 runs in four match-es at a strike-rate of 134.

"I'm thankful for the form. I wasn't get-ting any runs in the T20 tournaments I wasplaying. When you get a chance to scoreruns, make sure you score heavy. But it'sthe best (I've played) in my home condi-tions and I'm happy and grateful for that."

"I'm not surprised by how well I'vedone, or the number of sixes. Sixes comealong. It's just natural, to be honest. In T20s,I score a lot of sixes as well, but this is thefirst time in an ODI series," he added.

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The International Cricket Council hasturned down the BCCI's request to sever

ties with countries from which "terrorismemanates", saying the ICC has no role to playin matters like these.

In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack,in which more than 40 CRPF personnel werekilled, the BCCI, in a letter to the ICC, urgedthe world body and its member nations to

sever ties with countries whichharbour terror.

"There was no chancethat anything like thatwould have happened. The

ICC chairman made itclear that the decision toostracize a nation istaken at the government

level and ICC had norule. The BCCI knew it all along but still tooka chance," a BCCI official said.

The issue came up during Saturday's ICCboard meeting chaired by chairman ShashankManohar but not much time was spent on it.

"So many players from member nationsplay the Pakistan Super League and theywould have never entertained such a request.Yes, security was a concern and it had beenduly addressed," the Board official added.

The Indian cricket team is scheduled toplay Pakistan in the World Cup on June 16.There have been calls to boycott the clash inthe wake of the heightened diplomatic tensionsbetween the two countries following thePulwama attack.

However, the Committee ofAdministrators running Indian cricket has sofar not taken any decision on the matter, say-ing that it will seek the government's view.

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The Indian women'steam will aim to

finalise a core group of players ahead of theT20 World Cup early next year when ittakes on England in a three-match seriesstarting on Monday.

India have been doing well in the 50-over format but they have plenty to pon-der about in the shortest form, having losttheir previous series in New Zealand 0-3.

The whitewash in New Zealand cameafter a historic win in the ODIs and Indiawill be hoping to reverse that trend withthe T20s against England.

Harmanpreet Kaur has not yet recov-ered from an ankle injury and in-formopener Smriti Mandhana will captain theside in her absence, providing her an oppor-tunity to prove her as a leader.

The southpaw continues to plunderruns, having scored two successive half cen-turies in ODIs against England. She wasalso in sublime touch in New Zealand lastmonth.

In Harmanpreet's absence, senior play-er and ODI captain Mithali Raj is expect-ed to play a bigger role in the three T20s.Mithali was dropped from the first twogames in New Zealand before she scoredan unbeaten 24 which did not prove to beenough.

The 36-year-old is likely to retire fromthe shortest format before the T20 WorldCup in Australia next year and it remainsto be sees how her experience will be usedagainst England.

Focus will also be on VedaKrishnamurthy, who has made a comebackafter being left out due to her below-parperformance in the 2018 World T20,where India lost to England in the semifi-nals.

Harleen Deol and Bharati Fulmali toowill be itching to prove themselves afterreplacing Priya Puni and D Hemalatha inthe squad.

Left-arm pacer Komal Zanzad, whohas replaced Mansi Joshi, is in line to makeher international debut. Shikha Pandey willlead the pace department in an otherwisespin heavy bowling attack comprising fivespecialists.

F���India: Smriti Mandhana (captain),Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, DeeptiSharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper),Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, ShikhaPandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati

Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, RadhaYadav, Veda Krishnamurty, HarleenDeol.England: Tammy Beaumont, KatherineBrunt, Kate Cross, Sophia DunkleyBrown, Freya Davies, Georgia Elwiss,Amy Ellen Jones, Heather Knight(c),Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, AnyaShrubsole, Linsey Smith, LaurenWinfield, Danielle Wyatt, Alex Hartley.

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Defiant centuries from Soumya Sarkarand Mahmudullah were in vain as

Trent Boult's five-wicket haul gave NewZealand a crushing victory overBangladesh in the first Test by an inningsand 52 runs in Hamilton on Sunday.

After the stubborn double-centurypartnership took Bangladesh to 361 forfour in their second innings, Boultopened the final chapter of the Test whenhe bowled Soumya for 149.

The crucial wicket ended a 235-runstand with Mahmudullah (146) for thefifth wicket and saw Bangladesh cave inwith the Test all over 68 runs later, justafter tea on day four.

"The fight today was as tough as Testcricket does get," New Zealand captainKane Williamson said after Boult's lethalspell with the second new ball trumpedthe 54-over battle by Soumya andMahmudullah.

It was Soumya's maiden hundred andthe fifth and highest century for

Mahmudullah as they pounded theboundaries and took control of the short-ball barrage that decimated their firstinnings.

"That plan didn't work very well forus today and we had to go back to tryingto stop some scoring for a period of time,because they were scoring quickly,"Williamson said.

The match had belonged to NewZealand long before they declared theirfirst innings at a colossal 715 for six -- a

first innings lead of 481 -- but Soumya andMahmudullah were determined to makecrossing the finish line as difficult as pos-sible for the hosts.

Mahmudullah called it a "gutsyinnings" as they batted together for near-ly three sessions and produced the sixthbest partnership by a Bangladesh pair.

When Boult finally bowled Soumya,the 26-year-old left-hander stood motion-less for several seconds as he realised thesignificance of his wicket before depart-ing the ground.

The remaining five wickets lasted only18 overs.

When Bangladesh resumed Sundayon 174 for four they faced a Herculeantask to score a further 307 just to makeNew Zealand bat again.

But, Soumya could not hold out thatlong and when the new ball was taken helasted 14 more deliveries before Boultended his resistance and the tenacity leftthe innings.

Boult finished with five for 123 andTim Southee took three for 98.

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Barcelona won theirsecond Clasico infour days on

Saturday and RealMadrid might have to win theChampions League if SantiagoSolari is to be in charge for thenext one.

After knocking them out ofthe Copa del Rey on Wednesday,Barca returned to the SantiagoBernabeu for a 1-0 victory thatsurely eliminates their greatestrivals from the title race too.

Lionel Messi and SergioRamos locked heads after Ramosflung an arm into Messi's face but,despite the scoreline and a fewhalf-chances, that was about themost trouble Madrid caused.

Messi would have been proudof Ivan Rakitic's delightful chip,a rare moment of precision thatin the end settled another Clasicohigh on vigour but lacking in

either real quality or rhythm."What we wanted was to

deliver our best and to inflictdamage on our rival," Barcacoach Ernesto Valverde said. "Wehave done that."

The onus was onMadrid, not only to makeamends for their defeatin midweek but toreduce the nine-point gap betweenthem and La Liga's

leaders.Instead, Barcelona

extended it to 12 andthe way their playersjumped up and downin front of the away fansafter the final whistlesuggested they felt thiswas a major hurdleovercome.

Barcelona also nowown 96 victories inthis fixture to RealMadrid's 95, the firsttime they have been infront in 87 years.

When Solari tookover in November, histeam were seven pointsadrift of the Catalansand the fact the deficit

has almost doubled since mightnot reflect the improvement inperformances.

But this was the first timeMadrid have lost three in a rowat home in 15 years and these are

surely the matches presidentFlorentino Perez will remem-

ber when he considers hiscoach's future next sum-mer.

"You go throughspells, sometimes every-thing goes for you andsometimes it doesn't,"said Solari. "In thesetwo games it hasn't."

All that realistical-ly remains now is theChampions League, inwhich Madrid will carrya 2-1 lead into Tuesday's

second leg at home toAjax.

Europe has rescuedthem before and it alsorevived Gareth Bale, whoendured another frustrat-ing night on only his thirdstart in 10 games.

Bale was largelyanonymous again andwhen substituted in thesecond half, he departed

not just to a scattering of whistlesfrom the home crowd but a cho-rus.

Rakitic played the ball wide toSergi Roberto, continued his runbehind Ramos and received itback, before feathering a delight-ful chip over Thibaut Courtois.

Barca were comfortable butthe game erupted on the strokeof half-time. Ramos won theball from Messi but, with his armoutstretched, left it long enoughto catch his opponent in the face.Messi pointed to his lip andthen butted heads with Ramosbut referee Alberto Mallencosaw nothing worthy of punish-ment.

Madrid pushed for anequaliser but their desperationshowed. Benzema failed to con-nect while Vinicius Juniors'rushed shot was blocked.

Bale was hauled off just afterthe hour, replaced by MarcoAsensio, and even Isco came onin the 76th minute, for his longestappearance since the end ofJanuary.

Raphael Varane might havesnatched a late equaliser but hisheader was weak. Barcelona wereleft celebrating again.

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South African captain Faf duPlessis hit an unbeaten

century as South Africacruised to an eight-wicketvictory over Sri Lanka in theopening one-day internation-al in Johannesburg.

The hosts won the toss atthe Wanderers Stadium, askedSri Lanka to bat and bowledthem out for 231, a totalSouth Africa overtook withmore than 11 overs to spare.

Du Plessis made 112 notout as South Africa cruised tovictory and then praised vet-eran leg-spinner Imran Tahirfor ensuring South Africachased a modest total.

Tahir took three for 26 inten overs as Sri Lanka werebowled out for 231 after beingsent in on a good battingpitch. He twice broke partner-ships that threatened to takeSri Lanka to a challengingtotal.

Ngidi took the first twowickets to reduce Sri Lanka to23 for two.

Tahir, who turns 40 laterthis month, was not includedamong Cricket South Africa'scontracted players,announced last week. But heshowed he remains a keymember of the country's one-

day bowling attack with animmaculate performance.

Tahir ended a third wick-et stand of 76 between KusalPerera (33) and OshadaFernando (49) when he hadthe left-handed Perera caughtbehind off a googly during afirst spell of one for 18 inseven overs.

Kusal Mendis, who top-scored with 60, added 94 forthe fifth wicket withDhananjaya de Silva (39)before Tahir dismissed bothbatsmen in the first two oversof his second spell.

Sri Lankan captain LasithMalinga rued the failure of hisbatsmen to capitalise on goodstarts.

"We lost wickets at crucialtimes," he said, pointing outthat on both occasions whena promising partnership wasbroken the other 'in' batsmanhad been dismissed almostimmediately.

Fernando, making hisone-day international debutwas run out one short of ahalf-century in Tahir's nextover after Perera's dismissal.

Reeza Hendricks was

caught behind off VishwaFernando in the second overof South Africa's innings butQuinton de Kock and DuPlessis both batted aggressive-ly against the new ball.

Du Plessis hit three suc-cessive fours off ThisaraPerera and had raced to 32 inthe eighth over when he wasdropped, with LakshanSandakan putting down a rel-atively straightforward chanceat short third man.

De Kock and Du Plessiswere briefly slowed when SriLanka's spinners came on butwere soon scoring freely againin a second wicket partnershipof 136 off 129 balls before DeKock was leg before wicket tooff-spinner Akila Dananjayafor 81, made off 72 balls with11 fours.

"Quinny is a big player,"said Du Plessis. "He putsbowlers under real pressure."

Du Plessis went on to his11th one-day internationalcentury and finished with112 not out off 114 balls, with15 fours and a six. He andRassie van der Dussen (32 notout) took South Africa tovictory with an unbeaten thirdwicket partnership of 82 off 96balls.

Du Plessis was namedman of the match.

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With the rigorous demandsof business, many entre-preneurs and business

managers struggle to separate worklife and home life. The e-mailsnever stop coming, the calls nevercease, and everything reminds youof the work you weren’t able to fin-ish.

But if having a clear separationbetween work and home life isimportant to you, then it is criticalyou understand how to createboundaries

When is the last time you feltthis free? Our schedules arecrammed with commitments,chores, errands, appointments, andactivities. We dream of vacations andtravel.

Why do we wait for vacations totake a break? Isn’t a weekend a tinyvacation? To vacate from our regu-lar routines. To let our minds relax.To slow down.

Unplug and turn off technolo-gy or unplug from your computer forat least 24 hours. Be available formore personal connection, even ifyou are quietly presence. With lessdistraction, you will invite relaxation.

Make space get most of yourcleaning, jobs, and errands done dur-ing the week. Resist over-schedulingyour weekend by leaving pockets oftime to unwind. The less you sched-ule, the more you can go with the

flow.Slow down and, the less you

schedule in your weekend, the slow-er your pace. Everyone needs at leastone slow morning a week wherethere is no time commitment to getready for. Enjoy this restful pace.

Just be and, foster the art ofdoing almost nothing. Gaze at thebirds. Listen to the wind. Read agood book. Doodle. Journal. Focuson being more than doing. And, inthis moment, just be.

Work before play. Most of uswork hard during the week, both inour job and at home. If our kids getto play after their “work” is done,then so do we. Pick play that refresh-es and renews you.

Let your imagination be yourguide. Create art, crafts, words, pho-tos, movies, or stories with no dead-lines. It’s your creation, not your pro-duction or project.

Explore and journey to familiaror new territory. Learn and explore.Take in details, textures, sights, andsounds. Make it an adventure.

Move and rest. Balance yourmovement with rest. Engage in themoment then drift with eyes heavy.Take a nap. Sleep in or go to bedearly.

For some, relaxing the body andmind can be more about changingits train of thought than actuallyturning it off. Games like crossword

puzzles and sudoku are perfect waysto relax the mind in one area whileturning another area on. It can begreat fun and done just about any-where.

Nature is a beautiful thing andit can be wonderful when you areable to surround yourself with it. Onthe weekends, going for a nice hikeor a walk can be a perfect way to getsome exercise while enjoying theserenity of the outdoors.

A small unconventional way to

relax on the weekends is to simplytell your co-workers that you areunavailable for work. It can be easyfor colleagues to pester you aboutwork on your days off and this canmake it hard for you to relax. Politelylet them know that you do not wantto be bothered with work.

It can be hard to see yourfriends when you have so muchgoing on during the work week. Anice way to relax on the weekend isto change the scenery and hang out

with people other than your usualcoworkers.

If walking or hiking really isn'tyour thing maybe going for a nicedrive will help you clear your mind.If you can, get out of the city anddrive out in the countryside oralong the shoreline, depending onwhere you live, but of course, don'tdrive anywhere near your work.

Spending time with your fami-ly is a great way to spend your week-ends. You could take a small road tripto the lake or simply to the local icecream parlor. Your family loves youand it can be very rejuvenating toembrace that love.

Going a museum is somewhatdependant on where you live butreally no matter what, there is mostlikely a museum close by. Museumsare great places to learn more aboutthe world around you; not just froma book or a movie but actually rightin front of you.

Yoga is rising quickly in popu-larity and it's an excellent way to relaxas well as work on your flexibility.

With all the technology in thisworld it has never been easier toquickly look up a recipe and go forit.

You can even find step-by-stepvideos as well as complete guides toeverything from desserts to baconbased recipes.

While this may not seem very

relaxing it can be an extremelyrewarding endeavor. Blast somemusic and get to dusting.

You will be done before youknow it!

Cameras nowadays are not thatexpensive and going outside to takepictures has never been easier. It canbe a great way to relax by capturingthe wildlife and nature in a photo-graph.

Almost every large city has a zooand they are amazing. It is so relax-ing to be able to walk around and seeexotic wildlife and adorable animalsall in one place.

A change of scenery can some-times be just what the doctor orderedwhen dealing with stress and work.Rearranging your living room orbedroom can be a great way to getthe energy flowing again.

If you have pets it is very possi-ble that during the course of yourbusy work week that you forgot togive them the quality time theydeserve.

Take some time on your week-end to walk the dog or play with thecat. They will absolutely adore it andit will be very fulfilling for you too.

Learning a new thing can besuper-exciting and also a great wayto take your mind off the norms ofthe world. This can be an extreme-ly rewarding and useful skill as lifegoes on.

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The latest parental panic on socialmedia — over a purported chal-

lenge for kids to complete harmfultasks — elevates the importance ofestablishing an open dialogue withchildren and taking advantage ofonline parental controls.

Warnings about the “Momochallenge” swept Facebook and othersocial media in recent days, as par-ents worried about purported videosthat encourage children to hurtthemselves or do other harmfultasks such as turning on stoves with-out telling their parents. The parentalwarnings were accompanied by a dis-turbing image of a grinning creaturewith matted hair and bulging eyes.

But the challenge is believed tobe a hoax. It’s unclear how manyvideos exist or to what extent theyhave circulated, among children orelsewhere. Some of the videos mighthave been made in response tomedia attention surrounding thechallenge. Meanwhile, the image ofthe grinning creature is reportedlyfrom a Japanese sculpture.

Fact-checking site Snopes saidthe challenge first appeared in mid-2018 linked to suicide reports with-out actual evidence. YouTube said ithasn’t received “any recent evidenceof videos showing or promoting theMomo challenge” on its service.

So why the panic? Experts sayinternet hoaxes focused on children

tap into fears that parents have aboutprotecting their children online andelsewhere. In addition to anxietyabout “screen time” in general, thereis certainly plenty of problematicvideos that children shouldn’t watch.It’s hard for parents to police every-thing children do online. Fears werecompounded when some schoolsystems, local media and even policesent out their own warnings, accom-panied by fuzzy facts.

“All moral panics feed on somedegree of reality, but then they getblown out of proportion,” said SteveJones, a professor of communicationsat the University of Illinois at Chicago.

These hoaxes echo panics fromdecades past, like the false belief inthe 1980s that teenagers were hear-ing Satanic messages in rock songlyrics, he said.

“Once the internet is involved inthe mix, things get speeded up andthey get more widespread,” Jones said.

The most important thing par-ents can do is to establish an opendialogue with their children about

what they’re seeing online and hear-ing from other children, said JillMurphy, editor-in-chief at CommonSense Media, a San Francisco-basednonprofit group focused on kids’ useof media and technology.

“Parents are increasingly frustrat-ed with feeling surprised or caught offguard by what is being put in frontof their kids,” she said. Whether the“challenges” are real or not, she said,“they elevate the idea that they mayor may not know exactly what theirkids are absorbing through these plat-forms.”

That’s why talking to children isimportant, she said. “Take the righttime to have an age-appropriate con-versation, and help your kids under-stand not everything on the internetis real.”

She said parents should alsotake advantage of parental settingsbuilt into many products and ser-vices. Most web browsers can blockcertain websites, limit what childrencan see and provide a report aboutwhat sites a child visited.Smartphones and tablets can limitscreen time and access to apps.YouTube Kids lets parents disablesearch and turn off “autoplay.”Murphy said these free tools are goodenough; no need to pay for third-party parental apps.

Another option is to downloadapps from shows or channels direct-ly rather than going through stream-ing services such as YouTube. PBS,Peppa Pig, Nick Jr and other popu-lar services for kids have their ownapps, with pre-screened videosdeemed appropriate for kids.

And though it may seem contra-dictory, going online to research thehoaxes could also help. The Momohoax was debunked fairly quicklyafter people questioned it, Jonessaid. Give weight to trusted newssources and fact-checking sites.

“Take a deep breath and goonline as strange as that may seem insome sense,” he said. “Do someresearch and try to figure it out foryourself.”

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Actor Pankaj Tripathi lastyear showed his best withthe film Stree and web

show Mirzapur that made hima household name. The actoreven took away the BestSupporting Actor Trophy forStree in Screen Awards.Currently Pankaj is in Lucknowshooting for DharmaProductions next on the real lifehero Gunjan Saxena. JanhviKapoor will be portraying thetitle role of the Indian Air Forcepilot. Gunjan is the first womanIAF combat pilot who played avery important role during theKargil War in 1999. She was alsoawarded with Shaurya Chakrafor her bravery. Pankaj Tripathiwill be playing her father Anuj

Saxena. Both Pankaj and Janhvi will be

collaborating for the first timeonscreen. The actors will be shoot-ing for the film in Lucknow. Thefilm is being directed by SharanSharma

Pankaj said, “I liked the char-acter very much. We’ve developeda great bond. I had a lot of funwhile shooting for the film. Janhviis a very sincere and well behavedactress. She respects me a lot andI too respect her for the sinceri-ty and commitment towards herwork. Sharan is a very talenteddirector and is well versed with hiscraft. It’s an opportunity workingunder Dharma Productions. Theyleave no stones unturned to getthe right things on board.”

Since how long have you been per-forming?I have been a performer and compos-er for 18 years in various fields like jazz,pop and Korean music. In 2016, I start-ed Chae Ji Hye’s Go Back Project andthrough it I am actively pursuing anoriginal music style by combining tra-ditional Korean music and jazz.

What made you combine jazz with tra-ditional Korean music?The music differs from other groups inthat Korean traditional instrumentsand Western ones are in harmony.While playing jazz, I wanted to build amore personalised style of music. Jazzand traditional Korean music are verysimilar. Just as jazz has a major elementof improvisation, Korean traditionalmusic has an improvisational musicgenre called Sinawi. In terms of joy andimprovisation, we try to showcase thejazz that embodies Korea of this agethrough its subtle harmony with tradi-tional music.

A brief on the motto — Findingtoday’s solution from the past?Its meaning is ‘to make and play origi-nal music of this age inspired by the pastmusic of Korea. This resembles jazz alot in the sense of joy and improvisationwhich is reinterpreted in a modern way.

How is jazz different from othermusical form?It is the music of communication andof expression of freedom. Its mostbasic element is improvisation which isa combination of composing and play-ing. The greatest feature and charm ofjazz is that it should be played instant-ly and according to the situation andplace as opposed to prepared music.

While performing internationally, isit easy to connect with audience or doyou find it difficult?All of the band members of Chae Ji Hye’sGo Back Project have held overseas per-formances. This is the first time I havevisited India, but I will try my bestunderstand what the audience likes inorder to create the best performance.

Park Ji-Young, a member of theteam, will play the role of interpreter forour team. We can communicate throughher.

Jazz has not been explored much byIndians. What is the scope of this genrein the country? In Korea, the genre of jazz is still unfa-miliar to the public. So we try to play itin a manner that that they can enjoy jazzeasily. I think this musical intention will

appeal to the audience in India. In addi-tion, Korean traditional musical instru-ments, unique playing methods, andtones in our music, will attract Indianaudience. In order to communicate withmore local audience a famous folk songof India was composed by the repertoirein our own style.

His bravado apart, Indian Air Force (IAF) pilotAbhinandan Varthaman’s stylised moustache has

become the talk of the town. It may not be too long beforeit becomes a trend among people, say experts.

Reminiscent of a beard sported by megastar Rajinikanthin Petta or Suriya in Singam, Abhinandan’s well-groomedfacial hair style may well be the next big thing for men whohave drawn from shapes sported by cricketers Virat Kohliand Shikhar Dhawan and Bollywood star Ranveer Singhin recent times.

“It won’t be wrong to say the beard sported by the IAFpilot will be soon be called India’s very own Abhinandanstyle,” Darshan Yewalekar, personal hairstylist to RanveerSingh and owner of D Shave Barbershop said.

Wing Commander Abhinandan returned to India onFriday night, two days after he was captured by Pakistanwhen his MiG-21 crashed in that country. After the end ofthe nail-biting drama over his return, Twitterati finally gota chance to mull over his unique moustache.

For generations altogether, Army and Air Force per-sonnel have been particular about flaunting a well-groomed moustache or beard, and it is part of their sub-culture. “It tells a lot of the soldier’s and the official’s indi-viduality. It is like an expression of their character and theywear it with pride,” Yewalekar said.

Bharti Taneja, Founder and Director, Alps BeautyGroup, finds Abhinandan’s moustache more of a gunslinger.

“It is shaped somewhat like the handlebars of a bicy-cle. But from now onwards the common man of India willremember this as ‘Abhinandan’s moustache’ only,” Tanejasaid, adding a gunslinger is typically considered a cool andclassic style that never goes out of vogue.

“It signifies machoism or valour and bravery, somethingthat our hero Abhinandan has shown the world. He hasadded the ‘heroism’ quotient to this style.

“His moustache reflects his strong physical and men-tal health. Just see how groomed and cool his moustachelooks — it would make any man want to follow his style.Women are loving it too! It’s a style of a gentleman,” Tanejasaid.

Twitterati are going gaga over the moustache. If thereare memes, there are also discussions about how long it’sgoing to be before the style becomes a rage.

“Barbers are going to have a tough task designing this,and may thus benefit from premium pricing,” wrote oneuser, while another mentioned the IAF wings onAbhinandan’s uniform, and quipped: “I love how no oneis acknowledging #Abhinandan’s double wings. His IAFwings and his moustache wings.” One user commented:“Abhinandan’s moustache will be the next styling sensationthroughout India. Don’t get flabbergasted when your bar-ber asks you ‘Abhinandan cut chahiye?’”

Some even recounted actor Suriya’s Singam moustacheand calling Abhinandan the “real Singam” for his bravery.

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Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction. This seems toapply fairly well to Lord Shiva, the truth personified,whose symbol is Shivlinga and whose divine ‘birth night’

is commemorated as Shivratri in India. A lot of myth, fictionand legend has been built up around Shivlinga. The truth —it is the symbol of the Supreme soul and that Shivratri is thefestival in lieu of God’s divine and supernatural birth — appearsto people as stranger than fiction today. If we ponder over themeaning of ‘Shiva’, the word means: One whose every act isaimed at benefaction of the mankind. Hence, undeniably, Shivais an attributive name of the Almighty. But there are such sto-ries woven around his name that they make him appear as anembodied being who lived on Mount Kailash in the days ofyore. Again, research indicated that Shivlinga was once heldin great esteem in all religions, including the Judaic family ofreligions and Adi SanatanDharma.

This universal accep-tance of the symbol alsotries to show that it mustthen have been regarded asa symbol of the ‘Father ofthe universe.’ Furthermore,if we study the spectrum offorms of various deities, wewill find out that Shivlingastands apart from othersbecause it is neither malenor female form like theother idols. This, too,shows that it representsthe incorporeal God.However, through thecourse of time, this truthalso got lost in myth andfiction just likeShakesphere’s “two grains ofwheat in two bushels ofchaff.”

As time passed, peoplebegan to believe that God,being the greatest power,must be macrocosmic inexpansion; they paid scantregard to the testimonythat he is microcosmic oris just a point-of-light,even as Shiva Puran itself says, that he is minuter than theminutest. Thus the truth about Shivlinga, which solved theultimate mystery of God’s incorporeal form, was also consid-ered stranger than fiction. It began with the festival of Shivratri.

God has said that when the righteousness declines and theevil ascends, he descends to take a supernatural birth andredeem the world and to re-establish the Dharma (law).Shivratri is, in fact, commemorative of that birth. It is cele-brated on the 14th dark night of the month of Phagun(February to March) every year. Phagun is the last monthaccording to the Indian calendar. Hence, it is symbolic of God’sdescent in this world — at the end of every world cycle or atthe end of every Kali Yug, the allegorical night, which is whenthe darkness of ignorance prevails in the world to re-estab-lish the Golden Age. But in the course of time, this truth abouthis ‘divine birth’ has also got lost to mankind in a plethora ofmyth and fiction that has grown around him.

The result — one of the most important truths which couldhave made us the inheritor of God’s patrimony of total puri-ty, peace and prosperity, has been lost. It has also lead to aloss of an important connection between various nations andreligions. People are unable to appreciate the truth that in thepresent fag-end of Iron Age (Kali Yug), Godfather Shiva hasreincarnated to re-establish the Golden Age. Shiva is the incor-poreal Supreme soul — Father of all souls. He imparts the truthabout soul, God and the Creation, inspiring humans to puri-fy themselves by linking their heart and mind with him andby doing pure deeds. Unlike humans, he does not live, eat, orindulge in sensual experiences. He never comes in the bondageof actions and their resultant fruits. The Supreme soul is pre-sent in all religions as Shiva, God, Allah, Jehovah, Ishwar andby many other names. He is praised as the Almighty andomnipotent being that can liberate human beings from thecycle of sin and suffering. The best thing is that humans cannow experience God’s wisdom and blessings as never beforesince the time has come for him to guide the process of thetransformation of the world from Kali Yug (Iron Age) to SataYug (Golden Age). So what are we waiting for? We should joinhim and be a part of great transformation of the old worldinto a new one and become golden again.

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Most of us have noticedourselves being influ-enced by colours in some

way or the other. Even thoughthey can only be perceived by eyes,particular shades of certaincolours appear to invoke respons-es that are associated with sensesother than the sight. We’ve allheard and even experienced — thecolour Red being loud, Blue beingcold or Yellow being calm.Although we may not exactlyunderstand how these things hap-pen, we have certainly come a longway in learning to manipulate thisphenomenon to our advantage,especially in the domain of learn-ing and education.

Colours and their effect on earlylearningMultiple studies link the role ofcolours with improved knowledgeacquisition in e-learning process-es. Educational institutions havebeen manipulating colours, notjust digitally but also by strategicdesigning of the physical spaces,to maximise information reten-tion, increase student participa-tion, enhance communicationand comprehension, and so on.That is why it is common to findvibrant coloured furniture inpreschool classrooms and gentleshades covering the walls oflibraries or reading rooms.

The choice of colours and thestrength of shades used during aparticular course of the learningprocess depends upon the natureof the course and that of the stu-

dents. For example — bright andvibrant colours like red and yel-low on chairs or other furnitureare usually used to stimulateyounger students. Teachers canalso wear bright colours to drawand hold their attention. Teachersalso use chart papers with colour-ful background and picture bookswith vividly drawn sceneries andcharacters to communicate withthe kids effectively and with ease.As various studies stand testamentto the fact, visual cues maximise

information retention in peopleon top of being processed faster bythe brain as compared to plaintext.

In older grades, the use ofgentler and more relaxing coloursis encouraged to provide the stu-dents with a stress-free atmos-phere where to engage in learningactivities. One may thereforenotice that most libraries havemellow or dark coloured furnitureand mostly warm-toned walls oflight green colour or lighter shades

of blue. Senior classroom wallstoo, generally have temperateshades of primary colours.Whereas, in places where oneneeds to stimulate the brain orengage in energetic activities likedancing or indoor sports, brightershades of colours like orange, pur-ple and red are used for decorat-ing the interior. Other devices atschools and colleges like displaysthat feature “thought-provoking”material have powerful and stim-ulating colours on the backgroundto reaffirm the nature of ideasexhibited.

Enhancing the e-learning processA strategic use of colour palettelends a unique and effective edgeto the e-learning process. Teacherscan leverage colourfully craftedpresentations, for instance, todrive home the lesson in themost effective and entertainingmanner. When used well,coloured educational supplementscan overcome the monotony ofthe text-based learning process,hence elevating the learning andteaching experience of the pupiland teacher respectively. However,educators must also keep in mindseveral hazards that accompanythe manipulation of colours, espe-cially in case of younger studentswho may be prone to conditionslike overstimulation. With a bal-anced and well-calculated use ofcolours, the monotonous learningactivity can be transformed into avibrant and colourful experiencefor all.

Life throws challenges and it is up to you to succumbto them or to change them into opportunities and lever-

age them to your advantage. This is easier said than donebut if you have a life coach or mentor to help you pickthe right path, the task becomes easier.

Women are naturally blessed to act as mentors. Awoman plays several roles throughout her life — that ofa daughter, sister, wife and a mother — roles in which sheimbibes values such as sensitivity, compassion andempathy. The sensitivity and sensibility goes a long wayin making her effective as a guide. No wonder, a large num-ber of successful life coaches in the world over are women.

They have excelled in every field that was once markedas a man’s domain. However, while the participation ofwomen in the higher education space has increased, whereas in work force has rather declined over the last decadeand hovered around 24 to 27 per cent in the past coupleof years. Worse still, the participation of women on seniorleadership positions is too insignificant. As of the 2018Fortune list, only 24 women (4.8 per cent) were CEOs of500 companies. It therefore appears prima facie, that whenit comes to accepting woman as a superlative, the stereo-types prevail. In a society that portrays women as objectsof lust and desire, it is a huge challenge for a woman torise to levels of respect and reverence. In these circum-stances, the mentoring role of women for other womenbecomes crucial. There are organisations like WomenMentoring Forum that have taken a lead in bring profes-sional women together to facilitate growth and network-ing. To promote upward mobility for women, sustainedmentoring by fellow women leaders can take the centerstage. Mentoring may help women to ideate and envisiontheir higher leadership roles. It also enables formation ofsupport groups and networks that can be used by menteesto move up in the professional ladder. Above all, in dif-ficult times at workplace, women mentors can be a greatemotional and moral support.

Women as teachers, doctors and scientists do existbut now this society has to witness women as opin-ion makers, influencers, guides and mentors.

On this women’s day, let us celebrate all thesewomen who have broken the barriers and establishedthemselves as successful mentors.

(The author is Anju Sharma, IAS, PrincipalSecretary (Higher and Technical Education), Governmentof Gujarat.)

Plastics came into ourlives 70 years backand it will take anoth-er 430 years to disin-tegrate. The journey

of plastic since the last 70 yearshas been a remarkable one, ithas made life much easier andsolved a lot of issues. But allalong this way, we did not givemuch importance to what isgoing to happen to it post itsusage. The damage isintractable and has gonebeyond the threshold. It isshocking to think that every bitof plastic we once used is stillthere somewhere. It is not onlyin our landfills today but it hasalso become a part of ourwater streams, animal life,marine life and even our DNAs.

Toxic chemicals leach outof plastic and are found in theblood and tissue of nearlyeach one of us. Exposure tothem is linked to cancers,birth defects, impaired immu-nity, endocrine disruptionand other ailments. It grave-ly affects our respiratory, ner-vous and reproductive sys-tems. High concentration ofplastic especially in PET bot-tles, food wrappers and evenin plates have been foundharming multiple organs inanimals and marine creaturesas well. We are steeped in thismaterial — microplastics fromthe air we breathe to both thetap and bottled water wedrink, the food we eat, and theclothing we wear.

The Indian society isgoing through a change inmindset today wherein, theyare becoming more and moreaware of health issues and pre-fer leading a healthy lifestyle.The educated and urbanisedIndians specially do not shyaway from making informeddecisions. With the right sen-sitisation among masses,biodegradable packaging willwitness a growing demand inthe coming future. With plas-tic getting banned in stateslike Maharashtra, Sikkim,Jammu and Kashmir, Chennaito name a few, compostableproducts is the way forward inthe country. Using cheap plas-tic or melamine today increas-es our chances of spending a

lot more on medical expens-es.

There has been a lot ofinnovations in terms of alter-natives to eliminate single useplastics — products likebagasse tableware, areca nutpalm moulded products, bam-boo toothbrushes, jute bags,paper and metal straws, bam-boo ear buds etc. If you look atthe price comparison, yes theyare a bit more expensive ascompared to the plastic that hasbeen floating around, but hav-ing said that the expenses thatare incurred in terms of takingcare of the plastic lying in thelandfills and incineration ismuch higher than the damagethat it does to the planet andthe community.

Creating compostablepackaging that is an alternateto single use plastics is the needof the hour. With the advent ofscience and technology, a lot ofproducts which are alternativeto plastic and helpful for theenvironment have been intro-duced in the country. Be in theform of compostable bags,tableware products, bambootooth brushes etc. These prod-ucts are aimed at leaving theplanet cleaner and initiativeslike these encourage us towardsgetting bolder and taking fur-ther steps towards the goal.

Equal support from citi-zens and the governmentorganisations is needed to endthis menace of single-use plas-tics together. <����������������

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Page 16: name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled

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Australian Nick Kyrgios cappeda scintillating run in Acapulco

with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over worldnumber three Alexander ZverevSaturday to claim his first ATP titlein more than a year.

Kyrgios defeated three top-10players on the way to the title, sav-ing three match points in a second-round victory over second-rankedRafael Nadal — owner of 17 GrandSlam titles — and beating No 9 JohnIsner in the semis.

He also beat three-time GrandSlam winner Stan Wawrinka in thequarter-finals of a drama-filledweek that saw him shake off hostilecrowds, i l lness, injuries andmoments of malaise — not to men-tion a post-match scolding fromNadal.

His win over Zverev was aremarkably straightforward affair.

"I just chucked in a lot of dropshots, tried to keep him guessing,that's all you can do," said Kyrgios,a former world number 13 who hasslipped to 72nd in the world.

"He's super-fit, so he's going togrind you down so I tried to keepthe points short when I could,"added Kyrgios, who spent morethan nine hours on court over hisfour prior matches but needed justan hour and a half to dispatchZverev.

"You know, I lack on the phys-ical side a little bit," Kyrgios admit-ted with a smile. "But today Iserved well and just played theclutch points pretty well."

Indeed it was Zverev whosenerves were frayed after Kyrgiosbroke him at love in the fourthgame of the opening set then heldfor a 4-1 lead, prompting theGerman to smash his racquet in

frustration.Kyrgios broke again to open the

second set, but double-faulted onbreak point in the next game.

He broke Zverev again in thefifth game and held with confidencethe rest of the way to capture hisfirst title since Brisbane in Januaryof 2018.

While Kyrgios had come toembrace the role of tournament vil-lain in which pro-Nadal fans hadcast him, Zverev said fans shouldappreciate what they had seen fromhim.

"Really, he's the one whodeserves to win it," Zverev said."He's the real champion this week,"and the fans, finally won over,cheered.

�����)���*�����In women's action China's

Wang Yafan rallied from a set anda break down to capture her firstWTA title, defeating AmericanSofia Kenin 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

World number 65 Wang, play-ing in her first WTA singles final,outlasted the 35th-ranked Americanto claim her breakthrough titleafter two hours and 10 minutes.

The 20-year-old American wasdenied her second career WTAtitle and second crown of the yearafter taking her first at Hobart inJanuary.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his "confident" sidecould stage a Champions League fightback at

Paris Saint-Germain this week after a dramatic 3-2victory over Southampton on Saturday.

Romelu Lukaku's 89th-minute strike at OldTrafford, his fourth goal in two games, fired Unitedback into the top four at the expense of Arsenal, whowere held by Tottenham.

Solskjaer's side will be aiming to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the Champions League last 16, secondleg at PSG on Wednesday.

"The dressing room was bouncing, they werehappy, looking forward to Wednesday," said theNorwegian.

"We're playing against one of the best teams inEurope with some absolute quality players but whoknows? This has happened before, so many great

comebacks."The Champions League has given

quite a few of those comebacks, PSGagainst Barcelona for example. We haveto do it away from home, but we haveeight straight wins away from home.

"We're confident away from homeand if we're in the game with 20 or 30 minutes togo, who knows?"

Solskjaer's mentor Alex Ferguson becamerenowned for his team's last-minute winners duringa golden era that featured the current United inter-im manager, who scored a stoppage-time winner inthe 1999 Champions League final against BayernMunich.

And the Norwegian appeared to have summonedthe spirits of the Ferguson era, after United claimeda crucial three points against lowly Southampton.

"It was like the old days," beamed Solskjaer,whose side now lead Arsenal by one point in the race

for Champions League qualification, with Chelseafour points further back with two games in hand.

"I've been part of that so many times myself. Wespoke about it at half-time and said get the ball inthe box and play more forward because the StretfordEnd will suck it in for you.

"I don't want to take anything away fromAndreas (Pereira) and Romelu, because they weregreat finishes, but that spirit is just part of this club'shistory. We have done it so many times before."

United appeared to be heading towards a disap-pointing home draw in the closing moments, whensubstitute Fred exchanged passes with Luke Shaw andfound the in-form Lukaku on the edge of the area.

The Belgian striker did the rest with a pinpoint18-yard finish into the bottom corner.

Solskjaer could even enjoy the luxury of a missedinjury-time penalty when Paul Pogba's effort was wellsaved by Angus Gunn following Stuart Armstrong'strip on Marcus Rashford.

But the finale, which extended Solskjaer'sunbeaten run in domestic action with United to15 games, was much-needed after it appeared histeam would drop points in the chase for a top-fourfinish.

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Felipe Caicedo and Ciro Immobile scored asLazio beat Roma 3-0 in the capital-city

derby on Saturday to revive their hopes ofChampions League qualification from Serie A.

Simone Inzaghi's men ended their bitterrivals' eight-match unbeaten run in the leagueto move only three points behind Eusebio DiFrancesco's fifth-placed team in the race fora top-four spot, with a game in hand.

Victory at the Stadio Olimpico for Lazioalso pulled them within six points of fourth-placed Inter, with AC Milan one point furtherahead in third after beating Sassuolo earlier onSaturday.

"This meant a lot to us and the victory cangive us so much enthusiasm going forward,"Lazio coach Inzaghi told DAZN.

"The fact remains, Lazio can cause everyopponent trouble and we'll fight it out to theend if we always go out there with this con-viction and this heart."

Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi's decision toleave Immobile on the bench took less than12 minutes to pay dividends as JoaquinCorrea played in Caicedo, and the formerManchester City striker rounded visit-ing goalkeeper Robin Olsen before tap-ping in his fourth league goal of the sea-son.

Roma were much improved after theinterval, with Stephan El Shaarawy andNicolo Zaniolo both bringing savesfrom Thomas Strakosha.

Alessandro Florenzi was the next to goclose, as his long-range strike was tipped overby Strakosha, before Javier Pastore wasteful-ly fired wide.

Lazio made their rivals pay 18 minutesfrom time, as Immobile scored his 16th goalof the campaign only eight minutes after com-ing on as a substitute.

The 29-year-old striker sent Correa run-ning through on goal, with Federico Fazio out-paced and resorting to bringing down the for-

ward, and Immobile squeezed the resultingpenalty underneath Olsen.

"I dedicate the goal to my wife, who is preg-nant," said Immobile, who celebrated byputting the ball under his shirt and his

thumb in his mouth. "We're expecting ourthird child and, after two girls, it's goingto be a boy."

There was further pain for Roma lateon, as a wonderful team move from Lazioended with midfielder Danilo Cataldicurling home an 89th-minute third goal,

before Aleksandar Kolarov was dismissed afterpicking up two yellow cards in a matter of sec-onds.

Earlier on Saturday, AC Milan took thirdplace in Serie A from city rivals Inter asGennaro Gattuso's men continued their finerun of form with a narrow 1-0 win overSassuolo.

The seven-time European champions'only defeat of 2019 so far was a 1-0 Super Cuploss to Juventus in Saudi Arabia, and they areunbeaten in their last nine league matches.

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Aseason of highs saw himknocking on the door of

world's top 10 and India's SameerVerma believes a positive mindsetand improved strategies will holdhim in good stead at the AllEngland Championship startingMarch 10.

Sameer came out of the shad-ows of his illustrious colleagues lastyear when he reached the knock-out stage of the World Tour Finalsas a qualifier, riding on his title runat Swiss Open, Hyderabad Openand Syed Modi International atLucknow.

Two of these titles — SwissOpen and Syed Modi — wereSuper 300 events and Sameer,who had reached the finals ofHong Kong Super Series in 2016,hopes to achieve his dream of win-ning a higher level tournament

when he steps out at the ArenaBirmimgham for the All EnglandChampionship.

"I want to win a big tourna-ment and I want it to be AllEngland," Sameer said.

The 24-year-old will open hiscampaign against former worldchampion Viktor Axelsen.

"I have lost twice to him(Viktor Axelsen) but I am not tooworried. I played him around 7-8months back. At that time, I wasnot at this level. I think I am muchbetter prepared to take him on,"said Sameer.

"My mindset and strategyhave improved a lot now. I can't tellabout the results, I am not think-ing about them but I feel I'm bestprepared for the All England thistime."

Sameer, who had finished apre-quarterfinalist in the 2016 AllEngland, has played Axelson only

twice in the past — the 2018Indonesia Open and 2011 WorldJunior Championship.

He reached a career-high rank-ing of world No 11 this Januaryafter a stellar run in 2018 andSameer says he has the self-beliefto break into the top 10.

"If I would have won theWorld Tour Final or reached thefinals, I would have broken into top10. The loss against Shi Yuqi is stillin my mind, I guess it will only goonce I win something big. But Ihave the idea now, I know I can bein that top 10," Sameer said.

The youngster from MadhyaPradesh had lost 12-21, 22-20, 21-17 to World No 2 Shi Yuqi of Chinain the semifinals after holding thematch point in the second game.

Asked to name one player hewould want to face, Sameer said: "Iwant to play Kento Momota. I hadbeaten him at Swiss Open but I lost

to him at the World Tour Finalsand I want to test my game againsthim, compete against him."

With both the players placed inseparate halves of the draw, the onlyway they can face at the AllEngland is if they reach the finals.

The Olympic qualificationperiod starts from April 29 and theBWF rankings list, which would bepublished on April 30 next year,will decide the spots for the 2020Tokyo Games.

Sameer said he would look toavoid thinking about the Olympicsas it can create unnecessary pres-sure during the qualification peri-od.

"...You can think of it as a nor-mal tournament and not take anypressure, and stay stress free. Thatwould be the way I would want tothink because otherwise, it willaffect my performance," Sameersaid.

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East Bengal on Sunday beat Minerva Punjab FC by a soli-tary goal in their penultimate round match to remain

in the title hunt and take the battle for I-League crowndown the wire.

Enrique Esqueda scored the winning goal for EastBengal in the 75th minute at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium.

East Bengal's win on Sunday meant that the I-Leaguetitle will be decided on the final match day on Saturday.

With 39 points from 19 matches, East Bengal are justone point behind leaders Chennai City FC (40 points from19 matches).

The Kolkata giants will need to win their final matchagainst Gokulam Kerala FC in Kozhikhode on Saturdayand hope that Chennai City FC either draw or lose againstMinerva in Coimbatore on the same day if they want tolift the trophy for the first time.

For Chennai City FC, a win against Minerva at homeground on Saturday will be enough to clinch their maid-en I-League crown.

Both the title-deciding matches will be played at thesame time at 5pm on Saturday.

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Thomas Mueller said he wasstunned that his Bayern Munichteam had reined in Bundesliga

leaders Borussia Dortmund whose nine-point lead has evaporated.

Bayern moved level on points withDortmund on Saturday after a 5-1thrashing of BorussiaMoenchengladbach.

Dortmund, meanwhile, had stum-bled to a shock 2-1 defeat at Augsburgon Friday.

Bayern pounced on Dortmund'sslip-up with Robert Lewandowski scor-ing twice and Javi Martinez, Mueller andSerge Gnabry also netting at BorussiaPark.

"It was a good day for us. I can'tremember the last time we won by sucha margin at Moenchengladbach," Muellertold Sky.

"We didn't think we would catchDortmund up so early. We are better nowthan we were last autumnand want to continue."

This was Bayern's 11thwin in 12 league games, a runwhich has allowed them toerode the nine-point leadDortmund held in Decemberwith only a goal difference of two nowseparating the sides, both on 54 points.

Despite illness and injury hittingtheir squad, Bayern needed just two min-utes to take the lead when Martinezheaded home from a corner.

Mueller made it 2-0 after 11 minutesby tapping home a Gnabry cross.

Gladbach briefly rallied when theircaptain Lars Stindl pulled a goal backeight minutes from the break, butLewandowski made sure of the win after

he converted Thiago Alcantara's pass tosmash the ball home on 47 minutes.

Gnabry added Bayern's fourth beforeLewandowski netted a late penalty for his195th Bundesliga goal — making him theleague's joint top-scoring foreign play-er alongside Werder Bremen's 40-year-old Peru striker Claudio Pizzaro.

The result avenged Bayern's shock 3-0 defeat to Gladbach in Munich lastOctober.

"There was a score to settle from thatgame — we had it at the back of ourminds," admitted Bayern goalkeeperManuel Neuer.

"Of course we are happy with a 5-1win, but we aren't first, so we have to staycalm."

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