16
C ongress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made his resignation public through an emotional four- page letter that he put out on tweeter in which he took moral responsibility for the party’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls asserting that accountability is critical for the future growth of the party. “As president of the Congress party, I am responsi- ble for the loss of the 2019 elec- tion. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress president. Rebuilding the party requires hard decisions and numerous people will have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019. It would be unjust to hold others account- able but ignore my own respon- sibility as president of the party,” he said in the letter shared on his Twitter account. Signing off his letter, he said, “Thank you to the thou- sands of Indians, both at home and abroad, who have sent me letters and messages of support. I will, of course, continue to fight for the ideals of the Congress party with all my strength. I am available to the party whenever they require my services, input or advice. To those who support the Congress ideology, especially our dedicated and beloved karyakarta, I have absolute faith in our future and the utmost love for you.” While Rahul will officially continue to be the president of the party till his resignation is accepted by Congress Working Committee (CWC), there was speculation that veteran Moti Lal Vohra may be given inter- im charge till the process of electing a new party president is completed. Vora, 90, is cur- rently Congress general secre- tary in-charge of administra- tion. According to the Congress constitution, the party’s senior- most general secretary will take over as its interim chief in case of a resignation by the incumbent. In his letter, Rahul said it had been an honour to serve the party whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of this beautiful nation. “It is an honour for me to serve the Congress party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation. I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love. As president of the Congress, I am responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress presi- dent,” Rahul stated. Rahul said the Congress didn’t fight a political party in the 2019 election, rather it fought the entire machinery of the Indian state, every institu- tion of which was marshalled against the Opposition. Leading the grand old party in two general elections, Rahul noted that he personal- ly fought Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and the institutions they have cap- tured. He further said this cap- ture of power will result in “unimaginable levels of vio- lence and pain for India,” while alleging that the PM’s win does not negate the “breadth of corruption allegations against him”. Asserting that it was now crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu- trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives of the RSS, the capture of our country’s institutional struc- ture, is now complete. Our democracy has been fundamentally weakened. There is a real danger that from now on, elections will go from being a determinant of India’s future to a mere ritual. “This capture of power will result in unimaginable levels of violence and pain for India. Farmers, unemployed youngsters, women, tribals, Dalits and minorities are going to suffer the most. The impact on our econo- my and nation’s reputation will be devastating. The Prime Minister’s win does not negate the breadth of corruption alle- gations against him; no amount of money and propa- ganda can ever hide the light of the truth.” Rahul urged the CWC to entrust a group of people with the task of finding a new pres- ident as it would not be prop- er for him to do so. W ait for many Delhi University aspirants was over on Wednesday evening as the university declared the second cut-off list with a mar- ginal dip in marks required for admission in undergraduate courses. However, the major- ity of North Campus colleges closed admissions for Political Science for the unreserved category students. A few colleges also closed admission for courses like Psychology and English (hon- ours) for the category. The cut-off for BCom (Hons) in SRCC is 98 per cent for general category. Jesus and Marry College has announced no second cut- off list for BCom (Hons), BCom, Economic (Hons), BSc Maths (Hons), Political Science (Hons), Psychology (Hons). In Gargi college, admission in BA (Hons) Applied Psychology has been shut for general category while the cut off percentage for OBC, SC , ST and EWS category for the course is 94, 91,91 and 96 per cent respectively. Kashmiri migrants still have chance with required percentage 88 per cent to get admission in the course. Various colleges have shut down the admissions for the much-sought after courses, for instance admission in BA Economics (Hons) in SRCC for general category is closed. For BA (Hons) Political Science, chances are still high for general category with cut- off percentage 95.50 per cent. For BA (Hons) English, required percentage is 95.75 per cent while Gargi has set 96.50 per cent for BA (Hns) Economics. Commerce aspi- rants can apply in Gargi with required percentage 95.25 per cent for BCom. According to the second cut-off, required percentage to get admission into BSc (Botany) course in Gargi col- lege is 91 per cent while per- centage required to get admis- sion in Bsc (Hons) Chemistry is 95.66 per cent, for BSc (Hons) Physics cut-off is 96 per cent while for BSc in Life Sciences, required percentage according to the second cut-off is 90.33 per cent. Notably, Gargi has closed the admission for English and Psychology (combination) for all categories. In Deshbandu college, admissions for BA (Philosophy) and BA (Political Science), BA programme in History and Political Science) have been closed. College has closed admission in a few courses for general category, required cut-off percentage for BA (Hons) Economics and BSc (Hons) Physics is 94.5 and 94 per cent respectively. In Ramanujan, admissions in Bcom, Political Science (Hons) and BA (Hons) Economics have been closed. In Kalindi college, the highest cut-off is in BA Journalism with 94 per cent, followed by Bcom (Hns) with 93 per cent. I n its bid to give a major boost to farmers across the coun- try impacted by the delayed onset of the southwest mon- soon and scanty rainfall, the Modi Government has raised the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy, a key kharif crop, by 3.7 per cent from 1,750 to 1,815 per quintal for the 2019-20 crop season. The MSP for paddy (grade A) saw an increase of 65 per quintal. Paddy is the main kharif crop, the sowing of which begins with the onset of southwest monsoon. Despite a below-normal monsoon last year, there was a record rice output of 115.63 million tonne due to increased support price. This year too, the rice output is likely to be on the higher side. Due to delayed rains, the total area sown to kharif crops was down at 146.61 lakh hectares till last week as against last year’s 162.07 lakh hectare, as per Agriculture Ministry data. The MSP of tur (arhar), moong and urad pulses also have been raised by 125, 75 and 100, respectively, for the 2019-20 crop season. The MSP of arhar increased from 5,675 to 5,800 per quintal; moong from 6,975 to 7,050 per quin- tal and urad from 5,600 to 5,700 per quintal. The decision was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday which approved the hikes in MSP. The move will lead to increased investment and pro- duction through assured remu- nerative prices to the farmers. The increase in MSP for kharif crops is in line with the principle of fixing the MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all India weighted average cost of production which was announced in the Union Budget for 2018-19. After the CCEA meeting, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the monsoon has been delayed this year and it is worrisome for the farmers as well as the Government. “But according to the weather department’s forecast, the situ- ation would improve and the monsoon would be normal,” Tomar said. As per Cabinet decision, the minimum support price, which the Centre guarantees to pay to farmers, has also been raised in case of groundnut by 200 a quintal and soyabean by 311. In addition, medium cotton MSP has been raised by 105 quintal and long cotton MSP by 100 a quintal. The highest percentage return to farmers over their cost of pro- duction is for bajra (85 per cent) followed by urad (64 per cent) and tur (60 per cent). The MSP for jowar has been increased by 120 per quintal from 2,430 to 2,550, and ragi by 253 per quintal from 2,897 and 3,150. The move comes against the back- drop of the need to promote cultivation and consumption of nutri-cereals. Besides, India celebrated 2018 as the National Year of Millets and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Council has approved India’s proposal to observe an International Year of Millets in 2023. As many as 26 out of the total 36 subdivisions of the country are facing deficient rainfall, with the overall mon- soon deficit standing at 28 per cent. Rains have been below normal in West Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where the deficit is more than 60 per cent. The country has so far received 138 mm rainfall against the normal of 191.6 mm. As on July 3, the monsoon is yet to cover Punjab, Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh. Tomar said the Centre has increased the MSP of kharif crops for 2019-20 in line with the principle of fixing MSPs at a level which is at least 1.5 times the cost of production, which was announced last year. The MSP mechanism pro- vides a price guarantee to the farmers for their produce. This is implemented across the country as nearly 86 per cent farmers are in small and mar- ginal category. E nvironmental degradation by illegal and unregulated coal mining has taken place in Meghalaya, the Supreme Court held on Wednesday and direct- ed the State to deposit 100 crore with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for restoration work. It said however that Meghalaya has very limited sources of revenue and allowed it to transfer 100 crore from the Environment Protection and Restoration Fund. A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and KM Joseph said the CPCB, as directed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), will utilise the amount of 100 crore only for restora- tion of the environment. “The allegations of envi- ronmental degradation by ille- gal and unregulated coal min- ing were fully proved from materials on the record, includ- ing the report of the experts, report of the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board, the report of former High Court Judge BP Katakey committee, which all proved environmen- tal degradation of water, air and surface,” the Bench said. A s many as 23 persons were feared dead on Wednesday, after Tiware dam breached in Chipulan taluka of Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan region and led to a flood-like situation in at least seven downstream villages. Till evening, bodies of 11 persons were recovered from the bed of the dam by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, while one person was found alive from a downstream location three kilometres away from the breached dam. The NDRF teams are searching for 11 more persons who were among who had gone missing after the dam breached around 9.30 pm, an hour after it started over- flowing. Following the breach of the dam that took place on Tuesday night, seven down- stream villages — Daadar, Akle, Riktoli, Ovali, Kalkavne, Nandivase — were inundated. Built in 2004, 308 metres long, 28 metres wide and 28 metres tall bridge had a storage capacity of 20 lakh cubic meters. The water from the dam was being used for both drinking water and irrigation purposes. Relatives of the vic- tims said they had asked dis- trict administration to repair the dam as they had spotted cracks in November last year. There was an issue over the jurisdiction of which tehsil Tiware dam falls in, as Chiplun and Dapoli tehsil offices had ignored the plea of the villagers, said a family member of one of the dead.“It is only because of their negligence that we have seen this day,” he said. “My par- ents, wife and child of one and a half year is missing,” he added. Nearly two dozen vehicles belonging mostly to the vil- lagers were washed away in the swollen waters. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered an enquiry into the cause and circum- stances leading the breach. “We will fix responsibility for the incident and take action against the erring persons,” Fadnavis said. Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan who visited the tragedy site, assured the affect- ed people that the state gov- ernment would rebuild the affected downstream villagers. “Homes of the villagers washed away will be constructed at safe places,” he said. A Delhi court on Wednesday acquitted MLA and gang- ster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and six others accused in the 2005 murder case of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai as all the eyewitnesses and material witnesses turned hostile. “The case in hand is anoth- er example of the prosecution failing due to hostile witness- es. If the witnesses in this case had the benefit of the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 dur- ing the trial, the result may have been different,” Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj said while exonerating all the accused. Further, the court held that the CBI investigators failed to prove the charges by not bringing enough evidence against the accused persons who were allegedly responsible for the gruesome killing of seven persons, including Rai. D elhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik was sum- moned by Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday to discuss Walled City communal incident in which a temple was vandalised after a fight broke out over parking of a two- wheeler at Lal Kuan area under Hauz Qazi police station on Sunday night. After the meeting was over, Patnaik told reporters, “It was a general briefing about the Hauz Qazi incident and how the situation is. The situation is well under control now.” He said four people have been arrested and action would be taken against all involved. “We have the CCTV footage. These are a group of criminals... we are analysing the footage and all those involved will face action,” he said. A minor is among those arrested over the violence. Security has been stepped up in the locality to avoid any unto- ward incident. Late in the evening people from the two communities, in presence of police, held dis- cussions on ways to defuse the tension. Jamshed Siddiqui, who was present in the meeting, said, “We have spoken to each other on the issue and decid- ed that the ‘aman committee’ (peace committee) would bear the expenses to renovate the vandalised temple.”

ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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Page 1: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday

made his resignation publicthrough an emotional four-page letter that he put out ontweeter in which he took moralresponsibility for the party’srout in the Lok Sabha pollsasserting that accountability iscritical for the future growth ofthe party.

“As president of theCongress party, I am responsi-ble for the loss of the 2019 elec-tion. Accountability is criticalfor the future growth of ourparty. It is for this reason thatI have resigned as Congresspresident. Rebuilding the partyrequires hard decisions andnumerous people will have tobe made accountable for thefailure of 2019. It would beunjust to hold others account-able but ignore my own respon-sibility as president of theparty,” he said in the lettershared on his Twitter account.

Signing off his letter, hesaid, “Thank you to the thou-sands of Indians, both at homeand abroad, who have sent meletters and messages of support.I will, of course, continue tofight for the ideals of theCongress party with all mystrength. I am available to theparty whenever they requiremy services, input or advice. Tothose who support theCongress ideology, especiallyour dedicated and belovedkaryakarta, I have absolutefaith in our future and the

utmost love for you.”While Rahul will officially

continue to be the president ofthe party till his resignation isaccepted by Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC), there wasspeculation that veteran MotiLal Vohra may be given inter-im charge till the process ofelecting a new party presidentis completed. Vora, 90, is cur-rently Congress general secre-tary in-charge of administra-tion.

According to the Congressconstitution, the party’s senior-most general secretary will

take over as its interim chief incase of a resignation by theincumbent.

In his letter, Rahul said ithad been an honour to servethe party whose values andideals have served as thelifeblood of this beautifulnation.

“It is an honour for me toserve the Congress party,whose values and ideals haveserved as the lifeblood of ourbeautiful nation. I owe thecountry and my organisation adebt of tremendous gratitudeand love. As president of the

Congress, I am responsible forthe loss of the 2019 election.Accountability is critical for thefuture growth of our party. It isfor this reason that I haveresigned as Congress presi-dent,” Rahul stated.

Rahul said the Congressdidn’t fight a political party inthe 2019 election, rather itfought the entire machinery ofthe Indian state, every institu-tion of which was marshalledagainst the Opposition.

Leading the grand oldparty in two general elections,Rahul noted that he personal-

ly fought Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the RSS andthe institutions they have cap-tured. He further said this cap-ture of power will result in“unimaginable levels of vio-lence and pain for India,” whilealleging that the PM’s windoes not negate the “breadth ofcorruption allegations againsthim”.

Asserting that it was nowcrystal clear that India’s oncecherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, hesaid, “The stated objectives ofthe RSS, the capture of ourcountry’s institutional struc-ture, is now complete.

Our democracy has beenfundamentally weakened.There is a real danger that fromnow on, elections will go frombeing a determinant of India’sfuture to a mere ritual.

“This capture of powerwill result in unimaginablelevels of violence and pain forIndia. Farmers, unemployedyoungsters, women, tribals,Dalits and minorities are goingto suffer the most.

The impact on our econo-my and nation’s reputationwill be devastating. The PrimeMinister’s win does not negatethe breadth of corruption alle-gations against him; noamount of money and propa-ganda can ever hide the lightof the truth.”

Rahul urged the CWC toentrust a group of people withthe task of finding a new pres-ident as it would not be prop-er for him to do so.

���%%�� ������ ()��*)+,-

Wait for many DelhiUniversity aspirants was

over on Wednesday evening asthe university declared thesecond cut-off list with a mar-ginal dip in marks required foradmission in undergraduatecourses. However, the major-ity of North Campus collegesclosed admissions for PoliticalScience for the unreservedcategory students.

A few colleges also closedadmission for courses likePsychology and English (hon-ours) for the category.

The cut-off for BCom(Hons) in SRCC is 98 per centfor general category.

Jesus and Marry Collegehas announced no second cut-off list for BCom (Hons),BCom, Economic (Hons), BScMaths (Hons), Political Science(Hons), Psychology (Hons).

In Gargi college, admissionin BA (Hons) AppliedPsychology has been shut forgeneral category while the cutoff percentage for OBC, SC ,ST and EWS category for thecourse is 94, 91,91 and 96 percent respectively.

Kashmiri migrants still

have chance with requiredpercentage 88 per cent to getadmission in the course.Various colleges have shutdown the admissions for themuch-sought after courses, forinstance admission in BAEconomics (Hons) in SRCCfor general category is closed.

For BA (Hons) PoliticalScience, chances are still highfor general category with cut-off percentage 95.50 per cent.For BA (Hons) English,required percentage is 95.75per cent while Gargi has set96.50 per cent for BA (Hns)Economics. Commerce aspi-rants can apply in Gargi withrequired percentage 95.25 percent for BCom.

According to the secondcut-off, required percentageto get admission into BSc(Botany) course in Gargi col-lege is 91 per cent while per-centage required to get admis-sion in Bsc (Hons) Chemistryis 95.66 per cent, for BSc

(Hons) Physics cut-off is 96 percent while for BSc in LifeSciences, required percentageaccording to the second cut-offis 90.33 per cent.

Notably, Gargi has closedthe admission for English andPsychology (combination) forall categories. In Deshbanducollege, admissions for BA(Philosophy) and BA (PoliticalScience), BA programme inHistory and Political Science)have been closed. College hasclosed admission in a fewcourses for general category,required cut-off percentagefor BA (Hons) Economics andBSc (Hons) Physics is 94.5 and94 per cent respectively.

In Ramanujan, admissionsin Bcom, Political Science(Hons) and BA (Hons)Economics have been closed.

In Kalindi college, thehighest cut-off is in BAJournalism with 94 per cent,followed by Bcom (Hns) with93 per cent.

��� ()��*)+,-

In its bid to give a major boostto farmers across the coun-

try impacted by the delayedonset of the southwest mon-soon and scanty rainfall, theModi Government has raisedthe minimum support price(MSP) of paddy, a key kharifcrop, by 3.7 per cent from�1,750 to �1,815 per quintal forthe 2019-20 crop season.

The MSP for paddy (gradeA) saw an increase of �65 perquintal. Paddy is the mainkharif crop, the sowing ofwhich begins with the onset ofsouthwest monsoon. Despite abelow-normal monsoon lastyear, there was a record riceoutput of 115.63 million tonnedue to increased support price.This year too, the rice output islikely to be on the higher side.

Due to delayed rains, thetotal area sown to kharif cropswas down at 146.61 lakhhectares till last week as againstlast year’s 162.07 lakh hectare,as per Agriculture Ministrydata.

The MSP of tur (arhar),moong and urad pulses also

have been raised by �125, �75and �100, respectively, for the2019-20 crop season. The MSPof arhar increased from �5,675to �5,800 per quintal; moongfrom �6,975 to 7,050 per quin-tal and urad from �5,600 to�5,700 per quintal.

The decision was taken atthe Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA)chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesdaywhich approved the hikes inMSP. The move will lead toincreased investment and pro-duction through assured remu-nerative prices to the farmers.

The increase in MSP forkharif crops is in line with theprinciple of fixing the MSPs ata level of at least 1.5 times of theall India weighted average costof production which wasannounced in the UnionBudget for 2018-19.

After the CCEA meeting,Union Agriculture and FarmersWelfare Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said the monsoonhas been delayed this year andit is worrisome for the farmersas well as the Government.“But according to the weather

department’s forecast, the situ-ation would improve and themonsoon would be normal,”Tomar said.

As per Cabinet decision,the minimum support price,which the Centre guarantees topay to farmers, has also beenraised in case of groundnut by�200 a quintal and soyabean by

�311. In addition, mediumcotton MSP has been raised by�105 quintal and long cottonMSP by �100 a quintal. Thehighest percentage return tofarmers over their cost of pro-duction is for bajra (85 percent) followed by urad (64 percent) and tur (60 per cent).

The MSP for jowar has

been increased by �120 perquintal from �2,430 to �2,550,and ragi by �253 per quintalfrom �2,897 and �3,150. Themove comes against the back-drop of the need to promotecultivation and consumption ofnutri-cereals. Besides, Indiacelebrated 2018 as the NationalYear of Millets and the Food

and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) Council has approvedIndia’s proposal to observe anInternational Year of Millets in2023.

As many as 26 out of thetotal 36 subdivisions of thecountry are facing deficientrainfall, with the overall mon-soon deficit standing at 28 percent. Rains have been belownormal in West Uttar Pradeshand Haryana, where the deficitis more than 60 per cent.

The country has so farreceived 138 mm rainfallagainst the normal of 191.6mm. As on July 3, the monsoonis yet to cover Punjab, Haryana,and parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Tomar said the Centre hasincreased the MSP of kharifcrops for 2019-20 in line withthe principle of fixing MSPs ata level which is at least 1.5 timesthe cost of production, whichwas announced last year.

The MSP mechanism pro-vides a price guarantee to thefarmers for their produce. Thisis implemented across thecountry as nearly 86 per centfarmers are in small and mar-ginal category.

��� ()��*)+,-

Environmental degradationby illegal and unregulated

coal mining has taken place inMeghalaya, the Supreme Courtheld on Wednesday and direct-ed the State to deposit �100crore with the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) forrestoration work.

It said however thatMeghalaya has very limitedsources of revenue and allowedit to transfer �100 crore fromthe Environment Protectionand Restoration Fund.

A Bench of Justices AshokBhushan and KM Joseph saidthe CPCB, as directed by theNational Green Tribunal(NGT), will utilise the amountof �100 crore only for restora-tion of the environment.

“The allegations of envi-ronmental degradation by ille-gal and unregulated coal min-

ing were fully proved frommaterials on the record, includ-ing the report of the experts,report of the Meghalaya StatePollution Control Board, thereport of former High CourtJudge BP Katakey committee,which all proved environmen-tal degradation of water, air andsurface,” the Bench said.

�����&����&�� $.$�/-

As many as 23 persons werefeared dead on Wednesday,

after Tiware dam breached inChipulan taluka of Ratnagiridistrict in coastal Konkanregion and led to a flood-likesituation in at least sevendownstream villages.

Till evening, bodies of 11persons were recovered fromthe bed of the dam by theNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) personnel, whileone person was found alivefrom a downstream locationthree kilometres away fromthe breached dam.

The NDRF teams aresearching for 11 more personswho were among who hadgone missing after the dambreached around 9.30 pm, an hour after it started over-flowing. Following the breachof the dam that took place onTuesday night, seven down-stream villages — Daadar, Akle,Riktoli, Ovali, Kalkavne,

Nandivase — were inundated. Built in 2004, 308 metres

long, 28 metres wide and 28metres tall bridge had a storagecapacity of 20 lakh cubicmeters. The water from thedam was being used for bothdrinking water and irrigation

purposes. Relatives of the vic-tims said they had asked dis-trict administration to repairthe dam as they had spottedcracks in November last year.There was an issue over thejurisdiction of which tehsilTiware dam falls in, as Chiplun

and Dapoli tehsil offices hadignored the plea of the villagers,said a family member of one ofthe dead.“It is only because oftheir negligence that we haveseen this day,” he said. “My par-ents, wife and child of one anda half year is missing,” he added.

Nearly two dozen vehiclesbelonging mostly to the vil-lagers were washed away in theswollen waters. MaharashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis ordered an enquiryinto the cause and circum-stances leading the breach. “Wewill fix responsibility for theincident and take action againstthe erring persons,” Fadnavissaid.

Maharashtra WaterResources Minister GirishMahajan who visited thetragedy site, assured the affect-ed people that the state gov-ernment would rebuild theaffected downstream villagers.“Homes of the villagers washedaway will be constructed at safeplaces,” he said.

��� ()��*)+,-

ADelhi court on Wednesdayacquitted MLA and gang-

ster-turned-politician MukhtarAnsari and six others accusedin the 2005 murder case of BJPleader Krishnanand Rai as allthe eyewitnesses and materialwitnesses turned hostile.

“The case in hand is anoth-er example of the prosecutionfailing due to hostile witness-es. If the witnesses in this casehad the benefit of the WitnessProtection Scheme, 2018 dur-ing the trial, the result mayhave been different,” SpecialJudge Arun Bhardwaj saidwhile exonerating all theaccused.

Further, the court heldthat the CBI investigators failedto prove the charges by notbringing enough evidenceagainst the accused personswho were allegedly responsiblefor the gruesome killing ofseven persons, including Rai.

���%%�� ������ ()��*)+,-

Delhi Police CommissionerAmulya Patnaik was sum-

moned by Home MinisterAmit Shah on Wednesday todiscuss Walled City communalincident in which a temple wasvandalised after a fight brokeout over parking of a two-wheeler at Lal Kuan area underHauz Qazi police station onSunday night.

After the meeting was over,Patnaik told reporters, “It wasa general briefing about theHauz Qazi incident and howthe situation is. The situation iswell under control now.”

He said four people havebeen arrested and action wouldbe taken against all involved.“We have the CCTV footage.These are a group of criminals...we are analysing the footageand all those involved will faceaction,” he said.

A minor is among thosearrested over the violence.

Security has been stepped up inthe locality to avoid any unto-ward incident.

Late in the evening peoplefrom the two communities, inpresence of police, held dis-cussions on ways to defuse thetension. Jamshed Siddiqui, whowas present in the meeting,said, “We have spoken to eachother on the issue and decid-ed that the ‘aman committee’(peace committee) would bearthe expenses to renovate thevandalised temple.”

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Page 2: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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The great Swami Vivekananda, who passedaway on July 4, 1902, at the young age of 39,

at Belur Math near Kolkata, spent a very happyand peaceful time in the hills and dales of theUttarakhand region. On the occasion of hisdeath anniversary, it would be apt to reflect uponhis special bond with the Himalayas, especial-ly of the Kumaon region.

Vivekananda set up the Advaita Ashram inMayavati in Kumaon. On May 1, 1897,Vivekananda founded the "Ramakrishna Mathh"in Calcutta (now Kolkata). This was the organfor propagating religion and "RamakrishnaMission" was the organ for social service.

This was the beginning of an organisedsocio-religious movement to help the massesthrough educational, cultural, medical andrelief work.

He had always been attracted by theHimalayas. During his tour of the Swiss Alps theidea to found an Ashram in similar conditionsin India took shape. Vivekananda made sever-al visits to Almora. After the passing away ofhis Guru, Ramakrishna, he travelled through-out India teaching Vedanta, and in 1890 he hadwalked from Nainital to Almora.

He spent several days meditating in a caveon a mountain close to the Kasaar Devi temple.The young Narendra (later to be known asVivekananda), while scaling the wilderness ofKumaon, is believed to have said that he had seenthe macrocosm in a microcosm.

Located twenty two kilometres fromChampawat and nine kilometers from Lohaghatamid an old tea estate, Mayawati shot intoprominence after the Advaita Ashram wasestablished here.

The ashram attracts spiritualists from India

and abroad. It has a press of its own and thefirst editions of Swami Vivekananda's workswere published from Mayavati, besidesPrabuddha Bharata, the monthly journal. TheAshram provides boarding and lodging to vis-itors. It attracts the spiritual minded from allover India and abroad.

There is also a library and a small museumat Mayawati. In Almora, he inspired CaptainSevier and his wife along with SwamiSwarupananda, his disciple, to commencelooking for a place to house an Ashram.

They found it in Mayavati, 6,400 feetabove sea level, surrounded by mountains onthree sides, one side opening to a breathtakingview of the snow-capped Himalayan range.

The Advaita Ashram was inaugurated inMarch 1899. Vivekananda paid the Ashram avisit in January 1901 and stayed for a fortnight.

On his arrival at Almora,Vivekananda received an address of wel-

come from the citizens of Almora, to which hemade the following reply: "This is the land ofdreams of our forefathers, in which was bornPârvati, the Mother of India. This is the holyland where every ardent soul in India wants to

come at the end of its life, and to close the lastchapter of its mortal career.

This is the land which, since my very child-hood, I have been dreaming of passing my lifein, and as all of you are aware, I have attempt-ed again and again to live here; and althoughthe time was not ripe, and I had work to do andwas whirled outside of this holy place, yet it isthe hope of my life to end my days somewherein this Father of Mountains where Rishis lived,where philosophy was born …

I sincerely pray and hope, and almostbelieve, that my last days will be spent here,of all places on earth.

Inhabitants of this holy land, accept mygratitude for the kind praise that has fallenfrom you for my little work in the West”.(Extract from: "The Complete Works ofSwami Vivekananda"/Volume 3/Lectures fromColombo to Almora ).

It is interesting to know how whenNarendranath went to Dakshineswar to meetRamakrishna for the first time, Ramakrishnawarmly welcomed Narendra and asked him tosit on a mat spread on the floor.

Then Ramakrishna asked him to sing a

song. Narendra gave his assent and startedsinging a devotional song. When Narendra fin-ished singing, Ramakrishna suddenly becameemotional, grasped Narendra's hands and said,“Ah! You have come very late.

How unkind of you to keep me waiting solong! My ears are tired of hearing the futilewords of worldly men. Oh, how I have longedto pour my spirit into the heart of someone fit-ted to receive my message!” Narendranath wasso impressed with this meeting that he keptcoming back.

During Paramhansa’s last days, whenNarendra was alone with him, Ramakrishnalooked at him and went into Samadhi. Narendrafelt the penetration of a subtle force and lost allouter consciousness.

When he regained it, he found the Masterweeping. He said to him “Today I have givenyou my all and I am now only a poor fakir, pos-sessing nothing. By this power you will doimmense good in the world.”

The story about Narendra getting thename Vivekananda from his master is veryinteresting too. Vivekananda’s name means “thebliss of discrimination”.

Though Narendra had a discriminatingmind and soul, it was his heart which neededto be purged of sentimentality, felt Ramakrishna.When Narendra was initiated, the name thatwas revealed to him by his guru wasVivekananda –discrimination that is bliss.

Uttarakhand will always take pride inVivekananda’s spiritual kinship with thisHimalayan region.

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��

The other day a long-timefriend, who believes in the

dictum of ‘contact-when-you-need’, called me over phone andsaid, “Machi, here there is nowater da….You have been ask-ing me to visit you for a longtime now.

Ithink this is the time,”reminding me of an invite

that I had apparently made inthe distant eons of time. “Whendid I extend that invite?” Istruggled hard, but couldn’trecollect.

But, then I admonishedmyself for being mean. Thefriend, after all, was in distress.So, I said, “You are welcome,anytime.”

As you may have rightlyguessed, the call was fromChennai which has been goingthrough acute water scarcitythat led to the closure of hotels,offices, schools and other estab-lishments.

I knew the situation wasbad. But, didn’t know it was sobad. “How could this hap-pen?” I wondered. My friend,

anyway promptly turned up atmy door next morning with hiswife, two kids and four over-sized suitcases, bloated andbulged like a frog’s shapelessbelly.

My wife stared at the suit-cases and then at me withpuckered eyebrows. Below theworry lines, her eyes swiveledin their sockets. Watching thescowl on her face, I could readthe question that she did notask: what is all this? But, Iavoided her intense gazeputting up a brave face, andthen turned towards my friend.“Long time man…! How areyou?” I bellowed unnecessari-ly though he was standing at anarm’s-length.

I know I must have lookedstupid, silly and artificial. But,my wife did not think so. Shegave me a cold look and thenushered in the guests with aforced smile.

The monsoon had startedabout a week back after play-ing truant for a few days. Still,not much rain was happening

in the Malabar region. But, inKochi, we were getting rea-sonably good rains for about 10days now. “What a pleasantchange from the sultryChennai!” my friend exclaimedrubbing his palms together aswind gushed in through thewindows bringing with it tinydroplets of rainwater.

He sat lazily watching thedrooping of branches of thetrees outside, dripping in water.Meanwhile, his wife opened thesuitcases one by one dishingout bundles of clothes. A faintstench of sweat spread throughthe hall. “None of these arewashed because there was nowater,” she sighed.

She soon got into workoccupying the washroom andowning the washing machineand the taut clotheslines saggedunder the weight of her author-ity and wet clothes. “What dothey think? Are they here tostay for good? And, who’s thisfriend I don’t know?” asked mywife.

My friend and his wife

were in the washroom and thechildren were watching ChotaBeem in a ‘bada’ volume. It wasa very dim scene. “Shh! Not soloud,” I cautioned my wifeplacing a finger on my lips. Shethrew up her hands and disap-peared into the kitchen shak-ing her head helplessly.

Eventually, the skies clearedup and the trees stood ener-getically bathed in the silveryrays of the bright sun. Lookingat the dry earth, it was difficultto believe it was raining so hardtill two days ago.

“This is what I love aboutyour State, Machi. It rains fordays and weeks. Yet, waterdries so fast!” he said standingbelow the neem tree, armsakimbo, surveying the skies.

The enthusiasm, however,did not last long as KochiCorporation stopped pipedwater citing some major break-down. But, was it because of areal breakdown or scarcity?

The question became rele-vant because the very next dayKerala’s water resources min-

ister K Krishnankutty informedthe Assembly that distributionof piped water could be hit andwater in the reservoirs won’tlast beyond a week. With tapsgoing dry, the flat dwellers inmy apartment started pumpingwater from the well.

But, our well has this weirdhabit. It won’t cede even adrop of water if you do not giveit a decent 12-hour respiteafter every pumping lasting foran hour.

But, it appeared, my friendwas in no hurry to leave muchto the consternation of mywife. “I am leaving for mymother’s house tomorrow. Youcan stay here hugging yourfriend,” she threatened.

“How can I tell my friendto leave, politely, withoutoffending him?” I tossed andturned in the bed thinkingaloud. In the end, I had to con-cede that I had neither thediplomacy nor the courage toget out of this trap.

I closed my eyes, mentallydeciding to buy and read the

book ‘Don’t Say Yes When YouWant to Say No’ at the earliest!I slept a fitful sleep and the lastthing I wanted was a night-mare. But, it did happen any-way. I saw myself in the mid-dle of a vast, superhot desert.

I was alone, tired, haggardand thirsty, dragging my feet inthe desert sand. The mercilesssun was beating on my headand back and my heels haddeveloped blisters.

The light was so blindingthat I could see nothing. Itlooked like moonless darknight, except that it was orangein colour. I was feeling sothirsty I could drink up awhole river.

But, there was not even adrop of water anywhere.Suddenly, I felt two hands tug-ging at my feet through the cav-ernous sand. Soon, like a snakethat slithers into a hole, I dis-appeared into a bottomlessabyss.

I woke up with a start,sweating profusely, pantingand puffing. Strangely, I was

feeling very thirsty! I reachedfor the jug and emptied the lastdrop of the water it containedin one go, wiped my face andmouth with the end of theblanket and went back to sleep.

It was bit late when I wokeup and my friend was sittingbefore a cup of coffee, readingnewspaper. “That is it!” hesaid suddenly, tapping thenewspaper with the back of hispalm.

“What is it?” I could notconceal my curiosity. “It israining heavily in Mumbai. Iknow God is kind. He won’t letus down!” he replied. “But,how does it help us in Keralaif it rains in Mumbai?” Iwanted to ask him. But, beforeI could say anything, he tookthe mobile phone. “DeyMachan, there is no water hereda…Anyway, you have beenasking me to visit you for a longtime.

I think this is the time. Seeyou soon da…” he closed thecall, grinning widely. The factthat he would soon leave even

without having me to broachthe subject limbered me up.However, concealing my joy, Iasked him innocently, “Whodid you call up now?”

“Another friend like you,machan! Reservoirs may godry. Monsoon may let us down,but good friends like you nei-ther go dry nor let anotherfriend down,” he said ratherphilosophically. He left with hisfamily yesterday evening afterstaying for five days.

I would love to have myrevenge on him by barginginto his house one day. But, Ican do it only when Kochi toogoes dry like Chennai. I don’twant this to happen though themonsoon that has stopped in itstrack is yet to come back.Overall, I am sort of defeated.The only silver-lining is that mywife is still with me. As threat-ened, she did not leave for hermother’s house.

(The writer is a senior jour-nalist, political analyst and com-munication specialist)

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Governor Baby RaniMaurya and Chief

Minister Trivendra SinghRawat have expressed deepgrief on the demise of formerGovernor of UttarakhandSudarshan Agarwal.

He was 88. A one-day Statemourning has been declared inUttarakhand on Thursday.

In her condolence messageMaurya said that the LateAgarwal was an efficientadministrator, noteworthyjurist and great social worker.As the Governor ofUttarakhand he always adopt-ed ideal approach for the devel-opment of the State.

Him Jyoti School for poorgirls in Dehradun which is atreasure now, was establishedby him.

Agarwal had successfullyfulfilled the duties of Governorof Sikkim and Uttar Pardesh.

In his condolence message,Rawat said that during histerm as the Governor, Agarwalplayed an important role in giv-ing direction to Uttarakhand.An able administrator, he hada special interest in social ser-vice. There will be a Statemourning on Thursday.

The national flag will be athalf mast in all Governmentbuildings and no official enter-tainment programmes will beheld on the day. Agarwal wasthe Uttarakhand Governorduring January 2003-October2007.

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In order to provide betterfacilities to the passengers,

city bus unions have beenasked to make necessary mod-ifications in the buses inDehradun district to makecommuting more convenient.

A meeting was organisedat traffic directorate onWednesday under DeputyInspector General KevalKhurana with city bus unionsfrom various districts for bet-ter traffic management in thestate.

A committee was estab-lished in the meeting whichwill be submitting its report tothe traffic directorate in 10days, regarding the modifica-tion to be done in the citybuses. According to the infor-mation provided by the police,in the discussion held with rep-resentatives of city bus unionsof Dehradun, it was stated thatin order to provide better pub-lic transport facilities city buses

should be modified to encour-age more people to use publictransport instead of their pri-vate vehicles. It was suggestedthat in the buses operatingpresently in Dehradun seating

arrangements should be better,windows should be bigger,lights and design of the busshould be changed and thesteps should be comfortable.The committee will be sub-

mitting a detailed report to thetraffic directorate in 10 days.DIG Khurana also asked unionmembers to help the depart-ment with operation HelpingHands, under which victims of

any road accident shall betransported immediately to thenearby hospital or communityhealth centre. The union mem-bers agreed to help police inthis, which will result in the

operation of three to four thou-sand public transport busesplaying the role of ambulancein the coming months. Tomake sure these temporaryambulances do not face anyproblems traffic directoratewill be providing them with thelist of hospitals on their specificroutes.

The union representativesalso informed DIG Khuranaabout the problems they face inDehradun. This includes theproblems of traffic congestionnear Premnagar Chowk andChuna Bhatta because of aliquor shop and traffic con-gestion near Curzon Roadbecause of the private vehiclesthat come to drop and pick upstudents from BrightlandSchool.

Similarly, union represen-tatives of Haridwar said thatdue to the ongoing construc-tion work at National Highwayin the district, vehicles comingfrom outer states during week-ends create traffic jams.

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Page 3: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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The State Government hastaken a concrete step

towards facilitating the oper-ation of sea planes on theTehri dam reservoir. OnWednesday, a tripartite agree-ment for establishment of awater-aerodrome on the Tehrireservoir was signed by theMinistry of Civil Aviation,Airports Authority of Indiaand the State Government.With the agreement signed inpresence of Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat,Uttarakhand has become thefirst Indian state to enter anagreement for establishmentof a water-aerodrome.Another agreement was alsosigned for communication,navigation, surveillance andair traffic management ser-vices for successful operationof air services at Nainisaini inPithoragarh.

Expressing happiness atsigning of the two agree-

ments, the CM thanked theGovernment of India.Referring to this as a histori-cal opportunity for the State,Rawat said that a big step hasbeen taken towards start of seaplane flights at Tehri lake. Thiswill boost tourism in Tehriand enhance tourism relatedactivities in the region, bene-fitting the locals involved intourism business. The CMfurther said that Pithoragarhis a remote region of the State

which is also strategicallyimportant. The start of air ser-vice at Nainisaini will result inmajor convenience to both thelocal residents and thetourists. The State govern-ment is developingPithoragarh as a tourist desti-nation with plans for settingup a tulip garden on 50hectare area which will be thebiggest tulip garden in India.

Civil Aviation ministryjoint secretary Usha Padhee

said that this tripartite agree-ment is also important for theGovernment of India. It is forthe first time that a State hassigned an agreement for estab-lishing a water aerodrome. Shesaid that the CM and Stategovernment have been activein implementation of the UdeDesh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)scheme. The central govern-ment bears full expense onairport development underUDAN. Padhee further said

that the operation of flightsfrom Pithoragarh has beentaken up very seriously. TheDehradun airport is also beingdeveloped further with theterminal capacity to beincreased from 150 to 1,800.

State civil aviation secre-tary Dilip Jawalkar said thatabout 2.5 hectare land nearTehri lake has been identifiedfor the water aerodrome. Thefacility will be developed as agreenfield airport.

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After assuming charge asKumbh Mela officer on

Wednesday, Deepak Rawatsaid that safe and magnificentKumbh Mela was his priorityas Mela officer. He said thatthe carry home experience ofmillions of pilgrims who comein the mega event must be animage of an event that isclean, magnificent and first ofits kind. Some unique and firsttime events shall be intro-duced, said Rawat.

He said that laser showand colour coding are beingplanned for beautification.All the stakeholders have beeninvited to give their sugges-tions. Various organisations,Akhadas and common peoplewill be asked to give logodesigns for the mela.Mythological murals shall bemade on different crossings.The State authorities areexpecting 15 crore people inthe Kumbh Mela.

Speaking to this corre-spondent on Kumbh Melaarea extension, Rawat said, out

of 132 square kilometre area,some 155 hectares is used forallotments. The area shall beextended towards Kangri vil-lage since tent colony andspace for events shall be need-ed. Encroachment by peopleand irrigation departmentshall be removed. For bettercrowd management, fieldinspection has been done formaking Motichoor, Jwalapurand Laksar as satellite stationsso that trains halt on theseplaces instead of Haridwarcity. The railway stations atthese locations need to bemodernised for which work ison, said Rawat.

He acknowledged thatdrains emptying in the Gangariver are a major challengewhich shall be met before theMela begins because it was aquestion of faith of the pil-grims. He said four perma-nent bridges will be madeconnecting Bairagi campfrom Dakshdweep to MatriSadan. A bridge parallel toChandi Ghat bridge leadingto national highway is alsoproposed.

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Amid large scale complaintsfrom teachers about irreg-

ularities in the transfers, theState Government has decidedset up a three member com-mittee. It has also decided tocancel the transfers of teachersdone against their wishes fromhard to access (Durgam) areasto easy to access (Sugam) areas.In addition, the educationdirectorate has been asked notto reduce the number of teach-ers from the border districts.Informing about the govern-ment decisions, the Educationsecretary, R MeenakshiSundaram told The Pioneerthat the committee would havejoint secretary school educa-tion, Kavindra Singh, Deputydirector, State Council ofEducation Research andTraining (SCERT), AnandBharadwaj and AdditionalDirector, directorate, schooleducation Vandana Gabriyal.He said that the committeewould look into about 400odd complaints of teachers ontransfers and submit its report

within tend a y s .Sundaramadded thatin transfersof teacherswho havebeen trans-ferred tos c h o o l slocated inS u g a mareas fromD u r g a ma g a i n s ttheir wish-es would be canceled withimmediate effect. He howeverclarified that the teachers whohave joined their new schoolsafter the transfers would not begiven this benefit as joining theschool means that he or she hasno objection for transfer. Hesaid that similarly the transfersof teachers from such singleteacher schools where noteacher is sent as replacementwould be cancelled. “ Noschool would be without teach-ers and no school would beclosed,’’ he quipped.

The secretary said that theeducation department has alsobeen told that in the transfersof teachers done from the bor-der districts it should beensured that the number ofteachers in the schools in thesedistricts is not reduced. In therecent transfers 114 teacherswere transferred fromPithoragarh district withoutreplacements. Sundaram addedthat all the cases of cancella-

tions of transfers would bereferred to the committeeheaded by chief secretary,Uttarakhand under section 27of Transfers act- 2017.

The decision of the stategovernment on the transfersassumes significance as theeducation directorate wasflooded with irregularities inrecent transfers of teachers. Inmany cases teachers who wereon verge of retirement weretransferred in violation of thetransfers act. Many teacherscomplained that the act wasblatantly violated in the trans-fers. The department recentlyaffected large scale transfers inthe department which isbiggest in terms of numericalstrength. These transfers weredone at the level of state admin-istration, education directorate,divisional and district levels.The complaints of irregularitieshave emanated from the trans-fers done at the level of divisionand districts.

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The principal chief commis-sioner of Income Tax, Uttar

Pradesh ( west) andUttarakhand, Pramod KumarGupta has said that the tax col-lection in the UP west andUttarakhand has increased by31.1 percent in the financialyear 2018-19 as compared withthe year 2017-18 which is thehighest in the country. InUttarakhand also the tax col-lection surged to Rs 15815Crore in the year 2018-19 fromRs 10839 crore in the year2017-18. Gupta, while address-ing the media persons here onWednesday said that thedepartment had detected somecases of irregularities in TDSdeduction in Uttarakhand. Inthese cases the deductor triedto justify the wrongful lessdeduction in the revised return.“There were 20 such caseswhich included two govern-ment departments inUttarakhand. We took the mat-ter with the chief secretarywhich yielded positive results,’’he said. Gupta added that theTDS collection in UP andUttarakhand rose by almost Rs4000 crores. He informed thatthe Income Tax departmentwould soon embark upon anexercise to review the taxexemptions under section 12 A.Gupta accepted lack of man-power in the department andsaid that the issue is taken upat topmost level. In response to

a question, he said that theincome tax collection and num-ber of assessees have witnesseda jump after the demonetiza-tion decision of government.

Earlier in the day, an out-reach programme was orga-nized in Dehradun by theCentral Board of Direct Taxes.In the programme many asso-ciations of traders, hoteliers andtax professionals participated.

Speaking as chief guest,Principal Chief Commissionerof Income Tax, Pramod KumarGupta emphasised on nonadversarial tax regime and saidthat tax professionals are veryimportant in setting up ahealthy tax regime. He said thatthe tax professionals shouldrefrain from giving any wrongadvice to the tax payers. Guptaadded that the Income Taxdepartment has vast data ofeconomic transactions andurged the taxpayers to fileincome tax returns and deposittax on time. In his address theChief Income TaxCommissioner of DehradunPradip Kumar Ambashth saidthat the programme would actas connecting link betweenthe government of India, tax-payers and other stake holders.Advising the officers of incometax department to be morehumble and respectful whiledealing with the taxpayers, hesaid that the role of departmenthas changed from being anenforcer to that of a serviceprovider.

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Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) have called off their

high altitude recovery opera-tion ‘Daredevil’ of eight miss-ing mountaineers after handingover seven bodies to districtadministration Pithoragarh.The team will not be carryingout further research for therecovery of eighth moun-taineer’s body. Two of the bod-ies have been identified asmale Indian climber andanother as female Australianclimber. The seven bodies havebeen sent to Haldwani post-mortem house, where neces-sary formalities are being done.

Pithoragarh DistrictMagistrate Vijay KumarJogdande said, “The bodies

have been sent to Haldwani forpost-mortem and other proce-dures. We have identified twoout of seven bodies. Therespective embassies have beenintimated and they will besending their representatives tocollect the bodies.”

Director General of ITBP,SS Deshwal said, “ITBP moun-taineers did one of the mostdifficult body retrieval mis-sions. The team tried to searchfor the eighth body also but dueto terrain, altitude and weath-er limitations the same couldnot be found.”

Official spokesman ofITBP, Vivek Pandey said, “Withthe help of MI-17 of Indian Airforce helicopter the bodies ofseven mountaineers were car-ried to ITBP camp in Munsyari

from base camp I and thenwere handed over toPithoragarh administration.”

It is pertinent to mentionhere that 12 mountaineersattempted to climb Nanda Devipeak from east side inPithoragarh district from May13. The district administrationreceived an email from IndianMountaineering Foundationstating that eight of their moun-taineers were missing since May26. The remaining four moun-taineers among the 12 werethen Air lifted from Nanda DeviEast base camp on June 1.Among the eight missing moun-taineers four were from UnitedKingdom, two from USA andone each from India andAustralia. The bodies were tracedat an altitude of 18,000 feet.

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The State meteorologicalcentre has issued a warning

of heavy rainfall which is like-ly to occur at isolated places inDehradun, Haridwar, Pauri,Udham Singh Nagar, Nainitaland Champawat districts today.Overall, the weather is likely toremain generally cloudy withlikelihood of light to moderaterainfall and thunderstorm inmost places in the state.

In Dehradun, rainfall andthunderstorm is likely to occurin some places on Thursday.The maximum and minimumtemperatures are likely to be 33degree Celsius and 22 degreeCelsius respectively.

Meanwhile, the maximumand minimum temperaturesrecorded at various places ofthe state on Wednesday were35.4 degree Celsius and 26.3degree Celsius respectively inDehradun, 36 degree Celsiusand 25.2 degree Celsius inPantnagar, 25.7 degree Celsiusand 16.8 degree Celsius inMukteshwar, 25.6 degreeCelsius and 19.2 degree Celsiusrespectively in New Tehri.

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Following directions given by the dis-trict magistrate C Ravishankar, the

Municipal Corporation of Dehradun(MCD) has identified 47 condemnedbuildings in the city. Officials havestarted serving notices to the occupantsof the buildings. Municipal commis-sioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said thatnecessary steps will be taken against thepeople not following the orders.

The number of condemned build-ings has increased from 32 last year to47 now. Pandey said, “As per our ordersthe team did a survey and identified 47condemned buildings in the city. Theengineering department of the MCD hasbeen given the responsibility to marksuch buildings and issue notices to theowners or occupants of the buildings.The first step is to give notices and if thenotice is not taken seriously, necesaryinquiries will be done by the officials.”

Observers point out that condemnedbuildings are marked every year beforemonsoon, but no strict actions have beentaken so far. When asked about it, mayorSunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ said, “We have beengiven orders to mark the condemnedbuildings in the city. The directions weregiven to revise the data of the olderbuildings as many cases have come to mefor demolishing buildings as some own-ers want to remove the tenants. It is truethat none of the buildings have beendemolished so far. For now, we are send-ing notices to the building owners if nosteps will be taken by the owners thanaccording to the rules and governmentprocedure, steps will be taken for evic-tion and demolition of buildings whichare in a very bad condition and beyondrepair.”

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Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ said that moreroads will be added under the Smart City project.

He said that a proposal has been submitted by theMunicipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) in whichthe numbers of the roads that were supposed to getupgraded have been increased.

He said, “Earlier very few roads were included underthe Smart City project. For example, very few roads werecovered in the earlier plan in areas like Dilaram Chowkand in Rispana but now maximum area will be covered.We have sent a proposal with a new plan that increas-es the area of the roads for upgrade under the project.Some of the projects that were sent by us in the past havealso been accepted under the Smart City project. Chiefminister Trivendra Singh Rawat has recently passed pro-posals for various works. We are positive that this pro-posal will also get approved too and the work on thiswill start after the monsoon.”

When asked about the budget for the upgrade inthe proposed roads he said, “Nearly Rs 500 crore hasbeen passed for various works under Smart City pro-ject. For the increased number of roads, a separate bud-getary allocation will be made.”

About other development scheme under the pro-ject he said, “Tenders for the smart traffic lights andelectric buses have been cleared and work has also beenstarted. Nearly 12 smart traffic lights will be installedfrom Rispana to Mussorie diversion for which the workhas already been started. The water ATM’s are alreadygetting installed in different parts of the city. Our pro-posal for the underground duct has also been accept-ed and the fund is also provided to us. The work willstart soon after the departure of the monsoon season.”

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The state government and district adminis-tration are gearing up for Kanwad Mela

starting later this month. A meeting waschaired by state Tourism and Culture minis-ter, in-charge of Haridwar district, SatpalMaharaj to review preparations. The highlightof this year’s Kanwad Mela would be flowersbeing showered on Kanwadias from heli-copter as was done in the past in UttarPradesh, said Maharaj.

He said that the hill bypass road will beopened on the peak days during the KanwadMela. He said that ample light will be arrangedon Kanwad Patri Marg with generators to facil-itate uninterrupted power supply during thefair. Mobile toilets must be arranged on the saidroute.

The Kanwadias will be asked to bring cop-per or steel containers for Ganga water insteadof using plastic cans, he said. He said even dur-ing departmental meetings drinking water shallbe served in glass bottles and glasses insteadof plastic bottles.

Regarding health facilities, he gave direc-tions to the district health authorities to maketemporary medical camps and makeshift hos-pital with electricity supply, medicines andmedical staff. During the discussion withdepartment officials, the minister said thatcleanliness must be maintained on the GangaGhats at Har Ki Paidi and polythene usage mustbe banned completely during the fair. He alsodirected the officials to maintain quality of foodproducts on sale and ensure that vendors dis-play rate list.

He expressed dissatisfaction at the slowpace of work on the widening of national high-way.

Later, the district magistrate DeependraChaudhry also held a meeting to reviewpreparations. He directed departmental officialsconcerned to work in coordination.

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As an initiativebefore this year’s

Kanwad Mela,Kanwadias will haveto provide informa-tion regarding theirteam leader and thevehicles they will beusing to the localpolice stations intheir home towns.This will not onlyhelp Uttarakhandpolice in investigat-ing law and ordersituations but alsomake identificationeasier in case of anymishap.

D i r e c t o rGeneral (Law andOrder) AshokKumar said, “In themeeting conductedon Tuesday it was decided thatKanwadias will be have to give theidentification details of their leaderand the vehicles at the respectivepolice stations of the areas they hailfrom.”

He further added, “We are expect-ing nearly three crore Kanwadias this

year. They have been asked to carryidentification cards at all times. Wehave asked Kanwadias who are notplanning to visit Haridwar but theChar Dham area to not travel throughthe routes passing from Haridwar andRoorkee, otherwise the alreadyincreased traffic there will create

problems for the management as wellas for the visitors.”

It is pertinent to mention herethat during the Kanwad Mela fromJuly 17 to 30, Kanwadias from all overthe country come to Uttarakhandespecially from Haryana and westernareas of Uttar Pradesh.

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Page 4: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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The Uttarakhand StateGovernment through var-

ious Central and State flagshipschemes is addressing the com-plex challenges of out-migra-tion, unemployment, recur-rent and severe ecological dis-asters that the mountain Statefaces.

Under a comprehensive,medium term state levelengagement strategy agreed atthe highest level in both theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) and theGovernment of Uttarakhand,UNDP is providing techno-managerial support to the Stategovernment to implement var-ious flagship schemes and pro-grammes and externally aidedprojects.

The new resident repre-sentative of UNDP, ShokoNoda and additional countrydirector Rakesh Kumar recent-ly met the chief secretary UtpalKumar Singh and other State

officials here. During the meet-ing, the chief secretary soughtfurther cooperation fromUNDP pertaining to technicalsupport and skilled humanresources for the schemesimplemented in Uttarakhandin the field of tourism especiallyimplementation of the home-stay policy, agriculture andhorticulture sectors, especially

medicinal and aromatic plants,climate change, and wastemanagement. Singh said thatthe state has adequate sourcesof income available but toincrease them, there is need fortechnical assistance fromUNDP.

He sought utilisation ofUNDP’s experience in the stateregarding the work done by it in

different countries especiallyin the area of horticulture, cli-mate change and disaster riskreduction.Noda said thatUNDP as a development part-ner of choice would like to con-sistently support the State inachieving sustainable inclusivegrowth.

Kumar said that in the fieldof climate change, necessaryefforts will be made by UNDPin continued support for imple-mentation of the climate changeaction plan of the State.

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Expressing disappointmentover Rahul Gandhi’s resig-

nation as Congress’ nationalpresident, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Wednesday said thatRahul should have continuedto lead the party with the samedynamism and fighting spiritwith which he had steered the

election campaign. Reiteratingthat the onus of the party’sdefeat in the recent Lok Sabhapolls did not lie on Rahul’sshoulders alone but was thecollective responsibility of allthe Congress leaders, CaptAmarinder said that one elec-toral defeat could not be takento define the sum total of theleadership of Rahul. “It is notfair for Rahul to hold himself

accountable for a collectivedefeat,” he said.

Pointing out that Rahul hadsuccessfully led the party to

scintillating victories in threestates during Assembly pollsjust a few months before theLok Sabha elections, the ChiefMinister said that it was clear-ly a multitude of factors thatcaused the downfall of theparty in the parliamentaryelections.

“The BJP swept the polls atthe back of their nationalist dia-tribe, which overshadowed thepositive electioneering of theCongress led by Rahul,” headded.

Victory and defeat are partof any political party’s for-

tunes in an electoral politylike ours, said Capt Amarinder,adding that every defeat formsthe platform for the party torise again. “Under Rahul’smature and dynamic leadership, theCongress would definitely haverisen again, like the Phoenix, toemerge stronger and morepowerful,” he added.

“This is what I and otherCongress chief ministers hadconveyed to Rahul when wemet him on Monday in NewDelhi,” he said lamenting thatthey had failed to persuadeRahul to reconsider his deci-sion to quit, but hoping thatRahul will return to the helmof the party soon.

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Almost 25 years after hisassassination, India

International Centre namedafter the former Punjab ChiefMinister Beant Singh wouldcome up in Chandigarh soon.

Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh andGovernor and Chandigarh UTadministrator VP SinghBadnore gave in-principleapproval for the establishmentof an India InternationalCentre (IIC) at the existing siteof the Beant Singh memorialand the Chandigarh Centre ofPerforming and Visual Arts inSec 42, Chandigarh.

Capt Amarinder said thathis government and the fami-ly of former Punjab ChiefMinister Beant Singh, who hadbeen martyred in a car bomb-ing in 1995, had no objectionto the proposed centre as longas the sanctity of the memori-al was maintained at all costs.

The proposed centre, to bedeveloped on the lines ofDelhi’s IIC, will be christenedas Sardar Beant Singh IndiaInternational Centre. The costof the project would be equal-ly shared by the Punjab gov-ernment and the ChandigarhAdministration.

The decision was takenduring a meeting of the BeantSingh Memorial Society andthe Chandigarh Centre forPerforming and Visual Arts,which the Governor and theChief Minister attended alongwith other representatives fromboth Punjab and Chandigarh.

The governor suggestedthat the proposed centre will beindependent of the govern-

ment/administration of bothPunjab and Chandigarh, andsaid that a membership drivewould soon be started for thesame.

The Chandigarh IndiaInternational Centre, proposedto be developed adjacent to theBeant Singh memorial, willencompass the Media Centre,whose structure is ready, andthe existing library and theconference halls. The MediaCentre building will berenamed and will house arestaurant and cafeteria besidesa convention centre, as part ofthe proposed memorial cuminternational centre.

The decision to set up a livememorial was taken way backin 1996, just months after theassassination of Beant Singh. Itwas decided then to developand raise a memorial in thememory of Late Beant Singh,and keeping Le Corbusier's

policy of not installing any stat-ues of important personalitiesin public areas of Chandigarh,it was decided to have a livingmemorial.

At the same time therewere plans of making aChandigarh Centre forPerforming and Visual Arts asthere was a requirement of sucha cultural hub for the city ofChandigarh.

A meeting of the steeringcommittee of the Beant SinghMemorial and the ChandigarhCentre for the Performing andVisuaL Arts was held on12.10.1996 under theChairmanship of the thenAdviser to the Administrator,Chandigarh.

In the meeting it wasdecided that instead of havingtwo societies (one for the BeantSingh Memorial and other forChandigarh Centre for thePerforming and Visual Arts),

only one society may beformed as Sardar Beant Singhwas a great patron of perform-ing and visual Arts.

Accordingly, a societynamed Sardar Beant SinghMemorial and ChandigarhCentre for Performing andVisual Arts society was regis-tered on 26.11.1996.

An amount of Rs. 18.55crores has been spent on thefirst phase of the project so far.The total contribution of thePunjab Government so far hasbeen about Rs. 8.00 crores,while the ChandigarhAdministration has made atotal contribution of Rs. 12.69crores.

The meeting was attendedby late chief minister, BeantSingh’s family members,including MP Ludhiana,Ravneet Bittu, MLA Khanna,Gurkirat Singh Kotli and TejParkash, amongst others.

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Page 5: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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Threat posed to stability ofPunjab due to drug smug-

gling in the backdrop of recentdrug haul of more than 500 kgof heroin on Atari border, rainhavoc in Mumbai, indecentadvertisements, crime againstwomen and installation of astatue of Bharat Ratna recipi-ent Bhupen Hazarika weresome of the issues raised in theRajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Raising the issue of drugmenace in Punjab, PratapSingh Bajwa(Congress)termedit as narco-terrorism andsought strict action againstsome officers of para-militaryforces and the local police act-ing in connivance with thedrug mafia. He also said ahigh-level probe was orderedlast year into drug smugglingbut it was yet to be made pub-lic and urged the EnforcementDirectorate to seek the report.

Bajwa termed the officersallegedly involved in the drugracket as "black sheep".

He also said the 532-kgseizure of heroin three daysback was one of the highest inthe past few years and calledfor immediate steps to checkdrug and arms smuggling. Hecautioned that the state hadwitnessed 15 years of terrorismwherein thousands of peoplewere killed. The Congressleader suggested theGovernment could take help of

countries like the United Statesand Israel who have experiencein fighting drug cartel.

For his part, responding toconcerns raised by SamajwadiParty (SP) member Ram GopalYadav, Information andBroadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar said "more effectivesteps" are needed to deal withobscenity and vulgarity inadvertisements in the media.He said as many as 6,700 com-plaints have been dealt withand agreed with Yadav that theissue was important.Chairman M Venkaiah Naidualso said the issue is serious.

Drawing the attention ofthe house to indecent adver-tisements, Yadav demandedregulation on such promo-tions to protect culture frombad influences. The SP saidthere was a rise in obscenityand vulgarity in advertise-ments shown in electronic aswell as print media, includingmagazines.

He said it was even diffi-cult to watch news shows ontelevision along with the fam-ily because of such advertise-ments shown during breaks.

The senior SP membersaid the country was movingtowards a "moral crisis" and thespread of nudity and alco-holism was on the rise.According to him, vulgaritywas responsible for the increas-ing crime against women.Earlier, his party colleague,

Jaya Bachchan also raised theissue of rising crime againstwomen and gender inequality.

Mumbai floods due tomonsoon was raised by MajeedMemon(NCP), who said it was"shameful" that such seriousproblem occurred every yearadding havoc took place due tonegligence of civic officials.Even though Mumbai's munic-ipal corporation is the richestcivic body in the country witha budget of Rs 30,000 crores butno steps are taken to find per-manent solution, he said.

Memon also expressedconcern over the death of 27people on account of acci-dents due to wall collapse andpot holes dotted roads. He alsosaid there are reports thateven mega Bollywood starAmitabh Bachchan could notleave his house due to thefloods.

Birendra Prasad Baishya(AGP)demanded that lateBhupen Hazarika's statueshould be installed inParliament complex. ShwaitMalik (BJP) expressed concernover burning of crop residuesin some states, includingPunjab and Haryana, leadingto spread of diseases besidescausing air pollution.

In his mention, Ripun Bora(Congress) asked theGovernment to stop privatisa-tion of 64 oilfields managed byONGC and Oil India. Bids havebeen invited for the oilfields.

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Congress MP ManishTewari on Wednesday

raised the issue of decliningdefence allocation in the UnionBudget in the Lok Sabha evenas neighbouring China, hesaid, has raised its defencespending.

The MP hoped that thenew Finance Minister NirmalaSitaraman, who has also beenDefence Minister, would takecorrective steps in the upcom-ing Budget

"China is spending moreon defence. Their defencespending has grown over theyears," Tewari said in the Lok

Sabha during the Zero Hour.Citing a Parliamentary

panel report, he said, the coun-try's defence expenditure wasreduced to 1.60 per cent of theGDP in 2017-18. It furthercame down to 1.52 per cent inthe interim Budget for 2019-20.

Among other issues, for-mer Union Minister RamKripal Yadav and BJP MPfrom Patliputra, Bihar,demanded that Patna univer-sity, which has completed hun-dred years, should be declareda Central University. He said ithas been a long-pendingdemand by the people of thestate.

Raising the issue of deathof construction workers inPune and Mumbai, GirishBapat , BJP MP from Pune,said there is an urgent need toimplement DevelopmentControl (DC) Rules so thatthey are brought under thesafety net.

Last week, 40 constructionworkers died in Pune and 20 inMumbai. Since constructionworkers are part of the unor-ganised sector, they don't comeunder the safety net, he added.

CP Joshi , BJP MP fromChittorgarh, said theRajasthan government hasfailed to implement farm debtwaiver as promised, forcingfarmers to commit suicide.

The Congress hadpromised to implement farmdebt waiver in 10 days of com-ing to power but they havefailed to do so, he said.

Gaurav Gogoi, CongressMP from Kalibor, Assam,raised the issue of financial dis-

tress of PSUs in the country.The House has discussed thepoor financial health of state-owned BSNL and MTNL, hesaid, adding, India Post too isunder stress.

India Post has made a lossof �15,000 crore, he said, urg-ing the Government to devisea plan and mechanism torevive such PSUs and makethem financially viable.

Hansraj Hans, BJP MPfrom Northwest, raised thematter of drug abuse and deathof sanitation workers in manyparts of the country. The MP,a noted sufi singer, also regaledthe house with some of hiscompositions.

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Opposition members in theLok Sabha on Wednesday

rushed to the Well of the Houseafter DMK member TR Baaluraised objections over a tweet byPuducherry Lt Governor KiranBedi.

The DMK members werealso backed by the Congress andAAP on the issue. This is for thefirst time that Opposition mem-bers have entered the well of theHouse in the new Lok Sabha.

Leader of the DMK in LokSabha Baalu cited a tweet byBedi and said it "belittled" stateMPs. He also sought govern-ment's reply on this.

Speaker Om Birla inter-rupted him, saying Bedi holds aconstitutional post and Baalucould give the statement inwriting.

Baalu was, however, unsat-isfied with this. He was alsojoined by other MPs.

With the Speaker unrelent-

ing, DMK members also joinedBaalu and protested against thetweet.

DMK MPs also rushed tothe Well of the House. DMKMPs were also joined byCongress members.AAP's loneMP Bhgawant Mann also joinedthem in the Well.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi said theissue cannot be discussed dur-ing Zero Hour and membershave to submit a motion for dis-cussion on this as Bedi holds aconstitutional post.

Defence Minister andDeputy Leader of the HouseRajnath Singh intervened inthe matter. Rajnath also askedthe opposition to move themotion if they wanted a discus-sion on this issue.

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BJP and Trinamool Congress(TMC) members took on

each other in the Lok Sabha onWednesday after BJP's LocketChatterjee accused the rulingparty in West Bengal of killingpeople for chanting 'Jai ShriRam' and of taking "cut money"— a term used to describebribery allegations against ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.

TMC leader SundipBandopadhyay sought deletionof her comment on "cut money"from the records. The clashbetween the two sides prompt-ed Speaker Om Birla to say:"Don't make this house theBengal assembly."

He assured that he wouldexamine the records and take adecision.

Mamata Banerjee hasreportedly asked her party mento return the "cut money",which refers to "commission"illegally taken from ordinarycitizens for the delivery of gov-ernment services and schemes.

Chatterjee had on Tuesdaytargeted Mamata Banerjee in astatement in the Lok Sabha.

On Wednesday, Chatterjeesaid Lord Shri Ram signifiesnoble thought and honesty andthe state of West Bengal shouldbe run by people who believe inthese.

"Shyama PrasadMookerjee's Bengal is burning.Whoever is chanting Jai ShriRam, TMC goons are killingthem," she said, as TMC mem-bers tried to shout her down.

Separately, another BJPmember from West Bengal,Arjun Singh, raised the issue ofcows being smuggled toBangaladesh.

"Cow smuggling is rampantin West Bengal and this is hap-pening with the support of thestate government. The smug-gling takes place through theBangladesh border in return forfake currency and drugs," hesaid.

Singh said CCTV camerasshould be installed along theborder to ensure that this is

stopped.Speaking during the Zero

Hour, B Mahtab (BJD)demanded that the Centre con-duct investigation into the deathof Dr Shyama PrasadMookerjee.

Mahtab said that WestBengal assembly had passed aresolution to conduct aninquiry into the death ofMookerjee, which was alsomoved to the Centre.

"The mysterious disap-pearance of Netaji SubhashChandra Bose is being investi-gated. I urge upon the new dis-pensation at the Centre toinvestigate the death of ShyamaPrasad Mookerjee," Mahtabsaid, amid thumping of desk byBJP members in the lowerHouse.

While taking a large num-ber of questions from the first-time women MPs, Speaker alsosought law makers to desistfrom taking up issues whichcome in the purview of the stategovernments and instead focuson central subjects.

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The Modi Government onWednesday accused the

Opposition of adopting doublestandards on the issue ofEVMs, saying leaders fromtheir parties had become ChiefMinisters and Prime Ministersthrough the same votingprocess.

"If people of this countryelect Narendra Modi, thenEVM is faulty. What is thislogic?" Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad asked theopposition members, whilereplying to the debate on elec-toral reforms in Rajya Sabha.

"This hypocracy and dou-ble standards impinge upon thepolity of the country," Prasadadded. He also pitched for'one nation one poll' and urgedthe Opposition to consider theproposal with an open mind.

The minister said the gov-ernment will write to theElection Commission to havea single voter list for assembly,panchayat and general electionsin the country. Prasad said thatthe government has taken var-ious measures to improve the

electoral funding system andthat it was ready to considerany other suggestions.

Replying to a short dura-tion debate on electoralreforms, Prasad counteredopposition charges related tomisuse of media, social mediaand electoral bonds during therecently concluded generalelections. "Time has come forone nation one poll. We shouldconsider this proposal with anopen mind," he said, and hopedthat some conclusion couldbe achieved after discussion.

On aspersions related toEVMs and demand for return-ing to ballot papers, the min-ister said that post 1999, asmany as four general electionsand 122 assembly electionshave been held using EVMs.He said Manmohan Singhbecame the prime ministertwice based on elections heldwith EVMs. Similarly, manyopposition leaders likeAkhilesh Yadav, Mayawati andMamta Banerjee became CMsunder EVMs.

The minister said theCongress recently won threeassembly polls in Madhya

Pradesh, Rajasthan andChhattisgarh. He asserted nota single complaint has beenreceived regarding vote beingcast to a particular candidatethrough the EVM and it gettingtransferred to some other can-didate.

On opposition charge ofcrediting itself with achieve-ments of defence forces duringelection campaign, the minis-ter said "Why national securi-ty should not become a plankfor election discourse?"Regarding allegations of man-aging media and social media,Prasad said: "Stop insultingthe voters of this country andtry to acknowledge yourdefeat."

The minister said the gov-ernment would not allow themisuse of data by foreign pow-ers and said legislation in thisregard has been in the works.He also highlighted that BJP-led NDA has returned to poweron various schemes and pro-grammes for the welfare of thepoor.

On electoral funding,Prasad said the government hastaken many steps in the past

three years to improve the sys-tem and the corporates havebeen asked to give donationonly through cheques.

Earlier, participating in thedebate, Derek O'Brien (AITC)said the time has come to formlaws for electoral reforms in thecountry while pointing out tovarious issues like "misuse" ofdata by political parties in theelections. Bhupender Yadav(BJP) said the time has come tohold Parliament and assemblyelections simultaenously andurged members of all parties toconsider it.

Senior Congress memberKapil Sibal charged that BJPincurred huge expenditure onpublicity and misused socialmedia during the recent gen-eral elections. Ram GopalYadav of SP demanded that "weshould go back to ballot paper"as people do not have faith onEVMs. He sought one voter listfor panchayat, assembly andgeneral elections.

Satish Chandra Misra ofthe BSP said his party oppos-es use of EVMs to conduct elec-tions as they can be manipu-lated.

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Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad on

Wednesday said that anElection Commission (EC)proposal to put a ceiling onexpenditure incurred by polit-ical parties during polls on thelines of candidates is underexamination of theGovernment. A candidate canspend between �50 lakh and�70 lakh, depending on theState he/she is contesting theLok Sabha election from. For allStates, except ArunachalPradesh, Goa and Sikkim, acandidate can spend a maxi-mum of �70 lakh on cam-paigning.

In a written response to LokSabha, Prasad said the poll

watchdog has proposed thatthere should be a ceiling onparty's expenditure in all elec-tions on the lines of a cap onexpenditure for candidates. "Theproposal is under examinationof the Government," he said.

Based on a March 2015consultation on political financeand a Law Commission reporton electoral reforms, theElection Commission had inApril 2015 issued an outcome

paper which had recommend-ed that like individual candi-dates, there should be a ceilingon expenditure made by polit-ical parties.

The EC had told the gov-ernment that there was a 'gen-eral agreement' among partici-pants who were part of the con-sultation on electoral reforms.

At present, while there is aceiling on campaigning fund forindividual candidates in elec-toral fray, there is no such capon the money political partiescan spend for electioneering.

"The ceiling on expendituremust include the period beforethe announcement of elections,when political parties engage inwidespread mobilisation andelectioneering," the EC paperhad said.

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Inclusive education (IE),wherein children with dis-

abilities go to mainstreamschools rather than specialschools, under the Centre'sSarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)continues to remain a distantdream with a UNESCO reportpointing out that three-fourthsof such kids in the age of fiveyears and one-fourth between 5and 19 years do not go to anyeducational institution.

Indicating prevalent genderdiscrimination in education,the 2019 "State of the EducationReport for India: Children withDisabilities" report pointed outthat the number of girls withdisabilities in schools was"fewer" than boys. The reportwhich has been prepared byTata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS) and commissioned byUNESCO, talks in detail aboutchallenges such as inadequateallocations, delays in releasingfunds and under-utilisation ofallocation.

Data from the 2011 censushave been studied, according towhich there are 78,64,636 chil-dren with disability in Indiaconstituting 1.7 per cent of thetotal child population.

"The number of childrenenrolled in school drops signif-icantly with each successivelevel of schooling. There arefewer girls with disabilities inschools than boys with disabil-ities in schools.

"Significant gaps thereforeremain, even though successiveGovernment schemes and pro-grams have brought large num-bers of children with disabilitiesinto schools," the report said.

It said only 61 per cent ofCWDs aged between 5 and 19were attending an educationalinstitution compared to theoverall figure of 71 per centwhen all children are considered.

"Around 12 per cent ofCWDs dropped out of school,which is comparable with theoverall percentage of dropoutsamong all children. 27 per centof CWDs never attended any

educational institution, asopposed to the overall figure of17 per cent when the entirechild population is taken intoaccount," it added.

It said a large number ofchildren with disabilities donot go to regular schools but areenrolled at the National Instituteof Open Schooling (NIOS).

"The biggest group ofCWDs enrolling with NIOSover the years has been thosewith learning disabilities. Whilethere has been a drop in enrol-ment of students with locomo-tor and visual impairments,there has been a rise in thosewith multiple disabilities.

"The percentage of childrenattending schools is the lowestamong those with multiple dis-abilities, mental illnesses andmental retardation," the reportsaid as it acknowledged thatinclusive education is complexto implement and requires a fineunderstanding of diverse needsof children and their familiesacross different contexts.

"India has made consider-

able progress in terms of puttingin place a robust legal frame-work and a range of pro-grammes and schemes thathave improved enrolment ratesof children with disabilities inschools.

"However, further measuresare needed to ensure qualityeducation for every child toachieve the goals and targets ofagenda 2030 and more specifi-cally Sustainable DevelopmentGoal 4," it said.

According to the UNESCOreport, the attitude of parentsand teachers towards includingCWDs into mainstream educa-tion is also crucial to accomplishthe goal of inclusive educationbesides accessibility to physicalinfrastructure, processes in theschool, assistive and ICT tech-nology and devices being essen-tial resources. It recommendedamending the Right ToEducation (RTE) Act to betteralign with the Right of Personswith Disabilities (RPWD) Actby including specific concernsof education of such children.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday gave its approval

to the proposals for leasing outthree major airports —Ahmedabad, Lucknow andMangaluru — of the AirportsAuthority of India (AAI)through public-private partner-ship (PPP) with Adani Group.Earlier this year, the Adani grouphad won the bids to operate thethree airports for a period of 50years. Gautam Adani led grouphad also won the bids to oper-ate the Jaipur, Guwahati andThiruvananthapuram airports,owned by the AAI.

The AAI had chosen thewinner on the basis of the "per-passenger fee" offered by the bid-ders. Principal Spokesperson ofthe Government of IndiaSitanshu Kar said on Twitter,"Cabinet approves proposal forleasing out of three airports viz.#Ahmedabad, Lucknow and

Mangaluru of AirportsAuthority of India throughPublic Private Partnership.

Cabinet meeting chaired byPrime Minister Narendra Modialso approved the long standingdemand of paramilitary officersfor upgrading their cadre.Cabinet "approved the propos-al for Grant of Organised Group'A' Service (OGAS) to Group 'A'Executive Cadre Officers ofCentral Armed Police Forces(CAPFs) and extension of ben-efit of Non-Functional FinancialUpgradation (NFFU) and Non-Functional Selection Grade(NFSG)," said Government instatement.

Several writ petitions werefiled in Delhi High Court byGroup 'A' Executive CadreOfficers of CAPF for grant ofOGAS status and consequentialbenefits of NFFU and NFSG.

The Cabinet also approveda bill that bars commercial sur-rogacy and allows only close rel-

atives to act as surrogates toneedy infertile couples for "altru-istic" reasons. The Surrogacy(Regulation) Bill, 2019 propos-es to regulate surrogacy in Indiaby establishing a NationalSurrogacy Board at the centrallevel and State Surrogacy Boardsand appropriate authorities inthe state and Union Territories,official sources said.

"The proposed legislationwill ensure effective regulationof surrogacy, prohibit com-mercial surrogacy and allowethical surrogacy to the needyinfertile Indian couples. "Whilecommercial surrogacy will beprohibited, including sale andpurchase of human embryoand gametes, ethical surrogacyto the needy infertile coupleswill be allowed on fulfillmentof stipulated conditions. It willalso prohibit exploitation ofsurrogate mothers and childrenborn through surrogacy," anofficial said.

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Page 6: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

China has managed to tame the wildTibetan yaks, according to Xinhua.“Under the touch of the petite scien-

tist Yan Ping, the tall and powerful black yak,weighing over 400 kg, is as obedient as a lamb,”a report said. The news agency added,“Unlike other yaks, this one has no horns.”Yan, who works for the Lanzhou Institute ofHusbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences,explained, “The Ashidan yak has no hornsand has a mild temperament, easy to keep andfeed.” How metaphorical this is.

Beijing seems to have developed someexpertise in taming humans and nations, too.The Taiwan News reported how “Manila kow-tows to Beijing, cedes Exclusive EconomicZone (EEZ) in South China Sea.” The once-wild President of the Philippines, RodrigoDuterte, is said to have ceded “ground in theSouth China Sea through an ‘informal’ and‘undocumented’ [agreement] with PresidentXi Jinping.” The Taiwanese newspaper notedthat many citizens of the Philippines were“already concerned over the Government’sunwillingness to safeguard the territory of thecountry’s EEZ.” The article concluded that thismakes the Duterte Government appear evenweaker in protecting the nation’s maritime ter-ritory. But it is not only the Philippines, whichhas been tamed and has accepted Beijing’s dik-tats. India’s northern neighbour, Nepal,seems to have fallen in the trap, too.

Newsgram, an independent media agency,recently pointed out that it is the NepalGovernment in Kathmandu, which forceslocal journalists to avoid critical reporting onChina, the largest investor of the Himalayanland-locked nation. Anil Giri, the foreignaffairs correspondent for The KathmanduPost, told Voice of America that “journalistsare discouraged from covering Tibetan affairsto mollify China and that Government offi-cials shy away from commenting on China-related issues. China sponsors junkets forNepalese journalists and that’s why probablywe don’t see a lot of criticism about China’sgrowing investment in Nepal, Chinese doingbusiness in Nepal and China’s growing polit-ical clout in Nepal.”

The lamb-lamb attitude in Kathmanduwas clear in an incident that took place recent-ly at the Tribhuvan International Airport inKathmandu. The Himalayan Times reported:“Man labelled Dalai Lama’s agent, deportedto the US.” Apparently, the Nepal immigra-tion mistook a Tibetan called Penpa Tsering,holding a US passport and arriving fromAmerica with his homonym as former rep-resentative to the Dalai Lama in the US. Nepaliofficials argued that the man was “on China’smost-wanted list.” In Dharamsala, the formerTibetan representative observed: “It clearlyshows that the Chinese Government’s pres-sure on Nepal is working.”

Nepalese Home Minister Ram BahadurThapa affirmed that the deportation was onlyan act “of honouring the ‘One-China’ policy.”A few weeks earlier, two members of Nepal’sParliament, Ekwal Miyan and Pradip Yadav,

had to apologise for havingattended the Seventh WorldParliamentarians’ Conventionon Tibet, which was held inLatvia’s capital Riga betweenMay 7 and 10, after Beijing pres-surised Kathmandu.

In a joint Press statement, thetwo MPs declared that they“happened to inadvertentlyattend the conference …due towrong information …when theywere on a private visit to Turkey,Switzerland and Latvia.” Theyhad even given their speeches bymistake! This shows how Chinacan today dictate terms to “small”countries like Nepal.

At the same time, Xinhuaproudly reminded its readersthat in the summer of 1921, “adozen of Communist Party ofChina (CPC) members wereforced to leave a small buildingin the French concession area ofShanghai and boarded a boat onthe Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing,Zhejiang Province, concludingthe first National Congress of theCPC. …Since then, the [commu-nist] party has managed to leada vulnerable country to movecloser towards the world’s centrestage.”

The news agency asserted:“The Chinese nation has stoodup, grown rich and is becomingstrong. …Socialism with Chinesecharacteristics have maintainedstability and vitality in the tide ofglobal changes.”

The Tibetans, who havebeen tamed more than 60 yearsago, are an easy prey. A couple of

weeks ago, a Tibetan Minister inthe Central TibetanAdministration (CTA) inDharamsala was denied visa toattend a conference in Mongolia.Karma Gelek Yuthok, Minister ofReligion and Culture, was toattend the Asian BuddhistConference in the Mongoliancapital, Ulaanbaatar. The Ministercould only say that it was “theclearest sign yet of China’s aggres-sive campaign of underminingcore democratic freedoms acrossthe world.”

On the Roof of the World,China has now all the cards inhand to nominate its own 15thDalai Lama. Gyaltsen Norbu,the Panchen Lama, selectedand groomed by Beijing, hasbeen elected as the president ofthe Tibetan branch of theBuddhist Association of China.Gyaltsen Norbu recently visitedThailand. On his return toBeijing, he affirmed: “We arefortunate to be in the era of thedevelopment and the rise ofNew China and thank theCommunist Party of China forleading the Chinese people inachieving the tremendous trans-formation of standing up, grow-ing rich and becoming strong.”

In other continents, too,nations have to kowtow, thoughthey are slowly waking up to thefact that all is not rosy. The exam-ples of Sri Lanka and theMaldives are often cited, but thereare some in Africa too.

The Ethiopian BusinessReview recently had a cover-

story: “Africa falling into debt-trap” while The African Exponent,an online outlet for Africannews, dared to write: “HorrorAwaits African Leaders as ChinaWithdraws Debt Funding.” Itexplained: “After an impressiverun of a good relationship withChina, scooping up at least $9.8billion between 2006 and 2017,making it Africa’s third-largestrecipient of Chinese loans, thegood ‘friendship’ between the twocountries seems to have come toa snag.” The reporter noted thatin September, China promisedanother $60 billion in aid andloans to the continent: “Xi Jinpingpromised the money wouldcome with no political stringsattached.”

But all good things have anend. When Uhuru Kenyatta, theKenyan President, visited Chinain May, “the atmosphere thatgreeted him was unfamiliar to theChina of old. Questions wereraised about corruption, as wellas the figures and sums [thatKenya] had proposed.” Kenyattadid not like it.

The Chinese even wantedto know if he planned to standfor office again in 2022: “It waslike talking to the World Bank,”observed an aide to the Kenyanleader. All this, as well as therecent events in Hong Kong,show that the taming ofhumans or nations cannot betaken for granted; nobodyremains a lamb forever.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Zaira’s choice” (July 3). It isindeed shocking that a young andtalented girl like Zaira Wasim hasdecided to leave the film indus-try. She came into Bollywoodamidst cut-throat competitionand performed under a lot ofpressure. May be she was not ableto cope with industry pressuredue to her age. Nevertheless, it isher choice to call it quits and wemust respect her decision. Butone thing that was unwarrantedof her was to drag religion intothis issue. Bollywood has aplethora of actors, producers anddirectors, who are Muslims andhave helped define the industry’smost secular atmosphere.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — This refers to the article,“The deep slumber of variedopinions” (July 3) by KalyaniShankar. The Congress findsitself on the horns of a dilemma.It may all be very well forCongress chief Rahul Gandhi to

resign and insist that the partyshould find a “successor” but evenafter almost five weeks, the stale-mate continues. This because noone in the party — either singlyor collectively — is willing or evenhas the gumption to “bell the cat”,lest he/she should be perceived asbeing “disloyal” to the Nehru-

Gandhi family. Any number ofmeetings, discussions or confab-ulations on this matter will not“produce” a name; unless thatname is already announced open-ly either by Rahul Gandhi or UPAchairperson Sonia Gandhi.

NS RajanBengaluru

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Sir — It is disturbing that somepeople are castigating wicket-keep-er MS Dhoni for Team India’s lossin the World Cup to England.Dhoni batted at an average strikerate of 135.48, which was the sec-cond-highest strike rate of the

match. Dhoni’s role in the Indianteam is currently that of a finisherand a finisher’s job is to win thematch with explosive battingtowards the end. Dhoni has beenconsistent in doing this.

Tushar AnandPatna

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Improving India’s tax compli-ance” (October 26, 2018) by a free-lance contributor, Navneet Anand.The writer had erroneously quot-ed figures from a report publishedby a leading newspaper and hadsaid: “Out of the 2.8 lakh charteredaccountants, who advise companiesand individuals on tax matters, onlyabout one-third or one lakh paidtaxes.” The actual number, as stat-ed by ICAI is: “Out of a total of2,69,350 charted accountants,2,45,507 filed their returns, whichis nearly 91 per cent of the totalnumber. Among these, approxi-mately 8,000 CharteredAccountants are above the age of70, who may or may not be fillingreturns, depending upon theirincome.” The oversight is regretted.

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Page 7: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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In its bi-monthly monetary policy report,announced on June 6, the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) reduced the repo rate/the pol-

icy rate (rate at which the RBI lends money tocommercial banks) from the subsisting 6.0 percent to 5.75 per cent. Together with a reduc-tion of 0.25 per cent, each notified in the pre-vious two reviews (February and April ), it hascut the rate by 0.75 per cent in less than sixmonths.

In another significant move, the RBI haschanged its policy stance from hitherto being“neutral” to “accommodative.” Whereas a neu-tral stance carries with it the possibility ofreduction as well as increase (it may even con-note no change), an accommodative stanceunambiguously points towards a rate cut infuture reviews.

That the above decisions represent theunanimous view of all members of theMonetary Policy Committee (MPC) — asinformed by RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Dasduring a Press briefing while announcing thepolicy — they reinforce the assessment that theinterest rate, henceforth, will be on a downward trajectory.

After a long wait, it is encouraging that theRBI is being seen as accommodative of the con-cerns of the industry and trade even as thecountry’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)growth plummeted to an all-time low of 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, endingMarch 31, 2019 (during 2018-19, the growthdecelerated to 6.8 per cent — the lowest dur-ing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s firstterm). This is in sharp contrast to the intran-sigent attitude of the banking regulator undersimilar circumstances in the past.

During the four-and-a-half years of Modi1.0, despite inflation, as represented by theConsumer Price Index (CPI) remaining with-in the target range of four per cent (+/-2 percent) on either side, the RBI refrained frommaking any positive moves to lower the policy rate.

Prior to January 2015, the RBI, under thethen Governor, Raghuram Rajan, followed ahawkish policy. Consequently, the interestrate had reached a high of eight per cent.Thereafter, even as the Government succeeded in bringing the inflation to a low of4.2 per cent in October, 2016, the policy ratewas lowered to 6.5 per cent (of the 1.5 per centcut during that period, the banks transmittedonly up to two-third to the borrowers by way of corresponding reduction in the lend-ing rate).

In his very first policy review announcedon October 4, 2016, former RBI Governor, UrjitPatel, who took over from Raghuram Rajan,reduced the rate from the then prevailing 6.5per cent to 6.25 per cent. However, in the sec-ond review (December, 2016), he kept the rateunchanged at 6.25 per cent despite inflationstaring at 3.6 per cent in November, 2016,which was significantly lower than the targetrate. In the February, 2017 review, too, the pol-icy rate was kept unchanged even as the CPIcontinued its downward trajectory to 3.4 percent in December, 2016 and further down to3.2 per cent in January, 2017.

During the fiscal 2017-18, infla-tion was in the 2.0-3.5 per cent rangeduring the first half and 4.2-4.6 percent during the second half — this waswell within the target range. Yet, dur-ing that period, only once ie, August2017 review, the rate was reduced to6.0 per cent. During the first half of2018-19, the rate was upped by 0.5 percent in two rounds — 0.25 per centeach in June 2018 and August 2018respectively. This despite inflationduring the first half registering 4.7-5.1per cent — though slightly higher thanprevious year — but well within thepermissible six per cent on the upperside of the band.

The above trends clearly pointtowards the RBI’s obsession withinflation management even as it wascompletely oblivious to the overarch-ing need to push growth, that too ata time when the economy was strug-gling to cope with the sudden disrup-tion caused by the twin reform mea-sures viz, demonetisation (November2016) and the Goods and ServicesTax), implemented from July 1, 2017.

Or else, how does one explain itsunwillingness to go soft on the poli-cy rate even when the inflation waswell within the range set by none otherthan the central bank itself? In fact, ina bid to lend some legitimacy to whatit did, it even erected a facade of infla-tionary expectations, which was notwarranted (in fact, the upside risk toinflation — as anticipated by theMPC — was not borne out by facts onground zero as amply demonstratedby the CPI consistently keeping low allthrough).

Here, it needs to be recognisedthat the relationship between inflationand interest rate is tenuous. To under-stand this, let us assume that inflationis higher than the target range. Goingby the RBI’s logic, the policy rateought to have been increased. Willthat help in reining in inflation? Theanswer will be an emphatic no.

About 50 per cent of the CPIincludes food items. It will be fallacious to argue that higher cost ofcredit will prompt people to reducetheir demand (this is largely a func-tion of the calorie intake apart fromthe fact that normally no one ever bor-rows money to finance purchase offood). Food inflation is mainly afunction of supply. If there is disrup-tion in supply, then price will rise, irre-spective of whether the interest rate islow or high.

On the other hand, if supply ismanaged well, then inflation can betamed (this indeed has been the casefor most part of the period under dis-cussion) even with low interest rate.The same logic applies even to non-food items, though to a lesser extent.

Likewise, if inflation rises due toincrease in international prices ofcrude oil (India sources about 83 percent of its requirement from import,even as the price is determined byfluctuations in the global demand-supply balance), there is little that ahard interest rate policy can do to mit-igate its effect.

Now, with a looming threat of aflare-up in the Persian Gulf (courtesythe stand-off between the US and Iranover the nuclear issue and the decision

of the OPEC countries — fully sup-ported by Russia — to cut supplies by1.2 million barrels a day), the pricecould be heading for a sharp increase.

There is no way that India’s mon-etary policy could help mitigate itsadverse impact. The only way theGovernment can succeed in combat-ing this is by increasing domestic pro-duction of oil (besides gas), therebyreducing its dependence on import ofthese essential items. But the result ofsuch a strategy will only be availablein the long run.

The message is loud and clear:The RBI should avoid being glued totargetting inflation all the time.Instead, interest rate policy should bedovetailed to propel growth. If the rateis lowered alongside pumping liquid-ity in the system, this will help indus-tries and services, hamstrung by lowdemand, to improve their utilisationrates and even go for fresh investment,giving a boost to growth.

Unlike Prime Minister NarendraModi’s first term, when growth wasled primarily by heavy capital expen-diture by the Government, in the pre-sent scenario, a big boost to privateinvestment and consumption is need-ed to revive the sagging numbers. Thiscalls for a lower interest rate regime.The RBI has done well by recognisingthis and even handing out a cumula-tive cut of 0.75 per cent in less thansix months. It promises more bycommitting to a change of stance to‘accommodative.” Hopefully, this trendwill be sustained.

(The writer is a New Delhi-basedpolicy analyst)

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It’s that time of the year whenMumbaikars roll up their sleevesand take on the wrath of monsoon

as their offices, homes, streets and evenhospitals get inundated with floodwater. The extent of water logging thisyear has been such that even depart-ed souls have not been spared.Ambulances and hearse vans could notferry the dead to the cremation ghatsor cemeteries, owing to neck-deepwater on the roads. This annual trialeither by fire, or water in this case, isnow part of the lives of denizens ofMumbai. No amount of year-roundwork seems to liberate the city dwellersfrom this retribution by mother nature.

At the time of writing this article,around 32 people were confirmed dead

in the worst ever floods the financialcapital of the nation experienced in thelast decade. After the city went throughnearly 16 inches of rain in the past fewdays, several parts of the boomingmetropolis became inundated in waist-deep water. This led to the local trainand bus services being disrupted. Evenschools and colleges were closed downas 50 flights were cancelled from theMumbai airport.

The maximum city seems to bereceiving a maximum dose of rain-related disasters annually. The pressingquestion is: Why is this scenariorepeated year after year? The answer liesin the indiscriminate alteration done tothe environment and ecology of the cityand its surrounding regions.

The city’s ability to absorb mon-soon rains has been weakened due tothe construction boom that hasdestroyed much of its mangrove forests— trees that once helped drain the sea-sonal waters. Most flooded areas arenear the banks of the city’s Mithi River,the 11-mile seasonal river that belongsto the wetlands where the trees oncegrew. Rising sea levels with the rainhave also contributed to the flooding.

Of late, the city has also witnessedphenomenal overcrowding, which hasled to immense loss of life in urbanareas. Unprecedented and uncon-trolled growth is the main cause for thebooming population. This is the baneof most Indian cities, which are grow-ing at an unprecedented rate. From apopulation of 2.86 million in 1950,Mumbai is now home to more than 21million people and by 2030, it isexpected to have a population ofalmost 28 million. Built along the coast-line on a series of islands, the city is sur-rounded by water: In mudflats, lakes,creeks, rivers and the ever-present

coastline. Given the astronomical landprices in many parts of the city as alsothe extreme scarcity of land, it is no sur-prise that Mumbai has sacrificed itsecology for development.

Real estate projects, industry andState infrastructure, including rail-ways, roads and the airport, have builtover and choked the city’s water net-works at various strategic points. Theresult — every monsoon the city isflooded. Mudflats, wetlands, flood-plains, mangroves and wooded vege-tation once slowed down the flow of thestorm water. But that is non-existentnow, thus exposing the people to the

raw end of nature’s fury.The mangrove’s complex root sys-

tems and the branching architecture oftrees acted as a natural barrier to reducethe force of water flow. But now, theyare built over. Garbage clogs the water-ways almost everywhere. Most chan-nels and waterways that connect waterbodies have been built over, too, thuspreventing streams from easily reach-ing the sea — forcing them to spreadout into low lying areas, adding to thesevere flooding problem.

Mumbai’s extensive wetlands andmudflats, which had connected partsof the city since the early 19th centu-ry, are nowhere to be seen now. Theirpresence will retain rainwater and letit soak into the ground, recharging thewells and ground water table. Today,with nothing but concrete all around,the city’s land surface does not allowwater to soak into it. Especially duringintense periods of rain, devastation isextreme — at least 5,000 people arebelieved to have perished in the infa-mous floods of 2005 and the econom-ic damage was estimated at 30 billionrupees ($690 million).

Sadly, neither the State

Government nor the people haveunderstood the severe cost they arepaying each year even as the risks arebuilding up. With virtually no bar onmigration and no infrastructuresupport in place to handle the del-uge of humanity flowing intoMumbai, the per square km popu-lation level is reaching unimaginablelevels. So is the threat factor of livesbeing lost in case of a solid naturaldisaster. How will this spiralling sit-uation get under control? The answersquarely lies in regulating the con-struction industry first.

Be it rainwater harvesting or ecofriendly construction, the real estatesector of Mumbai is not known foreither and therein lies the problem. Fora city on the edge of an ecological apoc-alypse, the attitude is rather casual. Thishas to be discarded forthwith as natureis going through its cycle in a calculat-ed manner and if the city does not wantto get crushed under its inevitableweight, it better set the wrongs right andgive due credit to the environment bytaking care of it.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Page 8: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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The Government is commit-ted to the disinvestment of

national carrier Air India andthe plan is to make it more oper-ationally viable before disin-vesting it, Civil Aviation MinisterHardeep Singh Puri told theRajya Sabha Wednesday.

Replying to supplemen-taries during Question Hour,the minister said there hasbeen a steady improvement infinances of Air India and theairline is set to make profit dur-ing the current financial year.

He said Air India is cur-rently making a revenue of �15crore everyday.

“Our plan is to revive AirIndia, make it more opera-tionally viable and then to dis-invest it. So far as Air India isconcerned, the Government iscommitted to the privatisa-tion of Air India. Let there beno ambiguity on that,” he said.

Puri said the costing andoverall calculations of an Airlinedepends on a large number offactors, including external fac-tors like closure of Pakistan airspace, but should end the cur-rent year in profit after whichit will be disinvested.

“There has been a steadyimprovement in Air India’sfinances. It has been my expec-tations that in the currentfinancial year, we are hoping tomake profit. But, the year that

has concluded the figure shallshow a loss,” he said.

The Minister said in April,the airline has improved butthere are certain external fac-tors, like closure of airspace ofPakistan, that have affected itsprofitability.

“Our expectations is that inthe coming months, in thecurrent year, we will make aprofit and turn Air Indiaaround and then privatise theairline,” Puri said.

“It is customary for situa-tions like this for employeesand stakeholders in the processto put pressure on the govern-ment. We have increased theAir India profitability by 7crore revenue per day. We aredoing all that we can,” he said.

The Civil Aviation minis-ter also rejected as “motivated”certain news reports that theairline did not have enoughfinances and was unable to payup salaries upto this October.

He said there is an overalldebt of �59,000 crore and therewas a proposal to retire �29,000crore into a special puposevehicle when an attempt wasmade to privatise Air India.

“Now when Air India’s alter-native mechanism is established,we will take a view on these.

“After all, Air India is aviable airlines and it has someprized assets and when we gofor disinvestment, we will alsotake care of this. But, the press

report was motivated in orderto put pressure on the govern-ment not to disinvest in AirIndia,” he noted.

Air India by itself and manyof its operational assets are veryprized assets and the Narimanheadquarters are a case in point,he said. Responding to anoth-er query on rising airfares, theminister said the disruption orthe uncertainty caused onaccount the cessation of oper-ation of Jet Airways in so far asthe domestic air travel is con-cerned has been almost com-pletely corrected.

“In so far as the interna-tional airfares are concerned,we have for a three-monthperiod allocated the slots toother domestic carriers.

“In so far as the domesticsectors are concerned, airfareson the trunk sectors like Delhi-Mumbai which is on an aver-age �5,100 has not increasedover a 20 year period. That wasthe fare in 2001, that was thefare in 2011 and now,” he said.

As far as international sec-tor is concerned, he saidbecause Jet Airways used wide-bodied aircraft and some of theothers do not possess wide-bodied aircraft which they arein the process of acquiringand for a three-month periodslots of Jet have been given tothem and the resolutionprocess on Jet Airways pro-ceeds have to be seen.

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Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty ended modestly

higher Wednesday after avolatile session as investorslooked ahead to the UnionBudget for further cues.

Extending its gains for thethird session, the 30-share BSESensex settled 22.77 points, or0.06 per cent, higher at39,839.25. Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty edged up 6.45points, or 0.05 per cent, to11,916.75.

Investors are keeping theirpowder dry ahead of Budget2019-20, to be presented Friday,and are expecting measures tospur growth and revivedemand, traders said.

Risk sentiment was alsoaffected after data showed thatthe country’s services sectoractivity in June contracted forthe first time since May 2018.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included IndusInd Bank,ITC, L&T, M&M, PowerGrid,Asian Paints and SBI, endingup to 3.79 per cent higher.

On the other hand, TechMahindra, Vedanta, Infosys,Yes Bank, Tata Motors, TCS,HCL Tech and Maruti were thetop losers, shedding up to 1.44per cent.

Global equities turned jit-

tery after optimism surround-ing the US-China trade trucewas offset by the Trumpadministration proposing toslap tariffs on certain EUimports.

“Market will be volatileahead the big event and profitbooking is natural at this highlevel. However, underlyingtrend of the markets seemspositive in expectation ofrevival in growth led by actionsto boost infrastructure, invest-ments, housing and bring arelief to rural distress.

“A spur in safe haven assetindicates investors’ fear in theglobal market and FIIs are onrisk off mode,” said VinodNair, Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services.

Sectorally, the BSE realty,capital goods, power, FMCG,industrials, energy and financeindices ended up to 0.76 percent higher.

IT, teck, consumerdurables, healthcare, auto andutilities slipped up to 0.86 percent. Broader midcap andsmallcap indices rose up to 0.26per cent.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Tokyo and Seoul endedon a negative note, while equi-ty markets in Europe weretrading in the green in earlysession.

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Th eNational

Company LawA p p e l l a t eT r i b u n a l(NCLAT) onWe d n e s d ayreserved itsorder overadmission ofcontempt peti-tion fileda g a i n s tR e l i a n c eGroup Chairman Anil Ambaniand its other officials by minor-ity shareholders alleging non-payment of dues by RelianceInfratel.

A two-member bench,headed by NCLAT ChairmanJustice S J Mukhopadhaya, saidit will decide whether the con-tempt petition filed by HSBCDaisy Investments (Mauritius)and others should be admittedas Reliance Communications(RCom) is a now goingthrough insolvency proceed-ings. Reliance Infratel, againstwhich also the contempt peti-tion has been filed, is part ofRCom.

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

In May this year, the

Mumbai bench of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) started the corporateinsolvency resolution process ofRCom, which has a total bankdebt of over �50,000 crore.

HSBC Daisy had movedthe appellate tribunal overalleged default of payment of�230 crore by Reliance Infrateland stated that the companyhas not fulfilled an undertak-ing given by it.

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

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

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India’s trade deficit, differencebetween imports and

exports, has widened duringthe past three years with asmany as 25 major countriesincluding South Korea, Japan,Germany, Iraq and SaudiArabia, Parliament wasinformed Wednesday.

Commerce MinisterPiyush Goyal said in a writtenreply to the Lok Sabha thattrade deficit depends upon rel-ative fluctuations in the importsand exports of different com-modities due to the global anddomestic factors such asdemand and supply, currencyfluctuations, cost of credit, andlogistics costs.

The increasing trade deficitin spite of positive growth ofexports is mainly due to high-er imports of products such ascrude oil, electronic goods, ironand steel, chemicals, coke, fer-tilisers, and machinery, he said.

These products contributeover 70 per cent share in totalimports in 2018-19.

Trade deficit with Korea,

Japan, Germany, Iraq and SaudiArabia increased to $12 billion,$7.9 billion, $6.25 billion,$20.58 billion and $22.9 billion,respectively, in 2018-19.

The minister added thatthe government has taken sev-eral steps to boost India’sexports and minimise theimpact of trade deficit.

The steps include improv-ing ease of doing business,scheme for development oftrade-related infrastructure,and scheme to mitigate disad-vantage of higher cost of trans-portation for export.

India’s overall trade deficit,including both goods and ser-vices, has increased to $103.63billion in 2018-19 from $84.45billion in the previous financialyear.

“As per Foreign TradePolicy 2015-20, the govern-ment aims to increase India’sexport of merchandise andservices from $465.9 billion toabout $900 billion by 2019-20and to raise India’s share inworld exports (goods and ser-vices) from two per cent to 3.5per cent,” he said.

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Birla Group patriarch B KBirla passed away in

Mumbai on Wednesday at theage of 98, his family said.

A doyen of the Indianindustry, Birla had been suf-fering from age-related ail-ments. Birla was the chairmanof Century Textiles andIndustries and had been activein business since the age of 15.

He was instrumental in aslew of business initiatives,starting with his stint as thechairman of KesoramIndustries, they said.

He is survived by hisdaughters Manjushree Khaitanand Jayshree Mohta, who runKesoram Industries andJayshree Tea and Industriesrespectively. His wife SaralaBirla predeceased him in 2015.His only son Aditya VikramBirla had died in 1995.

The sources said Birla’sbody would be brought to hishouse at Birla Park in Kolkataand the cremation will takeplace on Thursday.

His grandsonKumarmangalam Birla had

taken him to Mumbai due tohis failing health.

The seat of the Birla broth-ers in Kolkata — Birla Building— will remain closed onThursday as a mark of respectto B K Birla.

Born in 1921, Birla was theyoungest son of philanthropistGhanshyam Das Birla. By thetime he was 15, he was alreadyactively associated with a largenumber of companies andeventually became the chair-man of Kesoram Industries.

He focussed on the indus-tries such as cotton, viscose,polyester and nylon yarns,refractory, paper, shipping,tyrecord, transparent paper,spun pipe, cement, tea, coffee,cardamom, chemicals, ply-wood and MDF Board.

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The Delhi High CourtWednesday asked RBI and

Enforcement Directorate (ED)to respond to a plea allegingthat online payment platformPayPal was operating “illegal-ly” without the central bank’sauthorisation.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C HariShankar issued notice to theReserve Bank of India (RBI),ED and Paypal Payments PvtLtd (PayPal) and sought theirstand on the PIL before thenext date of hearing onSeptember 18.

Abhijit Mishra, a financialeconomist, has claimed in hisplea that “Paypal is operating asa payment and settlements sys-tem in blatant violation of thePayments and SettlementsSystems Act”.

He said PayPal does notfigure in the list of authorisedpayment system operators pub-lished by RBI on May 27, 2019.

According to the PIL, filedthrough advocate Payal Bahl,PayPal’s services are being usedby various online travel, cloth-

ing and food websites or apps,including Yatra, Makemytrip,Bookmyshow, Dominos Pizzaand Myntra.

In his petition Mishra hasalleged that PayPal was also“operating as a foreignexchange dealer in contraven-tion of the Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA)”.

PayPal through its unau-thorized operation “has unmon-itored and unauthorized accessto the personal informationsuch as Aadhaar, PAN, etc of thepublic”, he claimed.

Such access to the person-al information of the public wasa violation of Article 21 of theConstitution of India, the plea

contended and sought direc-tions to PayPal to “immediate-ly stop its allegedly illegal andunauthorized operations”.

It has also sought probe byinvestigative agencies againstthe directors, management andofficers of PayPal for allegedmalpractice and violation ofprovisions of Article 21 of theConstitution of India, Paymentsand Settlements Act, FEMAand Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

Mishra has also soughtdirections to RBI and ED totake action, including imposi-tion of fines and penalties,against PayPal for the allegedviolations.

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Four payment system oper-ators have yet to comply

with the RBI’s 2018 circularon data localisation, while 72others have complied with it,the Lok Sabha was informedon Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) had in April 2018issued a circular on ‘Storageof Payment System Data’advising all system providersto ensure that within a peri-od of six months, the entiredata relating to payment sys-tems operated by them isstored in a system only in India.

“As per RBI, out of 76operational authorized non-bank payment system opera-tors (PSO), 72 have com-plied with the requirementsof this circular. The remain-ing 4 entities are yet to com-ply and are being monitoredby RBI for full compliance,”Minister for Electronics andIT Ravi Shankar Prasad saidin a written reply.

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The Supreme CourtWednesday agreed to hear

on July 8 the DoT plea chal-lenging an order of telecom tri-bunal, TDSAT, which stayed itsdemand of �1,626.89 crore fromBharti Airtel Ltd. The demandwas made for the completion ofamalgamation of Bharti DigitalNetworks Pvt Ltd, formerlyknown as Tikona DigitalNetworks Pvt Ltd, with itself.

The Telecom DisputesSettlement and AppellateTribunal (TDSAT) had takennote of Bharti Airtel’s pleaagainst the DoT demand forspectrum fees and stayed it.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and JusticesDeepak Gupta and AniruddhaBose took note of the plea by theDepartment of Telecom (DoT)for an urgent hearing and post-ed the matter for July 8.

Bharti Airtel said recentlythat it has completed the amal-gamation.

In March 2017, Airtel hadannounced its decision toacquire 4G business of TikonaNetworks, including broad-band spectrum and 350 sitesacross five telecom circles, forabout �1,600 crore.

Tikona had 20 MHz spec-trum in the 2,300-MHz band,with second largest ecosystemof 4G devices in Gujarat, east-ern UP, western UP, Rajasthanand Himachal Pradesh circles.

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Page 9: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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Bengaluru: Congress inKarnataka, battling a crisiswithin after two party MLAsresigned, on Wednesday exud-ed confidence that one of themmay withdraw it while notingthe other had not yet sent hisletter to the Speaker.

Speaking to reporters,Congress Legislature PartyLeader Siddaramaiah also reit-erated his charge that the BJPwas conspiring to topple theCongress-JD(S) coalitionGovernment and that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shahwere also involved in it.

He ruled out any 'reverseoperation' from Congress to tryand poach BJP MLAs like its'Operation Lotus', a strategyadopted by the party in 2008 toshore up its numbers in theAssembly by makingOpposition MLAs resign andseek re-election on the saffronparty ticket.

The announcement of res-ignations by Vijayanagara MLA

Anand Singh and Gokak MLARamesh Jarkiholi on Mondayhad dealt a double blow to the13-month old wobblyCongress-JD(S) coalitionGovernment led by HDKumaraswamy.

"Only Anand Singh hasgiven (resignation), we aretalking to him. He may with-draw," Siddaramaaih said inMyusuru.

Asked whether he was ableto contact Singh, he said "no,we have contacted him throughsomeone else and he has spo-ken to him."

"He (Singh) has given rea-sons like JSW Steel land issueamong others, but all thosecannot be reasons (for resig-nation). Lets talk is what I havecommunicated to him... wewill convince him," he said,adding that disgruntlementamong MLAs may be due tovarious reasons, but AnandSingh did not resign because hewas not made Minister.

Singh, who sent in his res-ignation to the Speaker onMonday, had said he decided toresign over various demands,including creation of a separateVijayangar district and cancel-lation of the nod for sale of

3,667 acres of land to JSW Steelin mine-rich Ballari district.

However, he had appearedto have not shut the doors fully,saying he would "wait foranswers" (from the govern-ment to his demands) whenasked if he would withdraw theresignation.

Maintaining that RameshJarkiholi has not resigned,Siddaramaiah said his resigna-tion has not reached theSpeaker, but was only report-ed in the media.

Speaker Ramesh Kumarhimself has said he has notreceived it," Siddaramaiahnoted.

The Speaker too said onlyone legislator has sent in hisresignation to him and hewould act on it in accordancewith rules, while he was notaware of the second MLA's res-ignation.

Indicating his displeasureabout Singh handing over acopy of his resignation toGovernor Vajubhai R Vala,the Speaker said an MLAshould have a sense aboutwhom to submit the resigna-tion, in what way it should bedone and who has the respon-sibility to dispose it. PTI

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Patna: The king of fruits camein the eye of a storm in Biharon Wednesday when a fancyvariety of mango and itssaplings were gifted to mem-bers of the bicameral legislatureby the State Government.

The goodwill gesture, how-ever, did not go down well withthe Opposition, which accusedthe Nitish Kumar Governmentof trying to divert the attentionof the members of the legisla-ture from its failure to check theoutbreak and spread of theacute encephalitis syndrome(AES).

The Digha Maldah man-goes and its saplings werehanded over to each memberwhen a debate on the agricul-ture budget was underway inthe assembly.

Explaining the spirit

behind the move, AgricultureMinister Prem Kumar toldreporters: "The Digha Maldavariety mangoes — specialty ofour state — and its saplings arebeing distributed to encourageits plantation".

Many legislators of theRashtriya Janata Dal and theCongress combine refused toaccept the gift and allegedthose who accepted it would be"cursed" by the families ofmore than 150 children who

lost their lives to AES lastmonth.

"This government is insen-sitive. It watched callouslywhen more than 100 childrendied," RJD legislator BhaiVirendra said. "It is still notdoing the needful for thosechildren who survived the dis-ease but are suffering fromextreme debility."

"I refuse to accept this pre-sent from the government thataims to shut the mouths ofMLAs on this vital issue,"Virendra said.

Bihar has been strugglingwith an AES outbreak since thebeginning of June. More than150 children have died of thedisease so far.

Former chief ministerRabri Devi, who is also theleader of the Opposition in the

legislative council, said: "Themangoes being distributed bythe government carry the curseof the families who have losttheir children to brain fever.Anybody who accepts this giftwill be, similarly, cursed."

Congress MLC PremChandra Mishra echoed simi-lar sentiments. "Anybody whoconsumes these mangoes thatare being distributed to distractthe members of the legislaturefrom important issues will suf-fer from indigestion".

Asked why the fruits werenot sent to the families of deador afflicted children, the agri-culture minister replied indig-nantly: "We will do that. Fruitswill be sent to the affected fam-ilies as also the saplings. Themedia can verify this at a laterstage."

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Mumbai: Central leadershipof the Congress has acceptedthe resignation of AshokChavan as the president of theMaharashtra unit, a seniorleader disclosed Wednesday.

He said Chavan's replace-ment would be announced ina day or two.

A meeting took place inNew Delhi on June 29 withRahul Gandhi and AICC gen-eral secretary in charge ofMaharashtra, MallikarjunKharge, where party leadersfrom the state, includingChavan, were present.

In the meeting, Chavanreiterated his offer to quitowing moral responsibility forthe party's worst-ever defeat inthe Lok Sabha polls, he said.

The Congress had wonjust one out of total 48 seats inMaharashtra. "Chavan said he

wished to be relieved of thepost so that he can concentrateon Nanded from where he wasdefeated," the leader said,adding that Chavan's replace-ment will be announced in aday or two.

Balasaheb Thorat, who isthe Congress' Legislature Party(CLP) leader and MLA fromSangamner in Ahmednagardistrict, is the frontrunner forthe post. "The meeting wasconvened with an objective todiscuss the party's prepara-tions for the Assembly elec-tions due later this year," hesaid.

On the issue of alliancewith Prakash Ambedkar-ledVanchit Bahujan Agadhi(VBA), Gandhi asked theMaharashtra leadership to takea decision in the interest of theparty, the leader added. PTI

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Gandhinagar: Ahead of theJuly 5 Rajya Sabha bypolls fortwo seats in Gujarat, the StateCongress has decided to shift itsMLAs to Mount Abu, a popu-lar hill station in adjoiningRajasthan, said party leaders onWednesday.

The main Opposition partysaid its MLAs will take part ina brainstorming session atMount Abu to chalk out astrategy for the ongoing Budgetsession of the Assembly anddenied the move was linked tothe bypolls.

Party sources said Congresslegislators will leave for MountAbu this evening and stay theretill the early morning of July 5.

Voting for the bypolls, inwhich MLAs constitute theelectoral college, is scheduled tostart at 9 am Friday.

Congress chief whip in theAssembly, Ashvin Kotwal,claimed the decision to shift theMLAs to Mount Abu has noth-ing to do with the bypolls.

He denied suggestions thatthe move is prompted by fear of

any "poaching" attempt by theruling BJP ahead of the voting.

However, Congress MLADhavalsinh Zala claimed theparty is reeling under the fearof cross-voting by some of itsMLAs.

Zala is a staunch support-er of disgruntled CongressMLA Alpesh Thakor.

Both have openly criticisedtheir party's move to shiftMLAs out of Gujarat anddeclared they will not go to thehill station with other col-leagues.

Notably, the Congress hadshifted 44 of its MLAs to aresort in Bengaluru to thwart apossible "poaching" attempt bythe BJP ahead of the 2017Rajya Sabha polls.

According to Kotwal, allparty MLAs have "unanimous-ly" decided to hold a brain-storming session at Mount Abuto chalk out a strategy for theongoing budget session of theAssembly.

"There is no question of anyfear or pressure. Since there is

no sitting of Assembly tillMonday, all the MLAs haveunanimously decided to utilisethis mini vacation and hold aworkshop at Mount Abu.

"We will brainstorm andexchange ideas to chalk our ourstrategy for the upcomingdebates in the Assembly on thebudgetary allocations," Kotwalsaid. Kotwal, however, admittedthat one or two party MLAsmay vote for BJP candidatesduring the bypolls.

"Both Zala and Thakor arestill our MLAs. We have notsuspended them yet. Barringone or two MLAs, all legislatorsare with us and will not engagein cross-voting," said Kotwal.

Thakor even refused togive a guarantee that he willvote for Congress candidates,claiming he has not received thewhip issued by the party for thebypolls.

"I have not received partywhip yet. I can only say that Iwill cast my vote on July 5. Onlytime will tell whom I havevoted for," said Thakor. PTI

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Mumbai: Congress leaderVijay Wadettiwar onWednesday demanded that acase of culpable homicide beregistered against a Shiv SenaMLA's firm, which construct-ed Tiware dam that gotbreached and claimed the livesof at least 11 persons so far.

The Tiware dam inChiplun taluka of Ratnagirideveloped a breach lateTuesday night, which causeda flood- like situation in sevendownstream villages. Twentythree persons are feared deadand bodies of 11 have beenrecovered so far.

"The dam was construct-ed 19 years ago by Khemraj,the firm run by Shiv SenaMLA Sadanand Chavan,"Wadettiwar said in a pressconference.

"The fact that the damdeveloped cracks in less thantwo decades and breachedresulting in a loss of innocentlives shows that the work wasmired in corruption and irreg-ularities," he said.

The Leader of Oppositionin Maharashtra LegislativeAssembly said that last year

locals had complained to thedistrict administration thatthe dam had developedcracks.

"This year, the dam wasrepaired and still there was abreach. Why were the com-plaints of locals not takenseriously?" he asked.

Wadettiwar said the lossof lives was due to the gov-ernment's apathy and negli-gence, and demanded resig-nation of Water ResourcesMinister Girish Mahajan.

"The minister only knowshow to breach other politicalparties, but doesn't know howto prevent breach of dams," healleged.

The Congress leader alsodemanded that a case underIPC section 302 (murder) befiled against the governmentsince the problem in the damwas brought to the notice ofthe administration, but noaction was taken.

There are reports thatDhamna dam in Shelud inJalna district has developedcracks, he said adding that thegovernment should take quickaction. PTI

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Jammu: Amid tight security,the fourth batch of 4,694 pil-grims including 791 womenWednesday left the BhagwatiNagar base camp here to payobeisance at the 3,880 metrehigh cave shrine of Amarnathin south Kashmir, officials said.

The pilgrims, including 24children and 70 sadhus, willreach the twin base camps ofPahalgam in Anantnag district

and Baltal in Ganderbal districtlater in the day.

Over 20 thousand pilgrimshave so far offered prayers at theshrine, housing the naturallyformed ice-shivalingam, sincethe commencement of the 46-day yatra on July 1 from thetwin routes — the traditional36-km Pahalgam track inAnantnag and the shorter 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal.

Of the latest batch, theofficials said, 2,642 pilgrimsincluding 412 women, ninechildren and 47 Sadhus areheading for Pahalgam basecamp while 2,052 pilgrimsincluding 379 women, 15 chil-dren and 23 Sadhus have pre-ferred the Baltal route.

The yatra is scheduled toend on August 15 coinciding theRaksha Bandhan festival. PTI

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The West Bengal BJP hasalleged that the TMC

Government was planning tomaliciously prosecute “20 ofour leaders through false cases,”so as to thwart the rise of thesaffron outfit in West Bengal.

Senior BJP leader Mukul

Roy on Wednesday quotedfrom a “Government circular”issued by the State IB to vari-ous district SPs to implicate 20BJP leaders in various falsecases.

“The IB has named 20leaders like our State partypresident and MP Dilip Ghosh,general secretary Rahul Sinha,

MPs Rupa Ganguli, LocketChatterjee, SamikBhattacharya, Sayantan Basu,Jayprakash Majumdar, ArjunSingh, Pratap Banerjee andothers and sent a directive tothe district SPs to this effect,”Roy told reporters in Kolkata.Though there was no reactionfrom the TMC.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has once

again written to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi requesting himto hasten the process of renam-ing West Bengal as “Bangla”which was unanimously passedin the State Assembly threeyears ago and sent to the Centrefor its approval.

The Chief Minister’srequest came soon after UnionHome Minister NityanandaRai telling parliament that theprocess of renaming WestBengal or Paschimbanga hadnot been taken up as it need-ed the constitution to beamended.

The Chief Minister report-edly wrote to the PrimeMinister to take into accountthe sentiments and aspirationsof the people of Bengal andchange the name of the Statecurrently named as West Bengalor Paschimbanga into Bangla.

The BJP, however, is oppos-ing renaming the State consid-ering the “historical facts and

the factors leading to it —which the present name signi-fies.”

Replying to a question fromMP Ritabrata BandopadhyayRai had on Tuesday said thatthe name had not been changedbecause the procedure requiredconstitutional amendmentwhich was again done takinginto consideration a number ofrelevant factors.

The West Bengal Assemblyhad passed a resolution on July26 last year renaming the Stateas “Bangla” and had sent it tothe Union Home Ministry forits clearance. The proposal forrenaming the State had comefor the first time in 2011 whenit was renamed Paschimbangaby the State Assembly.However, as the proposal wasturned down by the Centre, anew initiative was taken in2016 by the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment which preferredthree names — Bengal inEnglish, Bangla in Bengali andBangal in Hindi only to berejected by the Centre onceagain in July last year.

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Page 10: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

Emerging from the sea,they clamber up thebeach for a brief period,dig nesting holes in thesand, lay eggs en masse

and then vanish into the oceans asmysteriously and suddenly as theyhad first appeared. Some 45 to 60days later, the hatchlings emergeand make their way uncannilytowards the sea, hazarding preda-tors and poachers.

Capturing the attention of bothbiologists and laymen, being a partof various mythologies and culturesacross the world, attracted by theastonishing ability of these beingsto migrate across oceans and divethousands of feet deep, as well asother remarkable features of theirlives, sea turtles have become acommon fascination for artists aswell. A travelling exhibition,Arribada: A gathering of stories, cul-tures and interactions with sea tur-tles by WWF-India, in collaborationwith Dakshin Foundation and visu-al artist Aradhana Seth, has drawnattention to the conservation ofRidleys on the Indian coasts (list-ed as endangered species under the

Wildlife Protection Act 1972 andCITES). The focus is on their massnesting phenomenon, in whichthousands of sea turtles are washedashore and killed. These include thegreen, hawksbill, leatherback andOlive Ridleys, which are the small-est in size.

The idea of exhibition germi-nated when Kartik Shanker, ecolo-gist, who has been working close-ly for the cause, and founder ofDakshin Foundation, andAradhana met each other at a for-mal meeting a few years ago in Goa.It’s when they had discussed abouttheir mutual fascination for turtlesand their personal turtle collectionsthat they thought of collaboratingon an awareness project. At anoth-er meeting with Sejal Worah, pro-gramme director at WWF-India,the duo decided to collaboratewith her too as they connected toher for the same reason as them —turtle fascination and collection.Arribada, a Spanish term for massnesting, tells the story of sea turtlesby turtle-inspired artefact collec-tions of the three conservationistsand collectors.

Kartik says that linking a causeto art makes it more recognisablein the public eye: “Such naturalrhythms are mostly thought aboutat very isolated places and consid-ered a subject of reading or docu-mentaries. But when we showcasethem through art curations, sym-bols, cultures and stories, theymight grab more attention andmake an impact. Science or words

don’t work everytime, illustrationscan help too.”

The exhibition, through a set ofaround 24 to 25 boxes, presents sto-ries of conservation, history, culture,biology and people associated withturtle research in the country witheach box. Aradhana, who lends theexhibition its visual language, hasused recyclable material and dis-carded single-use plastic in the con-struction of artefacts. The exhibi-tion, which is at present in the city,will travel next to Bengaluru, fol-lowed by Goa. Kartik tells us, “Itbrings out stories of both hinder-ing and reverence, ecology and con-servation. And of some of our ownturtle heroes. As a charismaticspecies, they are ambassadors fortheir ecosystems, bringing attentionto the need for conservation effortsfor seascapes across the country andthe world. And we aim to representjust that.”

The Olive Ridleys are the onlyspecies exhibiting the phenomenonof mass nesting in India and theirhabitat in India is globally the

largest rookery. Apart from poach-ing for trade or consumption, thereare various other acts and practicesthat indirectly threaten thesespecies. There are threats fromfisheries, bycatch mortality, coastaldevelopments which lead to a lossof boundaries for nesting at beach-es, climate change which alterstheir habitats and marine debris,which includes ingestions, entrap-ment and infiltration in food chain.

As these turtles undertake along distance migration from theoffshore waters of Sri Lanka viaTamil Nadu and Andhra Pradeshto nest in large numbers along thebeaches of Odisha, there have beennumerous turtle walks in Chennaifor over a decade now. Recently,there has been a ban on coastalactivities at Odisha’s GahirmathaMarine Sanctuary in Kendrapara.However, following various viola-tions, the authorities have arrestedover 730 fishermen and seizedaround 90 boats. However, Kartiksays that it is important to alsorecognise and differentiate betweenthose fishermen who intentionallyarrive for trade or consumption ofthe nesting turtles and those whodon’t. “Sometimes they also targetthe wrong community, who areactually not responsible for killingturtles or indulge in poaching.There are also other problems thatmajorly contribute to this — less-ening of boundaries. Turtles main-ly hatch at only five to six kilome-tres away from the coastline andsometimes many coastal develop-ments lead to a loss of these bound-aries. They also need to be con-structed the right way.”

Talking about the exhibition,Ravi Singh, secretary general andCEO, WWF-India, says, “Wehave been engaging with schoolchildren for over four decadesnow to build young leaders ofconservation through pro-grammes and initiatives that areboth educational and engagingand interactive. The arribada is anattempt to take children and oth-ers into the world of turtles andmarine biodiversity and highlightthe need for their conservation.”

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Judgmental Hai Kya alreadyhad the audience bitingtheir nails, and the anticipa-

tion was finally put on brake asthe makers of Kangana Ranautand Rajkummar Rao starrerunveiled the trailer. It wasunveiled simultaneously inDelhi by Rao and in Mumbaiby Ranaut. The film revolvesaround a murder mystery,where both actors are framedas prime suspects. It promisesto be a joyful ride with a dashof craziness. Ranaut playsBobby while Rao ventures intothe role of Keshav, so the filmis bound to keep the audienceintrigued.

Initially named Mental HaiKya, which faced massive back-lash. The change of the title,catalysed by criticism fromIndian Psychiatric Society(IPS), was welcomed without ahint of reluctance. Rao said atthe Delhi launch, “I was total-ly up for it. There are somepeople who had problems withit. We respect their emotions.And if changing the title willbrings some change in thesociety, we are more thanhappy to do that.” He alsoshared that there were othertitles up for consideration, butthe present one was deemedmost relevant. “Judgmentalwas the only title that wasgoing with the film. Therewere a lot of others like senti-mental, temperamental but wethought this one was the best.”

When questioned abouthow controversies before afilm’s release can provokecuriosity, Rao said that the rea-son people watch a film isbecause of the trailer. “If theyconnect with the trailer, andlike the actors or the makers,they would come and watchthe film, and not for any otherreason.”

The actor who has alsoworked with Kangana Ranautin Queen, talked about thechemistry that they share onscreen. “She is a really goodactress and we both supporteach other with out improvisa-tions. We try to bring outevery scene in the best waypossible.” He was also quick todismiss rumours about Ranautfinding his acting better dur-ing the shoot which led to hisscenes being re-shot and said,“We worked like a big team,one big family. Our goal was tomake a good film.”

While people were alreadyintrigued by the title and thefirst look, the trailer furtherpeaked their curiosity. “It’s astory about a lot of things. It’sabout stalking, obsession, love,passion, deceiving and aboutwhat’s false, and what’s true.”Rao is an enthusiastic fan ofthrillers like Gone Girl andWho Done What, and said, “Ithoroughly enjoyed playingKeshav. This is the first timethat I am doing a film like this,and Prakash is a very sensibleand an amazing filmmaker.The way he handled the char-acters and the design of thefilm, it’s one of its kind.”

Rao’s name is synonymouswith versatility and for takingup roles that are unprecedent-ed. Since this is yet anothercharacter which is a far cryfrom stereotypes, he engagedin a lot of sessions with thefilmmaker while preparing forit. “There are many avatars tomy character. Both my direc-tor and writer helped me a lotwith how people would imag-ine it.” His character, Keshavis seen saying something whilehis mind wheeling on anotherparallel, it’s deeply layered. “Asan actor that’s what I want —to play characters that arechallenging and notstraight-forward.”

Never the one to beplaced in a box, he isexperimental and playsroles which have diver-gent persona. He says it’s agreat time to be acting in theindustry right now. “The kindof content we are creating, thekind of stories we are telling,we have fantastic filmmakers.”He mentions that these daysthere is freedom to play withone’s identity and that if thefilm is relatable people woulddefinitely watch it. “I wantto be known as an actorwho tries differentthings and is not

stuck with one image.”While the film is a work of

fiction, he says that people whoare often misunderstood arebeing celebrated through thefilm. There are some peoplewho are pushed to the periph-ery of the society because of theway they think. The film triesto “celebrate their shortcom-ings”.

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For once, the interviewee turnedinterviewer as actor AnupamKher fired the first salvo. To his,

‘Kaisi hain aap?’ (How are you) whenI replied ‘Badhiyan Sir,’ (I am great Sir)he noticed my accent and immediate-ly wanted to know if I was from UttarPradesh. When I nodded a yes andwas inquisitive as to how he guessedthe connection, he further surprisedme with a bright smile and said,“Badhiyan jis tarah se bola aapne,bohot acha laga mujhe. (I liked the wayyou said you are great) That’s the onlyway to speak it.”

The actor, who will be soon beseen in One Day: Justice Delivered, ishappily engrossed in his work andbusy schedules. “My grandfather usedto say that a busy man has time foreverything, I never knew that I wouldbe living it,” said he.

The film traces a special officer ofthe crime branch who investigates andtries to solve the mystery surround-ing the disappearance of some highprofile people who have gone missing.Kher’s role in the film is enriched witha thousand shades as he essays the roleof a retired judge, Justice Tyagi, whowas forced to pass an incorrect judg-ment due to lack of evidence whichallowed the criminals go scot free.After his retirement, he goes back tofind those criminals, tortures and killsthem. Questioning some norms of thejudicial rule book, he asked, “What ifthe theory of a judge is different fromthe judgement that he has to pass? Ifhe knows that the person is guilty yetthe rule book does not allow him topunish him, imagine what he must begoing through.”

The actor said that since it is thefirst time he has essayed a role like thisone, he wanted to do it differently. Hesaid, “There are two shades to mycharacter — a family man and a per-son who hunts, tortures, makes peo-ple confess their crime and finally killsthem.”

The role was indeed very chal-lenging for Kher. He said, “The meth-ods of torture keep changing and arevaried to keep the victims or rather thecriminals guessing. I didn’t want to doit in a very exaggerated or melodra-matic manner. Keeping it naturalaccelerates the challenge. But if I don’tdo it, how will I challenge myself?”

Director Ashok Nanda had earli-er said that Kher’s role in the film issimilar to the one he played in Saransh35 years ago. Citing the difference inboth the roles, Kher said, “Saransh wasa different role altogether. I was 28 andplaying the role of a 65-year-old. It wasa strong character but BV Pradhan (hisrole in Saransh) did not take law in hishands as he can fight with the systembut cannot go against it. Here JusticeTyagi does that.”

Actors don’t just live one life andputting themselves in someone else’sshoes surely transforms them too. Heapprised us as to how various charac-ters have shaped him as a person, “If

I want to be called one of the finestactors, I have to work hard for it. Youhave to work extraordinarily for theordinary to actually become extraor-dinary.” On how difficult it is for himto come out of characters that havebeen engraved on his psyche duringdifferent films, he said, “It is my job.Actors make a big noise about howthey get psychological imbalancedwhile playing a role (laughs).”

The actor, who began his actingcareer in theatre, has been workingback to back in the medium as well.Two of his plays, Kucch Bhi Ho SaktaHai and Mera Wo Matlab Nahi Thawere recently staged at the SpotlightTheatre Festival on the same day. Tothis he proudly said, “Throughout mycareer, I have never done two plays onthe same day. I was basically challeng-ing myself. Kabhi kabhi aapko khud kitaqat ka ehsaas tabhi hota hai jab aapapne aap ko us situation mei daalte hai.(Sometimes you realise your strengthonly when you put yourself in such sit-uations) There is both a chance of afailure and a success. You have to gothrough that test and I am glad Ipassed. I am very proud of myself.”

Talking about his last film, TheAccidental Prime Minister, whichgrabbed several eyeballs and gainedappreciation, he said, “Dr ManmohanSingh’s role was one of most difficultone till date, except for Saransh,which was my first. He is a personawith neutral emotions. His expressionof happiness and sadness are the same.His walking style and voice are verypeculiar. I had to work really hard for

eight months to understand him andshow how he functions through mypersonality.”

Putting himself in the shoes of afigure like Manmohan Singh facilitat-ed in nurturing his own journey aswell, said he. This is his mantra forbeing grounded even while riding thecrest of success. “It is an understand-ing of the person that enables you tofunction in a much deeper and hum-bler way. The more you understandsomebody, the richer you become. IfI understand you and your life, it is anaddition to my life as well. In thatsense, you have to be interested in theother person not only as an actor butalso as a person. I am a people-orient-ed person. I am not aloof. I reach outto people. I feel good when I knowsomeone else. This way, I am not justconfined to myself,” he said.

Despite his long innings, he doesnot believe in a laid-back approach. Hesaid, “The problem is that as yourcareer continues, there is a possibili-ty that you start taking things forgranted and become overconfident. Yeto mai kar hi lunga,(I can do this) it isthe biggest enemy of brilliance. If youare overly competent, you can hard-ly be brilliant. Currently, I am at a stagein my life where I want to do thingswhich make me feel that I have towork really hard.”

The actor is all set to work for hissecond season of New Amsterdam andhis forthcoming film Hotel Mumbai,scheduled to release in July or August.

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Airtel Payments Bank has part-nered with Bharti AXA Life

Insurance to offer the BhartiAXA Life POS Saral Jeevan BimaYojana through its extensive net-work of banking points across thecountry.

The yojana is a pure lifeterm insurance plan, which isaimed at the underinsured anduninsured segments in India.Any individual between the ageof 18 and 55 can enrol for thisproduct without the need toundergo a medical examination.

The consumers are offeredthe option to choose a policycover of either 3 lakh or 5 lakh ataffordable premiums. They alsoget the flexibility of choosing theirpreferred policy term, premiumpayment mode and additionalbenefits such as pay-out of dou-ble the sum assured in case ofdeath due to an accident.

All the savings bank accountcustomers can purchase theyojana through a quick, secureand paperless process at their

banking points. While the policyis initially available at the bank’s25,000 retail outlets, this willsoon be expanded to cover over60,000 banking points.

Anubrata Biswas, MD andCEO, Airtel Payments Bank, said,“We are delighted to partnerwith Bharti AXA Life Insurance.Saral Jeevan Bima Yojana effec-tively complements the existingportfolio of financial inclusionproducts on our banking plat-form, which include PradhanMantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana(PMJJBY) and Atal PensionYojana (APY). This association isa crucial step in our journeytowards building a comprehen-

sive product portfolio fora financially inclusive soci-ety.”

Vikas Seth, MD andCEO, Bharti AXA LifeInsurance, said, “As aresponsible life insurer, wealways try to understandthe needs of customersand provide solutions that

meet their financial requirements.As part of our partnership andstrong synergies of customer-centricity, we are offering anaffordable pure term insuranceplan to the diverse customer baseof Airtel Payments Bank acrossthe country to extend protectioncover to the uninsured segmentof the society and improve theirfinancial security and prosperity.’’

Both Airtel Payments Bankand Bharti AXA Life Insurancewould provide an end-to-enddigital journey with zero docu-mentation and instant confir-mation of policy issuance. The lifecover option will soon be extend-ed up to �25 lakh.

The book, Selfie of Success,authored by Burra

Venkatesham, is a literary tri-umph. It fills the mind withpositive and inspiring affir-mations that can motivate anindividual to take the path ofsuccess. Venkatesham’s mas-terpiece is above and beyondmost books in the same genre.

So far, the ‘success books’spoke only on achieving thedesired visions and plannedgoals regarding wealth, pros-perity, fame, establishmentof business empires, big posi-tions; or tips to achieve any-thing you want in life; com-pleting the objectives; reach-ing the career goals; accumu-lating abundance; the do’sand dont’s etc. But this bookspeaks about success in 360degrees, which is its USP. Itencompasses all the angles ofit, providing various insightsand comprehensive perspec-tive of the world of success.Everyone, who wants to reachsuccess, should read it toknow the unimaginable andfascinating aspects of it.

The book presents a holis-tic view of the success in apoetic and philosophical way,with fluid style. The aspirantcannot so far imagine whatthe side effects of successwill be; and what the sins willbe. The succeeding real lifestories highlight each conceptin a subtle way. It is the mostcomprehensive snapshot ofwhat success is. It’s a book thatbroadens horizons for the

reader right from page one.To conquer anything, onemust first study every facet ofit. Author and IAS officerVenkatesham has studied theillusive pattern of success andemployed it in his personallife with incredible results.The book is unique in manyways. The book has stories ofsome well-known personali-ties from across the world —Mahatma Gandhi to Escobar,Jack Ma to RamojiRao, OprahWinfrey to Michel Jackson,giving the reader greaterinsights.

It is compartmentalisedwell and the reader can eitherread it in one go or in seg-ments, based on the interestor curiosity that the title of thesegment arouses. The lan-guage is simple and easy tocomprehend for all ages.

A must read for its lucidstyle and unique taking, aswell as its comprehensive-ness.

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For the bold and theadventurous, the chal-lenge to climb the high-

est mountain, cross the deep-est sea and to cross the mostdifficult terrain can neverdiminish. Even before technol-ogy got evolved and refined,the quest to conquer nature,the effort to create order fromany form of disorder was thedriving force for many.Archeological excavationshave displayed the elegance ofthought in prehistoric civilisa-tions, where highly evolveddesigns were thought of andexecuted with great accuracy.These civilisations were pock-ets in the wilderness and wereswallowed up sooner thanlater, to be discovered thou-sands of years afterwards, sur-prising us all by their existence.

In this context, it can besaid that the first-known effortto connect the tip of Indianpeninsula to the island nationof Sri Lanka was at the timeLord Ram walked this earth.According to the scripturesthis effort was successful.

The next known success-ful effort to do so was fairlyrecent but only up to theisland of Rameswaram, with-in India, just 35 km short of SriLanka. This was in the timesof the British Raj. Then railwaylines were being laid across thesubcontinent, connecting thehinterland to the ports, toexport the natural wealth ofthe country to run factories inEngland. In this rail networkexpansion, it was proposed tobuild a sea-link from theIndian mainland to the islandof Rameswaram to increasetrade with Sri Lanka, then

called Ceylon. Construction of the

Pamban Bridge or RailwayBridge No. 346, started inAugust 1911 and was complet-ed by December 1913. It waspressed into service inFebruary 1914. It was India’sfirst sea bridge and the longesttill the Bandra-Worli Sea Linkwas opened to traffic someyears ago. It connectsMandapam, the last station onthe mainland to Pamban onthe island of Rameswaram.The railway line was con-structed to the very tip of thisisland, Dhanushkodi, the clos-est point to Sri Lanka. Formost of its length, the 2.058km bridge is like any other

bridge built on piers, with145 spans of 12.1 m steel gird-ers. It is made unique by its68.5 m navigational Scherzerspan, which can be lifted topermit barges and ships pass-ing through the raised bridge.

But being constructed in ahighly corrosive environmenthas taken its toll. Even though,the bridge has a well definedmaintenance protocol, the1964 cyclone and accompany-ing tidal waves washed awaythe train No. 653 approachingDhanushkodi, resulting in lossof life of all passengers, traincrew and staff. The town ofDhanushkhodi, the railwayline to it and a major part ofthe bridge was also swept

away by these waves. Thebridge was reconstructed. In2007, it was again upgraded,when it was converted intobroad gauge, in keeping withthe unigauge policy of IndianRailways. It underwent exten-sive repairs due to corrosionbetween December 2018 toFebruary 2019, includingreplacement of cracked anddamaged members of the nav-igational span. But since thelife of this 105-year-old bridgeis almost over, it is time tobuild a completely newreplacement. Once the newbridge becomes operational,the old one will be demolished.

This job has been assignedto Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd

(RVNL), a mini-ratna CentralPublic Sector Enterprise(CPSE) of the Ministry ofRailways. For the work,�248.97 crore was sanctionedin March 2019 on an out ofturn basis.

The new bridge will be2083 metre long and will beconstructed at a distance of27.35 metre on the northernside of the existing bridge andwill run parallel to it. It will be3 metre higher than the pre-sent bridge, have 100 spans of18.3 metre each and one nav-igational span of 72.5 metrelength, which will be electrical-ly operated to lift vertically. So,the navigational space of thenew bridge will be much

wider. The new bridge alongwith the navigational spanwill not only have doubletrack capacity but it will alsobe suitably built to be preparedfor the future electrification ofthe track.

Since the bridge will belocated in a highly corrosiveenvironment, it is planned tometalise the entire steel super-structure with zinc. With theprovision for the vertical lift ofthe navigational span, sophis-ticated technology andmachinery will be used. Themanual winching of the oldbridge will become a figmentof the memory. Instead, therewill be operators stationed ontop of the towers in the con-trol room who will operate thelift. Thus, they will have com-plete view of the bridge at alltimes.

The access to the controlroom will be both by stairs andelevator. The speed of the liftwill be hydraulically regulatedwith automatic brakes for anyunexpected movement.Automatic lubrication will alsobe done of the bearings, cablesand sheaves. There will be suf-ficient power back up, earth-ing and lightening protectionof the bridge. There will belocking devices for preventionof accidental opening of thespan or movement because ofwind lifting pressure. Allmechanical items will be pro-vided with outdoor maritimeprotection. Toilet facilities anda spare room shall also be pro-vided.

The target date of comple-tion of the bridge is two yearsfrom the commencement ofwork.

The first Deceased DonorLiver Transplantation

(DDLT) has been successfullyperformed at SRM MedicalCollege Hospital, Kattankulathurnear Chennai by doctors fromGleneagles Global Health City.

A 46-year-old male fromAndhra Pradesh was diagnosedwith end-stage liver disease andwas under medical manage-ment initially but this failedlater. Due to the decompensat-ed liver disease status and failureof medical therapy, doctorsadvised the patient for urgentliver transplant. As he did nothave the matching liver donor,he was listed for deceased donorliver transplantation.

The procedure was per-formed as a part of the collabo-ration between SRM andGleneagles Global, following a

MoU signed by them.Dr Vivek Vij, director of

Liver Transplant and HPBsurgery, Gleneagles Global andhis team performed the trans-plant. The patient made remark-able recovery.

Speaking about the partner-ship with SRM, Dr Joy Varghese,director of Hepatology andTransplant Hepatology, said,“The association will seeGleneagles Global, Chennai,

bring its top-notch emergencyservices, which will benefit thelocal residents.”

“Once the patient is diag-nosed with the chronic liver dis-eases, initial treatment of optimalmedical therapy can help themto stabilise but on decompensat-ing, even advanced medicaltherapy does not work and theonly option that we are left withis liver transplantation,” said DrVivek.

The mega-campus placementdrive of Tata Consultancy

Services (TCS), a software servicecompany, was conducted recently.There was a turnaround of 750 stu-dents. The company has surpassedUS technology giant IBM in termsof market capitalisation. In 2015,TCS ranked 64th overall in theForbes world’s most innovativecompanies, making it both thehighest-ranked IT services compa-ny and the top Indian company.Total number of selected studentsfrom various colleges were 175 and16 students from GNIOT group ofinstitution.

The credit goes to RohitPandey, who is the Training andPlacement officer at GNIOT.Pandey is a keen contributor togrooming talent and efficientlychannelising the professional aspi-rations of a number of students. He

has achieved this by organisingentrepreneurship programmes,guidance and counseling sessions,industry expert lectures and cam-pus placements. Keeping abreastwith the latest developments in theindustry, he has managed to notonly remain relevant but has alsocarved a niche for himself. His jour-ney can be best summed up in thephrase, ‘With consistent efforts, onecan scale great heights’ and this isprecisely what he envisions fortalented aspirants.

Hawa Badle Hum campaign waslaunched on Wednesday by BC

Tripathi, CMD, GAIL (India) Ltd. Asquad of specially designed auto rick-shaws fitted with live pollution meterswill ply on the roads of Delhi NCRunder this initiative. The autos withplanters and inspiring messages willurge the passengers to take a pledge andparticipate in a digital contest by sub-mitting their ideas on combating air pol-lution.

The unique initiative under HawaBadlo movement is a campaign thatcomplements the recently launchedweb series Hawa Badle Hassu. The seriesconveys the message that stands for acrusade against air pollution and envi-ronment conservation. It is now avail-able on SonyLiv platforms.

GAIL has been spreading awarenessby inducing behavioural changes toensure a greener and cleaner tomorrow.The movement has been actively work-ing towards educating the Indian mass-es against air pollution through events,short films, contests, pledges etc.

For the last three years Hawa Badlomovement has been able to mobilise col-

lective societal efforts for improving airquality in India. GAIL has been extend-ing full support to the movement. It hasbeen successful in reaching out to morethan six crore Indians. Videos andshort films made under this initiativehave been appreciated by other countriesas well. The movement encourages sus-tainable and environment friendlylifestyle habits such as planting trees,cycling and walking, carpooling, usingpublic transport, conserving energyand using cleaner energy sources likenatural gas for industries, CNG for auto-mobiles and PNG for commercial uses.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)has announced its audited figures

for the year ended March, 2019. New business performance has

shown a growth of 5.68 per cent in itsfirst year by posting a highest ever,1,42,191.69 crore.

Pension and Group superannua-tion business have collected 91,179.52crore as new business premiumincome as against 82,807.83 crore in2018 corresponding period showing agrowth of 10.1 per cent.

The corporation collected over3,37,185.40 crore of total premiumincome as compared to 3,17,850.99crore collected during 2018 showinga growth of 6.08 per cent.

Total policy payouts amounted to2,50,936.23 crore compared to1,98,119.83 crore in 2018, showing anincrease of 26.6 per cent. This includes

a payout of 1,36,597.37 crore for con-ventional claims outgo covering 254.05lakhs claimants FY 19.

The Corporations Gross TotalIncome grew to 5,60,784.39 crore forFY 19 from 5,23,611.11 crore, show-ing a growth of over 7.10 per cent.

Total assets of the corporationstood at 31,11,847.28 crore as com-pared to 28,45,041.82 crore for the cor-responding period last year. Thus,posting a growth of over 9.38 per cent.

LIC’s digital collection havereached 60 per cent, which reflects a38 per cent growth over previousyear.

In the new initiatives undertaken,premium collection has a growth of10.6 per cent. LIC has authorised IDBIbank to collect renewal premium ofpolicy holders through their 1800+branches.

Prithviraj Kothari isappointed as National

President of India BullionAnd Jewellers Association(IBJA) in place of MohitBharatiya for the next fiveyears.

CA Surendra Mehta hasbeen appointed as NationalSecretary and Ketan Kotharias Joint Secretary. Sanjay Jainbecomes Treasurer andNimesh Choksi as Joint

Treasurer.As one of the promoters,

Prithviraj has brought RiddiSiddhi Bullions Limited totop 10 unlisted public compa-nies in India in terms of salesturnover as per BS 1000.

Kothari had served as thePresident of the BombayBullion Association. As a pres-ident, he promoted BombayBullion Association in theinternational markets.

He has contributed in theintroduction of gold ETFs inIndia. Under his vision, RSBLhas successfully launchedIndia’s electronic over thecounter bullion trading sys-tem, RSBL spot.

Kothari is one of thefounding members and direc-tors of the Jain InternationalTrade Organisation (JITO).

IBJA has worked for panIndia operations having offices

in 27 states. It is an adviser toMCX, NSE for spot exchangeand signed MoU with BSE forthe same.

IBJA has been included inNiti Aayog for transformationof gold market. It is co-con-venor for domestic gold coun-cil. RBI recognises its rates forlending against jewellery.Ministry of Finance hasapproved IBJA rate for sover-eign gold bond.

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The US has declared theBalochistan Liberation

Army (BLA) as a global terror-ist organisation, a move decriedas “unjustified” by the separatistgroup fighting Pakistani rule inthe resource-rich Balochistanprovince.

Pakistan in 2006 banned theoutfit and have been urging theUS to do the same.

“The BLA is an armed sep-aratist group that targets secu-rity forces and civilians, mainlyin ethnic Baloch areas ofPakistan,” the State Departmentsaid Tuesday.

The Department of State hasdesignated the BLA as special-ly designated global terrorist(SDGT) outfit and made it acrime for anyone in the US toassist the outfit’s militants andfreezing any US assets they mayhave.

“The outfit has carried outseveral terrorist attacks in thepast year, including a suicideattack in August, 2018 that tar-

geted Chinese engineers inBalochistan, a November, 2018attack on the Chinese consulatein Karachi, and a May, 2019attack against a luxury hotel inGwadar,” it added.

In May this year, five peo-ple, including a Pakistani soldier,were killed after BLA gunmenstormed a five-star hotel in theport city of Gwadar.

Welcoming the US’ move,Pakistan said it hope that theaction will ensure that the BLA’sspace to operate is minimised.

It is important that the per-petrators, organisers, financersand external sponsors includingthose glorifying these acts of ter-ror against Pakistan are heldaccountable and brought to jus-tice,” the Pakistan Foreign Officesaid in a statement in Islamabad.

BLA spokesperson JiyandBaloch in a statement called theUS move “unjustified”.

“The BLA is a moderate,secular and an armed defenceorganisation.

The BLA is resisting on itsmotherland against foreignintruders to protect its people.

The international laws allowany person or nation to act inself defence. US StateDepartment’s ban on BLA isbeyond comprehension andunjustified,” he said in a state-ment.

Meanwhile, the US alsosanctioned Hezbollah opera-tive Husain Ali Hazzima, chiefof the Beirut-based terroristgroup’s intelligence unit.

It also updated its sanctionslist to reflect a name change ofthe Iranian Sunni Muslim ter-rorist group Jundallah to Jayshal-Adl. Jundallah, which wasdesignated as a foreign terroristorganisation in 2010, beganusing the new name Jaysh al-Adland associated aliases in 2012,the state department statementsaid.

Since its inception, thegroup has engaged in numerousattacks that have killed scores ofIranian civilians and govern-ment officials, including aFebruary 2019 suicide bombingand an October 2018 kidnap-ping of Iranian security per-sonnel, it said.

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China on Wednesday lodgeda diplomatic protest with

the UK over Foreign SecretaryJeremy Hunt’s remarks on theunprecedented pro-democracyprotests in Hong Kong, assert-ing that he was basking in theglory of “faded British colo-nialism” and “obsessed” withlecturing others.

UK Foreign SecretaryHunt has been expressingstrong support to the demon-strators in the former Britishcolony protesting against acontroversial extradition law,which the people of HongKong apprehend could be usedto send political dissidentsfrom the territory to mainlandChina for prosecution.

The protest intensified onMonday when demonstratorsstormed the Legislative Council(LegCo) building in the city, leftanti-Beijing graffiti on the wallssuch as “Hong Kong is notChina”, and hung the colonial-era flag.

While recognising that

Hong Kong is part of China,Hunt on Tuesday asserted thatthe 1997 declaration underwhich London handed overHong Kong to Beijing is stilllegally binding.

He warned of “serious con-sequences” if Beijing neglectedits commitments and supresspro-democracy protests.

Britain handed over HongKong to China on July 1, 1997under a “one country, two sys-tems” formula which allowsfreedoms such as freedom ofspeech, right to protest and anindependent judiciary notenjoyed by the people in main-land China.

Reacting to Hunt’s remarks,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman, Geng Shuang toldthe media here that “we deploreand firmly oppose Hunt’s wrongremarks. We have made sternrepresentations (diplomaticprotests) to the British side inBeijing and in London. Weurge British side to stop makingsuch wrong remarks and stopinterfere in Hong Kong’s andChina’s internal affairs.”

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The Trump administrationhas dropped a controversial

plan to add a question aboutcitizenship status on the 2020census, marking a major vic-tory for civil rights groupswho argued that such a movewould deter immigrants fromtaking part in the once-a-decade population count.

The Trump administra-tion’s decision comes just daysafter the Supreme Courtblocked efforts to include thequestion, ruling that the gov-ernment’s justification seemed“contrived”.

The White House argued itwould bolster protections forminority voters.

But opponents said itwould deter immigrant house-holds from taking part in thepopulation count.

They said that the citizen-ship question, which has notbeen included since 1950,would drive many immigrantsto avoid answering out of fearof being caught up in Trump’scrackdown on illegal immi-

gration. Commerce Secretary

Wilbur Ross, who originallydirected the Census Bureau toadd the question, said in astatement that he was movingahead with printing the 2020census despite his disagreementwith the court’s ruling lastweek.

“I respect the SupremeCourt but strongly disagreewith its ruling regarding mydecision to reinstate a citizen-ship question on the 2020Census,” Ross said.

“The Census Bureau hasstarted the process of printingthe decennial questionnaires

without the question. My focus,and that of the Bureau and theentire Department is to con-duct a complete and accuratecensus,” he said.

Last week, the SupremeCourt temporarily blocked thecitizenship question and saidthe government had not pro-vided adequate justificationfor it.

President Donald Trumpinitially touted the idea ofdelaying the census to allowtime to provide new legal argu-ments.

In a series of later tweets,President Trump said it was “avery sad time for America”.

“A very sad time forAmerica when the SupremeCourt of the United Stateswon’t allow a question of “Isthis person a Citizen of theUnited States?” to be asked onthe #2020 Census! Going on fora long time,” he tweeted.

The move was welcomedby the opposition Democraticparty leaders.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker ofthe US House ofRepresentatives, termed thedecision as a welcoming devel-opment for the country’sdemocracy.

“House Democrats will bevigilant to ensure a full, fair andaccurate Census.We will con-tinue to advance strong legis-lation to secure critical fundingto guarantee maximum par-ticipation and inclusion so thatevery person in every com-munity is counted,” she said.

Senate Minority leaderChuck Schumer said the exclu-sion of citizenship questionfrom the census is a victory forthe US democracy and for fairrepresentation of all commu-nities in this country.

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An airstrike hit a detentioncenter for migrants early

Wednesday in the Libyan capi-tal, killing at least 40 people, ahealth official in the country’sUN-supported government said.

The airstrike targeting thedetention center in Tripoli’sTajoura neighborhood alsowounded 80 migrants, saidMalek Merset, a spokesman forthe health ministry. Merset post-ed photos of migrants who werebeing taken in ambulances tohospitals. Footage circulatingonline and said to be frominside the migrant detentioncenter showed horrific images ofblood and body parts mixed withrubble and migrants’ belongings.

The UN refugee agency inLibya condemned the airstrikeon the detention center, whichhouses 616 migrants andrefugees. The Tripoli-based gov-ernment blamed the self-styledLibyan National Army, led byKhalifa Hifter, for the airstrikeand called for the UN supportmission in Libya to establish afact-finding committee to inves-tigate.

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President Donald Trump hasasked the Pentagon to mar-

shal tanks and fighter jets toshowcase America’s militarymight during the July 4thIndependence Day parade,alarming many who feel that heis using the armed forces for his2020 re-election bid.

Unlike other countries, theannual celebration of theAmerican Independence Dayon July 4 is traditionally notmarked by any military parade.Previous presidents have takena low profile at independencecommemorations.

The last time tanks andtroops rolled throughWashington was in June 1991,when 8,000 soldiers marched inthe so-called ‘National Victory Celebration’ markingthe end of the first US invasionof Iraq.

“Big 4th of July in D.C.‘Salute to America.’ ThePentagon and our great mili-tary leaders are thrilled to bedoing this & showing to theAmerican people, among otherthings, the strongest and mostadvanced military anywhere inthe world,” Trump saidTuesday.

The White House and thePentagon have been preparingthis military parade for monthsnow. Trump had expressed hisdesire to have a military paradeon the occasion ofIndependence Day celebrationsoon after his inauguration inJanuary 2017.

According to theDepartment of Interior, thisyear’s annual IndependenceDay celebration on theNational Mall, will featuremusic, flyovers, fireworks, and an address by PresidentTrump.

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Indian-origin Kamala Harrishas surged to the second spot

among more than 20 Democratsvying for their party’s nomina-tion for the 2020 presidentialelection after her standout per-formance in the first Democraticpresidential debate, according toa latest opinion poll.

Harris, 54, the first Indian-origin American Senator, soaredto 20 per cent in the QuinnipiacUniversity survey, while for-mer US Vice President Joe Bidenfell to 22 per cent amongDemocrats and Democratic-leaning voters. It is a significantchange from a Quinnipiac pollreleased last month that showedBiden leading the pack with 30per cent and Harris lingering ina distant fourth place with 7 percent support.

The Quinnipiac survey isthe latest in recent days to showHarris riding a wave of new sup-port following her standout per-formance in Thursday’s debate.

A rising Democratic Party

star and vocal critic of PresidentDonald Trump, Harris, if elect-ed, would be the first womanand woman of colour to be thePresident of the United States.

The Indian-origin Senator,whose mother was born inTamil Nadu and father was anAfrican-American fromJamaica, in January launched hercampaign for the presidentialelection.

A CNN/SSRS poll releasedMonday showed the Californiasenator jumping into secondplace with 17 per cent support.Likewise, a Suffolk UniversityIowa poll found Harris surginginto second in the crucial first-in-the-nation caucus state.

According to theQuinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University National opin-ion poll, Massachusetts SenatorElizabeth Warren follows at 14per cent, Vermont SenatorBernie Sanders is at 13 percent, and South Bend MayorPete Buttigieg gets four percent.

No other candidate tops

three per cent. But among women, Harris

has a slight edge with 24 per centto Biden’s 22 per cent. The raceis similarly close for whiteDemocratic voters, with Bidenat 21 per cent, and both Harrisand Warren at 20 per cent.

“Harris also essentiallycatches Biden among blackDemocratic voters, a historical-ly strong voting bloc for Biden,with Biden at 31 per cent andHarris at 27 percent,” the opin-ion poll said.

“Round 1 of the Democraticdebates puts Harris and formerBiden on two different trajecto-ries, as support for Harris surgesbut continues to slip for Biden,”Mary Snow, QuinnipiacUniversity Polling Analyst, said.

The Indian-origin Senator,whose mother was born inTamil Nadu and father was anAfrican-American fromJamaica, in January launched hercampaign for the US presiden-tial election in 2020 to take onPresident Trump, who is aRepublican.

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APakistani man returningafter performing Umrah

was shot dead on Wednesdayby two gunman due to personalenmity while another personwas killed in the shootout atLahore’s international airport,police said, causing panicamong hundreds of passengers.

Two suspects — identi-fied as Shan and Arshad —opened fire on a man near theairport’s parking area.

He said their target wasZain Ali, a 30-year-old residentof the Lakhodair area inLahore.

He died on the spot,Deputy Inspector General(DIG) Operations AshfaqAhmad Khan was quoted assaying by the Dawn news.

Both the assailants, whohave previous criminal records,have been arrested, the reportsaid.

The suspects had a long-running dispute with Zain,police said.

The second victim of theshooting was a taxi drivernamed Akram, who had norelation to Zain but was struckduring the firing. He was takento a hospital where he suc-cumbed to his injuries.

Two of them were gunned down in the interna-tional arrival lounge of theAllama Iqbal InternationalAirport in Lahore at 10 am(local time).

Khan said that the suspectshad duped Airport SecurityForce (ASF) officials andentered the airport parkingarea with weapons.

The two gunmen did notenter the main terminal’s secu-rity cordon, but the incidentraised concerns as the area isheavily patrolled by police andairport security.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan has assets

worth Rs 10.8 crore, land, fourgoats but does not own a per-sonal car, according to detailsreleased by the election com-mission.

The Election Commissionof Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesdaypublicly released the details ofassets of key politicians, includ-ing that of Prime MinisterKhan.

The ECP revealed thatPakistan Peoples Party (PPP)Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to be the wealthiestamong all the politicians witha net worth of Rs 150 crore andowned two villas in Dubai.

According to the docu-ments released by the electoralbody, Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, owns assets

worth Rs 10.8 crore. But he hasshown his palatial Bani Galaresidence, which he showed asa gift without declaring itsvalue, The Express Tribunereported.

Khan, the Chairman ofthe Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) party in his declaration,stated that he has invested infour foreign currency bankaccounts. In the poundaccount, he has 2,067 pounds,in the dollar account USD329,060, USD 1,470 in anoth-er account while he has noamount in his Euro account.

Khan does not own a per-sonal car but has Rs 24 millionin cash. He has Rs 9.6 millionin two national banks.

He also presented assetsdetails of his spouse, BushraBibi, who owns a house in BaniGala, land in Pakpattan and inOkara.

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Optimism and Effort =Into the semis. This iswhat Jasprit Bumrah

tweeted after he brought in twocrucial breakthroughs towardsthe end of the match againstBangladesh to get the game andmatch point. Indeed, it has beenquite a journey for this pacerwho the skipper says has long sethimself apart from the rest withhis excellence with the arm.

Against Bangladesh, whenMohammed Shami was beinghammered continuously by thelater middle order duo of Sabbirand Saifuddin, it was Bumrahwho prized away Sabbir whenBangladesh was coming danger-ously close to the Indian target.

Bowling Yorkers is one of themost potent and destructiveweapon in Bumrah’s armouryand he uses them for death withutmost precision, 8 times out of10 finding the man and hiswickets and giving India reasonto rejoice. How does he managethe feat, many have continued towonder.

“Everything is preparation. Ido it again and again and againin the nets. So the more you doit, you get decent at it. You can’tmaster it. You’re still trying to getbetter at it. It’s all about repeti-tion. It’s like any other ball. Soyou have to do it again and againand try to replicate in the game,”he insists.

At nets, his intent is as seri-ous as in the match because that’sthe classroom from where he getsall the action in place. VijayShankar would tell you howseriously Bumrah bowls in thenets, hit by his Yorker as if it wasnot nets but realtime match.Kohli seconds it too sayingBumrah bowls in the net as hewould bowl in the match.

Talk about the challenge ofbowling on such slow pitches andBumrah tells you, for him, whatworks is keeping things andplans simple. Analyzing andreading the wicket as soon aspossible is crucial he adds.“Sometimes you can run behindwickets, but I focus on the teamgoal. I keep things simple and notto run behind success. I stay in

the present and focus on theprocess, and eventually I tick allthe boxes, and everything iswell sorted,” he explains.

So what goes into Bumrah’sexcellence? “A lot of preparation.Whenever I practice in the nets,I practice each and every situa-tion, be it with the new ball, beit with the old ball, bowling at thedeath. If I’ve ticked all of theboxes in the net, in the match it’sall about execution and keepinga clear head. All that preparationhelps me in the matches. If thework ethic is good, the executionfeels easier in the game,” hesaid.

Even in the England game,with the new ball it was relative-ly easier. The new ball wasn’tdoing a lot. So the batsmenwere able to score runs. As the

ball gotolder, thew i c k e t

also gotslower. Therewas a lot of sun-

light in the last game, so thewicket would obviously get slow-er and slower.

“That was the plan for us aswell. We knew that, as the ballwill get older, it would get diffi-cult to hit. And you saw theyused a lot of cutters. That’s thenature of the wickets and thatcould be the nature of the wick-ets going forward. The summeris coming now, so the wicketscould get drier. It’s good practicefor us,” he said about the gameand the sweat that the bowlershad put in to win the game.

Bumrah also likes to take hisown decisions around his bowl-ing. “When I’m bowling, I like tomake my own decisions. I havea clear plan. If I have the confi-dence to execute something, I tellmy captain or senior players thatI think this would work and thiscould work according to mybowling. I always think aboutwhat I will want at the end,” heexplained.

For now, he calls himself alearner of the game be it theBumrah of two years ago whocame to England to save India’sfortunes in the ChampionsTrophy or the Bumrah of todaywho has a major hand in steer-ing its successes in the WorldCup. And he has done most ofthe work through bowling pre-cise Yorkers. “I’m still the sameperson, maybe two years older.I always want to keep learning.I want to keep evolving. That hasalways been my game. Theprogress has been good but I amstill learning,” he says with asmile. So now that India hasqualified for the semi-finals, willthe hard working talisman takesome rest and sit out of the gameagainst Lanka? “This is my firstWorld Cup, so I want to play asmany games as possible. I don’tthink I’ve become an experi-enced player that I could say Idon’t want to play some games.I always look forward to playingand the more matches you play,the more you enjoy,” he says witha smile before bidding good byeto join his team-mates for somedressing room celebrations.

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Steady KL Rahul has no intentionof launching a voyage to Planet

Rohit as India start to contemplatethe knockout stages of the ICCMen’s Cricket World Cup.

The versatile batsman hasenjoyed a quietly effective tourna-ment and thinks he would be a foolto try to play like the man ViratKohli described as the best in thebusiness.

India’s victory by 28 runsagainst Bangladesh at Edgbastonguaranteed a place in the semi-finals with a game remaining,against Sri Lanka at Headingley onSaturday.

Rohit Sharma starred againwith his fourth hundred of anincreasingly prolific campaign,prompting captain Kohli to callhim the leading one-day player inthe world.

But the contributions of Rahul

have been deceptively telling andhis opening stand of 180 withSharma represented the best of thetournament for the first wicket.This after the pair added 136 in thehigh-pressure game againstPakistan at Old Trafford.

Rahul’s experience of openingin the longer format has servedhim well after moving up theorder when Shikhar Dhawan wasforced out because of injury — andknowing his own game has been asignificant factor behind his suc-cess.

“You would be a fool to betempted to bat like Rohit becausehe is in a different class,” he said.“He is on a different planet alto-gether when he gets going.

“He made it look really easy

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An octogenarian fan stolethe limelight with her

sheer enthusiasm duringIndia’s World Cup matchagainst B’desh at Edgbastonon Tuesday, forcing skipperVirat Kohli to personallythank her after the 28-runwin which sealed theirsemis berth. CharulathaPatel, 87, attracted all thecameras as she enthusiasti-cally blew her trumpet,cheering for Kohli and hismen from the stands.Notonly Kohli, his deputy andplayer-of-the-match Rohitalso personally thanked theaged lady and showed hisgratitude after India’s win.

Wearing a tricolourscarf and with a bright yel-low vuvuzela and thenational flag in hand, Patelwas spotted celebratingevery moment of India’swin.

Kohli later took toTwitter to show his grati-tude for Patel and otherIndian fans. “Also wouldlike to thank all our fansfor all the love & support &especially Patel ji. She’s 87and probably one of themost passionate & dedicat-

ed fans I’ve ever seen. Ageis just a number, passiontakes you leaps & bounds.With her blessings, on tothe next one,” Kohli tweet-ed. She has also beenpromised tickets for herfavourite team’s remainingmatches by none otherthan captain.“Virat came to

meet me after the match.He touched my feet and Igave him my blessings. Itold him to keep up thegood work and win theWC. I always pray for theteam’s success. From thebottom of my heart, I wishthe Indian team all thebest,” Patel told Times Now.

“Virat said he wouldlook forward to see me inthe rest of the matches. Itold him that I don’t havethe tickets, he said: ‘Don’tworry about it, I will give itto you’,” Patel said, whocame from London.Mahindra Group ChairmanAnand Mahindra has alsooffered to “reimburse herticket cost” if someonehelps in identifying her. ?�����-�����������������������������#����/����� ���������

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[against Bangladesh] when really itwasn’t anything of the kind. The pitchwas two-paced, up and down, notcoming on to the bat, but from the wayhe played you would not have known.

“We expect it from him and he isdelivering every time. To bat with himis really easy because he takes the pres-sure off you. He keeps getting theboundaries and the scoreboard keepsticking, I just have to keep there withhim. It is great fun. “He has scored themost runs for the team, but everyoneelse has chipped in and we havetalked about that as a team, to keep thecontributions coming from the mid-dle order and at the death.

“Personally, I feel I have beengoing well, but am not fully satisfiedas I haven’t carried on after some of thestarts. When I say ‘convert’ I mean get-

ting to, say, 35 or 45 overs as often asI can because in these conditions it isthe set batsmen who can do the mostdamage.” Rahul, 27, lasted until the33rd over against Bangladesh beforeedging a sharp catch which wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim held well tohis right, but the 77 was his highestscore of the World Cup so far.

“We did enjoy a bit of a celebra-tion after the game,” he said. “We aretwo steps away from winning the tro-phy and that has been a dream we haveworked towards for the past four years.“We put in a clinical performance, webatted and bowled well, and we havethis winning momentum. Now wehave to make sure we keep our headsup and our eyes on what is happening.”

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Rohit Sharma’s knock of 104 againstBangladesh had a total of five sixes and

one of those went on to hit a fan in thestands at the Edgbaston Cricket Groundon Tuesday. This saw Player of the Match,Rohit, meet her and even spend time dis-cussing the injury after the end of thegame. BCCI shared pictures from Rohit’sinteraction with the fan on their officialgroup and wrote: “She is Meena. She washit by a ball when Rohit Sharma hit a six.After the game, she was presented with anautographed hat.”

Page 14: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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What more is there to sayabout Rohit Sharma? Hehas been simply incredible

in this World Cup.Four amazing centuries in a sin-

gle ICC Men's Cricket World Cup isremarkable. He is now level withKumar Sangakkara for the most-everin a single World Cup, and I thoughthe was exceptional againstBangladesh.

You cannot ask for anythingmore from an opening batsman.Rohit knows when to attack andwhen to build an innings moreconservatively.

In this game he was aggressivefrom the start and his 104 really gaveIndia the momentum early on.Contrast that with the hundred hescored against South Africa in thefirst game, two completely differentinnings, but equally as important.

The determination and willpow-er is incredible. Opening in a WorldCup is so important and he has takenon the responsibility when the teamneeded it.

The way he has stepped upsince Shikhar Dhawan's injury is cru-cial for India, and I've beenimpressed by KL Rahul as well.

He'd got a couple of good starts,but he went on and made 77 against

Bangladesh and I'm sure a hundredis just around the corner. He looksto be gaining in confidence and isbecoming another important play-er at the top of the order.

The great thing about the winover Bangladesh was that it was notjust relying on one man. This game,and much of the tournament hasbeen about teamwork for India.

Yes, Rohit scored a century andwas deservedly player of the match,but everyone chipped in and playedtheir part.

India ended up winning by 28runs, so the contributions of RishabhPant (48), MS Dhoni (35) and ViratKohli (26) were important too.

I think India are in a really goodposition, and the main reason forthat is the burden on Rohit and Viratat the top of the order has beenreduced. We have seen other players,like Rahul and Pant step up, and thatwill be important going forwards.

The same applies to the bowlers,they all played their part, withJasprit Bumrah finishing things offin style.

It was interesting to see them gowith Bhuvneshwar Kumar in placeof Kuldeep Yadav, but that may havebeen down to how good Bangladeshare against spin.

Bhuvi bowled very well, so herewarded the decision to give him ago. The management have beenclear that it was a horses for cours-es selection so I wouldn't be sur-prised to see Kuldeep back involvedin the semi-final.

The good news now for India isthat they are in those semi-finals.They have a final game against SriLanka where they will be looking toget everything right before theknockout stages.

That game could also be decisivein the race for the top seed, depend-ing on what Australia do againstSouth Africa.

I also want to give some creditto Bangladesh, who I felt were real-ly good in this game.

They kept fighting until the endeven though chasing 317 is a big ask,and showed a great deal of spiritagainst a good India side.

Perhaps they are a little tooreliant on Shakib Al Hasan andMushfiqur Rahim, but it really feelslike they have evolved as a team.

India were pushed all the way,and that is where those little contri-butions from the whole team madethe difference.�������E�@�#�������������������

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Bangladesh all-rounder SoumyaSarkar wants to build on ICC

Men’s Cricket World Cup experi-ences to take his game to anotherlevel.

Head coach Steve Rhodes spokeimmediately after the 28-run loss toIndia at Edgbaston about a core ofwhat he described as ‘middle’ play-ers who hold the key to the next stageof the country’s cricket development.

Soumya, 26, fits the bill havingnow appeared in 51 ODIs and madeenough starts with the bat during thetournament to show that he has thetalent to make a sustained impact atthe highest level.

He threatened the strong Indiaattack as Bangladesh chased a targetof 315, only to fall victim to HardikPandya on 33 in frustrating manneras soon as the medium-pace bowlerjoined the attack.

Although the loss confirmedtheir elimination, Bangladesh haveconfirmed themselves as a force inthe white-ball game with youngertalent backing up the likes of captainMashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasanand Mushfiqur Rahim.

“Naturally, it is very disappoint-ing to lose this game,” said Soumya.“I think set batters could havechanged the complexion of thegame by going on for longer, but

none of us could do that.“A bigger score from any one of

us would have made things differ-ent and I include myself in thatgroup. It might have changed theresult, but unfortunately it was not

to be.”Soumya had taken only a single

wicket with his medium pace beforethe World Cup, but has added fourmore scalps over the tournamentwith Rohit Sharma his victim this

time. Having bowled well duringjunior cricket, it is an area withscope for improvement that couldmake him even more effective at thehighest level — and an attractivesigning in domestic events aroundthe world.

He also revealed that one ambi-tion is to further his experience byplaying county cricket in England,following the likes of Tamim Iqbaland Shakib who have both beenpopular figures across the shires.

“I would love to play and I real-ly hope that opportunity comesalong,” he added. “It has always beensomething I have wanted to dobecause it would be a great experi-ence in improving my game.

“One of the challenges is to playcricket in different conditions andI have learnt things during theWorld Cup itself about the differentgrounds. Things like the back-grounds, the fast outfields and see-ing the ball at the crease.”

He is now looking forward toone of the sport’s great experiencesby playing at Lord’s on Friday,when Bangladesh finish their cam-paign against Pakistan.

Bangladesh are playing forpride, which burns deeply, but vic-tory for Pakistan could still takethem into the semi-finals.

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Bangladesh head coach SteveRhodes acknowledged the

paucity of cricketing talent in thecountry, saying there is no oneon the horizon to replace long-serving captain MashrafeMortaza.

The 35-year-oldBangladesh captain, whorecently won a GeneralElection to become aMember of Parliament,has expressed his desire tocontinue playing forBangladesh despite thepoor show in the WorldCup. Mortaza wasappointed captain in 2009.

Asked if Mortaza’s presenceis preventing the team fromunleashing a young and moreimpactful fast bowler, the coachlooked helpless after the 28-runloss to India here on Tuesday.

“We’ve also got to have abowler good enough, capableenough to actually replace Mash.Everybody forgets that. We haven’tgot too many of the taller, quick-er bowlers, which, is what we’re

trying to get into Testmatches,” Rhodesaccepted the lack oftalent being a big fac-

tor. “As soon as wefind (good fastbowlers) themand as soon asthey’re start-ing to do well,I’m sure thatwe would

want to getthem in the

team,” he added.There’s no hid-

ing that the coun-try’s favourite cap-tain was well belowhis best and Rhodesthinks that a proudperson like Mortazawill be the first oneto acknowledge that.

“Well, I’m sureMash would be a lit-tle disappointed withthat first over, but Iactually thought itwas a very brave deci-sion to do to pull

one's self of f ,”

Rhodes said referring to the skip-per bowling only the first over ina spell and taking himself off.

The coach would ideally likeMortaza to take a stock of thingsin the coming days.

“Mash is a very proud person,and I’m sure he will look at hisperformances so far and wishthey were a little bit better,” headded.

Rhodes, however, was firmlyagainst the Bangladeshi mediawhich has gone after Tamim Iqbalfor a disastrous World Cup with-out a single impactful perfor-mance.

“We shouldn’t really start cas-tigating or have a go at Tamim.He’s a wonderful player. He playedsome great shots today, and if youknow anything about batting, ittakes one ball to get you out, andit might take one half mistake andyou’re a goner.

“Well, I would say whole-hearted has been his perfor-mances. I thought today was goingto be the day, but sadly, it wasn'tto be. And that 's cricket.Sometimes the harder you try, theworse it gets,” Rhodes lamented.

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Indian skipper Virat Kohli hasdescribed Rohit Sharma as the bestOne-Day player in international

cricket right now after his deputy scoreda record-equalling fourth century in a sin-gle edition of the World Cup.

Rohit’s 104 off 92 balls in the 28-runwin over Bangladesh guided India to theWorld Cup semi-finals here on Tuesdayand in the process he also equalledKumar Sangakkara’s record of scoringmost tons in a World Cup edition.

He is currently the highest run-get-ter in the ongoing mega-event with 544runs from seven innings, including fourcenturies and one 50.

“I have been watching it for yearsnow. He’s (Rohit) the best One-dayplayer around and we are so delighted tosee him. When he plays like that, every-body is happy to see him strike this sowell,” Kohli about his deputy at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The other architect of India's win waspace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who,with his toe-crushing yorkers, derailedBangladesh's chase.

“His overs were always going to becrucial, so that's why we stopped himafter four initially,” said Kohli.

“He’s a world-class bowler and he justknows what he’s up against. We can lookto capitalise on situations where we arein a position to score those extra 30 runs.Very happy with the way the team hasplayed so far.”

India became the second team aftertitle holders Australia to enter the semi-finals of the 50-over showpiece.

“It’s good to have qualified on thepoints table now. This will keep us in agood frame of mind going into the semi-finals,” Kohli said.

Against Bangladesh, India went inwith only five bowlers and Kohli said itwas a gamble which they took keepingin mind the size of the ground and com-bination of the team.

“(Five bowlers) Look, we experi-enced that Hardik (Pandya) when putunder pressure has come back really well.He's really looking forward to do stuff forthe team. He has a gut feel of what thebatsman is looking to do.

“I know five bowlers was a gamble,but it was keeping in mind the ground

dimensions. We wanted to play the per-fect combination for the small boundary,”the skipper explained.

Kohli also thanked the cricket-crazyIndian fans who thronged the stadiumin large numbers in every match to sup-port their team. “Thank you — the fanshave been magnificent.”

Player-of-the-match Rohit Sharmasaid he had positive feelings beforegoing to bat but admitted that he was alsolucky to have got a reprieve when he wason nine.Rohit was dropped by TamimIqbal at deep mid-wicket off MustafizurRahman early on in his innings.

“I was lucky (early on)... Fortunefavours the brave. I never think about theshorter boundaries when I bat, becausemy game is all about piercing the field.Once you are set, the idea is to put pres-sure on the bowlers.”

Asked about his personal milestoneof four centuries in a single World Cup,Rohit said: “I thought I just got a 100today. My mantra is whatever has hap-pened in the past is in the past. Those inform have to bat long and get the teamto a big score. I need to focus on the nextgame now.”

Losing skipper Mashrafe Mortazalauded his team’s effort but rued thedropped catch of Rohit, which eventu-ally turned out to be the difference.

“This was a good effort, but we hadto win this match. We could have had abit more luck, but Shakib Al Hasan hasbeen in superb form, and Mushfiq hasbatted beautifully. Rohit’s catch wasobviously disappointing, but those thingshappen in the field,” he said.

He said lack of partnerships did thedamage for his side.

“If one of them could have been 80-90, it could have been a different match,”Mortaza said.

Out of the World Cup, Mortaza nowwants to end on a high with a win againstPakistan in their last league game tomor-row.

“We have played our best, and fanshave been fantastic. Hopefully we will endon a good note,” he said.

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Snubbed twice over forthe ongoing World Cup,Indian middle-order

batsman Ambati Rayuduretired from all forms ofcricket without specifying hisreasons for calling it quits.

The 33-year-old AndhraPradesh batsman was inIndia’s official standbys list forthe big event in the UK butwas ignored despite theinjury-forced ouster of all-rounder Vijay Shankar.

Opener Mayank Agrawalwas brought in on the teammanagement’s insistence andit is learnt, Rayudu was leftquite disappointed by the turnof events.

“...I have come to decisionto step away from the sportand retire from all forms andlevels of the game. I would liketo take this opportunity tothank the BCCI and all theState associations that I haverepresented which includeHyderabad, Baroda, Andhraand Vidharbha,” Rayudu saidin his mail to the BCCI.

“It has been a honour andprivilege to have representedour country,” he added.

Rayudu played 55 ODIsfor India, scoring 1694 runs atan average of 47.05. The play-er, who could never break intothe Test team, was in thespotlight before the WorldCup.

Declared the preferred No4 batsman by captain ViratKohli not many months ago,Rayudu was ignored forShankar in India’s final squadfor the big event.

Chairman of selectorsMSK Prasad had justified themove by saying that Shankarhad “three-dimensional skills”.

Shankar couldn’t make muchof an impact and was eventu-ally forced out by a toe injury.

Rayudu had taken a dig atPrasad’s statement with acheeky social media post.

“Just ordered a new set of3d glasses to watch the worldcup,” he had tweeted at thetime. He was later put in thestandbys list but wasn’t called.

“I would like to thank thecaptains I have played under,MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma andespecially Virat kohli whoalways had shown great beliefin me throughout my careerwith the Indian team.

“It has been a wonderfuljourney of playing the sportand learning from every upand down it brought up on forthe last 25 years at various dif-ferent levels,” he wrote. Theright-hander earned the rep-utation of being a tempera-mental player owing to sever-al confrontations with fellowcricketers and even matchofficials in the domestic cir-cuit.

Five selectorscombined would nothave made the runsRayudu has in his

career. I feelsad about this

retirement. Pant andMayank got selected

amidst the WCinjuries, and anyone

in Rayudu's placewould have feltequally bad. A

cricketer like himwho has played so

well in the IPL and forthe nation, scoredthree 100’s and 1050's, and despite

that if a player has toretire — it is a sadmoment for Indian

cricket— Gautam Gambhir

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Page 15: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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�The pitches have got dryer.Does that help with the extra spinnersthat you have?

Yeah, you saw the last game. So forspinners, they bowled really well, and thewicket is suitable for our spinners. As thewicket, same like last one, so maybe it’svery difficult for them. But if we bowl theright areas, so that would be the key point,and hopeful tomorrow will be the samewicket like the last one we played againstPakistan.�Coming into this tournament did youthink you’d get more wickets like thegame the other day?

Yeah, because at the start of the tour-nament the wicket was very difficult. Thewickets we played first three games, justtotally different. We didn’t realise like thiskind of pitches we can find like in theupcoming games like now and also againstPakistan. First, we think different. Now it’stotally different wicket. We didn’t expectin England these kind of pitches especial-ly, but now I think it’s because of weath-er. It’s a very good wicket for today, espe-cially for us.�What do you think you need to do toturn a close win to an actual win?

We played last four, five games quitewell. I’m happy with the performance ofthe team. But we missed in the last, for thelast game we played against Pakistan andespecially like Bangladesh, because weplayed really well. If we played 50 overs,especially in the batting, so it’s all depend-ing on our batting strength. �All the kids coming in want to be thenext Rashid or the next Mujeeb. Is therea problem that nobody wants to becomethe next Hamid Hassan?

Good question. If you look forwardcricket last two, three years, we’re justdepending on spinners. We played a lot ofcricket in Sharjah especially and Dehradunin India. So we all depend on the spinners,especially when Mujeeb joined the teamin qualifying round before he played aseries against Ireland. He bowled reallywell. But now the problem is here, so if youhave two spinners like Rashid and Mujeeb— I’m not saying every time, he alsobowled too fast. It’s like a medium pacers.So it's very difficult to pick them. So if youhave work on the fast bowlers in the lasttwo, three years, so maybe we have a goodpacers now in this tournament. So this isa problem. Now struggling here in the fastbowling department, especially last game,we missed Hamid Hassan, his injury. It’sa big turning point for me.�You bowled against Afg. If you had thattime again would you still bowl thatover?

Yes, because if you look, we missedHamid Hassan. He bowled only twoovers. If I have Hamid in the last overs, somaybe I just only bowl three or four, fiveovers — only five, four overs. Like we alsohave a spinner option — Sami and alsoRahmat, they’re also good spinners.Samiullah Shinwari bowl really well. Hetook the place of Hamid Hassan.

Hamid is a very hard bowler. He’s veryquick, he’s a 140-plus bowler. So, but it’sbad luck for me, for my team. We missedhim. I bowled last — in every match Ibowled 10 overs, eight overs like this. Thisway I bowled in the end, I just — I haveno option. Only me as a fast bowlingdepartment. This way I bowled in the end,but he did bowl really well. The luck is onthe other side; it’s bad luck for us.

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Former West Indies cricket captain andChennai Super Kings star Dwayne

Bravo on Wednesday met 'Padman'Arunachalam Muruganantham and dis-cussed menstrual hygiene awareness.Inspired by the work of Muruganantham,an entrepreneur who developed cost-efficient sanitary napkins, Bravo chose tomeet him during a private visit to the city,sources said. The ace all-rounder fromTrinidad and Tobago discussed taking thelow-cost pad machine invention to hiscountry to spread menstrual hygieneawareness, sources close toMuruganantham said. Bravo has alsobeen signed up to star in a film to bedirected by National award winning doc-umentary filmmaker Aarti Shrivastava, topromote social awareness regardingwomen's hygiene. He was in Chennairecently during which he sharpened hisshooting skills during a visit to Olympicmedallist Gagan Narang's Gun for Gloryfacility at Sri Ramachandra University. TheCSK star also interacted with children atthe nets of Sri Ramachandra MedicalCollege in Chennai wherein he gave tipsto the children and spoke about how hetook up cricket. �"#

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With both teams out of the semi-final race, Afghanistan will havethe psychological advantage

when they continue the search for theirmaiden victory in the World Cup againstWest Indies, who are looking to restorepride, here today.

Afghanistan beat a star studded WestIndian side comprising power hitters likeChris Gayle, Carlos Brathwaite and ShaiHope twice in the World Cup qualifiers,held in Harare last year.

And now with their fine show againstsome of the big teams in the World Cup,the war-torn nation will fancy theirchances against the West Indies.

For both Afghanistan and West Indies,the tournament has been a case of so nearyet so far.

Afghanistan, who have proved timeand again they can't be written off as min-nows, gave heavyweights India, Pakistanand Sri Lanka a run for their money dur-ing the tournament. All three sides strug-gled against the potent Afghan bowlingattack that boasts the likes of MohammedNabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman and RashidKhan.

For the West Indies, it was heartbreakfor the third time when they came closeto another big scalp against Sri Lanka onMonday. They had earlier squanderedtheir chances of beating reigning cham-pions Australia, followed by CarlosBrathwaite falling just short of what couldhave been a match-winning six againstNew Zealand.

"It is disappointing to come so closeon a number of stages and not get thatwin," West Indies captain Jason Holdersaid after the defeat to Sri Lanka.

Both teams are out of contention forthe semifinals with Afghanistan sitting atthe bottom of the points table and WestIndies at the penultimate spot.

West Indies, the winners of the firsttwo World Cups back in 1975 and 1979,have faced seven straight defeats in thetournament after starting their campaignby demolishing Pakistan in their opening

game. A win in their final match will bea nice way to exit the big stage.

Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naibwill marshal his troops once again and willhope his spinners weave their magic onelast time before they head back home.

�4����West Indies: Jason Holder (captain),Chris Gayle, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer,Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell,Oshane Thomas, Kemar Roach, AshleyNurse, Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Ambris,Evin Lewis, Shannon Gabriel, DarrenBravo, Fabian Allen.Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (captain),Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Hazratullah Zazai,Asghar Afghan, Rashid Khan,Mohammed Nabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman,Dawlat Zadran, Najibullah Zadran,

Hashmatullah Shahidi, SamiullahShinwari, Rahmat Shah, Noor Ali Zadran,Ikram Alikhil.

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The West Indies might be outof the running for a place in

the World Cup semi-finals butassistant coach Roddy Estwickhas backed them to finish on ahigh.

The side from the Caribbeanclose out their campaign againstAfghanistan at Headingley, hav-ing failed to pick up a win sincetheir opening success againstPakistan.

But Estwick drew parallelswith the Test series in Englandtwo years ago when the WestIndies upset England in Leeds,Shai Hope hitting a brilliant cen-tury to level the series after a bigdefeat at Edgbaston.

He explained: “Walking inhere I remember our backs wereagainst the wall against England(in 2017). We had lost badly atBirmingham.

“Everybody was saying goinginto the final day that we weregoing to lose to England badly aswell. We chased 322 down. Sohopefully with backs against thewall again we can come up withthat kind of performance and wecan finish on a high.

“Obviously we’re not happylosing games. But we started tobuild something and once we canremain patient, we can keepbuilding. Young players are com-

ing through and once that keepshappening then things will get alot better."

When Estwick talks aboutyoung players, one who has real-ly come to the fore has beenNicholas Pooran, talked up byChris Gayle as the future of WestIndies cricket earlier in the tour-nament.

Pooran's century almost gotthe Windies over the line last timeout at Durham against Sri Lanka,that ton his first as a profession-al.

But for Estwick, it has notcome as a surprise to see Pooranemerge, insisting the 23-year-old,who will be back at Headingleylater this summer with Yorkshire,

has always had the potential.He added: "I've always

believed in Nicholas. I went toDubai with him and I saw himplay the best white-ball inningsI've ever seen anybody play. Hegot 148 in a youth World Cupgame against Australia out of 208.

"So I'm not surprised by histalent. What's surprised me is it'staken as long as this to reallycome through. And I hope thathe can build on this now and hecan really cement his place for avery long time."

The Windies have had tocope with a number of injuriesover the course of the tourna-ment, losing Andre Russell mid-way through, while star bowlerKemar Roach missed the SriLanka game through illness.

He is expected to be fit for theclash with Afghanistan, where theCaribbean side will look to per-form better in the crucialmoments of the game.

Estwick added: "Lookingback over the eight games that weplayed, I personally thought weshould have won four of those.We were very, very close.

"We just didn't play the bigmoments well. And hopefully wecan learn from that and we canmove forward and we can planfor the next one."������,�@�#�������������������

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Imam-ul-Haq says Pakistan willgo all out against Bangladesh on

Friday even if they have no realis-tic chance of reaching the WorldCup semi-finals.

A win for the tournamenthosts would all but ended the1992 champions’ chances of reach-ing the last four — England is outof reach on 12 points while NewZealand have a far-superior net runrate to Pakistan so would likelyprogress even if the two teams fin-ished level on 11 points.

Imam said therewas no despondencyin the Pakistan campdespite the diffi-cult situation.

"We arenot thinkingon the lines ofnot reaching semi-finals," said Imam."Our plan is to playthe semi-final withan all-outeffort and atthe end ifthat doesn'thappen thenwe have toplay positivecricket and endon a high."

Pakistan won just

one of their first five World Cupmatches but bounced back strong-ly with victories against SouthAfrica, New Zealand andAfghanistan to give themselves ashot at reaching the semi-finals.

Imam said the 41-run defeatagainst defending championsAustralia earlier in the competitionwas painful.

“I think the Australia defeathurts me a lot. I was set and play-ing well. I should have won thatmatch for Pakistan,” said Imam.

“We lost four quick wicketsand I think I should have won thatgame and we would have beaten a

big team in the World Cup.”Imam, who scored his

only fifty of the tourna-ment in that match, said hewas disappointed with hisbatting during the tourna-ment.

“I think what expecta-tions I had from myself I

could not do like that,” saidImam, who has so far scored205 in seven innings. “I hadstarts but couldn't score big.

“I am very young so Ihave learned a lot in thisWorld Cup. What mistakes Ihave committed, I have

learned from them and Iam sure that will helpme,” said the 23-year-old.

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Page 16: ˆ - News Headlines India - The Pioneer · 2019-07-03 · crystal clear that India’s once cherished institutional neu-trality no longer existed, he said, “The stated objectives

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Three-time major winner Stan Wawrinkawas knocked out of Wimbledon on

Wednesday, falling in five sets to 6ft 11in(2.1m) Reilly Opelka as defending champi-on Novak Djokovic waited to push his bidfor a fifth title.

Two-time quarter-finalist Wawrinka, 34,was beaten 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 by hisAmerican opponent, the tallest man in thesport and 13 years his junior.

Opelka fired 23 aces and 59 winners and

goes on to face either 2016 runner-up MilosRaonic of Canada or Robin Haase of theNetherlands.

Opelka will be appearing in the thirdround at a Slam for the first time havingnever won a grass court match in his careerprior to coming to Wimbledon.

Wawrinka won warm applause for giv-ing a line judge a warm embrace after acci-dentally colliding with her as he sprinted tohit a backhand.

Also feeling the pain was Russia’sMargarita Gasparyan who was forced to

retire when just two points from victoryagainst Ukraine eighth seed Elina Svitolina.

World number 62 Gasparyan was 7-5,5-4 ahead when she collapsed to the groundon Court Three, suffering with cramping.

Although she bravely tried to continue,the Russian, who has undergone three kneesurgeries in her career, was forced to quit.

Czech third seed Karolina Pliskovareached the last 32 with a 6-0, 6-4 win overPuerto Rico’s Olympic champion MonicaPuig.

Pliskova, one of four players who couldend Wimbledon as world number one, willface Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan for a spot in thefourth round.

In a match which opened proceedingson Centre Court, 52nd-ranked Puig wasclearly over-awed, winning just nine pointsin a 20-minute first set.

Former world number one and doubleAustralian Open winner Victoria Azarenkaswept past Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 6-0.

Azarenka, now at 40 in the world, wasa semi-finalist at the All England Club in2011 and 2012.

Next up is a last-32 clash with eitherfellow ex-world number one SimonaHalep or Mihaela Buzarnescu.

It’s the first time that 2018 FrenchOpen champion Halep has ever met a fel-low Romanian at a Slam.

Djokovic’s path to a fifth title was easedon Monday when potential title rivalsStefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverevwere knocked out of his section of thedraw.

Later on Wednesday, the top seed takeson world number 111 Denis Kudla of theUnited States where he will attempt tomake the last 32 for the 14th time.

The Kiev-born Kudla, who moved tothe US with his parents on his first birth-day, made the third round in 2015, knock-ing out Zverev in the first round.

Cori Gauff, just 15 years old, was thesensation of the first round when shestunned five-time champion VenusWilliams having already become theyoungest player to qualify for Wimbledon.

She faces 30-year-old MagdalenaRybarikova who made the semi-finals in2017.

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Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firminoscored the goals as Brazil beat arch-

rivals Argentina 2-0 on Tuesday to qual-ify for the Copa America final.

Jesus and Firmino netted a goalapiece in each half to give Brazil a victo-ry which ensured Lionel Messi’s frustrat-ing wait for a major international tour-nament title with Argentina continued.

Hosts Brazil will play the winners ofsecond semi-final between championsChile and Peru in Sunday’s final.

It was the first time theseage-old rivals had met in amajor competition since Brazilbeat Argentina 3-0 in the 2007Copa final.

English-based Jesus andFirmino were the stars, eachcreating the other’s goal,although captain Dani Alves had amajor say in the opener.

“It was another step towards ourobjective. We’re achieving all the goalsthat we’re setting ourselves,” said Alves.

“A lot of people doubt us but we havea lot of faith in ourselves, in our plan, inour hard work.

“We’re reaping the fruits of the seedswe’re sowing every day.”

But it was a miserable night for Messi,whose hopes of landing a major interna-tional honour with Argentina ended indisappointment once again.

He will get another opportunitynext year, though, with the fourth CopaAmerica in the last five years, due to beplayed in Argentina and Colombia.

“We should have been the team goingto the final because we deserved it, nodoubt about that. But sometimes footballis unfair,” complained Argentina coachLionel Scaloni.

Brazil took the lead on 19 minutesafter a piece of individual brilliance fromAlves. He beat three players on a mazyrun before sending Firmino clear downthe right with a no-look pass, theLiverpool forward crossing for theunmarked Jesus to tap home.

Argentina almost levelled on the half

hour when Sergio Aguero headed Messi’sfree-kick onto the bar, the ball bouncingdown just in front of the line before Brazilscrambled it clear.

Messi then burst into life, driving atheart of the Brazil defense and playing inAguero, who took advantage of a ThiagoSilva slip to make space for himself butMarquinhos was quickly across to blockthe Manchester City striker’s shot.

Moments later, Messi beat two menon the right, won back the ball with a slid-ing tackle after overrunning it, but thenwastefully shot high and wide.

At the other end, Arthur shotpowerfully, but straight at goal-keeper Franco Armani.

Argentina pushed Brazilback at the start of the secondhalf and Aguero picked outLautaro Martinez in the box buthe didn’t catch his left-foot vol-

ley cleanly and Alisson gathered comfort-ably. Another promising attacking moveended with Rodrigo de Paul blazing overfrom 20 yards.

But Jesus produced a beautiful pieceof skill, including a pirouetting drag-back,before teeing up Philippe Coutinho whoshould have done better than shootingover.

Moments later, though, a blockedshot from Martinez looped over toMessi who lashed a shot from an angleagainst the post, with Alisson beaten.

Alisson was alert to clutch a Messifree-kick on 66 minutes that looked des-tined for the top corner.

By then, Scaloni had already gone forbroke, bringing off midfielder MarcosAcuna and sending on speedy wingerAngel Di Maria, with Messi dropping intoa deeper role.

Just as Argentina looked capable offinding a way back into the match, Brazilstung them on the counter-attack withManchester City’s Jesus getting away fromtwo defenders and teeing up theunmarked Liverpool striker Firminofor a tap in on 71 minutes.

Scaloni threw on another forward inPaulo Dybala but there was no way backfor Argentina.

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Alex Morgan scored whatproved to be the winner but

hailed goalkeeper Alyssa Naeherafter her late penalty save fromSteph Houghton allowed holdersthe United States to claim a dra-matic 2-1 victory over England intheir women’s World Cup semi-final on Tuesday.

On her 30th birthday, USAco-captain Morgan headed homeher sixth goal of the World Cupjust after the half-hour mark inthis last-four showdown to puther team back in front after EllenWhite had cancelled out ChristenPress’s early opener.

But after an open first 45minutes, the second half wasdominated by more VAR contro-versy, with England having anoth-er White goal disallowed for the

tightest of offside calls followinga review by the Brazilian referee.

Phil Neville’s team later ben-efited from Edina Alves Batista’sdecision to award them a spot-kick when Becky Sauerbrunnmade the slightest of contactwith White in the box, yetHoughton’s 84th-minute kick wasstopped by Naeher diving low toher right.

England finished with 10players after Millie Bright wassent off for a second yellow cardlate on, and the USA held out toreach the final, despite beingwithout the injured MeganRapinoe.

“Alyssa Naeher, she should bethe player of the match today. Shesaved our butts today,” saidMorgan.

They will now go on to faceSweden or the Netherlands in

Sunday’s final, as they aim to winthe trophy for the fourth time ineight editions. It is their thirdstraight final, and they will hopeto have Rapinoe back in time.

“Megan’s got a slight strain toher hamstring so wasn’t availabletoday,” said US coach Jill Ellis.

“I feel we have a really gooddeep bench, so I called uponother players and I think they dida fantastic job.” It is another bit-terly disappointing way forEngland to lose, as they go out ofa third consecutive major tourna-ment in the semi-finals. Theirplayers cut dejected figures on thepitch at full-time.

“Football can be cruel. Wehave had a fantastic ride. Whenwe got the penalty I turned to mybench and said ‘we were going towin it,’ but it wasn’t to be,” Nevilletold the BBC.

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Andy Murray and Serena Williamswill form a mixed doubles dream team

at Wimbledon, his managementannounced on Tuesday, as he graduallyreturns to tennis following career-savingsurgery.

Murray, who is easing his way backinto the sport, will join forces withWilliams in an all-star partnership whenthe draw is announced on Wednesday.

The Scot is already entered into themen’s doubles’ where he is playing along-side France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

The two-time Wimbledon champion'spartnership with seven-time winnerWilliams will make them instant favouritesfor the title.

“We’re a lot alike on the court. I’vealways liked that about him,” Williams saidof her fellow former world number one.

“His work ethic is just honestly off thecharts. That’s something I’ve alwaysrespected about him. His fitness, every-

thing. Murray had been searching for amixed doubles partner but had complainedthat he had been turned down by a num-ber of players.

“I do want to play,” the 32-year-old saidon Saturday at a pre-Wimbledon mediaday.

“We’ve had a number of conversationswith a few players. Yeah, the plan’s definite-ly to play.

Murray played mixed doubles atWimbledon in 2006 where he teamed withBelgium’s Kirsten Flipkens and reached thesecond round.

He was also a Silver medallist withLaura Robson in the London 2012Olympics which were played at the AllEngland Club.

Serena is a two-time mixed doubleschampion at the Slams.

In 1998, she partnered with MaxMirnyi to win Wimbledon and the USOpen. Some 64 pairings compete in themixed doubles, which is disputed over thebest of three sets.

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England's World Cup hopes werein the balance on Wednesdayafter New Zealand fought back

following opener Jonny Bairstow's sec-ond successive century of the tourna-ment.

The hosts, in a match where victo-ry for either side would see them intothe semi-finals, were set for a huge totalat 194-1 off 30 overs at Chester-le-Street.

But in the last 20 overs they man-aged just 111 runs and lost seven wick-ets against a Black Caps attack missingstar fast bowler Lockie Ferguson, outwith a hamstring injury, to finish on305-8.

England captain Eoin Morganrevived the innings with 42 and aneighth-wicket partnership of 29between Liam Plunkett (15 not out)and Adil Rashid (16) ensured thehosts went past 300.

New Zealand were left with a stiff,but not impossible, chase, given themost any team have made batting sec-ond to win a World Cup match isIreland's 329-7 against England at

Bangalore in 2011."I am really pleased

(with the hundred)," saidBairstow. "Obviously I havehad a couple of low scores inthe competition as well. I feltlike I needed to contributeand needed runs. I am dis-appointed not to go on andget a big one but pleased Igot a hundred.

"You want to fire againstthe best in the world andconsistently do it. We knowwhat quality bowling theyhave got. We will be lookingto implement things we haveseen in that innings in ourbowling innings."

If England lose to NewZealand, they will beknocked out shouldPakistan beat Bangladeshat Lord's on Friday.

But if New Zealand, likeEngland looking to win theWorld Cup for the first time,are defeated, they should stillgo through to the last fouron net run-rate.

Bairstow fell soon afterreaching three figures whenhe played on to recalledpaceman Matt Henry for106.

England's decision topromote Jos Buttler saw theusually free-scoring bats-man chip Trent Boult toNew Zealand captain KaneWilliamson at mid-off for11.

Ben Stokes came intothis match on the back ofthree successive fifties but henever got going on hisDurham home ground, withthe all-rounder also out for11 when he drove left-armspinner Mitchell Santner tolong-on.

Left-hander Morgan,who won the toss, made avaluable contribution beforehe was well caught at mid-off by a leaping Santner offHenry to leave England 272-7 in the 47th over.

Earlier, Bairstow andfellow opener Jason Roy

(60) got England off to aflyer with a partnership of123 -- their third centurystand in a row.

Bairstow drove theexperienced Tim Southee -- recalled for his first matchof the tournament -- for theonly six of the innings to goto 90.

He then completed hisninth one-day internation-al hundred with two bound-aries off Southee as hereached three figures in 95balls, including 14 fours anda six.

But the next over sawBairstow's Yorkshire team-mate Joe Root caughtbehind hooking at Boult for24.

Southee, who took astunning 7-33 when NewZealand thrashed Englandin Wellington en route toreaching the 2015 WorldCup final, took 1-70 withHenry (2-54) and Boult (2-56) the pick of the attack.