16
F resh from their superlative performance in the Lok Sabha polls which saw them win as many as 41 out of the 48 seats in the State, the ruling BJP and its saffron alliance partner Shiv Sena have decided to contest 135 seats each in the State Assembly polls to be held in October this year. Making an announcement to this effect on Sunday, senior BJP leader and State Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said, “The BJP and the Shiv Sena will contest 135 seats each in the State Assembly polls, setting aside the remaining 18 seats for our allies”. The understanding on the seat-sharing between the two saffron alliance partners for the polls is in line with the decision that had been taken during the talks between the leaders of BJP and Shiv Sean in February this year. “We are not a party that will go back on our words. At a meeting that our party’s chief Amit Shah had with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, we had mutually agreed that the two parties would contest equal number of seats in the Assembly. We are adhering to our earlier understanding,” Patil said. Detailed report on P4 A Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan attained martyrdom and four others sustained injuries during an encounter with the CPI (Maoist) in the wee hours of Sunday in Dumka’s Kathalia block, around 300 km northeast of Ranchi. The injured jawans were rushed to the Dumka Sadar Hospital from where one of them was airlifted to Ranchi as his condition was found to be critical, police said. “SSB jawan Neeraj Chetri from Assam attained martyr- dom in the encounter. The inci- dent occurred around 3.30 am when the security forces were conducting a combing operation in the Maoist-affected area,” said Additional Director General of Police ML Meena, who also happens to be the spokesperson of Jharkhand Police. Dumka Superintendent of Police YS Ramesh said some insurgents have also sustained bullet injuries in the encounter and search operation is on to track them. This is the third encounter between the outlawed group of insurgents and security per- sonnel reported in Jharkhand in less than a fortnight. Earlier on May 28, at least 11 jawans of Jharkhand police and 209 CoBRA battalion sustained severe injuries in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion triggered by the CPI (Maoist) in Saraikela Kharsawan. Another IED blast in the same district caused injuries to at least four jawans a day after the results of the 17th General Elections were out. Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Sunday said, “Left Wing Extremism is counting its days in Jharkhand. We are commit- ted to bring an end to any form of extremism in our State.” He offered condolences to the family of the martyr and said that the entire State stands in support of the bereaved family. “In all the three incidents, we penetrated their territory and they retaliated. Continued on Page 4 J harkhand with its unparal- leled natural beauty like forests, mountains, hills and waterfalls makes for a perfect place for nature lovers. The untapped natural beauty of the region which makes it a great picturesque destination has caught the attention of the film fraternity and is soon turning into a film- making hub. One such movie ‘Fauji Calling’ is currently being shot near Dassam Falls on the out- skirts of Ranchi. Starring Jamshedpur born Ranjha Vikram Singh in the lead role along with Sharman Joshi, it also features Bidita Bag, Mugdha Godse and Zarina Wahab in prominent roles. . A drama movie, directed by Aaryaan Saxena, the film is slated to release later this year. It is being produced under the banners of Ovez Productions, Ojas Motion Pictures and Singh’s own production house Running Horses Films. Ranjha Vikram Singh aka ‘Rajjo Fauji’ as he is popularly known shot to fame with the role of the lead antagonist in the 2014 blockbuster Heropanti. Born in Jamshedpur, Singh did his primary education from Little Flower School before moving to Chandigarh with his family. “I have very fond mem- ories of the Steel City. We were regulars at the Golmuri Club and that’s where I learnt swim- ming. I have come to the east- ern part of the country after a time span of 23 years and am feeling a sense of déjà-vu,” remarked a nostalgic Singh. A graduate from Delhi University, he moved to Mumbai at the age of 22 and that’s when his journey as an actor kick started. “I got my first break in Bollywood opposite Mahima Choudhary in the movie Souten: The other Woman in 2006 and since there has been no looking back.” Mumbai Godfather, Aatma, Old is Gold are some of his other Bollywood movies. Apart from Hindi films, he has also done a number of south Indian and Punjabi films. “I am a trained boxer from New Zealand and I like to do the stunts on my own. I always wanted to play the part of an action hero, so when I got my first break in a Telugu film named Rebel in 2012 for the role of David, I just grabbed the opportunity. Since then I have worked in a number of south Indian films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages,” Singh remarked. The actor was nominated as the Best Villain for his dou- ble role in the Kannada movie Rana Vikrama where he por- trayed the main antagonist Johnson and Louis Batten, Viceroy of Company Government at the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIAMA). “While all this was hap- pening, I realised my journey was calling me towards my roots as regional cinema was doing very well and my first Punjabi film 25 Kile came into being. The film did extremely well and I also received the Fimlfare awards- Punjabi 2016 for the best debut action actor. At the same time I stated my own production house Running Horses Films and was involved in the movie in the capacity of both an actor and a producer,” he added. Cut to the future five years down the line Singh sees himself as a well estab- lished actor in the Indian cin- ema. “Since I am also a pro- ducer, I want to help a lot of new comers and give wings to their dreams,” Singh said. A very spiritual person, Singh strongly believes in des- tiny and feels that only with Gods’ grace and his father’s blessings from up above, has he been able to achieve whatever he has. He is of the opinion that this is just the beginning and he still has a long way to go and miles to achieve. “My mother means the world to me. She is my strongest source of strength and also my biggest critic. My family is very proud of me and has always stood by me and I am very thankful to God for such a wonderful fam- ily,” said an energetic Singh. He is also a big fan of Sylvester Stallone and admires the energy and action style of Akshay Kumar. B ihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday gave it back to the BJP for offering his party a ‘symbolic’ representa- tion of just one seat in the Union Cabinet. In a Cabinet expansion, Nitish inducted eight Minister of the JD(U) but presented a lone berth to the BJP. Nitish said the BJP was offered a berth in his Cabinet, but the saffron party was not too keen. Seconding Nitish, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP’s senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the party was offered a ministerial berth, but it opted out of it for now. “Nitish has offered BJP to fill the vacant ministerial seat. The BJP decided to fill it in future,” the Deputy Chief Minister tweeted. Despite attempts by top leadership of both JD(U) and BJP to play down the differ- ences that surfaced in their relationship after Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not concede Kumar’s demand for “proportional representa- tion” in the Union Cabinet, the tie between JD(U) and BJP has come under severe strain dur- ing the last few days. Already there is specula- tion that in the run up to the next year’s Assembly polls, Nitish would be exploring other options than continuing his alliance with the BJP. Within JD(U) there is a feeling that the BJP might try to cap- ture power in Bihar if it emerged the single biggest party in the State. “If we contest together and the BJP won more seats than JD(U), then they may try to replace Nitish Kumar even though they would have all the seats by contesting the poll on his name,” said a senior JD(U) leader. The new Ministers - Narendra Narayan Yadav, Shyam Rajak, Ashok Choudhary, Bima Bharti, Sanjay Jha, Ram Sewak Singh, Niraj Kumar and Lakshmeshwar Rai - were administered the oath of office and secrecy at a function at the Raj Bhavan here by Governor Lalji Tandon. Nitish said the vacancies were majorly created by JD(U) Ministers, who resigned from their posts for various reasons. Three seats in the Nitish Cabinet fell vacant following the election of JD(U) Ministers to the Lok Sabha. The three Ministers who were elected to the Lok Sabha are: Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Disaster Management Minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav and LJP’s Bihar unit chief and Animal and Fisheries Resources Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras. One post fell vacant last year after Manju Verma resigned as Social Welfare Minister in the wake of the Muzaffarpur shelter home case. Among those who attend- ed Sunday’s swearing-in cere- mony were Sushil Kumar Modi, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary, RJD Bihar unit president Ram Chandra Purbey and several Ministers of the Nitish Kumar Government. This is the second time in two years when Nitish Kumar expanded his Cabinet. On July 29, 2017, he had inducted 27 Ministers from all three NDA constituents, JD(U), BJP and LJP. A n iftar party hosted by Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria on Saturday was put to trouble by Pakistan intelligence agencies with guests allegedly stopped, harassed and turned away at the hotel gate. A letter released by the High Commission of India criticised “a concerted cam- paign by Pakistan’s security agencies” that prevented the Commission from hosting the evening fast-breaking meal and said it was in violation of “basic norms of diplomatic conduct” and “all notions of civilised behaviour”. The letter also called on the Government of Pakistan to “urgently investigate these ugly events” and share the results of the investigation with the High Commission. “Many guests from the diplomatic community based in Islamabad were also sub- jected to harassment. In com- plete violation of diplomatic norms, a large Pakistani secu- rity detachment, equipped with fork lifts, was detailed outside Serena hotel to aggressively turn away Pakistani citizens.” It was reported that the Pakistani officials virtually laid siege on the Serena hotel, the venue for the annual party, and harassed, intimidated and turned back hundreds of guests invited at the party. Indian High Commissioner hosted the event for which guests were invited from all over Pakistan. Pakistani officials alleged- ly stopped and harassed the guests who were invited at an iftar party. There was “unprece- dented presence of Pakistani intelligence and officials” who laid siege of the hotel, sources said. “Before that, they called invitees from unknown num- bers and threatened them with consequences if they attended the iftar party hosted by the Indian High Commission,” sources said. The gates were shut down and many were told that the iftar party has been cancelled, they said. Due to the harass- ment of the guests, the iftar party at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad saw fewer guests in attendance. While speaking at the event, Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria confirmed the incident and also apologised to those who were subjected to extra scruti- ny and questioning. “We apologise to all our guests who have aggressively turned away from our iftar yes- terday. Such intimidatory tac- tics are deeply disappointing. They not only violate basic norms of diplomatic conduct and civilised behaviour, they are counter-productive for our bilateral relations”, he said. Pakistani dignitaries invit- ed included Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and the Senate Chairman and the Speaker of the National Assembly. Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: ˘ˇˆ˙ ˝ ˛ ˚ˆ ˆ ˆ ˜ ! ˇˆ (ˆ · his other Bollywood movies. Apart from Hindi films, he has also done a number of south ... the energy and action style of Akshay Kumar

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Fresh from their superlativeperformance in the Lok

Sabha polls which saw them winas many as 41 out of the 48 seatsin the State, the ruling BJP andits saffron alliance partner ShivSena have decided to contest 135seats each in the State Assemblypolls to be held in October thisyear. Making an announcementto this effect on Sunday, seniorBJP leader and State RevenueMinister Chandrakant Patil said,“The BJP and the Shiv Sena willcontest 135 seats each in theState Assembly polls, settingaside the remaining 18 seats forour allies”.

The understanding on theseat-sharing between the twosaffron alliance partners for thepolls is in line with the decisionthat had been taken during thetalks between the leaders ofBJP and Shiv Sean in Februarythis year. “We are not a party thatwill go back on our words. At ameeting that our party’s chiefAmit Shah had with Shiv Senachief Uddhav Thackeray, wehad mutually agreed that the twoparties would contest equalnumber of seats in the Assembly.We are adhering to our earlierunderstanding,” Patil said.

Detailed report on P4������������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��� �����������!������ ���������!������"��������������#�����������������!����!��� ������� ����

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ASashastra Seema Bal (SSB)jawan attained martyrdom

and four others sustainedinjuries during an encounterwith the CPI (Maoist) in the weehours of Sunday in Dumka’sKathalia block, around 300 kmnortheast of Ranchi. The injuredjawans were rushed to theDumka Sadar Hospital fromwhere one of them was airliftedto Ranchi as his condition wasfound to be critical, police said.

“SSB jawan Neeraj Chetrifrom Assam attained martyr-dom in the encounter. The inci-dent occurred around 3.30 amwhen the security forces wereconducting a combing operationin the Maoist-affected area,”said Additional Director Generalof Police ML Meena, who alsohappens to be the spokespersonof Jharkhand Police.

Dumka Superintendent ofPolice YS Ramesh said someinsurgents have also sustainedbullet injuries in the encounterand search operation is on totrack them.

This is the third encounterbetween the outlawed group ofinsurgents and security per-sonnel reported in Jharkhand in

less than a fortnight. Earlier onMay 28, at least 11 jawans ofJharkhand police and 209CoBRA battalion sustainedsevere injuries in an ImprovisedExplosive Device (IED)

explosion triggered by the CPI (Maoist) in SaraikelaKharsawan. Another IED blastin the same district causedinjuries to at least four jawansa day after the results of the 17thGeneral Elections were out.

Chief Minister RaghubarDas on Sunday said, “Left WingExtremism is counting its daysin Jharkhand. We are commit-

ted to bring an end to any formof extremism in our State.”

He offered condolences tothe family of the martyr andsaid that the entire State stands in support of thebereaved family.

“In all the three incidents,we penetrated their territoryand they retaliated.

Continued on Page 4

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Jharkhand with its unparal-leled natural beauty like

forests, mountains, hills andwaterfalls makes for a perfectplace for nature lovers. Theuntapped natural beauty of theregion which makes it a greatpicturesque destination hascaught the attention of the filmfraternity and is soon turninginto a film- making hub.

One such movie ‘FaujiCalling’ is currently being shotnear Dassam Falls on the out-skirts of Ranchi. StarringJamshedpur born RanjhaVikram Singh in the lead rolealong with Sharman Joshi, italso features Bidita Bag,Mugdha Godse and ZarinaWahab in prominent roles. .

A drama movie, directedby Aaryaan Saxena, the film isslated to release later this year.

It is being produced under thebanners of Ovez Productions,Ojas Motion Pictures andSingh’s own production houseRunning Horses Films.

Ranjha Vikram Singh aka‘Rajjo Fauji’ as he is popularlyknown shot to fame with therole of the lead antagonist inthe 2014 blockbusterHeropanti.

Born in Jamshedpur, Singhdid his primary education fromLittle Flower School beforemoving to Chandigarh with hisfamily. “I have very fond mem-ories of the Steel City. We wereregulars at the Golmuri Cluband that’s where I learnt swim-ming. I have come to the east-ern part of the country after atime span of 23 years and amfeeling a sense of déjà-vu,”remarked a nostalgic Singh.

A graduate from DelhiUniversity, he moved to

Mumbai at the age of 22 andthat’s when his journey as anactor kick started. “I got my firstbreak in Bollywood oppositeMahima Choudhary in themovie Souten: The otherWoman in 2006 and since therehas been no looking back.”

Mumbai Godfather,Aatma, Old is Gold are some ofhis other Bollywood movies.Apart from Hindi films, he hasalso done a number of southIndian and Punjabi films.

“I am a trained boxerfrom New Zealand and Ilike to do the stunts on myown. I always wanted to playthe part of an action hero, sowhen I got my first break ina Telugu film named Rebel in2012 for the role of David, Ijust grabbed the opportunity.Since then I have worked in anumber of south Indian filmsin Tamil, Telugu and Kannada

languages,” Singh remarked.The actor was nominated

as the Best Villain for his dou-ble role in the Kannada movieRana Vikrama where he por-trayed the main antagonistJohnson and Louis Batten,Viceroy of CompanyGovernment at the SouthIndian International Movie

Awards (SIIAMA).“While all this was hap-

pening, I realised my journeywas calling me towards myroots as regional cinema wasdoing very well and my firstPunjabi film 25 Kile came intobeing. The film did extremelywell and I also received theFimlfare awards- Punjabi 2016for the best debut action actor.At the same time I stated myown production houseRunning Horses Films and wasinvolved in the movie in thecapacity of both an actor anda producer,” he added.

Cut to the future fiveyears down the line Singhsees himself as a well estab-lished actor in the Indian cin-

ema. “Since I am also a pro-ducer, I want to help a lot ofnew comers and give wings totheir dreams,” Singh said.

A very spiritual person,

Singh strongly believes in des-tiny and feels that only withGods’ grace and his father’sblessings from up above, has hebeen able to achieve whateverhe has. He is of the opinion thatthis is just the beginning and hestill has a long way to go andmiles to achieve.

“My mother means theworld to me. She is mystrongest source of strengthand also my biggest critic. Myfamily is very proud of me andhas always stood by me and Iam very thankful to God for such a wonderful fam-ily,” said an energetic Singh.

He is also a big fan ofSylvester Stallone and admiresthe energy and action style ofAkshay Kumar.

���� �����

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Sunday gave it

back to the BJP for offering hisparty a ‘symbolic’ representa-tion of just one seat in theUnion Cabinet. In a Cabinetexpansion, Nitish inductedeight Minister of the JD(U) butpresented a lone berth to theBJP.

Nitish said the BJP wasoffered a berth in his Cabinet,but the saffron party was nottoo keen. Seconding Nitish,Deputy Chief Minister andBJP’s senior leader SushilKumar Modi said the party wasoffered a ministerial berth, butit opted out of it for now.

“Nitish has offered BJP tofill the vacant ministerial seat.The BJP decided to fill it infuture,” the Deputy ChiefMinister tweeted.

Despite attempts by topleadership of both JD(U) andBJP to play down the differ-ences that surfaced in theirrelationship after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi didnot concede Kumar’s demandfor “proportional representa-tion” in the Union Cabinet, thetie between JD(U) and BJP hascome under severe strain dur-ing the last few days.

Already there is specula-tion that in the run up to thenext year’s Assembly polls,Nitish would be exploringother options than continuinghis alliance with the BJP.Within JD(U) there is a feelingthat the BJP might try to cap-ture power in Bihar if it

emerged the single biggestparty in the State.

“If we contest together andthe BJP won more seats thanJD(U), then they may try toreplace Nitish Kumar eventhough they would have all theseats by contesting the poll onhis name,” said a senior JD(U)leader.

The new Ministers -Narendra Narayan Yadav,Shyam Rajak, AshokChoudhary, Bima Bharti,Sanjay Jha, Ram Sewak Singh,

Niraj Kumar andLakshmeshwar Rai - wereadministered the oath of officeand secrecy at a function at theRaj Bhavan here by GovernorLalji Tandon.

Nitish said the vacancieswere majorly created by JD(U)Ministers, who resigned fromtheir posts for various reasons.

Three seats in the NitishCabinet fell vacant followingthe election of JD(U) Ministersto the Lok Sabha. The threeMinisters who were elected to

the Lok Sabha are: WaterResources Minister RajivRanjan Singh alias Lalan Singh,Disaster Management MinisterDinesh Chandra Yadav andLJP’s Bihar unit chief andAnimal and FisheriesResources Minister PashupatiKumar Paras.

One post fell vacant lastyear after Manju Vermaresigned as Social WelfareMinister in the wake of theMuzaffarpur shelter home case.

Among those who attend-

ed Sunday’s swearing-in cere-mony were Sushil KumarModi, Bihar Assembly SpeakerVijay Kumar Choudhary, RJDBihar unit president RamChandra Purbey and severalMinisters of the Nitish KumarGovernment.

This is the second time intwo years when Nitish Kumarexpanded his Cabinet. On July29, 2017, he had inducted 27Ministers from all three NDAconstituents, JD(U), BJP andLJP.

������������� ����������������

An iftar party hosted byIndian High

Commissioner to Pakistan AjayBisaria on Saturday was put totrouble by Pakistan intelligenceagencies with guests allegedlystopped, harassed and turnedaway at the hotel gate.

A letter released by theHigh Commission of Indiacriticised “a concerted cam-paign by Pakistan’s securityagencies” that prevented theCommission from hosting theevening fast-breaking meal andsaid it was in violation of “basicnorms of diplomatic conduct”and “all notions of civilisedbehaviour”.

The letter also called on theGovernment of Pakistan to“urgently investigate these uglyevents” and share the results ofthe investigation with the HighCommission.

“Many guests from thediplomatic community basedin Islamabad were also sub-jected to harassment. In com-plete violation of diplomaticnorms, a large Pakistani secu-rity detachment, equipped withfork lifts, was detailed outsideSerena hotel to aggressively

turn away Pakistani citizens.”It was reported that the

Pakistani officials virtually laidsiege on the Serena hotel, thevenue for the annual party, andharassed, intimidated andturned back hundreds of guestsinvited at the party.

Indian HighCommissioner hosted theevent for which guests wereinvited from all over Pakistan.

Pakistani officials alleged-ly stopped and harassed theguests who were invited at aniftar party. There was “unprece-dented presence of Pakistaniintelligence and officials” wholaid siege of the hotel, sourcessaid.

“Before that, they calledinvitees from unknown num-bers and threatened them withconsequences if they attendedthe iftar party hosted by theIndian High Commission,”sources said.

The gates were shut downand many were told that theiftar party has been cancelled,

they said. Due to the harass-ment of the guests, the iftarparty at the Indian HighCommission in Islamabad sawfewer guests in attendance.

While speaking at theevent, Indian HighCommissioner Ajay Bisariaconfirmed the incident andalso apologised to those whowere subjected to extra scruti-ny and questioning.

“We apologise to all ourguests who have aggressivelyturned away from our iftar yes-terday. Such intimidatory tac-tics are deeply disappointing.They not only violate basicnorms of diplomatic conductand civilised behaviour, theyare counter-productive for ourbilateral relations”, he said.

Pakistani dignitaries invit-ed included Pakistani PresidentArif Alvi, Foreign SecretarySohail Mahmood and theSenate Chairman and theSpeaker of the NationalAssembly.

Continued on Page 4

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The decision of RanchiUniversity (RU) to hike its

tuition fee for postgraduateand undergraduate courses hasnot gone down well with manystudent organisations. Barringthe Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP) all the otherstudent bodies have protestedagainst the fee hike and calledit unwarranted.

The finance committee ofRU decided to hike the tuitionfee of all its courses during ameeting chaired by ViceChancellor Ramesh KumarPandey on Saturday.

The varsity increased themonthly fee from �12 to �125for undergraduate courses and �18 to �150 for postgrad-uate courses.

This is the first instance ofa tuition fee hike by the uni-versity since its establishmentin 1960. An attempt was madeearlier in 2004, but was metwith protests from various stu-dent organizations. As a result,the varsity rolled back its deci-sion. However, the various stu-dent organizations stand divid-ed in their reaction to theincreased fee this time.

ABVP, the student organi-zation which swept the studentunion elections last year inDecember, winning all fiveposts, maintain that the fee hikeis a necessary step towards thedevelopment of the university.

“We support the hike intuition fees. We feel it is a nom-inal increase, and will only ben-efit the students in the longrun,” Atal Pandey, StateExecutive Council Member,ABVP Jharkhand, said. He alsosaid that such a hike was longoverdue, as the university hasbeen charging the same fees forover 50 years. However, he

pointed out that the organiza-tion is against a fee hike in anyother sections of the fee struc-ture.

“The amount charged forother services like exams, admitcards and infrastructure shouldnot be increased.” He also saidthat the tuition fees should notcross Rs.100 per month, andthat there should be no furtherincrease after this. “We areplanning to have a meetingwith the VC and the con-cerned body. We will bring ourdemands to their notice, andalso know their reasons behindthe hike.”

The Adivasi Chatra Sanghon Sunday called the varsity’smove ‘educational gate-keep-ing’. Sanjay Mahli, President ofAdivasi Chatra Sangh, RanchiUniversity, claimed thatincreased fees will act as adeterrent for students fromthe backward sections of soci-ety to pursue higher education.

“This is a conspiracy byRSS-BJP to trample on the

dreams of tribal students andother backward sections. Wewill not let this happen,” hesaid. He saw the decision as aneffort to keep poor studentsaway from college. “At a timewhen the varsity should makeeducation free for the weakersections of the society, it isincreasing its fee and making iteven more difficult for poorstudents to pursue theirdreams,” he added.

In the same vein, HarishKumar, State In-charge, AllJharkhand Student Union(AJSU), said that the fee hike isagainst the interest of the stu-dents. “They already charge usfor infrastructure and labs, butno development has ever hap-pened in the past. There are nosmart classes, no proper labs.We are studying in the sameconditions as our ancestorsdid. A fees hike is not a solu-tion to anything. AJSU willmeet the VC and urge him toreconsider this decision,” hesaid.

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All is not going well in theState unit of Rashtriya

Janata Dal (RJD). Visible riftshave appeared in the party asoffice bearers and leaders haveresorted to playing the blamegame over petty issues.

Amidst allegations of StateRJD Chief Gautam Sagar Ranapromoting divisive policiessome party workers removedhis portrait from the mainentrance of the party head-quarters in Jharkhand. CCTVfootage confirmed that thepresident of RJD’s youth wing,Abhay Singh was involved inremoving Rana’s photographfrom the wall.

RJD general secretaryKailash Yadav assured actionsagainst Singh for his misde-meanor. However, Singh stillcontinues to hold his positionin the youth wing of the partyand is yet to even get a showcause notice. This apparentlyhas caused anger in the leaderswho stand in support of Rana.A few days after the incident,some party leaders reportedly

asked Rana to tender his res-ignation from the position ofparty chief.

The party had held StateWorking Committee meetingon May 28 to brainstorm overits humiliating defeat in the LokSabha polls. During the meet-ing the issue of the removal ofRana’s portrait was raised andthe party disciplinary com-mittee asked Abhay Singh togive a justification for hisactions. Singh, however, plead-ed innocence.

“Several allegations havebeen leveled against me in therecent past. I was nowhereinvolved in removing the partypresident’s picture from thewall. I personally do not haveany problem with him, but he

seems to have developed somegrudge against me,” said Singh.

Rana was appointed theparty State chief after formerRJD State president AnnapurnaDevi left the party and joinedBharatiya Janata Party prior tothe general elections. The partyfielded candidates for Palamuand Chatra constituencies inJharkhand and had to facedefeat in both the constituen-cies. The voters painted a sim-ilar picture in Bihar where theparty could not win a singleseat.

Rana said that the issue wasraised during the working com-mittee meeting and the disci-plinary committee of the partyis yet to take a decision on it.Meanwhile, party’s spokesper-son Kailash Yadav rubbishedthe speculations about infight-ing in the party and held onlya few leaders responsible formaligning the image of RJD.

“There is no questionabout the integrity of our partychief. Any person leveling alle-gations on him is only trying toindirectly malign the image ofRJD,” said Yadav.

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Police have put social mediaunder scanner in a

bid to avert any incident of vio-lence triggered by rumoursduring Eid.

An official said that in therecent past several incidentstook place in the city due torumours spread over differentsocial media platforms.

This time the police willensure that such messages areintercepted and those foundguilty are taken to task. He alsoreleased an appeal to the citi-zens requesting them not topay attention to any suchrumour.

The administration hasalso decided to deploy around600 personnel from the districtpolice and Rapid Action Force(RAF) at strategic locations incommunally sensitive pocketsof city especially in Mango,Sakchi, Jugsalai, Shastrinagar(in Kadma), Dhatkidih (inBistupur), Masjid Road (inGolmuri) and Bhalubhasa (inSitaramdera).

Pickets would be postedand round the clock patrollingdone to maintain law and

order, he said, adding peacecommittee meetings have beenheld with various communities,who have assured cooperationfor peaceful observance of thefestival.

SSP, East Singhbhum,Anup Birtharay has instructedthe security of mosques, ImamBargahs, Eidgahs, shopping centres, markets,public places, and other impor-tant installations as per the Eidcontingency plan. He alsoinstructed to make effectivepolice picketing and snap

checking on the exits andentrances of sensitive parts ofthe city and takes important steps forpolice mobile, motorcycle onon-foot patrolling to keep closevigil on suspected elements.

With majorityof the buyers visiting the mar-kets after breaking their fast inthe evening, the fervour ofEid shopping is at its peak inJamshedpur.

The shopping has receivedmomentum in city as rush ofbuyers are being witnessed in

almost all markets and shop-ping arcades in the city afterIftari till late night.

The celebrants come outfor shopping soon after break-ing fast and are seen on theroads buying shoes, suits,ready-made garments andother items for Eid.

Most of the shopping mar-kets in Sakchi, Jugsalai,Bistupur and Mango have artis-tically been decorated and illu-minated with colorful lightsand buntings to attract buyersespecially during night.

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On road to the WorldEnvironment Day on June

5, the Ranchi Smart CityCorporation (RSCC) alongwith Jharkhand UrbanInfrastructure DevelopmentCompany Limited (JUIDCO)and Larson and Toubro (L&T)on Sunday started a plantationdrive with the slogan ‘Go GreenBreath Clean’ at Dhurwa in theState capital.

A large number of plantsaplings were planted on theoccasion by the officials of allthe three companies. L&T offi-cials said that the company has

started a massive plantationdrive at various locations wherethey have ongoing projectsacross the state.

Deputy General Manager,JUIDCO, PK Singh said this isbasically awareness drive andL&T has taken a great initiative

in direction of spreading aware-ness about environment con-servation. “At least 1200 treeswill be harmed during thecourse of the Smart CityProject, the department hasestimated.

The department is tryingto save as many trees as possi-ble. It is our target to plant tentimes more trees than the num-ber that would be uprootedduring the development of theproject,” he added.

Singh also informed thatthe department is transferringthose trees which can be trans-ferred but for those trees whichare necessary to cut the com-

pany has planned that it willrun a massive plantation drive.

According the L&TOfficials the company has settarget to plant a total of onelakh saplings under itsCorporate Social Responsibilityprogramme and the companywill also nurture the plants fora year. The Company has alsoorganized walkathon on theoccasion. Almost all the offi-cials of RSCC, JUIDCO andL&T participated in thewalkathon.

RSCC, PRO, Amit Kumarand L&T Project Manager,Harsh Pratap were also presenton the occasion.

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Ayouth was killed and twoother suffered injuries as

lightning struck different parts of Peterwar on Sunday,police said.

According to report ayouth identified as DaleshwarMahto was killed and two oth-ers were injured after lightningstruck them near Tangtola village under the juris-diction of Peterwar police sta-tion of Bokaro district, thepolice said. The two youths had takenshelter under the tree duringheavy rainl and thunderstorm.The two youths were admittedto a local hospital.

The Officer in-Charge ofPeterwar police Station, BipinKumar said that the injuredwho are undergoing treatmenthave been identified asManohar Mahto andDhaneshwar Mahto.

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Ahead of Ed, the Bokarothermal police held a meet-

ing on Saturday evening withrepresentatives of the peacecommittee of Bokaro thermal,Kathara, Jarandih andGovindpur and members of theminority community in orderto prevent any untoward inci-dent during the Ed festivaland holy month of Ramadan.

Circle Officer and Officerin-Charge of Bokaro thermal,Manoj Kumar and UmeshKumar Thakur appealed mem-bers and DVC officials to be onalert, and provide adequateelectricity and water supply,especially at the times of rozaiftaari, sehri and Eid.

Bokaro Superintendent ofPolice P Murugan also instruct-ed police to keep trouble mon-gers at bay. “The Thermal cityhas always had trouble-freeRamadan month and this tra-dition must continue. The lawis same for every person irre-spective of his religion. Anyonewho tries to disturb communal

harmony will be dealt withstrictly,” he said.

Officer in-Charge ofBokaro Thermal UmeshKumar Thakur particularlyappealed to the masses toignore instigative videos orposts on social media. “In caseanyone comes across any sen-

sitive post on social media, sheor he must report it to policeimmediately.

Besides, every administra-tive official including stationhouse officers of respectivepolice stations must increasepatrolling in sensitive areas toensure peace during the holy

month and festival.”Yogendra Giri and local

Mukhiya S.B.Singh alsoappealed to the masses to staycalm and observe the monthwith harmoney. Adequate secu-rity arrangement will beensured at Idgah and mosques,said Kumar.

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Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL)got a nod for laying underground

pipeline for supply of gas to domestic,industrial or commercial premises andCNG stations within the limits of ChasMunicipal Corporation (CMC) area.

“We have got the nod from CMC andvery soon underground pipeline layingwork will be started,” said Ravi ChoudharyManager IOCL.

“CMC Additional MunicipalCommissioner Sashi Prakash Jha andMayor Bholu Paswan have been grantedpermission for pipeline work,” he added.

We are at work for door-to-door sup-ply of domestic gas through pipelinesacross the municipal corporation area. Itwould be cheaper for the users in com-parison to cylinder filled gas, he said.

“Survey will be started from Monday,

but pipe laying work will not be done inthose streets having a width less than 10feet,” he added.

For this City Gas Distribution (CGD)project a gas stock station or depot is pro-posed at Sindurpeti at Bidhibinor village.From this station gas would be supplieddoor-to-door to the consumers as well asPetrol pumps, he said. AdditionalMunicipal Commissioner CMC, SashiPrakash Jha said, IOCL has been givenapproval for a CGD network for supply ofgas to domestic, industrial or commercialpremises.

“In order to lay the pipelines if the roador the drain got damaged then IOCL willhave to repair it within 48 hours,” addedJha. Notably, Gas Authority of IndiaLimited (GAIL) is also at work for layingthe pipelines for the City Gas DistributionProject (CGD), a part of Jamshedpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dharma Pipeline

(JHBDPL) which is also known as PradhanMantri Urja Ganga Project, informed anofficial.

The 2655 km long JHBDPL projectwith an estimated to cost Rs 51,000 crorewas inaugurated in July 2015 by the PMModi, passed through Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha,he said. Around 500km of the pipeline isscheduled to be passed through Jharkhandfrom Bokaro, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Ranchiand Dhanbad, Jamshedpur from where itwould be linked to Rourkela in Odisha.

CGD will provide clean fuel to thehousehold, transportation and other com-mercial sectors in east India. There is theplan to supply cooking gas directly athomes in Bokaro, Jamshedpur and Ranchiin Jharkhand, informed the official.

The pipeline is under construction andlikely to be commissioned by the end of2019, he said.

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Rift within the State unit ofthe Congress party has

become evident after its humiliating defeat in therecently concluded Lok Sabhapolls. Soon after party’s Statepresident Ajoy Kumar’s resig-nation on May 27, senior lead-ers and office-bearers in theparty were found to be at log-gerheads over his decision.The infighting, however, isnow getting bad to worse withleaders hoping for a show-down prior to the upcomingassembly elections, party insid-ers said on Sunday.

While at least 10 districtpresidents of the party havejointly requested Kumar towithdraw his resignation, for-mer Jharkhand CongressPradesh Committee (JPCC)president Pradeep Balmuchuhas openly held him responsi-ble for the party’s debacle in thegeneral elections here.

Balmuchu, however, is notthe only senior party leaderflaying Kumar for his allegedpoor decisions. Former GoddaMP Furqan Ansari on Saturdaysaid that Kumar’s decision ofresigning from the position ofthe state president showed thelack of will in him to work onaddressing the damage thathas been done. “You cannotrun away. How is it a solution?”he asked.

Ansari, a former eight-time legislator, was one of theparty’s probably picks for theGodda constituency this year.However, the party decided togive the seat to itsMahagathbandhan allyJharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P). JVM-P’s Pradeep Yadav lost theGodda seat to Bharatiya JanataParty’s (BJP) sitting MPNishikant Dubey by a hugemargin. “Selling the Congressparty will not strengthen it. Idon’t regret not getting anopportunity to contest the seat.I am upset because theCongress party lost a con-stituency where it had a hugevote bank,” Ansari said.

The Congress party con-

tested seven of 14 Lok Sabhaseats in Jharkhand this year andplayed the role of a big broth-er in the grand alliance.However, it could manage towin only in Singhbhum con-stituency, where Geeta Kodadefeated BJP state presidentand incumbent MP LaxmanGilua. The voters painted asimilar picture for the Congressparty across the country, com-pelling party’s national presi-

dent Rahul Gandhi to tenderhis resignation.

Now, in Jharkhand, someleaders are expecting Kumar toaccept his mistakes and recti-fy them, while many are stand-ing in his support. A senioroffice bearer of the party saidthat his resignation has yet notbeen accepted by the party highcommand since Kumar is notthe only State president tohave tendered a resignation

after the Lok Sabha defeat.“At least four presidents of

different states in India havetendered their resignations.Meanwhile, the party’s seniorleadership is yet to take a callon Rahul Gandhi’s resigna-tion. Any decision at this junc-ture will take time,” he said.

Meanwhile, a seniorCongress party leader, who didnot wish to be named, said thatthe infighting in the party wasonly caused by a few leaderswho either did not get a ticketfor the Lok Sabha polls or wantto mount pressure on the partyto get a ticket in the upcomingassembly elections. “Most ofthem (leaders) have a one pointagenda. They are willing tosupport Ajoy Kumar only if theyget a ticket for the upcomingAssembly elections,” he said.

Another office bearer fromthe state headquarters of theparty said that it was importantto sort out all the internalissues at the earliest andappoint a State president inJharkhand since the state is setto go to polls by the end of thisyear, and preparing for theelections will require a lot ofhomework.

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At 5.40 PM, we had a sessionby Sri B.A. Subramani on

Space Communication andHAMSAT Radio. We learnedabout the different types ofOrbits like Geostationary,Polar, Geosynchronous etc. Hetaught us how to track satellitesand at 7 o’clock 11 minute and41 seconds, we saw theInternational Space Station(ISS) in the night sky. After thatwe learnt about the ISS. Thenext day, we had our 7th lectureby Sri Subramanian on howsatellites are launched and whatare the six elements used todefine an orbit. We learnt aboutPeri Gee, Apo Gee and EarthCentral Inertial (ECI) Frame.

Did you know that amountain in Peru namedChimborazu is the closest youcan get to space? It is located onthe equator where you already

have an elevation of 22 Km. At11 AM we had our 8th lectureby Shri Anand S on SolarEnergy and its Utility. We sawLithium Ion Batteries and afterlunch reached ISTRAC at 12.15PM. We had a presentation onISTRAC (Currently handing 20missions) by Sri R. Srinivasan,Deputy Director, ISTRAC. Ataround 3 PM, we went to theMission Control Centre andthen went to DedicatedMission Control Room(DMCR). Then we went toGround Control Centre andafter that reached LEOS by 4.35PM. Inside Laboratory forElectro Optic System (LEOS),we saw the SensorsDevelopment Area insidewhich we saw the Sun Sensors,which locates the Sun andmeasures the angle, earthSensors and star Sensors.

We then saw the appliedoptics area and came back to

URSC at around 7.15 PM. Wehad another Science Quiz from8.15 PM. On 21st May, 2019,we had our 9th lecture by SriShashi Shekhar on RocketPropulsion and ISROLaunchers. We learnt about dif-ferent types of Propulsion sys-tems like Solid Propulsion,Liquid Propulsion, HybridPropulsion, Nuclear Propulsionand Ion Propulsion. We alsolearnt about Earth StorablePropellants. Next we had a lec-ture by Sri M. Venkatrao onRemote Sensing and its advan-tages. At 11.45 AM, we had asession on RoboticsAutomation and IntelligentSystems by Dr. R. Ranganathand team. Next we had a lec-ture by P. Murugan on Indiaand its environment.

After that we had our 11thlecture by Prabhakar Sir onhow rocket works and howthey were made. We learnt

about the different parts of thesounding rockets and GrainConfiguration. We also learnedabout the liquid propellants,which we used likeUnsymmetrical DimethylHydrazine (UDMH) andMono Methyl Hydrogen(MMH). We also learnt aboutdifferent U.S. Space Shuttleslike Columbia, Challenger,Discovery, Atlantis andEndeavour. After this we alsohad a session to improve ourconcentration with Mr. H.Bhojraj. At 5.50 PM, we had aDrawing and EssayCompetition.

The topic of Essay was“Planet Earth- 50 Years fromNow” and Drawing was “ISRO– Neighbors’ Envy, Nation’sPride”. Before we move furtherI need to remind you thatafter every session we could askquestions as many as we likeand clear our doubts. All lec-

tures were very interactive andinformative. From 8.45 PMtill 10.15 PM, we had anextended session with Mr. B.A.Subramani. The next day all 26of us assembled in the class-room at 4.30 AM to see the

launch of PSLV C-46, whichcarried RISAT-2B. At 9.15 AMwe had our 12th lecture by SriBhavesh Jaiswal on Space atAtmospheric Sciences.

The write up is in first per-son, written by Dhriti Barnwal,

a class 9 student of DelhiPublic School, Ranchi, who wasone of the 108 children inIndia who attended the IndianSpace Research Organization’s(ISRO) YUVIKA programmefrom May 13 to May 25.

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The Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM) on Sunday

reiterated unity in the partyahead of Assembly elections inState and at the same timeblamed the Electronic VotingMachine (EVM) and moneypower of BJP for the drubbingof party in the recently con-cluded Lok Sabha elections.The party on Sunday held thelegislature party meeting atJMM patriarch Shibu Soren’sresidence.

JMM president ShibuSoren, party executive presi-dent Hemant Soren and law-makers from party attended themeeting which lasted for morethan four hours. The JMMleadership collected feedbackfrom its MLA about the rea-sons behind the defeat in theelections.

The JMM which was partof the Grand Alliance had con-tested four Lok Sabha seats, butleaving aside Rajmahal theparty lost all three seats. EvenJMM chief and party patriarchShibu Soren who had contest-ed the elections from Dumkain Santhal Pargana lost the elec-tion to BJP’s Sunil Soren.

JMM executive presidentHemant Soren said, “The partyhad called for legislature partymeet. The party senior leaderscollected feedback from MLAsfinding out the reasons behindthe defeat in the elections. Theparty will table the feedbackcollected from its legislators atthe working committee meetscheduled on Monday.”

On being part of grandalliance in year-end Assemblypoll, Soren said, “In Assemblyelection the JMM will play therole of big brother. We will talkto all Grand Alliance partnersin days to come.”

However, the JMM leaderclaimed that JMM exerted itsfull effort in the Lok Sabha elec-tion at the same time transfer-ring JMM votes to other con-stituents of Grand Alliance.However, when asked whetherother Grand Alliance partnerswere able to transfer their votesfor JMM candidates, the JMMexecutive president said thatthey will take up the issue withGrand Alliance leaders.

Soren further said, “JMMbelieves that for protecting andstrengthening democracy, elections should be heldthrough ballot papers as there

are chances of rigging through EVMs.”

The JMM leader also citedthe example of results ofKarnataka civic bodies’ electionwhich was held after the dec-laration of Lok Sabha elections.He said, “In the Lok Sabha elec-tions BJP’s performance wasvery good, but in the civic bod-ies the same party’s perfor-mance was dismal. The civicbodies’ election was heldthrough ballot papers.”

In the Lok Sabha electionin Karnataka out of 28 seats theBJP and its allies partners won26 seats, while the ruling partyCongress and JDS managed towin only two seats. However, incivic bodies’ election, theCongress and JDU bouncedback by winning maximumseats.

Out of to 1,361 wards,spread across eight city munic-ipal councils, 33 town munic-ipal councils and 22 town pan-chayats, were held on May 29.The Congress won 509 seats,while BJP was 336 and JD(S)had secured victory at 174seats. Independents took 160wards, while BSP and CPMwon on three and two seatsrespectively.

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The discomfort index whichis measured on the basis of

temperature, wind and relativehumidity on Sunday rose up to69 degrees in Jamshedpur, 14notches above the normal.

In places like Dhanbad,Bokaro, Deoghar, Daltonganj,Giridih and Chatra, it hoveredbetween 65 and 68 degrees onSunday. Hazaribagh, Koderma,Godda and Pakur recorded adiscomfort index of around 63 degrees, eight points above normal.

“As per our study an east towest trough stretched fromnorthwest Rajasthan toManipur across south UttarPradesh, Jharkhand andGangetic West Bengal at 0.9 kmabove mean sea level.

This has resulted in a shiftin wind pattern. Until Saturdayevening the wind pattern inmost parts of Jharkhand wasnorth-westerly, but since lastnight it changed to easterlyresulting in moisture incursioninto the atmosphere,” said aduty officer at IMD’s RanchiMeT Centre.

“We are not used to livingunder such heat conditions. It

is perhaps for the first time thatwe witnessed a harsh May this season.

There was a time when themercury crossed 35 or 36, butrain brought respite in theevenings.

The trends have changednow. We have no choice but toreel under soaring mercury. Atleast we are happy that schoolshave closed from today,”Ramesh Shankran, a bankemployee said.

Morning and noon wereuncomfortable in Kolhan

region comprising three dis-tricts — East Singhbhum, WestSinghbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan, on Sunday.

Day readings inJamshedpur hovered around 38degrees on Sunday as com-pared to Saturday’s 40 degrees.Weathermen said the day read-ings in steel city witnessed adrop due to moisture inflow.

The local weather office inJamshedpur today recordedrelative humidity of 80 per cent,which added to the discomfort.

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The newly elected BJP MPfrom Ranchi and

Jharkhand Khadi Board andVillage Industries former chair-man, Sanjay Seth was felicitat-ed by Khadi board on Sunday.Seth after being elected as MPof Ranchi reached Khadi Boardoffice for first time.

Seth speaking on the occa-sion thanks the board officials fortheir support during his stint aschairman of Khadi board, at thesame time assured the boardmembers of providing all nec-essary help and support in future.

Seth said, “Coming to Khadiboard office is just tike homecoming for me. I thank all thestaff and board officials for theirsupport they had provided meduring my stint as board chair-man.” “I will be ready for all help

and support to board membersand staff in future.”

Seth also talked about thevarious initiatives by him main-ly people centric in Ranchi LokSabha segment. The Ranchi MPhas decided to set up SamadhanKendras at all six Assemblyconstituencies falling underRanchi Lok Sabha segment.

The centre will act inaddressing people issue suchissuing birth/death certificate,submission of electricity billand other public issues.

According to Seth, themain purpose of the SamadhanKendras is to address and solvepeople problem at their doorand they will be free from vis-iting Ranchi for small problem.

The Ranchi MP after beingelected as MP has been visitingvarious areas in Ranchi parlia-mentary constituency as part of

thanks giving mode.Few days back, Ranchi MP

had visited Piksa More wherehe reprimanded the officials ofNational Highway Authority ofIndia (NHAI) for delay in con-struction of highway from

Pandra to Piska More. He tookup the inconvenience peopleface due to construction ofhighway as flying of dust hasbecome a health concerns forresidents of the areas.

The Ranchi MP during hisvisit to Khadi board met seniorand junior officials of the board.The officials of the Khadi boardalso talked about the growthand development the board

has attained during the tenureof Seth as chairman. It was Sethtenure that Jharkhand Khadiboard entered into a deal withAmazon by which productscan be purchased online with-in a month.

The move aimed to openup the global market for theproducts. Seth was chairman ofKhadi board from 2016 to2019 till be was made as BJPcandidate from Ranchi LokSabha seat. Seth in the electiondefeated Congress SubodhKant Sahay by the margin ofnearly 2.88lakh votes.

The Jharkhand KhadiBoard has 15 outlets 14 in Stateand one in Delhi. The boardhas centres across the State forproducing Khadi goods. Theboard has production centres atGumla, Lohardga, Palamu,Ranchi and other centres.

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The State BJP unit on Sundaysnubbed former Chief

Minister Hemant Soren for hisremark in which he blamedEVM for Mahagathbandhan(Grand Alliance) defeat in LokSabha elections claiming thatthe JMM leader is insultingpeople’s mandate.

State BJP spokespersonPratul Shahdeo said that ifJMM and Soren family winsthe election then EVM is errorfree, but when people starts rejecting them they startsraising fingers on EVMdemanding election throughballot paper.

“Soren should accept peo-ple’s mandate instead of look-ing for loopholes in system.The defeat of JMM and itsparty chief Shibu Soren fromDumka is beginning of end ofJMM in Santhal Pargana. Therewas strong resentment againstJMM as people of Santhalregion were upset as despiteGurujee’s poor health he wasfielded from Dumka. Localsand tribal of Jharkhand havevoted for development in thiselection,” said Shahdeo.

Shahdeo said that after his

party’s defeat, Hemant hasunderstood that nationalismwas one of the main issues inelection. “When borders aresafe then the country will besafe. BJP had contested on theissue of development andnationalism this time,” he added.

The BJP spokesperson saidthat the defeat is shocking andhumiliating for JMM that theyare unable to digest it andnow they are giving differentkinds of excuses. He said, “The people of State will againteach JMM in same language inupcoming State Assembly elections.”

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World Environmnet Day isjust around the corner and

it is extremely sad to observe howforest fires have been raging, likeevery year, in the forests of themountain state of Uttarakhand.Come summer and the forests ofUttarakhand become vulnerableto this dreaded phenomenon.

The fires usually break outbetween March and June (fire sea-son) in the coniferous chir pineforests in the 1000-1800 metresaltitude range, with many of themcaused by human interference inthe forests.

This year too, forest fires havebeen raging in thousands ofhectares in the State. In Tehri for-est area, fire fighting is underway.It has been very hot these last fewdays. Some relief in the form ofrain is expected shortly.

However, the temperatureswill again soar after that. A per-manent solution is needed forthese fires rather than just waitingfor rain to put them out.High tem-peratures, less moisture and chirpine needles together contributeto these fires.The attitude of thecommunity is largely indifferent.Making every person aware andeducating them about the fires is

a tough job. Not all the fires arein the reserved forests.

They occur in civil forestsand also in Van Panchayat areas.But in any case, it is the forestdepartment which has to fightthese fires.

Pine needles in the Chir Pineforests get deposited in largequantities and work as a fire load.Sometimes, villagers want toclear the cattle paths amid pineforests. The population as well ascattle population has increasedand many roads and paths havealso come up near the forests. Allthis has increased the incidenceof forest fires.

A senior forester said thatwhile some fires were accidental(for instance, someone throwinga cigarette or bidi), most of thefires were intentional, caused bypeople in and around forestareas.”

After the fires, the grassgrows better and the villagers getgood fodder for their cattle. Pineneedles get burnt and the grassgets a chance to come out better,”he said requesting anonymity.Crew stations and control roomshave been set up but much moreneeds to be done at all levels tomitigate this monstrousproblemAnother senior forester

believes that villagers were themain cause of forest fires and nostrict action was taken againstthem for “political reasons”. “Iftheir fodder rights are suspendedfor some time, they will neverindulge in such mischief,” he said.

Most of the fires take placein the pine forests but as these

bring in crores of rupees in rev-enue from the“lisa “(resin), theGovernment has no plans toreplace them with other species.

While forest authorities andothers often accuse the villagers ofdeliberately setting fire to theforests, villagers and environ-ment activists say the fires are

allowed to get out of control byforest authorities who misusefunds for afforestation and findthe fire a convenient excuse.

Foresters and environmentexperts have often advocated thatthe government declare forestfires as a natural disaster likeearthquakes and landslides.

Forest fires, a frequent phe-nomenon in Uttarakhand, lead towidespread destruction everysummer and experts feel that ifthe government includes it in thecategory of natural disaster, itwould become easier to planways and means to check thesefires and monitor their causes andoccurrence.

Experts opine that the cen-tral Government should formu-late a national policy which wouldhelp check forest fires and alsohelp framing a proper compen-sation system in case of forestfires.

They are all of the view thatforest fires must be declared bythe centre as a natural disaster likeearthquakes and landslides.Someexperts are of the view that thereis a need for training military andpara-military forces to help checkand control forest fires.

Whatever the approach theState Government takes, it ishigh time that serious measuresare taken to prevent or reduce theloss to the precious biodiversity ofthe mountain state due to thesewidespread fires.

Somehow, there seems to bean impression that the authoritiesdo not take these fires as serious-ly as they should.

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Severe heatwave conditionscontinued to inflict torment

on humans and animals acrossnorthern, northwest and cen-tral India as the maximumtemperature recorded above51 degrees Celsius. The IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) on Sunday issued heatwave red alert forRajasthan and Madhya Pradeshand Maharashtra’s Vidarbha,Kutch and Saurashtra regionsduring the next four days andyellow alert for Punjab,Haryana, Delhi, Western UttarPradesh, Himachal Pradeshand Jammu and Kashmir.

According to IMD, heat-wave conditions are likely tocontinue over north Indianplains, central and south Indiafor two more days and abategradually. The maximum tem-perature in the national Capitalwas recorded 43 degreesCelsius on Sunday.

The temperature inRajasthan’s Churu crossed 49degrees Celsius on Sundaywhile temperature was record-ed 50.8 degrees Celcius onSaturday which was ninedegrees above the normal aver-

age and highest maximumtemperature ever recorded inthe city. The previous recordfor highest temperature inIndia was held by Alwar, alsoin Rajasthan, at 50.6 degreesCelsius (123.1 Fahrenheit) in1956.

Sri Ganganagar was not farbehind, with temperature peak-ing at 49.6 degrees Celsius,seven notches above average.The temperature in Jaisalmerrecorded 49 degree Celsius.

The south has not fared

any better and temperatures inTamil Nadu, Puducherry,Kerala, Andhra Pradesh andTelangana have also crossed the44 degrees mark. IMD warnedof severe heatwave conditionsacross north India for the next48 hours.

The IMD also predictedthat due to easterly winds atlower levels over northern partsof the country, the severity ofthe heatwave is very likely todecrease over Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh and Delhi and

Uttar Pradesh from Sundayonwards. It had earlier pre-dicted for harsher summer thisyear. Much anticipated relieffrom the scorching heat will beawaited as monsoon has fur-ther delayed its onset overKerala to June 7, Skymetweather said while revising itsearlier forecast date.

A heat wave is usuallydeclared when the maximumtemperature remains above 45degrees Celsius for two con-secutive days. IMD said Churu

had seen its maximum tem-perature exceeding 50 degreeCelsius on May 19, 2016 whena maximum temperature of50.2 degree Celsius was record-ed. Heat wave also affected nor-mal life in Rajasthan, whereBikaner recorded the highesttemperature at 45.6 degreesCelsius. The maximum tem-perature was above 45 degreesin several parts in the Stateincluding Ganganagar,Jaisalmer and Kota.

There was no respite fromheatwave conditions in Punjaband Haryana, with Bhiwanirecording a maximum of 45.6degrees Celsius.

Andhra Pradesh andTelangana also continued toreel under severe heatwaveconditions with the mercurycrossing the 46 degree celsiusmark in a few places.Meanwhile, as many as 30 peo-ple have been died of heatstroke in Telangana, TamilNadu and Maharashtra in thelast 20 days. Parts of Saurashtraregion in Gujarat continued toreel under heat wave conditionswith maximum temperaturessoaring in many cities abover46 degree celsius.

According to the IMD, themaximum temperatures weremarkedly above normal (45-51degree Celsius or more) atmany places over centralMaharashtra and in some partsof Himachal Pradesh, westRajasthan, east MadhyaPradesh and north interiorKarnataka.

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Fresh from their superlativeperformance in the Lok

Sabha polls which saw themwin as many as 41 out of the 48seats in the State, the ruling BJPand its saffron alliance partnerShiv Sena have decided to con-test 135 seats each in the StateAssembly polls to be held inOctober this year.

Making an announcementto this effect on Sunday, seniorBJP leader and State RevenueMinister Chandrakant Patilsaid, “The BJP and the ShivSena will contest 135 seatseach in the State Assemblypolls, setting aside the remain-ing 18 seats for our allies”.

The understanding on theseat-sharing between the twosaffron alliance partners for thepolls is in line with the decisionthat had been taken during thetalks between the leaders of BJPand Shiv Sean in February thisyear.

“We are not a party thatwill go back on our words. Ata meeting that our party’s chiefAmit Shah had with Shiv Senachief Uddhav Thackeray, wehad mutually agreed that thetwo parties would contest equalnumber of seats in theAssembly. We are adhering toour earlier understanding,”Patil said, while speaking to aregional television channel.

Patil, who is confidant ofboth Shah and Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis, said thathis party was not gaining muchin terms of seats but “we aresticking to words”

“Of the total 288 seats, wehave 122 sitting MLAs andenjoy support of 8Independents, while the ShivSena has 65 members. Inessence, we already have

strength of 130 seats in theAssembly and are getting justfive additional seats,” Patil said.

During the interview, Patilindicated that Fadnavis wouldcontinue to be the chief min-isterial candidate for the saffronalliance in the Assembly polls.However, there was no wordfrom the Shiv Sena on thiscount.

In the just ended LokSabha polls, BJP had contested25 seats and won 23 while theSena fielded candidates in 23constituencies and won 18seats.

Under the seat-sharing for-mula arrived at between thetwo saffron alliance partners ata meeting that Shah withUddhav the latter’s residence inMumbai on February 18 thisyear, the BJP had agreed to con-test 25 Lok Sabha seats, leavingthe remaining 23 LS seats to theSena. In the State Assemblypolls, the two parties hadagreed that they will — aftersparing some seats to otheralliance constituents — contestequal number of seats.

The 18 seats that the BJPand Sena have set aside forallies will be shared amongtheir

three allies — RepublicanParty of India led by RamdasAthawale, Rashtriya SamajPaksha of Mahadev Jankar andShiv Sangram led by VinayakMete.

While the Sena will nothave any problem with the

sharing equal number of seatsin the Assembly, it remains tobe seen if the UddhavThackeray-led party will eitherstake a claim for the ChiefMinister’s post or agree toFadnavis being projected as thechief ministerial candidate.This is because the Sena had inthe past made an issue over theChief Minister’s post.

As part of the seat-sharingpact arrived at February thisyear, the Shiv Sena — was play-ing hardball with the BJP in therun up to the Assembly polls byinvoking the 1995 Assemblyseat-sharing formula underwhich it had contested 169seats leaving the remaining116 seats to its saffron alliancepartner and got the ChiefMinister’s post after coming topower in that elections — set-tled down for a 50:50 seat-shar-ing deal with the BJP for the2019 State Assembly polls.

However, both the partieshad chosen to keep the issue ofChief Minister’s post open.Dwelling upon the sharing ofpositions in the event of the saf-fron alliance governmentreturning to power, Fadnavishad said then: “We are confi-dent of returning to power bothat the Centre and in the state.If we take charge of the officeonce again in Maharashtra, wewill share power and positionsequitably”. However, he hadchosen not to say anything onthe contentious issue of ChiefMinister’s post.

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The Haryana Governmenthas ordered a probe into

the sale of land by the housingsociety floated by former PrimeMinister Chandra Shekhar inGurugram. The HaryanaPolice’s Economic OffencesWing and DivisionalCommissioner and Co-Operative Department haveordered the probe into theillegal sale of five acres of landbelonging to BhuvaneshwariCo-Operative House BuildingSociety by its current officebearers to an IPS officer’s wife.

The society was formed bythe former Prime Ministerwith 22 acres of land near hisfamous Bhondsi Ashram in1994.

The alleged illegal sale hap-pened through a resolution onMarch 22, 2019 enabling sale offive acres of land to a woman

named Mohini, wife of an IPSofficer. After ChandraShekhar’s death in 2007, dis-putes started erupting acrossIndia on many societies andtrusts formed by the formerPrime Minister.

The Bhuvaneshwari Co-Operative House BuildingSociety Housing Society soldfive acres of land, through anillegal resolution for just �4.97crores, while the market valueof the land is around �20 crore.Levelling this accusation in acomplaint to Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarand other authorities, the peti-tioners including former PM’srelatives and followers calledfor a probe and arrest of theguilty persons.

The complainants haveaccused Chandrasekhar’sbrother Kripa Shankar Singhand his son Parveen Singh ofscripting the executing the ille-gal land deed.

“The very fact that afore-said persons intended to usurpthe land of the Society standsdemonstrated from the factthat immediately thereafter,

Parveen Singh, the President ofthe Society vide registered saledeed dated March 22, 2019 soldfive acres of land of the Societyin Village Bhondsi, District

Gurugram for a meagre con-sideration of �4,97,42,000,whereas the prevailing market

value of the aforesaid land isabout �20 crore,” said the com-plaint filed by the relatives ofChandrasekhar and his fol-lowers.

With Chandra Shekhar’sfamily deeply divided, and hisfollowers and socialists leadersdesperately trying to elbowout each other to grab thesetrust properties, several attempts have takenplace at regular interval forencroachment, illegal sales ofthe huge tracts of land of thetrusts and societies formed bythe former PM for noble caus-es.

The petitioners accusedthat many persons belonging toreal estate lobbies fromGurugram have infiltrated intothe society to usurp the hugetract of land belonging toBhondsi Ashram and theHousing Society founded byformer Prime MinisterChandra Shekhar.

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Eight mountaineers includ-ing seven foreigners, report-

ed missing since May 25, con-tinued to be traceless onSunday, when authorities man-aged to rescue four otherclimbers from UK, stuck upnear base camp of Nanda DeviEast peak in Pithoragarh.

Pithoragarh DistrictMagistrate VK Jogdande saidthe four UK climbers werespotted 21 kilometers beyondthe base camp and rescued dur-ing a sortie undertaken tolocate the missing eight-mem-ber team led by well-knownUK climber Martin Moran.

Two sorties were conduct-ed Sunday to locate Moran’steam, said Jogdande, addingmore sorties will be heldtomorrow to search them.

The four UK mountaineersrescued on Sunday told author-ities that when they last got intouch with Moran’s team, theywere heading for some peakother than Nanda Devi East.

Moran’s eight-member

team went missing on way tothe 7,434-metre-high NandaDevi East peak inUttarakhand’s Pithoragarh dis-trict. Moran’s team includesthree climbers from the UK,two from the US and one fromAustralia, besides an officerfrom the IndianMountaineering Foundation,New Delhi.

The eight missing climbersare Martin Moran, JohnMcLaren, Richard Payne andRupert Havel from the UK,Anthony Sudecam and RachelBimmel from the US, RuthMacrain from Australia andIMF’s Chetan Pandey.

The district administrationlaunched the search operationafter people at the base campalerted authorities late Fridaynight. The team is said to havebeen missing since May 25when it was supposed to returnto the base camp, Jogdande toldreporters Saturday.

The route to the peakbegins from Munsiyari about132 km from the district head-quarters.

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From Page 1Bisaria also said that people

had come from Lahore andKarachi to attend the event andthanked them for attending.Commenting on the incident,National Conference vice-pres-ident Omar Abdullah said theharassment of guests at an iftarparty was “stupid tit for tatdiplomacy”. “Stupid tit for tatdiplomacy. It was stupid whenwe did it outside the PakistaniHigh Commission in New Delhi& it’s stupid when it’s done out-side our’s in Islamabad. Now thatit’s 1-1 perhaps it’s time to moveon & stop this nonsense,” Omar

wrote on Twitter.A journalist said that he saw

more than usual security pres-ence but those having invitationcards and identity documentswere allowed to attend.

“My invitation card waschecked and I was asked ques-tions about profession and resi-dence, and allowed to go in,” hesaid. “Unprecedented level ofharassment at @serena_hotelsIslamabad. #India embassy iftaarhappening & police & anti ter-rorism force misbehaving withanyone trying into get in thehotel. Got screamed at, my dri-vermabused. Sorry, not being anentitled prick. This was genuineharassment,” tweeted noted jour-nalist Mehreen Zahra-Malik.

Another journalist, on con-dition of anonymity, told PTIthat he did not attend as hefeared about questioning andsecurity checks.

He also said that there werereports that some invitees werecalled by anonymous callers andtold not to attend the event.Senior Pakistan People’s Partyleader Farhatullah Babar saidthat every gaze deflected towardsodd visitors in hotel’s lobby.

“Came to Serena for iftarhosted by Indian HC. Hotelseems barricaded. Told that iftarcancelled. When insisted, I wastold to use other gate. Other gatealso closed and told to go backto front gate again. What’s goingon, something fishy,” he tweeted.

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From Page 1They did not come out of their dens to

attack the police,” Meena said, adding thatencounters are always on the cards duringcombing operations and the incidents wereon the rise since the police have recentlystrengthened their anti-insurgency opera-tions in Jharkhand. According to theMinistry of Home Affairs (MHA), at least18 of 24 districts in Jharkhand are Maoist-affected. Apart from the main CPI (Maoist),there are at least 17 splinter outfits whichhave unleashed a reign of terror on innocentvillagers in the hinterland, police said.

In the three encounters reported inJharkhand since the end of elections, at least19 jawans have sustained injuries. The firstmartyrdom was reported on Sunday. Thecombing operations, police said, will be fur-ther strengthened in the days to come andencounters were likely in other parts ofJharkhand too.

Police in a statement on Sunday said thatthe jawans who sustained injuries in theencounter on Sunday include Karan Kumar,Satish Gujjar and Sonu Kumar. While the triois undergoing treatment in Dumka SadarHospital, another jawan Rajesh Kumar wasairlifted to Ranchi and is undergoing treat-ment at Medica Superspecialty Hospital.Sources said that Kumar was shot on bothhis legs during the crossfire on Sundaymorning.

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Raking up his favouriteHindutwa agenda, BJP

leader Subramanian Swamyon Sunday urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toimmediately allot the land forRam Mandir construction inAyodhya and declare RamaSetu as national heritage.

In a detailed letter, heargued that the legal advisors ofCentral Government wronglysought Supreme Court’s per-mission to hand over the undis-puted land of 67 acres to RamJanambhumi Nyas Samit, whilethe Centre was empowered todecide itself.

“This submission of theSolicitor General was erro-neously made on two counts.(a) that the Governmentrequires no permission what-soever of the Supreme Court tohand over the nationalisedAyodhya land and which is inthe possession of theGovernment. By virtue ofArticle 300A of theConstitution, and numerouscase l aw of the Supreme Courton land acquisition, the UnionGovernment has EminentDomain to takeover anybody’sland or property in publicinterest, said Swamy citingNarasimha Rao Government’saffidavit, pointing out that allparties except Ram

Janmabhumi Nyas Samiti hadaccepted compensation.

“Therefore theGovernment under power vest-ed in it by the Constitution canallocate, for any public purpose,to anybody the Ayodhya land(including disputed land) with-out the permission of theSupreme Court. All that theGovernment is required, ascourtesy, is to assure the Courtthat just compensation will bepaid to the decided title hold-er as determined by theSupreme Court. In fact as agenerosity both the parties canbe paid compensation if theywithdraw their respectiveappeals in the Supreme Courtbefore adjudication,” saidSwamy

In his 22 page long letterand documents to the PrimeMinister, Swamy citied theNarasimha Rao Government’saffidavit and Cabinet decisionto allot land to Hindu’s if

archeological survey finds theexistence of a temple. He also cited his argumentpoints before the SupremeCourt’s mediation panel onthe matter.

The BJP MP also urged thePrime Minister that theGovernment must declareRama Setu as national heritageand declare it before theSupreme Court, were the nexthearing is scheduled on July 1. “After you becomePrime Minister and subse-quently in 2018 the SupremeCourt was informed when Iraised the matter again, thatRama Setu will not be touched;but the issue of making RamaSetu as National HeritageMonument, although accord-ing to my information wascleared by the Ministry of Culture, did notcome up for approval at theCabinet level for whatever rea-son,” said Swamy.

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With carbon emissionsfrom cars and two wheel-

ers taking toll on mother Earth,cycle enthusiasts are doingtheir bit to promote the envi-ronment-friendly mode oftransport in the country as wasevident at various events heldacross the States on the eve ofthe World Bicycle Day markedon Monday.

In the national Capital,‘#Right2Ride’ bike rally wasflagged off by Hero MotorsCompany in partnership withNiti Aayog to support spread-ing a word for sustainablemobility. It drew a huge num-ber of participants particular-ly youngsters.

“Through this‘#Right2Ride’, we wish to bringattention to the major factorsthat are hampering the growthof cycling infrastructure in ourcountry. We also want to tell

people that cycling is not justan individual choice but onethat knits together communi-ties”, said Pankaj M Munjal,Chairman and ManagingDirector of the Hero Motors.

He further said that morethan 50 per cent of the peoplein India use non-motorisedforms of transport, such aswalking and cycling to travel towork followed by two-wheelers(18 per cent) and buses (16 percent).

In neighbouring Haryana,the State Chief Minister MLKhattar too pitched in foradopting the friendly mode ofcommuting which, he said,has immense direct and indi-rect benefits while in Bombay,an organisation, the SmartCommute Foundation (SCF)has launched #Cycle2Work ini-tiative with a multi-prongedapproach to make the city, thebicycle capital of India by 2030.

“It is not only about creat-

ing awareness but workingwith authorities to ensure thatwe realise the dream of making

Mumbai, the financial capital ofthe country to the bicycle cap-ital,” said Firoza Suresh, the

founder of SCF. Similarly, notleaving behind in the race, onthe occasion, Guwahati-based

NGO ‘Pedal for a Change’ hasplans to hold a day-long event‘Cycling the City’, that will

include numerous activities —all centered around cycling.

Experts have been con-stantly warning that increasingmotorisation in urban andrural areas has given rise tomany negative externalitiessuch as dependence on fossilfuels, GHG emissions, con-gestion, pollution and the asso-ciated health impacts.

In fact, a study released byThe Energy and ResourcesInstitute (TERI) early this yeartoo has batted for pedal powerestimating that if bicycles wereto “substitute the two and four-wheelers used for short-dis-tance trips, it can result in anannual benefit of Rs. 1.8 tril-lion, which is equivalent to 1.6percent of India’s annual GDPfor 2015-16.”

The biggest benefit ofswitching over to bicycles fromfossil fuel-based vehicles wouldbe in the form of better indi-vidual health. “When we’re

looking at health benefits, wesee how many mortalities canbe reduced due to increasedphysical activity and reductionin air pollution, and howexpenses can be saved on dis-eases related to a sedentarylifestyle,” said Aakansha Jain, aresearch associate at TERI andlead author of the report.

The report estimates thatchoosing a bicycle over anautomobile for half of all short-distance work trips can save4,756 premature deaths over 15years. However, lack of acycling ecosystem and infra-structure in India prevent manyto switch to this eco-friendlymode of transport.

Regulation of cars andmotorbikes in the form of “pol-lution tax, congestion tax, andparking pricing” needs to sup-plement investment in infra-structure such as dedicatedcycling tracks along the road topromote cycling, Jain said.

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Despite over 42 per cent land areassuffered drought like situation last

year, the country’s total horticultureproduction is estimated to rise mar-ginally to 314.87 million tonne in the2018-19 crop year, which is 1.01 percent higher than the year 2017-18. Thearea under horticulture crop also roseto 25.6 million hectare from 25.43 mil-lion hectare. Under the horticulturecrops, production of fruits is estimat-ed to be around 97.38 million tonnesin 2018-19 compared to 97.36 milliontonnes in the previous year.Interestingly, mango production isprojected to be lower despite highercultivation this year.

According to agriculture ministry,vegetables production is estimated torise 1.6 per cent at around 187.36 mil-lion tonnes. Among vegetables, onionProduction is estimated to be around23.28 million tonnes, slightly higherthan production in 2017-18. Potato pro-duction is estimated to be around52.96 million tonnes, which is 3.2 percent higher than 2017-18. Tomato pro-duction is estimated to be around19.66 million tonnes, which is 0.5 percent lower than 2017-18.

Agriculture Ministry official saidthat horticulture production stood at

311.71 million tonne in the previousyear. As per the data, spices Productionis estimated to be around 8.61 milliontonnes, which is 6.01 per cent higherthan 2017-18. As far as fruits produc-tion is projected, mango production isexpected to be lower at 20955 metric

tonnes (MT) as compared to 21822 mtlast year. Pear is projected to be lowerfrom 301 MT to 318 MT in 2017-18.Pomegranate also projected to be lowerfrom 2791 MT this year as compared to2845 MT last year.

As per data, production of Brinjal,

Peas, Bitter gourd, Cabbage, Capsicum,Carrot, Cauliflower, Ladyfinger, Chillies,Cucumber, Mashroom, Parwal havebeen projected higher as compared tothe last year.

The agriculture ministry on Fridayreleased the Second Advanced Estimate(2018-19) of area and production of var-ious horticulture crops. These estimatesare based on the information receivedfrom different states and Union terri-tories.

Officials of agriculture ministry saidthat the advance estimates help the gov-ernment or ministry to come up witha plan in case of shortage of produc-tions.

According to India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), about 42 per centof land area in the country is facingdrought, with 6 percent exceptionallydry — four times the spatial extent ofdrought last year, according to data forthe week ending March 26, 2019, fromthe Drought Early Warning System(DEWS), a real-time drought monitor-ing platform.

Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat,Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra,parts of the North-East, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu and Telangana are the worsthit. These states are home to 500 mil-lion people, almost 40 per cent of thecountry’s population.

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Parliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi on

Sunday sought all MPs to makethe first session of the 17th LokSabha successful by debating allthe issues and giving respect tothe people’s mandate.

The Parliament session isset to begin on June 17 and willcontinue till July 26. The speak-er of the Lower House is like-ly to be appointed on June 19.

Union Budget will be pre-sented on 5 July and EconomicSurvey will be presented onJuly 4, he said.

President Ram NathKovind will address the jointsitting of the two houses ofParliament on the first day ofthe session. Maneka Gandhi,

eight-time MP is expected to beappointed as pro-tem Speaker,a stop-gap arrangement, thesame day.

Both houses will also takeup the Motion of Thanks onwhich PM Modi will give hisreply.

While the 16th Lok Sabhapassed the critical CitizenshipAmendment Bill in the WinterSession of Parliament in 2018,it awaits passage in the RajyaSabha where opposition stillhas the majority.

Requesting opposition’scooperation in the smoothconduct of the upcoming LokSabha session, newly-appoint-ed Parliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi saidthe government was ready fordiscussion on any issue.

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At a time, when women inmany villages across the

country cannot step out of thehouse alone — particularly inthe wee hours — a group ofseven-eight sari-clad womenmarch confidently parallel tothe railway track towards erst-while Sewapuri GandhiAshram’s Lijjat Papad unit - toknead the dough for papad-making — which was a defunctand dilapidated KhadiInstitution before September2016.

For, Mamata Devi (40),Munni Devi (42), and PhoolDei (40) from Newara villageunder Sakalpur post office, it islike making money during themorning walk. Mamata Devisays, “We reach SewapuriAshram daily latest by 2.30 amand in three hours we finishkneading the dough - for whichhundreds of women start com-ing from 5.30 am onwards forcollection of dough for rollingpapads at their homes. Forthis three-hours’-job, each of usget on an average from �250 to�300 per day. This is like morn-

ing workout for us. Every day,we walk 4-5 kilometers, do thekneading exercise for threehours and earn up to Rs 300”.They all thanked PM Modi forproviding job opportunities tothem, which have changedtheir lives.”

Saraswati Devi ofSewapuri Village, echopes sim-ilar voice. “Being an unedu-cated village women, we neverthought that we will ever get anopportunity in our life to earnRs 300 per day that too sittingat our home. PM Modi hasbrought this change in our lifethrough Khadi.”

The next round begins at5.30 am, when around 230women collect the dough in theSewapuri Gandhi Ashram upto 8 Am and roll them intopapads at their homes duringthe day.

These women had beentrained by the Khadi andVillage Industries Commission(KVIC) and in three years’time - they have become expertin papad-making. This simple,yet very effective method y hasachieved tremendous successin the villages of Varanasi and

`Gramo-preneurs’ across thenation have now started look-ing to learn how they canapply the Gandhian simplicity- where a woman can makepapad weighing from 8 to 10kilograms from the dough theycollect daily in the morningand have started earning fromRs 300 to Rs 400 per day. TheLizzat papad , a supportedunit of KVIC pays Rs.39 per kgfor, rolling the papads.

Incidentally, the SewapuriAshram was set up onNovember 5, 1946 by a groupof Gandhians - all hailing froma well-known Khadi institutionof Gandhian era ‘KshatriyaShri Gandhi Ashram’ - underthe guidance of the MahatmaGandhi, to promote Khadi andprovide employment to spin-ners and weavers. It was thenformally inaugurated by DrRajendra Prasad, the firstPresident of India and Gandhijistayed here for quite sometime, when 600 people used towork in this center those days.Spread in 12 acres of area,Sewapuri Ashram was one ofthe best Khadi centers in thecountry once upon a time.

But, due to financial crunchand lack of proper manage-ment, the center was closed in1990 and since then this erst-while glorious centre thatplayed a crucial role in the pro-motion of Khadi, virtuallyturned into a testimony ofnegligence. In its 26-odd years’of dilapidation, it turned into ajungle - with most of the struc-tures biting the dust. TheKVIC, which had been leavingno stone unturned for therevival of this centre of excel-lence of Gandhian philosophyof self-reliance and swadeshi,finally chose a day to formallyre-inaugurate it. On 17thSeptember 2016 - on the occa-sion of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s birthday -better known as Sewa Diwas -KVIC Chairman Vinai KumarSaxena re-inaugurated it.

The KVIC had given aspecial grant of Rs 20 lakhs tothis Khadi institutions for ren-ovation and repair of dilapi-dated buildings and cleaningup the campus. KVIC roped inRural ElectrificationCorporation (REC) to use itsCSR funds to kick off Khadi

activities. REC sanctioned Rs5.50 crore for this project.Notably, it is the first ever uti-lization of CSR funds for Khadiactivities. Now, as many as200 Solar Charkhas, 80 SolarLooms, a modern stitchingcenter and a salt-making unitare running at this Ashram.This Khadi Ashram has beenproviding jobs to around 700people - mostly women - fromnearby villages, after its revival.

Besides giving credit tothe zeal and enthusiasm ofthese rural women - engaged inPapad-making industry, KVICChairman Vinai Kumar Saxenaalso appreciates the improvinglaw and order scenario of UttarPradesh in the recent years.“For many decades, women inmost parts of rural India haveled a confined life. Even today,women in many villages acrossthe country cannot step out ofthe house alone, and henceleading an independent lifehas been a far cry for them.Thanks to the CM YogiAdityanath-led UP govern-ment, women are coming toAshram, even in midnight,” hesaid.

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In his first trip as DefenceMinister, Rajnath Singh on

Monday will visit the SiachenGlacier — the world’s mostdangerous battlefield — tomeet the soldiers guarding theborder beyond the heights of12,000 feet. Singh, to be accom-panied by Army Chief Gen.Bipin Rawat, will also visit theheadquarters of the Army’s 14Corps in Leh and 15 Corps inSrinagar, official sources said.

Top commanders of theArmy will brief the defenceminister about overall securitysituation along the Line ofControl (LoC) with Pakistanand apprise him about the anti-terror operations, they said.

Singh will first arrive at thehigh altitude Thoise airfield inLadakh from where he willtravel to an operational baseand then go to the Siachen

Glacier where he will interactwith Army’s field commandersand soldiers. The SiachenGlacier in the Karakorumrange is known as the highestmilitarised zone in the worldwhere the soldiers have to bat-tle frostbite and high winds.

Avalanches and landslidesare common at the glacier dur-ing the winters and tempera-tures can drop to as low asminus 60 degrees Celsius.

According to official figure,the Army lost 163 personnel atthe world’s highest battlefieldduring the last 10 years. Indiaand Pakistan started deployingtroops at the strategically keyglacier in 1984. Sources said thedefence minister will be givendetailed and specific presenta-tions at 14 Corps and 15 corpsrelating to India’s preparednessto deal with any possible even-tualities and misadventure byPakistan.

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The CPI(M) on Sundayurged the Centre to counter

the “bullying” by United Statesand not to opt surrendering tothe Trump administrationwhich is planning to get morebenefits from trades with India.The Left party said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP which “tom-toms” onnationalism stops operatingwhen it comes to US diktats.

“The decision of the UnitedStates to end preferential termsfor India under the GeneralisedSystem of Preference is unwar-ranted and uncalled for. This ispart of a series of measures onUS-India trade initiated by theTrump administration, to

coerce India into acceptingfavourable trade terms for theUnited States. Earlier, the UShad imposed increased dutieson steel and aluminum importsfrom India, said CPI(M) PolitBureau in a statement.

“Though the announce-ment was made in early Marchabout this impending step, theModi Government did nothingto prevent or counter thismove. Like in the case of the USprohibition to buy oil fromIran, now too the ModiGovernment is adopting a sur-renderist approach. This makesa mockery of “nationalism”tom-tommed by NarendraModi and BJP, which stopsoperating when it comes to USdiktats,” said CPI(M)

New Delhi: In his second dayin office, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar onSunday responded to tweets byseveral Indians abroad seekinghelp, signalling continuation ofhis predecessor SushmaSwaraj’s social media outreachin assisting people in distress.

Sushma leaves a legacy ofan easily-accessible ExternalAffairs Minister who helpedthe diaspora in distress throughTwitter. In a series of tweets,Jaishankar responded to callsfor help by several Indiansabroad, assuring them thatIndian missions in respectivecountries were trying toaddress their issues.

When one Mahalakshmitweeted seeking help to herfamily members whose pass-ports were lost in Italy duringa trip, Jaishankar said, “OurEmbassy in Rome/ ConsulGeneral in Munich will extendall assistance. Please be intouch with them @IndiainItaly

@cgmunich.” The new externalaffairs minister also respondedto a Twitter user’s request forhelp in finding her husband inKuwait and bringing him toIndia. She said her husband isnot responding to court sum-mons and living peacefully inKuwait.

To this, Jaishankar tweeted:“Our Embassy in Kuwait isalready working on it. Please bein touch with them @indem-bkwt.” Responding to anotheron national education policy,he said it was a only a draftreport and that no languagewill be imposed.

“The National EducationPolicy as submitted to theMinister HRD is only a draftreport. Feedback shall beobtained from general public.State Governments will be con-sulted. Only after this the draftreport will be finalised. GoIrespects all languages. No lan-guage will be imposed,” hesaid. PNS

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Page 6: ˘ˇˆ˙ ˝ ˛ ˚ˆ ˆ ˆ ˜ ! ˇˆ (ˆ · his other Bollywood movies. Apart from Hindi films, he has also done a number of south ... the energy and action style of Akshay Kumar

The dual optics of pushing througha $8-billion arms deal for SaudiArabia, using a rarely invoked pro-vision of federal law that allows forCongressional bypass, and the

parallel inflexibility in enforcing economicsanctions against Iran for ostensible violationsof nuclear deal — that were earlier certifiedas fully “compliant” by the UN watchdog,International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)— is both unilateral and biased. Beyond thedismay in the other non-US signatories of theP5+1 (Permanent Members of the UNSecurity Council + Germany) on the Irannuclear deal, concerns over the “chest-thumping militarism” of the US regime havegained traction within America itself. Over70 US military veterans have written to theUS President Donald Trump to undertake“crisis de-escalation measures” in the war-of-wits that is steadily draining the credibility ofthe Trump regime on matters of internation-al fairplay and multi-lateralism.

The US has been threatening nationswith “dire consequences” for violating its self-imposed sanctions against Iran. All eyes inthe White House are on five countries specif-ically, China, India, Turkey, Japan andSouth Korea, who were given six-month sig-nificant reduction exceptions (SREs) toreach a stage of zero oil imports from Iran.While Japan and South Korea will abide bythe US diktat, China and Turkey may dis-agree owing to their own geopolitical rea-sons against US bullying — leaving India ina quandary to choose between the US coer-cion and Iran on the economic sanctions.

For now, the Indian Ambassador to theUS has confirmed that India has stoppedimporting oil from Iran, though the plausi-ble opportunity of re-negotiating the SREterms of the US sanctions with the “new”Indian Government is available, now that theCabinet formation is done. Importantly, theAmbassador reiterated the obvious concernof inflationary impact by asserting that thecompliance “comes at a cost to us because wereally need to find alternative sources of ener-gy.” The element of resultant “price stabili-ty”, post-compliance, as shared and under-stood with the US, could allow re-negotia-tions in case the price and quantum as wassourced from Iran cannot be plugged fromalternative sources.

Thankfully, the strategic Indo-Iranianinvestment at the Chabahar port has beenspared the immediate curbs of the US sanc-tions. Beyond the obvious economic cost toIndia by stopping oil imports, the opening upof Chabahar port holds immense counter-leverage in India’s discussions with the US.Currently, Pakistan flexes its muscles with theUS, given the geographical dependence thatAmerica has for sustaining its interest inAfghanistan as the only seaport-road routeto the landlocked Afghanistan is throughPakistan. Chabahar port in Iran holds thepotential to bypass the Pakistani landmasscompletely and enter Afghanistan via its land

border with Iran. While Iranagreeing to entertain US interestis unfathomable in the short run,it is crucial to remember thatironically, the US is more alignedto Iran on the future frameworkof Afghanistan than it is withPakistan. Also in the long run,Pakistan will be a vassal-state ofChina with the China–PakistanEconomic Corridor imperativesand obligations and in that sce-nario, Pakistanis will be forced tochoose China over the US for allstrategic decisions. Indian diplo-mats have to hardsell the eco-nomic and strategic cost of iso-lating Iran even further as itwould directly militate against theUS interests, also.

Besides realpolitik, Iran hasa civilisational connect, too, anda unique modern history ofreciprocity that makes it oblig-atory for a “moral nation” likeIndia to consider it in its calcu-lus of sovereign moves. Thecurrent Iranian regime’s found-ing father and spiritual light,Ayatollah Khomeini, has anIndian connection with hisfamilial tree tracing back toKintoor, near Lucknow. Unlikethe royalist Shah regime preced-ing the 1979 Iranian revolution,who had clearly sided with thePakistanis in the 1965 and 1971wars, the theocratic state of Iran

had surprisingly bailed out Indiaby nullifying Pakistani machina-tions within the comity ofOrganisation of IslamicCountries (OIC). Iran had alsojoined hands with India in pro-moting the “Northern Alliance”in Afghanistan, much to the dis-comfiture of Pakistan that wasand is supporting the Talibanis.More recent tensions besettingthe fragile Pakistan-Iran rela-tions, owing to sectarian under-currents and increasing influenceof the Arabs in Islamabad, havenaturally solidified the Iraniandisposition towards Delhi.

Iran has only selectivelyretaliated by invoking the ‘K’word (usually conspicuous byabstaining from mentioningKashmir) and has only done sowhenever it felt “backstabbed” byIndians. Incidents like Indiavoting “against” Iran in theIAEA or its most recent capitu-lation to the US pressure indesisting from transacting withIran have led to Iran teasingIndia with its own vulnerabilities.

Within days of India con-forming to US sanctions, Iranknowingly offered to connect itsChabahar port with thePakistani Gwadar port and loopit within the CPEC fold. As it is,China is the biggest trade part-ner with Iran and is unlikely to

succumb to US diktats of enforc-ing sanctions. Any further esca-lation in tensions by the UScould push Tehran into thewilling arms of the Chinese.

The “new” Government inIndia has its job cut out in theensuing Iranian crisis and man-age the same dexterously with thepolicy mandarins at the CapitolHill. The hawkish Arab-Israelipressure on Trump to up the anteagainst Iran aside, there is a veryrealistic chance of the US scor-ing a self-goal in Iran and push-ing the same towards a biggermess within the “Chinese bloc”.Even if India were to submit infavour of the US pressures owingto larger geopolitical considera-tions and payoffs, it should do so“under loud protest” by arguingin favour of the Iranian position.India must draw its own red lineswith allies like the US by clearlystating its own necessities, con-siderations and preferences. Indiais the only meaningful “pivot”against China that the US has inthe region — it cannot be treat-ed at par with other nations, espe-cially since the Indian equationwith Iran does not rail against theUS interests in the long-term.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands andPuducherry)

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Sir — Modi 2.0 appears to bequite similar to Modi 1.0.Distilled to its core, the mandateof 2019 was about an element offaith — a faith in Prime MinisterModi and his ability to defendthe interests of the Indian statewhile advancing the goals ofgrowth, development, nationalsecurity and stability. Now thatthe new Government has takencharge, he cannot keep harpingon national security as there area host of issues that requireimmediate attention. The expec-tations are even higher this timeas the National DemocraticAlliance has had a stable five-year run, unencumbered by thewhims of self-seeking allies. Astable and strong Governmentshould be synonymous withpeaceful co-existence, withabsolutely no space for lynchmobs, self-styled vigilantes andhate-mongers. To deliver on theexpectations of the electorate,Modi will do well to continuewith the discipline he institutedin his last term, but make wayfor autonomy and transparency.

Padmini RaghavendraSecunderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Modi, Modi all over” (June1). In being made the Home

Minister, Amit Shah, NarendraModi’s trusted lieutenant, haseffectively become the Number2 in the government. As theHome Minister, Amit Shahshould “do right by all manner

of people” without being swayedby any extraneous consideration.He will be watched closely to seehow he handles domestic affairs“without fear or favour andwithout affection or ill-will.”

He must ensure that no oneis persecuted in the name of“internal security.” He has aConstitutional and moral oblig-ation to provide protection toIndia’s religious minorities,which he must fulfil without fail.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

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Sir — It was sheer hard workand determination that led YSJagan Mohan Reddy towardsvictory in terms of his resound-ing electoral win in the AndhraPradesh Assembly polls. Besidesthe past blunders of TeluguDesam Party chief and outgoingAndhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu made asizeable contribution to theresult. The perception is thatReddy will be more careful inensuring a people-orientedregime in a State that has a num-ber of social welfare issues. Anytrace of arrogance would makehis triumph an ephemeral one.

SrinivasVia email

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After years of speculation, the Governmenthas finally bitten the bullet and formal-ly named the heads of the Armed Forces

Special Operations Division (AFSOD) and theDefence Cyber Agency (DCA). The head for theDefence Space Agency (DSA) is expected to fol-low soon. These three tri-service divisions willfunction under the Integrated Defence Staff sup-posedly to foster “integration, synergy and econ-omy” among elements of the three services. Bystandardising and integrating their training,equipping and logistics, it is hoped that theirutilisation can be optimised, thus providingmaximum bang for bucks.

All of this is meant to convince us that ourmilitary hierarchy understands modern warfarein all its complexities and is taking the neces-sary steps needed to ensure that it has the toolsat its disposal to deal with a full-spectrum ofconflict — from operations other than war toa nuclear conflagration. While one cannot speakabout the capabilities that either the DCA or theDSA may plan to possess, there is little doubtthat the establishment of AFSOD in its presentform leaves much to be desired. In fact, if onewere to be brutally honest, its establishment isnothing but a poorly concealed effort to pull thewool over the eyes of our political leadership,unless they were in on it and the tax-paying public.

While the need for establishing a SpecialOperations Command, as suggested by theNaresh Chandra Committee in 2012, may wellbe debatable, it is a given that our strategicambitions are constrained by the fact that weface two nuclear armed adversaries with dis-puted borders. Given that one of these nationsis an economic and military powerhouse, itimplies that the primary focus of our securityestablishment must remain on our immediateneighbourhood. We cannot, however, losesight of the fact that as we rapidly develop,PricewaterhouseCoopers considered India tobe the third largest economy in PPP terms inits February 2015 report, ‘The World in 2050’.Further, our sphere of influence is also likelyto expand beyond the regional.

A growing Indian diaspora and increasingeconomic interests world-wide make it neces-sary for the Government to look at enhancingits capabilities to protect its interests abroad. Wemust have the ability to utilise our vast rangeof assets in a coordinated manner that wouldprovide the necessary synergy required toensure that we can successfully meet our for-eign policy, security and economic objectivesin our areas of interest and influence. Thisrequires tri-service special operations capabil-ity grounded in the reality of our circumstancesthat will enable focussed capacity-buildingand the establishment of linkages within thesecurity establishment and other Ministriestowards their employment at the strategic andoperational level, especially with regard to theconduct of ‘Out of Area’ contingencies.

Sadly, the AFSOD is hardly in a position todo anything of the sort, given the meagreresources that have been placed at its disposal.The very fact that it is being established outsideof the National Capital Region ensures that its

General Officer Commanding cannever become the single point advisoron the conduct of special operationsto either the Chiefs of Staff Committeeor the Cabinet Committee on Security,which is required for the type of tasksenvisaged to be undertaken. However,all this apart, what is truly despicableand astounding is the blatant attemptto use bureaucratese to stall logicaldevelopment in order to protect vest-ed interests. All of this will, in the end,be at the cost of lives because specialoperations are not only inherentlyrisky and dangerous but also have verylittle margin for error.

One cannot help but notice thesimilarity in the manner in which theUnited States military went aboutestablishing its joint special operationscapability. As most may know, the dis-aster of ‘Operation Eagle Claw’ in 1980— the failed mission to rescueAmerican hostages held in Iran — wasattributed to the lack of jointmanshipand a convoluted command and con-trol set-up, among other things. Inorder to correct the situation, theArmy first tried to consolidate allArmy Special Operations Forces (SOF)under 1st Special OperationsCommand in 1982. The lack of a uni-fied structure led to concern within theSenate Armed Services Committee,which resulted in the Department ofDefence, creating the joint specialoperations agency in January 1984.

This agency was, however, flawed

as it had neither operational nor com-mand authority over any SOF. In1986, the The Goldwater–NicholsDepartment of the DefenceReorganisation Act of 1986 was passed,which appointed the chairman chiefsof staff committee as the single pointadvisor to the Secretary of Defence andthe President.

In addition, they also forced theestablishment of joint theatre com-mands, with the commanders-in-chiefalso having direct access to theDefence Secretary and the President.Despite stiff opposition, the Nunn-Cohen Bill was passed in 1987 andamended the Goldwater-Nichols Actto establish the United States SpecialOperations Command under a fourstar C-in-C as a separate command,which supported other theatre com-mands. In 2014, it was re-designatedas a combatant command.

Clearly, it is not in our interest toundertake such a torturous process fordeveloping our SOF capability. Givenour limitations in terms of resourcesand employability, we must play smartand establish an agile and flexiblearchitecture that ensures we meet allour operational requirements, while atthe same time avoiding establishingbureaucratic silos and duplication ofcapabilities, visible elsewhere. Whilemilitary reorganisations tend to be car-ried out incrementally, given thenature of operational commitments, inthe context of our SOF, the necessity

for transformative changes isinescapable.

History tells us that our politicalleadership and bureaucracy, both civil-ian and military, are extremely averseto change as we are inclined to aggres-sively protect our own turf. However,as SOF will play an increasingly vitalrole in protecting our national inter-ests in the future, it will be logical toreorganise them in the manner thatthey not only meet our future needswithout the need for additionalchanges, but also show the way for-ward in enhancing tri-service joint-ness.

This will only be feasible, giventhe entrenched views that exist, if itis a top-driven exercise initiated at thehighest level. The military leadershiphas choices to make. It can eitherremain wedded to age-old perceptionsand ignore the need for change or itcan take the initiative and turn it intoa modern military that we deserve andcan be proud of.

That we are fated to repeat our fol-lies, till we are willing to learn fromhistory, is an old adage that’s best notforgotten. A repeat of 1962 is the lastthing that our political, military andbureaucratic leadership would wishupon themselves.

(The writer, a military veteran, aconsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

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As underdogs of world crick-et, Kapil Dev’s men had sur-prised the cricketing world

and fans at home by registering ahistoric first victory in the 1983World Cup. Such was the state offinancial affairs of the Board ofControl for Cricket in India (BCCI)back then that a ‘Lata Mangeshkar’concert had to be organised toraise funds for the winning team.Each team member ended upreceiving �1 lakh. Ironically, BCCI’shockey counterpart — the IndianHockey Federation — was muchricher at the time with the game andits players better entrenched inpublic imagination.

The year 1983 was the begin-

ning of a turnaround nobody wouldhave anticipated in that cricketingera of whites. As the victory at theBenson & Hedges Cup 1985cemented Indian cricket’s positionand underlined that 1983 was nofluke, the era laid the foundation ofthe emergence of Indian sportsmost powerful brand — cricket!

While 1983 made cricket catchIndian public’s attention, what latertransformed the sport into the mostdominating one in this country wasa combination of factors, includingcorporate involvement, live stream-ing and an explosion of endorsementculture that brought big money intothe sport. Make no mistake — Indiahas had its fair share of sporting icons— from the iconic Major DhyanChand to the inimitable ViswanathanAnand to the inspirational SaniaMirza. Yet, none can match thedominance our cricketing icons enjoy.

1990s, The defining decade:The real shift in Indian cricket camein the 1990s. With the Indian econ-omy being liberalised, greater accessto television and improved quality oflive coverage made the sport enter

every Indian household. The 1990salso saw corporates and brands mak-ing a beeline to sponsor cricketevents even as endorsements startedpouring in for top cricketers. WithIndia’s dismal Olympic performancesaccompanied by the decline of Indianhockey, Indians perhaps found theonly team sport where the countrywas excelling globally.

The era also saw the emergenceof influential sports managementfirms that started representing com-mercial interests of top athletes. In

2001, Sachin Tendulkar struck adizzying �100 crore deal with sportsmanagement firm WorldTel andbecame the face of uncountablebrands and campaigns.

As big money poured in, not onlydid it change the fortunes of cricketplayers and the BCCI, but also grad-ually eclipsed all other sports in India.

Building of brand cricket: Withthe Indian subcontinent emerging asthe new “Mecca” of world cricket,India became a cricketing superpow-er. The cash-rich BCCI now held the

strings of world cricket, surpassing inpower the hitherto highly influentialAustralian and English cricket boards.While cricket had become a brand toreckon with, infusing value in thisbrand to make it bigger became themotto of the BCCI.

In 2008, the BCCI laid the foun-dation for Indian cricket’s biggestmoney-spinner in Indian PremierLeague (IPL) in response to the pri-vate endeavour Indian Cricket League(ICL) that threatened its supremacy.With the involvement of India’s andthe world’s biggest cricketing super-stars, IPL grew stupendously tobecome the most sought after crick-eting event in the world.

When the Indian cricket teamclinched its second World Cup vic-tory in front of the home crowd atMumbai’s Wankhede stadium, Indiahad come a full circle from its 1983victory — from the minnows to thegiants of world cricket!

In recent years, things haveimproved for athletes playing sportsother than cricket with cash prizesgoing up and brand endorsementsstarting to flow in for non-cricketing

sports icons such as PV Sindhu, SainaNehwal and Mary Kom. As Indianshuttlers, wrestlers, boxers and shoot-ers make Indian proud on the worldstage, Indians are starting to look atnew sporting icons. The emergenceof a series of sports leagues in hock-ey, football and kabaddi among oth-ers has further contributed to theshifting focus. Yet, our cricketingicons continue to enjoy unparal-leled brand value.

The fourth edition of India’sMost Powerful Celebrity Brandsreport by Duff & Phelps recently putVirat Kohli’s estimated brand worthat a mammoth $170 million. PVSindhu, the most valued shuttlerbrand, was placed at a distant $21.6million. Indian cricket’s is a story ofthe coming together of a perfect com-bination of popularity, money, value-making and branding decisions. Evenas several sports gain popularity inIndia, the supremacy of cricket as abrand is expected to stay unchal-lenged.

(The writer is director and creativestrategist of an advertising and consult-ing agency)

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The intensifying US-Chinatrade war and rising fuel

prices will continue to bogdown airline profits this year,the International Air TransportAssociation said on Sunday.

The warning came at theannual meeting of global airlinesin Seoul, where it was revealedthat 2019’s collective net profitwas forecast to be $28 billion,down from an outlook of $35.5billion released in December.

The grim outlook was dri-ven by rising costs across theboard, including labour, fueland infrastructure, the IATAsaid, adding the worseningtrade war between the twoworld powers was not helping.

“Weakening of global tradeis likely to continue as the US-China trade war intensifies,”said IATA chief executiveAlexandre de Juniac.

“This primarily impactsthe cargo business, but pas-senger traffic could also beimpacted as tensions rise,” headded.

The world’s top twoeconomies have been locked ina trade war since last year,swapping tit-for-tat duties onhundreds of billions of dollarsworth of goods and sendingmarkets into a tailspin.

The fallout has reachedfar beyond their shores, withmanufacturing in many export-dependent Asian economiestaking a hit.

Brian Pearce, chief econo-mist at the IATA, forecast “zerogrowth at best” for air cargo

traffic this year, noting theimpact of the trade tariffsimposed in the first half of 2018.

The Asia-Pacific region,which accounts for around 40percent of global air cargotraffic, was “clearly under pres-sure”, he added.

“Cargo is such an impor-tant feature that the weaknessin trade and the risk sur-rounding trade will mean prof-itability will be weaker in thisregion,” Pearce said.

He painted a “mixed picture”for the region, noting that Asiancountries — notably India andChina — will lead a “reasonable”five-percent global growth in thepassenger business.

Pearce did not rule out apossible industry recession butpointed to the rise in air trav-el demand and said: “At themoment it doesn’t look like weare going to have one in 2019.”

This year’s meeting of theIATA, which represents some290 airlines comprising 82 percent of global air traffic, comesafter two crashes in Octoberand March that left hundredsof people dead.

Both accidents involvedBoeing’s 737 MAX 8 jetliners,turning the world’s largest air-craft maker into a liability thatput the industry’s “reputation inthe spotlight”, de Juniac said.

The 737 MAX 8 wasgrounded by US authorities inMarch, following in the foot-steps of several other countries.

Multiple airlines have indi-cated they will seek compen-sation for the fact they couldnot use the 737 MAX 8 planes

in their fleets.Pearce, the IATA chief

economist, played down theeconomic impact of the US jet-liner’s grounding on the indus-try, noting the 737 MAX 8accounted for “less than twopercent” of the global fleet.

“So it’s actually fairlyminor,” he said. “It’d be moreimportant to some airlines...But it hasn’t been a driving fac-tor.”

The IATA chief said lastweek the troubled jetliner willremain grounded for at least 10to 12 more weeks, saying thedecision was in the hands of theregulators.

Prior to the two crasheswhich killed 346 people, airlineregulators worldwide general-ly recognised certificationsissued by their peer in thecountry where the aircraft wasbuilt, which in this case was theUS Federal AviationAdministration (FAA).

Following the crashes how-ever, the Seattle Times reportedthat the FAA had delegated partof the certification process for theplane to Boeing engineers.

“Trust in the certificationsystem has been damaged —among regulators, between reg-ulators and the industry andwith the flying public,” deJuniac said Sunday.

“While Boeing and the USFederal AviationAdministration are at centrestage, the close collaboration ofcounterpart manufacturers andcivil aviation authorities aroundthe world are essential,” headded.

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Indian corporate giantReliance Industries Ltd has

resumed lobbying among USlawmakers through a new lob-byist for advocating its positionon the “US economic tradesanctions policies”.

Billionaire MukeshAmbani-led RelianceIndustries Ltd (RIL) had earli-er terminated its lobbyingactivity in US in January 2013after engaging with the US law-makers for nearly four years forits business activities and othercauses through its registeredlobbying firm Barbour Griffith& Rogers LLC (BGR) at thattime.

According to the new ‘lob-bying report’ filings made withthe US Senate, RIL has nowengaged Eversheds Sutherland(US) LLP, which filed a ‘lob-bying registration’ report onbehalf of its client RIL on April 26.

According to the filing,the effective date of registrationis February 2, 2019.

The registration filing hasbeen followed up with the firstquarter lobbying report filed byEversheds Sutherland on behalfof RIL on May 29, 2019.

In the filing, the lobbyisthas disclosed total income of$140,000 from RIL for lobby-ing activities for the three-month period ended March 31, 2019.

It has disclosed “US eco-nomic sanctions policies” as the

specific lobbying issue for theperiod, while the USDepartment of State has beenmentioned as the departmentcontacted for the purpose.

On its website, EvershedsSutherland describes itself as“an international top 15 lawpractice helping a global clientbase ranging from small andmid-sized businesses to thelargest multinationals solvetheir biggest challenges andreach their business goals”.

Lobbying in governmentdepartments and other insti-tutions is a legal activity in theUS, but all registered lobbyingfirms are required to make adisclosure every quarter aboutthe payments received by them,as also the details of their lob-bying activities.

The exact trigger for RIL toengage in lobbying on thisissue could not be immediate-ly ascertained. The US hadrecently ruled out givingexemption from punitive sanc-tions to any country buying oilfrom Iran.

In October 2018, RIL hadsaid it had halted import ofIranian crude ahead of the USsanctions, which were re-imposed in November thatyear.

In April this year, RIL saidit did not violate the US sanc-tions on Venezuela and hadpurchased crude originatingfrom the Latin Americannation from companies such asRussia’s Rosneft in full knowl-edge of the US authorities.

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Amid ongoing trade warwith the US and tension

over the South China Sea,Chinese Defence MinisterGeneral Wei Fenghe said onSunday that Beijing’s door isstill open for talks but warnedthat it was “ready to fight till theend” if a fight is what Americawants.

Addressing the IISSShangri-La Dialogue here, GenWei also said that telecomgiant Huawei is not a militarycompany and defended theTiananmen Square massacrewhere Chinese army tankswere used on protestors 30years ago.

The US and China arelocked in a bitter, year-longtrade dispute which has seenthe Trump administrationrecently boost tariffs on $250billion of Chinese goods.

US President DonaldTrump is demanding China toreduce the massive trade deficitwhich last year climbed toover $539 billion. He is press-ing for verifiable measures forprotection of intellectual prop-erty rights (IPR), technologytransfer and more access toAmerican goods to Chinesemarkets.

“On the trade friction start-ed by the US: if the US wantsto talk, we will keep the dooropen. If they want to fight, weare ready,” General Wei saidwhile speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

He asserted that Huawei isnot a military company despitedespite its founder Ren

Zhengfei’s previous career inthe army.

“Huawei is not a militarycompany. Do not think thatbecause the head of Huaweiused to serve in the military,then the company that he builtis part of the military,” GeneralWei said.

“It doesn’t make sensebecause these sorts of ex-ser-vicemen, upon their retire-ment, a lot of them have set upcompanies in countries acrossthe world,” said Gen Wei, thefirst Chinese defence ministerto attend the forum since 2011.

The US placed Huawei onan “entity list” on grounds ofnational security on May 16, amove that curbs its access toUS-made components it needsfor its equipment. TheDepartment of Commercealleged that Huawei wasengaged in activities that arecontrary to US national secu-rity or foreign policy interest.

The Trump administra-tion later issued a 90-dayreprieve on its ban on dealingwith Huawei, saying breathingspace was needed to allow forsoftware updates and othercontractual obligations.

China’s commerce min-istry last week said it willrelease its own list of “unreli-able entities”.

Gen Wei also defendedthe 30-year old TiananmenSquare massacre, saying it wascorrect decision for stability inhis country.

“That incident was a polit-ical turbulence and the centralgovernment took measures tostop the turbulence which is a

correct policy,” he told theforum.

“The 30 years have proventhat China has undergonemajor changes... Because ofthe government’s action, Chinahas enjoyed stability and devel-opment,” he said.

Pointing out that he was atthe Dialogue for the first timesas China’s defence minister,Gen Wei began politely “I amhere for mutual confidence,cooperation and peace. I amglad to speak on China andInternational SecurityCooperation.”

But went on to say: “Wetake note that the US expound-ed on its perspective on region-al affairs yesterday (Saturday).We believe that any such per-spective should take intoaccount the common securityand interests of regional coun-tries.

“No approaches to region-al issues should resort to mili-tary blocs, nor should theyundermine the interests of oth-ers.

“We hold different viewswith the US side on severalissues, and firmly oppose itswrong words and actions con-cerning Taiwan and the SouthChina Sea,” he said, respondingstrongly on the Taiwan ques-tion.

China claims that Taiwanwhich broke away in 1949 ispart of Chinese mainland andis opposed to any country hav-ing diplomatic contacts withTaipei.

He stressed that China andthe self-ruled island must bereunified.

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Launching a massive crack-down on perpetrators of the

IL&FS scam, the Serious FraudInvestigation Office (SFIO) hascharged the erstwhile top man-agement members of thegroup’s financial services sub-sidiary IFIN of forming a“coterie” with its auditors andindependent directors todefraud the company whilerunning the business as their“personal fiefdom”.

Officials also said it is justa tip of the iceberg in this mas-sive fraud case, involvingdefaults totalling an estimatedamount of over Rs 90,000 crore,as the SFIO’s first chargesheetconcerns just one entity, IL&FSFinancial Services Ltd (IFIN),and the probe is already under-way against the parent firmInfrastructure Leasing andFinancial Services Ltd (IL&FS)and several other subsidiaries.

In addition to prosecutionof former executive and inde-pendent directors of IFIN,among others, and attachmentof their properties, the SFIO isalso looking to seek interimattachment of all moveable

and immovable assets of theauditors including their lockers,bank accounts and jointly-heldproperties, officials said.

The SFIO is also collectingdetails about all borrowings byIFIN from banks and throughmarket instruments, as alsoabout the role of banks andtheir officials and of creditrating agencies.

The first charge-sheet, filedby the government’s white-collar fraud investigationagency, follows inspection ofaccounts of close to 400 enti-ties, an extensive forensic audit,data collected from desktopsand laptops seized from variousIL&FS offices as also e-mailsextracted from the IL&FSservers, RBI inspection reports,minutes of meetings, amongother documents, as also theassessment reports from thegovernment-appointed newboard of IL&FS.

The huge scam came tolight last year after IL&FS andits subsidiaries defaulted onseveral debt repayments due toa severe liquidity crisis. As ofMarch 2018, it owed over Rs90,000 crore to banks andother creditors. The govern-ment in October last yearsuperseded the board of IL&FSand appointed a new board,with eminent banker UdayKotak as its executive chairman.

In its chargesheet filedbefore a special court in

Mumbai last Friday, the SFIOhas accused 30 entities/indi-viduals of various violationsand offences, including offinancial fraud. Some of theaccused persons are already injudicial custody.

The former top-manage-ment members of IFIN havebeen charged with committingfraud with intent to injure theinterest of the company, itsshareholders and creditors,resulting in wrongful loss to thecompany.

They have been accused offorming a “coterie to controlday-to-day affairs of the com-pany and of colluding with oth-ers” in using illegal methods onmultiple occasions in violationof the RBI directions.

They have also beenaccused of conniving withsome borrowers to help themmake wrongful gains in theform of loans with the intentionof not repaying the same.

It has further alleged thatstatutory auditors of the com-pany also colluded with the topmanagement of IFIN andfraudulently falsified the booksof accounts and the financialstatements from the fiscal year2013-14 to 2017-18.

The members of the auditcommittee also connived withthe ‘coterie’ and overlookedthe violations of norms, caus-ing unlawful loss to the com-pany.

The ‘coterie’ repeated its

modus operandi several timesby getting an earlier loan facil-ity for a borrower closed andcreating a fresh facility, whichwas again funded after defaultwith another funding cyclethrough the same or anothergroup entity. Ultimately, thefinal loan facility was declaredan NPA or written off, whileseveral of them remain out-standing resulting in the bal-looning of debt.

The ‘coterie’ membersabused their position, con-nived with auditors and othersto defraud the company bydevising an “illegal strategy” oflending money to group com-panies of IFIN by funding tovendors and contractors ofanother group firm.

The top managementmembers also “deliberatelypresented falsified, sprucedup, deceptive and mislead-ing” financial statements to thecredit rating agencies, whocontinued to give them thehighest ratings till the laterpart of 2018, the SFIO hascharged.

Listing names of DeloitteHaskins and Sells LLP andBSR and Associates LLP in thechargesheet, the SFIO said,“The statutory auditors failed todischarge their duties diligent-ly and did not use profession-al scepticism to ensure true andfair disclosure of the state ofaffairs of the company”.

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With an aim to check frivo-lous appeals against its

orders with the sole aim ofdelaying their execution, capitalmarket regulator Sebi is seekinga mandatory deposit of 10 percent of the penalty amountbefore filing of any appeal beforethe appellate tribunal.

The Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)has sought an amendment tothe Sebi Act to provide for a“pre-deposit” by any entityseeking to challenge its orderrelating to a monetary penaltyor orders relating to refund,recovery, disgorgement andcompounding, officials said.

The regulator is of the viewthat many a times provision tofile an appeal before theSecurities Appellate Tribunal(SAT) is used as a device to delaythe execution of the Sebi order.

“To curb such a practice, anew provision of pre-depositneeds to be inserted in the sec-tion of the Sebi Act that allowsfiling of appeal before the SATagainst orders involving quan-tifiable money as a penalty,refund, recovery, disgorgementor impounding,” an official said.

Sebi feels that such mea-

sures would help avoid frivo-lous appeals and expedite dis-posal of the statutory appeals,the official said, while pointingout that similar provisions arethere in other legislations likethe Central Excise Act, theIncome Tax Act, theSecuritisation andReconstructrion of FinancialAssets and Enforcement ofSecurities Interest Act.

The Finance Ministry isalso in agreement with theproposal, which has beenapproved by the Sebi’s board,the officials said.

According to the new pro-posal, no appeal should beadmitted against an order ofSebi relating to any monetarypenalty, refunds, recovery, dis-gorgement or impounding,unless the appellant depositswith the SAT at least 10 per centof the corresponding amount atthe time of filing the appeal.

The proposal also seeks toprovide that in any particularcase where the SAT is of theopinion that a pre-deposit wouldcause hardship to the appellant,the tribunal can dispense with orreduce such a deposit, subject tonecessary conditions that can beimposed to safeguard the inter-est of the investors.

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Passing through one of thelongest sales slowdowns,

the auto industry has soughtreduction of GST on all vehi-cles to 18 per cent from the cur-rent rate of 28 per cent.

Spelling out its Budgetwish list, the Society ofAutomobile Industry (SIAM)has also asked the Governmentan incentive based vehiclescrappage scheme in order toget polluting, unsafe and oldvehicles off the road and helpthem replace with new ones.

During a pre-Budget meet-ing with finance ministry offi-cials earlier this month, SIAMstated the GST rate on all cat-egories of vehicles be “broughtdown to 18 per cent from thecurrent rate of 28 per cent”.

Bringing down the tax ratewill reduce vehicle prices,which will help in spurringdemand that has been sluggishfor the last 11 months, said anindustry executive.

In April, passenger vehiclessales witnessed the steepestdecline in nearly 8 years with

sales dropping by 17.07 percent — the biggest fall sinceOctober 2011 — as weak cus-tomer sentiment led by liquid-ity crunch, uncertainty beforeelections and high productprices hit sales.

During the meeting withthe ministry officials, SIAMalso proposed an incentivebased vehicle scrappage schemeto get polluting, unsafe and oldvehicles off the road.

With an aim to supportlocal manufacturing, SIAM hasasked for applied customs dutyon fully imported commercialvehicles (CV) to be increasedto 40 per cent from 25 per cent.

Moreover, customs dutyon semi-knocked down CVsshould be reduced to 20 percent from 25 per cent to pro-mote local value addition,SIAM said in its recommen-dation.

The auto industry bodyalso pitched for customs dutyon CKDs (completely knockeddown units) of all form of vehi-cles to be reduced to 10 percent from 15 per cent, as it wasearlier.

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Power generating compa-nies have asked State-run

Coal India to increase the sup-ply of the dry fuel from Korbaarea in Chhattisgarh throughrail wagons to help themreduce transportation cost aswell as tariffs for end-con-sumers.

Korba region serves 20per cent of the domestic coalsupply but Coal India-armSouth Eastern Coalfields Ltd(SECL) is able to meet only 55per cent of its demand fromthe region through rail, accord-ing to Association of PowerProducers (APP).

The APP in a letter to CoalIndia chief Anil Kumar Jhamentioned that power pro-ducers are incurring around 25per cent higher costs to movecoal by road as against rail mode.

Against a demand of 45rakes per day, Korba area iscurrently loading only 25 rakesper day, the APP said. Due tolack of supply through rail-ways, power producers arecompelled to bank on ineffi-cient and expensive trucktransportation for coal pro-curement. One rake can load4,000 tons of coal, whichmeans producers have to ply

135 trucks carrying 30 tons each.

The SECL controlsChhattisgarh Korba coal fieldthat produces close to 130million tonnes of coal that canfire 32,000 MW of electricitygeneration capacity. India hasclose to 200GW of power gen-eration capacity dependent oncoal that often struggles to pro-cure the desired quality andquantity of fuel in a time-bound manner.

The APP has said thatelectricity consumers are com-pelled to pay higher tariffssince this cost burden is passedon to them.

“You may appreciate thatthe road mode is the least effi-cient mode of transportationand also a costlier option. Theimpact of such higher cost ofcoal supply would have to beborne by the end consumers ofelectricity. In the spirit of thegovernment’s decision toensure efficient transportationof coal, we request your goodoffice to increase dispatches byRail Mode from Gevra Minesof Korba area,” the APP said ina letter to Coal India CMDAnil Kumar Jha.

The letter is also sent toSECL CMD AP Panda andRailway Board chairmanVinod Kumar Yadav.

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Indian indus-try’s borrow-

ings from foreignmarkets fell bynearly 20 percent to $3.16 bil-lion in April 2019compared to theyear-ago month,according to theReserve Bankdata.

D o m e s t i cfirms had raised$3.92 billionfrom overseasmarkets in April2018.

Of the total external com-mercial borrowings (ECBs) inApril 2019, $2.66 billion wasraised through the automaticroute, $500 million throughapproval route while the rest of$304,462 came through theissue of rupee denominatedbonds (RDBs), the RBI datashowed.

Under the automaticroute, Shriram TransportFinance Company ($750 mil-lion on sub-lending), Dhamra

Lng Terminal ($600 millionfor rupee expenditure),Indian Railway FinanceCorporation ($300 millionfor infrastructure develop-ment), and Ikea India Pvt Ltd($257.82 million as workingcapital loan) were among themajor borrowers.

Tata Motors Finance Ltd($150 million for on-lending),Performance SpecialityProcducts (India) Pvt Ltd($89.91 million as working

capital funding), and JohnsonMatthey India Pvt Ltd ($ 64.82million for new project require-ment) tapped funds under theautomatic route.

JSW Steel Ltd was the onlyfirm that raised $500 millionthrough the approval route tochannel capital for moderni-sation. While, BiosenseTechnologies Pvt Ltd was thesole firm that floated RDBs ormasala bonds overseas to raise$304,462 for new project needs.

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With anaim to

beat the longodds of genderinequality inIndia, VolvoCar flagged offan all womendrive onSunday underthe global ‘Equal Vehicles forAll’ (EVA) initiative to promotegender equality. The data ofover 4 decades and 40,000investigations involving carcrashes has now been provid-ed to the world free. The EVAinitiative centres around safe-ty for all and not just safetydeveloped by testing the tradi-tional ‘Male Crash TestDummies’. Women have a dif-ferent anatomy and hence dif-ferent effects in crashes. Priorto the initiative, Volvo cars aretested with female crash testdummies as well deliveringsafety for all.

Volvo Car is aiming atone-third of all leadership

positions by 2025 to befemales and has a healthy23% women workforce.

Charles Frump,Managing Director — VolvoCar India said, “We are veryproud of our campaign togenerate awareness aboutgender equality. It is some-thing very close to our brandand the corporate mission tohave atleast one-third womenin all leading positions glob-ally by 2025. We have ahealthy 23% ratio of womenglobally and in India. Ourglobal EVA initiative involvescreating a Female Crash TestDummy, therby deliveringsafety for all”.

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US president Donald Trumpurged Britain to be “very

careful” about involvingChinese tech giant Huawei inits new 5G network, in aninterview published Saturdayahead of his state visit toLondon.

Asked about reports thatBritain is planning to give thefirm a limited role, Trump toldthe Sunday Times newspaper:“Well, you have other alterna-tives and we have to be verycareful from the standpoint ofnational security.” He added:“You know we have a veryimportant intelligence gather-ing group, that we work veryclosely with your country(Britain) and so you have to bevery careful.”

The US has long voicedsuspicions that Huawei is con-trolled by the ChineseGovernment and thus a glob-al security threat — chargesstrongly denied by the firmand by Beijing.

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Days after publicly eruptingto Jai Shri Ram chant by

BJP supporters, MamataBanerjee on Sunday attackedthe RSS for forcing a religiousslogan on Bengal for narrowpolitical gains.

Trying to put across herpoint in the social mediaagainst politicising religiousslogans, the Bengal ChiefMinister said “Jai Shri Ram, JaiRam Ji Ki” were all religiousslogans being used by the BJPwith political underpinnings.

Her facebook commentread: “BJP is using religious slo-gan Jai Sri Ram as their partyslogan in a misconceived man-ner by way of mixing religionwith politics. We do not respectthis forcible enforcement ofpolitical slogans on others inthe name of so called RSSwhich Bengal never accepted.”

She further said, “This is adeliberate attempt to sell hatredideology through vandalismand violence which we mustoppose together.”

Comparing slogans like:“Bande Mataram, Jai Hind”

used by Trinamool Congress orCongress and “InqilabZindabad” raised by theMarxists, Banerjee said thosewere political slogans and “Ihave respect for them,” addingthe RSS on the other hand wastrying to “mislead” the peopleby cunningly mixing catch-phrase having “religious orsocial connotations” with polit-ical slogan which was danger-ous for the Indian society andwould definitely create a tur-moil.

Alleging that there was adeliberate attempt by the saf-fron outfit to propagate anideology of hatred throughvandalism and violenceBanerjee called upon the peo-ple of India to rise up and“oppose such moves” so as to“keep secular character of t hecountry as enshrined” in theConstitution intact.

Of late “Jai Shri Ram” hadgrabbed the headlines withthe Chief Minister expressingher public outburst to the slo-gan whenever her cavalcade iswelcome by the crowds of BJPsupporters. Similar incidentstook place during the election

campaign at Midnapore whereshe ran into BJP men chantingJai Shri Ram even as she wasdriving past and at Naihati andBhatpara north of Kolkatawhere she got off her car andconfronted the crowd chantingJai Shri Ram.

Earlier on Saturday TMCturncoat-turned-BJP-MPArjun Singh challengedBanerjee saying his party menwould send 10 lakh Jai ShriRam slogans to Banerjee’s offi-cial residence “let me see whatshe does.”

Meanwhile, continuingpost-poll violence clashesbetween the BJP and TMC sup-porters throughout Bengal.BJP supporters reportedlyattacked TMC party offices atDiamond Harbour, UdayNarayanpur, Jahangirpur,Gangarampur, Kanchraparaand other places sources said.At Khejuri a CPI(M) bastionsubsequently taken over bythe TMC on Saturday andSunday saw BJP men gherao-ing local Trinamool MLA forhours leading to clashesbetween the members of thetwo parties.

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Tamil Nadu is in for anoth-er bout of anti-Centre agi-

tation in the backdrop of themassive win registered by theDMK and its allies in therecently held General Election.The DMK, which is out ofpower, both at Chennai and theCentre since 2011 and 2013respectively, is hoping to thekeep the BJP-led UnionGovernment on tenterhooksalleging anti-Tamil approachand discrimination against theState. The latest cause for theanti-Centre stance is reports insome of the social media plat-forms accusing the BJPGovernment of attempting toimpose Hindi on Tamil Nadu.

‘The BJP and the PrimeMinister are angry at the peo-ple of Tamil Nadu for not vot-ing for the BJP,” alleged MKStalin in a release. The KasturiRangan Committee’s draft rec-ommendation on the NewEducation Policy which wassubmitted to the Centre onSaturday has come handy forthe DMK and fringe Tamilgroups to sustain the anti-Modi campaign till the nextAssembly Elections, said a

senior bureaucrat at the StateSecretariat.

The NEP has recommend-ed the introduction of three-language system for schooleducation, particularly fromthe eighth standard onwards.This has upset the Dravidianparties and they have alreadyissued that the State would wit-ness massive agitations if theCentre goes ahead with thethree-language policy.

“The Centre should notthink, even in a distant dream,about implementing the three-language policy by sabotagingthe existing two-language poli-cy. The Centre’s greed will beself-damaging,” said Stalindespite the assurance by PrakashJavdekar, Union Minister forHuman Resources Developmentthat no decision has been takenby the Centre and made it clearthat the Kasturi RanganCommittee report was a draftrecommendation only.

Vaiko, the MDMK gener-al secretary, who is expected toreach the Rajya Sabha in July,thanks to a goodwill gesture bythe DMK, went one step aheadand warned the Prime Ministerof widespread riots. “If Hindiis imposed, there would be anexplosion of anti-Hindu

protests in Tamil Nadu, thistime with much greater vigourand intensity,” warned Vaikoreferring to the anti-Hindi agi-tation of the 1960s that claimedmany lives in the State.

But there are many peoplein Tamil Nadu who want theintroduction of Hindi in schoolcurriculum. Badri Prasad, the-atre personality and founder ofCrazy Brothers, a leading Ramildrama troop is of the view thatTamil students should learn asmany languages as possible.“We cannot deny the studentsthe right to learn because ofvested interests by some politi-cians. If the children in TamilNadu are denied the chance tolearn Hindi, we are denyingthem a livelihood,” said Prasad.

But Kamal Hassan, the filmactor-turned-politician is of theview that Hindi should not beimposed on anyone against theirwish. “Kamal Haassan hasimposed many Tamil films onthe people of Tamil Nadu andthe suggestion to have Hindi asa subject of learning is not ascruel as that of such movies,”retorted Prasad. He also point-ed out the Hindi posters pastedacross Chennai city by the DMKsoliciting votes from the Hindispeaking people in the State.

Jammu: The trial in the case ofrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua inJammu & Kashmir is nearingcompletion nearly a year afterit began at a court in Punjab'sPathankot, officials said onSunday.

Defence lawyers are likelyto complete their final argu-ments on Monday, followed bya brief concluding statementfrom the prosecution team ledby JK Chopra, they said, addingthat the verdict is expectedthereafter.

The day-to-day in-cameratrial began in the first week ofJune last year at the district andsession court in Pathankotafter the Supreme Court direct-ed that the case be shifted outof Jammu & Kashmir afterlawyers in Kathua had pre-vented crime branch officialsfrom filing the charge sheet inthe case.

A political turmoil waswitnessed in the Jammu regionlast January after the Jammu &Kashmir Police's crime branchtook over the case and arrest-ed eight people, including ajuvenile and two police officials

who were accused of destruc-tion of evidence.

The case became a bone ofcontention between then rulingalliance partners PDP and BJP.The BJP had to sack two of itsministers, Chowdhury LalSingh and Chander PrakashGanga, for participating in arally of Hindu Ekta Manch insupport of those arrested by thecrime branch in the case.

The crime branch arrestedvillage head Sanji Ram, his sonVishal, juvenile nephew andhis friend Anand Dutta, andtwo special police officersDeepak Khajuria and SurenderVerma. Head constable TilakRaj and sub-inspector AnandDutta, who allegedly took �4lakh from Sanji Ram anddestroyed crucial evidence,were also arrested by the crimebranch.

Charges of rape and mur-der were framed by the districtand sessions judge againstseven out of the eight accused.The trial against the juvenile isyet to begin as his petitionregarding his age is to be heardby the Jammu & Kashmir HighCourt. PTI

Itanagar: The arson in front ofArunachal Pradesh BJP chief 'sprivate residence was linked tothe Permanent ResidentCertificate (PRC) issue, thepolice said Sunday after arrest-ing three persons in connectionwith last Friday's incident.

A person drove a car,parked it in front of ArunachalBJP president Tapir Gao's pri-vate residence here Fridaymorning and set it on firebefore slaughtering a dog.

It was found out that theperson, Tongam Jomoh whowas one of the three arrestedpersons, set his own car afireand the dog he had slaughteredwas also owned by him, CapitalSP Tumme Amo told reportershere.

During interrogation,Jomoh claimed that he wasagainst Gao as he was behindthe PRC issue and he had alsogiven party tickets to two non-tribals in the recently held

assembly polls in the state, theSP said.

The PRC issue had rockedthe state in February. Violentprotests broke out in Itanagarand Naharlagun towns after theBJP government announcedthat it was considering issuingPRC to members of six com-munities who are not natives ofArunachal Pradesh, but areliving in the state for decades.

Jomoh was arrested fromAssam's Lakhimpur districtearly on Sunday while his two

accomplishes were apprehend-ed on Saturday, the SP said.

Five mobile handsets andthe vehicle which they used toflee the scene were also seized,the SP said.

The accused were pro-duced before the magistrateand remanded to police cus-tody for further interrogation,Amo added.

CCTV footages showedthat the arson and slaughteringof the dog happened in front ofGao's residence around 6 amwhen the streets were empty.

Gao has been elected fromArunachal East Parliamentaryconstituency in the recent LokSabha polls.

The BJP State unit hadcondemned the incident andappealed to the administrationto take stringent action againstcriminal "elements". It alsoasked the authorities to ensureexemplary punishment to themas per law. PTI

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Mumbai: The Bajrang Dal,youth wing of the VishvaHindu Parishad, claimed onSunday that no firearm train-ing was given at a camp held byit at a school in neighboringThane district last week.

An NGO had complainedto police that the right-wingorganization imparted guntraining to students at a campat a school in Mira Road area.

Navghar police are probingthe matter. When contacted,Sandeep Bhagat, Konkanregion coordinator of theBajrang Dal, said the allegationwas a "political conspiracy".

"The participants at`Shourya Prashikshan Varg2019' which was held at theschool did not handle guns," hesaid. "Some of our activists hadbrought air-guns, which do

not require a license," he said."We gave training to stu-

dents in rappelling, stick- fight-ing, running, long jump....Wehad given a letter to policeabout this before the camp washeld," he said.

Police also sought responsefrom the shop from where theair-guns were procured, Bhagatadded, and it was confirmedthat these guns did not requireany kind of license, he said.

Sub Divisional PoliceOfficer Atul Kulkarni saidpolice had contacted the orga-nizers and asked them to pro-duce licenses for weapons, ifany, used at the camp.

Preliminary inquiryrevealed that air-guns wereused for training, he said.

"We are conducting furtherprobe," he added. PTI

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Surat: A case of murder was reg-istered against eight abscondingpolicemen here after a manwho was allegedly beaten up incustody died Saturday night.

Omprakash Pandey, whohad sustained a brain injurybecause of the alleged custodi-al torture, died at a private hos-pital, said assistant commis-sioner of police (special branch)PL Chaudhari on Sunday.

While a case of assault hadbeen lodged against theabsconding policemen earlier, acharge of murder under IPC sec-tion 302 was added afterPandey's death, the ACP said.The accused were identified asinspector M B Khileri and detec-tion staff personnel Hareshbhai,Kanaksinh, Pareshbhai, Ashish,

Kalpeshbhai and Dilubhai. Thename of another accused, asub-inspector (surveillance), wasnot disclosed.

All of them were attachedto Khatodara police station inthe city. The accused policeofficials detained Pandey andtwo others Friday on suspicionof being involved in a burglary.

The three were allegedlybeaten up in custody. Pandeysuffered serious brain injuriesand had to be hospitalised.

A case was registeredagainst the police officials onSaturday under IPC section 330(voluntarily causing hurt toextract confession). But as theformalities for grant of bail tothem were being completed,the officials fled. PTI

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Palakkad (Kerala): A 28-year-old Dalit man has com-plained that his wife wasforcibly being kept under"house arrest" by her relativesfor marrying a person from alower caste.

Shaji, a native of Pattambiin Palakkad district, said hemarried a woman from Ezhavacommunity in Malappuramon May 2, defying stif fOpposition by her kin.

Though her relatives hadregistered a police complaintsaying she was missing, thewoman had told the lawenforcers she wanted to livewith her husband.

Based on her statement,police had let her go with himlast month, Shaji told a tele-vision channel.

"But, soon after that, herrelatives forcibly took her toher parents' house and she hasbeen kept under house arrest

there since then," he said.He also alleged even

though he had approached thepolice seeking release of hiswife, the response was notpositive.

When the issue triggereda controversy, the KeralaWomen's Commission onSunday registered a case suomoto against the women'srelatives.

"We have registered thecase based on media reports.We will meet the woman andrecord her statement, onlyafter which we will know theexact details," Commissionmember Shiji Sivaji told PTI.

"If the complaint is provedtrue, we will initiate strictlegal measures against the rel-atives," she said. TheGovernment also sought areport from the PalakkadSuperintendent of Policeregarding the incident. PTI

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The Jammu & Kashmir Police has for-warded to the Centre a Kashmiri

man's application for bringing back hisbusiness graduate son, who had joined ter-ror outfit ISIS and is now in the custodyof the US-allied forces in Syria, to India,officials said on Sunday.

Adil Ahmed, a Kashmir-resident whohad completed his MBA from Queenslandin Australia, was captured by the US alliedforces in Syria after he had surrenderedalong with many ISIS activists earlier thisyear, the officials.

Ahmed had moved to Syria in 2013and informed his family that he was work-ing with an NGO there.

His father Fayaz Ahmed, who worksas a contractor and runs a departmentalstore, still cannot believe that his son hadjoined the deadly terror group and has

been moving from pillar to post for thereturn of his son.

"I am hopeful that since the new gov-ernment has taken over in New Delhi,things will move on (in bringing back hisson)," he said.

The officials said the application filedby Fayaz Ahmed has been forwarded tocentral security agencies in New Delhi fornecessary action.

"If Adil is brought back, he can give usa deep insight into the functioning of ISISand their nefarious plans," an official,speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

Adil, along with a few hundred ISIScadres, had surrendered before the US-ledforces in Syria and has since been jailed.

Having completed his MBA fromQueensland in Australia, Adil left for Turkeyvia Jordan on June 21, 2013 on an Indianpassport after he allegedly got in touch withsome radical groups based in Australia.

Adil, after migrating to ISIS-con-trolled Syria, ostensibility on the pretextof working for an NGO, married a Dutchwoman who had also joined the terrorgroup.

The couple gave birth to a son in 2014,who died during the turmoil in Syria.

His family had been claiming that Adilwas working in Syria and neighbouringcountries, till his father received a messagefrom his Dutch wife that she and their sonwere in custody of the US-allied forces.

The wife, according to the officials, wasgiven access to the InternationalCommittee of Red Cross which facilitat-ed contact with her husband's family.

"I have now approached the stateauthorities seeking help to bring back myson," Fayaz Ahmed, "I have been informedthat a formal process will start only afterthe new government assumes office inNew Delhi."

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Thiruvananthapuram: A rarebone disorder coupled with arespiratory condition requir-ing external oxygen supporthas not deterred 24-year-oldLatheesha Ansari of Kottayamfrom setting her eyes on thehighly coveted civil services.

On Sunday, she appearedfor the Preliminary CivilServices examination conduct-ed by the Union Public ServiceCommission here, on a wheelchair and an oxygen cylinderbeside her.

Latheesha, who was diag-nosed with 'type II OsteogenesisImperfecta' ,(britlle bone dis-ease) after birth also suffersfrom pulmonary hypertensionsince over a year due to whichshe needsan oxygen cylinderalways besides her for respira-

tory needs.The short statured IAS aspi-

ranthad to be carried to schoolby her father due to her condi-tion, father Ansari, who hailsfrom Erumeli in Kottayam,said. Thanks to the interventionof Kottayam District CollectorP R Sudheer Babu, a portableoxygen concentrator was pro-vided to her inside the exami-nation hall.

A portable equipmentwould be provided to her free ofcost for which tender processhad been completed, the col-lector told PTI when contacted.Her parents had travelled to theexamination hall with an oxy-gen cyclinder.

Latheesha, who appearedfor the examination at a centrehere, told PTI that she had been

preparing for the examinationsince the past one and half yearsand hoped that her effortswould prove fruitful.

Latheesha, who has com-pleted her M Com degree, haschosen Malayalam as theoptional subject for the exami-nation. Latha Nair ofAmritavarshini, a charitableSociety working for childrenwith the rare genetic distorder,said the UPSC needs to providebetter facilties for IAS aspi-rants like Latheesha.

She needs about Rs 25,000a month for a medical needs,Nair said.

The examination, conduct-ed by the Union Public ServiceCommission (UPSC), was heldin 72 cities across India onSunday. PTI

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Jammu: Over 1.10 lakh devo-tees have registered for theannual pilgrimage to theAmarnath cave shrine in southKashmir Himalayas whichbegins on July 1, officials said onSunday.

Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Paul Malik hadlaunched last week an onlineregistration process for pil-grims.

The registration process forthe annual Amarnath yatrathrough the Baltal and theChandanwari routes began onApril 2, they said.

They said nobody will beallowed to undertake the yatrawithout a permit, which is validfor a specified day and route.

The registration of pilgrimsis being undertaken through440 designated branches of thePunjab National Bank, Jammuand Kashmir Bank and theYES Bank located in 32 statesand Union Territories.

The 46-day-long yatra willbegin on July 1, the day of MasikShivratri, and would concludeon August 15, the day ofShravan Purnima.

In addition to the existingprocesses of registration, theboard has approved a proposalfor online registration of a lim-ited number of intending pil-grims each day on a pilot basis,the officials said.

The website contains anapplication form and a state-wise list of bank branches whichthe people can visit for regis-tration.

The pilgrims will have tofurnish a compulsory healthcertificate (CHC) while regis-tering.

A State-wise list of doctorsand medical institutes autho-rised to issue the CHCs hasbeen put on the website of theshrine board.

Children under the age of13 years or elderly above 75 andwomen who are more than sixweeks pregnant will not beregistered for the yatra, the offi-cials said. PTI

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Srinagar : NationalConference vice-presidentOmar Abdullah on Sundaysaid the harassment of guestsat an iftar party hosted by theIndian High Commission inIslamabad was “stupid tit fortat diplomacy”.

“Stupid tit for tat diplo-macy. It was stupid when wedid it outside the PakistaniHigh Commission in NewDelhi & it's stupid when it'sdone outside our's inIslamabad. Now that it's 1-1perhaps it's time to move on &stop this nonsense,” Omarwrote on Twitter.

Guests invited to theIndian High Commission'sIftar party in Islamabad onSaturday evening faced"unprecedented level of harass-ment" due to enhanced secu-rity checks by the Pakistani

officials who stopped someinvitees on one pretext orother.

Indian HighCommissioner Ajay Bisariahosted the annual event atSerena Hotel for which guestswere invited from all overPakistan.Those attending theevent said that additional secu-rity deployment was madearound the luxury hotel.

A journalist said that hesaw more than usual securitypresence but those havinginvitation cards and identitydocuments were allowed toattend.

"My invitation card waschecked and I was asked ques-tions about profession andresidence, and allowed to goin," he said. "Unprecedentedlevel of harassment at @sere-na_hotels Islamabad. PTI

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The story revolves around a girl named JessicaJones, who is haunted by her traumatic past.

Jessica uses her gifts as a private eye to find her tor-mentor before he can harm anyone else in Hell’sKitchen. The series is slated to release on June 14on Netflix.

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The game show, hosted by comedian James Davis,sees contestants, sleep deprived for 24 hours,

work their way through various challenges. Thechallenges in the show involve both eccentric andeveryday activities. The contestants stumble throughthese challenges in order to win 1 million dollar. Theshow is set to release on June 14 on Netfilx.

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After killing her abductor, former FBI agentEmily Byrne struggles to define her new nor-

mal as a mother and a survivor of years of tor-ture. Even while she rebuilds her relationship withher son, Flynn, Emily still cannot shake the dark-ness of her past. She enlists police detectiveTommy Gibbs in an investigation of her history.When the case turns deadly, she risks everythingto uncover the truth. The series is slated to releaseon June 14 on Amazon Prime.

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The holy month of Ramadan,with its long days of fasting andprayer meant to draw worship-

pers closer to God and away fromworldly distractions, is being reshapedby technology.

People in the Middle East spendclose to 58 million more hours onFacebook during Ramadan and watchmore YouTube videos — everythingfrom beauty tips and recipes to sportsand TV dramas — than any other timeof the year, making the holy month notonly the most important one forMuslims but also the prime time of theyear for advertisers.

For Facebook, which also ownsInstagram and Google, which ownsYouTube, Ramadan brings a welcomeboost of business in the region.“Consumption and time spent on ourplatforms does indeed increase,” saidRamez Shehadi, Facebook’s managingdirector for Mideast and North Africa.

People stay up a lot more at nightduring Ramadan and have more down-time — especially before iftar, theevening meal that breaks the daylongfast and the suhoor, when people gath-er to eat before another day of fasting.Many also work shorter hours duringthe day.

All that translates to five per centmore time spent on Facebook’s plat-forms or what is nearly 58 million morehours, Shehadi said. Put another way,there are almost two million hours ofadditional time spent daily onFacebook in the Mideast duringRamadan.

Ramadan is also the peak seasonfor advertising in the region as TV dra-mas and soap operas get a 151 per centincrease in viewership on YouTube dur-ing the holy month, according toGoogle.

“Our revenue is a function ofpeople’s engagement,” Shehadi said.“The more that they engage on ourplatforms, the more that advertiserswant to be able to reach those that areengaging. That’s what drives our rev-enue.”

So much ad revenue is spent dur-ing Ramadan that Google launched“The Lantern Award” to celebrate the

most creative and engaging ads of themonth.

Yet Ramadan is not just aboutabstaining from food and drink, includ-ing water, during the day. It’s also aboutdisconnecting from vacuous distrac-tions and focusing on contemplation,introspection, acts of good, charity andconnecting with God. It can appearthen as a contradiction that this is alsowhen companies ramp up their effortsto get people to buy more, view moreand engage in excess consumerism.

Google does not disclose totalwatch time for YouTube duringRamadan but says that in Egypt, SaudiArabia and the United Arab Emirates,for example, viewing of sports videosjumps by 22 per cent, travel videos by30 per cent and action games, simula-tion and video games by 10-20 per centduring the holy month.

People also spend 27 per cent moretime watching religious content onYouTube in Ramadan.

“To us, YouTube brings peopletogether. We see a lot of people want-ing to watch things together,” said JoyceBaz, Google’s head of communicationsin Mideast and North Africa.

She added that Google products,like its search engine, are there “to sim-plify people’s lives so that they can focus

on things that matter like being withtheir loved ones and family.” Google’s“Qibla Finder,” for example, helpsMuslims find the direction of Mecca topray toward, wherever they happen tobe.

Google says this year’s top trend-ing search queries during the first weekof Ramadan in Egypt, Iraq and SaudiArabia included a surprising mix ofGame of Thrones, prayer times,Ramadan TV shows, movie timingsand English Premier League results.

Meanwhile, some of the mostpopular downloaded apps in theMideast on the Google Play store dur-ing Ramadan include games like StackBall, streaming apps like Vu andShahid and online retailers Noon andJolly Chic.

Iftar evening meals are a majorsocial affair during Ramadan, rangingfrom lavish spreads at home to decadentfive-star hotel buffets. This translatesinto a 16 per cent spike in beauty prod-uct searches and an 18 per cent spikein searches for beauty tips on YouTube,compared to the rest of the year. Also,according to Google maps, trips to themalls increase by more than 20 per centin the last weeks of Ramadan in prepa-ration for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, whichends the holy month.

Fatima el-Barbar, an Egyptianmother living in Dubai, said shesearches more for recipes and watch-es her favorite TV dramas online dur-ing Ramadan. But she said that betweenher job, taking care of the children,preparing iftar each night, her dailyprayers and reading the Quran, theMuslim holy book, there’s little time forthe internet.

“I actually have less time for theinternet in Ramadan than in other daysof the year,” she said.

To help companies better under-stand consumer habits in Ramadan,Google identified six categories ofaudiences, dedicated watchers, devot-ed fasters, foodies, groomers, travellersand shoppers.

“YouTube is a companion duringRamadan, a platform where viewerscan watch what they want, wheneverthey want throughout the day,” Googlesays in its own pitch to advertisers.

To more authentically connectwith roughly 180 million users in theMiddle East, Facebook and Instagramlaunch special Ramadan icons to givepeople more customised ways ofexpressing themselves online.Instagram also has a campaign to pro-mote acts of kindness during themonth.

“We’re trying to be magnifiersand propagators of goodness asopposed to what might seem on thesurface like an extension of con-sumerism,” Shehadi said. “It resonateswith the ethos of Ramadan and certain-ly the ethos of Facebook, which isaround bringing people togetheraround things that matter to them.”

Haitham el-Ghoneim, a Jordanianresident in Dubai, the United ArabEmirates, said he uses Facebook to con-nect with friends during Ramadan,sharing traditional greetings for theholy month and checking on his fam-ily in Jordan.

Still, he doesn’t think the rest of it— all that time spent online, on games,scrolling and ads — is a good thing. “It’snot being spent in a useful way. It’smostly fake news or jokes and thingsthat have no benefit,” he said.

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Filmmakers and artistes,who felt restricted bythe censorship rules,found the over-the-top(OTT) platforms as a

way to express themselves freely.But they are now concerned aboutmoves to regulate this mediumtoo and argue that instead ofputting curbs, there should ‘age-based’ certification.

Their concerns stem fromthe Supreme Court’s recent direc-tion to the Centre to regulate thecontent featured on OTT mediaplatforms, where shows and filmson are often laced with nudity, vio-lence and strong language.

Filmmaker Sachin Yardi,who jumped into the web spacebandwagon with Chopsticks,lauded the digital space for thefreedom it gives to artistes andis against censorship on the dig-ital medium.

“Everyone has his own indi-vidual idea of what censorshipshould be and I have mine. At thevery core of all of this, we should-n’t undermine the intelligence ofpeople at large and that it is cru-cial. One should not make anopinion of what others shouldsee,” Yardi said.

Actress Kubbra Sait, whobecame famous by playingKuckoo, a transgender in thepopular crime thriller SacredGames and shot a scene withfrontal nudity, said there is no

need of another ‘censor board’ forOTT content.

She believes in age group-appropriate certification. “It allowsthe freedom to make a choice, ofwhether you want to watch it ornot. But I don’t understand a bodyof professionals who decide for thepopulation, whether or not theythink it’s appropriate for them towatch/consume the content,”

Kubbra said. The actress asks as to why

there is a need of a digital censor-ship board as there are enoughdisclaimers and parental controlswhen watching content ondemand.

“A story needs to be told theway it has either happened or hasbeen written. A board to censoreven the content on web is now a

tiring debate. Makers need thefreedom to make what they wantto. The viewers have the samefreedom to watch what they wantto,” she said.

In January, Online CuratedContent Providers, includingNetflix and Hotstar, voluntarilysigned a self-regulatory Code ofBest Practices under the aegis ofthe Internet and Mobile

Association of India (IAMAI).Amazon Prime Video, however, isnot part to the self-regulatorycode.

Actor Ali Fazal, who featuredin Amazon Prime Video’s crimethriller Mirzapur, feels that censor-ship will lead to piracy. “The factthat a bunch of nerdy randomsmust have brought this up because‘Hey, why not? We’ve managed to

censor films, how dare they getaway with digital?’ I don’t thinkanyone knows what to censor...,”Ali said.

“I’m sorry to say but this maymotivate people to go back topiracy, something we as anindustry have been fighting foryears and people will un-sub-scribe to all Indian OTT plat-forms happily if its censoredbecause it is hypocrisy in theIndian context,” he added.

Filmmaker-choreographerFarah Khan, who is venturing intothe digital space with Mrs SerialKiller, is also not in favour of cen-sorship on the medium.

“I truly don’t believe in cen-sorship. I believe in a certificatewhich says 13+, 16+ or 18+ (rat-ing). Give it a rating and peoplecan judge it for themselves. Whenanything and everything is cen-sored, what is art for me may becensorable for you,” Farah said.

Richa Chadha, who has fea-tured in the Amazon Prime’sInside Edge, says it is best to giveshows and cinema on OTT plat-forms “an age-based rating.”

“Currently, the Internet isfree of censorship and contentmakers are enjoying this newfound freedom. I am not in favourof censorship per se but it worriesme that a 12-year-old is watchingshows about guns and castrations,”Richa said.

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Whether you are travel-ling by train, by bus orby a flight, every book-

ing is seamlessly made online.This has made the travel spacehassle-free to a great extent andone would have thought thattechnology-aided travel wouldbe booming. But if global figuresare to be believed then only 10per cent of all travel bookings isdone online. In India, that num-ber is even lower, just five percent.

Though there is advance-ment in technology, the accessto its uses is still limited givenour population arc. There arestill certain pockets of societywhere internet penetration islow, people use 3G and thereare l imited networks.

According to Rakesh Negi,brand leader of FCM TravelSolutions, the steadfastness ofthe traditional mode of book-ing is one of the reasons whyonline booking counts are soless. “There is a lack of standardregulation for online fares asthe rates fluctuate from oneportal to another. However,this trend is poised to change inthe next coming years withthe growing emergence ofArtificial Reality (AR), more

user-friendly interface on trav-el portals and mobile apps,higher internet penetration andimproved network connectivi-ty,” he adds.

Neelu Singh, CEO anddirector of Ezeego1 says that thekey today is data convergence,reputation management, mobilecommerce, digital transforma-tion and automation. Till alldevelop uniformly, there isbound to be a usage lag. “Ofcourse, mobile devices are most-

ly used for last-minute book-ings.” She further adds that theonline travel industry (OTAs)operators have just about gonebeyond providing just onlinetravel ticketing services to thecustomers and opening newopportunities for hotels to mar-ket their products. The momentthat window widens, the rate ofonline bookings would improve.

Negi, however, believes thatOTAs need to work on resolvingcustomer issues in an efficient

manner. “It is important tounderstand that today travellershave multiple options and howyou engage with them makes allthe difference. If we can add aservice-friendly interface, wemight get the desired hits.”

Karan Anand, head, rela-tionships, Cox & Kings Ltd, too,feels that the package travel mar-ket is more offline than online.“This change in trend will only beseen when the technology incor-porates all the elements of thepackage. For instance, obtaininga visa for an international desti-nation is still an offline process,so is the procurement of foreignexchange. These are the barriersfor the full-fledged adoption oftechnology in the Indian traveleco-system.”

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There is no doubt that thesociety that we live in issurrounded with con-

flicts and is pillored with manypredicaments. For instance,there is communal discord atignition point which flares upeven at the slightest show ofheat.

There are casteist tensionsthat rise to the point of flash atthe slightest provocation. Thereis grave dissidence and internalstrife in every ruling party thatkeep the party bosses on tenter-hooks. The morbid intra-partyfights for capturing levers ofpower is an ongoing thing.

All these promote politicalinstability and uncertainty andkeep people constantly guess-ing. These incite obliging shop-keepers to pull down theirshutters every other day at thecall of one or the other party forsome kind of protest or as theycall it, bandh.

This provides enough gritto the mills of the media thatwork overtime to rake up therubble and keep institutionsand groups astir. There areextremists in every directionsthat keep a substantial numberof the military forces tied upwith the problem of internalsecurity. There are exploitersgalore in the market place whogobble up huge amounts ofpublic money without any feel-ing of remorse.

The society, it seems, is liv-ing on the wages of sin andthere are vested interests every-where. It seems that the admin-istrative machinery, at mostplaces, is gradually grinding toa halt and the bureaucracy isunmindful of the tears of thedeprived classes. The judicialsystem is trying its best to givejustice via fast track courts. Theyouth seem to have ceased to beinspired by lofty ideals. It also

appears that though the per-centage of literates is rising,moral illiteracy is increasingand those who frame educa-tional policy are in a quandary.

The police are reported tobe sometimes siding withhoodlums and abetting thecrime. A large section of thepublic has started behavinglike rabble-rousers. Businessand industry, in pursuit of highprofits and in face of hardcompetition, have been losingtheir grip on integrity. There isnothing left but only unabashedselfishness. Religious discoursehas lost its impact and essence.Where is our society going ?What is to be done? Is there anylight at the end of the tunnel?

A clear thinking wouldlead us to the conclusion thatonly six steps, taken in time,can save us from the impend-ing peril. To start with, thetimely realisation that our ownbenefit lies in the betterment ofall, that the goal of our life isneither blind power nor ill-earned money, position orproperty but happiness andpeace that comes from a clearconscience and from the con-cern for the well-being of oth-ers, that we have a responsibil-ity for our actions .

Hence if we neglect ourduty, we will incur sorrow forour own selves sooner or later,that we have not descendedfrom apes but from divineancestory and, so, we shouldawaken our inherent divinepotential. We must bring loveand moral values in our rela-tionships and lastly universallove in our relationships cancome from the realisation ofour real identity. We are souls,children of god, and are, there-fore, brothers. This is the six-point formula for universalharmony.

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Flowering “bee lawns” thatattract pollinators are a com-promise between fastidiousturf management and themore casual yard approach.

They add biodiversity to the landscapeand need less maintenance. Thatmakes them cost-effective, too.

Bee lawns are turf grasses blend-ed with low-growing perennials thatbloom again after mowing. They’recared for like typical lawns, makingthem comfortable for playing andlounging. But they also contain pro-tein-rich ingredients providing vitalnutrients for for aging pollinators.

Their natural diversity — theymight contain fine fescues mixedwith such spontaneous plants as whiteclover, dandelions (that bloom earlywhen little else is flowering), creepingthyme, daisies and shade-tolerantlamium — make them less demand-ing and more resilient than Kentuckybluegrass. Bee lawns require minimalwatering and little fertilising, encour-age deeper roots and build healthiersoil — especially when their clippingsare returned to the turf.

James Wolfin, a graduate researchassistant working on the University ofMinnesota’s bee lawn project, suggestsusing the fescue Festuca brevipila.

“This grass has a thin leaf bladeand a slow rate of growth,” Wolfin said.“The slow rate of growth is essentialin making sure the grass blades do notcreate a canopy over the flowers.”

Hand weeding is recommended.For people who feel they don’t havethe time, money or talent for garden-ing, bee lawns mean “we can mow ourlawns less frequently, let the lawn flow-ers grow and provide habitat forbees,” said Susannah Lerman, aresearch ecologist with the US ForestService Northern Research Station inAmherst, Massachusetts. “Everyonecan contribute to this simple solutionfor advancing bee conservation.”

Bee populations have been crash-ing for the past couple of decades

because of habitat loss, chemical useand parasitic mites. These collapsesare particularly worrisome since pol-linators are instrumental in the growthof more than a third of the food mak-ing it to our tables.

Every pollinator plant helpsrebuild those insect stocks, even if it’sjust part of a colorful arrangement ona corner of the property.

Sunny slopes, rocky ground,boulevards, athletic fields and golfcourses are optimal locations. “Also,office parks could benefit from beelawns, particularly since they havevery low human traffic,” Lerman said.

Check, though, with your neigh-

bors and city hall before doing anylawn-alternative landscaping.

“It shouldn’t be too much of a has-sle to get your community on boardwith bee lawns,” Wolfin said. “In termsof dealing with neighbors, some-times it can be useful to install a rowor strip of rocks or wood chips alongyour fence line to hinder the ability offlowers to spread to your neighbor’slawn.”

Signage also helps, he said.Monitor growth regularly to

ensure you’re not introducing invasiveweeds or creating a tall, unsightly yard.Mowing to about three inches is agood rule to follow.

“The two-week mowing regimesupported the highest abundance ofbees,” Lerman said, citing data froma recent turf study in Springfield,Massachusetts.

“We documented 111 species ofbee (mostly native species and themajority wild bees) using the lawnflowers in western Massachusettssuburban yards,” she said.

Bee lawns are compatible withfamily activities unless you run intoaggressive colonies of ground-dwelling yellow jackets. Honeybees,wild bees and bumblebees usually aredocile unless provoked.

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Beed, a district in maha-rashtra, has been notori-ous for its discrimination

against the girl child. The dis-trict occupies an area of 10,693km square and has a popula-tion of 2,585,962 of which17.91 per cent were urban (asof 2011). According to reliablesources the urban populationhas gone up by 2 per cent sincethe 2011 census. From 2001 to2011, child sex ratio (calculat-ed as the number of girl per1000 boys in the 0-6 year agegroup) here, dropped from894 to 807. For every 1,000male children in the district,there were 807 female children.Interestingly, as per the 2011census, the average child sexratio in India is 918 girls per1,000 boys. Rampant sex deter-mination, female feticide aswell as a set of rather disturb-ing ‘traditions’, including nam-ing girls, Nakushi (unwanted inMarathi) or Kachrabai, whichmeans a kin to garbage orDagadbai, which means a kinto stone, largely contribute tothe strong daughter aversion inthese parts.

A chiefly agrarian andlargely backward district in theMarathwada region, Beed wit-nesses large-scale migrationfrom October to March everyyear as a sizeable populationmoves to western Maharashtraand neighbouring Karnatakafor the sugarcane-cutting sea-son. Families that make endsmeet solely by working asagricultural labour and have anobvious preference for sons.

Yet, ever since alarmingreports of rapidly decliningchild sex ratio emerged in2011, the state health depart-

ment has gone into missionmode to “save girls”. There areseveral facets to the sustainedefforts that have been under-taken over the last seven-oddyears. Of course, creating qual-ity engagement with the com-munity and especially thewomen and girls, is the coredriving factor in all these mea-sures.

The state Women andChild DevelopmentDepartment has developedand is implementing a people-centric awareness programmewith the input and cooperationof local civil society organisa-tions (CSOs). The KhatodFoundation is one such groupthat has been supporting thework of government healthworkers, health officers anddoctors on the ground. ThePoshan Pakhwada, observedfrom 8 to 22 March, 2019, tomark the first anniversary ofthe Poshan Abhiyan, present-

ed an ideal opportunity for thehealth functionaries. TheAnganwadi workers and thefoundation work together andtrain the spotlight on the twincurse of malnutrition andmisogyny that has eclipsedthe future of girls in the dis-trict.

It was a fortnight of eventsthat focused on raising aware-ness and disseminating simplebits of valuable information onquality nutrition, hygiene,antenatal care, safe delivery,post-natal care, immunisationand other aspects of motherand child care. In keepingwith the overarching narrativeof saving the girl child, in addi-tion to speaking about nutri-tion and well-being, healthworkers and activists, alsoshared messages on equaltreatment of girls and boys.

One notable initiative,which has caught the fancy ofthe community, was the grand

baby naming ceremony thatwas held exclusively for girlsduring the Kirtan Mahotsav inJanuary 2019. Celebrating thenaming of girls is truly aninnovative and significant

strategy, as it squarely takes onthe masculine narrative, whichincidentally also favors boysand men when it comes tosafeguarding health apart fromextending them many other

privileges. Moreover, tradi-tionally, the naming ceremonyfor boys is conducted with a lotof fanfare while it’s a low-keyaffair for girls.

This year, as many as 501baby girls were given a joyouswelcome at the naming cere-mony, organised at the districtheadquarters, in the presenceof thousands of communitymembers. The festivities werecompletely traditional butinstead of the usual quiet fam-ily affair, it was a magnificentpublic event. The look of sheerdelight on the faces of themothers was well worth thepains for the health officialsand CSO campaignersinvolved in organising theevent.

It has been an uphill taskto boost the child sex ratio inthe district but the efforts havepaid off and the results areimproving. As per the latestdata shared by the state healthdepartment, the number ofgirls per 1,000 boys has beensteadily improving. So muchthat now Beed has evenexceeded the national average,from a dismal 797 in 2011-12to a strong 938 this year.Clearly, the combined messageof securing the nutrition,health of mother and child,and rooting for equality hasmade an impact.

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US President Donald Trumpwaded once again on

Sunday into Britain’s Brexitdebate on the eve of a state visitto London, urging TheresaMay’s successor to leave the EUwith no deal.

Whoever takes over asBritain’s next Prime Ministershould not be afraid to “walkaway” from negotiations withBrussels and should refuse topay the agreed divorce bill, hetold the Sunday Times news-paper.

The intervention comesafter Trump used anothernewspaper interview to declarethat former foreign ministerBoris Johnson would be an“excellent” replacement forMay.

Britain is rolling out the redcarpet for the president thisweek, starting with a privatelunch with Queen Elizabeth IIand a state banquet atBuckingham Palace onMonday.

But large protests are alsoplanned over what LondonMayor Sadiq Khan describedas Trump’s “divisive behaviour”, while oppositionpoliticians are boycotting thebanquet.

Trump embarrassed May

with outspoken remarks onBrexit during his visit toBritain last year.

On Sunday, he again urgedthe next Government to followhis own negotiating rule book.

“If they don’t get what theywant, I would walk away... Ifyou don’t get the deal youwant, if you don’t get a fair deal,then you walk away,” he said.

May has already agreed topay 39 billion pounds (USD 50billion) to cover Britain’s lia-bilities as it moves to sever fourdecades of EU membership.

But Trump said: “If I werethem I wouldn’t pay USD 50billion. That is me. I would notpay, that is a tremendous num-ber.”

May agreed a divorceagreement with Brussels lastNovember, but British MPshave rejected it three times andshe has had to delay Brexittwice.

She has now been forcedout and her Conservative partyis beginning the process offinding a new leader, with 13candidates already declared.

Johnson, one of the fron-trunners, is among several tosay Britain should leave the EUon October 31 with or withouta deal.

They are under pressurefrom the Brexit party, the lat-

est political vehicle of anti-EUpopulist leader Nigel Farage,which came top in EuropeanParliament elections lastmonth.

Trump said he believedFarage should play a role innegotiating Brexit with theEuropean Union, saying hehad a “lot to offer”.

Three years after Britonsvoted by 52 per cent to 48 percent to leave the EU in 2016,the government and lawmak-ers are still wrangling over theissue.

Brexit day was originallyset for March 29. But Maydelayed it twice to avoid adamaging “no deal” exit, under

which Britain would separatefrom its closest trading partnerwith no new arrangements inplace.

Her own ConservativeMPs had blocked the dealbecause they feared it wouldleave Britain too closely tied tothe EU.

Many candidates to replaceher want to renegotiate the texton EU withdrawal, althoughthe EU has explicitly ruledthat out. If they cannot, severalsay Britain mustleave anyway.

However, one frontrunner,Environment SecretaryMichael Gove, was reportedSunday to be ready to delay

Brexit again to avoid a “nodeal” scenario.

Meanwhile voters acrossthe country are divided.Although Farage won the mostvotes in European elections, theLiberal Democrats, who wanta new referendum to reverseBrexit, came second.

Britain’s future trading rela-tionship with the United Stateswill be crucial to its post-Brexitsuccess and likely discussedduring Trump’s talks withMay at Downing Street thisweek.

But some here fear Britainwould be steamrolled by the farbigger US into accepting anunbalanced accord, especiallygiven Trump’s “America First”stance in shaking up trade tieswith Mexico, Canada, Japanand China.

US Ambassador to BritainWoody Johnson told BBC tele-vision that Washington wasalready preparing the way fora trade deal and it would bedone “as expeditiously as anyagreement we’ve ever had”.

He said he would expectBritain to be open to US agri-cultural products, and whenasked about access of US firmsto Britain’s cherished state-runhealth service, said “all thingsthat are traded would be on thetable”.

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Pakistani-origin LondonMayor Sadiq Khan, who has

been a vocal critic of DonaldTrump, on Sunday branded theUS President as one of the “fas-cists of the 20th century” andsaid Britain should not berolling out a red carpet to aleader like him for a state visitto the UK.

Trump, along with his wifeMelania and his adult children,will be a guest of QueenElizabeth II during his three-day official visit to the UKstarting on Monday. The visitis expected to provoke massiveprotests in London on Tuesday.

“President Donald Trumpis just one of the most egregiousexamples of a growing globalthreat. The far right is on therise around the world, threat-

ening our hard-won rights andfreedoms and the values thathave defined our liberal, demo-cratic societies for more than70 years,” Khan writes in the‘Observer’.”Viktor Orban inHungary, Matteo Salvini inItaly, Marine Le Pen in Franceand Nigel Farage here in theUK are using the same divisivetropes of the fascists of the 20thcentury to garner support, butwith new sinister methods todeliver their message.

And they are gainingground and winning powerand influence in places thatwould have been unthinkablejust a few years ago,” hesays.When asked whether thepresident should have beeninvited to London, he replied:“Not on a state visit, no.”

Khan likened the US to abest friend who needed to be“called out”. He said: “I think it’simportant for us to have goodrelations with our closest ally,and important for our allies tobe here for the 75th anniver-sary of the D-Day landings;we’ve got to have good relationswith the US - but I don’t thinkwe should be rolling out the redcarpet.

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Israel carried out air strikes in Syriaon Sunday in response to rare

rocket fire from the neighbouringcountry, its military said, with a warmonitor reporting 10 killed including Syrian soldiers and foreignfighters.

Israel’s army said two rocketswere fired from Syria at MountHermon in the Israeli-occupiedGolan Heights late Saturday and onehad been “located within Israeliterritory.”

In response, the army attacked“two Syrian artillery batteries, a num-ber of observation and intelligenceposts on the Golan Heights, and anSA-2 aerial defence battery,” its state-ment said.

The Israeli attack left three Syriansoldiers and seven foreign fightersdead, the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said.

According to the Britain-basedwar monitor, which did not specifythe nationality of the foreign fighters,they died in missile strikes close thecapital Damascus where Syriantroops, Iranian forces and Hezbollah

fighters are stationed.Syrian anti-aircraft defences fired

against “enemy missiles” from Israeltargeting positions in southwestDamascus, the official SANA newsagency quoted a military source assaying.

The Israeli army said its own aer-ial defence systems were activateddue to the Syrian anti-aircraft fire, butnone of the Syrian fire hit Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu said he had ordered thestrike.

“We won’t tolerate fire at our ter-ritory and will respond forcefully toany aggression against us,” he said.

Israel has carried out hundreds ofair strikes in Syria, most of themagainst what it says are Iranian and

Hezbollah targets.Israel says it is determined to

prevent its arch foe Iran fromentrenching itself militarily in Syria,where Tehran backs President Basharal-Assad in the country’s eight-yearwar which has killed more than370,000 people.

The Jewish state insists that it hasthe right to continue to target posi-tions in Syria held by Iran and itsLebanese ally Hezbollah out of self-defence.

On May 27 Syria said Israel car-ried out a missile attack in Quneitra,in what the Israeli army said was retal-iation for anti-aircraft fire targetingone of its fighter jets.

Syrian air defence batteries alsointercepted projectiles from Israel anddowned a number of them on May17, according to SANA. The Syrianprovince of Quneitra includes theGolan Heights, most of which isoccupied and annexed by Israel.

In January, Israel hit Iranian posi-tions in Syria, saying it was inresponse to Iranian missile fire fromthe war-torn country. According tothe Observatory, 21 people, mainlyIranians, were killed in those raids.

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Nearly all applicants of USvisas will have to provide

information on their use ofsocial media under the newrules adopted to enhance vet-ting of foreign nationals and toscreen out terrorists and otherdangerous individuals seekingentry into America.

The State Departmentadopted a new policy onSaturday under which mostvisa applicants, including tem-porary visitors, will be requiredto list their social media iden-tifiers in a drop down menualong with other personalinformation.

Applicants will have theoption to say that they do notuse social media if that is the

case.If a visa applicant lies about

social media use, they couldface “serious immigration con-sequences” as a result, a USDepartment of State officialtold Hill.TV. For now, the dropdown menu only includesmajor social media websites,but the applicants soon will beable to list all sites that they use.

“This is a critical step for-ward in establishing enhancedvetting of foreign nationalsseeking entry into the UnitedStates,” the official said.

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Palestinian worshippers clashedwith Israeli police at a highly

sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sundayas an Israeli holiday coincided with thefinal days of the Muslim holy monthof Ramadan.

Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound were angeredover Jewish visits to the site holy toboth religions. According to police,protesters barricaded themselves in themosque, from where they threw chairsand stones at forces who “dispersed”them.

The Muslim Waqf organisationwhich oversees the site said policeused rubber bullets and pepper spray,adding that two people were arrested.

After the clashes, policespokesman Micky Rosenfeld saidcalm had returned and visits werecontinuing. The incident took place asIsraelis marked Jerusalem Day, whichcommemorates the country’s captureof the city’s mainly Palestinian east-ern sector in the 1967 Six-Day War.

This year’s holiday coincided withthe final days of Ramadan, the Muslimmonth of fasting.

The Al-Aqsa compound, knownto Jews as the Temple Mount, is located in east Jerusalem. Sunday’svisit was the first time since Tuesdaythat Jews were allowed into the site,according to activists.

Jews are allowed to visit the siteduring set hours but not pray there toavoid provoking tensions. Jewish vis-its to the site usually increase forJerusalem Day. Later on Sunday, tensof thousands of Israelis were expect-ed to mark the day by marchingthrough the city, culminating in cele-brations at the Western Wall, whichis below the Al-Aqsa compound.

The wall is the holiest site whereJews can pray. Following its seizure in1967, east Jerusalem was annexed byIsrael in a move never recognised bythe international community.

Israel proclaims the entire city asits united capital, while thePalestinians see the city’s eastern sec-tor as the capital of their future state.

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One person was killed and17 others wounded on

Sunday in three successiveblasts in Kabul, Afghan officialssaid, capping a murderousweek of mayhem across thecity.

Among the wounded wasan Afghan journalist whoappeared to have been live-streaming the aftermath of thefirst explosion when a secondbomb went off.

The events started withthe detonation of a sticky bomb— a growing menace in Kabul,where insurgents and criminalsslap magnetic bombs on theunderside of vehicles.

The charge had beenplaced under a bus carryingofficials headed to the KabulEducation University, interiorministry spokesman NasratRahimi said.

In the immediate aftermath, two more bombsthat had been planted by theside of the road went off, headded.

“In total, one Afghan civilian was martyred and 17others, including a local jour-nalist and five Afghan forces,have been slightly wounded,”Rahimi said. Health ministryspokesman Wahidullah Mayarconfirmed the toll.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility, butboth the Taliban and theIslamic State group have car-ried out recent blasts.

According to a video circulating on social media, thejournalist was hit in the leg by

the second bomb.Last year, nine journalists

including AFP Kabul’s chiefphotographer Shah Marai werekilled in a secondary explosionafter rushing to the scene of aninitial blast. Even though theTaliban and the US are set tobegin a new round of peacetalks in Doha this month, vio-lence across Afghanistan con-tinues unabated, with civiliansoften bearing the brunt of thebloodshed. On Friday, aTaliban car bomber killed atleast four Afghan civilians and

lightly wounded four US troopsin an attack on a US convoy inKabul.

A day earlier, at least sixpeople were killed and 16 morewounded in an IS-claimed sui-cide blast outside a militaryacademy in the capital.

And eight Afghan policewere killed Saturday and sevenothers wounded in a suicideattack in the eastern Ghaznicity, provincial policespokesman Ahmad Khan Seeratold AFP.

Afghan President AshrafGhani had proposed a nation-wide ceasefire at the start ofRamadan early last month, butthe Taliban rejected the offer.

Last year, the Talibanobserved a three-day ceasefireover Eid and many Afghans -- exhausted by decades of warand violence -- had pinnedtheir hopes on another trucethis year.

Taliban head HaibatullahAkhundzada said Saturdaythere would be no “cold water”poured on the insurgents’ mil-itary efforts.

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Sacha Baron Cohen says hedoes not think Donald

Trump would be US presidentwithout Twitter’s support.

The actor-writer also calledthe microblogging site and itsCEO, Jack Dorsey for failing totake action against “whitesupremacists and racists”.

“Trump without Twitterprobably would not havebecome president. Which iswhy Jack Dorsey is in theWhite House having a meetingwith Trump. What’s fascinating about that is, he’ssitting across from the presi-dent, who’s actually the biggestcelebrity endorser of his com-pany. And Jack Dorsey andTwitter cannot implement anyrestrictions against whitesupremacists and racists...

“They get rid of the racists,they’re going to have lessTwitter subscribers. So obvi-ously he can claim, ‘Oh, Ibelieve in freedom of speech,and obviously I won’t be biasedagainst anyone,’ when really, insociety, we want to be biasedagainst those who want to killpeople like you or like me, justbecause of the colour of ourskin or our ethnicity or becausewe’re different,” Baron Cohensaid while speaking to“Avengers: Endgame” star DonCheadle on Variety’s Actors onActors.

The “Who is America?”creator said the concept of theAmerican society is seeing dis-integration.

“We’re living in a societywhere the space we grew up in,the which is the idea that soci-ety is getting better, whereblack people can get full rights,they can vote, where people areequal despite their differences,that concept is being disinte-grated,” he said.

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The presidential elections inSri Lanka would be held

between November 15 andDecember 7, ElectionCommission ChairmanMahinda Deshapriya has said,clarifying that according toconstitutional provisions thepolls must be held one monthbefore the end of the currentpresident’s term.

Deshapriya’s clarificationon the constitutional provisionsregarding the date for the nextpresidential elections cameafter President MaithripalaSirisena told reporters lastweek in New Delhi that thepresidential polls is likely totake place on December 7.

President Sirisena’s five-year term is scheduled to endon January 8, 2020. The election must be held onemonth before the end of thecurrent President’s term,”Deshapriya said, addressingthe Voters’ Day events held at

the south Colombo suburb ofMoratuwa Saturday.

“The nearest date the election can be held isNovember 15 as the November10 is a Sunday and November12 is a Poya Day (a Buddhistholy day). December 7 is thefurthest day the election can beheld,” Deshapriya said, addingthe Election Commissionwould be permitted to hold theelection on any day between November 15 andDecember 7.

Sirisena was elected for a5 year-term on January 8, 2015when he challenged theincumbent MahindaRajapaksa.

The former strongmanhad called snap elections twoyears ahead of the end of hissecond term.

Sirisena backed by the thenmain Opposition UnitedNational Party (UNP) becamethe common Opposition can-didate against his former bossRajapaksa.

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Chinese social media is abuzz with netizens claiming to havespotted an unidentified flying object (UFO) across multi-

ple provinces of China when the Navy was conducting militaryexercises, official media reported on Sunday.

China conducted naval exercises in the Bohai Sea and BohaiStraits on Saturday and Sunday.

Amid the naval exercises, residents across several Chineseprovinces took to social media claiming that they have spottedan UFO with a glowing fiery tail streak across the sky, the GlobalTimes reported.

Netizens posted photos and videos of the “UFO” on SinaWeibo, China’s Twitter-like social media, claiming that they sawthe glowing flying object in the sky at around 4:00 am on Sunday.

The reports of the UFO sightings came from Shandong,Shanxi, Hebei and Henan provinces.

Some netizens said it was not the first time they have spot-ted seeing such an object in the sky.

Some netizens speculated that the mysterious object couldbe related to the military exercises in the Bohai Sea, such as asubmarine-launched ballistic missile test.

No official explanation has been given so far, the report said.

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Japanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe will meet Iran’s

supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei later this monthwith Tokyo hoping to mediatebetween Washington andTehran, a report said onSunday.

As tensions intensifybetween Iran and Japan’s keyally the United States, Abe hasreportedly proposed serving asa go-between and is said to beweighing up a state visit to Iran.

According to the MainichiShimbun report, Abe’s plannedmeeting with influentialKhamenei will be the first suchtalks between a Japanese pre-mier and Tehran’s supremeleader.

US President DonaldTrump said last week heremained open to talks withTehran during his state visit toTokyo, appearing to have giventhe green light to Abe’s plan.

Abe will also meet Iran’spresident Hassan Rouhanibefore meeting Khameneiduring his tour to Iran from

June 12 to 14, the newspapersaid, citing unnamed govern-ment sources.

Before Trump flew toJapan, the United States hadannounced it was sending1,500 extra troops to the region,adding to the aircraft carriergroup and nuclear-capablebomber planes already dis-patched.

Trump himself threatened“the official end” of the coun-try if Tehran ever attacked USinterests. But last Monday inTokyo, Trump offered assur-ances that he can live with theIslamic republic’s Government,whose toppling has long beena dream for Washington hard-liners.

“We’re not looking forregime change,” Trump said,explaining that he only caredabout Iran not achievingnuclear power status.

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Sri Lanka’s suspended policechief has petitioned the

Supreme Court, accusingPresident Maithripala Sirisenaof failing to prevent the Easterbombings and claiming that hisdismissal was unfair.

Jayasundera was sent oncompulsory leave by Sirisenafor his alleged inaction on theintelligence shared by India,which warned of an impend-ing attack by Islamic militants,and thereby, failing to preventthe serial blasts that killed over250 people. In the petition sub-mitted to the court last week,Jayasundera revealed seriouslack of communicationbetween intelligence agenciesand security arms of the gov-ernment, all which fall under

Sirisena, and claimed he wassidelined was excluded fromattending National SecurityCouncil meetings since a polit-ical rift between the Presidentand Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe emerged inOctober last year.

In October 2018, Sirisenahad sacked Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe. Thepolice was under the control ofWickremesinghe.

In the 20-page complaint,the former police chief saidSirisena had asked NilanthaJayawardena, the head of theState Intelligence Service (SIS)-- country’s premier spy agency,to report directly to the pres-ident on matters of nationalsecurity. Jayasundera claimeddespite having intelligenceinputs from India about an

impending attack, the SIS chiefdid not take the warning seri-ously and take any action on it.

On April 9, Jayasunderasaid he received a letter fromSisira Mendis, the chief ofnational intelligence, givinginformation on the plannedattack. He also received aphone call from the Secretaryto the then Defence MinisterHemasiri Fernando on theimpending attacks. Fernandowas also sacked by Sirisena forhis alleged failure to prevent theattacks.

The former Inspector-General claimed despite the SISnot sharing security warninginformation with the policedepartment, he alertedJayawardena about theimpending threat but the SIShead did not ask him to take

any action.More than 250 people were

killed in eight coordinated sui-cide bomb attacks carried outby local Jihadi group NationalThowheed Jammath (NTJ)linked to the ISIS on April 21.

Two days after the attacks,Jayasundera said, Sirisena askedhim to take the responsibilityfor the failure to prevent thebombings and step down inexchange for a diplomatic post-ing.

However, he refused to doso following which Sirisenasacked him “illegally”. Earlieron Thursday, Sirisena said hewas not privy to an intelligencewarning on the Easter suicidebombings, contradicting thenational intelligence chiefMendis’ testimony before aparliamentary probe panel.

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Veteran South Africa openerHashim Amla, who was hit on his

helmet grille in the World Cup open-er, is expected to regain full fitness forthe team's third game against India inSouthampton on Wednesday.

Amla missed the game againstBangladesh here after suffering theblow against England on Thursday. Hemissed a sharp bouncer from JofraArcher that thudded into his helmetgrille, forcing him to leave the field.

Amla did return to bat in SouthAfrica's chase but had not fully recov-ered from the impact. His team even-tually lost the game by 104 runs.

"Hashim hasn't fully recoveredfrom the blow sustained to the helmetduring the match against England onThursday and is not available forselection for the match today," saidteam manager Mohammed Moosajeebefore the start of Bangladesh game.

"With the quick turnaroundbetween the two matches, he is beingrested as a precaution, based on ourpost-match re-assessment."

However, the team management ishopeful of Amla's return for the Indiagame.

"We are hopeful that he will makea full recovery to be available for selec-tion for our next match against India,"added Moosajee.

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India captain Virat Kohli "is doing fine"despite being hit on his thumb in a train-ing session ahead of the team's World Cup

opener against South Africa here onWednesday.

"He is doing fine. There is nothing toworry," team sources said.

Kohli hurt his right thumb during practiceat the Ageas Bowl here on Saturday prompt-ing physiotherapist Patrick Farhat to attend tothe Indian skipper.

Farhat was first seen using magic spray onthe thumb and then applied tape on it.

Later Kohli was seen leaving the field withhis thumb dipped in a glass of ice.

India, one of the favourites for the title, werehit by injuries in the run up to the World Cup.

While all-rounder Vijay Shankar had to sitout of the warm-up game against New Zealandafter hurting his elbow, Kedar Jadhav is stillrecovering from a shoulder injury he picked upduring IPL and missed India's both warm-upgames against the Kiwis and Bangladesh.

Jadhav, a key figure in India's middle-order,batted in the nets on Saturday, an indication thathe could be fit in time for the game againstSouth Africa.

The Indian team has an off day on Sunday.

Having made significantrecovery from his shoul-der injury, Kedar

Jadhav's active participation insuccessive net sessions augurswell for the Indian team eventhough he remains a doubtfulstarter for the World Cup open-er against South Africa.

The Indian team manage-ment will certainly feel relievedafter the 33-year-old had twofull-fledged net sessions sinceIndia's arrival at this port city.

Jadhav has batted without

any apparent discomfort duringthe sessions, which was a fairenough indication that he isnearing full fitness.

He has also started bowlingin the nets, something he wasnot doing during the IPL due tohis dodgy hamstring.

While it is still not clearwhether Jadhav will be consid-ered for the opening gameagainst South Africa onWednesday, his fitness has beena cause of concern since he isexpected to play an important

role for India during the next sixand half weeks.

He had hurt his left shoul-der during the last IPL roundrobin league game and was alsoforced to skip the two warm-upgames against New Zealand andBangladesh as he had notattained full fitness by then.

After a couple of net sessionsthe Indian team were given a dayoff on Sunday. However, most ofthe players, including ViratKohli, Jadhav, Hardik , Bumrahand Bhuvneshwar hit the gym.

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Bangladesh posted theirhighest one-day inter-national score as fero-cious hitting fromMushfiqur Rahim and

Shakib Al Hasan took them to 330for six against South Africa inSunday's World Cup match at theOval.

Mushfiqur made 78 from 80balls and Shakib's 75 came from84 balls as the pair combined ina 142-run partnership.

That was Bangladesh's high-est World Cup stand and set thestage to beat their previous high-est ODI total of 329 for six againstPakistan in 2015.

South Africa captain Faf duPlessis won the toss and fielded,but his decision backfired badlyas Bangladesh put his lethargicbowling attack to the sword.

Thrashed by a 104 runs intheir first match against Englandon Thursday, South Africa,deprived of key batsman HashimAmla due to a head injury suf-fered in that loss, will have to score331 to avoid a second successivedefeat.

Tamim Iqbal was fit to openthe batting after a wrist injury, butit was Soumya Sarkar who hit thefirst boundary, his flick off LungiNgidi bringing a huge roar fromBangladesh fans who made up themajority of the crowd at theOval, the south London head-quarters of Surrey.

Those green-shirt cladBangladesh supporters were backon the feet as Tamim and Soumya,who hit five fours in six balls atone point, brought up their fiftypartnership in just seven overs.

After conceding 27 in twoovers, the barrage took its toll onNgidi, who fielded a Tamim shotand petulantly threw at thestumps, forcing the Bangladeshopener to fend it away in self-preservation.

Moments later, Ngidi trudgedfrom the pitch, reportedly suffer-ing from a tight hamstring.

In his first over, South Africa'sAndile Phehlukwayo broke thepartnership with 60 on the boardwhen he induced an edge fromTamim that was held by wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock.

Soumya had made a dazzling42 in 30 balls when his aggressiongot the better of him with a mis-cued hook off Chris Morris thatwas well caught by the diving de

Kock.With part-time bowlers

Aiden Markram and JP Duminyfilling in for the absent Ngidi andDale Steyn sidelined again by ashoulder injury, South Africa'sbowling attack was hardly threat-ening as Shakib reached his fiftywith ease.

Du Plessis was visibly frus-trated, gesticulating angrily asShakib and Mushfiqur took theirpartnership past a hundred runs.

Imran Tahir delivered a des-perately needed breakthroughon his 100th ODI appearance, the40-year-old spinner breaking the142-run stand when he bowledthe sweeping Shakib.

Mushfiqur perished after arisky slog off Phehlukwayo toleave Bangladesh on 250 or fivein the 43rd over.

But after going six overswithout a boundary, Bangladeshfinished their innings with aflourish thanks to powerfulstroke-play from Mahmudullah(46 not out) and MosaddekHossain (26).

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Especially in Cardiff, losing thetoss and batting first is noteasy.

The ball was doing a little bit butthe important thing was to try andbat the first 20 overs without losingtoo many wickets.

It's about getting through thatspell, and the advantage of battingfirst in any scenario is putting runson the board. You then have to getto at least that par score so yourbowlers can create some pressure.

A par score would have beensomething in the range of 250given the fact the wicket was alwaysgoing to settle down in the secondhalf.

After a decent partnershipbetween Dimuth Karunaratne andKusal Perera, we lost two quickwickets and then the New Zealandbowlers were just on top after that.

I think the mindset was stuckbetween whether to attack or not toattack. It's tough when you getcaught in that mindset, especiallywhen there's assistance from thewicket.

You just sometimes have to keepchanging gears and know whichbowler to go after.

It was, however, very good tosee Dimuth bat really well, especial-ly with him being the captain andhaving other responsibilities as well.

He hasn't played that much ODIcricket but his Test form has beenbrilliant. We just needed a fewother boys to bat well now too.

It was tough for the bowlers butit still showed Sri Lanka have a lotof work to do as a unit. When youdon't have many runs on the board,you try to bowl that magic ball ratherthan holding your line and length.

In slightly friendly conditions,the fast bowlers did not really createmany opportunities, even if the twoNew Zealand openers batted well.

Even then, though, Sri Lankanow need to look at how to takewickets and create pressure goingforward.

The team need to put thisbehind them pretty quickly and seehow they can improve.

The next game is big, and as I'vesaid before, four or five wins mightget you into the semi-finals as topteams will beat each other. You willlose two or three matches and havebad days.

The Afghanistan game is anopportunity but at the same time theyare also a formidable team. Sri Lanka

cannot take them lightly, but theyshould feel confident in their skillsand the players that they have.

Rather than looking at theopposition, the challenge is to be thebest they can be, playing the brandof cricket they want to play. Thenthe results will take care of them-selves.

They are a formidable unitwith lots of match-winners - andhave to believe in their ability.

Mirwais Ashraf: Afghanistanshould have bowled first inAustralia defeat

I think the decision to bat firstwas key to the game in Bristol.

My belief is we should havebowled on that track because wechased with success against Pakistanon a similar wicket at the sameground in the warm-up game.

After batting first, we lost a cou-ple of early wickets in the top-orderand struggled to create partnershipsthroughout.

Building partnerships has alwaysbeen crucial for our team, so to losea couple of wickets early was a blow.

It's difficult to be too criticalbecause Australia are a strong sideand world champions. They have avery strong bowling attack and havenow added David Warner and SteveSmith to their team too.

For me, they are the secondfavourites to win the competition.

Against a respected side,Afghanistan didn't play bad cricket.

The main issue was the collapseof the batting. There was a weaknessboth against fast bowling and spin.

A couple of good batsmen did-n't totally click at the CountyGround. The top-order collapsedpretty quickly, as did the middle-order.

There was only one partnershipfor Afghanistan throughout theinnings between the captainGulbadin Naib and NajibullahZadran, which wasn't enough in theend.

Scoring 207 was below par onthis wicket. It wasn't really seamingor turning that much, so I think 260or 270 would have been about rightin the circumstances.

In terms of positives, the way webowled wasn't bad. Rashid Khan andMujeeb Ur Rahman both bowledwell, but it was a case of the total notbeing enough for them to defend it.

There wasn't that much supporttoday for the spinners, we didn'treally see much turn or grip, somaybe against another team and onanother wicket, Rashid can make thedifference.

I hope that in the next few games,there will be slightly more support fromthe pitch for the spinners.

The wickets at the moment arevery flat and very dry. We have qual-ity spinners who can make thebreakthrough at any time.

It's a tournament and all thebowlers will have to make an impact.

Of the seamers, Hamid Hassanappears to be in a good rhythm

while Aftab Alam is a good medi-um-pacer. I hope they will performvery well in the next game.

I knew from the start that we werefacing some very strong sides in theseconditions. Playing England, Australiaand South Africa here is not easy.

But there are games Afghanistancan target to pick up wins.

Recently in the Asia Cup, webeat our next opponents, Sri Lanka.After that, morale and confidenceshould be high for Tuesday's gameamong the boys. I think they canbeat them again.

For me, the key to the game willbe the bowling, as both sides arepretty similar in terms of level.

Najibullah Zadran vowed thebest is yet to come from

Afghanistan after he scored a fiftyin their opening defeat to defend-ing champions Australia.

The Afghanis found them-selves in trouble early on after win-ning the toss and batting first, los-ing openers Mohammad Shahzadand Hazratullah Zazai for ducks.

But a half-century fromNajibullah (51), along with scoresof 43 and 31 from Rahmat Shahand captain Gulbadin Naib, respec-tively, ensured Afghanistan foughtback to set a target of 208.

And while David Warner (89not out) and Aaron Finch (66) ulti-mately helped Australia to a com-fortable seven-wicket win,Najibullah is confident thatAfghanistan will learn from theirshortcomings.

"We made a lot of mistakesbecause we made some wrongshot selections when we were bat-ting, but hopefully we will improvethis going forward," said the 26-year-old.

"We will improve for the nextgame and come back stronger. Weprobably gave a way a few easy runsas the Australian batsmen runreally fast.

"With the next matches wehave coming we will work on ourfielding with our coach, especial-

ly in the circle, and try our best todo better in our next game.

"We are a good side and I thinkwe can beat any side in the world.We will always try our best and Iam confident we can cause someupsets in this tournament."

Najibullah has been in impres-sive form for Afghanistan with thebat of late, with his performance

against Australia following scoresof 60 and 104 not out againstIreland earlier this year.

His powerful stroke play wasthe highlight of the innings asAfghanistan were forced to recov-er from 77/5 after Mitchell Starcand Pat Cummins (3/40) torethrough their openers.

Afghanistan will now turntheir attention to bouncing back intheir next clash against Sri Lankaon Tuesday in Cardiff, whereNajibullah intends to continueplaying his natural game.

"I am really happy with how Iperformed as I got a fifty and Iplayed really well, so I hope I cancontinue my form throughout thewhole tournament," he said.

"We were probably 40-50 runsshort of what we wanted againstAustralia in the end as the wicketwas good, but we lost early wick-ets which is why we were underpressure.

"Hopefully we can continueour form in the next matches.When I went into bat the coachtold me to play my natural gameand continue the way I've battedthe last three or four months.

"I've been played really well inthe ODI matches and that's why Iam very confident in my battingand I just went out there and playedmy natural game."

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England may change a winningWorld Cup side by recalling fastbowler Mark Wood when theyface Pakistan at Trent Bridge onMonday.

The ground is renowned as a bats-man's paradise, with England havingtwice set the world record for the high-est score in a one-day international — 444for three against Pakistan in 2016 and lastyear's 481 for six — on the very pitch thatwill be used for Monday's match at TrentBridge.

But Pakistan's batsmen had anythingbut an easy ride in Nottingham as theysuccumbed to a bouncer barrage fromthe West Indies that saw them slump to105 all out and a comprehensive defeatin their opening match of the World Cupon Friday.

England, who launched their questto win the World Cup for the firsttime with a 104-run rout ofSouth Africa at the Ovalin which fastbowler JofraA r c h e rs t a r r e dmay now,in the light

of Pakistan's problems against short-pitched bowling, unleash Wood in part-nership with the Sussex speedster.

"We're aware of what went on yester-day," England assistant coach

Graham Thorpe saidSaturday. "It was interestingviewing.

"The West Indies bowledvery well, they looked like

they roughed Pakistan up," theformer England batsman added.

"I think it (drafting Wood)will be discussed, to be honest.

Wood has bowled a mere 13.1overs since the start of the seasonamid fears his longstanding leftankle injury could flare upagain.

But his ability, in commonwith Archer, to top speeds of 90

mph meant England thought he wasworth the risk at the World Cup.

England have risen to the top of theODI rankings since their woeful first-round exit at the 2015 edition mainly asa result of piling on the runs.

But they showed they were morethan 'flat-track bullies' with a score of 311for eight on an awkward surface at theOval before an attack led by Archer over-whelmed the Proteas.

Scoring 500 in an ODI was onceviewed as impossible but, given theirrecent record-breaking exploits, Englandcould go close if they bat first at TrentBridge on Monday.

"It has generally always been a goodpitch so we are looking forward to it," saidThorpe.

"We didn't quite unlock the door interms of our batting at the Oval, being

able to let go because we kept losing wick-ets at crucial times so we had to keep try-ing to put on those mini-partnershipsagain and that was really good.

"It's the same thing coming hereagainst Pakistan: if we get into a goodposition, we'll try to score as many as wecan. But at the same time if it doesn't hap-pen, you've got to put a competitive scoreon the board to put the opposition underpressure."

Pakistan, who've lost their last 11ODIs — including a recent 4-0 seriesdefeat by England — are braced for short-pitched stuff with Wahab Riaz defiantlyinsisting: "If people want to bowl usbouncers, then we will have no problemswith that."

Monday's match will also be animportant test for what organisers insistwill be improved procedures after thou-sands of frustrated fans were left queu-ing for hours on Friday, in some casesmissing the entire Pakistan innings, asthey waited to collect their match tick-ets.

@��England: Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali,Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler,Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Plunkett,Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Stokes,James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark WoodPakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed, Asif Ali,Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, MohammadAmir, Babar Azam, Hafeez, MohammadHasnain, Imam-ul-Haq, Shadab Khan,Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Haris Sohail,Imad Wasim, Fakhar Zaman

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�Adam, tough crowd today to play infront of. Lots of boos for you guys. Everyrun Afghanistan scored, a huge cheer.What is it like playing inside of thatatmosphere?

We have spoken a bit how we are goingto handle that situation. Obviously, wecopped it in the warm-up game againstEngland, too. But I think we are expect-ing it. And to be fair, I think everyone'shandling it really well.�Does the crowd reaction like that playinto the hands of players like Warner andSmith? They are great players. They willreact positively to this, aren't they?

I think the way they are handing them-selves has been great. Same for all of us.Personally, I don't really hear the crowd tobe honest. So I think if you can block it out,you don't really hear it. As I say, the guysare handling themselves really well.�How do you see your role alongside thelikes of Marcus Stoinis and NathanCoulter-Nile in the middle overs afterStarc and Cummins have finished? Andalso based on how you went on Saturdayas the tournament progresses, consider-ing it is unlikely you and Nathan Lyonwill play together too often?

Not sure about that. I think me andNathan have formed a really good partner-ship, so I think we will feature together. Idon't know how much, but I think we will.And I'm also willing to bowl at any timein the game too so, yeah, predominantlythrough the middle, a big wicket-takingoption for us is wrist-spin. So it is impor-tant to take wickets through the middle.You saw that they got a role and someonelike Stoiny took two wickets in an over.That was a big game changer for us. Soreading the game situation. Depends whoyou are bowling to, obviously. Whateveris in front of me, pretty much.�It is probably fair to say this is thebiggest month of your career so far. Andwith that in mind, how important was itto carry that confidence from what youdid in the UAE into today and get a resulttoday and take it into the rest of the tour-nament?

Yes, the way the ball has been comingout lately, I'm really happy with. The wayI have been preparing for this tour, I'mhappy with. So to get out there on Saturday— as I said, the ball didn't come out asnicely as I would have liked it to, but tomake a contribution. And that's one ofthose things; I don't think we probably did-n't play as well as we would have likedthrough those middle overs bowling-wise, but to get out of it at the other endand take wickets, it's a confidence boost-er.�After playing Afghanistan on Saturday,what is your opinion how far can they goin this tournament?

As I just mentioned, I think they aregoing to cause some upsets. The wickettoday probably didn't suit them as muchas it might later down the track. The ballskidded on a bit. You saw with Mujeeb, heis probably at his best when the wicket isholding up and there is a bit of spin thereand today it skidded on, particularly withthe new ball. I think as I said, with theaggressive mindset with the bat, if they canget anywhere around the 250, 260, 270,with their bowling attack later down thetrack in the World Cup they definitely willcause some upsets.�You were chasing only 207 for 8 and youhad a brilliant start. But you couldn'taccelerate to get a better run rate. Wasthat because of Afghan bowling, or youdidn't think about run rate for later onin the tournament?

Run rate wasn't spoken about, no. AsI have already said, the quality of the spin-ners that Afghanistan have it wasn't goingto be easy-going, particularly through themiddle. We got off to a great start. Eventhe medium pacer, is it Hassan? Hebowled beautifully, he bowled a good pace.So they didn't make it easy for us. Yeah,mate, obviously easier when you are onlychasing 205, but it wasn't easy-going thewhole way that's for sure.

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Australia all-rounderMarcus Stoinis said

he had enjoyed his rolebowling early in theAfghanistan innings ascaptain Aaron Finchswitched his bowlersaround frequently in his team's seven wick-ets win over Afghanistan in Bristol.

Stoinis picked up two wickets with hismedium-pacers from eight overs afterMitchell Starc and Pat Cummins had dis-missed both openers without scoring.Selected to fill the number seven spot, hewas not required to bat.

Asked if the ball had still been hardwhen he took up the attack, Stoinisreplied: "Yeah it was and there was still alittle bit of swing as well, which is unusu-al. Apparently it hasn't been swinginghere."

Stoinis said he expected the pitches tobe batsman friendly during the tourna-ment, although he added it was still earlyin the competition.

"I think you've got to be cagey withyour variations, with your field. Perhapsmy yorker, it's going to be needed at somestage in the tournament. Then you makesure that you're competing, putting ener-gy on the ball as much as you can."

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England captain EoinMorgan considersshuffling the pack for

the challenge of Pakistan atTrent Bridge.

Morgan doesn't givemuch away, to a questionabout his trademark 'pokerface' he responded 'this isjust my normal face', whichsort of underlines the point.

But after watching theirnext ICC Men's CricketWorld Cup opponents strug-gle under a barrage of short-pitched deliveries againstthe West Indies here inNottingham, Morgan maywell tinker with the winningformula that claimed a 104-run victory over SouthAfrica.

Mark Wood sat outEngland's opening matchand has bowled just 13 oversthis season, as he continuesto manage a troublesome

ankle injury, though teamofficials stress he is fully fit.

The prospect of himopening the bowling withfel low speed ace JofraArcher is certainly one torelish, unless you are aPakistan batsman, witheither Liam Plunkett orChris Woakes steppingdown.

"There's a good case foral l our bowlers , " saidMorgan.

"Nobody can bowl theirbest every game, it's notpossible. You can't havebatsman getting 100 everygame either, so we need totake every day as it comes.

"Because of the gapbetween the games you canmanage the workload. Wethink more about the oppo-sition and the ground whenit comes to selection."

Trent Bridge is a groundwith happy memories forEngland, their two highest

scores in ODI cricket, 444and a world record 481 bothset here in the past threeyears.

Pakistan trained on thepitch but England, who wereonly planning a light ses-sion, were forced indoors byrainy conditions, whichthankfully aren't expectedfor Monday's match.

And this is certainly atoss to win, with Pakistan'stop order - who have one ofthe lowest strike rates inworld cricket - not likely torelish a hostile spell of mid-morning chin music fromEngland's seam attack.

"We enjoy chasing,there's always an advantagepsychologically to knowingwhat you need to get," addedMorgan.

The England captainknows expectation wil lincrease with every win buthe's not taking Pakistan forgranted ahead, despite their

winless run which nowstretches to 11 one-dayinternational matches.

Morgan didn't have tolook far for evidence thatevery outsider has a punch-er's chance, the morningheadlines dominated bynews of heavyweight boxerAnthony Joshua's shockdefeat in New York.

Pakistan's preparationshave been far from smooth,a 5-0 ser ies defeat toAustralia followed by a 4-0loss to England last month.

But, despite the scoreline, it would be a stretch toclaim they were heavilybeaten by the hosts, theyaveraged 339 with the bat toEngland's 356, and but for afew sloppy moments in thefield, things could havelooked quite different.

And then there's thememories of their last tour-nament encounter, whenSarfaraz Ahmed's s ide

shocked the hosts to wintheir Champions Trophysemi-final in Cardiff, ontheir way to lifting the tro-phy against India.

"We've prepared forPakistan at their best, theywere the best side in theworld just two years agowe'll be ready for their Agame," said Morgan, whoadmits confidence is highfollowing the Ben Stokesinspired win at the Oval.

"The mood in the campis great, we want to come infresh to get the best out ofourselves. We are in goodform but that doesn't give usthe right to win the game.

"Getting that first wingives us a sneak peek intothe exposure we might havein the next few weeks, itengages everyone from kidsto grandparents. It's sets thetournament up really welland when Ben does well itrubs off on other people."

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People will say you can'tread too much intoone early victory butNew Zealand haveevery right to be

exceptionally proud of theirwin over Sri Lanka.

It's the perfect start in somany ways, not just with perfor-mance and result, but the mar-gin of victory, too.

You always talk late in thegroup about net run rate beingimportant but with savvy teams,a game like this early on canmake things so much easier.

The New Zealand team isalways grounded and that's a lotto do with Kane Williamson'sethos and the way of thinkingthat he instils into the team.

But they should be proud ofa game that ticked every box —the back-ups performed welland they did it comfortably, soconfidence should be high.

Sri Lanka have been strug-gling and the last thing theywould have wanted was MattHenry bowling like that up top,he was perfect first up for NewZealand.

He had a tough warm-upgame so to come back like thatis very impressive, he wouldhave had some nerves goinginto it, but he knows how well hecan perform in those condi-tions.

Three wickets early on is agreat settler, for him and theteam, and it allowed NewZealand to go forward withtheir normal game plan.

Matt's been around for awhile, he's experienced enoughto know that warm-up matchescan be moved on from veryquickly and he'd have taken a lotof confidence from seeing thesurface.

We've come to expect astrong performance from NewZealand as a team, that bowlingattack has really learnt and devel-oped their roles and it's payingoff.

With the bat, Colin Munroprobably wouldn't have playedthis game had Henry Nichollsbeen fit but for him to come inand perform, that's a big boost forhim. We know what a qualityplayer he is and his ability in T20cricket, and he's translating thatinto the one-day format.

There's a real confidence inthat top four and rightly so,they've been there and been suc-cessful for a long time and they'reable to produce match-winninginnings.

They're the guys who willtake New Zealand where they goin this tournament, if they canperform and be big match-win-ners, that's something that holdsthem in good stead.

It's Bangladesh next up atThe Oval and conditions will playa big part in that game, it should

be a pretty good wicket and NewZealand lost to them a couple ofyears ago in the ChampionsTrophy so it will be a test.

It will be a more free-scoringgame with the Oval wicket butfor New Zealand, having a winunder their belt will give them amassive amount of confidence.

Away from New Zealand,everyone is talking about thatBen Stokes catch and rightly so.

But I agree with Moeen Aliand Eoin Morgan - if he wasstood on the boundary, he'dhave caught it easily!

It was an amazing catch, andthey're happening more andmore regularly in the game nowwith so many amazing fielders.

Stokes is such a talent - a lotof guys are in this competition soI reckon we can look out for a lotmore efforts like that.

���■ ������

No tears of pain this time, justredemption for

Mohamed Salah.Only 108 seconds were

needed to banish the ChampionsLeague final heartbreak of a year ago.

Once Salah dispatched his early penaltyagainst Tottenham, Liverpool was on the pathto a sixth European title with a 2-0 victory onSaturday.

And a year after defeat in the final to RealMadrid, Juergen Klopp has his first title afterfour years as Liverpool manager.

A shoulder injury forced Salah out of theKiev showpiece last year.

This time it was Tottenham midfielderMoussa Sissoko's arm that gifted Liverpool theearly penalty opening - blocking SadioMane's shot after 21 seconds - and Salah con-verted from the spot after a video reviewcheck.

On a hot and humid night in Madrid,Tottenham came to life only in the final 20minutes of its first European Cup final.

But Liverpool completed the job in the87th minute thanks to one of its semifinal sav-iors.

Divock Origi had to accept a place backon the bench despite producing two goalswhile deputizing for the injured Salah lastmonth. But the substitute had the final big sayin the Spanish capital, rifling a left-footed shotinside the far post.

"Every single player fought hard today,"Origi said. "So it's just special."

After two losing finals since triumphingin 2005, Liverpool finally rose to third in theall-time list of European champions behind13-time winner Real Madrid and AC Milanon seven titles.

Tottenham will have only regrets as itsluck run out after a season of comebacks andgreat escapes in the competition with a squadthat had no additions.

Lucas Moura's goal in Barcelona inDecember carried Tottenham into the roundof 16. The Brazilian's hat trick last month thencompleted a turnaround against Ajax. Thereward in Madrid was a watching brief fromthe bench for two thirds of the game.

Instead, Harry Kane was thrust into thestarting lineup despite 53 days without a gamesince limping off with an ankle injury in thequarterfinal first leg against Manchester City.

The striker was largely anonymous asTottenham, which finished 26 points behindPremier League runner-up Liverpool infourth place, couldn't even get a shot on tar-get until the 73rd minute.

Alisson Becker scooped up a spinningshot from Dele Alli and made a double-savefrom Son Heung-min and Moura with 10minutes to go.

It was Liverpool's goalkeeping that madethe difference, showing $75 million was wellspent on Alisson by American owner JohnHenry after Loris Karius was banished formaking costly mistakes in last year's final.

The fond memories of2015 came rolling backfor Mitchell Starc after

beginning his World Cup cam-paign in near-identical fashionto his crowning moment.

Four years ago the rangy,left-arm fast bowler immedi-ately dented New Zealandhopes in the first over of theWorld Cup final when heclean-bowled BrendonMcCullum for a duck, histhird delivery to the dynamicKiwi captain.

With their most destruc-tive batsman back in the pavil-ion, New Zealand were unableto post a suitably-competitivetotal and the Australians wenton to win the trophy for thefifth time.

Fast forward to the presentday and Starc — who hadplayed just three ODIs in thepast 16 months — was back atit all over again.

After taking the new ballfor the opening over againstAfghanistan in Australia'sopening match on a still, hotday in Bristol, Starc's openingdelivery was a Yorker close to145kmh.

Opener MohammadShahzad stabbed the ball infront of his feet with minimalfootwork. He dealt with thesecond ball, also a full delivery,in similar fashion.

The third ball swung inlate at pace to the right-hander,a replica of the delivery whichaccounted for McCullum in

Melbourne, and Shahzad,whose feet this time had notmoved at all, was struck on thepads and given out lbw.

Starc took 22 wickets at10.18 each with an economyrate of 3.50 at the 2015 tour-nament, earning him the play-er of the tournament awardand joint top spot in the wick-et-taker's list, alongside fellowleft-armer Trent Boult.

But since then he hasbeen troubled by muscleinjuries which have raisedconcerns in Australia, for boththe World Cup and the Ashesseries that follows in England.

His last one-day interna-tional was against South Africalast November and he was sub-sequently sidelined with apectoral muscle injury after theend of a Test series against SriLanka in February.

Since the 2017Champions Trophy he hadplayed only seven one-dayinternationals.

Now, after a decent work-out in the sun, the 29-year-oldwill have four days to recoverbefore his next challenge.

That test will come in theform of the West Indies atTrent Bridge on 5 June, a duelwith Chris Gayle and co thatwill certainly whet the appetiteon a ground where runs areusually scored for fun.

And if Starc does whatStarc does best, that flowwill be stemmed soonerrather than later.

�.��■ ����

Roger Federer said Dominic Thiemwas right to be angry at being kicked

out of his own press conference so thatRoland Garros organisers could accom-modate a defeated Serena Williams.

Austria's Thiem, the fourth seed inthe men's event and the 2018 runner-up, was conducting his post-match pressobligations after reaching the last 16 onSaturday.

However, he was then informed thatthe main interview room was needed byAmerican superstar Williams who hadjust suffered a third round loss to SofiaKenin.

It was the 23-time Grand Slam titlewinner's earliest exit at a Slam inalmost five years and she was eager tobe away from the tournament site asquickly as possible.

"It's a joke," fumed 25-year-oldThiem to media officers after being toldhe should finish his interviews in asmaller room.

"I have to leave the room becauseshe's coming. What the hell, I don't care.I can also do whatever I want."

Federer leapt to the defence ofThiem, describing him as "a superstar,a male superstar".

"I think the one who is still in thetournament gets priority, that's how I seeit," said Federer after easing pastLeonardo Mayer to reach his 54thquarter-final at the majors.

"There must have been a misunder-standing or maybe they should havekept Serena still in the locker room, notwaiting here in the press centre.

"I don't know exactlywhat happened. I under-stand Dominic's frus-tration. I don't thinkhe's mad at Serena oranybody. I just think itwas an unfortunatesituation."

Thiem haddefeated Pablo Cuevasof Uruguay 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 while Williams wasstunned 6-2, 7-5 by Kenin.

There was a backlash on socialmedia over the incident.

"Wait your turn for the pressroom like everyone else," tweeted for-mer Australian player Sam Groth.

"Thiem, still in the draw havingwon, would have agreed to a press timeand has a round of 16 match to pre-

pare for, Serena just has her jet on thetarmac!"

The next in a long line of talent-ed left-handed players from the Czech

Republic is making a run at theFrench Open.

Teenager MarketaVondrousova reached herfirst Grand Slam quarter-final by beating 12th-seeded AnastasijaSevastova 6-2, 6-0 Sundayin just 59 minutes.

The 19-year-oldVondrousova has not

dropped a set in four matches."I'm just happy with my game,"

she said. "Yeah, really happy."For a spot in the semifinals,

Vondrousova will face 31st-seededPetra Martic, who followed up her winover second-seeded Karolina Pliskovaby rallying past Kaia Kanepi 5-7, 6-2,6-4 to reach her first quarterfinal at amajor, too.

Also advancing was 26th-seededJohanna Konta, who beat 23rd-seed-ed Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-4. Konta's quar-terfinal opponent will be either 2016champion Garbiñe Muguruza or 2017US Open champion Sloane Stephens.

With 17-year-old AmandaAnisimova and 18-year-old IgaSwiatek playing on Monday, threeteenagers made the last 16 in Paris forthe first time since 2008.

Vondrousova grew up watchingtwo-time Wimbledon champion PetraKvitova, a fellow Czech lefty.

"I remember when she wonWimbledon, so I was looking up toher," Vondrousova said.

Martina Navratilova, one of theall-time greats, remains the mostwell-known Czech left-hander. Thenthere's Lucie Safarova, the 2015 run-ner-up at Roland Garros who retiredthis week.

"It's just great we have so manyplayers," Vondrousova said.

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