16
A Deputy Superintendent of J&K Police, heading counter terrorism wing in Kulgam, and one Army jawan attained martyrdom after neu- tralising three Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM) terrorists in a fierce gunfight in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Sunday. According to police, “A 2011 batch officer Aman Thakur was leading from the front when he received bullet injury in his head and later suc- cumbed during encounter in Turigam Yaripora area of Kulgam”. Police said, “The police officer was heading the counter-terrorism wing of Jammu & Kashmir Police in Kulgam for last one-and-a- half year and had played an instrumental role in killing the dreaded terrorists in the area”. DGP Police Dilbagh Singh, along with senior officers, offered floral tributes to the martyr. He is survived by his wife Sarla Devi and six-year-old son Arya. Large number of local residents and senior State Government offi- cials visited his home to pay condolences. MoD spokesman in Srinagar said, “Three terrorists were killed and one Army jawan also sacrificed his life in the operation, which is still going on”. An Army Major and two soldiers were also injured in the encounter, officials said, adding that a non-commissioned offi- cer, Havaldar Sombir, suc- cumbed to his injuries subse- quently. The other injured per- sons, including the Major, are out of danger. Three terrorists were also killed in the encounter, but their identity is yet to be ascer- tained. Jammu & Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said, “It is an unfortunate incident, in which we have lost a brave offi- cer. He was a fighter and he led Sunday’s operation himself.” Thakur was posted as the DySP (operation) in Kulgam, a terrorist-infested area of south Kashmir, two years ago. He was awarded the DGP’s Commendation Medal and Certificate for his exemplary service only last month. Meanwhile, a large number of local residents in the area stepped out of their homes and tried to disrupt the anti-mili- tancy operations. Policemen used tear smoke shells to disperse the protesters. The Army’s Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the State police started a cordon and search operation in Turigam after being tipped off about the presence of ultras there. Y our dream home may become more affordable and cheaper as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Sunday slashed tax rates on under-construction housing properties to 5 per cent without input tax credit, from the exist- ing 12 per cent ahead of nation- al polls due by April-May. GST rate on affordable housing pro- jects too has been lowered from an effective 8 per cent to 1 per cent. Currently, 12 per cent GST is levied on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale. However, GST is not levied on buyers of real estate properties for which completion certificate has been issued at the time of sale. After the GST Council meeting, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday announced that the lowering of GST tax rates on under con- struction housing properties from the existing 12 per cent to 5 per cent without input tax credit. “The council also cut GST rates on affordable housing to 1 per cent from the current 8 per cent and expanded the scope of affordable housing to those cost- ing up to 45 lakh and measur- ing 60 sq metre in metros and 90 sq metre in non-metro cities” explained Jaitley. The new tax rates will come into effect from April 1, 2019. Homebuyers of metropolitan cities Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR (limited to Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad), Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai (whole of MMR) will benefit from it. “This will be a major step in our efforts to give ‘boom’ to the real estate sector and making housing affordable for the mid- dle class, neo-middle class, and aspirational class,” Jaitley said while briefing reporters after the GST Council meet. No tax is levied in cases where completion certificate has been issued at the time of sale. However, builders will not be able to claim input tax credit (ITC) under the new GST rates. The council, headed by Jaitley, decided on cutting tax rates on under-construction housing property after due con- sideration to reports of a Group of Ministers (GoM) on real estate sector. D efying curfew, agitators allegedly set ablaze the private residence of Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and ransacked the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Sunday to protest against recommen- dations to grant permanent resident certificates to six com- munities, police said. A large number of people marched through streets here damaging public property and vehicles after a person who was injured in police firing on Friday succumbed to injuries at a hospital, police said. The protesters set ablaze the private residence of the Deputy Chief Minister at Niti Vihar here and ransacked the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Itanagar. They also set on fire a large number of vehicles parked in the compound of the DC’s office. The protesters also attacked the Itanagar Police sta- tion and several public prop- erties in the State Capital, police said. The agitators also blocked the road leading to the Naharlagun railway station as a result many passengers, including patients, were held up at the station since Sunday morning. An indefinite curfew was clamped in Itanagar and Naharlagun on Saturday as protesters resorted to stone pelting in which 35 people, including 24 police personnel, were injured. W ith the terror recruits giving up the practice of publically declaring their intent to walk the path of jehad, security forces are facing a new challenge in the Kashmir Valley in tracing local youth joining terrorist tanzeems (organisations). Earlier, under pressure from tanzeems, the new recruits used to upload their photographs dis- playing weapons on the social media platforms. The high attri- tion rate amongst their ranks last year has made the terrorists now wary of social media, mak- ing it difficult for the agencies to keep tabs on the new entrants. While only three cases of local Kashmiris jumping the fence came to notice in January this month, officials in the security establishment fear many more misguided youths may have joined tanzeems and kept them out of the scrutiny of the social media. The reason for the terror- ist organisations evading the security radar was the relent- less operations by the securi- ty forces last year resulting in the elimination of more than 270 terrorists. Many of those killed were new recruits and died within ten to 15 days of picking up the gun, sources said. Moreover, the survival rate of the new recruits is now not more than six months due to poor train- ing and pressure of security forces, they added I t is seen as a first blow to two- month old Kamal Nath Government in Madhya Pradesh. The brutal killing of two young children and the lax approach by the Madhya Pradesh police in solving the abduction case has sent shock- waves in political and bureau- cratic circles of the State. Bodies of two twin boys, kidnapped from Chitrakoot on February 12, were recovered from a river in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh on wee hours of Sunday. Ever since the twins were abducted from Chitrakoot on February 12, the police did not take the incident seriously and no serious efforts were made to nab the abductors and recover the twin boys. Director General of Police (DGP) VK Singh never visited Satna district under which the crime scene falls. It was believed that it was an ordinary case of abduction and conven- tional methods of zeroing down on the theories of per- sonal enmity was adopted. Of course, the modus operand adopted by the abduc- tors was a bit different in the case, as they did not use their mobile phones to call the father of twins, in asking for ransom. They used the mobile phones of passersby in different cares bordering Uttar Pradesh. In past 12 days, the police investigation hovered around only the relatives and business rivalry, which claimed lives of two innocent boys. Soon after the bodies of the boys were recovered and police have arrested the abductors, the police and the State govern- ment did not take time in highlighting that one of the abductors was associated with saffron organization Bajrang Dal. It was also publicized that Chief Minister Kamal Nath talked to the father of the deceased boys, but the whole administration including senior police officials are not willing to accept the fact that the boys could have been saved, if the police and the govern- ment took the incident seri- ously. State BJP Spokesman Rajnesh Agrawal told ‘The Pioneer’ that a heinous crime has taken place, but the State government is not ready to accept that criminals are mov- ing fearlessly in the State. It is surprising that at a time, when the government should check criminal activities in the State, it is busy in mak- ing allegations on previous government. The top cop was busy in transfers and postings of police officials and thus he could not spare time to visit Chitrakoot. The morale of the cops is down in the present govern- ment, he added. T he six-year-old twin sons of a busi- nessman kidnapped at gunpoint in Chitrakoot of Satna district have been found dead in the Yamuna River in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. Sporadic protests erupted in Chitrakoot town of Satna soon after the news of their death reached the place, prompting police to step up security. The children, both in kindergarten and sons of oil merchant Brijesh Rawat, were kidnapped at gunpoint by two masked per- sons from Chitrakoot when they were returning home in their school bus on February 12. The kidnappers had later demanded a ransom from the children's father, Chitrakoot's Nayagaon police sta- tion in-charge KP Tripathi said. He said the bodies of the children were found floating in the Yamuna river near Baberu village in Uttar Pradesh's Banda district late Saturday night. The bodies were later fished out from the river and sent for post mortem to a hospital in Banda, he said. Six people have so far been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing, Tripathi said, adding that an investigation was underway into the inci- dent. Meanwhile, as the news of the chil- dren's death came in, locals forced closure of shops and other business establishments in Chitrakoot town, a police official said. Some angry locals also burnt tyres on streets and vandalised private properties at some places, he said. Tripathi said addi- tional police force was deployed in Chitrakoot following the protests. After the boys were kidnapped, Madhya Pradesh police had announced a reward of 50,000 for information about the twin siblings. The police of both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were working on the case since Chitrakoot is a border town. The two masked men had come on a motorbike and abducted the two children at gunpoint when their bus was about to leave the premises of Sadguru Public School on February 12, a police official ear- lier said. The children were residents of Ramghat in Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi) dis- trict of Uttar Pradesh. They used to trav- el four km across the border to their school every day, Satna's Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh Gaur had said after the inci- dent. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

˘ ˇ ˆ · ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not ... Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad), Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai (whole of MMR)

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Page 1: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not ... Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad), Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai (whole of MMR)

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ADeputy Superintendent ofJ&K Police, heading

counter terrorism wing inKulgam, and one Army jawanattained martyrdom after neu-tralising three Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists ina fierce gunfight in southKashmir’s Kulgam district onSunday. According to police, “A2011 batch officer AmanThakur was leading from thefront when he received bulletinjury in his head and later suc-cumbed during encounter inTurigam Yaripora area ofKulgam”.

Police said, “The policeofficer was heading thecounter-terrorism wing ofJammu & Kashmir Police inKulgam for last one-and-a-half year and had played aninstrumental role in killing thedreaded terrorists in the area”.

DGP Police Dilbagh Singh,

along with senior officers,offered floral tributes to themartyr. He is survived by hiswife Sarla Devi and six-year-oldson Arya. Large number of local residents andsenior State Government offi-cials visited his home to paycondolences.

MoD spokesman inSrinagar said, “Three terroristswere killed and one Armyjawan also sacrificed his life inthe operation, which is stillgoing on”.

An Army Major and twosoldiers were also injured in theencounter, officials said, addingthat a non-commissioned offi-cer, Havaldar Sombir, suc-cumbed to his injuries subse-quently. The other injured per-sons, including the Major, areout of danger.

Three terrorists were alsokilled in the encounter, buttheir identity is yet to be ascer-tained. Jammu & Kashmir

Director General of Police(DGP) Dilbagh Singh said, “Itis an unfortunate incident, inwhich we have lost a brave offi-cer. He was a fighter and he ledSunday’s operation himself.”

Thakur was posted as theDySP (operation) in Kulgam, aterrorist-infested area of south

Kashmir, two years ago.He was awarded the DGP’s

Commendation Medal andCertificate for his exemplaryservice only last month.

Meanwhile, a large numberof local residents in the area

stepped out of their homes andtried to disrupt the anti-mili-tancy operations.

Policemen used tear smokeshells to disperse the protesters.

The Army’s RashtriyaRifles, Central Reserve Police

Force (CRPF) and the SpecialOperations Group (SOG) ofthe State police started a cordonand search operation inTurigam after being tipped offabout the presence of ultrasthere.

���� *+,��+-./

Your dream home maybecome more affordable and

cheaper as the Goods andServices Tax (GST) Council onSunday slashed tax rates onunder-construction housingproperties to 5 per cent withoutinput tax credit, from the exist-ing 12 per cent ahead of nation-al polls due by April-May. GSTrate on affordable housing pro-jects too has been lowered froman effective 8 per cent to 1 percent.

Currently, 12 per cent GSTis levied on payments made forunder-construction property orready-to-move-in flats wherecompletion certificate has notbeen issued at the time of sale.However, GST is not levied onbuyers of real estate propertiesfor which completion certificate

has been issued at the time ofsale.

After the GST Councilmeeting, Union FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley on Sundayannounced that the lowering ofGST tax rates on under con-struction housing propertiesfrom the existing 12 per cent to5 per cent without input taxcredit. “The council also cut GSTrates on affordable housing to 1per cent from the current 8 percent and expanded the scope ofaffordable housing to those cost-ing up to �45 lakh and measur-ing 60 sq metre in metros and90 sq metre in non-metro cities”explained Jaitley. The new taxrates will come into effect fromApril 1, 2019. Homebuyers ofmetropolitan cities Bengaluru,Chennai, Delhi NCR (limited toDelhi, Noida, Greater Noida,Ghaziabad, Gurgaon,

Faridabad), Hyderabad, Kolkataand Mumbai (whole of MMR)will benefit from it.

“This will be a major step inour efforts to give ‘boom’ to thereal estate sector and makinghousing affordable for the mid-dle class, neo-middle class, andaspirational class,” Jaitley saidwhile briefing reporters afterthe GST Council meet. No tax islevied in cases where completion

certificate has been issued at thetime of sale. However, builderswill not be able to claim input taxcredit (ITC) under the new GSTrates.

The council, headed byJaitley, decided on cutting taxrates on under-constructionhousing property after due con-sideration to reports of a Groupof Ministers (GoM) on realestate sector.

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Defying curfew, agitatorsallegedly set ablaze the

private residence of ArunachalPradesh Deputy Chief MinisterChowna Mein and ransackedthe office of the DeputyCommissioner here on Sundayto protest against recommen-dations to grant permanentresident certificates to six com-munities, police said.

A large number of peoplemarched through streets heredamaging public property andvehicles after a person who wasinjured in police firing onFriday succumbed to injuries ata hospital, police said.

The protesters set ablazethe private residence of theDeputy Chief Minister at NitiVihar here and ransacked theoffice of the DeputyCommissioner of Itanagar.

They also set on fire a large

number of vehicles parked inthe compound of the DC’soffice. The protesters alsoattacked the Itanagar Police sta-tion and several public prop-erties in the State Capital,police said.

The agitators also blockedthe road leading to theNaharlagun railway station as

a result many passengers,including patients, were heldup at the station since Sundaymorning. An indefinite curfewwas clamped in Itanagar andNaharlagun on Saturday asprotesters resorted to stonepelting in which 35 people,including 24 police personnel,were injured.

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With the terror recruitsgiving up the practice of

publically declaring their intentto walk the path of jehad,security forces are facing anew challenge in the KashmirValley in tracing local youthjoining terrorist tanzeems(organisations).

Earlier, under pressure fromtanzeems, the new recruits usedto upload their photographs dis-playing weapons on the socialmedia platforms. The high attri-tion rate amongst their ranks lastyear has made the terroristsnow wary of social media, mak-ing it difficult for the agenciesto keep tabs on the new entrants.

While only three cases oflocal Kashmiris jumping the

fence came to notice in Januarythis month, officials in thesecurity establishment fearmany more misguided youthsmay have joined tanzeems andkept them out of the scrutinyof the social media.

The reason for the terror-ist organisations evading thesecurity radar was the relent-less operations by the securi-ty forces last year resulting inthe elimination of more than270 terrorists.

Many of those killed werenew recruits and died withinten to 15 days of picking up thegun, sources said. Moreover,the survival rate of the newrecruits is now not more thansix months due to poor train-ing and pressure of securityforces, they added

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

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����������� ������������ ��������������� �������� ���� �������������+������������������������������ ������� ��������,���������������������� ����������������� ��� �-����������� ��,�������������������������������������� ���

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It is seen as a first blow to two-month old Kamal Nath

Government in MadhyaPradesh. The brutal killing oftwo young children and the laxapproach by the MadhyaPradesh police in solving theabduction case has sent shock-waves in political and bureau-cratic circles of the State.

Bodies of two twin boys,kidnapped from Chitrakooton February 12, were recoveredfrom a river in Banda districtof Uttar Pradesh on wee hoursof Sunday.

Ever since the twins wereabducted from Chitrakoot onFebruary 12, the police did nottake the incident seriously and

no serious efforts were made tonab the abductors and recoverthe twin boys.

Director General of Police(DGP) VK Singh never visitedSatna district under which thecrime scene falls. It wasbelieved that it was an ordinarycase of abduction and conven-tional methods of zeroingdown on the theories of per-sonal enmity was adopted.

Of course, the modusoperand adopted by the abduc-tors was a bit different in thecase, as they did not use theirmobile phones to call the fatherof twins, in asking for ransom.They used the mobile phonesof passersby in different caresbordering Uttar Pradesh.

In past 12 days, the police

investigation hovered aroundonly the relatives and businessrivalry, which claimed lives oftwo innocent boys.

Soon after the bodies of theboys were recovered and policehave arrested the abductors, thepolice and the State govern-ment did not take time inhighlighting that one of theabductors was associated withsaffron organization BajrangDal.

It was also publicized thatChief Minister Kamal Nathtalked to the father of thedeceased boys, but the wholeadministration includingsenior police officials are notwilling to accept the fact thatthe boys could have been saved,if the police and the govern-

ment took the incident seri-ously.

State BJP SpokesmanRajnesh Agrawal told ‘ThePioneer’ that a heinous crimehas taken place, but the Stategovernment is not ready toaccept that criminals are mov-ing fearlessly in the State.

It is surprising that at atime, when the governmentshould check criminal activitiesin the State, it is busy in mak-ing allegations on previousgovernment.

The top cop was busy intransfers and postings of policeofficials and thus he could notspare time to visit Chitrakoot.The morale of the cops isdown in the present govern-ment, he added.

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The six-year-old twin sons of a busi-nessman kidnapped at gunpoint in

Chitrakoot of Satna district have beenfound dead in the Yamuna River in UttarPradesh on Sunday.

Sporadic protests erupted inChitrakoot town of Satna soon after thenews of their death reached the place,prompting police to step up security.

The children, both in kindergarten andsons of oil merchant Brijesh Rawat, werekidnapped at gunpoint by two masked per-sons from Chitrakoot when they werereturning home in their school bus onFebruary 12. The kidnappers had laterdemanded a ransom from the children'sfather, Chitrakoot's Nayagaon police sta-tion in-charge KP Tripathi said.

He said the bodies of the children werefound floating in the Yamuna river nearBaberu village in Uttar Pradesh's Bandadistrict late Saturday night. The bodieswere later fished out from the river andsent for post mortem to a hospital inBanda, he said.

Six people have so far been arrested inconnection with the kidnapping andkilling, Tripathi said, adding that aninvestigation was underway into the inci-dent. Meanwhile, as the news of the chil-dren's death came in, locals forced closureof shops and other business establishmentsin Chitrakoot town, a police official said.Some angry locals also burnt tyres onstreets and vandalised private propertiesat some places, he said. Tripathi said addi-tional police force was deployed inChitrakoot following the protests.

After the boys were kidnapped,Madhya Pradesh police had announced areward of �50,000 for information aboutthe twin siblings. The police of bothMadhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh wereworking on the case since Chitrakoot is aborder town.

The two masked men had come on amotorbike and abducted the two childrenat gunpoint when their bus was about toleave the premises of Sadguru PublicSchool on February 12, a police official ear-lier said.

The children were residents ofRamghat in Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi) dis-trict of Uttar Pradesh. They used to trav-el four km across the border to their schoolevery day, Satna's Superintendent of PoliceSantosh Singh Gaur had said after the inci-dent.

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���������� ��� ������������������� ���)������ ��* RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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The artisans from all overIndia of the Odisha Art and

Craft Samiti have come toBhopal second time to exhibittheir ethnic weaves and tradi-tional pure silk and cottonproducts in order to start thesummer wedding season, andfor the festival like Maha-shiv-ratri and Holi, with the theme,‘Summer Wedding Collection’.

The Odisha Art and CraftCommittee, founded by agroup of artisans, designers,social activists, academics andenvironmentalists, attempts topromote exquisite traditionalskill, cotton and creations of theweavers and encouraging themto be contemporary and eco-nomically relevant.

More than 100 designersand weavers are part of thisyear’s exhibition which includesgorgeous Uppadas, Banarassilks, Gadwals, Dharmavaram,Jamdanis, Jamawars and

Sambalpuris. From saris, dressmaterials, items of silk and cot-ton saree, suit dress material,fashion jewelry, home furnish-ing designer clothes from eachregion of the country, the exhi-bition provided shoppers witha kaleidoscope of India’s color,diversity and talent. Artisansfrom 14 handloom weavingStates including Assam,Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Bihar, Odisha,Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammuand Kashmir, West Bengal andmany designers from metrosworking in collaboration withthe weavers are displaying morethan 1,50,000 variety of theirwork here.

The exhibition cum sale isopen from February 23 toMarch 4, 2019 from 11 am to9 pm at the RavishankarCommunity Hall, BittanMarket, Bhopal.

The Cotton and Silk hand-loom products on display havea range between �500 and

�80,000 at the upper end forexclusive hand crafted sarees.Dokra Tribal Jewellery andChannapatna toys are alsocatching the attention of thecustomers. Coimbatore silk,Muga silk from Assam, banga-lore silk, crepe and georgettesaree, raw silk material fromKarnataka.

The Organiser of Cottonand Silk Fab, Manas Acharyasaid that the main social objec-tive of the handloom exhibitionwas to promote weavers andencourage and provide a mar-ket to the handloom industry.

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Governor Anandiben Patelsaid that the natural talent

of students must be encouragedin higher education. Study andresearch of the distinctivenessand success of contemporaryissues must be conducted. Patelwas addressing the 96th meet-ing of the UniversityCoordination Committee heretoday. The vice-chancellors ofGovernment and private uni-versities of the State were pre-sent in the meeting.

Patel said that efforts mustbe made to encourage the stu-diousness of children. Childrenshould be given the time andopportunity to read books oftheir interest. Programmessuch as book reviews should beheld.

Teachers should take stepin this so that the students getmotivated and come forward.Patel explained the need fordiscussions on innovative andpractical outcome of modernresearch. She said that the ini-tiative of Padhe Bhopal pro-gramme should be regularlyfollowed by the University.Referring to the excellentarrangements in the Kumbhevent, the Governor said thatthere was need to promotestudents for study and researchin various higher educationcourses.

The proceedings of theprevious meeting of theUniversity CoordinationCommittee were confirmed inthe meeting. NAC evaluation,150th birth anniversary ofFather of the Nation MahatmaGandhi, appointment ofLokpal, solutions to students’problems, integrated universi-ty management system andprogress of Padhe Bhopal pro-gramme were discussed indetail at the meeting.

Principal Secretary Lawand Legal Affairs SK Singh,Principal Secretary HigherEducation Neeraj Mandloi,Principal Secretary FinanceManoj Govil, PrincipalSecretary Technical EducationPramod Agarwal and Secretaryto the Governor DD Agarwalwere present

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Chunabhatti police havebooked an 18-year-old

youth for molesting a 15-year-old girl student at Chunabhattivillage on Saturday. Theaccused has been booked byKoalr police for assault though-he was minor, said police.

Police said that the accused,identified as Shubham, used tomolest the victim frequentlywhenever she would get out forschool, coaching and otherworks.

The victim lodged a com-plaint with the Chunabhattipolice against the accused whohad molested her on Saturdayand when she opposed, hethreatened her of life and escapedfrom the spot.

Based on the complaint, thepolice have registered a caseunder sections 506 and 354 ofthe IPC and section 11 and 12 ofthe POCSO Act and have start-ed search for the accused whowent absconding after the com-plaint was lodged.

During the investigation,police found that the accused isa class XI student and has beeninvolved in mischievous acts inthe past.

Meanwhile, Bairagarh policehave booked an another mis-creant for molesting a 17-year-old girl on Saturday. The mis-creant had harassed the victimfor many days. After the incident,the victim had discontinued toattend school.

According to Bairagarhpolice, the 17-year-old victim girlis a resident of Rahul Nagar andstudies in XI standard in a pri-vate school. She was molested bya miscreant Manoj alias Mannu.

The accused used to harassand molest her on her way toschool and pass lewd commentsfor the past three weeks. The vic-tim do not report the incident toparents and later stopped goingto school after which parentsasked her and she revealed andlater complaint was lodged.

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Chhola Mandir police hasbooked Dhar based two

persons for duping a city basedtrader to the tune of �5.75 lakhin the name of facilitating himdealership of a company atChhola Mandir area.

The victim, Sonu Sahu,owns a grocery shop in Karondarea and was lured by theaccused to facilitate dealership ofHaryana based Guru Foods PvtLtd and Lalji Namkeen compa-ny and even after collectingmoney, they never providedagency.

The victim lodged a com-plaint stating that in August2017, he came in contact withDhar Naka based Sachin Sharmaand Sajjan alias Dheeraj Sharmawho lured him of providingdealership of Haryana basedGuru Foods Pvt Ltd and LaljiNamkeen company and after thevictim got assured regardingdealership they asked him toprovide �1.25 lakh but the twolater asked �5.75 lakh which wasprovided by the victim.

The documents were pre-pared and victim deposited theamount of �5.75 lakh in partsand all payments were made bycheques in the name of GuruFoods Pvt Ltd but even after tak-ing the amount, the victim wasnot provided with dealership andwhen he demanded refund, theaccused refused.

After initial probe, policehave registered a case of fraud,breach of trust and criminal con-spiracy against the accused.

Meanwhile, Koh-e-Fizapolice has booked a person forduping in the name of facilitat-ing vehicle loan. The victimwas duped of �7,000 by theaccused to facilitate vehicle loan.

The victim Riyaz Uddinwas duped by Zaiba Khan in thename of facilitating vehicle loan.

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Amovie narrating the storyof Kargil War ‘The Untold

Story of Kargil 1999’ wasscreened at Shaurya Smarak.The film was screened at theopen air auditorium here onSunday.

The Kargil War, alsoknown as the Kargil conflict,was an armed conflict betweenIndia and Pakistan that tookplace between May and July1999 in the Kargil district ofKashmir and elsewhere alongthe Line of Control (LOC).

In India, the conflict is alsoreferred to as Operation Vijaywhich was the name of theIndian operation to clear theKargil sector.

The contribution of‘Laddakh Scouts’ was a vitalone. They are also known as‘Snow Warriors’. The snowwarriors in the leadership of

Sonam Wangchu fought liketigers. The movie showcasedabout the sacrifices and brav-ery of the Indian Army. Thefilm showcased the interviewsof the soldiers who fought inKargil war.

The cause of the war wasthe infiltration of Pakistanisoldiers, disguised as Kashmirimilitants, into positions on theIndian side of the LOC, whichserves as the de facto borderbetween the two States.

During the initial stages ofthe war, Pakistan blamed thefighting entirely on indepen-dent Kashmiri insurgents, butdocuments left behind by casu-alties and later statements byPakistan's Prime Minister andChief of Army Staff showedinvolvement of Pakistani para-military forces, led by GeneralAshraf Rashid.

The Indian Army, latersupported by the Indian Air

Force, recaptured a majority ofthe positions on the Indian sideof the LOC infiltrated by thePakistani troops and militants.Facing international diplomat-ic opposition, the Pakistaniforces withdrew from theremaining Indian positionsalong the LOC.

The war is one of the mostrecent examples of high-alti-tude warfare in mountainousterrain, which posed significantlogistical problems for thecombating sides.

It is also one of the very fewinstances of direct, conven-tional warfare between nuclearstates. India had conducted itsfirst successful test in 1974.Pakistan, which had beendeveloping its nuclear capabil-ity in secret since around thesame time, conducted its firstknown tests in 1998, just twoweeks after a second series oftests by India.

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To understand issues oftraffic management and

parking related issues, seniorofficials of police and admin-istration visited New Marketand TT Nagar areas and park-ing spaces at these areas onSunday.

DIG Bhopal Irshad Wali,District Collector SudamaKhade, BMC CommissionerVV Dutta, ASP (Traffic) PSChouhan, DSP (Traff ic)Manoj Sharma were presentduring the visit.

The senior officials wereprovided with feedback bytraders, locals and visitorsthat the area remains crowd-ed on Sunday as marketremains open massive crowdand severely congested andthus creating problems forpeople visiting the area.

The major problem oftraffic leads to parking issues.People want to park theirvehicles at safe places but inthe lack of spaces, severalvehicles are found parkedunevenly at different places.

On Sunday, during vehi-cle checking drive, 164 peo-ple were charged for violatingtraffic rules and penalisedunder Motor Vehicle Act.

Traffic police conducts

various drives to make com-muters aware and spreadawareness regarding impor-tance of following traffic rulesand regulations as violatingthem could cost life of com-muters.

Vehicle checking drivewas conducted at Retghatsquare, Lalghati square,Alpana Trisection, Bharattalkies square, Board Officesquare, control room trisec-tion, Rajeev Gandhi square,Kolar Nehar, Roshanapura

square.In the checking drive,

132 two-vehicle owners werepenalised for not wearinghelmet. For not using seatbelts in four wheeler, 30 werepenalised and two werepenalised for using tintedglass.

Apart from these, 60speeding vehicles weredetected by SVD cameras ofITMS and notices have beenissued against these speedingdrivers.

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On the occasion of CIIBhopal Annual Day,

Animesh Jain, Director,Arihant Detergents Pvt Ltdwas elected as Chairman of CIIBhopal Zonal Council for theyear 2019-2020. Jain is a FourthGeneration businessman withbusiness interests spanningfrom Manufacturing toDistribution to Automobilesales and service.

Animesh is a MechanicalEngineer and MBA by edu-cation. In the current avatar,he is serving as the director ofRM Chemicals Pvt Ltd, RMJAgencies Pvt, ArihantDetergents Pvt. Ltd. Ltd. andRMJ Motors Pvt Ltd.

Besides, SiddharthChaturvedi, Director, AISECTGroup was elected Vice-Chairman of Bhopal ZonalCouncil for the year 2019-

2020. Siddhartha handles theentire Strategy and Operationsfor the Group’s.

AISECT Group is India’sleading Social Enterpriseworking in areas of HigherEducation, Skills Training,Financial Inclusion in ruralareas, Aadhaar based services,online services and Pre-schools. Siddharth has beeninstrumental in Group’s

growth on pan-India basis invarious verticals, as well asstrengthening of Group’s var-ious initiatives in associationwith key Government of Indiapriorities such as Skill IndiaMission, Digital India Missionand Startup India Mission.

Later, during the address,Animesh Jain thanked theState Council for bestowingthe responsibility for leadingCII in Bhopal and mentionedthe agenda –‘Create NewBusiness Opportunity andPrepare Industries for FutureBusiness’ on which CII Bhopalwill work throughout the year.

Pravin Rajpal deliberatedon the topic ‘CreatingLeadership and BreakthroughIdeas’ and emphasised to cre-ate new future with disruptiveand game changer ideas.

The programme was wellattended by leading industri-alist from Bhopal.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas said that the tribal com-

munity is identity of our State.Its inclusive development is apart of our top most priority. Hementioned that a roadmap com-prising all the welfare schemesof the entire sections of the soci-ety is being prepared by us forthe development of the State.

Nath was addressing theBandhavgarh Shabri KolMahakumbh in Umaria onSunday. Besides, the ChiefMinister made announcementto establish Kol DevelopmentAuthority in the State. He alsoassured that recommendationwill be sent to the UnionGovernment for giving SpecialBackward Tribal status to Koltribal.

The Chief Minister men-tioned that our manifesto is amain agenda for Governmentfunctioning. Promise for theeconomic upliftment of farmers,youth, weaker section, backwardclass and poor besides develop-ment of the state has been madein the manifesto. We will fulfillall the promises of the manifestoby overcoming all the chal-lenges and will create a new his-

tory of development in theState. He stated that tribal youthof today are ready for progress.The Government is makingefforts to provide them betteremployment opportunities.

We are making a wellthought plan to give employ-ment to unemployed youth bylaying the network of investmentand industrialization in thestate. Moreover, theMukhyamanri Yuva SwabhimanYojana in the form of a widescale campaign has beenlaunched to link youth withemployment by giving themtraining under the scheme.

Kamal Nath said that we are

committed to bring Kol com-munity in the mainstream of thesociety and especially for theprogress of youth and women.Mentioning about the loan waiv-er scheme for the farmers andemployment scheme for youthlaunched recently, he said thatwe are moving ahead in thedirection to strengthen agri-culture based economy.

The Chief Minister waswelcomed in traditional style atShabri Mahakumbh of KolCommunity. He was offered toeat Shabri’s jhoote ber in thesymbolic form and was pre-sented a life size portrait of MataShabri.

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Governor Anandiben Patelhas said that students’

problems should be redressedresponsibly. Efforts should bemade to eliminate root cause ofthe problems to avoid its rep-etition. Patel was addressing themeeting of Vice Chancellors atRajbhavan.

Patel mentioned that theuniversities are responsible forbuilding the future generation ofthe country. It is essential tomaintain discipline and order inworks to run and manage insti-tutions. She told the ViceChancellors to conduct a sur-prise inspection of the collegesunder their respective areas andreview arrangements.

The academic calendarshould be followed strictly.Convocation ceremonies shouldbe organised every year manda-torily and let students conductthe ceremony. Degrees in anattractive form should be pre-sented so that it could be dis-played. Initiative should be takento accommodate inspirationalmessages of great personalitiesat one place. An exhibition onachievements and works of uni-versity during the last one yearshould be organised.

Make arrangement forholding dialogues of students

with invited scholars before theconvocation ceremony.

Their views should also beprinted and distributed amongthe students. Photos of stu-dents should be given to themfor their permanent remem-brance. Arrangement of addressof successful students of the pastshould be made in the pro-gramme. Examinations shouldbe conducted under the sur-veillance of CCTV cameras andbar codes must be printed onanswer sheets, she added.

The Governor further stat-ed that senior students should beencouraged to give books totheir juniors. The received set ofbooks should be kept properlyso that the needy students couldobtain them according to theirrequirement.

Moreover, universitiesshould initiate to hold enlight-ening competitions among thestudents of higher secondaryschools. Ensure maximum par-ticipation of students in com-parison to the last year in theInternational Yoga Day pro-gramme. She mentioned thatstudents in colleges should beencouraged for rehabilitationof ex-servicemen.

They should be told tocome forward to help the chil-dren of the martyr sainiks intheir higher education.

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Collection of books sug-gested by members of

Swami Vivekananda Librarywas released on Sunday. Thistype of collection is releasedonce a month.

This time, as in the previ-ous era, collections of bookssuggested by members will alsobe displayed. In this collection,a total of 25 books will be col-lected on Sunday at 11 am oncollection display.

Swami VivekanandaLibrary Manager Yatish Bhatalesaid that in the books suggest-ed by the members, too manynew titles have been compiled.Collections who are a memberof the library, they can suggest

the names of the books of theirfavorite book or suggest sug-gestions on the email.

The book does not find abook supplier; the library alsopurchases it online. Collectionsof books suggested by memberswill be displayed on Sunday.

Here are some of the bookswhich are included Becomingby Michelle Obama, Jia Jal byGulzar, How to Rig an Electionby Nick Cheeseman, OnLeaders and Icons by KuldeepNair, Insider Outsider by PreetiGill, Every Vote Counts byNavin Chawla, Democracy onthe Road by Ruchir Sharma,When It's Clicks by AmitabhPandey, Belt & Road by Bruno,Ramayana VarsusMahabharatha by DevadattaPatnaik, Tactile By Cancer by

Preeti Mishra, Being GoodAuthor Nandesh Nilai, IndraGandhi: A Life in Nature byJairam Naresh, The Subtle Artof Not Giving a Fake by MarkManson, Pajamas are Forgivingby Twinkle Khanna and more.

Manager Yatish Bhatalesaid that Swami VivekanandaLibrary has started a new facil-ity for the members. A new col-lection of books suggested bythe members in SwamiVivekananda Library and col-lection of new books is col-lected every Sunday at SwamiVivekananda Library.

Swami VivekanandaLibrary Manager Yatish Bhatalesaid that these books will bedisplayed on Sunday. Memberscan reserve these books andissue by next Saturday.

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Light drizzles was witnessed atisolated places in the State

Capital in the evening onSunday. Dark and dense cloudpoured in the evening making

the weather conditions pleasantwhich were hot and humid forthe past two days.

The weather conditionswere cold and with cloud coversin the morning and remained inthe day. In the afternoon clearsky with bright sun light was wit-nessed making the weather con-ditions hot and humid.

State capital witnessedchanges on Sunday still temper-ature fluctuations were not sig-nificant. Day temperaturerecorded at 29.7 degree Celsius

and night temperature at 16.4degree Celsius.

Weatherman said that thechanges are due to Moistureincursion from Bay of Bengaland Arabian Sea and wouldfade away within next 24 hoursand after the clouds would cleartemperatures would witnessdecrease.

On February 27 and 28changes in the weather patternwould be witnessed cloud coverwould occur and temperatureswould change.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathsaid that criminals will

have to pay for their gruesomeact which they done with theabducted children of Satna.Kamal Nath spoke to BrijeshRawat, the father of Priyanshand Shreyansh in the morningtoday and expressed profoundgrief over the incident. Hementioned that criminals willnot be spared at any cost. Nathgave strict instructions to thepolice to make every possibleeffort for stringent actionagainst the culprits.

Kamal Nath said that he ispained with the horrific inci-dent. Criminal will not bespared for this heinous act. Heassured Brijesh Rawat that not

only criminals involved in thisincident will be apprehendedbut stringent punishment willbe given to them. Consolingthe family, he said that theentire government is with thebereaved family in this hour ofgrief.

The Chief Minister statedthat no negligence will be tol-erated in this case and to keepstrict watch on criminals andin border areas. Make strictchecking arrangements at theborders. Kamal Nath men-tioned that he will not letMadhya Pradesh become aden of criminals. Besides, theChief Minister has told thepolice administration to tight-en its arrangements and toarrest the criminals immedi-ately.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas said that compliance of

law is more challenging thanenacting laws. This is con-nected to good governanceand public welfare.

The Chief Minister wasaddressing the concluding ses-sion of the 4th Justice RKTankha International MootCourt Competition-2019 atthe National Law InstituteUniversity here on Sunday.The competition was organisedby the Office of the SeniorAdvocate and Member ofParliament Vivek Tankha.

Kamal Nath said that lawsshould be used in the interestof such deprived sections,which are not able to use lawsmade for their welfare. He fur-ther mentioned that the rightsof deprived sections are pro-tected through laws. Nath saidthat justice is such a state,when an individual becomessensitive towards his/ her dutiesand responsibilities. Reforms ingovernance and administra-tion are needed most today.When good policies get incom-petent endow system then it

proves poorer. People do notget its benefits, he added.

The Former Justice of theSupreme Court DMDharmadhikari and Registrarof Singapore InternationalArbitration Centre KevishNash also addressed the pro-gramme.

The Chief Minister pre-sented prizes to the winners ofthe competition. The first prizewas bagged by the NationalLaw School of Bengaluru andGujarat National LawUniversity was declared runnerup.

On this occasion, a reportconsisting works carried out bythe institute in the direction tomake villages free of legal dis-putes and legal assistance pro-vided to poor was presented tothe Chief Minister. Nath alsoreleased ‘Indian ArbitrationLaw Review’.

Those who present on theoccasion include the ViceChancellor of National LawInstitute University, Bhopal VVijay Kumar, Registrar GiribalaSingh and student contestantsof various Law UniversityInstitutes.

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The speedy footwork andmatching them up with

the instrumental music was allabout the splendid perfor-mance by Kathak exponents.The artists gave a wondrousperformance here on Sunday atShaheed Bhavan. The Kathakperformance left all the audi-ence totally enthralled.

The entire performancewas choreographed and direct-ed by Kathak exponent AlpanaVajpayi. The performance wasgiven by the artists of MargiKathak Sansthan, Bhopal.

The artists began their per-formance with Shiv Stuti. Inthis performance they pre-sented Shiv Panchakshar TaalDhamar i.e. the forms of LordShiv. They performed it in 14rhythms. The performance wasfollowed Thumri ‘Dekho naMaane Shyam. It was per-formed in Raga Des in Jhaptaal.

The performances werefollowed by teen taal in whichthe artists performed

Traditional Bandishien ofKathak of Raigarh Gharana. Atthe end they performed Tarana.

Rhythmic understanding,ability to extemporize withspeedy rhythms and preservingpure Kathak classical style weresome of the catching points ofthe perofrmance. Based on fastspeeds, swift turns, mindthrilling footwork, delicacy ofmovements and impressiveexpressions the performancewas mesmerizing for the audi-ence.

It is to be noted that AlpanaVajpayi is one of the wellknown dancers of solo classicalKathak dance.

With enchanting stagepresence she has earned accla-mation for intense and sensitivedance presentations. She hasperformed solo Kathak inter-nationally in addition to pres-tigious government organizedfestivals in India and has alsogiven across the world. She gavevarious heart melting perfor-mances which were muchappreciated.

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The saffron brigade sound-ed the poll bugle in Punjab

from the holy city of Amritsaron Sunday, sans its decades-oldally, the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD).

Even as the BJP’s nationalpresident Amit Shah hit out atthe Congress-led StateGovernment from left, rightand centre on issues rangingfrom Kartarpur Sahib corridor,1984 anti-Sikh riots, CabinetMinister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s“hug”, to halting state’s devel-opment, the entire SAD lead-ership was missing from theevent.

However, the state BJP unitmaintained that the rally was ofthe party alone wherein Shahhad come to discuss issueswith the party workers, andthat was why SAD leaders haveremained absent from theevent.

During his to-the-pointaddress to the BJP leaders fromPunjab and Haryana at theparty’s rally or KarayakartaSammelan, Shah gave entirecredit for the opening ofKartarpur Sahib corridor to theBJP-led Central Government,while attacking Sidhu for hug-ging Pak Army chief GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa, “whoseArmy is killing our men every-day”.

He did not mince a word toattack Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh forceasing state’s development anddeceiving the state’s farmers,while blaming the StateGovernment for stopping allwelfare schemes which wereinitiated during the 10-yearperiod of SAD-BJPGovernment in Punjab.

At the same time, he urgedthe people to elect NarendraModi again as their PrimeMinister if they want India togive befitting reply to Pakistanfor Pulwama attack.

Observing two-minutesilence in mark of respect ofdeparted souls of 40 CRPFjawans who had lost lives dur-ing terror attack in Pulwama onFebruary 14, Shah said that thesaffron party has great respectfor the four jawans fromPunjab who were killed in theattack. In these hours of grief,each party activist was with thegrief stricken family, he added.

“Bloodshed of these 40jawans will not be ignored asBJP Government would teachbefitting lesson to these ter-rorists,” declared Shah .

The blood of 40 CRPFmartyrs in the Pulwama terrorattack will not go waste and ter-rorists will be taught a lessonthat they will remember forlong, said Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) President AmitShah here on Sunday.

“The blood of 40 (CRPF)martyrs will not go waste. Thegovernment will teach them(terrorists) a lesson,” Shah said.

He said that only the BJPcould provide a strong and sta-ble government at the Centreunder the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and he wouldtake the country forward. “Thenext Prime Minister will beNarendra Modi,” he asserted.

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Launching a scathingattack on the Congress dis-pensation in Punjab, Shahalleged that the “raja-mahara-ja” government brought to astandstill the development pro-jects and schemes started dur-ing the SAD-BJP rule.

“The raja-maharaja gov-ernment is no match for theprevious SAD-BJP regime ledby Parkash Singh Badal,” saidShah. “These days Capt Sahab(Amarinder Singh) has becomevocal, may be because polls arenear. Sometimes, he also goesto office. Now, he has startedsaying that the Centre has not

done this and that. He is seek-ing accountability from us,” headded.

“But what about hispromises to farmers, on endingthe drug menace, about unem-ployment allowance? EvenRahul Gandhi had vowed loanwaiver for Punjab farmers, butthe way they came out with aloan waiver, it has not benefit-ted the state's peasants," Shahclaimed.

He alleged that severalschemes started by the SAD-BJP government has beenstopped by the Congress dis-pensation.

“I do not know whetherthis government is the one tocarry development or stop it.Raja Sahab (Amarinder Singh,who belongs to the erstwhilePatiala royals), you stoppeddevelopment works,” Shah said.

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Touching upon howPunjab for decades has beenmeeting the country's food-grain needs and safeguardingits borders, Shah said that theCentre has left no stoneunturned to ensure the state'sdevelopment.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and Union FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley werealways liberal in giving grantsto Punjab, and the state got Rs1,61,907 crore under the NDAdispensation as against theUPA's Rs 30,157 crore, Shahsaid.

Shah spelled out severalschemes and projects forPunjab by the Modi govern-ment, including an IIM forAmritsar, AIIMS in Bathinda,improved road network, upgra-dation of road network and 41projects sanctioned by theUnion Ministry of FoodProcessing Industries led bySAD leader Harsimrat KaurBadal.

��������������������6�������� &����� �����Shah made light of theopposition parties' effort tostitch up a mahagathbandhansaying that a leaderlessalliance cannot take thecountry forward. “Thepeople of this country havemade up their mind to bringthe BJP-led NDA back topower,” he said.

“This grand alliance cannottake the country forward, itcannot make the countrysuperpower. Only a govern-ment under PM Modi can doso. Can Congress party givebefitting reply to terror attacks?Only Narendra Modi govern-ment can,” he claimed.

About the proposed maha-gathbandhan of oppositionparties, he sought to knowfrom Congress president RahulGandhi who is the leader of thisalliance. “Can the grandalliance do any good to thiscountry? Rahul baba, who isthe leader of this alliance? Ifpeople elect you, who willbecome Prime Minister?” Shahposed.

“The leaders of this allianceare seeking mandate from pub-lic, but they have not decidedwho their leader is. Whereas,we are clear that on gettingmajority, Narendra Modi willonce again become PrimeMinister. The BJP, the Akali Daland our other allies are goingto fight under Modi's leader-ship...I can see the writing onthe wall. Modi is once againgoing to be PM... Congress candaydream,” he said.

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Slamming Punjab MinisterNavjot Singh Sidhu, Shah said:“He claims that he went toPakistan and made KartarpurSahib corridor possible...The

Pakistan Army chief who isresponsible for killing our sol-diers, you gave him a warm hugand lowered country's image.”

“You (Sidhu) did not bringKartarpur, but you are in thatparty which handed overKartarpur to Pakistan at thetime of partition, which couldeasily have been a part ofIndia,” he said.

Shah, instead, credited theModi government for the cor-ridor, linking Gurdwara DarbarSahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur -the final resting place of GuruNanak Dev's - to Dera BabaNanak shrine in India'sGurdaspur district to facilitatevisa-free movement of IndianSikh pilgrims.

About the 1984 anti-Sikhriots case, Shah said that ModiGovernment has set up aSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) to give justice to the vic-tims. “For 30 years, not even asingle person was punished.Now, Sajjan Kumar is behindthe bars,” he said.

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At the same time, Shahasked the party workers andleaders to pull up socks not forthree seats rather for all the 13parliamentary seats in Punjab.BJP contests Lok Sabha elec-tions on three seats —Gurdaspur, Amritsar, andHoshiarpur — in alliance withSAD, which feilds its candidatesfrom the remaining 10.

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Earlier, hoardings carryingthe photo of BJP leader and for-mer Cabinet Minister AnilJoshi were either torn orremoved from the venueallegedly due to some differ-ences with the State presidentShwait Malik, claimed closeassociate of Joshi.

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Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singhwould hand over the appointment letters to the

youth selected for various jobs during the fourth state-level Mega Job fairs at the state-level function onFebruary 28 at DAV University, Jalandhar.

Informing, the state Technical Education andEmployment Generation Minister Charanjit SinghChanni said that more than 60 percent of the state’syouth, who participated during the fourth Mega JobFairs, got placed in various private companies.

Channi, during the review meeting on Sundayregarding the arrangements for the state-level func-tion with the senior officials of the concerned depart-ments, said that the fourth round of Mega Job fairs wasorganised from February 13 to 22 at various placesacross the state.

“During this phase, along with TechnicalEducation Department, the ‘Punjab Ghar GharRozgar and Karobar Mission’ played an important rolein making this event a big success, as 50,000 youth gotplaced during this phase of Mega Job Fairs.

He said that with such constructive initiatives, thePunjab Government has built a bond of trust betweenthe employer and the job seekers, and thus, more andmore companies are registering with the PunjabGovernment for providing jobs to the youth of Punjab.

“Punjab’s youth have also got a single platformwhere they can upload his qualifications for seekinga job. The Government has filled the gap between thejob seeker and the employer by providing them a com-mon platform,” he added.

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Bholath MLA and PunjabiEkta Party (PEP) president

Sukhpal Khaira on Sundayasked Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh toorder time-bound investiga-tions against former Ministerand SAD MLA Bikram SinghMajitha “as per your statementon the floor of the VidhanSabha”.

Khaira, who hadremained absent throughoutthe budget session that start-ed from February 12, said that

he was appalled to hear ChiefMinister’s statement in theVidhan Sabha on February 21claiming that the State haseither eliminated big drugmafia or forced them to leavePunjab.

“This is nothing but abundle of lies and a cock andbull story, as the biggest politi-cian who patronised drugmafia in Punjab, BikramMajithia, is very much presentin the House that day. It isequally saddening to note thatthe meek and cowardly AAPLeader of Opposition Harpal

Singh Cheema did not havethe courage to name the for-mer Minister on the floor ofthe House, despite makinglofty statements againstMajithia outside the VidhanSabha,” said Khaira.

Referring to all allegationagainst Majithia regarding hisalleged links with interna-tional drug peddlers, facili-tating drug manufacturerJagjit Chahal, among others,Khaira added that more than40 Congress MLAs havehanded over a signed memo-randum to the Chief Minister

urging action against Majithiabut to no avail.

“Instead of taking actionagainst drug mafia l ikeBikram Majithia, your gov-ernment chose to frame me ina maliciously false and fabri-cated NDPS case while I wasthe Leader of Opposition,merely because I forced theresignation of your miningmafia cabinet colleague RanaGurjeet Singh and for oppos-ing your government toothand nail,” said Khaira addingthat the Chief Minister’s “vin-dictive action” was nothing

but like shooting the messen-ger.

Khaira said that since theChief Minister has asked themembers of Vidhan Sabha toname the big drug mafia, “Iname Bikram Majithia askingpin of drug trade perpe-trated in Punjab during thelast 10 years. And thus, I dareyou to order a time boundinvestigations preferably bythe CBI against Bikram Majithia, to ensurejustice to families of thou-sands of youth engulfed bythe fire of drugs”.

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Punjab Government’s SpecialTask Force (STF) on drugs

is all set to bring its new “Wallof Drugs” campaign as a partof its ongoing anti-drug cru-sade.

The “Wall of Drugs” will beSTF’s third campaign after thesuccess of Drug AbusePrevention Officers (DAPO)program and #TuMeraBuddyprogram. The new campaign— a special programme tospread awareness among thepeople of the state — is expect-ed to be launched officially bythe STF soon.

Notably, the STF, ever sinceits inception, has graduallymade way into every householdof the state with its carefullyplanned and contextual initia-tives against drug abuse —right from roping in the citi-zenry of the state to be the faceof the attack against drug men-ace, to decisively using socialmedia platform as its mouth-

piece.Only recently, the State

Government has appointed a1993-batch ADGP-rank officerGurpreet Kaur Deo, afterrelieving DGP-rankMohammad Mustafa from thecharge.

STF’s DAPO program hadseen mass participation fromall quarters of the state in theform of volunteers, while its#TuMeraBuddy campaign hadalso spread like wildfireamongst the student fraternityin the state.

Officially launched by theChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh on the occasion of India’s72nd Independence Day cele-brations in Ludhiana,#TuMeraBuddy aimed at rop-ing in the students of the stateto proactively fight drug abuseat school and college level.

And for reaching out to thepeople, the STF made the bestuse of social media. “The brainbehind STF’s social media ini-tiatives is political media strate-

gist Naresh Arora and his teamat DesignBoxed Creatives, whohave carefully drafted every lit-tle detail of these campaignswith thorough expertise,” saidan official.

The official said thatArora has been instrumentalin carving a social medianiche for STF, through theconceptualisation of the spacein the form of weekly talkshows, consistent posts andengaging interactions, makingthe cause of fighting drugs inPunjab participatory andunavoidable.

The success of#TuMeraBuddy program, interms of its inclusivity can begauged from the fact thateveryone — from senior-mostbureaucrats to the people onstreets were using the image ofthis program as their ‘displaypicture’ on WhatsApp,Facebook and Twitter andusing the phrase ‘Tu MeraBuddy’ as a part of their con-versations.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Sunday written to the UnionMinister of Food Processingindustry Minister HarsimratKaur Badal to press for inclu-sion of the state in theOperation Greens (TOP)scheme for promotion ofPotato production cluster.

Capt Amarinder, in his let-ter to Harsimrat, expressedconcern at Punjab’s exclusionfrom the selected list of Statesfor promoting the potato pro-duction cluster.

Pointing out that the areaunder potato cultivation inPunjab was nearly one lakhhectare with an annual pro-duction of 2.7 million MT, theChief Minister said thatPunjab was at the seventhposition in area under culti-vation and sixth position inproduction of potatoes in thecountry.

Further, he noted thatPunjab was the hub for seedpotato production, with theadvantage of an aphid-freewindow during October-December and favourableagro-climatic conditions.

Urging the Minister toreconsider the decision, theChief Minister pointed outthat Punjab was supplyingseed potato to other states,apart from meeting its owndemand. Not only that, it hadgreat potential to enhance

potato seed production inview of its geographic locationand climatic conditions, headded.

Arguing the state’s casefurther, Capt Amarinder notedthat with the establishment oftissue culture and aeroponictechnology at the Centre ofExcellence for Potato, situatedat Dhogri, Jalandhar, the wholeseed potato producing area inthe state shall come under cer-tified seed potato in the com-ing four-five years.

Also, due to the soil beingfree from serious pathogensand pests, particularly brownrot bacterial wilt and potatotuber moth, Punjab hadalready been considered a“pest free zone” for potato pro-duction, he stressed.

The Chief Minister, in hisletter, urged the UnionMinister to appreciate the factthat due to lack of adequateprocessing infrastructure inthe state, the production sea-son often faces a glut in themarket, resulting in low pricerealization for the producers.“The inclusion of Punjab inthe TOP scheme wouldenhance the investment inprocessing facilities, besidesensuring proper price to thefarmers through price stabi-lization measures,” he added.

Given this, he urged theMinister to include PunjabState in Operation Greens(TOP), especially for potatoclusters.

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Welcoming the GST Council’s majordecision of lowering the Goods and

Services Tax (GST) rates on residential prop-erties, the Shiromani Akali Dal on Sundaysaid that this will give huge benefit to thecommon man.

Party MLA and real estate builder NKSharma, also the party treasurer andspokesman, said that the decision will helpthe common man and the poor to have theirown houses. “Reduction of seven percent inall housing projects, which were not in theaffordable housing category from 12 to fivepercent, means a flat which now costs Rs 45lakh will be cheaper by more than Rs threelakh,” he said.

Sharma said that similarly, by reducingGST on affordable housing category fromeight to one percent will also make huge dif-ference for economically weaker sections ofthe society. “Modi Government is a first gov-ernment in the independent history whichhas made schemes for poor and down-trodden,” he said while adding that justbefore the 2017 assembly elections, Punjabgot Rs 74 crore to providing housing to theeconomically weaker sections of the soci-ety but the new Congress government failedto disburse the amount to the needy.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)convener and Delhi Chief

Minister Arvind Kejriwal onSunday targeted theChandigarh MP Kirron Kher(BJP) accusing her of neglect-ing the interests of people andremaining away from the cityduring her tenure.

“She (Kirron Kher) is anactress and does not have anyconcern with the people ofChandigarh,” Kejriwal saidwhile addressing a rally here insupport of AAP’s nomineeHarmohan Dhawan fromChandigarh for ensuing LokSabha polls.

Continuing his tiradeagainst the city BJP MP,Kejriwal asked people, “Howoften have you seen KirronKher in Chandigarh? She is abusy actress and lives inMumbai. Can you list even asingle development work doneby her?”

“She was never accessible tothe people of Chandigarh. Sheonly does films. That is whereshe earns her money. The peo-ple of Chandigarh have beencheated,” Kejriwal alleged.

“She does not meet peoplehere. I have been told she evenskips the session of Lok Sabhaand whenever she attends it, shedoes not raise any issue relatedto her constituency,” Kejriwalsaid while adding that Kherwanted to become an MP onlyto earn status.

“There is no developmentwork in Chandigarh which willbe credited to Kirron Kher,” headded.

He also asked people todefeat the BJP and Congress inthe coming Lok Sabha election

so that the country movesahead on the developmentfront.

“In the last 70 years, thesetwo parties (Congress and BJP)have ruled this country andhave just filled their coffers.They have done nothing else,”the AAP’s convener said.

Urging the people ofChandigarh to elect AAP can-didate Harmohan Dhawan, aformer Union Minister of Statefor Civil Aviation and formerMP from Chandigarh, Kejriwalsaid the AAP will bring aboutchanges in Chandigarh like theway it has done in Delhi on theeducation and health sectors.

The Delhi Chief Ministeralso listed out the develop-ment work carried out in Delhiin terms of power supply, schooleducation and welfare schemes.

Interestingly, Kejriwal wascompelled to wind up hisChandigarh rally address with-in a few minutes of starting itdue to the poor turn up at therally venue in Sector 25 here.Despite it being a Sunday, theAAP had failed to gather anadequate number of spectators.

Kejriwal hurriedly con-cluded his address with anapology saying that he hasanother rally scheduled inHaryana. While Kejriwal had toaddress the rally at 1:30 pmhere, the thin presence of spec-tators compelled him to delay

his address by about one hour.Later, rebel BJP MP

Shatrughan Sinha also soughtvotes from Chandigarh’s elec-torate for the AAP candidate.

Sinha said in his address,said, “Thank God that ‘Mann kiBaat’ (Prime Minister NarendraModi’s radio speech) has endedtoday. Now we can do ‘Dil kibaat’. Change is the rule of ourlives. Let's move ahead in a newand the right direction withAAP.”

Notably, some of the bignames eyeing to contest fromthe Chandigarh parliamentaryseat in 2019 polls includes sit-ting MP Kirron Kher, BJPChandigarh president SanjayTandon, former RailwayMinister and ex-city MP PawanKumar Bansal, ex-city MP SatyaPal Jain, former Union MinisterManish Tewari, PunjabMinister Navjot Singh Sidhu’swife and former MLA NavjotKaur Sidhu among others.

The high-octane electoralbattle in 2014 had seen twoactors from Bollywood andpolitical greenhorns—BJP’sKirron Kher and Aam AadmiParty’s Gul Panag—andCongress’ seasoned politicianand four-time MP PawanKumar Bansal in the fray.

In 2014 polls, AAP had fin-ished at the third slot with over1 lakh votes (23.97 percentvote share).

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Haryana Chief Minister onSunday announced that the

State Government will bear theamount of monthly share to bepaid by workers of the stateunder the Pradhan Mantri

Shramjivi Mandhan Yojana.“Apart from this, the kutcha

roads of fields with width of 03and 04 Karam up to 100 km ineach assembly constituency ofthe state will be made pucca withbricks in the next FY,” the ChiefMinister

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Bhopal:In the final match of AllIndia Gurunanak Dev Gold CupWomen's Hockey Tournament2019 the players of MadhyaPradesh Women's HockeyAcademy bagged the title of win-ner.The tournament was playedin Amritsar, Punjab. Here onSunday, the players of MadhyaPradesh Women's HockeyAcademy defeated KhalsaHockey Academy by 4-2 goaland won the title of the winnerand won the title of MadhyaPradesh.

On this achievement earnedby the academy's players, theState Sports and Youth WelfareMinister Jitu Patwari hasexpressed his heartfelt joy andcongratulated all the playersinvolved in the team. He said thatthe girls of Madhya Pradesh StateWomen's Hockey Academy havemade the state proud by winningthe All India Gurunanak DevGold Cup. Director Sports andYouth Welfare SL Thoussen alsocongratulated all the players ofthe winning team and congrat-ulated them.

The final match was tied 1-1 and the match was decidedfrom the shoot-out, in which theMadhya Pradesh Academy teambecame a champion by winningthe 4-2 match.

In the final match, KhalsaHockey Academy's playerRamanpreet Kaur scored the firstfield goal in the 19th minute ofthe match, in response, MadhyaPradesh Hockey Academy's play-er Jyoti Pal scored a field goal inthe 29th minute to level the teamone by one.

The score remained till theend and the match was decidedfrom the shoot-out, in whichAcademy's player IshikaChaudhary, Pooja Singh andM. Nilanjali scored each goal.While Khalsa Hockey Academy'splayer Navneet Kaur scored agoal, the match was won byMadhya Pradesh HockeyAcademy from 4-2 goals. SR

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The employees Union of Bridgesand Roof Company (India) Limited,

a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), onSunday alleged that there is conspira-cy involving certain private constructioncompanies to illegally sell the profitmaking PSU having Mini Ratna status.

The employees who have formedThe Bridges and Roof BachaoCommittee have alleged that in order tofavour certain private bidders, the dis-investment committee in consultationwith YES Bank has decreased the annu-al turnover criteria of the bidders fromRs.500 crore to Rs.350 crore.

The Kolkata-based Brides and RoofCompany (India) Limited is a PSUestablished in 1920 and is engaged inconstruction and industrial infrastruc-ture building activities. The currentannual turnover of the company standsat around Rs 2,000 crore and hasalways been in profit.

Two years ago Central Governmentdecided to disinvest this profit makingcompany under Ministry of HeavyIndustries and engaged YES Bank astransaction adviser. The employeesunion says appointment of a privatebanker as transaction adviser shows theintention to “kill” the profit makingpublic sector firm.

The employees union has alsoalleged that certain officials in the

Department of Investment and PublicAsset Management (DIPAM) arebehind this “shoddy” move to help theircrony construction companies toacquire the Mini Ratna company.

“YES Bank is the transaction advi-sor appointed by DIPAM, Govt ofIndia. They have very unethicallyreduced the eligibility criteria for theprospective bidders from 500 crore to350 crore without having any approvalfrom competent authority (NITIAayog). They have hived-off few asstsof the original PIM and reduced the Networth of the company originallyassessed by Yes Bank Ltd without anyproper decision in the matter

“It will be highly unfair to disinvestthis consistently profit making compa-ny employing / engaging so many peo-ple in so many states of the Country asa whole and West Bengal in particular.We look forward to your urgent inter-vention to hold the fast track action of100 per cent Strategic Disinvestmentalready initiated by DIPAM for the sakeof one lakh members of the perform-ing CPSE company under CentralGovt. of India. On the other hand theGovt of India can generate much morefund by listing the shares of the company as per the current disin-vestment policy,” said Bridges and Roof Bachao Committee in its memo-randum to Government and majorpolitical parties.

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The Central InformationCommission (CIC) ruled that

an Electronic Voting Machine(EVM) is “information” underthe Right to Information Act andcan be demanded by an applicantfrom the Election Commission(EC) on a payment of Rs 10.

This implies the ElectionCommission has to respond to anRTI application seeking the EVMeither by providing it or refusingit under exemption clauses in the Act. But that also can becontested before the CIC, thehighest adjudicating authority inRTI matters.

Deciding a unique RTI appli-cation, through which the appli-cant had sought an EVM from theElection Commission, ChiefInformation Commissioner SudhirBhargava recently said themachine was covered under thedefinition of “information” andcan be demanded from the ECI.

The Election Commission hadrejected the application sayingthe EVMs held by it do not comeunder the definition of “informa-tion”.

The applicant, Rajaak KhanHaider, approached the CIC witha strong argument that as perSection 2(f) and 2(i) of the RTIAct, the definition of ‘information’and ‘record’ also includes ‘any

model or any sample’ held by apublic authority, calling the rejec-tion as wrong.

Section 2(f) of the RTI Actdefines ‘Information’ as any mate-rial in any form, including records,documents, memos, e-mails, opin-ions, advices, press releases, cir-culars, orders, logbooks, contracts,reports, papers, samples, models,data material held in any electronicform and information relating toany private body which can beaccessed by a public authorityunder any other law for the timebeing in force.

The Election Commissionrepresentative admitted that modeland samples of the machines areavailable with it but the same are

only kept for training purpose, andnot saleable to the general public.

Tendering unconditional apol-ogy for rejection, the ElectionCommission representative agreedthat it was wrong on its part butreiterated that EVMs did notcome under the definition ofinformation, an argument reject-ed by Bhargava.

“The EVM which is availablewith the Election Commission ina material form and also as sam-ples, as admitted by the respondent(ECI) during the hearing, is aninformation under the RTI Act,”the CIC ruled.

In the next sentence, howev-er, the Commission tried to nip inthe bud any aspiration of access-

ing the machine underlining thesecond contention of the EC thatthe software installed on thesemachines is an intellectual prop-erty of a third party, the disclosureof which would harm its compet-itive position.

The CIC, however, did notgive any view whether it wasupholding or rejecting the EC’sposition on commercial confi-dence leaving a grey area whichcan be pursued further by anyapplicant.

Information can be denied bya public authority if it attracts anyexemption clauses listed in the RTIAct which also exempts informa-tion pertaining to commercialconfidence or intellectual proper-

ty from disclosure.One of the clauses Section

8(1)(d) exempts informationincluding commercial confidence,trade secrets or intellectual prop-erty, the disclosure of which wouldharm the competitive position ofa third party, unless the competentauthority is satisfied that largerpublic interest warrants the dis-closure of such information.

The issue of larger publicinterest in the wake of allegationsof EVM tampering was not men-tioned in the order. The ECI argu-ment calling machine having pro-priety software was noted by theCIC but he limited his order, say-ing the rejection of application was“erroneous” by the ECI and a freshreply should be sent to the appli-cant as per the RTI provisions.

“The commission also notesthat as per the respondent (ECI),the software installed in the EVMis an intellectual property of a thirdparty, the disclosure of whichwould harm the competitive posi-tion of the third party concerned,”he said but did not uphold or rejectthe argument.

Several Opposition leadershave raised “doubts” over EVMsand their functioning before theElection Commission. TheOpposition parties had soughtmoving back to the ballot paper,but after the EC made it clear therewas no going back.

New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaysuspended his monthly ‘Mannki Baat’ broadcast for Marchand April, and said he will beback with the programme onthe last Sunday of May, bywhen results of the Lok Sabhaelections are expected to bedeclared.

In this monthly addressthrough the radio broadcast —the 53rd since Modi came topower in 2014 — he said hewas doing so keeping in mindhealthy democratic traditions.

“Elections are the biggestcelebration of democracy. Inthe next two months, we will bebusy in the hurly-burly of thegeneral elections. I myself willalso be a candidate. Respectinghealthy democratic traditions,the next episode of ‘Mann KiBaat’ will be broadcast on thelast Sunday (May 26) of May,”Modi said.

Opposition parties have inthe past demanded stoppingthe broadcast of Mann ki Baatduring elections, saying it vio-lated the model code of con-duct as the interaction amount-ed to the misuse of the PrimeMinister’s programme for polit-ical purposes.

The Prime Minister in hisaddress asked people to rallytogether to take on the chal-lenge of terrorism facing thecountry by forgetting barriersof casteism, communalism,regionalism and other differ-ences so that steps against ter-

ror are firmer and decisive. Modi said the Army has

resolved to wipe out terroristsand their harbourers followingthe Pulwama attack, assertingthat the martyrdom of 44 CRPFsoldiers will keep “inspiring usrelentlessly to uproot the verybase of terrorism”.

In an apparent reference tothe killing of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, who theArmy said were masterminds ofthe Pulwama attack, in anencounter, he said “retributiveaction was accomplished” with-in 100 hours of the incident.

He also mentionedresponses of families ofdeceased CRPF men and saidthe story of every family ofmartyrs is full of inspiration.

Paying tributes to securityforces, Modi said he will ded-icate the National War

Memorial to them on Mondayand added that not havingsuch a memorial always painedand surprised him.

“I do believe that for ourcountrymen a visit to theNational War Memorial will beakin to a pilgrimage to a holyplace. The National Soldiers’Memorial is a symbol of thenation’s gratitude to those menwho made the supreme sacri-fice after we gainedIndependence,” he said.

During the address, hepaid tributes to tribal warriorBirsa Munda, who was arrest-ed by the British forces onMarch 3 in 1900, pioneeringindustrialists Jamsetji Tata,whose birth anniversary fallson March 3, and former PrimeMinister Morarji Desai, whowas born on February 29.

Describing Desai as one of

the most disciplined leaders,Modi noted that the first post-Emergency Government headed by Desai had broughtabout 44th ConstitutionalAmendment, which restoredpowers of the Supreme Courtand undid many excesses of theEmergency.

The amendment restoredcertain powers of the SupremeCourt and declared that thefundamental rights grantedunder Article 20 and 21 of theConstitution could not be abro-gated during the Emergency.

“For the first time, consti-tutional safeguards guaranteedthat the President could onlyannounce the Emergency uponthe written recommendation ofthe Cabinet, and that the peri-od of Emergency could not beextended more than six monthsat any stretch of time. In thisway, Morarji Bhai ensured thatthe way democracy was assas-sinated in 1975 by impositionof Emergency could never berepeated again in the future,”Modi said.

The Prime Minister alsoreferred to the humble origins ofthe latest group of Padmaawardees. He said many peoplebegan enquiring about themafter they were given the honourwhich shows that they workedselflessly on the ground while notmaking it to media headlines.

Modi discussed works ofseveral of these awardees andnoted that 12 of them werefarmers. PTI

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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju onSunday accused the Congress of

instigating the people of ArunachalPradesh to protest against the move togrant permanent resident certificatesto six communities living in the State.

Rijiju also said Arunachal PradeshChief Minister Pema Khandu has clar-ified that the State Government was notbringing the Bill on PRC but only tablingreport of the Nabam Rebia-led JointHight Powered Committee comprisingmembers and student organisations.

“It means the State Governmenthas not accepted it. In fact, theCongress is fighting for PRC but insti-gating people wrongly,” he tweeted.Rebia is a Cabinet Minister in the StateGovernment.

Rijiju alleged that the Congress hassupported and “instigated” non-Arunachal Pradesh STs in Lekangarea to fight for PRC but in Itanagar“misguided” the innocent people.

“From the beginning I have strong-ly urged the state government not togrant PRC unless people are convincedof full protection of indigenous rights.We must stand united,” he said.

People in some parts of ArunachalPradesh have been protesting after theState Government announced it wasconsidering issuing permanent residentcertificates (PRC) to six non-Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe(APSTs) communities living in Namsaiand Changlang districts and to theGorkhas living in Vijaynagar.

Among those communities areDeoris, Sonowal Kacharis, Morans,Adivasis and Mishings. Most of thesecommunities are recognised asScheduled Tribes in neighbouringAssam.

Widespread violation have beenreported in capital Itanagar and someother places leading to death of a per-son, injury to several others anddestruction of properties and vehicles.

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After Suheldev BhartiyaSamaj Party` (SBSP)

threatened to walk out of theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) in Uttar Pradesh, Apna Dal (S), has called ameeting of all its State andnational leaders in Lucknow onFebruary 28 to decide its con-tinuation in the NDA.

Apna Dal, whose leaderAnupriya Singh Patel is aMinister for State for Health inthe Narendra Modi Cabinet,had won two Lok Sabha seats— Pratapgarth and Mirzapur— in 2014 General Elections.

The meeting next weekhas come close to the reportsthat the NDA allay is in touchwith the Congress party whichis set to contest almost all 80Lok Sabha seats in UttarPradesh, making the poll con-test in the State a triangularone, including the newlyformed SP-BSP alliance and theBJP-led NDA.

It is reported that AnupriyaSingh Patel and Ashish Patel,held talks with Congress generalsecretary in charge of east UP,Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, at herDelhi residence on Thursday.

The Apna Dal has beenthreatening to quit the NDA forsome time, accusing the YogiAdityanath headed StateGovernment of not addressingits demands. The party hasconsiderable sway over‘Kurmis’, a dominant back-

ward caste, in several districts in UP.

Translated in real terms theparty seeks more seats in UP,sensing that BJP would not bein a dictating terms like in 2014when ‘Modi-wave’ had sweptthe State.

The announcement by theDal is also seen a “familiar pres-sure tactics” by the ruling BJPbefore the seat allotment in the State which is crucial theGovernment formation at the Centre.

Another NDA ally ShivSena which in the past regularlyattacked the BJP leadership,including Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, had last weekstitched an alliance consentingto contest 23 Lok Sabha seatsas against 25 for the BJP from Maharashtra in theLok Sabha polls. Sena also

agreed to join hands with theBJP in the MaharashtraAssembly elections, sharingequal number of seats.

“We have called our partymeeting in Lucknow onFebruary 28 to decide whichparty to ally with for the LokSabha elections in UP,” Ashish,Apna Dal president, said. “Allour options are open andanswers to all questions willcome after the meeting.”

He, however, deniedqueries on the reported meet-ing with Priyanka Gandhi. “Iam not aware of any suchmeeting which I was not a partof,” he said. Anupriya could notbe contacted despite repeatedattempts.

Accusing the BJP of creat-ing confusion and not fulfillinghis party’s demands, UttarPradesh Minister and SBSP

chief Om Prakash Rajbhar hadon Friday said the option for hisoutfit to join the SP-BSP alliancein the State for the upcominggeneral elections is open.

Rajbhar claimed he is intalks with TMC leader MamataBanerjee, Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackrey, RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav, SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav and BSP chiefMayawati, and a decision onretaining or severing ties withthe saffron party would betaken after February 24.

He has sought that the UPGovernment implementBackward Commission reportand allocate higher percentageof reservation to the Rajbharcommunity.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court hascommuted to life term the death sen-tence awarded to a man for killing hiswife and five children on the ground of“unexplained delay” of four years by theMadhya Pradesh Government in for-warding the mercy petition of the con-vict to the Union Home Ministry.

The apex court said there was a delayof almost five years in deciding themercy petition as the state authoritieskept sitting on it and did not forward-ed it to the Home Ministry for four years.

Observing that a mercy petition isthe “last hope” of a person on death row,a bench headed by Justice NV Ramanasaid that convict Jagdish had filed amercy petition before the jail authoritieson October 13, 2009, but his plea wasforwarded to the Ministry of HomeAffairs on October 15, 2013.

“The mercy petition is the last hopeof a person on death row. Every dawnwill give rise to a new hope that hismercy petition may be accepted. Bynight fall this hope also dies,” the bench,also comprising Justices Deepak Guptaand Indira Banerjee, said.

“Keeping in view all the circum-stances of the case, including the un-explained delay of four years in for-warding the mercy petition by the Stateof Madhya Pradesh leading to delay ofalmost five years in deciding the mercypetition and the fact that the petitionerhas been incarcerated for almost 14 years,we are of view that regardless of the bru-tal nature of crime this is not a fit case

where death sentence should be execut-ed and we, accordingly commute thedeath sentence to that of life,” the courtsaid. However, the bench directed that lifeimprisonment in the case would meanthat convict will not be released from jailtill his natural death. Jagdish had killedhis wife and five children in August 2005and the trial court had awarded him deathpenalty in April 2006.

In June 2006, the Madhya PradeshHigh Court had confirmed the death sen-tence awarded to him and later inSeptember 2009 the apex court had dis-missed his appeal. Thereafter, he had fileda mercy petition addressed to the Presidentof India and the governor of MadhyaPradesh through the jail authorities onOctober 13, 2009. His mercy petition wasrejected by the President on July 16, 2014.

Jagdish had then moved the apexcourt challenging the rejection of hismercy petition on the ground that therewas a delay of almost five years in decid-ing the mercy petition and his death sen-tence should be commuted to lifeimprisonment. In its verdict, the apexcourt said that Madhya Pradesh gov-ernment has given no explanation for thedelay of over four years in forwardingthe mercy petition to the HomeMinistry.

“As far as the Government of Indiaor the Secretariat of the President ofIndia is concerned, there is no delay indealing with the mercy petition and thesame has been dealt with expeditious-ly,” the bench said. PTI

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To find out best technologyto build houses in a short-

er time with lower cost, theCentre will hold a two-daygrand expo and conferencestarting March 2 as part of itsinitiative Global HousingTechnology Challenge (GHTC).

According to the UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinistry, stakeholders acrossthe globe will showcase their besttechnologies to build housesunder PMAY (U) atConstruction Technology India(CTI), an expo-cum-conference.

The Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana (Urban), launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin June 2015, aims to constructmore than one crore housesand ensure “Housing for All by2022” by providing financialassistance to beneficiaries.Ministry’s Joint Secretary andPMAY (U) Director AmritAbhijat said at CTI, technolo-gy providers from across theglobe can compete, and gov-ernment will choose best con-struction technology

“The expo-cum-confer-ence will be held at VigyanBhawan on March 2-3. “A widerange of stakeholders such astechnology providers,researchers, builders, develop-ers, entrepreneurs, academia,

civil society organisationsamong others will attend it,”Abhijat said.

He said technologies willbe invited to apply through aglobal online express of inter-est (EoI), which in turn will berigorously screened by an emi-nent Technical EvaluationCommittee constituted at theministry. “Suitability for dif-ferent regions of India will beestablished, and these tech-nologies will be further invit-ed to design and build light-house projects of approximately1,000 housing units each at sixplaces in the country,” he said.

He said under PMAY (U),the ministry has sanctioned theconstruction of 73 lakh housesand of this, 39 lakh houses arecurrently grounded. “15 lakhhouses have been completed.

More than 12 lakh houses arecurrently being constructedusing alternate and innovativetechnologies,” he said.

The first Apex conference ofthe Smart City CEOs was orga-nized in Bhopal on May 7 and8 of May 2018. The conferencewas attended by 77 Smart CityCEOs across India. Around 300participants from smart cities,industries, funding organisa-tions and multilateral agenciesparticipated in the conference.

The focus of the conferencewas on speedy implementationof the projects. A key strategypromoted for the purposeinvolved following sound pro-ject management practices,preparing milestones and time-lines to help avoid time over-runs, and focus on the issuanceoftenders.

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There are always memories ofchildhood that stay with you likea comforting wrap. One of themhappens to be of a red Kashmiriembroidered shawl that has fol-

lowed me simply because it lent character tomy gangly teens. Growing up in Kolkata,Kashmiri shawl sellers were ubiquitous inwinter months, each carrying his big bag ofsurprises and calling door-to-door. Some ofthem had established enough rapport withtheir clients to serve them through to the nextgeneration. Some found patrons, who rec-ommended them to others. You would hard-ly find a family in Kolkata who hadn’t boughta piece of winterwear from these travellingsalesmen. So much so that no bridaltrousseau was ever complete without a pairof shawls at least.

Our man was Altaf, who beyond hispherans, namdahs, kehwa and spices, intro-duced me to the tales of the Valley, cultureand art. Through the years that politicschanged in his State and his rosy cheeksbecame sallow with worry, he never men-tioned it or condoned it, always praying thatKhuda would show the right way as violencewouldn’t get anybody anywhere and thatthere would always be the exploiter andexploited in an unequal world, no matterwhat the manifestation. Except saying thattrade had been worst hit and without thehouseboat business of his family, things werebecoming tough for raising his girls, he nevermentioned terrorism or separatism. All hesaid was the trips to the city cost money andhe would cut down the frequency perhaps.His offerings did make it to my trousseau andhe became too old to travel. So when newsreports emerged that a Kashmiri shawl trad-er had been roundly thrashed by a mob afterthe Pulwama attacks in Bengal, I wasshocked. Simply because Kashmiri business-es or people have never been ostracised thereand had become a part of the melting pot.The only other time such targetting of com-munities happened was during the anti-Sikhriots of 1984. Kolkata lost a fleet of Sardarjitaxi drivers as everybody went under-ground or returned home. The few business-es that remained were because some of themhad not known any other home than the city.It took years for them to rebuild a circle oftrust. And this for a community which isknown for its contribution to national life inthe most engaging way.

Yes a nation is angry with the biggest ter-rorist attack in Pulwama but our raging emo-tions for the perpetrators or the martyredjawans are no excuse for hitting back atKashmiris simply because of their origins andpush them further into a ghetto of nation-al suspicion. Or just because they don’t sub-scribe to our idea of what Kashmir shouldbe and challenge cardboard stereotypes of aproblem that is so complex that politiciansfrankly do not want to unspool it. The sta-tus quo in the Valley has over the years giventhe latter an agenda and goal to chase but not

solve it. We are looking for easytargets to avenge our guilt, frus-tration and inability to addressthe root of the problem. It is truethat terrorist networks areindoctrinating and radicalisingimpressionable youth in theValley — the number of localrecruits is on the rise we are told— but nobody computes thebigger numbers of tormentedyoung people who are migratingfrom the Valley to India’s manyStates for higher education, jobsand opportunities that willenable them to buy a new life inan aspirant India that’s not cir-cumscribed by hate and vio-lence. Young Kashmiris, withtheir natural scientific tempera-ment and high performanceindex, can be a great demo-graphic resource in fields ofresearch and technology and arewilling to stake their future onmainstream absorption. Iremember a couple of youngKashmiri artists at the KochiBiennale who were attemptinga culture of engagement —sometimes recording theirprotest and desolateness, some-times talking about civilisation-al heritage — through arts andinstallations. They shun theboom of the guns very decided-ly. What news reports don’thighlight enough is that intelli-gence, harvested from willinglocals themselves, have led secu-rity forces to the biggest crack-downs on militants in southKashmir.

Our reaction and cooption

efforts, therefore, will help themsee us through another prismand break the stereotypes thatthey have grown up with. So hit-ting back at Kashmiri students,psyching them out with mobfury and chasing them out oftheir hostels and PGs will notonly be counter-productive toput it mildly, it would insensi-tively push them to the worstdecades of alienation, consider-ing they took the initiative tobreak the mould. Even challeng-ing the fear and doubts of theirseniors and family, who arenow staring them down with “Itold you sos.” For once the oldmould is re-sealed with newhatred and distrust, there’s nocoming back. Particularly whenthe political establishment legit-imises the chain reaction of“Kashmiris not for India”,through an irresponsibleGovernor tweeting about boy-cotting Kashmiri goods and itspeople and the governmentmaking no comment on this,too, as a national crisis but leav-ing it to the Supreme Court totake the lead. Extreme emotionsbeget extreme reactions and wecannot afford to let all Kashmirisrot simply because there are afew bad apples among them.

The story is not over withreportage of the latest hitbacksacross 11 States. Or the nowpublic apologies for them. It isin the insidious way that suspi-cion has crept into everydaylives, one that is becoming morea rule than the exception, that

should scare us. Hate speech andinflamed passions ruled a resi-dents’ whatsapp group in anupscale condominium complexin Noida. As worse versions ofMeghalaya Governor TathagataRoy’s remarks circulated amongtowers, residents forgot thatthere were Kashmiri ownersamong them, some of whomhad sold their family houseback in Srinagar to make goodhere and knew that tenancy hadits own stigmas when it came tothem. For all the self-servingcosmetic cultural assimilation ofyears, the residents had madetheir neighbours question theirchoices overnight through onebrash act. Not only that, a tem-ple was erected overnight in acosmopolitan complex post-Pulwama to remind everybodythat anybody opposed to majori-tarianism was in essence a trai-tor to the national cause. An ITprofessional in Mumbai refusedto send her children to school fortwo days simply fearing thatbarbs might fly their way as theyhad when she had just got themover from the Valley, their “oth-erness” being taunted by stu-dents. She remained tepid at hercorporate workplace, carefulthat not a single word could beinterpreted as sedition giventhe polarised simplicity of judg-ing Kashmiris.

And if educational institu-tions in peaceful academic hubslike Dehradun indeed bowdown to right wing hardliners,refusing to take in Kashmiri stu-

dents, then we are equally guiltyof closing our minds and creat-ing enemies when there werenone, who won’t need brain-washing or indoctrination sim-ply because we sent them adrift.If it is happening in academia,believed to be seeking enlight-ened worldviews, then suchrevisionism should not haveany place whatsoever there. Butthese are internecine biases thatare working their own trellis ofpost-truths. Dangerously toxicto say the least.

Counter-insurgency has itsown cost, the search and comboperations having left a deepscar across generations in theValley. And given that Valleypoliticians swing like a pendu-lum between both Pakistan andIndia, feeding off each other’simperatives, the people are leftdangling in between. The con-nectivity of the train and tele-com, which ought to have beenpushed earlier, has helped inmainstreaming aspirations nodoubt. Which is why counter-measures now must capitalise onthis “exposed” constituency,allowing them a say in localaffairs, panchayats and studentsin colleges. Till they are notempowered to make simplechoices, there won’t be trust.And till there is mainstreamacceptance of their humanworth, there won’t be peace. Forpoliticians will always be, as Altafsaid, the exploiter of the waadi.

(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Expect the worst in Valley”(February 22) by PriyadarshiDatta. The writer attributes thealienation of a section ofKashmiris due to Wahabi influ-ence. Why was this influence notsuccessful in creating a mono-lithic Islamic State from NorthAfrica to Indonesia?

One wonders how theseazadi-seekers of Kashmir forgotwhy east Pakistan becameBangladesh in 1971? Theyshould not be allowed to becomepawns of jihadis beyond theborder.

Further, leaders l ikeNational Conference chiefFarooq Abdullah, his son, OmarAbdullah, People’s DemocraticParty president Mehbooba Muftihave failed to identify Kashmir’sproblem and punish thoseresponsible for the selectivemurder of some 1,000 KashmiriHindus and harassing them,which compelled them to leavetheir hearths and homes tobecome refugees in their veryown country.

SC PandaBhubaneswar

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Sir — India has now decided tostop the flow of its share of waterto Pakistan from rivers under theIndus Water Treaty as a directconsequence of the terroristattack on our CRPF jawans. Toimplement the decision, it willtake six years as 100 metre-highdams need to built to stop the

supply of water to Pakistan. One fails to understand what

is the point in retaliating afteryears of an incident taking place?India should keep its plans underwraps rather than taking suchknee-jerk decisions. Like it is saidthat iron should be hit when it ishot, if India wants to retaliate, itmust so so secretly.

VS Jayaraman Chennai

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Saudi significance” (February21). Saudi Arabia’s Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman (MbS),during his visit to India, put forthhis thoughts on the pernicious illsof terrorism. Given New Delhi’slong history of fruitful and amiablerelations with Riyadh, the reassur-

ance on combating terrorism byMbS, coming close on the heels ofthe Pulwama incident, needs to betaken more with pragmatism thanin energetic earnestness.

Perhaps India, too, has learntto de-hyphenate JamalKhashoggi’s mysterious murderon foreign soil at the Royal’sbehest. Has not the same beenbrushed aside by the US and withprudent silence by many othernations? We have our own con-cerns and interests tied up withthe Saudis and, thus, we ought tofeel assuaged enough by prince-ly pronouncements over countlessincidents of invidious attack on usfrom across our frontiers.

Saudi Arabia keeps its ownequations with Pakistan, delightingit with its periodical stipends and,of course, with the US placated withits mega defence sale orders.Diplomacy predicated on pragma-tism, hope and patience has alwaysproved to be more rewarding thanpushing angry buttons. The adage,never miss the woods for the trees,is getting more pronounced inmodern era global discourse.

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Make no mistakes about one fact: AirbusA380 is an engineering marvel, a planeunlike any other that mankind has ever

produced. A fully-loaded Airbus A380 weighs 575tonnes and the very fact that such heft can rise offthe ground seems to defy the very law of physics.As someone who professes to be an aviation geek,every time this writer sees an Airbus A380, he feelsrather awestruck. Flying on one of these aircraft isan amazing feeling. True, this writer admits, thatthe older Boeing 747 certainly looks more grace-ful with cleaner lines and in some paint jobs, isabsolutely stunning. While the A380 is undoubt-edly a remarkable feat of engineering, it is not whatone would describe as a “looker.” But as theEuropean aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, announcedthat it is about to pull the plug on producing A380by 2021, one felt a bit sad. In fact, it was an ironythat Airbus announced the impending closure ofthe A380 line just as when Boeing 747 celebratedthe 50th anniversary of its first flight. Indeed, theold queen might even outlast the behemoth on theproduction line as demand for Boeing 747freighters has kept up slow with steady production.

But that does not answer the question as to whyAirbus A380 failed in the pile of Airbus’ market-ing hubris? Part of the answer is Airbus’ own man-ufacturing issues around the plane. Given the wayAirbus is structured — it is a pan-European com-pany with factories across France, Germany, Spainand the United Kingdom — different sub-assem-blies of the aircraft were brought from differentparts. This is standard practice for Airbus, whichferries fuselage sections between France andGermany and the wings are brought from Waleson a fleet of outsize and specialised airbornefreighters. This works fine for the Airbus’ money-maker, the A320 family of narrow-body planes thatpower low-cost travel across the world, but A380is a different scale. Even sub-assemblies are so hugethat they have to be brought in on river barges andon oversize trucks through narrow passages. Inorder to keep various nations of the consortiumhappy, this was needed instead of the more logi-cal solution of making everything at one place.

Of course, this is a logistical issue and evenAirbus’ American rival, Boeing, went down thisroute when it came to Boeing 787 Dreamliner,which sees its parts flown from all over the worldand across oceans on modified Boeing 747s.Logistical issues can be dealt with but engineer-ing problems are a lot tougher and Airbus’ engi-neers made a huge mistake when they used twodifferent versions of the same 3D modelling andsimulation software to design the plane. While onemay think that two different versions of the samesoftware might not be a critical issue, think of itmore on the lines of operating systems likeWindows and MacOS. Things were completelyincompatible and when translated into the realworld, it meant that wiring harnesses and floorpanels did not quite align perfectly.

For very good reasons, aviation is a safety ori-ented industry. Jugaad solutions elevated in Indiacannot work in a safety-oriented environment andfixes had to be made. Particularly, when you con-sider that Airbus A380 has over 530 km of wiring,this wasn’t easy at all. Although much of the wiringwas not flight-related as Airbus managed to pro-duce and fly prototypes by 2005, the wiring wasessential for creature comforts of passengers for

things like lighting, entertainment systems and forgalleys where the food is prepared. While A380was certified as a perfectly capable flying machineby the end of 2006, albeit with almost a year’s delay,deliveries were nowhere on the horizon.

Slippages happen on many major engineer-ing projects — whether they are in civil, soft-ware or an aircraft. Even Boeing suffered multi-year delays on the 787 Dreamliner because itdid not anticipate the scale of problems that itwould face while moving from aluminum tocarbon fibre. But delays also give buyers a sec-ond thought. When Airbus launched theA3XX, as it was called in 2000, it was surround-ed by too much hype — it was this big, new,shiny aircraft that airlines just had to have.Think of it like when a car company launchesa new product, the marketing machine hypesit up and even manufactures a case for one tobuy that car. This was the case with airlines andA380. But if there is any delay, and there areminimal or no penalties for cancelling the order,airlines began, like normal consumers would,to sit back and think about the order.

Airbus’ logic was that A380 would be a per-fect replacement for Boeing 747 and would con-tinue with the airline’s policy of flying from onemajor city to another from where passengerscould take connecting flights to their onwarddestinations. A few years, ago when one want-ed to travel from New Delhi to Madrid, forexample, he/she would have to fly to a majorEuropean hub, such as Frankfurt or London,transit through a massive airport while sleepyor dragging a child and then connect to a newplane. But that sort of travel vanished quickly,partially thanks to Boeing 787 Dreamliner;although the change had begun a few yearsbefore the Dreamliner entered production.Because twin-engined aircraft are so much moreefficient and easier to maintain — their small-er size being perfect for what airlines call ‘thin-ner’ routes where demand is more limited — itcan easily fit in a plane like Boeing 787 and thisis what started happening. Today, for example,one can fly directly between New Delhi andMadrid on a Boeing 787.

Then there was another problem: Boeing 777

and Airbus’ new A350 aircraft, whose larger ver-sions can carry almost 80 per cent of the AirbusA380’s load in terms of passengers and cargo,could do so at half the cost. Airbus A380 is a big,large plane with four engines while others aresmaller (only just) and have just two engines. Thisin itself makes it more efficient. So, for the samecost of operating one A380, airlines could oper-ate two flights on a 777 or A350, carrying halfas many additional passengers. Also, these newplanes could fly very far. While a flight betweenMumbai and New York would have meant a stopor two a decade ago, today, there are two non-stop flights between the two cities. The same rea-son is also applicable to Boeing 747, whose lat-est passenger version has also stalled on the salesfront. But since Boeing 777 and 787 are doingso well and because the latest version of 747 wasa cheaper (relatively speaking) re-engineering jobthan the estimated $25 billion that the A380 costto develop, it survived.

For sure, the end of production of AirbusA380 will not mean that the plane will stop fly-ing. In some slot-restricted airports, such asHeathrow Airport in London, where one can seemultiple A380s from different airlines, it will con-tinue. Also Dubai’s Emirates airline, which is thelargest operator of the plane with 110 flying andmost of the remaining 20-odd deliveries goingto that country, will continue to be a huge oper-ator of this plane as that airline builds up its mas-sive hub policy. It is very likely that some later-built A380 aircraft will easily fly on till 2030, sothere is no rush to get on a A380 just yet.

In fact, Emirates flies A380 into Mumbai andLufthansa and Singapore Airlines fly the beastinto New Delhi. All the three airlines areexpected to fly these aircraft into India in the fore-seeable future. That said, as someone who hasflown on the big plane, on demonstrationflights when Vijay Mallya had brought one toIndia for the longest-scheduled A380 service inthe world between Dubai and Los Angeles, andexperienced the wonderful bar at the end of theupper deck, flying on this plane is an experiencethat one must put on his/her bucket list.

(The writer is Managing Editor, The Pioneer)

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The suicide bomber attack onCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) personnel in Pulwama

that killed 44 soldiers besides wound-ing others has received sharp condem-nation from the Government, theOpposition and the citizens alike.Powers across the world, too, have givenfull support to India in dealing withPakistan-sponsored terror. But despitethe severity of the attack and growingpressure for action, New Delhi’s choic-es are much more limited than theyappear. The Pulwama terrorist attackis one of the worst in recent years.

The CRPF is the largest of the cen-tral paramilitary forces that falls underthe Ministry of Home Affairs. It hasbeen carrying out law and order as wellas counter-insurgency operations inJammu & Kashmir and the North-Eastfor several decades. It is generally less

well-trained and less well-armed thanthe Indian Army but is usually usedto bolster local police forces around thecountry in various contingencies,including counter-insurgency duties.

The Government is now undergreat pressure to avenge Pakistan’s das-tardly act. One reason is the scale ofthe attack and the open claim ofresponsibility by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Another reason isthat the Modi Government claims tobe tough on matters related to nation-al security and its supporters expectit to act forcefully. Moreover, the hypedsurgical strikes of 2016 has led toexpectations that India will act thistime more forcefully. Finally, nation-al elections are due to take place in thenext few months, which add domes-tic political pressure on theGovernment.

On the other hand, India’s optionsto respond are fairly limited. On thediplomatic side, while we have seenIndian officials speak about isolatingPakistan and some steps may betaken in this direction, they are like-ly to have little substantive impact con-sidering that the level of diplomaticintercourse with Pakistan is alreadyminimal and no major negotiations

are under way. India can also try to generate diplo-

matic pressure on Pakistan through itsfriends in the international communi-ty and through multi-lateral forumssuch as the United Nations but thesehave so far proved of little value andthey are unlikely to bear much fruit.The attack also raises questions aboutthe Modi Government’s Wuhan initia-tive to smoothen ties with China.Expectantly, Modi’s efforts to mollifyChina have given some indication thatBeijing my be stopped from providingcover to JeM chief Masood Azhar.

Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley announced the withdrawal ofthe Most Favoured Nation (MFN) sta-tus to Pakistan. The decision has beentaken to isolate our neighbour eco-nomically and diplomatically. Everymember country of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) is required toaccord the MFN status to all othermember countries as specified underArticle 1 of the General Agreement onTariffs and Trade (GATT), 1994. Theprimary objective of WTO is to mon-itor and resolve trade-related issuesamong the member nations. However,MFN itself is a misnomer; it actuallymeans non-discrimination among

member nations.Being a WTO member, India

accorded Pakistan MFN status in1996 but Pakistan did not reciprocatewith the same status to India. Themain items India imports fromPakistan are cement, petroleum prod-ucts, fresh fruits, finished leather,bulk minerals and ores. Export itemsinclude cotton yarn, chemicals, plas-tics, man-made yarn and dyes toPakistan. The decision to revokeMFN status will mean that India canincrease custom duties on goodsimported from Pakistan up to thebound level duty rates. Currently,India’s customs duties on goods toWTO members are below the boundlevel rates. The current customs dutiesimposed are called applied rates andthe level at which the duties can beincreased are known as bound rates.As a result, India on February 15 raisedthe customs duty to 200 per cent onall goods imported from Pakistan.

In terms of numbers, Indiaimported goods worth $489 million in2017-18 from Pakistan and exportedgoods worth $1.92 billion. Meanwhile,total imports from Pakistan increasedby 7.70 per cent from $454 million in2016-17 to $489 million from April to

November in 2017-18. Total exportsto Pakistan also went up by 5.59 percent from $1.82 billion in 2016-17 to$1.92 billion in April-November in2017-18. India accounts for 1.55 percent of Pakistan’s imports and 2.55 percent of its exports. The top five itemsIndia imported from Pakistan in2017-18 were mineral fuels and oils,edible fruits, nuts, salt, sulphur, plas-ting material, lime and cement, fertilis-er and ores. Whereas, the top five itemsexported by India to Pakistan in2017-18 include cotton, organic mate-rials, plastic, dyes and pharmaceuticalproducts. Since bilateral trade betweenIndia and Pakistan is low, manyexperts believe that MFN makes nodifference to both.

India’s military options are equal-ly constrained. If past crises are anyindication, it is unlikely that any well-planned and prepared contingencyoptions have been decided in consul-tation between the political leadershipand the Indian military. Thus, anyresponse will have to wait until plansare drawn up, forces prepared andequipment deployed. This is likely totake time, possibly several months.Surprisingly, Defence Chiefs are notmembers of Cabinet Committee on

Security (CCS). This phenomenon isnot understood.

India’s defence preparedness isthe poorest considering defence bud-get layout for 2019-2020 is 1.44 per centof the GDP, the lowest since 1962. It isalso unclear that the Indian military hassufficient superiority over Pakistaniforces to even consider full-scale mil-itary retaliation. The Indian military hasbeen starved of funds in the last sev-eral years, with very little capital acqui-sition and significant weaknesses in crit-ical areas. The Indian Air Force, forexample, is down to about 30 squadronsand it will be years before India is ableto field the full 42 squadrons that havebeen sanctioned for the Air Force. Sois the case with the Navy and the Army.

The Modi Government is, thus,likely to find it facing a series of weakchoices. However, it has only itself toblame for the poor planning andpreparation to meet a contingency thatwas predictable. The greatest dangeris that under pressure to do somethingin haste, New Delhi may launch a mil-itary assault with inadequate fore-thought that is likely to make the sit-uation worse and awkward.

(The writer is a retired professor ininternational trade)

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Vijayakanth, who enter-tained his fans for almist

three decades with a variety ofroles in the silver screen isproving to be a shrewd andintelligent bargainer to theleaders of the DMK and theAIADMK who are wooing himto join the fronts being led bythe two parties for the ensuingLok Sabha elections.

Though the DMDK ledby Vijayakanth had literallyvanished from the politicallandscape of Tail Nadu after the2016 assembly elections, hav-ing failed to win at least a sin-gle seat in the 105 constituen-cies it contested, the AIADMKand the DMK are under theimpression that the inclusion ofthe 'Captain' (as the actor isaddressed by his fans) wouldadd value to their fronts.

“The actor was down witha series of ailments and most ofhis trusted lieutanants had lefthim to join the DMK. Thoughhe was allocated 14 seats by theBJP in the 2014 Lok Sabhe elec-tion, heis party failed to win atleast a single constituencydespite the favourbale condi-tions,” said a BJP leader whohad negotiated with theDMDK leader during the 2014

Lok Sabha polls.The actor feels elated over

the new found interest theDMK and the AIADMK areshowing in aligning with him,is trying to make a big 'kill'. Hehas demanded seven Lok Sabhaseats and a Rajya Sabha seatfrom the AIADMK because ,the PMK, his bete noir hasbeen allocated that many seats.The AIADMK which wants tocontest at least 25 seats in thebout, is reluctant to oart withmore than three seats to theDMDK becaue it has otherallies like Puthiya Tamilakamand Tamil Manila Congress toaccommodate.

Stalin, who has no speciallove for Vijayakanth, is of theview that the latter would comeround once he wears out in thenegotiation with the AIADMKand would accept whatever isoffered to him, said sourcesclose to the DMK president.

Sunday was the birthanniversary of former chiefminister J Jayalalithaa and theAIADMK leadership hadthought of announcing theformalisation of the front ontheir “supreme leader's” birthday. But Vijayakanth and hiswife Premalatha were adamantabout the number of Lok Sabhaseats and this played spoiledsport.

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Key Bengal Minister FirhadHakim on Sunday returned

Yogi Adityanath’sfire saying theUttar Pradesh Chief Ministerwho was so critical ofthe alleged“bomb-and-gun” culture ofBengal should better take alookat the deteriorating law andorder situation in his own state.

Hakim who was visitingthe families of carpet workersfrom Malda district in NorthBengal who died in an explosionat Bhadohi asked Yogi to take alook at the failing law and ordersituation in his own State insteadof raising issues in other States.

“See how our poor workerswho had just gone there to earntheir livelihood had to losetheir lives. Under instructionsfrom our Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee we are takingadequate measures to sustainthese hapless families but at thesame time I want to ask ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath aboutwhat his Government wasdoing about the deterioratinglaw and order situation in hisState,” Hakim who is also theMayor of Kolkata besides being

a key Minister in the BengalCabinet said.

“He (Yogi) had been raisingquestions about law and ordercoming in Bengal but what hashe to say about his own State,”the Minister said. The UP ChiefMinister had in an earlierspeech attacked the TrinamoolCongress Government forallowing the State’s law andorder situation to collapse.

Even BJP president AmitShah and former MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan had attackedthe Bengal Government intheir multiple speeches for itsfailing law and order situationwhere “the opposition partieshave no space” and where “theopposition candidates are notallowed to contest even thepanchayat elections.”

Hakim said that StateGovernment had decided topay Rs 2 lakh each to the vic-tims’ families. “Besides ourChief Minister has also direct-ed the administration toarrange for ICDS jobs for thewomen of the households thathave lost their men and alsoexpedite the regular payment of

old-age pension of those whohave lost their young ones.”

“The district magistrate hassigned cheques for distributionamong the family of the deceasedfollowing directions from ourChief Minister,” said Hakimadding the Bengal officers werein touch with UP administrationto bring back the bodies.

At least 13 workers, 9 fromKaliachak in Malda had died atBhadohi when a house wherethey were working as carpetweavers collapsed following ahuge blast. The police were stillnot sure about the reasons ofthe blast. While one theoryblames the huge blast on anillegal firecracker factory work-ing behind the veneer of thecarpet factory another group ofpeople do not rule out “somemischievous other angle.”

Meanwhile, Abdul Majid,father of two Malda workerswho perished in Bhadohi blastsaid quoting reports that “theexplosion took place aftersomeone had kept a cyclebesides the house.” At least 200-250 people from Malda havebeen working at Bhadohi car-pet factories he said.

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Bollywood actress SonakshiSinha and four others have

been booked for allegedlycheating an event organiserhere, police officials saidSunday.

However, Sinha's manage-ment agency, in a statement,alleged that the event organis-er was using the media torelease "false and manipulated"information, and she would be"forced" to take legal action.

The case was registeredagainst the actress and theothers under Indian PenalCode (IPC) sections pertainingto cheating and criminal breachof trust, police said.

In a complaint onNovember 24 last year, anevent organiser, PramodSharma, had alleged that hepaid Rs 24 lakh to a companyto invite Sinha for a prize dis-tribution function in Delhiand that the actress had con-firmed her presence, but didnot turn up, the officials said.

The complainant, a resi-dent of Shivpuri in Moradabad,said in total, he paid Rs 37 lakh,which included transferring a

huge amount to Sinha, accord-ing to police.

Sinha's managementagency has denied the charge,saying despite repeatedreminders, the organiser failedto make payments to the actressbefore the event as contracted.

"The investigating officer inthe case had served a notice toSinha and the four others, butafter not getting a response anFIR was registered on Friday,"Senior Superintendent of Police(SSP), Moradabad, RavindraGaud, said.

He said among the fourothers are Mumbai residentsAbhishek, Malvika Dhumil andEdgar.

The case has been registeredat the Katghar police station.

Station House Officer,Katghar, Ajeet Singh said thecase was registered under sec-tion 420 (cheating) and 406(criminal breach of trust) of theIndian Penal Code.

The investigation in thecase has started, he said.

In the statement, theagency said, "Sonakshi wasapproached by the event organ-isers in Delhi to attend anevent. However, despite repeat-

ed reminders, the organiserfailed to make the payments toSonakshi before the event ascontracted."

"The tickets to Delhi werenot in order/as were agreed,the organiser also didn't sendreturn tickets for Sonakshiand her team, despite knowingthat she had a shoot the nextmorning after the event.Thisput everyone in a tough spot,"it said.

Several attempts weremade to contact the organiserto request him to make the"contracted payments and sendthe tickets, however, theyremained incommunicado anddidn't live up to their end of thebargain", Sinha's managementagency claimed.

Due to a lack of commit-ment by the organiser, theactress and her team were leftwith no choice but to returnhome from the Mumbai airport,according to the statement.

"Ever since that day,Sonakshi's management agencyhas been trying to reach out tothe organiser to find an amica-ble solution to the extent ofoffering an alternate date andtried to connect but to no avail.

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President Ram Nath Kovindhas emphasised the impor-

tance of quality and affordablehealthcare in the country, par-ticularly in Uttar Pradesh.

The President inauguratedthe Apollomedics SuperSpeciality Hospital in the statecapital on Sunday.

The President also con-doled the death of CRPFjawans in the terror attack insouth Kashmir districtPulwama and paid glowingtributes to their martyrdom.

He pointed to the success-es in meeting the challenges oftraditional infectious and com-municable diseases, and also thechanging disease patterns in thecountry that were giving rise tomore cases to non-communi-cable or lifestyle ailments.

In this context, thePresident said the AyushmanBharat national health protec-

tion scheme launched in 2018,would go a long way in pro-viding medical cover, espe-cially to underprivileged citi-zens.

He said Uttar Pradesh wasmaking rapid strides in allfields of development and thesuper speciality hospital wouldfurther add to the profile of thelargest state of India.

The President said thatquality health for everybodywas a shared goal and he washappy that the government,civil society, private and char-itable institutions and otherstakeholders were workingtogether. He expressed confi-dence that the ApollomedicsSuper Speciality Hospitalwould provide state-of-the-artmedical care to the people ofthe state and the region at a rea-sonable cost.

Referring to MissionIndradhanush, Kovind saidintensive vaccination was being

done and as many as 87 lakhpregnant women and 3.39crore children were vaccinated.

He also said for preventionof encephalitis, the ‘Action Plan2018’ had been launched withthe support of WHO andUNICEF.

“As a result, deaths due toJapanese Encephalitis droppedin 2018, as compared to 2017.There has been 68 per centdrop in the deaths. The num-ber of people getting infectedto Japanese Encephalitis alsodropped by 53 per cent in thesame period. This is a goodsign. For this effort, doctorsand para-medic staff, alongwith the government, should bepraised,” the President said.

“The priority of the gov-ernment is to bring animprovement in the health ofthe people and for this, thehealth and medical infrastruc-ture is being rapidly strength-ened across the country,” he

added.Union Home Minister

Rajnath Singh said the superspeciality hospital was a sig-nificant achievement for thestate capital.

He said the NationalDemocratic Alliance govern-ment was committed to pro-viding affordable qualityhealthcare services to all citi-zens of India.

Singh said the Modi gov-ernment had already launcheduniversal health insurancescheme Ayushman Bharatwhich would provide insurancecover of up to Rs 5 Lakh to 50crore people of India.

Singh said opening ofsuper speciality hospital inLucknow would go a long wayin establishing India as a majorcountry in the field of medicaltourism. He pointed out thatthe Centre had liberalised visarules for foreigners visitingIndia for medical treatment.

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Three persons were killed ina hit-and-run incident in

Chhota Udepur district ofGujarat Sunday, police said.

The victims were headingfor their hometown Pavi Jetpuron a motorcycle after attendinga friend's wedding at Halolwhen a speeding truck hitthem near Bodeli.

The truck driver escapedafter hitting the bike, said anofficial of the Bodeli police sta-tion.

"While two persons diedon the spot, another died at ahospital at Bodeli," the officialsaid.

The deceased were identi-fied as Arun Tadvi (18),Mukesh Tadvi (28) and RohanTadvi (22).

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Borrowing a leaf from theCongress, Bahujan Samaj

Party president Mayawati hassaid that the PM-KISANscheme is “atrocious, arrogant”and an “insult” to farmers.

She said that annual payoutof Rs 6,000 to the farmerstranslated to Rs 500 per monthor Rs 17 per day.

Congress president RahulGandhi made a similar criti-cism of the scheme after it wasannounced by then UnionFinance Minister Piyush Goyalin the interim Budget of 2019-20 on February 1.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday formallylaunched the Pradhan MantriKisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme at Gorakhpur.It will benefit 12 crore to poorfarmers by transferring Rs6,000 pre annum to theiraccounts in three instalments.

In a statement issued hereon Sunday Mayawati said the asannual payout of Rs 6,000 tothe farmers translated to Rs 500per month or Rs 17 per day, itwas a “pittance” and accusedthe Bharatiya Janata Party ofdoing lip service to the farm-ers.

Mayawati described theModi government’s KisanSamman Nidhi scheme as “halfbaked”, comparing it with Modigovernment’s previous deci-

sions like demonetisation andGoods and Services Tax (GST).She said the scheme was anelection year stunt and thepeople had seen through it.

“Rs 500 a month to poorfarmers under is an insult.Farmers believe in their labourand want remunerative price oftheir produce but the BJP men-tality to give them a little mon-etary help is atrocious andarrogant. The BJP has failed tofulfil its promise,” Mayawatisaid.

The former chief ministerof Uttar Pradesh said the crisisin the farm sector was gettingaggravated and the BJP wasclueless about tackling it.

She cautioned the farmersto be vigilant about the designsof the BJP before the electionsas the saffron party wouldmislead them.

Mayawati said the soledesire of the farmers was to getremunerative price of the agri-culture produce and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadsingularly failed in solving themost basic issue of the agri-culture sector.

While launching the PM-KISAN scheme in Gorakhpuron Sunday, Modi slammed theopposition for not doingenough for farmers. He saidthey were all the same and werescared when the BJPannounced the scheme in theinterim Budget.

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Launching Bharatiya JantaParty's Lok Sabha poll

campaign from Jammu,National President Amit Shah,Sunday said the party wouldensure that every illegal immi-grant from Kashmir toKanyakumari and Assam toGujarat is thrown out of thecountry, following the Assammodel. He also urgedCongress President RahulGandhi to spell out his party'sstand on the contentious issue.

On his arrival in JammuShah also paid homage tomartyrs of Pulwama terrorattack.

Addressing a rally ofbooth workers he reiteratedresolve of the Modi govern-ment to fight militancy saying“the BJP government has zero-tolerance on terrorism”.

Referring to the NationalRegister of Citizens in Assam,the BJP president said, "hisparty would carry out a sim-ilar exercise from Kashmir toKanyakumari and Assam toGujarat to ensure that everyillegal immigrant is thrownout of the country".

Referring to Rohingyas,camping in Jammu for a longtime, Shah said, some peopleare treating Jammu as a big'dharamshala' and campinghere for a long time withoutcompleting legal formali-ties.He said BJP will allowonly those permitted under

law to stay back in India, restall of them will be evicted.

Highlighting discrimina-tion of Ladakh and Jammudivisions by the previousregimes Shah said “chowki-dar”, in an apparent referenceto Prime Minister NarendraModi, ensured that fundsmeant for these regions arespent for development.

“Previous dynastic gov-ernments of Congress, theNational Conference and thePDP were more botheredabout their own developmentbut ever since the BJP tookover, we ensured that everysingle penny reaches com-mon people,” Shah said.Healso listed developmental pro-jects sanctioned and complet-ed by the Modi government inthe last five years in the state.

ReferrING to theFebruary 14 Pulwama terrorattack, in which 40 CRPFpersonnel were killed, Shahsaid “their sacrifice will not goin vain”. “The Prime Ministerhas authorised security forcesto take any punitive actionthey think fit against perpe-trators of terrorism,” he said.

Launching a scathingattack on opposition parties,who are joining hands todefeat BJP's Prime Ministerialcandidate Narendra Modi inthe 2019 Lok Sabha polls,Shah said they are a bunch of'dynasts' who are still strug-gling to elect their leader. Hesaid before electing new Prime

Minister voters should com-pare whether this rag tagcoalition of leaders is goodenough to handle issues ofNational security or not.

During the rally largenumber of workers raised slo-gans demanding abrogation ofArticle 35A, 370 to saveJammu.

“Jammu Ko BachanaHoga toh 370, 35A HatanaHoga (To save Jammu, abro-gation of Article 370 and 35Ais must),” shouted peopleattending the rally. Shah,how-ever, avoided mention ofArticle 370 and 35-A in hisaddress.

He said that the BJP iscommitted to rectify the“blunders committed” by thefirst Prime Minister JawaharLal Nehru in dealing J&Kafter partition.

“Problems of Hyderabadand Junagarh were more com-plex as compared to Kashmirbut Sardar Patel had solved thesame with conviction andvision,” Shah said adding thatJawahar Lal Nehru failed tosolve issue of Kashmir whichhe was handling himself.

“I am giving this messagefrom Jammu that theNarendra Modi government iscommitted to rectify the mis-takes of great grand-father ofCongress president RahulGandhi,” he added andattacked Congress by shiftingall blames on Nehru for giv-ing “special status” to J&K.

Bengaluru: Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on Sundaysaid the Pulwama terror attackshould not have occurred, butthat the government's efforts tothwart several attacks hadresulted in far lesser terrorincidents in the last five yearsthan before 2014.

"I can't tell you in terms ofratio. If I can look at the span...Compared to before 2014, ter-rorism is far lesser now in thelast five years," Sitharaman said.

Addressing a gathering atan interactive event organisedby theThinkers Forum, theminister said she was mocked atafter the terror attacks at Uri,Pathankot and Pulwama, butclaimed that compared to theUPA era, other than incidents inJammu and Kashmir, there was

peace in the rest of the country.Asked by a participant on

why India cannot respond tothe Pulwama terror attack inthe way the U.S. Did when itwent after Osama bin Laden inPakistan, she said the angerover the matter and on whyIndia could not take similaraction, "all that is well absorbed,well received and well regis-tered."

"I can say that for sure withconfidence that it is well regis-tered. I underline, its well reg-istered."

Quoting the Prime Minister,she said he had stated that thesacrifice of the jawans would notgo waste and those who areresponsible, directly or indi-rectly for it, would have to paya heavy price. PTI

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Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot Sunday said

Prime Minister Narendra Modiwill not succeed in retainingpower by launching thePradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)scheme at the fag end of his dis-pensation.

The chief minister alsogave a twist to Modi's poll slo-gan for the Lok Sabha elec-tions-- 'Modi hai to mumkinhai' (everything is possible ifModi is there) to 'Modi hai tonamumkin hai' (it's impossible,if Modi is in-charge), stressingthat not a single promise madeduring 2014 poll campaigningwas fulfilled by the prime min-ister.

"Farmers of the country arewise enough. You have attempt-ed to win the election by for-mulating Rs 6,000 scheme butyou will not be able to succeed,"Gehlot said at his first pressconference after becomingchief minister of the state.

Announcing the schemefrom Uttar Pradesh'sGorakhpur on Sunday, theprime minister said the firstinstalment of Rs 2000 each wasdeposited in the accounts of1.01 crore farmers.

Questioning the timing ofthe launch, Gehlot said thescheme was an attempt to woo

the farmers ahead of the gen-eral elections.

"Prime minister in his yes-terday's speech in Tonk districthad said that Congress recallsloan waiver when elections arenear. I want to ask the reasonfor not launching the Rs 6000scheme five years before," hesaid.

The farmers would havebenefitted if the Centre hadincreased the input subsidyinstead of launching thescheme without studying theground reality, he added.

The Rajasthan governmenthad on Saturday decided toprovide Rs 1,000 monthly pen-sion to small and marginalisedfarmers above 75 years of age,

Rs 750 monthly pension tosmall and marginalised womenfarmers above 55 years of ageand male farmers above 58years respectively without anyregular source of income.

Gehlot said that Modiwould be "exposed" if peoplelisten to his speeches made dur-ing the campaigning for the2014 general elections.

"He will be exposed if peo-ple hear his old speeches. They(Union government) have notbeen successful on any front.So, they are in desperationwhen elections are near," hesaid.

On the Pulwama attack,the veteran Congress leadersaid that the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) government at theCentre was yet to give a befit-ting reply to the perpetrators.

An environment was cre-ated that Modi ji will takesome serious steps but as dayshave passed, people are nowasking what actually is he goingto do, Gehlot said.

The chief minister high-lighted that instead, an atmos-phere of hatred was being cre-ated in the country which wasunfortunate.

Such an atmosphere isbeing seen for the first time inthe country after its indepen-dence and the situation wasn'tthis bad even during emer-gency.

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The six-year-old twin sons ofa businessman kidnapped

at gunpoint in MadhyaPradesh's Satna district havebeen found dead in theYamuna River in Uttar Pradesh,police said on Sunday.

Six persons, including thetuition teacher of the siblingsand two engineering students,have been arrested for the crime,a senior police official said.

The children, both inkindergarten and sons of oilmerchant Brijesh Rawat, werekidnapped at gunpoint by twomasked persons fromChitrakoot when they werereturning home in their schoolbus on February 12.

The kidnappers had laterdemanded a ransom from thechildren's father, Chitrakoot'sNayagaon police station in-charge K P Tripathi said.

He said the bodies of thechildren were found floating inthe Yamuna river near Baberuvillage in Uttar Pradesh's Bandadistrict late Saturday night.

The bodies were laterfished out from the river andsent for post-mortem to a hos-pital in Banda, he said.

Talking to reporters onSunday, Inspector General(Rewa Zone) ChanchalShekhar said six accused,including five Uttar Pradeshresidents, have been arrested.

He said the bodies of thesiblings were recovered lateSaturday night from theYamuna river on the basis ofinformation provided by thearrested kidnappers duringinterrogation.

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Aprominent Gujjar leader inJammu and Kashmir said

Sunday his community and theBakerwal tribe favours contin-uation of Article 370 andArticle 35A that provides spe-cial status to the state.

"The Gujjars andBakarwals are in favour ofcontinuation of Article 35Aand Article 370 of theConstitution. We will stronglyprotest if these articles areremoved," Shamsher HaklaPoonchi said in a statement.

The Gujjar leader appealedto the Supreme Court and theCentre to not take any step inorder to abolish these articlesas the state "was brought underthe territory of India onlybecause of this Article 370".

"If these articles are abol-ished, the relation betweenJammu and Kashmir and Indiawill weaken besides worseningthe situation in Kashmir," he

said.The comments come

ahead of a hearing in theSupreme Court on Article 35Aof the Constitution.

Poonchi claimed that 34-lakh Gujjars and Bakerwals ofthe state were strongly in favourof the continuation of the con-

stitutional provisions.Meanwhile, Tribal

Research and CulturalFoundation founder and notedGujjar researcher Javaid Rahidemanded that grazing landsmust not be converted for anypurposes in the state. He saidsuch changes could badly affectcenturies-old migratory tradi-tions of Gujjars, Bakerwals,Gaddis, Sippis and Chanpas ofLadakh.

"Such conversions areadversely affecting tribal migra-tory culture and nomadic wayof life of Scheduled Tribes,who are already passingthrough tough times in Jammuand Kashmir," Rahi said.

Rahi asked for a lawimmediately and restrict con-version of grazing land, includ-ing its change of title or own-ership of the land in the state."The grazing land must beused for animal rearing onlyand should strictly kept for thetribal community's use."

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Pakistan army on Sundayviolated ceasefire agrement,

fifth day in a row, along the lineof control in Nowshera area ofRajouri.

Defence PRO in Jammusaid, " Pakistan army initiat-ed "unprovoked" cease fire vio-lation around 5.15 p.m byshelling with mortars & firingof small arms along LoC inNowshera Sector".

Indian Army retaliatedstrongly & effectively, he added

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Bharatiya Janata BharatiyaJanata Party national presi-

dent Amit Shah will launch theKamal Jyoti Sampark Parv, abeneficiary outreach pro-gramme, in Ghazipur onFebruary 26 where the party willshowcase the development pro-jects that the Narendra Modigovernment has launched.

“This programme will belaunched across the state withfocus on Ghazipur whereparty’s national president AmitShah will address the partyworkers,” BJP state general sec-retary Vijay Bahadur Pathaksaid here on Sunday.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath will attend thefunction in Etah and BJP statepresident Mahendra Nath

Pandey in Ghaziabad.Pathak said the programme

would be held in the eveningand lamps resembling lotus(election symbol of BJP) wouldbe lit across the state whereverthese meetings would be held.

This is the party’s outreachprogramme through which BJPleaders will make an attempt topopularise the welfare schemesof the Modi and the YogiAdityanath governments.

“The programme will beattended by senior leaders ofthe party and ministers in theModi and Yogi governments,”Pathak said.

The BJP workers have beenasked to involve the beneficia-ries of various governmentschemes in this programme.The party workers will be askedto light a lamp at the doorsteps

of these beneficiaries to givethem a sense of involvement.

Pathak said the party work-ers would highlight how hous-es had been provided to thepeople during Modi regime,villages had been electrifiedand roads built in villages in thelast four years.

“There is a transformation inthe lives of people and people willbe told about this,” he said.

Senior BJP leaders havebeen asked to attend the func-tions at village level. DeputyChief Minister Keshav PrasadMaurya will be in Phaphamau(Prayagraj district) and DeputyChief Minister Dinesh Sharmain rural Lucknow. BJP inchargeof UP Govardhan Jhadapiawill be in Barabanki district,while Union minister SantoshGangwar will be in Bareilly.

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In a bid to end the simmering'war hysteria' in Jammu and

Kashmir, especially in the val-ley, Governor Satya Pal MalikSunday appealed that peopleshould remain calm and notbelieve in rumours "circulatingwidely" to vitiate the atmos-phere.

He also clarified that theinduction of para-militaryforces should only be seen inthe context of conducting elec-tions and should not be attrib-uted to any other cause.

"People should not believe inrumours, which are of extremenature and circulating widely insome quarters. They shouldremain calm. These rumours areunnecessarily creating an atmos-phere of fear in the minds ofpeople, leading to stress and dis-ruption to normal life. Rumoursabout curfews and other actionsshould not be believed," thegovernor said in his appeal.

He said "some security-related actions" were beingtaken after the February 14Pulwama attack in which 40CRPF personnel lost their liveswhen a terrorist of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group blewhimself next to a convoy.

"This attack was anunprecedented one. Theresponse of security forces isguided solely by the need to

counter both the impact andany further action that may betaken by terrorist groups whoare still out to disrupt ourcountry and its democraticprocesses," he said.

The statement from thegovernor came after the stateadministration issued manyorders including supplyingration at the earliest, cancellingleave of doctors and policemen,rationing of petrol to the gen-eral public, leading to a warhysteria. The widespreadarrests of Jamaat-e-Islamicadres and separatists con-tributed to these rumours.

The flying of IAF jets indead hours of the night inKashmir Valley also added tothese fears despite the IAFmaintaining it was a routineexercise.

The governor alsoaddressed the issue of safetyand security of Kashmirisresiding outside the state. Hesaid Prime Minister NarendraModi has given clear directionsto the country Saturday thatthere is no fight againstKashmiris but that it is a fightfor Kashmir.

This is a clear signal thatthe people of Jammu andKashmir are not only integralpart of India but it is theresponsibility of the country totake care of their safety wher-ever they may be, he said.

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Broadcasting regulator Traihas taken a strong view of

the Broadcast AudienceResearch Council (BARC) notpublishing rating and viewer-ship data during the sector’smigration to the new tariffregime, and directed it toimmediately release viewer-ship data for the past weeks onits website, warning of “appro-priate action” for non-com-pliance, a source said.

According to the sourceprivy to the development, theTelecom Regulatory Authorityof India (Trai) has shot off afresh salvo at BARC, and in astrongly worded directive hasasked it to furnish complianceby February 25, 2019, “failingwhich, appropriate actionwould be initiated” under var-ious sections of the Trai Act.

“...BARC India has modi-fied its Fair and PermissibleUsage Policy in February 14,2019, even after being repeat-edly asked by the authority tonot stop publishing of ratingdata and viewership data onits website during the migra-tion to new regulatory frame-work until and unless explic-itly permitted by the author-

ity and are thus, in contra-vention of the direction of theauthority dated December 21,2018 and January 14, 2019,”said the Trai directive, alsoseen by PTI.

BARC India could not bereached for comments.

Trai rued that BARC Indiadid not comply with its pre-vious instructions despitebeing repeatedly asked by theauthority to publish ratingand data of the viewership ofdifferent TV channels. Theregulator observed that BARChad submitted that disruptioncaused by transition to thenew regime could preventconsumers from accessing thechannels of their choice, thusnot giving fair and true pictureof TV consumption in India.

But Trai said it would notbe appropriate to stop ratingof channels as these changeswere an outcome of consumerchoice and real reflection ofmarket changes. The regulatoropined that the decision ofBARC India to “withhold”the data cannot be justified byany yardstick.

It noted that BARC Indiahas “failed to furnish anycogent reason for not pub-lishing the rating and viewer-ship data” and that “suchaction on part of BARC Indiareflects poorly on the credit-worthiness of the data pub-lished by them”.

Trai reminded BARCIndia that it is governed by theprovisions of the Trai Act and

thus required to comply withorders, regulations, and direc-tions issued by the Ministry ofInformation and Broadcastingand Trai from time to time.

“ N o w . . . T h eauthority...Hereby directsBroadcast Audience ResearchCouncil to immediatelyrelease and publish viewershipdata for the week endingFebruary 8, 2019 and weekssubsequent to it, on its web-site without any further delayand not to stop it in future alsowithout explicit instruc-tion/direction from theauthority or Ministry ofInformation andBroadcasting...,” Trai direc-tive said.

BARC India has beenasked to “furnish complianceto the authority by February25, 2019 failing which appro-priate action would be initi-ated against them under...TheTRAI Act, 1997”.

Trai has recently unveiledthe new tariff order and reg-ulatory regime for the broad-cast and cable sector, whichpaves the way for consumersto opt for channels they wishto view, and pay only forthem. It has said every chan-nel should be offered a lacarte, with a transparent dis-play of rates on electronic pro-gramme guide.

Earlier this month, theregulator extended the time-line for consumers to maketheir channel preferences upto March 31, 2019.

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Foreign portfolio investorssold debt securities worth

over �1,900 crore in Februaryamid escalation of cross-bordertensions in the wake ofPulwama terror attack.

Latest data from the depos-itories showed that overseasplayers pumped in �2,039 croreinto equities even as theydumped debt during Februarytill 22.

In January, the net FPIoutflow — from both equityand debt — stood at �5,360crore.

A total of �1,949 crore waswithdrawn during the February1-22 period. However, therewas higher infusion in equities,there is a net inflow of little over�98 crore for the period underreview, according to the data.

Himanshu Srivastava,senior analyst managerresearch at MorningstarInvestment Adviser India, saidthe recent selling by FPIs “couldbe attributed to the increase in

cross-border tensions betweenIndia and Pakistan.

Tensions have escalatedfollowing terror attack inPulwama, Jammu and Kashmirthat killed 40 CRPF jawans ear-lier this month.

“For a long time, FPIs havebeen adopting a cautious stancetowards India, and the recentdevelopments would have fur-ther dampened the sentiments,”Srivastava said.

In 2019, foreign invest-ments have shown mixedtrends. Last month, FPIs werenet sellers and so far inFebruary, they are net buyers.

According to Srivastava, itis too early to predict the flowof investments as they areguided by short-term trendsand become event specific.

Besides cross-border ten-sions, another major focus areafor the FPIs would be the out-come of the general electionsand they have been adopting await-and-watch stance in antic-ipation of a concrete signs ofeconomic growth, he added.

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The volume of trade betweenIndia and Pakistan posted

a growth of nearly five per centin the first seven months of thecurrent fiscal year from a yearago despite border tensions,according to report mediareport on Sunday.

Following the Pulwamaterror, India withdrew the MostFavoured Nation (MFN) statusto Pakistan, which was grant-ed in 1995. The grant of thisstatus means that a country willtreat all WTO member statesequally in matters of tariffs onimports. A day later, it slapped200 per cent import duty onPakistani goods.

The attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammadterror group on February 14has left 40 CRPF personneldead.

However, the Indian

Government’s decision toimpose 200pc additional dutywill bring them no tangibleresults as Pakistan’ annualexports to the country areworth few million dollars,Dawn newspaper said.

Trade statistics show acomplete picture that NewDelhi will feel the pinch of thecurrent stand-off. The totalaggregate volume of bilateraltrade between July-January2018-19 has reached to $1.122billion, up by 4.96pc from$1.069 billion over the corre-sponding period of last year, itsaid.

The first seven-month dataof this fiscal year shows thatIndian exports to Pakistan con-stitute 79.33 per cent of thetotal bilateral trade volume.

Pakistan imports fromIndia between July-Jan 2018-19have reached to $890.05 millionfrom $871.71 million over the

corresponding period of lastyear, showing an increase of2.11pc. Pakistan’s imports havealready entered negativegrowth with almost all coun-tries except India, the reportsaid.

In the year 2017-18, Indianexports to Pakistan havereached $1.84 billion as against$1.64 billion over the previousyear, showing an increase of12.2 per cent, it said.

On India’s move to revokePakistan’s MFN status,Secretary Commerce YounusDagha told Dawn thatCommerce Division hasalready worked out differentoptions.

However, he did not dis-close the details.

‘No plan yet to announce itanytime soon,” he said, adding“But we will give a measuredresponse whenever theGovernment also decides.”

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State-owned REC will have toobtain consent of at least 50

per cent of the foreign lendersbefore the company could beacquired by PFC as part of thedisinvestment plans approvedby the Cabinet.

REC’s cumulative foreigndebt stands at around USD 1.85billion which will mature inphases till 2028 and the state-owned company has initiatedthe exercise of obtaining theconsent of these lenders.

In order to push disinvest-ment, the Cabinet in Decemberapproved the sale of the gov-ernment’s 52.63 per cent stakein REC Ltd to Power FinanceCorporation (PFC). The deal,which is to be completed byMarch, is expected to fetch Rs15,000 crore to the exchequer.

However, sources said thatbefore the deal could getthrough, REC would berequired to obtain clearancefrom the lenders.

The REC, which has beenraising funds from the foreign anddomestic markets, has given anundertaking to the lenders that itwould continue to be a PSU withat least 51 per cent governmentstake, an official told PTI.

“Before PFC could goahead with the acquisition,REC is obligated to obtain the

consent of the lenders fromwhom it has been raising fundsto finance rural electrificationand other power sector pro-grammes. At least 50 per centof the lenders will have to givetheir consent,” the official said.

As the nature of the com-pany will change after theacquisition by PFC, REC wouldbe required to intimate to thelenders and obtain their priorconsent. After the acquisition,REC would become a sub-sidiary of PFC.

REC has appointedBarclays Bank, CitigroupGlobal Markets, HSBC andStandard Chartered Bank asconsent solicitation agent.

The acquisition of REC byPFC has already been approvedby market regulator Sebi andcompetition watchdog CCI,while the RBI’s nod is expectedby mid-March. The govern-ment proposes to complete thedeal by March 31 so that it couldadd the sale proceeds to currentfiscal’s disinvestment kitty.

Both the Department ofInvestment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM) andPFC have appointed separateagencies to work out the valu-ation of REC. The Governmentis also expecting a premiumover the market value for han-dling over the managementcontrol of REC to PFC.

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The Finance Ministry expects three tofour more lenders to come out of weak

bank list of the Reserve Bank in the nextsix to eight months on account of improve-ment in financial health amid capital infu-sion and falling bad loans.

The recent capital infusion of �48,239crore in 12 public sector banks (PSBs) willhelp Corporation Bank and AllahabadBank to come out of the Prompt CorrectiveAction (PCA) framework in the next fewweeks, sources said.

Corporation Bank is the biggest ben-eficiary of this round of capital infusionwith �9,086 crore of funding, followed byAllahabad Bank with �6,896 crore. Thisinfusion will help these two lenders meetrequisite capital thresholds of 7.375 CET-1 ratio, 8.875 per cent Tier I ratio, 10.875per cent of capital-to-risk weighted assetsratio (CRAR) and the net NPA ratiothreshold of below 6 per cent.

The RBI may in the next few weekstake a decision to remove these twolenders out of PCA supervision as they haddone in the case of Bank of India (BoI),Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and OrientalBank of Commerce (OBC) last month aftercapital infusion in December, sources said.

With the removal of three banks onJanuary 31, the list has already come downto 8 from 11.

Dena Bank, which is among eight enti-ties under PCA, will cease to exist fromApril 1, 2019. So, the list will further short-en with the bank merging with Bank ofBaroda beginning next fiscal, sources said.

IDBI Bank, now majority owned byLIC, is also improving its financial healthand bringing down its net non-perform-ing assets (NPAs) in a bid to come out ofthe PCA supervision.

If the bank continue to improve itshealth, it is anticipated that the RBIwould lift the curb from IDBI Bank afterSeptember numbers.

Besides, Central Bank and UCO Bankare trying to improve their parameters onmission mode.

So, sources said, four more banks arelikely see curb lifted by RBI on them in 6-8 months.

Last month, Financial ServicesSecretary Rajiv Kumar had said:“Government’s sustained 4R’s(Recognition, Recapitalization, Resolution,

and Reform) strategy forbanking transformationdelivers again. 3 better-performing PSBs (BoM,BoI & OBC) exit PCA.Banks need to be moreresponsible, adopt highunderwriting & risk man-agement standards toavoid recurrence”.

Kumar, who hasbeen credited withundertaking multiplereforms in the bankingsector, provided recordamount of capital infu-sion in the public sectorbanks (PSBs).

Since commence-ment of clean-up in 2015-

16, the recapitalisation has crossed over �3lakh crore through mix of budgetarysupport and market raising helping banksto make adequate provisions for the badloans. As a result, there has been reversalin the deteriorating bad loan situation andthere has been record loan recovery dur-ing the current fiscal.

Various initiatives taken by theGovernment have yielded results, with thebad loans of public sector banks decliningby over �23,860 crore in the first half ofthe current fiscal.

At the same time, PSBs have also madea record recovery of �60,726 crore in thefirst half of the current financial year,which is more than double the amountrecovered in the corresponding period lastyear.

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Issues like access to financing,assessing risks and growth

mantras enabling SC-STwomen entrepreneurs to set upand run a sustainable businesswill be discussed during a con-clave here on Monday.

The Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterpriseswill organise a conclave on‘Empowering WomenEntrepreneurs 2019, Financingand Enabling Women fromMarginalised Sections’.

“The first of its kind con-clave endeavours to empowerwomen entrepreneurs frommarginalised sections andenable their growth and successin business by offering sub-stantial knowledge on variousbusiness opportunities andnational best practices in doing

business,” an official statementsaid.

The conclave is beingorganised under National SC-ST Hub initiative of the MSMEministry which is targetedtowards developing a support-ive ecosystem towards SC or STentrepreneurs.

“Path-breaking womenentrepreneurs and inspirationalwomen achievers will beawarded with EnterprisingWomen of the Year 2018Awards. Loan disbursalcheques or sanction letters towomen entrepreneurs underStand-Up India initiative willalso be distributed by banks,”the statement added.

Senior officials of theMSME Ministry along withbankers, investors and womenentrepreneurs will participatein the deliberations.

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Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL) iscurrently undergoing its second

round of corporate insolvencyresolution process under theorders from the Supreme Courtof India. This has affectedapproximately 30000 home buy-ers who have invested their lifesavings in the projects floated byJIL. JIL had had a successful runin the past, having enormousland bank at its disposal, and con-stant revenue source in form ofYamuna expressway.

But the question whichstill lingers around this com-pany is the cause of this suddenbankruptcy, which remainsunclear. Stakeholders and mar-ket pundits apprehend thatthere has been enormoussiphoning of funds and mis-management by the erstwhilemanagement. The home buy-ers have been regularlydemanding for an independentforensic audit of the financialsof JIL, to ascertain the rootcause of the sudden bankrupt-cy, and to bring the culprits tobook.

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Stronger commitment isrequired to improve the effec-

tiveness of boards of companiesand they should constantlyassert ethical conduct whilefocusing on risk management,according to a CII report.

To promote integrity andtransparency in governance, thechamber has introduced a ‘ModelCode of Conduct’ for businessethics to act as a guide to indus-try to adopt best practices.

“Corruption, bribery andimproper payments continue tobe high compliance risks in thecountry,” CII said in a report.

It has also prescribed normsfor business courtesies which areoften extended by enterpriseslike gifts and entertainment,transportation and meals.

CII suggested that giftsshould be of nominal value andin nature of consumables,instead of cash or jewellery, etc.Moreover, gifts to family mem-bers should be avoided.

Besides, casual lift, groundtransportation to and from thecompany office or facility can beprovided in the ordinary course

of business but these should belimited to customers or gov-ernment officials or regulators,while “extravagant modes” likeair fare/rail fare should be avoid-ed unless mandatory.

Moreover, CII said mealsmust only be offered as a casu-al social hospitality and lavishor extravagant meals should beavoided by companies whenextending courtesies.

The guidelines can beadopted by companies whichcurrently do not have any spe-cific guidelines on businesscourtesies. For companies withsimilar existing policies relat-ed to business courtesies, thesecan act as reference.

“CII considers ethical prac-tices in business dealings to becritical for the developmentand growth of the industry inthe country. The adoption of asimplified code by industryincluding SMEs is a landmarkstep in inculcating a culture ofethics and good practices incorporates,” the chamber said.

The CII Model Code ofConduct covers key areas ofbusiness practice such as main-taining accurate books and

accounts, prohibiting briberyand corruption, fair and equi-table treatment, health andsafety, quality of goods and ser-vices and environment andsociety considerations.

“Integrity, transparency,governance and absence ofcorruption are inter-depen-dent and inter-connected toeach other. Business leadersmust continuously improvethe way they approach and col-laborate to set high standard ofethics and principled businesspractices,” CII said.

The chamber has alsoreleased an ‘Advisory onBusiness and Human Rights’suggesting general principlesand recommended actions tobe followed by companies foradhering to integrity and trans-parency in business transac-tions.

Its objective is to guideindustry on respecting and pro-moting human rights in businessand to share and showcase bestpractices to both increase aware-ness of the subject, while encour-aging companies to move in thedirection of deeper complianceover a period of time.

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To recover its loans from JetAirways, State-run lender

SBI is mulling moving NationalCompany Law Tribunal as itfeels the airline is running outof funds for operations, even asshareholders of the debt-ladencarrier have approved a debtrejig plan, officials said.

Shareholders of Jet Airwayshave approved conversion ofloan into shares and other pro-posals during theExtraordinary General Meeting(EGM) on Thursday.

A consortium of banks, ledby the SBI, has extended loansto Jet Airways, which is look-ing to rejig debt and raisefunds.

Officials associated withthe lenders and key share-holders said the SBI is consid-ering moving the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) seeking insolvencyproceedings against Jet Airwayssince it is running out of moneyfor operations.

Lenders can initiate pro-ceedings under the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to

recover dues from debt-ladenentities. The process can com-mence only after approval fromthe NCLT.

Queries sent to SBI and JetAirways regarding the bankconsidering insolvency pro-ceedings against the airlineremained unanswered.

The officials said that Gulfcarrier Etihad, the strategicpartner with 24 per cent stakein Jet Airways, abstained fromvoting on various proposalsduring the EGM held onFebruary 21.

According to them, Etihadis waiting for clarity on theoverall funding that the SBI andNational Investment andInfrastructure Fund (NIIF)would provide for Jet Airwaysin terms of equity.

The Gulf carrier has beenpitching for the SBI and theNIIF to own 51 per cent andinvest Rs 2,200 crore into theairline, they added.

On February 17, sourcessaid Jet Airways was likely toinvest Rs 3,000 crore post debt-rejig and investments by EtihadAirways as well as NIIF.

Besides, the SBI is not

agreement with Etihad on thelatter’s proposal regarding Rightof First Refusal (ROFR).

Etihad has sought ROFRfor itself after one year and alsowant the SBI to get a confir-mation from markets regulatorSebi that if ROFR is exercised,then the mandatory open offerwould not be triggered, the offi-cials said.

Under the Sebi norms,entities are required to make anopen offer to shareholders incase their shareholding goesbeyond a certain threshold.

A consortium of banks isconsidering an interim fundingof Rs 500 crore for Jet Airwaysbut a final decision is yet to betaken, Punjab National BankManaging Director SunilMehta said on Friday.

PNB is part of the lenders’consortium, led by State Bankof India (SBI), that has extend-ed loans to the airline.

On February 14, JetAirways’ board approved aBank-Led ProvisionalResolution Plan (BLPRP),whereby lenders would becomethe largest shareholders in theairline.

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Against a backdrop of 76cases of armed robbery

and piracy against ships inAsia, the Government hasissued a security advisory forshipowners, managers andothers to exercise cautionwhile treading on interna-tional waters, includingSulu-Celebes Seas.

A total of 76 incidents,including four of piracy and72 of robbery, occurred in2018, according to the advi-sory, which quoted a reporton ‘Pirac y and ArmedRobbery against Ships inAsia’ by the Regiona lCooperation Agreement onC ombat ing Pirac y andArmed Robber y againstShips in Asia (ReCAAP).

The Directorate Generalof Shipping in the maritimesecurity advisory last weekasked shipowners and mas-ters of the ships, amongother stakeholders, to “beextra cautious and followthe practices and take nec-essary precautionary mea-sures” to avert any such inci-dent.

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Paul Manafort, US PresidentDonald Trump’s former

campaign chairman, is a “hard-ened” criminal who “repeatedlyand brazenly violated the law”,prosecutors from SpecialCounsel Robert Mueller’s office wrote in a sentencingmemo, adding that it continuedeven after the 2016 presidentialelection.

The memo, which was filedon Friday, was made public onSaturday with some redac-tions. The prosecutors askedJudge Amy Berman Jackson tomake sure the now-jailed 69-year-old may never walk freeagain, CNN reported.

Manafort pleaded guiltylast September to conspiracyagainst the US and witnesstampering.

At the time of his plea, theformer aide also admitted to alitany of money launderingand foreign lobbying crimesthat encompassed his work for

Ukrainian politicians and otherclients over several years.

In the memo the prosecu-tors said that “Manafort choserepeatedly and knowingly toviolate the law” from “garden-variety crimes such as taxfraud, money laundering,obstruction of justice, and bankfraud” to “more esoteric laws”involving foreign lobbying.

He lied, they noted, “to taxpreparers, bookkeepers, banks,the Treasury Department, theDepartment of Justice NationalSecurity Division, the FBI, theSpecial Counsel’s Office, thegrand jury, his own legal coun-sel, members of Congress, andmembers of the executivebranch of the US government”,The Washington Post reported.

He committed crimeswhile leading a presidentialcampaign and while out on bailbefore trial, and then lied toinvestigators after pleadingguilty, the prosecutors said,revealing “a hardened adher-ence to committing crimes

and lack of remorse”.The charges in both cases

flow from Mueller’s investiga-tion into Russian interferencein the 2016 election.

The prosecutors however,did not reveal on Saturdaynew information aboutManafort’s activities in 2016and later, which they said havebecome a focus of Mueller’sinquiry into Russian influenceand the Trump campaign.

The filing helps pave theway for Manafort’s sentencingsin Washington D.C. andVirginia scheduled for nextmonth, as Mueller beginswrapping up his probe.

Meanwhile, the Manhattandistrict attorney is also prepar-ing to charge Manafort withviolating state tax laws andcommitting other financialcrimes.

Trump has not indicatedwhether he intends to pardonManafort, though he repeatedlyexpressed support for him ashis trial played out last year.

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North Korean leader KimJong-un left for

Vietnamese capital Hanoi forthe second US-North Koreasummit, the Korean CentralNews Agency (KCNA) report-ed on Sunday.

Kim will meet US President Donald Trump in Hanoi on Feb 27-28, Xinhua news agencyreported.

The first summit betweenthe two leaders held in June2018 in Singapore, whichresulted in improved bilateralrelations.

Kim will pay an officialvisit to Vietnam at the invita-tion of Vietnamese PresidentNguyen Phu Trong before hismeeting with Trump.

Kim was accompanied by Kim Yong Chol, Ri Su Yong, Kim Phyong Hae and O

Su Yong, members of thePolitical Bureau and Vice-Chairmen of the Central Committee of theWorkers’ Party of Korea(WPK), Ri Yong Ho, member of the Political Bureauof the WPK CentralCommittee and ForeignMinister, No Kwang Chol,alternate member of thePolitical Bureau of the WPKCentral Committee andMinister of the People’s ArmedForces, among others, saidKCNA.

Kim was seen off at Pyongyang Railway Stationby Kim Yong Nam, Choe Ryong Hae and Pak Pong Ju, members of thePresidium of the PoliticalBureau of the CentralCommittee of the WPK, andother senior officials of theparty, government and armedforces, KCNA reported.

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Venezuelan PresidentNicolas Maduro has

announced that he is breakingoff all political and diplomaticties with the Colombian gov-ernment.

“My patience is exhausted,I can no longer bear it that theterritory of Colombia lendsitself to aggression againstVenezuela, so I have decided tobreak off all political and diplomatic relations with thefascist government ofColombia,” Efe news quotedMaduro as telling his support-ers on Saturday.

He cried out thatColombian “ambassadors andconsuls must leave Venezuelawithin 24 hours,” and added,“oligarchy, get out...out of here,oligarchy, enough is enough.”

Maduro said it has becomeobvious “how Colombian ter-

ritory is being used by the gov-ernment of Mr (Ivan) Duque”to attack him, a reference to thehelp the neighbouring countryhas provided so that thehumanitarian aid stored therecan be transported intoVenezuela.

“Never before has aColombian President fallen solow or has worked againstVenezuela the way Mr. IvanDuque has done, never before,never - it’s like he’s throwingstones,” Maduro said. “He hasthe face of a little angel but I’dlike to grab his cheeks andsay...you’re the devil, IvanDuque.”

For several monthshumanitarian aid has beenstored at the Colombian bordercity of Cucuta to meet theneeds of Venezuela, a countrythat for some five years has suf-fered severe shortages of foodand medicines.

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The US and the Taliban are tomeet in Qatar for fresh talks

Monday seeking an end to 17years of grinding conflict inAfghanistan, with the stakesratcheting higher as the springfighting season approaches.

Marathon talks held inDoha last month have stokedhopes of a breakthrough afterthe two sides walked away witha “draft framework” that includ-ed a Taliban commitment toprevent Afghanistan from onceagain becoming a safe haven forinternational terror groups.

It was the most substantialengagement by Washingtonwith the militants since USforces ousted them from powerin 2001.

But there is still no accordon a timetable for a US with-drawal or a ceasefire -- bothmajor issues on which previousefforts have foundered.

This time Washington’s spe-cial envoy Zalmay Khalilzad,who has spearheaded themonths-long effort, is expected

to face an expanded Talibannegotiating team headed bySher Mohammad AbbasStanikzai, the Taliban’s formerdeputy minister of foreignaffairs.

Neither side has stated howlong they expect the meetings tolast or the details of what will bediscussed.

Analysts say this round willlikely see the Taliban push forthe removal of its leaders froma UN travel blacklist, matchedwith pressure from the US forthe militants to open a dialoguewith the Afghan government.

“Both sides are going intothis process with open mindsand a sense of urgency as theweather gets warmer and fight-ing season draws closer,”Graeme Smith, a consultantbased with International CrisisGroup, told AFP.

The Taliban have stead-fastly refused to negotiate withKabul, whom they dismiss as“puppets”. They have also stat-ed that, without a withdrawaltimetable, further progress is“impossible”.

US President DonaldTrump’s apparent eagerness toend America’s longest war, theAfghan government’s fear ofbeing sidelined, and the comingof spring all weigh on theprocess.

“Eyes are on the Taliban tosee if they are capable of com-promising,” said analyst MichaelSemple.

“Can they come up with asufficient compromise to agreeto a formula for an intra-Afghandialogue that absolutely involvesthe current Afghan govern-ment?” Khalilzad, he added,“has stirred up the peace processin a way that nobody over theprevious two decades had”.

The gathering momentumhas spurred fresh peace demon-strations and cautious hope inAfghanistan.

But there is also growingunease, with fears theGovernment is being pushedaside and that progress which many Afghans have paid for with their lives could yetbe undone if the US rushes forthe exits.

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Pope Francis on Sundayvowed to tackle every

single case of sexual abuse by priests in the RomanCatholic Church, comparingpaedophilia to “human sacri-fice” in a speech that left vic-tims cold.

His public address to top bishops at the end of a landmark summit in theVatican promised an “all-out battle” against abusivepriests, but blamed the deviland insisted the Church wasnot the only place childrenwere assaulted.

“If in the Church thereshould emerge even a singlecase of abuse - which already initself represents an atrocity -that case will be faced with theutmost seriousness”, Francispromised.

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ABiman Bangladesh Airlinesflight, en route Dubai from

Dhaka, made an emergencylanding at an airport in a coastalcity in the country after a manallegedly attempted to hijack theplane, officials said. The lonesuspect has been detained andis being interrogated, Bangl-adesh's Air Vice Marshal AbdulMatin said.

Army, Navy and elite policecordoned off the plane soonafter it landed at the Chattogramairport in southeasternBangladesh. All the passengerswere evacuated safely. "No onewas hurt during the rescueoperation," Matin said.

According to eyewitnesses,minutes after the Flight BG-147,which was on its way to Dubaifrom Dhaka via Chattogram,flew from the Chattogram Shah

Amanat International Airport, itreturned and made an emer-gency landing. The emergencyexit was opened through whichthe passengers disembarkedimmediately. The captain andthe first officer of the flight alsocame out later, they said. Thoughthe identity of the hijacker is yetto be known, according tounconfirmed reports the hijack-er was a foreign national and wasequipped with a handgun.

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan sharply crit-

icised his Egyptian counterpartAbdel Fattah al-Sisi after therecent execution of nine peoplein Egypt, saying he refused totalk to “someone like him”.

“They killed nine youngpeople recently. This is notsomething we can accept,”Erdogan said Saturday in aninterview with Turkish TVchannels CNN-Turk and KanalD, referring to the executionWednesday of nine men sen-tenced for the murder of theEgyptian prosecutor general in2015.

“Of course, we are going tobe told that it is a decision of thejudiciary, but there, justice, elec-tions, all that, are codswallop.There is an authoritarian system,even totalitarian,” Erdoganadded.

“Now, I am answering thosewho wonder why Tayyip

Erdogan does not speak to Sisi,because there are mediatorswho come here sometimes, butI will never talk to someone likehim,” he said.

Relations between Turkeyand Egypt have been virtuallynon-existent since the Egyptianmilitary, then led by Sisi, in 2013ousted Islamist presidentMohamed Morsi, a close ally ofErdogan.

Morsi’s Islamist MuslimBrotherhood is outlawed inEgypt but members of the grouphave sought refuge in Turkey.

Erdogan, who denouncedMorsi’s ouster, sometimes drawsa parallel with the failed coupagainst himself in 2016.

The Turkish president alsocalled for the release of MuslimBrotherhood prisoners in Egypt.“First of all, he should release allthose imprisoned with a gener-al amnesty. As long as these peo-ple have not been released, wewill not be able to talk with Sisi,”he said.

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Dozens of protesters ralliedin the Lebanese capital

Beirut on Saturday, calling onthe government to recognisecivil marriages carried out onhome soil.

The demonstrators gath-ered in front of Lebanon’s inte-rior ministry, days after recent-ly-appointed Interior MinisterRaya al-Hasan said she is will-ing to engage in “serious andprofound dialogue” over theissue.

The minister’s commentsprompted a backlash from reli-gious bodies, including thehighest Sunni authority inLebanon, and stirred debate onsocial media.

Lebanon has 15 separatepersonal status laws for itsrecognised religions but nocivil code covering issues suchas marriage. Many Lebanesecouples travel to neighbouring

Cyprus to tie the knot in a civilceremony, because Lebaneseauthorities recognise suchunions only if they have beenregistered abroad.

Hasan, the first femaleinterior minister in Lebanonand the Arab world, touchedon the issue of civil unions inan interview with Euronewslast week. She said she would“personally endorse” attemptsto establish a framework togovern civil marriages inLebanon.

“I will try to open thedoor for serious and profounddialogue on this issue with allreligious authorities and others,with the support of PrimeMinister Saad Hariri,” she said.

Dar al-Fatwa, the highestSunni authority in Lebanon,issued a response the day afterHasan’s interview was pub-lished, saying it “categoricallyrejects” civil unions conductedon Lebanese soil.

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Saudi Arabia has replaced itsambassador to the United

States, a royal decreeannounced Saturday, as thefallout over journalist JamalKhashoggi’s murder tests rela-tions between the two allies.

Princess Rima bintBandar was appointed thekingdom’s first woman envoy toWashington, replacing PrinceKhalid bin Salman, who wasnamed vice defence minister.

Prince Khalid is theyounger brother of CrownPrince Mohammed binSalman, the country’s de factoruler who also serves as thedefence minister.

The reshuffle comes as tieswith Washington are understrain following Khashoggi’smurder last October in theSaudi consulate in Istanbul.

After initially denying they

knew anything of Khashoggi’sdisappearance, the Saudis final-ly acknowledged that a teamkilled him inside the consulate,but described it as a rogueoperation.

US lawmakers have threat-ened to take tougher actionagainst Saudi Arabia over thebrutal killing amid claims thatthe crown prince was person-ally responsible.

The Saudi government hasstrongly denied he had any-thing to do with the murder ofKhashoggi who was a colum-nist with the Washington Post.The killing refocused attentionon a Saudi-led military coali-tion’s bombing campaign in

Yemen, which is gripped bywhat the UN calls the world’sworst humanitarian crisis.

Earlier this month, the USHouse voted overwhelminglyto end American involvementin Saudi Arabia’s war effort inneighbouring Yemen, dealing arebuke to President DonaldTrump who has publiclythrown his support behind thecrown prince.

US lawmakers this monthalso said they were probingwhether Trump was rushing tosell sensitive nuclear technolo-gy to Saudi Arabia to pleasecorporate supporters whostand to profit handsomely.

The House ofRepresentatives committee hasvoiced fears that Saudi Arabiacould convert US expertiseinto making a nuclear bomb,heightening already severe ten-sions with regional rival Iran.

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Social media networks arebeing used by people with

extreme views to galvanise intoplotting terrorist attacks, Britain’sinternal security agency MI5’sbehavioural science unit haswarned.

The intelligence unit, whichis in the process of expanding,includes psychologists, anthro-pologists and psychiatrists whoanalyse the online behaviour ofextremists to identify the men-tal health conditions that couldlead to an attack.

It has found that extremistsfind a form of legitimacy bysocial media networks such asTwitter and YouTube, often hid-ing behind anonymity.

“Social media provides a

forum in which people canexplore their dark thoughts inthe company of like-mindedpeople,” Alex, an MI5 officer,was quoted as saying by ‘TheSunday Times’. “This creates anecho chamber, providing legit-imacy to people with extremeviews and galvanising them toact,” added the member of theMI5 behavioural unit, whose fullname has been withheld forsecurity reasons.

The unit has reportedlyhelped to foil 14 terror plots inthe UK since the WestminsterBridge attack in London inMarch 2017, when five peoplewere killed and 49 injured. Itwarns MI5 officers and agentsagainst thinking that terroristsare “mad” even if their behaviourseems “inexplicable”.

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Scientists have mapped thesoil moisture and tempera-

ture variations in India overfive decades using satellite data,creating a resource that may bea critical for improving pre-dictions of how violent stormswill affect any area.

Thunderstorms embeddedwithin Indian monsoon sys-tems can deluge areas withdozens of inches of rain in lit-tle time, causing severe flood-ing and the loss of hundreds oflives each year.

Better predictions of when,where and how much rain willfall is key to saving propertyand lives, researchers said in astatement.

The team, including those

from Indian Institute ofTechnology Bhubaneswar andNational Institute ofTechnology Rourkela, in col-laboration with the Ministry ofEarth Sciences developedmulti-decade soil moisture andsoil temperature fields usingvariety of surface and satellitedata.

They have shown that fine-scale data, never beforeavailable for India’s monsoonregions, is a critical ingredientto understanding and improving predictions of howviolent storms will behave overland.

Just as storms changebehaviour based on the land-scape -- such as moving fromwater to land -- or fromencountering a cold or warm

front, they also react to changesin wet or dry and warm versuscolder soils.

“For a long time Indianmonsoon research has focusedas an oceanic feedback, but inrecent years we have seen localized heavy rain embedded within thunder-storm events with floodingand cloud bursts that occurover land,” said Dev Niyogi, aprofessor at Purdue Universityin the US.

“What we have learned isthat gradients in soil moistureand soil temperature help cre-ate an atmospheric frontalboundary and can unleash vio-lent reactions from a storm,”said Niyogi, who led the studypublished in the journalScientific Data.

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The Revolutionary Guardson Sunday accused “ene-

mies” of Iran of trying to sabotage the country’s mis-siles so that they would“explode mid-air” but said thebid was foiled.

“They tried as best as theycould to sabotage a small partwhich we import so that ourmissiles would not reach theirtarget and explode mid-air,”Fars news agency reported,quoting the Guards’ aerospacecommander Amir AliHajizadeh.

“But they couldn’t do adamn thing because we hadseen this coming from thestart and had reinforced thissector,” he added, accusing

Iran’s “enemies” of sabotagewithout naming any specificcountry.

Iran reined in most of itsnuclear programme under alandmark 2015 deal with majorpowers in return for sanctionsrelief, but has continued todevelop its ballistic missiletechnology.

Earlier this month the NewYork Times reported that theUS administration of PresidentDonald Trump was pushing asecret programme aimed atsabotaging Iranian rockets andmissiles.

It said Washington wastrying to “slip faulty parts andmaterials into Iran’s aerospacesupply chains” as part of a cam-paign to undercut Tehran’smilitary.

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Committee of Administrators chiefVinod Rai on Sunday said the

sporting community "needs to ostracisePakistan" for fomenting terror activi-ties just like South African was bannedfrom international cricket due to thecountry's policy on apartheid.

The BCCI has already written a let-ter to the ICC urging "all nations tosever ties with countries from whichterrorism emanates".

But the former CAG wants to lookat the bigger picture rather than just onematch as there is a possibility that Indiamay have to play them again in semi-final or final.

"We would be shooting in the footif we don't play Pakistan in the WorldCup. Our aim should be to ostracisePakistan as a cricketing nation," Raisaid.

"As I have said earlier, all cricket-ing nations should sever ties withthem," Rai said.

He cited the example of SouthAfrica, which was banned for 21 yearsfrom 1970 till 1991 due to the apartheidwhen black South Africans were racial-ly discriminated.

"I believe something similar needsto be done with Pakistan. They shouldbe banned from all sporting activitiesjust like it happened with SouthAfrica," Rai said.

The CoA chief also said that thematter will be officially tabled at theICC chief executives meet during thequarterly conference in Dubai.

The issue wasn't a part of the agen-da but now that BCCI has officiallywritten a letter, and the matter will beup for discussion.

"The matter will be officially tabledat the ICC chief executives meet andIndian board will express its concern,"he said.

When asked whether a consensuscan be built in order to isolate Pakistanin the sporting world, the veteranbureaucrat said that it is done at thepolitical level.

"It is done at the government levelwhere you talk to other nations in orderto build consensus," he said.

Opinions have been divided on thecalls for boycott with former India cap-tain Sourav Ganguly and senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh wanting theJune 16 match to be called off.

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Their tails up after amorale-boosting win in

the opener, a confident Indianwomen team would look toseal the three-match seriesagainst world championsEngland when they meet inthe second ODI on Monday.

India women couldn'thave asked for a better start tothe series, defeating the cur-rent world champions by 66runs in the opener at theWankhede Stadium on Friday.

The win not only gave afillip to their confidence butalso enabled India grab cru-cial two points in the ICCWomen's Championship asthe race for securing directqualification spots for the2021 World Cup heats up.

India need to hold on toits position in top four of theworld rankings till 2020 to geta direct berth in the 2021World Cup and in this con-text, a second successive vic-tory on Monday would do aworld of good for the hosts.

The hosts have a lot ofpositives to take from the win,especially the clinical perfor-mance of its bowling unit ledby left-arm spinner EktaBisht.

Bisht starred with the ballwith figures of 4 for 25 asIndian spinners madeEngland dance to their tunes.

England batswomenstruggled in the middle oversas they failed to counter thevariety provided by Bisht,leg-spinner Poonam Yadavand off-spinner DeeptiSharma (2/33).

Upfront veteran JhulanGoswami (1/19) and ShikhaPandey (2/21) gave India aperfect while defending themodest 202-run target.

On the batting front,young opener JemimahRodrigues has been in fine

touch while SmritiMandhana, who made 24,would be looking to make upfor the lost opportunity in theseries opener.

Skipper Mithali Raj, whomade 44 and is still goingstrong in the 50-over format,is the backbone of India'sbatting line-up but she wouldlook for support from thelikes of Deepti Sharma, MonaMeshram and young HarleenDeol, who got a chance inplace of injured HarmanpreetKaur,

Going into Monday'sgame, the only cause of con-cern for India is that they frit-tered away a good start pro-vided by openers Jemimahand Mandhana. The duoshared 69 runs for the firstwicket to set the platform fora big score.

But the middle-orderfumbled and it was then leftto Mithali and wicket-keep-er Tania Bhatia (25) and laterGoswami (30) to do the res-urrection work.

Stunned by the defeat,England is expected to comeout strongly to remain in thehunt and keep the seriesalive.

But the real challenge forEngland would be to figureout how to deal with India'sspin trio in helpful conditions.

Skipper Heather Knight isleading from the front but sheneeds support from the likesof Danni Wyatt, Sarah Taylorand Tammy Beaumont.

All-rounder NatalieSciver too had a good outingwith both bat and ball in thelast game.

England's bowling, on theother hand, has been impres-sive and the visitors have thefirepower in Sciver, SophieEccelestone, Georgia Elweissand experienced pacer AnyaShrubsole to trouble theIndians.

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Aprofligate Umesh Yadav undidall the good work done byJasprit Bumrah as Australia

edged out India by three wickets in alast-ball thriller in the first T20International on Sunday.

With 14 required off the last over,Umesh was hit for a boundary each byJhye Richardson and Pat Cummins,who had identical scores of 7 not outas they reached the target of 127 offthe last delivery of the match.

This was after Japrit Bumrah(3/16 in 4 overs) bowled an incredi-ble 19th over to bring India back in thematch just when it was looking thatAustralia would canter home.

He got Peter Handscomb with ashort ball and then yorked NathanCoulter-Nile after having dismissedAaron Finch in his first spell.

However it was Australia's tail-enders, who held the nerve getting thecouple required couple of runs off thefinal delivery of the innings.

But till the 15th over, Australiawere in a cruise control mode as GlennMaxwell (56 off 43 balls) and DarcyShort (37 off 37 balls) added 84 runsfor the third wicket to almost seal thematch,

India's wrist spin duo ofYuzvendra Chahal (1/28 in 4 overs)and debutant Mayank Markande (0/31in 4 overs) couldn't much make animpact on Maxwell, who blasted bothof them for towering sixes.

But things changed when Chahalfinally got Maxwell with a flighteddelivery wide outside the off-stumpand the batsman failed to clear Rahulat long-off.

Short was run-out after a mix-up

with Peter Handscomb and afterAshton Turner was removed byKrunal Pandya, Australia were in aspot of bother at 102 for 5.

But Richardson and Cumminskept their calm to give Australia a 1-

0 lead going into the second and finalgame in Bengaluru on February 27.

Put into bat, opener Rahul's half-century on comeback but an inexplic-able batting collapse found Indiarestricted to a paltry 126 for 7 in 20

overs.Back in the senior team after two-

month wilderness due to his trash talkon a TV show, Rahul showed why heis rated highly during his 36-ball-50but some indiscreet shot selection

from his teammates meant that only46 runs were scored in the back 10.

From a comfortable 80 for two in9.5 overs, India lost four wickets for20 runs by the 15th over to be reducedto 100 for six.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, playedone of his signature dogged innings ashe stemmed the rot with an unbeat-en 29 off 37 balls but the total was def-initely sub-par in the end.

The best partnership was 55 forthe second wicket between Rahuland skipper Virat Kohli (24, 17 balls).

Looking in his element, Kohli did-n't get the required elevation as hestepped out to leg-spinner AdamZampa only to find Nathan Coulter-Nile at long-on.

In the very next over, RishabhPant misjudged a single and JasonBehrendorff dived to his left andreleased the ball quickly for keeperPeter Handscomb to effect a run-out.

The Indian innings was all aboutRahul's flair as he repeatedly playedthe inside out lofted shot off pacersand the only six was a down theground hit off Adam Zampa.

Rahul however could not converthis start and got out immediately afterreaching his fifty in an over whereCoulter-Nile (3/26) also breachedDinesh Karthik's defence with anoff-cutter.

At the start of the innings,Behrendorff dismissed Rohit (5) asearly as in the third over with theIndian vice-captain trying the lap shotbut only to give Zampa a simple catchat fine leg.

But things started to go in India'sfavour from the next over with Rahuland then Kohli scoring a flurry ofboundaries.

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Indian captain Mithali Rajon Sunday urged his team-

mates to "work on partner-ships" as they looked to claiman unassailable lead in thethree-match series.

"We have to work on part-nerships. We had just 2,between the openers and minewith Taniya (Bhatia). We needto work on playing the mid-dle overs," said Mithali on theeve of the second one-dayer.

Openers JemimahRodrigues, who top scoredwith 48, and Smriti Mandhanaadded 69 runs for the first

wicket and after a mini col-lapse, the innings was resur-rected by a 54-run standbetween Mithali (44) andwicket keeper Tania (25) forthe sixth wicket.

"When we can go andscore 200 with just 2 partner-ships, if another couple of bat-ters can score runs, that wouldbe a good score on this wick-et," Mithali pointed out.

Praising Jemimah, Mithalifelt that the 18-year-oldMumbai youngster has forgeda good combination with thesettled Smriti Mandhana.

"She has graduallyimproved since her debut in

South Africa. So much expo-sure at such a young age willonly help her progress moreand take responsibility of giv-ing a good start. India have,for long, struggled to have agood opening pair. Now Ican see good starts since theNew Zealand (tour)," sheremarked.

She also hailed the bowl-ing of Shikha Pandey after anindifferent run of form.

"She's been with team forlong. Ever y player goesthrough a lean patch. As asenior and captain it's myduty to give more confidence,giving more opportunities.

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Domestic giantsMumbai continued

their winning run aftercomprehensively thrashingMadhya Pradesh by eightwickets on Sunday.

This is Mumbai's thirdconsecutive win in thedomestic T20 tournament,after they had earlier defeat-ed Sikkim and Punjab.

Mumbai bundled outMadhya Pradesh for 143 in19.3 overs and then chasedthe target with as many asfour overs to spare, thanksto a blazing hundred by in-

form batsman Shreyas Iyer(103 not out in 55 balls).

Iyer, who recentlymade the highest T20 scoreby an Indian surpassingRishabh Pant, continuedhis terrific form and ham-mered the Madhya Pradeshbowlers with utmost ease.

The duo (Iyer andSuryakumar (39 not out of36 balls)) took the MPattack to cleansers as Iyersknock was studded with 5fours and 10 sixes.

This is Iyer's secondhundred in the tournamentafter his record breaking147 in the opening game

against Sikkim.Earlier, Mumbai pacer

Tushar Deshpande (4-28)was among the wickets andwas ably supported by pac-ers Dhawal Kulkarni (2-12),Shardul Thakur (2-20) andspinner Shams Mulani asthey bowled out the hostsfor 143.

For MP, skipper RajatPatidar top-scored with a37-ball 47.

Meanwhile, Test spe-cialist Cheteshwar Pujara(42 not out) continued hisgood form with the bat ashe and Robin Uthappa(54)helped Saurashtra crush

Punjab by 8 wickets.

&���&���������� ������ Priyam Garg(59) and Rinku Singh (52)blasted unbeaten fifties toguide Uttar Pradesh to ahuge 58-run win overTripura in a Group Ematch.

Electing to bat, UttarPradesh rode on Garg andSingh to post a command-ing 184-4 and thenreturned to restrict Tripurafor 126-8 in 20 overs.

Garg hit six bound-aries, while Singh played awhirlwind 16-ball innings,

laced with five sixes andfour boundaries.

AS Rajpoor (4/17) andAnkit Chaudhary (3/19)shared seven wickets asTripura failed to stitchtogether a partnership, los-ing wickets in regular inter-vals.

In Palam A Stadium,Uttarakhand produced anallround show to notch upa 10-run win overPuducherry.

Batting first, skipper RBhatia (30), Vijay Sharma(30) and Shivam Khurana(29) came up with usefulcontributions as

Uttarakhand posted 141-6in 20 overs.

Uttarakhand thenrestricted Puducherry to131-9 in 20 overs withSunny Rana (2/28), SunnyKashyap (2/28) and H Bisht(2/21) taking two wicketseach.

Paras Dogra's 42-ball53 went in vain as he did-n't get support at the otherend.

In another Group Ematch, Ravi Chauhan's 45and S Pandey's three wick-et haul helped Services reg-ister a six-wicket win overMaharashtra.

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Skipper Ishan Kishan smashedhis second straight century,

a breezy unbeaten 113 to powerJharkhand to a 121-run winagainst Manipur in a Group 'A'match on Sunday.

This is Mumbai's third con-secutive win in the domesticT20 tournament, after they hadearlier defeated Sikkim andPunjab.

Mumbai bundled outMadhya Pradesh for 143 in19.3 overs and then chased thetarget with as many as four oversto spare, thanks to a blazinghundred by in-form batsmanShreyas Iyer (103 not out in 55balls).

Iyer, who recently madethe highest T20 score by anIndian surpassing Rishabh Pant,continued his terrific form andhammered the Madhya Pradeshbowlers with utmost ease.

The early failure of Indiainternationals Prithvi Shaw (O)and Ajinkya Rahane (1) did notdeter Iyer from playing his nat-ural game.

After the two were out,Mumbai were reeling at 7-2 inpursuit of 144.

But then one-down Iyerand experienced Surya Kumar

Yadav (39 not out of 36 balls)forged an unbroken 138-runstand and comfortably tookMumbai home.

The duo took the MP attack

to cleansers as Iyers knock wasstudded with 5 fours and 10sixes.

The 24-year-old Iyer racedto his individual fifty in 33 balls

and then completed his hun-dred in just 55 deliveries even asSurya played the sheet anchor'srole with perfection, strikingfour boundaries.

This is Iyer's second hun-dred in the tournament after hisrecord breaking 147 in theopening game against Sikkim.

Earlier, Mumbai pacerTushar Deshpande (4-28) wasamong the wickets and was ablysupported by pacers DhawalKulkarni (2-12), ShardulThakur (2-20) and spinnerShams Mulani as they bowledout the hosts for 143.

For MP, skipper RajatPatidar top-scored with a 37-ball 47.

Meanwhile, Test specialistCheteshwar Pujara continuedhis good form with the bat as heand Robin Uthappa helpedSaurashtra crush Punjab by 8wickets.

Saurashtra skipper JaydevUnadkat (3/30) led from thefront as they bundled outPunjab for a paltry 122.

For Punjab, veteran YuvrajSingh top-scored with a 34 runknock, while Gurkeerat Mannchipped in with 29.

But the other batsmen fal-tered against adisciplinedSaurashtra attack.

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Cameron Bancroft madean emphatic statement

to Australian selectors onSunday by carrying his bat inan unbeaten 138 on his redball return after a ball-tam-pering ban, while downplay-ing any rift with DavidWarner.

The 26-year-old openercompleted his nine-monthsuspension for cheating in lateDecember and has sinceplayed Twenty20 cricket forthe Perth Scorchers in the BigBash League.

But his outing forWestern Australia againstNew South Wales in theSheffield Shield in Sydney washis maiden first-class matchsince the infamous 'sandpa-pergate' in Cape Town almosta year ago that rocked thegame.

Bancroft was a measureof concentration and disci-pline as he played the anchorrole to be 73 not out overnightand completed his patientton on Sunday, smashingeight fours and three sixes inhis 358-ball innings as his

team collapsed around him.It helped steer Western

Australia to 279 all out.With the Ashes series

against England looming thisyear, it was a timely knockwith Australia struggling overthe summer to find a consis-tent Test opener.

They tried Aaron Finch,Marcus Harris, and Joe Burnsto varying degrees of successahead of the return of regu-lar opener Warner and formerTest skipper Steve Smith.

The pair are eligible toplay again in late March aftertheir one-year bans for thesame ball-tampering incidentexpire.

In an explosive interviewduring the Boxing Day Testagainst India in December,Bancroft alleged it wasWarner who asked him toalter the ball in South Africa.

Some pundits suggestedhe had thrown Warner"under the bus" and that theirrelationship was now unten-able.

But Bancroft insisted theyspoke regularly and had beensupporting each other.

"Yeah, I've spoken toDave... I think all of us,including Dave, have beenreally challenged through thisperiod of time," he told broad-caster ABC on Saturday.

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By teaching your childrenhealthy eating habits, andmodeling these behaviors in

yourself, you can help your childrenmaintain a healthy weight and nor-mal growth. Also, the eating habitsyour children pick up when they areyoung will help them maintain ahealthy lifestyle when they are adults.

Your child's health care providercan evaluate your child's weight,height and explain their BMI and letyou know if your child needs to loseor gain weight or if any dietarychanges need to be made.

Some of the most importantaspects of healthy eating are portioncontrol and cutting down on howmuch fat and sugar your child eatsor drinks. Simple ways to reduce fatintake in your child's diet and pro-mote a healthy weight.

For many parents, meal time canbe a battle of wills, a stressful, tear-stained, bribery-fuelled nightmare.

You order your child to finishwhat's on his or her plate. Or, wor-ried about the impact on yourchild's weight, you place a blanketmoratorium on all sweet treats. Oryou concede to your child's screamsat the dinner table and make thegrilled cheese sandwich she is beg-ging to have for the sixth time that

week.By trying to control how much

food your child eats is not benign.The study authors warn that tellingyour children what they can eat, andhow much of it they are allowed toconsume, potentially then shapesfurther weight-related behaviors ofthe adolescent (and parent) and ulti-mately influences weight gain or lossover time.

You decide which foods to buyand when to serve them. Thoughkids will pester their parents for lessnutritious foods, adults should be incharge when deciding which foodsare regularly stocked in the house.Kids won't go hungry. They'll eatwhat's available in the cupboard andfridge at home. If their favouritesnack isn't all that nutritious, you canstill buy it once in a while so theydon't feel deprived.

From the foods you offer, kidsget to choose what they will eat orwhether to eat at all. Kids need tohave some say in the matter.Schedule regular meal and snacktimes. From the selections you offer,let them choose what to eat and howmuch of it they want. This may seemlike a little too much freedom. Butif you follow step 1, your kids will bechoosing only from the foods youbuy and serve.

Quit the "clean-plate club." Letkids stop eating when they feelthey've had enough. Lots of parentsgrew up under the clean-plate rule,but that approach doesn't help kidslisten to their own bodies when theyfeel full. When kids notice andrespond to feelings of fullness,they're less likely to overeat.

Start them young. Food prefer-ences are developed early in life, sooffer variety. Likes and dislikesbegin forming even when kids arebabies. You may need to serve a newfood a few different times for a child

to accept it. Don't force a child to eat,but offer a few bites. With older kids,ask them to try one bite.

Rewrite the kids' menu. Whosays kids only want to eat hot dogs,pizza, burgers, and macaroni andcheese? When eating out, let yourkids try new foods and they mightsurprise you with their willingnessto experiment. You can start by let-ting them try a little of whatever youordered or ordering an appetizer forthem to try.

Drink calories count. Soda andother sweetened drinks add extracalories and get in the way of goodnutrition. Water and milk are thebest drinks for kids. Juice is finewhen it's 100%, but kids don't needmuch of it—4 to 6 ounces a day isenough for preschoolers.

Put sweets in their place.Occasional sweets are fine, but don'tturn dessert into the main reason foreating dinner. When dessert is theprize for eating dinner, kids natural-ly place more value on the cupcakethan the broccoli. Try to stay neu-tral about foods.

Food is not love. Find betterways to say "I love you." When foodsare used to reward kids and showaffection, they may start using foodto cope with stress or other emo-tions. Offer hugs, praise, and atten-

tion instead of food treats.Kids do as you do. Be a role

model and eat healthy yourself.When trying to teach good eatinghabits, try to set the best examplepossible. Choose nutritious snacks,eat at the table, and don't skipmeals.

Limit TV and computer time.When you do, you'll avoid mindlesssnacking and encourage activity.Research has shown that kids whocut down on TV-watching alsoreduced their percentage of bodyfat. When TV and computer timeare limited, they'll find more activethings to do. And limiting "screentime" means you'll have more timeto be active together.

Include Work fruits and vegeta-bles into the daily routine, aimingfor the goal of at least five servingsa day. Be sure you serve fruit or veg-etables at every meal. Make it easyfor kids to choose healthy snacks bykeeping fruits and vegetables onhand and ready to eat. Other goodsnacks include low-fat yogurt,peanut butter and celery, or whole-grain crackers and cheese. Servelean meats and other good sourcesof protein, such as fish, eggs, beans,and nuts.

Choose whole-grain breads andcereals so kids get more fiber. Limit

fat intake by avoiding fried foodsand choosing healthier cookingmethods, such as broiling, grilling,roasting, and steaming. Chooselow-fat or nonfat dairy products.Limit fast food and low-nutrientsnacks, such as chips and candy. Butdon't completely ban favorite snacksfrom your home. Instead, makethem "once-in-a-while" foods, sokids don't feel deprived. Limit sug-ary drinks, such as soda and fruit-flavored drinks. Serve water andlow-fat milk instead.

The best way for you to encour-age healthy eating is to eat wellyourself. Kids will follow the lead ofthe adults they see every day. By eat-ing fruits and vegetables and notoverindulging in the less nutritiousstuff, you'll be sending the rightmessage.

Another way to be a good rolemodel is to serve appropriate por-tions and not overeat. Talk aboutyour feelings of fullness, especiallywith younger children. You mightsay, "This is delicious, but I'm full,so I'm going to stop eating."Similarly, parents who are alwaysdieting or complaining about theirbodiesmay foster these same neg-ative feelings in their kids. Try tokeep a positive approach aboutfood

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For a long time, cruisetravel was looked upon asa trip for the elite and peo-

ple with extendable budgets. Ithas always been under the‘expensive’ segment and for anexclusive set of people and agegroup.

However, looking at thecurrent scenario, travel expertsare pointing towards the risingtrend of cruise travel in Indiaamong both solo and coupletravellers, who are increasing-ly exploring this option. Theysay that Indian travellers havestarted realising that cruising isnot a luxury but rather an exot-ic experience.

Varun Chadha, COO,Tirun, tells us that if we look atit through a gender-specificperspective, around 45 per centfemales and 55 per cent malesare shifting towards cruise trav-el options.

Talking about the changethat has come about over thepast 10 years, Chadha says,“Cruise tourism has startedrising in India. There is morerelevant deployment. We haveseen that more people havecruised in the last three yearsand hence, more conversationsare taking place. There’s moremedia exposure and even thegovernment is talking of pro-moting cruise tourism withinour coastline. Some cruiseships are plying seasonally andrepositioning, hence it’s a nat-ural evolution.”

He lists that Tirun’s threecruises — Royal CaribbeanInternational, Celebrity Cruisesand Azamara Club Cruises —have witnessed 25 per centCAGR over the last three years.He says, “The cruise travelbusiness from India is likely torise exponentially from twolakh passengers annually atpresent to 40 lakh a year with-in the next five to 10 years.”

Varun notes that throughsailing, guests can enjoy thebeauty of some of Asia’s moststunning ports of call includingDubai, Muscat in Oman,Cochin, Penang in Malaysiaand Singapore.

Varun says that they haveobserved 20 per cent of thepeople are MICE (Meetings,Incentives, Conferences, andEvents) travellers and 80 percent make sure for the leisuretravel.

He says, “In today’s day andage, where couples are very spe-cific about the kind of weddingthey wish to have and everybride and groom is sure thatthey want to do somethinggrand and different to celebratethe next phase of their life, acruise wedding is just the wayto go. Not only can you bringyour friends and familytogether for a few daysof fun and frolic, it isalso the most hassle-freeevent. With the

growing need for innovation inthe wedding ceremonies, RoyalCarribean International hasseen a 200 per cent rise indemands from the coupleswanting to tie the knot on acruise.”

Varun further explains thata cruise wedding is highly cus-tomised as it has to suit everybudget. It is actually one of themost cost-effective options forthose couples and familieslooking to have a celebrationthat makes a mark. Having awedding on-board a cruiseship not only guarantees luxu-ry, but also offers the to-be-weds a chance to tie the knotwith the ocean breeze, theazure skies, the vast waters andpicturesque locales for compa-ny. The best part is that every-thing – from the guests’ accom-modation, their entertainment,food, the wedding planning,venue, décor, service — istaken care of in one all-inclu-sive package.

According to the company,MICE travel has emerged as themost important sub sectors oftourism industry. Many corpo-rates plan trips with theiremployees to stay more con-nected with them and also toencourage them to boost theirefficiency.

Varun apprises top 10 citiesfrom where they have receiveda demand for cruise booking —Delhi, Mumbai, Ahemdabad,Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai,Surat, Kochi and Raipur.

Manmeet Ahluwalia, mar-keting head of Expedia, says,“Cruise industry has been agrowing segment in India andin the last five years, we haveseen travellers’ interest surgingfor the same. The advantage of

cruises is that they let thetravellers take land

tours/excur-

sion trips when they anchor atmajor ports which enables con-sumers to cover tourist destina-tions before resuming thecruise. These holidays not onlyoffer travellers the choice ofexploring new destinations onanchoring but also a host ofactivities like indoor games,swimming, movies and liveentertainment. It gives a pletho-ra of entertainment at oneplace and is hence rising up inthe list of choices of vacationsbeing opted by Indians.”

As per Expedia-CAPAOutbound Travel OutlookReport, over the last five yearsthe market has tripled in sizefrom 50,000 to 1,50,000 cruisepassengers from India andinternational cruise lines areincreasingly visiting the coun-try’s ports. She adds, “Apartfrom Singapore, TheMediterranean and Alaska arethe two most popular destina-tions outside Southeast Asia.”

Neelu Singh, CEO andDirector, Ezeego1 says thatSingapore, Vietnam,Cambodia, Bangkok and HongKong are major cruise hubs forIndians.

She explains that leadingcruise liners like Star Cruises,Royal Caribbean, DreamCruises, Princess Cruises areseeing a hike in the number ofvisitors this summer. Besidessailing out of Singapore, peopleare also exploring cruises fromVietnam, Myanmar and thePhilippines.”

Naresh Rawal, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing,Asia Pacific, Genting CruiseLines noticed through yearsthat Australia and New Zealandhave a beautiful coastline thatcan only be accessed through acruise. Keeping this in mindthey decided to launch a ship— Explorer Dream this year tocater to Indian market. Besides

this, he says, McLeod Islandsin Thailand and

Miyakojima and Naha,the Southern Islands of

Japan are the hotnew destinations

in Asia.

Unknown to many, India’s renownedcardiac surgeon Dr Ramakanta Panda,

who performed a heart bypass surgery onformer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh10 years ago — harbours a private and con-suming passion: Wildlife and nature pho-tography.

Emerging from the sanitised confinesof his Asian Heart Institute (AHI) inMumbai, Panda has for the first timeunveiled a selection of around 30 awesomephotographs at the three-day DCP FourthGrant Annual Photography Exhibition inneighbouring Thane.

The collection spans rare, exotic birdsand animals in their natural habitat,including a bewildered owlet, a pair of frol-icking flamingos and a couple of tigerssilently on the prowl, blissfully unaware ofa quiet Panda on their trail to “shoot” themwith a camera click.

With photography an almost obsessivepassion, every month, Panda, sheds hisoperation theatre garb and slips into jun-gle casuals. Armed with his Nikon cam-era system, he then indulges in “shoot-outs”to produce stunning images of nature andits creations.

Though preferring groups of like-minded wildlife enthusiasts — occasion-ally, his daughter Sonal accompanies himon his jungle sojourns — since the past twodecades, he has emerged as a “serious”wildlife and nature photographer.

He specially loves to “kill stress” byclicking in and around Mumbai, theChilka Lake in Odisha (his home state), the

Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthanand the Kanha National Park in MadhyaPradesh. He has also “shot” in Africa,among other locations.

“If you look around, its amazing to seethe bird life in Mumbaia; ditto with

Chilka Lake. Kanha is the best-maintainedwildlife sanctuary in India,” said Panda witha grin, describing himself as “a self-taughtphotographer, learning from blunders”.

“At one point in time, India wasblessed with the richest wildlife. But

unfortunately, in the past few decades, thewildlife population is virtually decimateddue to various reasons,” a concernedPanda said.

However, he is grateful to the consis-tent efforts of many dedicated wildlife con-

servationists and enthusiasts owing towhich the jungles are gradually gettingenlivened again.

Recounting a memorable jungle expe-rience, he said once in Kanha, he wasinformed that a famed male tiger, Munna,was so smart that the moment he espieda tracking elephant or tourist vehicles, hewould quickly emerge from the forests.

“That is exactly what happened. WhenMunna saw our vehicle and the trackingelephant, he leapt out of the forest, camein front and quietly sat down for nearly halfan hour. Like in a professional modelingshoot, he gave us all possible angles andposes and we returned delighted,” Pandasmiled.

Asked what is more difficult — wildlifephotography or heart surgery? Pandasaid, “Both are easy or difficult, depend-ing on how you look at it. Sometimes, whenI sit for hours to get that perfect shot, I startthinking that surgery is probably easier.”

He has over 20,000 heart surgeriesunder his belt and a portfolio of over 10,000wildlife-nature photographs.

Making his own contribution to theconservation efforts, Panda said that pro-ceeds from the sale of his photographswould go towards funding an ambulanceservice for wildlife through an NGO,Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare(RAWW).

The exhibition altogether featuresanother 350 works from 150 photographersaround India and is proving to be a bigdraw. H��*�

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When Mahatma Gandhi beganthe Swadeshi movement ask-ing Indians to boycott British-

made garments, spin the yarn them-selves and wear Khadi, he was encour-aging people to rediscover pride in theirheritage while at the same time mak-ing it the basis of India’s economicregeneration. Fast forward to 2019 andyou see the fabric that lent support tothe rural livelihood has transitionedinto a global fashion statement.

To celebrate 100 years of the hand-spun fabric and commemorateMahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniver-sary, FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO)and All India Women’s EducationFund Association (AIWEFA) present-ed a day-long conclave-cum-exhibitiontitled, Khadi Goes Global.

Designers Rohit Bal, Rina Dhaka,Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla and RajeshPratap Singh, among others presentedthe fabric in a new form presenting itas a global style statement.

“It’s the national fabric that standsfor India’s freedom struggle and inde-pendence. It stands for an immenseamount of self discovery. It’s the reasonpeople realised their self reliance andpride. Khadi is the fabric of the past, thepresent and the future,” said Rohit whocreated an all-white ramp show whichhad a plethora of styles of Khadi.

The designer believes that the onlyone way to popularise it globally is bymaking it “visible to the world” andensuring that people realise the “beau-ty” which it carries within. The initia-tive Khadi Goes Global, he said, is “justthe beginning.”

If one looks at the legacy of Khadi,it’s a century old now. Then whatexplains the boom that it is seeing afterso many decades? Rohit said thatunlike linen, which has been the mostfavoured fabric choice over ages, “Khadiis the newest fabric for the world, his-torically. The boundaries take time toexpand, especially when fashion con-sciousness has permeated everywhere,unlike during the past few decades.There have been fabrics which are morethan 500 years old. Linen and muslinare the examples. In this way, Khadi isthe brand new.”

Talking about what he presented atthe showcase, he said that he hasn’tblended it with any strong Westerninfluence. “Khadi is a versatile fabricthat can be customised as per any kindof styling. It is best used for any kindof fluid clothing. I cannot imagine itbeing used for structured clothing,” said

he.However, he said that there are also

designers like Rajesh who are makingjackets and all things Western out of it,but “Khadi, for me, is the fabric of thesoul, realism and carries with it a veryintense feeling of independence. Itstands for inclusivity and somethingthat makes you part of the Indian cul-ture.”

His models walked the ramp inbright white Khadi sarees and ethnicwear showcasing immense pride in var-ious facets of local fashion.

Moving further, it was Rina Dhakawhose stylish handwoven Khadi clothesgave a new charm to what could becalled street fashion. It showed how it’smore than just jeans or trousers withlarge Khadi bags, loose-fit pants, andeasy tops. With Jai Jawaan Jai writtenon her shirt, her presentation paid atribute to the martyrs of the Pulwamaattack.

“We have worked over blendingand structured the silk as well as themulmul for softness. We used thewhole mill-made Khadi. But our cre-ations also narrate a journey of theirevolution as well as beauty. It is sostrong that it cannot be ignored,” saidRina as she felt emotional.

For her, Khadi is not just a fabric,rather a history. She said, “It is about aculture. The original Gandhian does-n’t believe in the currency. They barterby making a Khadi cloth for someoneand selling it as a source of livelihood.It is about the avant-garde world. It isa warp and weft of life.”

She believed that Khadi comes witha lot of restrictions, which is why it hastaken a long time to evolve as a globalfashion statement. It also has variousversions like silk, mulmul, handloom.

Unlike other fabrics, she said,“Khadi’s story is different. They havedifferent spins — flat spin, charkha spin— and the looms are smaller. There isdiscrepancy in the fabric. No other fab-ric has such a story or a process.”

The designer, who has previouslyworked for a number of Khadi and sus-tainable clothing initiatives, one of thembeing Jharcraft, feels that she doesn’tneed an applause for what she is doingbecause it is an important “responsibil-ity.”

While Padma Shri Geeta Chandranperformed on the Maitreen Bhajatapaying tribute to the Gandhian idea offreedom, actors Arjun Rampal andAditi Rao Hydari walked the ramp asshowstoppers.

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The phrase “body-mind-soul” has become amodern cliché, in everything from religion topsychology to holistic medicine, when referring

to our totality as a human being. However, in mostcases people have only a superficial understanding ofthese words and no concrete idea of their true nature.It is often said that the real self is behind the mind orintellect. It is also believed that we can experience andknow the self when we go beyond mind which is likea sheath of the soul. Seers, philosophers and commonpeople have often wondered about the nature of soul,its origin and itsqualities. There areas many opinionsand beliefs aboutthe soul as thereare about God. Alot of people saythat the soul is anall pervading uni-versal conscious-ness and it iseverywhere. Thereare some who saythat the soul is partof the universalc o n s c i o u s n e s s ,however they donot ascribe anyform or identity toit and believe thatthe soul is a formof energy that ispresent ever y-where. Then thereare those whobelieve that the spirit is the manifestation of God. Theysay that the soul and God are one and there is no dis-tinction between the two. This belief is central to theproponents of Advaita philosophy. And hence, theysay that souls are immune to the effect of actions. Asa result, they do not get corrupted by bad actions andremain ever-pure like God and it is the body that bearsthe brunt of sinful actions. Following from the beliefthat souls go through rebirths according to the actionsof their previous birth, many in India say that a soulgoes through births in 84 lakh animal species of whichthe lucky one is where one takes the form of humanspecies.

Great souls like prophets, saints and holy men arebelieved to have come on earth to spread the goodword and do good actions. Many of them spent theirlives in life-long penance, meditation and spiritualpractices after which they are said to have attained per-manent liberation or Nirvana. There are also souls whoare believed to have ascended to higher realms andare said to be guiding their followers from there.According to the true spiritual wisdom revealed by theSupreme Soul, all human souls are his children. Eachone is unique. Thus, it must be understood that soulsare not God but they have godly qualities. They aresentient and conscient self-luminous star like entitiesthat have the power to think, choose, feel, discern andact through sense organs. However, they can expressand experience only when they are in human bodies.It must also be understood that all souls reside in thesoul world which is far beyond this physical universe.In that dimension all souls exist in their eternal formof light. Each soul begins its journey on earth at itstime and in the beginning they don’t go through anysuffering because they are pure. They go through theirjourney on earth passing through different stages ofpurity.

We are at the end of Iron Age (Kali Yuga) whenall souls have become vicious and have forgotten theirtrue identity and because of body consciousness theyhave lost their power and become prone to vices. Itis the most auspicious period in the journey of all soulsthat they now have a chance to get enlightened andliberated from all bondages and vices because theSupreme Almighty Himself is imparting the wisdomand power to help us. He is guiding us with his loveand blessings to our original pure stage of purity andchanging this vicious world to a virtuous one. But, forthat we need to become soul conscious and get rid ofall kinds of bondages related to our body. This is theeasiest way to self realisation and liberation.

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In the interim budget of 2019-20, about �94, 000 crores have

been allocated to the educationsector, which is 10 per cent high-er than the previous financial year.In the interim budget, �56,386.63crore has been allocated to schooleducation compared to�37,461.01 crore for higher edu-cation. Whereas in the last finan-cial year �50,000 crores had beenallocated. In the NationalEducation Mission, only a provi-sion of �38,573 crore has beenmade. These amounts includeprovisions for digitising the classroom, improving the level ofteaching and giving the teachersproper training. According toexperts, there has been anincrease of 3.69 per cent in theeducation budget in this fiscalyear.

Despite spending a largeamount of money on school edu-cation by the Central and Stategovernments in our own budget,the condition of governmentschools is abysmal. As a result, theparents enrol their children in pri-vate schools. Recently, UnifiedDistinct Information System forEducation (U-DICE) and sever-al non-governmental organisa-tions have pointed out the gaps byhighlighting this trend, the con-dition of government schoolsand the level of education ofteachers.

According to the report anddata released by U-DICE, parentsin Bihar and UP are disappoint-ed with the performance of gov-ernment schools. According tothe report, in 2016-17, in Bihar,the number of children enrolledhas decreased by 15 lakh. In 2015-16, where 2.35 crore children wereenrolled in government schools inBihar, the figure decreased to 2.19crore in 2016-17. During the

same period in Uttar Pradesh, thefigure decreased from 1.62 croreto 1.52 crore. Overall, enrollmentof about 56.59 lakh children ingovernment schools across thecountry has decreased and UP aswell as Bihar alone accounted for43 per cent of the total figures.

Parents prefer private schoolsas they think that governmentones teach English as a subject,that too nominally. They believethat children from English medi-um schools can get admission inpremier higher education institu-tions of the country.

In states like Bihar and UttarPradesh, the improvement intheir financial status is also one ofthe main reasons behind the

growing trend of parents sendingtheir children to private schools.According to a report of theCentral Statistics Office, per capi-ta income in Bihar has increasedfrom �8,560 in 2004-05 to�16,652 in 2014-15. During thesame period in UP, it increasedfrom �14,580 to �22,892 per per-son.

In Bihar and UP, privateschools which do not comply withCBSE standards have seen a rapidincreas in enrollment of children.These charge fees arbitrarilybesides forcing parents to pur-chase stationary and uniformsfrom the school itself. Instead ofprescribing NCERT books,expensive books from private

publishers are prescribed in returnfor fat commission. The govern-ments of these two states havedecided to act. The Bihar govern-ment has enacted Act 2018 for fix-ing the fee, the U P governmenthas decided to implement the UPself-financed independent school(Regulation of Tariff) Bill, 2017.

Professor Geeta Gandhi ofthe London-based Institute ofEducation, in a research in 2017,said that students enrolling ingovernment schools of 20 statesof India between 2010-11 and2015-16 decreased by 1.3 crore. Inthe same period, 1.75 crore newstudents have been enrolled inprivate schools. According toresearch, the reason is the high-

ly-educated teachers in theseschools.

According to educationistShamima Shabbir, the large num-ber of unemployed graduates inthe country often work for lowsalaries in private schools.

On the other hand, qualityeducation is declining due tolack of teachers in governmentschools. Research shows that 60lakh teachers’ positions have beensanctioned by the government,but approximately 10 lakh ofthese are lying vacant in govern-ment schools across the countryat many different levels. Of these9 lakh vacant positions are in pri-mary schools alone. At the prima-ry level, more than 2.24 lakh postsare vacant in UP and 2.03 lakh inBihar. In the primary and sec-ondary schools of West Bengaland Jharkhand, one-third teach-ers are vacant on average. This isfollowed by Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh, where the situationis somewhat better but not satis-factory. Sikkim is the only state inthe country where 100 per centposts of teachers are filled at pri-mary and secondary levels. Whileat the secondary level, the lowestnumber of teachers in the coun-try is in Jharkhand. Even Biharhas more than 17,000 vacanciessanctioned on secondary level,whereas in UP, the sanctionedposts of about 7,000 secondaryteachers are lying vacant. InJammu and Kashmir, there arevacancies of more than 21,000teachers at the secondary levelwhere only 4,436 posts out of25,657 sanctioned posts havebeen filled.

According to a research bythe Center for Budget andGovernance Accountability(CBGA) and Child Right and You(Cry), the lack of qualified teach-

ers plagues almost all the states ofthe country. Bihar is the worst interms of teacher-student ratio,number of teachers and also interms of their training across thecountry. According to the report,38.7 per cent teachers in prima-ry schools of Bihar are not trained.Whereas the number of suchteachers at the secondary level is35.1 per cent West Bengal comesin second where 31.4 per cent atthe primary level and 23.9 percent teachers at the secondarylevel are untrained.

Surprisingly, the governmentteachers in India get highersalaries than the ones in privateschools. According to a 2013analysis of Amartya Sen, NobelPrize winner and Jean Dreze, emi-nent economist, the salary ofteachers of government schools inUP is four times more than theper capita GDP of India. Despitethis, according to the Programmefor the International Assessment(PISA) test, which rates teachers,India ranked 73rd out of 74countries.

The biggest reason for thepoor quality of governmentschools is the apathy and careless-ness of the education departmentofficials. The Allahabad HighCourt verdict of 2015 in which thecourt had made it mandatory thatall the bureaucrats and govern-ment employees should sendtheir children to governmentschools should be implemented.Fifty-five per cent of the country’schildren (about 26 crore) study ingovernment schools. In such acase, it is not enough to allocatea huge budget to improve thestandard of education in govern-ment schools, but there is a needfor honesty and dedication for all-round improvement.

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If someone tells you that used cook-ing oil (UCO), which is hazardousand deadly when consumed, can

lead to a healthy life, balance countryenergy security, earn revenue, andgenerate employment, power vehiclesand contribute to a clean environment?Unbelievable but possible.

Cooking oil is used in every house-hold and with so many brands availablein the market, each tries to get the bestone suited to its daily requirements. Itis used, reused and then, probably, thisexercise is repeated several times. Somepeople might be unaware that usedcooking oil (UCO) is harmful forhuman consumption as well as the envi-ronment. It is often sold to second andthird tier restaurants or road-sideshops or disposed off in the drainswhich results in clogging.

Recycling of used cooking oiladdresses two problems. First, it helpsin stopping adulteration of edible oil,

which previously found its way into themarket through illegal hawker networkand was sold as cheap oil. This is pur-chased by small vendors and reused.Consumption ofthis oil leads todiseases likeP a r k i n s o n’s ,Alzheimer’s andother cardiovascularproblems and thus, must bestopped.

Second, this edibleoil once declared unfitfor consumption (i.e whenit crosses the Total PolarCompound level of 25), can be used toproduce a greener fuel called biodieselthrough various technologies. The

clean green fuel is low on sulphur andother pollutants, thereby giving con-sumers a better fuel with reducedemissions. A few companies have nowstarted collecting UCO and convertingit into biodiesel which is helping to con-trol pollution and enabling people to eathealthy and live better.

Case studies from Europe andAmerica show that biofuels impact the

environment a lot. Even inAsian countries like

China, Indonesia,Malaysia and nowIndia, the use of

biofuels has increased.These are generated within the coun-try and reduce the import of crude oilsignificantly. This results in a cleaner

environment and brings down thecosts for the nation. Since the 10 mostpolluted cities in the world are in India,the use of biofuel is a must for a betterfuture.

Notably, Food Safety and StandardsAuthority of India (FSSAI), has recent-ly advised State Food SafetyCommissioners to focus on awarenessand education programmes, surveil-lance and enforcement activities for thenew set of regulations. FSSAI along withthe Indian Biodiesel Association hasestablished a nation-wide eco-systemfor collecting used cooking oil and itsconversion to biodiesel. The new reg-ulations have set the maximum permis-sible limit of TPC in edible oil at 25 percent. Also, FSSAI has launched RUCO— Repurpose Used Cooking Oil, anecosystem that will enable the collec-tion and conversion of used cooking oilto biodiesel, they have listed companiesacross India to execute it.

Currently, a few biofuel regulatorsand producers associations have beentaking used cooking oil from restau-rants, food outlets and stores for pro-cessing but looking at the environmen-tal conditions, the current number ofUCO collections have to be scaled upthrough well-planned promotions andawareness programmes.

The government introduced theBiofuel Policy of India last year and laidspecial emphasis on the use of greenfuels. The targets have to be achievedin the coming years.

India’s energy needs are constant-ly rising. The depleting fossil fuelreserves impact the environment whichneeds long-term solutions for renew-able energy. The new Biofuel Policy har-nesses the potential and reduces thedependence on imports of crude oil tomeet India’s growing energy demand.It envisages a target of 20 per centblending of ethanol in petrol by 2030.

Since 2005, with the introductionof the Renewable Transport FuelObligation, the volumes of UCO col-lected have increased steadily to a2013 estimate of 250 million litres.Regular diesel fuel contains up to 5 percent biodiesel generated from UCO.

Biodiesels derived from renew-able biomass resources seek to providea higher degree of national energy secu-rity in an environment-friendly andsustainable manner by supplementingconventional energy resources.

Biodiesel is non toxic andbiodegradable. Compared to petroleumdiesel fuel, biodiesel combustion pro-duces fewer air pollutants such as par-ticulates, carbon monoxide, sulphurdioxide, hydrocarbons and air toxics. Ascompared with diesel, particulate mat-ter emissions from biodiesel are 30 percent lower, hydrocarbons exhaust is 93per cent lower and carbon-monoxideand carbon dioxide are lower by 50 percent and 78 per cent respectively. Thisall leads up to 12 per cent gains in thefuel efficiency.

Also, liquid biodiesel is a better sub-stitute for fossil fuels that are used in thetransport sector. Opting for alternativeenergy sources can help us combat var-ious developmental issues ranging fromclimate to economic. Not only this, butit will also open employment avenues formany in a developing economy like ours.

Sustainable biofuel production isgrowing rapidly. Its profitability is sig-nificantly linked with the policies of mul-tiple sectors such as agriculture, food andenvironment.

(The author is the CEO and founderof a Biotechnology company in Bawal,Haryana.)

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Sixteen-year-old boy SaurabhChaudhary beat the men stand-ing in his way to claim Gold witha new record in the ISSF WorldCup on Sunday, securing India's

third Olympic quota, but there was dis-appointment in store for Manu Bhaker.

Unfazed by a field comprising sea-soned campaigners, Chaudhary smashedthe men's 10m air pistol world record inhis maiden senior World Cup appear-ance, at the season-opening InternationalShooting Sport Federation event.

Qualification topper Manu, howev-er, finished fifth in the women's 25m pis-tol event after starting strongly.

Asian Games and Youth OlympicsGold medallist Chaudhary ended theevent with a total score of 245.

Dami Mikec of Serbia was second inthe podium with a score of 239.3, whilethe Bronze medal was bagged by 2008Olympic champion Wei Pang of China,who managed 215.2.

Such was his dominance in theeight-men final that he finished the event5.7 points ahead of the Silver medallist,the Gold assured even before his finalshot.

Chaudhary showed no signs of ner-vousness despite his first senior WorldCup outing and started strongly to fin-ish on top with Serbian Mikec at the endof the first series.

In the second series, the championshooter continued his good form and fin-ished at the top.

Other Indians competing in the

event, Abhishek Verma and RavinderSingh, failed to qualify for the final.

Both Abhishek are Ravinder finishedwith a total score of 576 in the qualifi-cation round.

In the day's last final, Hungary'sVeronika Major created a new worldrecord to clinch the Gold medal with atotal of 40.

The Silver went to Jingjing Zhang ofChina while Haniyeh Rostamiyan of Iransettled for the third place on the podi-um.

China and Hungary sealed theOlympic quota in this event.

The Commonwealth Games andYouth Olympics Gold medallist Manuended the event with a total score of 22at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

In the first series, Manu scored 3 outof a possible 5.

She found the mark just twice in thesecond series, slipping to the seventhposition.

The multiple World Cup medallistwas on target in the third series jump-ing to the second spot.

However, Manu struggled to find thetarget consistently and finished fifth.

She had qualified for the final with

a score of 590 while Rahi Sarnobat andChinki Yadav failed to advance.

Earlier, Chaudhary shot 19 scoresabove 10. The Indian also holds the worldrecord in 10m air pistol event in thejunior category and that is higher thanthe senior world record he made onSunday.

Last year, Chaudhary also won Goldat the Junior World Cup in Suhl,Germany, in addition to being crownedjunior world champion and YouthOlympic champion.

He has won one Gold and one Silverat the Junior Asian Championships, and

a Gold at a Youth Asian Championship.In qualification, Chaudhary finished

third with a score of 587 (20x), behind588 (27x) shot by Lee Daemyung ofSouth Korea and 587 (23x) shot by PangWei.

In the men's 50m rifle 3 positionsevent, Indian shooters failed to qualify forthe final as Hungary's Istvan Peni claimedthe Gold medal.

Parul Kumar was ranked 22nd in the

qualification with a total score of 1170,while Sanjeev Rajput finished 25th with1169.

This was India's second medal in thetournament, with Apurvi Chandela win-ning a Gold in the women's 10m air riflecategory on Saturday.

Chandela and Anjum Moudgil hadsecured the first two Olympic quotas inshooting in the ISSF WorldChampionships in Korea last year.

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Armyman Rashpal Singh and Maharashtra's Jyoti GawteSunday bagged top honours at the fourth edition of the IDBI

Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon in the men's andwomen's categories.

While Rashpal won the full marathon with a timing of02:21:55s, Jyoti clinched the women's title by clocking 02:47:54s.

The event witnessed participation from over 18,000 runnersin four different race categories. The races were flagged off fromthe Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by cricket legend and IDBI FederalLife Insurance brand ambassador, Sachin Tendulkar.

All the top three finishers in the men's full marathon are fromArmy Sports Institute, Pune. Sher Singh finished second witha timing of 02:23:16s, while Manavendra Singh was third, clock-ing 02:28:27s.

"The weather was cool and I am happy with my performance.My target was to complete the race in 2:19s but I am happy withthis performance also," said winner Rashpal.

In the women's full marathon, Jyoti clinched the top spotwhile Jigmet Dolma (03:01:30s) of Ladakh finished second aheadof Tsetan Dolkar (03:01:32s).

"I am a regular runner and have participated in 15-16marathons till date. Last year I was the runner-up and today Icompleted the run in 2:47:54s. It is the happiest moment for me,"Jyoti said.

Robin Singh won the half marathon by completing the racein 01:09:01s ahead of Dipak Suhaug, who finished second witha timing of 01:11:07s. Deepak Singh came third clocking01:12:51s.

The women's half marathon was won by Jyoti Singh(01:22:20s). Ujala finished second (01:24:25s) ahead PrabhawatiRawat (01:34:26s).

The full marathon was 42.195km long while the distance ofhalf marathon was 21.095km.

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Leicester announced the sacking of man-ager Claude Puel on Sunday following the

struggling Premier League side's sixth defeatin seven games.

Saturday's 4-1 loss to Crystal Palacedropped the 2015/2016 champions to 12th,only eight points above the relegation places.

A statement released by the club said:"Leicester City Football Club has today(Sunday) parted company with ClaudePuel, who leaves his position as firstteam manager with immediate effect."

First team coaches Mike Stowelland Adam Sadler will assume caretak-ing responsibilities.

"The club would like to thankClaude for his efforts in leading the

team during his 16 months in the role andwish him well in his future career," the clubadded.

Puel's assistant manager Jacky Bonnevayhas also been let go.

The 57-year-old Puel is the fifth Englishtopflight manager to be sacked this season,following Slavisa Jokanovic from Fulham,Mark Hughes (Southampton), JoseMourinho (Manchester United) and DavidWagner (Huddersfield).

The Foxes' miserable run includes adefeat to League Two side Newport in the FACup.

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AGold medal with a world recordscore and an Olympic quota as an

icing on the cake, young SaurabhChaudhary could have hardly asked formore on a 'Super Sunday', where his solefocus was on giving his best "shot".

Saurabh, who holds the juniorworld record, smashed the seniorrecord on his way to the men's 10m airpistol Gold.

He finished with a total score of245, also securing an Olympic quota forthe country in the process.

"I was not thinking about theworld record. If I had thought aboutmaking a record then it would not havebeen possible, neither was I thinkingabout the Olympic quota, I just want-ed to give my best," Saurabh said afterthe win.

Saurabh, whose every shot weremet by ecstatic cheers from the crowd,said it was special winning at home.

"To win a medal in front of thehome crowd, in my first senior WorldCup was superb. The crowd was simi-lar to the Asian Games," the teenagersaid.

He may have dominated the finalevent from the start, finishing 5.7points ahead of the Silver medallist butassessed that the field was tough.

"This being my first senior final, Ifelt the pressure in the morning. Thecompetition was hard. I was aware ofmy lead but didn't let it get to my head.

I was not thinking about the quota, justwanted to give my best," he said.

While it was ecstacy for Saurabh,Manu Bhaker faced another disappoint-ment failing to finish on the podiumin the 25m pistol event was shatteredby the defeat.

"I tried my best. I don't know whathappened," Manu said.

Asked if she was nervous or feltburdened by the expectation of thehome crowd she said:"The support wasgreat. There was no pressure I was justhappy India is hosting the WorldCup."

Asked whether the injury to her leftarm caused her problems Manu insist-ed that she was fully fit.

"l had some problems with my leftarm till February 21 but now it's fine.That is not the reason for my bad per-formance today," Manu didn't makeany excuses.

The youngster said that she is yetto figure out why she is having a con-sistent final jinx.

"I do not know about the mistakesI committed right now. My monitorwas on the other side so I couldn't seeit properly. My performance in 25mthroughout last year has been 4th, 5thor 6th position. I don't know what'swrong," she said.

Manu had finished sixth in theAsian Games and fifth at the ISSFWorld Cup in Mexico last year.

"I am focussing on 10m now," shesaid.

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Paulo Dybala sent Juventus 16points clear at the top of Serie A

on Sunday with a second-half winnerin a 1-0 victory at Bologna.

After a spotty Juventusdisplay that saw hostsBologna on top for longperiods, Dybala came offthe bench to snatch thethree points.

Defender Danilodeflected Blaise Matuidi'slow 67th-minute crossstraight to the Argentineinternational in front of agaping goal, and he slottedpast Lukasz Skorupski.

Juventus moved fur-ther ahead of Napoli whoplay Parma later onSunday.

Bologna stay third-from-bottom on18 points and three from safety, despitepushing Juve, much-changed from theside that lost 2-0 at Atletico Madrid mid-week, all the way and almost equalisingin the final minute when Mattia Perinpushed Nicola Sansone's long-range

drive onto the post.SPAL picked a point at Sassuolo

and moved five points ahead ofBologna thanks to Andrea Petagna's68th-minute equaliser from the spot.

Rock-bottom Chievo held Genoato a goalless draw.

Sampdoria's veteran strik-er Fabio Quagliarella struckthe winner from the spot in thesecond half against Cagliari tobag his 17th goal of the season.Ninth-place Sampdoria remainin touch with the Europeanplaces.

On Saturday, Edin Dzeko's95th-minute winner complet-ed Roma's fightback at lowlyFrosinone as they won 3-2 tokeep pace with fourth-placedAC Milan, easy 3-0 winners athome to Bologna's relegation

rivals Empoli on Friday night.Dzeko's winner, which came after he

had equalised Camillo Ciano's comicalfifth-minute opener for Frosinone, keptRoma one point behind Milan, whooccupy the final Champions Leagueplace, ahead of next week's Rome derbyagainst Lazio.

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Arsenal climbed into thePremier League's top four

with a 2-0 home win overSouthampton on Sunday, leavingthe visitors mired in the relega-tion zone.

Alexandre Lacazette andHenrikh Mkhitaryan scored earlygoals for Arsenal, making for acomfortable afternoon againstdisjointed Southampton, whichstruggled badly to find anyrhythm.

The loss leaves Southamptonin 18th place, while Arsenal over-took Manchester United forfourth place and strengthened itschances of claiming a ChampionsLeague spot.

Lacazette could easily havehad a hat trick by halftime as heforced two decent saves fromAngus Gunn, blasted over fromfive yards out and had one shotblocked by a defender during adominating spell for Arsenal.

But he did put his team aheadwith a neat backheel finish after

just six minutes, steering in a shotfrom Mkhitaryan that was head-ing wide.

Lacazette had a hand in thesecond goal as well as his highpress forced Southampton to turnthe ball over. Alex Iwobi's lowcross was then deflected into thepath of Mkhitaryan, who calmly

scored the second goal in the14th.

Arsenal manager Unai Emeryagain left Mesut Ozil on thebench until a late cameo, butArsenal's midfield dominated thegame as Mkhitaryan, Iwobi andAaron Ramsey frequently com-bined to provide a creative attack-ing spark that has often beenlacking from the team in recentgames.

Southampton did force twogood saves from Bernd Leno inthe first half and was nearly gift-ed a way back into the game whenGranit Xhaka lofted a passstraight into the path of JamesWard-Prowse, who let Arsenal offthe hook by blasting his shotwide. But Southampton couldn'tproduce anything that resem-bled its performance in a 3-2home win that ended Arsenal's22-game unbeaten run inDecember.

Matt Targett nearly pulled agoal back late with a long-dis-tance volley, but Leno punchedthe ball way at full stretch.

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Liverpool moved one point clearat the top of the Premier League

after being forced to settle for a 0-0 draw at injury-ravagedManchester United on Sunday.

Jurgen Klopp's side climbedabove Manchester City into poleposition, but left Old Trafford frus-trated that they failed to go threepoints clear after struggling tobreak down a United team hit bythree key injuries.

Liverpool, chasing a firstEnglish title since 1990, had fewchances to beat their bitter rivalsdespite United losing Juan Mata,Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingardbefore the interval.

The Reds, who had just oneshot on target, now have 11 leaguegames remaining, the same numberas second placed City, who were inLeague Cup final action againstChelsea on Sunday.

It was a missed opportunity forLiverpool, who used up their gamein hand on City and lost Brazilianstriker Roberto Firmino to injury.

Liverpool's third draw in fourgames comes in a period in whichthey have dropped six points in thebattle with Pep Guardiola's cham-

pions.United dropped to fifth place as

a result of Arsenal's win overSouthampton. The pre-match build-up, and intense atmosphere certain-ly did not disappoint.

But, once the action started, itbecame more about the four substi-tutions - three for United, one forLiverpool - that were forced on therespective managers over the first 45minutes.

Indeed, by the interval, therehad been twice as many substitu-tions as shots on target - the game'sfirst such effort being a tame MarcusRashford attempt which he chippedup for an easy Alisson Becker catch.

United midfielder Herrera wasthe first to go, having injured him-self in the process of fouling JoelMatip on the edge of the home area.

Mohamed Salah succeeded onlyin lofting that free-kick over the

home goal although, by the 20minute mark, Herrera was unable tocontinue and replaced by AndreasPereira.

Mata was next, four minuteslater, paying the price for an hero-ic challenge on Salah on the edge ofhis own area and limping off to besubstituted by Lingard. AndLiverpool were not spared disrup-tion of their own when Firminotwisted his right ankle whilemaking a routine pass andwas forced off.

The fitness problemswould not end there.

Lingard, who had beennursing an injured ham-string, would only last only18 minutes before comingoff three minutes before the inter-val with what appeared to be arecurrence of the problem.

To add insult to injury, Lingardwas replaced having hurt himself inmissing the best chance of the firstperiod following a sublime throughball from Romelu Lukaku that splitthe Liverpool defence.

Lingard chased through ongoal but, with only Alisson to beat,was denied by a brave save from theBrazilian keeper, stumbling andre-injuring himself in the process.

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