16
A day after India’s punitive air strikes against terrorist camps in Pakistan, the possi- bility of a major escalation increased with both the sides downing one fighter jet of each other and Islamabad capturing an IAF pilot who landed in its territory after ejecting from the shot-down jet. His captivity is now in the focus with the Indian Government assessing all pros and cons to ensure his safe return even as countering Pakistan militarily. While New Delhi said an IAF pilot was “missing in action,” Pakistan claimed it shot down two Indian jets which entered its airspace and captured two pilots. Later, Paksitan made U-turn and said it captured only one Indian pilot. Earlier in the day, in a terse Press statement, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, accompanied by Assistant Chief of Air Staff(space)Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor, said details are being ascertained about Pakistan’s claim of having cap- tured one Indian pilot. “There is only one pilot under Pakistan Army’s custody. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman is being treated as per norms of military ethics,” Pakistani mil- itary spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said in the evening after claiming in the morning that two IAF pilots were captured. Incidentally, during the Kargil war in 1999, an IAF pilot K Nachiketa was captured by the Pakistanis and released after some days as per Geneva Convention norms regarding treatment of prisoners of war (POW). Giving details of the Pakistani action on Wednesday morning, the External Affairs Ministry officials said Pakistani fighter jets violated Indian air- space in Jammu region’s Poonch and Rajouri sectors but were pushed back by Indian aircraft. The jets dropped bombs while returning, but there were no reports of dam- age, they said. “India had informed about counter terrorism (CT) action it took yesterday(Tuesday) against a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan based on credible evi- dence that JeM intended to launch more attacks. Against this counter terrorism action, Pakistan has responded this morning (Wednesday) by using its Air Force to target military installations on the Indian side. Due to our high state of readi- ness and alertness, Pakistan’s attempts were foiled success- fully,” Kumar said. He said the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) activity was detect- ed and the Indian Air Force responded instantly. “In that aerial engagement, one Pakistan Air Force fighter air- craft was shot down by a MiG- 21 Bison of the Indian Air Force. The Pakistani aircraft was seen by ground forces falling from the sky on the Pakistan side. In this engage- ment, we have unfortunately lost one MiG 21. The pilot is in their custody. We are ascer- taining the facts,” he said. The aerial engagement took place soon after at least three Pakistani fighter jets, including F-16, crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district around 10.30 am. The jets first dropped a bomb in Krishna Ghati area and then turned towards Narian in adjoining Naushera when the Indian air combat patrol aircraft team including SU-30s and MIG-21s inter- cepted and engaged the intrud- ing aircraft, sources said. Continued on Page 4 I ndia has taken strong excep- tion to “vulgar display” by Pakistan of an injured IAF pilot in its detention and demanded his immediate and safe return. Pakistan detained Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman fol- lowing a fierce engagement between air forces of the two sides along the Line of Control in which a Pakistani jet was downed. The IAF also lost a MiG 21 jet in the engagement. India has asked Pakistan to ensure that no harm should be caused to Wing Commander Abhinandan, said the External Affairs Ministry, adding it has conveyed strong objection to the neighbouring country at the “vulgar display” of an injured personnel in violation of all norms of International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Convention. “It was made clear that Pakistan would be well advised to ensure that no harm comes to the Indian defence person- nel in its custody. India also expects his immediate and safe return,” the MEA said. News agency PTI reported that Pakistan Army released two videos of the captured IAF pilot — one showing him blindfolded and bloodied and another while having tea. In both videos, he is seen answer- ing questions in a composed and stoic manner. Continued on Page 4 T he Pulwama attack is the direct result of the “impuni- ty and cover” provided to the Jaish-e-Muhammed terror group by Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday as she forcefully raised the terror strike with her Chinese coun- terpart Wang Yi here. Sushma’s meeting with Wang came a day after India destroyed a major Jaish-e- Muhammed (JeM) terror train- ing camp in Pakistan. China, a close ally of Pakistan, has repeatedly foiled India’s attempts to brand JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global ter- rorist by the UN. The JeM has already been in the UN’s list of banned ter- ror outfits. In 2009, India had moved a proposal to designate Azhar as global terrorist. This was fol- lowed in 2016 when India moved the proposal with the P3 — the US, the UK and France — in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the airbase in Pathankot in January, 2016. In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China blocked the proposals. “I am visiting China at a time when there is grief and anger in India. It is the worst terrorist attack directed against our security forces in Jammu & Kashmir,” Sushma said in her opening remarks during the meeting held on the sidelines of Russia, India, China Foreign Ministers’ meeting. “The attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Muhammed, the Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation,” she said. Sushma told Wang that “this terrorist attack is the direct result of the impunity and cover provided to the JeM and its leaders by the Pakistani side. After the Pulwama attack the entire UN has spoken with full voice to condemn it.” Sushma told Wang, “This is our first meeting this year. Therefore, an opportune time for us to take stock of our bilat- eral relations and look ahead for cooperation. The India- China relationship is an impor- tant relationship for both of our countries.” Referring to the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sushma said, “We have made substantial progress in rela- tions”. Continued on Page 4 I n an address to the nation which was telecast live, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said all wars have been started on mis- calculations on the time and the human cost of war. This was the same with the World War I, with the World War II and the war on terror and no one knows where the wars lead to. Khan said better sense must prevail and the two sides should act with wis- dom. “I ask India: with the weapons (nuclear) you have, and the weapons (nuclear) we have, can we really afford a mis- calculation? If this (situation) escalates, it will no longer be in my control or in (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s,” Khan said. “Let’s sit together and set- tle this with talks,” he added. “Our action was only intended to convey that if you can come into our country, we can do the same. Two of their MiGs were shot down (in the ensuing action) and their pilots are with us,” Khan said. His comments came min- utes after the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi said Pakistan Air Force targeted military installations in India in response to Indian counter-ter- rorism operations but their attempts were foiled success- fully though one Indian pilot is “missing in action”. However, the Pakistan Army later said “only one” Indian pilot was under their custody, retracting from its earlier statement that two IAF pilots were captured. Continued on Page 4 T op Opposition leaders on Wednesday reviewed the security situation in the coun- try and expressed anguish over “blatant politicisation of sacri- fices of Armed forces by the ruling party”. In a joint state- ment they said national secu- rity must transcend narrow political consideration and regretted that the Prime Minister has not convened all- party meeting as per estab- lished practice. Further with Pakistan claiming that it has captured the missing pilot of a downed IAF plane, leaders of various parties expressed concern over the well-being of the officer and voiced hope that he will return soon. In a joint statement, leaders of 21 parties who met here condemned the Pakistani “misadventure” and expressed their “deep concern for the safety of our missing pilot”. Post the statement from the MEA regarding targeting of our military installations and loss of one fighter aircraft, the lead- ers condemned the Pakistani misadventure and expressed their deep concern for the safety of our missing pilot,” Rahul Gandhi said while read- ing out the statement. In a joint statement, the Opposition leaders said, “Anguished over blatant politi- cisation of sacrifices of armed forces by ruling party. Urge Government to take nations into confidence on all measures to protect India’s sovereignty, unity, integrity. National secu- rity must transcend narrow political consideration.” Continued on Page 4 S ix Air Force officers and a civilian were killed after an Indian Air Force (IAF) chop- per crashed in a field near Garend Kalaan village in Budgam on Wednesday at 10.05 am. The crash took place in the backdrop of heavy shelling and firing from across the border on a day IAF fight- er jets crossed the Line of Control and destroyed a vast terror camp within Pakistan in a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday. Visuals showed the wrecked fuselage of the IAF chopper in flames and a large number of villagers standing around it. The helicopter, a Russian made Mi-17, broke into two and caught fire immediately, the officials said. Besides the pilots, an oper- ator and three other crew members lost their lives in the crash, the officials said. The local resident killed in the crash has been identified as Kifayat Hussain Ganaie, they said. Earlier, officials in Srinagar had described the downed air- craft as a fighter jet. Soon after, airports in Amritsar, Jammu, Srinagar and Leh were shut temporarily. However, the order on shutdown of airports was with- drawn later. W ing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the fighter pilot of the crash- landed Mig-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force, who was caught by the Pakistan Army hails from Chennai. The young pilot is the son of Simhakutty Varthaman, a decorated Air Marshal of the IAF. His father has been hon- oured with Param Vishisht Seva Media, one of top honours of the Indian military service. No more details about the pilot were available as his father S Varthaman asked the media not to disturb him with queries at this juncture. The Varthamans have their resi- dence in Chennai’s Jalvayu Vihar.

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Page 1: !#ˆ˛$%#ˆ%#&ˆ’& · military ethics,” Pakistani mil- ... injured personnel in violation of all norms of International ... Seva Media, one of top honours of the Indian military

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Aday after India’s punitive airstrikes against terrorist

camps in Pakistan, the possi-bility of a major escalationincreased with both the sidesdowning one fighter jet of eachother and Islamabad capturingan IAF pilot who landed in itsterritory after ejecting from theshot-down jet.

His captivity is now in thefocus with the IndianGovernment assessing all prosand cons to ensure his safereturn even as counteringPakistan militarily.

While New Delhi said anIAF pilot was “missing inaction,” Pakistan claimed itshot down two Indian jetswhich entered its airspace andcaptured two pilots. Later,Paksitan made U-turn and saidit captured only one Indianpilot.

Earlier in the day, in a tersePress statement, ExternalAffairs Ministry SpokespersonRaveesh Kumar, accompaniedby Assistant Chief of AirStaff(space)Air Vice MarshalRGK Kapoor, said details arebeing ascertained aboutPakistan’s claim of having cap-tured one Indian pilot.

“There is only one pilotunder Pakistan Army’s custody.Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman isbeing treated as per norms of

military ethics,” Pakistani mil-itary spokesperson MajorGeneral Asif Ghafoor said inthe evening after claiming inthe morning that two IAFpilots were captured.

Incidentally, during theKargil war in 1999, an IAF pilotK Nachiketa was captured bythe Pakistanis and releasedafter some days as per GenevaConvention norms regardingtreatment of prisoners of war(POW).

Giving details of thePakistani action on Wednesdaymorning, the External AffairsMinistry officials said Pakistanifighter jets violated Indian air-space in Jammu region’sPoonch and Rajouri sectors butwere pushed back by Indianaircraft. The jets droppedbombs while returning, butthere were no reports of dam-age, they said.

“India had informed aboutcounter terrorism (CT) actionit took yesterday(Tuesday)against a training camp ofJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) inPakistan based on credible evi-dence that JeM intended tolaunch more attacks. Againstthis counter terrorism action,Pakistan has responded thismorning (Wednesday) by usingits Air Force to target militaryinstallations on the Indian side.Due to our high state of readi-ness and alertness, Pakistan’sattempts were foiled success-

fully,” Kumar said.He said the Pakistan Air

Force (PAF) activity was detect-ed and the Indian Air Forceresponded instantly. “In thataerial engagement, onePakistan Air Force fighter air-craft was shot down by a MiG-21 Bison of the Indian AirForce. The Pakistani aircraftwas seen by ground forcesfalling from the sky on thePakistan side. In this engage-ment, we have unfortunatelylost one MiG 21. The pilot is intheir custody. We are ascer-taining the facts,” he said.

The aerial engagementtook place soon after at leastthree Pakistani fighter jets,including F-16, crossed theLine of Control (LoC) inRajouri district around 10.30 am.

The jets first dropped abomb in Krishna Ghati areaand then turned towardsNarian in adjoining Nausherawhen the Indian air combatpatrol aircraft team includingSU-30s and MIG-21s inter-cepted and engaged the intrud-ing aircraft, sources said.

Continued on Page 4

����� 1,��2,34(

India has taken strong excep-tion to “vulgar display” by

Pakistan of an injured IAFpilot in its detention anddemanded his immediate andsafe return. Pakistan detainedWing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman fol-lowing a fierce engagementbetween air forces of the twosides along the Line of Controlin which a Pakistani jet wasdowned. The IAF also lost aMiG 21 jet in the engagement.

India has asked Pakistan toensure that no harm should becaused to Wing CommanderAbhinandan, said the ExternalAffairs Ministry, adding it has

conveyed strong objection tothe neighbouring country atthe “vulgar display” of aninjured personnel in violationof all norms of InternationalHumanitarian Law and theGeneva Convention.

“It was made clear thatPakistan would be well advisedto ensure that no harm comesto the Indian defence person-nel in its custody. India also

expects his immediate and safereturn,” the MEA said.

News agency PTI reportedthat Pakistan Army releasedtwo videos of the capturedIAF pilot — one showing himblindfolded and bloodied andanother while having tea. Inboth videos, he is seen answer-ing questions in a composedand stoic manner.

Continued on Page 4

���� �*54,1��)4(1+�

The Pulwama attack is thedirect result of the “impuni-

ty and cover” provided to theJaish-e-Muhammed terrorgroup by Pakistan, ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajsaid on Wednesday as sheforcefully raised the terrorstrike with her Chinese coun-terpart Wang Yi here.

Sushma’s meeting withWang came a day after Indiadestroyed a major Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) terror train-ing camp in Pakistan. China, aclose ally of Pakistan, hasrepeatedly foiled India’sattempts to brand JeM chiefMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist by the UN.

The JeM has already beenin the UN’s list of banned ter-ror outfits.

In 2009, India had moveda proposal to designate Azharas global terrorist. This was fol-lowed in 2016 when Indiamoved the proposal with theP3 — the US, the UK andFrance — in the UN’s 1267Sanctions Committee to banAzhar, also the mastermind ofthe attack on the airbase inPathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nationsmoved a similar proposal again.However, on all occasions,China blocked the proposals.

“I am visiting China at atime when there is grief andanger in India. It is the worstterrorist attack directed againstour security forces in Jammu &Kashmir,” Sushma said in heropening remarks during themeeting held on the sidelinesof Russia, India, China ForeignMinisters’ meeting.

“The attack was carried outby Jaish-e-Muhammed, thePakistan-based and supportedterrorist organisation,” she said.

Sushma told Wang that“this terrorist attack is thedirect result of the impunityand cover provided to the JeMand its leaders by the Pakistaniside. After the Pulwama attackthe entire UN has spoken withfull voice to condemn it.”

Sushma told Wang, “Thisis our first meeting this year.Therefore, an opportune timefor us to take stock of our bilat-eral relations and look aheadfor cooperation. The India-China relationship is an impor-tant relationship for both of ourcountries.”

Referring to the Wuhansummit between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andChinese President Xi Jinping,Sushma said, “We have madesubstantial progress in rela-tions”.

Continued on Page 4

���� (�3+ +6+2

In an address to the nationwhich was telecast live,

Pakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan on Wednesday said allwars have been started on mis-calculations on the time andthe human cost of war.

This was the same with theWorld War I, with the WorldWar II and the war on terrorand no one knows where thewars lead to. Khan said bettersense must prevail and thetwo sides should act with wis-dom. “I ask India: with theweapons (nuclear) you have,and the weapons (nuclear) wehave, can we really afford a mis-calculation? If this (situation)

escalates, it will no longer be inmy control or in (PrimeMinister) Narendra Modi’s,”Khan said.

“Let’s sit together and set-tle this with talks,” he added.“Our action was only intendedto convey that if you can comeinto our country, we can do the

same. Two of their MiGs wereshot down (in the ensuingaction) and their pilots arewith us,” Khan said.

His comments came min-utes after the External AffairsMinistry in New Delhi saidPakistan Air Force targetedmilitary installations in India inresponse to Indian counter-ter-rorism operations but theirattempts were foiled success-fully though one Indian pilot is“missing in action”.

However, the PakistanArmy later said “only one”Indian pilot was under theircustody, retracting from itsearlier statement that two IAFpilots were captured.

Continued on Page 4

����� 1,��2,34(

Top Opposition leaders onWednesday reviewed the

security situation in the coun-try and expressed anguish over“blatant politicisation of sacri-fices of Armed forces by theruling party”. In a joint state-ment they said national secu-rity must transcend narrowpolitical consideration andregretted that the PrimeMinister has not convened all-party meeting as per estab-lished practice.

Further with Pakistanclaiming that it has capturedthe missing pilot of a downedIAF plane, leaders of variousparties expressed concern overthe well-being of the officer andvoiced hope that he will returnsoon. In a joint statement,leaders of 21 parties who methere condemned the Pakistani“misadventure” and expressedtheir “deep concern for thesafety of our missing pilot”.

Post the statement from theMEA regarding targeting of ourmilitary installations and lossof one fighter aircraft, the lead-ers condemned the Pakistanimisadventure and expressedtheir deep concern for thesafety of our missing pilot,”Rahul Gandhi said while read-ing out the statement.

In a joint statement, the

Opposition leaders said,“Anguished over blatant politi-cisation of sacrifices of armedforces by ruling party. UrgeGovernment to take nationsinto confidence on all measuresto protect India’s sovereignty,unity, integrity. National secu-rity must transcend narrowpolitical consideration.”

Continued on Page 4

����� �7(1+8+7

Six Air Force officers and acivilian were killed after an

Indian Air Force (IAF) chop-per crashed in a field nearGarend Kalaan village inBudgam on Wednesday at10.05 am. The crash took placein the backdrop of heavyshelling and firing from acrossthe border on a day IAF fight-er jets crossed the Line ofControl and destroyed a vastterror camp within Pakistan ina pre-dawn strike on Tuesday.

Visuals showed thewrecked fuselage of the IAFchopper in flames and a largenumber of villagers standingaround it.

The helicopter, a Russianmade Mi-17, broke into twoand caught fire immediately,the officials said.

Besides the pilots, an oper-ator and three other crewmembers lost their lives in thecrash, the officials said.

The local resident killed inthe crash has been identified asKifayat Hussain Ganaie, theysaid.

Earlier, officials in Srinagarhad described the downed air-craft as a fighter jet. Soonafter, airports in Amritsar,Jammu, Srinagar and Leh wereshut temporarily.

However, the order onshutdown of airports was with-drawn later.

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Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman,

the fighter pilot of the crash-landed Mig-21 Bison aircraft ofthe Indian Air Force, who wascaught by the Pakistan Armyhails from Chennai. The youngpilot is the son of SimhakuttyVarthaman, a decorated AirMarshal of the IAF.

His father has been hon-oured with Param VishishtSeva Media, one of top honoursof the Indian military service.No more details about thepilot were available as his fatherS Varthaman asked the medianot to disturb him with queriesat this juncture. TheVarthamans have their resi-dence in Chennai’s JalvayuVihar.

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Page 2: !#ˆ˛$%#ˆ%#&ˆ’& · military ethics,” Pakistani mil- ... injured personnel in violation of all norms of International ... Seva Media, one of top honours of the Indian military

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The Delhi Cabinet onWednesday approved a

proposal of the power depart-ment to provide a subsidy of�105 per kilowatt every monthon fixed charges for agricultureconsumers (farmers) of Delhi.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government has decid-ed to give electricity subsidy ofRs 105 per KW per month onfixed charges to farmers inDelhi, an official statementsaid on Wednesday. The deci-sion was taken at a cabinetmeeting chaired by ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onTuesday.

The agriculture electricitysubsidy is expected to benefitat least 11,000 consumers. Aprovision of Rs 7.50 crore hasbeen made for this,” the state-ment said.

The subsidy on exitingtariff will be provided on fixed

charges to agricultural con-nections in Delhi for financialyears 2018-19 and 2019-20,with effect from April 1, 2018,it said.

It said the distributioncompanies (discoms) will haveto ensure that subsidy isreleased only to genuine agri-

cultural consumers.A special audit of

subsidy released to discoms and that passed on to the consumers account may beundertaken by Delhi Electricity RegulatoryCommission (DERC), itadded.

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Delhi Home MinisterSatyendar Jain on

Wednesday informedAssembly that Fire SafetyCertificates of over 150 guesthouses in the Karol Bagh areahas been cancelled by DelhiGovernment in the aftermathof 17 people being killed in ahotel fire on February 12.

Jain said six teams havebeen formed to inspect theguest houses in the Karol Bagharea.”These teams are con-ducting raids and about 200guest houses have been inspect-ed. Certificates of about 150 ofthem were cancelled,” Jain said.

Replying to the members,Jain said, the LicensingDepartment of the Delhi Policeand the Health Departmentand the North Delhi MunicipalCorporation have been askedto shut them forthwith.

“The places, after cancel-lation of certificate are notoperational,” he said, adding

people can file a complaint ifany of those found functioning.

Jain said the fire depart-ment will intensify drivesacross the city to locate illegalconstructions and hotels vio-lating fire safety norms to pre-vent recurrence of any moreincident.

“The raids, being con-ducted in Karol Bagh at pre-sent, will be extended to otherparts of the city as well,” he said.

The minister has approvedaround 10 amendments to theDelhi building bylaws 2016 to

enhance safety. In the amend-ments, special directives havebeen issued regarding use ofrooftops, basements, passagesand exit routes, he said.

“All existing and futureguest houses must install car-bon monoxide smoke alarms,fire doors on each floor andremove all kinds of combustiblematerials from passages, exitroutes and rooftops,” he said.

Draft rule for events organ-ised in tents is being drafted. Itwill soon will be publicised forseeking public opinion.

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With the arrest of five persons, the members

of infamous ‘Bhagat Singhgang’, the sleuths of CrimeBranch on Wednesday claimedto have solved six cases ofrobbery and snatching in Delhi.Police have also recovered 47stolen mobile phones, one carused in commission of thecrime from the possession ofthe accused.

The arrested accused wereidentified as, Bhagat Singh(35), Kuldeep Singh (25), Jujharsingh (34), Bunty Singh (30) allresidents of Chander Vihar inDelhi and Jagjit Singh (38) aresident of Vikas Nagar inDelhi.

“A tip off was receivedregarding a gang involved inorganized theft of mobilephones. On Monday a specific input was received that the accused would becoming near Mangol Puri

Flyover following which a trapwas laid and they were appre-hended,” said Ajeet KumarSingla, AdditionalCommissioner of Police, CrimeBranch.

“During interrogation theydisclosed that, the target persons during music concerts, fares at pan Indialevel, where a large crowd con-gregates. Recently they hadtargeted a Music Concert heldin Chandigarh,” said AdditionalCP.

“The gang after stealing themobile phone they used tosell these mobile phones in var-ious areas of Delhi.

The accused were arrestedunder section 41.1 (D) of CrPCand were produced before thelocal court.

They have been taken toChandigarh on transit remand. Efforts are continuingto nab the receiver of stolenmobile phones,” Additional CPadded.

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The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) onWednesday approved sev-

eral projects pertaining tocleaning of Yamuna river andwater augmentation. Main pro-jects that were cleared are with-drawal of water connection tobottling plants cooling plantsselling packaging of water injars, canes , bottles and glasses.

Another project providing

and laying sewer line inSwaroop Nagar GOC under thecatchment of SPS at guruNanak Dev colony bear VijayChowk in Badli Constituencyapproved by the board.

Board meeting chaired byChief Minister Arvind Kejriwaldecided that in order to stopthe commercial use of waterand make this potable wateravailable to consumers, “Boarddecided to withdraw water

connection to bottling plantsand cooling plants and sellingor packaging of waters injars,” quoted as stated by the

Delhi Government.Importantly, DJB also recom-mended to Civic bodies that nolicences should be issued forbottling and packing of water.

In another project underwater augmentation, DJB saidthat replacement of 1000mmdiameter of PSC Mangolpuriwater main from PrashantVihar red light to PeeragarhiUGR will also be done.“Replacement of left out por-tions of Pitampura and North-West main from HaiderpurWTP-I to MU Block,Pitampura UGR and OHT

Pushpanjali Enclave is also inour project

According to DJB official,as there are a lot of majorleakages in the pipeline, thepotable water at present isbeing wasted, even afterrepairing the line time andagain.” “Further, the watermains are more than 40 yearsold and have outlived theiruseful life. On completion ofthe work, the water will beavailable at full pressure tothe residents of the area. Theestimate proposal of the workis approximately �28 crores,”DJB officials stated.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal has expressed

concern over the well being ofthe Indian Air Force (IAF)pilot who is ‘missing in action’ after India foiledPakistan’s attempts to targetmilitary installations by usingits Air Force in response toIndia’s counter-terrorism oper-ations.

Even as the PakistaniArmy released a 46-secondvideo showing a blindfoldedman and claimed he is the pilotof IAF’s shot down aircraft,India said it is “ascertaining thefacts”.

Kejriwal said the entire country is proud of itsbrave son and hoping that he has a safe return. “I pray for the safety of Indian Air Force pilot...Whole country is proud of this braveson and everyone is hoping for his safe return. We all stand united to keep our country safe and strong,” hetweeted.

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Leaders of all three corpora-tions staged a protest at

Vidhan Sabha on Wednesdayagainst cut in funds allocated tothe civic bodies in the 2019-20budget of the DelhiGovernment presented onTuesday by Delhi FinanceMinister Manish Sisodia.

Hitting out at Delhi gov-ernment, municipal councilorsalleged that the reduction infund allocation was done inten-tionally to paralyze the func-tioning of the corporation.

South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) MayorNarender Chawla said “As perrecommendations of the 5thDelhi Finance Corporation(DFC) the amount earmarkedfor SDMC is only Rs.437 cragainst Rs 1081 cr during 2018-19. The net loss to SDMC is Rs644 cr due to discriminatebudgetary allocation,”

He further stated that Delhigovernment has been fre-quently creating hurdles in thefunctioning of the SDMC byreducing grants.

Leader of House in SDMC

Kamaljeet Sehrawat allegedthat Delhi government hasselectively adopted recom-mendations of the 5th DFConly because it wanted toensure failure of the SDMC.She said that out of 171 majorrecommendations only 71 havebeen accepted while 41 reject-ed and 77 recommendationsmerged with each other. “Thenew formula for distribution oftax share out of the existing12.5 to 10.5 per cent tax shareis going to be detrimental to theneeds of civic body,” Mayorsaid.

Mayor of North DelhiAdesh Gupta also demandedthe Delhi government torelease the outstanding dues ofthe corporation. “The Delhigovernment has fixed theamount of Rs. 6380 crores forthree corporations in the bud-get of 2019-20, which is lessthan Rs. 510 crores against theprevious financial year, he said,adding that its share is decreas-ing every year.

Gupta said that the DelhiGovernment did not issue thedue arrears of the corporationdespite the court’s order.

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For the first time in India, theresearchers and scientists of

Indian Institute of Technology(IIT-D) Delhi, has developed a‘DotBook’- the country’s firstBraille Laptop for the blind stu-dents and the community. Thislaptop which is exclusively cre-ated for the differently abledwill be afforadable and haverefreshable Braille display.

“Presently, 40 cellRefreshable Braille Devices isavailable of Rs 1 lakh but this lap-top built on IIT Delhi’s patent-ed Shape Memory AlloyTechnology will bring down thecost down by almost 60%, andthus helping make this solutionaccessible to the millions whowere previously un-catered-to.This becomes very significant aslow income countries contribute

to over 90 per cent of the world’svisually impaired population,”said Professor M Balakrishnan,Head of the project.

The laptop, known as theDotBook which was launchedon Wednesday have two typesof variants such as DotBook20P:20-Cell Braille Variant withPerkins Keys and DotBook40Q:40-Cell Braille Variantwith QWERTY Keyboard.

Our vision with theDotBook has been to enable VIpersons to compete and suc-ceed independently in an office

or educational environmentand hence, the DotBook comespacked with all the applicationsand features that a VI Userwould need to independentlycarry out their tasks with ease.These features include Email,Calculator, Web Browser andcomes with a QWERTYKeyboard, added the professor.

According to, project-lead,“DotBook represents an excel-lent example of user orientedapplied research. On one handit is not only inter-disciplinaryin nature as it brings togetheradvanced techniques inmechanical, low power elec-tronics, software and UI designtogether but is also a result ofsustained efforts over fouryears of a multi-organization-al team comprising academics,two industry partners and auser organisation.”

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Afour-storey commercialbuilding at Padma Singh

Road in Karol Bagh collapsedon Wednesday morning.However, nobody was injured,they said.

According to Atul Garg,Chief fire officer of Delhi FireServices (DFS), a call regardingthe incident was received ataround 8:40 AM onWednesday following whichfive fire tenders along with ateam from the disaster reliefdepartment were rushed tothe spot.

“Prima facie probe revealedthat the building was old andill-maintained. No casualtieshave been reported,” said Garg.

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To keep and maintain thepassenger’s security and

safety, ‘Red Alert’ has beenimposed in the entire DelhiMetro Rail Corporation(DMRC) from Wednesday 6pm.

“As advised by the securi-ty agencies, Red Alert has beenimposed in entire network ofDMRC network from 6pmonwards.

Under red Alert, all station controllers are requiredinspect entire station premises for any suspiciousitems/activity including parking lots and report to the Control Centre every two hours,” said a DMRC offi-cial.

In the meanwhile, theIndian Railways has also issueda security alert across its net-

work in view of the escalatingtension with Pakistan, a seniorofficial of the RailwayProtection Force saidWednesday.

Security has been beefed up on board all trains operating in border areasand on railway premises, hesaid.

“We have issued an alert toall General Managers of zonesin view of the prevailing secu-rity scenario.

All trains to the mainlandand valley in Jammu andKashmir have additional secu-rity personnel on board. Wehave also identified specific tar-gets related to railways andhave beefed up security there,”RPF DG, Arun Kumar toldPTI.

He also said that no trainsto Jammu and Kashmir havebeen cancelled so far.

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Dream to go on a foreign tripof four active snatchers

with their family was put onhold after they fell in net of theDelhi Police. With their arrestthe Delhi Police claimed to havesolved 25 cases of robbery andsnatching in national Capital.Police have also recovered 23stolen mobile phones and twobikes from the possession of theaccused.

The accused have beenidentified as Mashkoor aliasShahrukh (38) a resident ofLoni in Ghaziabad, Shehnawaj(34) a resident of Khajuri Khasin Delhi, Irshad (30) andShehnawaj (28), both residentsof Sunder Nagri, Delhi.According to Seju P Kuruvilla,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Outer district, atip off was received that foursnatchers who used to snatchcostly android mobile phoneswould gather in MangolpuriIndustrial Area, Phase-I, Delhiwith the intent to sell thesnatched mobile phones.

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The Central Board ofSecondary Education

(CBSE) on Wednesday askedthe parents and studentsappearing for the examina-tions not to panic and believethe rumours spread on socialmedia sites such as Youtube,Facebook and other sites aboutboard examinations andresults.

This year CBSE boardexaminations of class 10th and12th began from 15th February

and 21 onwards and continuetill end of March.

“Annual examinations ofCentral Board of SecondaryEducations have commencedon 15th February and theBoard has made arrange-mentsfor the smooth and fairconduct of examinations.However, it has been noticed inthe past that certain unscrupulous elements spreadrumors by hosting fakevideos/messages on YouTube,Face Book, twitter and otherSocial Media platforms, obvi-

ously with the intention ofspreading confusion and panicamongst students, parents,schools and public,” read thenotice issued by CBSE.

“Thus through this notice,persons involved in such activities are warned andadvised to restrain themselves from such activities.In case, any such informationcomes to the notice of theCBSE, immediate necessaryaction as per provisions of lawwill be taken by the CBSE,” itadded.

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The Standing Committee ofthe North Delhi Municipal

Corporation (NMC) approvedan amendment in proposalregarding online issuance andrenewal of licences for house-hold industries at a meeting onWednesday.

A preamble was put upbefore the Standing Committeein this regard and passed.

After the amendment,household industrial units

with maximum nine workersand 11 kilowatt power may beallowed to continue in residential areas and newindustrial units of this type could be permitted inresidential areas subject tostatutory clearances fromLabour and industriesDepartment and DelhiPollution Control Committee(DPCC), a senior NMC officialsaid.

“The go-ahead will begiven with the condition that

no polluting industrial unitshall be permitted as householdindustry,” he said.

He said that while polluting industries are pro-hibited and fire-prone material may not be stored, the new policy lists 112 activities that may be carriedout in such establishments,including making agarbattis, non-allopathic med-icines, electronic items, sewingmachines, candles, sweets,among others.

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New Delhi: The Railways onWednesday said the SamjhautaExpress will continue to run asper schedule from Delhi toAttari in India, amidst reportsthat Pakistan has suspended itsoperations between Wagah toLahore on its side.

“The train will run as perschedule as of now,” NorthernRailway spokesperson DeepakKumar told PTI about its oper-ation on the Indian side. Thebiweekly train, which runs onWednesdays and Sundays, willleave at 11:10 o’clock tonight asper schedule from the OldDelhi Railway station with 26passengers aboard - four in ACcoach, 22 in non-AC coaches— sources said.

The train does not haveany commercial stops betweenDelhi and Attari. Originally, thetrain offered a through servicewith one rake going all the waybetween the terminals — Delhiin India to Lahore in Pakistan.

However, now a Pakistani

rake stops at Attari at whichpoint passengers have tochange trains and board anIndian rake.

The Samjhauta Express,named after the Hindi word for“agreement”, comprises sixsleeper coaches and an AC 3-tier coach. The train servicewas started on 22 July 1976under the Shimla Agreementthat settled the 1971 warbetween the two nations.

From Lahore, train departson Monday and Thursday.Sources said the footfall on thetrain, which generally record-ed an occupancy of around 70per cent, has fallen drasticallypost the Pulwama attack onFebruary 14 in which 44 CRPFjawans were killed. PTI

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Amid heightened tensionbetween India and

Pakistan, some of the trendinghashtags on Twitter onWednesday were talking aboutbringing peace to the region —along with the call to bring backthe Indian Air Force (IAF)pilot in Pakistan’s custody.

Among them was the#SayNoToWar in the top fivetrending hashtags.

The reason #SayNoToWarstarted trending on the popu-lar social media platform wasthat people in both the coun-tries shared messages of peaceand expressed their concernwith that hashtag.

“No glory in war#SayNoToWar,” read the captionof a picture of two children hold-ing Indian flag and Pakistani flagembracing each other.

“Soldiers die and theirloved ones suffer, not the politi-cians or the hashtag warriorswho tweet/post about war fromthe comfort of their homes. #SayNoToWar,” readanother tweet.

A lot of the tweets with theSayNoToWar hashtag posted

pictures of disadvantaged chil-dren, indicating that India andPakistan should concentrateon fighting poverty instead ofwaging war against each other.

Tensions escalated betweenthe two countries after IAF jetson Tuesday bombed the biggesttraining camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit in Balakotin Pakistan.

The tensions persisted onWednesday as the IAF chasedaway intruding Pakistani fight-er jets in Jammu & Kashmir’sNowshera sector and shootingdown a Pakistani F-16 that fellon the Pakistan side.

An Indian military air-craft, however, crashed inBadgam in J&K, 7 kms from

the SrinagarI n t e r n a t i o n a lAirport, police said.

Pakistan claimedon Wednesday it hascaptured two Indian pilots,one of whom was identified asWing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman. Theidentity of the other is notknown.

Soon after the news broke,#BringBackAbhinandan start-ed trending on Twitter — withpeople in both the countriescalling for treating the WingCommander with dignity andsending him to the country towhich he belongs.

“I as a citizen of Pakistanrequest my govt to treat the

“captive” Indian pilot well andsend him back ASAP as a ges-ture of peace. Come onPakistan you can do this#SayNoToWar,” wrote one user.The message was retweetedclose to 2,000 times.

Bollywood singer VishalDadlani thanked her for themessage, saying: “Only sane cit-izen voices can compel gov-

ernments to findsome sense in these

insane times.#SayNoToWar”.

“I am a Pakistani,we know what war is.

I consider #Abhinandan as aHero Because this is not hisFault, He was Serving hisCountry with Bravery. He willbe Sent Home Soon Inshallah,Creating a message against allthose war Supporting Celebsand Poli-ticians,” wrote anoth-er user with the SayNoToWarhashtag.

During peacetime, Twitteris generally known as a toxicplatform where people tradebarbs and issue threats. OnWednesday, when a real threatof a war was looming large overIndia and Pakistan, Twittergave sanity a chance.

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The Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terrorists, who were

trained in the Balakot camp inPakistan that was bombed bythe Indian fighter jets, used totake four major infiltrationroutes to enter Jammu &Kashmir to carry out attacks,officials said on Wednesday.

Kel, located in the Neelamvalley in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir, has also been used asthe launching point for the ter-rorists who used to infiltrateinto Jammu & Kashmir.

The infiltration routes,which were often used by theJeM terrorists to enter Indiawere Balakot-Kel-Dudhniyalin Kupwara district, Balakot-Kel-KainthawaIi in Magamforest in Kupwara, Balakot-Kel-Lolab in Kupwara andB a l a k o t - K e l - K a c h a m a -Kralpora in Kupwara, a secu-rity official said.

The JeM terrorists used toundergo different types of train-ing courses like a three monthsadvance combat course knownas Daura-e-Khas, advancearmed training course calledDaura-Al-Raad and refresher atraining programme.

Terrorists at the Balakotcamp were trained in han-dling weapons like AK-47,PIKA, LMG, rocket launcher,UBGL and grenade. It is sus-pected that the camp was func-tioning under cover of‘Madrasa Ayesha Sadiq’.

Apart from basic trainingin weapon handling, the ter-rorists were also trained in jun-gle survival, ambush, commu-nication, GPS, map reading etc,the official said.

In the refresher training

programme, various activitieslike promotion of organisa-tional work, briefing on activ-ities carried out by JeM cadres,seven days arms training in theuse of AK rifles and small armsare carried out with an intentto motivate the terror cadres.Located on the banks ofKunhar river in KhyberPakhtunkhwa province ofPakistan, the camp was alsoused by another terror groupHizbul Mujahideen.

The sources said at least325 terrorists and 25 to 27trainers were at the camp, thebiggest operated by the JeMwhich had claimed responsi-bility for the February 14 sui-cide attack on a CRPF convoyin Pulwama in Jammu &Kashmir that killed 44 jawans.

The camp also offeredaquatic training to its inmates,the sources added. Located 20km from the Balakot town, itwas an important training cen-tre for the JeM and other terrororganisations and it had sever-al structures to accommodatenew recruits and facilities totrain them, the sources said.Several “inspirational lectures”were delivered by JeM founderand terror mastermind MasoodAzhar and other terrorist lead-ers on several occasions.

India struck the Balakotcamp in a major “preemptive”air strike on Tuesday killing alarge number of terrorists andtrainers of the Pakistan-basedterror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in thiscountry.

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�������������� ���'������������� (�������������$�2??=��� �� �4� New Delhi: The Supreme Court

has agreed to hear on Thursdaythe Centre’s plea seeking a stayon the possible eviction ofaround 11.8 lakh tribals and tra-ditional forest dwellers, whoseclaim for right over forest landhas been rejected under theScheduled Tribes and OtherForest Dwellers (Recognition ofForest Rights) Act 2006.

A Bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi took noteof the submissions of SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta that theCentre’s plea be listed for hear-ing on an urgent basis. Theapex court had earlier asked 21states to apprise it about theaction taken by them over theeviction of tribals and forestdwellers whose claim havebeen rejected. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday took noteof the Centre’s submissionsthat no fresh violence againstKashmiris has been reportedsince February 22, the daywhen the apex court took cog-nisance of a PIL on the issue.

The court on February 22directed chief secretaries andDGPs of 11 States to take“prompt” and “necessary”action to prevent incidents ofalleged threat, social boycottand violence against Kashmiris following thePulwama terror attack.

A Bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi consideredthe submission of AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal that nofresh incident of violence againstKashmiris had been reportedafter the apex court issued direc-tions to protect the natives ofKashmir Valley who are livingoutside the State.

The Bench said no furtherorders were required at thisstage in view of the Centre’s sub-missions and posted the PIL filedby lawyer Tariq Adeeb for furtherhearing after two weeks. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday directedthe CBI Director to file affidavitgiving details about the allegedcontempt committed by WestBengal police and the thenKolkata police chief RajeevKumar in connection withSaradha chit fund scam cases.

A Bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice Sanjiv Khanna asked theCBI Director to provide infor-mation in support of the alle-gations of tampering anddestruction of call data recordsby Kumar who was then head-ing the West Bengal SIT. TheBench said the affidavit has tobe filed within two weeks andposted the matter for furtherhearing on March 26. PTI

$���������'� �� ��� ���������������� �� 2! /�����4��������� ����=4� ��/#��Paradip/Kolkata: Security was

stepped up at the two majorports of the Eastern region —Paradip in Odisha and Kolkata — on Wednesday fol-lowing escalation of tensionbetween India and Pakistan,officials said.

Frisking and patrolling ofsecurity personnel have start-ed in the two ports. Theauthorities are extra vigilantkeeping in mind that Pakistanbased terrorists had enteredMumbai via sea route in 2008and unleashed terror attacksnow known as 26/11.

“We are keeping a constantvigil on the crew members ofships landing at the port here.The crew members who wantto go outside the port area arebeing throughly checked,” saidimmigration officer at the port,Manas Ranjan Das.

Das said the crew membersnormally go out of the port areawhen ships are anchored here.

The Indian Coast Guardhas also intensified patrollingin the coast as well as in thedeep sea since Tuesday as thereis a possibility of entry of ter-rorists through sea route, asenior official said. PTI

New Delhi: Amid growingtension between India andPakistan, former prime minis-ter Manmohan Singh onWednesday voiced hoped thatsaner counsels shall prevailbetween the leadership of thetwo countries and they will getback to the task of economicdevelopment.

He said this at a function atTeen Murti Bhavan where hewas presented with the first ‘PVNarasimha Rao National lead-ership and lifetime achieve-ment award’ by former presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee. PTI

Jodhpur: Indian fighter jetsMirage 2000, which pounded aJeM terror facility at Balakot inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa provinceof Pakistan was eternised by avillage family here, whichnamed a newborn baby afterthe lethal jet.

Miraj Singh Rathore wasthe name given to the baby,born minutes after the Indianfighter jets wrecked havoc onthe Balakot terror camp. Thebaby was born to a couple inDabra village of Nagaur districtin Rajasthan. PTI

Lahore: Four Indian passengers are stranded at the Lahore air-port after the Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) closedits airspace on Wednesday in the wake of tensions with India.

“The PIA’s PK-270 Lahore to Delhi was to leave for its des-tination on Wednesday but due to suspension of flight opera-tions the four Indian passengers are stranded at Allama IqbalInternational Airport,” an official of CAA told PTI.

“The India passengers requested the authorities concernedto shift them to a hotel till the resumption of the flight opera-tions. However, they were not allowed to leave the airport tillfiling of this report,” he said. PTI

��������� ����� ���@@@From Page 1

Early in the day NationalConference leader OmarAbdullah who is also in theOpposition umbrella urged theOpposition parties to put offtheir meeting in the nationalCapital. The parties also con-demned the “dastardly”Pulwama terror attack by“Pakistan-sponsored” terror-ists of Jaish-e-Mohammed onFebruary 14. The leaders paidhomage to the soldiers killed inthe attack and expressed soli-darity with the Armed Forces.

Taking to Twitter, the lead-ers said their thoughts are withthe family and friends of thepilot and the whole country isstanding with them. “I’m sorryto hear that one of our braveIAF pilots is missing. I hope hewill return home soon,unharmed. We stand by ourarmed forces in these difficulttimes,” Congress presidentRahul Gandhi said. DMKleader MK Stalin urged theCentre “to do everything nec-

essary to get him safely backhome at the earliest”.

Omar Abdullah saidPakistan should treat the pilot“as you would have us treat oneof your men in uniform shouldhe be unfortunate enough to becaptured on this side of the bor-der”, while AIMIM presidentAsaduddin Owaisi saidIslamabad must respect itsobligations under the GenevaConventions and treat himhumanely.

Abdullah also said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi “mustsuspend his political activitiesuntil the pilot is returned safe-ly and that he had suggested theOpposition parties to also putoff their meeting in Delhi.

“It can’t be business asusual with him criss-crossingthe country at tax-payerexpense making politicalspeeches while our pilot is aPakistani captive,” Abdullahsaid in a series of tweets.

Congress president RahulGandhi, UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi, former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh,

Congress leaders AK Antony,Ghulam Nabi Azad andAhmed Patel; Sharad Pawar(NCP); Chandrababu Naidu(TDP); Mamata Banerjee(TMC); Sharad Yadav (LJD); TShiva (DMK); Sitaram Yechury(CPI-M); Satish Chandra Misra(BSP); Manoj Jha (RJD); SanjaySingh (AAP); Sudhakar Reddy(CPI); Danish Ali (JD-S); ShibuSoren(JMM); UpendraKushwaha (RLSP); AshokKumar Singh (JVM); Jitan RamManjhi (HAM); Kodandaram(TJS) among others partici-pated in the meeting. TheSamajwadi Party did not attendthe meeting. The Oppositiondecided to drop the formula-tion of the common minimumprogramme as the agenda fortheir meeting on Wednesday inview of the prevailing securitysituation in the country. Seniorleaders in the Opposition con-firmed that in a discussion withthe Congress, the CPI(M) andthe CPI said that they will onlybe part of the meeting if thecommon minimum pro-gramme is off the table.

���������� 222From Page 1

The Wing Commander,whose MiG 21 Bison aircraft wasshot down by the Pakistan AirForce while engaged in hot pur-suit to repel enemy attack onWednesday, ejected safely butlanded across the Line ofControl and was taken intocustody by the Pakistan Army.

There were other video clipson the social media where hecould be seen beaten by localswhile lying in a stream beforebeing taken away by Pakistanisoldiers. The veracity of thevideos could not be ascertained.

Later, the Pakistanis releaseda clip showing the blindfoldedofficer with blood flowing down his cheek, identifyinghimself as Wing CommanderAbhinandan. In the video, herefused to answer any question,except for giving his ID number,designation and marital status.

However, the video releasedthrough Twitter was withdrawnwithin minutes, keeping in viewthe Geneva Convention dictat-

ing that a prisoner of war shouldnot be shown publicly in ahumiliating manner.

Hours later, the PakistanArmy released another video,lasting 1.19 minutes, whereAbhinandan can be seen drink-ing tea, cleaned up but with hisface bruised and eyes swollen.The officer again answers ques-tions with composure and nodisplay of fear.

To most queries, he says heis sorry as he is not supposed todivulge any details. “I hope youlike the tea,” someone is heardasking. “It is fantastic,” heanswers. After the release of thesevideos, Pakistani Acting HighCommissioner was summonedon Wednesday afternoon by theMEA to lodge a strong protest atthe unprovoked act of aggressionby Pakistan against India, includ-ing by violation of the Indian airspace and targeting of Indianmilitary posts.

“This is in contrast to theIndia’s non-military anti-terrorpre-emptive strike at a JeM ter-rorist camp in Balakot onFebruary 26. It is unfortunate

that instead of fulfilling its inter-national obligation and bilater-al commitment to take credibleaction against terrorist entitiesand individuals operating fromits soil, Pakistan has acted withaggression against India,” theMEA said. “It was clearly con-veyed that India reserves theright to take firm and decisiveaction to protect its nationalsecurity, sovereignty and terri-torial integrity against any act ofaggression or cross-border ter-rorism,” said the MEA.

It said regret was expressedat continuing denial by Pakistan’spolitical and military leadershipat the presence of terrorist infra-structure in territories under itscontrol. “A dossier was handedover to Pakistan side with spe-cific details of JeM complicity inPulwama terror attack and thepresence of JeM terror campsand its leadership in Pakistan,”the MEA said. “It was conveyedthat India expects Pakistan totake immediate and verifiableaction against terrorism ema-nating from territories under itscontrol,” it said.

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From Page 1Khan said when India

stuck Tuesday morning, hespoke with the army chief andPakistan did not respond inhaste. He said Pakistan offeredIndia its cooperation in theinvestigation after the Pulwamaterror attack.

“We know how the familiesof those killed in Pulwama inci-dent must have felt. We havebeen the victims of war fordecades...Since the beginningwe have asked India to shareactionable evidence with us. It isnowhere in the interest ofPakistan for it to be used as a basefor militancy,” he said. “But I hada hunch that India would esca-late, and that is why I had saidthat if India escalates, we willretaliate,” he said, adding thatPakistan simply wanted to showits capability. “The sole purposeof our action (on Wednesday)was to convey that if you cancome into our country, we cando the same,” Khan added.

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From Page 1In the ensuing fight one F-

16 of Pakistan Air Force wasshot down and crashed on theother side of the LOC. A MIG-21 of IAF while chasing thePakistani jets was also shot byair defence teams of thePakistani army. The Indian jetcrashed there and Varthmanwas captured by the Pakistanis.

Video clips on the socialmedia showing the IAF officerbeing bitten up.

Explaining the significanceof Pakistan’s retaliation to theIndian attack deep inside itsterritory on Tuesday, officialssaid the PAF wanted to targetbrigade headquarters of theArmy in Krishna Ghati and anammunition point of the Armyin Narian in Naushera. ThePakistani jets dropped a bombin Krishna Ghati but therewas report of any damage.

The Pakistani jets entered

the Indian airspace from theLam(India)-Khuretta (PakistanOccupied Kashmir) in theKrishna Ghati region to under-take their mission of hittingmilitary installations, they saidadding the ammunition pointis transit depot for disbursingmortars and other ammunitionlike bullets and rockets to thetroops deployed on the LOC.

As tension mounted afterthe incident, the entire airspacenorth of New Delhi was briefly“vacated”. Nine airports inJammu and Kashmir, HimachalPradesh and Punjab wereclosed for civilian traffic forsome part of the morning butopened later in the day.

Jammu and Kashmir wasthe centre of much of theaction on a day of escalatingtensions between the twoneighbours. There was night-long heavy firing and shellingon forward and civilian areasfrom across the LoC in Rajouriand Poonch with the Army andthe Border Security Force(BSF) on the highest degree of

alertness. All residents of theborder areas were asked toremain inside their homes andnot venture outside.

Meanwhile, Pakistan alsoclosed its airspace for com-mercial flights and suspendedflight operations across majorairports, including inIslamabad, Lahore and Karachi,for an indefinite period.

The airport will be used for“military purposes” till it isreopened for commercial activ-ities, an official toldDawnNewsTV, adding that ared alert has also been issued,said PTI. Addressing a Pressconference in Islamabad,Ghafoor said one of the IAFaircraft crashed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir while theother fell in Jammu andKashmir. “This morning PAF(Pakistan Air Force) jets whileremaining in Pakistani air-space engaged six targets acrossthe LoC,” he said.

“Our pilots locked on thosesix targets and we struck onopen places,” he said, adding

that it was decided that the PAFwill not hit the military targets.He said some of the targets werein Bhimber galli and Narianarea where the supply depotswere engaged from a distance.

“After the PAF strikes, 2IAF jets entered Pakistani air-space and the PAF took themon and the two IAF were shotdown. The wreckage of one(aircraft) fell inside Pakistan(Pakistan-occupied Kashmir)while the second fell insideIndia,” Ghafoor said.

“Original targets were mil-itary posts and administrativefacilities but we did not targetthose,” he said. The spokesmanclaimed that targets engaged bythe PAF were changed to avoidany loss of life. “It wasnot retaliation in the true sensebut it was an action to showthat we can retaliate. We do notwant to push the region to war.We want peace,” the spokesmanasserted. He also rejectedreports that Pakistan used F-16fighters and one of them wasshot down by India.

� � ���������222From Page 1

“It is important for bothsides to make sure the throughand effective implementation ofthe guidance given by the twoleaders,” she told Wang, addingthat both side made efforts and“we should sustain this”.

“Particularly the decisiontaken by our leaders to main-tain strategic communicationbetween them provided animportant foundation for thedevelopment of our bilateralrelations. This channel ofstrategic communicationbetween the two of us andbetween senior officials shouldalways remain open,” she said.

Wang said last year’sWuhan meeting between Modiand Xi led the bilateral ties intoa new stage.

“Led by the leaders, allaspects of our bilateral rela-tionship are going well. Bothnations and the internationalcommunity are more opti-mistic of our bilateral relations.In 2019 we are going keepworking on the consensus ofthe two leaders,” he said.

Meanwhile, China onWednesday again called onIndia and Pakistan to exerciserestraint amid the escalation ofhostilities between the two coun-tries and urged them to engagein dialogue to uphold the peaceand stability in the region.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang’s remarkscame after Pakistan targetedmilitary installations in India inresponse to Indian counter-ter-rorism strikes in Balakot.

“I understand that in thelatest development Pakistansays it had shot down twoIndian aircraft and capturedIndian pilots,” Lu told themedia in Beijing.

He said the internationalcommunity is following thedevelopments closely.

Earlier, External AffairsMinister Swaraj kicked off herkey meeting with her Chinesecounterpart Wang in a lightervein, accusing him of cheatingher by changing the venue ofthe RIC meeting to a morebeautiful location here.

“You cheated me,” Swarajsaid in her opening statementat their bilateral meeting here.

Wang and other Chineseofficials broke into laughterhearing her remarks.

Swaraj said Wang first toldher that the RIC Ministersmeeting would be held inShanghai and later sifted it toWuzhen, the historic cityfamous for ancient stonebridges, stone pathways anddelicate wood carvings.

“Thank you” for thechange of location and it is avery beautiful city, she said andexpressed desire to go roundthe place before her departure.

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Latest Intelligence inputs sug-gest the Pakistani terror

group Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) had dispatched a moduleof four to five fidayeen to attacksecurity installations in Jammu& Kashmir before the suicidebombing on a CRPF convoy onFebruary 14 that took a toll of44 paramilitary men.

Three to four fidayeen ofthis module are suspected to benow waiting for an opportunetime to hit again on one of thesecurity installations.

In addition, eight to ninemore foreign terrorists of theJeM, who had infiltrated as partof a 14 to 15 group inDecember, could be alive andhiding in the Pulwama-Tralbelt. Most of these foreign ter-rorists are suspected to bepotential fidayeens. The com-mand of this module has beenassigned by JeM to another for-eign terrorist Mufti Yasir.

Inputs suggest Yasir is plan-ning use of these fidayeens forsuicide bombing on installa-tions of the security forces.

“Keeping in view the recentsetbacks suffered by JeM inPulwama, Sopore and Kulgamin encounters besides thehumiliation faced by Pakistanthe airstrikes on JeM targetsinside Pakistan, the JEMrevenge attack looks quiteimminent in coming days,” anofficial said.

“Pakistan is also likely toretaliate unconventionally byusing militant organisations toavenge air strikes at Balakot. Allthe security Installations shouldbe kept on high alert, keepingin view the imminent fidayeenattacks by JeM,” reads an alertsent to all the agencies inJammu and Kashmir.

According to the inputs,the identified targets of JeMinclude 182 Battalion, CRPFHeadquarters on Shopian-

Pulwama road, 44 RahstriyaRifles camp Shadimarg, ArmyCamp Chillipora, Shopian andAwantipora airbase.

Meanwhile, NIA teamsconducted simultaneous search-es at 11 locations in SouthKashmir in the ongoing inves-tigation in the case relating tothe Pulwama suicide bombingand in another case relating to‘terror funding’ of separatists.

The locations searchedinclude the houses of MudassirAhmad Khan and Sajjad Bhat(both active terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad and key accusedpersons in the recent terrorattack at Pulwama).

Searches were also con-ducted in the houses of activeOGWs (Over GroundWorkers) of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Tral,

Awantipora and Pulwama areasof South Kashmir.Incriminating materials,including diaries containingcoded writings were seized, theNIA said in a statement.

Searches were also carriedout in the houses of three sep-aratist leaders of SouthKashmir namely MohammadShaban Dar, Shawkat Maulviand Yasmine Raza, in the ter-ror funding case.

Documents related to ter-ror funding, coded messagesand Jehadi literature have beenseized. During searches, NIAteams also recovered lot ofincriminating documentsincluding property details, doc-uments relating to financial andmonetary transactions, elec-tronic devices, mobile phones,SIM cards, the NIA added.

����� 1,��2,34(�

As India and Pakistan arelocked in a fast escalating

conflict with Islamabad show-ing one of the IAF pilot in itscaptivity, Union Minister ArunJaitley on Wednesday claimedthat India was capable of car-rying out an operation similarto the 2011 US action inPakistan to eliminate al-Qaedachief Osama bin Laden.

Jaitley’s remarks at an eventrelated to the campaign to cleanRiver Ganga followed a dayafter the Indian Air Force struckthe main terror camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit inBalakot in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Referring to the US oper-ation in Abbottabad, Jaitleysaid, “It is said that a week is toolong a time in politics. In ourcountry the way people getenthusiastic, if you look at thelast 24 hours, one week wouldappear to be a day.

“The kind of things wesee...I remember when the USNavy SEAL had taken Osamabin Laden from Abbottabad,can’t we do the same?”

“We could earlier onlyimagine, desire and get frus-trated and disappointed (forfailing to conduct such opera-tions). But today, it is possible,” he said at the eventdedicated to generate funds toclean river Ganga.

The event was organised bythe Ministry of Water

Resources and GangaRejuvenation at DRDO. Jaitleycontributed Rs 1 lakh in hispersonal capacity for the pro-gramme to clean the river.

The US’ special forces hadraided Osama’s hideaway, acompound in Abbottabad inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa northof Islamabad, killing the dread-ed terrorist.

On September 29, 2016,India announced that it con-ducted “surgical strikes” againstmilitant launch pads acrossthe Line of Control inPa k i s t a n i - a d m i n i s t e r e dKashmir, and inflicted “signif-icant casualties”.

The airstrike by IAF atBalakot in Pakistan territoryon Tuesday morning has led toconsiderable speculation onthe extent of casualties anddamage there. Pakistan AirForce retaliated on Wednesdayand captured one of the IAFpilots of MIG that came downon the Pakistani soil.

����� 1,��2,34(

Commuters going fromVasant Kunj to Indira

Gandhi International (IGI)Airport will soon get to travelsignal-free. Union Minister ofHousing and Urban AffairsHardeep Singh Puri will inau-gurate an underpass and a flyover at Mahipalpur projectsin South Delhi. Commuterscoming from Gurgaon toVasant Kunj will also benefitfrom this project.

According to Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs, anunderpass, a flyover and twoloops of Mahipalpur bypassjunction has been constructedat the cost of Rs 162 crore.

The total cost of the projectwas Rs 188 crore. Of them, Rs26 crore have been saved andthe project was completedbefore the original deadline ofMarch 2019. The HUA min-istry has funded 100percent ofthe cost of the project, whichwas the part of the projects todecongest Delhi.

The funds have been usedfrom the Urban DevelopmentFunds created by the Ministryto decongest Delhi.

The Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD) has con-structed an underpass and aflyover to get rid of the traffic mess at MahipalpurNH-8 junction and will direct-ly connect to the Aerocity anda flyover.

The underpass is goingright beneath the busy Delhi-Gurugram Expressway andconnecting to the Aerocity onthe other side of the NH-8.

The flyover was made atVasant kunj Pocket E andMahipalpur bypass junction.Two loops which was part ofthe projects also constructed.These loops will provide signalfree traffic movement to com-muters coming from Gurgaon

to Vasant Kunj.The officials said that the

flyovers at the Vasant Kunj sideand airport side is around onekm long each while the length of the underpass wouldbe 1.2 km.

The underpass atMahipalpur is the part of thegrade separator coming up onthe three km Mahipalpurbypass road.

The underpass and thenew flyovers, part of theMahipalpur bypass project, onthe Vasant Kunj-Mahipalpurstretch will particularly helpsouth Delhi commuters, cut-ting by at least 20 minutes thetime taken to reach airportfrom Vasant Kunj.

“This will be a big relief forsouth Delhi traffic headed tothe airport via Vasant Kunj.The new Mahipalpur bypasswill connect directly to VasantKunj and further up toMehrauli via Chhatarpur with-out getting stuck into the nar-row roads of Mahipalpur mar-ket”, the official added.

The CPWD has used thebox pushing technique to exe-cute the project. Using thistechnique, pre-fabricated con-crete boxes is placed under theexpressway and thus ensurequick completion of the project.

This technique has ensuredthat the construction of under-pass does not affect traffic move-ment on expressway. Thismethod is generally used inmaking tunnels in the moun-tains. Chenani-Nashri tunnelconnecting Udhampur toRamban in Jammu & Kashmiris prime example of this method.

New Delhi: Various airlines such as Air India, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways and SingaporeAirlines on Wednesday announced they were rerouting their flights as Pakistanclosed its airspace in the wake of escalating ten-sions with India.

“Inbound and outbound flights from USAand Europe for Delhi are being re-routedthrough Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Flightslanding into India from USA and Europe arebeing re-routed via Dubai and Sharjah and willland into India with a delay,” Air India tweetedon Wednesday evening. The national carrier,however, added “no flights are cancelled andthere will only be an increase in the flying time”.

Pakistan closed its airspace for commercialflights and suspended flight operations acrossmajor airports, including in Islamabad, Lahoreand Karachi, for an indefinite period in the wakeof the escalating tensions with India.

Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority made theannouncement after the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s mediaarm, acknowledged the closure of Pakistan’s air-

space due to the prevailing security situation.In India, the Jet Airways sought relaxation

in flight duty and rest-hour norms from thecountry’s aviation watchdog the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) due to theclosure of the Pakistani airspace and subsequentre-routing of the West-bound flights.

The dispensation has been sought as theflights, which were earlier using the Pakistaniairspace, will now have to be operated over thesea, entailing higher flying time than the regu-lar routes, sources said both pilots and cabincrew are governed by DGCA-mandated flightduty and time limitation (FDTL) norms, but aspecial dispensation allow the crew to do addi-tional duties and night landings as well.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister SureshPrabhu tweeted, “Reviewed the current airspacerestrictions with Member (ANS), AAI in viewof the current cross border situation. I assure youthat we are working out modalities so that theair passengers are least inconvenienced. Allstakeholders were kept informed.@AAI_Official.” PTI

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Srinagar: Two Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) ultras,including a Pakistani national,were killed on Wednesday in anencounter with security forcesin Shopian district of Jammu &Kashmir, the police said.

Security forces launched acordon and search operation inMeemendar area of Shopianfollowing information aboutpresence of militants there, apolice spokesperson said.

They said the search oper-ation turned into an encounterafter militants opened firetowards the security forces,who retaliated.

The two terrorists werekilled in the ensuing gunfight,he said.

“Their bodies wereretrieved from the site ofencounter. Both were affiliatedwith proscribed terror outfitJeM,” the spokesperson said.

One of the slain ultras wasidentified as Suhail Nazir Mir,a resident of Saidapora Payeen

area of Shopian and the otherwas identified as a Pakistaninational.

“As per the police records,they were involved in conspir-ing and executing several ter-rorist attacks and wanted fortheir complicity in a series ofterror crimes including attackon security establishments andcivilian atrocities,” the officialsaid.

“Several terror crime cases

were registered against themfor their terrorist activities,” headded. It was a clean operationand there was no collateraldamage, he said further.

Incriminating material,including arms and ammuni-tion, was recovered from thesite of the encounter, thespokesperson said, adding thatthe police has registered acase and initiated investiga-tions. PTI

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Bengaluru: Karnataka BJPchief B S Yeddyurappa onWednesday said India’s pre-emptive strikes on terror campsin Pakistan has created a wavein favour of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and will helpthe party win over 22 of 28seats in the State in the comingLok Sabha polls.

“The atmosphere....Day byday the wind is increasinglyblowing in favour of BJP.

Yesterday’s action ofdestroying terror hideouts byentering inside Pakistan hasresulted in a pro-Modi wave inthe country, the results ofwhich can be seen in comingLok Sabha polls,” Yeddyurappasaid.

Speaking to reporters inChitradurga, he said “It hasenthused youths; all this willhelp us in winning more than22 Lok Sabha seats (inKarnataka).”

India conducted a majorpre-emptive strike on a Jaish-

e-Mohammed training campearly Tuesday, killing a “verylarge number” of terrorists,trainers and senior comman-ders.

India’s action comes closeon the heels of the Pulwamaincident in which 40 CRPFpersonnel were killed in one ofthe deadliest terror strikes indecades in Jammu & Kashmir.

Currently, BJP holds 16Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka,Congress 10 and JD(S) 2.

The ruling Congress-JD(S),who have decided to contestthe Lok Sabha polls togetherhave begin discussions aboutseat sharing. PTI

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Kolkata: The West BengalGovernment has shifted 14Pakistani prisoners, lodged intwo correctional homes here, toseparate barracks and “high-security” cells, amid soaringtension between India and itswestern neighbour, a seniorofficial said.

The State Government’smove comes days after a 50-year-old Pakistani convict wasallegedly killed by fellowinmates in Rajasthan’s JaipurCentral jail.

“Strict instructions havebeen issued to separatePakistani inmates from othersfollowing the incident inRajasthan jail. They have beenshifted to high-security cells,where heavyweight prisoners,such as those arrested forAmerican Center attack andMaoists have been staying,”the official of West BengalCorrectional Services said.

A three-layered cordon hasbeen set up for the security ofthe 14 prisoners, he said.

“Most of these prisonersshare a good rapport with theirfellow inmates, but we cannottake risk in the wake of thePulwama attack,” the officialtold PTI on Wednesday.

Of the 14 inmates, four arelodged at PresidencyCorrectional Home in the cityand the other 10 at Dum DumCentral Correctional Home,he said.

“Some were jailed for flout-ing visa norms, while a fewwere waiting to be taken toother correctional homes.There are also others who wereimprisoned for their involve-ment in criminal activities,”the State Government officialsaid.

Along with the chief headwarden, the head warders arekeeping an eye on the cells, hesaid. “The Pakistani inmateswill not be allowed to move outof the sensitive zones for now.Our officers are keeping a closewatch on these cells round theclock,” he added. PTI

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Srinagar: National Conferenceleader Omar Abdullah onWednesday urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi tosuspend all his political activ-ities till the missing Indian AirForce pilot returns home safe-ly, and also asked Oppositionparties to put off their meetingin the national Capital.

India on Wednesday saidthe pilot went missing after theIAF foiled Pakistan Air Force’sattack on military installationsin Jammu & Kashmir. Pakistanclaims the pilot is in its custody.

“PM Modi must suspendhis political activities until#WingCommanderAbhinandan is returned safely. It can’t bebusiness as usual with himcrisscrossing the country attaxpayer expense making polit-ical speeches while our pilot isa Pakistani captive,” Abdullahsaid in a series of tweets.

The former Chief Minister

said he had requestedOpposition parties also topostpone their meeting in NewDelhi.

“I had requested the oppo-sition to postpone the meetingin light of the developments,especially after the news of ourpilot being in Pakistani custodybut they felt otherwise. I chosenot to attend as a result,” headded.

In their meeting, 21Opposition parties expressedanguish over what they allegedwas “blatant politicisation” ofthe sacrifices of armed forcesand urged the Government totake the nation into confi-dence on all measures to pro-tect India’s sovereignty, unityand integrity.

The Pakistan Armyreleased a 46-second videoshowing a blindfolded manclaiming he is the missing IAFpilot. PTI

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Mumbai: A day after Indianfighter jets bombed the biggestcamp of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan,the Shiv Sena on Wednesdaydemanded continuous opera-tions, dubbing the neighbour-ing Country “dangerous” forthe entire world.

The Sena, in an editorial inparty mouthpiece ‘Saamana’,said there cannot be peaceacross the globe until Pakistanis wiped off the world map.

In remarks laced with sar-casm, it sought to knowwhether the terror launch padsin Pakistan Occupied Kashmir(PoK) were “cultural centres”, asaccording to that country’sPrime Minister Imran Khan,there was no terrorist activityoriginating from its soil.

“There cannot be worldpeace until Pakistan is elimi-nated from the global map.Countries like Pakistan aredangerous not only for India,

but the entire world. There isno democracy in Pakistan, sotheir army chief misuses powerin the name of prime ministerand the government,” it said.

In a pinpointed and swiftair strike that lasted less thantwo minutes, India poundedJaish-e-Mohammed’s biggesttraining camp in Pakistan earlyTuesday, killing up to 350 ter-rorists and trainers who weremoved there for their protec-tion after the Pulwama attack,

officials said.The Sena said, “The ques-

tion which remains unan-swered is if one strike onPakistan is enough to avengethe death of our jawans? Theirblood isn’t cheap. There shouldbe continuous operationsagainst the country to put anend to the terrorism continu-ing from there.”

It said the way the UnitedStates gunned down al-Qaedachief Osama bin Laden onPakistan’s soil, JeM chiefMasood Azhar needs to beeliminated as well to avenge thekilling of 40 CRPF jawans.

Recalling that formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhihad showed the Indian Army’smight in 1971 by dividingPakistan into two, the Senaexpressed hope that a similaroperation would be conductedagainst the neighbouringcountry under NarendraModi’s rule. PTI

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Kolkata: The BSF has issuedan alert and has taken all pre-ventive measures at the India-Bangladesh border in the east-ern part of the country toensure “miscreants or terrorelements” don’t cross overtaking advantage of the ten-sion at the Indo-Pakistan bor-der, an official of the force saidon Wednesday.

Bangladesh and WestBengal share about 2,216.7 kmborder, of which a large por-tion is unfenced.

Patrolling in the riverineborder areas of Sunderbanshas also been increased, theBSF official said.

“We have issued an alertin the Indo-Bangla borderand have taken all preventivemeasures to ensure that mis-creants or terror elementsdon’t cross over to this side ofthe border by taking advan-tage of the volatile situation in

the western front,” a seniorBSF official told PTI.

An IAF pilot is “missing inaction” and a Pakistani fight-er jet has been shot down,New Delhi said on Wednesdayas fears of war darkened India-Pakistan relations withIslamabad launching retalia-tory strikes and claiming it hasarrested two Indian pilots inits territory, a day after Indiabombed Jaish-e-Mohammed’sbiggest training camp inPakistan. PTI

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With an aim to enhancetravel experience and

bring transparency for pas-sengers, Railways MinisterPiyush Goyal launched a newfeature on the IRCTC websitethrough which the passengerscan view the reservation chartand vacant berths online evenafter chart preparation.

A senior Railway Ministryofficial said that the informa-tion about occupancy in trainsas per passenger reservationcharts will now be available forpublic view on the internetthrough IRCTC website(www.irctc.co.in). “This willfacilitate the prospective pas-sengers in getting the infor-mation of the vacant berthsavailable in the train after chartpreparation,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion,Goyal said that it is anotherstep to introduce transparencyin the system and to add com-fort to the travel experience ofthe passengers. “With intro-duction of such online plat-form, travellers need not tosearch for ticket collector in the

moving train,” he said. “This new feature in tick-

eting system is a dynamic sys-tem which will keep upgradingitself as the train proceeds forthe destination and make itmore transparent as passengerscan see the real time availabil-ity of berths,” he said.

According to official, thenew interface will give graph-ical representation of the traincoaches and berth-wise accom-modation status on the IndianRail Catering and TourismCorp (IRCTC) website.

The railway officials said thenew feature will look similar tothat provided by the airlines.

The website of the IndianRailways will show the seatinglayout with different colours toshow the seats that are booked,vacant and partially booked.

“The system displays thecoach layout of nine classesused in the reserved trains ofthe Indian Railways and morethan 120 different coach lay-outs have been incorporated.This feature displays class-wiseand coach-wise fully vacantberth availability informationas per the first chart of the

train, which is prepared fourhours before the train’s depar-ture,” he said.

If the second chart is alsoprepared, then the option toview the details of vacant berthsavailable at the time will be dis-played. The second chart is pre-pared about 30 minutes priorto the departure of the train toaccommodate the informationof current reservations andcancellations done after thefirst chart, he added.

Both the charts will getupdated for every chartinglocation as the train headstowards its destination. In addi-tion to this, a user will also havethe facility to view the exactposition of the berth allocatedto a PNR in the graphicalcoach layout during PNRenquiry.

Girish Pillai, MemberTraffic, Railway Board saidthat entire effort is to makereservation process as trans-parent as possible and com-fortable to the public. “Thebiggest advantage is passengercan see which berth is availableeven after second charts aremade,” he said.

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A large number of borderresidents in frontier dis-

tricts of Poonch and Rajouricontinue to face the brunt offiring from across the border inthe absence of bunkers in theclose vicinity of their homes,falling in the direct line of fireof roaring Pak guns.

A total of 4,696 individualand 335 community bunkerswere sanctioned in Rajouri and1,320 individual and 688 com-

munity bunkers in Poonchdistrict for the safety of the bor-der residents during cross bor-der shelling.

In the beginning ofDecember 2018, the UnionHome Ministry had evendecided to bear the extra costof constructing these bunkersas contractors had refused tostart work on ground zero inthe absence of completion oftender process.

According to officialsources, “construction of

bunkers was started at severalplaces but it is going on atsnails’ pace”. As there is no letup from the Pakistani sideunhappy border residents arerunning for cover and pres-surising district authorities toprioritise construction ofbunkers at fast speed.

As several houses inMendhar tehsil of Poonch werehit by mortars fired by thePakistan army during freshescalation of border tension lateTuesday night large number of

people from the area relocatedto safer places on Wednesdayto ensure their safety.

They blamed the localauthorities for ignoring theirsafety concerns and leavingthem at the mercy of God inthe wake of mounting tensionsalong the LoC.

As the intensity of Pakistanarmy firing increased with theinduction of artillery firinglate Tuesday evening Indianarmy too upped the ante to givethem a befitting reply.

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Srinagar: Moderate HurriyatConference chairman MirwaizUmar Farooq on Wednesdayasked India and Pakistan todesist from warmongering,saying war will be a disaster forthe entire region.

Mirwaiz, who was pre-vented from holding a pressconference by authorities at hisNigeen residence, said dia-logue was the only way for-ward.

“Leadership and people ofKashmir greatly urge Indiaand Pakistan not to escalate thesituation and desist from war-mongering which will be a dis-aster for the entire region. Weask both governments that asin the past, escalation and warcan never resolve the issuesbetween them, and only talk-ing to one another is the wayforward,” he said.

Referring to Tuesday’s

National Investigation Agency(NIA) raids on separatists, theHurriyat leader said there wasa “threatening and graveatmosphere created by theauthoritarian state acrossKashmir and people are beingpsychologically intimidated”.

The NIA had carried outsearches at seven locations,including on the premises ofseparatists like Mirwaiz UmerFarooq, in connection with a

case related to funding to ter-rorist and separatist groups inJammu and Kashmir, officialssaid.

The agency said it recov-ered “high-tech internet com-munication setup” fromMirwaiz’s residence.

The separatist leader, how-ever, on Wednesday claimedthat he was not providedseizure memo as requiredunder law after the raids. PTI

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Page 7: !#ˆ˛$%#ˆ%#&ˆ’& · military ethics,” Pakistani mil- ... injured personnel in violation of all norms of International ... Seva Media, one of top honours of the Indian military

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Ahmedabad/Bhopal: The tigerthat was found dead inMahisagar district of Gujarat onTuesday, had travelled fromRatapani sanctuary located inneighbouring Madhya Pradesh,officials said on Wednesday.

The Gujarat forest depart-ment confirmed that it was thesame tiger that was captured oncamera around two weeks backin Mahisagar district, the firstsighting of a tiger in the state inthree decades. The authorities,however, ruled out poaching asthe cause of its death.

On February 12, the Gujaratgovernment had confirmed thepresence of a tiger, aged 7 to 8years, after it was captured oncamera.

On Tuesday, the carcass ofthe tiger was found at Kantar vil-lage in the forest area ofMahisagar. It was found around15 kms from the spot, where theanimal was last captured oncamera.

"The tiger that was founddead in Gujarat, had reachedMahisagar district after crossingIndore, Ujjain, Dewas andJhabua districts of MadhyaPradesh," an MP PublicRelations Department officialsaid, quoting the state forestdepartment authorities.

The tiger had traversedfrom Ratapani sanctuary situat-

ed near Bhopal, he said.After getting the informa-

tion that the tiger had enteredGujarat, MP's Principal ChiefConservator of Forest (Wildlife)U Prakasham had written a let-ter to the Gujarat ForestDepartment on February 14,urging it to protect the animaland keep a tab on its move-ments.

Meanwhile, after conduct-ing the examination of the car-cass, the Gujarat forest depart-ment ruled out the possibility ofpoaching.

The pattern of the tiger'sstripes led the post-mortempanel, formed to probe its death,to conclude that it was the sameanimal that was captured on thecamera trap around two weeksback, a Gujarat forest depart-

ment official said.Samples of the tiger carcass

have been sent to three labora-tories to ascertain the cause ofthe death as no external injurymarks were found on it, he said.

Chief Conservator ofForests, Vadodara, S K Srivastavasaid, "During the examination,no physical injury was noticedon the tiger. Also, all the 18claws, four canine teeth, genitalorgan and skin were found to beintact, hence this is definitely nota case of poaching."

"We have collected three setsof samples for investigation,which have been sent to GujaratForensic Sciences Laboratoryin Gandhinagar, AnandVeterinary Hospital andLaCONES in Hyderabad forexamination," he said. PTI

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Patna: The Police onWednesday said that the solemissing girl from the shelterhome at Mokama town in thedistrict, who had escaped alongwith six other inmates a fewdays ago, has been found.

The girl was found nearthe Madhubani station onTuesday night by a policeteam. She was subsequentlybrought here and handed overto the Childrens WelfareCommittee after medicalexamination," AdditionalSuperintendent of Police LipiSingh, who was heading theSpecial Investigation Team setup for recovering the sevengirls, told PTI.

The seven inmates of theshelter home at Mokama,located about 100 kms fromhere, had gone missing in theearly hours of Saturday. Six ofthem were traced inDarbhanga within 24 hours.

Five of the inmates, includ-ing the one recovered fromMadhubani, are said to bewitnesses in the infamousMuzaffarpur sex scandal.

Initially, it was claimedthat the girls had "escaped"after cutting through the win-dow grille of the shelter homerun by Nazareth HospitalSociety. PTI

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Kolkata: Two alleged operativesof Jamaat-ul-MujahideenBangladesh (JMB) have beenarrested from West Bengal'sMurshidabad district and acache of explosive materialsseized from their possession, asenior police officer said onWednesday.

In a joint operation by theSpecial Task Force (STF) of theKolkata Police and theMurshidabad police, MoshiburRahman (35) alias Farooqueand Ruhul Amin alias Saifullah(26) were apprehended Tuesdaynight, he said.

"Both Moshibur and Ruhul,residents of Murshidabad dis-trict, are active members of theoutlawed JMB. A cache of explo-sive materials, including alu-minium dust, calether (spirit ofether) and sulphuric acid, havebeen recovered from their pos-session," the senior officer toldPTI.

The duo happen to be asso-ciates of Kauser and Sajjad, whowere nabbed on January 29 fortheir involvement in 2014Burdwan blast case, he said.

On October 2, 2014, a blasthad occurred in a house atKhagragarh in Burdwan district,killing two persons.

"We have interrogated Sajjadand found out that Moshibur

and Ruhul have been trained inmaking acid bombs. Their planwas to attack the police and getKauser released," the officersaid.

With Tuesday's successfulraid in Murshidabad, the num-ber of JMB operatives arrestedin a month rose to six, he added.

On February 16, ArifulIslam alias Arif (22) was arrest-ed from the city's Babughatarea for his alleged links to theterror outfit.

Three days later, Asif Iqbalalias Nadeem, another residentof Murshidabad district, washeld at Santragachi railway sta-tion in Howrah district.

Islam was involved in 2018Bodh Gaya blast case, police hadclaimed. On January 19 lastyear, a low-intensity bomb hadexploded at Bodh Gaya in Bihar,shortly after Tibetan spiritualleader the Dalai Lama finisheda sermon at the Mahabodhitemple. PTI

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Panaji: The Congress has askedailing Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar to respond tohis Cabinet colleague NileshCabral's statement that thePublic Accounts Committee(PAC) report on illegal miningwas a "political stunt".

In 2012, Parrikar who wasthen the Leader of Opposition,chaired the PAC constituted bythe Goa Assembly on mining.A report submitted by the PAChad pointed out irregularities inthe mining industry, after whichthe Supreme Court appointedM B Shah Commission to con-duct inquiry.

The report had also namedthe then Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat as one of theaccused in illegal mining thattook place between 2005 and2012.

Talking to reporters in Goaon Wednesday, All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC)secretary A Chellakuar askedParrikar to come clean on thefindings of the report.

Cabral, who is a BJP MLAand state Power Minister, hadrecently said during a TV debatethat the PAC report tabled byParrikar was a "political stunt".However, he had later claimedthat he meant to say "stand" andnot "stunt".

Chellakumar said, "Onbehalf of the Congress party, werequest the CM, who is thepropagator of �35,000 crorefigure of illegal mining, torespond to the statement of yourown Minister (Cabral). If youwere right, then give a reply."

He said the Congress is"very clean" and "not scared" ofthe allegations of illegal mininglevelled against it.

The Congress leaderclaimed that Parrikar, during hisstint as the LoP, had tried to cre-ate a "mirage" before the peopleand branded the Congress as acorrupt party.

With his own agenda,Parrikar succeeded in winningover power during the 2012Assembly election, he added.

"But the fact is that today hisown Cabinet Minister openlysaid that it was a political stunt.The mining scam was totally apolitical stunt," Chellakumarsaid.

He said that the findings ofthe Shah Commission, whichhad pegged the illegal mining inGoa to the tune of �35,000crore, were based on the PACreport. The Congress leaderalso alleged that BJP had mis-led the people and the countryfor their "short-term politicalgains". PTI

Nagpur: Two minor girls were allegedly rapedby a man at knifepoint in Lakadganj area herein Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred Tuesday nightwhen an unidentified man lured the girls,aged 6 and 4, into accompanying him undersome pretext, when they were playing neartheir houses, an official release said.

The man then took the girls behind bush-es at a secluded spot behind Haldiram fac-tory in Lakadganj and raped them, it said.

Both the girls are neighbours.A case has been registered under various

sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) andPrevention of Children from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act. Nagpur Police CommissionerB K Upadhyay has said four teams of seniorpolice officers have been formed to nab theaccused. PTI

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Patna: Patna police onWednesday said it has arrest-ed one person for sharing amessage on social media thatthe March 3 rally of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,scheduled to be held at theGandhi Maidan here, could berocked by an explosion.

The message has gone viralin a large number ofWhatsApp groups and sent theadministration into a tizzy asthe city had witnessed a seriesof explosions when Modi hadaddressed his maiden politicalrally in Bihar in October, 2013.

"Udayan Rai was arrestedlate Tuesday night from theKadamkuan locality of the cityand sent to jail after beingbooked under sections of theIPC and the IT Act relating tospreading rumours," Kotwalipolice station house officer,Ramashankar Singh told PTI.

The March 3 meeting

called the 'Sankalp Rally' (arally for resolve) is expected tobe a virtual sounding of buglefor Lok Sabha polls by theNDA, which is also in powerin Bihar.

Preparations are on in fullswing for the rally whichwould be the first occasionwhen people would see Modisharing the stage with ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar at apolitical function.

Kumar, who heads theJD(U), had snapped his 17-year-old ties with the BJP in2013 following differences withit over projection of Modi. He,however, returned to the NDAin 2017.

Modi, who was then theGujarat Chief Minister, hadburst into the political scene inBihar with aplomb and deliv-ered a rousing hour-longspeech in October, 2013unmoved by the bombs which

kept exploding at the GandhiMaidan during his address.

Riding on the wave hehad created, the BJP went onto win 22 Lok Sabha seats inBihar, its best-ever electoralperformance. PTI

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Ahmedabad: A lioness wasfound dead in Tulsishyamrange of Gir forest in Gujaraton Wednesday, a forest officialsaid.

According to the official,prima facie no foul play wassuspected in the death of thelioness, believed to be around11 years old.

Chief Conservator ofForests (Wildlife), Junagadh, DT Vasavada said the carcass hasbeen sent for post-mortem.

"The lioness, around 10-11years old, was found dead atTulsishyam range of Gir (East)division of the forest, around330 km from here," he said.

"A veterinary doctor visit-ed the site. Claws of the lionesswere found to be intact," hesaid, indicating that poachingwas not the reason behind thedeath.

Two days ago, a lion wasfound dead on a farm land inJasadhar range of Gir east divi-sion of forest in Junagadh dis-trict. The Gujarat Governmenthad told the legislative assem-bly last week that over 200 lionsdied in Gir forest region in thestate in the last two years. PTI

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Mumbai: Justifying the legis-lature's decision to providedeath penalty for repeat offenceof rape, the Union Governmenton Wednesday told theBombay High Court that rapelaws had been amended in2013 to introduce a powerfuldeterrent against such crimes.

The Centre made the sub-mission before a bench hear-ing writ petitions filed by thethree convicts in the Shakti

Mills gangrape case here chal-lenging the constitutionalvalidity of the death sentenceawarded to them by the trialcourt in 2014.

Arguing on behalf of theUnion, Additional SolicitorGeneral Anil Singh told thehigh court that the IPCSection 376, that comprisethe penal provisions for theoffence of rape, had beenamended following much

deliberation.None of the provisions

introduced through theCriminal Law (Amendment)Act, 2013, was unconstitu-tional, he noted.

"An act of rape is a veryserious offence for even whenit is non-homicidal, it doesn'tmerely cause physical harm tothe victim, but, it affects hersoul and her personality too,"Singh said.

"In most instances,because of the stigma attachedto the offence of rape, victimsdo not come forward to regis-ter a case.

"Therefore, consideringthat it is the state's duty notjust to punish, but also to pre-vent a crime, the new, stricterprovisions governing theoffence of rape were intro-duced in 2013," he said.

Singh was arguing before

the bench of justices B PDharamadhikari and RevatiMohite-Dere that is hearingthe writ petitions filed by thethree convicts — Vijay Jadhav,Kasim Bengali and SalimAnsari.

The convicts, through theircounsel Yug Chaudhry, hadargued on the previous hearingthat the death sentence award-ed to them violated their fun-damental right to life. PTI

Panaji: Goa Tourism MinisterManohar Ajgaonkar on Wednesdayurged tourists not to consume drugs inthe State, but instead drink 'feni', a pop-ular liquor made locally from cashewfruit.

The Minister made the statementwhile addressing a press conferencehere.

"We have taken precautions thatdrugs is not introduced in the elec-tronic dance music (EDM) festivals,"the minister said in response to a queryon the rampant sale of drugs at theEDM events.

He said he had instructed thepolice that there should not be anychaotic situation during these festivals.

"Enjoy the music, drink cashewfeni, but do not indulge in drugs,"Ajgaonkar said.

The minister said the tourismdepartment treats the tourists with dig-nity, but if they violate the law of theland, they would be dealt with strictly.

Ajgaonkar said his departmenthas rolled up its sleeves to implementthe recently-amended Goa TouristPlace Protection and MaintenanceAct, which bans drinking in places likebeaches.

He said if anyone is found drinkingon the beaches, a fine of �2,000 wouldbe imposed on him, while groups willhave to pay �10,000 for the sameoffence. PTI

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Page 8: !#ˆ˛$%#ˆ%#&ˆ’& · military ethics,” Pakistani mil- ... injured personnel in violation of all norms of International ... Seva Media, one of top honours of the Indian military

India crossed the red line in Pakistan forthe first time since 1971 when its AirForce carried out audacious pre-emp-tive attacks in self-defence, a second stepescalation against Jaish-e-Mohammad

(JeM) training camps in Balakot as retribu-tion for the killing of 44 CRPF soldiers atPulwama on February 14. In 1999, during theKargil conflict, India unilaterally declared thatit would not cross the Line of Control (LoC)to preclude any escalation and lost two air-craft and 540 soldiers in evicting the intru-sions of the Northern Light Infantry disguisedas mujahideen. Prime Minister Modi dis-played political will in ordering air attacks out-side Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) but theretribution came 24 hours later than he haddesired, wanting it to be timed with the inau-guration of the war memorial on February 25.

When the surgical strikes were launchedin 2016, he had told the then Chief of theArmy Staff, Gen Dalbir Singh, that he did notwant any casualties, get troops to return bydawn and ensure there was no escalation. Thistime around, Modi has surprised not onlyPakistan but many Indian strategists bystriking at targets deep inside Pakistan. MostIndians were expecting retribution for surebut few had imagined the use of the Air Forceinstead of the expected surgical strike 2.0 inPoK. What was delivered was shock therapy.

Six Mirage 2000 aircraft covered by 10Sukhoi Su-30MKI violated Pakistani airspace to destroy the JeM training camp atBalakot. Like in Kargil, these same aircraftemployed precision-guided munitions toavoid collateral damage. That the Mirage mis-sion completed its task without being inter-cepted by Pakistan’s air defence and fighteraircraft is commendable and showed laxityon the part of Pakistan Air Force. Interestingly,like after the surgical strikes, the DirectorGeneral of Military Operations (DGMO)announced that surgical strikes targetted ter-rorist launch pads and not Pakistani Armyposts — emphasising India’s war was againstterrorism and not Pakistan — this time it wasForeign Secretary VK Gokhale who issued aterse and calibrated statement, highlightingthat India had taken “non-military pre-emp-tive action” to ward off imminent terroristattacks by habitual offender JeM, the terror-ist organisation based in Balakot. He remind-ed Pakistan of its pledge in 2004 to not allowthe use of Pakistani soil or territory under itscontrol for terrorist attacks against India. Howescalatory air strikes constitute no-militarypre-emptive action is creative play of words.

This time, there was actionable intelli-gence on Balakot, whereas in 2001, after theParliament attack and 2008 (Mumbai), intel-ligence agencies were unable to provide accu-rate eight-figure coordinates of terroristtraining camps, saying they were mobile andnot static. Air strikes deep inside Pakistan rep-resent India raising the ante, shedding its cov-eted policy of strategic restraint. This is thefirst time one nuclear power has used its AirForce to strike targets of another nuclear

power. To maintain surprise,India had neither mobilised itsarmed forces nor cancelled leave,as was done in 2001, which hasbeen restricted now.

It seems India is confidentthat Pakistan will not escalatewith military action. That doesnot mean that there will be noretribution, as it has, thoughIndia’s marginal conventionalsuperiority may deter Pakistanfrom escalatory retaliation. Thelast thing that Modi wants is afull-fledged war, which will berisky for India and crippling forPakistan.

Although US PresidentDonald Trump had referred toIndia planning “something bigwhich is dangerous and must bestopped”, America did nothing toavert the strikes in a regionwhich the West has labelled as anuclear flashpoint. US Secretaryof State, Mike Pompeo, hasissued a statement calling forrestraint and urging Pakistan notto take military action as also dis-mantle terrorist camps on its ter-ritory. One of the reasonsPakistan was emboldened toexecute its suicide attack atPulwama was that it believed thatTrump would not chide it orintervene as the restraintimposed on the Pakistan Armyby the US was lifted forIslamabad helping Washingtonin its reconciliation talks with theAfghan Taliban.

Let us be clear. Like the sur-gical strikes failed to deterPakistan’s cross-border infiltra-

tion, the deep penetration airstrikes, too, will not stop it fromwaging proxy war. It will miti-gate, not eliminate the scourgeof terrorism. In Kashmir, thingswill get hotter given that IEDand VBIED have returned, aug-mented by local suicidebombers. Make no mistake thatair strikes, like surgical strikesin 2016, are not effectivelyreplicable. One swallow doesnot make a summer.

The reaction from Pakistanis confused. There has been adenial of what it called “fictitious”claims. Simultaneously, it claimedthat unwanted aggression will notgo unpunished. Foreign MinisterShah Mahmood Qureshi evensaid that Pakistan will respond “ata time and place of its choosing.”The Pakistan military cannotafford any further loss of face,especially after Osama bin Ladenwas plucked by US Special Forcesfrom Abbottabad under theirnoses. The justification forPakistan Army’s primacy in soci-ety and its designation as custo-dian of Pakistan’s core values willtake a big hit if it does not retal-iate. The humiliation of 1971,coupled with the air strikes, isbound to dilute the image andaura of the Punjabi Army.Immediate retribution most like-ly will manifest in another spec-tacular suicide attack in Kashmiror even outside Jammu &Kashmir. Pakistan has alreadyresponded with its Air Force butits dilemma will be target selec-tion. Within the last 24 hours,

tension in Jammu & Kashmir hasrisen and Pakistan has claimedbombing Poonch and also cap-turing two Indian pilots.

Pakistan will respond to vio-lation of its sovereignty. It will notgive retaliation a go by, requiringthe Indian armed forces to be onhigh alert. Pakistan could selecta military target like an ammu-nition dump or a military instal-lation proportionate with the lossof life and materials suffered atBalakot. It will be unwise for theBJP-led Government to tom-tomthe air strikes as an election cat-alyst. Inflammatory speechesand boasts of air strikes like sur-gical strikes should be avoided.Three nights ago, a Pakistani TVanchor asked me whether theclouds of war had passed over. Ireplied in the negative adding:“India’s retribution is inevitable.”Willy nilly, through its air strikes,India may have called Pakistan’snuclear bluff.

To the question everyoneasks: How to change Pakistanmilitary’s behaviour, the answerusually is: Difficult but if it hap-pens, it will happen from with-in. By India dropping its cov-eted strategic restraint thoughsurgical strikes and air strikes,New Delhi has shown that if itcan’t change Pakistan, it canchange itself.

(The writer is a retiredMajor General of the IndianArmy and founder member ofthe Defence Planning Staff, cur-rently the revamped IntegratedDefence Staff)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “India strikes back” (February27). There are two ways one canlook at this air-strike. One can seeit as a vote-winning move by theGovernment. This is how manypeople will see it. Or one can seeit for what it is — that India is nota soft state. The Prime Ministerhad repeated more than once inthe last few days that thePulwama attack will not gounpunished.

Obviously, the Governmentcould not discuss its gameplan.So, after days of feverish specu-lation and desperate anxiety,India has finally done what somany of us had advocated. Fornearly two weeks since thePulwama attack, true to NarendraModi’s style, he kept everyoneguessing on what was going to beIndia’s response. After USPresident Donald Trump’s state-ment that India is planning“something very strong” we hada hunch. Obviously, India couldnot mount a major offensivewithout taking major internation-al powers into confidence.

J AkshayBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “India strikes back” (February27). India’s strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror campsin Balakot were timely and wel-come. The attack, which wasreminiscent of the surgical strikesearlier in 2016, must sendPakistan the message that terror-

ism and diplomacy cannot gohand in hand.

The “non-military” pre-emp-tive strikes must also come as atimely reminder to the establish-ment over there to shun state-sponsored terrorism. It was, how-ever, heartening that the entireOpposition came out in supportof the strikes.

ShivanshVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “India strikes back”(February 27). The NarendraModi Government and theIndian Air Force (IAF) must becommended for a massive retal-iation to the Pulwama attack.The bombings on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training

camps in Balakot by the IAFhave made a huge statement toterrorist organisations and theircaretakers that India is now nolonger a “soft state” and will rec-iprocate in a ghastly mannereach time the nation faces anythreat of terrorism. Balakot wasconsidered to be the trainingheadquarters of the JeM and,therefore, the elimination of theterror-training camps over therecan be adjudged as one of thebiggest successes over terrorism.

Tushar AnandPatna

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “India strikes back”(February 27). While the IndianAir Force as well as the intelli-gence agencies deserve all praiseto ensure a successful strike atPakistan terror bases, we have totake all precautionary stepsneeded to face a counter-attackfrom Pakistan, which hasalready begun.

SatyaVia email

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Envisioning the ideology of developmentthat leads to the comprehensive progress ofa nation is not an easy task. When newly inde-

pendent nations went ahead with borrowed plansand programmes of development, not all of themled to real development. Developmental strategieswere invariably launched with high expectations— that they would prepare the ground for the weak,deprived and ignored to lead a dignified humanlife, one that is free from poverty, hunger and ill-health. Scientific and technological advances of the20th century paved the way for such a transforma-tion. Human beings acquired knowledge, skills andtechnical know-how, sufficient enough to letevery human being lead a “humane” life.

Unfortunately, human greed, tendencies toaccumulate and exploit natural resources and inad-equacies inherent in the various plans and pro-grammes have led to a situation where the very exis-tence of mankind is under threat. Thankfully, theglobal community is seized of the concerns and hastaken several initiatives to retrieve the situation. Itwas in 2015 that the UN General Assembly set 17Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to beachieved by the global community by 2030. It isalso referred to as the ‘2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment’. The UNESCO’s publication of2018, titled, ‘Issues and Trends in Education forSustainable Development’, while talking aboutEducation for Sustainable Development (ESD),summarises it comprehensively: “In short, sustain-able development must be integrated into educa-tion, which must be integrated into sustainabledevelopment. ESD is the holistic and transforma-tional education and concerns learning content andoutcomes, pedagogy and the learning environ-ment.” In essence, ESD is wholesome education thatempowers and equips the learner to comprehendand put to practice a “balanced and integratedapproach to economic, social and environmentaldimensions of sustainable development.” It isimplicit that education policies and systems musttransform themselves to ensure adequacy inoffering knowledge, skills, values and attitudes.These efforts need to “ensure inclusive and equi-table quality education and promote life-long learn-ing opportunities for all.”

Of the 17 SDGs identified, education appearsat SG-4. The 10 targets included under SDG-4clearly reveal the pivotal role of education in inclu-sive growth and development. Education has tonow prepare and equip people to address issues likepoverty, hunger, ill-health, environment, climatechange, gender equality, management of water andsanitation and energy issues among others as list-ed among the 17 SDGs. It has to do this in full con-sciousness that even those who leave schooling aftera couple of years are prepared sufficiently to con-tribute effectively in the achievement of SDGs. Thiscan be achieved tangibly by putting focus on thefour pillars of education as articulated in the DelorsReport of 1996. “Learning to know” is the key. Onemust also now be familiar with the instruments oflearning, which themselves may be undergoingchanges and transformation. It has to be life-longlearning and, therefore, ESD includes learning tolearn. “Learning to do” encourages accepting andperforming one’s own obligations, skillfully, to save,nurture and nourish the environment. Young peo-ple need to gain formal and informal experiences,

alternating with study and work. “Learning to livetogether” was never that significant and critical asof today as in times of ever-growing mobility ofhuman beings and coming together of people ofdiverse ethnic, linguistic, religious and culturalbackgrounds. ESD must provide opportunities tounderstand other people, skills of managing con-flicts and respect for pluralism, mutual respect andpeace. “Learning to be” is essential for personali-ty development, ability to act with “greater auton-omy, discretion and personal responsibility.” Hereagain, these four pillars provide the base for ESDand, simultaneously, ESD can do much more inachieving the fifth pillar of education: “Learningto transform oneself and society to empower peo-ple with the values and abilities to assume respon-sibility for creating and enjoying a sustainablefuture.” For the last two decades, discussions nor-mally have centred on the four pillars. The fifthprobably makes it far more comprehensive.

The first UN Conference on HumanEnvironment (UNCHE), that focussed on inter-national environmental issues, was held inStockholm, Sweden from January 5 to 16,1972. In the background was a proposal madeby Sweden in 1968 that the UN organise an inter-national conference to study environmentalissues and prioritise consensus that requiresinternational action and cooperation. Its finaldeclaration indicated growing interest — or con-cern — on the finite nature of Earth’s resourcesand the need for global cooperation to safeguardthese as it was the responsibility of human beingsto maintain the sensitive bond between man andnature. This conference led to the creation ofUNEP in December 1972. The task assigned wasto promote sustainability and safeguard the nat-ural environment. The final declaration includesthe importance of environmental education. Thedeclaration had a great global impact. Peoplebegan to realise and personally experience howrivers were getting polluted, deforestation wascreating serious concerns, wildlife species wererapidly getting extinguished, air pollution wasgetting uncontrollable and much more. Severalnational and global initiatives followed theStockholm conference. The second global envi-ronmental conference was held in Rio deJaneiro from June 3 to14 in 1992. Change was

visible; it was “UN Conference on Environmentand Development” UNCED.

The Brundtland Commission report of 1987,titled, ‘Our Common Future’, is normally consid-ered the reference point in most initial delibera-tions on matters related to sustainable develop-ment. The report put it: “Sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the pre-sent without compromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs.” Looks sovery simple as it ought to emerge from tradition-al wisdom. There are four dimensions of sustain-able development, which, too, can be easily com-prehended: Society, environment, culture andeconomy. And these are not independent butintensely interdependent. It is also now wellaccepted that “many crises facing the planet areinterlocking crises that are elements of a singlecrisis of the whole” and of vital need for active par-ticipation, human activity and endeavour in allsectors. All these endeavours link seamlessly tothe 17 SDGs. Challenges of poverty, hunger andhealth deserve obvious priority in global efforts.Initiatives in these three sectors require a concretebase of elementary education that was realised andresolved in March 1990 in Jomtien. The first fourSDGs say it all.

Target 4.7 of the SDG-4 expects the follow-ing by 2030: “Ensure that all learners acquire theknowledge and skills needed to promote sustain-able development, including, among others,through education for sustainable developmentand sustainable lifestyles, human rights, genderequality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation ofcultural diversity and of culture’s contribution tosustainable development.” This practically definesthe canvas before curriculum developers andauthors of textbooks. ESD now needs a new gen-eration of curricular models, textbooks, other tex-tual materials, pedagogical initiatives and prac-tices. It requires an attitudinal transformation anda pragmatic value system that appeals to the youngand the old alike and equips them in competence,commitment and performance in contributing tothe cause of sustainability.

Globally, numerous initiatives are in progress.They are often encouraged by UN agencies, includ-ing UNESCO. The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of

Education for Peace and Sustainable Development,established in 2012 in New Delhi as a UNESCOGrade 1 institute, is conducting several studies andinitiatives on embedding ESD in textbooks. Peaceand global citizenship will also be included. Theinstitute brought together a global community ofauthors and practitioners “who focus on value-based and purpose-driven education.” Along witheminent curriculum development experts, it pre-pared a curricular framework that “looks at sus-tainable development as integral to all subjects.” Theoutcome: ‘Textbooks for Sustainable DevelopmentA Guide to Embedding’ came out in 2017. It states:“This publication is designed as a guide for stake-holders in textbook development — educationministers, national curriculum authorities, textbookwriters and publishers — to help them produce anew generation of textbooks.” In ESD, mereacquaintance with the problem is not sufficient. Letthe students and teachers find solutions, locate solu-tions and “live” solutions. The challenge before theteacher or teacher educator is to “engage studentsintellectually and emotionally in sustainable devel-opment”; let them realise that the issue under con-sideration really “matters to them.” Mere intellec-tual awareness, and that too for just passing anexamination, can no more be the objective of edu-cation and certainly not of the ESD.

To achieve an attitudinal transformation is atough task in every instance. It applies to ESD aswell. There is a way out if there is an emotional con-nect with the people and planet. The UNESCO-MGIEP is working on two hypotheses: First, awhole brain approach is necessary to produce anemotionally and intellectually resilient intellect.Second, the education system needs to adopt thewhole brain approach. Early findings indicate thatschools adopting the whole brain approach showpromising results in producing emotionallyresilient students. With the right and appropriateuse of internet, better avenues to communicate withfriends, greater opportunities to co-create curricu-lum with the teacher could relate learning to lifeand more importantly, make it interesting, likeableand useful. A new climate of collaborating, notcompeting, can indeed lead to a peaceful and har-monious world.

(The writer is the Indian Representative on theExecutive Board of UNESCO)

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The first tactile impulse towardsour past/history came to full-view recently when a video

surfaced of miscreants vandalising andkicking the lone surviving pillar ruinsto the ground, purportedly at Hampi,a Unesco World Heritage Site. This isa classic example of how we as a nationtreat our past. Apparently, multipleagencies are responsible for protectingthe site, yet it looked abandoned. Ourhistorical monuments are more oftenridden with bats, pigeons, monkeysand louts than fortified by a securityapparatus. Every single historicalmonument is bludgeoned with graf-fiti.

Had Hampi not appeared in TheNew York Times annual list of 52

places to visit in 2019, the incidentwould not have caught the imagina-tion of the public at large andremained a one-off incident only tobe forgotten later.

In fact, this incident reflects thepedigree of socially-desensitised anddecultured citizenry and the failure ofour education and value system. It isdisheartening to see that a section ofvisitors repeatedly prove themselvesunfit and unworthy to even get clos-er to the ruins of our past. Apathy forour history and heritage is not limit-ed to historical monuments alone.Look at our dodgy museums. Theyresemble more an orderly main-tained warehouse of artefacts.

In contrast, museums abroad arelively social and cultural hubs. Theycommand premium and broaderappeal. Often, the demand is such thatpeople have to book slots in advance.Their history and heritage are on spec-tacular display. Spaces are elegantlydesigned; technology and atmospher-ics create an immersive experience fora visitor. The museums have the vis-itor’s interests at the heart of their con-cept, design and communications

efforts. No wonder, they leave remark-able impressions on tourists.

On the other hand, museums andtheir management in India are yet toawaken to these possibilities of creat-ing rich and immersive experiences.They exist in splendid isolation with nocommunity-centric engagement pro-grammes whatsoever. In short, theylook stuck in a time-warp, are notsocially integrated and need an over-haul. Look at the interpretation of theexhibits on display. It is beyond com-mon man’s comprehension. Tablets aretypically written in an academic lan-guage. The galleries created seemlargely meant for the experts, by theexperts and of the experts. If museumsfail to talk to the common man on thestreet, then they are self-defeating.

If one were to pay a visit to anyof our museums, the lingeringimpression would be one of uncaringexecution and a basement qualityeffort. Right from the merchandisesold to the banners and brochures —all are of shoddy quality, poorlypackaged and presented. To providethe visitors’ better experience, whynot have a showreel or official guide

imparting information about theplace, its historical significance, rel-evance of the artefacts and rules gov-erning the place?

Strikingly, many museums and his-torical sites do not even have a contem-porary website or social media pres-ence. Social media platforms likeInstagram are becoming cultural forcesin attracting a huge global audience forsampling and experiencing the cultureof the places. Many visitors upload pho-tos of the places and museums they visitand indirectly become cultural ambas-sadors and contribute to attractingmore tourists. It is mystifying that ourmuseums remain stuck in a bygone eraand are not conversant with times. Itis a tragedy that inter-disciplinarysolutions are lacking in planning andexecution in this domain.

Unless we, as a nation, respectour past, the world will not view uswith the respect that we deserve. Weneed to evolve a national campaignto revive our history and monumen-tal heritage. We need to make our his-tory and heritage cool again. We havereduced the subject to mind-numb-ingly rote learning of names, years

and wars fought in a unidimension-al way, robbing it of creativity, imag-ination or contextualisation. Schoolsmust impart the subject through out-ings and excursions and visual andmultimedia aids. Local communitiesaround historical sites are importantstakeholders and they need to be pro-ductively engaged. They can beemployed in various roles, can act asmoral guardians and caretakers safe-guarding the precincts.

Desecrating historical monu-ments needs to be a punishableoffence with maximum sentence todeter people from such mindless actsof adventurism. Web booking mustbe encouraged to reduce the merelymeandering and casual sightseers.There are no performance metrics forthe agencies concerned either.Introducing community engagement,visitor-friendly communication, tick-et sales could be some of the key met-rics for evaluation. The sheer trea-sures around the country and thosethat are still being discovered need athorough audit and restoration plan.

Above all, our history has hun-dreds of stories to tell, yet our heritage

monuments and museums do such ashoddy job when it comes to inspir-ing visitors. Today, all we see in thename of storytelling is the “sound andlight” shows at such venues. Thevenue is blighted with ubiquitousgreen light boxes mounted on theground, loudspeakers assaulting thesenses and garish and rainbow colourlights hitting the ruins and walls, in thename of exhibiting our creativity.

The common refrain of fundcrunch would be partially solved ifefforts initiated are visitor-friendly,information-rich and engagement-driven, leading to more footfalls andrevenue. The private sector can playa promising role through CSR initia-tives and actively adopt and con-tribute to art, culture and historicalrestoration activities. The Hampiincident should shake our collectiveconscience. A country without its his-tory has no identity. Let us not be sohopeless that we fail to even safeguardwhatever remains of our civilisation-al wealth. Else, it would be thebiggest tragedy of our times.

(The writer is a communicationsand management professional)

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India may impose anti-dumping duty on a certain

type of sheet used in makingsolar cell imported fromChina, Malaysia, Saudi Arabiaand Thailand for five years inorder to safeguard domesticplayers from cheap importsfrom these countries.

The Commerce Ministry'sdumping investigation armDirectorate General of TradeRemedies (DGTR) has rec-ommended the duty in therange of $537 to $1,559 pertonne on imports of "EthyleneVinyl Acetate sheet for solarmodule".

The final decision toimpose the duty would betaken by the Finance Ministry.

"The authority recom-mends imposition of definitiveanti-dumping duties on theimports...Originating in orexported from China,Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, andThailand, for a period of fiveyears," the DGTR has said ina notification.

In its findings, the DGTRsaid imposition of the duty isrequired to offset dumpingand injury caused by dumpedimports from these countries.

Following a complaint bya domestic company, the direc-torate had initiated the probein April last year.

The product is a polymerbased component used in themanufacturing of solar PV(Photo Voltaic) modules.

Imports of the sheets fromthese countries increased to6,367 tonnes during the peri-od of investigation (October2016 to September 2017) from4,674 tonnes in 2016-17. Theimports stood at $1,025 tonnesin 2015-16 and $594 tonnes in2014-15.

Imports of componentsused in solar industry haveincreased as India launched anambitious national solar poli-cy named Jawaharlal NehruNational Solar Mission inJanuary 2010.

Under this, the countryhas a target of generating20,000 megawatt (MW) of

solar power by 2022.Several countries are inter-

ested in supplying solar equip-ment to tap into the growingsector in India.

Countries carry out anti-dumping probes to determinewhether their domestic indus-tries have been hurt because ofa surge in cheap imports.

As a counter measure, theyimpose duties under the mul-tilateral regime of WTO.

The duty is aimed at ensur-ing fair trading practices andcreating a level-playing field fordomestic producers withregard to foreign producersand exporters.

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The Government has detect-ed �20,000 crore worth of

GST evasion so far this fiscal,and will take more steps tocheck frauds and increase com-pliance, a senior tax officer saidWednesday.

Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs Member(Investigation) John Joseph fur-ther said the department wouldsoon call a meeting of the rep-resentatives of the real estatesector to understand transitionissues faced by the sector postreduction in GST rates.

The GST Council, chairedby Finance Minister ArunJaitley and comprising Statecounterparts, earlier this weekdecided to cut tax rates onunder-construction apartmentsand affordable housing to fiveper cent and one per cent,respectively.

However, builders will notbe able to claim credit for thetaxes paid on inputs, like steel,cement.

The earlier GST rate onunder-construction apartmentsand affordable housing was 12per cent and eight per cent withinput tax credit (ITC), respec-tively.

On demand for giving ITCrelief to the builders of theunder-construction flats whichare already built but not yetsold to buyers, Joseph said the

real estate sector will have toraise the issue with the urbanDevelopment Ministry.

"You need to talk to them(Urban Development Ministry).As revenue department we can-not give you any benefit of sub-sidy to that extent," he said at anAssocham event here.

Joseph said between April-February 2018-19, GST evasionworth �20,000 crore has beendetected of which �10,000 crorewas recovered.

He said the tax officers onTuesday detected fake invoiceworth �1,500 crore which wasused to claim illegal GST cred-it of �75 crore.

"We have already recovered�25 crore and the rest is on theway," Joseph said.

Stating that only 5-10 percent of the businesses are "blacksheep" and bring bad name tothe industry, he said theGovernment will take moremeasures to increase compli-ance, and act against evaders ina way such that genuine busi-nesses do not suffer.

Joseph said theGovernment has been dynam-ic in rationalising tax ratessince GST rollout on July 1,2017, while increasing compli-ance for 1.2 crore registeredbusinesses.

Currently, GST has 4-tierslab of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent,while essential items are zerorated.

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Credit rating agencyMoody's on Wednesday

said the GST rate cut on under-construction flats will boosthousing sales, but may hitprofit margins of builders withwithdrawal of input tax credit.

The GST Council had onSunday decided to cut goodsand services tax (GST) rate onaffordable homes to 1 per centwithout input tax credit (ITC)from earlier 8 per cent withITC.

The GST on under-con-struction flats, which is notunder the affordable housingsegment, has been reduced to5 per cent without ITC fromearlier 12 per cent with ITC.

"The reduction in GST iscredit positive for India's prop-erty developers...Because thereduction in tax will boostdemand and increase sales ofproperties under construction,"Moody's Investors Service saidin a statement.

"India's real estate sectorhas weathered difficulties in thelast few years amid price reduc-tions from a glut of inventoryand lackluster demand. Thereduction in GST will improvehousing affordability as theamount to be paid by a poten-tial house buyer will bereduced, which will increasedemand for property," it added.

The reduction in GST rateon affordable housing is in linewith the Government'sincreased focus on this seg-

ment, Moody's said."The new GST measures

eliminate the ability to claiminput tax credit, which may hitthe profitability of the devel-opers," the rating agency said.

Currently, the developersare able to reduce the tax lia-bility when it makes a sale byclaiming tax paid on goods andservices required for the con-struction of properties. "Thiswill further impact developers'profit margins that are alreadyunder pressure."

Moody's said that thedevelopers have the option tomitigate this loss by increasingprices slightly given that over-all pricing for the customer hasreduced with lower GST.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratingssaid the move to reduce theGST on under-construction

properties and expand thescope of the affordable-housingcategory would improve afford-ability and support demand.

"We believe this will boostconsumer sentiment and cuttransaction costs, which can beas high as 18 per cent inMumbai after including othertaxes, such as stamp duty, sur-charge and registration fees," itsaid.

"The measure also with-draws input-tax credits fordevelopers, but we still expectmarginal savings on overalltransaction costs and more sofor affordable housing as wellas improved buyer confidence,as the measure eliminatesambiguity as to whether prop-erty developers are adequatelypassing on input-tax credit tobuyers," Fitch said.

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Private equity (PE) fundsproduced another impres-

sive surge in investment valuein 2018, capping the strongestfive-year stretch in the indus-try's history with $2.5 trillionin disclosed buyout deal value.

Limited partners (LPs)remained highly enthusiasticand continued to flood themarket with fresh capital. Forgeneral partners (GPs), puttingrecord amounts of capital towork meant getting comfort-able with a certain level of dis-comfort when investing. They

were paying prices they sworethey would never pay andlooking to capture value thatmay prove elusive post-close.The most effective GPsstepped up their game to iden-tify targets and sharpen dili-gence, while simultaneouslyplanning for the worst.

These are the key conclu-sions from Bain & Company,the world's leading advisor toPE investors, in its tenth annu-al Global Private EquityReport, released today atSuperReturn International.

"The last five years, from2014-2018, have been some ofthe best in the private equityindustry. We've seen some ofthe highest levels of capitalraised and put to work, themost exits and decentreturns," said HughMacArthur, global head ofBain & Company's PrivateEquity practice.

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Docprime.com, a healthcareventure by EtechAces

Marketing and ConsultingPrivate Limited of PolicybazaarGroup, has achieved its firstmilestone of one millionunique visitors per month. Themilestone has been accom-plished in a short span of 6months after the launch ofDocprime’ services.

The platform which offersfree online medical consulta-tions, preventive healthcarepackages and cashless servicesfor doctor and diagnostic labappointments has quicklybecome a preferred choiceacross age groups. Millennialsand digital natives betweenthe age group of 18-25 and 25-30 form the highest segment ofunique visitors at 52%, provingthat the platform is tapping intoan unmet need for the popu-lation.

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Financial creditors of thedebt ridden Reliance

Communications onWednesday opposed its plea torelease the Income tax refundsto clear dues of Ericsson beforethe National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

The NCLAT was hearingRCom's plea, which hasapproached the appellate tri-bunal seeking waiver over themoratorium placed by it onFebruary 4.

A two-member bench ofthe NCLAT headed by JusticeS J Mukhopadhaya has direct-ed the financial creditors of thecompany, including the StateBank of India, to file their replyon the issue by March 8.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibbal,appearing for RCom, requestedthe appellate tribunal to allow therelease of money directly into theaccount of Ericsson, to which theADAG group firm has to pay�550 crore.

However, this was opposedby senior advocate Krishnan

Venugopal and others whowere representing the financialorganisations.

"This tribunal is not theappropriate forum to decide theissue. The Supreme Court hasalready considered the issue.The sum has to come inde-pendently," said Venugopal,who was appearing for the SBI.

The appellate tribunal hasdirected to list the matter onMarch 11 for next hearing.

On February 20, theSupreme Court held RComchairman Anil Ambani guiltyalong with two others of con-tempt of court for wilfully vio-lating its order by not paying Rs550-crore dues to telecomequipment maker Ericsson.

The apex court had saidthey faced a three-month jailterm if remaining �453 crorewas not paid to the telecomequipment maker in four weeks.

Earlier on February 4, theappellate tribunal had said thatuntil further orders of the NCLATor the Supreme Court, no one cansell, alienate, or create third partyrights over RCom's assets.

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Aavis Pharmaceuticals,part of Espee Group,

located in Hoschton, GA,completed an inspection bythe US Food and DrugAdministration at the com-pany's primary manufactur-ing facility with Zero 483observations. With successfulinspection of its formulationmanufacturing plant Espeebecomes the 3rd Group inGujarat to have USFDAapproved plant in USA.

The company's formula-tions facility was inspected bythe USFDA for good manu-facturing practices and PAI(Pre-Approval Inspection) inJanuary 2019.

Aavis Pharma said itreceived the EstablishmentInspection Report (EIR) inFebruary 2019, which con-cludes the inspect ion process.

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The rupee dived 17 paise toclose at 71.24 against the US

dollar on Wednesday amid aflare up of tensions betweenIndia and Pakistan.

Firming crude oil prices,month-end dollar demand fromoil importers and a weak senti-ment at domestic equity marketsweighed on the rupee, analystssaid.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex) market, thedomestic unit opened almost flatat 71.08. It then shuttled betweena low of 71.49 and a peak of 70.94,before finally ending at 71.24,showing a loss of 17 paise.

The domestic currency hadended 10 paise lower at 71.07 tothe US dollar on Tuesday.

The rupee marked "secondday of loss amid escalation oftension with Pakistan andmonth-end dollar demandsfrom oil importers," V KSharma, Head PCG & Capital

Markets Strategy, HDFCSecurities said.

The currency failed to takeadvantage of a weaker US dol-lar, he added.

Meanwhile, foreigninvestors (FIIs) remained netbuyers in capital markets,putting in �423 crore on a netbasis Wednesday.

Brent crude futures, the glob-al oil benchmark, climbed 1.17 percent to $65.97 per barrel.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six currencies,slipped 0.07 per cent to 95.93after the US Federal Reserve chiefreiterated that policy makerswill stay “patient”, and they are in“no rush to make a judgment” onfuture interest-rate moves.

The benchmark BSE Sensexsurrendered early gainsWednesday to end in the nega-tive terrain after a 600-pointswing amid escalating cross-bor-der tensions between India andPakistan.

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Nepal’s Tourism and CivilAviation Minister

Rabindra Adhikari and sixothers were killed onWednesday when a privatehelicopter crashed in easternNepal’s mountainous Taplejungdistrict, the latest aviation acci-dent in the Himalayan nation.

Besides the 39-year-oldTourism Minister, the AirDynasty helicopter was carry-ing Nepal’s prominent aviationand hospitality entrepreneurAng Tsering Sherpa, PrimeMinister’s personal aide YubarajDahal, two senior CivilAviation Authority (CAAN)officials and a Nepal Army per-sonnel.

Rescue workers retrievedthe bodies of Adhikari, the pilotand five other passengers froma hillside in Taplejung district

where the Air Dynasty chopperwent down.

Tourism Ministryspokesperson confirmed thatall seven on board the heli-copter have been killed in thecrash.

The helicopter crashed asit hit a hill while TourismMinister Adhikari was return-ing to Kathmandu after visitingfamous Hindu templePathibhara in Eastern Nepal.

Earlier, the ministeraccompanied by the technicalteam from the Ministry ofCivil Aviation and Sherpa,managing director of YetiAirlines, had gone for a feasi-bility study for an airstrip inChuhandanda, in Tehrathumdistrict.

The helicopter crashedright after it had taken off from

the temple, officials said,adding the cause of the crash isbeing probed.

The helicopter burst intoflames after it hit ChuchcheDada hill in Taplejung districtin the mountain region. Therewas a huge snowfall in the for-est area where the helicoptercrashed.

Moments after the heli-copter was reported missing,local residents in Pathibaraarea informed the police abouta huge flame at the crash site.

The Chief District Officerof Taplejung, Anuj Bhandariquoted the locals as sayingthey heard a loud bang fol-lowed by a sight of smoke andfire in the area.

It is the latest aviation acci-dent in Nepal, which has a poorair safety record.

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Russia on Wednesday urged India and Pakistan

to “show restraint” as it expressed “serious concern” about the escalation ofhostilities between the two coun-tries.

“We call on both sides toshow restraint and step upefforts to resolve existing prob-lems by political and diplomat-ic means,” the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of Russia said ina statement.

It expressed “serious con-cern” about the aggravation ofthe situation along the Line ofControl and the outbreak of ten-sions between the two neigh-bours.

“We are ready to furtherassist in strengthening thecounter-terrorism potential ofNew Delhi and Islamabad,” theministry added.

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US President Donald Trumpshook hands with North

Korean leader Kim Jong Un atthe start of their second summitWednesday and predicted suc-cessful talks with the totalitari-an state over its nuclear weapons.

Trump foresaw a “verysuccessful” summit as the pairgreeted each other at the lux-ury Sofitel Legend Metropolehotel in Hanoi to follow up ontheir initial historic meeting inSingapore in June.

Shaking hands and smiling

in front of a bank of a dozenalternating US and NorthKorean flags, they briefly tookquestions from reporters beforestarting one-on-one talks anda dinner.

Critics said the Singaporesummit was light on concreteresults but Trump said theHanoi talks would be “equal orbetter than the first” time. Kimsaid: “I am certain that a greatoutcome will be achieved thistime that will be welcomed byall people.” Negotiations werescheduled to resume onThursday.

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Seventeen civilians werekilled and 15 were wound-

ed in a blast caused by a booby-trapped corpse in central Mali,security sources and a localofficial said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred onTuesday in Diankabou, a smalltown about 150 kilometres (90miles) east of the city of Mopti,they said.

A local official told AFP itwas caused by "an explosivedevice which was planted onthe body of a man who hadbeen shot dead." A securitysource confirmed the infor-mation, saying: "The bodyexploded, killing 17 people."Among the victims were theparents of the man whose bodyhad been booby-trapped, hesaid.

The man had gone to findfood for his cattle and hadnever returned.

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The US on Wednesday firm-ly asked Pakistan to take

“meaningful action” against ter-rorist groups operating on itssoil after India’s counter-terror-ism action against it and askedthe two neighbours to exerciserestraint and avoid escalation atany cost.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo in a phone call withPakistan Foreign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi also calledfor avoiding military action.

In a separate call with

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj, Pompeoemphasised the close securitypartnership between the USand India and shared goal ofmaintaining peace and securi-ty in the region.

His statement came amidgrowing tensions between thetwo countries after 40 CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)personnel were killed in a sui-cide attack by Pakistan-basedJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) inJammu and Kashmir’s Pulwamadistrict on February 14, spark-ing outrage in the country.

Following the incident,India on Tuesday bombed anddestroyed JeM’s biggest trainingcamp in Balakot in Pakistan’srestive Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince, about 80-km from theLine of Control (LoC), killing a“very large number” of terror-ists, trainers and senior com-manders.

Pompeo is currently inVietnam to attend the secondsummit between PresidentDonald Trump and the NorthKorean leader Kim Jong-un onthe denuclearsation of theKorean peninsula.

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German Chancellor AngelaMerkel is heading to Paris

to meet with French PresidentEmmanuel Macron to discussBrexit, relations with the UnitedStates and other Europeanissues.

Wednesday’s meetingcomes one day after BritishPrime Minister Theresa Maysaid Parliament would get thechance to vote to delay Britain’sscheduled March 29 departurefrom the European Union.

Such a delay would requireother EU members’ approval.

Merkel and Macron willalso evoke the French-Germandefense partnership, accordingto the French president’s office.

The leaders in Januarysigned a pact renewing theircountries’ decades-long friend-ship. They pledged to increasecooperation in the areas of for-eign and defense policy, fight-ing crime and terrorism, inter-national development andresearch.

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Prince William arrived inNorthern Ireland on

Wednesday as the BritishGovernment seeks to reassurethe once-troubled province atthe centre of the Brexit dramathat its hard-won stability willendure.

The hastily-arranged two-day visit by the second-in-line tothe throne and his wife Katecomes as MPs argue over theterms of Brexit with just over amonth to go until the scheduleddeparture date.

The royals began their tripwith a visit to Windsor Parkfootball stadium to find out

about outreach programmesand the tour will include ameeting with a youth charity inthe border region of Fermanagh.

Even though the royals tendto steer well clear of politics, theirvisits are often organised inconjunction with theGovernment to assist Britain’swider political and economicagenda at home and abroad.

The shock result of the2016 EU membership referen-dum has forced the royals intodiplomatic overdrive.

Not long after the referen-dum, William toured Canada,then Europe, in what was seenas a bridge-building exercise asBritain looks to retain oldalliances with European andbuild new trade ties with theCommonwealth.

Strategic royal visits havemultiplied since then.

But the trip to NorthernIreland, where the IRA foughta bloody campaign againstBritish rule for three decadesuntil 1998, is a particularlysensitive mission.

Since the end of the conflict,residents of the province havebecome accustomed to a free-flowing border with theRepublic of Ireland, an EUmember state.

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The masters were a part of your growingup years. How did they influence yourchoice of career? I was fortunate to grow up in a milieuwhere art and creativity were constant. Oneof my fondest memories is of my grand-father, Jehangir Vazifdar who was a promi-nent architect and artist, bent over his desk,immersed in his experimental doodles. Hewas the one who recognised the creativespirit within me, early on and encouragedme to follow this voice by sharing his ideason art.

I grew up in London and my familywas very keen we made the most of grow-ing up in this rich, cultural hub. I was verymuch familiar with the great Masters —Miro, Dali, Picasso. My father was (andcontinues to be) a keen collector ofantiques, so we’d frequent the major auc-tion houses like Sotheby’s, Christie’s andBonhams. It is these early experience thathelped me develop an astute eye and sen-sitivity for art.

You use a lot of symbolism in your work?How do you think it pushes the creativeboundaries further? I believe symbols and motifs, if used cre-atively, have the power to convey a pow-erful emotion or message. I enjoy the ideaof opening up a new world of ideas andpossibilities through my work and it is herethat symbolism becomes a powerful tool.It prevents a work from being too literaland creates space for interaction andintrospection for the viewers.

You’ve used a lot of butterflies in the past.What are you trying to communicatethrough them? Butterflies are indeed a key motif in mywork. I first began using butterflies whenI was working on an exhibition with thestudents at the Gateway School, Mumbai.The possibilities of the butterfly wasinstantly apparent to me and I developedthis motif, integrating it with digital map-ping technology, for my show in New Delhiin 2018.

I find butterflies to be a powerfulmetaphor because though they’re fragilecreatures with a short lifespan, they gothrough an incredible journey of metamor-phosis. They have beautiful movement,which translates well formalistically into

the dynamic, three-dimensional paintingsI create. And of course, they’re a visualdelight. One cannot help but feel positivejust by looking at a butterfly in motion.

Education and environment are issuesclose to your heart. How do you try tomake a difference? Education and a better environment —without polluted air and toxic water — arethe two vital keys to a better future. Andof course, the two are interconnected asgreater awareness and education createssensitivity and individual action towardscreating a better tomorrow. As a motherand a concerned citizen, I do what I canto lend my voice and position to createawareness and change. I’m delighted tohave my art be a part of initiatives such asSotheby’s Khushii: India on Canvas char-ity auction (2017) which raised money forKapil Dev’s NGO, an organisation work-ing towards the education of underprivi-leged girls, which I believe is a vitallyimportant cause. I’m also working withsome of my friends to put together a char-itable show in April, that will raise moneyfor a fundraiser standing in opposition toviolence against women and girls. I’ve alsodone several projects with the GatewaySchool in Mumbai, which does terrificwork with children who suffer with

autism. On the environmental front, I wasdelighted to be a part of the ElephantFamily’s “Elephant Parade” in early 2018,which raises money to save the AsianElephants.

What inspired your project at Kochi?I travel a fair amount, which gives me aninteresting perspective on the paranoia andfear we live in. On the other hand, we’resurrounded by horrific stories about inno-cent people being displaced and lives lost;these become statistics and distant storiesin endless news cycles, while we go on withour lives. I’ve been mulling over theseissues and wanted to address them throughmy work which resulted in Introspection.It’s a multimedia installation that usesaudio clips from newsreels and ambientsounds, combining these with 360 digitalvisuals and motion sensor technology tocreate an immersive experience for theviewers. I wanted the work to strike theaudience at their core, creating a momentof contemplation.

Working with the digital medium, whatdoes it hold out to you in terms of cre-ativity? Using technology in my work allows an ele-ment of interactivity with the audience. ForIntrospection, I incorporated motion sen-

sors into the piece which brought an expe-riential element to it. The dynamism thatis possible with technology, opens it up toa wider audience and I think for art to havean impact, accessibility is very important.It also resonates with the younger gener-ation, who engage with technology con-stantly. We live in a digital world so usingthis technology creatively gives it a con-temporary edge.

The work at Kochi Biennale addressesthe issue of fragility and mankind look-ing at conflict and war. What role do artand artists play in the larger scheme ofthings for making a difference? Art has always been a powerful catalystfor change. Images have a universal res-onance that go beyond the boundariescreated by language. We all have aresponse to art, whether we recognise itor not. At Kochi, there were artists fromall over the world, bringing different ideasand issues to the table, for a very diverseaudience. The power of art was evidentin the way people from all walks of lifewere responding to the art. It was a reaf-firming experience to be a part ofthis, to see everyone from youngchildren, art students to theolder generation, interactingand responding to whatthey saw.

Will you be taking thistheme forward in thefuture?Definitely. I’m already in theprocess of ideating future pro-jects that will use technology to cre-ate artworks that will not only be visu-ally thrilling but also have a thought-ful element to them. I strive to createworks that up the ante in terms oftheir experience and message.

What was the response to the workespecially since Introspection is inter-active? The response was overwhelminglypositive. I had people from all acrossthe globe leaving messages after expe-riencing the work, describing how thepiece had impacted them. I think thetheme of the piece is something that hasa universal resonance and I’m glad I man-aged to communicate this effectively,leaving the viewers with a powerful expe-rience and afterthought.

When not painting, what are the thingsthat you like to do?My zen zone is my studio and I like todevote as much time as I possibly can tomy practice. But I also oversee my family’sbusiness and am committed to spending asmuch time as possible with my children.They’re both creatively inclined and I enjoyseeing the world through their fresh,young perspectives.

The bar scene in India isfinally getting upgraded.It has moved past theheavily coloured cock-tails and mastered the

old fashioned one, it is now enter-ing a phase where innovativedrinks are the norm instead ofbeing yearly specials. Rather thanjust being fixated to whisky, mil-lennials are now experimentingwith their drinks, without havingto necessarily stick to boring reg-ular Mojitos. The bar is no morejust a corner in the restaurantwhere alcohol and syrups mix, buthas evolved into quite the star ofthe evening with specialists beingbrought in for conceptualisation.

The rising trends of cocktailsseem to be the cutting edge post-modern and post molecular tech-niques such as there’s an equip-ment which is typically used toclean diamonds, it is now beingutilised to mix cocktails.

Keeping it simple, but season-al is the key. A freshly juicedpineapple in season does a lot morefor flavour than two tinctures, asmoked glass and three unneces-sary garnishes.

There are also different kindsof ice being used, such as distilledflavoured ice, as it melts in slow-ly, the taste of the cocktail starts to

rise. But knowing which ice to usewhen and why is important.

We can see the return of a lotof South American and Latinflavours. Maybe it’s their exoticconnotations, or their vacation-minded attitudes. Most likely it’sthe base ingredient spirits thatmake them favoured. Some of thetop most bars of the world are nowin Mexico, that is why those coolnew flavours are Peruvian andMexican in nature.

Local produce, seasonal ingre-dients and sustainability are cer-tainly a movement that’s growingmore and more.

If we talk about millennials,Gen Y is preferring a lot of snazzy-looking drinks, beverages with adrop of sweetness in them andsmoke and mirror — where‘smoke’ could mean a cocktailwith smoked liquor in it, a drinkthat’s been set on fire or one that’sinfused with a smoky flavour,where as on the other hand, grownups, above the age of 30 or 35, aremoving away from the same.

Gen Z prefers cutting edgetechniques but not unnecessarysmoking mirrors. Aesthetic wisewe can see that they favour drinkswhich look minimal, clean andsimple. Their entire focus is oninnovative glassware which have to

be kept classy as well as elegant.The maximum demand is towardssubtle cocktails.

The cocktails are undoubted-ly becoming clearer, with mildcolours and comprising of all theseasonal flavours. The use of cit-ric fusions will become moreprominent in the years ahead.

In sync with these rising trendsof cocktails, Bo Tai, Delhi’s Thairestaurant, also reinvented theircocktail menu by taking inspira-

tion from the Tiki culture createdin the US in the 1930’s and whichhas been thriving ever since.

HATSADILINGThe Hatsadiling is a mythicalbird, commonly featured inNorthern Thai art. It is consideredto be the size of a house, with thehead and body of a lion, trunk andtusks of an elephant, the comb ofa cock, and the wings of a bird.According to an oral myth innorth eastern Thailand, the birdonce inhabited the legendary for-est of Himavanta.

TEMPLE OF THE LIONSingha — The story of whychinthes guard the entrances ofpagodas and temples is given assuch from the Mahavamsa. Aprincess had a son through hermarriage to a lion, but later aban-doned the lion, who then becameenraged and set out on silver plat-ed road of terror throughout thestemmed lands. The son thenwent out to slay this terrorisinglion. The son came back home tohis mother stating he slew the lion,and then found out that he killedhis own father. The son later con-structed a statue of the lion as aguardian of a temple to atone forhis sin. This cocktail is made up

of house rum blend, Thai redsyrup, spiced vermouth, lime,pomegranate, tamarind, straw-berry and angostura.

THE GUARDIAN NYMPHApsonsi — half nymph halfwoman the protector fromharm depicted with the bottomhalf of a lion, often seen guard-ing temples around Thailandand believed to live in themythical forest of Himavanta inthe Himalayas. Ingredientsused in making this one —cognac, tropical vermouth,orange spiced syrup, Darjeelingand lychee tea, saline and citrus.

CLARIFIED DRAGON PUNCHThe Phaya Nak or naga, mythicalserpent-like creatures, believedby locals to live in the Mekongriver or estuaries. The famousNaga Fireball phenomenon isattributed to this mythical beast.

KINNARI’S EMBRACEKinnaris are depicted as half-bird, half-woman creatures. Oneof the many creatures that inhab-it the mythical Himavanta,Kinnaris have the head, torso, and

arms of a woman and the wings,tail and feet of a swan. They arerenowned for their dance, songand poetry, and are a traditionalsymbol of feminine beauty, graceand accomplishment. Blendedscotch whiskey, house made ThaiAmaro, tropical vermouth andorange bitters are used to makethis cocktail.

HEM AND LIONHem and Lion is a creature foundin Thai and possibly South Asianmythology. It is said to be the com-bination of a hem (an ill- definedcreature in and of itself; usuallylikened to a swan but sometimesdepicted more like a crocodile)and a lion. Tequila, watermelon,Thai red syrup, hibiscus, saline,citrus and some sugar makesHem and Lion.

Actor Akshay Kumar hasshowered Kriti Sanonwith praises as she

recreated the famous song YeKhabar Chapwado from hisfilm Aflatoon.

The recently releasedPoster Lagwa Do song from

Kriti Sanon’s LukaChuppi showcases theactress shaking a legto the remixed ver-sion of the original90’s chartbuster.

Akshay who isnot only the origi-

nal actor ofthe song butalso KritiS a n o n ’sco-star int h e i rforthcom-ing filmHousefull4, gave at h u m b sup to theactress forher version

of the song.Akshay had

also earliergiven a shoutout to Kritiahead of thesong release.

Kriti willbe essaying therole or Rashmiwho is caught in

an awkward sit-uation as her live-in relationshipwith KartikAaryan in thefilm.

Impressing theaudience with herbubbly yet rebellious

character as Bitti inBareilly ki Barfi, Kriti

Sanon garneredimmense appreciationfor her small townavatar.

The actress nowgears up for her firstrelease of the year

with Luka Chuppi.

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The New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) hasbagged the ‘Digital

Payments Innovation Award’under the Five LakhPopulation category of SmartCities. The award was felicitat-ed by the Minister of State forHousing and Urban Affairs,Hardeep S Puri, in the SmartCity Conference, in the pres-ence of the Delhi LieutenantGovernor, Anil Baijal, at theSecond Apex Conference ofSmart City CEOs held at theConvention Centre at NDMCHeadquarters in Delhi.

The two-day Second ApexConference of Smart CityCEOs was organised by theMinistry of Housing andUrban Affairs, which saw par-ticipation from CEOs, execu-tives and experts of 100 SmartCities of the country.

The minister congratulat-ed NDMC for their excellentperformance in Smart CityInitiatives undertaken in thecapital city and said thatNDMC should guide the othercivic bodies of Delhi to repli-cate the Smart City InitiativeProjects for delivery of citizencentric services. He urged thecitizen for a behavioral changetowards their civic responsibil-ities as well as civil duties of cit-izenship.

L-G Delhi, Anil Baijal,said that the other civic bod-ies like three MunicipalCorporations and DelhiCantonment Board should fol-low the footprints of NDMC inmaking an impact on ease ofliving for citizens in terms ofsustainable environment andapplication of Smart Solutions.He further added that thecapital city has five civic bod-

ies which have different prob-lems with different challengesof solutions but the New DelhiMunicipal Council isall together differ-ent in all of themfor implementa-tion of globalbenchmark SmartInitiatives for betterdelivery of CitizenCentric Services. Heemphasised on thehealth and safety con-cerns of the citizenin every initiativeor innovation ofUrban Affairs.

On receivingthe award, NDMCChairman, NareshKumar, informed that NDMChas launched India’s first of its

kind, in-home Smart BillPayment initiative, where ithad arranged to develop novel‘Smiley Fridge Magnets’ for thedigital payment of utility bills.These magnets have been dis-tributed to the electricity andwater consumers of New Delhiarea.

He said, “As many as 1,000fridge magnets had been dis-tributed in the first phase and5,000 will be distributed by theend of this month. A total of25,000 NDMC consumerswould be covered by May thisyear under the scheme. Theseinnovative fridge magnetswould be personalised andeach consumer would have aunique QR Code mapped totheir consumer account (CA)number. There would be sep-

arate magnets provided forboth electricity and waterbills.” Kumar further addedthat the consumers can stickthese magnets on their refrig-erators at home and scan theQR Code on the magnet topay their bills instantly. TheQR Code will re-direct theconsumers to their current billwith an option to pay usingany of the digital paymentchannels active with NDMClike online credit/debit cards,Net Banking, Wallet and UPI.“This fridge magnet will bevery useful especially in thecase where a consumer mis-places the pending paper bill.From NDMC’s perspective itwould reduce collection costsand faster realisation time forrevenues,” said Kumar.

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��������������� ����� '��� � ������� A�� ���$6@"������� ��! ��&�������� ���$6���� ����2���'��A���������� ��������������2���������������@������'��� ���$6��/�� ��� �4��������� )������� ������ /�� ��� �4��������� �� ������ �!�� ���2������ ��@The Pay Revision of exec-

utives of the NationalFertilisers Limited (NFL) hasbeen approved by the UnionMinister for Chemicals andFertilisers, DV SadanandaGowda. NFL is the largest fer-tiliser manufacturer amongthe public sector undertak-ings.

NFL’s chairman and manag-ing director, Manoj Mishra,

expressed gratitude towardsthe minister and thankedhim for giving impetus to payrevision of the company. Anapproximate 3,400 employeesand their families, alsoextended thanks to theMinistry of Chemicals and

Fertil isers for issuingPresidential Directive inrespect of pay revision. Theemployees also expressedtheir sincere thanks to RaoInderjit Singh, the Minister ofState for Chemicals andFertilisers for his support,which has been a motivatingforce for NFL.

It is pertinent to mentionthat NFL has been perform-ing exceedingly well on allfronts consecutively for thelast three years. From beinga Urea producing company,NFL has expanded and diver-sified into fertiliser imports,seeds, agro-chemicals andother businesses.

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The Bharat HeavyElectricals Limited

(BHEL) has paid an interimdividend of 40 per cent for fis-cal 2018-19. In value terms,this dividend paid amounts to�279 crore. With this, thecompany has maintained itsimpeccable track record ofrewarding investors by payingdividends uninterruptedly forover four decades.Significantly, with this, BHELhas paid the highest total div-idend in a single year, in thelast five years.

A cheque of �176 croretowards the interim dividendfor the year 2018-19 on theequity (63.17 per cent) held bythe Government of India, waspresented to the UnionMinister of Heavy Industriesand Public Enterprises, AnantG Geete, by the chairmanand managing director ofBHEL, Atul Sobti, in the pres-ence of Dr AR Sihag,Secretary, Department ofHeavy Industry (DHI).

Accelerating its growthmomentum, BHEL has

reported a surge in revenueand profitability up to thethird quarter of FY2018-19.The company has delivered aresilient performance due to

adoption of strategic initiativeslike diversification into newbusiness areas (higher-ratingelectric locomotives, solarequipment and projects,

enhanced offerings for nuclearprimary side, e-mobility prod-uct and solutions and railwayelectrification and so on),accelerated project execution

and cost control and resourceoptimisation measures, result-ing in significant progress inenhancing profitability andproductivity.

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Samir Tripathi, the chairman and manag-ing director of the Medhaj Techno ConceptPrivate Limited, has been conferred with

an honorary Doctorate during the WorldSummit 2019, at an award ceremony organisedby the ‘National Virtual University for Peace andEducation’, for his dedication of the last 25 yearsand awards by various institutions from 2008to 2018.

Medhaj Techno Concept Private Limited,is an organisation working in the field of ener-gy, headquartered at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.The company is operational in 28 states of thecountry as an energy consultant with its 3,500skilled engineers from 2008. The company has

aligned its work on the lines of the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s ambitious scheme—‘Saubhagya’, across India in multiple statesincluding Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The Energy Minister, RK Singh, congrat-ulated Tripathi on his tweet on social media forthe achievement of this honorary Doctorate inthe energy sector. Upon receiving the award,Tripathi said, “This honorary Doctorate is ded-icated to my mother, Rekha Tripathi, all my3,500 colleague and to my state and country.”He further added that his organisation willalways endeavor for the development of thecountry and the state and ensure their commit-ment to whatever is possible.

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VVS Sreenivas has takencharge as the Chief

Vigilance Officer (CVO) ofthe New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NMDC). He is anofficer of the 1994 batch ofthe Indian Railways Serviceof Mechanical Engineers(IRSME). In addition to thevaried experience in the rail-way sector, he has had expo-sure to port logistics, dredg-ing and project activities ofthe oil and the gas sector.Prior to joining NMDC,Sreenivas was CVO of theDredging Corporation ofIndia Limited (DCIL) andVisakhapatanam Port Trust.

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The Minister of Home,Government of Delhi,

Satyendra Jain, recentlyflagged off and handed over 28newly procured vehicles forofficers of Delhi Fire Service(DFS) at the Connaught PlaceFire Station in New Delhi.

At this occasion, the min-ister also distributed the newlyprocured 1,358 full body type-B fire proximity suit pur-chased at a cost of approxi-

mately �50,000 per suit. Thesuit is a great addition to thelife safety of the fireman, whofight deadly fires without ade-quate protection. This willnot only boost their moralebut also put them on a parwith their international coun-terparts and bring out a visi-ble change.

The Minister assured thatthe government is committedto make the DFS, a leading fire

service across the globe andbring a change in the percep-tion of the common citizens.He announced that there willbe no dearth of funds for theDFS and the government is inthe process of procuringrobotic arms, drones, remotecontrolled fire fightingmachine and other specialisedfire fighting equipments forthe DFS.

He further stressed ondevelopment of sports facili-ties for the staff and officers inorder to maintain health andfitness. He open heartedlyappreciated the work done bythe fire fighters in saving lifeand property at various fireincidents. The Director, DelhiFire Service, Dr GC Misraassured that DFS will be moreeffective in the operationsand continue to give the bestservices to the citizens of cap-ital city.

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Page 15: !#ˆ˛$%#ˆ%#&ˆ’& · military ethics,” Pakistani mil- ... injured personnel in violation of all norms of International ... Seva Media, one of top honours of the Indian military

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Glenn Maxwell fired Australiato their maiden T20 serieswin over India with a sen-

sational hundred, overshadowingIndia skipper Virat Kohli's specialeffort in the second and finalmatch here on Wednesday.

Maxwell (113 not out off 55balls) went on a rampage, smash-ing as many as nine sixes on wayto his third century in the shortestformat. He took the game awayfrom India, who should havedefended 190 for four after Kohliand Mahendra Singh Dhoni shareda 100-run stand for the fourthwicket to take the hosts to a com-petitive total.

In the end, Australia canteredto a famous seven-wicket win withMaxwell fittingly finishing thegame with a six and four.

Prior to the game, Australiahad never beaten India in a T20series, home or away. They hadbeaten India way back in 2008 atMelbourne but that was a one-offgame.

The visitors kept themselves inthe chase despite a wobbly startwhich saw them being reduced to

22 for two in four overs.Opener D'Arcy Short and

Maxwell shared a 73-run stand off43 balls to keep the game on evenknell before the former fell in the12th over.

India had to defend with onlyfive bowling options whichrequired all-rounder Vijay Shankarto complete his quote of fourovers.

Shankar (2/38), who did notbowl in his last three T20s, put upa decent effort, picking up wicketsof Short and Finch. Short could notlast long after being dropped on 36by Rishabh Pant.

Australia remained very muchin the game with Maxwell plunder-ing the Indian attack in the mid-dle.

It was anyone's game asAustralia needed 60 off the last 30balls with seven wickets in hand.

Maxwell smashed YuzvendraChahal for two handsome sixes,including a spectacular reversehit, to tilt the game in Australia'sfavour.

Earlier, skipper Kohli andDhoni delighted the Chinnaswamycrowd with a 100-run stand.

Kohli led from the front in a

must-win tie, hammering anunbeaten 72 off 38 balls in aknock including half a dozen sixeswhile Dhoni played the supportingrole well with 40 off 23 balls.

It was a typical Dhoni inningsthat comprised three fours and asmany sixes and came after a ratherslow 29 off 37 balls in Vizag onSunday night.

Opener K L Rahul wasamongst runs again, scoring 47 off26 in front of his home crowd.

Considering the pitch wore agreenish look, India brought inpace all-rounder Vijay Shankar inplace of spinner Mayank Markandewhile fast bowler Umesh Yadavmade way for Siddharth Kaul.

India made a third change byresting Rohit Sharma and bringingback Shikhar Dhawan to openalongside Rahul. The southpawwas rested from the series opener.

With a series win at stake,Australia opted to field for the sec-ond game in row.

The home team got a move onin the third over of the inningsbowled by left-arm pacer JasonBehrendorff.

Local hero Rahul slashed ashort and wide ball between cover

and point before Dhawan flickedone off pads for another four withthe over going for 12 runs.

The fifth over was even moreproductive for India as pacer JhyeRichardson conceded 15 runs afterRahul dispatched him for consec-utive sixes, a top edge that flew overover deep fine leg and a crisp drivethat went all the way over cover.

The stylish Karnataka bats-man, who recently went through arough patch both on and off thefield, was back in his elements.

Rahul meted out similar pun-ishment to Pat Cummins in the fol-lowing over, hitting him for back-to-back sixes.

His sublime strokeplay seemedeffortless but it was no mean featto pull a bowler of Cummins'pace over backward square leg aball after he whipped theAustralian for a six over deepmidwicket. India reached 53 for noloss in six overs.

With Dhawan a mere specta-tor at the other end, a third hun-dred in T20 Internationals forRahul was very much on the cardsbefore he fell to a soft dismissal, try-ing to guide a slower one offNathan Coulter-Nile over third

man only to be caught byRichardson.

A struggling Dhawan toodeparted soon after, albeit to aquestionable running catch in thedeep from Marcus Stoinis after theon-field umpire referred the deci-sion to the third umpire followinghis soft signal.

Rishabh Pant's early dismissalmade it 74 for three in the 11thover as he mistimed one off china-man D'Arcy Short and Richardsonpulled off a sensational divingcatch at long off.

Two quick dismissals broughttwo heavyweights -- Kohli andDhoni -- in the middle. Theyenjoy batting together and thatcame to the fore as they complet-ed a 50-run partnership off 29 balls.

Dhoni, who was criticised forhis knock on Sunday, showedmore intent from the word go as hebegan with a six over midwicket offShort.

Kohli kept himself busy byrotating the strike early in hisinnings. He went ballistic in the16th over that leaked 22 runs as hesmashed Coulter-Nile for threesixes in a row before completing his20th fifty in the shortest format.

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The series already in the bag, a con-fident India will look to complete

a whitewash when they take on a belea-guered England in the third and finalwomen's One-day International hereon Thursday.

The Mithali Raj-led outfit hadthrashed the reigning WorldChampions by 66 runs in the openingODI and then followed it up with adominating seven-wicket win in thesecond game to seal the three-matchseries with a 2-0 unassailable lead.

More importantly, India grabbedfour crucial points in the ICC Women'schampionship as the race for securingdirect qualification spots for the 2021World Cup heats up.

With two more points up forgrabs, the hosts would not like to exper-iment by making anychanges to the line-up.

India seem to havefound the winning momen-tum under new coach W VRaman as they ticked most boxes in thelast two games.

Prolific opener Smriti Mandhana,who is the current ICC cricketer of theyear, has been in splendid form. Herclassy 63 in the last game helped thehosts to clinch the match and the series.

Veteran Mithali Raj, who is theleading run-getter in ODIs, has scoresof 44 and 47 in the last two games. BothMandhana and her skipper would liketo continue from where they left.

Experienced Punam Raut, whomade a comeback to the ODI side, jus-tified her selection over Harleen Deol,by chipping in with a handy 32.

Raut's inclusion seems to have sort-ed out the middle-order woes. But sheand young opener Jemimah Rodrigues,both from Mumbai, need to converttheir starts into bigger scores.

The likes of Deepti Sharma, MonaMeshram and wicket-keeper TaniyaBhatia also need to chip in if the top-order falters.

The Indian bowlers - both seam-ers and spinners -- have been impres-

sive. Veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami(with 5 wickets in the rubber) andShikha Pandey (6 wickets) have trou-bled the visitors in the first two gamesat the Wankhede stadium here.

England have found it difficult toface the Indian spin trio of DeeptiSharma, Poonam Yadav and EktaBisht.

Slow left-arm orthodox bowlerBisht spun the visitors to their doomwith a four-wicket haul in game one.

The struggling England side alsosuffered a blow after all-rounder SophieEcclestone was ruled out of the thirdODI and remainder of the tour due toa fractured hand.

The visitors will play for pride andaim to bag the two crucial points as partof the ICC Championship before head-ing to the three-match T20I series inGuwahati next month.

Apart from all-rounder Natalie Sciverand skipper HeatherKnight, the other battershave largely performed

below par.On the bowling front, the visiting

team's pacers Anya Shrubsole, GeorgiaElwiss and Kathrine Brunt have thewherewithal to trouble the hosts.

The hosts, on their current form,once again start as front runners butEngland could spring a surprise andprevent a clean sweep by India.

�I%��India: Mithali Raj (C), Jhulan

Goswami, Smriti Mandhana, JemimahRodrigues, Deepti Sharma, TaniyaBhatia (WK), R Kalpana (WK), MonaMeshram, Ekta Bisht, RajeshwariGayakwad, Poonam Yadav, ShikhaPandey, Mansi Joshi, Punam Raut,Harleen Deol.

England: Heather Knight (C),Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt,Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley, SophieEcclestone, Georgia Elwiss, AlexHartley, Amy Jones, Laura Marsh, NatSciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor(WK), Lauren Winfield and DanniWyatt.

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The trailblazing teenaged duo ofSaurabh Chaudhary and ManuBhaker comfortably claimed

the Gold medal in the 10m air pistolmixed team event of the ISSF WorldCup herIndia's Saurabh Chaudharydisplayed the composure that char-acterises his shooting and partnerManu Bhakar regained her touch towin in style the 10m air pistol mixedteam gold in the ISSF World Cup hereon Wednesday.

The Indian pair shot a total of483.4 to finish top of the podium,

helping the hosts finish the tourna-ment with a flourish after a few resultsthat did not go their way over the lastthree days.

The Chinese duo of RanxinJiang and Bowen Zhang won Silverwith 477.7, while the Bronze went tothe Korean team of Minjung Kim andDaehun Park (418.8) at the Dr KarniSingh Shooting Range.

Such was the Indian duo's dom-inance through the final that the dif-ference between Gold and Silvermedallist at the end was a hopping atthe end was 5.8.

Having entered the final after

equalling the qualification worldrecord, Saurabh and Manu continuedin the same vein and once theymoved to the top spot, there was nolooking back as they consistently shothigh and mid 10.

The other Indian team in the fray,Heena Sidhu and Abhishek Verma,could not clear the qualification hur-dle after aggregating 770.

The Indian shooters in 10m airrifle mixed team event — RaviKumar and Anjum Moudgil andApurvi Chandela and Deepak Kumarfinished seventh and 25th respective-ly.

But Manu and Saurbah, withtheir superlative showings, ensuredthe host nation ended the tournamenton a high.

India jointly topped the standingswith Hungary with three gold medals,but managed to secure only oneOlympic quota. The tournamentoffered 14 quota places for the 2020Tokyo Games.

After a mixed start to the last finalof the tournament, the Indians gath-ered momentum with Manu comple-menting Saurabh who had threeshots above 10 in the first series.

Manu had a few 10 and abovescores in the second series and withSaurabh in red-hot form, Indiainched closer to the Korean teambefore eventually replacing themfrom the top spot.

The Indian Youth Olympicschampions took the lead after thethird series and maintained it till thelast shot, as China moved up to sec-

ond position."It was satisfying to end on a win-

ning note," said Manu, could notsecure quota after disappointments inher individual events.

Saurabh, who was supportedfrom behind by his childhood coachAmit Sheoran, said he was pumpedby his presence.

Earlier in the tournament,Apurvi Chandela set a new worldrecord with 252.9 points on her wayto her third individual World Cupmedal in the women's 10m air rifleevent on Saturday.

Saurabh had also shattered theworld record on the second day of thetournament, scoring 245.0 to finishtop in the 10m air pistol event whilesecuring an Olympic quota.

China won five quotas followedby Hungary with two. Hosts India,Austria, Serbia, Italy, Korea, ChineseTaipei and Switzerland won onequota place each.

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Australia paceman Kane Richardson has been ruled out ofthe ongoing tour of India due to a side injury. He will be

replaced by Andrew Tye, Cricket Australia (CA) said in a state-ment.

Richardson sustained the injury while batting in the netsin Hyderabad last week, ahead of the first T20 internationalin Vizag.

The 28-year-oldtrained here onTuesday but afterbowling a handful ofballs left the practicenets.

"Kane reportedsome left side pain attraining prior to theopening T20I inVizag," Australia teamphysio David Beakleysaid in the statement.

"Unfortunately, hehas not recovered wellenough to play furtherin the tour. Kane willreturn home to contin-ue his rehabilitation,and we (will) monitorhis progress over thecoming weeks," he said.

It leaves the visitors with only four fit fast bowlers for thefinal T20I here on Wednesday, where a win will seal a serieswin for them.

Australia have never won a T20 series against India, at homeor abroad, and will be desperate to build on the momentumfrom the thrilling final-ball three-wicket win on Sunday.

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The International Cricket Council(ICC) on Wednesday assured

the BCCI that if need arises, it will"uplift the security based on advice ofrelevant agencies" to address India'sconcerns during the upcoming WorldCup the wake of the Pulwama terrorattack.

At the start of the ICC's ChiefExecutives Committee (CEC) meet-ing, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri expressedIndia's concerns about the security ofits players in the mega event whichis scheduled to start May 30.

"On behalf of the BCCI, RahulJohri raised concerns for the safetyand security of the Indian team,match officials and the Indian Fans,at the CEC Meeting," a senior BCCIofficial, privy to the development,said.

It is learnt that Johri told the CECthat the BCCI believes in the securi-ty being planned by the ICC and theEngland Cricket Board.

"The ICC CEO DavidRichardson and ECB chief executiveTom Harrison underlined that secu-rity is an absolute priority and all nec-essary steps will be taken includingan uplift in security, if that is neededbased on the advice of the securityauthorities in the UK. Richardsonassured Johri that ICC share excellent

rapport with security and policeauthorities in the UK," the BCCI offi-cial further said.

The discussion on security was-n't a part of the original agenda buton BCCI's insistence, it has been"minuted" by the global body.

The BCCI was apprised that theglobal body is evaluating "risk assess-ment" as has been the norm for allglobal events.

There have been statements fromprominent India players suchHarbhajan Singh and SouravGanguly, urging the BCCI to boycottthe June 16 World Cup group leaguegame against Pakistan in Manchester'sOld Trafford after more than 40 CRPFpersonnel were killed in the Pulwamaterror attack.

However, at this point, the BCCIhas taken no stand on boycotting thegame as there remains a possibilitythat both teams may end up meetingin the knockouts as well.

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Page 16: !#ˆ˛$%#ˆ%#&ˆ’& · military ethics,” Pakistani mil- ... injured personnel in violation of all norms of International ... Seva Media, one of top honours of the Indian military

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