16
A fter reports surfaced on Wednesday morning that RBI Governor Urjit Patel may step down if the Government tried to arm-twist the Central bank by issuing directive under section 7 of the RBI Act, the Finance Ministry took a prompt damage control exer- cise saying “autonomy of the Central bank is essential.” But the twist in the tail is the Ministry’s assertion that the RBI’s functioning must be guided by public interest and needs of the economy. “The autonomy for the Central bank, within the frame- work of the RBI Act, is an essential and accepted gover- nance requirement. Governments in India have nurtured and respected this,” the Ministry said in a brief statement. The Finance Ministry issued the statement after the equity market tanked on reports of Patel’s likely resig- nation and the Government faced scathing criticism from several quarters for trying to bulldoze the Central bank to follow its political agenda. The Ministry’s statement calmed down the stock market which staged a smart recovery and the benchmark sensex closed nearly 500 points Later in the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley refused to be drawn into the row over his Ministry using a never-used provision to ask RBI for reso- lution of issues, saying discus- sions and consultations with the Central bank have never been disclosed. At a news conference, the Minister said he would not say anything more than what a Press statement issued by his Ministry on the RBI row said in the morning. Asked if the Government has used the never-used pro- vision under Section 7 of the RBI Act that gives it power to issue directions to the Central bank on matters of public interest, he said communica- tions and layers of consulta- tions between the Government and the RBI haven’t ever been disclosed. On Tuesday, Jaitley had slammed the RBI for indis- criminate lending, but today he sounded much more reconcil- iatory. Despite indication from the Government that it would continue to engage the RBI and respect its autonomy. there are tell-tale signs that the conflict between the Finance Ministry and the Central bank is far from resolved. The RBI and the Modi Government are at logger- heads amid a standoff between the Ministry and the RBI over the Central bank’s handling of weak public sector banks, tight liquidity in the market and ways of resolving bad loans in the power sector, unconfirmed reports claimed. News agency PTI quoted sources saying that that the Government has sent at least three letters on different issues under Section 7 (1) of the RBI Act that gives it powers to issue any direction to the central bank governor on matters of public interest. They, however, insisted that the Government has not taken any action of issuing any specific direction and has only initiated consultations with the central bank on unresolved issues. Without making any ref- erence to the letters, the Ministry statement said, “Both the Government and the Central bank, in their func- tioning, have to be guided by public interest and the require- ments of the Indian economy.” “For the purpose, extensive consultations on several issues take place between the gov- ernment and the RBI from time to time. This is equally true of all other regulators,” it said. The Government, it said, has never made public the subject matter of those con- sultations. “Only the final deci- sions taken are communicated. The Government, through these consultations, places its assessment on issues and sug- gests possible solutions. The Government will continue to do so.” Sources said the Finance Ministry wrote three separate letters in the past few weeks to the RBI on issues ranging from Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework to liquidity management and sought con- sultation under Section 7 of the RBI Act. The Government wants RBI to carve out exemption for power companies under the PCA framework that outlines triggers for declaring a loan account as stressed or NPA, said sources. The second letter pertained to use of RBI’s capital reserves for providing liquidity to the market and a third letter was for relaxing constraints on banks for loans to small and medium enterprises. Section 7 of the RBI Act empowers the Government to issue directions to the central bank, after consultation with RBI Governor, on issues that it considers serious and of pub- lic interest. This section has never been invoked before. Sources said Section 7 has two parts — con- sultation and then issuing a direction to RBI for taking some action in public interest. T he Rafale deal controversy took an interesting turn when the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre for pricing details of the 36 fight- er jets India will purchase from France. The Government strongly objected to this saying the pricing aspect was classi- fied, but the court remained unimpressed and asked the Centre to put its objection on affidavit and also bring details of the decision-making process of the deal in the public domain within ten days. The court further pushed the Centre to the corner by ask- ing it details of how Rafale manufacturer Dassault chose Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group to partner with it in India under the offset obligation. The court’s directive has serious ramifications because on the last date of hearing on October 10 the judges had refused to entertain the peti- tioners’ plea for asking the Government to disclose the pricing details. Then the court had asked the Government to share just the decision-making process of the fighter jet acqui- sition. The court had then said it would not go into “pricing or suitability” of the fighter jets. On Thursday, the court noted that following its October 10 order, the Government has placed before it a note giving details of the steps taken in the decision-making process lead- ing to the procurement of 36 Rafale jets. However, the court gave no indication as to what prompted it to seek details about pricing and offset aspects after it went through the Government’s note on decision- making process involved in the Rafale deal. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed that that the Centre must bring details of the deci- sion-making process of the deal in the public domain, except those that are confi- dential and have strategic importance. The information must be shared by the Government within 10 days and the peti- tioners could respond to it in the next seven days, the Bench said and posted the matter for November 14. I ndia improved its ranking on the World Bank’s “ease of doing business” report for the second straight year, jumping 23 places to the 77th position on the back of reforms related to insolvency, taxation and other areas. India was ranked 100th in the World Bank’s Doing Business report last year. The ranking comes as a shot in the arm for the Narendra Modi Government which faces strong dissenting voices from opposition parties ahead of the general elections next year. In its annual “Doing Business” 2019 report, World Bank said India improved its rank on six out of the 10 para- meters relating to starting and doing business in a country. These parameters include ease of starting a business, construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, pay- ing taxes, trade across borders, enforcing contracts and resolv- ing insolvency. India was ranked at the 142nd position among 190 nations when the Modi gov- ernment came to power in 2014. It rose to the 100th spot in the last ranking from 131st rank in the previous year.New Zealand tops the list of 190 countries in ease of doing busi- ness, followed by Singapore, Denmark, and Hong Kong. The United States is placed eight and China has been ranked 46th. Neighbouring Pakistan is placed at 136. World Bank put India among the top 10 economies to make the most improvements. Observing that the two economies with the largest populations, China and India, demonstrated impressive reform agendas, the World Bank said the India also focused on streamlining busi- ness processes. India, it said, made starting a business easier by integrating multiple application forms into a general incorporation form. “India also replaced the value- added tax with the GST for which the registration process is faster,” it said. Also, “India made paying taxes easier by replacing many indirect taxes with a single indirect tax, the GST, for the entire country. I n an unexpected develop- ment, veteran actor Anupam Kher has resigned as chairman of the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), citing his preoccupation with international profession- al TV assignments. Kher (63) who had on Tuesday sent his resignation letter to Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, announced his resignation on his Twitter handle on Wednesday. “It has been an honour, a privilege & a great learning experience to be the Chairman of the prestigious @FTIIOfficial. But because of my international assignments I won’t have much time to devote at the institute. Hence decided to send my resignation. Thank you,” the actor tweeted. Kher thanked the FTII staff, teachers and students for their appreciation during my tenure as chairman. Detailed report on P6 U nveiling “Statue of Unity”, the tallest statue of the world at Kevadiya in Narmada district on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stat- ed that the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel would be the a befitting answer to those who question unity and exis- tence of India. Addressing a large gather- ing against the backdrop of lofty and magnificent statue of India’s first Home Minister, the PM said that it is the responsibility of every Indian to ensure every possible effort is made to defeat the divisive ele- ments trying to damage unity and sovereignty of the nation. “Sardar had worked for the unity of our nation. He had given responsibility to coun- trymen to keep India’s unity, diversity and sovereignty intact. We all need to be vigilant and united as a society in order to counter divisive forces,” said Modi, adding that Indians need to adopt the mantra of “Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat” to nul- lify anti-national elements. He also trained his guns on his political rivals who criticised him for spending huge amount to construct the statue saying that paying tribute to great hero like Sardar is not a crime. Modi said his Government is committed to recognise con- tributions of other historical fig- ures, including Chhatrapati Shivaji, Shubhash Chandra Bose, Baba Saheb Ambedkar to name a few. The PM went on to say that he doesn’t under- stand why his efforts of appre- ciating icons are seen as polit- ical move by his rivals. “At the time of indepen- dence there were people who thought that immensely diverse India wouldn’t remain united. However, Sardar Patel proved them wrong by merging 565 princely states in the modern day India. In fact diversity has become biggest strength of the nation and now we are march- ing ahead to become econom- ic and military superpower,” Modi said. Praising Sardar’s vision to force erstwhile princely states — Junagadh and Hyderabad — to surrender to India’s sover- eignty, Modi said that because of Sardar we didn’t require visas to offer prayer at Somnath temple or to watch Asiatic Lions or even visiting Charminar in Hyderabad. The State Government is expecting daily visit by 15,000 tourists. O n first Friday of every month, men and women gather in a coffee shop at Beldih Club. Instead of breath- lessly talking about the new gadgets launched in the city or the impact of GST in the mar- ket, they discuss the finer points of a book. Meet the members of Book Club of Steel City. The club organises sessions for critical analysis of books and also marks events to celebrate birth anniversaries of noted writers. Based at Beldih Club, the book worms’ organisation, has added a new chapter by promoting book reading habits in the city. The sessions are held at the club premises and at the Centre for Excellence. The brainchild behind the club Col Arup Basu, a retired army doctor, said that reading book has a glorious legacy. It is a passion for many people but over past few years its popu- larity has declined. The club was formed to promote the cul- ture of reading books. “I’ve always had a passion for reading and I own a good collection of books. Concerned over the declining culture of reading books in the city, I along with some of my friends decided to form a club. Though it started with a few likemind- ed friends at the library of Beldih Club but in past one year it has grown up. From library we have shifted to the coffee shop of the club. At pre- sent we have 25 active mem- bers and want to add more especially the youths,” said Basu. Sharing details of the activ- ities lined for every month, Basu informed that members gather once or twice a month depending on the length of the assigned title. The title of the book is shared with the mem- bers a month before so that they can read and prepared to analysis with other members. One of the members is assigned to shed light on the book, while others too join to share their point of view. Even the life and works of the writer is dis- cussed. “Some of us are prolific readers, others not quite so we also make it a point that the book in discussion is neither a pulp fiction nor a various ancient book. We choose books that have been appreciated in the literary circles or are time- less classics,” noted Basu. He added that they plan to expand its reach by making it city spe- cific Book Club. Hotelier Ronald D’costa is another active member of the club, who looks for every read- ing session. "I have always liked discussing books, but joining the club has added a new dimension in my life. And it has shown me so many new ways of looking at the same book. I look forward to attend every session and it gives us a platform to interact too. Things you never thought about while reading a book are often picked up by others, which only enriches your experience of a book," he said. L ooking at drought-like sit- uation prevailing in as many as 18 districts of the State, the Government has swung into action with series of steps. Areas such as crop insurance, subsidy for rabi crops and pushing for alternative farming along with extensive role assigned to the Disaster Management Department have been identified at the highest level. Chief Minister Raghubar Das himself chaired a meeting with Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathi and executive heads of other concerned Departments on Wednesday which he reviewed the exigency the paddy farmers of as many as 18 districts and 126 blocks are fac- ing due to scanty rainfall this monsoon. In a major direction, no recovery of farm loan, revenue, cess, irrigation duty, electrici- ty bill etc would be made till March 2019. The CM said that bankers of the State should be informed about the decision. Also, works under MGNR- RGA can be given up to 150 days. Construction of ponds, supply of fodder and deputa- tion of veterinary doctors would also be taken up on pri- ority. He also told for immedi- ate release of the fund of Rs five lakh being given to the Gram Vikas Samiti and Adivasi Vikas Samiti. “All the concerned Departments do advanced planning to deal with the situ- ation. We have to pay more attention to smooth and quick payment of Fasal Bima Yojna to the insured farmers. Officials at local level should propagate the schemes meant for the farmers in such a situation,” said the CM during the meeting. He also directed the offi- cials of Agriculture Department to raise subsidy amount on rabi crops from pre- sent 50 per cent to 90 per cent along with release of Rs 100 crore on immediate basis under disaster management mea- sures. DCs of all the districts have been told to prepare report along with identifying the drought hit areas and sub- mit it with the Government by November 10. “The local administration has been told to execute extensive survey and collect facts about crop loss and its financial bearings on the affected farmers. Also, the con- cerned Departments are to submit demands related to special schemes and finance within five days so that a detailed report can be for ward- ed to the Center before November 21 for assistance,” said the Chief Secretary.

 · After reports surfaced on Wednesday morning that RBI Governor Urjit Patel may step down if the Government tried to arm-twist the Central bank by issuing directive under section

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Page 1:  · After reports surfaced on Wednesday morning that RBI Governor Urjit Patel may step down if the Government tried to arm-twist the Central bank by issuing directive under section

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After reports surfaced onWednesday morning that

RBI Governor Urjit Patel maystep down if the Governmenttried to arm-twist the Centralbank by issuing directive undersection 7 of the RBI Act, theFinance Ministry took aprompt damage control exer-cise saying “autonomy of theCentral bank is essential.”

But the twist in the tail isthe Ministry’s assertion that theRBI’s functioning must beguided by public interest andneeds of the economy.

“The autonomy for theCentral bank, within the frame-work of the RBI Act, is anessential and accepted gover-nance requirement.Governments in India havenurtured and respected this,”the Ministry said in a briefstatement.

The Finance Ministryissued the statement after theequity market tanked onreports of Patel’s likely resig-nation and the Governmentfaced scathing criticism fromseveral quarters for trying tobulldoze the Central bank tofollow its political agenda.

The Ministry’s statementcalmed down the stock marketwhich staged a smart recoveryand the benchmark sensexclosed nearly 500 points

Later in the day, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley refused tobe drawn into the row over hisMinistry using a never-usedprovision to ask RBI for reso-lution of issues, saying discus-sions and consultations withthe Central bank have neverbeen disclosed.

At a news conference, theMinister said he would not sayanything more than what aPress statement issued by hisMinistry on the RBI row saidin the morning.

Asked if the Governmenthas used the never-used pro-vision under Section 7 of the

RBI Act that gives it power toissue directions to the Centralbank on matters of publicinterest, he said communica-tions and layers of consulta-tions between the Governmentand the RBI haven’t ever beendisclosed.

On Tuesday, Jaitley hadslammed the RBI for indis-criminate lending, but today hesounded much more reconcil-iatory.

Despite indication fromthe Government that it wouldcontinue to engage the RBI andrespect its autonomy. there aretell-tale signs that the conflictbetween the Finance Ministryand the Central bank is farfrom resolved.

The RBI and the ModiGovernment are at logger-heads amid a standoff betweenthe Ministry and the RBI overthe Central bank’s handling ofweak public sector banks, tightliquidity in the market andways of resolving bad loans inthe power sector, unconfirmedreports claimed.

News agency PTI quotedsources saying that that theGovernment has sent at leastthree letters on different issuesunder Section 7 (1) of the RBI

Act that gives it powers to issueany direction to the centralbank governor on matters ofpublic interest.

They, however, insistedthat the Government has nottaken any action of issuing anyspecific direction and has onlyinitiated consultations with thecentral bank on unresolvedissues.

Without making any ref-erence to the letters, theMinistry statement said, “Boththe Government and theCentral bank, in their func-tioning, have to be guided bypublic interest and the require-ments of the Indian economy.”

“For the purpose, extensiveconsultations on several issuestake place between the gov-ernment and the RBI from timeto time. This is equally true ofall other regulators,” it said.

The Government, it said,has never made public thesubject matter of those con-sultations. “Only the final deci-sions taken are communicated.The Government, throughthese consultations, places itsassessment on issues and sug-gests possible solutions. TheGovernment will continue todo so.”

Sources said the FinanceMinistry wrote three separateletters in the past few weeks tothe RBI on issues ranging fromPrompt Corrective Action(PCA) framework to liquiditymanagement and sought con-sultation under Section 7 of theRBI Act.

The Government wantsRBI to carve out exemption forpower companies under thePCA framework that outlinestriggers for declaring a loanaccount as stressed or NPA, saidsources.

The second letter pertainedto use of RBI’s capital reservesfor providing liquidity to themarket and a third letter was forrelaxing constraints on banksfor loans to small and mediumenterprises.

Section 7 of the RBI Actempowers the Government toissue directions to the centralbank, after consultation withRBI Governor, on issues that itconsiders serious and of pub-lic interest.

This section has never beeninvoked before. Sources saidSection 7 has two parts — con-sultation and then issuing adirection to RBI for takingsome action in public interest.

����� ��������

The Rafale deal controversytook an interesting turn

when the Supreme Court onThursday asked the Centre forpricing details of the 36 fight-er jets India will purchase fromFrance. The Governmentstrongly objected to this sayingthe pricing aspect was classi-fied, but the court remainedunimpressed and asked theCentre to put its objection onaffidavit and also bring detailsof the decision-making processof the deal in the public domainwithin ten days.

The court further pushedthe Centre to the corner by ask-ing it details of how Rafalemanufacturer Dassault choseAnil Ambani’s Reliance Groupto partner with it in Indiaunder the offset obligation.

The court’s directive hasserious ramifications becauseon the last date of hearing onOctober 10 the judges hadrefused to entertain the peti-tioners’ plea for asking theGovernment to disclose thepricing details. Then the courthad asked the Government toshare just the decision-makingprocess of the fighter jet acqui-

sition. The court had then saidit would not go into “pricing orsuitability” of the fighter jets.

On Thursday, the courtnoted that following its October10 order, the Government hasplaced before it a note givingdetails of the steps taken in thedecision-making process lead-ing to the procurement of 36Rafale jets. However, the courtgave no indication as to whatprompted it to seek detailsabout pricing and offset aspectsafter it went through theGovernment’s note on decision-making process involved in

the Rafale deal.The Bench headed by

Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoidirected that that the Centremust bring details of the deci-sion-making process of thedeal in the public domain,except those that are confi-dential and have strategicimportance.

The information must beshared by the Governmentwithin 10 days and the peti-tioners could respond to it inthe next seven days, the Benchsaid and posted the matter forNovember 14.

����� ����� �����������

India improved its ranking onthe World Bank’s “ease of

doing business” report for thesecond straight year, jumping23 places to the 77th positionon the back of reforms relatedto insolvency, taxation andother areas.

India was ranked 100th inthe World Bank’s DoingBusiness report last year.

The ranking comes as ashot in the arm for theNarendra Modi Governmentwhich faces strong dissentingvoices from opposition partiesahead of the general electionsnext year.

In its annual “DoingBusiness” 2019 report, WorldBank said India improved itsrank on six out of the 10 para-meters relating to starting anddoing business in a country.

These parameters includeease of starting a business,construction permits, gettingelectricity, getting credit, pay-ing taxes, trade across borders,enforcing contracts and resolv-ing insolvency.

India was ranked at the142nd position among 190nations when the Modi gov-

ernment came to power in2014. It rose to the 100th spotin the last ranking from 131strank in the previous year.NewZealand tops the list of 190countries in ease of doing busi-ness, followed by Singapore,Denmark, and Hong Kong.

The United States is placedeight and China has beenranked 46th. NeighbouringPakistan is placed at 136.

World Bank put Indiaamong the top 10 economies tomake the most improvements.

Observing that the twoeconomies with the largestpopulations, China and India,demonstrated impressivereform agendas, the WorldBank said the India alsofocused on streamlining busi-ness processes.

India, it said, made startinga business easier by integratingmultiple application forms intoa general incorporation form.“India also replaced the value-added tax with the GST forwhich the registration processis faster,” it said.

Also, “India made payingtaxes easier by replacing manyindirect taxes with a singleindirect tax, the GST, for theentire country.

����������� ����

In an unexpected develop-ment, veteran actor Anupam

Kher has resigned as chairmanof the Pune-based Film andTelevision Institute of India(FTII), citing his preoccupationwith international profession-al TV assignments.

Kher (63) who had onTuesday sent his resignationletter to Union Minister forInformation & BroadcastingRajyavardhan Singh Rathore,announced his resignation onhis Twitter handle onWednesday.

“It has been an honour, aprivilege & a great learningexperience to be the Chairmanof the prestigious@FTIIOfficial. But because ofmy international assignments Iwon’t have much time to devoteat the institute. Hence decided to send myresignation. Thank you,” theactor tweeted.

Kher thanked the FTIIstaff, teachers and students fortheir appreciation during mytenure as chairman.

Detailed report on P6

� ������� ������������������

Unveiling “Statue of Unity”,the tallest statue of the

world at Kevadiya in Narmadadistrict on Wednesday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi stat-ed that the statue of SardarVallabhbhai Patel would bethe a befitting answer to thosewho question unity and exis-tence of India.

Addressing a large gather-ing against the backdrop oflofty and magnificent statue ofIndia’s first Home Minister,the PM said that it is theresponsibility of every Indian toensure every possible effort ismade to defeat the divisive ele-ments trying to damage unityand sovereignty of the nation.

“Sardar had worked forthe unity of our nation. He hadgiven responsibility to coun-

trymen to keep India’s unity,diversity and sovereignty intact.We all need to be vigilant andunited as a society in order tocounter divisive forces,” saidModi, adding that Indians needto adopt the mantra of “EkBharat, Shresth Bharat” to nul-lify anti-national elements.

He also trained his guns onhis political rivals who criticisedhim for spending huge amountto construct the statue sayingthat paying tribute to greathero like Sardar is not a crime.Modi said his Government iscommitted to recognise con-tributions of other historical fig-ures, including ChhatrapatiShivaji, Shubhash ChandraBose, Baba Saheb Ambedkar toname a few. The PM went onto say that he doesn’t under-stand why his efforts of appre-ciating icons are seen as polit-ical move by his rivals.

“At the time of indepen-dence there were people whothought that immensely diverseIndia wouldn’t remain united.However, Sardar Patel provedthem wrong by merging 565princely states in the modernday India. In fact diversity hasbecome biggest strength of thenation and now we are march-ing ahead to become econom-ic and military superpower,”Modi said.

Praising Sardar’s vision toforce erstwhile princely states— Junagadh and Hyderabad —to surrender to India’s sover-eignty, Modi said that becauseof Sardar we didn’t requirevisas to offer prayer at Somnathtemple or to watch AsiaticLions or even visitingCharminar in Hyderabad.

The State Government isexpecting daily visit by 15,000tourists.

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

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On first Friday of everymonth, men and women

gather in a coffee shop atBeldih Club. Instead of breath-lessly talking about the newgadgets launched in the city orthe impact of GST in the mar-ket, they discuss the finerpoints of a book.

Meet the members of BookClub of Steel City. The cluborganises sessions for criticalanalysis of books and alsomarks events to celebrate birthanniversaries of noted writers.Based at Beldih Club, the bookworms’ organisation, has addeda new chapter by promotingbook reading habits in the city.The sessions are held at the clubpremises and at the Centre forExcellence.

The brainchild behind theclub Col Arup Basu, a retiredarmy doctor, said that readingbook has a glorious legacy. It isa passion for many people butover past few years its popu-larity has declined. The clubwas formed to promote the cul-ture of reading books.

“I’ve always had a passionfor reading and I own a goodcollection of books. Concernedover the declining culture ofreading books in the city, Ialong with some of my friends

decided to form a club. Thoughit started with a few likemind-ed friends at the library ofBeldih Club but in past oneyear it has grown up. Fromlibrary we have shifted to thecoffee shop of the club. At pre-sent we have 25 active mem-bers and want to add moreespecially the youths,” saidBasu.

Sharing details of the activ-ities lined for every month,Basu informed that membersgather once or twice a monthdepending on the length of theassigned title. The title of thebook is shared with the mem-bers a month before so that

they can read and prepared toanalysis with other members.One of the members is assignedto shed light on the book,while others too join to sharetheir point of view. Even the lifeand works of the writer is dis-cussed.

“Some of us are prolificreaders, others not quite so wealso make it a point that thebook in discussion is neither apulp fiction nor a variousancient book. We choose booksthat have been appreciated inthe literary circles or are time-less classics,” noted Basu. Headded that they plan to expandits reach by making it city spe-

cific Book Club.Hotelier Ronald D’costa is

another active member of theclub, who looks for every read-ing session. "I have always likeddiscussing books, but joiningthe club has added a newdimension in my life. And ithas shown me so many newways of looking at the samebook.

I look forward to attendevery session and it gives us aplatform to interact too. Thingsyou never thought about whilereading a book are often pickedup by others, which onlyenriches your experience of abook," he said.

�������������� �

����� ����

Looking at drought-like sit-uation prevailing in as many

as 18 districts of the State, theGovernment has swung intoaction with series of steps.Areas such as crop insurance,subsidy for rabi crops andpushing for alternative farmingalong with extensive roleassigned to the DisasterManagement Department havebeen identified at the highestlevel.

Chief Minister RaghubarDas himself chaired a meetingwith Chief Secretary SudhirTripathi and executive heads ofother concerned Departmentson Wednesday which hereviewed the exigency thepaddy farmers of as many as 18districts and 126 blocks are fac-ing due to scanty rainfall thismonsoon.

In a major direction, norecovery of farm loan, revenue,cess, irrigation duty, electrici-

ty bill etc would be made tillMarch 2019. The CM said thatbankers of the State should beinformed about the decision.Also, works under MGNR-RGA can be given up to 150days. Construction of ponds,supply of fodder and deputa-tion of veterinary doctorswould also be taken up on pri-ority. He also told for immedi-ate release of the fund of Rs fivelakh being given to the GramVikas Samiti and Adivasi VikasSamiti. “All the concernedDepartments do advancedplanning to deal with the situ-ation. We have to pay moreattention to smooth and quickpayment of Fasal Bima Yojna tothe insured farmers. Officials atlocal level should propagate theschemes meant for the farmersin such a situation,” said theCM during the meeting.

He also directed the offi-

cials of AgricultureDepartment to raise subsidyamount on rabi crops from pre-sent 50 per cent to 90 per centalong with release of Rs 100crore on immediate basis underdisaster management mea-sures. DCs of all the districtshave been told to preparereport along with identifyingthe drought hit areas and sub-mit it with the Government byNovember 10. “The localadministration has been told toexecute extensive survey andcollect facts about crop loss andits financial bearings on theaffected farmers. Also, the con-cerned Departments are tosubmit demands related tospecial schemes and financewithin five days so that adetailed report can be for ward-ed to the Center beforeNovember 21 for assistance,”said the Chief Secretary.

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Palamu administration’s helpin distress has now become

more distressing for a widowedmother of two children, Suchita( 25) of Sua Koriya village here.

Suchita lost both of her legsunder the wheels of a goodstrain near outer signal of theDaltonganj railway station onOctober 23 in her bid to saveher 8 months old son who hadgone on the railway tracks onwhich was coming the goodstrain.

Suchita became widow

in 2017 when her husbandAnil Kumar Singh died leavingbehind one daughter of 2 yearsand this 8 months old son.Tragedy again struck thiswoman in 2018 October 23!

She was then in a pool ofblood and unconscious. Her 8months old son was crying forher breasts’ milk not knowinganything that the worst hashappened to his mother. Therewas none then to take care ofthis child.

DC Palamu ShantanuKumar Agrahari on knowingthe critical condition of this

woman Suchita and plight ofher lone and near abandonedson directed his officials tosend this child to Child WelfareCommittee while Suchita wasrushed to the governmentsadar hospital Daltonganjwhere she is undergoing treat-ment and making a very slowrecovery with low blood count.

Sources said handing overthis child then to Child WelfareCommittee was the last optionthen at that time since therewas none of Suchita ‘s familymembers present when shewas dangling between deathand life.

And the child was inces-santly crying for mother.

Now Suchita looks aroundfor her son who is in SpecialAdoption Agency SAA underChild Welfare Committee .

Her father Kamla KantSingh told the Pioneer “ Suchitais behaving quite abnormally.She sheds tears only.

She does not speak. Shehas no emotion. Her feelingsare gone.”

The father ‘s fear is thatSuchita has this dread that herson ‘ka nuksaan ho gaya ‘ hai.( her son is dead)

Dr Vijay Kumar Singh anoted ortho surgeon of the gov-ernment sadar hospitalDaltonganj said “ Suchita is inacute depression.

Her child is away. It is hightime her child be restored to

her. The child should be takenaway from SAA and given toher. It will be a restorative ther-apy. No delay should be madein this.”

On the other hand childWelfare Committee referring tosome rules and regulationsmaintains that Suchita’s son canonly be given to her mother ifassured that the child will betaken care of but as the moth-er Suchita is in bed and notcapable of taking her own carethen how can she take care ofthis 8 months old child”.

Braj Bihari Prasad Gupta amember of the Child WelfareCommittee said the Committeereserves the right to be assuredof the foster care of the child inthe event that Suchita is nowtotally incapacitated followingher loss of both the legs.

Circle Officer (CO)Medininagar SheoshankerPandey strongly supportingDr Vijay Singh’s contentionthat Suchita’s child be restoredto her immediately said theChild Welfare Committee isgoing too far away from theground reality which it shouldnot do under the warp of rulesand regulations.

Pandey said Suchita’s sonnow in a SAA used to suckleher mother’s milk and nowsince October 23 this child ison milk powder. Is this not acruel thing for that innocentchild? CO further said this

child Welfare Committeeshould take a pragmatic viewinstead of going dry by rulebook.

Suchita’s mother Sita Devisaid “ Some people brought thischild to Suchita on October 29but Suchita just could not rec-ollect as to who the child is. Shewept sobbed and then slippedinto shock.

The child on seeing hismother went to her but he wasnot hugged, kissed or loved asSuchita is now like a vegetable”.

She has acute deficiencyof blood. Her diet is too pooras her parents are too poorthemselves.

CO Pandey said “ We willdo all to save this mother andher child.”

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����� ������The Bermo sub-divisional

administration continuinganti-coal smuggling drive onMonday night seized threetrucks loaded with 80 tonnes ofillegal coal and also held threepersons accused of involving inthe illegal trade under thethermal police station here,SP Kartik S said . The coal wereloaded in all the three heavyvehicles at the kata house onfake papers and were beingtransported to other destina-tion. However three coal smug-glers managed to escape ,SDMPrem Ranjan said .This is thesecond routine recovery of ille-gal coals in span of past onemonth .Meanwhile police haverecently seized 5 motorcyclewith illegal coals. BermoSDM,Prem Ranjan said thatthey instructed all police sta-tions to stop illegal mining andtransportation in the district orotherwise be ready to face themusic .Economic crime willnot be tolerated in the area, saidRanjan .

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With the arrest of six people,including three women,

the ATS and Giridih policetoday busted inter-state drugsyndicate.The police also seized14 kgs of opium neatly packedin double layer six bowls, saidDy SP ,Dumari, Niraj Kumar.

The accused were allegedlyusing the train courier servicesroute to smuggle drugs inJalandhar in Punjab, said Dy S.P,Awadh Kumar Yadav ofATS,Ranchi.

The racket was allegedlyfound to be masterminded byAnil Kumar Rana, residing atCharu in Chatra district,he said.

While Rana is among thefive arrested. "Rana, a big namein the drug smuggling of

Jharkhand , had been underclose watch by the ATS and theNarcotics Control Bureau(NCB)," Yadav said. "Apart fromRana (22), the other arrestedaccused have been identified asSandip KumarYadav(20)belonging to Charuarea in Chatra, Sanjay KumarDangi (36) of Cidhor village inChatra, Aarti Devi (28) ofKatkamsandi area in Chatra,Kiran Devi (30) of Simratardvillage in Chatra and Rina Deviof Charhi village of Chatra dis-trict"he said.

The police carried out aspecial operation at Nimiaghatrailway station in Giridih dis-trict and arrested all six whowere travelling in car bearing noof Haryana.They were carryingsix big bowls containing drugsmeant for transporting to

Jarandhar through a couriercompany by train,NirajKumar,SDPO, Dumari said.The use of private personalcouriers or postal services is anew modus operandi used bydrug smugglers to avoid policeand other agencies. Preliminaryinvestigations have revealedthat the consignment was pre-pared by someone , who visit-ed Chatra district last week andfixed a deal with the accusedpersons for smuggling opium toJarandhar in Punjab " Kumarsaid. As per the agreement,AnilKumar Rana and SandipKumar Yadav were to arrangedrugs from their sources andpack them properly while Ranahad taken the responsibility tofurther take the drugs toPunjab, Dy SP Awadh KumarYadav said.

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Remembering the contribu-tion of India’s first Home

Minister, Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel, Chief Minister RaghubarDas on the 143rd birth anniver-sary of the Iron Man of Indiasaid that National Unity Day isa tribute to India’s great unifi-er. “Even today,

Sadar Patel is relevant. Hissacrifice motivates each one ofus to be united and work forthe country’s progress,” theCM said.

Taking examples from thepresent context in describingthe contribution of Sardar Patel,the CM said that in compari-son to earlier days, the anti-social elements are more activenow and is a threat for each oneof us.

“In the name of caste, reli-gion, ideologies, anti-socialelements are promoting theirdecadent agendas for creating

rift among us. At this point, weall need to stand together,sidelining all our differences,”Das added.

Further, throwing light onthe contribution of Sadar Patel’srole in uniting over 550 prince-ly estates into a country called‘India’ the CM further said,

“Following his ideology,we too must take a pledge to beunited and to maintain har-mony so that no force couldever break our unity even indifficult times.”

“In the name of castes,creeds and religions, the forcestrying to hamper our unitymerely to strengthen their votebanks must be immediatelycrushed down.

Together we can fightagainst all odds, standing as ablockade in the way of ensur-ing holistic development forall,” the CM further addedwhile addressing the peoplegathered at Albert Ekka Chowkto participate in ‘Run for Unity’programme.

The CM appreciated allpeople for showing an incred-ible example of unity. “I amoverwhelmed with theresponse of the people that isbeing witnessed across theState on the birth anniversaryof Sadar Patel.

Students, army personnel,policemen, government offi-cials including all civilianstoday gave the world a perfectexample of unity showcasingthe world that if any destruc-tive force will try to disturb thepeace of the country, 1.25 crorepeople will not tolerate andfight back together,” the CMstated.

The CM while expressinghis happiness further said,“Taking inspiration from Pateland Mahatma Gandhi, we mustfollow their footstep and musttry to counter all negativeforces.

The world today got amessage that the countrymenare united and is ready tomake sacrifice. The contribu-tion of all great leaders whoshaped the country is simplyincredible.”

Targeting all oppositionparty leaders who often rake upa few issues for their pity pol-itics, the CM added, “The 182Meter high, the Statue of Unityis a real accolade to the greatvisionary – Sadar Patel.

PM Narendra Modi hasaptly recognised the contribu-tion of this great leader whowas sidelined for several yearsin opposition parties’ regime.

The contribution of Patel

should have been recognisedmuch earlier. It is the vision ofPM Modi that every year,October 31 will be observed asNational Unity Day.”

The CM who flagged off‘Run for Unity’ event fromSainik Market, saw the partic-ipation of Urban DevelopmentMinister, CP Singh, WelfareMinister Louis Marandi,Health Minister, RamchandraChandravanshi, EducationMinister Neera Yadav, RanchiMP Ramlal Chaudhary, MLANaveen Jaiswal, RamkumarPahan,

Dr. Jitu Charan Ram,Mayor Asha Lakra , DeputyMayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya,Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathi,Principal Secretary, HomeDepartment SKG Rahate, DGPDK Pandey, Principal Secretaryto Chief Minister Dr. SunilKumar Barnwal, DG (JAP)Neeraj Sinha, DG(Headquarters) PRK Naidu,Town Commissioner ManojKumar, Ranchi DC RaiMahimapat Ray and others.

Meanwhile, the CM alsopaid tribute to India’s firstwoman Prime Minister, IndiraGandhi on her birth anniver-sary. Similarly, over thousandstook part in the 6 km Run forUnity from Baridih chowk to

Tinplate chowk on Wednesdaymorning. Jamshepdur MPBidyut Baran Mahto led therun.

Senior district administra-tion officials including DCAmit Kumar, SSP AnupBirtharay, district NCC cadets,police jawans,

BJP functionaries and peo-ple from different walks of liketook part in the run. Studentsfrom Eklavya ModelResidential School hailing from12 states, who are in the city totake part in the national musiccontest, were also part of therun. An oath for unity was alsoadministered on the occasion.

Besides, employees of dif-ferent PSUs – SAIL, CCL on theoccasion took pledge to main-tain unity and follow the ide-ology of Patel. SAIL RanchiUnits Employees took pledgetogether at Ispat Bhawan.

Kamakshi Raman, ED(HRD) and Kajal Das, ED(CET) administered the pledgesin Hindi and English respec-tively. As annual commemora-tion of the birthday of SardarPatel, who was instrumental inkeeping India united, SaralaBirla Public School includingother educational institutionsobserved National Unity Daywith great enthusiasm.

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The Annual Diwali fiesta –Diwali Utsav of IPS

Officers Wives Association(IPSOWA) enfolding differentcolours was inaugurated byChief Minister Raghuvar Dastoday. The event which annu-ally witnesses the participationfrom different sections of thesociety has several programmesenfolded in the kitty for theleisure buffs in the days tocome. From availability of vari-ety of products to completeentertainment package for thefair hoppers, the enticing eventis back with wholesome stuffs.

Organised on a muchwider scale, the organisationannually invites artisans fromacross the country to showcasetheir vivid stuffs and the spe-cialties of their respectiveStates. Every year, shopalcholicsget some unique collections ofhand made products includinghigh-end luxurious goods oftheir choice under one roof.

Besides, marketing ofgoods by providing a platformto artisans, IPSOWA’S cultur-al nights having differentflavours give exclusivity to thisentire event. This season, visi-tors will get to watch the heart-warming performance ofcelebrity playback singer –

Raja Hasan on November 3.Also, Rajasthani Folk

Dance form (Kalbeliya) willenthrall the fair hoppers. Theblend of music and dance iscombined with other artisticgenres – Painting, fashionshow, baby show, band displayetc. The four-day event has alsogot variety of cuisines to tick-le the taste buds of the visitors.

Jharkhandi Thali, a perfectamalgamation of tribal cuisines

including Nepali delicacies isavailable for the visitors. Theannual event which enteredinto its 16th year was inaugu-rated by Chief MinisterRaghubar Das. Children of‘Aanchal Shishu Vihar’ werepresent as distinguished guestsduring inauguration.

Appreciating differentsocial ventures of IPSOWA, theCM said, “Taking inspirationfrom light, attempts must be

made by each individaul tobring happiness and prosperi-ty in the lives of poor. The Stategovernment will do everythingto support martyrs familymembers. Soon, housing facil-ity will be provided to martyrsfamily members under theaffordable housing scheme.The social initiatives of theorganisation must be taken asan inspiration.”

Also, emphasizing on the

importance of Diwali whichstands for purity and cleanli-ness, the CM added that eachindividual during Diwali cleantheir houses as well as their sur-roundings but the cleanlinessactivity must not be restrictedto only a few specific festivalsor events but must be observedthroughout the year which willgive thrust to the ongoingmovement – Swacch BharatAbhiyaan (SBA).

The CM on the occasionappreciated the initiatives of thePolice Department in com-bating and eliminating naxal-ism from the State and urgedto the public to understand thecircumstances of police officialsand their workconditions.Highlighting abouta few ventures of the socialorganisation, on the occasion,Poonam Pandey, President –IPSOWA, said, “Starting fromSaraswati Vidya Scholarshipto Chetna programme, sever-al initiatives is being taken upto uplift the lives of the down-trodden. Also, financial sup-port is provided to the familymembers of martyrs andpolicemen. Different schoolsadopted by IPSOWA are beingtransformed through differentinitiatives. War Widows includ-ing orphan children are gettingextensive support from theorganisation.”

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Angry residents blocked theGumla road on

Wednesday morning to protestthe murder of coal dealernamed Babu Khan near Narovillage under Nagri police sta-tion area of Ranchi district onTuesday evening.

Unidentified criminalshad shot dead the victim whilehe was playing cards with hisacquaintances on Tuesdaynight.

The miscreants fired sev-eral rounds at the victim lead-ing to his death on the spot.Police later found five emptycartridges from the spot.

Angry locals first gatheredat the local police stationdemanding arrest of the crim-inals. Later on they blocked theRanchi-Gumla highway topress for their demand. Theprotest was, however, with-drawn after a short while onpersuasion of the administra-tion. Police said the victimwho lived near the Piska rail-way crossing was involved incoal trade. He supervised theloading and unloading of coalin the local railway siding. Hehad been sent to jail twice inconnection with various crimesincluding violation of arms actin the past.

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Decks have been cleared forthe industrial township

Jamshedpur set to become welldemarcated MunicipalCorporation.

Chief Minister RaghubarDas holding a high level meet-ing, set the terms and conditionsfor the areas to come under theCorporation and those underthe command of the Tata.

“District administration inconsultation with Tata man-agement should prepare a list ofthe areas falling under theMunicipal Corporation juris-diction and those inside theindustrial city.

Public opinion also has tobe taken into considerationbefore the list is finalised,” saidthe CM on Wednesday. Tata onits part would inform theGovernment in three day time.

He also instructed that theareas falling into the industrialtownship would also have to paytaxes in accordance with theNagar Nigam.

Rate of the taxes on water,electricity, sanitation etc would

be levied as determined by theregulatory commission.

The Chief Minister howev-er clarified that final call on theproposals coming would betaken by the Government.Urban Development MinisterCP Singh,

Chief Secretary Sudhir

Triapthi, Additional ChiefSecretaries Sukhdeo Singh andArun Kumar Singh andSecretaries of UrbanDevelopment Department AjoyKumar Singh, Revenue’sKKSoan and Sunil Bhaskaran ofTata Group were present on theoccasion.

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Vigilance Department ofCentral Coalfields Ltd(

CCL) organized an inter-schoolelocution & painting competi-tion 'among winners' to markthe 3rd of Vigilance AwarenessWeek(VAW) 2018.

Best three participants/students each from 23 differentschools located in differentareas of CCL as well as inRanchi where various eventshad been organised before thestart of VAW - 2018 werecalled at CCL headquarter toparticipate in the above event.

The occasion was gracedby the CMD, CCL Gopal Singh& Directors of CCL. While dis-tributing the prizes to the win-ners, Singh urged the studentsto make all out efforts to builda New India.

He further advised thestudents to imbibe good values,make full utilization of timeand work passionately toachieve their desired goal.

The winners of paintingcompetition were:

1. Ms. Laxmi Raj Gupta,Surendranath CentenarySchool, Ranchi

2. Ms. Bhavya Upadhyay,

DAV, Gandhinagar Ranchi3. Mr. Hemant Raj,

Surendranath CentenarySchool, Ranchi

The winners of elocution(hindi) competition were:

1. Ms. Isha Kashyap, DAVRajrappa

2. Ms. Jaya Priyadarshini,DAV Dhori

3. Ms. Riddhhi, DAV, Ara,Kuju

The winners of elocution(english) competition were:

1. Ms. Nandini, DAV

Gandhinagar, Ranchi2. Ms. Shreya Singh, DAV,

Bariatu, Ranchi3. Ms. Harshita Sinha,

Ursuline Public School, Khalari

Earlier on Tuesday, the CentralCoalfields Limited (CCL)enacted a street play to spreadthe message to eradication cor-ruption for a new India.

The play “EradicateCorruption- Building NewIndia” was staged by the CCL

employees depicting the illeffects of corruption and howit was eroding values andresources of the country and itscitizen.

The play delivered the mes-sage that ethical values likeintegrity, transparency, objec-tivity; honesty is must for thedevelopment of a Company,State and Nation. Addressingthe gathering, CVO A KSrivastava appreciated theendeavor and creativity oftCCL enacted play.

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With a change in climate,dengue fever has again

started to spread its wingsinBokaro, Presently four sus-pected patients have beenadmitted in theisolation wardat Bokaro General Hospital(BGH) and private nursing-homes, they are kept underobservation, informed SMurmu, Civil SurgeonBokarodistrict.

Suspected patientKhageshwar Saw is admitted atBGH while DeepanshiSingh,Jaitoon Khatoon and Arkdeoare admitted in the privatenursinghomes.

“Blood samples of all sus-pected cases have been col-lected andsent for test fur-ther,” he added.

Few days’ earlier one caseof dengue fever traced atRanipokar and testedpositive.Presently three more suspect-ed cases form Ranipokar andone

Anita Kumar (24) a residentof Sector 12 were admitted atthe hospitaland now underobservation, he said.

The district health depart-ment issued an alert, closelymonitoring theareas from wherethe fever was reported andfound the factors leadingthespurt in the mosquito-bornedisease.

Precautionary measures arebeingtaken to control dengue.Soon we will send our teams for

fogging and toconduct surveysin the city as well as villages, hesaid.

“We have sought publicsupport in controlling the men-ace of vector-borne diseasesand also sent a letter to the civicbody for participating inthecampaign to fight against it,” headded.

People generally use mos-quito repellents at night but dueto changes inclimatic condi-tions, they must use it duringthe day hours as theAedesmosquito bites in thedaytime too,” said Civil Surgeon.

Dengue fever (DF) is a viraldisease transmitted by infectedmosquitoes.

DF causes severe, flu-likesymptoms with high fever andextreme muscleand joint pain.Dengue hemorrhagic fever(DHF) and dengue shocksyn-drome (DSS) are less common

but more severe forms ofthedisease. DHF or DSS initiallypresent with very similar symp-toms to DF.

The disease then progress-es to a stage where the bloodvessels becomepermeable caus-ing a breakdown of the circula-tory system, fluid loss, and pos-sibly death, he said.

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In a tax evasion matters, theIncome Tax sleuths of

Bokaro andDhanbadconducted search andseizure operations at threepremises of twoGoldMerchants at Bokaro and

Chas.Search and Survey opera-

tions were simultaneouslylaunched in the twopremisesofModak Jewellers at Chas andone premise of Sarkar Jewellersat Sector 4in Bokaro Steel City,IT sleuths informed.

“Huge undisclosedincomes are detected duringthe search and survey

operations, which are stillcontinued”, added the official.

Confirming the tax eva-sion Income Tax official said,“In the prima facieundisclosed

amount of several lakhs rupeesfound during the operations”.

The huge number ofincriminating documents, banklockers, Banks

account, statements havebeen sized, operations are still‘on’, added the

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Maj Gen MK Mukherjee,General Officer

Commanding , Jharkhand &Bihar Sub area visited SainikSchool Tilaiya as ChairmanLocal Board of Administrationon Monday. Gp Captain SJacob, Principal Sainik SchoolTilaiya welcomed the Generalto the school on his maidenvisit to this premier institution.After reviewing the Guard ofHonour , the General attend-ed the special assembly orga-nized in his honour. In hisaddress, the General mentinedthe contribution of SainikSchool Tilaiya as an importantfeeder to the National DefenceAcademy and praised the dis-cipline and achievement of theTilaiyans over the years.

After the special assembly,the General inaugurated thenewly constructed ante-roomfor Cadets of the School.Thereafter, he inspected theacademic block and interactedwith the Cadets. The general

was very pleased with the edu-cational and infrastructuralfacilities of the school and wasespecially impressed at themotivation level of the Cadetsfor joining the Armed Forces.

Later in the day, the Generalpresided over the meeting of theLocal Board of AdministrationMeanwhile, it was a mesmeriz-ing day at Sainik School as ithosted the Koderma SchoolsSahodaya complex Inter SchoolFolk Dance Competition where-in students from all across thedistrict presented captivatingFolk Dance. Group Captain SJacob, Principal Sainik SchoolTilaiya welcomed the ChiefGuest Smt Suchitra Sinha, IAS,Addl Secretary SchoolEducation and Literacy, Govt ofJharkhand to the school on hermaiden visit to this premierinstitution. Judges comprisedrenowned Kathak artists MsGargi Malkani, Mrs MalobikaMukherjee and Ms SunitaOraon from Ranchi. The firstposition was bagged by ModernPublic School, Jhumri.

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Canary Hill is one of the mostpopular and picturesque

tourist destinations situated inone corner of the town. Butthese days, cows and buffaloesare seen tied to many of the treesat the foothills of this hill mak-ing around 25 trees dry in thelast few months.

Local people said forestdepartment has failed to

providefacilities required attourist spots which has result-ed in less footfallhere and giv-ing many to misuse this place astheir personal property.

Sources said Canary Hillwas once a favourite spot forBritishers whoused to spendtime at the peak of the hill aswell as for keeping eyes onall the

activities of the win from here.After independence, tourists-from various states used tocome here to enjoy the scenicbeauty. Butwith passing timeamid lack of security, touristsstopped coming here.

Now the worst part is thatpeople involved in milk tradehave started misusing the place.Such people use the foothillareas to tie the cattle round the-

day or even leave them here forgrazing. Local people saidaround 25-trees dried here andso far forest department hasfailed to take noticeof this men-ace. They said in the last fiveyears, several announcemen-twere made to develop Canaryas hotspot of the state but it onlyremained in files. When ThePioneer brought this into thenotice of regional chiefconser-

vator of forest, Sanjeev Kumar,he said local people were dam-agingbeauty of this place. Hesaid Canary is pride of the townand itwas the responsibility of allto keep its beauty intact.

He said hewill look into thiscattle menace and ensure prop-er action. Kumar informed thata proposal has been sent toensure proper facilities at thishill.

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The three-day Navy Commanders'conference commenced here on

Wednesday with focus on the top brassbrainstorming on the themes of'Optimisation' and 'EmergingTechnologies.' The commanders willalso take stock of operational prepared-ness of the naval fleet to meet any chal-lenges in the strategically importantIndian Ocean Region(IOR).

Having adopted mission baseddeployment over the past one year, theconference will deliberate upon combatreadiness of units and optimisation ofresources including manpower to meetthe growing list of missions and tasks thatthe Navy is expected to perform, navyofficials said here.

The conference will have dedicatedbrainstorming sessions to discuss andconceptualise new ideas and concepts, aswell as critically examine organisation-al structures and processes to meetdeveloping challenges and threats tomaritime security. Commanders wouldalso look at utilising emerging tech-

nologies such as Big-Data Analyticsand Artificial Intelligence (AI) toimprove the overall efficiency and effec-tiveness.

India is a maritime nation and itsgrowth is inexplicably linked to the seas.Under the overall vision of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi of 'Security andGrowth for All in the Region' (SAGAR),the Indian Navy has been at the forefrontof providing an environment of stabili-ty and peace in the IOR. As the premierNavy in the region, the Indian Navyaspires to remain the 'Net SecurityProvider' in the Indian Ocean throughcollaboration and cooperation with like-minded and friendly nations.

The Indian Navy has witnessed anunprecedented growth in its opera-tional tasking over the past decade inconsonance with India's rising maritimeinterests. The Navy has adopted the'Mission-based Deployment' philoso-phy and the 'Maintenance-to-Operations'transition cycle over the past year to address the need to be present and to respond to emerging situations in the IOR.

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Congress MP Shashi Tharooron Wednesday sent a legal

notice to Union Minister RaviShankar Prasad over the latter'sstatement, 'Shashi Tharoor whois accused in a murder case hasattempted to disrespect LordShiva'. Prasad had remarked thison Tharoor while he demand-ed an apology from him forcomparing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi with a scorpionsitting on a Shiv Linga.

Tharoor has sought anunconditional apology fromPrasad within 48 hours for hisremarks, which he called falseand defamatory. In his legalnotice, he alleged that Prasad

had deliberately lied to the pub-lic with "culpable maliciousintention" to defame him. Thenotice called upon the UnionMinister to delete the tweetalong with the video clip of thepress conference.

The legal notice said Prasadwas aware that Tharoor had nei-ther been chargesheeted formurder nor is he an accused ina murder case. "The scandalousand false and defamatory state-ments you have publishedagainst Dr Shashi Tharoor areexplicitly intended to harm thereputation of Tharoor and tomalign him before the public byintentionally giving your falseand untrue statements the colourof your office," the notice read.

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With Congress presidentRahul Gandhi unrelent-

ing in his attacks as the cam-paign for Assembly elections infive States is underway and theLok Sabha polls are less than sixmonths away, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesdaytook him on saying he keepsrepeating things like a stuckgramophone but people wouldnot accept his "childish" claimsand "lies" against theGovernment as they make"fun" of such remarks.

Stressing on his develop-ment plank during a videointeraction with BJP workers,Modo asked them to go to peo-ple with a three-point agenda— development, fast develop-ment and development for all.

To a question from aworker as to how they shouldrespond to opposition leaders'"abuses" like calling him ascorpion — an apparent refer-ence to Congress leader ShashiTharoor's recent remarks, Modisaid they were offering himwhat they had.

The Prime Minister said,he was glad that he was of anyuse to them as it allows themto vent their anger and spendtheir time "happily" with theirfamily members in evening.

Citing an anonymous RSS

functionary's comments to ajournalist, Tharoor had saidthat Modi was like a scorpionsitting on a Shivlinga which canneither be removed from handnor hit with a chappal.

Modi mocked Rahul whena party worker asked him as tohow they should respond to theCongress president's commentsin his rallies that there shouldbe mobile manufacturing fac-tories in those areas.

"There used to be gramo-phone records earlier. At times,it would get stuck and playsame words again and again.There are some people like it.One thing occupies their mindand they keep repeating it.

You should enjoy it. Don'tget tensed," he told BJP work-ers.

These people don't knowthat time had changed and itwas no longer easy to fool peo-ple, Modi said, adding thatnobody accepts such childish

remarks. People make fun of it,he said.

India had become a lead-ing manufacturer of mobileswith over 100 factories pro-ducing them now under hisGovernment compared to onlytwo that existed when he cameto power in 2014, Modi said.

He wondered if mobilewas invented after he becameprime minister as he attackedthe previous government.

Modi also targeted Rahulwithout naming him over hisrecent criticism of the centralgovernment on the issue ofOROP (One Rank OnePension) for ex-servicemen.

Congress Governmentswere in power for decades andsoldiers kept demandingOROP, he said, adding thatthey were not even heard.

Since his Government hasimplemented it so his rivalswere concerned over ex-ser-vicemen's "love" for him andrepeating "lies after lies", hesaid. Modi claimed that "lies" ofCongress leaders against theBJP and its Governments oncertain issues indicated his dis-pensation's success as hereferred to his "digital India"campaign which, he added,had made lives easier for croresof people by letting them availof Government benefits sittingat home.

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Air pollution in the nation-al Capital region will dete-

riorate sharply fromNovember 3 because not onlyemissions from field fires inPunjab and Haryana havewitnessed a significant rise butalso since there will be devel-opment of western distur-bance system over north Indiaand the north-westerly windswill lead the smoke to Delhi.

The Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) hasdirected the State pollutioncontrol bodies of Punjab,Haryana and Delhi to startcriminal prosecution againstagencies or individuals whodo not comply with directivesto check air pollution.

However, even as a thickhaze continues to envelopDelhi, the air quality

improved slightly onWednesday, bringing downpollution levels due to windspeed in the morning.

The Supreme Courtappointed EnvironmentPollution (Prevention andControl) Authority (EPCA)on Wednesday said that airpollution could lead to a spikein pollution in the coming 10days due to increase in stub-ble burning in Punjab andHaryana.

"This is because there is awestern disturbance system inthe north of India which isbringing moisture, and acyclonic system on the easternside which is suppressingwinds. Besides this, there isincreased burning of paddystraw in Punjab and Haryana,as is evident in imagesreleased by the NASA in US;the direction of the wind is

now from the northwest. Allthis, combined with Delhi-NCR's own pollution sources,could lead to a spike in pol-lution in the coming 10 days,"the EPCA said.

CPCB Chairperson S PSingh Parihar has also issueddirections to constructionagencies, municipal corpora-tions and land owning indus-tries to comply with the direc-tions of the NGT and theCPCB and ensure correctiveactions within 48 hours incases of air polluting activitiesas reported by the CPCBinspection teams.

India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has pre-dicted isolated rainfall overparts of Punjab and Haryanain the next two days and sub-sequent increase in windspeed, which is likely toreduce pollution levels. Delhi,

however, is likely to remaindry.

The current weather con-ditions have also favouredreduction of pollution fromstubble burning in northernstates, as low wind speed hasimpeded the transport of pol-lutants from fields in northernstates towards Delhi.

NASA satellite picturesshow a thick haze over thenorthern region, with firedetection being reportedacross states. Officials ofPunjab and Haryana highlightthat the number of such inci-dents is lower than last year.

EPCA Chairman, BhureLal had sounded an alarm onrising air pollution levels onTuesday, calling for stringentaction, including restrictionson private vehicles in Delhi, ifair quality plunges to severe oremergency levels.

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The day Prime MinisterNarendra Modi unveiled

the 'Statue of Unity' of SardarVallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat,Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday accusedthe Government of "treason",saying there was a "systematicdestruction" of institutions thatPatel had helped build.

His party colleague andformer Union Minister ShashiTharoor wondered why notthere is a bigger statue ofMahatma Gandhi as Patel washis disciple.

Taking a swipe at Modi, theCongress chief tweeted, "Ironicthat a statue of Sardar Patel isbeing inaugurated, but everyinstitution he helped build isbeing smashed." "The systematicdestruction of India's institu-

tions is nothing short of trea-son," he said.

In another tweet, Rahulsaid Patel was a patriot, whofought for a independent, unit-ed and secular India. "A manwith a steely will, tempered bycompassion, he was aCongressman to the core, whohad no tolerance for bigotry orcommunalism. On his birthanniversary, I salute this greatson of India," he tweeted.

For his part, Tharoor said:"The biggest one is inParliament. But this is a 182metre statue for his disciple.Why is there such a big statue fora disciple of Gandhiji in thecountry where there is no stat-ue of that size for the Mahatma?"

"Patel, a very simple person,was known as the disciple ofGandhiji," Tharoor said. "I amasking a question...Is it right to

erect such an imposing statue ofPatel, a man of simplicity and atrue Gandhian, who movedalong with poor peasants," hesaid. Tharoor said BJP had noanswer to the query why theydid not erect a bigger statue ofthe Mahatma.

The reason is that they donot believe in MahatmaGandhi's principles of non-vio-lence, he alleged. He also allegedthat BJP was trying to "hijack"the legacy of freedom fightersand national heroes like Patel asthey have no leaders of theirown in history to celebrate.

He said Patel was aCongress leader and BJP shouldnot be allowed to adopt him."Patel had worked along withGandhiji and strengthened theCongress party. We shouldremember him always,"Tharoor said.

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Amid controversies involvingthe CBI and the RBI,

President Ram Nath Kovindon Wednesday asked those intop positions in financial insti-tutions and the Government toact like "ethical leaders" as theirwork and conduct affect the livesof common people.

Kovind's assertion assumessignificance as the CBI isembroiled in a controversyinvolving its two top officials,while there is mounting tensionbetween the Arun Jaitley-ledFinance Ministry and the cen-tral bank. The President wasaddressing the VigilanceAwareness Week 2018 functionorganised by the CentralVigilance Commission here.The theme of this year's event is'Eradicate Corruption - Build aNew India'.

The president said there isa serious effort to curb and pun-ish those involved in economicoffences, and to give habitualoffenders a sense of fear of thelaw.

Citing different legislativemeasures and the introductionof the Fugitive EconomicOffenders Bill in Parliament,President Kovind said such ini-tiatives give confidence to hon-est citizens and taxpayers.

Addressing the gathering,he said those present in the audi-torium hold top positions instate-run banks, insurance com-panies and other financial insti-tutions, and the Government.

"It is important that youunderstand the actual meaningof integrity, transparency andhonesty. In the broad meaningof integrity both dedication towork and institutional disci-pline is included.

"Your conduct , inspiresother people of your organisa-tion. Your work and ethical val-

ues, effects lives of lakhs andcrores of citizens. In true sense,your role is of ethical leaders,"the president said.

"The confidence of our peo-ple that decisions and actions arebeing undertaken with trans-parency, accountability and fair-ness must continuously beenhanced.

"Unnecessary delays in deci-sion making too hurt the cred-ibility of any institution," he said,adding that technology and theinternet can be of great use inthis regard.

President Kovind said like"prevention is better than cure"is considered effective in thehealth sector, in the same way"preventive vigilance is betterthat the punitive vigilance" canprove to be an effective policy inchecking corruption.

Talking about benefits of useof technology to check graft, hesaid Rs. 3.65 lakh crore has beendelivered to beneficiaries of 431different schemes using directbenefit transfers in the pastfour years.

"In addition, I have beentold that direct benefit transferand other governance reformshave led to removal of duplicateor fake beneficiaries, as also toplugging of leakages. As a resultof these, estimated savingsamounting to approximatelyRs. 90,000 crore have been madein the period ending March2018," President Kovind said.

He said from extendingbanking facilities to previouslyun-banked sections of our peo-ple to implementing the Goodsand Services Tax, variousendeavours have been made toboost the formal economy.

"Adoption of digital systemshas also helped contain corrup-tion. In this manner, loop-holesfor corruption and misuse ofpublic money are beingaddressed," the president said.

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The Delhi court on Wednesdaygranted bail to CBI DSP

Devender Kumar in the allegedbribery case against benchedagency's Special Director RakeshAsthana even as CBI Additional SPSS Gurm moved the Delhi HighCourt seeking to be heard inAsthana's petition to quash the FIRagainst him. Asthana's plea is slat-ed to be heard on Thursday.

Special CBI Judge SantoshSnehi Mann granted relief to Kumarand asked him to furnish a personalbond of �50,000 and a surety of likeamount.

The relief was granted to Kumaras the CBI did not oppose his bailapplication. In his bail application,Kumar had termed his custody "ille-gal" and prayed the court to set himfree.

Kumar also assured the courtthat he was ready to abide by theconditions imposed by the courtwhile granting him bail.

Kumar and Asthana havealready challenged the legality of the

FIR filed against them.Besides Asthana and Kumar,

two private persons — ManojPrasad and Somesh Prasad — havealso been named as accused in thecase.

Kumar had claimed that he wasfalsely implicated in the case andthat he was a victim of rivalryamong the senior officers of theCBI.

He had said he was investigat-ing a case against meat exporterMoin Qureshi, in which the com-plainant in the present case —Sathish Babu Sana — was a suspect

and the names of some past andpresent senior CBI officers had sur-faced.

The FIR was lodged on thebasis of a written complaint fromSana on October 15, wherein it wasalleged that Kumar, being the IO inthe case against Qureshi, wasrepeatedly calling the complainantto the CBI office to harass him andcompel him to pay a bribe of �5crore for getting a clean chit in thecase.

Meanwhile, CBI Additional SPS S Gurm told the Delhi High Courton Wednesday that there was "rea-sonable" apprehension that theagency would not effectively con-test the petition filed by SpecialDirector Rakesh Asthana seekingthe quashing of an FIR against himin a bribery case.

Gurm has also dragged thename of RAW Special DirectorSamant Goel in the bribery caseagainst Asthana.

Gurm, who was transferredfrom Delhi to Jabalpur, has soughtto be made a party in the petitionfiled by Asthana.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Wednesday clarified thatonly "green crackers" will besold in the Delhi-NCR regionduring this Diwali and other fes-tivals.

It, however, allowed thefirecrackers which have alreadybeen produced to be sold inother parts of the country thisDiwali and other festivals andoccasions.

A bench of Justices A KSikri and Ashok Bhushan saidon the occasion of Gurpurab,which is in November, fireworksshall be allowed for one hour inthe morning between 4 am to 5am and one hour in the eveningbetween 9 pm to 10 pm.

In its October 23 order, thecourt had ruled that bursting offirecrackers on Diwali and other

festivals would be allowed from8 pm to 10 pm.

"In direction No. (ii) wheresale of crackers other thanreduced emission is banned, itis clarified that this sale isbanned in Delhi and NCR...Inother areas, the crackers whichhave already been producedwould be allowed to be sold forthis Diwali and other festivalsand occasions," the bench said.

The bench said with regardto Tamil Nadu, Puducherryand other southern states, thecourt had already passed theorder on October 30, by whichit had granted liberty to theauthorities of the states con-cerned to change the timings forbursting of firecrackers, but theduration should not exceed twohours a day.

The court highlighted thatits pan-India directions pertainsto community fire cracking,two hours duration for burstingof crackers, public awarenesscampaign.

"In addition, the directionregarding production of crack-ers with reduced emission andrestraining e-commerce web-sites for selling firecrackers alsoapplies throughout India," thebench said and added that allpan-India directions will beenforced by police authorities.

The bench said the pro-duction of crackers withreduced emission (improvedcrackers and green crackers) ispermitted and it would alsomean that barium salts in themanufacture of firecrackers willnot be used. PTI

New Delhi: Continuing with its firmstance on traceability, theGovernment on Wednesday statedthat it has not sought decryption ofWhatsApp messages but insteadwants the location and identity ofthose misusing the platform to spreadfake news that provokes violence.

IT Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad, who met WhatsApp VicePresident Chris Daniels, also assert-ed that the "institutional integrity"of the platform be maintainedahead of elections.

"On the issue of traceability, Iemphasised that when we talk oftraceability, we don't talk of decrypt-ing messages," Prasad said. "Weinsist rather on location and iden-tification of the sender of WhatsAppmessages when such messages leadto provocation of violence, heinousoffences and other serious crimes,"

he said. The minister added that hehas been assured by the WhatsAppleadership team that they will lookinto the matter and revert.

The Facebook-owned companyhas been under pressure for monthsnow to put in place a mechanism tocurb fake messages on its platform.

Following multiple incidentsof mob lynching across the coun-try, the government had slappedWhatsApp with two notices, withthe second one warning that it willtreat the messaging platform as anabettor of rumour propagation andlegal consequences will follow ifadequate checks are not put in place.

Prasad had met Daniels inAugust this year too, and apart fromthe traceability request, he had askedWhatsApp to set up a local corporateentity and appoint a grievance offi-cer to address complaints. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday direct-ed the Amrapali Group to disclose the names of all thecompanies with which it had any kind of transactionsafter forensic auditors pointed out that there may be aweb of more than 200-250 such firms where home buy-ers money was transferred.

The two forensic auditors, appointed by the courtto look into the affairs of Amrapali Group said besides47 sister companies, they stumbled upon 31 companieswhose names were never disclosed by the embattled realestate firm. The court was also told that there may bea case of the Foreign Exchange Management Act(FEMA), as large amount of money was transferred toa multinational company based in Mauritius.

It questioned Amarapali Group CFO ChanderWadhwa as to how a group company paid his IncomeTax amounting to �2 crore, when he was earning only�50,000 per month. A bench of Justices Arun Mishraand U U Lalit said money of innocent buyers could notbe misused like this and asked the Mauritius-based JPMorgan company to file its account statement withregard to the transaction with the Amrapali Group. PTI

New Delhi: First Lady ofSouth Korea Kim Jung-sookwill visit India fromNovember 4-7 during whichshe will participate in festivi-ties in the religious city ofAyodhya.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said she will bethe chief guest at the'Deepotsav' event being organ-ised by the Uttar PradeshGovernment on November 6.

The Korean First Lady, tobe accompanied by a high-level delegation, will alsoattend the ground-breakingceremony of the QueenSuriratna (Heo Hwang-ok)memorial in Ayodhya.

"The First Lady's participa-

tion in the festivities in Ayodhyawill showcase our close civili-sational links as well as theongoing deepening engagementbetween our two countries,"an MEA statement said.

According to Korean leg-ends, Princess Suriratna fromAyodhya had travelled toKorea and married King KimSuro and became Queen HeoHwang-ok some 2000 yearsago.

"India and Republic ofKorea share a special strategicpartnership. Moon Jae-in,President of Republic of Koreahad visited India in July 2018.His visit had imparted newstrength to our evolving part-nership," the MEA said.

An MoU regarding theQueen Suriratna MemorialProject was signed to facilitateupgrade and expansion of theexisting monument com-

memorating PrincessSuriratna (Queen HurHwang-ok).

The legendary Princessof Ayodhya went to Korea in48 AD and married KingKim-Suro. A large number ofKoreans trace their ancestry tothis legendary princess.

Preeti Saran, Secretary(East) in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs, said there arealso plans to build a monu-ment commemorating theprincess.

"Since last year, the UttarPradesh Government startedorganising Deepotsav. TheUP Government also invitedthe Korean Government toparticipate as a partner coun-try. President Moon said thathe will send a high-level cul-tural delegation to partici-pate in the Deepotsav," Saransaid. PTI

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Foot soldiers of the BorderSecurity Force (BSF) have

launched a massive ‘anti-tun-nel’ drive to prevent infiltrationof heavily armed infiltratorsthrough the cross border tun-nel along the Internationalborder across Jammu frontier.

The anti-tunnel drive iscurrently going on across threedistricts of Jammu, Samba andKathua and expected to covermost vulnerable stretches torule out the possibility of pres-ence of any cross border tunnel.

For this special drive, theBSF has deployed its trainedman power along with range ofequipment to detect presence ofunderground tunnel in the area.

In the past, the PakistanRangers have attempted topush infiltrators through crossborder tunnel across Sambaand Hiranagar sectors ofJammu frontier.

Inspector General of BSF,Jammu frontier, Ram Awtartold The Pioneer, “a massiveanti-tunnel drive is being car-ried out on ground zero acrossJammu frontier to rule out thepossibility of presence of anycross border tunnel in the area”.

He said, “Ever sinceinstances of use of cross bordertunnel have come to light BSFhas adopted this practice of car-rying out routine searches inthe area”.

“The ongoing drive is alsopart of the ongoing routineexercise. We have deployedour men and machinery on theground zero to check everyinch of our territory. We can-not lower our guard, we are onhigh alert 24x7 to prevent anykind of infiltration bid fromacross the International

Border,” he added.The entire security grid in

the region was alarmed in thesecond week of September2018, following arrest ofMohammad Iqbal ofPakharpora, Budgam and RiazAhmad of Hajin, Pulwama.

The duo was picked up bythe State police from anencounter site near Jhajjar Kotlion September 12, 2018.

During their interrogationRiaz Ahmad, truck driver andhis accomplice Mohd Iqbal,had revealed that they had been

helping infiltrators to reachKashmir Valley via Jammu afterpicking them from near theInternational border. Accordingto them at least four to fivebatches of infiltrators were fer-ried in trucks to Kashmir Valleyvia the same route.

Even the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)which is carrying out the probein the case had recently visitedforward border areas acrossHiranagar sector and searchedhouses of some of the local vil-lagers to track down the possi-ble route of infiltration used bythe heavily armed infiltrators.

A senior BSF officer super-vising the ongoing drive toldreporters on ground zero, “We

perform anti-tunnel drive totimely detect presence of anysmall or big cross border tun-nel in the area”.

The BSF officer said duringthe anti-tunnel drive we exer-cise extra caution to ensure ourjawans are not targeted by thePakistan Rangers using ‘snipers’.

The BSF officer said threatis always there but morale of ourjawans remain high. A BSFhead constable Narendra Kumarwas abducted and tortured bythe Pakistan Rangers before hewas killed on September 18,2018. His dead body with telltale signs of torture was recov-ered by the BSF from the for-ward area of Ramgarh sector inSamba sector.

����������� ����

In an unexpected develop-ment, veteran actor Anupam

Kher has resigned as chairmanof the Pune-based Film andTelevision Institute of India(FTII), citing his preoccupationwith international profession-al assignments.

Kher (63) who had onTuesday sent his resignationletter to Union Minister forInformation & BroadcastingRajyavardhan Singh Rathore,announced his resignation onhis Twitter handle onWednesday.

“It has been an honour, aprivilege & a great learningexperience to be the Chairmanof the prestigious@FTIIOfficial. But because ofmy international assignments Iwon’t have much time to devoteat the institute. Hence decidedto send my resignation. Thankyou,” the actor tweeted.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kherhad stated in his resignation let-ter: “The decision has notcome without considerablethought of the responsibilitiesexpected of me vis-a-vis thetime I have at my disposal toexecute them. At the timewhen I was officiallyapproached by former I&BMinister Smriti Irani to beappointed as the chairman, Idid share with her that I wasdue to be stationed in the USnearly six months for an inter-national show”.

“The latest news now isthat the show has been given afurther extension of fourmonths. This translates into mebeing stationed in the US fornearly nine months between2018 and 2019 and then asimilar period of minimum of

three years more. Given theassignment it would not be fairto me, the students and man-agement team, for me to holda position of such responsibil-ity, without being activelyinvolved in the operations,”Kher added.

He went onto request theI&B Ministry to accept hisresignation and in the noticeperiod scout for someone suit-able to take over the chargefrom him.

Kher thanked the FTIIstaff, teachers and students fortheir appreciation during mytenure as chairman. “As anindividual you can always reachout to me,” he added.

It may be recalled onOctober 11 last year, Kher —who has featured in more than500 films and acted in 100-oddplays — had replaced Televisionactor Gajendra Chauhan as theFTII chairman. Earlier,Chauhan’s appointment hadresulted unrest among the stu-dents in the Pune-based filminstitute in June 2015.

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Unmistakably annoyed overthe BJP and the JD(U)

announcing their seat sharingwithout taking him into confi-dence and angry over beingside-lined in the NDA, UnionMinister and RLSP chiefUpendra Kushwaha onWednesday claimed that ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar didn’twant to continue in the officeafter 2020. What he didn’t saythat he was a claimant for thatoffice after 2020 Assembly polls.

Addressing a meeting of hisparty here Kushwaha, who aday earlier had a meeting withsome BJP leaders in New Delhi,claimed that Nitish himselfhad expressed desire not to con-tinue after completing 15 yearsin office. Nitish became ChiefMinister of NDA in 2005 whenKushwaha was in his companyand enjoying confidence.

Kushwaha said, “Nitish jitold me that he did not want tocontinue and said there wouldbe vacancy in 2020.” He said itwas a truth and not a politicalgimmick. “I am not asking forhis resignation. But if he doesnot want to continue nobodycan force him to carry on. Thepeople of Bihar will decide whowill be the CM,” he added.

It is an open secret thatKushwaha has his eyes on CM’schair despite the fact that hecommanded strength of threeMPs, now only two after ArunKumar deserted him, and justtwo MLAs. His condition ofprojecting him as CM byMahagathbandhan has alreadybeen turned down by the RJD.

He was also unhappy thathis party was not accommo-dated in the Nitish Cabinetwhen he realigned with the BJPand formed the Government.The LJP got its representationwith the inclusion of PashupatiKumar Paras, who was alsomade an MLC but RLSP wassimply ignored.

Kushwaha said he did not

want a berth in the NitishCabinet but a reply from theNDA why his party was leftout. “I am ready for sacrifice assuggested by the BJP but I wantto know why RLSP was ignoredand no leader of NDA said any-thing,” he asked.

In this pretext it is still verydifficult to predict which wayKushwaha would go.

He had met Tejashwi Yadavon Friday last though he clar-ified later that it was not he butYadav who came to meet him.

�������$�� ����

Estonian Ambassador toIndia Riho Kruuv called on

Assam Governor Prof JagdishMukhi in Raj Bhavan onWednesday and expressed hisdesire to export the famedAssam tea directly to Estonia.

Kruuv, who is on a tour ofAssam and Northeast IndiaStates, also discussed with theGovernor a gamut of issues,including information tech-nology, tourism etc.

Hailing the sprawling teagardens in Assam and theirproducts the taste of which issecond to none, the EstonianAmbassador desired thatAssam tea should directly beexported to Estonia. He alsosaid bilateral relations betweenEstonia and Assam can beexpanded in the areas of infor-mation technology and saidthat Estonia can put its exper-tise for the promotion andexpansion of IT and IT enabledservices in Assam.

The Estonian Ambassadoralso expressed his desire to seethe oil reserves in Assam andoffered to enter into bilateralagreement with Assam toexpand the parameters of bilat-eral relations in oil sector as well.

Prof Mukhi drew theEstonian Ambassador’s atten-tion that the sectors including

food processing, tourism etchave vast potentials and Estoniacan convince its companies toinvest in these sectors for themutual benefits of both Assamand Estonia.

The Estonian envoy alsoseemed to be awestruck seeingthe pristine tourism and saidthat the State’s tourism can be

extensively used to facilitatepeople to people contactbetween India and Estonia.Prof Mukhi also acknowledgedthe Estonian envoy’s gesture ofvisiting Assam as he said thatboth the geographical entitiesshould keep working tostrengthen bilateral relationsfor the mutual benefits.

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Stage is set for crucial by-elec-tions from 20 Assembly

constituencies in Tamil Nadu,the results of which could sus-tain or mar the EdappadiPalaniswami-led AIADMKGovernment.

Speaking to reporters atMadurai on Wednesday,Amma Makkal MunnetraKatchi leader TTV Dhinakaransaid the 18 MLAs who weredisqualified by the Speakerunder the provisions of theanti-defection law would con-test the by-polls as and whenthe Election Commission ofIndia hold them.

Last week the Madras HighCourt had upheld the Speaker’sdecision to disqualify all the 18MLAs who had met the thenGovernor C Vidhyasagar Raoin August 2017 and handedover letters withdrawing theirsupport to the PalaniswamiGovernment. The thenGovernor had forwarded theletters to the Speaker who by anexecutive order disqualifiedthe MLAs after the due process.

The MLAs, owing alle-giance to Dhinakaran and VKSasikala, the jailed aide of for-mer Chief Minister JJayalalithaa had challenged theSpeaker’s order in the MadrasHigh Court which dismissedtheir petition by a 2-1 verdict.

Though there were reportsthat the disqualified legislatorswould approach the SupremeCourt challenging the HighCourt verdict, Dhinakaran setat rest all such speculations andannounced that they wouldface the bypolls.

The Tamil Nadu LegislativeAssembly has a total strengthof 234 but 20 seats have fallenvacant due to the disqualifica-tion and demise of two MLAs,including M Karunanidhi, the

DMK chief.As on Wednesday, the

AIADMK has the support of116 MLAs while the OppositionDMK has an effective strengthof 97. If the DMK counts thesupport of Dhinakaran, thestrength of the Oppositionwould go up to 97. There arereports that four MLAs from theAIADMK are ready to crossover to the Dhinakaran campwhich would bring down thenumbers in Palaniswami’s campto 112. The DMK camp wouldget strengthened by these fourlegislators.

If the AIADMK fails to winat least six seats in the bypolls,the Government is certain tocome down in a vote of confi-dence.

For Palaniswami to breatheeasy, the AIADMK should havethe support of a minimum of130 legislators in the Housewhich means the ruling partyshould pocket 18 of the 20 seatsat stake. Tamil Nadu’s politicalobservers point out that this isthe first time in the State’s his-tory a ruling party is facing aprecarious position like thepresent one.

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Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan handed

over keys of 192 flats, built forfamilies of fishermen, whosehomes were destroyed due tofloods in various villages inThiruvananthapuram district.

The ‘Prathiksha’ (Hope)apartment complex, built atnearby Muttathara, will reha-bilitate the families who wererendered homeless by ea erosionand rough seas in Valiyathura,Cheriyathura and other fishingvillages here. The first-of-its-kind project has been con-structed by the stateGovernment under MissionLIFE (Livelihood Inclusion andFinancial Empowerment) whichenvisages a comprehensivehousing scheme for all the land-less and homeless in the State.

Each flat has two bed-rooms, a hall, a kitchen and alavatory. The complex also hasamenities like a library, com-munity hall and sanitationfacilities, constructed at a costof �2.5 crore.

It will also help relocatefishing families living in areasclose to the sea. Situated on 3.5acres, these 24 units of eightflats each were constructed ata cost of �20 crore.

“The apartment complexin Muttathara is the best flatcomplex so far constructed forfisherfolk”, Vijayan said in atweet. The fishing families ren-dered homeless in the 2016 seaerosion at Veliyathur and thosewho had lost their homes inrough seas since 2012 andwere forced to live in schoolsturned into relief camps arebeneficiaries of the project.

The foundation stone forthe complex was laid by thechief minister last year.Fisheries minister J Mercykutty,presided over the function.

����� ����

The MaharashtraGovernment on

Wednesday declared droughtin 151 talukas in 26 of total 36districts in the State. As per aGovernment order, 112 talukasare facing severe drought and39 talukas a moderate drought.

The 26 districts compriseeight districts each in theVidarbha and the Marathwadaregions, five districts in NorthMaharashtra, four districts inwestern Maharashtra andPalghar district in the coastalKonkan region.

Among all 26 districts, themoderate and severe droughtoverlap in many talukas.

Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir Governor SatyaPal Malik on Wednesday said terrorism inKashmir cannot be wiped out by killing ter-rorists but by bringing them back to themainstream.

Talking of Pakistan’s role in fanning ter-rorism in the State, the Governor said theneighbouring country wants J&K to remaindisturbed, but its designs keep failing as theydid recently during the recent municipalpolls. “Terrorism cannot be wiped out bykilling militants. More of them will keep join-ing terror groups. They will keep attackingpolice and security forces which will, in turn,fire bullets, not bouquets. And they will diein the process,” he said.

“We do not want them to die. We wantthem to leave the gun culture and come backto the mainstream,” he added.

Malik made the remarks while talking toreporters on the sidelines of a PowerDepartment function.

PTI

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Despite his conviction in twocases and now getting life

sentence by the Supreme Court,Mohammad Shahabuddin con-tinues to hold his influence onthe family of Lalu Prasad and hisposition in the RJD.

The Siwan strongman isstill a member of the mostimportant national executive ofthe RJD, a privilege he wasgranted by party supremo LaluPrasad only a couple of yearsback when he was still in jail.Last week when TejashwiPrasad Yadav resumed his yatrafrom Siwan he first paid obei-sance at Shahabuddin’s ances-tral home at Pratappur at theoutskirts of Siwan and called onhis wife and father there. Thishappened just days before theapex court’s order.

But no leader of RJD isready to speak on the convic-tion and its impact on theirparty. Shahabuddin’s wife HenaShahab reacting on the court’sorder said, “We respect judi-ciary but its order is not final.When he will complete lifeterm we will appeal again. Wewill fight with the support ofthe people.” Hena contestedLok Sabha polls unsuccessful-ly from Siwan on RJD ticket in2009 and 2014.

The Supreme Courtretained the high court order oflife imprisonment in the case

related to the murder of twosons of Siwan based traderChandrakeshwar Prasad aliasChanda Babu by bathing themin acid apparently at the behestof former MP in 2004.

From 1990 till 2004 hewas running a parallel govern-ment in Siwan during which alot of people including workersof CPI(ML), BJP, policemenand other were murdered. Buthis wings were clipped whenNitish Kumar came to power in2005 and since then he is in jail.

When he came out ofBhagalpur jail on bail onSeptember 7, 2016, dozens ofSUVs followed him down toPatna and he told newsmenthat Nitish was a chief minis-ter by chance. Shahabuddinfaced 75 criminal cases at dif-ferent places of which he wasacquitted in 20 and convictedin 10 cases while 45 cases arestill pending against him.

His utterances againstNitish created bitternessbetween two allies JD(U) andRJD. Only 23 days later onSeptember 30, 2016, the

Supreme Court rejected hisbail. Shahabuddin againaccused Nitish saying he wasbehind cancellation of his bail.

“My supporters and public willteach him a lesson in the nextelection,” he had said beforegoing back to jail.

������������ ����

Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee contin-

ued to attack the BJPGovernment for peddling falsepromises and doing nothing forthe people of India in the pastfive years.

Continuing from where shehad left on Tuesday accusing thesaffron outfit for creating divi-sion among the people for nar-row political gains the ChiefMinister on Wednesday said theBJP — read Prime MinisterNarendra Modi — promisedachchhe din (good days) to thepeople but delivered hatred andstifling price hike making peo-ple’s lives miserable.

“During the elections theycome back with tall promisesbut after that they forget youand their promises,” Banerjeetold in a meeting at Jalpaiguriin North Bengal attacking theBJP for befooling the people inthe name of achchhe din.

“They spoke about AcchheDin before the elections butafter that they only gave you sti-fling inflation, petro-price hikeand violence. These were any-thing but achchhe din whichshould have come throughwork and not tall talks,” theChief Minister maintained.

Raising once again theNRC issue and attacking theBJP for igniting social tensionin India, Banerjee said, “Insteadof invoking their promisedachchhe din, in Assam they areattacking the Bengalis and inGujarat they are beating theBiharis. India belongs to allIndians. Why should anyone beafraid while living away fromone’s home State.” “Bengalbelongs to everyone. We willnever allow them to create riftamong the people of Bengal,”she added.

����������� ����

Mounting pressure on the Narendra Modi

Government on the issue ofRam Mandir, RSS Joint GeneralSecretary Manmohan Vaidyaon Wednesday said the Centreshould enact a law to acquirethe land and hand it over forthe construction of Ram tem-ple at Ayodhya.

Following up on RSS chiefchief Mohan Bhagwat’sVijayadashami rally exhorta-tion to the Modi Government“to clear the path for con-struction of a grand templethrough appropriate and req-uisite law”, Vaidya rootedstrongly for early constructionof Ram Mandir at Ayodhya

“Ram temple is a matter ofnational pride and glory. Just likeSardar Patel got Somnath tem-ple rebuilt, the governmentshould acquire the land andhand over it for Ram templeconstruction. The Governmentshould make law for that,”Vaidya said. Vaidya recalled asto how the Somnath templecame to be re-constucted in 1951during the tenure of formerDeputy Prime Minister andHome Minister SardarVallabhbhai Patel. “It was a mat-ter of national pride,” he said.

Talking to mediapersonsafter Bhagwat inaugurated athree-day All India workingcommittee meeting atRambhau Mhalgi Prabodhiniat Uttan in the neighbouringThane district, Vaidya remind-ed the Modi dispensation aboutthe “promise” made in 1994 tothe Supreme Court that itwould be on the side of theHindu community if any evi-dence was found of a pre-existing temple before it was

razed to build the Babri Masjid.The Congress had said all

parties should abide by thecourt verdict. The BJP too hasmaintained that it wouldrespect the verdict of the court.

“The court has said amosque is not mandatory fornamaz and the prayers can beperformed on the streets aswell. Besides, namaz is notaccepted if it is performed ona forcibly acquired land. Thecourt has also said that this(acquiring of land) was not areligious deed,” Vaidya said.

“Now, we have the evi-dence... Also, this issue has longbeen pending in the courtwithout a decision. The issue isnow only that of acquiring theland and handing it over for theconstruction of the temple.The Government should makea law for that,” Vaidya said.

The RSS leader said theissue was no more limited toHindus and Muslims or a tem-ple or a mosque, but about therestoration of the pride of thecountry. “The Governmentshould now fulfill the promisemade in 1994,” he added.

Vaidya’s remarks came twodays after the Supreme Courtnoted that an appropriate benchwould start hearing the mattersrelating to the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dis-pute from January 2019. Thedelay in the start of hearing hastriggered demands within theRSS and ruling BJP for a law foran early construction of thetemple on the disputed site.

Responding to repeatedquestions on Ram janmab-hoomi-Babri masjid issue,Vaidya said, “Our position isknown now The sarsanghcha-lak (RSS chief) has already said.Nothing needs to be added”.

Addressing the RSS cadresat the RSS headquarters inNagpur on the occasion ofVijayadashami on October 18,Bhagwat had charged that therewas “an obvious game-plan” ofa few elements to stall the judg-ment on the Ram Mandir issueby presenting various newerinterventions in the judicialprocess. He, however, stressedthat the construction of Ramtemple was necessary from theself-esteem point of view.

Kevadiya: Standing on SadhuBet, an islet near Sardar SarovarDam, the ‘Statue Of Unity’ inNarmada district of Gujarat isexpected to be a major touristattraction.

It was inaugurated byPrime Minister Narendra ModiWednesday. Believed to be theworld’s tallest monument, it isexpected to attract around10,000 tourists daily, a StateGovernment official said.

At 182 metres, the statue ofIndia’s first Home MinisterSardar Vallabhbhai Patel istwice as tall as the Statue ofLiberty in the US.

Built with cement, steeland an outer bronze cladding,the statue, which has cost Rs2,989 crore, has several attrac-tions for tourists.

The nearest major town isVadodara, 100 km away.

PTI

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) chief Mayawati slammedthe BJP and UnionGovernment for trying to sullythe image of a tall leader likeSardar Patel and naming ‘Statueof Unity’ — which was inau-gurated in Gujarat onWednesday — a ‘foreign name’.“Like Dr Ambedkar, SardarPatel was one who worked forthe unity and integrity of India.But in the mad race to reappolitical mileage, the BJP inau-gurated his statue and drapedthe great leader in a cloak ofregionalism,” she said.

“If the BJP really loved Patel,why they had not put up a stat-ue earlier in Gujarat where theywere in power for a long time,”the BSP chief asked. PNS

Lucknow: RememberingSardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his137 birth anniversary, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidthat if Dr BR Ambedkar wasthe father of IndianConstitution, Sardar Patel wasthe architect of IndianRepublic.

At a function in Lucknowon Wednesday, Yogi andGovernor Ram Naik paid flo-ral tributes to Sardar Patel andflagged off ‘Run For Unity’.Governor Ram Naik thenadministered oath of servingthe nation for unity and integri-ty, to the assemble youth andaudience.

The CM said people takingoath of country’s unity andintegrity should follow the pathshown by Sardar Patel andwork to serve the nation. PNS

Lucknow: With an eye on thedominant OBC community’sKurmi votebank ahead of2019 Lok Sabha elections,the Samajwadi Party onWednesday organised a func-tion to celebrate the 143rdbirth anniversary of SardarPatel across the State onWednesday. The SP mobilisedits Kurmi leaders to addressmeetings in districts withsignificant concentration ofKurmi population.

Heightened activity in SPto protect its Kurmi votebankis also prompted by the megaevent of unveiling of SardarPatel statue in Gujarat. PNS

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Page 8:  · After reports surfaced on Wednesday morning that RBI Governor Urjit Patel may step down if the Government tried to arm-twist the Central bank by issuing directive under section

Air pollution has been grabbingheadlines. It has become a rou-tine exercise for this public healthemergency to appear every win-ter. This year, however, there’s

something new: The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) organised the first-everglobal conference on air pollution andhealth in Geneva from October 30 toNovember 1, 2018. Its central theme was toimprove air quality, combat climate changeand save lives. Representatives of the Healthand Environment Ministry, other nationaldepartments and inter-governmental agen-cies, health professionals and other sectors,including transport and energy, among oth-ers from countries all over the world were apart of this conference. Research profession-als, academicians and civil society membersalso participated. The conference attemptedto bring together global, national and localpartners to share knowledge and mobiliseaction for cleaner air and better health.

On October 29, the WHO released areport titled, ‘Air pollution and child health:Prescribing clean air’, which estimated thatin 2016 over half a million children under fiveyears of age died from respiratory tract infec-tions caused by breathing polluted air. Air pol-lution is one of the leading threats to childhealth. Around 93 per cent of children belowthe age of 18 years live in areas with air pol-lution levels well above WHO’s prescribed airquality standards.

Another WHO report estimated thatevery year, the world witnesses close to 70million premature deaths due to air pollu-tion. It also reported that nine in 10 peo-ple breathe polluted air across the globe.According to a Greenpeace report,‘Airpocalypse II’, of the 280 cities in Indiawhere air quality monitoring data is avail-able, 80 per cent have breached the NationalAir Quality Standards (NAQI).

In 2016, WHO reported that worldwide,ambient air pollution accounts for 29 per centof all deaths and disease from lung cancer;17 per cent of all deaths and disease fromacute lower respiratory infection; 24 per centof all deaths from stroke; and 25 per cent ofall deaths and disease from heart disease.Impacts of air pollution are more severely feltby women, children, older people and thepoor. Toxic air quality makes a pronouncedimpact on unborn babies when pregnantwomen are exposed to air pollution, signif-icantly increasing the risk of low birthweight. In China and India, people lose anaverage of four life-years to air pollution.Moreover, air pollution has also been foundto potentially affect the mental health of peo-ple living in areas with poor air quality.

Climate change and air pollution arelinked. Action for one will help tackle both.The Paris Climate Agreement made onething clear, climate change is a seriousthreat to health and development of people.It is, therefore, imperative that we address this

public health issue and takeaction against climate change.Diseases caused by air pollutionwill significantly reduce if glob-al temperature rise is main-tained below two degrees Celsiusas part of global climate action.Fossil fuel burning in energy andtransport sector is a major sourceof toxic gases, particulate matterand carbon emissions.

Steps to curb fossil fuelemissions will not only reduceair pollution, but also curbemissions of short-lived climatepollutants as well as long-livedCO2, impact of which has beensevere on water and other nat-ural resources, agriculture, localweather and health. UNIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change report onceagain confirmed that the threatof climate change is intensifyingand it can collectively be dealtwith by adopting the right ener-gy transition strategy.

Adopting clean energy is acrucial step towards clean air.Unlike what the premonitionssuggest, combating air pollu-tion is not difficult because themeasure to deal with it is asclear as the impact it has hadon the environment and thepeople. Governments mustbring about a significantchange in their energy, trans-port, waste, and industrialsector. Adoption of renew-able sources and phasing outfossil fuels, like coal and diesel,can make a huge difference.

Replacing coal-fired thermalpower plants with clean andrenewable energy solutions cansave many lives. To do so, we

must start by immediately stop-ping new investments in ‘dirty’coal. By adopting renewableenergy, India can also increase itseconomy. According to a reportreleased by the World ResearchInstitute, meeting India’s ambi-tious target of generating 175GW of wind and solar power by2022 may generate, employ-ment in construction, projectcommissioning and design, busi-ness development, and opera-tions and maintenance.

The Government needs toaccept that coal-fired powerplants are responsible for morethan 1, 00,000 premature deathsper year and it must urgently acton it. If our Government is trulyconcerned, it will have to switchfrom dirty energy sources, likecoal, to future energy sources,like solar and wind. Similarly, inareas where the biggest cause ofair pollution is the transport sec-tor, India should implementrapid action plans towards dis-couraging private modes oftransportation and incentivise orimprove infrastructure for pub-lic transportation.

Comprehensive plans tomove away from combustionengine vehicles, particularlydiesel, to electric-powered pub-lic transport systems run onenergy produced by renewablesources within cities will ensureclean air for all citizens. Shouldwe learn from China? China hasannounced its second clean airprogramme while India is stillwaiting for its first. Until adecade ago, cities in China werethe world’s most polluted ones.In 2013, China implemented the

five-year ‘clean air action plan’,which led to a 33 per cent fall inPM2.5 levels in 74 key cities by2017. Stricter emission stan-dards and reduction of emissionsfrom coal-fired power plants andother industries, made a majorimpact in helping China see clearskies. Earlier this year in July,China announced its secondclean air programme.

Having been pushed andpressured by public and media,the Ministry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change hadreleased a draft National CleanAir Programme in April.However, there are no signs ofthe programme being notifiedeven after months of the draftrelease. In December 2015, theMinistry of Environment hadnotified all the coal-fired thermalpower plants to comply with therevised emission norms withintwo years, of which, the powerplants took no notice for years,eventually missing the deadline.Instead of taking strict action, theMinistry eased the deadline forimplementation of emissionsstandards for thermal powerplants by another five years.

In the scenario explainedabove, the world’s first glob-al conference on air pollutionand health organised byWHO is a lot more importantfor India. This global actiongives hope. I, along with mil-lions of people in India, willbe waiting for strong actionand steps taken by ourGovernment to ensure cleanand breathable air for all.

(The writer is senior commu-nication campaigner, Greenpeace)

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Sir —This refers to the article“Behind the big cat deaths”(October 29). The deaths of bigcats due to Canine DistemperVirus (CDV), peste-des-petits-ruminants virus and Babesiaprotozoa are alarming.Thespeed at which the GujaratForest Department tackled thedeath of 26 Asiatic lions in Giris commendable and has set anexample of how the animalsshould be taken care of.

Manzar ImamDelhi

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Sardar Patel: A man for allcrises” (October 31) by SureshPrabhu. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi rightly said,“India will forever be indebtedto Sardar Patel for his tirelessefforts to unite the Nation.” The182-metre tall Statue of Unity atNarmada Dam is a fitting trib-ute and recognition of his con-tribution to the Indian nation.

Though Patel did not livelong after Independence to fur-ther shape India’s destiny, he will

be best remembered for his pre-Independence role. The nationwill always be indebted to lead-ers like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patelfor integrating small States intoone nation.

According to contemporaryhistorians, he was a man ofstrong conviction and moralcharacter who played key role inachieving cohesion and trustamongst different castes and

communities. Sardar Patel in hiswords had once said, “EveryIndian should forget he is aRajput, Jat or Sikh. He is onlyIndia he has all the rights butwith certain duties.”

In all probability, India’sgeography and its history wouldhave been dangerously differentwithout a man like him and hisextraordinary contribution. Herightly had earned the title of

‘Iron Man’. Despite his failing health

and age, Sardar Patel never lostthe sight of the larger purpose ofcreating a united India. Indianever recognised his contribu-tion; he was only awardedposthumously the Bharat Ratnain 1991, 41 years of death in1950.

Ramesh G Jethwani Bengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Sardar Patel: A man for allcrises” (October 31) by SureshPrabhu. Hats off to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi who inaugurated the Statue of Unityon October 31, on the 143rdbirth anniversary of SardarVallabhbhai Patel. It is pertinentthat much before becoming thePrime Minister, Narendra Modiannounced the Statue of Unityproject in October 2010,although the formal work on itscommenced three years later onOctober 31, 2013. So, this hasbeen completed in a span of five years.

The Congress, which hasprimarily been under the lead-ership of Nehru-Gandhi family,and which has also devoteditself to glorify the members ofthe so-called first and royalfamily, didn’t accord due recog-nition to Patel whenever itremained in power at theCentre.

Hemant KumarVia email

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Page 9:  · After reports surfaced on Wednesday morning that RBI Governor Urjit Patel may step down if the Government tried to arm-twist the Central bank by issuing directive under section

Anthropogenic activities aregradually taking a steady tollon biodiversity and the pace

of destruction has picked up over thepast few decades. Extreme weatherconditions, triggered by climatechange, are now challenging the oncestrong wildlife ecosystem. Our plan-et needs a variety of plant and ani-mal life in order to ensure that theenvironment and the nature have asustainable lifecycle.

However, this very biodiversityis now severely threatened. A newstudy by the World Wildlife Fund(WWF) has revealed that globalwildlife populations have fallen by 60per cent in the past four decades dueto accelerating pollution, deforesta-tion, climate change and other

human-made factors. The 2018Living Planet report prepared by theWWF, highlighted that more than4,000 mammal, bird, fish, reptile andamphibian species declined between1970 and 2014. The report observedthat various anthropogenic factorsare to be blamed for the decline inanimal populations.

The African elephants inTanzania declined by 60 per cent injust five years between 2009 and 2014due to ivory poaching; whereasdeforestation in Borneo, to createtimber and palm oil plantations, ledto the loss of 100,000 orangutansbetween 1999 and 2015. Similarly,the number of polar bears is alsoexpected to decline by 30 per cent by2050 as Arctic ice continues to melt.

The bad news keeps gettingworse. The WWF further revealedthat eight million tonnes of plasticsis entering the oceans, annually.This toxic plastic is finding its wayto the stomachs of seabirds.According to WWF estimates, near-ly 90 per cent of seabirds have plas-tics in their stomachs, compared to

five per cent in 1960. Given the con-cerning situation, the WWF hascalled for the drafting of an interna-tional treaty, on the lines of the 2015Paris Agreement, to protect globalwildlife. The WWF has urged the196-member nations of theConvention on Biological Diversity(CBD) to consider a range of targetsat the CBD’s upcoming meeting inEgypt in late November. The WWFhas also called for a deal to be struckat the 75th United Nations GeneralAssembly in 2020. But is it alreadytoo late? Only time will tell.

But time is surely running out forwildlife in India. Recent deaths ofseven elephants in Odisha’sDhenkanal district due to electrocu-tion have once again brought to forethe fact that India can no longerneglect its wildlife. The tragic inci-dent displays human apathy andscant disregard towards these beau-tiful animals and the precious bio-diversity in India.

The ‘man first’ attitude hasspelt doom for wildlife elsewhere inthe world and more so in India.

Nothing else can explain why Indiadoes not have a solution to risinginstances of man-animal conflict.The recent Odisha elephant deathsare also an example of how Indiahas collectively failed to protect itswildlife diversity.

Had the authorities in Odishataken adequate measures, the Statewould not have lost 179 elephants toelectrocution since 2009. This colos-sal wildlife loss has surprisingly notbeen registered on any quarter with-in the successive Government estab-lishments. Elephants have to makedo without healthy corridors to passthrough and, therefore, have to tra-verse through human-occupied landsin the process raiding crops and get-ting mobbed or even electrocuted.

Corridors are crucial to wildlifesurvivability as they are essentiallyhabitat patches or links that connecttwo source or sink habitats. Sourcehabitats are those that provide goodfood and shelter for a viable popu-lation to thrive. Sink habitats are sub-optimal habitats that allow for smallpopulations to thrive. Since there is

often movement of animals acrosssink and source habitats, corridorsconnecting them are crucial, and thatis what is largely missing in the for-est reserves across India. The majorreason why wildlife corridors areessential is because they allow theflow of healthy genes to take place,thereby ensuring a flourishing bio-diversity.

Without forest corridors, oursmall protected areas will only endup being islands of conservation withunviable populations that will behighly prone to extinction. It is alsoworth remembering that any tigercorridor that is active today mightbecome inactive if the source forestsof such tigers suffer or decline.Those that have been inactive foryears may reactivate if the health ofthe source forests improves.

The key is to protect the habitatof such forest corridors to maintaintheir sanctity and existence. And thatis where India is failing. The rapiddevelopment of linear projects suchas road, railways and canals, and for-est fires usually caused by humans for

Non-Timber Forest Produce(NTFP), fragmentation due to ille-gal timber and firewood collection,diversion of forests for mining anda growing human population puttingpressure on pinch points in corridors,are some of the main threats facedby tiger corridors in India.

India needs wildlife and associ-ated environmental biodiversity tothrive as this alone can counter therising pollution levels and deteriorat-ing ecology. The Government mustaccord priority to wildlife and ensurethat the designated corridors thatenable wildlife to safely migrate aregiven a Government protected sta-tus. This will keep these corridorsfrom disappearing. Yet another ini-tiative the Government must under-take is to stop developmental activ-ities that are not backed by a plan-ning and biodiversity impact report.A healthy environmental biodiversi-ty is incomplete without a robustwildlife ecosystem. Hence, the samemust be protected and preserved.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Kashmir Valley is once again on the boil.The reason is simple. Continued spell ofpeace and normalcy does not suit the nar-rative of the separatists as well as theregional parties. Of late, they all are on

the common page and are working together for theirmutual benefit as they feel that their future is threat-ened. ‘Boycott politics’, which so far was the sole pre-serve of the terrorists, has now been embraced bythe regional parties as well. Peaceful conduct of urbanlocal bodies’ elections despite the best efforts of theregional parties to subvert them has sent shock wavesacross their spine and left them dumbfounded.Feeling the loss of turf beneath their feet, they werelooking for an opportunity to reverse the trend andput Kashmir once again on the boil. The Kulgam inci-dent was seized by them as an opportunity thoughit was totally unjustified. The said incident, the State’sDirector General of Police said, was unfortunate butwas a case of deliberate negligence by those whorushed to the ground zero even before the area wassanitised by the local police. But the self-seeker lead-ers of Kashmir lost no time in projecting ‘civiliandeaths’ as ‘civilian killings’ to add fuel to fire and alsoprovide fodder to anti-national forces to drum it ashuman rights violation.

How can civilian deaths due to utter self-negli-gence be termed as civilian killings blaming the secu-rity forces for the same? To the contrary, the secu-rity forces’ personnel put their own lives in dangerto prevent collateral (collateral) damage. Rather thanappreciating the security forces for their concern, theKashmiri leaders lost no time in portraying them asvillains and speaking in tandem with pro-Pakistaniand separatist forces operating in the Valley. It wasalso not surprising that no time was lost by thedummy Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan,in raising his voice. He tweeted: “Strongly condemnthe new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris inIOK by Indian security forces. It is time India realisedit must move to resolve the Kashmir disputethrough dialogue in accordance with the UNSC res-olutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”

No Kashmiri leader, however, condemnedPakistan for unleashing terror, leading to bloodshedand regular killing of innocent Kashmiris. Pakistan,which has the worst human rights track record inthe world, is the darling of the Valley leaders ignor-ing the fact that their own brethren in PakistanOccupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK) cry hoarse 24x7against the worst kind of state-sponsored violenceunleashed on them. Sadly, people in Kashmir, mis-guided by the vested elements, have stopped to dis-tinguish between the destroyer and the saviour.

Soon another non-issue was also grabbed by thediscarded Kashmiri leaders in a bid to further spoilthe atmosphere. The issue pertained to an adviso-ry issued by the education department to “consid-er purchasing a sufficient number of copies each ofUrdu version of Shrimad Bhagwad-Gita and KoshurRamayana, authored by Shri Sarwanand Premi formaking these available in schools/colleges andpublic libraries of the State”. A good-intentioned cir-cular was converted into a communal issue whenOmar Abdullah, former Jammu & Kashmir ChiefMinister, tweeted: “Why just the Gita and theRamayana? If religious texts are to be placed inschools, colleges and Government libraries (and I’mnot convinced that they need/should be) then whyis it being done selectively? Why are other religions

being ignored?” The tendency of theKashmiri leaders to give a communaltouch to those decisions of theGovernment which they perceive to beanti-Kashmiri, irrespective of the senti-ments of the rest of the populace, is notnew. This includes major issues like citi-zenship to West Pakistan refugees, the dig-nified return of Kashmiri Pandit commu-nity, issuance of Dogra certificate, extra-dition of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis,demand of CBI investigation for Rasanarape and murder case, the establishmentof sainik colonies in Kashmir and discrim-ination against Jammu and Ladakh.

Urdu, which once used to be linguafranca, of late, is being portrayed as thelanguage exclusively of Muslims. This ten-dency is very harmful and will damage thesocial fabric in the State because it alsohappens to be the official language of theState. The Urdu version of the Hindu holyscriptures which enjoyed universal accep-tance as magnum opus of behavioural andspiritual knowledge was not necessarilymeant to be read by Muslims only but alsoby Hindus and Sikhs who preferredUrdu as their first language. In any case,the circular did not mention anythingabout not buying other religious bookswhose Urdu version is also available.

Unfortunately, the administrationbuckled under the pressure and cancelledthe circular thus strengthening the handsof the communal forces. It would havebeen better had the administration stuckto its decision and delivered another bigblow to the already sullied Kashmiri lead-ers who were sulking after the adminis-tration refused to fall prey to their time-tested formula of ‘blackmail politics’ andwent ahead to conduct the local bodies’and panchayat elections.

The advocates of Kashmir being a‘political issue’ are neither realists nor ide-alists. They live in a utopian world and sell

false hopes and dreams to innocentKashmiris. They use the Kashmiris as can-non fodder for their own political gains.They fully realise that neither azadi norgreater autonomy or self-rule will ever seethe light of the day. Yet, they keep feed-ing these narratives to the Kashmiris. Thisalienates them from the rest of thenation. While they continue to fill theircoffers with money and provide luxuri-ous life and modern education to theirkith and kin, the common Kashmiri ispushed towards a ‘gun culture’ and radi-cal madrasa education.

While the disillusioned Kashmirislook up to these leaders for their brightfuture, they keep pushing them into gul-lies of darkness through bundles of falsepromises. The day these power brokersalso start speaking the truth and acceptthe reality of Jammu & Kashmir being anintegral part of India as enshrined in theState’s Constitution, and convince theKashmiris that all forms of struggleagainst the might of the nation are futile,the problems will cease to exist. It wouldbe naive to expect that it would happenovernight but a sustained effort to changethe mindset would be needed.

Kashmir today is a victim of radical-isation and numerous socio-economicissues. The vibrant multi-ethnic, multi-lin-guistic and multi-cultural Kashmiri soci-ety has turned into a monolith. The rootcause for this is the greed for power. Thezenith of this greed was the rigged elec-tions in the State in 1987. Disenchantedand disgruntled by petty political gamesplayed to remain in power, the youthrevolted. Pakistan, which always casts anevil eye on peaceful Kashmir, lost noopportunity to fish in the troubled watersand launched the so-called religious mil-itancy in Kashmir. It soon turned into afull-fledged Pakistan-sponsored proxy-war with cross-border terrorism as its

main weapon. With the introduction ofWahabi Islam, bewildered youth, fed upwith repeated ‘Vada Khilafi’ (brokenpromises), got attracted towards religion.Gradually, the Kashmiri society is shed-ding Sufism and getting radicalised underthe growing influence of Wahabism.

Pakistan ever since has not changedits stance and in fact, upped the ante inorder to relocate the terrorists from itsown soil into Kashmir with the hope ofwinning over the Kashmiris by helpingthem in their “struggle”. Unfortunately,the regional parties also use the Pakistancard to boost their political fortunes inthe quagmire of Kashmiri politics,which unfortunately have also been rad-icalised with a very few nationalistvoices still surviving. The terrorism inKashmir is no more confined to thoseseeking azadi.

One has to admit that terrorism inKashmir today is driven by the ambitionof creating Nizam-e-Mustafa or an exclu-sive Muslim state governed by Sharia.Regional parties have remained ambigu-ous on the subject thus adding to the con-fusion in the minds of the youth and ruralsociety in Kashmir. By remaining ambiva-lent, the regional parties want to retain theoption of running with the hare and hunt-ing with the hounds.

If these parties remain embedded inthe past, surrender the present to radical-isation and continue to ignore the futureof Kashmiri awam, nothing fruitful canhappen. The regional parties and theirleaders have to shed their negativity as self-seekers. They need to emerge as genuinevoices of the Kashmiris who are fed up of‘senseless violence’ and are yearning forpeace. The parties need to become thetorch-bearers of change in Kashmir.

(The author is a Jammu-based polit-ical commentator and strategic analyst. Theviews expressed are entirely personal)

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The dramatic sacking ofCyrus Mistry as chairman

and director of Tata Sons andTCS violated provisions ofCompanies Act, RBI rules andmore importantly, Tatas’ ownarticles of association, RoC,Mumbai said in an RTI reply,a charge that the Tatas havevehemently denied.

Citing the NCLT order ofAugust, which dismissedMistry’s petition challenginghis removal, Tata Sons said allthe requisite processes underthe Companies Act were fol-lowed in removing Mistry asthe group chairman and alsofrom the board of group crownjewel Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS).

“The respective board ofdirectors acted as per the pro-vision of the Companies Act aswell as in compliance of thearticles of association of thecompany. This was subse-quently approved by both theshareholders of Tata Sons andTCS the NCLT has also con-firmed that the process followedfor removal of Mistry was validand accordance with law,” a Tata

Sons spokesman told.The statement further said,

“All requisite processes werefollowed in line with theCompanies Act in case ofMistry’s removal from theboard of TCS as also as thechairman of TCS and TataSons.”

The denial by the Tatascomes after PTI reported earli-er in the day quoting an RTI(right to information) replyfrom Uday Khomane, the assis-tant registrar of companies(RoC), Mumbai to the ShapoorjiPallonji Mistry Group.

The Tatas also denied a ref-erence in the RTI reply that saidrepeated reminders from theRoC did not elicit the desiredresponse from the Tatas ingetting all the documentaryevidence for their action ofsacking Mistry.

“Neither TCS nor TataSons had received any com-munication from the RoC,Mumbai, regarding any non-compliance of their demand inthis regard,” the statement fromTatas said.

The Shapoorji PallonjiMistry Group, which owns18.4 per cent in Tata Sons, had

filed an RTI query with theMumbai RoC on August 31,and the reply was given onOctober 3, 2018.

The RTI reply said theway Mistry was removed fromthe chairmanship of Tats Sonsand also as the director of TCS,violated the relevant legal pro-visions under the CompaniesAct, 2013; the Reserve Bankrules governing NBFCs; andmore importantly the rule 118of the articles of association(AoA) of Tata Sons, the parentof the diversified Tata group,which is registered as an NBFCwith the monetary authority.

PTI has seen a copy of theRTI reply from RoC which isbased on the assessment of thedocuments furnished by theTatas in the aftermath of theboardroom coup on October24, 2016 dismissing Mistry asthe group chairman.

The report offers an inter-nal view of the RoC, whichinterestingly is totally oppositeof the view taken by theNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT), Mumbai inAugust, when it dismissed theMistry petition challenging hisdismissal.

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The Congress on Wednesdayasked Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley to spell out theemergency which is making thegovernment “take recourseostensibly” to the never-usedSection 7 of the RBI Act.

The provision empowersthe government to issue direc-tions to the Reserve Bank ofIndia after consultation withthe RBI Governor on issuesthat it considers serious and ofpublic interest. This section hasnever been invoked before.

Slamming the governmentover the issue, the Congressalleged that the BJP dispensa-tion is “hiding facts” about theeconomy and is hell-bent upon“destroying” every institutionon which India stands.

Congress chief RahulGandhi said “the systematicdestruction of India’s institutionsis nothing short of treason”.

Without directly mention-ing the RBI, Gandhi said,“Ironic that a statue of SardarPatel is being inaugurated, butevery institution he helpedbuild is being smashed.”

“We would like to ask theFinance Minister that what isthe over-riding emergency thatis impelling you to absolutelyplay havoc with the autonomyof the Reserve Bank of India.

“What is the over-ridingemergency which is impellingthis Government to takerecourse ostensibly to Section7. We have not heard anyexplanation from theGovernment so far,” Congressspokesperson Manish Tewaritold reporters.

Former finance minister PChidambaram claimed thatthe NDA dispensation is “hid-ing facts” about the economyand is “desperate”.

“We did not invoke Section7 in 1991 or 1997 or 2008 or2013. What is the need toinvoke the provision now? Itshows that government is hid-ing facts about the economy andis desperate (sic),” he tweeted.

Congress leader AnandSharma alleged that in its dyingdays, the government hasembarked on a mission to“destroy institutional frame-work painfully built overdecades”.

“Assault on RBI autonomyby a reckless government is dis-turbing and deserves to becondemned. PM Modi and FMJaitley after their monumentalmismanagement of Economyare undermining the centralBank which has credibility andpeople’s trust,” he said.

Congress treasurer AhmedPatel said that on Sardar Patel’sbirth anniversary, “the insti-tutional undermining of theRBI is a betrayal to his legacy.”

“Several institutions suc-cessive governments helpedbuild over last 70 yrs are beingsystematically dismantled bypresent government in just 5years. Their inherent objectiveis to extinguish any kind ofautonomy beyond their realm.The existence of this govern-ment is a grave challenge todemocracy,” he said on Twitter.

Referring to a statementissued by the government, whichsaid extensive consultations onseveral issues take place betweenit and the RBI from time to time,Chidambaram said if it con-tained the truth alone, why wasit necessary to issue the state-ment?

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In a startling revelation it hascome to the fore that illicit

trade is also one of the aspectin fueling to energise the terrormachines. A study by an Indianbusiness chamber has estab-lished that the world’s largestand most notorious terroristorganisations are relying on theproceeds from illicit trade to

give shape to their evil designs.Some of the items that is

being counterfeited and doinga thriving business in Indiajeopardising the citizens’ livesare medicines, motor ports,liquors and cigarettes, theFMCGs like cosmetics andtoothpastes and packaged foodproducts. The packaged foodindustry lost an estimated Rs21,957 crore to the grey mar-

kets in 2014 (latest report)with �6,096 crore loss to thegovernment exchequer.

“Illicit trade in smuggled,counterfeit and pirated goods isa major threat to the economies.It damages legal business, caus-es huge financial losses, com-promises the safety of the con-sumers and leaves a gaping holein the exchequer. TheMASCRADE (MovementAgainst Smuggled andCounterfeit Trade) 2018 willprovide an effective platform ofdialogue and deliberations andan opportunity for joint actionbetween governments, privatesector and the enforcementmachinery to deal with the men-

ace head on,” said Anil Rajput,Chairman, FICCI Cascade.

According to a report onillicit trade compiled by FICCICascade and KPMG together,the main problem is that themagnitude of illicit trade ismuch larger than commonlyperceived either by the peopleor governments. An alarmingaspect of this is that with the

passage of time, instead ofbeing contained, it is, infact,only proliferating further, andthat too in accelerated pace.There is an urgent need for allconcerned to make sincereconcerted efforts to eliminatethis menace before it perils exis-tence. The two day event ofNovember 1-2 is looking for-ward to much public awareness

so that consumers insist for billsfor every item they purchase.

The renowned event will befifth in annual feature early nextmonth. This year, MASCRADEas its commonly called, is striv-ing to bring in the best mindsfrom the field of policy making,law, brand protection, industry,enforcement agencies andmedia, among others to find aholistic and permanent solutionto the problem of counterfeit-ing and smuggling, one whichif left unchecked can have acalamitous impact oneconomies all over the globe.

Ever since its inception, theevent has set benchmarks for pol-icy making in the field of illicittrade and counterfeiting.Attended by numerous worldbodies over the years, the plat-form offers experts to cometogether and find a solution to theproblem that ails almost everycountry and impacts almostevery company around the globe.In the past, the event has playedhost to organizations like USA’shomeland security, ICC BAS-CAP, Interpol, OECD, WIPO,UNODC, JETRO, USPTO,UKIPO, WCO and Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group.

This year too is expected tobe an outcome based affair withfocus being on arriving at a mul-tilateral response, finding a holis-tic and sustainable approach toenhance brand integrity andlook at ways to leverage the intel-lectual property rights. Apartfrom that, the event will alsofocus on the core competency ofFICCI CASCADE’s quest tosubstantiate the role of judicia-ry and enforcement agencies infighting organised crime in illic-it and counterfeit trade.

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New Delhi: India needs to create around 100 million new employmentopportunities over the coming decade as it looks to encash its demograph-ic surge as rise in employment can help accelerate the country's growth poten-tial and make it inclusive, says a report. PwC's Strategy& report, 'Nagarik:Inclusive growth through large-scale employment generation', highlightedpractical ways of raising employment across the country over the comingdecade and noted how connecting local resources of the country's smallerdistricts to markets can lead to large scale employment generation. “...overthe coming decade, we need to create employment opportunities equivalentto the population of five Australias. This is one of the most critical agendaitems facing the country which, if tackled with foresight and energy, can helpaccelerate our growth and make it inclusive,” the report noted. As per thereport, India will need to increase its labour force participation rate (LFPR)by providing greater opportunities to its working population especially women.“Reaching the global LFPR average of 63.5 per cent in line with the increasein working age population will be critical,” it noted. “Generating gainfulemployment, especially in India's smaller districts, where majority of Indiaresides, allows inclusive growth. Using local capabilities, local entrepreneursand market connects is the sustainable way forward,” said ShyamalMukherjee, Chairman, PwC in India. The report noted that using a five-pronged approach, the platform called Nagarik, offers insights and solutionsfor all-round employment generation, including marginal employment. Theplatform offers integrated solutions for augmenting jobs creation in agriculture,agro-processing, MSMEs and tourism.

-�!����*��!!���#��.#����%��%�*���-New Delhi: Insurance behemoth LIC has sought the Competition

Commission’s nod for its acquisition of majority stake in state-owned IDBIBank. A listed entity, IDBI Bank is grappling with mounting toxic loans withgross non-performing assets rising to about about �57,807 crore at the endof the June quarter. During the three months ended June, the lender’s net lossstood at �2,410 crore. The bank has a market capitalisation of over �24,794crore. According to a notice submitted by the Life Insurance Corporation ofIndia (LIC) to the CCI: “The proposed combination relates to the acquisitionof a controlling stake to the extent of 51 per cent shareholding and manage-ment control rights in IDBI through preferential issue and open offer.” Mergersand acquisitions beyond a certain threshold require approval of theCompetition Commission of India (CCI). Earlier this month, IDBI Bank hadsaid that LIC's open offer to purchase shares from the minority shareholdersof the state-owned bank will kick-start from December 3. The open offer, atRs 61.73 per equity share, will close on December 14. LIC has offered to acquire2,04,15,12,929 equity shares, representing 26 per cent of the fully paid-up equi-ty capital of IDBI Bank under the open offer in accordance with Sebi regu-lations.

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WhatsApp Vice President ChrisDaniels Wednesday said the com-

pany is focused on values like securityand privacy to ensure that its productremains a utility that helps users com-municate in everyday life.

The Facebook-owned company,which has been asked by the Indian gov-ernment to put in place a mechanismto clamp down fake messages on its plat-form, also announced its partnershipwith Invest India to help entrepreneursand small and medium enterprisesexpand their businesses.

“...we keep the company focussed onfour values -- simplicity, quality, secu-rity and privacy. Everything we do in thecompany focusses on those values anddelivering that value to users andensuring that our product remains autility that they can use to communi-cate in everyday life,” Daniels saidhere.

Out of WhatsApp user base of 1.3billion people, more than 200 millionpeople are in India -- the single largestmarket for the popular messaging plat-form. The government has been push-ing WhatsApp to find a technologysolution to trace origin of 'sinister' mes-sages, a move that it believes can helpcurb horrific crimes like mob-lynchingemanating from fake news.

WhatsApp, however, had rejectedIndia’s demand for a solution to trackthe origin of messages on its platform,saying building traceability will under-mine end-to-end encryption and affectprivacy protection for users.

Emphasising that people use its plat-form for all kinds of “sensitive con-versations”, the US-based firm had saidit is focussing on educating peopleabout misinformation. Speaking aboutthe startup ecosystem in India, Danielssaid companies like Ola, Flipkart,Zomato and Makemytrip are makinga huge impact on the Indian economy.

“We are extremely impressed bythe entrepreneurial tradition in Indiaas well as by companies that we seecoming out...We believe in people, webelieve in creativity, we believe inentrepreneurship,” he said. The part-nership with Invest India will helpWhatsApp in driving awareness aboutits business tools in around 15 statesimpacting over 60,000 businesses inthe coming months through toolssuch as Startup India ‘Yatra’ pro-gramme and other in-person trainingevents.

WhatsApp wil l invest USD250,000 as seed funding to the top 5winners of the ‘WhatsApp StartUpChallenge’ and an additional USD250,000 will be directed to a select fewfrom the entrepreneurial communityto promote their WhatsApp businessnumber on Facebook and drive dis-covery of their businesses. “India addsover 3 new startups a day, ranking itamongst the top startup nations in theworld... Through this partnershipwith WhatsApp, we aim to support theinnovative startups in India and to cre-ate solutions not only for India but theentire world,” Deepak Bagla, CEO andMD at Invest India, said.

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India’s financial markets are facing a 'trustdeficit' and disruptions due to defaults by a

major non-banking finance company whichcould put a strain on weaker firms, S&P GlobalRatings said Wednesday.

Spreads have widened, and short-term bor-rowing costs have spiked since InfrastructureLeasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), an infra-structure development and finance companywith a high domestic rating, defaulted on loanrepayments in August and September. Corporategovernance concerns are adding to risk aversion.

“India’s financial markets are facing a trustdeficit. The disruption could put a strain onweaker companies as well as finance companies,”S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Geeta Chughsaid. In its report titled ‘A look at whether IndiaInc can handle the liquidity crunch in debt cap-ital markets’, S&P said rated Indian companiesare relatively well-positioned to withstand thestress in India's debt capital markets that ensuedafter a major default.

“While liquidity stress has begun to gradu-ally ease, we expect tougher conditions couldlinger for months. Indian companies including

nonbank finance companies (NBFCs) are vul-nerable to spiking interest rates because they haveincreased reliance on short-term debt, after yearsof relatively good financing conditions forshorter-dated paper,” S&P said.

Rated Indian companies are better positionedbecause they tend to have manageable short-termobligations and good liquidity.

Nevertheless, costlier or restricted financingcould delay some growth plans and hurt prof-itability. “Bank asset quality could come underpressure because of the IL&FS default. On theother hand, banks will benefit from more risk-based pricing and reduced competitive intensi-ty,” S&P said. IL&FS is one of India’s leading infra-structure development and finance companies,was highly rated domestically, and has institu-tional shareholders including the State Bank ofIndia and Life Insurance Corp of India. Its defaulthas disrupted debt capital markets, and led toparticular concerns on NBFCs.

“NBFCs and housing finance companies arethe most exposed to liquidity challenges becausethey borrow heavily from mutual funds and havesignificant reliance on short term borrowings,”S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Deepali Seth-Chhabria said.

��$�����0������"�3���+��9?@�7�,��New Delhi: Investor wealth soared �1.92 lakh

crore Wednesday following a sharp rebound in thebroader market where the BSE benchmark indexrallied 550.92 points.

The 30-share Sensex zoomed 550.92 points or1.63 per cent to close at 34,442.05. In intra-day, theindex had fallen by 303.89 points to 33,587.24.Investor sentiment turned positive after the FinanceMinistry issued a statement to dampen concerns

over a spat between the government and the RBI.The market capitalisation (m-cap) of BSE-listedcompanies surged �1,92,961.33 crore to�1,38,45,109.37 crore. “After a volatile start, mar-ket sharply rebounded led by clarity over the inde-pendence of RBI by the Govt. Rupee pared somelosses while strong global cues and stock specificactions made the market positive,” said Vinod Nair,Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

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Journalist Jamal Khashoggiwas strangled as soon as he

entered the Saudi consulate inIstanbul and then dismem-bered as part of a premeditat-ed plan, Turkey’s chief prose-cutor said Wednesday, makingdetails of the murder public forthe first time. The revelationscame just hours after SaudiArabia’s chief prosecutor leftIstanbul, and the Turkish pros-ecutor’s office said it was “oblig-ed” to reveal the details after thetalks produced “no concreteresults”.

Gruesome reports in theTurkish media had previouslyalleged that Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Washington Post con-tributor critical of the power-ful Saudi crown prince, hadbeen killed and cut into piecesby a team sent from Riyadh tosilence him.

“In accordance with plansmade in advance, the victim,

Jamal Khashoggi, was strangledto death immediately afterentering the Consulate Generalof Saudi Arabia in Istanbul onOctober 2, 2018 for marriageformalities,” said a statementfrom the office of Istanbulchief prosecutor Irfan Fidan.

“The victim’s body wasdismembered and destroyedfollowing his death by suffo-cation - again, in line withadvance plans,” it added.

“Despite our well-inten-tioned efforts to reveal thetruth, no concrete results havecome out of those meetings.”Riyadh sent the head of itsinvestigation to Istanbul thisweek seeking to draw a lineunder a crisis that has broughtnear unprecedented scrutiny

on Saudi Arabia. However asenior Turkish official said ear-lier Wednesday that Saudi offi-cials seemed “primarily inter-ested in finding out what evi-dence Turkey had against theperpetrators”.

“We did not get the impres-sion that they were keen ongenuinely cooperating with theinvestigation,” the official toldAFP on condition of anonymi-ty. After arriving on Sunday,Saudi Arabia’s Attorney GeneralSheikh Saud al-Mojeb met withFidan twice, visited the con-sulate and spoke with Turkey’sMIT intelligence agency.

He flew out of Istanbul onWednesday afternoon withoutmaking a public statement.

After initially insistingKhashoggi left the consulateunharmed, then saying he diedin a brawl during an interviewgone wrong, the Saudi regimehas since admitted he waskilled by a “rogue operation”and arrested 18 people.

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Pakistan’s Supreme Court onWednesday overturned the

conviction of a Christianwoman who was on death rowfor eight years for blasphemy,a landmark verdict that sparkednationwide protests, deaththreats from hardline groupsand cheers from human rightsadvocates.

Asia Bibi, a 47-year-oldmother of four, was convictedin 2010 after being accused ofinsulting Islam in a row withher neighbours. She alwaysmaintained her innocence, buthas spent most of the past eightyears in solitary confinement.

The apex court, in a three-member Bench led by chief jus-tice Saqib Nisar, issued the ver-dict on Wednesday morning,three weeks after they hadreached the decision.

The delay followed threatsby blasphemy campaigners tohold protests.

“Keeping in mind the evi-dence produced by the prose-

cution against the alleged blas-phemy committed by theappellant, the prosecution hascategorically failed to prove itscase beyond reasonable doubt,”Nisar said. He said Bibi couldwalk free from jail inSheikupura, near Lahore,immediately if not wanted inconnection with any othercase. Bibi was the first womanwho was given death sentenceunder the blasphemy laws.

According to officials, Bibi

might be flown out of Pakistandue to threat to her life.

It is not clear where she willgo as several countries, includ-ing Canada, have offered asy-lum to her. The timing of herrelease has not been shared dueto security reasons. She waskept in Sheikhupura jail nearLahore.

Her case has been deeplydivisive in Pakistan where thereis strong support for the con-troversial blasphemy laws.

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Myanmar will take back2,000 Rohingya Muslims

from Bagladesh next monthwhich will be followed by a sec-ond batch, a top official said onWednesday, a day after the twocountries held talks here onrepatriation of over 7,00,000displaced refugees who fled tothe neighbouring country fol-lowing a military crackdown.

A group of 12 Myanmarofficials, including foreign sec-retary Myint Thu, visited thecrammed Rohingya camps inBangladesh’s southeasternCox’s Bazar where they met theminority community leaders inthe largest makeshift camp atKutupalang in an effort to start

the reparation process.The visit followed after

Myanmar and Bangladeshreached a deal on the repatri-ation in line with an earlieragreed modality.

Bangladeshi officials saidthey had provided Myanmar alist of 32,000 Rohingyas intwo phases, while Myanmarsaid they verified 5,000 ofthem.

According to mediareports, Myanmar has sug-gested they could take back2,000 refugees initially.

“From that 5,000, the firstbatch will be about 2,000 peo-ple. And then a second batchwill follow. So in mid-November we will receive thefirst batch,” Thu told reporters.

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The Austrian Governmentsaid on Wednesday that it

won’t sign a global compact topromote safe and orderly migration, citingconcerns about national sov-ereignty as it joined neighbor-ing Hungary in shunning theagreement.

Conservative ChancellorSebastian Kurz took office lastDecember in a coalition with the nationalist,anti-migration Freedom Party.

Austria currently holds theEuropean Union’s rotatingpresidency, and Kurz has madecurbing unregulated migra-tion a priority.

The Global Compact forSafety, Orderly and RegularMigration, which isn’t legallybinding, was finalized underUN auspices in July.

It is due to be formallyapproved at a meeting inMarrakech, Morocco, fromDecember 11-12.

The Austria Press Agencyreported that Kurz and ViceChancellor Heinz-ChristianStrache said Austria won’t signthe document or send an offi-cial representative toMarrakech.

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An Australian nun who bat-tled a Government bid to

expel her from the Philippinesafter she angered PresidentRodrigo Duterte, said onWednesday she will leave ratherthan face certain arrest anddeportation.

Sister Patricia Fox’s abruptannouncement came becauseimmigration authoritiesrefused hours earlier to extendher tourist visa and ordered the71-year-old out by Saturday.

Fox, who has spent nearlythree decades advocating forthe Philippines’ poorest.

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Israel’s envoy to the memor-ial ceremonies for the

Pittsburgh synagogue shootingvictims says it’s “unfair andwrong” to link the tragedy toPresident Donald Trump.

Naftali Bennett, the Israeliminister for diaspora affairs,lauded Trump’s support forIsrael and his denunciation ofanti-Semitism, saying: “WithPresident Trump, we neverhave to worry if he has ourbacks.” His comments lateTuesday came as Trump paid avisit to Pittsburgh amid accu-sations that the president’s fieryrhetoric had contributed tothe climate of violence.

Seoul: South Korea’s spy agencyhas detected signs thatPyongyang is preparing toallow international inspectorsto visit its nuclear and missiletest sites, Yonhap news agencyreported on Wednesday.

North Korean leader KimJong Un has expressed his will-ingness to have foreign expertsinspect the facilities, as part ofon-off negotiations on denu-clearisation.

At a Parliamentary auditon Wednesday, the South’sNational Intelligence Service(NIS) said it was “closely mon-itoring” the Punggye-ri nuclear test facili-ty and the Tongchang-ri mis-sile launching ground for pos-sible inspections.

“Signs have been detectedthat North Korea is doingsome preparations and intelli-gence-related activity over apossible visit by outsideexperts,” a lawmaker who wasbriefed by the NIS was cited assaying. AFP

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Maithripala Sirisena is like-ly to agree to reconvene

Sri Lankan Parliament nextweek, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’soffice said on Wednesday, amidindications that a compromiseis being worked out to avoid ashowdown between the presi-dent and ousted premier RanilWickremesinghe.

Speaker Jayasuriya heldemergency talks with PresidentSirisena this evening to con-vince him on the need toreconvene Parliament to tryand end the current politicalimpasse over the sacking ofPrime MinisterWickremesinghe on last Friday.

The meeting came afterAttorney General JayanthaJayasuriya on Wednesday

refused to endorse the presi-dent’s dismissal ofWickremesinghe for formerstrongman MahindaRajapaksa.

The attorney generalrefused to give an opinion toJayasuriya over the sacking ofWickremesinghe, saying itwould be “deemed inappropri-ate”. Some political expertshave opined that it is clear signthat the attorney general con-siders the move as unconstitu-tional.

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From television to smartphones, wehave come a long way since the

1990s. But one thing that has remainedconstant is the CID series, for over 20years. It isn’t just the show that hasruled the hearts, but also inspiredinnumerable memes that ruled the

internet since they went viral. CIDbecame a household term and

almost a substitute for the copsor the police. Saying ‘CID kobulaao (Call the CID.)’ wascommonplace.

It recently aired its lastepisode after being thelongest running show on the

Indian television on October27. There are children from

the 90s who still reminiscebinge-watching the show for the

whole day.Actor Rajeev Khandelwal,

who was a part of the show’sanniversary edition in 2006, star-ring in five episodes as ACP

Prithiviraj, shared, “The show hasbeen one of the original Indiandrama which went on to become acult series. I am sure it will leave thefollowers and the makers a bit emo-tional after such a long and success-

ful run. I too have an emotional con-nect with the show as I was invited tobe a part of one of its anniversary cel-ebrations and replace the irreplaceableACP Pradyuman for five specialepisodes. I want to congratulate all theactors of CID and dear BP Singh (sir)

for doing what nobody else could —having a cult status for almost twodecades.”

The show’s genre of suspense andcuriosity isn’t the sole reason for its

enormous audience, but also its veryoriginality as it was one of the firstshows on Indian television that hadcrime and punishment at its centre. Itwas a medium for youngsters andeven adults to know about how apolice department functions.

The most common response froma group of adults between the age of 22-30 years, who probably were kids whenthe show first aired, said that CID wasone of the premiere ways that theylearned about how an investigationtakes place. The concept of ‘police’ and

serving in such investigation bureausbecame a dream for many young menand women.

From “Daya darwaza tod do,” to“Kuch toh gadbad hai,” and “Pata lagaoki yeh khoon kisne kiya hai,” became notonly some entertaining trolls, ratherphrases used in the common conver-sations.

Not just the audience, but as wellfor the stars, who have been a part ofthe show, the show has been a greatlearning and memorable experience.

Actor Dayanand Shetty, common-

ly known as Daya, who is famous forbreaking uncountable doors at theshow, said that he has been grateful forthe show and all the experiences it hasgiven to him. He said, “When it cameto an end, of course we felt sad. Gettingassociated with so many talented peo-ple, we saw so many things, had somany experiences, worked with suchgreat artists that it was an honour.People like Shivaji Satam, AdityaSrivastava, Narendra Gupta, our Pankajji, Tarika, and all the other people whohave been associated with us in all these21 years, we have definitely learntsomething form each one of them. Nowthat the show isn’t there anymore, wefeel sad but we thank our fans becauseof whom we could last for so long. Thepeople born in the 90s or the young-sters during the time have spent theirweekends watching the show. It hasreally impacted their minds in a greatway. Even today they want to keepwatching the show.”

There is a message that the showhas always been trying to give to itsviewers. Both, actor Shivaji Satam akaACP Pradyuman and Daya, agreed tothe same, “We gave out the message thattruth always wins and there is no placefor crime in our society. No matter howmuch you plan before committing acrime, you will be caught eventually. It’slike a ramleela, all the buraayi and crimeis killed from the society just likeRaavan.”

Actress Jayati Bhatia, who has beena part of the show for three episodes, alsohas deep and great memories from theshow, as she called the show “a history.”

She said, “I wish this news wasn’ttrue. All the aspiring actors who hadcome to Mumbai during the late 90s,have been a part of CID. It was a sav-ing grace to new actors because it cameas a platform to exhibit our talent. It wasa great place to learn under BP Singhsir. He actually used to make the dia-logues rehearse in exactly the same waythey are written. You needed to be real-ly focussed and prepared becausethere were many long scenes donetogether because he used to handle thecamera himself. If you were not wellprepared , he would really actuallyscold you as he was strict. But I wouldalways get a pat on my back, thankful-ly. (Laughs)”

She called it “an excellent team.”She added, “I have done three episodesof CID and Daya still remembersabout those episodes. And not justthose, he remembers every episodedone by guest actors. I would reallymiss the golden memories from CID.It is history. They can surely take abreak, but we just don’t want to lose it.”

Aweek before Diwali, thegreen lawns of the BlindRelief Association get

completely transformed into acolourful pop-up baazar which

is a must-do and a must-be-seen-at event for most people from thecapital. The event, which has beenorganised regularly for 30 yearsranks high up on every Delhiitessocial calendar.

This time around, the shop-pers’ paradise has over 250 stallswhere local vendors exhibit and sella wide variety of attractive crafts.While the biggest draws are thehandmade candles, diyas andpaper mache items made through-out the year by the blind studentsand trainees of the association, itis some of the more unusual thingsthat grabbed eyeballs.

Buddha-like terracotta statueswith a definite African influence,planters that look like octopusses

and other garden gnomes caughtour eye. Traditional decor also lit-tered the place as there were mul-ticoloured Rajasthani door hang-ings and candle stands in theshape of geometric boxes thatcould be used to hold tea lights.The mela is also high on creativi-ty with small boutiques putting uptheir creations for sale for the fes-tive season while fine artists putprints and paintings. Modern arttechniques were fused with tradi-tional motifs like the Ganesha andthe twist created pop cultureposters also made it to the tables.

And there were some notablesthat caught the eye. The Rose Cafein Saket had a picnic basket withseparate compartments for every-thing and elegant-looking candleholders straight out of a HarryPotter set!

Giving a green touch to Diwaliwas the Sturdy Recycled Furniture

which stays true to its name.There were also seats made ofbamboo, covered with a goldenthread, which is again recycled.There were also, pans made of tree-bark as well as wall hangings andlamps made of wood.

At the venue, colourful quiltsin cotton and wool and artificialflowers were available side by side.The Blind School also worked hardon handmade cards, envelopes,files, diyas, candles. The event is acelebration of artisans, artists,abled and differently-abled, andtheir skills, which are infinite.

Of course, charity is a crowd-puller, but then so is quality. Thecolourful candles in disparateshapes and sizes are made of pureparaffin wax, so they don’t emitblack smoke.

For those is search of diyas,puja thalis, idols of gods, handcrafted items, gift bags and greet-

ings cards, home furnishings, eth-nic wear and even jewellery this iscertainly the place to head to.

However, special attractionwas a massage center where onecan experience a relaxing massageperformed by the visually chal-lenged masseurs who are trainedat the Association.

This year, the visually impairedtrainees also managed two stationsby themselves, one was, DIY—Doit Yourself and the other Story-telling. In DIY’s the trainees havemade the paper-mache crafts, thatwere ready to sale immediately andin story-telling the trainees inteams narrated and enacted storiesfor the visitors.

The Blind Relief Association’sDiwali Mela is all an all a noblecause plus it brings the Associationcloser to the society and makespeople aware of the capabilities andachievements of the visually chal-lenged. The earnings from theBaazar go towards financing theAssociation’s diverse services forthe visually impaired.

There are enough items thatmake you want them all, the melais back with a bang to create aDiwali which is bigger and brighter.

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Adecade ago, Madhur Bhandarkar’sFashion showed the dark side of the

fashion industry, an aspect of it high-lighting the exchange of sexual favoursfor work. It’s rampant in the fashionworld, say Indian male models, admit-ting that in many cases people “com-promise” to get work as emergingmodels seek “instant success”.

Model Kawaljit Singh Anand’sopen accusation aimed at designer VijayArora opened up the #MeToo discus-sion about harassment that male mod-els face. Kabir Duhan Singh, now a pop-ular actor in the southern film indus-try and who is soon going to make hisBollywood debut, says nobody cantouch anyone without permission. Hesaid during his time, he did not getwork for almost a year because he wasnot open to socialise with designers attheir places. “I think it is on us how wepresent ourselves in front of others. Iused to see models getting drunk withdesigners and dancing with them withtheir hands going everywhere. So, if youare giving them such liberty, they willtake advantage of it, and the same goesfor Bollywood,” Kabir said. He says onehas to create a boundary. “The currentcrop in the modelling industry is veryopen and they want to achieve successin a short period,” he added.

Born and brought up in Faridabad,Kabir moved to Mumbai in 2011 andtook up modelling as a career. His act-ing career started with Telugu film Jil,which won him positive reviews.

He says focussing on work and hav-ing faith in your talent would give youwork.

Amit Ranjan, another establishedname in the industry, now has a pro-duction house by the name of A.R.Productions that organises fashionevents. He says he always knew abouthow the fashion industry works evenbefore he entered it in 2007.

“I think in the fashion industry,male models are exploited a lot becausethey get less money compared tofemale models. They are moulded bydesigners who groom them. Theyfunction on the concept of ‘I will takecare of you, if you take care of me’. That’swhy nobody takes anyone’s namebecause it is mutual,” Amit. “There aremany leading designers,” he said, “whoget messages from boys who are readyto do everything. So obviously, theother person will take advantage of that.These boys seek instant success so Iwon’t blame one party,” Amit said,adding that he wanted to tell the boysthat they should believe in themselves.

He also said that such modelsshould not use the raging #MeToomovement for publicity.

Designer Varija Bajaj says that shehas been sitting back and observingeverything that is happening.

“Yes, it does exist in the fashionindustry and it is not just about menagainst women, but also about menagainst men, especially in designing fra-ternity, and women against women,” shesaid.

“I think the way this movement(#MeToo) has come forward, I reallyapplaud all the people who have comeforward. It takes a lot of courage to talkabout it,” Varija said.

Designer Samant Chauhan saysmodels should always carefully chosewhom they are contacting and wherethey are going for casting. If they gothrough an agency, they should knowwhat kind of people they are meeting.

“I get many calls that they (mod-els) want to meet me. I tell them to sendpictures. Maybe I can keep or I can con-nect them to people whom I know.There is no requirement to come andmeet. It’s not that only designers are tak-ing advantage,” Chauhan said. He saidthe whole idea of the #MeToo move-ment is to encourage people to talkabout it.

Model Karan Sharma, who startedhis modelling career with a fashion galain 2010 in Delhi, says the city is the hubof sexual exploitation “because most ofthe designers think they are Gods.”

“(The models feel), it’s big shamefor them if they don’t get work. I wantto say that you don’t need to go todesigners or party with them. If you aregood, you will get work. I was very surethat I have to do this and I have to doit the right way,” Karan said.

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The conference—‘Stroke Recognition,Management and Prevention’, recent-ly held in New Delhi, saw over 300

attendees of which 200 stroke survivorsand their caregivers marked their presence.The prominent political figure of India, LalKrishna Advani, graced the conference aschief guest. He commented that awarenessof the growing incidences of strokes needsto be brought about in the villages of thecountry and has to be supplemented withproper healthcare facilities and services inthe remotest areas.

The public awareness talk aimed tobring to light the role of a caregiver whoplays an instrumental role in facilitating therehabilitation of a stroke survivor and get-ting their life back on track. According toestimates, in every two seconds, a personis affected by a stroke somewhere in theworld and in every six seconds, onestroke-related death occurs worldwide. Asestimated, one in six persons in the worldwill suffer a stroke in their lifetime whicheventually means that as many as 17 mil-lion strokes would occur annually acrossthe world, of which five million people willnot survive. If figures are to be believed,then 1.4 million strokes occur annually inIndia alone.

The conference identified that incountries with higher income, the inci-dence of strokes has been on a decline dueto widely available preventive care.However, in a developing country likeIndia, stroke incidence is increasingbecause of poor preventive strategies.Though treatment for this disorder is avail-able, it is limited to metro cities and super-specialty hospitals.

According to the senior consultant ofNeurology at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals,

Dr Vinit Suri, who is also the president ofthe Indian Stroke Association, people areunaware of the symptoms of a stroke and theknow-how of emergency treatment whichcan make a difference. “Taking the patientto the hospital within the ‘golden hour’ peri-od—within four and a half hours—isextremely important as they can receivethrombolytics or ‘clot buster’ drugs ontime, which opens the blocked vessel andhelps them recover faster,” he said. He fur-ther identified that most of the casesreceived by the Apollo Hospitals are with-in two hours of the occurrence of the strokesince many time the patients do not realisethat they have had a stroke. Those who areadmitted after the golden hour are recom-mended rehabilitatory measures, a closemonitoring of blood pressure, sugar levelsand are set up on a healthy diet regime.

Identifying the symptoms for the ben-efit of all, Suri said that weakness, numb-ness or paralysis in face, arms or legs,slurred speech or difficulty in understand-ing others, dizziness and sudden severeheadaches, are some of the commonsymptoms. The nine preventive strategiesthat the hospital recommends are—controlof blood pressure, control of diabetes, con-trolled cholesterol levels, regular exercise,no smoking and tobacco consumption,reduction of body weight, a healthy diet,avoid alcohol or drinking in moderationand also controlling cardiac disease, espe-cially atrial fibrillation, which is an irreg-ular and often rapid heart rate that canincrease the risk of a stroke, heart failureand other heart-related complications.The mnemonic, ‘BEFAST’ can help peopleremember the symptoms.

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Steadily increasing theirtourism market share, theSultanate of Oman is market-

ing its new tourism products in theIndian market. In the past, travelbetween the two countries hasbeen limited to employment butover the past few years, the desti-nation has witnessed a steadyincrease in leisure travellers. Thefact that in 2017 alone, Omanreceived 321,161 Indian arrivals,registering a growth of seven percent, is a testimony to the increasedpopularity of Oman in India.Further, from January to June thisyear, the country has alreadyrecorded a 15 per cent growth inIndian arrivals as compared to thesame period last year, informed,Lubaina Sheerazi, the India repre-sentative of the Ministry ofTourism, Oman.

“We recognise and acknowl-edge the demand from India andother potential markets. As part ofthe Sultanate’s National TourismStrategy 2040, the Ministry ofTourism seeks to introduce the sec-tor’s latest developments, services,projects and facilities of the tourismindustry,” said Her ExcellencyMaitha Saif Al Mahrouqi, theundersecretary of the OmanTourism Ministry.

Oman is introducing variousincentives to ease travel between thetwo countries. The destination hasannounced a ‘short-term touristvisa’ which would allow the Indian

travellers to visit Oman for aperiod of 10 days for five

Omani Riyal or �940.Also, the newly-

built Salalah Airport and therevamped, state-of-the-art, MuscatInternational Airport, will expandthe capacity from 12 million to 20million passengers, further facilitat-ing travel.

One of the most importantbrand-building activities for Omanhas been its association withBollywood. Film shootings at thedestination have given way to col-laborations to promote it as a loca-tion of interest and increase itsappeal among Indian travellers.Other focused areas of Omaninclude promotion of destinationweddings and corporate travelincluding the meetings, incentives,conferences, and exhibitions(MICE) travel. The country hasseen an increase in business tourismwith the launch of the OmanConvention and Exhibition Centrein Muscat.

Sheerazi commented, “Beingonly three hours away and havingexcellent air connectivity with var-ious cities in India also makesOman a preferable wedding desti-nation.” It is important to note thatOman Air caters to 11 cities in Indiawith over 161 flights a week.

Oman is tapping into everysegment of tourism. New itinerariesfor different kinds of travellersinclude a visit to Nizwa (the oldcapital) for the culturally inclinedtravellers; guided tours to the Razal Jinz Turtle Reserve for thewildlife enthusiasts and a host ofadventure sports, both soft andhard, at various locations across thecountry for those who wish toquench their adrenaline.

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In a recent event organised byOMAM (Organisation Method

Analytics Management), titled—‘Building India’s first Centre ofExcellence in InnovationAcceleration’, over 50 eminentbusiness leaders from variousindustries marked their presenceand discussed 20 disrupting emerg-ing technologies and how India isprogressing with them. The eventwas graced by the managing direc-tor of OMAM, Sunit J Bahadur,while the CEO of VajraSoft Inc,Kameshwar Eranki, was thekeynote speaker. The event delib-erated on how OMAM can meetthe spoken and unspoken needs ofthe industries by going the extramile to discover and implementdisrupting technology tools ininnovation. Discussions on how

companies can increase the rev-enue by focusing on innovationdevelopment by using disruptingtechnologies i.e. Machine Learning,Big Data, Data Analytic, AI, AR,VR, and other similar technologiesand how they are changing the day-to-day life of humans and increas-ing the efficiency, were some keytake away for the attendees.

Keeping up with the pioneer-ing legacy, the organisation has, inprinciple, agreed to creating an eco-system of imagination and systemsand processes for enabling itslandfall. It has tied-up with one ofthe innovation and global IP lead-ers based in the Silicon Valley, andtogether they shall establish India’sfirst Centre of Excellence inInnovation Acceleration. This willgive impetus to innovation plat-

forms. OMAM is building a com-plete knowledge managementinfrastructure, includingIncubation and AccelerationCentre with the latest technologies,such as Artificial Intelligence,machine learning, internet ofthings and so on. The proposedCentre of Excellence will be anintegral part of this super-structure.The CoE will consist of globalresearch and development, consult-ing and advisory, global IP regis-trations, international technologytransfers, innovation IP training toskill human capital and intelligenceanalytics amongst a host of otherfields which aim to influence a larg-er innovation eco-system forenabling the country’s and interna-tional innovation and IP pro-grams.

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In line with the ongoing trauma wherewomen have come out in the open with their

stories of harassment at workplace and athome, Malika Davar, a 28-year old girl, whohas lived all her life in New Delhi, butrecently moved to Amsterdam, pens herthoughts on a scary habit that women havedeveloped in the country regarding their safe-ty and security.

She states, “It is amazing and dreadful howyour past can catch up with your present andhow so many feelings are anchored deep withso many instances, no matter how small theymight be. The feeling of footsteps behind you

or a shadow fol-lowing you inthe dark; andthe need to paceyour steps toreach that well-lit part of thestreet, or quick-ly entering youra p a r t m e n tbuilding, staywith you evenin an entirelydifferent sce-nario.”

She elabo-rates that herway of defense,

which later developed into a habit was to cre-ate a safe distance between herself and herprobable, self-assumed and accused assaulterto reach her doorstep with a prayer and shiv-ering hands. She comments, “Taking a step inthe doorway and gathering any courage leftin me to turn back, while preparing to bangthe front door of the building on my follow-ers face, only to hear the steps come closer,walk past my door and eventually fade awaybecame a constant habit. Such a usual thingbecomes a potential threat for a woman andmakes you feel wary of every stranger, everygood intention or every small talk initiated bythe opposite gender.”

However, when gestured with an air kissby a boy in Reeperbahn, Hamburg, Malikanarrates, “My reaction was of extreme angerfollowed by finding my voice and managingto shout out only to realise that I’m not alone.I was immediately mad at my husband for not‘standing up’ for me to ‘protect’ me. However,all this faded away the moment I realised thatnothing, as bad I as thought really happened.”She claims that this is her idea of real freedom;the freedom from fear.

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Novak Djokovic began hisbid for a record-extendingfifth Paris Masters title

with a 7-5, 6-1 win against JoaoSousa in the second round onTuesday, and lent a helping handto a spectator in the process.

Serving for the match at 5-1,Djokovic handed a towel to aman in the crowd who seemedunwell and who wiped his fore-head with it.

"It seemed he was sweatingand he seemed dizzy, so he justneeded help," Djokovic said. "Ijust gave him the towel."Djokovic revealed he also was notfeeling very well out on court.

"I wasn't," he said. "I don'twant to get into details but I thinkit's a minor thing."

The second-ranked Serb setup match point with an ace andsealed victory on his third matchpoint when Sousa returned a sec-ond serve long.

The US Open champion wonfour of the last five tournamentshe has entered, includingWimbledon, the US Open andmost recently the ShanghaiMasters.

Djokovic is seeking toreclaim the top ranking fromRafael Nadal at a tournamentNadal has never won. Djokovicnext faces Damir Dzumhur.

Fifth-seeded Marin Cilic, theAustralian Open runner-up, wonhis second-round match 6-3, 6-4 against Philipp Kohlschreiberof Germany.

Dzumhur upset 14th-seededStefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-3, whilebig-hitt ing Russian KarenKhachanov also advanced to thethird round. He led 6-2, 2-0against Matthew Ebden when theAustralian retired.

Returning from a right kneeinjury , Nadal faces Spanish

countryman Fernando Verdascoon Wednesday, with 20-timeGrand Slam champion RogerFederer also in second-roundaction against Milos Raonic.Federer leads the big-servingCanadian 11-3 overall.

Federer's last appearance atthe Paris indoor event was athird-round loss to big-servingJohn Isner in 2015. There weredoubts Federer would play aftera grueling past week which sawhim clinch his ninth victory atthe Swiss Indoors and 99th over-all.

"I feel good," Federer told anews conference. "I feel like Irecovered well from last week."

The 37-year-old Federer isselective of when he plays inorder to keep his body as fresh as

possible, and he skipped theentire clay-court season for thesecond straight year.

With the season-ending ATPFinals in London starting Nov.11, he is playing three straighttournaments. But the third-ranked Federer feels comfortablewith it.

"I feel like it's better for meto play matches rather than prac-tice," Federer said.

"As long as I don't feel likeI'm taking a chance on my healthprior to London, that's the key aswell."

Federer showed fightingqualities last week in Basel, wherehe was twice taken to three setsand went an early break down inthree of his last four matches.

"I was a bit bumpy. But I washappy how I was fighting, how Iwas trying to figure it out in a dif-ferent manner," he said.

"Last week was special to winthe way I did it, in a differentmanner."

Federer moved within 10titles of Jimmy Connors all-timesingles record. He is cautiousabout his chances of success inParis, where his only tournamentvictory came in 2011.

The Australian Open cham-pion is drawn in the same half asDjokovic; Cilic and big-servingKevin Anderson, who upsetFederer in the Wimbledon quar-terfinals this year.

"I rarely play two or threetournaments in a row now. Sostarting on Wednesday and win-ning five matches in a row withthis caliber (of players) is verydifficult," Federer said.

"If I get close to the last fourthat would also be great." In first-round play Tuesday, there werewins for Mikhail Kukushkin,Gilles Simon, Daniil Medvedev,Marton Fucsovics, Raonic andVerdasco.

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Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskovawill lead the Czech Republic

against defending champions theUnited States in the Fed Cup final inPrague on November 10-11, the teamcaptain said Wednesday.

The world number seven andeight, respectively, will team up with31st-ranked Katerina Siniakova, theworld number one in doubles, and33rd-ranked Barbora Strycova, whois fifth in doubles.

"I'm really excited, I appreciatehaving the strongest team I could puttogether," said captain Petr Pala,quoted by the CTK news agency.

The final pitting the two most

successful nations in Fed Cup histo-ry — the USA with 18 trophies andthe Czech Republic with 10 includ-ing five as the former Czechoslovakia— will be played on the hardcourt ofthe sold-out 15,000-capacity O2Arena.

Holders the USA beat Belarus inMinsk last year after seeing off theCzechs in the semi-final.

Led by Kvitova and Pliskova, theCzechs have won five of the last seveneditions including all three finals theyhave played on Prague's hardcourt.

"We are good at the finals, we arenot so good against the Americans.We have never lost in the O2 Arena,but we have never beaten theAmericans (in the final)," Pala said.

In this year's semi-finals, theCzechs beat Germany in Stuttgartwhile the United States edged Francein Aix-en-Provence.

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World number six Kevin Andersonhas confirmed his presence in the

second edition of the Tata OpenMaharashtra in 2019.

The Wimbledon runner-up is expect-ed to be a top draw at the ATP 250 eventto be played at the Mhalunge BalewadiStadium.

The 32-year old just became the firstSouth African in over two decades to qual-ify for the season-ending ATP Tour Finalsafter beating Japan's Kei Nishikori in thefinals of Vienna Open on Sunday.

On the back of his fifth ATP title,Anderson rose to World No 6 joiningRafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, JuanMartin del Potro, Roger Federer andAlexander Zverev in qualifying for the eliteevent.

Prashant Sutar, Tournament Director,Tata Open Maharashtra was ecstatic afterbringing back the in-form South Africanfor the event.

"I happened to meet Kevin duringWimbledon and he expressed his will-ingness to come back to Pune as he washappy about how our event was conductedoverall. We are delighted to have him backand will be one our star attractions for thisyear's tournament," said Sutar.

Last edition, the South African wasone of the top players to have descendedin Pune along with Marin Cilic, SimonGilles among others.

In 2018, Anderson peaked at hiscareer-high ranking of No 5 on July 16,becoming the highest-ranked SouthAfrican in ATP Rankings history.

He also advanced to his second GrandSlam final at Wimbledon where he lost toNovak Djokovic in straight sets. Enrouteto the finals, Anderson beat John Isner 26-24 in the semis in the fifth set to becomepart of 2nd-longest Grand Slam matchever.

But the highlight was his quarter-finalswin over No 2 Roger Federer where he ral-lied from two sets down and saved onematch point for his biggest career win.

He also made it to the finals of 2018Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado porHSBC Open (ATP 500) losing to JuanMartin Del Potro. A couple of weeks beforethat, he won the New York Open (ATP250) beating Sam Querrey in the finals.

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Rituparna Das was the lone Indian surviv-ing at the Macau Open World Tour Super

300 tournament, progressing to the pre-quar-terfinal of the women's singles here onWednesday.

The 22-year-old, who had clinched thePolish International and reached the finals ofBelgian International this year, defeated ChineseTaipei's Chiang Ying Li 21-13, 21-7 to set up aclash with Chinese fifth seed Han Yue.

It was curtains for others such as formerCommonwealth Games Bronze medallist RMVGurusaidutt and youngsters such as MithunManjunath and Shreyansh Jaiswal.

While Gurusaidutt went down fighting 21-13, 14-21, 16-21 to Thailand's TanongsakSaensomboonsuk, Indonesia's Firman AbdulKholik ended Mithun's campaign with a 21-12,21-15 thrashing.

Shreyansh too was no match for LuGuangzu of China, while Sai Uttejitha RaoChukka retired midway through the secondgame against Japan's second seed MinatsuMitani after the score read 12-21, 8-16.

India's Tarun Kona and Malaysia's LimKhim Wah also bowed out after losing 12-21,15-21 to top seeds Chen Hung Ling and WangChi-Lin of Chinese Taipei.

��-�����!�������-#�-�E���%��!*��F� India's Saili Rane and twomen's doubles pairs entered the pre-quarterfi-nals with straight game wins at the SaarLorLuxOpen BWF Tour Super 100 tournament, hereWednesday.

The 25-year-old Saili defeated Ukraine'sNatalya Voytsekh 21-19, 21-16 to set up a meet-ing with Russia's Anastasiia Semenova.

Men's doubles pair of Arun George andSanyam Shukla also progressed to the secondround with a 21-18, 21-17 win over Netherlands'Jacco Arends and Ruben Jille.

Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlokthrashed Netherlands' Vincent Braaksma andSwitzerland's Andreas Zbinden 21-9, 21-5 tocross the opening hurdle.

Arun and Sanyam, who have won threeinternational series titles so far, will face fourthseeded German pair of Mark Lamsfuss andMarvin Emil Seidel, while Arjun andRamchandran, who clinched the Hellas Openthis month, takes on Chinese duo of HuangKaixiang and Wang Zekang.

However, it was curtains for Prashi Joshi andAnura Prabhudesai after they fell in the open-ing round. While top seed Gao Fangjie of Chinaended Prashi's campaign with a 21-6, 21-12 winAnura lost 12-21, 13-21 to eighth seededLinda Zetchiri in another match.

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Celebrated woman boxer MC Mar y Kom on

Wednesday said she has noplans to hang up her gloves andwants to continue till 2020Tokyo Games in a bid to fulfilher dream of winning anOlympic Gold.

"I am not yet done. I willcarry on till 2020. I am fit, train-ing hard and confident. I will trymy best to bring glory for thecountry," said Mary when askedwhether she is eyeing her sixthworld title at the AIBA Women'sWorld Championships to beheld at the IG Stadium herefrom November 15 to 24.

Magnificent Mary, as she isfondly called, has five WorldChampionships titles under herbelt besides numerous othercrowns, including Asian GamesGold and Bronze in LondonOlympics.

Mother of three doting kids,Mary still remains hungry formore and wants to give a lastshot at Gold in 2020 Tokyo.

The 35-year-old fromManipur will compete in her pet48kg category at the WorldChampionships here. But withthe 48kg weight category not apart of women's boxing in theOlympics, Mary said she willshift to 51kg.

"My first priority would beto qualify for the Olympics and

I will give my best shot. ForOlympics may be I will have toshift to 51kg category as 48kg isnot there," she said on the side-lines of the logo and officialanthem launch of the WorldChampionships.

It also means Mary will geta shot at another WorldChampionships, which despitebeing a biennial event, will beplayed next year in Trabzon,Turkey as no big events are heldin an Olympic year.

Mar y was happy thatwomen boxing has finally got itsrecognition worldwide.

"It was very difficult whenI started in 2001. Women box-ing was an unknown entity formost but after 5-6 years of toilpeople started to know women

boxers. I am happy that womenboxing has finally got recogni-tion and gender equality," saidMary.

Mary, who has been namedas the brand ambassador for theupcoming WorldChampionships, will lead astrong 10-member Indian con-tingent at the event here.

Besides Mary, other mem-bers of the squad are 2014Commonwealth Games Goldmedallist Pinky Jangra (51kg),Manisha Maun (54kg), Sonia(57kg), 2006 World ChampionL Sarita Devi (60kg), SimranjitKaur (64kg), 2018 CWG par-ticipant Lovlina Borgohain(69kg), Sweety Boora (75kg),Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg) andSeema Poonia (+81kg).

%�!�-#�F�Atletico Madrid eked out a 1-0 winagainst fourth-division club Sant Andreu in thefirst leg of a Copa del Rey round of 32 contest.

The plucky hosts came close to equalizingin the final minutes of the match in front of6,400 spectators at the Narcis Sala in Barcelonaon Tuesday night.

Gelson Martins tested Sant Andreu goal-keeper Jose Segovia in the 7th minute and thatwas just a taste of the pressure Atleti wouldbring to bear.

The relentless attacks bore fruit in the 33rdminute, as Vitolo threaded the ball to Martinsand the Portuguese international converted tomake it 1-0 for the visitors.

An attempt by Martins to increase theadvantage early in the second half ended up inthe side of the net.

The Colchoneros lost pace as the minutespassed and Sant Andreu coach Mikel Azparrenmade a key substitution in the 66th minute,deploying forward Elhadji Baldeh, who put his1.94m (6ft 3in) frame to good use in front ofthe opponents' goal.

With eight minutes left in regulation,Elhadji forced a save from Atleti keeperAntonio Adan and the ensuing corner result-ed in a shot that hit the cross-bar. IANS

.��� ������ ��

Manchester City's Bernardo Silvaclaims winning the title this sea-

son would be an even better achieve-ment than their record-breaking tri-umph last term.

Pep Guardiola's side smashed ahost of Premier League milestones asthey finished 19 points clear of sec-ond-placed Manchester United.

And, while they haven't hit thoseheights so far this season, City arefirmly in the hunt to win the titleagain.

A 1-0 win at Tottenham onMonday lifted them back to the topof the table, above Liverpool on goaldifference.

It was their eighth win from 10games and their sixth successive cleansheet, but Silva has the feeling it willbe much tougher for City to remainon top this season.

"I think it will be harder becauselast season nobody was expecting usto win as many games and to reachthat level of points, so this season theteams know they have to do better tobeat us," Silva said.

"Of course it will be very hard, butwe will work every game to get thethree points and at the end of it try andcelebrate winning one more PremierLeague.

"I think either Chelsea andLiverpool are contenders, they are verystrong, Arsenal as well.

"Even Tottenham, even thoughthey lost, they're still contenders."

What makes City's quest slightlyeasier is the fact they have already vis-ited Liverpool, Arsenal andTottenham and have come awayunscathed, with seven points.

Portugal midfielder Silva says itcould be important to have picked uppoints in these games ahead of thereturn fixtures, which will come overthe title run-in.

"I think that's important to winthese games, to have a draw away atAnfield, to win at the Emirates andnow here at Wembley, it's important,"he said.

"But still they have to come to playus at the Etihad, which is a bit betterfor us.

"It's still the beginning of the sea-son and anything can happen, we haveto keep strong and with the ambitionof winning every game and neverrelax."

City is due to play Carabao Cupfixture agaisnt Fulham.

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Keen to build on a reasonably suc-cessful season, India's young men's

doubles pair of Chirag Shetty andSatwiksairaj Reddy has now set eyes onreaching a major final and breakinginto the top-15 bracket, next year.

From being newbies, Chirag andSatwik emerged as India's best-rankedmen's doubles pair this year, where theyclaimed a maiden Silver medal atCommonwealth Games, clinched theHyderabad Open Super 100 title andmade the semifinals of a Super 300 and750 event.

"It has been a great year for us. Wereached the targets we had set for our-self and we hope to replicate the sameform in the next year," Chirag said.

"We played semis at IndonesiaOpen and French Open last week, haddecent outing at All England, followedby CWG where we won a Silver. TheWorld Championship and AsianGames were also decent.

"We also won a super 100 title atHyderabad, which was one of our tar-gets. So next year we want to play afinal of a major tournament and winat least a super 300 tournament," headded.

Chirag, 21, and Satwik, 18, alsoachieved a career-best team ranking of18 in the world in April, this year.

"We have been playing well and

our personal target is to enter top 15next year. If we can continue to makethe quarters and semifinals, we can doit," said Chirag, who alongwith hispartner is currently ranked 25th.

The Indian duo savoured somegreat moments this year, outwittingworld No 7 Danish pair of MadsConrad-Petersen and Mads PielerKolding in Indonesia in January,besides winning against Indonesianpair of Mohammad Ahsan and KevinSanjaya Sukamuljo in Asia team cham-pionship. They also beat Chinese pairof He Jiting and Tan Qiang in France.

So whom they find the most dif-

ficult to beat, Chirag reckons it is theworld No 1 pair of Marcus FernaldiGideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljofrom Indonesia, whom they haveplayed four times this year.

"Frankly, if we are at top of ourgame, we can beat anybody on our day.Marcus and Kevin are also beatable,and we want to beat them. Eventhough we have lost against Gideonand Kevin, we have played closematches," said Chirag.

"We played one of our best match-es against them at the Asian Games. IfI would not have missed at tap, wecould have won."

With three more events to go thisseason, Chirag said they have to bemore consistent to achieve their goals.

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Commonwealth Games medallistAshwini Ponnappa lamented thatwomen's doubles is not getting its duein India and stressed on the need tohave more events in the category toencourage players.

"Where is the importance giventowards women's doubles, there is noimportance. What's the motivationgiven to them? I think PremierBadminton League (PBL) is a great for-mat, but it is sad that they don't havewomen's doubles," Ashwini toldreporters here.

"We need a lot of women's doublesevents. I feel a lot of badminton eventsare trying to neglect women's doublesand that needs to change. Becauseeither if it's on a recreational level orin the professional level, in India weneed to include women's doubles inorder to motivate them.

"Singles have always been numberone, but there are girls who are eagerto play doubles as well. We just needto push them and encourage," saidAshwini, who along with her partnerSikki Reddy attended the finals of theRed Bull Shuttle Up - a women's dou-bles tournament — in suburban Kurla.

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India go into the final ODIThursday eyeing another homeseries triumph against the West

Indies, a far cry from the dominantforce it was when the city last host-ed a 50-over international threedecades ago.

A victory in the fifth andpenultimate One-day Internationalwill ensure India maintain theirunbeaten run since the reverseagainst South Africa in 2015.

Leading 2-1 in the five-matchseries that also witnessed a tie, thehosts faced unexpected resistancein the past few days, including suf-fering a shock defeat, since the timethe West Indians set foot in thecountry a little more than a monthago.

The weather is expected toplay a part with showers predicted.

Virat Kohli's men bouncedback from the loss in the thirdmatch at Pune to record a massive224-run win at Mumbai.

The home team will hope tocarry the momentum into theseries decider in the Southern city.

The last ODI played here wasalso between the two teams and waswon by the visiting side, then aneminent force in world cricket.Jason Holder's men will look to seekinspiration from their illustriouspredecessors and level the series.

With the series being the firstin the run-up to the 50-oversWorld Cup in England in June nextyear, the two sides are more or lessaiming to zero in on the combina-tion for the showpiece.

While Kohli and Rohit Sharmahave been in superlative form,scoring three and two centuriesrespectively, Ambati Rayudu,backed by the skipper, has also beenamong the runs.

The rest of the batsmen haven'tquite had the impact they wouldhave liked to. The flamboyantShikhar Dhawan has not capi-talised on the starts while veteranMahendra Singh Dhoni has foundruns hard to come by. Left out ofthe T20 squad for the upcomingseries in Australia, the Jharkhandstumper will hope to make a con-tribution in front of the stumps, too,even though his work with the biggloves has been stupendous.

Dhoni stands on the cusp of a

milestone, needing one run toreach the 10,000 mark in Indiacolours (he has scored 124 runs forAsia XI).

The return of Jasprit Bumrahhas added value to the Indianteam and he proved his worth in thetwo games he has played while theyoung Khaleel Ahmed showed he'slearning with an impressive spell atthe Brabourne Stadium.

Kohli will expect the experi-enced Bhuvneshwar Kumar to raisehis level of play in the series finaleafter moderate returns. The seam-er has been recalled following a rest.

The spinners have done thedamage with most of the Caribbeanbatsmen struggling to cope withKuldeep Yadav, while YuzvendraChahal was benched for the fourthODI in favour of Ravindra Jadeja.

The visitors, on the other hand,have blown hot and cold in the one-dayers after being routed in theTests.

Shimron Hetmyer and ShaiHope have impressed the most,

having logged a century each whileunderlining their abilities. CaptainHolder has shown he can handlethe Indian spinners pretty well butthe other batsmen have not coveredthemselves with glory.

Holder will be hoping that theteam improves collectively tosnatch a win and deny India aseries triumph. It is easier said thandone but the young West Indiessquad has shown they have the tal-ent but not the requisite tempera-ment.

The participation of off-spin-ner Ashley Nurse, who has been aconsistent performer, is in doubtafter he suffered an injury duringthe Mumbai game. His absencecould affect the hopes of theWindies in the all-important game.

�0���India: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma,Shikhar Dhawan, AmbatiRayudu, Rishabh Pant, MSDhoni, Kedar Jadhav, RavindraJadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, YuzvendraChahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed,Umesh Yadav, Lokesh Rahul,Manish Pandey.West Indies: Jason Holder,Fabian Allen, Sunil Ambris,Devendra Bishoo, ChanderpaulHemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, ShaiHope (wicketkeeper), AlzarriJoseph, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse,Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell,Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels,Oshane Thomas.

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India's bowling coach BharatArun on Wednesday said the

team's fast-bowling strength hasnever been more "exciting" withnew find Khaleel Ahmed beingthe latest addition to the stocks.

"We have a very good fastbowling quartet. And also, thebench strength is very exciting,"Arun said ahead of the fifth andfinal one-dayer against the WestIndies here on Thursday.

Jasprit Bumrah, UmeshYadav, Bhuvneswar Kumaralong with Khaleel make up thepace battery currently in oper-ation against the West Indies.Arun praised Khaleel, callingthe 20-year-old a brightprospect.

"Khaleel looks a veryexciting prospect. He issharp and has the skills todo well in internationalcricket. He is a very excit-ing prospect," he toldreporters here.

Khaleel took 3for 13 in the fourthODI in Mumbai totrigger the WestIndies' collapse inpursuit of a mam-moth 378 for victo-ry. Arun, withoutnaming specificplayers, said thebench strength inIndian fast bowling ismaking it easier for theteam management torotate bowlers and bal-ance their workload.

"When westarted off, the onuswas not only on creating a forceto reckon with pace bowling unitfor the Indian team, also weneeded very good benchstrength. To sustain fast bowlingover a long period of time, youneed to rotate these bowlers. Theteam management had to mon-itor the workload," he explained.

"When we played againstSouth Africa, I think it was thefirst time in the history of Indiancricket we went into a matchwithout a single spinner. Wehappened to win that Test matchas well. This augurs really wellfor Indian cricket," he addedreferring to the tour earlier thisyear.

The bowling coach alsodefended the under-fireMahendra Singh Dhoni, sayinghe is one of the legends ofIndian cricket and would comegood.

"He is one of the legends ofIndian cricket. His striking abil-

ity is for everyone to see.He has done it many atimes before. He is

extremely experienced andI'm sure given the oppor-

tunities, he will comegood," Arun added.

Asked if perfor-mance would be given

precedence over the 'Yo-Yo' fitness test in the lightof Ambati Rayudu's showin the ODI series against

West Indies, he said it wasmandatory to prove fitness.

"Fitness, with the kind ofschedule that we have, is an

important part of our focus. Andthe mark that we have kept forpeople to pass is not every

tough. And anyone who isthere in the team has to passthe fitness test," he said.

The Indian team hadan optional training ses-

sion ahead ofThursday's fixture with

only a handful of play-ers taking part. Young

southpaw Rishabh Pant delight-ed the small group of fans whogathered to watch the sessionwith some big hitting. The oth-ers who practiced were Rayudu,K L Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahaland Umesh Yadav. The WestIndies, on the other hand, optednot to train.

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Arecord 37 teams, including sevendebutants from the northeast, partic-

ipating in the Ranji Trophy beginningThursday pose a massive logistical chal-lenge for a cricket board going throughadministrative chaos.

The new teams — Manipur, ArunachalPradesh, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Sikkim,Nagaland, Meghalaya , Bihar andPuducherry — did feature in the recentlyheld 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy but play-ing red-ball cricket will be a tougher chal-lenge.

The nine teams will compete againsteach other in the plate group, just like theydid in Vijay Hazare Trophy where Bihar,who returned to domestic cricket after 18years, and Uttarakhand, gave a goodaccount of themselves. Most of theseteams will rely on their outstation playersthis season.

While the nine teams aim to find theirfooting, domestic stars will be in actionacross Group A, B and C. Test regularCheteshwar Pujara is expected to playSaurashtra's opener against Chattisgarhwhile spinner Ravichandran Ashwin andMurali Vijay have been named in the TamilNadu squad for their first game againstMadhya Pradesh.

With teams already announced for thefour-Test series in Australia and the A tourof New Zealand, exemplary performancesin Ranji Trophy are unlikely to be reward-ed. Group A seems to be the toughest ofall in the presence record championsMumbai, Karnataka, Maharashtra,Saurashtra, Railways, Chattisgarh,Vidarbha and Gujarat.

While Gujarat won their maiden titlelast season, Vidharbha were the winnersthe season before. Ahead of another sea-son, it would be too early to speculate ifthere will be a first-time winner of Ranji

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/"!!���="'���$����� &���� � "���&��'"��>Trophy.

Perennial favourites Mumbai willbe led by the stylish Shreyas Iyer, atleast in their opener against Railwaysat the Karnail Singh Stadium in

Delhi. The team will be high on con-fidence following their triumph in theVijay Hazare Trophy.

Teenage star Prithvi Shaw will notfeature against Railways as he still

recovering from an injury he sufferedduring the Deodhar Trophy in Delhilast week.

Most of the Test regulars areexpected to play in early stages of the

tournament, unless they are pickedfor the A tour of New Zealand,which takes place ahead of the Testseries in Australia beginningDecember.