2019/09/20  · making no bones about the bjp’s intention that it would go whole hog kashmir issue...

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A head of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s week- long visit to the United States starting September 21, India on Thursday said it meets the cri- teria for the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) status and Washington should take a call on reinstating it. The US recently removed India from the GSP list of beneficiaries which allowed duty-free entry of Indian goods to that country. The con- tentious issue is likely to come up during Modi’s talks with President Donald Trump. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said there will be two meetings between Modi and Trump and India is clear that despite the international focus on Kashmir, it will not be on the Prime Minister’s agenda and any offer of mediation is not on the table. Gokhale said, “Article 370 is an internal issue. Terrorism is one among many issues. The focus will be on India’s role at global stage, the Prime Minister will present his vision in this regard.” Modi’s packed schedule includes addressing the annu- al UNGA session, meeting Trump and 20 other global leaders in bilateral meetings besides addressing the mega ‘Howdy Modi’ event. On September 24, the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi will be observed at the UN and Modi will be joined by his counterparts from Bangladesh, Singapore, Jamaica and New Zealand besides the Korean President and the UN Secretary General. On the GSP status, Gokhale said India meets the criteria for trade concessions that the United States ended in June. “GSP is a unilateral deci- sion, given by countries to other countries based on cer- tain criteria. We are a devel- oping country, we meet those criteria,” he said. “I do not recall our ever stating that we are not inter- ested in GSP,” Gokhale said at the news conference. Stressing on the impor- tance of trade conces- sions for India, the Foreign Secretary said the US “unilat- erally withdrew that concession; we believe that GSP is something which is important for our indus- try but ultimately it is a mat- ter for the US to take a call on.” Indian exports are worth over 6.3 billion dollars under the GSP and India was the largest beneficiary of the scheme. After the US decision in June, India reciprocated by increasing the tariffs on 28 products imported from the US, including high-value prod- ucts like almonds and fresh apples. The US has protested against it at the WTO. In fact, tension over trade ties between the two countries was simmering for the last two years with the US last year increasing tariffs on its steel and aluminium imports. Continued on Page 4 I f your car is stolen, do check if it is being sold on OLX app. The Delhi Police on Thursday claimed to have arrested a man involved in selling more than a dozen luxury cars stolen from various localities in the nation- al Capital. Police said an FIR will be registered against the OLX management. Active since 2014, the accused had succeeded in sell- ing high-end cars by posting their advertisements on OLX app. However, he ran out of his luck a few days ago. Suspecting something fishy after the accused asked for a nominal price of an expensive car, a buyer informed police which swung into action. East Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Jasmeet Singh said complainant Ravi Saxena approached us on July 8 stating that he saw an advertisement related to sale of Volkswagen Polo at a very nominal price, to which he responded and purchased the car for 1,70,000 from one Ankit Pruthi, the accused. “Ankit provided the com- plainant with photocopies of registration certificate (RC) and insurance and assured him to deliver the original after transfer of the registration in the name of the complainant. But despite repeated requests from the complainant, Ankit did not provide him with the original documents. “Suspecting something was amiss, Saxena approached the State Transport Authority (STA) and he was befuddled to know that the said car regis- tration number belonged to another car model ‘Skoda Laura’,” said the DCP. “Having realised that he had bought a stolen car, Saxena asked Ankit to return his money and take the car but Ankit tried to convince the complainant that it was gen- uine. After a few months, the accused switched off his phone,” said the DCP. “Acting on the complaint an FIR was registered. During the course of investigation, it was revealed that there is a gang operating in Delhi and Rajasthan involved in entrap- ping unsuspecting buyers of stolen luxury cars on very cheap price on OLX platform,” said the DCP. “A police team was tasked to collect tip-off about the gang-members which led to the hideout of kingpin Ankit. On September 14, a trap was laid and Ankit was arrested in Jaipur. He had changed his name from Ankit Pruthi to Ankit Arora to hide his iden- tity. Originally from Delhi, he had acquired a Jaipur address,” said the DCP. “Ankit confessed that he used to change his mobile number after every successful sale. We have recovered three cars and trying to locate other cars. Ankit confessed to have sold over a dozen luxury cars using OLX app. Police recovered ‘Volkswagon Vento’ and ‘KUV-100’ from Sikar in Rajasthan. These cars were stolen from Delhi’s Hauz Khas and Mehrauli area,” said the DCP. Continued on Page 4 F lagging the issue of exclu- sions in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam in her meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday pointed out many genuine Indians have been left out of the register, which has excluded 19 lakh people who now face an uncertain fate. Mamata, who handed an official letter in this regard to Shah, however, said the issue of NRC in West Bengal was not discussed but reiterated her stance that it was not needed in the State. Shah had on Wednesday announced yet again the Government’s inten- tion of carrying out the exercise in the entire country. While the TMC supremo maintained that her meetings with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister were not political, it has led to specula- tion that the once-ardent crit- ic of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is softening her stand. Mamata had called on the PM a day earlier. “I met the Home Minister to discuss about the NRC in Assam and told him that many genuine Indians were excluded from the list. I have requested him to do the needful so that they can be included in the NRC as they are in distress,” she told reporters after the meeting with Shah. Mamata reportedly con- veyed the Home Minister that genuine Indians belonging to Bengali, Bihari, Gorkha and Assamese communities were excluded from the NRC in Assam and sought his inter- vention to alleviate their mis- eries. This was her first meet- ing with Shah, who assumed the office about three months ago following a Lok Sabha election campaign that saw the two sides launch a no-holds-barred attack on each other. “I have requested him to examine their cases and resolve the issues. The Home Minister has assured that he would look into it,” said the TMC chief. The final NRC, a list of Assam’s res- idents and published on August 31, excluded the names of 19 lakh people. The BJP is on the back foot on the NRC as the exclusions have been far less in areas believed to have the max- imum illegal migrants. “Even Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the NRC was not required in his State,” she said. BJP general secretary party affairs in-charge in West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted, Ab aya oont pahar ke niche(now she has realised where she stands.) A couple of days ago, Vijayvargiya had said that Mamata was meeting Modi as a “last-ditch bid” to save Kolkata former police chief Rajeev Kumar, who has gone traceless and the CBI has launched a manhunt to nab him. Continued on Page 4 U nion Minister Babul Supriyo was on Thursday shown black flags and heckled by a section of students at Jadavpur University, who also stopped him from leaving the campus prompting West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to rush to JU along with a large police force. The Governor, who is the chancellor of the university, too faced demonstrations by the students belonging to SFI, Left leaning AFSU and FETSU and AISA, a Naxalite sudents wing, university sources said. They blocked the Union Minister’s way and thumped the bonnet of his vehicle as the policemen kept requesting them to withdraw while the West Bengal Governor was seen helping Babul Supriyo to the vehicle. Dhankhar and Babul Supriyo finally left the campus late in the evening after university teachers stepped in and persuaded the agitating students to lift their blockade, a spokesman of Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) said. Detailed report on P7 E yeing the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, the rul- ing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leaving no stone unturned to extend its flagship Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic project in Delhi. Around 140 Mohalla Clinics will be set up by end of this month. The AAP Government has set a target to construct around 800 Mohalla Clinics before the Assembly election process begins in Delhi. The construction 1,000 Mohalla Clinics was one of the AAP’s top promises before the last Assembly polls, but so far 199 clinics are operational. Continued on Page 4 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he is aghast to see that at a time when the people of Jammu & Kashmir are embracing the “new possibilities” in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 and the entire country is stand- ing with the Government, the Opposition parties are looking for “political benefits”. Castigating the Opposition parties, particularly the Congress and the NCP, for their “questionable” stand on the abrogation of Article 370, Modi said, “I am not getting to see senior Congress and NCP leaders cooperate with us and conduct themselves in a man- ner as they ought to be doing at this juncture.” Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM unveiled a new vision of making Kashmir a “paradise” once again. Modi called for “hugging each Kashmiri and creating a “new paradise” in the Valley. Kal tak kahte the Kashmir humaara hai, abhi har Hindustani kahega hume naya Kashmir banana hain, wahan phir se ek swarag banana hain (We used to say till recently Kashmir is part of India. Now every Indian will say we will create a new Kashmir and we will build a paradise once again there). Har kashmiri ko gale lagana hain (We should embrace every Kashmiri),” Modi said. Speaking at a huge rally marking the conclusion of Chief Minster Devendra Fadnavis’ 4,000-km long “Mahajanadesh Yatra” at Nashik, Modi singled out the Congress and the NCP for a vicious attack and said, “The Government has taken such a big decision (on Article 370). This decision was taken to bring out people of J&K and Ladakh from violence, terror- ism, separatism and corrup- tion. We are trying to imple- ment the decision with mini- mum inconvenience to people.” Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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Ahead of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s week-

long visit to the United Statesstarting September 21, India onThursday said it meets the cri-teria for the GeneralisedSystem of Preferences (GSP)status and Washington shouldtake a call on reinstating it.

The US recently removedIndia from the GSP list ofbeneficiaries which allowedduty-free entry of Indian goodsto that country. The con-tentious issue is likely to comeup during Modi’s talks withPresident Donald Trump.

Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale said there will be twomeetings between Modi andTrump and India is clear thatdespite the international focuson Kashmir, it will not be onthe Prime Minister’s agendaand any offer of mediation isnot on the table.

Gokhale said, “Article 370is an internal issue. Terrorism

is one among many issues.The focus will be on India’s roleat global stage, the PrimeMinister will present his visionin this regard.”

Modi’s packed scheduleincludes addressing the annu-al UNGA session, meetingTrump and 20 other globalleaders in bilateral meetingsbesides addressing the mega‘Howdy Modi’ event. On

September 24, the 150thanniversary of MahatmaGandhi will be observed at theUN and Modi will be joined byhis counterparts fromBangladesh, Singapore, Jamaicaand New Zealand besides theKorean President and the UNSecretary General.

On the GSP status,Gokhale said India meets thecriteria for trade concessions

that the United States ended inJune. “GSP is a unilateral deci-sion, given by countries toother countries based on cer-tain criteria. We are a devel-oping country, we meet thosecriteria,” he said.

“I do not recall our everstating that we are not inter-ested in GSP,” Gokhale said atthe news conference.

Stressing on the impor-

tance of trade conces-sions for India, theForeign Secretarysaid the US “unilat-erally withdrew thatconcession; we

believe that GSP issomething which is

important for our indus-try but ultimately it is a mat-

ter for the US to take a call on.” Indian exports are worth

over 6.3 billion dollars underthe GSP and India was thelargest beneficiary of thescheme. After the US decisionin June, India reciprocated byincreasing the tariffs on 28products imported from theUS, including high-value prod-ucts like almonds and freshapples. The US has protestedagainst it at the WTO.

In fact, tension over tradeties between the two countrieswas simmering for the lasttwo years with the US last yearincreasing tariffs on its steeland aluminium imports.

Continued on Page 4

����������(��� .�3'�45-

If your car is stolen, do checkif it is being sold on OLX app.

The Delhi Police on Thursdayclaimed to have arrested a maninvolved in selling more than adozen luxury cars stolen fromvarious localities in the nation-al Capital. Police said an FIRwill be registered against theOLX management.

Active since 2014, theaccused had succeeded in sell-ing high-end cars by postingtheir advertisements on OLXapp. However, he ran out of hisluck a few days ago. Suspectingsomething fishy after the

accused asked for a nominalprice of an expensive car, abuyer informed police whichswung into action.

East Delhi DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP)Jasmeet Singh said complainantRavi Saxena approached us onJuly 8 stating that he saw anadvertisement related to sale ofVolkswagen Polo at a verynominal price, to which heresponded and purchased thecar for �1,70,000 from oneAnkit Pruthi, the accused.

“Ankit provided the com-plainant with photocopies ofregistration certificate (RC)and insurance and assured him

to deliver the original aftertransfer of the registration inthe name of the complainant.But despite repeated requestsfrom the complainant, Ankitdid not provide him with theoriginal documents.

“Suspecting something wasamiss, Saxena approached theState Transport Authority(STA) and he was befuddled toknow that the said car regis-tration number belonged toanother car model ‘SkodaLaura’,” said the DCP.

“Having realised that hehad bought a stolen car, Saxenaasked Ankit to return hismoney and take the car butAnkit tried to convince thecomplainant that it was gen-uine. After a few months, theaccused switched off hisphone,” said the DCP.

“Acting on the complaintan FIR was registered. Duringthe course of investigation, itwas revealed that there is a gangoperating in Delhi andRajasthan involved in entrap-ping unsuspecting buyers ofstolen luxury cars on verycheap price on OLX platform,”said the DCP.

“A police team was taskedto collect tip-off about thegang-members which led to thehideout of kingpin Ankit. OnSeptember 14, a trap was laidand Ankit was arrested inJaipur. He had changed hisname from Ankit Pruthi toAnkit Arora to hide his iden-tity. Originally from Delhi, hehad acquired a Jaipur address,”said the DCP.

“Ankit confessed that he

used to change his mobilenumber after every successfulsale. We have recovered threecars and trying to locate othercars. Ankit confessed to havesold over a dozen luxury cars using OLX app.Police recovered ‘VolkswagonVento’ and ‘KUV-100’ fromSikar in Rajasthan. These carswere stolen from Delhi’s HauzKhas and Mehrauli area,” saidthe DCP.

Continued on Page 4

���� .�3'�45-

Flagging the issue of exclu-sions in the National

Register of Citizens (NRC) inAssam in her meeting withUnion Home Minister AmitShah, West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onThursday pointed out manygenuine Indians have been leftout of the register, which hasexcluded 19 lakh people whonow face an uncertain fate.

Mamata, who handed anofficial letter in this regard toShah, however, said the issue ofNRC in West Bengal was notdiscussed but reiterated herstance that it was not needed inthe State. Shah had onWednesday announced yetagain the Government’s inten-tion of carrying out the exercisein the entire country.

While the TMC supremomaintained that her meetingswith the Prime Minister andthe Home Minister were notpolitical, it has led to specula-tion that the once-ardent crit-ic of Narendra Modi and AmitShah is softening her stand.Mamata had called on the PMa day earlier.

“I met the Home Ministerto discuss about the NRC inAssam and told him that manygenuine Indians were excludedfrom the list. I have requestedhim to do the needful so thatthey can be included in theNRC as they are in distress,” shetold reporters after the meeting

with Shah.Mamata reportedly con-

veyed the Home Minister thatgenuine Indians belonging toBengali, Bihari, Gorkha andAssamese communities wereexcluded from the NRC inAssam and sought his inter-vention to alleviate their mis-eries. This was her first meet-ing with Shah, who assumedthe office about three months ago following a LokSabha election campaign thatsaw the two sides launch a no-holds-barred attack oneach other.

“I have requested him toexamine their cases and resolvethe issues. The Home Ministerhas assured that he would lookinto it,” said the TMC chief. Thefinal NRC, a list of Assam’s res-idents and published on August31, excluded the names of 19lakh people. The BJP is on theback foot on the NRC as theexclusions have been far less inareas believed to have the max-imum illegal migrants.

“Even Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar said that theNRC was not required in hisState,” she said.

BJP general secretary partyaffairs in-charge in West BengalKailash Vijayvargiya tweeted,“Ab aya oont pahar ke niche”(now she has realised where shestands.) A couple of days ago,Vijayvargiya had said thatMamata was meeting Modi asa “last-ditch bid” to save Kolkataformer police chief RajeevKumar, who has gone tracelessand the CBI has launched amanhunt to nab him.

Continued on Page 4

���(������(� ���� 0(40&�&

Union Minister BabulSupriyo was on Thursday

shown black flags and heckledby a section of students atJadavpur University, who alsostopped him from leaving thecampus prompting WestBengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar to rush to JU alongwith a large police force.

The Governor, who is thechancellor of the university, toofaced demonstrations by thestudents belonging to SFI, Left leaning AFSU and FETSUand AISA, a Naxalite sudents wing, universitysources said.

They blocked the UnionMinister’s way and thumpedthe bonnet of his vehicle as thepolicemen kept requestingthem to withdraw while theWest Bengal Governor was seen helping Babul Supriyo tothe vehicle.

Dhankhar and BabulSupriyo finally left the campus late in the eveningafter university teachersstepped in and persuaded theagitating students to lift theirblockade, a spokesman ofJadavpur University TeachersAssociation (JUTA) said.

Detailed report on P7

(�������������� .�3'�45-

Eyeing the upcoming DelhiAssembly elections, the rul-

ing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) isleaving no stone unturned toextend its flagship Aam AadmiMohalla Clinic project in Delhi.Around 140 Mohalla Clinicswill be set up by end of thismonth.

The AAP Government hasset a target to construct around800 Mohalla Clinics before theAssembly election processbegins in Delhi.

The construction 1,000Mohalla Clinics was one of theAAP’s top promises before thelast Assembly polls, but so far199 clinics are operational.

Continued on Page 4

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday said he

is aghast to see that at a timewhen the people of Jammu &Kashmir are embracing the“new possibilities” in the wakeof the abrogation of Article 370and the entire country is stand-ing with the Government, theOpposition parties are lookingfor “political benefits”.

Castigating the Oppositionparties, particularly theCongress and the NCP, fortheir “questionable” stand onthe abrogation of Article 370,Modi said, “I am not getting tosee senior Congress and NCPleaders cooperate with us andconduct themselves in a man-ner as they ought to be doingat this juncture.”

Making no bones about the

BJP’s intention that it would gowhole hog Kashmir issue in thenew context as a major issue inthe Maharashtra Assemblypolls, the PM unveiled a newvision of making Kashmir a“paradise” once again.

Modi called for “huggingeach Kashmiri and creating a“new paradise” in the Valley.

“Kal tak kahte the Kashmirhumaara hai, abhi harHindustani kahega hume nayaKashmir banana hain, wahanphir se ek swarag banana hain(We used to say till recentlyKashmir is part of India. Nowevery Indian will say we willcreate a new Kashmir and wewill build a paradise once againthere). Har kashmiri ko gale

lagana hain (We shouldembrace every Kashmiri),”Modi said.

Speaking at a huge rallymarking the conclusion ofChief Minster DevendraFadnavis’ 4,000-km long“Mahajanadesh Yatra” atNashik, Modi singled out theCongress and the NCP for avicious attack and said, “TheGovernment has taken such abig decision (on Article 370).This decision was taken tobring out people of J&K andLadakh from violence, terror-ism, separatism and corrup-tion. We are trying to imple-ment the decision with mini-mum inconvenience to people.”

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

Delhi has become the firstState Capital to have 95 per

cent CNG powered industryand to make the nationalCapital wholly pollution free,the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)has joined hands with UnionMinistry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change(MoEF &CC).

As per the official databaseon industrial pollution, theGovernment claimed that therewere 1,542 polluting indus-tries in Delhi, of which 1,457industries have been convert-ed into CNG-powered indus-tries so far while remaining 85industries will be convertedinto CNG- adaptive.

Notably, as per TERI reporton industrial pollution, in sum-mer season, 22 per cent pollu-tion contributed by industriesand in winter season 30 percent pollution contributed.

"It is through thestrategic proposition anddetermined steps, that95per cent of the oil-dri-ven industry have shiftedits operations to CNGoperated systems. Theinformation regarding alarge and substantial shiftin the industry has beengathered by a report sub-mitted by the DelhiDialogue Commission to theChief Minister ArvindKejriwal," Government state-ment quoted.

It is important to mentionhere that the ban on chemicalusage in June 2018. "With theefforts of the DelhiGovernment, air pollution inDelhi has decreased by 25 per-cent in the last three years.Delhi is the only State in thecountry where the reduction inair pollution has been record-ed. CNG-based industry drivenby polluted chemicals also

helped in reducing air pollu-tion," Kejriwal said.

Citing TERI's figure onindustrial pollution,Environment Minister KailashGehlot also said that variousfigures showed that pollutionfrom the industries has alsocontributed significantly toDelhi's air pollution.

Various studies by theDepartment of Health haverevealed that workers in thecoal-based industries sufferfrom a variety of diseases.They majorly suffer from lung

and skin diseases. The operation of

CNG based industry haschanged the standardof living of thousands ofworkers. Worker DayaShankar says that therewere many issues work-ing in the coal-basedindustry, and now work-ing in the CNG-basedindustry is a relief. Ram

Ratan, a labourer, says that ear-lier workers had respiratoryissues. Perhaps, CNG-basedindustry is not facing theseproblems.

Earlier, Delhi PollutionControl Committee (DPCC)had also announced compen-sation for conversion of pol-luted chemical-powered indus-try to CNG in FY 2017-18.Under the scheme, a compen-sation of 50,000 rupees wasgiven to medium and smallindustries and one lakh rupeesto big industries.

���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

The people in Delhi especiallystudents and office goers

faced hardships in reachingtheir destinations on Thursdaydue to transport strike by theprivate buses, taxis and autorick-shaws held by the United Frontof Transport Associations(UFTA) against the amendedMotor Vehicle Act provisions.

Many schools in the nation-al Capital announced a day offand many had postponed toMonday scheduled to be heldon Thursday. While some askedparents to make their ownarrangements to pick up anddrop their wards.

However, the services ofDelhi Metro, Delhi TransportCorporation (DTC) and clusterbuses remained unaffected.

(UFTA) general secretaryShyamlal Gola said over 50transport associations andunions in Delhi-NCR took partin the strike demanding with-drawal of the exorbitant hike inroad traffic penalties and certainother provisions of the new MVAct.

"There are around 90,000autos in the city and majority ofthem participated in the strike.When states, ruled by BharatiyaJanata party (BJP) such as UttarPradesh (UP), Gujarat andUttarakhand can tweak the pro-visions of the amended MV Act,why cannot Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government can do?,"said Rajendra Soni, president ofDelhi Auto Rickshaw Union.

While Delhi tourist cab

and taxi services associationsalleged that the protesting unionmembers and drivers attackedthe cab, taxi and some auto dri-vers who did not participate in the strike.However, Soni refuted theclaims and said the strike waspeaceful and a large number ofauto drivers were willingly par-ticipating in it.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Policeinformed that it has receivedabout 249 complaint callsregarding attack on the driversand were being probed.

Light Motor VehicleAssociation including variouslast mile connecting vehiclesassociations of Grameen Sewa,e-rickshaws said they did notparticipate in the strike.

The roads were relativelyless congested as a sizable num-

ber of the autos, taxis and busesoperated by private operatorsremained off the road.Commuters also faced diffi-culties in getting an auto or acab. Passengers faced problems,especially at the railways stationsand Inter-State Bus Terminals(ISBT). Some also complainedof surge pricing.

"There was no auto availablenear the New Delhi Railway sta-tions due to strke because ofwhich we got late and evensome agreed to drop butdemanded high fare," saidAishwarya, passenger.

While some students said,it is a very difficult day as we hadto walk long to reach school.The primary class students havebeen given leave but we had toattend the school as we hadexaminations.

���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Thursday asked

the Delhi International AirportLimited (DIAL) to measureand display the prescribednoise levels for aircraft at theIndira Gandhi InternationalAirport (IGIA).

A bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice AdarshKumar Goel noted that a noticeto airmen (NOTAM) wasissued by the AirportsAuthority of India, which hasbeen incorporated in theAeronautical InformationPublication on October 11,2018, regarding use of reversethrust by pilots while landing.

"We suggest that DIAL notonly measure and maintainthe prescribed noise levels butalso display the same in publicdomain," the bench said.

The DIAL told the tri-bunal that it has taken steps tocontrol noise pollution as perthe notification issued by theMinistry of Environment andForests on July 6 last year thatlaid down certain requirementswhich are to be complied to byJune 17 next year.

The tribunal's order cameon a plea filed by an NGO —Society for Protection ofCulture, Heritage,Environment, Traditions andPromotion of NationalAwareness — seeking execu-tion of NGT''s November 24,2017 order, which directedauthorities concerned to takeall mitigating measures forreducing noise pollution expe-ditiously.

"The official respondentsshall ensure providing of agreen belt around the bound-ary wall of the airport, whilekeeping the safety and securi-ty both in mind. The planta-tions shall be of the specieswhich would only grow to the

permissible height or would bemaintained at the permissibleheight only." "The officialrespondents may issue an advisory to all the airlineswhose aircraft land at the runway of the IGI and domes-tic airport, New Delhi, to ensure ''judgment based'' useof reverse thrust keeping inview the weather, length of run-way, wind, and other attendantcircumstances to reduce thenoise level particularly at thetime of landing," NGT orderstated.

The petitioners havealleged that the noise created byaircraft at the IGI airport wasaffecting the health of the res-idents in the nearby areas.

���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

A16-year-old girl had lodgeda complaint with the Delhi

Police alleging that a constableposted at New Usmanpurpolice station in Delhi hadraped her. Following which,police said the accused con-stable has been dismissed.

Police said they haverecorded statement of thewoman after information was

received on the matter around12 pm on Wednesday.

The victim, a resident ofBharanpuri had alleged that theconstable identified as VishramMeena on pretext of taking herto counseling, he had taken herto a place in Yamuna Khadarand raped her.

Around four days ago, aman in neighbourhood of thevictim, lured her and took herwith him. A First Information

Report (FIR) was filed by thefamily members of the girl atNew Usmanpur Police Station.Though she had returnedhome on Tuesday and Meenawas tasked with the investiga-tion of her case.

According to a police offi-cial, on Wednesday a policecontrol room (PCR) call wasreceived regarding the incidentat 12 pm following which apolice team was dispatched

for the spot. "The girl had narrated her

ordeal to the family after whichthey had called police. Themedical on the girl was con-ducted at Jag Pravesh hospitaland police is waiting for itsreport. Further legal actions have been initiated," said thepolice official. The familymembers also staged a protestat New Usmanpur PoliceStation.

New Delhi: Delhi LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal onThursday administered the oathof faith and allegiance to theConstitution to the members ofthe NDMC, including ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal andBJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi.

The council has been recon-stituted on the basis of a notifi-cation of the Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA), it said. Amongthe members who have beenadministrated the oath are DelhiCantonment Board MLASurender Singh, Chief SecretaryVijay Kumar Dev, MHAAdditional Secretary (UT)Govind Mohan, Union Housing,Urban Affairs Joint SecretaryNandita Gupta and Delhi UrbanDevelopment Secretary ManishaSaxena. Kejriwal and Lekhi havebeen nominated as members ofthe council. SR

���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

Union Minister PrakashJavadekar on Thursday

accused the Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal of supportingthose who allegedly raised anti-national slogans in the univer-sity in 2016. Targeting Kejriwaland his Government for not giv-ing sanction to prosecute Kumarand others facing seditioncharges, Javadekar said thatdespite repeatedly being askedby the court about the permis-sion, the Chief Minister was notgranting it.

"Court is repeatedly askingthe Delhi CM that when will yougive permission to prosecutethose who raised anti-nationalslogans. But we can say that theCM is supporting those peoplewho raised the slogans," he said.

Javadekar, who is theMinister for information andbroadcasting and environmentand climate change, said, "It isclear from Arvind Kejriwal's atti-tude that he supports such state-ments otherwise he would havegranted the sanction."

The Delhi Police had onWednesday informed a city

court that the request for sanc-tion to prosecute Kumar andothers was pending before theHome Department of the DelhiGovernment. Police hadinformed that it had done itspart and was now awaiting thedecision. On January 14, policehad filed a chargesheet in thecourt against Kumar and others,including former JNU studentsUmar Khalid, Anirban Bha-ttacharya, saying they were lead-ing a procession and supportedseditious slogans raised in thecampus during an event onFebruary 9, 2016.

���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

High voltage drama waswitnessed at State BJP office

as Azad Singh, district presidentfrom Mehrauli slapped his ex-wife Sartia Chaudhary.

Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari removed Singh as districtpresident and constituted fourmembers committee that willsubmit report. Tiwari alsoappointed Vikas Tanwar as act-ing district president forMehrauli district. As per the BJPsources, Tiwari may take stern

action against Singh afteranalysing the report.

The unsavoury incidentoccurred after a meeting withDelhi State election in-chargeand Union Minister PrakashJavadekar. Chaudhary, who hadserved as the Mayor of SouthDelhi Municipal Corporation,later filed a complaint with thepolice. Meanwhile, Azad'sattempt at party office is beingconsidered as embarrassmentfor the party and both the lead-ers have been asked to avoidsuch events at party platform.

���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

Former Jharkhand Congresschief Ajoy Kumar joined the

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in thepresence of Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia onThursday.

Kumar, a former IPS offi-cer said that only the AAP istruly a party of the 'aam aadmi'where anyone can join andwork towards development."The changes brought by theDelhi Government in the fieldof education and health are rev-olutionary. I am so happy to seethe work done for 24x7 waterand power by the AAP-ledDelhi Government," he said,adding the AAP is doing pos-itive politics and people canjoin it without any politicalbackground to serve the coun-try.

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said," Dr AjoyKumar's journey, both as apolice officer and as a politicianhas been remarkable. He firstserved as Superintendent ofPolice in Patna from 1990 to

1994 and brought many posi-tive changes. His positive worksin the area have been capturedby well-known filmmakerPrakash Jha in his famous filmGangajal."

Sisodia also said that bigcompanies in Jamshedpur likeTata were also forced to leavethe city in 1994 after being hit

by the hooliganism of localmafias. In such a situation, DrKumar completely ended mafiaraj during his tenure as SP from1994 to 1996.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal tweeted "Iwelcome former IPS officer andpopular leader of Jharkhand DrAjoy Kumar to the Aam Aadmi

Party. His joining will strengthen our struggle to cre-ate a corruption-free, prosper-ous India,"

Kumar resigned as Jhar-khand Congress chief last mo-nth, accusing some colleagues ofpromoting their own interestsover the party and indulging incorrupt practices.

���&&��� ������� .�3'�45-

Former Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader Alka Lamba

disqualified from the DelhiAssembly by Speaker RamNiwas Goel on the grounds ofdefection on Thursday.

The decision was taken fol-lowing a petition by AAP legis-lator Saurabh Bharadwaj afterLamba joined the Congress ear-lier this month. He sought herdisqualification on grounds ofdefection.

The Speaker said Lamba, anelected member of the DelhiAssembly from ChandniChowk, had been disqualified."Consequently, the ChandniChowk Assembly constituencyhas fallen vacant," the order said.Earlier four more MLAs weredisqualified on similar grounds.Reacting to this, Lamba said herjourney with AAP has ended.

"My journey with AAP hasended now. I want to thank allthose who supported me in myjourney. I will continue my fightnow with my public," she said inHindi, adding the "democracy inAAP is ending with the dicta-torship of one man".

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Page 3: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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US President Donald Trumphas hinted that there

“could be” some announce-ment by him at the mega“Howdy Modi!” event inHouston on Sunday, where hewould join Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in addressingthe 50,000-strong Indian dias-pora.

The White House onMonday announced thatTrump would join Modi at themega Houston rally onSeptember 22 as a "special ges-ture" by the US President tounderscore the special bondbetween the two countries.

It is for the first time thatTrump and Modi would sharea stage together. The event isthe third meeting between thetwo leaders in three months,after the G-20 summit in Japanin June and the G-7 summit inFrance last month.

“Could be. I have a verygood relationship with PrimeMinister Modi,” Trump toldreporters on Wednesdayaboard Air Force One on hisway back from California to

Washington DC. He did notelaborate.

He was responding to aquestion if there would be anyannouncement when he goesto Houston for the rally withthe Indian leader.

According to mediareports, officials of the twocountries are trying to finalisea trade deal before PrimeMinister Modi and Trumpmeet in Houston.

Trade tensions betweenIndia and the US have been ris-ing with Trump complainingthat tariffs imposed by NewDelhi on American productswere "no longer acceptable".

The US in June terminatedIndia's designation as benefi-ciary developing country underthe Generalised System ofPreferences (GSP) programme.

India imposed retaliatorytariffs on 28 US productsincluding almonds and applesfrom June 5, after the Trumpadministration revoked its pref-erential trade privileges.

Reacting to a record num-ber of 50,000 Indian-Americans registering for theevent, Trump said the crowd

for the event has now becomebigger after it was announcedthat he would be going there.

“He (Modi) has got a bigcrowd coming and I guess thecrowd just got a lot biggerbecause they just announced –he asked, would I go, and I willgo,” Trump said.

After the Houston event,Trump would travel to Ohio foran event with the visitingAustralian Prime Minister.

“Then we're stopping inOhio on the way back and thenI guess we do the UnitedNations the following week,”the US President said.

Trump also said that he hasa great relationship with bothIndia and Pakistan.

Modi will be visiting theUS from September 21-27 forthe annual session of theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA). It is hisfirst US trip after winning asecond term as prime ministerin May.

The two leaders are againscheduled to meet later in theweek in New York on the side-lines of the UN GeneralAssembly (UNGA) session.

From Page 1It adversely impacted

Indian exports and promptedit to approach the WTO dis-pute settlement body.

The US raised issues withIndia’s moves to slash the max-imum retail prices of essentialmedical devices and demandsthat dairy product exporterscertify their produce.

Modi is scheduled to arrivein Houston on Saturday. A daylater, he will be joined byTrump at the mega ‘HowdyModi’ rally, to be attended bythe members of the Indian-American community. ThePrime Minister will address theUN General Assembly sessionon the morning of September27, Gokhale said.

As the world commemo-rates Mahatma Gandhi’s 150thbirth anniversary, Modi willalso host a special event‘Leadership Matters: Relevanceof Gandhi in the ContemporaryWorld’ on September 24. Hewill be joined leaders of a fewcountries at this event.

Modi’s packed schedule alsoincludes a meeting withAmerican CEOs of energy giantson the evening of September 21in Houston, Texas. A day afterthe Houston event on September22, Modi will take part in a cli-

mate summit in New York. Thebilateral meeting with Trump ison September 24 and an invest-ment roundtable with 40 majorcompanies the next day. On themorning of September 27, localtime, Modi will address the UNGeneral Assembly, after which hewill leave for Delhi. Incidentally,his address will be followed by his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan.

From Page 1“The entire country of 130

crore people is standing as onewith the Government.Unfortunately, senior leadersof the Congress and NCP whoought to have been cooperatingwith the Government and con-ducting in a circumspect man-ner, but, I do not get to see sucha thing happening,” said the PM.

The Prime Minister saidthat the Opposition was free tocriticise the Government, himpersonally and even ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis inMaharashtra. “It is their rightto criticise us. They should notbe saying certain things innational interests. But theirstatements are being used bythe forces supporting the ter-rorists to indulge in false pro-paganda against India.”

Hitting out at Congress’former president Rahul Gandhiwhose statement was used bythe Pakistani Foreign Ministerin making a representationbefore the United Nations, Modisaid, “It is rather unfortunatethat the statements of ourOpposition leaders on Kashmirare being used to attack India ininternational forums.

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Fugitive diamond merchantNirav Modi, wanted in

India in connection with thenearly USD 2 billion PunjabNational Bank (PNB) fraudand money laundering case,was on Thursday furtherremanded to judicial custodyuntil October 17.

Nirav, 48, appeared beforethe Westminster Magistrates'Court via videolink from hisLondon prison for a routine"call-over" remand hearing.

His trial is expected forMay 11-15, 2020.

Nirav has been lodged atWandsworth prison in south-west London, one of England'smost overcrowded jails, sincehis arrest in March on anextradition warrant executedby Scotland Yard on chargesbrought by the Indian gov-ernment, being representedby the UK's CrownProsecution Service (CPS) incourt.

He was arrested by uni-formed Scotland Yard officerson an extradition warrant onMarch 19 and has been inprison since.

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US aerospace giantLockheed Martin has con-

gratulated the Indian defenseestablishment for carrying outa successful "arrest landing" ofIndia's indigenously developedLight Combat Aircraft Tejas,saying that the company islooking forward to supportthe Indian Navy's LCA pro-gramme.

India carried out the suc-cessful "arrest landing" of Tejaslast week in Goa, a major mile-stone in development of thenaval variant of the jet. The testdemonstrated the aircraft's abil-ity to halt at a short distanceafter landing on board an air-craft carrier.

Vivek Lall, vice president ofStrategy and BusinessDevelopment at LockheedMartin, in an interview to PTIcongratulated the Indian Navy,Aeronautical DevelopmentAgency and HindustanAeronautics Limited, termingit as a "significant engineeringfeat" that should be celebrated.

“Lockheed Martin is fullycommitted to India and welook forward to supportingthe LCA Navy programme ifdesired given our breadth anddepth of expertise in that area,”he said.

Speaking about Lockheed

Martin's pitch for the sale of F-21 fighter jets to India, he saidit is the best best way tostrengthen the defense tiesbetween India and the US assuch a trade deal would makeIndia the “epicentre of USD 165billion” global market.

“The F-21 would be agame-changing US and Indiawin. An F-21 partnership withLockheed Martin integratesIndian industry into the world'slargest and most advanced fight-er aircraft ecosystem,” Lall said.

He observed that India'spresence into this robust fight-er ecosystem via an F-21 selec-tion would result in the coun-try being at the "epicentre of aUSD 165 billion market,” withpossibilities to expand its foot-print in developing indigenouscapabilities and global suppli-er relationships.

Defense trade is expectedto be one of the important top-ics of discussions during themeetings between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andPresident Donald Trump inHouston and New York laterthis month.

In April, the Indian AirForce issued an RFI (Requestfor Information) or initial ten-der to acquire 114 jets at a costof around USD 18 billion,which is billed as one of theworld's biggest military pro-

curement in recent years.The company unveiled F-

21 multi-role fighter jet forIndia during the Aero Indiashow in Bengaluru in February.It would be produced byLockheed Martin and TataAdvanced Systems in India.

Asserting that F-21 is thebest solution for the Indian AirForce and India's national secu-rity, he said it enables the IAFto go further, stay longer anddeliver more ordnance permission than any competingfighter.

The F-21 provides the opti-mal solution to meet India'sforce structure demands, inconcert with fighter jets Rafaleand Tejas, he said.

The official said that F-21provides unmatched opportu-nities for Indian companies ofall sizes to establish new busi-ness relationships withLockheed Martin and otherindustry leaders in the US andaround the world.

“F-21 production in Indiasupports thousands of US sup-plier jobs, including hundredsof US-based Lockheed Martinengineering, program man-agement, sustainment and cus-tomer support positions,” Lall,who is considered as one of themost influential US defenseindustry leaders in the lastdecade, said.

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As the deadline to re-estab-lish communication with

Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lan-der nears, NASA's Moonorbiter has captured images ofthe lunar region where theIndian mission made an unsuc-cessful attempt to soft-land, asenior official with the USspace agency confirmed onThursday.

NASA's LunarReconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)spacecraft has snapped a seriesof images during its flyby onSeptember 17 of Vikram'sattempted landing sight nearthe Moon's uncharted southpole.

It flew over the area of theVikram landing site when locallunar time was near dusk; largeshadows covered much of thearea, LRO Mission deputy pro-ject scientist John Keller said ina statement to PTI.

The probability of estab-lishing contact with the landerhas a deadline of September 21because after that the Moonregion will enter into a lunarnight.

"The LRO Cameraacquired images around thetargeted landing site, but theexact location of the lander wasnot known so the lander maynot be in the camera field ofview," Keller said.

"The LROC team willanalyse these new images andcompare them to previousimages to see if the lander isvisible (it may be in shadow oroutside the imaged area),"Keller said.

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Former British premierDavid Cameron released

his memoirs on Thursday, inwhich he speaks of getting onwell with "saintly" formerIndian prime ministerManmohan Singh, who evenconfided in him about theprospect of military actionagainst Pakistan in case ofanother Mumbai-like terroristattack.

'For The Record' is a chron-icle of 52-year-old Cameron'spersonal as well as profession-al life, specifically covering theperiod between 2010 and 2016when he was in charge atDowning Street and had closedealings with both Singh aswell Prime Minister NarendraModi.

"I got on well with PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh.He was a saintly man, but hewas robust on the threats Indiafaced. On a later visit, he toldme that another terrorist attacklike that (2008) in Mumbai inJuly 2011, and India wouldhave to take military actionagainst Pakistan," notesCameron, as he recalls one ofhis many visits to India duringhis time in office.

"When it came to India, Iargued that we needed a mod-ern partnership – not onetinged with colonial guilt, butalive to the possibilities of theworld's oldest democracy andthe world's largest democracy.Many of Britain's most suc-cessful business leaders andcultural figures are from theIndian diaspora communityand would be our greatestweapons in the endeavor," headds.

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Union Minister PrakashJavadekar on Thursday

claimed there is no financialcrisis in India and theGovernment has taken all nec-essary steps and fundamentalsof economy are strong.

"To make the economystronger, the Government hastaken all measures and I wantto say that the fundamentals ofthe country's economy arestrong. We are not in any cri-sis. Some reactions from non-banking financial companies(NBFCs) are there. But we areaddressing all issues," he told apress conference at his resi-dence here.

As to the Congress's attackon the Government for havingthe upcoming event 'HowdyModi' in Houston, USA despitean economic slowdown,Javadekar said the Congresswould never get such an oppor-tunity like Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

"The stadium is already

houseful for the 'Howdy Modi'event. Congress has never gotthis much popularity and willnever get. I can only say thatgrapes are sour," said Javadekar,who is the minister of infor-mation and broadcasting andenvironment and climatechange.

The Minister also took aswipe at former MadhyaPradesh Chief MinisterDigvijay Singh for his "saffron-clad rapists" remark, sayingeven the Congress does nottake him seriously.

"Even Congress does notgive importance to him. Whyshould we react? We have seenhis mentality after the Mumbaiterror attacks. Since then he hasbeen making such statements,"he said.

Singh on Tuesday made acontroversial remark at anevent in Bhopal that people insaffron clothes were commit-ting rapes, even in temples. Acase has reportedly been lodgedagainst the Congress leaderfor making such an allegation.

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The Centre is consideringproviding insurance cover

of � 4 lakh each to over 40,000panch and sarpanch in Jammu& Kashmir due to their vul-nerability to terror threats. TheUnion Home Ministry is alsoplanning to educate the leadersof the lowest level of the elect-ed bodies on the central lawsand other facilities to be applic-able and available in Jammu &Kashmir after the abrogation ofArticle 370 provisions.

"We are examining the pro-posal to provide insurance coverof �4 lakh to all Panch andSarpanch in Jammu & Kashmir,"a senior Home Ministry officialsaid. The move comes after adelegation of panch andsarpanch of Jammu & Kashmirmet Union Home Minister AmitShah recently and requestedhim for the insurance cover dueto the terror threats to them.

The delegation had soughtan insurance cover of �2 lakheach to the Panch and Sarpanch,but the central government isplanning to give them the coverof �4 lakh each, the officials said.The panchayat elections inJammu & Kashmir were held latelast year in which over 40,000Panch and Sarpanch were elect-ed to these local bodies.

The Home Ministry hasalso asked the Ministry ofPanchayati Raj to educate Panchand Sarpanch on the centrallaws that will be applicable toJ&K and how they will benefitthe people and the panchayats.

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�)�������8$������������������������������������<�����New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday summonedthe Home Secretary of UttarPradesh after taking a seriousview of the State Government’sfailure to respond to a plea bya “minor” Muslim girl, who haschallenged the Allahabad HighCourt order by which her mar-riage was found to be void.

The 16-year-old girl haschallenged the high court order,saying that as per theMohammedan Law, once afemale attains the age of puber-ty, that is 15 years, she is independent to take decisionsfor her life and is competent tomarry any one of her own choice.

When the matter came upfor hearing before a bench ofJustices NV Ramana and Ajay Rastogi, the counselappearing for the State, sought time to file a responseon the petition.

"Let the chief secretaryappear (in court). Then hewill understand the seriousness of the matter," thebench said in an oral observation. PTI

-����07�������"�5���������(������1�&���#��"�"��������� ���"+�-�!���New Delhi: Security forcesdeployed in the anti-Naxalcombat grid have launched amassive operation to find outand defuse IEDs as over 260troops have either been killedor injured in these blasts in thelast about three years, officialssaid Thursday.

They said the decision hasbeen taken after it was seen thatMaoists were increasingly rely-ing on Improvised ExplosiveDevices (IEDs) to target secu-rity force personnel deployed inthe Left Wing Extremism(LWE) combat grid.

As per the latest dataaccessed by PTI, over 73 secu-rity personnel have been killedin IED blasts in various statesover the last three years timewhile more than 179 have beeninjured.

The data pertains to theperiod between 2017 andAugust this year.

The maximum such fataland non-fatal casualties havetaken place in the centralIndian state of Chhattisgarhthat is stated to be the worst-Naxal violence-affected state bysecurity forces, owing to thehigh casualty rate of forces.

"A massive operation isbeing conducted to seek anddestroy IEDs in various LWEaffected states. The CRPF, othercentral armed police forces(CAPFs) and state police forceshave been sensitized about thethreat posed by these con-cealed bombs," a senior secu-rity official based here said.

The number of IED blastincidents has also been

more-or-less the same overthe last three years' time peri-od, he said. The data shows thatwhile a total of 43 such inci-dents took place in 2017, theyrose to 79 last year and over 51 have been recorded till Augustthis year.

Similarly, 6 civilians werekilled in these Naxal triggeredblasts in 2017, 8 last year and three have lost their livesthis year.

"The Naxals are now notgetting into one-to-one battlewith forces as their combatstrength has depleted alongwith their weaponry andammunition. The sustainedoperations by the CRPF andother forces have surely takena huge toll on them.

"They are hence looking tohit the security forces throughIEDs which ensures that theydo not have to face the forces,"CRPF Deputy InspectorGeneral (DIG) MosesDhinakaran said.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce is the lead security forcefor anti-Naxal operations in thecountry and has deployed closeto a lakh troops for this task invarious states.

The force has recoveredover 1,500 IEDs during thesame time period, the data said,with 830 being in 2017, 425 lastyear and the rest during thisyear. Small teams comprisingexplosive detection dogs andpersonnel equipped with deepsearch detectors have beendeployed for the latest opera-tion, an official based inChhattisgarh said. PTI

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Page 5: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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Rajnath Singh on Thursdaybecame the first Defence

Minister to fly in the indige-nously designed and built Tejaslight combat aircraft (LCA)Tejas. A "thrilled" Singhdescribed the 30-minute expe-rience as "one of the mostmemorable events my life." Heeven controlled and flew theaircraft for full two minutes inthe two-seater jet which under-took the sortie at the HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL)air-port in Bengaluru.

Incidentally, his predeces-sors George Fernandes andNirmala Sitharaman had flownin MIG-21 and SU-30 respec-tively. But no Defence Ministerso far had flown in the Tejaswhich is now in the process ofinduction in the IAF with abatch of 40 jets. The inductionwill boost the air defence capa-bilities of the force.

After the sortie, Singh saidhe chose the aircraft because itwas built indigenously anddescribed the flying experienceas thrilling. "Flight verysmooth, comfortable, I wasthrilled. It was one of the mostmemorable events of my life,"said the 68-year-old Singh afteralighting from the aircraft.

"This is an indigenousplane. So, it came naturally tome to fly in Tejas and experi-ence the flying. It was also tocheck under what conditionsdo our fighter pilots fly these

aircraft. This is why I flew inthis aircraft," the Minister said.

Wearing a G suit, holdinghis helmet under his arms andsporting aviator glasses, Singh looked every inch afighter pilot.

Visibly impressed by theperformance of the planewhich over the years cameunder lot of criticism due torepeated delays thereby addingto the cost of the first indige-nously designed fighter jet,Singh said, "I want to congrat-ulate HAL, DRDO and sever-al agencies concerned. We have reached a level wherewe can export fighter planesacross the world...Countriesin South East Asia have showninterest in purchasing Tejasaircraft," he said.

An official said theMinister also "controlled" andflew the aircraft for around twominutes. However, the minis-ter said he was following

orders."But those two minuteswere memorable," he said. Ina tweet, Singh said: "The 'G-Suit' and 'Tejas': It was a mem-orable experience. Thank you@IAF_MCC @HALHQBLR &@DRDO_India for this proudmoment."

"Special thanks to AVM, NTiwari, who is also the ProjectDirector, National Flight TestCentre, ADA (AeronauticalDevelopment Agency) for thesortie," he said. Air ViceMarshal Tiwari, who is the alsothe Project Director, NationalFlight Test Centre, AeronauticalDevelopment Agency (ADA),Bengaluru, flew the aircraft.

Talking about his experi-ence of flying with the DefenceMinister, Tiwari said, "RakshaMantri (Defence Minister) wasflying the aircraft in the air (for2 minutes), and he liked it. Wewent all the way up to 2 to 2.5g.But I was showing him moreavionics and sophisticated sys-tems that we have on board likelaser designation pod, usingwhich you can pick up targetseven from 20-25 km away."

When a person is standingstill on earth, the amount offorce exerted by earth's gravi-tational field is "one g". Fighterpilots have to bear higher num-ber of g's as they fly at highspeed and altitude.

Tiwari said the Ministerwas very happy with the flyingquality, "the smoothness, thecontrols, and the way the air-craft was flying".

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Ending the suspense over theappointment of the new

IAF Chief days before incum-bent BS Dhanoa retires onSeptember 30, the Governmenton Thursday announced thatpresent Vice Chief Air MarshalRKS Bhadauria will be thenext Air force Chief. He is thesenior most officer afterDhanoa. However, he was set toretire the same day as Dhanoaafter attaining the age of 60.Bhadauria will now head theIAF for two years.

An experienced fighterpilot, Bhadauria had led thenegotiations with Franceregarding the Rafale fighter jetdeal. It is a Government togovernment contract for buy-ing 36 jets worth over � 60,000crores. The first plane will behanded over to IAF in Franceon October 8 and the entirefleet of jets will be inducted by2022.

As the Deputy Chief of IAF,Air Marshal Bhadauria playedan important role during thecontract negotiations for 36Rafale jets. Due to his role inthe negotiations, the first Rafalebuilt by Dassault Aviation forthe IAF, a two-seater variant,which made its maiden flightlast year in France is designat-ed with his name as RB-008.The RB-008 is an instrument-ed aircraft and will be used toincorporate, test and validatethe 13 Indian SpecificModifications (ISE). It will alsobe the 36th aircraft to be deliv-ered to the in 2022, 67 months

after the contract was signed.Bhadauria was commis-

sioned into the fighter streamof IAF in June 1980, and hasheld various Command, Staffand Instructional appointmentsat various levels including thepresent one as Vice Chief of AirStaff.

He has over 4,250 hours ofexperience on twenty six typesof fighters and transport air-craft with the unique distinc-tion of being an ExperimentalTest Pilot, a Cat 'A' QualifiedFlying Instructor and a PilotAttack Instructor.

During his nearly four-decade career, Bhadauria com-manded a Jaguar squadronand a premier Air ForceStation. He was also the ChiefTest Pilot and Project Directorof the National Flight TestCentre on Light CombatAircraft (LCA) project. He wasextensively involved

in the initial prototypeflight tests on the LCA.

Present IAF Chief andChairman Chiefs of StaffCommittee (CCSC) Air ChiefMarshal BS Dhanoa will passon the CCSC baton to ArmyChief General Bipin Rawatwho would then be the seniormost Service Chief. GeneralRawat retires in December.

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The Singh brothers, Digvijay and Lakshman,on Thursday put the Congress in a spot with

their statements. While Digvijay alleged that"people donning saffron robes were committingrapes", a remark from which the Congress dis-tanced itself, his brother Lakshman asked for-mer party chief Rahul Gandhi to apologise tothe farmers as the promised loan waiver to themhas not materialised so far.

However, the Congress was more embar-rassed due to the remark of Lakshman, a partyMLA. "Farm loans were not waived even aftereight months, let alone ten days," LakshmanSingh said.

Rahul Gandhi, speaking at a farmers' rallyat Mandsaur in June 2018, had promised loanwaiver within 10 days of the Congress comingto power in the then BJP-ruled state. InNovember 2018 assembly elections, the Congressousted the BJP from power and formed gov-ernment after 15 years.

"Farmers are going to banks with waiver cer-tificates issued by the state government. But thebanks are refusing to waive the loans, saying theyhaven't received money from the government.Rahul Gandhi should return to the same plat-form where he had promised to implement loanwaiver within ten days if elected to power, andapologise to the people," said Lakshman, a five-time MP and currently MLA from Chanchoda..

"This (apology) would make his (Rahul's)

stature taller. He should also clarify how longit will take to waive all farm loans, as promised,"added Lakshman. The Kamal Nath governmentin the state needs to arrange Rs 45,000 crore tofulfill the promise of loan waiver and it may takeup to two years, he claimed.

His elder brother, Digvijay kicked up a rowby saying that people donning "saffron robes"are committing rapes which are taking place in"temples", and thus defaming the SanatanDharma (ancient religion). Some anonymousposters have also come up in Bhopal against him,demanding a ban on his entry to Hindu religiousplaces. He said that such acts are "unforgivable".

Though Singh did not take names, his com-ments come close on the heels of a SupremeCourt-appointed Special Investigation Team(SIT) probing allegations of rape levelled againstBJP leader Swami Chinmayanand by a law stu-dent in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress said a criminal should bepenalised on the basis of the crime committedand should not be judged by the clothes wornor the religion followed.

"We heard about the comment. I don't knowin what context it was made. But, the partythinks that criminals do not get affected by therobes they don. Criminals are independent ofwhat they wear, what their beliefs are." "A crim-inal is a criminal and should be seen by the crimecommitted and not by the clothes worn or reli-gion one belongs to," Congress Secretary PranavJha told the reporters.

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In its bid to create awarenessacross the country on the

"positive impact" on strippingJammu & Kashmir of its auton-omy accorded to it by Article370 , the BJP has planned 10meetings of its senior leadersand Union Ministers in theState, including a large gather-ing in Srinagar, the State Capital.

The Modi-Governmenthas done away with Article 370and Article 35-A, pertaining tothe exclusive residency rights ofthe Kashmiri natives, by a voteof Parliament on August 05.

The 'Jan- Jagran Abhiyan'

(public awareness campaign)launched for the purpose wouldtake National party leaders,MPs, MLAs and Ministers todifferent parts of the countryincluding Jammu & Kashmir.

Under the programme, theparty has decided to organise370 small indoor meetings and35 big meetings, signifyingArticle 350 and Article 35 A,across the country, includingsix in Jammu and Kashmir.

BJP President Amit Shahwould lead party campaign inMumbai on September 22.Defence Minister RajnathSingh and other UnionMinisters will take part in the

party's rally on the eve ofMaharaja Hari Singh's 125thbirthday on Sunday at Jammu.

Besides the general public,these meetings will target opin-ion-makers and influential per-sonalities from different walksof life. Two meetings have beenheld in Udhampur and Kathuain Jammu & Kashmir and goingby the response, it has beendecided to organise four moresuch meetings, party leaderssaid. Union Minister JitendraSingh had addressed the meet-ings in Kathua and Udhampur,the source said, adding thatthree more meetings are sched-uled for this month.

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The Agriculture Ministryhopes to get the Parliament's

nod to two long-pending Billson pesticide management andseeds in the next session. ThePesticide Management Bill thatwill replace the InsecticidesAct, 1968 seeks to regulate the

pesticide sector by fixing pricesand setting up of a regulatoryauthority while the Seeds Bill,which will replace the Seeds Act1966, seeks to regulate the pro-duction, distribution and sale ofseeds. The Bill was put on holdin 2015 after it drew flak onenabling provision for geneti-cally modified crops.

Minister of State forAgriculture Parshottam Rupalaon Thursday said that the gov-ernment is pursuing them veryseriously. I hope they will bepassed in the next session ofParliament. The government isconcerned about sale of spuri-ous seeds and pesticides. TheseBills aim to address this issue

as well, he said at an event. On the draft of the Pesticide

Management Bill, officials inthe agriculture ministry said,the government would consti-tute an authority which shall fixthe price at which notified pes-ticides are to be sold. Currently,there is no mechanism to reg-ulate the pricing and farmers

are at the mercy of companies.The new law will be in line withthe international norms beingpractised by global leaders.

As per the proposed law,pesticide companies will haveto pay a huge penalty of Rs25,000 to Rs 50 lakh - up to awhopping 70 times than theexisting provision of Rs 500-

Page 6: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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Nashik: In a jibe without nam-ing ally Shiv Sena, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday said the SupremeCourt is hearing the RamMandir case and asked "someloudmouths" to refrain frommaking statements on the issue.

"I am amazed at the 'bayanbahadurs and badbole' (loud-mouths) on the Ram Mandirissue. Every one in the countryrespects the Supreme Court.The apex court is hearing thecase. I want to tell these peoplewith folded hands to have faithin the judicial system," Modisaid at a rally here.

Shiv Sena has beendemanding construction of theRam temple and asking theModi Government to take stepsin that direction like it did onArticle 370 in Jammu &Kashmir.

Sena chief UddhavThackeray on Mondaydemanded that the Centre takea "courageous decision" tobring in a law to build a RamTemple in Ayodhya.

"It has been our demandfrom last year that a special lawmust be brought in and Ram

Mandir should be built... Theissue has been going on since1992. How many years shouldwe wait? We are hearing thatthe issue is in the final stages inthe court. We appeal to thecourts to give it decision on theissue.

"However, beyond that weexpect that Centre should notwait for court order and use itpowers. The Centre took acourageous step in abrogatingArticle 370. It is out request thatthe Centre would do the samefor Ram Mandir issue," theSena chief had told reportershere.

Modi said the first 100-daytenure in his second innings asthe PM focussed on promise,performance and delivery."There is a push for develop-

ment, a message of India'sglobal power, welfare of peopleand efforts for employmentopportunities," he said.

"�20,000 crore were put infarmers' accounts so far out ofwhich �1,500 crore was inaccounts of farmers inMaharashtra," he said.

Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis thanked Modi forthe trust reposed in him in2014 when he was made theCM.

On the MahajanadeshYatra undertaken by him toreach out to masses ahead ofthe Assembly polls, Fadnavissaid, "In the yatra, I have putforward my report card to thepeople. There is no corruptionallegation (against me) in thelast five years. PTI

Kottayam (Ker): TheSabarimala women's entry issue,a major plank of Oppositionparties during the Lok sabhaelection, is back in focus with theCongress and BJP raising it totarget the ruling LDF in thecampaign for the byelection tocoming Pala Assembly con-stituency.

The two Opposition partiesaccused the LDF Government ofimplementing the SupremeCourt verdict permittingwomen in menstrual age tooffer prayers at the LordAyyappa temple in Sabarimalain a "hurried manner".

The September 23 bypoll inPala is considered an acid test-for the Left which faced humil-iating defeat in the Lok Sabhapolls with the Congress-ledUDF sweeping 19 of the 20 seats.

Syrian Catholic communi-ty and Hindus account for mostof the electorate in the segment,where the by-poll has beennecessitated by the demise of

KC(M) founder leader and for-mer Finance Minister KM Manion April 9.

Senior Congress leader A KAntony, campaigning for UDFcandidate Jose Tom Pulikkunnelon Wednesday, alleged ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan turnedSabarimala "a battle ground" inthe guise of implementing theapex court verdict.

"The Chief Minister dis-played his arrogance inSabarimala and his immatureactions turned it a battleground,"

the former union ministeralleged.

He challenged Vijayan todeclare his current stand on theissue in the wake of his partyadmitting its mistake in han-dling the women entry issue.

Vijayan, currently touringthe constituency campaigningfor LDF candidate Mani CKappen, did not respond toAntony's allegations.

But his ministerial colleagueand senior CPI(M) leader MMMani attacked Antony, accusing

him of speaking in the tune ofthe BJP.

Mani on Thursday alleged itwas the Congress and the BJPwhich turned Sabarimala a bat-tle ground during the pilgrimseason last year.

Targeting BJP also on theissue, Antony has asked whetherthe ruling party at the Centrewas ready to protect the faith ofLord Ayyappa devotees aspromised by it during theParliament elections and bringan ordinance.

Responding to Antony'sposer, BJP leader and UnionMinister V Muraleedharan saidthe BJP will fulfil the pollpromise made by the party in itsmanifesto on Sabarimala.

Talking to reporters in Palaon Thursday, the Minister ofState for External Affairs, saidthe pleas seeking a review of theSupreme Court verdict, liftingthe traditional ban on entry ofwomen in the age group of 10-50 into the temple, was currently

under the consideration of theSupreme Court.

Similarly, theRamajanmabhoomi-BabriMasjid issue is also being heardby the apex court,Muraleedhahran, who is in Palato campaign for BJP candidateN Hari, said.

"Let us wait for the courtverdict...The promise we havemade in our manifesto will beimplemented," he said.

In its Lok Sabha poll man-ifesto, the BJP has said its gov-ernment would make everyeffort to ensure that the subjectof faith, tradition and worshiprituals related to Sabarimalawere adhered to.

A five-judge Constitutionbench of the Supreme Court onSeptember 28 last year by a 4:1verdict allowed entry of womenin Sabrimala temple, says ban-ning their entry into the shrinewas gender discrimination andthe practice violates rights ofHindu women. PTI

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Mumbai: Latching ontoPrime Minister NarendraModi's remark that "someloudmouths" should have faithin the Supreme Court over theRam temple issue, the NCP onThursday hoped he will stickto his words and respect ver-dict the court will deliver onthe sensitive matter.

NCP chief spokespersonNawab Malik said his partyhas always been of the viewthat the apex court's verdict inthe Ram Janmabhoomi-BabriMasjid land dispute mattershould be respected andaccepted by all.

Addressing a rally inNashik, around 200km fromhere, on Thursday, Modi,without naming BJP's ally,the Shiv Sena, said the courtis hearing the temple caseand asked "some loudmouths"to refrain from making state-ments on the issue.

"I am amazed at the 'bayanbahadurs and badbole' (loud-mouths) on the Ram Mandirissue. Everyone in the coun-try respects the SupremeCourt. The apex court is hear-ing the case. I want to tellthese people with foldedhands to have faith in the judi-cial system," the prime min-ister said.

Reacting to the PM'sremarks, Malik said, "We arealso saying that the SC's deci-sion should be respected andaccepted. Hope the primeminister will stick to his wordsand implement and respectthe decision the SupremeCourt will give."

Sena chief UddhavThackeray on Mondaydemanded that the Centretake a "courageous decision"to bring in a law to build aRam temple at the disputedsite in Ayodhya in UttarPradesh.

The SC on Wednesdaysaid parties to the Ayodhyaland dispute case can amica-bly resolve the matter throughmediation if they want to andadded it wants day-to-dayhearings in the case to be con-cluded by October 18. PTI

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presented by a descendant ofShivaji Maharaj, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday targeted NCP chiefSharad Pawar over the latter'sremarks on Pakistan.

Launching the BJP's cam-paign for next month'sAssembly elections inMaharashtra, Modi also saidthe State suffered due to polit-ical instability in the past andlauded Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis for pro-viding a "stable Government" inthe last five years, despite BJPnot having a complete major-ity on its own.

On the decision of revok-ing provisions of Article 370 inJammu & Kashmir, Modi saidthis was the wish of 130 croreIndians.

"The decision has beentaken to save the Kashmirisfrom the cycle of violence, ter-ror and separatism. They suf-fered for 40 years due to Delhi's(previous Congress-ledGovernments) wrong policiesand 42,000 people were killed,"he said.

Instead of supporting theGovernment on the decisiontaken in national interest,Opposition leaders are makingcomments for their selfishpolitical interests, Modi said.

"When the country is unit-ed over the decision on

Kashmir, Congress and NCPleaders have not cooperated,"he said.

Without naming RahulGandhi, Modi said theCongress leaders are makingcomments which are beingused by other countries andterror outfits against India.

"I can understand the con-fusion of the Congress. ButSharad Pawar? I feel bad whenan experienced leader like him

makes wrong statements forvotes. He said he likes theneighbouring country. Butevery one knows where the ter-ror factory is," Modi said.

Addressing a rally here aspart of the conclusion of the'Mahajanadesh Yatra' under-taken by Fadnavis to reach outto masses ahead of the Assemblypolls, Modi said Maharashtrahad not progressed as it shouldhave. PTI

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Mumbai: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi distortedNCP chief Sharad Pawar'scomments about Pakistan,the party said on Thursday.

Modi should either provethat Pawar praised the rulersof the neighbouring countryor apologise, NationalistCongress Party spokespersonNawab Malik said here.

Hours before, Modi,addressing a rally in Nashik inMaharashtra, targeted Pawar.

Alleging that Congressleaders' comments were beingused by other countries andterror outfits against India,Modi said, "I can understandthe confusion of the Congress.But Sharad Pawar? I feel bad

when an experienced leaderlike him makes wrong state-ments for votes.

"He said he likes theneighbouring country. Buteveryone knows where theterror factory is," the PMsaid.

Hitting back, Malik saidthat Modi twisted Pawar'sremark.

"Modi has shown that thecountry's Prime Minister canbe a liar. He said Pawar likesthe rulers of Pakistan. ButPawar had clearly said in hisspeech that the rulers, armyofficers in Pakistan are anti-India, but the people there arenot anti-India," Malik toldreporters. PTI

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Nashik: Accusing the UPAGovernment of not being seri-ous on national security, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday said the Congress-ledregime had in 2009 ignored thedemand of 1.86 lakh bulletproof jackets for security per-sonnel.

In the BJP-led regime, notonly have the requirements ofour forces been met but bul-letproof jackets made in Indiaare now being exported to 100countries, Modi said.

Addressing a public rallyhere, Modi said, "Today, we aremanufacturing our own bul-letproof jackets and these jack-ets made in India are nowbeing exported to over 100countries."

"Two mighty helicoptershave recently been inducted.Very soon the Rafale fighter jets

will join the IAF. We have takenthe long pending decision tohave a chief of defence staff forbetter co-ordination betweenthe three forces," he said.

The attitude of the previous(Congress-led) Governmentwas never good when it cameto security preparedness andthis has to be rememberedagain and again, Modi said.

"In 2009, a demand for1.86 lakh bulletproof jacketswas made. Till 2014, ourjawans were fighting on theborders without bulletproofjackets. Time passed and theCongress Government sup-ported by NCP never paidattention to this demand. Butwhen the BJP-led NDA cameto power, we revived theprocess and made sure that thejackets are manufactured inIndia," he said. PTI

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Srinagar: Incidents of miscre-ants threatening shopkeepersand vandalising private vehicleshave been reported from manyplaces in Kashmir Valley wherenormal life remained disruptedfor the 46th day on Thursdayfollowing abrogation of Article370, officials said.

They said private cars havecome under stone-pelting atmany places as the miscreantswant to enforce shutdown.

Authorities have taken noteof these incidents and follow upaction has been taken, the offi-cials added.

Markets remained closed inthe Valley and public transportoff the roads, they said.

They said some of the shopsopen for few hours early in the

morning and late in the evening,but remain shut during the day.

Public transport was off theroads, but private cars wereplying in many areas of the cityand elsewhere in the valley,they said.

Few autorickshaws andinter-district cabs were also seenplying in some areas in civil linesof the city, they added.

The officials said Internetservices remained suspendedacross all platforms.

While landlines across thevalley were functional, voicecalls on mobile devices wereworking only in Kupwara andHandwara police districts ofnorth Kashmir, they added.

The efforts of the state gov-ernment to open schools have

not borne any fruit as parentscontinued to keep children athome due to apprehensionsabout their safety.

Most areas of the valleywere restrictions-free, but thedeployment of security forcescontinued on the ground tomaintain law and order, the offi-cials said.

Restrictions were firstimposed across Kashmir onAugust 5 when the Centreannounced its decision to abro-gate Article 370 of theConstitution and bifurcate thestate into two Union territories.The restrictions were lifted inphases from many parts of thevalley as the situation improvedwith the passage of time.

Authorities have beenimposing restrictions in vulner-able areas of the valley everyFriday, apprehending that vestedinterests might exploit the largegatherings at big mosques andshrines to fuel protests. PTI

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Several kilometre long ‘wall ofdefence’ (protective sand

bundh) being constructed by theBorder Security Force (BSF)between forward villages ofSamba and Kathua, to plug the'active' infiltration routes alongthe International border acrossJammu frontier, is giving sleep-less nights to Pakistani Rangerson the other side of the border.

As the work on the ambi-tious project was gatheringmomentum and taking shape,perturbed Pakistani Rangersdecided to target the workersengaged in the constructionwork on the Indian side of theborder fence.

So far, no loss of life andproperty has been reportedfrom any where in the region.

To instil confidence amongthe local residents in the area,Deputy Commissioner, KathuaDr Raghav Langer on Thursdayvisited Manyari village alongwith the team of seniorGovernment officials and tookstock of the ground realities.

He directed the executingagencies, engaged in the task ofbunker construction, to expeditework on 'war footing' and installmotors to clear the water loggingfrom inside completed bunkers.

Senior BSF officials ofJammu frontier also visited theforward border outposts in thearea to review the ground situ-ation. Deputy Commissionerdirected the police officers to sta-tion bullet proof mobile bunkersin the area to safely evacuatelocal residents in case of any exi-gency. Local villagers alsoappealed to the senior officers toensure safety and security of bor-der residents in case of freshescalation in the coming days.Deputy Commissioner assuredthem that the entire districtadministration has been sani-tised and activated to respond tothe emerging situation in the

border areas.Senior BSF officers on their

part claimed repeated attemptswere being made, for last threedays, by the Pakistani rangers toescalate the tensions along theInternational border as well inthe run up to the UnitedNational General AssemblySession.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Pakistani coun-terpart Imran Khan are sched-uled to address the world lead-ers on September 27.

Apparently, the recent inci-dents of 'unprovoked' ceasefireviolations by the Pakistanirangers in Hiranagar sector isalso seen as a direct fall out ofthe progress made to execute theproject on ground zero.

According to BSF authori-ties, the area which is being cov-ered under the 'protectivebundh' is often used by the infil-trators in the past to sneakinside the Indian territorypreferably via water bodies andrivulets in the area.

The same route, accordingto NIA report submitted to theUnion Home Minister inOctober 2018, was exploited bythe over ground workers of thePakistani based terror outfits tosmuggle arms and ammuni-tion along with small batches ofinfiltrators via road link toKashmir valley.

A local villager who attend-ed the meeting with the seniorofficers said, "the protectivebundh is being constructedinside the Indian territory, wellshort of barbed wire fencingclose to the International border,even then the Pakistani rangersare trying to provoke BSFauthorities to retaliate stronglyand not allowing them to livepeacefully in the area". The vil-lagers claimed they were livingunder constant fear of fresh esca-lation in the area and demand-ed safety of their live stock andhomes and hearths.

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Ahmedabad: Five members ofa family died of suffocationinside a well where sewage col-lected in Patan district of Gujarat,the police said on Thursday.

The incident took place atGujarvada village in Sami tehsiltwo days ago. The StateGovernment announced a com-pensation of Rs 4 lakh each forthe surviving members of thefamily. The deceased were iden-tified as Ranjanaben Sindhav(40), Ratabhai Sindhav (58),Ratabhai Nadoda (58), RajabhaiSindhav (65) and AjabhaiSindhav (45). Ranjanaben fellinto the well — which wasbeing used as a kind of septictank — when she accidentallystepped on its brick cover on theevening of September 17, apolice official said. PTI

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The Congress on Thursdayaccused the Yogi Adityanath

Government of supporting rapeaccused former Minister SwamiChinmayanand and questionedthe "silence" of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and seniorwomen leaders of the rulingparty on the absence of anyaction against him.

Congress leader andGeneral Secretary of UPPriyanka Gandhi Vadraslammed the BJP Governmentand the police in Uttar Pradeshsaying they were repeating the"negligence" shown and "pro-tection" given to the accused inthe Unnao rape case.

Her allegations came a dayafter the student, who has lev-elled rape charges against for-mer Union Minister SwamiChinmayanand, threatened toset herself on fire if the BJPleader was not arrested imme-diately. The student also askedif the Government was waitingfor her to die even after herstatement was recorded beforea magistrate.

Congress alleged by takingno action against the accused inthe rape case it has become clearthat the BJP is standing withChinmayananda and is notinclined to provide justice to thevictim, who has come out in theopen with details of the crime.

"This is a very serious issue.

It has become very clear that thisGovernment has a very non-serious approach to tackleincreasing crime againstwomen. The Government has acompletely blind eye towardscrime against women and theyare instead protecting theirleaders," she told reporters, ask-ing whether this case will alsogo the way the Unnao rape casehas gone," said Congressspokesperson SharmisthaMukherjee.

Mukherjee said Modi gov-ernment is talking about 'BetiBachao, Beti Padhao' on onehand, while on the other handit is "busy protecting thosecommitting crimes againstwomen".

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The Election Commission(EC) has appointed 110

IRS (Indian Revenue Service)officers of the Income Taxdepartment as expenditureobservers for the forthcomingAssembly polls in Maharashtraand Haryana.

According to the EC, theobservers will be tasked withchecking the use of blackmoney and other illegalinducements during the elec-tion process in these two states.These officials have been calledfor their first briefing by the ECon September 23. Haryana has90 Assembly seats and

Maharashtra has 288. The EC has asked the

Central Board ofDirect Taxes(CBDT) to relievethe officers fromtheir charge so that they can beput on poll duty, the sourcessaid. The CBDT is the policy-making body for the taxdepartment.

These officers of the IndianRevenue Service (IRS) will bedeployed in various Assemblyconstituencies of the two statesas part of the EC's overallmechanism to ensure a level-playing field for the candi-dates and voters, the sourcessaid. They will ensure that

stringent and effective enforce-ment action is undertaken

based on intelli-gence inputs andc o m p l a i n t sreceived through

C-Vigil app and voter helplineagainst those who are trying toinduce voters by distributingcash and liquor among othersto vitiate the poll process.

The EC has also directedthe CBDT to ensure that itsinvestigation wings in thesepoll-bound states, adjoiningstates and that in Delhi be pre-pared to deploy extra mea-sures to check physical andelectronic movement of sus-pected funds.

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Mangaluru: A case has beenregistered against three peopleincluding a Bajrang Dal leaderon charges of delivering a“communally provocative”speech during a function atPuttur last month.

The case was registeredagainst the trio following acomplaint from a member ofPuttur town committee ofPopular Front of India (PFI).

The complainant allegedthat the Bajrang Dal leader inhis speech had said that noteven a small piece of land

would be provided for Muslimsto offer namaz in the countryif they failed to chant 'BharatMatha Ki Jai' and 'Jai SreeRam.' Such a statement hasbeen made in order to incitecommunal passions, heclaimed. PTI

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Page 7: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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In a major security lapse,Union Minister Babul Supriyo

was on Thursday heckled,pushed and clawed by studentsof Left wing parties protestingagainst his attending of a sem-inar organised by the rightwing students' groups includingthe Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad at Jadavpur University.

While Vice-ChancellorSuranjan Das refused to call inpolice, a helpless police forcestood as mute spectators for thewant of "instructions fromabove" leaving Supriyo to hisfate and protective hands of afew CRPF personnel who hada trying time to shield him froman aggressive crowd of severalhundred slogan-shouting stu-dents.

The V-C showing his inabil-ity to call police on moralgrounds and offered to resigninstead took shelter in the hos-pital bed along with his pro-ViceChancellor PK Ghosh.

Even as the melee contin-ued for more than five hours,Governor Jagdeep Dhankar had

to intervene by rushing into theuniversity campus where hetoo was blocked for a good onehour even as he tried to rescuethe Minister.

And it took some instanttact of DCP Praveen Tripathiwho managed to hoodwink thestudents and get the Governorand the Minister out of themess. Just as the drama threat-ened to continue overnight theconvoy of the Governor whohad by that time pulled Supriyoinside his car turned back andsped away taking advantage ofan un-blockaded rear.

This even as a large numberof ABVP and Durga Vahini sup-porters armed with rods andbamboos raided — JU premis-es ranked amongst one of thefive best universities of thecountry, academically --- and

smashed the students' union,ransacked the interiors andtorched things including com-puters, bycycles posters, andalmirahs.

While the Left studentsgheraoed the Minister some ofthem pulling by his hair andeven slapping him, demandedapology from Supriyo for abus-ing them and threatening themwith dire consequences forshouting "go back slogan" andshowing black flags the singer-turned politician shouted "if youwill not achieve anything by thisundemocratic show.

If you want to be a decentpolitician then follow yourleader BuddhadebBhattacharjee."

He later alleged "they beatme, kicked me, scratched me …but for that I won't say scream.

Rather I will demand thesestudents to be criminallybooked or and rusticated."

Even as a furious Governorpersonally called up ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee andChief Secretary Maloy Deycommunicating his concern forSupriyo, a Press release issued bythe Raj Bhavan, faulted theState for falling law and ordersituation.

If that alleged unlawfuldetention and assault on theUnion Minister was a seriousreflection of the law and orderof the State and on the conductof the law enforcing agencies.

The drama that continuedfor more than five hours start-ed earlier on Thursday noonwhen Suypriyo, accompanied bydesigner-turned-BJP leaderAgnimitra Paul entered theUniversity campus to address aseminar.

While swarms of Left stu-dents shouted "go back" sloganshe entered into heated argu-ments with them provokingthe students to reply back inequal measure. One of themcomplained "he not only abusedus but also threatened us withdire consequences saying 'I canteach you all lessons within twodays. There was no need for himto react to such slogans and sim-ply gone ahead with his pro-gramme because such slogansare a regular affair Jadavpur."

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation on Thursday

compared senior IPS officerand former Kolkata PoliceCommissioner Rajiv Kumarwith international terroristDawood Ibrahim in theAlipore Court saying Kumar,the present Additional DirectorGeneral of CID, was hidingfrom the Agency like thePakistan-based don.

The CBI lawyers were argu-ing in the court to seek a non-bailable warrant against Kumar.

When the Court asked asto why they were seeking war-rant when they had enoughpower to arrest him the CBIcounsels said “he is fleeing likeDawood Ibrahim and the StateGovernment is not sharingany information about himwith the CBI.”

Even as the Court reservedits order for a subsequent day in

a daylong Hindi film-like dramathe CBI sleuths ran from oneplace to another in search of theformer Kolkata top cop — him-self one of the best cyber crimeinvestigators in the country.

The CBI vainly searchedhim in the IPS quarters, the IPSofficers’ mess and even insidethe kitchen of a renownedSouth Kolkata hotel enteringmost of these premises frombackdoors.

Finally the Agency sleuthssent yet another notice to thetop officer’s official address ask-ing him to report for interro-gation on Friday.

Kumar has been evadingthe investigation since Fridaywhen the Calcutta High Courtwithdrew protection from arrestgranted to him in the case.

CBI wants to quiz Kumarregarding his role as the chief ofthe Special Investigation Teamin the multi-crore Sharada chitfund case in 2013 before theSupreme Court handed over thecase to the CBI upon allegationsof wayward investigation.

The central probe agencyalso sent a letter to West BengalDirector General of Police(DGP) Virendra, seeking hisactive contact number.

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As party chief MK Stalincalled off the proposed agi-

tation against ‘imposition ofHindi’ late on Wednesday fol-lowing an assurance fromGovernor Banwarilal Purohitthat there won’t be any suchmove from the Centre, thefacade of unity in the Oppositionfront has started disappearing.

Stalin, who had a meetingwith the Governor, told jour-nalists that Purohit told him thatHome Minister Amit Shah’sspeech has been misquoted andmisunderstood. “Since theGovernor told us that the HomeMinister’s speech had been mis-quoted , we thought it better notto go ahead with the agitation,”said Stalin. As per the earlierplan, the DMK and allies wereto hold Statewide demonstra-tions all over Tamil Nadu onFriday against the move by theCentre to impose Hindi. TheCongress, a trusted ally of theDMK, went one step ahead anddeclared that the party cadre

would show black flags againstAmit Shah when he visits theState next time. But VCK, anoth-er alliance partner of the DMK,expressed the party’s reserva-tions over the move by Stalin tocall off the agitation. “We standby our decision to agitate againstthe communal Government atthe Centre,” said TholThirumavalavan, MP andfounder of the party. This roundof agitation has fizzled out as theDMK has understood the follybehind wasting time andresources over such issues, saidGovindarajan Satyamurty, polit-ical commentator based inCoimbatore. “All parties exceptthe AIADMK and the DMK arenon-entities in the State,” he said.

A senior Congress leaderhad told The Pioneer onWednesday itself that agitationagainst Hindi would be matterof past in a few days time.” Doyou think the Congress woulddare to show black flags atAmit Shah if the DMK is notaround to help them,” asked theleader who did not want thename to be quoted.

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Pakistan Army on Thursdaynight initiated 'unprovoked'

ceasefire violation along theLine of Control in Shahpur andKerni sectors of Poonch.

Defence PRO in Jammusaid, "at around 8.00 pmPakistan Army initiated freshceasefire violation by firing ofsmall arms & shelling withMortars in Shahpur & Kernisectors, of district Poonch".Indian Army is retaliatingbefittingly, he added.

Several civilian areas werealso targeted by the Pakistanarmy during intense shelling inthe forward area.

��*������������&��������(������� �����Mumbai: The Aarey area, at the

centre of a raging protest overfelling of trees for a Mumbaimetro depot, cannot be given aforest tag "just because it hasgreenery", the Maharashtra gov-ernment told the Bombay HighCourt on Thursday.

Government counselsAshutosh Kumbhakoni and AnilSakhare made this submissionwhile seeking dismissal of a peti-tion filed by an NGO namedVanshakti, which demandedthat the Aarey area in suburbanGoregaon be declared a forestand an ecologically-sensitivezone.

Activists are opposing theproposed felling of over 2,600trees in Aarey to make way forthe metro car shed and demand-ing relocation of the depot,which is part of the Metro IIIproject.

"Aarey cannot be declaredas forest just because there is

greenery there. Aarey wasformed in the past as a milkcolony and to keep cattle andhorse stables," Sakhare told adivision bench of Chief JusticePradeep Nandrajog and JusticeBharati Dangre.

Kumbhakoni told the courtthat another bench of the highcourt had in October last yeardismissed a similar petitionfiled by an activist, ZoruBathena, seeking forest tag forAarey.

In the petition, Bathenahad challenged the proposedconstruction of a Metro car

shed at Aarey. "The high courtbench, while rejecting that peti-tion, noted that it was erroneousto term Aarey a forest,"Kumbhakoni said.

An appeal against this orderof the high court has been filedin the Supreme Court, where itis pending hearing, the govern-ment counsel said.

"Let the apex court decidethe issue now. The high courthas already given its verdict.When the matter has beenalready heard and concluded bythe high court, it need not beentertained again," Kumbhakoniargued.

On a query made by thecourt earlier on whether the pro-posed Metro car shed could beconstructed in suburbanKanjurmarg instead of Aarey,Kumbhakoni said the land beingtalked about was not availablefor the project due to "technicalreasons".

Another government coun-sel, Shrihari Aney, told the courtthat even assuming the land atKanjurmarg was available, itwould "not be possible" to con-struct the proposed Metro carshed there.

"The said car shed is for theMetro III line connecting Colabain south Mumbai to Seepz in thewestern suburbs," Aney said."Hence, the car shed needs to bein Aarey. It is not feasible to havethe car shed at Kanjurmargwhich is located kilometers away(from Aarey)."

The Aarey colony, measur-ing 1,287 hectares and locatedadjoining the Sanjay GandhiNational Park, is known as amajor green lung of the metrop-olis.

Several Bollywood person-alities and politicians have alsoextended their support to theactivists protesting against thefeeling of trees in Aarey. PTI

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Mumbai: Armed with bannersand placards, a group of studentsfrom schools and colleges onThursday staged a protest out-side megastar AmitabhBachchan's residence here overhis tweet supporting theMumbai Metro project.

As many as 22 studentswere detained when they squat-ted on a road near Bachchan'sbungalow in suburban Juhuand engaged in slogan shouting,police said.

The 76-year-old Bollywoodicon, himself a face of severalenvironmental campaigns, isfacing flak from certain quartersfor coming out in support of theMetro project. His stand has not

gone down well with activistsopposing the proposed felling ofover 2,600 trees in Aarey Colony,a green belt, to make way for aMetro car shed.

Earlier on Tuesday,Bachchan in a tweet said, "Friendof mine had a medical emer-

gency, decided to take METROinstead of his car...Came back very impressed..Said was faster, convenient and most efficient..Solution for Pollution..Grow more trees..I did in my garden..Have you." PTI

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Srinagar: Statements mobilisingpeople against the state and the"tremendous potential" to createpublic disorder in the Valley areamong the charges listed againstformer Jammu & Kashmir chiefminister Farooq Abdullah, whohas been booked under thePublic Safety Act.

The 81-year-old Lok SabhaMP from Srinagar, under deten-tion since August 5 when theCentre revoked the state's spe-cial status, has also been accusedof making speeches glorifyingterrorists and separatists.

The PSA order againstAbdullah, accessed by PTI, cites

seven instances from 2016onwards when he spoke infavour of the separatist HurriyatConference and terror groups.

Abdullah, the first chiefminister to be booked under thestringent PSA, was arrested onMonday under the PSA and hisGupkar Road residence declareda jail.

The National Conferencechairman and three-term ChiefMinister has been booked underthe 'public order' provision of thePSA under which a person canbe kept in jail from three to sixmonths without a trial, officialssaid. On repealing of Article 370

and 35-A of the Constitution,which provided special status forpeople of the state on jobs andresidency, the PSA order accus-es Abdullah of issuing state-ments aimed at mobilising peo-ple against the State.

It says he could have debat-ed the issue rather than threat-en the integrity of the countryand glorify militancy.

The order also accuses himof propagating "secessionist ide-ology" besides posing a threat tolife and liberty of the people.

Abdullah, the order states,"has tremendous potential forcreating an environment of pub-

lic disorder within the district(Srinagar) and other parts of theValley". It accuses him of beinga person seen as fanning theemotions of general massesagainst the country.

The order, which states thatAbdullah's residence "G-40Gupkar Road" has been declareda subsidiary jail, has also beenaccused by the state adminis-tration of issuing statements inconflict with law that wereaimed disturbing public order.

The PSA has two sections -- 'public order' and 'threat tosecurity of the state'. The formerallows detention without trial for

three to six months and the lat-ter for two years.

The PSA is applicable onlyin Jammu & Kashmir.Elsewhere in the country, theequivalent law is the NationalSecurity Act (NSA).

Separatists and Abdullah'spolitical opponents in theValley have termed him avehement supporter of state'saccession with India.

He was also criticised lastyear for raising the slogan,'Bharat Mata ki Jai', during acondolence meeting for for-mer Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee. PTI

Patna: Despite its best efforts,the police has not been able tocurb mob lynching incidents inthe state.

According to data provid-ed by the police headquarters,14 people have been beaten todeath, while 45 people havebeen injured in mob lynchingincidents during the last twoand a half months. During thistime 39 incidents of moblynching were registered inthe state.

Bihar police headquartersis conducting awareness cam-paigns regarding such inci-dents in sensitive areas. Seniorpolice officials have acknowl-edged that there have been noincidents of child abductionbut people take to mob lynch-ing due to rumours. However,the police are sensitising peo-ple about such incidents alongwith giving a stern warning tothose involved in the lynch-ings.

Rumours about childabduction have increased somuch that parents are now ina panic.

Locals in MadipurChitragupta Nagar inMuzaffarpur thrashed twowomen on suspicion of child

abduction. By the time policereached the spot and savedthem from the crowd, they hadboth suffered severe injuries.

A similar incident tookplace in Samastipur district,where a mentally disabledwoman was beaten up on sim-ilar suspicion by a crowd.Some people from the crowditself saved her from the mob.

Such cases have beenreported from Patna as well asother areas of the state.

A man, identified asShatrughan Sinha, a resident ofSitamarhi, was beaten to deathon September 9 in WestChamparan district.

On September 8, a 22-year-old man was beaten todeath following rumours ofchild lifting.

Police has registered FIRsagainst 348 named accusedand 4,000 unidentified per-sons.

"Police is taking strictaction against those involved inmob lynching incidents. Weidentify the accused from thevideo footage of the incidentsand take action against them,"said Additional DirectorGeneral (police headquarters)Jitendra Kumar. IANS

Mumbai: The MaharashtraGovernment and the BMC can-not treat project-affected peopleas "guinea pigs" and make themstay in heavily polluted suburbanMahul on the assurance that airquality in the area may improvein the coming years, the BombayHigh Court said on Thursday.

A division bench of ChiefJustice Pradeep Nandrajog andJustice Bharati Dangre made thestrong observation while hear-ing the applications of a groupof people displaced following thedemolition of their "illegal"houses.

The bench noted that thepollution situation has notimproved in Mahul since 2015.

Some 15,000 families weredisplaced after their "unautho-rised" houses near the Tansapipeline were ordered to bedemolished by the high court.

The HC had, while direct-ing for the demolition, saidencroachments on the Tansawater pipeline posed a risk to thelives of lakhs of residents if anyuntoward incident were to occur.The Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) had shift-

ed the displaced people to ahousing colony in Mahul, apolluted area that is home torefineries and chemical units.However, several familiesrefused to move to Mahul,claiming that the air qualitythere was very poor and posedhealth risks.

The applications beingheard by the bench were filed bysuch families. The court hadthen asked the BMC to providealternate accommodation tothose persons or pay them rentso that they can themselvesfind a place to stay.

The bench on Thursday,after perusing a chart of stud-ies carried out by variousexpert bodies on the air qual-ity in Mahul, noted that the sit-uation has not improved in therecent past. "The situation doesnot appear to be very rosy.From 2015 till now, expertbodies have been monitoringbut the air quality has notimproved. "In such a situation,can we make these persons staythere? You cannot treat themas guinea pigs," Chief JusticeNandrajog said. PTI

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Page 8: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

It’s almost been two months since PrimeMinister Narendra Modi upset thePakistani applecart by amending Article370 of the Constitution and dividing theerstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir

(J&K) into two Union Territories. To suggestthat the Pakistani leadership has gone ballis-tic, as it finds itself scrambling to come up witha coherent policy to counter Modi’s initiative,would be an understatement. Of course, with-in the Valley, stringent security measures thathave been in place since August 5, have notjust prevented any display of collective angerbut have also made it extremely difficult toassess how the average Kashmiri will respondonce restrictions are lifted.

There is little doubt that the biggestimpediment to the integration of the State intothe Indian Union has been Article 370, whichcame into effect on January 26, 1950, whenthe Constituent Assembly approved and pro-mulgated the Constitution. In effect, theArticle kept the question of J&K joining theUnion of India ambivalent. This despite thefact that the Maharaja of J&K had signed theDocument of Accession unconditionallyand had willingly accepted the State’s integra-tion into the Indian Union, as was his rightto do. This ambivalence, along with the man-ner in which the Central and StateGovernments have acted over the years, hasconfused and strained the loyalties ofKashmiris towards the country.

The irony is that while Pakistan is nowobjecting to the abrogation of Article 370 andcalling it illegal, its position on this issue wasdiametrically opposite in 1951. This can beinferred from the Pakistan Government’s let-ters No S/2119 and S/2145, addressed to thepresident of the United Nations SecurityCouncil (UNSC), which though not availablein the public domain, implies just that. Thestatement of the then UNSC President to theSecurity Council made at that time read:“Members of the Security Council, at its 548thmeeting held on May 29, 1951, have heardwith satisfaction the assurances of the repre-sentative of India that any ConstituentAssembly that may be established in Srinagaris not intended to prejudice the issues beforethe Security Council or come in its way. Onthe other hand, the two communications tome, as President of the Council, from the rep-resentatives of Pakistan, set forth in docu-ments S/2119 and S/2145, contain reportswhich, if they are correct, indicate that stepsare being taken by the Yuvaraja of J&K to con-voke a Constituent Assembly, one functionof which, according to Sheikh Abdullah,would be ‘a decision on the further shape andaffiliation poof Kashmir’. It is the sense of theSecurity Council that these reports, if correct,would involve procedures which are in con-flict with the commitments of the parties todetermine the future accession of the State bya fair and impartial plebiscite conducted underUnited Nations auspices.”

If the contents of the letters do confirmwhat is suggested, then Pakistan must certain-ly be asked to justify the change in its stance.

What this will prove is thatPakistan’s actions are lacking inconsistency and are hypocritical,to say the least. Not that the issueof hypocrisy is in doubt given itsblatant disregard for UN resolu-tions. One may recall that bothIndia and Pakistan had acceptedthe United Nations SecurityCouncil Resolution (UNSCR)No 80 of March 14, 1950, thatcalled for plebiscite. This was con-ditional as the first step in thatprocess was the withdrawal ofPakistani forces within fivemonths. That Pakistan refused towithdraw from the territories ithad illegally occupied and con-tinues to subjugate till date is notdisputed.

Moreover, it went further inthis regard by taking unilateralsteps to cede territories to China,separated Gilgit and Baltistanadministratively from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and carriedout extensive and widespreaddemographic changes in thisregion, thus reducing theKashmiri population to a minor-ity. In these circumstances, thevalidity of the resolution is inquestion.

Not surprisingly, Pakistan isnot the only one left tongue-tiedand confused by recent events.Opposition parties back home,both at the national and Statelevel, such as the Congress andits allies along with the Left, theNational Conference, and thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP), too, found themselves ina similar predicament. Of course,one can sympathise with the

confusion within the Kashmiriparties given the fact that theirfirst-rung leadership remains indetention or “protective cus-tody”, whichever way one maylike to term it. Yet, their confu-sion appears to have been bornout of a sense of apathy, tunnelvision and a refusal to undertakeany change in status quo, despitebeing fully aware that substan-tive political steps needed to betaken if the cycle of violence wasto be broken and insurgencystamped out. Their inactionclearly showed that not only didthey accrue benefits from the“business of insurgency” butwere also apathetic to the con-sequences of their actions on thelocal population, the Army, theCRPF and local police, whocontinued to pay in blood.

The parties also ignored thefact that the BJP had included theabrogation of Articles 370 and35A in its election manifesto andthat these issues were findingincreasing prominence in thepublic discourse. Given the PrimeMinister’s track record in suchmatters during his first tenure,they cannot be fully blamed forbeing lulled into a sense of com-placency. Opposition parties havesubsequently also had to dealwith the overwhelming supportthis action received within thecountry, leaving aside some ele-ments in the Kashmir Valley, whoin any case will never be pleasedwith whatever the CentralGovernment does.

“Mainlanders”, as Indiansfrom outside the Valley are

referred to by the locals, are most-ly at a loss to understand the angstof the average Kashmiri. The airof entitlement and superioritythat pervades the Valley is utter-ly incomprehensible, given thefact that it is the taxpayers’money that has been utilised overthe decades to feed their egos andlifestyles.

Facts will speak for them-selves: With just one per cent ofIndia’s population, the Statereceived 10 per cent of all Centralgrants between 2000 and 2016. Incomparison, Uttar Pradesh, thataccommodates 13 per cent of thepopulation, received just 8.5 percent of these grants within thesame period. Not that this infu-sion of funds has done anythingfor the average Kashmiri, espe-cially when one sees that the netper capita State GDP increasedfrom approximately �40,000 toonly around �60,000 during2012-17.

In comparison, in a hill Stateof similar size, Himachal Pradesh,the per capita net GDP grewfrom �80,000 to �1,20,000 with-in the same period. Therefore, theaverage taxpayer is certainly enti-tled to ask where has all themoney gone? Who is to be heldaccountable and why wasn’t thisstep taken three decades ago, ifnot earlier? Many have expresseddoubts that the abrogation ofArticle 370 has played into thehands of the separatists. Bydestroying the credibility of theleadership of the mainline polit-ical parties within the State, it willbe the militants who will fill the

vacuum left behind. That supportwould be contingent on thebelief that the CentralGovernment will usher in demo-graphic changes that will impingeon their culture, language and theway of life.

This need not be so if theregion is given a special statusunder Article 471, as has beendone for other States likeHimachal Pradesh, Uttarakhandand some in the North-East.However, what is undeniable isthat every Kashmiri, whetherhe/she admits it or not, is fullycognisant that status quo overthese past decades has only heldthem hostage to unending vio-lence and a scramble to eke outa living. They also know that overthe years, the only ones to havebenefitted were the politicians,the separatists and those runningthe administration as they wereall complicit in ensuring thatrequired checks and balancescould be avoided.

Well, if Prime Minister Modican implement even half of whathe has promised, there is littledoubt that J&K will undergo amassive transformation for thebetter. Therefore, the choicebefore the people is crystal clear.The only thing one can no longerdo is to sit astride both boats andblame the consequences on circumstance or fate.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a consultant with theObserver Research Foundationand a Senior Visiting Fellow withThe Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

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Sir — Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathdeserves commendation fordoing away with the four-decade-old illogical practice of payingincome tax of Ministers from thepublic exchequer. One wonderswhy and how the anti-publicpolicy was adopted and why it isstill prevalent in Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Haryana,Uttarakhand and HimachalPradesh. These States must alsoabolish the practice.

At the very least, the PrimeMinister can advise the BJP-ruled States to do so and hopethat the remaining would followout of a sense of shame. Salaries,perks, privileges and post-retire-ment benefits, including pen-sion to all those in the legislature,should be taken up by the Centre,rather than leaving them at thediscretion of State Governments.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — India has done well to banthe sale of electronic cigarettes.

With 106 million adult smokers,the country ranks second only toChina in the world, making it alucrative market for companiesmaking vaping products such asUS-based Juul and Philip Morris,who manufacture the heat-not-burn tobacco device.

Essentially, the ban can cut offa huge future market from e-cig-arette makers at a time when the

number of people smokingworldwide is seeing a decline.

As expected, the Associationof Vapers India, which representse-cigarette users, attacked theGovernment’s decision, saying itwould deprive millions of smok-ers of a safer solution to cut backon smoking. They say vaping is farless harmful than smoking tobac-co. But many tobacco-control

activists are of the view that theusage of such devices could lead tonicotine addiction and push thepeople towards the consumptionof tobacco. With this ban, muchmore holistic work is needed tobring down the overall tobacco usein India. Clearly much more needsto be done for a smoke-free nation.

J Akshay Bengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Farooq, now a threat”(September 18). It is unfortunatethat former Jammu & KashmirChief Minister Farooq Abdullahwas arrested and his home turnedinto jail under the draconianPublic Safety Act, which entailsdetention of up to two years for“posing a threat to State securityand territorial integrity.” His arrestspeaks more about theGovernment than about a manwho, until now, was the face of themoderate Kashmiri.

He and his son, OmarAbdullah, may have much answer-ing to do about their record of gov-ernance in Jammu & Kashmir butnone can question their fealty tothe Constitution. It is known thatthis 82-year-old man is no threatto Indian territorial integrity orState security. It is astonishing thatthe court has accepted it withouteven questioning the Centre forusing a draconian Act against a keypolitical leader.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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There is a performance zone in which weall thrive. When handling critical projects,teams not only require resources but also

need to work in an environment free from dis-tractions and disturbances so that they canachieve their objectives. It is always the last lap,“minutes of terror” rather, that defines the dif-ference between success and failure.

A calm, sedate environment and resoluteattention to micro-details are not only requiredbut also expected. After investing so much effortin planning, if things go wrong, the team hasto take all the negative consequences in theirstride. Particularly when it is something as crit-ical as a space mission that is on the global radar,apart from being a matter of immense nation-al pride.

Something similar happened recently withthe Chandrayaan-2 mission at the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO), an institution thecountry takes immense pride in. After the spaceagency lost communication with the Vikramlander ahead of the touchdown, the visuals ontelevision sets were of bewildered and disap-pointed faces in the mission control room,which was crowded with clunky cameras andpeering eyes.

A frustrated look here, a distracted coun-tenance there, the devastation and tension waspalpable and writ large on the faces of the staff,desperately trying to make contact with theVikram during the final act. In their hearts, theywere probably also praying to be left alone todo their jobs since a complication had arisen.It was not as if they didn’t know failures, the suc-cess of their launches has come through them.And perhaps, they are best equipped to handletheir lows but not at the expense of beingpanned by the world.

The price of encroaching upon mental andphysical spaces — no matter how slightly or rev-erently — comes at the cost of the team’s opti-mal functioning. It can handicap its focus onthe crucial work at hand.

The sanctity of the operation control roomcannot be violated. No external gadgetry or per-sonnel should ever make way into the sanctumsanctorum. What if a short circuit happened dueto faulty equipment brought in? There’s alwaysthe possibility of a camera battery catching fireor some such mishap. Where would that leadus? It was surprising to see such a risky act play-ing out freely in front of our eyes in the mis-sion control room itself. The operation controlcentre is kept out of bounds to non-essentialstaff, personnel and gadgets. In the entirescheme of things, mission control rooms occu-py a highly sanitised, secure, safe and seclud-ed space, be it airports, ports or railway net-works. And here we are talking about a spacemission! Second, the world can wait. There isa difference between witnessing history and his-tory being “made.” The witnessing part can wait.Let’s first focus on making the history. Let’s getthe job done first. Successful execution shouldbe the only priority, as compared to the ritualsof receiving visitors and posing for the cameras.

There should be a provision for deferred livebroadcast of such major events once the mis-sion has been accomplished. It is not a soccermatch for the public to enjoy; it is a highly

nerve-racking scientific operationbeing played out at the far end of thegalaxy. What is the point of adding tothe pressure in an already highly-charged environment while our scien-tists are still remotely choreographingand delicately manoeuvering a spacemission in the vast expanses of outerspace?

The media circus surroundingthe coverage of the event was as usualclichéd. But what came as a new lowwas some media personnel harangu-ing the scientists to bring none otherthan the ISRO chief to face theirqueries during a press conference. Thatwas when the mission was still underway and operational issues were stillbeing sorted! It also clearly shows howthe space organisation has been leftwanting in handling their communi-cations protocols.

Barring a few exceptions, sciencejournalism died long ago in the coun-try. No wonder television channelsthought it fit to send “politicalreporters” in droves to cover this spe-cific event. The media’s wall-to-wallcoverage was as usual clichéd. The corecompetencies of our television anchorsto take on character-acting and drama-tisation with ease comes quite natural-ly to them, just like a fish takes to thewater.

It would have saved the day if themedia and invitees were only allowedafter the operations were definitivelycomplete and a recorded minute-by-minute account was relayed to them,sans nail biting suspense, which only

a handful of staff should be privilegedto access and witness first, in a stud-ied controlled environment setting. Itwould also have saved the techniciansand scientists a lot of unwanted atten-tion and pressure.

Also, in the light of the partial fail-ure of the mission and the subsequentemotional breakdown of the chief, itwould have saved ISRO a lot of embar-rassment and heartbreak too.

The presence of top bosses, be itpolitical or executive, might lift up theteam’s spirit but it can also add unduepressure and divert attention andtime. When there is a delicate andexpensive mission waiting to be exe-cuted, a few milliseconds are all thatit takes to make a difference betweensuccess and failure. Had India success-fully landed the craft, it would havebeen the fourth nation in the world toland a vessel on the Moon’s surface,and only the third to operate a robot-ic rover there. The Chandrayaan-2mission, which cost roughly $140million, was intended to study the per-manently shadowed moon craters,thought to contain water deposits, con-firmed by the Chandrayaan-1 mission11 years ago. However, that was not tobe.

Whatever the loss, national prideor monetary, let us not patronise sci-entists by thumping their backs or wip-ing their tears. They need none of that.Perhaps none other than the scientif-ic community knows it better and isaccustomed to accepting failures withgrace and humility before they hit

upon success. That this is so was veryevident from the encouraging and gra-cious responses of space scientists fromcountries, who have been part of fail-ures and successes of missions like this.It is part and parcel of their daily rou-tine and high stakes space missions.We just need to maintain a measured,respectful and dispassionate distancefrom those who are executing theirwork. It is their sole and primaryresponsibility to the nation to performand maintain the integrity of theprocess without fixating on results.Nothing should come in their way. Weshould leave them to their devices andlet their work speak eloquently.

Lastly, with such high stakes, it isalso unseemly to see a lack of well-trained professional communicationapparatus to handle such events. ISROcould have handled the media in amore nuanced manner. It is time thatcommunications become a key com-ponent for the organisation in all itsfuture endeavours.

Let us hope research organisationsdo not fall prey to or are smitten bymedia coverage but are only concernedwith delivering feats that open up thenext frontiers of science whichChandrayaan-2 was destined to do. Letus leave the scientific communityalone; they know their job and theycan deliver without falling into the trapof making everything into a televisedspectacle.

(The writer is a seasoned commu-nications professional and manage-ment consultant based in New Delhi)

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The civil services have con-tributed immensely to nation-building since India’s

Independence, yet they are criti-cised for resisting changes, stiflinginnovation and being oblivious toexternal realities. There is also agrowing perception that there’s alack of performance accountabili-ty and that misdeeds of civil ser-vants often go unpunished. Toaddress these challenges, theGovernment, in the last five years,has initiated a series of reforms thathave impacted almost all sections ofthe bureaucracy.

Keeping the sanctity of therecruitment process in the civil ser-vices is a must to ensure that fresh-ers do not develop a cynical attitude.The Government realised that per-sonality tests or interviews did notadd any value to the recruitmentprocess at the lower levels ofbureaucracy. Instead, they onlycreated a subjectivity which oftenled to corruption and nepotism.Hence, it decided to discontinuewith the interviews in the recruit-

ments for Group C and Group Bnon-gazetted posts. Many StateGovernments also followed suit.The results have been quite encour-aging as the candidates have beenpleasantly surprised for havingbeen selected on merit withoutresorting to payment of bribes orusing undue influence.

The Fundamental Rule 56-Jand All-India Death-Cum-Retirement Benefit rules providethat the Government can prema-turely retire any civil servant aftergiving three months’ notice.However, for years, these provisionsfor screening of deadwood were notbeing implemented. These rules arenow being implemented and athorough screening of servicerecords of officials by a committeeis helping identify non-performers.This exercise has sent a message thatthere is a premium attached to bothperformance and probity.

It was also noticed that thecadre-allotment policies were weak-ening the all-India character of theservices and were detrimental to the

spirit of cooperative federalism.The officers were being allottedcadres based on choice. This result-ed in officers landing either in theirhome or adjoining cadre, thus fos-tering inertia and a hesitation toserve on central deputation in theGovernment. In fact, the serviceswere slowly being converted intoglorified State services.

The Government brought areformed cadre allotment policy in2017, based on a roster for fiveregions in which all the cadres wereclubbed, thus ensuring that the all-India character of the services wasrestored. It also encouraged officerswho have served in cadres otherthat their domicile, to opt for cen-tral deputation.

It was also noticed that fresh-ly-recruited IAS officers got impor-tant field-level posts like that ofDistrict Magistrate, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Zila Parishads andMunicipal Corporations for thefirst 10 to 12 years of their service.However, they often lacked thenational perspective while serving

at the grassroots and this hamperedtheir effectiveness. To address thisissue, since 2015, freshly-recruitedIAS officers are being deputed asAssistant Secretaries in theGovernment of India for threemonths immediately after theiracademy training and just beforethey go back to their respective Statecadres for field postings. Experiencehas shown that this innovationhelped young officers imbibe anational perspective that helpedthem address local issues holistical-ly and with confidence.

Further, the performance ofcivil servants was measured primar-ily through the elaborate system ofPerformance Appraisal Reports(PARs). It was realised that due tothe complete disclosure of PARs tothe officers assessed, there waswidespread grade inflation. Officerswere being over-assessed and ratedoutstanding, notwithstanding theirperformance. PAR had become apublic relations exercise with super-visory officers reluctant to givelower rating for fear of strained rela-

tions at the workplace. This had anadverse impact on the empanelmentof officers at the Joint Secretary,Additional Secretary and Secretaryor equivalent levels. It became dif-ficult to distinguish high perform-ers from others. The Government,therefore, implemented the processof Multi Source Feedback (MSF) or360 degree appraisal, which is usedalong with the PARs to assess thesuitability of officers for higher posi-tions in the Government. This wasalso recommended by the SecondAdministrative ReformsCommission, as well as theSurendranath Committee onPerformance Appraisal Reforms.

This intervention created rip-ples in bureaucratic circles as thefeedback about officers wasobtained from peers, subordinatesand seniors on various personalityattributes. The success of this inter-vention will, however, be judged bythe resulting inclusion of errors inthe reformed empanelment process,since the exclusion errors can becorrected by subsequent reviews.

There was also a demand forlateral infusion of talent from out-side to enrich Government policyprocesses. The high echelons of pol-icy-making are primarily mannedby officers from three sources. TheIndian Administrative Services(IAS), other participating All Indiaand Central services and theCentral Secretariat Services (CSS).The Government decided to bringin talent from outside through lat-eral recruitment at the JointSecretary Level. Ten such positionswere thrown open and recruit-ment were done through the UnionPublic Service Commission(UPSC). It will be interesting towatch their contributions and amal-gamation in the working of theGovernment. This reform is likelyto generate a healthy competitionamong peers, fostering profession-alism, efficiency and competenciesin the policy-making process.

While these reforms wereaimed at bringing in accountabili-ty in performance and conduct, theGovernment also addressed rising

concerns related to the policy paral-ysis resulting from risk aversenessamong the civil services.Significantly, the risk awarenesswas brought on by multiple inves-tigations by anti-corruption agen-cies in various cases. The amend-ments in the Prevention ofCorruption Act, 1988 passed in2018 has provisions that are aimedat protecting honest and well-meaning civil servants. The provi-sion of prior approval for initiatingany investigation and deletion ofSection 13 (1) d(iii) of the Act werea result of the Government’s resolveto send a message that bonafidecommercial decision will be defend-ed and civil servants may go aheadwith bold decision making in pub-lic interest. These reforms areexpected to bring in the desiredaccountability, professionalism andcompetencies in the civil services tomeet modern day challenges.

(The writer is PrincipalSecretary, Medical, Health & FamilyWelfare Department, in UttarPradesh Govt.)

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Page 10: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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Amid clamour for rate cut byvarious industries, the all

powerful GST Council willhold a crucial meeting onFriday to decide on tax mod-eration, keeping in mind therevenue position and the needto boost sagging economicgrowth.

The GST Council, headedby Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and com-prising representatives of allstates and Union Territories(UTs), will have its 37th meet-ing in Goa in the backdrop ofeconomic growth hitting a six-year low of 5 per cent for the firstquarter of the current fiscal.

There have been demandspouring in from various sectors- from biscuits to automobilesand FMCG to hotels - to reducetax rates in the wake of eco-nomic slowdown.

The argument propagatedhas been to boost the con-sumption and domesticdemand by reducing Goodsand Services Tax (GST) ratesfurther.

However, many of thestates are of the view that itwould not be tax prudent toallow GST rate reduction at thisstage, as the compensation cessfund, which is utilised to com-pensate the states under theGST Act in case the revenue isbelow the targeted growth rate,has turned negative.

Meanwhile, according tosources, the GST Council’sFitment Committee, whichcomprises revenue officials ofboth Centre and States, hasrejected demands for a cut intax rate on items ranging frombiscuits to car, owing to tightrevenue position.

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After surprising everyonewith four successive rate

cuts this year, Reserve Bankgovernor Shaktikanta DasThursday said “there is moreroom” to do so given thegrowth deceleration and stableinflation that is likely to staybelow target for a year or so.

However, the governor wasquick to add that there is littlefiscal space for the governmentto unveil any countercyclicalmeasures to boost the sagginggrowth and the only way torevive the growth engine is tofront-load the budgeted capex,hinting that only an easymoney policy can help salvagethe situation.

Since assuming chargemid-December, the Das-ledrate- setting panel has deliveredfour successive rates cuts, withthe fourth one last month beingthe most surprising and uncon-

ventional one as he chose todeliver a 35 bps repo cut.

With that the RBI hasdelivered a cumulative 110 bpsrepo reduction since February,yanking down the key bench-mark rate to a nine-year low of5.40 percent.

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Automobile dealers’ bodyFADA on Thursday urged

the GST Council to take adefinitive decision on GST ratein its meeting scheduled to beheld on Friday.

In a letter written toFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, FADA PresidentAshish Harsharaj Kale saidcustomers have deferred theirbuying decisions in anticipationof GST rate cut.

“In anticipation of GSTrate cuts on automobiles, cus-tomers who were willing to buyautomobiles at this juncturehave put their purchase deci-sions on hold, which is but nat-ural, in anticipation of a pricereduction.

“Our concern is that thefestive season, which is justaround the corner, should notbe missed, as it is for a very lim-ited period wherein maximumamount of auto sales happen,”Kale said in the letter.

New Delhi: Saudi Oil MinisterPrince Abdulaziz bin Salmanon Thursday assured his Indiancounterpart DharmendraPradhan of meeting all oil sup-ply commitments to India asthe Kingdom looks to restoreproduction from its facilities topre-strike levels very soon.

Pradhan spoke to his Saudicounterpart on phone and dis-cussed in details supply plan inthe aftermath of a massiveattack on the Kingdom’s crudeoil facilities that wiped out asmuch as 5 million barrels perday of output.

“They have again assuredthat all supply commitments toIndia will be met,” said SanjivSingh, chairman of Indian OilCorp (IOC).

Saudi Arabia, which isIndia’s second-largest oil sup-plier, sells close to 2 milliontonnes of crude every month. PTI

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In a bid to boost lending, the Governmenton Thursday asked public sector banks

to hold ‘loan melas’ in 400 districts to lendto desirable shadow banks and retail bor-rowers, and said no stressed loan accountof MSMEs will be declared an NPA tillMarch 2020.

Grappling with six-year low GDPgrowth and a 45-year high unemploymentrate, the Government is looking to boostcredit that will bring liquidity for busi-nesses and create jobs. Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, who has since hermaiden Budget on July 5 announcedmeasures in three tranches for boosting theeconomy, held a meeting with heads ofpublic sector banks (PSBs) on Thursdayto review liquidity or money flow in thesystem and transmission of lower bench-mark interest rates to borrowers.

Ahead of the festive season, banks willhold ‘loan melas’ in 400 districts in twotranches beginning October 3 to approveloans to any retail or NBFC borrower, shesaid. PSBs will focus on giving loans to the‘RAM’ category — retail, agriculture andMSMEs, the Minister said.

To help the job-creating small andmicro enterprises, she said banks have beenasked to follow the hitherto little used RBIcircular of June 7 which directed banks notto consider any stressed MSME loanaccount as NPA and instead look atrecasting the debt. “But till now, banks didnot invoke it for whatever reason. Now, I’msaying, in invoking that, the banks can ormay use this provision to make sure thatSMA1 and SMA 2 of MSMEs are notdeclared NPA till March 31, 2020,” she said.

Loans are classified as special mentionaccounts (SMAs) after showing signs ofstress. She also said that several MSMEswant one-time settlement of their out-standing dues, which should be settledexpeditiously by the banks.

“Clearly I have told the banks thatfrom July 1 till September 30, they shouldgive me a complete picture of how manyhave sought and for how many they havesettled one-time settlements,” she added.

The meeting comes a day before the all-powerful GST Council is to meet in Goa toconsider demands of industries, rangingfrom biscuits to car makers, for a cut in taxrates to overcome slowing demand.

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The Government onThursday asked banks

not to declare any stressedloan account of MSMEs asNPA till March 2020 andwork on recasting their debt.

At a press conferenceafter meeting PSU bankheads, Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman saidthere already exists a cir-cular from the ReserveBank that provides forstressed loan accounts ofMSMEs not being declarednon-performing assets(NPAs).

She said banks havebeen asked to follow thatcircular and not declare

any stressed MSME loan asNPA till March 2020 andlook at recasting their debt.

This would help theMSME sector, she said.

Also, banks have iden-tified some NBFCs thatthey can lend to so that liq-uidity and credit is madeavailable to those seekingmoney, she said.

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Commodity market partici-pants on Thursday asked

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman to consider steps toreduce transaction cost to makeIndian markets international-ly competitive and improveease of doing business.

The participants soughtreduction in overall cost oftransaction for equity as well ascommodity markets and alsoflagged issues related to LongTerm Capital Gains Tax(LTCG), shrinking trading vol-ume, increased regulatorycompliance and closing downof several brokerage houses,Commodity ParticipantsAssociation of India (CPAI)President Narinder Wadhwatold PTI after their meetingwith the minister.

Sitharaman has been hold-ing similar meetings since lastmonth with representatives ofvarious sectors, including bank-ing, automobile and realty inorder assess the problems facedby them as the governmentlooks to undertake steps to arrestthe slowdown in the economy.

CPAI is the apex pan-Indiaassociation of participants incommodity exchanges andcommodity derivative seg-ments.

Wadhwa said Sitharamanassured them that whateversteps can be taken, would belooked into by the government.

He said the commoditymarket volume has shrunkdrastically from �90,000 croreper day a year ago on an aver-age basis to �35,000 crore perday now.

“So we have asked theminister to take steps to reducecost of transaction for com-modity and equity market,”Wadhwa said.

Mumbai: The rupee dropped10 paise to close at 71.34against the US dollar onThursday as heavy selling indomestic equities, unabatedforeign fund outflows and ris-ing crude oil prices keptinvestors edgy.

Forex traders said investorsalso turned cautious after theUS Federal Reserve dimmedhopes of further rate cuts.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the local unitopened on a strong note at71.36 and shuttled between ahigh of 71.06 and a low of71.37. It finally finished at71.34, lower by 10 paise over itsprevious close of 71.24.

“Since the morning, rupeehas been tracking the move incrude. Overnight drop in oil ledrupee to appreciate. However,the escalating tensions inMiddle East limited the gainsin rupee,” said Rahul Gupta,Currency Research Head,Emkay Global FinancialServices Limited. PTI

���� .�3'�45-

Factory investment in 2017-18 hit a three-year low of Rs3.31 lakh crore in actualterms, according to the annu-al survey of industries by theStatistics and ProgrammeImplementation Ministry.

Factory investment mea-sured in terms of gross fixedcapital formation (GFCF) wasRs 3.79 lakh crore and Rs 3.69lakh crore in 2015-16 and2016-17, respectively, provi-sional estimates of the surveyfor 2017-18 showed.

The previous low of GFCFin actual terms was recorded atRs 3.23 lakh crore in 2014-15.

The Gross Fixed CapitalFormation is a barometer ofinvestment in any sector or seg-ment. However, the surveyshowed that the number of fac-tories increased to 2,37,684 in2017-18 from 2,34,865 a year ago.

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Page 11: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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The government is rework-ing its strategy to boost rev-

enue collection from directtaxes which has been laggingbehind so far, a senior CBDTofficial said on Thursday.

The government has set adirect tax collection target of�13.35 lakh crore for the cur-rent fiscal, which includes �7.66lakh crore from corporate taxand �5.69 lakh crore as incometax.

“Growth in direct tax col-lection has been less thanexpected. The Central Board ofDirect Taxes will look into thisand rework its strategy,” CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)Member Akhilesh Ranjan saidon the sidelines of an

Assocham event.Ranjan, who is also the

convenor of the task force onDirect Tax Code, said taxpayersin the country should not seepaying income tax as a burden.

Asked about lowering cor-porate tax, he said the govern-ment was seized of the matterand Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had also reiteratedrecently that there was someneed for corporate tax reduction.

“That has been reiteratedby the finance minister recent-ly also that we are movingtowards lower rate and I amsure that will happen sooner orlater. Government has alreadysaid that there is some need forsome corporate tax rate reduc-tion,” Ranjan said.

Talking about tax compli-

ance, he said government wastrying to further simplify thetaxation system as it will leadto better revenue realisation.

On the Direct Tax Code(DTC) report, which has beensubmitted to the government,Ranjan said, “The report hasnot been (made) public, so Iwon’t be able to give any detailson that. But the broad trendsare that we have obviouslyfocussed on compliance.”

Compliance is the corner-stone of any tax policy and ithas different aspects. It is notjust about tax rates but alsoabout ease of filing, about mod-ernising tax system, improvinglitigation system managementas well as things like making taxlaw more comprehensible andorganised, he added.

Mumbai (PTI): Tata Motors, which is aleader in the electric vehicles in the domesticmarket, on Thursday announced a new EV pow-ertrain that will power a range of its upcomingmodels, including a new model scheduled for thefourth quarter. Ziptron, the soon to be introducedEV powertrain, will help it drive economies ofscale on one hand and make new EVs moreaffordable for consumers on the other, the largestdomestic auto maker told reporters here.

Ziptron offers efficient high voltage system,

better performance, long range and fast charg-ing, and a battery warranty of eight years, andadherence to the IP67 standard.

Announcing the launch, the managingdirector and chief executive Guenter Butschek,said, “Ziptron is designed in-house utilising ourglobal engineering network. At the heart of ourfuture EV line-up, this technology has been test-ed across 1 million km proving its reliability. Withthis, we hope to usher in a new wave of e-mobil-ity and accelerate faster adoption of EVs.”

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Equity benchmarksresumed their downwardmarch on Thursday as

tepid tax collection numbersfanned fears of a prolongedslowdown, prompting investorsto unwind risky bets.

Hawkish commentaryfrom the US Federal Reserveand incessant foreign fundoutflows further weighed onsentiment, traders said.

After gyrating 626 points,the 30-share BSE Sensex ended470.41 points, or 1.29 per cent,lower at 36,093.47.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty plunged 135.85 points, or1.25 per cent, to settle at10,704.80. The previous closinglow for Nifty was 10,604.35 onFebruary 19, 2019.

The Centre’s direct taxmop-up is said to have grownjust 4.7 per cent till September17, compared to a target of 17.5per cent budgeted for the fullyear, which analysts saidreflects deepening slump indemand and overall growth.

Yes Bank was the biggestloser in the Sensex pack, plung-ing 15.52 per cent, after aMoody’s report said Alticodefault may be credit negativefor banks given their significantexposure to the real estate sector.

Among the banks Moody’srates, Yes Bank and IndusIndBank have the largest directexposure to commercial realestate and will be susceptible toasset quality difficulties if thesector continues to slow, theagency said.

IndusInd Bank, ICICIBank and Axis Bank too fell upto 3.59 per cent. Other losersincluded Tata Steel, Maruti,SBI, RIL, Tech Mahindra,ONGC, Vedanta, Bajaj Finance,Hero MotoCorp and TCS,falling up to 3.66 per cent.

Tata Motors, HDFC Bank,Bharti Airtel and Asian Paintswere the only gainers, rising upto 1.97 per cent.

“Lower tax collection fig-ures spooked markets today asFIIs continued selling in keypivotals, dragging downindices. Exposure of manyPrivate Sector Banks towardscommercial real estate furtheraccentuated selling towardsafternoon trade across thesecounters. Investors are gettingjittery on PSU names as theykeep losing market capitalisa-tion rapidly,” said SRanganathan, head of researchat LKP Securities.

Sectorally, BSE energy, oiland gas, bankex, metal, realty,auto, healthcare, teck and ITindices cracked up to 2 per cent.Telecom was the sole gainer,

inching up 0.17 per cent.Broader BSE midcap and

smallcap indices ended up to1.48 per cent lower.

Investor wealth dropped by�1.65 lakh crore on Thursdayas equities witnessed a heavysell-of. Led by the weak trendin the broader market, themarket capitalisation of BSE-listed companies plunged�1,65,437.91 crore to�1,38,54,439.41 crore.

“Continuous selling by FIIsand uncertainty over future tra-jectory of Fed rate cut damp-ened investors sentiment.Slowdown in direct tax collec-tion and rise in oil prices willlimit government’s space forstimulus measures which willcontinue to act as a downsiderisk to the market,” VinodNair, head of research, GeojitFinancial Services Ltd said.

From the 30-share pack, 26companies closed the day withlosses, led by Yes Bank whichtumbled 15.52 per cent.

At the BSE, 1,828 scripsdeclined, while 686 advancedand 114 remained unchanged.

As many as 116 stocksdropped to their one-year lowlevel on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the US FederalReserve slashed the policy rateby 25 basis points onWednesday but dimmed hopesfor further rate cuts as it took

a cautious approach to furtherreductions in borrowing costs.

Elsewhere in Asia,Shanghai Composite Index,Nikkei and Kospi ended on apositive note, while Hang Sengsettled in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europewere trading in the green intheir respective early sessions.

Foreign portfolio investorsold shares worth a net of�959.09 crore on Wednesday,while domestic institutionalinvestors bought equities worth�780.45 crore, provisional datashowed.

Brent crude futures gained1.98 per cent to USD 64.81 perbarrel (intra-day).

The rupee dropped 10paise to close at 71.34 againstthe US dollar on Thursday.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the local unitopened on a strong note at71.36 and shuttled between ahigh of 71.06 and a low of71.37. It finally finished at71.34, lower by 10 paise over itsprevious close of 71.24.

“Since the morning, rupeehas been tracking the move incrude. Overnight drop in oil ledrupee to appreciate. However,the escalating tensions in MiddleEast limited the gains in rupee,”said Rahul Gupta, currencyresearch head, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services Limited.

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New Delhi (PTI): RelianceIndustries on Thursday clarifiedthat promoter and chairmanMukesh Ambani has notacquired any new shares in thecompany and that his stake hasnot increased.

This statement comes afterthe company had on September17 through a ‘Disclosure underReg/29(2) of Sebi (SAST)Regulations, 2011’ said thatReliance Services and HoldingsLtd (controlled by PetroleumTrust, a part of promoter/pro-moter group), has acquired17.18 crore or 2.71 per centstake in the company “pursuantto a scheme of arrangement notdirectly involving the targetcompany (Reliance)”.

“The aggregate sharehold-ing/voting rights of the Promoteand Promote Group now standsat 309.8 crore shares — 48.87per cent,” it had said.

The company’s filing tostock exchanges for the share-holding pattern for the quarterended June 30, 2019, showedpromoter group holding at47.29 per cent. The company inan emailed statement said:“There has been no transactionof purchase of shares”. It said:“41.28 crore treasury shares ofReliance Industries were held asfollows by (a) by PetroleumTrust 24.09 crore shares; and (b)by subsidiaries of RIL 17.19crore shares.

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Script Open High Low LTPMARUTI 6130.10 6169.40 5925.00 5938.30YESBANK 64.60 64.90 53.05 54.15TATAPOWER 64.20 65.10 63.65 64.65IBULHSGFIN 420.00 422.25 378.85 395.15ICICIBANK 396.00 396.10 384.60 386.55RELIANCE 1207.00 1209.35 1173.25 1178.70TATAMOTORS 123.50 125.25 121.30 124.25SBIN 280.50 280.50 273.20 274.05TIINDIA 340.05 343.00 335.00 337.30HEG 1196.00 1254.90 1178.20 1216.25INDUSINDBK 1331.00 1333.55 1278.00 1281.95TATASTEEL 356.90 356.90 340.95 344.95GRAPHITE 339.70 349.60 330.35 334.70HDFC 1990.00 2001.30 1963.50 1974.70RBLBANK 350.00 352.85 324.60 332.25ZEEL 336.00 336.00 306.25 308.80HDFCBANK 1099.80 1108.35 1084.40 1100.40BAJFINANCE 3434.00 3434.00 3348.00 3362.85LT 1324.45 1327.95 1298.00 1300.60IDEA 4.97 5.68 4.87 5.44BPCL 384.00 386.15 375.80 379.60AXISBANK 648.00 649.90 632.70 638.25TCS 2138.85 2138.90 2091.55 2102.15BANKBARODA 95.95 95.95 93.75 94.55DHFL 50.20 52.35 46.55 47.50NCC 54.00 54.10 50.90 51.65JINDALSTEL 105.35 105.35 97.65 100.35MARICO 380.15 382.00 378.35 379.65UBL 1250.00 1255.50 1221.25 1228.20LUPIN 762.00 762.00 733.85 741.35KOTAKBANK 1456.00 1462.65 1445.40 1453.40INFY 825.00 826.65 815.10 821.00PEL 1840.00 1840.00 1742.00 1764.25VEDL 149.45 150.00 141.90 146.40MOTHERSUMI 103.75 105.40 102.55 104.10ESCORTS 515.00 517.25 506.85 513.95SUNPHARMA 416.85 419.00 408.35 410.90JSWSTEEL 221.35 221.45 215.40 219.70

PFC 101.00 101.70 97.35 99.60ASHOKLEY 60.20 60.20 58.05 58.35INFRATEL 252.00 253.00 247.40 249.60TATAMTRDVR 56.90 57.15 55.55 56.60HEROMOTOCO 2572.00 2592.95 2515.00 2532.45SUNTECK 450.00 451.65 430.10 437.60RELCAPITAL 35.05 35.40 31.35 32.20ASIANPAINT 1550.00 1563.30 1545.15 1554.35COLPAL 1321.00 1341.90 1315.40 1328.10LICHSGFIN 391.00 391.00 376.40 380.65BRITANNIA 2610.15 2651.45 2592.80 2621.75DLF 157.00 157.40 153.35 155.35M&M 530.00 530.00 513.20 519.30EICHERMOT 16288.00 16288.00 15633.35 15759.50BHARTIARTL 337.00 342.30 334.90 337.70ICICIPRULI 423.00 433.70 422.30 430.30HINDPETRO 257.10 258.95 248.60 250.95RELINFRA 37.50 38.40 35.15 36.00NATIONALUM 46.00 46.40 44.20 44.65ULTRACEMCO 3905.30 3926.00 3840.00 3864.55CANBK 196.00 196.00 187.50 189.80L&TFH 92.50 92.50 89.60 90.75PCJEWELLER 43.35 43.35 37.15 37.85BAJAJFINSV 7253.00 7255.65 7144.50 7185.15SAIL 33.75 33.75 31.50 31.85EQUITAS 100.00 100.00 92.60 94.05ONGC 127.00 127.50 123.70 124.40PAGEIND 19761.60 20028.40 19481.60 19535.10RECLTD 132.25 132.25 125.00 125.75TATAGLOBAL 258.50 259.25 250.75 254.75PNB 63.00 63.05 61.10 62.00DMART 1650.00 1660.10 1606.15 1619.25LAKSHVILAS 39.05 39.05 37.55 37.55HINDUNILVR 1830.00 1843.50 1807.55 1811.90TVSMOTOR 373.65 378.55 370.70 374.70GMRINFRA 16.45 16.45 15.75 15.90FEDERALBNK 84.55 84.55 82.60 83.50TITAN 1162.55 1168.00 1147.90 1152.95ITC 240.40 240.40 236.15 236.75MCX 927.25 927.75 903.50 909.15BHEL 48.30 48.80 47.15 47.45NBCC 36.00 36.00 33.65 34.00ADANIPOWER 64.45 64.45 60.90 61.85IOC 129.15 129.15 125.50 126.15BEL 107.20 107.50 103.95 104.30

UNIONBANK 56.90 56.90 54.45 55.45PVR 1599.00 1600.30 1566.55 1574.35HCLTECH 1078.00 1078.00 1032.85 1049.15PIIND 1274.00 1274.00 1236.20 1250.30COALINDIA 191.50 194.25 189.50 193.45GRASIM 705.00 710.85 695.25 700.05DISHTV 22.40 22.40 19.40 19.70HDFCLIFE 539.50 540.35 529.25 532.50STRTECH 159.85 160.35 151.30 152.95IGL 329.10 329.50 319.25 321.80NMDC 85.60 87.00 82.50 84.00SPICEJET 128.40 128.40 124.55 125.05HDFCAMC 2650.00 2665.00 2583.75 2608.85WIPRO 244.25 245.90 240.30 241.50SRF 2735.00 2740.40 2675.60 2700.70UJJIVAN 301.20 301.20 286.55 288.60ACC 1497.00 1497.75 1465.65 1479.95IBREALEST 60.50 60.90 56.60 57.95WOCKPHARMA 324.65 328.00 302.55 306.80ADANIENT 144.10 144.10 140.75 142.40PFIZER 3333.00 3348.00 3232.95 3242.55JUSTDIAL 708.00 711.40 690.10 694.05BANKINDIA 64.90 65.00 62.60 63.35JUBLFOOD 1242.00 1262.25 1237.90 1243.55VENKYS 1702.00 1728.50 1654.40 1676.45RNAM 232.55 239.35 226.50 230.90GAIL 135.25 136.00 130.90 133.05DIVISLAB 1616.00 1628.40 1571.25 1581.30AUROPHARMA 618.75 618.75 603.00 606.20TATAELXSI 638.00 639.95 619.95 627.15TECHM 718.00 718.00 700.00 703.45BATAINDIA 1542.05 1545.80 1526.85 1529.70INDIGO 1691.00 1701.25 1664.00 1694.35HINDALCO 197.00 198.80 193.20 195.90AUBANK 652.00 652.50 635.15 645.65DRREDDY 2739.00 2747.00 2709.55 2730.90RAJESHEXPO 680.00 685.50 673.00 674.65APOLLOHOSP 1435.00 1435.00 1406.60 1412.95BIOCON 225.95 230.00 225.20 227.30OMAXE 192.40 197.30 185.40 193.95UPL 557.00 566.00 549.50 562.25PETRONET 264.05 264.85 251.70 255.25DABUR 462.80 462.80 456.45 458.90SUNTV 429.00 431.20 414.45 417.85SRTRANSFIN 1045.00 1045.00 1026.15 1035.10BOMDYEING 86.15 87.35 80.40 81.90PHILIPCARB 125.50 127.95 121.95 123.55STAR 365.80 368.35 355.45 359.35HAVELLS 653.00 653.00 635.00 642.70GODREJCP 650.00 667.50 647.10 655.65NTPC 123.20 123.20 120.15 121.75OFSS 2899.45 2950.00 2890.45 2940.50JUBILANT 527.80 530.15 512.20 522.65NESTLEIND 12822.00 12888.00 12634.75 12699.45VOLTAS 630.60 632.00 622.00 625.00SBILIFE 804.95 805.00 799.50 802.00SWANENERGY 99.00 102.50 97.75 100.65BALRAMCHIN 153.50 156.80 150.35 155.10FORTIS 123.70 127.90 123.70 126.10BAJAJ-AUTO 2789.00 2789.00 2722.85 2738.50MANAPPURAM 126.40 126.50 122.70 123.30INDIACEM 85.10 86.50 82.00 82.60ADANIPORTS 365.30 365.30 358.10 361.85ICICIGI 1158.75 1177.00 1136.55 1173.45RAIN 102.85 103.90 98.50 99.90VIPIND 449.50 454.45 432.00 434.50CIPLA 460.15 461.60 450.00 451.35CHOLAFIN 268.20 269.60 259.25 263.50TRENT 465.00 465.15 448.40 456.95INDHOTEL 133.30 135.90 129.50 134.85IBVENTURES 164.30 166.50 155.70 159.90DELTACORP 174.00 174.95 167.85 169.40BEML 825.00 830.00 811.00 815.40APOLLOTYRE 180.00 181.15 174.50 175.60NAUKRI 1999.95 2025.00 1920.00 1926.60NIITTECH 1357.00 1387.95 1354.25 1366.15IDFCFIRSTB 41.45 41.70 40.40 40.65MINDTREE 704.00 706.10 689.00 690.65RAYMOND 572.00 572.00 554.15 558.35CENTURYTEX 907.25 910.25 877.50 881.60AVANTI 355.10 355.10 339.20 346.15M&MFIN 326.00 326.00 319.20 324.35SUVEN 280.00 287.95 278.20 283.25GODFRYPHLP 1000.00 1002.60 955.95 963.10PTC 64.95 64.95 62.80 63.00BBTC 1134.40 1136.40 1085.45 1093.75ITDC 225.00 248.90 215.80 247.80POWERGRID 201.00 202.45 199.20 201.15HEXAWARE 390.00 390.00 373.00 376.10PIDILITIND 1312.00 1312.00 1293.00 1294.90TATACHEM 581.95 581.95 566.25 567.60SPARC 160.90 160.90 151.75 153.20HAL 731.00 772.70 731.00 746.00EDELWEISS 106.10 106.90 103.05 104.70IDBI 27.80 27.80 26.95 27.15GLAXO 1418.30 1425.00 1380.60 1396.40BHARATFORG 400.30 406.20 390.45 394.00MGL 840.70 844.00 822.90 829.25AMBUJACEM 196.00 196.45 190.45 191.90SIEMENS 1244.90 1245.70 1228.00 1237.25GODREJIND 404.10 409.30 404.10 405.85CADILAHC 243.80 243.80 234.65 237.75CASTROLIND 125.70 125.70 121.35 122.50FRETAIL 393.40 393.40 386.00 389.35FORCEMOT 1162.00 1182.00 1124.00 1131.55GLENMARK 362.65 363.55 356.50 358.40PGHH 10499.00 10499.00 10385.00 10476.40JAICORPLTD 87.70 87.70 81.45 82.50BALKRISIND 744.00 750.15 737.60 740.10

FSL 52.70 52.70 49.50 50.45MUTHOOTFIN 591.50 591.55 582.00 584.75RPOWER 3.18 3.18 2.97 3.02RAMCOCEM 719.95 722.05 704.55 707.80DBL 427.55 428.35 404.15 408.90BOSCHLTD 13627.20 13717.25 13378.00 13476.15ABCAPITAL 90.50 91.00 88.15 89.153MINDIA 19114.05 19114.05 18515.30 18553.25ENGINERSIN 109.55 111.20 107.40 109.30SHANKARA 417.00 420.00 378.00 384.75MFSL 402.80 407.70 393.00 399.05ADANIGREEN 53.05 53.15 49.00 50.15NOCIL 101.55 101.90 97.65 99.00GODREJPROP 936.05 936.05 899.60 906.00ITI 82.60 82.60 78.55 79.20RADICO 301.00 307.95 300.05 305.55CANFINHOME 393.00 393.00 376.00 376.95INDIANB 158.50 159.75 152.20 153.35EXIDEIND 174.45 175.50 168.55 169.10MMTC 19.45 19.45 18.30 18.50IDFC 34.35 35.90 34.35 35.65SHREECEM 18660.00 18660.00 17800.00 17939.80TATACOFFEE 80.20 83.00 80.00 80.70SCI 35.05 35.05 33.10 33.65HINDCOPPER 36.65 37.75 35.10 35.30CEATLTD 910.00 919.90 904.00 913.15BERGEPAINT 368.55 369.25 362.90 366.05IBULISL 112.90 112.90 109.10 112.90MRF 58250.00 58350.00 57888.80 58100.00TORNTPHARM 1678.95 1713.20 1673.45 1701.25LTI 1590.35 1590.35 1551.50 1557.80KAJARIACER 530.30 537.95 528.60 535.05ALBK 31.75 31.80 30.25 30.35RCF 43.90 44.05 42.70 43.60JINDALSAW 81.10 81.10 75.85 76.75AJANTPHARM 1052.70 1090.00 1042.50 1081.30OIL 151.95 151.95 143.60 144.65RITES 237.25 240.00 234.40 235.00GNFC 191.90 191.90 186.75 188.05ADANIGAS 139.00 140.05 133.90 135.20HINDZINC 214.55 214.55 208.55 210.05CUMMINSIND 564.20 571.15 558.50 567.80SUZLON 3.05 3.05 2.90 2.96WELCORP 132.00 132.00 126.25 127.15SHK 129.80 136.80 128.30 133.25CONCOR 527.00 527.00 512.75 518.60WHIRLPOOL 1670.00 1693.60 1670.00 1676.60TORNTPOWER 279.65 282.40 276.50 280.25CREDITACC 616.35 620.00 578.00 599.95ABBOTINDIA 9939.95 9939.95 9722.00 9845.80ORIENTBANK 62.60 62.70 59.85 60.00ENDURANCE 910.15 925.65 850.05 870.25PNBHOUSING 615.00 615.00 595.00 601.45BANDHANBNK 444.65 447.15 442.40 443.85LTTS 1600.10 1600.10 1573.00 1581.60IPCALAB 951.00 959.00 936.00 947.15OBEROIRLTY 536.00 536.00 520.00 526.75HFCL 19.20 19.25 18.50 18.60ABFRL 189.00 189.90 186.30 187.65COFFEEDAY 75.20 75.20 68.65 68.65IRB 79.60 81.20 78.30 79.50DCMSHRIRAM 417.00 418.00 392.00 402.45TRIDENT 60.00 60.35 58.00 58.25AMARAJABAT 634.00 639.00 622.95 624.70ASTRAL 1163.40 1163.40 1143.65 1153.15SOUTHBANK 10.99 11.06 10.80 10.83VINATIORGA 2328.55 2328.55 2252.00 2267.20SYNDIBANK 30.30 30.30 29.05 29.25MEGH 58.85 58.85 55.65 56.15ADANITRANS 224.00 224.00 220.40 221.15HUDCO 36.80 36.80 35.00 35.25NILKAMAL 1099.55 1099.55 1050.05 1068.50TNPL 193.05 198.25 188.25 190.10SANOFI 5859.95 5859.95 5610.00 5665.95JKTYRE 68.20 68.65 66.45 67.20FINOLEXIND 549.90 554.90 546.00 549.05KEC 252.00 253.45 247.25 250.40FCONSUMER 28.60 28.60 27.20 27.55AIAENG 1645.00 1648.00 1572.30 1606.60SOBHA 517.50 517.50 504.00 505.60VTL 937.05 944.50 932.05 938.90PARAGMILK 163.00 163.00 153.85 155.60QUESS 455.25 459.25 444.00 446.75LEMONTREE 55.00 55.15 52.80 53.00TIMKEN 745.00 747.55 716.35 726.30HEIDELBERG 189.45 189.45 184.00 184.45SHOPERSTOP 391.35 409.00 358.95 394.30BALMLAWRIE 168.75 171.55 166.80 167.40HSCL 76.50 76.80 73.60 74.40KTKBANK 77.50 77.50 75.35 75.60GRANULES 106.30 106.55 103.80 104.50BLISSGVS 110.00 110.00 107.00 107.15JISLJALEQS 23.00 23.00 21.00 21.55INTELLECT 214.85 214.85 205.25 209.00GREAVESCOT 133.90 137.60 131.45 136.65TATAMETALI 576.00 576.00 552.05 552.10MOTILALOFS 565.00 568.70 548.40 560.70BAJAJELEC 391.70 391.70 374.20 376.50APLAPOLLO 1283.50 1288.80 1268.85 1270.50GUJALKALI 476.00 476.00 455.30 458.45LALPATHLAB 1239.00 1253.85 1224.00 1244.80PGHL 4427.00 4430.00 4278.10 4284.45VGUARD 221.05 221.60 215.60 217.80HONAUT 25500.00 25500.00 25050.00 25104.75GSFC 76.85 77.10 75.60 75.85JAMNAAUTO 36.55 36.75 35.20 35.45TAKE 122.30 122.95 115.00 115.40INFIBEAM 39.55 39.70 39.05 39.45NHPC 23.90 24.00 23.50 23.60

PRESTIGE 288.30 294.00 284.40 287.35DCBBANK 195.40 196.00 193.25 194.90ZYDUSWELL 1764.45 1766.30 1655.20 1666.55RCOM 0.91 0.93 0.89 0.89KEI 467.05 467.80 451.25 456.55DEEPAKNI 270.00 272.55 268.30 270.10HATHWAY 24.00 24.00 22.80 23.05GODREJAGRO 471.15 472.95 465.00 467.90MOIL 120.75 120.85 119.15 119.25IEX 121.00 122.40 119.60 120.70CARERATING 521.80 528.35 518.00 527.05INOXLEISUR 303.75 303.75 293.55 298.25NAVINFLUOR 725.95 738.00 719.40 727.55WESTLIFE 275.90 278.00 269.75 273.60TV18BRDCST 22.15 22.15 21.40 21.50EIDPARRY 164.75 165.25 159.95 161.35VBL 629.40 629.40 603.90 609.55GRUH 245.05 245.95 240.40 241.65EMAMILTD 317.50 317.50 307.95 311.00CROMPTON 240.00 240.50 235.50 236.80GHCL 206.65 207.00 198.00 200.45ATUL 3714.80 3714.85 3668.10 3675.25CUB 200.50 200.50 196.85 198.35GUJGAS 169.90 169.90 166.85 168.80FINEORG 1560.00 1560.00 1500.00 1521.35CAPPL 423.00 435.25 420.50 429.85LAXMIMACH 3778.25 3780.00 3620.00 3626.30PERSISTENT 599.00 599.00 584.70 594.45ABB 1327.25 1331.80 1319.00 1322.15PHOENIXLTD 725.50 725.50 700.00 714.50HIMATSEIDE 142.90 147.10 139.50 140.70VMART 1963.80 2081.45 1861.80 1967.65JKCEMENT 1022.25 1027.00 1014.75 1018.60RELAXO 477.35 478.75 461.45 467.25J&KBANK 37.05 37.10 36.00 36.30MPHASIS 983.75 983.75 956.10 963.70BLUESTARCO 726.25 730.50 714.00 720.20BAYERCROP 3320.00 3320.00 3218.50 3268.50ASHOKA 102.00 102.00 97.00 97.75ITDCEM 65.20 65.25 61.20 62.20ASTRAZEN 2096.00 2096.00 2005.00 2016.85SJVN 25.75 25.75 24.80 25.10RALLIS 163.55 163.80 160.00 160.85IFCI 7.57 7.63 7.31 7.39MINDACORP 94.05 94.85 89.95 90.40CYIENT 452.00 452.00 436.70 444.70GSPL 217.25 217.35 208.70 211.15BAJAJHLDNG 3155.00 3193.50 3127.00 3152.05PRSMJOHNSN 83.30 83.30 79.95 80.25MRPL 49.90 50.10 47.65 48.20MINDAIND 330.00 332.00 327.00 329.50AKZOINDIA 1715.00 1735.00 1702.10 1708.95TATAINVEST 777.65 785.65 765.00 770.05VARROC 447.70 447.70 428.25 431.75DEEPAKFERT 91.40 91.65 87.00 88.05LAURUSLABS 351.00 351.00 340.95 343.90WELSPUNIND 51.85 52.25 49.55 50.40CHAMBLFERT 157.00 157.80 151.20 151.95JSWENERGY 64.85 64.85 63.80 63.95GICRE 184.00 189.40 182.65 186.40THYROCARE 473.50 495.90 471.90 492.65MAHSCOOTER 4085.00 4085.00 3950.00 3960.20MONSANTO 2105.00 2139.40 2053.00 2093.15CHENNPETRO 183.90 183.90 179.15 181.15AAVAS 1481.55 1481.55 1444.60 1461.40SUNDRMFAST 431.70 439.50 422.35 423.95JYOTHYLAB 160.35 163.50 156.50 156.95TVSSRICHAK 1785.00 1785.00 1747.40 1749.90SOMANYCERA 204.40 208.00 200.05 201.30ESSELPRO 105.20 105.75 103.80 103.80GALAXYSURF 1308.85 1349.00 1308.85 1340.00GSKCONS 7897.55 7908.70 7793.00 7806.80REPCOHOME 319.20 319.20 310.20 312.85FLFL 407.20 439.40 400.50 431.85BDL 286.00 292.55 279.85 281.80GESHIP* 246.15 249.50 246.05 249.45JSL 34.40 35.00 33.00 33.75JMFINANCIL 70.00 72.70 69.85 70.25HERITGFOOD 373.00 384.80 371.05 374.60THERMAX 1005.70 1007.70 995.40 1002.80DCAL 176.00 176.00 170.00 171.60CENTURYPLY 139.00 139.00 135.00 135.25SUDARSCHEM 337.40 342.70 330.55 332.00SONATSOFTW 313.35 315.00 306.55 311.60WABAG 279.45 281.95 275.15 275.95JPASSOCIAT 2.22 2.23 2.15 2.17GILLETTE 7018.00 7022.40 6947.05 6979.80INDOSTAR 254.50 254.50 245.00 247.80JETAIRWAYS 35.00 36.75 34.20 35.25GMDCLTD 67.80 68.35 67.40 67.75MAHINDCIE 153.65 153.95 147.10 148.35ECLERX 515.00 521.55 499.25 501.20MAHSEAMLES 396.10 398.85 384.55 395.55EIHOTEL 156.60 165.00 154.70 160.85TIMETECHNO 65.45 65.45 62.40 62.95APLLTD 520.00 523.50 508.55 511.70CENTRALBK 19.65 19.80 19.05 19.15CENTRUM 25.00 25.00 23.80 24.25KALPATPOWR 446.50 447.00 440.40 444.55NATCOPHARM 567.00 570.00 555.45 559.80CGPOWER 14.90 14.90 14.35 14.35ALLCARGO 99.05 100.70 98.00 98.75GPPL 78.85 79.30 78.55 78.95SUPREMEIND 1115.00 1121.00 1113.20 1113.40JBCHEPHARM 399.00 399.00 383.20 383.85REDINGTON 103.05 106.60 101.50 104.35ALKEM 1898.30 1904.95 1850.00 1866.15ERIS 409.40 409.55 400.00 402.90SYNGENE 311.00 311.05 305.05 310.80

ISEC 232.00 232.50 229.00 232.05COCHINSHIP 349.50 349.50 342.55 343.15NLCINDIA 56.30 57.30 55.90 57.15ADVENZYMES 167.60 170.45 154.10 158.85NIACL 105.90 106.30 104.45 104.60RATNAMANI 915.40 920.00 910.00 916.80BASF 1005.30 1005.30 978.00 982.00GICHSGFIN 177.90 177.90 165.85 168.10COROMANDEL 397.00 397.00 391.40 392.00UFLEX 216.00 216.70 207.00 211.70FDC 171.90 171.95 167.75 169.75GRINDWELL 571.00 572.75 560.00 564.40AEGISLOG 183.90 185.05 179.70 179.90KANSAINER 465.60 465.60 456.40 458.25TEJASNET 84.55 86.75 83.55 84.75BIRLACORPN 564.00 565.00 547.20 551.25TVTODAY 292.00 293.70 291.00 292.00JSLHISAR 75.00 75.00 69.10 69.80IOB 9.85 9.90 9.70 9.71ANDHRABANK 18.50 18.60 18.00 18.20CERA 2556.00 2579.55 2506.00 2545.55THOMASCOOK 147.15 149.70 145.70 148.50JCHAC 1800.00 1800.00 1730.00 1770.15CORPBANK 16.50 16.75 16.15 16.30ORIENTELEC 156.10 157.70 155.00 156.70IRCON 349.00 349.00 341.50 342.30SREINFRA 12.07 12.07 11.28 11.37CHOLAHLDNG 429.00 437.00 421.50 436.45BAJAJCON 253.00 258.00 249.40 250.00JAGRAN 69.00 69.00 65.00 66.75SCHAEFFLER 4050.00 4052.00 4000.00 4004.05JKLAKSHMI 298.10 298.10 293.10 294.05ORIENTCEM 91.40 91.85 88.25 89.55SHILPAMED 243.90 244.95 233.15 238.25STARCEMENT 91.00 92.90 90.60 91.80UNITEDBNK 9.27 9.34 9.18 9.18TTKPRESTIG 5561.65 5636.00 5561.65 5622.90ELGIEQUIP 254.00 254.00 250.00 254.00KRBL 223.90 227.00 216.20 218.10LUXIND 1165.50 1180.00 1159.40 1169.35CRISIL 1275.50 1295.00 1271.10 1295.00UCOBANK 14.65 14.75 14.60 14.65CCL 246.95 248.00 242.00 246.85INOXWIND 37.90 38.45 35.25 35.65SADBHAV 135.60 138.50 132.00 135.65CARBORUNIV 291.00 291.00 286.50 287.60SYMPHONY 1230.25 1230.25 1210.00 1215.75GDL 102.40 102.45 100.65 101.50MAHABANK 12.00 12.09 11.79 11.88MAHLOG 341.00 341.00 333.25 335.10NBVENTURES 86.35 86.35 83.55 84.40ZENSARTECH 215.30 217.60 212.05 214.05ASAHIINDIA 180.00 180.00 171.40 171.95FINCABLES 365.10 368.30 363.10 364.65NETWORK18 24.30 24.45 23.70 23.85LINDEINDIA 475.25 478.25 474.15 477.05ASTERDM 123.00 123.00 119.00 120.00KNRCON 226.60 226.60 220.10 224.10MHRIL 222.95 223.30 216.90 219.10NH 234.00 237.85 232.45 232.45MAHLIFE 392.85 393.05 390.00 392.45MAGMA 59.45 59.60 58.85 59.30SCHNEIDER 78.00 78.15 76.05 76.50BLUEDART 2219.20 2229.75 2190.00 2229.75GULFOILLUB 848.75 860.00 846.25 849.00MAXINDIA 59.35 59.55 57.15 58.30GAYAPROJ 111.00 112.85 108.00 109.10PNCINFRA 179.90 180.20 177.75 179.15EVEREADY 49.40 49.40 49.40 49.40TRITURBINE 92.30 94.80 91.50 91.75SKFINDIA 1890.00 1891.00 1885.00 1886.95MASFIN 653.00 654.35 620.10 634.95IFBIND 655.00 655.00 632.65 635.85TCNSBRANDS 661.90 662.50 650.00 650.85SUPRAJIT 165.00 169.50 165.00 165.95SHRIRAMCIT 1311.00 1318.15 1296.40 1301.65GET&D 155.75 156.40 151.00 152.00NESCO 526.35 529.00 525.10 525.45GEPIL 748.60 748.80 735.00 738.45TEAMLEASE 2729.15 2729.15 2680.25 2702.25DBCORP 136.20 142.95 134.85 136.85APARINDS 540.00 540.00 534.00 537.15SOLARINDS 1055.00 1055.00 1045.00 1048.75SIS 849.00 849.00 837.00 841.70HATSUN 602.25 608.00 600.00 608.00WABCOINDIA 6092.40 6092.40 6050.20 6050.60DHANUKA 320.90 323.40 316.75 321.00KPRMILL 546.35 546.35 532.05 535.65LAOPALA 162.80 164.10 162.50 162.60SFL 1241.00 1241.00 1231.05 1231.05JSWHL 2801.00 2801.00 2801.00 2801.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10845.20 10845.20 10670.25 10704.80 -135.85TATAMOTORS 123.50 125.35 121.20 124.20 2.45COALINDIA 191.30 194.50 189.50 193.70 1.35HDFCBANK 1099.90 1107.05 1084.00 1100.05 6.15UPL 555.50 566.40 549.20 560.00 2.95BHARTIARTL 338.40 342.55 334.70 337.00 1.40ASIANPAINT 1553.90 1563.50 1545.00 1551.20 3.45BRITANNIA 2618.00 2653.20 2590.00 2619.00 5.15JSWSTEEL 220.15 221.60 215.25 220.50 -0.90POWERGRID 202.75 202.75 199.10 200.65 -1.40KOTAKBANK 1464.80 1464.80 1445.00 1453.95 -10.80TITAN 1164.00 1167.65 1148.45 1152.00 -8.70GRASIM 704.00 710.60 695.25 697.80 -5.30DRREDDY 2740.10 2748.20 2708.65 2722.20 -21.45HDFC 1988.30 2002.30 1964.10 1972.50 -15.80BPCL 383.05 386.50 375.65 379.00 -3.10BAJAJFINSV 7246.00 7249.00 7135.55 7195.00 -60.05NTPC 122.95 122.95 120.10 121.30 -1.20HINDUNILVR 1830.00 1843.60 1808.25 1810.25 -18.95ULTRACEMCO 3910.00 3928.40 3838.00 3861.00 -41.80HCLTECH 1058.00 1058.00 1032.25 1046.25 -12.20INFY 824.85 827.00 815.20 820.30 -9.55HINDALCO 198.00 198.90 193.15 195.70 -2.30ITC 239.95 239.95 236.10 236.40 -2.85ADANIPORTS 366.30 366.50 357.85 362.00 -4.35GAIL 135.70 135.70 130.80 133.20 -1.75WIPRO 245.25 245.85 240.25 241.10 -3.20M&M 529.00 529.45 513.00 520.00 -7.00LT 1320.00 1320.20 1298.00 1299.50 -18.50SUNPHARMA 416.80 418.90 408.20 410.70 -6.10BAJAJ-AUTO 2773.00 2776.00 2721.45 2736.30 -40.75IOC 128.30 128.75 125.40 126.15 -2.00HEROMOTOCO2561.00 2595.00 2513.45 2534.90 -41.20AXISBANK 648.20 650.00 632.60 637.35 -11.05INFRATEL 253.10 253.70 247.05 249.10 -4.40EICHERMOT 16100.00 16180.00 15630.00 15750.00 -280.40MARUTI 6139.00 6175.00 5942.40 5987.70 -107.35CIPLA 458.65 461.95 449.90 450.50 -8.15BAJFINANCE 3426.00 3426.40 3340.30 3349.00 -64.85TCS 2135.00 2135.80 2091.00 2096.90 -41.65ONGC 127.00 127.25 123.65 124.50 -2.50SBIN 279.95 279.95 273.05 274.50 -5.90VEDL 149.00 150.10 142.00 146.50 -3.20TECHM 715.70 715.70 700.00 701.20 -15.55RELIANCE 1207.85 1209.70 1172.65 1179.00 -26.70ICICIBANK 395.70 395.70 384.35 386.30 -13.05TATASTEEL 356.00 356.00 340.05 345.55 -12.70INDUSINDBK 1332.90 1333.30 1278.15 1280.50 -49.90IBULHSGFIN 420.90 422.60 379.15 400.00 -19.25ZEEL 335.00 335.00 306.10 309.15 -26.25YESBANK 64.70 64.80 53.00 54.00 -10.10

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26178.70 26189.00 25814.75 25922.10 -227.80IDEA 4.90 5.70 4.90 5.45 0.60ICICIPRULI 423.40 433.80 422.00 430.00 8.40INDIGO 1683.00 1701.50 1662.65 1697.00 19.20GICRE 184.90 189.75 182.45 186.20 2.10ICICIGI 1154.95 1177.05 1136.90 1166.00 11.15GODREJCP 649.25 667.70 647.85 655.00 5.75COLPAL 1314.00 1342.00 1312.75 1328.10 10.70MOTHERSUMI 103.50 105.40 102.50 104.20 0.80OFSS 2908.95 2950.00 2889.00 2930.00 19.80BANDHANBNK 445.00 447.00 442.00 444.95 0.30SBILIFE 804.00 805.00 799.00 802.90 -0.05BAJAJHLDNG 3175.20 3192.05 3120.30 3150.05 -2.15MARICO 380.80 382.50 378.40 379.60 -0.35SRTRANSFIN 1038.90 1045.00 1026.70 1035.80 -1.10BIOCON 225.20 229.90 225.00 227.50 -0.35PGHH 10499.90 10549.00 10387.10 10445.00 -21.40ABB 1330.00 1333.50 1317.95 1322.30 -3.60DABUR 462.85 462.85 456.40 458.50 -1.50MRF 58213.00 58400.00 57890.95 58127.00 -237.55SIEMENS 1240.55 1247.00 1226.65 1241.00 -6.50ACC 1489.00 1498.85 1465.20 1480.20 -10.50MCDOWELL-N 603.95 609.45 594.00 598.75 -4.80CONCOR 527.45 528.45 512.25 521.40 -4.40PIDILITIND 1305.00 1311.80 1292.05 1297.80 -11.95CADILAHC 242.00 242.45 234.70 238.95 -2.30NIACL 105.45 106.10 104.50 104.80 -1.05BANKBARODA 95.95 96.00 93.75 95.00 -0.95PAGEIND 19650.10 20032.95 19476.30 19589.90 -198.85BOSCHLTD 13659.00 13710.00 13391.00 13475.00 -140.75NHPC 23.70 24.00 23.55 23.60 -0.25HDFCLIFE 540.70 540.70 529.10 532.95 -6.15HDFCAMC 2653.75 2667.70 2583.70 2611.00 -31.10HAVELLS 650.00 651.95 634.70 642.30 -7.70DLF 157.00 157.50 153.30 155.05 -2.10L&TFH 92.45 92.50 89.60 90.80 -1.35UBL 1251.00 1257.50 1220.85 1231.00 -19.65HINDPETRO 257.00 258.95 248.60 250.70 -4.35HINDZINC 213.50 214.10 208.45 209.75 -3.70DMART 1650.00 1660.70 1603.75 1618.00 -28.90ASHOKLEY 59.90 59.90 58.00 58.45 -1.20AMBUJACEM 195.50 196.50 190.25 191.40 -4.40LUPIN 760.25 762.75 733.75 742.00 -17.10AUROPHARMA 618.80 619.80 603.00 604.35 -14.40DIVISLAB 1621.00 1630.10 1570.50 1577.40 -38.75BHEL 48.70 48.75 47.10 47.40 -1.25NMDC 86.45 86.45 82.45 84.00 -2.75PETRONET 263.35 265.00 251.60 254.70 -8.65PEL 1830.00 1833.50 1741.70 1759.95 -65.20SHREECEM 18700.00 18700.00 17780.00 17900.00 -787.20SAIL 33.50 33.50 31.50 31.95 -1.45

Page 12: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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Benjamin Netanyahu's mainchallenger Benny Gantz on

Thursday presented himself asthe next prime minister, hoursafter the embattled Israeli pre-mier urged the Blue and Whiteleader to join him in forminga unity Government to avoid athird election.

With nearly 97 per cent ofthe votes counted on Thursday,Gantz's Blue and White partywon 33 seats while Netanyahu'sLikud secured 31 seats inIsrael's 120-memberParliament.

Gantz, 60, said he intendsto form and lead a "broad, lib-eral, unity government."

"After an election that wasforced on Israel, (people) votedand made a clear choice. Thepeople voted for unity andKahol Lavan won the election.It's the biggest party," he added.

He said the Israeli peoplewanted a unity governmentafter the last election too andvowed to form a "broad, liber-al unity government."

"In order to form a unitygovernment, one can't comewith political blocs and spins,"Gantz said, referring to theright-wing religious bloc'smove to recommendNetanyahu as the next primeminister after no clear winneremerged in the unprecedentedrepeat polls.

"You come with responsi-bility and seriousness. I attendto act accordingly," Gantz wasquoted as saying by theHaaretz. Gantz said he will notaccept any dictates. "There willbe no shortcuts."

His comments came after69-year-old Netanyahu said hewanted to form a right-winggovernment, but the resultsshowed it was not possible. Hecalled on Gantz to meet him "atany hour today" in order tohold discussions for a unitygovernment.

"Benny, it's on us to estab-lish a wide unity governmenttoday. The nation expects us,the both of us, to work togeth-er. Let's meet today.

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Iran's foreign minister warnedThursday that any attack on

his country over a drone-and-missile strike on Saudi Arabia'soil industry will result in "all-out war," further pushing uptensions across the PersianGulf.

The comments byMohammad Javad Zarif repre-sent the starkest warningoffered yet by Iran in a longsummer of mysterious attacksand incidents following thecollapse of Iran's nuclear dealwith world powers, over a yearafter President Donald Trumpunilaterally withdrew Americafrom the accord.

Zarif 's comments alsoappeared to be in response toUS Secretary of State MikePompeo, who a day earlierwhile travelling to Saudi Arabiareferred to the attack as an "act

of war." Asked by CNN what would

be the consequence of a US orSaudi strike, Zarif said: "All-outwar."

"We won't blink to defendour territory," he said.

Pompeo wrote a tweet earlyThursday after his meetingwith Saudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman inJiddah over Saturday's droneand cruise missile attack on acrucial oil processing facilityand oil field.

Yemen's Iranian-backedHouthi rebels have claimedthe attack, but the US allegesIran carried out the assault.

Pompeo called the attacks"unprecedented."

"The US stands with#SaudiArabia and supports itsright to defend itself," Pompeosaid.

"The Iranian regime'sthreatening behaviour will not

be tolerated." Pompeo did not elaborate.

President Donald Trump hasbeen noncommittal on whetherhe would order US military

retaliation. He separately said

Wednesday he is moving toincrease financial sanctions onTehran over the attack, without

elaborating. Iran already is subject to a

crushing American sanctionsprogram targeting its crucial oilindustry.

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo on Thursday

said he preferred a "peacefulresolution" to a crisis sparkedby attacks on Saudi oil infra-structure, as Iran warnedagainst "all-out war".

Pompeo has blamed Iran for the weekend assaulton two facilities which wiped out half of Saudi oilproduction, dismissing itsdenials and condemning the"act of war".

The rhetoric has raisedthe risk of an unpredictableescalation in the tinderboxregion where Saudi Arabiaand Iran are locked in adecades-old struggle for dom-inance.

Visiting the United ArabEmirates, Pompeo howeversaid his country would prefera "peaceful" solution to thecrisis.

"We'd like a peaceful res-olution," he said.

"I hope the IslamicRepublic of Iran sees it the

same way," he told reporters after talks with theleaders of the United ArabEmirates.

Iran's Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zarif ear-lier warned any US or Saudimilitary strike on Iran couldcause "all-out war."

"We don't want war, we don't want to engage in amilitary confrontation," he told CNN in an interview aired Thursday. "Butwe won't blink to defend ourterritory."

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War-weary Afghanistan washit with its third straight

day of bloody carnage Thursday,as a Taliban car bomb flatteneda hospital and killed 20 peoplein the south, while nine othersdied in a drone strike in the east.

The surge in violence, withcivilians paying the heaviestprice, has come after USPresident Donald Trump calledoff talks with the Taliban thatcould have seen Washingtonbegin withdrawing troops, andas the country gears up for apresidential election.

The insurgents respondedto Trump's declaration that thetalks were "dead" earlier thismonth by promising to contin-ue fighting, and have vowed totarget the September 28 polls,Afghanistan's fourth presiden-tial election since the hardlineIslamist group was ousted frompower in 2001.

Thursday's bloodshedbegan near dawn, when theTaliban killed at least 20 peopleand wounded 90 after a car

bomb destroyed a hospital inthe southern Afghan city ofQalat.

Hours later, reportsemerged of an overnight dronestrike in eastern Nangarharprovince said to have killed atleast nine civilians who hadbeen camping in the moun-tainous region as they collectedpine nuts.

The US is the only memberof the international coalition inAfghanistan that provides airsupport in the conflict, butthere was no immediate state-ment from its forces inAfghanistan, the United Nationsor NATO.

The strike came just hoursafter four people were killed onWednesday when unknowngunmen and a suicide bomberstormed a government buildingin nearby Jalalabad, capital ofNangarhar province. OnTuesday, the Taliban killed near-ly 50 people in two separateattacks —one on a campaignrally for President Ashraf Ghaniin the central province ofParwan, and the other in Kabul.

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Former British PrimeMinister David Cameron

revealed Thursday that heasked Queen Elizabeth II tointervene in the Scottish inde-pendence referendum, riskingthe irritation of the nominallyneutral head of state.

Cameron, who led the suc-cessful campaign for Scotlandto stay in the United Kingdomin the 2014 referendum, said heasked if she could offer even a"raising of the eyebrow" toindicate her opposition toindependence.

He told the BBC he spokewith the queen's private secre-tary, "not asking for anythingthat would be in any wayimproper or unconstitutional,but just a raising of the eye-brow, even, you know, a quar-ter of an inch — we thought

would make a difference." A few days before the vote,

the queen told a member of thepublic in Scotland that shehoped "people would thinkvery carefully about the future"— comments that made head-lines. Scotland voted by 55 percent to stay in the UK.

In a BBC documentary tomark the publication of hismemoirs, Cameron said that"although the words were verylimited, I think it helped to puta slightly different perceptionon things".

Buckingham Palace toldAFP it would not comment onhis remarks, but a royal sourcetold the BBC they had causedsome displeasure.

"It serves no one's interests"for conversations between themonarch and her prime min-isters to be made public, thesource was quoted as saying.

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British Prime Minister BorisJohnson has been accused

by European Union officials offailing to negotiate seriouslyand branded the "father of lies"by a lawyer in the UK SupremeCourt, as his plan to leave theEU in just over six weeks facedhurdles on both sides of theChannel.

In Strasbourg, France, theEuropean Parliament said onWednesday it would be thefault of Britain, not the bloc, ifthe UK crashed out of the EUwithout a divorce deal on thescheduled October 31 departureday.

In London, Johnson's gov-ernment battled to convince theUK's top court that the primeminister's decision to suspendParliament for five weeks withBrexit looming was neither ille-gal nor improper. The govern-ment's opponents claimJohnson illegally shut down thelegislature to prevent lawmak-ers from scrutinising his Brexitplans.

Government lawyer JamesEadie told 11 Supreme Courtjustices that the decision tosend lawmakers home untilOctober 14 was "inherently andfundamentally political innature," and not a matter for thejudiciary. He said that if thecourt intervened it would vio-late the "fundamental constitu-tional principle" of the separa-tion of powers.

But a lawyer for lawmakerschallenging the shutdownaccused the government ofbeing "unworthy of our trust.""We've got here the mother ofparliaments being shut down bythe father of lies," said attorneyAidan O'Neill.

He urged the judges to"stand up for truth, stand up forreason, stand up for diversity,stand up for Parliament, standup for democracy."

The judges, for their part,wondered why Johnson hadrefused to provide a swornstatement to the court about hisreasons for the suspension.

"Isn't it odd that nobody hassigned a witness statement to

say: 'This is true. These are thetrue reasons for what wasdone'?" said one of the judges,Nicholas Wilson.

The developments were thelatest in a rocky week forJohnson, who pulled out of anews conference with the primeminister of Luxembourg onMonday because of noisy pro-testers nearby. On Wednesdayhe was berated by the father ofa sick child over funding cuts toBritain's health service as he vis-ited a London hospital.

Johnson took power in Julywith a vow that Britain will leavethe EU on Oct. 31 "come whatmay." He promised to break astalemate that saw the Brexitagreement struck between theEU and Johnson's predecessorTheresa May rejected threetimes by Britain's Parliament,prompting May to resign.

Many lawmakers believe ano-deal Brexit would be eco-nomically devastating andsocially destabilising, and haveput obstacles in Johnson's path,including legal challenges to theParliament shutdown.

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Beijing on Thursday accusedWashington of "adding fuel

to the fire" of Hong Kongunrest after leaders of the city'spro-democracy movementappealed directly to US law-makers to exert pressure onChina.

Activists from the semi-autonomous city testifiedbefore a congressional com-mission in support of US leg-islation aimed at defendingcivil rights in Hong Kong,which has been convulsed byweeks of huge, sometimes vio-lent rallies.

Foreign ministryspokesman Geng Shuang saidat a press briefing Thursday thatthe US should "stop supportingviolent radical forces and HongKong independence separatists,and stop adding fuel to the fireto the words and deeds thatdamage the prosperity and sta-bility of the Hong Kong SpecialAdministrative Region."

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Two classmates of a Hindudental student have been

detained by the police inPakistan's Sindh province aftershe was found dead in her hos-tel room, a media report saidon Thursday.

Nimrita Chandni, a final-year student of Bibi Asifa

Dental College in Larkana dis-trict and a social activist, wasfound lying on a cot by herfriends on Monday with a ropetied to her neck.

The two suspects, bothclassmates of Chandni, weretaken into the custody by thepolice after tracing the call datafrom the deceased's cell phone,Geo News reported.

Her room was locked frominside. Police have not yetascertained whether she com-mitted suicide or was mur-dered.

The girl hailed from Ghotkidistrict, which recently wit-nessed riots after a school prin-cipal from the minority Hinducommunity was booked oncharges of alleged blasphemy.

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The United States onThursday accused Afgha-

nistan's government of failing tofight corruption and cut morethan $160 million in directfunding, little over a week beforethe country's elections.

While Washington has longcomplained of graft by its ally,the harsh measure comes afterAfghan President Ashraf Ghaniclashed with President DonaldTrump over the US leader's dealwith the Taliban.

"We stand against thosewho exploit their positions ofpower and influence to deprivethe Afghan people of the ben-efits of foreign assistance and amore prosperous future,"Secretary of State Mike Pompeosaid in a statement.

Pompeo said that theUnited States was suspendingwork with the Afghan body incharge of monitoring corrup-tion as it is "incapable of beinga partner". "We expect theAfghan government to demon-strate a clear commitment tofight corruption, to serve theAfghan people and to maintaintheir trust," he said.

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President Donald Trumpasked a federal judge on

Thursday to block an effort byNew York prosecutors to obtainhis tax returns, opening a newlegal front in the president'sefforts to prevent his financialinformation from becomingpublic.

Trump's attorneys filed alawsuit against the Manhattandistrict attorney, Cyrus R VanceJr, who recently subpoenaedthe president's accounting firmfor eight years of his state andfederal returns.

They said the subpoenawas unconstitutional and a"bad faith effort to harass thePresident by obtaining andexposing his confidential finan-cial information".

The lawsuit, f iled inManhattan federal court, asksUS District Judge VictorMarrero to declare the sub-poena invalid and unenforce-able.

It says the US Constitution"prohibits states from subject-ing the president to criminalprocess while he is in office".

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said the lawsuit isintended "to address the sig-nificant constitutional issues atstake in this case."

A spokesman for Vance said the district attorney had received the law-suit "and will respond as appro-priate in court." Trump'saccounting firm declined tocomment.

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We have been watching the father-son duoSunny and Karan Deol for a while. At thepress conference that preceded the inter-

views, they made sure to answer each question, somehumorously and others, a little seriously. When areporter asked Sunny to deliver one of his famous dia-logues, he pushed his son forward and said, abhi bach-chon ki baat karte hain (We must talk about the kidsnow). Even when all the those who were assembledrequested him again, he stood his ground before ask-ing Karan to sing a song from his forthcoming film.As often happens, even when it concerns parents whoare nowhere near the arc lights, Sunny too placed hisoffspring in focus. So despite performances from hispast films having made a strong impression on peo-ple’s hearts, the actor-turned-director does not seemto be hankering for more attention.

When questioned about taking a backseat for hisson’s debut, Sunny said, “I am not bothered about suchthings because I am not insecure. Even when I start-ed my career I was beyond all this. I want to tell young-sters to be confident and proud of who they are.Success and failure are a part of life because every onecannot have the same pace. You should enjoy everymoment because life happens but once. There is nopoint creating more stress for no rhyme and reason?”

Karan is making his debut with Pal Pal Dil KePaas. It is a love story set in snowy regions of HimachalPradesh. Directed by Sunny, the film revolves aroundthe journey of two youngsters who are in love andready to face any hurdles to be together.

Working with a family member and that too ason is special for anyone. But in such cases it is impor-tant to maintain a balance between the personal andthe professional. “It was a great experience. Jaisihumari family hai, humlog beta baap door-door hi rehtehai, dost nahi hote. (The kind of family that we have,my son and I usually stay apart. We are not friends).It took three years to prepare for this film. Duringthis journey both of us spent a lot of time with eachother. I will always cherish these years,” said Sunny.While talking about his son, the slight smile that con-sistently hovered on his lips revealed his love.

But a father launching his son naturally gives riseto the loud whispers about nepotism especially inBollywood with two opposing camps arguing for andagainst it. When asked about the same, Sunnyanswered really promptly as if he was anticipating thequestion. “Had people not favoured nepotism, theywould have asked some questions from the heroinetoo during the press conference. But they did not.Every question was directed at either me or my son.This itself explains the mindset of the people. I believe,every child’s journey is based on his/her capabilities.It has nothing to do with what their parents havedone,” said he.

Of course when your father is the director, it isinevitable that most people would allege that Karanwould get a stronger role. But Karan dis-agrees, “It’s a perception. When yousee the film, you will realise thatboth the characters are equal-ly strong. They are support-ing each other.”

Sunny explained thathe had not planned thatKaran should debut ina film directed by himand would have pre-ferred some otherdirector. But thatdidn’t materialise.For lack of options,he decided to takeon the mantle onhimself.

From an actorSunny who hasdisplayed hischarismatic per-sonality, to a direc-tor, he believes thatthere is no suchthing as “challenge”in life. Acting anddirecting are pro-fessions that he hastaken up and bothneed preparation.He said, “There arepeople who speakout their problemsloudly but one

should not. I have understood that mushkile sabke paashai, mai koi alag thodi hu. (Everyone has some prob-lems, I am no different). If you don’t have problems,you will remain in your comfort zone and not moveforward. I would encourage the youth not to fall preyto that.”

The first hurdle was the kind of film that Sunnywanted to make. The senior Deol had decided thathe wanted to make a film but was not sure about thestoryline. “I hired Jassi and Ravi (writers) and we dida lot of brainstorming before coming up with an idea.As the germ of an idea made its presence felt, I realisedthat this was something I always wanted to do. I want-ed to understand today’s generation and bring forththeir perspective. We often try to put the youth in apre-determined mould rather than understandingwhat they want to do. There was a time when we fol-lowed traditional practices, but we cannot enforce thesame on our kids. Today’s youth is very different,” saidSunny. However, one thing which made the film dif-ferent was that he had not put any restrictions beforethe shoot began as Sunny wanted the story to findits own path.

The film has been shot in villages near Manaliwhere survival is tough. The actors had to go throughphysically and mentally challenging hurdles whichwere in addition to the fact that both of them areyoung and naive. Karan has played the role of a

Himachali boy which was not easy for a boy whogrew up in urban Mumbai. So, prior to the

shoot he spent three to four monthsanalysing and understanding howpeople live in that region. He said, “Itwas tough because it’s a differentlifestyle altogether. It took time toadjust to that place. I had to wake upearly and trek in the cold weather. Itwas very taxing physically. Post trekI had to rappel and do rock climbing.I used to crash as soon as I hit the bed.

Dad took us to a place where there washardly any civilisation. It was very

tough to bring out emotions as the highaltitude presented another set of

challenges.” But the actoris glad that he went

through the gru-elling experience ashe now has a senseof accomplish-ment. He addedthat he has founda new love andaffection for hiscity.

While Karanwas balancingthe role of anactor, his fatherhad to look atall the aspects ofthe film ratherbeing focussedon just acting.Sunny said thathe was lookingfor the bestsinger becausemusic plays avital role. “Mymusic is verynew and story-driven. I believethat a song

s h o u l dalways gowith the flowof the story

rather than putting it just for the sake of it. I am fondof doing new and interesting things as remakes areboring,” he said.

But looking back at his chequered career, evenpeople who hadn’t been born when Ghayal wasreleased in 1990, are well versed with his famous dia-logue, “Jab yeh dhai kilo ka haath kisi pe padta haina, toh aadmi uthta nahi utth jata hai?” The Gadaractor is known for his strong roles. Irrespective ofwhether it is a comic or a serious role, it was his pow-erful personality that made an impact. He said, “Nomatter what the role was, the way I portrayed it madeit different. I tried to infuse all my roles with a per-sonal touch so that it looked natural.” Recalling anincident from his film Ziddi he said, “There is a scenewhere people tell me, ‘tumhari behen ko usne chedhdiya.’ I believe that if someone does this in reality mainhaath ukhad dunga. Because I wanted the scene tolook natural I said that those were the dialogues Iwanted to mouth. When people heard this, they start-ed laughing wondering how could someone do this.But I did that scene. That’s my belief, as an actor. WhenI take up something I do it with honesty.”

There is another role that Sunny has taken uponhimself, that of a member of Parliament fromGurdaspur. On foraying into the field of politics, hesaid that it is one more profession he wanted to dojustice to. “People know that if I take up anything inlife I take it to a high point where it should have been,”said he.

During the whole session Karan seemed quitenervous. When asked about the same, before we couldeven complete the sentence Sunny defended him. Hesaid (pointing towards the lead actors of the film)“They have come to a point where what happens ona Friday will dictate their tomorrow. They areunaware whether it will be smooth, hard or filled withopportunities.”

When asked about the plethora of emotions thatKaran was going through, he said, “I feel nervousand excited. I am eagerly waiting for the responseto my film.” As he answered the questions his facebegan to turn red clearly revealing how frightenedhe was. He added that his anxiety won’t let him sleepuntil the film releases. Pointing towards Sunny hesaid, “I can understand now what he must be goingthrough with every release.” The thought that firstimpression is the last has Karan worried.

Right from the black and white era whenDharmendra became a part of the industry, to Sunnyand Bobby, the Deols have made a mark inBollywood. Naturally, with such a family back-ground, the baggage is heavier. Karan said, “Peopleare keenly looking out for your negatives to put youdown. They don’t see that it’s my first experience asan actor. I can’t be perfect from the word go justbecause I come from a particular family. With timeand experience, I will polish myself and grow as anactor. I want to push my family name forward andhopefully with this film, I will be able to do that.”

The film has a plethora of emotions ranging fromexcitement, sadness and romance, it was not easy forKaran to portray one and switch to another instant-ly. For an experienced actor that would be easy buttough for a beginner. He shared that during an emo-tional scene Sunny made sure that the atmosphere ofthe set facilitated it.

Crediting all his learnings to his father, Karan said,“No other director would have pushed me the way daddid. When I went home after shoot, he taught me howto get into the mood for a scene instantly. As he knowsmy personality he was aware how to bring out a par-ticular emotion. It is important for a director to knowa person, especially a newcomer so that s/he can bemoulded in a desired way. Because he is an actor him-self he understands all the facets better. And it was mydad, so yes it was a really emotional journey.”

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Actor Brad Pitt opened up abouthis struggles with alcoholismand the efforts he made in

order to face his problems. He said,“Initially, I didn’t know how to dealwith my painful feelings. But I don’teven want to run from anything,instead want to sit and feel it. I wantto get through the rough night. AndI found, in doing so, you just comeout of it with a more profoundunderstanding of yourself and grate-fulness for those in your life.”

In an interview with ChristianeAmanpour, chief anchor for CNN, hediscussed his new film Ad Astra, hisbattle with alcoholism and the MeToo movement. Space epic Ad Astratackles a range of topics. Pitt talkedabout the film’s focus on loneliness,father-and-son relationships, mas-culinity and vulnerability. He said thatthere his love for the sci-fi genre madehim sign this film. “I didn’t want todo it until I figured we could dosomething that would add to a suc-cessful genre. And I think James Grayhad a really interesting take that wehadn’t seen before. It just seemed thesubject matter of, I guess, finding selfat this age in my life, it seemed inter-esting,” said Pitt and went on to add,“When you get older, you just gettired of everything. And we wantedto get on with this film in that way.We all carry great pains and majorregrets. We have all experienced lossand loneliness. And we’re good atpacking that away, not dealing withit, some are really good at gettingthrough it and coming out the otherside in a more well-rounded and con-fident manner. So we just wanted tolike get it out there.”

The two went on to discuss thesummer hit Once Upon a Time in

Hollywood and Pitt’s breakout role inThelma and Louise.

Amanpour spoke to Pitt about theMe-Too movement and his earlypart in calling out Harvey Weinsteinin the 1990s. When then girlfriendGwyneth Paltrow was propositionedby Weinstein, Pitt confronted themedia mogul. Asked about the inci-dent, Pitt downplayed his own role inthe movement but gave credit to itsimportance. He said, “At thatmoment, I was a boy from the Ozarkson the playground and that’s how weconfronted with things. And I want-ed to make sure nothing happenedfurther because Paltrow was going todo two films. I think that the inter-esting thing is that we, Hollywoodspecifically, but the work place, menand women’s dynamic is being recal-ibrated in a very good way, and it’slong overdue. And I do think that’s animportant story to tell.”

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Maggie Beer did not let alack of formal trainingcome in the way of her

metamorphosising into a leg-endary cook and author.Whenever she makes an appear-ance as a guest judge onMasterChef Australia it tends tocreate a lot of excitement amongthe contestants as they realisethat they would be mentored byone of the country’s most cher-ished and respected chefs.

Beer’s career extends overfive decades and she has been apart of the the much-loved showsince the very beginning. Sheworked at a Scottish sailingschool during a European trip inher early twenties where she says,“I used the entire larder for thefour-month season in eightweeks because I am a very gen-erous cook and that’s the onlyway I know how to do it.” Afterrelocating from Sydney to theBarossa Valley, Beer, with herhusband Colin, established theFarm Shop in 1979 which mor-phed into the Barossa PheasantFarm Restaurant later. It becamewell-known for serving locallysourced pheasant as well as apate.

When questioned about herjourney to becoming one of theworld’s most famous chefs, shelaughs and says, “I call myself acook and not a chef. I grew upin a family where food andcooking were very important. Istarted learning about food sincethen. My parents cooked every-

thing from scratch. We had ourown farm and that helped me alot in understanding the ingre-dients.” Growing up as she did,the chef always had an inclina-tion towards food and cookingso she started with some of herfarm produce which markedthe beginning of her career.

Along the way she has devel-oped her own food philosophy.“I see myself as a country cookand a produce-driven cook, Icannot waste any product oringredients. My philosophy is tomake every dish in such a waythat the ingredients are usedproperly and efficiently,” shesays.

Talking about her experienceat Masterchef she says, “Themost beautiful thing about theshow is the excited young peo-ple who have a dream that theyare following. It is good to seehow dedicated they are in pur-suing their passion. They give apart of themselves to the show.They come with an eagernessand ability to learn and do it veryquickly too. So I love their open-ness to learning.”

The chef has not visitedIndia for a long time. She says,“When I was 21, I stopped inNew Delhi for some time on myway to Europe. And consideringthat I will turn 75 in January, thatwas a long long time ago.

As for Indian food, she is inlove with the spices and legumes.“I love things like dough,vignettes and tamarinds. I love

the Dosa too because it is atremendous blend of so manyflavours and at the same time it’sso crisp,” added she. “I don’t cookall these as I stick toMediterranean,” she laughs andadds, “But I have tried and tast-ed all of them when others cookhem for me.”

Like any other chef, Beer toohas her favourites when puttingtogether a meal. “There aresome ingredients that I cannotdo or live without, extra virginolive oil being one. But my rou-tine is that we have a big veg-etable garden and it’s about fol-lowing the seasons, going to thepantries, looking at the organicproduce, getting the right seeds...and more. And my routine isthinking at the last momentwhat am I going to have for din-ner? So I look at the garden andI see all the beautiful and amaz-ing things. It’s a very relaxed rou-tine even though I work verylong hours. In that routine, I graband feel a lot of new experienceseveryday. So my routine is just tobe seduced by whatever looks themost beautiful and make it intoa dish,” she says with a laugh.

Despite being a much-renowned chef, she believes thatcooking is not looked upon as acelebrated career even now.There are people still strugglingwith their passion “My advice isto understand that hard workcan lead you to dizzying heights.And your dream is only likely tobe fulfilled if you’re truly pas-sionate about it. You want tolearn and keep evolving. Youshould be ready to absorb every-thing that’s been put in front ofyou. If you have a real interest incooking, it is one of the mostrewarding things to do,” shesays.

Despite cooking for somany years and having gathereda plethora of experiences, thereare some dreams which contin-ue are yet to be achieved. “Myone dream is that I make beau-tiful ice creams, which are real-ly very special, super premium.We make them commerciallyand export to China. So my onedream is to be able to exportthem to India as well. I havealways wanted to explore thecountry and by exporting ourice creams, I’ll get its people totaste our produce as well,” shesays.

However, Beer has not letherself be confined to just cook-ing but is extending her domainby way of her foundation. “InAustralia, food health is not asimportant and sometimesneglected. So we have a lot of agecare homes that need to getmuch more beautiful food. It canbe institutionalised. And I kindof accept that. So I am trying tochange the food to give it awhole new flavour and also apleasure to the residents in agecare homes who are no longerable to cook by themselves. Sothat actually keeps me busy.”

(The season 11 of the showairs on Star World.)

It’s that time of year again, when freshapples are piled high at farmer’s markets.

If you are lucky enough to live near anorchard, you can take the day and pick yourown bushel of apples. But whether you arepicking them at the market or off a tree,there are many great things to do withapples that don’t include making a pie.Besides apple pie, some ideas you might nothave thought of:

� Cut apples into matchstick-size strips andadd them to your favorite kale salad for atart and crunchy addition.� Saute chunks of peeled apples in butter,season them with a touch of sugar and apinch of salt, and serve them with any eggdish to brighten up breakfast. In the South,these are sometimes “fried” with bacon fatand called “fried apples,” but I prefer but-ter. Sauteed apples are also great in pan-cakes. Let them cool, and add to yourfavorite pancake batter. If you are a fan ofcinnamon like I am, add a pinch and they’lltaste like apple pie.� Make an apple upside-down cake, andadd cranberries for a festive touch. Use yourfavorite pineapple upside-down cake recipebut substitute apples.� Make a gourmet open-faced tartine, akasandwich with brie cheese and apples.Brush the bread with your favorite jam —think fig, apricot, raspberry, etc. and topwith apples, brie and walnuts. Melt undera broiler and enjoy!� Make a faux sauerkraut for fall sausagesby cooking down grated apples, slicedonions and fennel. Finish with a pinch ofcaraway seeds and a couple of tablespoonsof butter for richness.� Cook apples slowly until they melt intohomemade applesauce. Begin by peelingand coring the apples, and add the juice ofa large lemon, and a little sugar and cinna-mon. Put the lid on the pot and slowly cookon the stovetop. When they have cookeddown to the texture of chunky applesauce,taste and season as you like.� If you have a juicer, make your own applejuice and serve it cold or hot.

� Make your own apple butter. Cookabout 5 pounds of apples with ½ cup ofapple cider until they are deep brown andhave a creamy, “buttery” consistency. Seasonwith your favorite autumn spices. No sugarnecessary. You can do this easily in a slowcooker or a pressure cooker. The slow cook-er is the slow, all day method and the pres-sure cooker is the fast method.

Reminder: If you get a bunch of apples,keep them in a cool place. I have had suc-cess keeping them for months in the crisperdrawer of my refrigerator. If you picked yourown and went a little crazy, and have toomany to fit in your refrigerator, wrap eachapple individually in paper — unprintednewsprint paper works well — and store inthe garage or basement where it is cool. Becareful of any rotting apples, because the oldsaying “One bad apple spoils the bunch” istrue.

My favorite thing to make with extraapples is my Grandmother Odom’s AppleCake. The recipe doesn’t call for any liquidbecause the fresh apples give up their juiceas the cake bakes, and that creates liquid inthe batter. It’s a simple cake to make and ispositively addicting. In fact, anytime I havea prickly relationship with someone, Imake them my grandmother’s cake and itchanges our relationship! I call it The Powerof Grandmother Odom’s Apple Cake.

—AP

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Page 15: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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Paris Saint-Germainlaunched their latestquest for Champions

League success with a state-ment win over Real Madridon Wednesday, while a lateAtletico Madrid comebackfoiled Juventus asManchester City eased tovictory in Ukraine.

French giants PSG havefailed to make their mark inEurope, crashing out of theChampions League in thelast 16 each of the past threeyears despite the huge sumsof money spent by theirQatari owners.

With Neymar suspend-ed and Kylian Mbappe andEdinson Cavani sidelinedby injury, Angel Di Mariastepped up in their absenceby grabbing two first-halfgoals in a 3-0 triumph at theParc des Princes.

Thomas Meunier addedthe third late on as Madrid,who beat PSG on the way tolifting the trophy in 2016

and 2018, were soundlybeaten in their Group Aopener with Eden Hazardkept quiet on his full debut.

“There’s no messagesent, but we dominated thisgame very well,” PSG captainThiago Silva told RMCSport.

“We have to play likethis all the time, in theleague as well, with charac-ter and hunger.”

Real, the 13-timeEuropean champions, arestill favourites to advancefrom a section that includesClub Brugge andGalatasaray, who drew 0-0 inBelgium, but the nature ofthe loss underscored thework that lies ahead forcoach Zinedine Zidane.

Diego Simeone’sAtletico clawed their wayback from two goals down inthe final 20 minutes to res-cue a 2-2 draw at home toJuventus in Group D.

The anticipated clashbetween Cristiano Ronaldoand Joao Felix, the teenager

touted as the heir toRonaldo’s throne, took abackseat to a Atletico rous-ing comeback after second-half goals from JuanCuadrado and BlaiseMatuidi put Juve in control.

Stefan Savic noddedhome from point-blankrange to give Atletico hope

and substitute HectorHerrera headed in a cornerin the final minute to snatcha point.

“I think we played wellbut we have a bitter taste inour mouth now because wefelt we had the game in ourhands,” said Juventus bossMaurizio Sarri.

CITY’S RESPONSEBoth sides trail

Lokomotiv Moscow follow-ing the Russians’ 2-1 win atBayer Leverkusen. GrzegorzKrychowiak and DmitriBarinov scored forLokomotiv either side of anown goal by formerGermany defender Benedikt

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Bajrang Punia lost his semi-final bout against home

wrestler Daulet Niyazbekovunder controversial cir-cumstances after sealinghis Tokyo Olympicsquota along with RaviDahiya, who made hispresence felt in a star-studded field at theWorld WrestlingChampionships, here onThursday.

Bajrang’s frustrated coachShako Benitidis kicked thecoach’s block in anger after the65kg bout ended 9-9 followinga nerve-wracking six minutes.

Since Niyazbekov wasgiven a bigger throw of fourpoints in the bout, he was

declared the winner.In the fiercely-fought bout,

the referee gave ample time totiring Niyazbekov to catch hisbreath and he was not given

caution at least thrice.Instead Niyazbekov

was awarded four pointswhen it was Bajrang whoeffected a throw at theedge of the circle.

“I challenged it andthey should have given at

least two points to Bajrang forthat hold,” said coach Benitidis.

Several times, Bajrangraised his hands in frustrationbut to no avail.

The last edition Silvermedallist Indian will now fightfor the Bronze today.

“It was clear that the matchairman favoured the home

wrestler,” said a coach who didnot wish to be named.

Ravi, who felled a few starson his way to the 57kg semifi-nals, lost 4-6 to reigning worldchampion Zaur Uguev ofRussia and will also fight for theBronze.

Ravi also made it to theTokyo Olympics in the 57kgafter stunning ArsenHarutunyan, the 61kgEuropean champion fromArmenia and 2017 worldchampion and world numberthree Yuki Takahashi of Japan.

Meanwhile, India’s cam-paign in the women’s compe-tition folded following PoojaDhanda’s defeat in the Bronzemedal bout and first roundexits of Sakshi Malik and DivyaKakran.

Pooja could not match hislast year’s Bronze winning per-formance as she lost the 59kgBronze medal play-off 3-5 to2018 Asian champion XingruPei.

There was no end to thewoes of Rio Olympic Bronzemedallist Sakshi Maik, who losther opening round 7-10 toNigeria’s Aminat Adeniyi. Shewas knocked out of the tour-namernt after the Nigerianlost her quarterfinal bout.

Sakshi waited too long toattack while her powerfulopponent moved quickly.

In the 68kg, Divya Kakrancould not do much againstreigning Olympic championSara Dosho from Japan, losingthe bout 0-2.

Dosho later lost her quar-terfinal bout, closing repechagedoors on Divya.

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—THOMAS TUCHEL (PSG coach)

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FIGURATIVELY

Hoewedes.Premier League champions

City bounced back from defeatby Norwich at the weekendwith a comfortable 3-0 victoryagainst Shakhtar Donetsk inKharkiv.

Riyad Mahrez slammedhome a rebound after IlkayGundogan hit the post, and theGerman international smackedin a second before GabrielJesus sealed the points on 76minutes.

“When you win the man-ager makes the right decisions,when you lose the wrong deci-sions. We lost one game in eightmonths and we will not doubtwho these players are. It is a joyto be their manager,” coach PepGuardiola told BT Sport.

City are second to DinamoZagreb in Group C after theCroatian champions made it anight to forget for competitiondebutants Atalanta with a 4-0rout.

Dinamo failed to score asingle goal as they lost all sixmatches on their last groupstage appearance in 2016-17.

However, Marin Leovacgave them a 10th-minute leadand Mislav Orsic bagged ahat-trick as Dinamo got off toa dream start ahead of a trip toCity on October 2.

Bayern Munich neededlate goals from RobertLewandowski and ThomasMueller to make sure of victo-ry against Red Star Belgrade inGroup D.

Kingsley Coman’s bulletheader gave Bayern a first-halflead but the German champi-ons were forced to wait until the80th minute beforeLewandowski ended Red Star’sthreat.

Substitute Mueller volleyedin a third in stoppage time.

Last year’s finalistsTottenham blew a two-goallead to draw 2-2 at Olympiakos.

Harry Kane’s penalty and afine Lucas Moura strike putSpurs 2-0 up after 30 minutesin Greece, but Daniel Podencecut the deficit shortly before thebreak and Mathieu Valbuenalevelled from the spot in thesecond half.

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Page 16: 2019/09/20  · Making no bones about the BJP’s intention that it would go whole hog Kashmir issue in the new context as a major issue in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the PM

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Most bowlers find it tough tocontain batsmen in deathovers but young India pacer

Deepak Chahar relishes the challengein the Twenty20 format.

With India giving youngstersopportunities ahead of the T20 WorldCup next year, 27-year-old Chahar hasimpressed in the three games he has gotsince making his debut in July last year,taking six wickets at 11.50.

Used to opening the bowling forChennai Super Kings in the IPL,Chahar has shown he can be equallyeffective in the death overs.

“I don’t know how I developed it(bowling at the top) but you have to doit when you are playing for India. It ischallenging with only two fielders out-side the circle. But I have startedthinking sub-consciously that I willneed to bowl three overs with two field-ers outside the circle,” said Chahar, whowas India’s standout bowler in theirseven-wicket win over South Africa onWednesday.

In his opening spell of three overs,Chahar swung the ball and picked upthe wicket of Reeza Hendricks beforereturning in the 18th over to remove aset Temba Bavuma with a well dis-guised slower ball.

“Earlier I used to bowl more in thedeath overs and find it easier becausein Powerplay you have only two field-ers outside the circle and after that youhave the protection of five fielders. Youcan use variation also in death overs,”he said.

Chahar said he focuses on out-guessing the batsman.

“How I bowl depends on the bats-men. In the death overs, the batsmanis expecting yorkers or a slower ball butif you can also bowl a bouncer orknuckle ball, it can surprise him. Youto have to keep guessing the batsman,”

said the Rajasthan pacer.He feels bowling on flat wickets in

Chennai during the IPL has made hima better bowler.

“There is no off the wicket helpwhen you are playing in Chennai. Butwhen we were playing in Pune last tolast year, there was help both off thewicket and in the air. But in Chennai,the swing is there for maximum oneover as there is no grass. So, I got con-fidence that if I could do well there, Icould do well elsewhere too,” he said.

Chahar has grabbed his chances sofar but knows he is far from cement-ing his place in the side ahead of theT20 World Cup in Australia.

“There is one whole year left forthat. I play each match as if it is my lastfor India. At this time Indian cricket isat the top. If you want to play you haveto do well in almost every game.There is a lot of competition and maybe that is why Indian cricket is at thetop.

“There is no guarantee that you willget your place back even if you arereturning from an injury.”

Talking about Virat Kohli’s match-winning knock of 72 not out, Chaharwas all praise.

“He is just next level and all class,”he said.

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Captain Tim Paine has predicted a“very exciting era” for Australian

cricket after the team retained theAshes against England, while reveal-ing he broke his thumb in the finalTest.

“I’m looking forward to Australiaseeing how far we’ve come this sum-mer,” Paine said in a column for TheAustralian newspaper, referring toupcoming home Tests against Pakistanand New Zealand.

“Last year we were a bit lost andwere finding our way,” he added afterthe side struggled in the wake of theball-tampering scandal in SouthAfrica.

“I know we have found it now andI am confident this group is thebeginning of a very exciting era inAustralian cricket.

“We’ve got the best bowling attackin the world and the basis for a greatbatting line-up.”

Australia retaining the Ashes wasbuilt on the back of an incredible seriesby former skipper Steve Smith, whoscored 774 runs in just seven innings,and an impressive bowling attack led

by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.Paine called Smith “a freak” while

also praising Marnus Labuschagne ashaving “a huge future” after he tooenjoyed a stellar tour with the bat.

Coming off a long overseas tourand with five home Tests starting from

November 21, Paine said he needs torest and will not play the domestic BigBash League Twenty20 competitionthis season.

“Being captain is draining and Ithink I should take every chance torecharge my batteries,” he said.

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Sri Lanka’s cricket board onThursday said it will go ahead

with its tour of Pakistan despitefears that players could be the tar-gets of terror attacks during the six-match visit.

Sri Lanka Cricket secretaryMohan de Silva said they received theall-clear from the defence ministryto leave for Pakistan on Tuesday afterestablishing that there was no threatto the national team.

Sri Lanka Cricket added in astatement that the governing bodywas assured the Pakistan armywould coordinate security set at alevel usually reserved for a head ofstate.

“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes toannounce that the forthcoming tourof Pakistan will go ahead as planned,following assurances given by thegovernment of Pakistan that it willprovide maximum security,” thestatement said.

De Silva added that he and “ouroffice bearers will also be accompa-nying the team”.

The six-match tour, due to starton September 27, was put on holdlast week after the Sri Lanka primeminister’s office warned the board ithad unspecified information abouta possible attack against its players.

The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) said it was not aware of anyinformation relating to the safety ofthe Sri Lankan team, but reiterat-ed its commitment to providingsecurity.

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Reigning world champion PV Sindhumade an early exit from the China Open

but B Sai Praneeth kept the Indian flag flut-tering with a hard-fought straight-game winto reach the men’s singles quarterfinals hereon Thursday.

Sindhu, an Olympic Silver medallist,squandered a first-game advantage to go down12-21, 21-13, 21-19 to Thailand’s PornpaweeChochuwong in a women’s singles pre-quar-terfinals that lasted 58 minutes here.

Praneeth, who had claimed a Bronze

medal at Basel, edged out China’s Lu GuangZu 21-19, 21-19 to set up a meeting against

Indonesian seventh seed Anthony SinisukaGinting.

Ginting beat India’s Parupalli Kashyap23-21, 15-21, 21-12 in a thrilling contest.

Doubles specialist SatwiksairajRankireddy also had a dismal day as he suf-fered twin defeats, losing both the men’s dou-bles and mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals.

In men’s doubles, Satwik and ChiragShetty, ranked 15th in the world, ran out ofsteam after a decent start against fourth-seed-ed Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and KeigoSonoda and went down 19-21, 8-21 in the sec-ond-round match that lasted 33 minutes.

This is the second time Satwik andChirag have lost to the combination ofKamura and Sonoda this year. They had lostto the world No 4 pair at the Japan Open inJuly.

Satwik then paired up with his mixeddoubles partner Ashwini Ponanappa but theduo couldn’t get past Yuki Kaneko andMisaki Matsutomo, losing 11-21, 21-16, 12-21 to the Japanese pair.

Ashwini also tasted defeat in women’sdoubles after she and her partner N SikkiReddy lost 12-21, 17-21 to second seededJapanese pair of Misaki Matsutomo andAyaka Takahashi.

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Former champion MirabaiChanu bettered her own

national record but missed outon a podium, finishing a cred-itable fourth, in the women’s49kg event at the WorldWeightlifting Championshiphere on Thursday.

The 25-year-old Mirabai lift-ed a personal best in all the threesections. In snatch she lifted87kg followed by 114kg in cleanand jerk for a total of 201kg.

Mirabai’s earlier nationalrecord was 199kg (88kg+111kg)which she recorded in the AsianWeightlifting Championship in

China in April.The Gold medal went to

Jiang Huihua of China who set anew world record with an effort212kg (94kg+118kg). The earli-er record was held by Hou Zhihuiof China, who had lifted 210kg.

Incidentally Zhihui clinchedthe Silver medal, lifting 211kg(94kg+117kg) in the gold levelOlympic qualifier. North Korea’sRi Song Gum claimed the finalspot on the podium by lifting204kg (89kg+115kg).

After clearing 87kg in snatch,Mirabai began her clean and jerkwith a 110kg and then lifted114kg.

But in her third attempt, the

Manipuri could not lift 118kgand that cost her dear. Had shebeen successful, she would havewon an overall Bronze medalwith a total of 205kg. She would

have also won a Silver in theclean and jerk section.

In World Championshipsand continental championships,medals are awarded separately for

snatch, clean and jerk, and totallift. But in the Olympics, medalsare awarded only for total lift.

This was Mirabai’s fourthinternational competition in thiscategory after the InternationalWeightlifting Federation re-jigged the weight categories lastyear. She was earlier competingin 48kg.

The other Indian in the fray,Sneha Soren finished second ingroup D of the women’s 55kgevent.

The 18-year-old lifted a173kg (72kg+101kg) to be placedat the second spot in the eight-woman field of the easiest groupcompetition.

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The Indian men’s doublespair of G Sathiyan and

Achanta Sharath Kamalsailed into the quarterfinalsof the 24th ITTF AsianTable TennisChampionships with easywin over Mahfoodh SayedMurtadha and RashedRashed of Bahrain atYogyakarta, Indonesia onThursday.

The Indian duo beatMurtadha and Rashed 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 in a lop-sidedaffair.

In the quarterfinals,Sathiyan and SharathKamal will be up againstChinese pair of LiangJingkun and Lin Gaoyuan.

Earlier in the day afterreceiving first-round bye,

the Indians got the betterof Jordan’s Abo YamanZaid and AldmaizyZeyad 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 inthe round of 32.

But the other Indianpair of Harmeet Desaiand Anthony Amalraj,after enjoying a bye in theround of 64, lost toChinese Taipei’s LiuHsing-Yin and PengWang Wei.

Harmeet andAmalraj fought hardbefore losing 11-5, 7-11,11-3, 8-11, 6-11 againsttheir accomplishedChinese rivals.

It was curtains forIndia in the women’s

doubles as the pair ofManika Batra andArchana Kamath andMadhurika Patkar andSutirtha Mukherjeebowed out the tourna-ment.

In the mixed event,the pairs of SharathKamal-Manika andSathiyan-Archana lost inthe round of 32.

While Korean pairof Lee Sangsu and JeoJhiee accounted forSharath and Manika 11-9 11-8 11-7, China’sWang Chuqin and SunYingsha beat Sathiyanand Archana 11-7 11-913-11.

In men singles,Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan,Amalraj, Harmeet andManav Thakkar had allreceived first-round byesand registered 3-0 winsover their respectiverivals in the round of 128.

Only Harmeetdropped a game againstPanagitgun Yanapang ofThailand before over-coming his rival 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5.

In women singles,Archana enjoyed the ran-dom bye in the round of128 while others had toplay their first roundmatches to enter theround of 64.

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India would be aiming to better their best evershow when Amit Panghal (52kg) and Manish

Kaushik (63kg) step inside the ring againsttough opponents in pursuit of summit berthsin the World Men’s Boxing Championship heretoday.

India have never had two semifinalists atthe marquee event for amateur boxers and inthat respect, the two Haryana boxers havealready scripted history.

But if both or either of them manages tomake the finals, it would be a gigantic step for-ward for the sport in the country.

The task, however, is easier said than done.Panghal has in his way Kazakhstan’s Saken

Bibossinov, who stunned Armenia’s EuropeanGold-medallist and sixth seed ArturHovhannisyan in the quarterfinals.

Kaushik, on the other hand, faces the mostaccomplished boxer in his weight category —Cuban top seed Andy Gomez Cruz, who out-punched Russia’s eighth-seeded Ilia Popov inthe last-eight stage.

“Now begins the tough job. We havealready delivered on bettering the medal countand now we aim to better their colour,” IndianBoxing’s High Performance Director SantiagoNieva said.

“I am happy but I won’t be completelyhappy till the time both of them reach the finalsand they surely can, both of them,” added thecountry’s chief coach C A Kuttappa.

They are up against tough challengers butthat in no way makes them automatic under-dogs.

QUALIFIERS SEALEDAmit Panghal (52kg) and Manish Kaushik

(63kg) have also made the Indian boxing squadfor next year’s Olympic Qualifiers owing to theirmedal-winning show.

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) hadmade it clear that boxers who win medals at theworld championships will be automatic picksfor the Olympic qualifiers scheduled in Februaryin China.

“Yes, Amit and Manish will be going to thequalifiers. There will not be any trials in theirweight categories now,” Indian Boxing’s HighPerformance Director Santiago Nieva said.

The rest of the squad will be picked on thebasis of camp performance, points accumulat-ed at international events and trials.

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Inability to cash in on a goodstart cost South Africa but the

visitors were in no way out-played in the second T20International against India,insists Proteas Test specialistTemba Bavuma, who had adecent outing in his debut in theshortest format.

South Africa looked set for180 when skipper Quinton deKock (52) and Bavuma (49)were in the middle before thesouthpaw’s dismissal put thebrakes on the scoring rate, lim-iting the total to 149 for five.

“The first 10-12 overs weplayed really well. I think wecould not really get going aftera good start and lost the gamebetween 12th to the 15th over,”Bavuma, who has played 36Tests, said after the seven-wick-et loss to India.

“When David came in the13th over, we were in a strongposition, 180 seemed very muchgettable at the halfway stage. Iwas not really able to get thatmomentum and others as well.I don’t think we were complete-ly outplayed,” said Bavuma whomissed out on a well-deservedfifty by one run in his attempt

to accelerate.The 29-year-old from Cape

Town said India are formidablebut not unbeatable as the Proteasaim to level the series inBengaluru on Sunday.

“They are formidable butnot unbeatable. It was just onephase with the bat where we letourselves down and a qualityside like India made us pay.

“There will always bemoments in the game which wecan win and it is about beingaware of those moments andmaking sure we are in the rightmental space to win thosemoments,” said Bavuma.

Playing his first limited-overs game for South Africa inalmost two years, Bavuma madeit count.

“It was good to be out there.Facing the white ball again. It hasbeen a while. It was a pleasingeffort but did not do much to theresult of the game. Last (domes-tic) season was a big season forme in white ball cricket. Therewere not many Tests and thatallowed me to play white ballcricket. “I got the opportunity tocome back to the national fold.It helped me understand whatmy gameplan is in white ballcricket,” he explained.

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