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A day after the CBI raided his party leaders and an IAS officer, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “showing its true colours”. Claiming that the CBI raids were politically motivated, he warned the BJP of tit-for-tat, saying the party is leaving a “culture”, which may be used against it in the future. “We have the formidable alliance while the BJP has the CBI and other agencies to hound its political rivals. I want to warn the BJP that in future they could be the victim of the legacy of vendetta they will leave behind,” he said. “I am ready to answer all the queries of the CBI. The BJP must know that the CBI cannot win them the Lok Sabha elec- tions as the investigating agency does not vote for any party. The actual voters are farmers, labourers, workers, traders and unemployed youth and they are waiting for the polling day to teach the BJP a lesson for betraying on poll promises,” Yadav said while addressing the party cadre in the State office of the party Lucknow on Sunday. “The Samajwadi Party is making efforts to win maxi- mum Lok Sabha seats. Those who want to stop us have the CBI with them. Once the Congress did CBI probe, and I was questioned. If the BJP is doing all this, the CBI will question me, I will answer (them). But, the people are ready to give an answer to the BJP,” he added. “Now we have to tell the CBI as to how many seats we have distributed in the gath- bandhan (alliance),” he said, adding, “I am happy that the BJP has shown its true colours.” Rejecting Akhilesh’s accu- sation, the BJP demanded that the CBI investigate Akhilesh for his alleged involvement in a mining scam, claiming his Government was “hand in glove” with the accused. Rejecting the charge that the CBI’s searches on Saturday in connection with the alleged scam was politically motivated because of the alliance talks between the Samajwadi Party and the BSP, UP Government Minister Sidharth Nath Singh told reporters the BJP has no threat from them. The two Opposition par- ties are fighting for survival, he said, adding that those who are “langde-lulhe” (physically handicapped) need “baisakhi” (crutches). On formal announcement of seat-sharing with Mayawati’s BSP, Akhilesh said it is likely to be announced within a week. However, he maintained sus- pense on accommodating the Congress in the alliance, which also includes Ajit Singh’s RLD. “You will come to know about it (alliance) in a week or so,” Yadav said. The SP and the BSP have decided to fight the upcoming national elections together and have already worked out a seat-sharing arrangement to take on the BJP, which along with its allies won 73 seats from the State in 2014. On possibil- ity of the Congress joining the alliance, Akhilesh said a deci- sion will be taken by him and Mayawati. The CBI carried out searches at 14 locations on Saturday in connection with its FIR against 11 persons, includ- ing IAS officer B Chandrakala, Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra, to probe illegal mining of minor minerals in Hamirpur district during 2012- 16. Minor minerals are sand, gravel, among others. “The role of the then Mining Ministers concerned during the relevant period may be looked into during the course of investigation of the case,” the FIR said. Akhilesh, who was the Chief Minister of the State between 2012 and 2017, held the mining portfolio during 2012-13 apparently bringing his role under scanner, accord- ing to the FIR. He was suc- ceeded by Gayatri Prajapati, who took charge as Mining Minister in 2013 and was arrested in 2017 following a complaint of rape by a woman residing in Chitrakoot. This is the third FIR per- taining to illegal mining cases which were registered on January 2, 2019, nearly two- and-a-half year after it was directed by the Allahabad High Court to probe the issue. The CBI was directed by the High Court on July 28, 2016 to probe illegal mining in the State following which it had registered seven preliminary enquiries out of which two per- taining to Shamli and Kaushambi districts were con- verted into FIRs in 2017. The searches of the agency took place on a day the SP and BSP gave contours of an elec- toral alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhary said the timings of the raids raises questions about the intentions of the Government. “The party wel- comes the CBI action but the timings do raise questions. Especially since this is coming right after the news of SP-BSP alliance appeared in the media,” he said. Continued on Page 4 T he BJP on Sunday set in motion its preparation for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls by appointing Home Minister Rajnath Singh as the head of the all-important man- ifesto committee. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will head the publicity department and will be assisted by Rajyavarthan Rathore, Piyush Goyal, Anil Jain, and Mahesh Sharma. BJP president Amit Shah announced the formation of 17 committees and their members to prepare the party for the electoral challenge. The choice of Rajnath to head the manifesto committee has obviously been taken with a view to sending “right” mes- sage to the Uttar Pradesh elec- torate and underlines the key role the former UP Chief Minister could play in the party affairs in the coming days. Over the years, Rajnath has cultivated a pro-farmer image and the BJP would hope to encash it at a time when there is a great deal of unrest in the agriculture sector. Apart from Jaitley, Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, UP Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya, his Bihar counterpart Sushil Modi, party general sec- retaries Bhupender Yadav and Ram Madhav, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda are among the other members of the mani- festo committee. Yadav will be a key member of the commit- tee which will deal with matters related to the Election Commission. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will head a panel which will reach out to social organisations while his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj will head a group that will produce literature for the polls. Sushma will be assisted by Parbhat Jha, Mahesh Sharma, Anurag Thakur, Amit Malviya, and Sudhandshu Trivedi. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will look after the media while Shyam Jaju will be incharge of social media. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will lead the wing which will organ- ise meetings of intellectuals. Continued on Page 4 C ongress president Rahul Gandhi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday engaged in a bitter war of words on the contro- versial Rafale deal with both accusing each other of lying over the claims on award of work orders to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautic Limited (HAL). Citing a media report, Rahul alleged the Defence Minister “lied” in Parliament that the Government orders worth 1 lakh crore were pro- vided to HAL, prompting Sitharaman to shoot back that it was a matter of “shame” that the Congress president was misleading the country on the issue. She also tweeted details of contract awarded to HAL since 2014 when the BJP came to power. Rahul’s attack came after a media report claimed that “not a single rupee of the said 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now”. The media report cited senior HAL management offi- cials in order to back its claim. The Defence Minister hit back at Rahul for his remarks, asking him to read “the com- plete report” to “which you are referring”. “The LS record shows,” Sitharaman did not claim the orders were signed, saying. “they were in the works.” Sitharaman tweeted, quot- ing from the media report, to assert that she had not stated in Parliament that the orders to HAL had been signed. “When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies to cover up the first one. In her eagerness to defend the PM’s Rafale lie, the RM (Raksha Mantri) lied to Parliament. Tomorrow (Monday), RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 lakh crore of Government orders to HAL. Or resign,” Rahul tweeted. Sitharaman’s office later tweeted, “Dear Shri @RahulGandhi, looks like you really need to start from ABC. Someone like you who is hell bent on misleading the public will quote an article even before reading it.” Continued on Page 4 A fter backing the Congress’ demand for a JPC probe into the Rafale fighter jet deal, the NDA Government major ally Shiv Sena has again joined the Opposition ranks in oppos- ing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. Sena’s decision to oppose the Bill comes amid reports that the members of Congress, TMC, SP, and Left parties have given note of dissent to the final report of the JPC on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which will be submitted in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Sena has taken the decision after the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) appealed to it to oppose the legislation, party leader Sanjay Raut said in a statement. “We are determined to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament,” Raut said. With the Lok Sabha polls around the corner, the Shiv Sena has adopted a more aggressive posture against the BJP, with whom it has shared an uneasy relationship over the past four years. The people of Assam, irre- spective of their caste, religion and creed oppose the pro- posed legislation, Raut said. The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 to provide citizenship to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian origin. The Assamese and other indigenous groups in Assam fear that the passage of the Bill would make the State a dump- ing ground for fresh waves of migrants, specifically “Hindu Bangladeshis”. They also feel that the Bill would make redundant the exercise of NRC, which lists those who have come to Assam before March 24, 1971, as man- dated by the Assam Accord. The Opposition parties said that they had objection to the Bill which they alleged links religion to citizenship. “This is the basic objection. So, delink religion from citizenship issue. This is against the spirit of our civilisation, culture and of our Constitution. Citizenship can’t be linked with State, religion, caste, creed and be country specific. It should be universal,” said a dissenting member note. Continued on Page 4 R ailways is planning to seal stations just like airports and passengers would be advised to arrive 15-20 minutes before scheduled departure of trains to complete the process of security checks. The security plan has already been put in motion at Allahabad, in anticipation of the Kumbh Mela, and at Hoobly railway station in Karnataka with a blueprint for 202 more stations ready for implementation, RPF Director General Arun Kumar told PTI. “The plan is to seal the sta- tions. It is primarily about identifying openings and to determine how many can be closed. There are areas which will be closed through perma- nent boundary walls, others will be manned by RPF per- sonnel and some will have col- lapsible gates,” he said. Continued on Page 4 C onfusion still prevails whether election would take place for the coveted post of State Assembly Speaker. However, 120 legislators appeared in the meeting of Congress legislators convened at the bungalow of Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Sunday. It was believed that division of votes would take place in the State Assembly if election takes place for the post of Speaker. But with the presence of 120 legislators in the meeting clear- ly indicated that the govern- ment is quite safe and if elec- tion takes place, the Congress nominee NP Prajapati would emerged victorious. State BJP President Rakesh Singh has already indicated that election might take place for the post of Speaker. Going with the present sit- uation in the House, there are 114 member of Congress, 109 of BJP, two of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one from Samajwadi party (SP) and four Independents. The Congress has formed government with the support of BSP, SP and all the independents. For past two days, the Congress has been alleging that the BJP had been attempt- ing horse-trading. The Congress will have to face its first floor test to get a Speaker elected during the five-day assembly session com- mencing from Monday. Sports and Higher Education Minister Jitu Patwari told ‘The Pioneer that it is the habit of the BJP to play destruc- tive politics but it will not suc- ceed this time. Its leaders have talked to several of Congress members. BJP Spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal, however, denied the allegations, stating, “If we want- ed to form a government, we would have done this on the day of the election results.” The session will begin with MLAs being administered oath on January 7 and 8, an Assembly Secretariat official informed earlier. The Speaker will be elect- ed on January 8 and the MP Governor will address the House on the same day, the official added. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Aday after the CBI raided hisparty leaders and an IAS

officer, former Uttar PradeshChief Minister and SamajwadiParty chief Akhilesh Yadav onSunday hit out at the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) for “showingits true colours”. Claiming thatthe CBI raids were politicallymotivated, he warned the BJPof tit-for-tat, saying the party isleaving a “culture”, which maybe used against it in the future.

“We have the formidablealliance while the BJP has theCBI and other agencies tohound its political rivals. Iwant to warn the BJP that infuture they could be the victimof the legacy of vendetta theywill leave behind,” he said.

“I am ready to answer allthe queries of the CBI. The BJPmust know that the CBI cannotwin them the Lok Sabha elec-tions as the investigatingagency does not vote for anyparty. The actual voters arefarmers, labourers, workers,traders and unemployed youthand they are waiting for thepolling day to teach the BJP alesson for betraying on pollpromises,” Yadav said whileaddressing the party cadre inthe State office of the party

Lucknow on Sunday.“The Samajwadi Party is

making efforts to win maxi-mum Lok Sabha seats. Thosewho want to stop us have theCBI with them. Once theCongress did CBI probe, and Iwas questioned. If the BJP isdoing all this, the CBI willquestion me, I will answer(them). But, the people areready to give an answer to theBJP,” he added.

“Now we have to tell theCBI as to how many seats wehave distributed in the gath-bandhan (alliance),” he said,adding, “I am happy that theBJP has shown its true colours.”

Rejecting Akhilesh’s accu-sation, the BJP demanded thatthe CBI investigate Akhilesh forhis alleged involvement in amining scam, claiming hisGovernment was “hand inglove” with the accused.

Rejecting the charge thatthe CBI’s searches on Saturdayin connection with the allegedscam was politically motivatedbecause of the alliance talksbetween the Samajwadi Partyand the BSP, UP GovernmentMinister Sidharth Nath Singhtold reporters the BJP has nothreat from them.

The two Opposition par-ties are fighting for survival, he

said, adding that those who are“langde-lulhe” (physicallyhandicapped) need “baisakhi”(crutches).

On formal announcementof seat-sharing with Mayawati’sBSP, Akhilesh said it is likely to

be announced within a week.However, he maintained sus-pense on accommodating theCongress in the alliance, whichalso includes Ajit Singh’s RLD.“You will come to know aboutit (alliance) in a week or so,”

Yadav said.The SP and the BSP have

decided to fight the upcomingnational elections together andhave already worked out aseat-sharing arrangement totake on the BJP, which alongwith its allies won 73 seats fromthe State in 2014. On possibil-ity of the Congress joining thealliance, Akhilesh said a deci-sion will be taken by him andMayawati.

The CBI carried outsearches at 14 locations onSaturday in connection with itsFIR against 11 persons, includ-ing IAS officer B Chandrakala,Samajwadi Party MLC RameshKumar Mishra, to probe illegalmining of minor minerals inHamirpur district during 2012-16. Minor minerals are sand,gravel, among others.

“The role of the thenMining Ministers concernedduring the relevant period maybe looked into during thecourse of investigation of thecase,” the FIR said.

Akhilesh, who was theChief Minister of the Statebetween 2012 and 2017, heldthe mining portfolio during2012-13 apparently bringinghis role under scanner, accord-ing to the FIR. He was suc-ceeded by Gayatri Prajapati,

who took charge as MiningMinister in 2013 and wasarrested in 2017 following acomplaint of rape by a womanresiding in Chitrakoot.

This is the third FIR per-taining to illegal mining caseswhich were registered onJanuary 2, 2019, nearly two-and-a-half year after it wasdirected by the Allahabad HighCourt to probe the issue.

The CBI was directed bythe High Court on July 28,2016 to probe illegal mining inthe State following which it hadregistered seven preliminaryenquiries out of which two per-taining to Shamli andKaushambi districts were con-verted into FIRs in 2017.

The searches of the agencytook place on a day the SP andBSP gave contours of an elec-toral alliance ahead of the 2019Lok Sabha elections.

SP spokesperson RajendraChowdhary said the timings ofthe raids raises questions aboutthe intentions of theGovernment. “The party wel-comes the CBI action but thetimings do raise questions.Especially since this is comingright after the news of SP-BSPalliance appeared in the media,”he said.

Continued on Page 4

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The BJP on Sunday set inmotion its preparation for

the forthcoming Lok Sabhapolls by appointing HomeMinister Rajnath Singh as thehead of the all-important man-ifesto committee. FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley will headthe publicity department andwill be assisted by RajyavarthanRathore, Piyush Goyal, AnilJain, and Mahesh Sharma.

BJP president Amit Shahannounced the formation of 17committees and their membersto prepare the party for theelectoral challenge.

The choice of Rajnath tohead the manifesto committeehas obviously been taken witha view to sending “right” mes-sage to the Uttar Pradesh elec-torate and underlines the keyrole the former UP ChiefMinister could play in theparty affairs in the comingdays. Over the years, Rajnathhas cultivated a pro-farmerimage and the BJP would hopeto encash it at a time whenthere is a great deal of unrest inthe agriculture sector.

Apart from Jaitley, UnionMinisters Nirmala Sitharaman,Ravi Shankar Prasad, PiyushGoyal and Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi, and former MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan, UP DeputyChief Ministers Keshav PrasadMaurya, his Bihar counterpartSushil Modi, party general sec-retaries Bhupender Yadav andRam Madhav, formerMaharashtra Chief MinisterNarayan Rane, formerJharkhand Chief MinisterArjun Munda are among theother members of the mani-festo committee. Yadav will bea key member of the commit-tee which will deal with mattersrelated to the ElectionCommission.

Union Minister NitinGadkari will head a panelwhich will reach out to socialorganisations while his Cabinetcolleague Sushma Swaraj willhead a group that will produceliterature for the polls. Sushmawill be assisted by Parbhat Jha,Mahesh Sharma, AnuragThakur, Amit Malviya, andSudhandshu Trivedi.

Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad will look after the mediawhile Shyam Jaju will beincharge of social media. UnionMinister Prakash Javadekar willlead the wing which will organ-ise meetings of intellectuals.

Continued on Page 4

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Congress president RahulGandhi and Defence

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanon Sunday engaged in a bitterwar of words on the contro-versial Rafale deal with bothaccusing each other of lyingover the claims on award ofwork orders to state-ownedHindustan Aeronautic Limited(HAL). Citing a media report,Rahul alleged the DefenceMinister “lied” in Parliamentthat the Government ordersworth �1 lakh crore were pro-vided to HAL, promptingSitharaman to shoot back thatit was a matter of “shame” thatthe Congress president wasmisleading the country on theissue. She also tweeted detailsof contract awarded to HALsince 2014 when the BJP cameto power.

Rahul’s attack came after amedia report claimed that “not

a single rupee of the said �1lakh crore has come to HAL,since not a single order, asclaimed, has been signed tillnow”. The media report citedsenior HAL management offi-cials in order to back its claim.

The Defence Minister hitback at Rahul for his remarks,asking him to read “the com-plete report” to “which you arereferring”. “The LS recordshows,” Sitharaman did notclaim the orders were signed,saying. “they were in theworks.”

Sitharaman tweeted, quot-ing from the media report, toassert that she had not stated inParliament that the orders toHAL had been signed.

“When you tell one lie, youneed to keep spinning outmore lies to cover up the firstone. In her eagerness to defendthe PM’s Rafale lie, the RM(Raksha Mantri) lied toParliament. Tomorrow(Monday), RM must placebefore Parliament documentsshowing �1 lakh crore ofGovernment orders to HAL.Or resign,” Rahul tweeted.

Sitharaman’s office latertweeted, “Dear Shri@RahulGandhi, looks like youreally need to start from ABC.Someone like you who is hellbent on misleading the publicwill quote an article even beforereading it.”

Continued on Page 4

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After backing the Congress’demand for a JPC probe

into the Rafale fighter jet deal,the NDA Government majorally Shiv Sena has again joinedthe Opposition ranks in oppos-ing the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill 2016.

Sena’s decision to opposethe Bill comes amid reportsthat the members of Congress,TMC, SP, and Left parties havegiven note of dissent to the finalreport of the JPC on theCitizenship Amendment Bill,which will be submitted in theLok Sabha on Monday. TheSena has taken the decisionafter the Asom Gana Parishad(AGP) appealed to it to opposethe legislation, party leaderSanjay Raut said in a statement.

“We are determined tooppose the CitizenshipAmendment Bill inParliament,” Raut said.

With the Lok Sabha pollsaround the corner, the ShivSena has adopted a moreaggressive posture against theBJP, with whom it has sharedan uneasy relationship overthe past four years.

The people of Assam, irre-spective of their caste, religion

and creed oppose the pro-posed legislation, Raut said.

The Bill seeks to amend theCitizenship Act 1955 to providecitizenship to illegal migrantsfrom Afghanistan, Bangladeshand Pakistan, who are ofHindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain,Parsi or Christian origin.

The Assamese and otherindigenous groups in Assamfear that the passage of the Billwould make the State a dump-ing ground for fresh waves ofmigrants, specifically “HinduBangladeshis”.

They also feel that the Billwould make redundant theexercise of NRC, which liststhose who have come to Assambefore March 24, 1971, as man-dated by the Assam Accord.

The Opposition parties

said that they had objection tothe Bill which they allegedlinks religion to citizenship.“This is the basic objection. So,delink religion from citizenshipissue. This is against the spiritof our civilisation, culture andof our Constitution.Citizenship can’t be linked withState, religion, caste, creed andbe country specific. It should beuniversal,” said a dissentingmember note.

Continued on Page 4

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Railways is planning to sealstations just like airports

and passengers would beadvised to arrive 15-20 minutesbefore scheduled departure oftrains to complete the processof security checks.

The security plan hasalready been put in motion atAllahabad, in anticipation ofthe Kumbh Mela, and atHoobly railway station inKarnataka with a blueprint for202 more stations ready forimplementation, RPF DirectorGeneral Arun Kumar told PTI.

“The plan is to seal the sta-tions. It is primarily aboutidentifying openings and todetermine how many can beclosed. There are areas whichwill be closed through perma-nent boundary walls, otherswill be manned by RPF per-sonnel and some will have col-lapsible gates,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

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Confusion still prevailswhether election would

take place for the coveted postof State Assembly Speaker.However, 120 legislatorsappeared in the meeting ofCongress legislators convenedat the bungalow of ChiefMinister Kamal Nath onSunday.

It was believed that divisionof votes would take place in theState Assembly if election takesplace for the post of Speaker.But with the presence of 120legislators in the meeting clear-ly indicated that the govern-ment is quite safe and if elec-tion takes place, the Congressnominee NP Prajapati wouldemerged victorious.

State BJP President RakeshSingh has already indicatedthat election might take placefor the post of Speaker.

Going with the present sit-uation in the House, there are114 member of Congress, 109

of BJP, two of Bahujan SamajParty (BSP), one fromSamajwadi party (SP) and fourIndependents. The Congresshas formed government withthe support of BSP, SP and allthe independents.

For past two days, theCongress has been allegingthat the BJP had been attempt-

ing horse-trading.The Congress will have to

face its first floor test to get aSpeaker elected during thefive-day assembly session com-mencing from Monday.

Sports and HigherEducation Minister Jitu Patwaritold ‘The Pioneer that it is thehabit of the BJP to play destruc-tive politics but it will not suc-ceed this time. Its leaders havetalked to several of Congressmembers.

BJP Spokesman RajneeshAgrawal, however, denied theallegations, stating, “If we want-ed to form a government, wewould have done this on theday of the election results.”

The session will begin withMLAs being administered oathon January 7 and 8, anAssembly Secretariat officialinformed earlier.

The Speaker will be elect-ed on January 8 and the MPGovernor will address theHouse on the same day, theofficial added.

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The Regional Saras Mela2018 being organised at

Bhopal Haat is all about tradi-tional and trendy outfits andaccessories which is beingloved by the shopaholics of thecity.

The exhibition cum salebegan from Saturday.

The females are being cap-tivated towards the imitationjewellery and of course thetrendy outfits. Moreover thebeautifully embeddedfootwears are another centre ofattraction for the female buy-ers. Last but not the least thehome decoration items are yetanother reason for the shopa-holics to visit the RegionalSaras Mela.

Notably, there is an exquis-

ite collection of dress materials,jewellery, leather, food items,terracotta and much morebeing exhibited by self helpgroups from across the coun-try. Usually Regional SarasMela is organised each year, topromote the self- employedartisans living under povertyline. With the help of suchopportunities offered by gov-ernment they get a chance todisplay their products.

SHGs artisans from differ-ent parts of the country havearrived in the mela to displayand sale their products. These

artisans earn the profit of saledirectly from the customers.

There is an array of colour-ful kurtis, suits in varioushandloom materials includingMaheshwari and Chanderi.Moreover, the stoles which arein trend these days are alsoavailable in the same material.The most capturing part of themela is the handbags made outof jute. Especially the collegestudents are more captivatedtowards these traditional yettrendy handbags.

Notably, organised by StatePanchayat and RuralDevelopment Department themela every year receives a sat-isfactory response by regularbuyers and this year too peo-ple are taking a good pleasureof the handloom materialsbeing exhibited there.

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Mangal Pandey: The Risingwas screened at Bharat

Bhavan here on Sunday. Thescreening marked the thirdday of Mukti Parv 2.

It is a 2005 Indian histori-cal biographical drama filmbased on the life of MangalPandey, an Indian soldierknown for helping to spark theIndian rebellion of 1857.

It is directed by KetanMehta, produced by BobbyBedi and with a screenplay byFarrukh Dhondy. The filmstars Aamir Khan, AmishaPatel, Rani Mukherjee in leadroles.

Mangal Pandey is a Sepoyin the army controlled by the

East India Company, a com-pany that had enteredHindustan to trade, but subse-quently showed their true col-ors, exploited the natives, divid-ed, and ruled over them.

But the Company treatedtheir employees well. It wasonly a rumor that the cartridgesof a new rifle were greased withthe dead flesh of cows and pigsthat set off a protest, whichcame to rest after theHindustani soldiers receivedassurances from their seniormost officer as well as CaptainWilliam Gordon, and Mangalbecame the first soldier to bitthe bullet and pour the gun-powder in his barrels.

Then it became a fact thatthe bullets were indeed greased

with cows and pigs, an enragedMangal confronts the system,and is assured that the car-tridges will be replaced. Thencomes the shock, for theCompany had no intention ofreplacing the cartridges, and asa result Mangal incites a rebel-lion in the 300,000 strongHindustani soldiers - a rebel-lion which is all set to take placeon May 31.

Anger sweeps the country,as Muslims and Hindus, bothoffended by the use of cow andpig flesh respectively, the man-ner in which they have been ill-treated, called ‘kaala khutas’(black dogs) by the Caucasiansoldiers, and the need to rid theCompany and their mastersonce and for all.

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The Madhya Pradesh StateTribal Museum witnessed a

wonderful evening of classicalmusic and Oddisi dance.

The event was held at themuseum here on Sunday underUttaradhikar series.

The programme startedwith the performance byYogesh Devale.

He performed semi-classi-cal music with his fellow artists.He started off with Raga MaruBihag in Ab Main Yunhi Jaanu.After this, 'Gau Gunan KisHaiaro' was presented in themadhya taal.

After this, the artists per-formed the composition ofSant Eknath ‘Guru KrpanjanPiyo Mere Bhai’.

Yogesh Devale wrappedup the presentation with thecomposition of Guru NanakDev, ‘Sadho Mann ka Mann

Tyago’. During the presentationYogesh Devale was accompa-nied by Noshashat Singh andGajanan Ranadiye, NishantSharma on the tabla and RohitParihar on harmonium.

Later, Supra Mishra pre-sented Odissi dance with herfellow artists.

Here presentation wasbased on on women. In whichthe artists presented the char-acters of Draupadi, Ahilya and

Mata Sita with their danceskills on stage.

The performance narratedthat when Brahma was com-posing creation, then he couldnot make a woman.

Therefore, Shiva separatedMother Parvati from him inArdhanarishwar form.

After this presentation, theartists presented an enthrallingperformance of Odissi danceon 'Pallavi Mohana' in RagaMohana.

Pallavi is actually a tenderform of Odissi dance. In thispresentation, the artists beau-tifully presented the cast of theancient dance formations madeon the walls of temples leavingthe audience enthralled.

Supra Mishra wrapped upher performance with'Moksha'. Artists presentedartistic relevance of salvationwith their art skills in this pre-sentation.

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The youngsters gave a splen-did performance at Open

Mic event organised here onSunday.

The event was organised bythe interning students at AAD-HAR focused on Mental HealthAwareness and what's theyouth's perception on it.

As many as 20 perfor-mances ranging in topics fromchild abuse to our "inneraashiq" that made the audi-ences laugh and cry at the sametime.

Some talked about thelabels that they were given tothem and how they affectedtheir mental health and day today lives.

Not only that but an openpanel discussion with some ofthe top psychologists andspeakers of Bhopal which not

only enlightened the audiencesbut encouraged them to joinand contribute for the wellbe-ing of children with specialneeds which aren't much butjust a little love, support andcare.

Poetry, singing, band, sha-yari - Mainly on stopping labels

and the current issues of men-tal illness teenagers and peopleof all age face.

There were 20 participantsfor poetry and singing.

There were many knownsingers like Anuja Sharma,Yuvraj, Anushree Malviya, andpublished poets like Mohd.Anzar and marketing special-ist like Rajeev Mishra.

The event started with amusical performance withsongs relating to the theme ofthe event Mental Health.

Then a motivationalspeech by Rajeev Mishra sir,musical performance byShamit Sharma, ShraddhaSharma and Siddhant Tiwarifollowed by a panel discussionby Prabhleen kaur ma'am andSaniya Maam.

It was an enthralling expe-rience for the youngsters per-forming and audience as well.

Bhopal: Miscreants targetedhouse at Nasheman Apartmentand escaped with valuablesworth �1.8 lakh under Talaiyapolice station area on Saturday.

According to the police, thevictim Afroz Mohammadalong with her family had goneto a marriage at Lalghati and onreturn they found that thevaluables were missing.

The victim approached thepolice and a complaint wasmade stating that she had goneto marriage and when theyreturned they found that thelocks were broken and on enter-ing the house was found ran-sacked. Gold jewelry �1.4 lakhand �40000 cash were foundmissing claimed the victim.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investiga-tion the police have registereda case under sections 457 and380 of the IPC and have start-ed further investigation.Victim’s husband Masrur

Mohammad works as a prop-erty dealer. Meanwhile, goldjewelry worth �60000 werestolen from a bag from a autorickshaw near Bhopal RPFthana on December 26; a com-plaint was lodged with victimon Sunday after which com-plaint was lodged by Bajariapolice. The victim Nahid hiredan auto rickshaw on December26 for her house at Qazi Campwhen she returned fromLucknow. She found that sheleft her bag in the auto rickshawafter reaching home and cameout to search auto rickshaw andafter finding it driver providedher bag but the valuables weremissing. The total loss wasaround �60,000 claimed the vic-tim. The police have registereda case under section 380 of theIPC and started further inves-tigation. The police have regis-tered a case under section 457and 380 of the IPC and startedfurther investigation. SR

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As per the demand of farm-ers, sufficient availability of

urea has been ensured in theState. As per the increase indemand in the state, urea isbeing supplied constantly bythe urea manufacturing com-panies. During this Rabi sea-son, 11.13 Lakh MT urea hasalready been made available inthe state till December 31,2018.

As compared to this, thestate had received 10.85 lakhMT urea during the same peri-od last year.

Directives have been issuedby the Principal Secretary ofFarmers Welfare andAgriculture Department to allthe District Collectors for prop-er and effective distribution ofurea and to prevent its blackmarketing.

Before this, FIR has beenregistered under the section 3and 7 of EssentialCommodities Act against 2distributors in connection tothe black marketing of urea inDatia today.

The FIR has been regis-tered against Sahil Gupta ofSahil Traders, Datia and RajeshGupta of Rajesh Enterprises,Datia.

The AgricultureDepartment has suspended RPGoyal, the Dy DirectorAgriculture of Datia districtwith immediate effect.

Action has been takenagainst Goyal for his failure inprevention of black marketingof urea available in Datia dis-trict, for not distributing ureain effective manner among thefarmers despite sufficient avail-ability in the district, for failurein prevention of illegal trans-

portation of urea to other statesand for taking sudden vacationwithout approval of competentofficer under the prima facie ofmisconduct.

In place of Goyal, theDeputy Director of FarmersWelfare and AgricultureDirectorate, Bhopal JNSuryavanshi has been trans-ferred with immediate effectand posted as Deputy Director,Datia.

In this connection, direc-tives have been issued by theAgriculture Development andFarmers Welfare Departmentto the Collectors for proper andeffective distribution of ureaand prevention of black mar-keting.

The Collectors have beentold in the directives that vigilshould be maintained on dis-tribution of fertlisers by theDistrict Fertliser Committeesformed under their chairman-ship.

Along with this, workshould be reviewed regularlythe committee. Constant mon-itoring of urea being taken outfrom rake points till reachesdistribution place should bedone.

Constant inspection of pri-vate and cooperative fertliserstorage-centers should be con-ducted by the committee and

physical verification of fertilizerstock should be ensured regu-larly. Moreover, employeesshould be posted at private andcooperative fertilizer sale cen-ters.

Besides, Collectors havebeen told to keep special vigilon arrival of urea in border dis-tricts of the state.

Collectors of Neemuch,Mandsaur, Ratlam, Agar,Rajgarh, Guna, Shivpuri,Sheopur, Morena, Bhind,Ashok Nagar, Datia,Tikamgarh, Niwari,Chhatarpur, Panna, Satna,Rewa, Singrauli, Sidhi, Shahdol,Anuppur, Dindori, Mandla,Balaghat, Seoni, Chhindwara,Betul, Khandwa, Burhanpur,Khargone, Badwani, Alirajpurand Jhabua have been told toensure that urea should notreach other states from bordersof their districts.

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Minister of Revenue andTransport, Govind Singh

Rajput has said that provisionof essential facilities to jour-nalists in private buses in thestate is under consideration.Earlier, journalists were givenconcession and reserved seat inthe State TransportCorporation buses in MadhyaPradesh.

The corporation has shutdown, so provision of facilitiesto journalists in private busesis being considered.

The decision will be takenshortly after discussions in thisregard. Rajput was addressingat a New Year Milan pro-gramme on Swaraj ExpressTV channel on Saturday.

He further said that theexisting shortcomings in trans-port facilities from villages tothe towns will be removed.

Focus will be on rural transportalong with city transport.Similarly, night-time buses willalso run between big cities.Transport Minister Rajput saidthat road tax exemption onvehicles in Gwalior Fair will be50 percent.

Rajput said that revenuecourts will start functioningfrom February 16 to settle rev-enue related cases of the pub-lic in state.

In addition, removal ofencroachments will also be on

focus. More attention will bepaid to gear up revenue teamsand corruption will be checkedat every level. Corrupt behav-ior will not be tolerated.

Representatives of SwarajExpress TV Channel from var-ious cities were present in theprogramme. At the outset, SPTripathi welcomed the MinisterRajput on behalf of theChannel. KK Agnihotri, AnilSingh Kushwaha and otherassistants of the Channel werepresent on the occasion.

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Minister for Food, CivilSupplies and Consumer

Protection Pradyuman SinghTomar said that ration on lowprice should be ensured to alleligible beneficiaries under theprovisions of the Food SecurityAct. Stringent action should betaken against responsible orga-nizations and governmentemployees in case of derelictionof duties. Tomar was reviewingschemes of the department atMantralaya on Saturday.

Tomar mentioned that atarget to provide food grains atlow price to poor families andto include families, which arestill deprived of such benefit,has been mentioned in themanifesto. Officers are requiredto prepare a detailed actionplan in this connection withinspecific time limit.

Tomar further stated thatvigilance committees should be

reconstituted for each shop.More than one shop should notbe operated by the same per-son. Arrangement should beput in order in rural areas withcoordination of theCooperative Department.

Besides, Tomar also toldofficials to examine immedi-ately one thousand pendingapplications of BPL beneficia-ries of Gwalior AssemblyConstituency of GwaliorDistrict.

Principal Secretary NeelamShami Rao has informed thatration at low price is being pro-

vided to 1.17 crore families asper the census-2011 through24,170 shops. She furtherinformed that food grains arebeing distributed throughSamagra ID and POS Machinesto control black marketing.Instructions have been given todistribute ration to beneficia-ries with thumb impressionsmatching problem on the basisof slips on different days.

Helpline number18002330046 is functional forimmediate redressal of con-sumers’ complaints. This can beused by consumers anytime.

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The 113rd Madhav RaoScindia Gwalior Trade Fair

was inaugurated at the MelaGround on Sunday byJyodiraditya Scindia, formerUnion Minister and Member ofParliament in the presence ofseveral dignitaries and a largenumber of people from differ-ent walks of life.

Scindia, along with theother dignitaries lighted theceremonial lamp around 11 amto signify the inauguration ofthe Fair.

Inaugurating the Trade Fairat the Facilitation Centre of theTrade Fair, Scindia said that theMadhav Rao Scindia TradeFair has great significance tothe people of the GwaliorChambal region and that thegovernment will do everythingpossible to provide a platform

to all kinds of businesses andtrades to showcase their excel-lence.

He added that the 50 percent rebate on road taxes forvehicles purchased from theTrade Fair is only a beginningand that the government willgive many more sops to bringback the lost glory of the TradeFair.

The inauguration ceremo-ny was chaired by MunnalalGoyal, the MLA from GwaliorEast. The Gwalior Mayor, VivekShejwalkar, Cabinet MinistersPradhuman Singh Tomar andImarati Devi also spoke on theoccasion.

The Mayor, in his addresssaid that the Trade Fair will alsoprovide a platform to promoterural enterprises, traditionaloccupations and handicraftitems. He further said that theGwalior Municipal

Corporation will do every-thing possible to promote theTrade Fair.

Prdhuman Sigh Tomar, theCabinet Minister for Food andPDS gave details about the tollfree number on which thepublic can give complains andsuggestions about the quality offood and other consumeritems.

According to sources in theGwalior Trade Fair Authority,apart from the day to daycommercial activities there willalso be cultural activities everyday.

The inauguration ceremo-ny was also attended by ZillaPanchayat President, ManishaYadav; MLA Praveen Pathak;BM Sharma, the DivisionalCommissioner; DevendraSharma, the DCC Presidentand Mohan Singh Rathoreamong others.

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Bhopal: NHDC Limited, a JointVenture of NHPC Limited andMadhya Pradesh governmentwas awarded CBIP Award 2019for ‘Best Performing Utility inHydropower Sector’ at CBIPAwards on CBIP Day held on04th January, 2019 in NewDelhi. The award was given foroutstanding contribution to thenation by use of latest tech-nologies and smart solutions forefficient development and oper-ation of Hydroelectric Projectsin the State of Madhya Pradeshbesides playing vital role ingrid stability as Nodal PowerStation for Black Start inWestern Region. Balraj Joshi,Chairman, NHDC Ltd and MdAG Ansari, MD and CED,NHDC Ltd received the awardon behalf of NHDC Ltd. fromRK Singh, Union Minister ofState (I/C) for Power and New& Renewable energy. DevineniUma Maheshwara Rao,

Minister of Water Resources,Government of AndhraPradesh; AK Bhalla, Secretary,Ministry of Power; UP Singh,Secretary, Ministry of WaterResources, River Developmentand Ganga Rejuvenation; SMasood Husain, President,CBIP & Chairman, CentralWater Commission and VKKanjlia, Secretary, CBIP werealso present on the occasion.

The CBIP Awards recog-nize outstanding contributionsby organizations and individu-als involved in formulation ofpolicies and programmes andtheir implementation, researchand development, design, exe-cution, management, operationand maintenance, renovation &modernization, manufacturingof equipment and capacitybuilding in furthering the causeof Water Resources, Power andRenewable Energy Sectors inthe country. SR

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Three policemen wereinjured after police team of

Bajaria and Kotwali policereached to nab burglary androbbery accused at SikandariSaray late in the night onSaturday.

Policemen were stone pelt-ed when police team reachedwith the nabbed accused whorevealed the crime was com-mitted with Firoz and Shoaibalias Puncture.

Police have registered acase of obstructing govern-ment servant from discharginghis duty against eight peopleand 12 others including twowomen.

After the team reached thespot and asked for Firoz theywere stone pelted by the peo-ple who were on the terracegiving no time for the police-men to escape and two ASI andone police constable wereinjured in the attack.

Soon after the attack senior

police officials were informedand on the receipt of the infor-mation policemen of threepolice stations were reached thespot but failed to nab any of theaccused as they find onlylocked houses.

The team reached the spotat around 1 o’clock in the nightwhile after the attack it wasafter around one hour theother team reached to help.

Police said that the two arehabitual criminal of the areaand have attacked the police inthe past.

They have been booked forseveral crimes in differentpolice stations.

The women attacked thepolicemen suspecting that raidhas been conducted on gam-blers in the area and fearingthat the gamblers would benabbed they started peltingstone.

Till the filing of the reportthe accused remained abscond-ing. Search has been intensi-fied said police.

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Depressed over financialloss, a 29-year-old ex-

Merchant Navy employee com-mitted suicide by hanging withthe ceiling at his residence atSurendra Place underBaghsewania police stationarea on Saturday.

Police said that thedeceased Deepak Garg wasfound hanging with the ceilingand declared dead when takento hospital.

Police have not found anysuicide note from the spot andin the initial investigation it wasfound that deceased was facingfinancial problems.

During the investigation itwas found that the deceasedused to work with MerchantNavy and around four yearsago after his father got ill andhe failed to get leave he left thejob and started a shop whichfailed to get business and went

in loss after which he closed theshop and started other shop butthe second shop also followedthe same fate and deceasedused to remain depressed. Inthe evening on Saturday whenparents of deceased have gonefor walk deceased committedsuicide. On their return at

around 6 pm when parentsreturned they found thedeceased hanging.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCwas registered. The reasonbehind the suicide is financialloss but no suicide note hasbeen found and reason whichforced the victim to takeextreme step would be investi-gated.

Meanwhile, a 55-year-oldwoman died who was hit byspeeding vehicle near AbhinavKakda Homes on December31; Ayodhya Nagar police havestarted investigation.

The deceased identified asAnni Bai of Bhanpur diedwhile undergoing treatment atHamidia hospital. Body wassent for the post after the pre-liminary investigation and acase under section 174 of theCrPC was registered.

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Universities should take upresponsibility to take up

social concerns. Society mustcome forward to work for healthof girls and to make them freefrom malnutrition.

There should be intercon-nection between the universitiesand primary schools.

This was said by theGovernor Anandiben Patel atConvocation Ceremony of DeviAhilya University of Indore onSunday.

The Minister for HigherEducation Jeetu Patwari stressedon establishment of bench ofInternational standard at theuniversity.

The Chairman of theUniversity Grant CommissionDP Singh, Vice ChancellorNarendra Dhakad, Former ViceChancellor, Members ofWorking Council andProminent Citizens were pre-sent during the ceremony.

Patel mentioned that it ismust for the universities toconduct studies, examinationand declare results at the specifictime. She further mentionedthat there should be intercon-

nection between the universitiesand primary schools. Childrenof primary schools should betaken on tour of universities sothat interest for higher educa-tion could be developed inthem. Patel called on the PhDrecipients to present theirresearch before the society.

She also dedicated OnlineExamination Result System ofthe University.

Minister for HigherEducation Jeetu Patwari saidthat a Bench of Internationalstandard should be establishedat the University.

The Higher Education

Department will take initiativein this regard.

Reminiscing his studentlife, Patwari said that he had par-ticipated in many movements inthis campus itself. He has beenshowered with love and evenreceived scolding from teachersat this place.

Patwari further said thateducation, which teaches goodbehavior without any grudge isneed of the time. Not only per-sonality but education plays animportant role in refining fam-ily and society.

He asserted that we all haveto make efforts to ensure thatstudents from various countriesshould come to pursue studiesin the university.

The special guest of theConvocation ceremony andChairman of the UniversityGrant Commission DP Singhsaid that universities shouldbecome center of seedling ofnew thoughts and perceptions.Intellectual discussions shouldalways take place in the uni-versity.

He appreciated the resolu-tion of the university to take itto the global platform of thehigher education.

The Vice Chancellor of theUniversity Narendra Dhakadgave convocation discourse andadministered oath to the stu-dents.

‘Research Journal’ edited byProf Gyanprakash was releasedby the guests during the pro-gramme.

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Indore: Governor AnandibenPatel said that there is nodearth of talent in India.Ancient India was leader in theworld in the field of science andtechnology.

But we did not get itpatented because there was nosuch thing that time. Numbersfrom zero to nine were invent-ed in India. There used to bePushpak Viman during theancient time in Indian SubContinent, helicopter of mod-ern era is sophisticated versionof this Viman. The DivyaDrishti of Sanjay ofMahabharata was unparallelin the world. History of Indiais 5,000 years old. The civi-lization, culture and scientificinventions are also continuingsince the last 5,000 years.

This was said by theGovernor Patel at the inaugur-al function of Vidyarthi Vigyan

Manthan Shvir at ModernSchool, Indore. Patel furthermentioned that the tale ofAbhimanyu in Mahabharatatells that child starts learningfrom womb itself.

In the modern era, preg-nant women must do suchgood works to help the child inlearning good culture fromwomb itself. They shouldensure that child could getteaching of yoga, meditation,music and science besidesnutritious food in womb itselfdirectly. Literacy is needed forpregnant mothers to give goodculture to child in womb.

Patel further stated that sci-entists of India have discoveredthat trees and plants also havesouls. Regular Ras keeps oncir-culatesin plants like blood cir-culation in human beings.

They also get positiveimpact of peace and music. SR

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The investigation in death ofeight year old girl class 3

student of Delhi Public School(DPS) has been hit by techni-cal issues as police are yet toobtain CCTV footages andthose obtained are with tech-nical glitches; school manage-ment is under question afterdeath of girl under suspiciouscircumstances on Saturday.

The police are yet to pro-cure the CCTV footage of theschool bus in which thedeceased was dropped backhome and on Saturday after-noon.

At the time of the incidentthe girl Anusha alighted off theschool and approached hermother waiting to pick her forhome, she came to her moth-

er and while her mother tookher bag Anusha fell and wentunconscious.

The deceased’s fatherAvendra Bartaria works as amanager with CRIPS. Thedeceased was student class 3 ofDPS, Ratibad and a resident of

Awadhpuri. The police have asked for

footage inside the bus forchecking any incident whichmight have occurred with herafter she entered the bus andlater left at her destined stop.

CSP Govindpura NarendraRathore said that the schoolmanagement has provided theCCTV footage of the schoolpremises but the CCTV footageof the bus is yet not provided.

The autopsy report isawaited which will details of thedeath and help in determiningthe death behind the death.Anything happened with thegirl could not be ascertained asthe details are under investi-gation, he added.

The bus was equipped withCCTV footage and footage hasto be investigated.

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Nepal has asked the RBI todeclare newly circulated

Indian currency notes ofdenominations higher than�100 legal tender in the country, according to mediareport on Sunday.

The Nepal Rastra Bank(NRB), the country’s centralmonetary authority, has writtena letter on Friday to the ReserveBank of India (RBI), asking itto make Indian bank bills �200,�500 and �2,000 legal tender in Nepal, TheHimalayan Times reported.

The NRB has asked theIndia’s central bank to issue anotification under the ForeignExchange Management Act(FEMA), which will makeIndian bank notes of denomi-nation more than �100 legaltender in Nepal and to providethe exchange facilities to get billsof such denominations, it said.

The RBI has only allowedthe circulation of Indian cur-rency notes of �100 and less inNepal and provides exchangefacilities for bills of thesedenomination.

Before the demonetisationof �500 and �1,000 bank notesin November 2016, the RBI hadissued a FEMA notificationallowing Nepali citizens tocarry �25,000 worth of suchbank notes.

After the demonetisation of�500 and �1,000 Indian curren-

cy notes, circulation of newbank notes of denominations�200, �500 and �2,000 was start-ed by the Indian Government.

The RBI did not issue thenotification for the newly cir-culated bank notes, makingtheir use illegal in Nepal.

“As the RBI was not allow-ing the circulation of the high-er denomination Indian notes,we had to ban their use inNepal to protect our citizens,”

Chief of Foreign ExchangeManagement Department atthe NRB. “However, after wereceived complaints from peo-ple in various sectors, especial-ly those who have to visit Indiafrequently, we asked the Indiancentral bank to make such banknotes legal tender in Nepal.”

The circulation of suchnotes in Nepal, according toDhungana, will solely dependupon the RBI and Indian gov-

ernment’s will.Also the NRB, in the same

letter, has asked the Indian cen-tral bank to provide exchangefacility to Nepalis holding thebanned Indian currency in thecountry. The central bank hassaid the country’s banking sys-tem, including banks, financialinstitutions and NRB, holdIndian currency denomina-tions of �500 and �1,000 worth�48 million.

But the actual stock ofbanned Indian bank notes isexpected to be much morebecause Nepalis were previ-ously allowed to carry �500 and�1,000 Indian bank notesworth up to �25,000.

Also, those residing inareas bordering India usuallystash Indian notes of largerdenominations as they have togo to Indian markets frequentlyto buy goods.

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Shimla: The Himachal Pradeshcapital witnessed snowfall onSunday, the second time thisseason, while the state’s higherreaches received snow overnightintensifying cold wave condi-tions in the region, the meteo-rological department said.

Manali in Kullu districtreceived 9 cm snow from 5.30pm on Saturday to 8.30 am onSunday, whereas tribal dis-tricts Lahaul-Spiti’s adminis-trative centre Keylong andKinnaur’s Kalpa received 13 cmsnowfall each during the peri-od, MeT Centre DirectorManmohan Singh said.

Narkanda, Kufri andShimla also received light snow.The State capital witnessedsnowfall for the first time thisyear, from 10.45 am till 3 pm,bringing cheers to tourists,hoteliers and horticulturists.The sky is still overcast indi-cating that it may snow again.

PTI

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Bhubaneswar: OdishaAgriculture Minister PradeepMaharathy resigned after spark-ing a controversy for his remarkson the acquittal of the accusedin a gangrape-and-murder caseof 2011-2012, sources said.

“Maharathy has sent hisresignation letter to the ChiefMinister’s Office. He hasresigned on moral grounds,” asource in the CMO said.Maharathy said he tendered

resignation on his own andthere was no pressure on himto step down. “I have highrespect for the CM and theBJD. I resigned voluntarily toensure there is no pressure onthe party,” he told reporters.

The development came aday after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, while address-ing a public meeting atBaripada on Saturday, accusedthe Odisha Government of not

being serious about the welfareof women and girls and urgedit to re-investigate the Pipiligangrape-and-murder case.

“This (State) Governmentfailed to give justice to a girl inan incident that took place 7 to8 years ago in Puri. It is natur-al that women and girls areangry over laxity in investiga-tion into the case for which thevictim has been denied justice,”Modi said at the BJP rally.PTI

Chandigarh: AAP’s rebel MLAfrom Punjab Sukhpal SinghKhaira on Sunday resignedfrom primary membership ofthe party, alleging that theparty had “totally deviated”from the ideology and princi-ples on which it was formed.

The 53-year-old Khaira, aformer Congressman who hadjoined the Aam Aadmi Party inDecember 2015 — nearly ayear before the last PunjabAssembly polls, sent his resig-nation to AAP national con-vener Arvind Kejriwal.

“I am constrained to for-ward my resignation from theprimary membership of AAP

as the party has totally deviat-ed from the ideology and prin-ciples on which it was formedpost the Anna Hazare movement,” the Bolath MLAsaid in his resignation letter,copies of which have beenreleased to the media.

“Although you have alreadyrewarded our good work byhumiliatingly suspending meand Kanwar Sandhu from theparty but still I want to for-malise the disconnection withyou and AAP, by quitting itsprimary membership,” Khairasaid.

The rebel leader has beena vocal critic of AAP leadership

since he was removed as leaderof opposition (LoP) in PunjabAssembly in July last year.

Khaira, along with Sandhu,was also suspended from AAPfor indulging in “anti-party”activities in November lastyear. Launching a no-holds-barred attack on Kejriwal,Khaira said, “I am saddened tostate that your dictatorial atti-tude has shattered the dreamsof Indians and Punjabis for aclean alternative to the decayedand rotten system.”

He said, “As a result, almostall prominent leaders of theparty, beginning from PrashantBhushan to H S Phoolka, have

either quit the party or youhave thrown them out.”

The “current political cul-ture of traditional parties of thecountry stands badly decayed,due to which immense hopewas generated by the formation of AAP,” Khaira saidin his letter.

“..Unfortunately after join-ing the party I realised that thehierarchy of AAP was no dif-ferent from the traditional cen-tralised political parties. Theturn of events into the run upof 2017 Punjab elections fur-ther confirmed my belief, thatthere was no inner partydemocracy,” he said. PTI

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7������8#���������������)��)�����*����) Bhubaneswar : UnionMinister DharmendraPradhan demanded securityfor family members of thePipili gangrape and murdervictim alleging that they arebeing threatened by goons ofthe ruling BJD.

Pradhan, who visited thevictim’s family, also claimedthat when he was returninghere from their village, rulingparty “goons” threatened themin presence of policemen thatno one will be able to able tosave the family.

“Family members of thegirl are feeling insecured.They are afraid that their livesare under threat from theaccused persons, who are pro-tected by the ruling party,” thePetroleum Minister said nar-rating his interaction withthe the victim’s family mem-bers.

Stating that he has takenup the matter with theDirector General of Police,Pradhan urged Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik to providesecurity to the family. PTI

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Patna: The Opposition GrandAlliance in Bihar is likely tohold its first formal deliberationon the upcoming Lok Sabhapolls during a meeting onMonday at the residence of RJDleader Tejashwi Yadav here.

The meeting is likely to beattended by all constituents ofthe ‘Mahagathbandhan’ thatcomprises the RJD, theCongress, former UnionMinister Upendra Kushwaha’sRLSP, former Chief MinisterJitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM andveteran socialist leader SharadYadav’s LJD.

Tejashwi Yadav is the leaderof the Opposition in the StateAssembly. According to sourcesin the Grand Alliance, themeeting will be marked by“broad discussions on therespective number of seats to befought by each constituent, andidentifying constituencies bestsuited for each alliance partner”.

They, however, added thata final agreement may bedeferred till the release of RJDsupremo Lalu Prasad servingsentences in fodder scam casesjudgement on whose bail appli-cation has been reserved by theJharkhand High Court.

Moreover, leaders of theGrand Alliance have also beenstating that a public announce-ment about the seat-sharingarrangements will be madeonly after January 14, when theinauspicious month of‘Kharmaas’ comes to an end.

Jitan Ram Manjhi rub-bished reports that haveappeared in a section of themedia, claiming he was toyingwith idea of possible return tothe NDA, as he was not gettinghis due in the Grand Alliance.

“This is nonsense. Only onSaturday I was in Ranchi tomeet Lalu Prasad. It is anoth-er thing that because of hispoor health, I avoided gettinginto any detailed discussions onpolitical matters,” he said. In analliance, all constituents have tobe ready to make some sacri-fices, the former CM said.

“We are not at all insistenton a particular number of seatsin Lok Sabha polls, and thoughwe maintain that we are in agood position in at least 20 outof 40 in the State, we will workfor the ‘Mahagathbandhan’s’victory even if we end upfighting not a single seat,”Manjhi asserted. PTI

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Shillong: Former MeghalayaChief Minister Mukul Sangmaof the Congress on Sundayurged political parties of theNortheastern region to snaptheir partnership with the BJPfollowing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s announce-ment that the Citizenship Billwould be passed in Parliament soon.

Sangma also likenedAssam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal to Judas,a close disciple of Jesus Christwidely believed to havebetrayed the Lord, after he theBJP led Assam Governmentwould not harm the people’sinterests.

He also dared Sonowal toquit the BJP and his post tosafeguard the interests of theindigenous people of Assam asthe BJP-led NDA Governmentat the Centre is moving aheadwith The Citizenship Bill.

The Bill was introduced inthe Lok Sabha to amend theCitizenship Act, 1955. It seeksto grant citizenship to peoplefrom minority communities— Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,Jains, Parsis and Christiansfrom Afghanistan, Pakistanand Bangladesh after six yearsof residence in India instead of12 even if they do not possessany proper document.

The Citizenship bill hasbeen opposed by a large sectionof people and organisations inthe Northeast.

Urging leaders of parties inManipur, Nagaland, Mizoramand other States across theregion where the BJP is part ofthe Government to end theirpartnership with the saffronparty, Sangma said, “We shouldsend a strong signal if we loveour people and if we care forthe interest of the indigenouspeople.”

All the Northeastern Statesare now ruled either by the saf-fron party or others supportedby it. Sikkim’s ruling SDF is also

friendly with the BJP.Sangma said it is time for

the regional parties to scruti-nise the agenda of the BJP andtheir comrades if they all standto protect the interest of theindigenous people.

Training his guns atSonowal, the leader of theopposition in MeghalayaAssemmbly said he wasamused by the statement ofSarbananda Sonowal. After thePrime Minister’s announce-ment about going ahead withthe Bill raised a hue and cry,Sonowal said his Governmentwould never do anything toharm the interests of the peo-ple of Assam. PTI

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From Page 1He will be aided by

Meenakshi Lekhi, Sambit Patra,and Murlidhar Rao.

Interestingly, Shah has alsoformed a three-member “BikeRally Committee” featuringSanjiv Chaurasia, PradeepSingh Baghela and SaurabhChaudhary. A committee for“Mann ki baat” will be headedby Arun Singh.

Jaitley’s choice as head ofthe publicity department isreaffirmation of the fact that

the Finance Minister is one themost media friendly leader inthe BJP.

Party’s all nationalspokespersons, which includeits media head Anil Baluni andhis deputy Sanjay Mayukh,will be part of its media com-mittee.

In the run up to the elec-tions, Shah has made a host ofappointments, including ofincharges and their associatesfor different States, to spear-head the party’s campaign.

From Page 1Her office also accused Rahul of “lying”

and said HAL has signed contracts worth�26,570.8 crore between 2014 and 2018 andcontracts worth �73,000 crore are in thepipeline. “Will @RahulGandhi apologise to thecountry from the floor of the House andresign?” her office tweeted.

The Congress has been targeting theGovernment alleging that it denied HAL anoffset contract under the Rafale fighter jetsdeal with France, a charge the Government hasdenied. The BJP has accused the Congress ofnot supporting HAL during its rule and assert-ed that the Government is now strengthen-ing the defence public sector undertaking.

Rahul had on Saturday accused PrimeMinister Narendra Modi of “weakening”HAL to help his “suit-boot” friend. Congress’chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala saidthe Defence Minister’s lies have been exposed.“For the first time, HAL forced to take a loanof �1,000 crore to pay salaries!,” he added.

From Page 1“At each entry point, there

will be random security checks.However, unlike at airports,passengers need not comehours in advance, but just 15-20 minutes ahead of theirdeparture times to ensure thatthey are not delayed because ofthe security process,” he said.

Kumar said that whilesecurity will increase, pres-ence of security personnel willnot. “If we are inventing intechnology, then manpowerrequirement will reduce,” hesaid.

These steps are a part of asecurity plan under theIntegrated Security System(ISS) which was approved in2016 to strengthen surveil-lance mechanism at 202 railwaystations.

The ISS will compriseCCTV cameras, access control,

personal and baggage screen-ing system and bomb detectionand disposal system whichtogether provide multiplechecking of passengers andbaggage from the point ofentry in the station premises tillboarding of train. The antici-pated cost of the ISS projectstands at �385.06 crore.

“The security plan envis-ages a layered security checkwhere passengers will be scru-tinised even before they enterthe station premises to ease thepressure at stations duringpeak hours,” Kumar said.

It will also include real-time face recognition softwarewhich will alert the RPF com-mand centre of any knownoffenders. Passengers will bechecked randomly — everyeighth or ninth passenger willundergo the process on hisarrival at the station,” he said.

From Page 1Addressing a Press conference,

Siddharth Nath Singh said instead ofquestioning the time of the raids,Akhilesh should answer why somuch “loot” had happened under hisGovernment. “If you loot publicmoney, then law will take its owncourse,” he said, adding that the CBIis reporting to the Allahabad HighCourt, which had ordered a probe in2016.

Singh alleged that Akhilesh’stenure as Chief Minister between2012 and 17 was a story of loot ofminerals and that he presided over aGovernment hand in glove with themining syndicate. He also fired offmany questions to Akhilesh, askinghim why Chandrakala “violated” e-tender norms and why she was madethe District Magistrate of Hamirpur.

“The BJP demand that the CBIshould investigate Akhilesh Yadav,”Singh said, adding that he should becalled by the agency for probe.

From Page 1Members of the committee from

the Left and the TMC said that thecommittee had visited Gujarat,Rajasthan and Assam where theyfaced major opposition to the Bill. “Asmembers of the joint committee onCitizenship Amendment Bill 2016, wecan state that there was no consen-sus in the committee on the finalreport. We had been opposed to theBill as it brings out the ethnic divi-sions in the State of Assam,” anoth-er dissent note said.

The members have also raisedobjections over the way the commit-tee has functioned. They said thatthey had given amendments toClause 2 of the Bill seeking to elim-inate the specific mention of sixminority communities and also thenames of neighbouring countries.This was to secularise the Bill, the dis-sent note from the TMC said.

“In Assam it is more critical issue.During the Assam visit, the com-mittee even faced demonstration. Onbehalf of the committee, we promisedto visit the State again, to talk to morestakeholders about the issue andalso assured them that unless we meetagain we won’t submit the report.Now, it’s embarrassing,” said a mem-ber from the Left.

The amendments were defeatedin the committee in a vote by the

show of hands. The ruling partymobilised all their members todefeat the amendments. “We are nothappy about functioning of thecommission. Since three years of itsformation, the sitting was occasion.During the session, the committeesits for three times in a week.Sometimes no meeting for sixmonths. So the chairman used to putthe committee either in top gear orin neutral gear. It was not normal,”a Left leader said.

The Opposition leaders havealso alleged the Bill which seeks toamend the Citizenship Act of 1955with the aim of granting citizenshipto minority communities fromAfghanistan, Bangladesh, andPakistan - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,Jains, Parsis, and Christians - after sixyears of residence in India, instead of11, could end up exposing the ethnicdivisions in the State of Assam.

“The Opposition is united inopposing the Bill. The report will besubmitted tomorrow and then every-one will come to know,” said a sourcein Congress. While speaking inSilchar, Assam on Friday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi reiteratedthe Centre’s commitment to pass theCitizenship Amendment Bill.

“The Citizenship Bill is an atone-ment of the wrong that was done dur-ing India’s Partition. I hope this Billis passed soon in Parliament. Indiawill safeguard all who had been vic-tims of the Partition,” he said.

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Tezpur/Guwahati: A numberof organisations including theKrishak Mukti SangramSamiti (KMSS) took outprotest rallies across Assam toprotest Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s announce-ment to pass the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill.

The protestors burnt theeffigies of Modi and AssamChief Minister SarbanandaSonowal. A group of KMSSmembers showed black flag infront of Sonowal’s SUV atDibrugarh and briefly inter-rupted the high- security con-voy, forcing the NSG com-mandos to disembark andclear the way with the help ofthe CM’s personal securityprovided by Assam Police.

Hundreds of members ofa women’s organisations tookeveryone by surprise whenthey gheraoed the BJP stateoffice at Hengerabari area inGuwahati without prior inti-mation to anyone to lodgetheir protest against the pro-posed move by the BJP-ledCentre. PTI

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The Centre has set up ahigh-level committee to

assess the implementation ofClause 6 of the Assam Accord,which mainly insists for thereservation and safe guardingof ethnic Assam population.The major agenda of this moveis to assess the quantum of seatsto be reserved in the AssamAssembly and local bodies forthe Assamese people, besidesproviding other safeguards.

The high-level committee,to be headed by former Uniontourism secretary MPBezbaruah, was set up as perthe Clause 6 of the 1985 AssamAccord, the Home Ministrysaid. “The committee willassess the appropriate level ofreservation of seats in AssamLegislative Assembly and localbodies for the Assamese peo-ple.

“The committee will rec-ommend the appropriate levelof reservations in employmentunder the government ofAssam for the Assamese peo-ple,” the Home Ministry noti-fication said.

This was an electionpromise of the BJP in 2014.Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal wel-comed the constitution of thecommittee, saying the panelwill work to fulfil a long stand-ing demand of the people ofAssam to reserve seats in theassembly and local bodies forthe indigenous people. “It is avery significant decision whichcame 35 years after the AssamAccord was signed,” Sonowalsaid.

The notification said thepanel will also hold discussionswith various stakeholders,including social organisations,legal and constitutional experts,eminent persons from the field

of art, culture and literature,conservationists, economists,linguists and sociologists. It willsubmit its report within sixmonths from the date of noti-fication (January 5).

Besides, Bezbarauah, aretired IAS officer, the mem-bers of the panel are: formerIAS officer Subhash Das, NagenSaikia, former President,Assam Sahitya Sabha, DhirenBezbaruah, former editor ofThe Sentinel, MukundaRajbangshi, educationalist,Ramesh Borpatragohain, advo-cate general of Assam,Rongbong Terang, former pres-ident of the Assam SahityaSabha, and one representativeof the All Assam Students’Union. The joint secretary inthe Home Ministry will bemember secretary.

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The Common ServiceCentres (CSCs), under the

Ministry of Electronics andIT, are readying 15 lakh enu-merators for the 7th EconomicCensus to be conducted thisyear. The same workforce canalso be used for the populationcensus, which can be heldevery two years instead of 10years currently, said a seniorofficial government official.

A Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) betweenthe Ministry of Statistics &Programme Implementation(MoSPI) and CSC e-Governance Services India wassigned on Thursday.

Started in 1977, till dateonly six economic censuseshave been done due to massivework involving in-depth surveyand data compilation. TheCensus of India, which givesstatistical information related

to the entire population of thecountry, also faces these chal-lenges of extensive survey andvast amounts of data.

The Ministry of Statisticsand ProgrammeImplementation (MoSPI) hasroped in CSC e-GovernanceServices India Limited for con-ducting the economic census,which is conducted acrosshouseholds to match the pop-ulations census.

“We manage three lakhcommon service centres acrossthe country. Under the agree-ment with MoSPI, we will trainfive enumerators through each

CSC. This will create a force of15 lakh enumerators. Theywill conduct household levelsurvey using a mobile applica-tion which we have devel-oped,” said CSC e-GovernanceServices India CEO DineshTyagi. CSCs are involved indelivering government servicesto people in rural areas.

CSC e-GovernanceServices India expects to com-plete training of enumeratorsby mid-March and start thesurvey from April 1. The sameorganisation had earlier doneprojects like Aadhaar,Ayushman Bharat, and Ujjwala.

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In what is an ominous indi-cation for the already fragile

security situation in the Valley,the Islamic State Jammu &Kashmir (ISJK) has given a callto the people of the State to dis-sociate from the separatistHurriyat leader Syed Ali ShahGeelani by branding him as a“kafir” (infidel) for being MLAof the State Assembly and con-tinuing to draw pension fromthe Government.

The outfit has also dubbedthe chief of Hizbul MujahideenSyed Salahuddin as a “kafir”and warned that what is tocome in Kashmir will be moredevastating and bitter thanwhat is happening now.

The outfit’s in an opencommunication says, “Theflames ignited years ago inIraq have now scorched thebattleground in Kashmir, so tospread in the rest of Hind(India). What is happening inKashmir is just a glimpse.What is yet to come will bemore devastating and morebitter.”

It further said, “Any disbe-liever who wages war againstIslam and Muslims is to bekilled without any pity orremorse.”

“Undoubtedly, the death of

a single Muslim, no matter hisrole in the society, is more graveto the believer than the mas-sacre of every Kafir on earth.Keeping this mind, how canUmmah (Muslim community)forget the backstabbing ofPakistan when they attackedthe Laal Masjid and whenthousands of brothers and sis-ters were killed in Waziristan

and other tribal areas ofPakistan by the apostatePakistani regime in order toplease their masters inAmerica,” exhorts the outfit.

The outfit claims thatMuslims of Kashmir have been“relentlessly killed” by the cow-worshipping Hindus and theMurtadeen (apostasy) who allywith the “kuffar” (non believ-ers of Islam).

The ISIS has also arguedGeelani’s bid to seek resolutionof the Kashmir issue throughUN as an un-Islamic act as itterms the international body asa “taghut” (false God). Theinternational terror group hasalso cited Geelani’s support toShias as un-Islamic. The ISIShas also termed SyedSalahuddin of the HizbulMujahieen as a Kafir.

Intelligence sources said theISIS intends to target the seces-sionists and terrorist groups toconsolidate its base in the Stateand would subsequently targetGovernment infrastructure.

Counter terrorism expertDr Rituraj Mate told ThePioneer, “There has been aregime change in Pakistan andthe newer terror players in theregion are seeking support ofPakistan Government whichhas put in place a condition toreplace the Hurriyat leadershipfor getting its support. The ISISis seeking to grab the frustrat-ed terror cadres in J&K as theterrorists are demoralised dueto the highest levels of profes-sional results by the securityforces.”

“It is obligatory upon allMuslims in Kashmir that wemake disassociation from theseleaders and neither supportthem nor have any love sym-pathy for them unless theyrespect and return back toIslam, “ the magazine exhortsto the people of Jammu &Kashmir through an article.

Syed Ali Shah ShahGeelani was an MLA (Jammu& Kashmir Assembly) in thepast…The important functionof this Assembly is law making.So MLAs help in making lawsthat are implemented on peo-

ple of the land. “The right of ruling, com-

manding and prohibiting isfor none but Allah…and hemakes none to share in hisJudgment and Rule. Whoevermakes himself part of this leg-islative body (Assembly,Parliament etc) then hebecomes a “kafir”. This is sameas making god besides Allah,”claims the terror outfit.

According to the outfit,Geelani must admit that hecommitted “kufr” (disbelief inIslam) amd must repent pub-licly because act of “kufr” wascommitted publicly. This istrue for Hizbul Mujahideenchief Syed Salahuddin. Anotheract of Kufr by Geelani is seek-ing judgment from UnitedNations. It is well known thatUN is a “taghut” (false Godbecause it rules by man-madelaws that are against Shariahthus making itlsef partner withAllah’s right to legislate.

“Geelani has been heardsaying in Media that Shiaism isanother Madhab of Islam.Recently, he said this when hecondemned some brotherswho protested against Assad forkilling Muslims in Syria. Itwas around mid-2017. Thereare also incidents when hepraised Ayatollah Khomeiniand Iran,” it added.

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Intelligence agencies have warnedabout a possible terror strike by

“fidayeen” (suicide) squads ofPakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) ahead of theday long visit of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to Jammu onJanuary 15. He is scheduled to visitborder district of Samba to lay thefoundation stone of AIIMS. Atleast two groups of JeM may try tosneak in through the InternationalBorder from Pakistan and thecounter-infiltration grid has beenfurther strengthened to thwartany attempt.

The “input” has rung alarmbells in the security establishmentas the terrorists are now trying tocome in through “non-tradition-al” routes like the InternationalBorder of Jammu and Punjab.The “traditional” routes includingthose in south and north of PirPanjal ranges have reported almostnil infiltration due to snow and theArmy not reducing its troopstrength on the Line of Control(LoC). The troop strength is gen-erally thinned out during wintermonths but this time around theArmy wants to maintain its tempoof operations by following a twin-pronged strategy.

Giving reasons for the alarmabout the new trend of militantsusing “non-traditional” routes,officials said all the parameters ofterrorism in Kashmir are showinga downward trend. These includemore than 270 terrorists neu-tralised last year, the highest ever,in the last ten years and reducednumber of infiltration bids. Itcame about through the twin-strat-egy of thwarting infiltration bidson the LoC and relentless opera-tions against militants in the hin-terland.

Despite these factors, thenumber of active terrorists rang-ing, 290-300, have not come downand it is a “definite cause of con-cern,” officials admitted. Thoughsuffering high attrition rate, theterrorist “tanzeems” (organisa-tions) have managed to shore upits fighter strength through infil-tration through non-traditionalroutes, foremost being interna-tional border in Jammu andPunjab, they said.

As regards the latest threat ofa strike by JeM cadres in Jammuregion ahead of the PrimeMinister’s visit, they said onegroup of three to four JeM terror-ists may try to infiltrate throughthe International Border in RSPura sector while the other teamof seven to eight may come inthrough Ramgarh sector in Samba.

Different intelligence agencieshave already alerted the multiagency command centre in thestate about the possibility of amajor terror strike on a vitalinstallation in the region.

Since the venue of the mainfunction to be attended by thePrime Minister is located close tothe International Border the secu-rity forces are not leaving anychance and have drafted a foolproof security plan to ensuresmooth conduct of the VVIP visit

in the area. Senior StateGovernment and police officers arestationed in the area to supervisethe ongoing arrangements.

Meanwhile, Border SecurityForce (BSF) is maintaining a tightvigil along the International bor-der after noticing suspected move-ment of heavily armed terroristsnear launching pads on the otherside of the border.

The International Border hascome into focus in terms of infil-tration after National InvestigationAgency (NIA) in December lastyear is learnt to have submitted acomprehensive report to the UnionHome Ministry, highlighting thefact that terrorist outfits, based inPakistan, are relying more onInternational Border.

The NIA report was based oninterrogation of over ground work-ers engaged in the task of ferryingthese infiltrators via JammuSrinagar National Highway intrucks headed towards Kashmirvalley. More than three dozen ter-rorists were transported by OverGround Workers (OGWs) or sym-pathisers through the same routebefore they came on the radar ofthe security forces during gun fightbetween hiding terrorists and thesecurity forces near Jhajjar Kotli onJammu-Srinagar NationalHighway last year.

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Congress on Sunday target-ed the BJP Government at

the Centre over “growingemployment” in India andcited a think-tank report toclaim that over one crore jobswere lost last year. Referring toa report by the think-tank, theCentre for Monitoring IndianEconomy (CMIE), Congressspokesperson Manish Tewarialleged that the BJP-led NDAGovernment failed to fulfil itspromise of providing two crorejobs every year and the coun-try lost one crore jobs instead.

“During the 2014 elec-tions, Modi had promised‘Acche Din’ (good days), whichincluded (providing) two crorejobs every year. In five years,this sums up to 10 crore (jobs).But recently, a reputed think-tank, the Centre for MonitoringIndian Economy (CMIE),released a report on employ-ment. It states that more thanone crore people lost their jobsin just one year (2018),” he said.

The former UnionMinister said according to thereport, in December 2017,

40.79 crore people wereemployed. In 2018, it wasreduced to 39.07 crore. “Whichmeans more than one crorepeople lost their jobs. It isastonishing that more than 80per cent of those unemployedwere women and more than 90per cent belonged to ruralIndia,” Tewari said citing thereport.

He also claimed that India’sunemployment rate hasincreased to 7.4 per cent inDecember, 2018. “This is thehighest in a decade. Daily wagelabourers and small business-es suffered the most. These arethe same who were affected bydemonetisation,” the Congressleader said.

Tewari also alleged thatthe Modi Government hasfailed to understand that dis-tress in society and smoothfunctioning of economy donot go hand in hand.

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Associated Journals Ltd(AJL), the publisher of

National Herald newspaper,has approached the DivisionBench of Delhi High Courtchallenging a single judge orderasking it to vacate its headquarters Herald House. OnDecember 21, Justice SunilGaur’s judgment directed thepublisher to vacate the officewithin two weeks, ratifyingthe Urban DevelopmentMinistry’s eviction notice citingseries of violations in the landallotment agreement.

AJL is headed by Congressleader Motilal Vora and thecompany was taken over by anew firm called Young Indian,controlled by Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi with 76 percent shares.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes,representing the AJL, said theappeal was filed on Saturdayevening and it is likely to comeup for hearing on January 9.The high court had dismissedthe AJL’s plea challenging theCentre’s order to vacate itspremises by holding that thepublisher of the NationalHerald has not provided anyinstances to support the seriousallegations of malafide leveledagainst the ruling dispensation.

It had said AJL will have tovacate the ITO premises with-in two weeks after which evic-tion proceedings under thePublic Premises (Eviction ofUnauthorized Occupants) Act,1971, would be initiated. TheCentre had ended its 56-year-old lease and asked the AJL tovacate the premises, sayingthat no printing or publishingactivity was going on.Government’s action came afterthe complaint filed by mainpetitioner and BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy pointing

out series of violations. “Considering the factual

nature, legal complexities andvoluminous issues raised in thewrit petition, it was indeedappropriate that the singlejudge ought to have issuedformal notice and asked therespondent to place their sayformally by way of ancounter/reply affidavit rathertaking documents across thebar and then proceedings to inlimine dismiss the writ peti-tion,” the appeal, filed throughPriyansha Indra Sharma, said.

“In doing so, the singlejudge has displayed an unwar-

ranted haste, uncalled for in thefacts and circumstances of thepresent case,” it added. In itsorder, the single judge hadsaid that AJL has been“hijacked” by Young Indian(YI), in which Congress chiefRahul Gandhi and his motherSonia Gandhi are shareholders.

The Centre and Land andDevelopment Office (L&DO)had said in their order that nopress has been functioning inthe premises for at least the past10 years and it was being usedonly for commercial purposesin violation of the lease deed.

In its plea, AJL has also saidthe digital versions of Englishnewspaper National Herald,Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’sQaumi Awaz have commencedfrom 2016-17. The weeklynewspaper ‘National Heraldon Sunday’ resumed onSeptember 24 last year and theplace of publication was theITO premises, AJL had said,adding that the Hindi weeklynewspaper Sunday Navjivanwas also being published sinceOctober this year from thesame premises.

����� �75�17)8�

Reaching out to the NEET-PG aspirants facing diffi-

culty in accessing examinationcentres at Jammu & Kashmirand Srinagar on Sunday due toinclement weather conditions,the National Board ofExamination (NBE) has decid-ed to hold a separate examina-tion for the affected candidates.

The date, time and venueshall be informed in duecourse, said a statement fromthe Union Health Ministry.

The NEET-PG was held onSunday for admissions to post-graduate medical courses incolleges across the country.The test this year was con-ducted by National Board ofExaminations (NBE), anautonomous organisation ofthe Health Ministry.

The NEET-PG 2019 was

held for over 1,48,000 candi-dates in 165 cities, the state-ment said.

The examination is beingconducted on computer basedplatform in one single session.

“The NBE had alsoarranged several centres inJammu & Kashmir, but somestudents could not make it forthe test due inclement weath-er.

“Due to inclement weath-er conditions in Jammu &Kashmir, some candidates fromSrinagar valley who had optedfor testing centre in Jammu orother cities were facing extremedifficulty in moving fromSrinagar to their designated testcentre due to complete block-age of air and road transport,”the statement said.

“The NBE is committed to

give an opportunity to suchaffected candidates to appear inNEET-PG 2019,” it said.

The NBE had taken up thismatter with health ministry,Medical Council of India andgovernment of Jammu andKashmir. After discussions “ithas been decided, being a forcemajeure situation, to hold aseparate examination for theseaffected candidates. The date,time and venue shall beinformed in due course”, thestatement added.

Normal life has beenthrown out of gear across theKashmir Valley due to thesnowfall which began onSaturday afternoon continuedtill Sunday morning. Thesnowfall blocked the roads anddisrupted the power supply.The snow bound roads dis-rupted the movement of peo-ple and transport.

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Hitting back at RahulGandhi for his “incompe-

tent” barb at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the BJP saidSunday it was ridiculous for an“incompetent” person like himto give a certificate of compe-tence to others.

The party claimed that theCongress president hadachieved everything in life dueto his family and not becauseof competence.

In a scathing attack atGandhi, BJP leader and Unionminister Smriti Irani alsoaccused him of “hurting”Parliament’s and a woman min-ister’s (Nirmala Sitharaman)dignity by “winking” in the LokSabha as the defence ministerreplied to the Rafale debate onFriday.

“Rahul Gandhi neithercares for women’s norParliament’s dignity. We donot expect values from him butwe do hope that he maintainsthe dignity of Parliament,” Iranitold a press conference.

She was responding toquestions about Gandhi’s claimin a tweet Sunday thatSitharaman had “lied” in herreply and also about his anoth-er tweet, alleging that Modi isan “incompetent man”.

Taking a dig at theCongress president over hisattack on Sitharaman, Iranisaid he “slept” through herreply in the Lok Sabha andwoke up after 48 hours. He hasbeen so much hurt by the“truth” that he came up againwith a “pack of lies”, she added.

“I believe that while thedefence minister presented allfacts before Parliament, theCongress president hurtParliament’s dignity and awoman minister’s dignity withhis wink,” she said.

From court to Parliament,Gandhi’s every “lie” has beenexposed and his lies will con-tinue to unravel, sha claimed.

Responding to Gandhi’sincompetent barb at Modi, Iranisaid wryly, “The country has notfallen upon such bad days thata person who has achievedeverything in his life not due tohis competence but family, givecertificates of competence...This is itself ridiculous that anincompetent person like RahulGandhi give a certificate ofcompetence to anybody.”

No opposition partyaccepts Gandhi’s leadership,she said.

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On the face of it, the new year,according to the WesternGregorian calendar, is a veryarbitrary date. It really has nosignificance, historically, in

any culture in the world. One could say,once upon a time before the imperfectionsof the calendar that humanity imposed onearth, the new year was the day after thewinter solstice, once the days finallystarted to get longer again. But vagariesof the earth’s rotation and our inability tofix the calendar for centuries, quite unlikeolder calendars based on lunar cycles thathave been cleaned up more frequently,have meant there cannot be a fixed date.But the arbitrariness of the date aside, wehave entered a new year and it’s extreme-ly significant year for India because thegeneral election of the 17th Lok Sabha willbe held this year.

Watching the Indian democracy inaction is a remarkable thing; it is anextremely well-tuned logistical exercisewith officials, paramilitary forces, politi-cians and journalists criss-crossing thelength and breadth of the country. It is atruly remarkable thing indeed to seeclose over half a billion humans cast theirfranchise. It is not perfect — not everyvote is equal with urban voters in citieslike Delhi and Mumbai underrepresent-ed as well as the fact that minorities andwomen are still poorly represented, bothas candidates and elected representa-tives. And, of course, there is persistentpolitical corruption, with the electorateseduced with outright bribes from cash toliquor. That said, for the large part, theIndian election process is relativelyuntainted and stands up to global stan-dards. Indeed, compared to the chaoticelectoral system in the United States, theIndian system is arguably far fairer.

That said, one thing that has alreadybecome very clear and will becomeincreasingly apparent to all and sundrysooner rather than later is that the 2019Lok Sabha election is going be to avicious one with half-baked rumoursand spurious allegations flying all over theplace. One reason is that there is no ‘wave’for or against any one politician in thiselection.

It will, however, be an election that pitsNarendra Modi and the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) against an united Opposition,solely because they are inimical to him.It will not be an election fought over cohe-sive economic and defence policies pre-sented by one side or the other, and thatis India’s tragedy. It will be an electionwhere the narrative will either be one ofsuccess or the ineptitude of one man, sofractured has our polity become.

One finds it difficult to imagine rightnow whether there will be much politicalstability in the aftermath of these elections,although India has for the large part avoid-

ed the chaos of what itendured in the late-80s andearly-90s.

But what is most worry-ing about the upcoming elec-tions will be the loss of anysense of proportion on socialmedia. The media in general,where individuals and thoseclaiming to be journalists,will pretty much act as surro-gates for one side or theother.

Sure, many of us hold apolitical view for one side orthe other and wish a partic-ular direction for our country,but we have reached a pointwhere a centrist and rationalapproach to politics in ourcountry, or for that matter inmost democracies, has gonefor a toss, replaced by partiesmoving closer to the fringe.

And much of that hasbeen due to the rise of uncon-trolled social media, and asthe story goes, once thePandora’s Box has beenopened, you cannot close it.And while this writer appre-ciates the reasoning that thereneeds to be an element ofcontrol, that argument cannotbe made unless there is arestriction on the freedom ofexpression.

That said, the internetand the relative anonymity it

affords, has given rise to alevel of hate speech thatshould be, in the opinion ofany rational person, unac-ceptable. Speech, that involvessexual threats against women,one’s advocating hate andviolence against a person orcommunities, has gotten outof hand online.

The conflation of theterm ‘freedom of speech’ withthe right to make threats hasled to this confusion alongwith the fact that internetintermediaries indulged insuch hate and violence-filledspeech in the name of spread-ing their reach, despite lawsacross the world that express-ly ban such speech.

In India, when a journal-ist indulges in satire online,and makes a video, as journal-ist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra did, orcriticises a politician, asManipuri journalistKishorechandra Wangkhemdid, the state can act veryquickly. But it has tread onhot coals when it comes toarresting those who openlyadvocate violence or evenspread pedophilia online.This makes one wonder ifsuch elements have protectionfrom the top.

There are enough lawsand safeguards to stop the

spread of hate speech, but thedrying up of the centrist posi-tion in politics has had oneunfortunate impact that peo-ple themselves have becomeextremely rude and uncivil toeach other.

The fact is that algo-rithms by social media siteskeep feeding them a stream ofviews that buttress their own.This has made people surpris-ingly inflexible. So, instead ofheated political debate, we getshouting matches. It hasbecome a case of ‘my way orthe highway’. People havebecome plain rude whensometimes listening to anoth-er voice or another opinionmight do them some good.

Of course, this is not aproblem unique to India, thisis a problem that is takingplace across the world. Manypeople worry about the rise ofmachines when robots con-trol manufacturing and trans-portation, but machines arealready pretty much deter-mining what information weare getting and how we areprocessing it. We have a prob-lem and if we do not dosomething to redress it soon,things are only going to gofrom bad to worse.

(The writer is ManagingEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Have a little faith” (January 3).After the Supreme Court’s ruling,that allowed women of all ages toenter and pray at Sabarimala, twowomen from Kerala could make itto the holy temple with full policeprotection. This marked a newchapter in the history of women’semancipation. As the Governmentfaltered in dealing with the sensi-tive issue, violence marked the day,leading to loss of life and destruc-tion to properties. All in all, it is asad day for Kerala as the templeissue is being blown up due to theinept handling of the StateGovernment. It is imperative thatthe Government takes steps toresolve the matter amicably, on pri-ority, since temple visits by womenwill be a continuous process.

KR SrinivasanSecunderabad

����� ��������Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Have a little faith” (January3). Kerala is on the boil after twowomen gained entry into theSabarimala temple last week.The two women, Bindu and

Kanakadurga, must be feelingthat they have conquered theprotesters, against the entry ofwomen of menstrual age. Thesewomen are not repentant forbeing responsible for creatinglawlessness in the State.Meanwhile Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan hasbeen feeling a sense of satisfac-tion for obeying the Supreme

Court order in allowing thewomen with police escort.

If at all the Chief Ministerwould have made up his mind,it would not have been difficultto take legislative action to con-tinue to bar the women of men-strual age from entering theshrine. Neither the Congressnor the BJP would have opposedif Vijayan had really wanted to

respect the sentiments of thedevotees. The entry of these twowomen has triggered wide-spread protest, resulting in van-dalisation of public properties,blocking of traffic, destructionof flex boards, stoppage of busservices, closure of shops, attackon KSRTC buses, burning oftyres and stone-pelting amongothers.

The Kerala Government hasdemonstrated that it is insensi-tive to the possible repercussionsof Government-sponsored entryof restricted women. The ChiefMinister has miserably failed tomaintain law and order situa-tion. Moreover, what satisfactioncould these women get whenthey could not enter the templein the open but clandestinely?Their only triumph is that theycould successfully indulge in actof sacrilege by breaking an age-old tradition. Large-scale vio-lence has also not made theirhead bow in shame because oftheir eccentric behaviour.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

� ��������������Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Have a little faith” (January3). What was the need for theGovernment to implement thecourt order in such an emotion-ally charged atmosphere? Itcould have asked for time.

ShubhamVia email

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Independence for Taiwan wouldonly bring profound disaster toTaiwan,” said China’s President Xi

Jinping in Beijing on January 2, andhe ought to know. He is the one whowould make sure the disaster hap-pened. Speaking on the 40th anniver-sary of US diplomatic recognition ofthe Chinese People’s Republic, Xisaid that Taiwan was “sacred territo-ry” for Beijing. He would never toler-ate “separatist activities” there: “Wemake no promise to renounce the useof force and reserve the option of tak-ing all necessary means.”

Well now, that would be exciting,wouldn’t it? Start with Chinese air andmissile strikes on Taiwan, presumablyreciprocated by the Taiwanese forces.Probably no nukes, although China

does have them, but the first major seabattle since the Second World War, fol-lowed by a Chinese assault landing onTaiwan involving several hundredthousand troops. Quite a lot of deathand destruction, in fact.

No? That’s not what he meant?Okay, then, what did Xi mean by “allnecessary means”? Harsh words anda trade embargo? Then why not sayso? Is the Trump thing catching? Thereis a peculiar ambiguity to Beijing’s offi-cial statements on Taiwan. On the onehand, nobody in the communistregime is in a great rush to gatherTaiwan back into the fold. It will hap-pen eventually, they believe, and theycan wait. On the other, the regime’scredibility (such as it is) comes fromonly two sources: Its nationalist pos-turing and its ability to deliver risingliving standards. With the latter assetrapidly depreciating — the Chineseeconomy is heading south — nation-alism becomes more important, so abit of chest-beating is inevitable.

Many people will, therefore, dis-count Xi’s words as mere rhetoric thatthe Chinese communist leader was

obliged to use on a significant anniver-sary, but not a real threat to invade.After all, the deal made 40 years agopretty much ruled out the use of force.

The US agreed in 1979 that thereis only one China, and that it includesTaiwan. There just happened to be tworival Chinese Governments at thetime: The communist one in Beijingthat won the civil war in 1949 and hascontrolled mainland China ever since,and the previous nationalistGovernment that retreated to theisland of Taiwan when it lost the war.

Both of these Governments agreethat there is only one China. In prac-tice, the one in Taipei can never regaincontrol of the mainland, but it claimsto be the legitimate Government ofChina, not of Taiwan. Almost every-body else, including the United States,agrees that there is only ‘one China’and recognises the communist regimein Beijing as legitimate.

The 1979 deal assumed that thisconflict would be resolved peacefullyat some unspecified future time, andBeijing made some helpful comments

about how Taiwan could enjoy a spe-cial status if it reunited with the moth-erland: Democracy, a free Press, the ruleof law — the same promises made toHong Kong when Britain returned itto China in 1997. Then everybody set-tled down to wait for time to pass andthe generations to roll over. Beijingassumed that the Taiwanese wouldeventually see the light and rejoin themainland. The Taiwanese assumed thatcommunist rule on the mainlandwould eventually either mellow or justcollapse. Either way, we’ll all just get onwith our lives in the meantime. It wasa very sensible, moderate deal — butthose assumptions proved to be wrong.

Communist rule in China has notcollapsed, and Xi is the most power-ful and authoritarian leader since Mao.Taiwan has not grown resigned toreunion with the ‘motherland’; on thecontrary, a separatist Taiwanesenationalism has grown stronger withthe years. At the moment, in fact, theparty in power in Taipei is separatist,though it is careful not to say so explic-itly. It can never happen: China has 1.3billion people, Taiwan has 23 million.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen takespositions that appeal to the localnationalist/separatists, but she’s nevergoing to declare independence. XiJinping threatens bloody murder if shedeclares independence, but he knowsthat she will never actually do that.

What Xi is really trying to dowith his fierce talk is to reinforce theanxiety many Taiwan voters feelabout defying China too openly.They don’t want reunification butthey do want a quiet life. And hisstrategy is working: Tsai’s party lostbadly in the recent local elections,and may be voted out of power in thenational elections next year. It’s justa game, most of the time, and eachplayer plays his or her allotted rolesafe in the knowledge that the scripthas not changed for decades. The sta-tus quo is more secure than it looks.But let just one player deviate fromthe script, and everybody would sud-denly be in a new and very frighten-ing world. It probably won’t happen,but it could.

(The writer is an independent journalist)

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India has traditionally been anunder-banked country. Theexisting banking system doesn’twork for the poor and those inremotely located areas because

most transactions are conducted incash and ‘brick and mortar’ outletsmake services expensive. Banks, util-ity companies and other institutionspass along the costs of handling cashtransactions. And those, associatedwith storing, transporting and pro-cessing cash, pass it to their customers.It becomes hard for low-income cus-tomers to absorb the costs. The glob-al revolution in technology, along withrapid advances in digital payment sys-tems, is creating opportunities toconnect poor households with afford-able and reliable financial toolsthrough mobile phones and other dig-ital interfaces. In recent years, technol-ogy has helped close the financialinclusion gap. Digital finance is nowthe new mantra which India hasembraced enthusiastically, and withgood reason.

The most important and revolu-tionary technology-driven model forefficient last mile delivery of financialservices in our country is the businesscorrespondent model — an equivalentto the agent network in Kenya. Thebusiness correspondent model is typ-ically an agent or an extended arm ofthe bank — an important piece in thefinancial inclusion circle and a keytouchpoint. The model was intro-duced in 2006 by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) to allow banks to havethird-party, non-bank agents to extendtheir services right at the people’sdoorstep. Agents are a very importantresource for India’s transition to digi-tal-based financial inclusion. They actas a bridge between financial serviceproviders and last mile customers, notonly in a practical sense as transactionfacilitators, but through their humantouch and personal interface.

Being technology driven, the busi-ness correspondent model has playeda critical role in opening large num-ber of Jan Dhan accounts. Business cor-respondents are typically grassrootentrepreneurs who serve the cus-tomers on behalf of the bank. Sincethey belong to the same community,they have local knowledge, greaterunderstanding of the issues specific tothe rural poor and enjoy greateracceptability amongst them. Theyhave flexibility in operations, whichprovide a level of comfort to theirclientele and are, therefore, better ableto serve the population .They takebanking to the people rather thanmaking them visit the banks.Historically, the biggest problem forbanks has been the high costs associ-ated with serving low-income people.Since business correspondents work on

low-cost models and deliver almost atthe doorstep, access has becomeaffordable. Customers don’t have tospend money to travel to a bank ortake time away from work, whichwould mean loss of a day’s wage.

A study by Anjini Kochar, aStanford University scholar, pub-lished in the Journal of DevelopmentEconomics, highlighted the role ofbusiness correspondents as key driversof financial inclusion. Kochar showedhow business correspondents havehelped increase savings and otherfinancial outcomes of rural house-holds. Using data of approximately7,000 households in the south west-ern State of Karnataka, the writercompared savings data before andafter the launch of the business cor-respondent policy. She found thatbusiness correspondent coverage,increased annual household savings byroughly �15,500 on an average.Business correspondents, Kocharexplained, improve total householdsavings largely because their use ofmobile technology, through point ofservice devices, significantly reducedcosts incurred by rural households inaccessing financial services.

However, in India, the businesscorrespondent model remains rela-tively underdeveloped. The key pointis that the commissions of bankingcorrespondents are low and theGovernment is not willing to consid-er this issue. Recent research by theHelix Institute of Digital Financerevealed that in the business corre-spondent model, Indian agents earna median income of $52 per month,compared to agents in Kenya whoearn $192 per month.

Managing the agent network ismost critical for the success of thismodel. Agents conduct cash-in andcash-out (CICO) functions, enablingcustomers to convert cash into elec-tronic money and back again in con-venient locations. In the eyes of thecustomer, the agent is the face of thecompany. This means that the agentcan either build or destroy trust andcredibility. Many providers focus onbuilding agent networks as fast as pos-sible, without paying careful attentionto the agents’ business case and prof-itability. Experts suggest three keytenets in managing an agent network:(1) grow customer base and the net-work in tandem; (2) understand agenteconomics and risk — the businesscase for agents is not that simple and(3) enroll agents who have the rightskills and dedication, and prepare totrain and retrain.

For the financial inclusion indus-try to be able to capitalise fully on thebenefits of digital financial services, itis important that the accompanyingrisks are understood and adequatelyaddressed. New technology is not onlydelivering considerable benefits to thefinancial inclusion market, but alsocreating new risks. Though theserisks cannot be eliminated, they canbe mitigated. We need to keep in mindconcerns of security, affordabilityand safety of these new financial chan-nels. With many opportunities provid-ed by ground-breaking technologyand innovative business operations,also comes new risks which relates toimplementing digital financial servicesthat extend far beyond operationaland technical risks. Loss of privacy isthe most obvious risk. Indeed, despite

efforts to create all safeguards, it is allbut inevitable.

It is now becoming clear that busi-ness correspondents may not be ableto handle the entire range of bankingservices, particularly credit functions.It is only larger entities, with compe-tent manpower and proper logisticalsupport, that can handle the creditfunctions required for modern banks.Efforts must be made to train businesscorrespondents and enlarge theirresponsibilities in a graduated manner.When the business correspondentsreach a higher level of turnover, theycan be endowed with commensuratefinancial responsibilities. We alsoneed a graded system of certificationof business correspondents, from basicto advance training, so as to arm themwith equivalent financial tasks.

Some of the urgent reforms thatcan improve the efficacy of the busi-ness correspondent model are:

� Establish a Self-RegulatoryOrganisation (SRO) for business cor-respondents. The SRO would helpestablish standard rules and formulatea code of conduct to establish effec-tive monitoring and supervision. Itwould also act as the legitimatelyrecognised interface between BCNs,banks, the RBI and the Government.

��An independent agency shouldbe given the task of undertaking geotagging and GPS mapping of agentlocations to enable better monitoringand supervision of agent points.

�� Reduce time required fortransactions to bring down incremen-tal costs for agents, thereby enhanc-ing viability of their operations. Thiscan be facilitated through StraightThrough-Processing by riding on

national digital infrastructure, havinga unified KYC, simplified processes,and workflow-based solutions.

��Enable agents to source cred-it with innovative risk-sharing mech-anisms and facilitate data analyticsbased digital credit models. This canboost revenue, make available invest-ments for upgrading technology andmake credit more inclusive.

��Improve compensation struc-tures to enhance agent viability. Itcould be a combination of time, fixedand variable compensation. The com-pensation can be linked with variousperformance benchmarks, includingcustomer ratings. The agents shouldalso be supported to build adjacentrevenue streams.

Business correspondents need to beadequately incentivised. They requirefixed investment and substantial upfrontcosts, scale is necessary to recoup theinvestment. Unit costs decrease as morevalue flows through the system\fixedcosts are hard for small providers toshoulder. We will need a larger force ofagents, educated, motivated and savvyenough to carry out businesses onbehalf of banks in the heartland of India.It is, therefore, imperative that wedesign a comprehensive policy thatcovers various aspects of their services.Considering the work required for on-boarding customers and orienting themto actively use digital services, their com-pensation appears to be hardly worth theeffort. On account of this, business cor-respondents tend to favour large anddensely populated villages.

(The writer is Member, NITIAayog’s National Committee onFinancial Literacy and Inclusion forWomen)

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Hours after Bengal BJP pres-ident Dilip Ghosh saw in

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee a deserving PrimeMinisterial candidate, the senior saffron leaderretracted saying he had onlyexpressed his good wishes forher Prime Ministerial ambi-tions though in “she has no possibility of being aPrime Minister.”

On Saturday Ghosh whilewishing Mamata on her birth-day said she needed to remainfit as “Bengal’s fate dependsupon her success.” Deliberatingfurther on whether he saw inher a person fit to become thecountry’s Prime Minister,Ghosh said everyone wantedher to stay fit and work well as“if there is any Bengali who canbe a PM it is she.”

Earlier on a similar cir-cumstance “Jyoti Basu wasdeprived the opportunity tobecome the country’s firstBengali PM though finallyPranab Mukherjee was madethe first Bengali President. JyotiBabu was failed by his ownparty. But as a Bengali I have noproblem in her (Banerjee) beinga Prime Minister.”

Even as the TrinamoolCongress leadership, includinghis strongest critics, likeAnubrata Mandal and Kalyan

Banerjee publicly welcomedGhosh’s “capitulation” and said“the statement only projectedGhosh’s “healthy politicalmindset by dint of which heacknowledged the truth” ofTrinamool’s prowess, the BJPleader said he was only answer-ing to some specific questionsby the media.

“I was asked to commenton Banerjee’s chances of beingthe first Bengali PM and Ireplied that if any Bengali hadchances to be a Prime Ministerthen she is the one. This shouldbe taken in a good humorinstead of reaping politicalharvest out of it,” the State BJPpresident said adding “I saidshe is the fittest Bengali candi-date as of now. But in realitythere is no remote chance ofher being the PM.”

Reacting to Ghosh’s state-

ment senior Trinamool MPKalyan Banerjee said “whyonly Dilip Ghosh every onebelieves that Mamata Banerjeeby dint of her sheer hard workhas become the most able can-didate to become the PrimeMinister. Not only as a Bengalibut also as among t he entireIndian leadership she is themost deserving candidate.”

Meanwhile the State BJPleadership said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was likely toaddress the grand rally atBrigade Parade Ground inKolkata on January 29. Beforehim party president Amit Shahwas likely to address two rallies:one on January 16 at Siliguriand the other in Kolkata.

“We have got January 29 asa tentative date from the PrimeMinister’s office,” a senior BJPleader said in Kolkata.

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Lakhimpur Khiri: Threepoachers were caught red-handed laying traps for her-bivorous animals in forests ofMailani range in the bufferzone of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve,officials said on Sunday.

“The poachers were caughtred-handed late on Saturdaynight when they were layinghalf a dozen ‘khabars’ (netsused to trap spotted deer, wildboars, etc). Three poacherswere caught on the spot. Someof their accomplices managedto escape, “ Field DirectorDudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR)Ramesh Kumar Pandey told PTI.

Pandey lauded the forestpatrolling team and said forestguard Mohd Umar and histeam would be felicitated fortheir commendable job.

PTI

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Srinagar: In another jolt for thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP), senior leader and formerMinister Javaid Mustafa Mir hasresigned from the party.

Mir, who represented theChadoora Assembly con-stituency in central Kashmir’sBudgam district for three suc-cessive terms from 2002, said the resignation was his “personal decision”.

“I have resigned from thePDP. It is my personal decisionand I will not speak anythingmore on this at this moment,” hesaid on Saturday.

He did not divulge his futureplans. Mir was inducted asRevenue Minister in the MuftiMohammad Sayeed-led PDP-BJP Government in 2015.

However, he was droppedfrom the Cabinet whenMehbooba Mufti assumed officein April 2016 after her father’sdeath. This led to the growing dif-ferences between Mir and theparty leadership. He has beencritical of the PDP’s role in thecoalition Government ever since.

Mir was inducted into theCabinet again in December2017. The Mehbooba Mufti-ledPDP has been facing a rebellionsince BJP withdrew support tothe party in Jammu & Kashmir

in June last year.A section of PDP leaders

have revolted against MehboobaMufti’s leadership, accusing herof nepotism and favouritism.

Prominent among thosewho openly rebelled against thePDP chief were influential Shialeader Imran Ansari, his uncleAbid Ansari, former MLAsTangmarg Mohammad AbbasWani and Baramulla JavaidBeigh and MLCs Yasir Reshi andSaifuddin Bhat.

Several leaders have sinceleft the party with formerFinance Minister Haseeb Drabu,former Law Minister BasharatBukhari and Peer MohammadHussain being the notable ones.

Bukhari and Hussain joinedPDP’s arch rival NationalConference. Other middle andlower rung leaders have alsodeserted the party, monthsbefore the Assembly polls are duein Jammu & Kashmir. PTI

��������1���������-����&������&������������������� Amaravati: Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Sundayaccused Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu of pushing the Stateinto “sunset” to see his “sonrise”, a mock reference to theState’s tagline “Sunrise AP”.

Addressing BJP workersin Andhra Pradesh throughvideo-conference, Modi alsoinvoked “Telugu pride”, alleg-ing that Naidu betrayed TeluguDesam Party (TDP) founder NT Rama Rao by joining handswith the Congress.

“Telugu pride can only be restored when you (Naidu)put the interests of AP aboveyour political interests and lust for power,” the PrimeMinister said.

“A true tribute to NTR(the late NT Rama Rao) andwhat he stood for would be vot-ing out those who betrayedNTR’s values and sullied hismemory. NTR’s dream of aSwarna Andhra Pradesh willonly be realised when every cit-izen of AP enjoys the fruits ofdevelopment and not just onefamily,” Modi said.

Calling NTR a “true icon ofTelugu pride”, Modi recalledthat it was NTR who led a“Congress-mukt Bharat” move-ment by forming an anti-Congress National Front.

“Today, his own son-in-law

(Chandrababu Naidu) has benthis head before the Congress tosave his power. NTR was trueicon of Telugu pride. NTRnever forgave Congress forhurting Telugu pride and itsbetrayal of Telugu interests,” theprime minister said.

“Today, those in power inAP are so desperate to savetheir power that they betrayedTelugu interests and stabbedNTR in the back for the secondtime,” he said.

He also wondered howTelugu pride would be servedby neglecting people and sacrificing their interests for power.

“How is Telugu prideserved by lying and abusingModi day in and day out, justbecause you are worried that

you will lose power? How isTelugu pride served by day-dreaming about becomingprime minister when you havefailed as CM?” Modi said, hit-ting out at Naidu.

Accusing Naidu of being“fixated” with the rise of hisown son, Modi said the chiefminister did not realise how hispolicies and alleged corruptioncould lead to “sunset” for the State.

“To set the ‘son’, he is cre-ating an atmosphere for sunsetof the state. In only promotinghis son, he has forgotten aboutother sons and daughters ofAP,” the PM said.

The TDP walked out of theBJP-led NDA last year over theissue of financial assistancefor Andhra Pradesh. PTI

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Motihari: A flying nut from awater pump on Sunday piercedthe skull of a five-year-old boyand reached close to his brain,but the doctors managed toremove it through a promptsurgery at a hospital in Bihar’sEast Champaran district.

The accident took placewhen the fan belt of the waterpump snapped, sending itsnuts and bolts flying and a nutpiercing the boy’s skull.

Chhabila Kumar, a residentof Kathriya village under theChouradano police station areaof the district, was brought tothe Chandra Hospital situatedhere, with blood smeared overhis face and a two-inch-longpiece of iron sticking out of his forehead presenting a

macabre sight.“A group of children were

playing close to the water pumpwhich was under repair.During trial of the machine, thefan belt snapped and its nutsand bolts flew into the air andone of these hit the boy,” the boy’s uncle Shravan Rai,who brought him to the hos-pital, said.

Chandra Suvash, anorthopaedic surgeon, who runsthe private hospital, said, “Testsconducted on the boy revealedthat the nut was barely scrap-ing his brain. He was fortunatethat a 20 mm washer attachedto the nut prevented it fromgoing deeper, which couldhave damaged his cerebralstructure.” PTI

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Muzaffarpur: A 60-year-oldwoman was beaten to death onthe suspicion of practisingwitchcraft at a village in Bihar’sMuzaffarpur district onSunday, police said.

The deceased has beenidentified as Kusum Devi, wife of one Ram Vilas Thakurof Dargah village, DeputySuperintendent of Police(DySP) (East) Gaurav Pandey said.

Around half-a-dozenstrongmen of a particular fam-ily of the village caned the oldwoman to death after brandingher as a “witch”, he said.

The body has been sent toSri Krishna Medical Collegeand Hospital here for post-mortem. PTI

Shillong: Rescue operationsfor 15 miners trapped in aflooded illegal coal mine inMeghalaya’s East Jaintia Hillsdistrict for past 24 days hit aroadblock on Sunday as thetwo high-powered pumpsengaged in dewatering encountered technical glitches,officials said.

The high-powered pumpsof Kirloskar Brothers Ltd wererecently pressed into action todewater the main shaft, wherethe miners are trapped.

Another submersiblepump from Coal India Ltd(CIL) also faced a snag, affect-ing dewatering operations inthe nearby abandoned mines.

“Two pumps fromKirloskar Brothers and thesubmersible pump from CoalIndia encountered glitches andthe dewatering process in themain shaft was affected,” R

Susngi, spokesperson of theoperation said.

The two high-poweredpumps are undergoing repairwork, he said, adding the CILpump was replaced with a newone. The CIL is expected to putinto operation at least threemore pumps on Monday,Susngi added. However, littleheadway could be made inreducing the water levels in themain shaft and the nearbymines due to the malfunc-

tioning of the pumps and freshseepage, the official said.Rescue divers from the IndianNavy and the National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) toocould not venture down togauge the water level inside themain shaft as it was beyond thesafe diving limit of 100 feet, thespokesperson said.

The current water level inthe main shaft is about 160 feet,while its total depth is around370 feet.

Rescue work is suspendeddaily at around 5 pm as nightfalls. The Kirloskar Brotherspumps could be used for justone hour on Saturday, he said.

At least 15 miners aretrapped in the illegal coal mine,whose owner has been arrest-ed, since December 13.

Meanwhile, the OppositionCongress Sunday alleged that the BJP-backed MeghalayaDemocratic AllianceGovernment allowed illegalcoal mining within six monthsof coming to power.

“The BJP and the NationalPeople’s Party (NPP) had bothpromised the people of thestate to open up coal mining,if they were elected to power.Actually, what they did wasopen up illegal coal miningwithin six months,” Leader ofOpposition Mukul Sangmatold reporters here. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Nationals of 45countries and people from 13states within the country onSunday participated in a kite fes-tival in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad.

Gujarat Governor OP Kohliand state Chief Minister VijayRupani inaugurated the eventon the Sabarmati Riverfront.

Organisers said 151 partic-ipants included nationals of theUnited States, United Kingdom,Cambodia and Nepal.

Rupani, speaking at theevent, said the festival hadbecome an integral brand ofGujarat, adding that it washelping the poor who were

making these kites.Governor Kohli said the fes-

tival inspires healthy competi-tion and a spirit of brotherhoodamong different communities.

In Gujarat, kites are flownduring the Hindu festival ofMakar Sankranti which falls onJanuary 14.

Incidentally, most of thekites are made by Muslims.

This year, the Gujarat gov-ernment has also decided toorganise a kite festival atKevadia, the site of the Statue ofUnity, a memorial to SardarPatel and the also the world’stallest statue. PTI

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Guwahati: The SabarimalaAction Committee, a group ofvarious Hindutva outfits, onSunday said defying theSupreme Court ruling on theLord Ayyappa temple does notamount to its contempt as the order was against tradi-tion and faith.

Constitutional and reli-gious moralities are differentand these should not be mixed and confused at all,SAC General Secretary ARMohan said.

“The Supreme Court rulingis against the tradition andreligious faith. Defying it can-not be termed as contempt ofthe court as 49 review petitionshave been filed and hearing willstart soon,” he said at a Press

conference.Mohan is in Assam to

gather information about diver-sified characteristics of places ofworships in the State to present them before theSupreme Court during hearingof the review petitions for theSabarimala case.

The Supreme Court onSeptember 29 lifted the ban onentry of girls and womenbetween 10 and 50 years of ageinto Sabarimala temple, theshrine of Lord Ayyappa, the“eternally celibate” deity.

Mohan alleged that theCPI(M)-led KeralaGovernment have been pushingwomen allied with various“ultra organisations”, especial-ly those having close links with

the Maoist ideology.“People who have no faith

in religion or in Lord Ayyappawere brought in to the templewith active support of theadministration and the police.The devotees who opposedthem were lathicharged andover 5,000 FIRs were lodgedagainst them,” Mohan said.

Kerala has been on boilsince January 2 following thevisit of two women of menstruating age into theSabarimala under police protection.

He claimed the StateGovernment has unleashed an“administrative terror” on inno-cent devotees, who are agitatingto protect their right to worshipin the traditional way. PTI

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Ahmedabad: The CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)has no say in grant of sanctionto prosecute retired police offi-cials who are accused in theIshrat Jahan alleged fakeencounter case, the agencytold a court here.

The agency told specialjudge for CBI cases JK Pandya that it had not yetreceived sanction from the Gujarat Government to prosecute retired police officials DG Vanzara and NK Amin.

When the court asked forthe reason for the delay, CBIlawyer RC Kodekar said it hadno say in the matter of grant ofsanction by the StateGovernment.

The matter will be nextheard on January 28.

While rejecting dischargeapplications of Vanzara andAmin in August 2018, thecourt had asked the CBI toinform if the State Government had given sanc-tion to prosecute them.

Vanzara, a former DeputyInspector General of Police,had sought discharge sayinghis case was similar to that offormer Gujarat in-chargedirector general of police PP Pandey.

Pandey was discharged inthe case in February last yearfor want of evidence.

Amin, who retired assuperintendent of police, hadsought discharge on the ground

that the encounter was genuine and testimonies ofwitnesses produced by the CBIwere not reliable.

Jahan, a 19-year-oldwoman from Mumbra nearMumbai, Javed Shaikh aliasPranesh Pillai, AmjadaliAkbarali Rana, and ZeeshanJohar were killed by the policein an alleged fake encounter onthe outskirts of Ahmedabad onJune 15, 2004.

The Gujarat Police hadthen claimed that the four hadlinks terrorists and had plottedto kill then Gujarat chief min-ister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which probed thekilling on the high court’sorder, claimed that it was astaged encounter. PTI

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Jammu: The cave shrine ofVaishno Devi located in theTrikuta hills of Jammu &Kashmir’s Reasi district receivedthe season’s first snowfall onSunday even as pilgrims con-tinued their journey to payobeisance.

Bhawan, Bhairon Ghati,Sanjichhat and Himkoti inTrikuta hills and the serpentineroute received a few inches ofsnow, shrine board officials said.

Despite the snowfall, over15,000 pilgrims are on their wayto the cave shrine, they said.

The helicopter and the pas-senger cable car service haveresumed after a brief halt, theyadded. Punjab TourismMinister Navjot Singh Sidhualso paid obeisance at the caveshrine. PTI

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Maharashtra NavnirmanSena (MNS) chief Raj

Thackeray is making the mostof his son Amit’s impendingwedding to reach out to polit-ical leaders of different hues inthe run-up to the Lok Sabhapolls.

A day after visitingThackerays’ residence“Matoshri” and handing overhis son’s wedding invitation tohis elder cousin and Shiv Senapresident Uddhav Thackeray,Raj called on NCP chiefSharad Pawar ostensibly toinvite the former for Amit’smarriage with fashionerdesigner Mitali Borude sched-uled for January 27.

The meeting between Rajand Pawar lasted for twohours, sparking speculation inthe media as to what mighthave transpired between themat the long meeting.

On his part, NCPspokesperson Nawab Malikplayed down the import ofmeeting between Raj andPawar, saying that it was “pure-

ly social and non-political”and that there was there wasno discussion on electionsduring the meeting.

Raj, who was fly to NewDelhi later on Sunday after-noon to meet Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi to extendinvitation, cancelled his visit tothe national capital at the lastminute, owing to someengagements. Informed partysources said that he wouldsoon visit New Delhi to meetRahul.

Raj, who has been a vocif-erous critic of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, has indirect-ly been disposed favourablytowards to Rahul. He hasreportedly been cosying up toPawar to be a part of“Mahaghatbhandan” inMaharashtra.

Sunday’s was third secondmeeting that Raj had Pawar inrecent months. On February21 last year, Raj had inter-viewed Pawar at a public func-tion organised in Pune byJagtik Marathi Academy.

Subsequently in the lastweek of October last year, Raj

and Pawar had travelledtogether in a commercial flightto Mumbai. While Pawar wasin Aurangabad to attend afelicitation ceremony of a for-mer legislator, Raj was return-ing from his week-longVidarbha tour.

The photograph of Pawarand Raj, sitting next to eachother in a Mumbai-boundflight having hearty conversa-tion, had sparked speculationin the media circles about thepossibility of an electoral tie-up between the NCP andMNS.

Informed sources in bothNCP and MNS said that Raj islobbying for his party beinggiven north-east Mumbai seatand he wants this seat from theNCP quota. He has also report-edly shown keenness in join-ing the “Mahaghatbandhan” inMaharashtra.

On its part, the NCP hasalready gone record sayingthat the Congress and NCPhave already reached a seatsharing arrangement for 40out of 48 Lok Sabha seats inthe State.

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curb infiltration from acrossthe Line of Control and puttinga check on recruitment of localyouths in terror groups remaina constant source of worry forsecurity agencies in militancy-hit Jammu & Kashmir, officialssaid on Sunday.

Analysing the trends of2018, it has been seen that infil-tration figures continue toremain unchanged as around140 terrorists successfullysneaked into the KashmirValley, majority of whom arebelieved to be of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group, theysaid.

Although around 110 ter-rorists were killed during infil-tration, the successful numberof cross overs continue toworry the security agencies.During recent meetings ofArmy and BSF officials, it hasbeen brought to the noticethat the counter infiltrationgrid needs to be furtherstrengthened as militants maytry and sneak in during thepeak winters as well.

"It is not only the Line ofControl, which stretches fromPoonch in Jammu to Kupwarain Kashmir, but also interna-tional border, which has been

exploited by the terror groups,"said a senior security official oncondition of anonymity.

The Army and the BSFhave been maintaining thatthey have been able to sub-stantially curb infiltration, buttheir assertions were negated bythe arrest of some of the ter-rorists during 2018 who spokeabout bringing in militantgroups successfully, the officialsaid.

According to the officialsin the know of the security sit-uation in the state, around 130foreign terrorists were stillactive in the Kashmir Valleywho were mainly tasked toimpart training to local youths,who were lured into the mili-tant ranks and files.

Besides infiltration, inabil-ity to check flow of local youthsto the militancy fold continues

to worry security agencies.While local recruitmentcrossed the 100 mark from fourdistricts of South Kashmir.

A careful analysis of SouthKashmir shows that 104 localmilitants from this area havebeen killed during the lastyear, showing that the area isdominated with more numbersof local militants.

The year gone by saw themaximum number of local ter-rorists killed in the regionwhich has accounted for over250 militant killings in last fiveyears.

Considered a highly polit-ically sensitive area of theValley, South Kashmir has vir-tually turned into a virtualbreeding ground for militantswith many youths joining theirrank and file or becomingtheir sympathisers. PTI

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Bengaluru: Searches byIncome-Tax sleuths onKarnataka's 4 superstars and 3ace producers across the cityfrom January 3-5 resulted inseizure of undisclosed assetsvalued at �11 crore, including�2.85 crore in cash and 25.3 kggold jewellery, said the depart-ment on Sunday.

Incriminating evidencefound during the searchesresulted in the defaultersadmitting to �109 crore unac-counted income.

"As there are many issueson which evidence has beenfound but no admission made,the detection of concealedincome will be a much higherfigure," said the I-T depart-ment's investigation wing in astatement here.

The four sandalwood superstars are Shivaraj Kumar, hisyounger brother PunnethKumar, Sudeep and Yash. Thethree film producers areRockline Venkatesh, C.R.Manohar and B. VijayKiragandhur.

Super stars Shivaraj and

Puneeth are the sons ofKannada matinee idol andthespian Rajkumar.

The searches were con-ducted under Section 132 ofthe Income-Tax Act, 1961,after warrants were issued tothe actors and producers inadvance.

The three-day search oper-ation was carried out at 21premises and surveys wereconducted at 5 places by 180officials from the departmentin the southern State and adja-cent Goa.

In addition to the actorsand producers, official andresidential premises of filmproduction companies and filmfinanciers were also searchedduring the last three days. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: Traveladvisories issued by the US andthe UK asking their citizenstravelling Kerala to be vigilantin the backdrop of the violentprotests against women's entryto Sabarimala temple, was an"insult" to the southern State,Tourism MinisterKadakampally Surendran saidon Sunday.

"They have not said don'tgo. But said remain vigilant.That itself is insulting,"Surendran told reporters here.It would impact the touristarrivals to the state, he added.

The protests, being spear-headed by the BJP and the RSS,along with right wing outfits,has hit the tourism sector, theminister said.

The advisory issued by theUK has warned its citizens toremain vigilant and avoid largepublic gathering in the wake ofthe violent protests in Keralaover the issue of women enter-ing the Ayyappa temple inSabarimala. The Foreign andCommonwealth office (FCO),

which regularly updates itsadvice for travel to differentparts of the world, had onFriday said that any British cit-izen planning to travel to Keralashould monitor media reports.

According to mediareports, the United States hasalso issued a similar advisory.

Kerala has been rocked byviolent protests by right winggroups after two women ofchild bearing age trekked theholy hills and offered prayers atthe shrine on January 2.

Over 3,000 persons havebeen arrested till Friday nightin connection with the violence.

Kerala's 10 per cent of theGDP comes from the tourismsector and the industry is wor-ried that the frequent hartalsand protests would severelyimpact the state which is slow-ly recovering from the massivedevastation caused by theAugust floods.

The tourism sector hasbeen exempted from January 8-9 all India strike called by thecentral trade unions. PTI

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In a tragic incident, a 49-year-old mediaprofessional died on Sunday morning

after falling from the terrace of a seven-storey building where he lived at Goregaonin north Mumbai.

Adarsh Mishra, who resided in a sev-enth floor flat at Trimurti co-operativehousing Society at Siddharth Nagar local-ity, had gone for a morning walk, when theincident took place.

The footage of the CCTV footage putup at the society lobby showed that he felldown from the terrace of the building ataround 10.30 am.

Mishra was rushed to the nearbySiddharth Hospital where he was declareddead upon arrival.

Though the police are not suspectingany foul play, they have not ascertained asyet whether it was an accidental death ora suicide. The police have registered a caseof accidental death and are investigating thematter.

Sanjay Bhole, senior inspector attachedto the Goregaon police station, said that thefootage from the CCTV camera installedat the seventh floor of the building showedthat he was climbing up to the terrace witha handkerchief in his hand.

The police are also examining thefootage of the CCTV cameras installed inthe neighbouring buildings to ascertain the

exact cause of death.Mishra, who was till recently the vice

president of DNA newspaper, lived with hiswife and son in the seventh floor flat of theTrimurti building.

Mishra’s body was handed over to hisfamily after a port-mortem. Meanwhile, theinvestigations into the cause of his death arecontinuing.

Prior to joining DNA, Mishra hadworked with “The Indian Express”, “AnandBazar Patrika” and the Lokmat Group.

Mishra, who used to head the crucialnetwork development and Distributionfunctions at DNA, had recently become thedirector of the VIVA Institute ofManagement and Research, a private edu-cational institution.

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Mumbai: In a veiled warning tothe Shiv Sena, BJP president AmitShah said on Sunday that if analliance happened, the party willensure victory for its allies, but ifit did not, the party will thrash itsformer allies in the coming LokSabha polls.

Shah's statement came imme-diately after Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis setthe BJP workers a target of win-ning 40 of the 48 Lok Sabha seatsin the State.

Shah and Fadnavis addressedBJP workers from Latur,Osmanabad, Hingoli and Nandeddistricts in Latur city on Sunday.

"Party workers should get ridof confusion about (prospects of)alliance (with the Shiv Sena). If theallies join us, we will ensure theirwin, or else will defeat them too("patak denge"). Party workersshould start preparations at everybooth," Shah said.

He compared the coming elec-tions to the third battle of Panipat,in which Maratha forces weredefeated by the army of Afghanruler Ahmed Shah Durrani(Abdali).

The BJP chief said after thisbattle, the country was "enslaved"

for 200 years. "If we win this elec-tion, our ideology will continue torule for next 50 years. We shouldput in extra efforts to win this elec-tion," Shah said.

"In 2014, the BJP won 73 seats(in Uttar Pradesh). This timeeven if SP and BSP join hands, wewill win 74 seats," he said.

Echoing Fadnavis, Shah said,"We should aim to win at least 40out of 48 seats (in Maharashtra)."

This is for the first time theBJP has taken an assertive stand inthe matter of alliance with the ShivSena.

The Sena has been regularly

hitting out at the BJP despitebeing part of the Government inthe state and the Centre. Its lead-ers have often said they wouldcontest the next polls on their own.

Speaking before Shah,Fadnavis said, "The party presidentwill decide what to do with theShiv Sena and the proposedalliance. But the BJP should aimto win 40 out of 48 Lok Sabha seatsin the state."

"The victory of 2019 will bebigger than 2014. Last time wewon 122 seats in (State) Assemblyand received 1.50 crore votes. Weneed two crore votes to attainpower on our own. The numberof people who have benefitedfrom the State Government's poli-cies is more than that."

Shah had reportedly told partyMPs from Maharashtra at a meet-ing in Delhi last Thursday thatthey should be ready to contest thecoming elections without analliance, though efforts to forge apre-poll tie-up with the Sena wereon.

The Sena and BJP had con-tested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls inalliance but split up at the time ofAssembly elections. The Sena joinedthe State Government later. PTI

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Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamyon Sunday appointed 14Congress MLAs as heads toboards and corporations aftermuch delay.

He has also issued ordersappointing eight Congress leg-islators as parliamentary sec-retaries.

However, Kumaraswamyhas not made any appoint-ments to the posts of deputychairman of the planning com-mission, special representativein Delhi and political secretaryto the Chief Minister, to whichthe Congress had suggestednames of its legislators.

Out of the 19 boards andcorporations for which theCongress had recommended itsMLAs for posts of chairman,

the Chief Minister on Sundayissued orders of appointmentfor 14 of them.

According to coalitionarrangement, both parties haddecided to fill up posts ofchairpersons to 30 boards andcorporations of which 20 willbe for the Congress and 10 forthe ruling JD(S).

The JD(S) is yet to appointits legislators as heads to boardsand corporations and remain-ing one post of parliamentarysecretary.

The MLAs appointed ashead of boards and corpora-tions include, B KSangameshwar (KarnatakaLand Army Corporation), B ABasavaraj (Karnataka Soapsand Detergents Limited),Munirathna (Karnataka Skill

Development Corporation),Shivaram Hebbar (North WestKarnataka State RoadTransport Corporation),Lakshmi Hebbalkar (MysoreMinerals Ltd).

However, head posts forfew boards and corporationshave not been filled as recom-mended by the Congress,including Dr K Sudhakar forthe State Pollution ControlBoard and Venkataramanaiahfor the Karnataka RoadDevelopment Corporation Ltd(KRDCL).

JD(S) supremo H D DeveGowda and Kumaraswamy hadclarified that Sudhakar'sappointment was opposed asthe Supreme Court guidelineshad specified a certain qualifi-cation for the post. PTI

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Jammu: Under fire for boy-cotting the recently concludedcivic polls in Jammu & Kashmiron the issue of article 35A,National Conference chiefFarooq Abdullah on Sundaysaid his party will contest theupcoming Lok Sabha and theAssembly elections in the Stateand win them.

Abdullah appealed toPakistan to stop aiding andabetting terrorism and holdtalks with India to resolve thebilateral issues.

"It (Article 35A) is sub-judice. In Parliament andAssembly elections, we will(take part) and will win also,"Abdullah told reporters here.

The NC had boycotted therecently concluded panchayatand municipal polls in the State.

The party had announcedin September last that it wouldnot contest the municipal andpanchayat polls and even the2019 elections "until and unlessthe Government of India andthe State Government madeclear their position on Article35A and took effective steps toprotect Article 35A in and out-side the court". Article 35A,which gives special rights topeople in Jammu & Kashmirand bars outsiders from owningimmovable property, has beenchallenged in the SupremeCourt. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: Keralawas mostly peaceful on Sundayafter four days of widespreadviolence involving BJP-RSSand ruling CPI(M) workersfollowing the entry of twowomen of child-bearing ageinto the Sabarimala temple,with 1,869 cases being regis-tered so far and 5,769 peoplearrested.

Asserting that the StateGovernment had a constitu-tional duty to implement theSeptember 28 Supreme Courtorder allowing women of allages into the shrine to offerprayers, Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan said theywould not be cowed down bythreats of "constitutional con-

sequences" for Sabarimala vio-lence.

Vijayan asked the BJPnational leadership to instructits cadre in Kerala to stop cre-ating violence in the State.

"The State has a constitu-tional duty to implement theSupreme Court order. There isno violence other than theones created by the RSS, BJPand the Sangh Parivar. Andnow they are threatening thestate with constitutional con-sequences," Vijayan said in aFacebook post.

The Chief Minister's postcame on a day Union MinisterSmriti Irani alleged that theCPI(M)-led LDF Governmentwas arresting BJP workers for

raising their voice against theState.

BJP national spokersper-son Narasimha Rao hadwarned the State Governmenton Saturday, saying it wouldhave to face constitutionalconsequences.

Vijayan also alleged thatthe Sangh Parivar was trying toimplement the same methodsthat they tried in northernIndia.

"Sangh Parivar was tryingto implement the same meth-ods which they have tried onnorthern India. It's not going tosucceed in Kerala.

The State will deal with allkinds of attempts to createviolence and communal riots

with iron hands," Vijayan said.So far, 1,869 cases have

been registered and 5,769 per-sons arrested in connectionwith the violence. At least4,980 persons have been grant-ed bail, a statement from theState Police chief LoknathBehara said.

While in Palakkad, 283cases have been registered sofar and 764 persons arrested, inKannur district, where crudebombs were hurled at the houseof Thalassery MLA A MShamseer and BJP leader andMP V Muraleedharan, 225cases have been booked and394 arrested so far.

In Pathnamthitta district,where the Sabarimala temple is

located, 267 cases have beenregistered and 677 peoplearrested so far.

Meanwhile, the NairService Society (NSS), anorganisation of the forwardNair community, attacked theState Government over theentry of young women intothe Sabarimala temple, sayingit was making planned moveto impose atheism on thepeople.

However, some StateMinisters came down heavilyon the NSS saying it was voic-ing the RSS agenda.

UDF convenor BennyBehanan, however, protestedthe attack against the NSS bythe Ministers. PTI

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Terming Aadhaar as a “gamechanger”, Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley on Sunday saidsavings made through itsimplementation can fund threepublic welfare schemes of themagnitude of AyushmanBharat — the ambitious health-care programme to providefree hospitalisation to millionsof poor people.

He also attributed the suc-cessful implementation ofAadhaar to the decisive lead-ership of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, saying theCongress-led UPA remained“half-hearted” towards itbecause of its own contradic-tions and indecision.

In a Facebook post titled‘Benefits of the Aadhaar —where it stands today’, Jaitleysaid its use in the delivery ofsubsidies has helped saved�90,000 crore in the last fewyears till March 2018 by elim-inating several duplicate, non-existent and fake beneficiaries.

The Digital DividendReport prepared by the WorldBank estimates that India cansave �77,000 crore every yearby the use of Aadhaar, he said.

“The savings throughAadhaar can fund threeschemes of the size ofAyushman Bharat...Aadhaar isa game changer,” Jaitley said.

Ayushman Bharat —Pradhan Mantri Jan AarogyaYojana aims to provide a cov-erage of �5 lakh per familyannually, benefiting more than

10.74 crore poor families forsecondary and tertiary carehospitalisation through a net-work of empanelled healthcareproviders.

Since its launch inSeptember, nearly 7 lakh poorpatients have been providedfree hospital treatment.

Jaitley said the UPA,because of its contradictionsand indecision, remained half-hearted about Aadhaar.

“Instead of taking credit forit, Congress lawyers challengedit in Court and appeared as theanti-technology, anti-Aadhaarfaces. A decisive Prime Ministermade it possible,” he said. Thetotal amount of subsidy trans-ferred through Aadhaar nowequals �1,69,868 crore.

“With the elimination ofmiddlemen the benefits godirectly to the bank accounts.This is a unique technologyimplemented only in India.The monies saved throughAadhaar is money fruitfullyemployed for the poor else-where,” Jaitley said.

Since The Aadhaar(Targeted Delivery of Financialand other Subsidies, Benefitsand Services) Bill was passed in2016, in the last 28 months over122 crore Aadhaar numbershave been issued. About 99 percent of the adult population ofIndia above the age of 18stands covered.

He said 22.80 crorePAHAL and Ujjwala benefi-ciaries are given cooking gassubsidies through direct bene-fit transfer (DBT) in their

Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Jaitley said 58.24 crore

ration card holders stand linkedand 10.33 crore MGNREGAcard holders get wage paymentthrough DBT in their bankaccounts. So do the 1.93 crorebeneficiaries of the nationalsocial assistance programme.

The Income TaxDepartment has already linked21 crore PAN card holderswith their Aadhaar numbers.

A total of 2,579 croreauthentications have beenundertaken till date. Everyday,2.7 crore authentications aredone. UIDAI has the capacityof 10 crore transactions to beauthenticated per day.

In most schemes, the directbenefit transfer takes place tothe beneficiaries’ 63.52 crorebank accounts that had beenlinked with the unique identi-ty as on December 15, 2018.The total number of subsidytransactions through Aadhaarare almost about 425 crore.

Jaitley said a senior minis-ter in the UPA Governmentblocked the idea of UniqueIdentity Number (UID) con-ceived by Nandan Nilekaniand it was a “divided house”.“The Prime Minister was inde-cisive. The enrolment contin-ued, though at a very moder-ate pace,” he said.

It was only a decisive PrimeMinister Narendra Modi whodecided to go ahead with theidea of Aadhaar after the for-mation of the NDAGovernment in May 2014, headded.

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Overseas investors pulledout over �83,000 crore

from the capital markets in2018, after pouring in a record�2 lakh crore in the precedingyear, on the back of rate hikesin the US, rise in global crudeprices and rupee depreciation.

Moreover, the flows areexpected to be range-bound in2019 as FPIs may continue witha cautious stance until there areconcrete signs of economicrecovery and certainty over theformation of a stableGovernment after the generalelections, said HimanshuSrivastava, a senior analyst atMorningstar Investment Adviser.

Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) made a net withdrawalof about �83,146 crore from theIndian markets in 2018. Thiscomprises �33,553 crore fromequities and �49,593 crore fromthe debt market, according todata available with depositories.

This was the worst year forIndian capital markets in termsof overseas investment since2002, the last year for whichsegregated FPI data for equityand debt markets are available.

“Rate hikes in the US andreshuffling of portfolio moneyacross the globe, rupee depre-ciation and crude rise were allcontributors for higher FPIpull out,” said Vidya Bala, headof mutual fund research atFundsIndia.Com.

“India also lost to emergingmarkets in terms of foreignmoney allocation given the lower

valuations in other markets at thebeginning of 2018. Added to this,the uncertainty on the domesticpolitical front, ahead of an elec-tion year, may also have con-tributed to FPIs staying on thesidelines,” she added.

Before 2018, FPIs were netbuyers of Indian equities for sixconsecutive years. They hadmade net inflows of over�51,000 crore in 2017, �20,500crore in 2016, �17,800 crore in2015, �97,000 crore in 2014,�1.13 lakh crore in 2013 and�1.28 lakh crore in 2012.

Prior to that, FPIs had pulledout money from the Indian stockmarket in 2011. Before that, FPIshad turned net sellers in 2008. Forthe debt market, FPIs made a netwithdrawal of over �43,600 crorein 2016, but it turned around ina big way in 2017 with a netinflow of �1.5 lakh crore.

Even in 2018, FPIs begunon a positive note by pumpingin money, but the trend gotreversed soon amid weak glob-al cues and introduction oflong-term capital gains tax onequity investments. After abrief recovery in March, thesell-off continued for mostpart of the year.

Bajaj Capital CEO RahulParikh said, “The year 2019 willbe the first year since 2008when globally, central bankswill withdraw liquidity worthabout $1 trillion. Add to thatthe escalating trade warbetween US and China and theBrexit conundrum, and youhave a near perfect recipe fora volatile 2019.”

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Asudden surge in crudeprices can upset the

nation’s key macro-stabilityparameters, as it can sharplyspike the current accountdeficit (CAD), inflation and thefiscal numbers, whittling thebenefits of higher growth,warns an RBI study.

Since the country is heav-ily dependent on oil imports Tothe tune of over 80 per cent formeeting its domestic demand,it remains susceptible to glob-al crude price shocks.

Besides CAD, rise in crudeprices can also impact inflationand fiscal deficit, says thereport.

The international crudeprices increased by around 12per cent between April andSeptember 2018.

The mid-year spike incrude prices happened mainlydue to spurt in demand, on theback of global growth revival,and partly due to geopoliticalrisks that led to supply-sideshocks.

However since mid-November 2018, the crudeprices have declined signifi-cantly but they remain volatile.

“An increase in crude priceworsens the CAD and thisadverse impact cannot be sig-nificantly contained through a

higher growth. So, a crudeprice shock will be followed byhigh CAD to GDP ratio,” saysthe latest issue of the MintStreet Memos titled ‘TheImpact of Crude Price Shockon CAD, Inflation and FiscalDeficit’ pencilled by in-houseeconomists at the central bank.

The finding shows that inthe worst case scenario, whencrude prices hit USD 85/barrel,the deficit on account of oil bal-loons to USD 106.4 billion,which is 3.61 per cent of theGDP.

“Every USD 10/barrelincrease in crude prices leadsto an additional USD 12.5 bil-lion deficit, which is roughly 43bps of the country’s GDP. So,every USD 10/barrel increasein crude price will shoot up theCAD/GDP ratio by 43 bps,” itsays.

The study says crude priceshock will increase inflation,if the price increase is passedon directly to the final con-sumers.

“Under the most conserv-ative estimate, we quantify thata USD 10/barrel increase incrude price at the price ofUSD 65/barrel will lead to a 49basis points increase in head-line inflation. A similar increaseat USD 55/barrel gives arounda 58 bps increase in headlineinflation,” it says.

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Rules for the e-commercesector should treat both

domestic and overseas playersequally to boost the fast-grow-ing industry, research andadvocacy firm CUTSInternational said Sunday.

It said the governmentshould frame a comprehensivenational e-commerce policyto provide a level playing fieldto domestic and foreign e-retail companies.

“The issue of creating alevel playing field betweendomestic and foreign players inretail sector is yet to beresolved, for which a compre-hensive National e-CommercePolicy is need of the hour,”CUTS International SecretaryGeneral Pradeep S Mehta saidin a statement.

The new guidelines forFDI in e-commerce sector arestricter for online retail firmshaving overseas investmentsproviding marketplace service,but there are no such restric-tions for local companies andit is creating an uneven playingfield, he said.

However, he added thatonline vendors’ concern of dis-criminatory treatment by pre-sent and upcoming domestic e-commerce platforms remainsto be addressed.

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Domestic carriers inducted,for the first time, over

100 planes in 2018 with bud-get carrier IndiGo accountingfor nearly half of them, accord-ing to industry figures.

The nine major Indiancarriers together took deliver-ies of over 120 planes com-prising both twin and singleaisle as well as regional jets inthe just-concluded year asagainst 88 planes inducted in2017.

Significantly, domestic pas-senger traffic has been grow-ing at about 20 per cent formore than four years now andcapacity addition along withother factors has played a keyrole in this robust growth.

Majority of the planes

inducted by the carriers lastyear, according to availablefigures, were Airbus A320neos, with four carriers —IndiGo, GoAir, Air India andVistara - taking deliveries ofmore than 60 of these planesbesides other types of aircraft.

At present, these carrierstogether have over 660 planes.Budget carrier IndiGo has 206planes including A320 neos,while both Air India and JetAirways have 125 and 124 air-craft, respectively, in theirfleets.

IndiGo inducted a total of55 aircraft, including its firstlong-range A321 neo; Air Indiaand its subsidiaries took deliv-eries of 18 planes followed byGoAir 16 and SpiceJet 14 in2018.

While IndiGo and GoAir

A320 neos are powered byPratt &Whitney engines, AirIndia and Vistara have CFMengines in their A320 neoplanes.

Five carriers combined —IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet,GoAir, Vistara — have placedorders for around 1,115 planeswith global aircraft makerssince 2011.

“With a total of 1,055 air-craft on order, as many as 100planes consisting of wide-body,narrow-body and regional onesare to be delivered to Indiancarriers each year for the nextfive years,” Sydney-based avi-ation think-tank Centre forAsia Pacific Aviation (CAPA)had forecast in 2017.

However, its forecast hadnot included the Vistara orderof 60 planes in July last year.

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RP SanjivG o e n k a

group flagshipcompany CESCLtd hasresponded tothe West BengalE l e c t r i c i t yR e g u l a t o r yC o m m i s s i o n(WBERC), clar-ifying that itsrecently demerged entities havenot received any “benefit” fromthe parent company.

The WBERC had inNovember last year askedCESC to submit an affidavitwith the commission in thisregard.

“CESC has responded tothe WBERC letter... The com-pany in its response said thatthe demerged entities have nottaken any benefit from its par-ent,” industry sources said.

The commission will eval-uate the power uti lity’sresponse, and if required,could conduct an independentaudit to verify its claims, theysaid.

According to the demerg-er scheme, the non-power busi-nesses and its subsidiaries havebeen transferred to two newentities — RP-SG Retail Ltd

and RP-SG Business ProcessServices Ltd. CESC will retainonly the power business.

The company had goneahead with a partial demerger,following a nod from theKolkata bench of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT), after the commissiondisapproved a power purchaseagreement (PPA) for the pro-posed generation and distrib-ution companies.

WBERC chairman R NSen, who retired in November2018, had said that if the sep-arated entities had benefitedfrom CESC, there would be aneed for a valuation exercise inthe interest of consumers.

Sen had also said that theNCLT nod does not qualify for“automatic approval” from theWBERC. The commission isyet to get a new chairman.

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With growth in direct taxcollections sluggish, the

CBDT has directed incometax department officials to“maximise” their efforts andconduct targeted surveys andfile court cases against thosewho wilfully evade taxes.

CBDT Chairman SushilChandra has shot off a letter toall Principal ChiefCommissioners of I-TDepartment, asking them topull up their socks as only threemonths are left for the currentfinancial year to close on March31.

“On review of the trends ofgrowth under different minorheads, it is noted that thegrowth in collection underregular assessment tax (recov-ery from arrear and currentdemand) is extremely low at 1.1per cent as compared to 15.6per cent growth during the cor-responding period last year.

“Most of the regions are, infact, showing negative growthunder regular assessment tax.This is a matter of seriousconcern and concerted effortsare now required to be made todrive up recovery from arrearand current demand,” theboard chief said.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) framespolicy for the I-T Departmentand supervises its work.

Talking about direct tax

collections, Chandra said thatby the end of December, 2018the growth rate has been 13.6per cent as against the target of14.7 per cent.

“The position of growth ingross collections is marginallybetter at 14.1 per cent but stillbelow achieving the budgetestimates of �11,50,000 crore,”he said.

The CBDT chief also sug-gested some “strategies” to beadopted and implemented toachieve the targets.

He asked the taxman toconduct “targeted recovery sur-veys in potential cases where highamount of recovery is likely”.

“Sale of attached propertiesin appropriate cases by taxrecovery officers to recoverconfirmed demand where nor-mal measures of recovery havenot yielded results” to be

deployed, undertaking actionto recover outstanding duesfrom companies and filingprosecution complaints incourts against those peoplewho are wilfully evading pay-ment of outstanding taxes.

The CBDT chief also askedtax officials to train their scan-ner on tax deducted at source(TDS) collections and launchprosecution against those whoare at “substantial default”.

It has also been asked to“verify advance tax payment”by those who sell propertiesand monitoring of dividenddistribution tax.

The taxman has also beenasked to timely complete reg-ular assessments (non time-barring) in cases wheredemand is likely to be raisedand collected during the cur-rent fiscal.

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Traders’ body CAIT Sunday urged theCommerce and Industry Ministry not

to allow private labels to be sold on e-com-merce marketplaces and desist fromextending the February 1 deadline forimplementation of the changes to FDI pol-icy for the e-commerce sector.

In a letter to the Secretary in theDepartment of Industrial Policy andPromotion Ramesh Abhishek, theConfederation of All India Traders (CAIT)requested him to make it explicitly clearwhether private labelling or branding isallowed under the foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) policy in the e-commerce sec-tor.

“It is submitted that if it (labelling) isallowed it will run contrary to the inten-tion of the Government to make e-com-merce free from evils and malpractice andto provide an equal level playing field withfair competition.

“Such e-commerce companies willcontinue their ulterior motives throughsuch loopholes as they are doing since lastmany years and small retailers will bekilled,” CAIT alleged.

The Government, earlier, had clarified

that private labels were not banned frombeing sold on e-commerce marketplaces.One of the big players, however, stated thatprivate labels are a small component of thebusiness and that the government needsto address the larger issues at hand.

Private labels — often sold at lowerprices — allow e-commerce companies tocontrol quality and even offers better mar-gins than big, established brands. Over thelast few years, e-commerce players haveintroduced private labels across a varietyof categories including apparel, homefurnishing and grocery.

Large e-commerce marketplaces couldapproach the government seeking exten-sion of the February 1 deadline as com-pliance with the recent changes wouldrequire at least 4-5 months at operationallevel, multiple sources said earlier.

However, in the letter to the DIPPSecretary, CAIT said it will stronglyoppose any such extension.

“The modus operandi of these e-com-merce companies for seeking extension isto keep delaying fair execution of the pol-icy and they may continue with their sin-ister designs of operating all kinds of mal-practices...,” it said.

“Therefore, it is strongly submitted notto fall prey under malicious agenda of suche-commerce companies and no extensionshould be allowed under any circum-stances,” the traders’ body claimed.The Government’s move to tighten normshas hit Amazon and Flipkart the hardestas the new regulations bar online mar-ketplaces with foreign investment to sellproducts of companies where they holdstakes as well as ban exclusive marketingarrangements.

Another provision states that theinventory of a vendor will be seen as con-trolled by a marketplace, if over 25 per centof the vendor’s purchases are from the mar-ketplace entity, including the latter’s whole-sale unit.

The move is aimed at ensuring that themarketplace entity or its related companiescannot control inventory under the FDIrules.

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Public sector banks are in theprocess of closing or ratio-

nalising about 69 overseasoperations in the next fewmonths as part of their capitalconservation exercise.

Planned rationalisation ofoperations and examinationof a total of 216 overseas oper-ations of the public sectorbanks (PSBs) was undertakenlast year, sources said.

Following the review, asmany as 35 overseas operationswere closed while 69 are underprocess or being considered forrationalisation, sources said.

Unviable foreign opera-tions are being shut while mul-tiple branches in same cities ornearby places are being ratio-nalised with a view to achieveefficiency, sources said.

As on January 31, 2018, PSBshad about 165 overseas branch-es, besides subsidiaries, joint ven-tures and representative offices.

State Bank of India (SBI)has the largest number of over-seas branches (52) followed byBank of Baroda (50) and Bankof India (29).

The state-owned banks havethe largest number of branchesin the UK (32) followed by HongKong and the UAE (13 each)and Singapore (12).

As many as 41 brancheswere in losses in 2016-17. Thecountry’s largest lender SBI ledthe pack with nine of its over-seas branches in the red. It wasfollowed by Bank of India andBank of Baroda with eight andseven branches, respectively.

All PSBs such as AllahabadBank, Bank of Baroda, Bank ofIndia, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank,Indian Overseas Bank, PunjabNational Bank, State Bank ofIndia, and Union Bank of Indiathat have foreign branches havejointly taken the initiative toprepare a note in mutual con-sultation for rationalisation oftheir foreign branches.

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Top industrialist KekiMistry, who has become

the first person to hold aboard position at listed Indianfirms having market value ofover �17.5 lakh crore, believesthe upcoming national elec-tions would give a big boost tothe rural economy.

Mistry, vice chairman andCEO at financial sector con-glomerate HDFC Ltd, alsosaid a host of reforms initiat-ed in India over the pastdecade would lead to positiveoutcomes over the next yearsfor the economy.

“Historic trends haveshown that union electionsspur up rural economies andhelp local entrepreneurs. Theupcoming elections areexpected to help ruraldemand,” Mistry told on hisexpectations about opportu-nities before the Indian econ-omy in 2019 and beyond.

The general elections aredue in the next few monthsand there have been appre-hensions in some quarters thatthe performance of the Indianeconomy and the markets mayget impacted due to the uncer-tainties generally associatedwith the poll season.

Mistry also said the thruston housing by the govern-ment, the demand for housingfinance and the visible bene-fits of reforms, such as thosefrom the new regulatoryregime of RERA (Real Estate(Regulation andDevelopment) Act), would bepositive for the real estatesector, particularly affordablehousing.

Besides HDFC Ltd, 64-year-old Mistry is also on theboard of four other groupfirms — HDFC Bank, HDFCAsset Management CompanyLtd, HDFC Standard LifeInsurance Company Ltd andGruh Finance Ltd.

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White House officials andcongressional aides

emerged from talks aimed atending a partial Governmentshutdown over PresidentDonald Trump’s demands forborder wall funding without abreakthrough on Saturday,though they planned to returnto the table the following day.

Trump tweeted: “Notmuch headway made today.”

Democrats agreed therehad been little movement, saying the White House did not budge on the demand for$5.6 billion and would notconsider re-opening the gov-ernment.

The White House saidfunding was not discussed in-depth, but the administrationwas clear they needed fundingfor a wall and that they want-ed to resolve the shutdown allat once.

Accusations flew after the more than two-hour ses-sion led by Vice PresidentMike Pence.

Acting chief of staff Mick

Mulvaney, in an interview airedon CNN, accused Democratsof being there to “stall.”

Democrats familiar withthe meeting said the WhiteHouse position was “unten-able.”

A White House officialalso said the meeting includeda briefing on border security byHomeland Security SecretaryKirstjen Nielsen.

Democrats sought writtendetails from the Department ofHomeland Security on theirbudget needs, which the WhiteHouse said it would provide.The group plans to meet againSunday.

With talks stalled, HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosiannounced Saturday thatHouse Democrats plan to startapproving individual bills toreopen shuttered departmentsstarting with Treasury to ensureAmericans receive their taxreturns.

“While President Trumpthreatens to keep the govern-ment shut down for ‘years’,Democrats are taking imme-diate further action to re-open

government, so that we canmeet the needs of theAmerican people, protect ourborders and respect our work-ers,” Pelosi said.

Trump, who did not attendthe discussions, spent themorning tweeting about bordersecurity.

Showing little empathy forthe hundreds of thousands offederal workers furloughed orworking without pay, Trumpdeclared — without citing evi-dence — that most areDemocrats.

He also asserted: “I want tostop the Shutdown as soon aswe are in agreement on StrongBorder Security! I am in theWhite House ready to go,where are the Dems?”

One Democrat, MarylandSen. Chris Van Hollen, said inhis party’s weekly radio addressthat the shutdown “is part of alarger pattern of a presidentwho puts his personal whimsand his effort to score politicalpoints before the needs of theAmerican people. ... He ispointing fingers at everyone buthimself.”

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President Andres ManuelLopez Obrador has

launched an ambitious plan tostimulate economic activity onthe Mexican side of the US-Mexico border despite recentUS Threats to close the borderentirely.

Mexico plans to slashincome and corporate taxes to20 per cent from 30 per cent for43 municipalities in six statesjust south of the US, while halv-ing to 8 per cent the value-added tax in the region.

Business leaders and unionrepresentatives have also agreedto double the minimum wagealong the border, to 176.2pesos a day, the equivalent ofUSD 9.07 at current exchangerates.

Lopez Obrador says theidea is to stimulate wage andjob growth via fiscal incentivesand productivity gains.President Donald Trump hasrepeatedly complained that lowwages in Mexico lure jobs fromthe US.

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Malaysia’s king has abdicat-ed, royal officials said

on Sunday, in a historic first forthe country that ended weeksof speculation about his futureafter he took medical leave.

Sultan Muhammad V’sdecision marks the first time aking has abdicated in theMuslim-majority country sinceit gained independence fromBritain in 1957.

It came after the king tookleave at the start of Novemberfor two months, during whichtime unconfirmed reports cir-culated that he had married aRussian former beauty queen.

A statement from thenational palace confirmed theresignation of the relativelyyouthful monarch, known forhis fondness for four-wheeldriving and other extremesports.

“His majesty tells the peo-ple of Malaysia to continue tobe united to maintain unity, tol-erance, and work together,”said the statement, signed bythe Comptroller of the Royal

Household, Wan AhmadDahlan Abdul Aziz.

It gave no reason for the49-year-old’s move.

But there had been a ques-tion mark over the reign of theking, who ascended to thethrone in December 2016,since he took a leave of absencefor medical treatment inNovember.

Reports then circulatedonline that he had married aformer Miss Moscow in Russia.Royal officials in Malaysia haveso far not commented on therumoured marriage, or givenany details about his healthcondition.

While their role is cere-monial, Malaysia’s Islamic roy-alty command great respect,especially from Muslim Malays,and criticising them is strictlyforbidden.

Speculation intensifiedabout the king’s future thisweek when the country’sIslamic royals reportedly helda special meeting.

Malaysia is a constitution-al monarchy, with a uniquearrangement where the throne

changes hands every five yearsbetween rulers of the nineMalaysian states headed bycenturies-old Islamic royalty.

The rotating monarchysystem has been in place sinceindependence from Britain in1957, and Sultan MuhammadV is the first monarch to haverenounced the throne. SultanMuhammad V studied at StCross College at Oxford andthe Oxford Centre for IslamicStudies, according to officialmedia.

He is known for a relaxedpublic persona, taking part inwalkathons to promote health,and has been photographedwearing a baseball cap back-wards. Portraits of the king andqueen adorn governmentbuildings throughout the coun-try. The king is also the sym-bolic head of Islam in thenation, as well as the nominalchief of the military.

Malaysia’s sultans trace alineage back to Malay sul-tanates of the 15th century. Theking is referred to as Yang di-Pertuan Agong, or “He Who IsMade Lord”.

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At least 30 people were killedwhen a gold mine

collapsed in northeasternAfghanistan on Sunday, officials said, in the latesttragedy to strike the war-torncountry.

Another seven wereinjured in the incident inKohistan district ofBadakhshan province, districtgovernor Mohammad RustamRaghi told AFP.

Villagers had dug a 60-metre (200-feet) deep shaft ina river bed to search for gold.They were inside when thewalls fell in.

“The people were using an

excavator to dig a big hole inthe river when it collapsed,trapping dozens of workers,”Raghi said.

“At least 30 people havebeen killed and seven wound-ed.” It was not clear why theshaft collapsed, but the provin-cial governor’s spokesman NikMohammad Nazari told AFPthe miners were not profes-sionals.

“The villagers have beeninvolved in this business for decades with noGovernment control overthem,” Nazari said.

“We have sent a rescueteam to the area, but villagershave already started removingbodies from the site.” Defense

ministry helicopters have beendispatched to deliver cash tothe families of the victims andairlift the wounded to hospitals,said Hashmat Bahaduri,spokesman for the NationalDisaster ManagementAuthority.

Bahaduri confirmed thecasualty toll, but warned thefigures could change.

Families of the woundedwill receive 10,000 afghanis(about USD 130) in compen-sation, while those of the deadwill get 50,000 afghanis, he said.Badakhshan is a remote,mountainous province innortheast Afghanistan border-ing Tajikistan, China andPakistan.

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Bangladesh on Sunday nameda council of ministers with

several new faces in the 47-member Cabinet of PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina whoseAwami League returned topower for a third consecutiveterm after its landslide victoryin the December 30 election.

Several veterans weredropped from the council ofministers amid speculationabout the inductions as majorportfolios like defence wereretained by Hasina herself.

Academic-turned-diplomatAbdul Momen, a new face inpolitics, was appointed the newForeign Minister. He previous-ly served as Bangladesh’s per-

manent envoy at the UN.Former planning minister

and businessman AHMMustafa Kamal became thefinance minister in the Cabinetwhich has 24 full ministerswith the rest being ministers ofstate. Several influential AwamiLeague figures including generalsecretary Obaidul Quader,Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal,Anisul Huq and AKMMozammel Haque retainedtheir positions in the ministriesof road transport and bridges,home, law, and liberation affairs.

But 25 former ministers,nine state ministers and twodeputy ministers — several ofthem regarded as AwamiLeague stalwarts were droppedfrom the new Cabinet.

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Russia’s deputy foreign min-ister has brushed back sug-

gestions that an Americanbeing held in Moscow on sus-picion of spying could beexchanged for a Russian citizen.

The brother of PaulWhelan, however, tells TheAssociated Press that he can’thelp but question whether theevents are connected.

“You look at what’s goingon and you wonder if this is justa large game of pieces beingmoved around,” David Whelantold the AP via Skype fromNewmarket, Ontario. “You start to wonder if all ofthese things are connected.But at the same time, theycould just be arbitrary events.”Paul Whelan, a former U.S.Marine who also holdsCanadian, British and Irishcitizenship, was detained inMoscow in late December.

His arrest has led to spec-ulation that Russia could beusing him to bargain for aRussian woman who has plead-ed guilty to acting as a foreignagent in the United States.

Russian Deputy ForeignMinister Sergei Ryabkov said

Saturday that discussing a pos-sible swap involving Whelanand Maria Butina would bepremature because Whelanhasn’t been formally charged,according to Russian newsagencies.

“As to the possibility ofexchanges of one sort of anoth-er, it’s impossible and incorrectto consider the question nowwhen an official charge hasn’teven been presented,” Ryabkovwas quoted as saying by statenews agency RIA-Novosti.“Charges will be presented inthe near future,” he said, accord-ing to the Interfax agency.

Some Russian news reportsearlier cited unnamed sourcesas saying Whelan had beenindicted on espionage chargesthat carry a possible prison sen-tence of 20 years. Russian offi-cials haven’t given details ofWhelan’s suspected activitiesand he was initially identifiedonly as an American. His con-current Canadian, British andIrish citizenships becameknown on Friday.

US Ambassador JonHuntsman Jr. Visited Whelanon Wednesday in Moscow’sLefortovo Prison, a 130-year-old facility noted for strict

conditions. Britain, Canadaand Ireland have applied forconsular access to him.

Whelan, 48, was dis-charged from the Marines forbad conduct. He works as theglobal security director for aU.S. Automobile parts manu-facturer and lives in Michigan.His family has said he was inMoscow to attend a wedding.

His brother, David, told theAP that Whelan loves to trav-el and likes to “interact with thepeople in the places that hegoes,” but that Whelan wouldbe too “conspicuous” to beselected as a spy.

David Whelan said hisfamily had had no direct con-tact with Paul and had receivedno details about the allegedespionage charges from eitherthe Russian or U.S.Governments. “He likes to goplaces and Russia happens to bea place where he knows peopleand when he’s there, he does goand visit,” David Whelan said.

Paul Whelan established anaccount on VKontakte, a socialmedia service similar toFacebook that is popularamong Russians, which showedhe had scores of contacts inRussia.

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Two British soldiers were wounded Saturday in

eastern Syria by a missile firedby the ISIS, an NGO said.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said the pair werepart of the the international anti-jihadist coalition, led by theUnited States.

“The two British soldierswere transported by helicopterto receive medical care,” theobservatory’s director RamiAbdel told AFP. A Kurdishfighter from the SyrianDemocratic Forces (SDF) diedin the attack in the village of Al-Shaafa in Deir Ezzor province,one of the last pockets of terri-tory still controlled by ISIS in the

Euphrates River valley.The SDF, a coalition domi-

nated by Kurdish fighters, hasspearheaded the fight againstISIS, supported by severalWestern countries including theUnited Kingdom. The interna-tional alliance seized the key ISholdout of Hajin in Decemberafter months of fighting that hasseen the jihadists launch viciouscounter-attacks.

ISIS, which once controlledswathes of Syria and Iraq, hasbeen pounded by multiple offen-sives. Since September, morethan 1,000 jihadists have beenkilled in the fighting comparedwith just under 600 SDF mem-bers while 15,000 people havefled Hajin, according to theObservatory.

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In a first, scientists have foundevidence that the mysterious

dark matter — believed tomake up most of the mass ofthe universe — can be heatedup and moved around, as aresult of star formation ingalaxies.

The findings, published inthe journal Monthly Notices ofthe Royal AstronomicalSociety, provide the first obser-vational evidence for the effectknown as ‘dark matter heating’,and give new clues as to whatmakes up dark matter.

Scientists from theUniversity of Surrey in theUK, Carnegie MellonUniversity in the US and ETHZurich in Switzerland set out tohunt for evidence for darkmatter at the centres of nearbydwarf galaxies.

Dwarf galaxies are small,faint galaxies that are typicallyfound orbiting larger galaxieslike our own Milky Way. Theymay hold clues that could helpus to better understand thenature of dark matter.

Dark matter is thought tomake up most of the mass ofthe universe. However since itdoes not interact with light inthe same way as normal mat-ter, it can only be observedthrough its gravitational effects.

The key to studying it mayhowever lie in how stars areformed in these galaxies.

When stars form, strongwinds can push gas and dustaway from the heart of thegalaxy. As a result, the galaxy’scentre has less mass, whichaffects how much gravity is feltby the remaining dark matter.

With less gravitationalattraction, the dark mattergains energy and migrates awayfrom the centre, an effect called‘dark matter heating’.

The team of astrophysicistsmeasured the amount of darkmatter at the centres of 16dwarf galaxies with very dif-ferent star formation histories.

They found that galaxiesthat stopped forming stars longago had higher dark matterdensities at their centres thanthose that are still formingstars today. This supports thetheory that the older galaxies

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Adak (US): Officials say a largeearthquake has struck in aremote area of the AleutianIslands near Alaska, but a tsuna-mi is not expected.

The US Tsunami WarningSystem says the 6.0-magnitudequake struck just before 10 amSaturday about 90 miles (145 kilo-meters) southwest of the town ofAdak on Adak Island. Severalhundred people live in the town.Large earthquakes can causetsunamis that can travel hundredsof miles. The US TsunamiWarning System says its statementon the earthquake is for Alaska,British Columbia, Washington,Oregon and California. AP

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Thousands of people havebraved snow and freezing

temperatures in Serbia’s Capitalto turn up for the fifth week ofstreet protests against populistPresident Aleksandar Vucic.

The demonstratorsmarched through downtownBelgrade blowing whistles andbooing and jeering loudly asthey passed the Serbian presi-dency building on Saturday.

Some carried Serbian flagsand banners reading “We arethe people” or “Down with thethieves.”

The demonstrations start-ed after thugs beat up an oppo-sition leader in November,putting pressure on Vucic.

Critics accuse the president of imposing an autocracy through strict con-trol over the media and pro-moting hate speech againstopponents.

Vucic rejects being labelledas domineering and has sug-gested he might call an earlyelection this year.

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Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said

that he would discuss Iranianambitions in neighbouringSyria when he meets on Sundayevening with US national secu-rity advisor John Bolton inJerusalem.

Bolton arrived in Israel onSaturday night for talks on thefuture of Syria in the wake ofPresident Donald Trump’s deci-sion to withdraw all US forcesthere.

The announcement hasconcerned Israel and other USallies in the region, and Trumphas since spoken of “slowly”sending troops home “over aperiod of time”.

“I will discuss with himefforts to stop Iranian aggres-sion in our region, the situationin Syria, following PresidentTrump’s decision, and the con-tinuation of the conversation Iheld with President Putin onFriday,” Netanyahu said at thestart of a cabinet meeting.

The phone call with Putinwas the first between the lead-ers since Trump’s surprise state-ment that he was pulling all

2,000 troops from Syria, declar-ing that the United States hadachieved its objective as theIslamic State group had been“knocked” out.

Netanyahu’s office said heand Putin “discussed the situ-ation in Syria and recent devel-opments and agreed on con-tinued coordination betweenthe (Israeli and Russian) mili-taries”.

“Our position is clear,”Netanyahu said on Sunday.“We continue at this time to actagainst the Iranian militarybuildup in Syria, and we areacting against anyone whoundermines or tries to under-mine Israel’s security.”

Israel has carried out hun-dreds of air strikes in neigh-

bouring Syria against what itsays are Iranian military targetsand deliveries of advancedweapons to Hezbollah, whichis backed by Tehran.

Israeli public radio saidthat Sunday evening’s meetingwould also includeWashington’s concerns overChinese commercial and tech-nological activity in the Jewishstate.

Netanyahu has beendelighted by Trump’s hard lineon Israel’s main enemy Iran andthe landmark move of the USembassy in Israel to Jerusalem,but the pullout from Syria hascaused concern.

At a meeting on Tuesday inBrazil, US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo told the Israelipremier that the Syria pulloutwould not affect US supportand protection of Israel.

“The counter-ISIS cam-paign continues, our efforts tocounter Iranian aggressioncontinue, and our commit-ment to Middle East stabilityand protection of Israel con-tinues in the same way beforethat decision was made,” hesaid using an acronym for theIslamic State group.

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Egypt’s president will inaugu-rate the country’s biggest

cathedral on Coptic ChristmasEve Sunday, a day after a dead-ly bomb blast near a church ina country where jihadists haverepeatedly targeted Christians.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility forSaturday’s explosion on the east-ern edge of Cairo that killed apoliceman who was trying todefuse the device and woundedtwo other officers.

Coptic Christians, whoaccount for around 10 per centof Egypt’s population, have beenhit by a string of attacks by theIslamic State group in recentyears.

The bomb was hiddeninside a bag that was placed on

the rooftop of Al-Haq mosquenear the Virgin Mary church inthe Nasr City district of Cairo,religious officials and witnessessaid.

The Grand Mufti of Egypt,Shawki Allam, denounced “theterrorist operation that targeted...The church in the Ezzbat al-Haggan neighbourhood of NasrCity”, on his official Facebookpage.

He said “extremists” hadplanted “an explosive device onthe roof of Al-Haq mosque...Near the Virgin Mary church”.

Massad Saad, the son of theprayer leader at the mosque, toldAFP he was inside the buildingwhen other worshippers noticed“a man going up to the roof car-rying a bag” but when they fol-lowed him they found “twobags”.

“We informed the police,”Saad, a 35-year-old baker, saidin a phone interview.

There was no immediateconfirmation from officials.Government newspaper Al-Ahram reported Sunday that abomb had been placed in a bagon the roof of a building inEzzbat al-Haggan, but it did notmention the church or themosque.

On Sunday morning secu-rity forces were deployed aroundthe neighbourhood keepingjournalists at bay.

Security has been reinforcedin Cairo in recent weeks ahead ofCoptic Christmas which is cele-brated on January 7.

On Sunday eveningPresident Abdel Fattah al-Sisiwas due to inaugurate theCathedral of Nativity in Egypt’s

new administrative capital, 45kilometres east of Cairo.

Sisi often presents himself asa defender of Christians againstextremists but activists andsome analysts accuse the state ofdiscriminating against them andnot providing enough protec-tion.

On Sunday Sisi will join theCoptic pope, Tawadros II, in thecathedral which is touted as thelargest in the Middle East.

The president visited theCathedral of Nativity forChristmas Eve last year when itwas still under construction, andgave a short speech wishingCopts a merry Christmas andsaying the country would prevailover jihadists. His attendance onSunday will mark the cathedral’sofficial inauguration.

The president will also inau-

gurate on Sunday Al-Fattah al-Alim mosque in the new admin-istrative capital.

More than 100 Copts havebeen killed in jihadist attackssince December 2016.

IS claimed an assault inearly November in which sixCopts and one Anglican died inthe central province of Minya.

IS also killed more than 40people in twin church bombingsin April 2017, and an IS gunmanin December that year killednine people in an attack on achurch in a south Cairo suburb.

Hundreds of police and sol-diers have also been killed inattacks. Last week threeVietnamese tourists and theirEgyptian guide died when ahomemade bomb exploded ontheir bus on the outskirts ofCairo.

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Julia Goerges drew on her experience to retainthe WTA Auckland Classic title on Sunday as

she came from a set down to end the stunningrun of Canadian teen sensation BiancaAndreescu.

There were tears from the 30-year-oldGerman in an emotional celebration who tookthe match 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 with the final point com-ing when an Andreescu forehand went into thenet.

"This win means a lot to me because noteverything was working well in the beginning,"said the 30-year-old Goerges who needed all herexperience and patience to recover from beingdown 4-5 in the second set after losing the first.

"I used my experience today and really wentfor it in the important moments. My coach cameat 5-4 and helped me find some solutions," shesaid. The ice-cool Andreescu had stunned thetennis world during the week having arrived inAuckland ranked 152nd and needing to play inthe qualifying tournament to make the maindraw.

The 18-year-old then beat three top 50 play-ers on her way to her first WTA final includ-ing former world number ones CarolineWozniacki and Venus Williams.

Her form continued into the final when sheraced through the first set and recovered froman early service break in the second to lead 5-4 when her concentration wavered.

"A 5-4 in the second set it was really hardfor me to stay in the moment. I was 'oh my god

I'm one game away from winning this tourna-ment'," Andreescu said.

"But Julia dominated from that point."Andreescu broke every serve by Goerges in thefirst set, at one stage leading 4-0 before drop-ping her own serve twice.

But the wily Goerges, 30, was not finished,and the momentum began to shift when shebroke the Canadian at the start of the secondset.

Although she dropped her own serve at 4-4, Goerges gathered herself to break Andreescuagain at 5-5 and held serve to take the set.

She broke three more times in the deciderto claim her 15th WTA title. Although the finalset was all Goerges the German said Andreescudeserved praise for the way she had played inonly her fourth WTA tournament.

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Japanese star Kei Nishikori claimedhis first title since 2016 when he

downed Russia's Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the final of the BrisbaneInternational on Sunday.

The Japanese star had not wona tournament since Memphis in2016 and was hampered by a wristinjury the following year whichforced a break from the 2018 tour.

He was runner-up in Brisbane in2017 but went one better this year ina superb final.

Nishikori dominated his Russianrival throughout, despite a slight hic-cup when one poor service game costhim the second set.

The second seed started slowlyand went down 0-3 to the Russian.

But he recovered to break backand then seized the advantage at 3-3 when he broke Medvedev again,taking the first set in 42 minutes.

Nishikori was all over theRussian in the second set, his pow-erful and well-directed ground-strokes forcing Medvedev into errors.

Medvedev held on againstNishikori's multiple chances to breakat 2-2 and 3-3 and took advantage ofhis opponent's poor service game tobreak ahead.

But any thought the Russianwould take the momentum into thedecider proved wrong as Nishikoristormed to a 5-1 lead, eventuallywrapping up the final in just over two

hours.

�����%��%������������Karolina Pliskova used all her big

match experience as she came froma set down to overhaul Ukraine'sLesia Tsurenko and win the BrisbaneInternational on Sunday.

The unseeded Tsurenko lookedheaded for the biggest win of hercareer when serving for the match at5-4 in the second set, only forPliskova to come storming back towin 4-6,7-5, 6-2 and claim her sec-ond Brisbane title.

Pliskova, the tournament'sCzech fifth seed, started slowly and

paid the penaltya g a i n s tTsurenko, whowas servingsuperbly andwinning thebattle from thebaseline.

"I just feltsomehow tiredfrom the begin-ning of the day,"

Pliskova said."I was missing my

shots, just not feeling thetiming perfectly. I wassleeping bad. So every-thing was somehow going

the other way."Tsurenko took the first set in 38

minutes, firing 10 winners and mak-ing 81 percent of her first serves.

She took that form into the sec-ond set and broke Pliskova early.

However, serving for the matchat 5-4, she tightened up and Pliskovawon 13 of the next 14 points to levelthe match.

The third set was all Pliskova asshe broke Tsurenko twice to wrap upthe final in two hours, 12 minutes.

"I don't know what reallychanged at 5-4," Tsurenko said.

"I think we had the great fightuntil 5-4, and then suddenly, I don'tknow, maybe she raised her level somuch that I was not ready for that.

"It's going to be a big lesson forme, and I'm trying to stay positive."

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Real Kashmir humbled heavy-weights Mohun Bagan 2-1 and

the giant-killing act, one of manyengineered by the debutantes in theongoing I-League, kept their titlehopes alive, here on Sunday.

The winagainst a profli-gate MohunBagan helpedReal Kashmir,the first team from the valley toplay in India's top-flight, continuetheir fairy tale run.

The team's sixth victory wasachieved on the back of a brace byMason Robertson, who struck inthe 33rd and 74th minute at the SaltLake Stadium.

Starting as a defender, ScottishRobertson, who was recruited byhis father and coach of the clubDavid Robertson, dominated thegame to hand the former champi-ons a second successive defeat.

League winning star wingerSony Norde, who made a come-back after missing four matchesdue to his leg injury, scored the soli-tary goal for the home side in the42nd minute.

"Today's win is because ofdedication and hard work of every-one at RKFC. The boys wereexceptional and I am sure that thespirit continues as we begin ourfinal uphill task," said SandeepChattoo, co-owner of Real KashmirFootball Club (RKFC).

"The RKFC wishes to place onrecord its great appreciationtowards people of Kolkata for the

love showered on us," RKFC own-ers Chattoo said.

The result also avenged theirhome leg defeat to Mohun Baganas they moved up the peckingorder, going past NEROCA FC tothe second place.

The Snow Leopards now havea three-point deficit against lead-ers Chennai City (24) in the stand-

ings as the father-son duo contin-ued to weave magic for the club.

Mohun Bagan slipped to sixthplace with 15 points from 11matches and saw their title hopesvirtually go up in smoke.

The visitors also capped a fineouting after their 1-1 draw againstEast Bengal, extending theirunbeaten run to seven matches.

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Youth Olympics Gold medal-lists shooters Manu Bhaker,

Saurabh Chaudhary andweightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnungawill be among the cream ofIndia's young sporting talentcompeting at the Khelo IndiaYouth Games, beginning here onWednesday.

The Jaspal Rana-trainedSaurabh was in red hot form lastyear when he shot his way to Goldat the Asian Games, ISSF WorldJunior Championships, the YouthOlympics and the Asian Air Gunchampionships.

Manu also added the YouthOlympics Gold to her kitty afterthe success of the CommonwealthGames in Gold Coast and ISSFWorld Cup in Mexico last year.While Jeremy, who competedfor Maharashtra in the first KheloIndia Games, caught everyone'sattention by becoming the firstIndian to win Gold at the YouthOlympics, finishing on top in the62kg class in Buenos Aires.

Youth Olympic Silver medalwinners, recurve archer Akash

Malik and air rifle shooter MehuliGhosh will also be competing.

Other participants includeboxers Sakshi Chaudhary, whowon the AIBA World Youth box-ing championship (57kg class) inBudapest last year.

UWW World Junior cham-pionship freestyle Silver medallistDeepak Punia and SajanBhanwal, who created history bybecoming the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win a Silvermedal at the same tournament,will also be in the fray.

On the track, Jisna Mathew,a double Asian junior c’ship Goldmedallist will draw attention.

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Indian football's goalmachine Sunil Chhetristruck a brace to help the

country stunningly outplayThailand 4-1 and record its

first victory in the AsianCup since 1964 on

a historic nighthere onSunday.

Playingin his second

Asian Cup and 105th match,Chhetri scored in the 27th(penalty) and 46th minutes forhis 66th and 67th goals tobecome the second highestinternational goal scoreramong active players.

Midfielder AnirudhaThapa and second half sub-stitute Jeje Lalpekhlua thenstruck in the 68th and 80thminutes to completely outclassThailand at the Al NahyanStadium in front of sizeableIndian supporters.

With his two strikes, the34-year-old Chhetri went pastArgentine superstar LionelMessi, who has so far scored65 goals from 128 matches.Portugal superstar CristianoRonaldo is the highest scorerwith 85 from 154 matches.

Thailand captain andstriker Teerasil Dangda pulledone back for his side in the33rd minute of the Group Amatch. A draw in either of thetwo coming matches againstUAE and Bahrain could seeIndia through to the knockoutround.

Ranked 97th in the FIFAcharts, India went into thematch eyeing a win againsttheir 118th ranked oppo-nents, but the scoreline andimpressive show by the play-ers, especially in the second

half, was unexpected.Thailand was the

better side in the firsthalf with an over-whelming 70 per centpossession and moreshots on target.

But the complexion of thematch completely changed inthe second session with Indiascoring three goals in stun-ning fashion to take the matchout of Thailand's reach. Theysuddenly became a teamwhich can stitch neat passesand build goal-scoring moves.Chhetri, who is the only onein the current squad to haveplayed in the 2011 edition,also become the highestIndian scorer in the AsianCup, surpassing Inder Singh,who struck twice in the 1964edition when the country had

finished runners up.Taking part in their fourth

Asian Cup, this was India'sthird win in 11 matches. Thecountry won two matchesand lost one in the 1964 edi-tion in Israel, competed by justfour countries, then lost threeand drawn one in 1984 andwere beaten in all their threegroup matches in 2011.

India gave the 21-year-old

Pune City FC player AshiqueKuruniyan a start over thelikes of Jeje Lalpekhlua andBalwant Singh, and he did wellwhile playing at the hole justbehind Chhetri.

He earned the penaltyfor India after a quick throwfrom the left flank. Ashique'sshot deflected from the Thaigoalkeeper and hit defenderTheerathon Bunmathan'shand and the Hong Kong ref-eree pointed to the dreadedspot. Chhetri stepped up andsent the Thai goalie the wrongway to give India 1-0 up.

Thailand equalised with-in six minutes with captainand striker Teerasil Dangdaconnecting a quality free-kickto head over Gurpreet andinto the India net.

But just a minute into the

second session, India scored aworld-class goal throughChhetri and that began theturning of the match on itshead.

India's third goal showedhow much they haveimproved in the passing sys-tem with three playersinvolved in the build-up.Halicharan Narzary sent apint-point pass to Udantawho rounded up the Thaigoalkeeper and left the ball forThapa to chip over a couple ofdefenders on the top corner ofthe net.

Lalpekhlua then scoredtwo minutes after cominginto the field. He was fed by anice pass from Narzary againand his chipped shot from thetop of the box beat the goal-keeper all ends up.

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Mohun Bagan's defeat at thehands of I-League debu-

tants Real Kashmir FC Sundayhad an immediate casualty ascoach Shankarlal Chakrabortytendered his resignation, own-ing "moral responsibility".

"I've informed the clubofficials that I do not wish tostay anymore. Now it's up to theclub to take a call," Chakrabortysaid at the post-match newsconference.

The Kolkata giants have apacked calendar with four suc-cessive matches at Saltlake

Stadium, including the return-leg derby on January 27 andChakraborty said he wouldremain with the club till themanagement appoints his suc-cessor.

"We have a match (againstdefending champions MinervaPunjab) after three days. It willbe difficult for the club to ropein someone. So, I will contin-ue till the club managementdecides of someone."

"I'm not quitting out ofpressure. I thought I gave mybest but I'm unable to help theteam make a turnaround," hesaid.

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Defending championsAustralia made their worst

ever start to an Asian Cup onSunday when they lost 1-0 toJordan in front of a partisancrowd in Al Ain.

Graham Arnold's youthfulside had expected victory intheir Group B opener but theywere undone by Anas Bani-Yaseen's powerful first-halfheader from a corner.

It leaves the injury-hitAussies with much to ponderahead of Friday's game againstPalestine, when they will needa win to get their title defenceon track.

The youthful Socceroos hadmore than 70 percent of first-half possession but rarelythreatened, while Jordan wereintent on harassing in midfieldand seeking chances on thebreak.

Their goal came from a cor-ner on 26 minutes, whendefender Bani-Yaseen escaped

Luongo's marking and poweredhis header into the top corner,prompting jubilation in thestrongly pro-Jordan crowd ofjust under 5,000.

Suddenly Australia wererocking and three minutes later,they were grateful for Ryan'sfinger-tip save as he pushedBaha Abdelrahman's free kickonto the bar.

In the second half, Arnoldbrought on Rhyan Grant andthen Chris Ikonomidis to finda way through Jordan's defence.

Celtic forward Tom Rogic'sstinging shot was kept out byShafi, before Ikonomidis'sattempt at a follow-up wassmothered by the defence.

With three minutes to go,Jamie Maclaren had a goalchalked off for offside and.With the last action of thegame, Shafi pulled off a superbdouble save to deny Ikonomidisand Jackson Irvine, capping adesperately disappointing dayfor the Aussies and a joyful onefor the Jordanians.

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Every woman desires that herhusband is the best person onthis earth. He must have all

the good qualities of an ideal hus-band, that is he must be consider-ate, caring and loving. Although anideal marriage is rarely possible aswhen two individuals live underthe same roof, they tend to fightand argue with each other.

In most cases, couples makeadjustments so they remain togeth-er, but often two individuals turnout to have different temperamentsand simply cannot adjust to eachother. Naturally, the marriagebreaks down.

For most of us, it’s a continu-ous journey of going through sev-eral frogs in the hope of findingthat one prince. And after manyyears passing by, we are still notsure if we have found that princeor not. So we settle down with thebest bet we have. If you are facingthe same dilemma, you shouldknow the qualities of a great hus-band. And if he has most of it, thengirl, you’re luckier than 99% ofwives out there.

For a marriage to be a success,both the partners must have qual-ities which will make the marriagea very fulfilling affair. Although thewife also has an important role toplay in the success of the marriageas she has to take care of the homeand children, the husband has def-initely a greater role as he is in mostcases the bread earner and provider

of the family. No doubt, these days,due to economic pressures, boththe husband and wife are earning,but this does underplay the role ofthe husband only to a certainextent. Traditionally, he is stillconsidered to be the head of thefamily.

Husbands are always eager toplease their wives, although it is notall that easy to please the fairer sex.One has to strive very hard and gothat extra mile to win over thespouse. Men read books, maga-zines or consult their peer groupto seek various suggestions toplease their better half. How? Let’shave look.

The wife must be able to con-fide in him and also know that heloves her only and not somebodyelse. Men are very good at datingbut when comes to being a goodhusband, they more than often fail.Men who have a sexual experiencewith many women in the past areless likely to be faithful to theirwives. It is similar to people leav-ing alcohol where a high percent-age of people fail. The romancepresent while dating slowly fadesand it is limited to more or less onlywhile copulation.

A wife can never share herman with another woman andexpects her husband to be loyal toher. Often, the husband strays andthis causes much tension and fric-tion in the family. A wife maychoose to forgive, and in case the

affair with the other woman israther serious, then she may ask fora divorce. Naturally, for a happyfamily life, both the partners haveto be loyal to each other.

A woman likes it when herhusband showers love on her andmake her feel that she is the onlywoman in his life. He must recip-rocate his feelings towards her. Hemust take care of his family, pro-

vide for the children’s educationand health and also ensure that hiswife is well taken care of econom-ically and emotionally.

A man who does not show anysuccess in his official ventures maynot be appreciated by his spouse.Every woman wants her husbandto be successful, as success meansprosperity to her family. They likewhen their men work hard and

prove that they are successful. Hemust feel good about himself andthen only his wife will also respecthim. No doubt, a husband has hada hard days work and expects hiswife to listen to him. At the same,the wife also had an equally toughtime with household chores andchildren to take care of and wouldlike her husband to listen to herwoes. There has to be a give-and-take relationship.

A husband must be able toadapt himself to any given situa-tion. He must be able to devotetime towards the upbringing of hischildren and also pay adequateattention to his wife’s needs. Hemust be able to handle family andhousehold financial crises. A guywith a good sense of humor is likea jackpot! Who would want to haveboring conversations with theirpartner? Everyone wants a goodlaugh now and then. The most oftime you spend is with your bet-ter half. Hence, sharing insidejokes, that little giggle or thathilarious loud laugh becomes somuch fun. One point where girlsfall for guys is good sense ofhumor. We love guys who canmake us laugh and adds a spark tothe relationship. Humor gives therelationship a new dimension andkeeps it fresh and healthy.

A husband who is sensitivetowards his wife’s feelings is wellappreciated. A wife needs all theemotional and financial support to

bring up her children. She, after all,spends a lot of time looking afterthe children.

Naturally, she would expecther husband to be sympathetictowards her feelings.

After a hard day of work, manymen expect their wives to under-stand that they had a tough day,and that they should be either leftalone or their wives should caterto their needs.

But guess what? Women workhard at work too. Even if she is ahouse wife, she works hard athome even without any pay! So ifhe doesn’t value the work you doand doesn’t treat you like a princessonce in a while, he’s not the manfor you. Instead, a good husbandwill acknowledge that his wife hasbeen struggling with work, chil-dren and housework all day, andgladly offer his help to take someof her load off her shoulders.

Communication is the key toa solid marriage. Hearing eachother out when nobody else will,sorting out the issues that you facewith others and each other, sense-less banter or being the one shoul-der you need to cry on – whatev-er form of communication hechooses between you two, knowthat he’s putting an effort into therelationship. Use this as encourage-ment to open up to him more andyou’ll soon realise how communi-cation strengthens your relation-ship.

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Streaming TV may never again beas simple, or as affordable, as it isnow.Disney and WarnerMedia are each

launching their own streaming servicesin 2019 in a challenge to Netflix’s dom-inance. Netflix viewers will no longerbe able to watch hit movies such asBlack Panther or Moana, which willsoon reside on Disney’s subscriptionservice. WarnerMedia, a unit of AT&T,will also soon have its own service toshowcase its library of blockbuster filmsand HBO series.

Families will have to decidebetween paying more each month orlosing access to some of their favouritedramas, comedies, musicals and actionflicks.

“There’s definitely a lot of changecoming,” said Paul Verna at eMarketer,a digital research company. “People willhave more choices of what to stream,but at the same time the market isalready fragmented and intimidatingand it is only going to get more so.”

Media companies are seeking tocapitalise on the popularity and prof-itability of streaming. But by fragment-ing the market, they’re also narrowingthe once wide selection that fuelled therise of internet-based video.

Just as Netflix, Hulu and AmazonPrime tempted people to “cut thecord” by cancelling traditional cable TVpackages, the newer services are look-ing to dismember those more-inclusiveoptions.

Disney Plus is set to launch latenext year with new Marvel and StarWars programming, along with itslibrary of animated and live-actionfilms and shows. It hasn’t announcedpricing yet, but Disney CEO Bob Igersaid in an August call with analyststhat it will likely be less than Netflix,

which runs $8 to $14 a month, sinceits library will be smaller. AT&T plansa three-tier offering fromWarnerMedia, with a slate of new andlibrary content centered around theexisting HBO streaming app. No wordon pricing yet.

Individual channels, such as Fox,ESPN, CBS and Showtime, are also get-ting into the act. Research group TDGpredicts that every major TV networkwill launch a direct-to-consumerstreaming service in five years.

Netflix and others have investedheavily in original movies and TVshows to keep their customers loyal.Netflix, for instance, said that 45 mil-lion subscriber accounts worldwide

watched the Sandra Bullock-thrillerBird Box during its first seven days onthe service, the biggest first-week suc-cesses of any movie made for the com-pany’s nearly 12-year-old service.

That first-week audience impliesnearly a third of Netflix’s 137 millionsubscribers watched the movie fromDecember 21 through 27 — a holiday-season stretch when many peoplearen’t working and have more free time.

But Netflix, Hulu and others maysoon have to do without programmesand movies licensed from their soon-to-be rivals. In December, Netflix paid

a reported $100 million to continuelicensing Friends from WarnerMedia.

Why are media companies lookingto get in? Data and dollars. Sure, theyget money when they sell their pro-grammes to other services like Netflix.But starting their own service allowsnetworks and studios access to valuabledata about who is binging on theirshows.

For services with ad-based options,that data translates into more dollarsfrom advertisers. And services that relyonly on subscription revenues, mediacompanies can use the data to bettertailor their offerings for individualtastes, helping to draw in more sub-scribers.

“I think all media companies arecoming to grips with the reality thatyou better establish a relationshipdirectly with your audience,” saidAT&T CEO Randall Stephenson at ananalyst conference earlier this month.

The business model that some net-works and content companies are cur-rently using, distributing their TVshows and movies only by licensingthem to streaming platforms, is getting“disrupted aggressively” as more com-panies launch their own services, saidStephenson, whose company acquiredWarnerMedia in June.

Forrester analyst Jim Nail comparesthis moment to the “Cambrian explo-sion,” a historic era when plant and ani-

mal species rapidly multiplied after IceAge glaciers receded.

“Big brands like Disney have toevaluate: Are we only going to accessthis market by licensing our content toNetflix, Hulu and others?” he said. “Or,can we go direct to the consumer withour own service?”

But a multiplicity of streaming ser-vices could easily overwhelm or con-fuse consumers. To get a full slate ofprogramming, TV watchers may soonhave to subscribe to several servicesinstead of just one or two.

Among those options will be ser-vices like Netflix and Hulu that offer awide range of video from a variety ofsources; cable-like “skinny bundles”such as FuboTV, Sling and YouTube TVthat offer a variety of live channels; andchannel- or network-specific serviceslike Disney Plus.

Consider just AT&T’s plan tolaunch a three-tiered service this yearcentered on HBO. An entry-level bun-dle will offer mostly movies; a second,slightly more expensive tier will includeoriginal programming and newermovies. A third and still more expen-sive offering would add moreWarnerMedia entertainment such asFriends.

The cost of multiple streaming ser-vices could quickly approach the aver-age cost of a cable bill — not countingthe cost of internet service. That’saround $107 per month, according toLeichtman Research Group.

“It’s unlikely any of the servicesindividually can charge more than $10per month,” Forrester’s Nail said. “Thegreat unknown is how many individ-ual streaming services people are will-ing to sign up for.”

Companies are already trying totame this chaos by bundling multiplestreaming services together. AmazonPrime customers can add-on sub-scriptions to HBO, Showtime or Starz.Roku and Chromecast viewers canaccess their different services from acentral place; Roku said that it will startselling in-app access to Showtime,Starz and other channels as well simul-taneously.

How should consumers deal withall the coming change?

“Be patient,” said Michael Greeson,president of research group TDG.“We’re in a time of dramatic change forthe TV and video business. There’ll begreat benefits, and question marks andconsequences.”

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TITANS Titans is a 11 episode live-action dramaseries that follows a group of young soon-to-be Super Heroes recruited from everycorner of the DC Universe. In this action-packed series, Dick Grayson emerges fromthe shadows to become the leader of a fear-less band of new heroes, including Starfire,Raven, Beast Boy and many others. It starsMinka Kelly, Teagan Croft, and AlanRitchson. The series is slated to release onJanuary 11 on Netflix.

SONI It is the story of a young eponymous police-woman in Delhi, and her superintendent,Kalpana, who have collectively taken on agrowing crisis of violent crimes againstwomen. However, their alliance suffers amajor setback when Soni is transferred outfor alleged misconduct on duty. A direc-torial debut for Ivan Ayr. Soni is out January18 on Netflix.

THE LAST LAUGHRetired talent manager Al reconnects withformer client Buddy, a comedian who gaveup performing decades ago, and urges himto go back out on the road.Starring Chevy Chase, Richard Dreyfuss,Andie MacDowell, the film is slated torelease on January 11 on Neflix.

She made an impact with herdebut film Kedarnath, and hersecond release Simmba is also ahit. But actress Sara Ali Khan,who has fan clubs all across

India doting on her, says she neither hastime to feel like a “star” not does she thinkshe will let herself feel like one in future.

Congratulations Sara, you seem tohave become quite a star?Arre kahaan? I am just running aroundtrying to cope with the workload. I don’thave time to feel like a star. I don’t thinkI’m a star yet. But I hope I get there someday. I don’t think I will ever let myself feellike a star. The minute you do, others stopseeing you in a favourable light.

Your grandmother Sharmila Tagoresays you have immense poise for some-one so young. Where does this self-con-fidence come from?I guess, it comes from being honest. Andthat’s the only way I can be. Let those whocan lie convincingly do it. I can’t. I startfumbling the minute I lie. Staying true tomyself suits me just fine.

What kind of reactions are you gettingfrom family and the media?The family cannot be expected to beobjective. They are expected to be niceto me in whatever I do. After all, I amtheir daughter. But the way the review-ers, critics and audience have reacted tome, is overwhelming. This is a momentI am not going to forget ever in my life.

Do you deserve all the love you are get-ting?Eighty per cent of it, I deserve. The other20 per cent I don’t know where it is com-ing from. And it’s making me feel verygrateful and emotional. I don’t have anyexperience in acting. All I had was myhonesty. And that was my only go-to.

Kedarnath was my first experience inwhat happens in front of the camera. Ofcourse, I had been on film sets before tosee my mother (Amrita Singh) shoot inKalyug and my father (Saif Ali Khan) inOmkara. But all I did was play around

with my parents’ co-stars’ make-up.Kedarnath was my first opportunity

to observe filmmaking and be part of theprocess. My only tool of working on thesets was my honesty. Of course, I alwayswanted to be an actor.

Posing as a child in front of the mirror?Wearing your mother’s clothes?All of that, all of that.

In that case why did you go to ColumbiaUniversity?To me, education was not a means to geta job. It was my way of widening my hori-zons. I didn’t think I was going to be prac-tising lawyer after attending Columbia.Education has made me a confident per-son. It doesn’t only teach you history and

geography, it gives you an insight into life.It gave me a heightened awareness of life,and that helped me become a better actor.

You were raised mostly by your moth-er. Not having your father around, wasthat a lacuna you felt?I was more than okay with that arrange-ment. I think, having two happy parentsin different homes is much more prefer-able than two unhappy parents in thesame home. I think I am the way that Iam because my mother didn’t let me feelany kind deprivation for even a second.I have a very hands-on mother. Once mybrother and I were born, she did noth-

ing but look after us.

So she never allowed you to miss thepresence of your father?My father was always a phone call awayfor both of us. I’ve never felt he was notthere for me. In many ways, I am glad myparents were not together. I know theywould have never been happy together.And if they were not happy, I would nothave been happy either.

Now Saif gives so much attention toTaimur which you never got. Do youfeel a pang of envy?Not at all. He’s my brother. I will tell yousomething. When my father was livingwith us, he was completely taken up byme. When he moved away, he was still ascaring. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do forme. Even when he doesn’t live with us,the thought that he would do anythingfor me makes me feel very special.

My father may not be there for me theway he is for Taimur. But that doesn’tmake me feel any less special.

Do you look forward to working withhim?God willing, we will work together soon.But for obvious reasons, it’s not somethingthat would happen over and over again.But if we get a script that justifies ourpresence, we will do it without a moment’sthought.

What did your brother Ibrahim thinkof Kedarnath and Simmba and you?He’s studying abroad and is the onlymember of the family who hasn’t seen myfilms.

Does he aspire to be an actor?He does. As I’ve discovered, it’s an easydream to have but a very difficult one toachieve. But I feel Ibrahim has the talent.Once he enacted a monologue for mymother and me. I was holding the sheetof paper on which his lines were written.I couldn’t look at the sheet as I was busylooking at his eyes. They were so emo-tive.

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What does hope meanto you? Does havinghope help to motivateyou every day to getout of bed and go

about your daily routine? Hope givesus a reason to exist. Without hope, lifecan be dull and sad.

My favorite definition of hope is“To expect with confidence: trust”(Merriam Webster’s CollegiateDictionary, page 598, 2003). We mustbe aware of the signs of hope that weencounter daily.

Personally, hope motivates me todo more. I love the quote, “Be thechange you want to see in the world”(Mahatma Gandhi). I realise that bydoing the right thing, being kind andhelpful, I can help to change our worldtoday. Even though I am one personin a troubled community, I realize thatI can do something to give othershope. Hope energises me, makes mehappy, and makes my day better. Irealise that every day I need to dosomething to give others hope. It trulymakes the world a better place, despite

bad things that happen.My family gives me hope. The love

and comfort I have from them allowsme to be hopeful. I am blessed to havethem. My job as a teacher atHuntington Middle School gives mehope. The smiles, love and motivationfrom those who live in unfortunate sit-uations gives me hope that they willsucceed in life and be in a better placesomeday.

My church gives me hope.Whether I am helping or sitting in thepews during a Sunday service, Ialways get emotional when I hearpowerful music, witness the partici-pation of so many children, or hear ofways that faith has helped someonechange their life in a positive way.

It is critical for us to have hope.Hope allows us to have goals anddreams for ourselves. Without it, wemerely exist. As a world, we hope forpeace, of course, but we also hope forleaders who make good choices andwork together instead of against eachother. As a nation, we can hope forleaders who care about people, repre-

sent our country well, and makequality decisions.

As a community, our hope is thatdrug addicts recover, get educated,become good parents, get a job andcontribute to the community in a pos-itive way. As a teacher, my hope is thatI inspire as many students as possibleto actually want to succeed in life byfollowing rules, having dreams andgoals, and to make those dreams hap-pen. As a mother, my hope for mychildren is to be happy, to contributeto society in a positive way, and to helpand give when able to do so.

I feel like I am meant to do my jobas a teacher at HMS. Lately, I havecommented to some that this is whereI am meant to be to reach those stu-dents who need extra attention andcare. While I always feel like I can domore, I try my best every day to greeteach child by name, show them thatI care, and encourage them to try theirbest in order to have hope in their life.I truly love what I do and care aboutmy students as if they were my ownchildren. I believe that by showing

them that someone truly cares aboutthem, it can allow them to havehope.

Anyone can positively impactanother person’s life by being kind,smiling at them, being helpful andshowing that you care. Greeting peo-ple, offering to help others, showingrandom acts of kindness and volun-teering are all ways we can make theworld a better place and to be hope-ful. We need to be aware of those whoneed hope in their lives and do whatwe can to help foster that.

Our world today is full of crime,chaos, disasters and shocking news. Inorder for us to continue staying pos-itive, we must have hope. People alsoneed to be aware of how their atti-tudes, words and actions contribute tothe mess we are in. We have to beunderstanding, compassionate andmotivated to turn things around. Wecannot be part of the problem; wemust be part of the solution to turnthings around. Most of all, we needhope to make this world a better place.

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We all dream of a better world where there is peace,happiness and harmony, don’t we? No one would

like degradation of environment, loss of human lives dueto wars, corrosion of human spirit by crime and corrup-tion, dehumanisation through poverty, economic andpolitical conditions, all of which drain human energy andmake life miserable.

On the contrary, all would like life to be characterisedby harmony and health, well-being and wealth. But thequestion is, what are those values? How can such a socio-politico-economic system be established which hasthose values? What will enhance human experience andenable men and women to have a lifestyle that can makethe society viable?

If we conduct a sur-vey among variousgroups of people on thisparticular subject, wewill find that their opin-ion would most proba-bly crystalise around 10or 15 major points. Theywould say that a betterworld is one in whichthe following exist onlyin milder forms or in alesser degree than wehave them in the pre-sent-day world. Themajor problems or caus-es of sufferings are wars,violence and cruelty inany form, poverty,unemployment andsocial, economic and political injustice, environmental pol-lution and ecological imbalance, corruption, crime,indiscipline and obscenity, disease, infirmity and highmortality rate, slavery, lack of freedom or deprivation ofhuman rights, hunger, malnutrition or starvation, wrongattitude towards the other sex and abuse of children, addic-tions, intoxications, tensions and lack of happiness, hatred,suspicion, fear, cut-throat competition, rivalry andabsence or lack of love and co-operation at various lev-els of society.

Post this survey, if we conduct another one askingevery segment of society about the efforts or improve-ments that they expect from the other segments to cre-ate a better world, a fair enough consensus on the follow-ing lines would emerge. People would say that they wantscientists to have an orientation of spirituality, religiousleaders to have scientific temper, doctors to treat not onlythe body but also the mind, education to have spiritualand moral development, women to be given proper socialstatus and men’s attitude and outlook towards them to bemore spiritualised. The youth and children should be givenmore love and they should respect their elders. The soci-ety should have a balance of love and law and it shouldbe based on the principles of justice, fairplay and equal-ity of opportunity.

Now these objectives can be fulfilled only if every seg-ment of society works a bit for the fulfillment of what othersegments expect of it. Each individual has to contributea bit of his time to work towards raising awareness of thepeople so as to realise the above goals. For this global taskis required the global co-operation. Hence, a new kindof bank to which each individual or institution can offerits contributions so as to build a better world is the needof the hour.

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Lifestyle choices have a hugeimpact on your skin’shealth and appearance.

Amidst all the bad lifestylehabits, smoking is by far one ofthe most dangerous activities asit affects your internal as well asexternal health. It has beenincreasing the risk of becomingvictims of various fatal ailmentssuch as heart disease, lung can-cer, mouth cancer and more.Smoking also a disaster foryour skin and hair. With eachpuff of smoke, your skin is mov-ing closer towards prematureageing.

Many studies have claimedthat cigarette smoking causes anindividual’s skin to age fasterthan the exposure to sunlightdoes. The moment you inhalefrom a cigarette, you have beenintroduced to more than 4,000chemicals, including skin-dam-aging free radicals which enteryour body. These inhaled chem-icals damages the skin fibrob-lasts. These are the cells in con-nective tissue that form fibreslike collagen and elastin. Theseare precious fibres that give yourskin its youthful strength andelasticity. Once they weaken, theskin begins to wrinkle. It is dueto the lack of collagen andelastin that causes such damageto the skin. Several studies havereported that moderate smok-ers are almost twice more like-ly to wrinkle prematurely thannon-smokers, and on the otherhand, heavy smokers are almostthrice more likely to wrinkleprematurely.

Nicotine, which is presentin the cigarettes causes theblood vessels in the outermost

layers of your skin to narrow,weakening the blood flow toyour skin and hence resulting indry, dull, pale or blotchy skin.Not only this, you may developpremature lines and wrinkles onyour face as well. Another badimpact of smoking on yourbody is that it makes your bodyto produce fewer red bloodcells. Due to this your skin willstart to lose its healthy glow. Notonly this, it also decreases theability of skin to regenerateand repair wounds. Due to lim-ited transport of blood throughthe body, the supply of nutrientsrequired by the skin to regener-ate is also restrained. Anothertoxic component, CarbonMonoxide, present in cigarettereduces the flow of oxygenthrough the body, hence reduc-ing the supply of oxygen need-ed by damaged cells to regener-ate.

Even the physical act ofsmoking itself can lead to wrin-kles and fine lines on your face.Those ugly lines around themouth, which is commonamong the long-term smokersare because of the repetitivecompressing of the lips whileinhaling. It is proved thatwomen’s skin is more affectedby smoking than men’s skin.

One survey has a report on

premature ageing effect in bothsexes due to smoking. It isfound that smoking men pre-mature 2.3 times faster thannon-smoking men, and smok-ing women pre-mature morethan three times faster thannon-smoking women. In addi-tion to wrinkles and pre-

mature ageing, smoking alsoleads to an increase in an indi-vidual’s risk of gauntness andfacial discolouration.

TIPS TO REDUCE DAMAGEFROM CIGARETTE SMOKE

The best way to improveand help prevent further dam-

age to your skin and health isto quite smoking as it’s nevertoo late to do it. Even if you’vesmoked your whole life, it’spossible for you to stop now. Itwill not only improve your skinbut also your health and qual-ity of life. In addition to mul-tiple health benefits that comes

along with quitting smoking,you will notice that your bloodcirculation and skin tone beginto improve within a few weeksof quitting. You can also takethe assistance of external solu-tions to rectify the damagedone by smoking.

To reduce damage alreadydone, you can use a moisturis-er that contains Niacinamide,peptides and glycerine. Theseingredients can help toimprove damaged skin, refinethe skin cells and replenishingthe lost moisture.Niacianamide is a form ofVitamin B3. Peptides are pro-tein fragments that enable theskin to produce collagen. Useof peptides on the skin surfacecan be very effective and alsoslows down the ageing process.

You can increase yourantioxidant intake. Smokingdiminishes the quantityVitamin C in the body whichis an important antioxidantand protects against diseasessuch as cancer and heart dis-ease. Eat fruits rich in VitaminC like citrus fruits and melons.Vitamin E, another importantantioxidant will help protectthe skin from the skin damag-ing free radicals. Sources ofVitamin E are sunflower seeds,hazelnuts, almonds, sweetpotato to name a few.

Therefore, it is good newsthat the skin damage caused bysmoking is reversible and canbe treated. Quitting smokingand following a simple skincareroutine on a daily basis willhelp you regain your lostyouthful skin and a healthycomplexion.

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Fickle weather on day fourprevented India fromclosing in on a big win in

the fourth Test but they werewell on course for their maid-en series victory in Australiaafter forcing the hosts to fol-low-on at home for the firsttime since 1988.

Bad light and intermittedrain led to substantial loss ofplay with only 25.2 oversbowled on day four.

Australia were placed at 6-0 in 4 overs after KuldeepYadav's five-wicket haul in hismaiden Test Down Underhelped India bowl the hometeam out for 300 in the firstinnings.

U m p i r e stook players offthe field witheight minutes remaining in thebelated afternoon session.Marcus Harris (2) and UsmanKhawaja (4) were the unbeat-en batsmen with Australia stilltrailing by 316 runs.

But play didn't resume atall once the scheduled teabreak was over, as bad lighthampered proceedings onceagain. The umpires waited fornearly an hour, coming out forinspection in between, beforemaking a decision at 5 pmlocal time.

The match officials wereready to wait until 6 pm forlight to improve, but a slightdrizzle put paid to the wait andthe day was called off at 5.20pm local time.

This was after Australiawere bowled out for 300 runs(104.5 overs) in their firstinnings and were asked to fol-low on, surrendering a lead of322 runs. Kuldeep Yadav took

5-99, making instant impact inhis first game of the series.

After the morning sessionwas washed out, play resumedat 1.50 pm local time with 230minutes lost to bad light and

rain since day three.India took the second new

ball immediately and madequick inroads. MohammedShami (2-58) bowled PatCummins (25) with a ball thatkept low on the sixth ball afterresumption of play.

At the other end, JaspritBumrah (1-62) set up PeterHandscomb (37) who playedon after a resilient inningsfacing 111 balls.

Yadav then trapped

Nathan Lyon (0) lbw asAustralia lost three wicketsfor 22 runs in the space of 44balls.

And he could have imme-diately completed his five-wicket haul, but HanumaVihari put down a skier fromJosh Hazlewood (21) at midon. In the process, Vihari hurthis left shoulder whilst fieldingand didn't take the field lateron in the session, with HardikPandya coming on as a substi-

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Current champions Vidarbhaand domestic giants

Karnataka are in the running tomake it to the quarter-finals of theRanji Trophy.

With the last round leaguematches to be played fromMonday, the quarter-final line-upis yet to be decided.

From this year, five teamsfrom combined A and B Groups,two teams from Group C and oneteam from Plate group will go tothe last eight of the coveteddomestic tournament.

At present, Vidarbha are sit-ting on top of the combined A andB Groups' standings with 28points, while Karnataka are at thesecond spot with 27points.

Gujarat andSaurashtra are at thethird and fourth placerespectively with 26points each whileMadhya Pradesh, fromGroup B, are at thefifth position with 24points.

Baroda, sitting at theninth spot, would be aimingfor an outright win againstKarnataka at Vadodara, to keeptheir chances alive of making it tothe quarter-finals.

If Karnataka post a winagainst Baroda, then their passageto the quarters will be easy.

The same thing will apply to

Vidarbha when they clash withSaurashtra, at Rajkot.

Both the teamswill go full throttleand aim for a win asa victory will boosttheir chances of mak-

ing it to the last eight.But, it also depends

on results of Group Bmatches.

Vidarbha will be bol-stered after having defeat-

ed 41- time Ranji champi-ons Mumbai by an innings in

their last game at Nagpur andknocking out the latter from thequarter-finals reckoning.

With veteran Wasim Jafferscoring with consistency andspinners Akshay Wakhare andAditya Sarvate in full form,Vidarbha look favourites to tame

Saurashtra.Meanwhile, the remaining

two matches of the Elite A Group- Mumbai versus Chhattisgarh tobe played here at the WankhedeStadium and Railways versusMaharashtra at the Karnail SinghStadium in New Delhi - areinconsequential.

All these teams are lying wellbelow in the combined A and BGroup standings and are alreadyout of the reckoning to enter thelast eight stage.

Mumbai will also be lookingto put a spirited show to avoid rel-egation to Group C.

This has been a disastrousseason for Mumbai as they havefailed to register a single outrightwin. Their batsmen have been outof form and bowlers have also notbeen able to recreate the magic.

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India bowling coach BharatArun on Sunday heaped

praise on wrist spinner KuldeepYadav, saying the chinaman isa much improved bowler thanwhat he was during the tour ofEngland.

"Kuldeep is a very skillfull bowler as he has proved it.He has had a very successfulstint in ODIs, and probably heis the number one bowler inthe one-day format. He isunique in the sense that veryfew chinaman bowlers aroundthe world at the moment. Also,he brings googly to the fore,"said Arun after a rain-hit dayfour.

"And what makes him evenmore special is his ability to usethe crease. He can bowl fromover and round the wicket, andhe can bowl closer to the wick-et and also from wide of thecrease. That gives him a lotvariety. And I think there is alot to come from that youngkid."

Arun said Kuldeep's per-formance in the ongoing Testcould not have come at a bet-

ter time."He didn't have a great

outing in England when heplayed, but this Test matchwould give him a lot of confi-dence. And considering a spin-ner and his age, I think he hasgot a lot of cricket left in him,"he said.

Talking about the decisionto go in with two spinners, hesaid, "Earlier we had played apractice game at Sydney andalso the T20 match. So we werequite aware of the conditionsthat existed and also we felt that

if at all we need to play twospinners that would be atSydney."

With Australia having tofight on day five for a draw, thebowlers have virtually assureda series' win for India, andArun credited an all-roundattack for the same.

"We do have a lot of respectfor their fast-bowling attackand I think they are probablyone of the best in the world. Butwe were more focused on whatwe could do, and we have alsocome to Australia previously sowe knew how the wicketswould be in Australia - verysimilar to the ones we got inSouth Africa.

"We drew upon all thoseexperiences and said that to besuccessful in Australia, we needto make sure that we took thecut and pull out of theAustralian batsmen, and thenfocus on our strengths. That'sexactly what we did.

"I don't think we are moti-vated just because we are on thewinning side. The onus of thisteam particularly is alwaysputting the team in front," hesaid.

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The series is virtually inIndia's pocket after

Australia were enforced a fol-low-on for the first time in 31years at home but batsmanPeter Handscomb on Sundaysaid they will try to salvagesome pride by saving the fourthTest on the final day.

Handscomb said the near-ly-washed out day four of thefourth Test at the SCG has givenhis side a great chance to drawthe match and restrict India'smargin of series win to 2-1.

"We will be coming outtomorrow and drawing thisgame, and then we will assesswhere we need to improve andget together as a team. We knowthat as a batting group we cantake some confidence out oftomorrow if we can last the day,showing the country and theworld that we are not far offfrom clicking as a really goodteam," said Handscomb afterthe fourth day's play.

Kuldeep Yadav had pickedhis second five-wicket haul inTest cricket and Handscombpraised him as well as JaspritBumrah as two toughestbowlers to face in this Indian

bowling attack."Obviously both are world

class bowlers in their own right.Bumrah coming in can crank itup to 150 km/h and is alwayspretty tough with his accuracy.He has not missed his mark toomuch and has been able toswing it both ways, which isquite impressive with thataction, and also adds to the facthow hard he is to pick," he said.

"Kuldeep has obviouslybeen very impressive as well. Hewas very accurate and hard toget on top of. With the pace thathe bowled, it was hard to getdown to the wicket and forcethrough the field. He was accu-rate and used the footmarkswell, giving it a good spin."

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South Africa beat Pakistan by nine wickets on the fourthday of the second Test at Newlands on Sunday.Pakistan claimed a wicket and forced Hashim Amla

to retire hurt before South Africa passed their meagre tar-get after less than an hour's play at Newlands.

Set 41 to win, South Africa reached 43 for the lossof one wicket from 9.5 overs.

The result ensured a seventh successive home serieswin for South Africa, who won the first Test in Centurionby six wickets. The third and final Test starts inJohannesburg onFriday.

Regular SouthAfrican opening bats-man Aiden Markramdid not bat after suf-fering a severelybruised right thighwhen he fell heavily onthe boundary ropewhile f ielding onSaturday.

Theunis de Bruyn,opening in place ofMarkram, clippedMohammad Abbas tothe midwicket boundary but did not add to his scorebefore being caught off his glove by wicketkeeper and cap-tain Sarfraz Ahmed while attempting to pull a bouncerfrom Abbas.

Mohammad Amir effectively conceded 10 runs inextras off two successive deliveries, with a wide and a no-ball which both flew over Sarfraz's head.

Hashim Amla was forced to retire hurt on two afterbeing hit on the right upper arm by a ball from Amirwhich lifted sharply off a good length.

Dean Elgar, who made 24 not out, ended the matchby hitting two fours off part-time bowler Azhar Ali.

����� +@1�7@�

Normally not known to be generous withsuperlatives, the great Ian Chappell found

Cheteshwar Pujara "worthy of many privileges"in Virat Kohli's "kingdom" for his tenacity andtons of runs.

Pujara grafted his way to three centuries inthe ongoing Test series against Australia, play-ing a key role in India's dominance.

"Not only did Pujara single-handedly bringthe Australian bowlers to their knees, he alsopaved the way for his team-mates to deliver thekiller blows," Chappell wrote in a column for'ESPNcricinfo'.

While India are on the verge of complet-ing a maiden Test series win in Australia, theformer captain was not with praising Pujara.

"Kohli may be the king of Indian cricket butPujara has proven to be his loyal ally and wor-thy of many privileges in the kingdom. Manygood things have happened for India in thisseries, not the least of them being victory, andmost have emanated from the stubborn defi-ance of Pujara."

The eldest of the famous Chappell broth-ers, he added, "In scoring three centuries in aseries in Australia, he joined an illustrious com-patriot, the equally defiant Sunil Gavaskar, whoachieved a similar feat in 1977-78.

"In accumulating 521 runs in seven innings,Pujara was at the crease for a mammoth 1867minutes and was not tempted by a high per-centage of the 1258 balls he faced."

That the home team was entirely focussedon how to tackle Kohli prior to the series mayhave helped Pujara to play at ease.

"While the Australian cricket team waskeeping a wary eye on Virat Kohli, Pujara snuckup from behind and executed the perfect mug-ging. In addition to helping India win a seriesfor the first time in Australia, he frustrated atop-class opposition attack to the point of sub-mission.

"The fast bowlers were worn to a frazzle bythe end of the Indian first innings at the SCG,and India's lower order, who for much of theseries were the ducks in the shooting gallery,scored frequently and freely."

The series Down Under was a far cry fromthe tour of England where Pujara was droppedat the start of the series, which India lost 1-4.

"Pujara is the most effective blunter of anattack in a cricket world where currently blud-geoning is the favoured submission hold. If hedidn't invent the term 'bat time', Pujara is cer-tainly a disciple of the method.

"The prolonged standing ovation Pujarareceived (at SCG) even though he had just putthe nail in the coffin of an Australian side thatwas trying to rid itself of the ugly stain of CapeTown was testament to the esteem with whichthe Indian batsman is held.

"If they had a hall of fame for batting obdu-racy, Pujara would be voted in unanimously."

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Former India captain DilipVengsarkar and middle

order batsman Praveen Amreon Sunday hailed the Indiancricket team which is on thecusp of making history inAustralia.

India are leading the four-Test rubber 2-1 and are well-poised to make it 3-1 goinginto the final day of the series.

It will be the country'sfirst-ever Test series win inAustralia since the bilateralcontest began in 1948 whenLala Amarnath's team clashedwith Don Bradman's mightyteam Down Under.

"This team has playedsuperb and fantastic cricketand beating Australia inAustralia is a great achieve-ment, because Australia is atough team in those condi-tions," Vengsarkar said.

"This is a fantasticachievement by Virat Kohli'steam. Australia has toughconditions for touring teamsbut the way they (Indianteam) have adapted to theseconditions is exemplary tosay the least. Every team is

rated on how they performoutside their own countryand this Indian team hasmade us proud and they havedone so well," Vengsarkarsaid.

The former India top-order batsman, who hadplayed in 116 Tests, alsoheaped praise on pacer JaspritBumrah.

"Bumrah now is one of thebest (fast bowlers) in theworld. He is a complete

bowler," Vengsarkar noted.Amre also hailed the

Indian bowling attack spear-headed by Bumrah.

"In every series, the firstTest is important and the waywe started, that was critical.Equally important wasAustralia to (make a) come-back and win the match (sec-ond Test). I think, mostimportant was the third Test,the way we played, that wasoutstanding," Amre said.

����� +@1�7@�

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting onSunday slammed the current team for show-

ing "no desperation" after Nathan Lyon decid-ed against reviewing his lbw decision on day fourof the fourth Test.

Lyon was adjudged LBW after being hit onthe pad off a Kuldeep Yadav delivery. He askednon-striker Mitchell Starc if he should opt fora review, but the duo decided against it despitetwo reviews remaining in their innings and onlytwo wickets left.

"That dismissal actually says a lot to meabout the mindset of this Australian team at themoment. There's no desperation there whatso-ever," Ponting said on Channel Seven.

"Why wouldn't they have had a look at that?They've still got the two reviews up their sleeve.There had to be some sort of doubt in that,"Ponting added.

The former three-time World Cup winningcricketer also slammed pacer Starc, who was at

the non-stricker's end, for not intervening."Given out straight away and Mitchell Starc

just puts his hand out and says 'oh well, it's notme, it's up to you to make (a call)".

"Well, unfortunately, when you're out theretogether it's a partnership. You've got to do what-ever you can to try and save your mate. Andthere was absolutely none of that there," headded.

Replays suggested the ball would haveprobably struck Lyon outside the line of offstump and he may have been adjudged not outif DRS was taken.

"And as it's shown already that would havebeen given not out. Slack and not desperateenough. You can see where Mitchell Starc isstanding at the non-striker's end," he added.

"One, look how wide he's standing. There'sno need to be that wide in the first place. NathanLyon looks up, 'Oh what do you reckon?' 'Oh Idon't know mate. Yeah I don't know. But let'snot bother looking. We've only got two (reviews)up our sleeve," Ponting said.

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tute fielder.Hazlewood and Mitchell

Starc (29 not out) then added42 runs for the 10th wicket as

Australia reached 300 despiteanother pitiful batting display.

Yadav got his reward there-after with Hazlewood trapped

lbw on a close umpire's call,and the decision stayed in thewrist-spinner's favour despiteDRS.

Australia were then forcedto follow on for the first timein Test cricket since 2005 whenEngland had enforced thesame in Nottingham. On theirhome soil, this was the firstinstance of Australia followingon since 1988, again in Sydney,versus England.

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