ˇ˘ˆ - dailypioneer.com · hindi’s navjivan and urdu’s qaumi awaz commenced pub-lication in...

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I n a big setback for the Congress, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered the eviction of the publisher of Congress mouthpiece National Herald from Herald House, the headquarters of the news- paper, within two weeks, dis- missing the petition filed by the publisher Associated Journals Limited (AJL). Finding no irregularity in the Urban Development Ministry’s Land and Development Office (L&DO), the judgment said there is total violation of the lease agreement by the publisher who is hold- ing the building for past 56 years. The court also said AJL’s takeover by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s floated firm Young Indian is “questionable” “modus operandi.” After the HC order, the focus will now be on several other buildings like Patriot House (Link House), which continues to commercially exploit their premises in viola- tion of several provisions of lease agreements. To circum- vent the provisions of the lease agreement, the Patriot House (Link House) owners have revived The Patriot, a weekly magazine, but it is hardly visi- ble on stands. In its 17-page order on the eviction of AJL, Justice Sunil Gaur t said, “The ‘subject premises’ was leased out to leg- endary AJL for its publication, but the dominant purpose is now practically lost. This court is constrained to observe that major portion of the ‘subject premises’ has been rented out and petitioners’ newspaper, which was to be housed origi- nally in the basement and ground floor, has now been shifted on the top floor with hardly any ‘press activity’.” “This court is conscious of the fact that Young India Company is a charitable com- pany, but modus operandi to acquire 99 per cent of AJL’s share speaks volumes. The manner in which it has been done is also questionable,” said the judgment. Observing that there was no wrong in eviction notice, the judgment also said that peti- tioners’ contention that the Government move was to erase, efface and defame the legacy of Pandit Nehru was not at all acceptable. “One fails to understand as to how the rul- ing dispensation has in any way erased, effaced, or defamed Pandit Nehru… the allega- tions of malafide leveled by petitioners are bald and unspe- cific and so no note of these allegations taken,” said the judgment AJL approached the Delhi High Court after the L&DO slapped an eviction notice on it on October 30, based on the complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. AJL was represented by Congress leader and noted lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, and the Government was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The court had reserved its decision on AJL’s plea on November 22. The HC said AJL will have to vacate the premises at ITO in Delhi within two weeks after which proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 would be initiated. The L&DO had ended the lease — entered into with AJL on August 2, 1962 and made perpetual on January 10, 1967 — asking the company to hand over the possession by November 15. The L&DO’s order had also said that failure to hand over possession would lead to initiation of proceedings under the Public Premises Act. In its plea, AJL has said the digital versions of English newspaper National Herald, Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’s Qaumi Awaz commenced pub- lication in 2016-17. The week- ly newspaper National Herald resumed publication on September 24 last year, AJL had said, adding that the Hindi weekly newspaper Sunday Navjivan was also being pub- lished since October this year from the same premises. Later in the evening, wel- coming the judgment, the Urban Development Ministry said, “It was found by the inspecting team of the Ministry on April 09, 2018 that no printing press was functioning at any floor of the premises and no paper stock was found any- where.” “In earlier inspection also, the basement where press machine should have been was found vacant. Further, it was also found that almost all shares of AJL were transferred to ‘Young Indian Ltd’ having same address as that of AJL without any permission of the Ministry. As per a report of Income Tax Department, in Young Indian Ltd, majority of shares (76%) are held by the Gandhi family and the rest by Shri MotilalVora and Shri Oscar Fernandes. It was also observed that instead of using the land given to AJL for press purpose, they are earning a huge sum of money by renting out almost entire building except one floor which has negated the purpose for which the land was originally allotted,” said the Ministry in a statement. A massive uproar erupted inside and outside Parliament over the Government’s decision to empower several investigating agencies to intercept and mon- itor data on computers. While the Opposition accused the Government of turning India into a surveillance State, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley defended the move saying the authorisation was given under rules framed during the UPA regime in 2009. The issue rocked the Rajya Sabha as Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged “undeclared Emergency has taken final shape” and “all fed- eral agencies have been let loose”. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi took to social media calling Modi an insecure “dic- tator.” The issue was also raised in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour with Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader N K Premachandran who alleged that the move is a violation of the fundamental rights. The Opposition members ques- tioned the motive of imposing such an order by Home Ministry for the first time ever after the rules were framed almost a decade ago. While Jaitley hit back say- ing the Congress is crying foul over powers created by it when it was in Government, Congress leader and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said the issue is serious as it is related to fundamental rights and “India will become a police state” with such “sweeping powers” to agencies to intercept information. Responding to the charge, Jaitley said it would have been better if the Opposition had obtained all information before raising this issue. He said the rules under which agencies will be authorised to intercept information were framed in 2009 when the Congress-led UPA was in power. “So what you are doing Anand Sharma is making a mountain where even a mole- hill does not exist. You must know this and as a Leader of Opposition your word is sacro- sanct, so don’t use it for a pur- pose where a power which you created, which is to be used in national security cases, now you are crying foul about that power,” Jaitley said in the Upper House. Azad retorted that there is no mention of national secu- rity in the order and that the ruling dispensation seems to think it has ownership rights over national security and it means nothing to us, to which, Jaitley said, “These are ele- mentary things. It is an autho- risation order. The provisions of national security are written in Article 69.... You are playing with the security of the coun- try. That is what you have done just now”. E ven as it is getting ready to face the people with hopes of getting another mandate for five years, the Narendra Modi Government has come across a major embarrassment in the form of a report by All India Manufacturers’ Organisation, the 76-year-old establishment founded by Bharat Ratna M Visvesvaraya . An all India survey held by the AIMO in October 2018 has found that more than 35 lakh people working in the traders, micro, small and medium enterprises (TMSM) have lost their jobs during the last four years and six months. “Self-employed categories such as tailors, cobblers, bar- bers, plumbers, masons, elec- tricians have been eliminated during the last four and half years,” said KE Raghunathan, president, AIMO. Though the Modi Government came to power in May 2014 with the promise of rejuvenation and resuscitation of the TMSM segment, the backbone of Indian economy, what has happened is the oppo- site as many units across the length and breadth of the coun- try downed their shutters due to a host of reasons, said Raghunathan. “The year 2015-16 saw a growth in all areas of business due to high sentiments and expectations from the new leadership. It went down next year due to demonetisation and then again due to GST and then due to non-availability of finance and higher outstand- ing with Government pay- ments and compliance mat- ters,” said Raghunathan, an entrepreneur based in Chennai. S ushil Kumar Sharma, the former president of Delhi Youth Congress, who was con- victed for the murder of his wife Naina Sahni, was set free by the Delhi High Court on Friday. The court ordered “forth- with” release of Sharma, serv- ing life term for the murder of his wife Naina in 1995. Sharma has already undergone over two decades of incarceration in the case. A Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal passed the order. Now 56, Sharma had shot dead his wife in 1995, objecting to her alleged rela- tionship with a male friend. On the night of July 2, 1995, Sushil came home and saw Naina talking on the phone and consuming alcohol. Naina on seeing Sushil hung up. Sushil redialed the phone to find her alleged boyfriend on the other end. Enraged he fatally shot Naina. He had then chopped her body into pieces and attempted to dispose it off in a tandoor (clay oven) of Baghia restaurant which he owned. Detailed story on P3 B enchmark equity indices witnessed heavy selloff on Friday after investors booked profits in realty, banking, IT and auto bluechips amid weak signals from global markets. The BSE Sensex plunged 689.60 points, or 1.89 per cent, to 35,742.07, while the NSE Nifty slipped 197.70 points, or 1.81 per cent, to 10,754. The 30-share index ended the week 527.93 points lower, and the broader Nifty lost 134 points. The equity market wit- nessed selling ahead of the weekend, mainly due to fears of lower global economic growth in the coming year, said Joseph Thomas, Head Research- Emkay Wealth Management. Concerns over the rupee also loomed over IT and tech stocks, analysts said. The biggest losers of the session include Reliance, Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins, ITC, Maruti, L&T, HUL, Axis Bank, Wipro and IndusInd Bank, cracking up to 4 per cent. NTPC, PowerGrid and Coal India were the only gainers on Sensex, rising up to 1 per cent. Detailed report on P10 A headmaster of a Government school in the Sundargarh district is now in soup for allegedly dancing with girl students on the school premises recently. The District Education Officer has ordered an inquiry into the matter. The BEO of Hemgiri block went to school on Friday and the inquiry into the matter will be conducted by the BEO and the ADEO on Saturday in the school. According to sources, Dilip Naik works as headmaster in Kanika High School under Hemgiri block of Sundargarh district. On Sunday last, a party had been organised joint- ly by the teachers and the stu- dents in the school premises. After the party was over, when the girl students danced with the tune of DJ music, headmaster Naik allegedly joined them and also danced with the girl students. Later, when the video of headmaster dancing with girl students went viral, locals had protested it. Some villagers recently went to school and sought an explana- tion from Naik. On the other hand, head- master Naik has admitted the incident.” Since Sunday was holiday, a party was conduct- ed jointly by teachers and stu- dents in school premises. When the girl students were dancing with the tune of DJ music, they dragged me to dance,” Naik explained. Meanwhile, Hemgiri BEO Surendra Sahu stated, “As per the direction of DEO, I had gone to school on Friday for an inquiry. ADEO and myself will conduct enquiry in school on Saturday. If we find the HM guilty, action will be taken against him.” Significantly, there is an allegation that headmaster Naik usually comes to school in inebriated condition and takes class in school but still he has been continuing as headmaster of this school. A fter his scheduled visit to Odisha on December 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the State twice in January next ahead of the 2019 general elections. Sources said Modi would attend a programme at Baripada on January 5 and another in western Odisha on January 16. Besides the PM, BJP national president Amit Shah is also likely to visit Odisha in January next. The BJP big bosses’ series of Odisha visits prior to the general elections indicate the party’s focus on the State, particularly in the wake of its debacle in the recent Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. A mid opposition parties’ demand for waiving of farm loans, the State Cabinet, instead, on Friday approved a Rs 10,000- crore scheme named ‘Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA)’ to provide financial, livelihood, cultivation and insurance supports to farmers for three years till 2020-21. “The sharpest decline in poverty levels in the country has happened in Odisha. Nearly 8 million people have been lift- ed out of poverty. About 60 per cent of our population is depen- dent on agriculture. With our intervention, from a rice deficit State, we have become the 3rd largest contributors to the PDS. Bagging a record five Krishi Karman Awards, we are the only State in the country to have doubled farmers’ income. In 2014, we promised an addi- tional 10 lakh hectares of irri- gation and we are almost there. This target will be met by March 2019.” The Millet Mission is an example of an initiative having inclusion and equity primari- ly targeting upland areas. To further accelerate agri- cultural prosperity in the State and to reduce poverty, the State Cabinet has today approved, the historic “Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation” – KALIA Scheme, amounting to over 10,000 crores,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters after presiding over the Cabinet mee ting. He termed the scheme his- toric saying that it would cover almost 92 per cent of the culti- vators and almost all landless agricultural labourers. There are about 32 lakh cultivators in the State. Out of this, about 20 lakh have availed crop loans, leaving a balance of 12 lakh farmers who have not availed crop loans. Out of the 20 lakh loanee farmers, about 60 per cent have regular- ly repaid the loans. Further, the entire gamut of sharecroppers and landless labourers will not be covered under a loan waiver scheme, Patnaik pointed out and said, “In this context, KALIA scheme covers 92 per cent of the cultivators, loanee, as well as non- loanee farmers, sharecroppers and landless agriculture labour- ers. It also specifically takes care of vulnerable agricultural fami- lies identified through Gram Panchayats and crop loans up to Rs 50,000 are made available at 0 per cent interest,” “KALIA is progressive, inclusive and will make a direct attack on poverty by way of massive investment in this sec- tor and making benefits reach the neediest through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode,” said Patnaik. The KALIA scheme has 5 interventions: It would provide support to cultivators for cultivation. All the small and marginal farmers of the State (over 30 lakh) will be given Rs 5,000 each for Kharif and Rabi seasons. This will cover 92 per cent of the cultivators. Further, this assistance is for five cropping seasons spanning three years from 2018-19 to 2021-22 so as to ensure comprehensive coverage. It would provide liveli- hood support to 10 lakh land- less households, who would be provided Rs 12,500 to take up one of the activities like small goat rearing units, mini layer units, duckery units, fishery kits for fishermen and women, mushroom cultivation and bee keeping. Among others, this will particularly benefit Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households. The scheme targets to pro- vide financial assistance to 10 lakh vulnerable agriculture households and landless labour- ers in cases of old age, disabili- ty, disease or other reasons. An annual financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per household will be provided to take care of their sustenance. Deserving families will be identified and selected by gram panchayats. Besides, the scheme would provide insurance cover of farmers. Life Insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh and additional per- sonal accident cover of Rs 2 lakh will be provided to culti- vators and landless agricultur- al labourers covering about 57 lakh households. Continued on page 4

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Page 1: ˇ˘ˆ - dailypioneer.com · Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’s Qaumi Awaz commenced pub-lication in 2016-17. The week- ly newspaper National Herald resumed publication on September

����� ��������

In a big setback for theCongress, the Delhi High

Court on Tuesday ordered theeviction of the publisher ofCongress mouthpiece NationalHerald from Herald House,the headquarters of the news-paper, within two weeks, dis-missing the petition filed by thepublisher Associated JournalsLimited (AJL).

Finding no irregularity inthe Urban DevelopmentMinistry’s Land andDevelopment Office (L&DO),the judgment said there is totalviolation of the lease agreementby the publisher who is hold-ing the building for past 56years.

The court also said AJL’stakeover by Sonia Gandhi andRahul Gandhi’s floated firmYoung Indian is “questionable”“modus operandi.”

After the HC order, thefocus will now be on severalother buildings like PatriotHouse (Link House), whichcontinues to commerciallyexploit their premises in viola-tion of several provisions oflease agreements. To circum-vent the provisions of the leaseagreement, the Patriot House(Link House) owners haverevived The Patriot, a weeklymagazine, but it is hardly visi-ble on stands.

In its 17-page order on theeviction of AJL, Justice SunilGaur t said, “The ‘subjectpremises’ was leased out to leg-endary AJL for its publication,but the dominant purpose isnow practically lost. This courtis constrained to observe that

major portion of the ‘subjectpremises’ has been rented outand petitioners’ newspaper,which was to be housed origi-nally in the basement andground floor, has now beenshifted on the top floor withhardly any ‘press activity’.”

“This court is conscious ofthe fact that Young IndiaCompany is a charitable com-pany, but modus operandi toacquire 99 per cent of AJL’sshare speaks volumes. Themanner in which it has beendone is also questionable,” saidthe judgment.

Observing that there wasno wrong in eviction notice, thejudgment also said that peti-tioners’ contention that theGovernment move was to

erase, efface and defame thelegacy of Pandit Nehru was notat all acceptable. “One fails tounderstand as to how the rul-ing dispensation has in any wayerased, effaced, or defamedPandit Nehru… the allega-tions of malafide leveled bypetitioners are bald and unspe-cific and so no note of theseallegations taken,” said thejudgment

AJL approached the DelhiHigh Court after the L&DOslapped an eviction notice onit on October 30, based on thecomplaint filed by BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy. AJL wasrepresented by Congress leaderand noted lawyer AbhishekSinghvi, and the Governmentwas represented by Solicitor

General Tushar Mehta. Thecourt had reserved its decisionon AJL’s plea on November 22.

The HC said AJL will haveto vacate the premises at ITOin Delhi within two weeksafter which proceedings underthe Public Premises (Evictionof Unauthorized Occupants)Act, 1971 would be initiated.

The L&DO had ended thelease — entered into with AJLon August 2, 1962 and madeperpetual on January 10, 1967— asking the company to handover the possession byNovember 15. The L&DO’sorder had also said that failureto hand over possession wouldlead to initiation of proceedingsunder the Public Premises Act.

In its plea, AJL has said the

digital versions of Englishnewspaper National Herald,Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’sQaumi Awaz commenced pub-lication in 2016-17. The week-ly newspaper National Heraldresumed publication onSeptember 24 last year, AJL hadsaid, adding that the Hindiweekly newspaper SundayNavjivan was also being pub-lished since October this yearfrom the same premises.

Later in the evening, wel-coming the judgment, theUrban Development Ministrysaid, “It was found by theinspecting team of the Ministryon April 09, 2018 that noprinting press was functioningat any floor of the premises andno paper stock was found any-where.”

“In earlier inspection also,the basement where pressmachine should have been wasfound vacant. Further, it wasalso found that almost allshares of AJL were transferredto ‘Young Indian Ltd’ havingsame address as that of AJLwithout any permission of theMinistry. As per a report ofIncome Tax Department, inYoung Indian Ltd, majority ofshares (76%) are held by theGandhi family and the rest byShri MotilalVora and ShriOscar Fernandes. It was alsoobserved that instead of usingthe land given to AJL for presspurpose, they are earning ahuge sum of money by rentingout almost entire buildingexcept one floor which hasnegated the purpose for whichthe land was originally allotted,”said the Ministry in a statement.

����� ��������

Amassive uproar eruptedinside and outside

Parliament over theGovernment’s decision toempower several investigatingagencies to intercept and mon-itor data on computers. Whilethe Opposition accused theGovernment of turning Indiainto a surveillance State,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleydefended the move saying theauthorisation was given underrules framed during the UPAregime in 2009.

The issue rocked the RajyaSabha as Leader of OppositionGhulam Nabi Azad alleged“undeclared Emergency hastaken final shape” and “all fed-eral agencies have been letloose”. Congress chief RahulGandhi took to social mediacalling Modi an insecure “dic-tator.”

The issue was also raised inthe Lok Sabha during ZeroHour with RevolutionarySocialist Party (RSP) leader NK Premachandran who allegedthat the move is a violation ofthe fundamental rights. TheOpposition members ques-tioned the motive of imposingsuch an order by Home

Ministry for the first time everafter the rules were framedalmost a decade ago.

While Jaitley hit back say-ing the Congress is crying foulover powers created by it whenit was in Government,Congress leader and DeputyLeader of Opposition in theRajya Sabha Anand Sharmasaid the issue is serious as it isrelated to fundamental rightsand “India will become a policestate” with such “sweepingpowers” to agencies to interceptinformation.

Responding to the charge,Jaitley said it would have beenbetter if the Opposition hadobtained all information beforeraising this issue. He said therules under which agencieswill be authorised to interceptinformation were framed in2009 when the Congress-ledUPA was in power.

“So what you are doing

Anand Sharma is making amountain where even a mole-hill does not exist. You mustknow this and as a Leader ofOpposition your word is sacro-sanct, so don’t use it for a pur-pose where a power whichyou created, which is to be usedin national security cases, nowyou are crying foul about thatpower,” Jaitley said in the UpperHouse.

Azad retorted that there isno mention of national secu-rity in the order and that theruling dispensation seems tothink it has ownership rightsover national security and itmeans nothing to us, to which,Jaitley said, “These are ele-mentary things. It is an autho-risation order. The provisionsof national security are writtenin Article 69.... You are playingwith the security of the coun-try. That is what you have donejust now”.

������ ������� �����

Even as it is getting ready toface the people with hopes

of getting another mandate forfive years, the Narendra ModiGovernment has come acrossa major embarrassment in theform of a report by All IndiaManufacturers’ Organisation,the 76-year-old establishmentfounded by Bharat Ratna MVisvesvaraya .

An all India survey held bythe AIMO in October 2018 hasfound that more than 35 lakhpeople working in the traders,micro, small and mediumenterprises (TMSM) have losttheir jobs during the last fouryears and six months.

“Self-employed categoriessuch as tailors, cobblers, bar-bers, plumbers, masons, elec-tricians have been eliminatedduring the last four and halfyears,” said KE Raghunathan,president, AIMO.

Though the ModiGovernment came to power inMay 2014 with the promise ofrejuvenation and resuscitationof the TMSM segment, thebackbone of Indian economy,what has happened is the oppo-site as many units across thelength and breadth of the coun-try downed their shutters due

to a host of reasons, saidRaghunathan.

“The year 2015-16 saw agrowth in all areas of businessdue to high sentiments andexpectations from the newleadership. It went down nextyear due to demonetisation

and then again due to GST andthen due to non-availability offinance and higher outstand-ing with Government pay-ments and compliance mat-ters,” said Raghunathan, anentrepreneur based inChennai.

����� ��� �� ��������

Sushil Kumar Sharma, theformer president of Delhi

Youth Congress, who was con-victed for the murder of hiswife Naina Sahni, was set freeby the Delhi High Court onFriday.

The court ordered “forth-with” release of Sharma, serv-ing life term for the murder ofhis wife Naina in 1995. Sharmahas already undergone overtwo decades of incarceration inthe case.

A Bench of JusticesSiddharth Mridul and SangitaDhingra Sehgal passed theorder. Now 56, Sharma hadshot dead his wife in 1995,objecting to her alleged rela-tionship with a male friend.

On the night of July 2,1995, Sushil came home andsaw Naina talking on the phoneand consuming alcohol. Nainaon seeing Sushil hung up.Sushil redialed the phone tofind her alleged boyfriend onthe other end. Enraged hefatally shot Naina. He had thenchopped her body into piecesand attempted to dispose it offin a tandoor (clay oven) ofBaghia restaurant which heowned.

Detailed story on P3

������� ���

Benchmark equity indiceswitnessed heavy selloff on

Friday after investors bookedprofits in realty, banking, ITand auto bluechips amid weaksignals from global markets.

The BSE Sensex plunged689.60 points, or 1.89 per cent,to 35,742.07, while the NSENifty slipped 197.70 points, or1.81 per cent, to 10,754.

The 30-share index endedthe week 527.93 points lower,and the broader Nifty lost 134points. The equity market wit-nessed selling ahead of theweekend, mainly due to fears oflower global economic growthin the coming year, said JosephThomas, Head Research-Emkay Wealth Management.

Concerns over the rupeealso loomed over IT and techstocks, analysts said.

The biggest losers of thesession include Reliance,Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank,HDFC twins, ITC, Maruti,L&T, HUL, Axis Bank, Wiproand IndusInd Bank, crackingup to 4 per cent. NTPC,PowerGrid and Coal Indiawere the only gainers onSensex, rising up to 1 per cent.

Detailed report on P10

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Aheadmaster of aGovernment school in the

Sundargarh district is now insoup for allegedly dancing withgirl students on the schoolpremises recently.

The District EducationOfficer has ordered an inquiryinto the matter.

The BEO of Hemgiri blockwent to school on Friday andthe inquiry into the matter willbe conducted by the BEO andthe ADEO on Saturday in theschool.

According to sources, DilipNaik works as headmaster inKanika High School underHemgiri block of Sundargarhdistrict. On Sunday last, aparty had been organised joint-ly by the teachers and the stu-dents in the school premises.

After the party was over,

when the girl students dancedwith the tune of DJ music,headmaster Naik allegedlyjoined them and also dancedwith the girl students. Later,when the video of headmasterdancing with girl students wentviral, locals had protested it.Some villagers recently went toschool and sought an explana-tion from Naik.

On the other hand, head-master Naik has admitted theincident.” Since Sunday washoliday, a party was conduct-ed jointly by teachers and stu-dents in school premises.When the girl students weredancing with the tune of DJmusic, they dragged me todance,” Naik explained.

Meanwhile, Hemgiri BEOSurendra Sahu stated, “As perthe direction of DEO, I hadgone to school on Friday for aninquiry. ADEO and myself willconduct enquiry in school onSaturday. If we find the HMguilty, action will be takenagainst him.”

Significantly, there is anallegation that headmaster Naikusually comes to school ininebriated condition and takesclass in school but still he hasbeen continuing as headmasterof this school.

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After his scheduled visit toOdisha on December 24,

Prime Minister NarendraModi is likely to visit theState twice in January nextahead of the 2019 generalelections.

Sources said Modi wouldattend a programme atBaripada on January 5 andanother in western Odishaon January 16.

Besides the PM, BJPnational president Amit Shahis also likely to visit Odisha inJanuary next.

The BJP big bosses’ seriesof Odisha visits prior to thegeneral elections indicate theparty’s focus on the State,particularly in the wake of itsdebacle in the recent Assemblypolls in Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh.

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Amid opposition parties’demand for waiving of farm

loans, the State Cabinet, instead,on Friday approved a Rs 10,000-crore scheme named ‘KrushakAssistance for Livelihood andIncome Augmentation

(KALIA)’ to provide financial,livelihood, cultivation andinsurance supports to farmersfor three years till 2020-21.

“The sharpest decline inpoverty levels in the countryhas happened in Odisha. Nearly8 million people have been lift-ed out of poverty. About 60 per

cent of our population is depen-dent on agriculture. With ourintervention, from a rice deficitState, we have become the 3rdlargest contributors to the PDS.Bagging a record five KrishiKarman Awards, we are the

only State in the country to havedoubled farmers’ income. In2014, we promised an addi-tional 10 lakh hectares of irri-gation and we are almost there.This target will be met byMarch 2019.”

The Millet Mission is anexample of an initiative havinginclusion and equity primari-ly targeting upland areas.

To further accelerate agri-cultural prosperity in the Stateand to reduce poverty, theState Cabinet has todayapproved, the historic “KrushakAssistance for Livelihood andIncome Augmentation” –KALIA Scheme, amounting toover 10,000 crores,” ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik toldreporters after presiding overthe Cabinet mee ting.

He termed the scheme his-toric saying that it would coveralmost 92 per cent of the culti-vators and almost all landlessagricultural labourers. There areabout 32 lakh cultivators in theState. Out of this, about 20 lakhhave availed crop loans, leavinga balance of 12 lakh farmers who

have not availed crop loans. Outof the 20 lakh loanee farmers,about 60 per cent have regular-ly repaid the loans. Further, theentire gamut of sharecroppersand landless labourers will not becovered under a loan waiverscheme, Patnaik pointed out andsaid, “In this context, KALIAscheme covers 92 per cent of thecultivators, loanee, as well as non-loanee farmers, sharecroppersand landless agriculture labour-ers. It also specifically takes careof vulnerable agricultural fami-lies identified through GramPanchayats and crop loans up toRs 50,000 are made available at0 per cent interest,”

“KALIA is progressive,inclusive and will make a directattack on poverty by way ofmassive investment in this sec-tor and making benefits reachthe neediest through Direct

Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode,”said Patnaik.

The KALIA scheme has 5interventions:

It would provide support tocultivators for cultivation. All thesmall and marginal farmers of theState (over 30 lakh) will be givenRs 5,000 each for Kharif and Rabiseasons. This will cover 92 percent of the cultivators. Further,this assistance is for five croppingseasons spanning three yearsfrom 2018-19 to 2021-22 so as toensure comprehensive coverage.

It would provide liveli-hood support to 10 lakh land-less households, who would beprovided Rs 12,500 to take upone of the activities like smallgoat rearing units, mini layerunits, duckery units, fisherykits for fishermen and women,mushroom cultivation and beekeeping. Among others, this

will particularly benefitScheduled Caste and ScheduledTribe households.

The scheme targets to pro-vide financial assistance to 10lakh vulnerable agriculturehouseholds and landless labour-ers in cases of old age, disabili-ty, disease or other reasons. Anannual financial assistance of Rs10,000 per household will beprovided to take care of theirsustenance. Deserving familieswill be identified and selected bygram panchayats.

Besides, the scheme wouldprovide insurance cover offarmers. Life Insurance cover ofRs 2 lakh and additional per-sonal accident cover of Rs 2lakh will be provided to culti-vators and landless agricultur-al labourers covering about 57lakh households.

Continued on page 4

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State Congress presidentNiranjan Patnaik on Friday

brought several allegationsagainst the Naveen Patnaik-ledBJD Government in the Stateand the Narendra Modi-head-ed Government at the Centre.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here, Niranjan Patnaiksaid the dalits, tribals, farmersand the poor in the State aresuffering a lot in the hands ofthe BJD Government.

“What happened to ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik’sassurance to farmers of pro-viding additional bonus of Rs100 per quintal of paddy,” hedemanded to know. He alsodemanded an explanationfrom the State Governmentfor the delay in implementa-tion of the SwaminathanCommittee report on farmers’problems.

The Chief Minister musttell people the number of jobshis Government has createdsince the BJD came to power in

2000, the PCC chief said.Claiming that over 40 lakh

unemployed youths are on theverge of migrating to otherStates in search of jobs,Niranjan Patnaik alleged thatthe Odisha Government hasfailed to ensure social and eco-nomic justice for people of theState.

Patnaik also accused theModi Government of betrayingfarmers as it has failed to liveup to its promise of fixing MSP

at 50 per cent over the cost offarm production.

Modi, while campaigningfor the last Lok Sabha elections,had promised to bring backblack money from abroad anddeposit Rs 15 lakh of it in everycitizen's bank account. Butwhat happened to his bravado,Patnaik asked.

Modi has also betrayedpeople as he has failed to fulfilhis promise of providing twocrore jobs every year, he said.

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The Freethought Party ofIndia (FPI) has demanded

a total abolition of the NOTA(No One from the Above) sys-tem that has wasted 1.3 per centof votes in Rajasthan, 1.5 percent of votes in MP, 2.1 per centof votes in Chhattisgarh, 1.1 percent of votes in Telengana and0.5 per cent of votes inMizoram and full length intro-duction of the German brandof Mixed ProportionalRepresentation (PR) system ofelection.

It pointed out that in a rep-resentative democracy each votecast should be equally weighed.No vote should be wasted. Eachpolitical party should have “rep-resentation” as per the percent-age of votes that it has obtainedfrom the voters. A voter has tochoose according to his likingthe best among the existing can-

didates. He should not waste hisvote over NOTA.

It said both the Congressand the BJP polled 78.1per centof the votes and they capturedmore than 172 seats in theRajasthan Assembly of 199.The two parties captured 86.4per cent seats. “This is a case ofgross political injustice to otherpolitical parties and the wholelot of Independents. In MP, theBSP got 5 per cent of the votescast. But it got only 2 seats. Hadthere been the PR system, theBSP could have got 11 seats, not2 seats,” it said.

The Independent candi-dates got 9.5 per cent of votesand they should have got at least19 seats instead of only 4 inRajasthan. Same is the case inother States like MP,Chhattisgarh, Telengana andMizoram. In the State ofTelangana the TRS got 88 seatsagainst 46.9 per cent votes.The party has been hugelyover-represented in TelenganaAssembly of 119 members. Ifthere was PR system of SouthAfrica model, the party would

have got only 55 seats. But it hasgot 33 seats in excess of its law-ful claim. The Congress led byRahul Gandhi has suffered a lotin Telangana because of theFPTP system of election. Itshould have got 34 seats as it haspolled 28.4 per cent of votes.But it got only 19 seats, 15 seatsless than its legitimate share.The same instance of under-representation for the Congresshas also happened in Mizoram.So is the case for the BJP in theStates of Telangana andMizoram, the FPI said.

The party also opined thatthe elections to the five StateAssemblies should have beenconducted on a single day andcounting of votes should havebeen done soon after the vot-ing was over as it is the prac-tice in countries like Germany,the USA, the UK and Canada.Expenditure on the conduct ofelections should also have beenvery less.

FPI general secretary BRamchandra CST Voltaire saidthe NOTA option is neitherethically nor legally tenable.

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As many as thirty nationaland international cyclists

have covered 1,300 kilometresin 13 days from Bhubaneswarto Koraput.

The cyclists, under thebanner of the Roots of OdishaFoundation, undertook thejourney from Bhubaneswar onDecember 8 after GovernorGaneshi Lal flagged off theirexpedition and reachedBhubaneswar on Thursday.

The cyclists pedalledthrough Bhubaneswar, Konark,Puri, Satapada, Brahmapur,Chandragiri, Paralakhmundiand Rayagada. They returnedto Bhubaneswar via Rayagada,Belghar, Phulbani, Nayagarhand Khordha.

“It was a tough journey.There was snowfall-like situa-tion and we faced CyclonePhetai. However, our teammembers overcame the diffi-culties with indomitablecourage,” Sudhir Kumar Dash,founder of Roots of OdishaFoundation, said on Friday.

The cyclists were over-whelmed by the pristine beau-ty of the nature along their way.

“The Puri-Konark marinedrive, the Chilika lagoon, themountain terrains of theEastern Ghat, the Tibetan cul-ture, the tribal culture and thelush-green forests have tremen-dous potentials to be a corridorfor cycling tour and adventure.The leadership and citizens’forums should work collec-tively for promotion of Odisha’stourism potentials,” said Dash.

Yogendra Singh fromHaryana, who has participatedin many international cyclingexpeditions, said Odisha hasenchanting spots and ecosys-tems that can match the world’sbest tourism destinations.

Lt Col Parminder Kaurfrom Delhi and Sonali Sahoo ofOdisha, the two women mem-bers of the team, said the vir-gin serenity of Koraput andRayagada is simply unmatch-able and has every potential forthe world’s best ecotourism.

Upon their return, thecyclists were felicitated byBhubaneswar North MLAPriyadarshi Mishra, India’s for-mer 100-m hurdle race queenAnuradha Biswal, industrialistBadri Narayan Pattanaik, socialactivist Badri Narayan Mishra,sand artist Manas Sahoo, ex-Vice-Chancellor of TirupatiSanskrit UniversityHarekrishna Satapthy andCongress State vice-presidentAryakumar Jnanendra.

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Sir,

I would like to bring to the notice of the authorities theplight of people standing in front of the Vani Vihar bus-stop.We have buses coming one after the other and making an entryinto the bus-stop. There is a bus-stop for city buses just afterthe intersection for the passengers to alight. This, I feel, is adisaster waiting to happen. When more than one city busescome, they stop haphazardly. People scramble to get into thesebuses and it is a mad rush during peak hours. It is also a night-mare for the elderly competing with other commuters. Thebuses stopping haphazardly next to each other or behind eachother escalate the confusion. We should have designated stopsfor the city buses after they cross the sub-urban bus stand asit would clear a lot of crowd caused due to this confusion atthe intersection and create more space. I urge the authoritiesconcerned to look into this pressing issue at the earliest andfind an alternative.

K Ravi, E-237, GGP Colony, Bhubaneswar-751025, Mob:9437616497

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Prime Minister NarendraModi would lay the foun-

dation stones of Indian Oil’s1212-km Paradip-Hyderabadpipeline project and the GAIL’sBokaro-Angul section of theJagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline (JHBDPL)during his visit to IIT,Bhubaneswar on December24, announced IOCL andGAIL India at a press meet hereon Friday.

Indian Oil SERPL ED PCChauby and CGM I/C PritishBharat and GAIL CGM SKPathak and IOCL CorporateCommunications SeniorManager Srinivash Patraaddress the Press meet.

The total project cost ofthese two pipeline projectswould be Rs 7,200 crore andwill be completed in two years.

Chauby said delivery ofpetroleum products to impor-tant consumption centres in theregion will be achieved in asafer, more reliable, environ-ment-friendly and cost effectivemanner after completion of theunderground Hyderabad-Paradip pipeline project.

Pathak said the GAILpipeline project would benefit

a large population in the dis-tricts enroute with clean andgreen fuel in the form of house-hold PNG connection andestablishment of CNG stationresulting in easy accessibility tocooking fuel to thousands ofhouseholds and reducingvehicular pollution. Further, itwill also cater the energydemands of steel, refractories,aluminum and other industriesen-route the pipeline, besidesgenerating employment oppor-tunities for thousands of localyouth".

The Paradip-HyderabadPipeline project involves layingof 1,212 km pipeline fromParadip to Hyderabad, tra-versing through 16 districts inthe States of Odisha (six dis-tricts), Andhra Pradesh (sixdistricts) and Telangana (fourdistricts). Correspondinglength of pipeline route inOdisha, Andhra Pradesh andTelangana is 330 km, 722 kmand 160 km, respectively. Atotal of Rs 3,808 crore is esti-mated to be spent.

Similarly, the GAIL’sBokaro – Angul sectionpipeline would have a totallength of 667 km, of which 367km will be in Odisha and 300km in Jharkhand. It will coverfive districts in Odisha (Angul,Sundargarh, Jharsuguda,Sambalpur and Debagarh) andsix districts in Jharkhand

The project cost of this sec-tion will be approximately Rs3,400 crore.

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AState-level consultation foradolescent health was

organised by the VoluntaryHealth Association of India(VHAI) here on Friday.

The meeting chaired byOdisha State Commission forProtection of Child Rights(SCPCR) ChairpersonSandhyabati Pradhan wasgraced by State Commissionfor Women memberSnehanjali Mohanty, SCPCR

Member Harihar Nayak,NHM’s Bonani Samal,OPEPA’s Lahari Mohanty,CEDPA State head AshokNayak, VHAI coordinatorDebananda Mohanta asguests.

Civil society members,frontline health workers andadolescents from Khallikotein Ganjam district participat-ed.

Speakers spoke on the issuerelated to adolescent healthand how to stop child marriage.They highlighted the impor-tance of Government pro-gramems like SAKHI andKHUSI, in helping adolescentschool going girls in main-taining good health and resolv-ing hygienic issues.

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Responding to UnionPetroleum Minister

Dharmendra Pradhan’s letterregarding opening of a 50-bedAyush Hospital in Baleswar,Union Minister of State forAyush Shripad Naik blamedthe Odisha Government fordelaying the process.

Naik alleged that the StateGovernment is yet to submitthe physical and financialprogress of previously-approved 50-bed integratedAyush Hospitals at Dhenkanal

and Brahampur.Acting on a petition sub-

mitted by Remuna MLAGobinda Chandra Das, UnionMinister Pradhan had onNovember 12 written a letter toNaik stating, “The StateGovernment of Odisha hasalready submitted NationalAyush Mission (NAM) actionplan to the Ministry of Ayushfor sanction. However, the sanc-tion order has not been released.My request is to accord sanctionfor opening of a 50-bed AyushHospital in Baleswar.”

After examining the mat-

ter, Naik stated that theMinistry of Ayush had sanc-tioned Rs 5 crore during 2016-17 and Rs 3 crore during 2017-18 for setting up of two unitsof 50-bed integrated AYUSH atDhenkanal and Brahmapur.

Naik, in his letter, alsomentioned that the StateGovernment has submitted aproposal of setting up of up to50-bed integrated AyushHospital at Baleswar throughthe State Annual Action Planunder NAM guidelines to theMinistry of Ayush during 2018-19.

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The Department of Posts awarded as manyas 10 students each from Classes VI to IX

under its Deen Dayal Scholarship for Promotionof Aptitude and Research in Stamps as aHobby(SPARSH) Yojana, aimed towardsincreasing the reach of philately among studentshere on Friday.

Chief guest former Odisha Chief SecretarySahadeva Sahoo felicitated the students withan amount of scholarship of Rs 6,000 and a cer-tificate to each student for the year 2018-19 inthe presence of Chief Post Master General,Odisha Circle, Dr Santosh Kumar Kamila.

Among others, Post Master General,Brahmapur Region Jaleswar Kanhar, PostMaster General, Sambalpur Region LalitenduPradhan, Director Postal Services

(Headquarters) G Gurunathan and Director ofAccounts (Postal) Lopamudra Mohanty werepresent.

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After a few days’ lull,Maoists again went on the

rampage by torching a JCBmachine at Patraput inBandaghati village near theAndhra-Odisha border in thedistrict late on Thursdaynight.

According to reports,armed rebels swooped downon the camp of the construc-tion company and set fire tothe JCB machine atBandaghati village protest-ing the ongoing Goiguda toBhojiguda road constructionwork.

The ultras also warned theworkers at the spot and shout-ed slogans before leaving thespot.

While the incident hastriggered panic in the area, thepolice are yet to reach thespot. The ultras have beenopposing any developmentwork in the extremist-infest-ed districts.

Earlier, in February 2017,the ultras had torched tenvehicles including four trac-tors, JCB machine and fourmotorcycles in Rayagada’sKalyansinghpur blockprotest ing Melkojoba-Niyamgiri road constructionwork at Narengtola village.

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In order to promote artand culture of Kalahandi

region, the Vedanta Limitedsupported the Dhokra artproject in Kankeri village,where 31 artisans are gettingtraining on the traditionalart form.

To mark the occasion ofthe Handicraft Week 2018,which was he ld f romDecember 8 to 15 and con-ducted by District IndustriesC entre (DIC) ,Bhawanipatna, in associa-t ion with Direc tor of

Handicraf t and CottageIndustries, Bhubaneswar, theVedanta Limited, Lanjigarh,organised the artisan carddistribution programme forDhokra artisans at Kankerivillage.

Supported by MahashaktiFoundation and DIC,Bhawanipatna, 22 artisancards were distributed to theDhokra artists, of which eightwere women. A sensitizationcum awareness programmewas also conducted by DIC,Bhawanipatna, in associationwith Director of Industries,Cuttack, wherein a detailed

information was shared tothe Dhokra artisans aboutGovernment’s schemes foravailability of loans etc. andbenefits of the artisan cards.Artisan cards would help theartisans during product exhi-bitions across the country,and in availing Governmentsops.

Present on the occasionwere D eb adutt a D ash ,AGM-DIC, Swet aUpadhayay, Deputy-ChiefCommunity DevelopmentOfficer, Ajit Kumar Mitra,AGM-Power Plant, amongothers.

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The Institute of HealthSciences organised a

media workshop on preven-tion of disability here onThursday.

Chief guest Social Security

and Empowerment of Personswith Disabilities (SSEPD)Minister Prafulla Samaladdressing the gathering spokeabout different Governmentalschemes for the persons withdisabilities (PwDs). He alsosaid steps are being taken forwelfare of PwDs across theState in association withGovernment and non-Government organisations.

SSEPD Secretary NitenChandra urged for awareness

among people about the dif-ferent disabilities and theirpreventive measures. He saidchildren should be taken to theconcerned centres for vacci-nation at the starting stages tocurb the disabilities.

Institute of Health

Sciences founder Prof SatyaMahapatra said the percentageof disabilities in the world ison the increase and there is aneed of sensitisation amongpeople about different dis-abilities which are formedthrough different deformi-ties. Samal awarded a childwho was cured in the instituteand has been in the main-stream of the society now.Naliti Mohanty coordinatedthe programme.

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The Vigilance police onFriday raided the office

and houses of Jamapada Girls’High School teacher RanjanKumar Nayak in Kendrapadadistrict on the charge of acqui-sition and possession of prop-erties disproportionate to hisknown sources of income.

Separate teams of the anti-graft wing conducted simulta-

neous raids at four places,including Nayak’s house atKalapada, in-laws’ house atBahakandia and his chamber inthe girls’ high school and broth-er-in-law’s house at Jamapada.

During the search, theVigilance sleuths have so farseized properties including 500grams of gold, a car, two motor-cycles, five trucks worth overRs 1.5 crore, said Vigilance DSPSurendra Nath Raiguru.

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AClass-X student wascrushed to death by a train

near Gosala Chhak here onFriday. The deceased was iden-tified as Sagar, son of oneRabindra Behera of Ward-17here.

Sagar, a student of theMKC High School, was cross-ing the railway track on his wayto his tuition class when theBalasore-Bangiriposi DEMUran over him, killing him on thespot.

On getting information,the Baripada police and theGovernment Railway Police(GRP) reached the spot, sentthe boy’s body to the PanditRaghunath Murmu MedicalCollege Hospital for post-mortem.

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The ban on entry of goodsladen heavy vehicle to

Jagatsinghpur town duringdaytime seems to have few tak-ers here.

Reports said since thegoods laden trucks, mainlythose carrying sands fromAlipingala Ghat in the Deviriver, were causing inconve-niences in Jagatsinghpur town,the district administration hasimposed a ban on their entry.

As per the order, no sandladen truck can enter the townfrom 9 am to till evening toensure smooth traffic. But theban has a lukewarm response.

Reports said that a majormishap was avoided atGalupada Bazar on theJagatsinghpur-Alipingal roadon Wednesday when a heavytruck carrying sands hit a road-side electric pole. The pole withlive wire fell on the road and

the traffic movement was ter-minated for a few hours.

After the incident, localsconverged at the spot andresorted to a road blockadeclaiming a ban on sand ladentruck plying on the Alipingaroad. The police and civiladministration officials rushedto the spot and pacified theirate public.

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The Digapahandi policenabbed another notorious

criminal, Jay Pradhan, after anencounter at the ChangudideiHill in Digapahandi block ofGanjam district late onThursday night.

On a tipoff about themovement of Pradhan and oneof his associates in the area, aspecial team of the police laida trap to nab the miscreants.

Subsequently spotting the

police team on the spot,Pradhan opened fire at the copsand tried to flee from the spot.

In retaliation, police firedback at Pradhan, injuring himon his left leg. However,Pradhan’s associate managed togive the cops a slip.

Pradhan was initiallyadmitted to the Digapahandihealth centre and was latershifted to the MKCG Medical

College Hospital in Brahmapurafter his condition deteriorat-ed, said sources.

Three police personnel,including the Digapahandi PSInspector-in-Charge, wereinjured in the gunfight withcriminals. Police seized a coun-try-made gun, a few bombs,explosives and a bike fromPradhan’s possession.

More than 20 cases ofdacoity, drug trading, murderand kidnapping are pending atvarious police stations inGanjam and Khordha districtsagainst Pradhan’s name. Amanhunt has been launched tonab Pradhan’s associate, whoescaped the police dragnet,informed a police official.

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To supply the dry Prasad ofLord Jagannath to devotees,

the MSME Department hasurged the Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA)to open an outlet at the BijuPatnaik International Airport(BPIA) here.

Large numbers of devotees,who are visiting Bhubaneswarare often enquiring about ‘DryPrsad’ of Lord Jagannath at theairport and getting disheart-ened as there is no such facil-ity here, MSME ACS LN Guptamentioned this in his letter toSJTA chief Pradipta KumarMohapatra.

Stating that the ‘Dry Prsad’

is high in demand among peo-ple across the world, Guptasuggested to Mohapatra toopen a ‘Dry Prasad’ counter atthe BPIA passenger lounge. ASevayat of Suar Nijogo cab beallowed to open such an outlet,he suggested.

Gupta said such a facility

will not only meetthe demand of pas-sengers but alsoenhance income ofSevayats.

Recently, inorder to promoteOdisha’s Rasagola, aretail centre has beenopened at the BPIAby Bikalananda Kargroup. varieties ofRasagola likeK h i r a m o h a nRasagola, ChocolateRasagola, OrangeRasagola, Keshar

Rasagola and around 15 othersweets like Khajuri Barfi,Khajuri Guda Sandesh, KajuBarfi, Chumchum, GulabJamun and Rajbhog are beingsold at the counter, which isopen for 24X7 hours. Sellinghas already crossed Rs 25,000per day, said sources.

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Afive-member team of theCentral Pollution Control

Board headed by its RegionalDirector Ramesh Saxena visit-ed Subarnarekha river bank toinspect the illegal sand miningthrough hi-tech machines fromthe river beds after the NGTgave its verdict acting on a PILto stop the activities whichthreatened the ecology of theregion.

The team visited Bilaspur,Makadia, Kuanrpur, DakhinPraharjpur villages, Sub-Collector Baleswar Sadar NiluMohapatra, Tehsildar JaleswarAbhimanyu Panda with othersenior officials.

They assessed the damagesinflicted by the drawing of

sand from the river bedsthrough machines on the riverwater, besides pollution and thethreat faced by the nearbyhabitation.

It may be noted the NGTon September 4 had directedthe authorities includingPollution Board to work outplans and measures to stop thesand lifting within threemonths.

Sudarshan Das, the peti-tioner, said the authoritiesshould have acted withinDecember 4 following the ver-dict. It is delayed by two weeks.

“Not only the NGT direct-ed to stop illegal extraction ofsand, it also asked to imposepenalty on the violators andfurther compensation to thepersons affected with the min-ing,” said Das.

On November 17, the dis-trict administration after car-rying out a raid had seized a

sump machine, five sand ladenvehicles and other machineries.

The raid headed by SubCollector Mohapatra was con-ducted on a sand quarry patchat Mohammadnagar Patna areain Jaleswar block with theassistance of police force.

It was conducted on theallegations of violation of min-ing rules. Quarrying sand bysump machine is illegal underthe mining rule. In violationto it the method was used bya lease holder. Earlier, WestBengal sand traders used toadopt the method but now theleasees of Odisha too areusing.

The NGT has banned suchmethod of sand lifting fromriver bed. Such large scale ille-gal and unscientific miningcan directly impact the ecolo-gy of the river since sand canbe siphoned even below 60 feetdeep.

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The Jeypore police arrestedhardcore criminal SK Javed

Akhtar after an encounter nearIrrigation Colony in Jeyporetown late on Thursday night.

A Jeypore Town police team,after receiving an input about themovement of Akhtar and hisassociates in the locality, rushedto the spot. Spotting the cops,Akhtar and his two associatesopened fire at them. However,police fired back in retaliationand managed to nab Akhtarwhile his associates managed toescape.

Several criminal cases,including murder, are pendingagainst Akhtar in the Jeyporepolice station. Besides, policesources claimed that Akhtarwas involved in several kid-napping cases.

“Akhtar was one of the most-wanted criminals. He had oncefled from the court too. Theother two anti-socials managedto flee the spot even though wechased them,” said Jepore TownPS IIC Baleswar Gidhi. Policeseized a country-made gun, twolive bullets and a mobile phonefrom Akhtar’s possession.

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The Sahadevkhunta policehere apprehended five mis-

creants of Baleswar, Bhadrakand Mayurbhanj districts whenthey were planning to commitrobbery on Thursday night andseized a knife and house lockbreaking devices along with themap of a house in Angargadiafrom them.

Sahadevkhunta police sta-tion IIC Subhransu SekharNayak said that getting a tipoff,the police conducted a raid onthe criminals’ gang when theywere planning to commit rob-bery on a house with the helpof a map at Balikuta Sahi. Theywould be forwarded to courtafter being booked underSections 399 and 402 of IPC and25 of Arms Act, added Nayak.

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AManager of the UtkalGramya Bank was shot at

by two miscreants inside thebank at Titilagarh here in thedistrict on Friday afternoon.

The seriously-injured man-ager, identified as Koshal Dora,was rushed to the localCommunity Health Centre andlater shifted to the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital as hiscondition worsened.

According to reports, themiscreants wearing masksentered into the rural banklocated at Bijepur reportedlyfor loot and opened fire at themanager, who sustainedinjuries on his stomach andthigh.

“Two persons came andinquired about bank loans. Itold them at present the PCAis in force in the bank for whichwe cannot provide loans. Weare only offering gold loan.They inquired the criteriaabout the opening bankaccount and asked me for aform to open an account.When I told them to cometomorrow, they shot at me,”said Dora while being taken tothe hospital.

However, it is yet to beascertained the amount of cashlooted by the miscreants fromthe bank.

It would be ascertainedafter a probe whether the man-ager was shot at over personalenmity or bank loot, policesaid.

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The District Child ProtectionUnit (DCPU) on Thursday

lodged an FIR at theJagatsinghpur police stationagainst the Maa Ambika SCand ST Residential School atSidhala, 8 km from here, alleg-ing that the lack of infrastruc-tures and other necessities isaffecting the inmates’ daily life.

Notably, 186 studentsbelonging SCs and STs havebeen residing in the school.

On a verification conduct-ed by the DCPU, it was foundthat the school lacks mini-mum infrastructures like bath-room, drinking water andlatrine for students. Even theschool has no boundary walland the inmates are deprived ofsufficient foods, clothes andbooks.

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Farm loan waiver is not serv-ing a vast section of real dis-

tressed farmers in the absenceof a proper identificationmechanism. Largely, the landowning farmers have been thebiggest beneficiaries of theloan write-off where the smalland marginal farmers and spe-cially the sharecroppers, tribaland Dalit farmers, haveabsolutely no stake.

This section of farmers isnot yet being officially recog-nised as farmers, and thus theyhave very minimal access toinstitutional credit, and alsogetting a host of other facilitiesprovided by the Governmentunder different subsidiesschemes. They usually dependon non-institutional informalcredit sources available in ruralareas to meet the expenses ofseasonal demand of agricul-tural activities.

Studies in Odisha haveobserved that about 70 per cent

of the farmer suicides arelinked to sharecropping andlack of institutional credit andmostly, this section of farmersis from the marginalised socialgroups. It is fact that more than70 per cent of the land is cul-tivated under sharecroppingin the State by small farmersbecause mostly the land own-ers are absentee farmers whoserve elsewhere in some othermore profitable avenues otherthan agriculture but when itcomes to benefit sharing out ofState fund, they are the onewho have been taking a lion’sshare of the agriculture budgetin form of agriculture input

subside, crop insurance, MSPand low interest loan and final-ly loan waver.

Both the Central and theState Governments have beenconsistently increasing the agri-culture budget where a majorshare is being spent to benefita limited small section of peo-ple in the name of agriculturedevelopment and to mitigatethe agrarian crisis but in real-ity the real farmers are out ofreach of the benefit sharingprocess due to faulty policy ofthe Government in recognizingthe farmers and the wholeprocess of benefit transformmechanism where land own-ership has been put as a basiccriteria to access any sops.

But for past few years loanwaiver has become a populistslogan of all political parties,irrespective of ideological com-mitments and informed under-standing without assessing itsimpact over the last man inagrarian crisis.

Loan waiver has been seenas a potential solution to mit-igate the agrarian crisis byreducing the burden of thefarmers struggling with distresssale and crop loss due to nat-

ural calamities and to face theincreasing cost of agricultureproduction. The impact of loanwaiver needs to be assessed tosee if it has brought upon anyreal change in life of the farm-ers in a crisis.

In the context of Odisha,the tribal farmers those whocultivate Government land,forest land, having no record ofrights over the land are not yetrecognized as farmers.Similarly, a vast section ofDalit sharecroppers, agricultureworkers, who are cultivatingland of absentee land lords andtemple and mutt land for gen-erations are not yet recog-nized. The most backward classsmall and marginal farmersthose who cultivate their ownland along with sharecroppingare neglected the most. Thesesections of farmers never visitany Mandi to sale their paddy.They primarily depend onlocal traders and moneylenders to meet their urgentneed. They are subjected toexploitative conditions and facedistress sale due to lack of stor-age and transportation facili-ties.

The so-called farmer lead-

ers belong to land owningupper caste and self-pro-claimed farmers organizationsin Odisha never spoke of theissues of real farmers of mar-ginalized sections and for agri-culture development. Rather,always they used the Adivasiand Dalit farmers to organizetheir protest rallies for politicalmileage and deliberately avoid-ed the demands of real farmerssuch as tribal and Dalit farm-ers and sharecroppers in dis-tress. Since independence, thepersistent issues of landreforms, record of rights, ten-ancy protection, survey andsettlement, consolidation ofholdings, land development,creation of land, irrigation,electricity, agriculture infra-structure development such ascold storage, marketing of agro-products, farmer cooperativepromotion, local institutionalcredit and insurance, seedsand manure and many morecontemporary challenges afterglobalisation have never beenseriously addressed by theGovernment and not properlyraised by the farmer move-ments to bring structuralchanges in agriculture sector of

the State.The most neglected sec-

tions in agriculture sector arethe agriculture workers, share-croppers and informal farmerssuch as women farmers, Dalitand Adivasi farmers whosespecific issues are not reflect-ed in policy bodies andGovernment schemes and pro-grammes. The political partiesand their farmer fronts servethe interest of the land owningfarmers of the village who con-stitute the core supporter of theruling parties in mobilizationof votes during elections. Thesocial composition of the lead-ership has not changed withinclusion of leaders from mar-ginalized sections and theirspecific issues.

Sometimes the issues ofagricultural workers and theirwelfare such as subsidies rice atRs1 and hike in minimumwage are seen as non –con-ducive to agriculture produc-tion on the plea of increasingof production cost. The tenan-cy protection legislation in theinterest of the sharecroppersalso is seen as a threat to landowning class’s legal ownershipover land and thus is discour-

aged by land owning class togive a formal recognition tosharecroppers to get their gen-uine dues from theGovernment.

The issues of agriculturalworkers and share croppersmust be seen as a part of theoverall agrarian crisis. In aState such as Odisha, the issuesof agriculture production, itsdistribution and ownership arelargely linked to social justiceand inclusive development.The continued negligence ofreal farmers of has ramifica-tions over its production andoverall development of the sec-tor and its economy.

This has paved the way fordistress migration of agricul-tural workers and sharecrop-pers. A close look to the Stateagriculture budget shows thata major portion of it is spent oninput subsidy on seed, fertiliz-er, bio fertilizer, insecticide, bio-pesticide in agriculture andhorticulture, popularization ofagricultural implements, equip-ment and diesel pump sets,subsidy for capital investment,interest subvention to the coop-erative banks and PAC forproviding crop loan to the

farmers.The rural formal credit

institutions, banks, coopera-tives, etc have insignificantpresence in interior partsespecially tribal areas. Themajority of farmers are assets-less and illiterate without for-mal access to banking systemand loan schemes with provi-sion of collateral security ofgold and land. The womenself-help groups developed inrural areas are involved inmoney lending business andusually they charge a veryhigher rate of interest. Thecooperatives are run withcontrol of the ruling partiesand their supporters havebeen succeeded in getting abig share of the loans and ben-efits.

The loan waiver out ofpublic fund must be equallyallocated to all, sections of thepeople involved in agriculturerather than benefiting a fewsections of people. Needless tosay, the Government must ini-tiate an identification processto recognize the real farmers indistress.

([email protected])

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Even as 16 months havepassed since the

Government took a decisionto establish a logistic park(Transport Nagar) in the cityto accommodate heavy goodsvehicles and check traffic con-gestion and accidents, theproject has remained a non-starter for unavailability ofland from the BDA and theIdco, much to the worry oftransporters and commondenizens.

According to information,the BDA/Idco was in August2017 entrusted the job of iden-tifying and providing a 100-acre land for establishment ofa logistic park. However, theyhave not yet provided land tothe department.

A BDA official said a patchof 100 acres of land had beenidentified along the Chandaka-Pitapali road first. As localsopposed the proposal, no deci-sion was taken. Now, threelocations, one having 80 acresof land, second of over 135acres and third of about 300

acres, along the Chandaka-Pitapali road have been iden-tified and the Khorda districtCollector has been asked tohand over one of the threeidentified patches of land to theIdco.

“Logistic Park or trans-port nagar is one kind of smallSEZs where all goods truckswill be parked and productswill be stored in godowns andcold storages availed there.From there, goods and prod-ucts would be transported tocities through mini trucks andother permissible vehicles sothat traffic congestion will bereduced and products will bereaching shops in cities anytime in the day. Besides, acci-dents would be checked,” saidBhubaneswar Goods TransportAssociation president NiranjanPraharaj.

Now, entry for heavy vehi-cles to the city has been pro-hibited from 8 am till 10 pmevery day.

The proposed transportnagar will have all will haveoffices and godowns of thetransporters, workshop of the

vehicle manufacturers andother garages, spare partsshops, banks and ATMs, dor-mitory, cloth cleaning services(Dhobi Service), health centres,24X7 ambulance service, secu-rity and police outpost, fuelpumps and multispecialty clin-ic, trauma care centre, drivingtraining centre, hotel andrestaurants.

“All these facilities willneed deployment of huge man-power and, thus, the transportnagar will create employmentopportunities for youths,” saidPraharaj.

He said not less than50,000 persons in and aroundthe proposed logistic park canbe created. Interestingly, thefinancial expenditure to beborne by the Governmentwould be nominal and most ofthe expenses are expected to beborne by private companies, hesaid.

As a Smart City,Bhubaneswar should have alogistic park at the earliest inthe interests of citizens,Government and transporters,viewed many.

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The locals of NamnagadaGram Panchayat which is

under Gumma block ofGajapati district have beendemanding a weekly market forlast 20 years.

They have been raisingtheir demands before the StateGovernment, MLA, and otherpeople’s representatives.However, they continued to becast a deaf ear until recently.

On December 5, Congressleader Dr TirupathiPanigrahivisited Namnagada village tomeet the people. The localsraised the demand for the haatbefore Panigrahi.

Panigrahi promised themthat he will definitely work

whole heartedly to build amarket in Namnagada villageas soon as possible.

Under the leadership ofPanigrahi, people suo mottodonated to build the marketand finally, it has been a reali-ty now.

Locals like Adanga Sabara,KhatrebariaBisay, MohanaMissal and Daniel Gomangosaid the 20 years of demandwas fulfilled within 15 daysafter the intervention ofPanigrahi. Nearly 20 villagesunder the Namnagada pan-chayat will now be benefitteddue to the haat.

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The Government of Odisha’sSingle Window for Investor

Facilitation and Tracking (GO-SWIFT) has received a veryencouraging response frominvestors across the country.

Launched in November2017, the portal has receivedthe 500th investment propos-al from a Gurugram-basedmanufacturer of sanitary wareproducts. The company hasproposed to invest Rs 350 croreto set up a manufacturing unitfor glass containers with acapacity of 1, 30, 000 tonnes perannum at Cuttack.

The project will createdirect and indirect employmentopportunities for over 1,200people. The State LevelFacilitation Cell has recom-mended the proposal to StateLevel Single Window Clearance

Authority for approval.Commenting on the devel-

opment, Principal Secretary,Industries Sanjeev Chopra said,“It is encouraging to note thatwithin a short span of one year,the GO-SWIFT has receivedthe 500th investment propos-al. Due to significant ease ofapplication and expeditiousapproval process, there hasbeen a considerable increase inthe number of investors want-ing to set up their units inOdisha. The Make in OdishaConclave 2018 has given fur-ther impetus to the flow of

investment proposals. We willcontinue to raise the bar forease of doing business and arefocused on speedy implemen-tation of projects on ground.”

Some of the leading com-panies whose proposals werereceived and approved by StateLevel Single Window ClearanceAuthority include ManpasandBeverages, ITC Foods,AparIndustries Limited, Sri MalaniFoams (a company from thehouse of Century brand ofmattresses), Vedanta, JSWCement, Gokul Agroand JindalAluminum among others.

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The annual fair for handi-crafts and rural products

‘Sisir Saras’ would begin herefrom January 4 next.

The Sisir Saras-2019 wouldshowcase the handicrafts,handlooms, household articlesand rural products of 24 Statesat the Exhibition Ground.

The 11-day event will beorganised by the OdishaRural development andMarketing Society under thePanchayati Raj Departmentin associat ion with theOdisha Khadi & VillageIndustr ies B oard, theDirectorate of Handicrafts &

Cottage Industries and theMission Shakti. It will con-clude on January 14.

The fair aims to provide aplatform to rural producers andcraftsmen to market their prod-ucts, informed PanchayatirajMinister Pradeep Maharathy.

As many as 302 stallswould be set up featuring var-ious handicrafts and forestproducts at the 21st edition ofannual Sisir Saras. The crafts-men from all 30 districts ofOdisha and self-help groupsand artisans from the Statesincluding Tamil Nadu, UttarPradesh, Chhattisgarh andGujarat would participate inthe event.

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Aseries of resource and communicationmaterials for teachers and students were

released by the Department of ST and SCDevelopment, under the Life Skills EducationProgramme on the concluding day of “Sargiful”,the three- day students fest, held here fromDecember 19 to 21.

The programme is implemented by theScheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Researchand Training Institute, Department of ST andSC Development in collaboration with theUnited Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and

the Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives(APPI). The APPI’s collaboration is part of theirsupport to the State under the overall ambit ofthe Odisha Nutrition Action Plan.

Series of animated videos, multimediapackages, work books, charts, frequently askedquestions on adolescence and interactive games,covering topics of health, nutrition, and well-being were released at the event.

Director of SCSTRTI Professor AB Ottamentioned that the material released are usefultools to make learning joyful and to help stu-dents internalize messages to make right choic-es in their lives.

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The Special CBI CJM courthere on Friday granted per-

mission to the CBI to take aBengali daily editor SumanChattopadhyay on remand forthree days in connection withthe I-Core Group chit fundscam. He would be produced incourt on Monday again.

The CBI had on Thursdayarrested Chattopadhyay andhe was produced before thecourt here. Chattopadhyay hadallegedly received money in his

bank accounts from the chitfund firm, CBI spokespersonAbhishek Dayal said.

The I-Core Group had col-lected funds, mainly in Odisha,Jharkhand and West Bengal,through its chit fund schemesthat promised returns at ratesmuch higher than those pre-vailing in the market.

Chattopadhyay, also adirector in Disha Productionsand Media Private Limited(DPMPL), was arrested afterseveral hours of questioning atthe agency’s office at the CGOcomplex in Kolkata in a caseregistered against the I-CoreGroup, sources said.

“Investigation has revealedthat funds collected illegally bythe I-Core Group were alleged-ly diverted in the accounts ofDPMPL as well as personalaccount of Chattopadhyay,”Dayal said.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Friday

inaugurated and laid the foun-dation stone of over 24 devel-opment projects costing Rs553.11 crore for three assem-bly constituencies namelyBawal, Kosli and Rewari.

The Chief Minister inau-gurated five developmentproject costing Rs 104.49crore. This included con-struction of Girls hostel inGovernment Girls College,Rewari at the cost of over Rs17.70 crore, construction ofan additional block of CivilHospital at the cost of over Rs21.21 crore, SportsFacilitation Centre con-structed at the cost of Rs 3.25crore at R ao TularamStadium, augmentation ofwater supply project inDharuhera at the cost of Rs58.73 crore and 33 KV sub-station Nehrugarh project atthe cost of over Rs 3.59 crore.

On the occasion, he saidthat the State Government iscommitted to the welfare of

people while following theprinciple of Sabka Saath, SabkaVikas.

The first priority of thegovernment is to provide thepeople of the state with facil-ities of education, health,transport, drinking water andelectricity. The state govern-ment is promoting develop-ment works in all assemblyconstituencies according tothe demand of the people ofthose areas, the Chief Ministersaid.

The Chief Minister laidfoundation stone of Underpassto be constructed in Kosli

assembly constituency at thecost of Rs 5.20 crore, KosliSub-Depot RoadwaysWorkshop at the cost of Rs5.43 crore.

He also laid foundationstone of projects in Bawalassembly constituency whichincluded Khaleta DrinkingWater scheme at the cost of Rs44.39 crore, IbrahimpurNehari Yojana at the cost ofRs 36.02 crore, KamalpurNehari Drinking Waterscheme at the cost of Rs 19.34crore and RaghunathpuraDrinking water scheme atthe cost of Rs 66.02 crore.

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Dubai-based Lulu group— a leading group of

retail shopping centers in Gulfcountries — led by its ChiefExecutive Off icer SaifeeRupawala on Friday expressedkeen interest to start its ven-ture in Punjab through anintegrated project preferablyin Mohali.

During an interactive ses-sion held at Invest Punjab —a one-stop platform for allbusiness related regulatoryclearances and approvals, theGroup evinced that it alreadyhad a vast network of 157retail shopping centers in Gulfand other countries, and nowthey are contemplating tointroduce an integrated pro-ject having shopping centre,convention centre and hotel inPunjab.

Group CEO SaifeeRupawala apprised the stateAdditional Chief SecretaryInvestment Promotion Vini

Mahajan that Lulu group hadcome up with a largest mall inIndia at Kochi, where thedaily footfall was around onelakh and they also plan tolaunch the similar project inPunjab.

He desired that Companyneeds a chunk of nearly 25acres of land for the pro-posed project.

The delegation compris-ing Chief Operating Officer ofLulu group internationalSaleem VI, Directors Salim,Ananth, Buying ManagerZulfiker K and Manager PDDShamim S also expressed keeninterest in import of fresh veg-etable, fruits, basmati, organ-ic products, milk productsetc. Assuring support andexcellent infrastructure fromthe Punjab Government,Mahajan said Punjab wasoffering immense potentialfor global investment andcapital fund companies with agreat thrust on industrial andinfrastructure development.

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Amidst the rift between theNDA partners BJP and

LJP, Union Minister Ram VilasPaswan on Friday met FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley for thesecond consecutive day to sortout their difference on a host ofissue flagged by Paswan’s son,Chirag paswan, who heads theParliamentary board of the LJP.

While Chirag said thattalks were on and that issueslike sharing of seats may be set-tled, BJP sources said that LJPmay be offered six seats, asmany as it had won in 2014,and the BJP and its another allyJanata Dal (United) will contest17 seats each.

Another theory doing therounds within the NDA is thatPaswan may be pacified withfive seats in Bihar and one inUttar Pradesh. Sources in theBJP said a final arrangement onseats would be formalised aftera meeting of the BJP and LJPleaders with Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar, whoreached Delhi on Fridayevening.

After the meeting withJaitley, LJP ParliamentaryChirag expressed hopes thattalks would move in the rightdirection. “Talks are going on.An announcement will bemade at an appropriate time.We have put our points beforethe BJP leadership and theimportant thing is that we arebeing heard. Hope everythingwill be fine,” he told media.

His uncle, Ram ChandraPaswan, who also attended themeeting said that the LJPwould remain part of NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA).

“We are and will remain in theNDA. Seat sharing will beannounced this week. We havestronghold in a specific areahence that has to be respected.We are a small party. We needadequate time for preparation.That’s why we wanted the issueto be resolved at the earliest,”Ram Chandra Paswan saidbriefing the media.

Shah had earlierannounced that his party andthe JD(U) will be contestingequal number of seats in thepolitically crucial state wherethe BJP-led NDA had won 31seats in 2014.

The deployment of Jaitley,an old Bihar hand in the partywith friendly relations withleaders of different parties,underscores the importancethe BJP has attached to con-tinuing its alliance withPaswan’s party, which enjoysstrong influence among Dalits.

Top BJP leaders, includingAmit Shah and Jaitley, had

held an hour-long meetingwith Ram Vilas Paswan and hisson on Thursday to resolvedtheir differences. .

Expressing his discomfortwithin the ruling allianceChirag Paswan had earlierwritten a letter to Jaitley askinghim to explain what benefitsdemonetisation brought to thecountry. He had also tweetedthat a delay in seat-sharingannouncement may harm theruling alliance and simultane-ously praised Congress chiefRahul Gandhi over his featwinning three Hindi heart-land States from BJP.

In the last Lok Sabha polls,the BJP had contested from 30seats and won 22, while the LJPwon six seats and the RashtriyaLok Samta Party (RLSP), whichis now a part of mahagath-bandhan (grand alliance) inBihar, bagged three. In 2014,the JD(U) had contested on itsown and could win only twoseats.

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Parliament proceedings wereagain disrupted on Friday as

AIADMK, TDP and Congressmembers protested over vari-ous issues and the two Houseswere adjourned for the daywithout transacting any sub-stantial business. This was the8th consecutive day of disrup-tion of proceedings in theParliament. Both the houseswould now meet on December27 as there would be no sessionon December 24 andDecember 26 in view ofChristmas.

Lok Sabha proceedingswere adjourned for the dayaround 12.15 pm as AIADMK,TDP and Congress membersprotested over various issues.

As soon as the Zero Hourbegan in the lower house, theytrooped into the Well, display-ing placards and shouting slo-gans. Members from theAIADMK protested againstproposed construction of a damacross Cauvery river and theyalso shouted slogans in Tamil.

While TDP memberssought to raise issues related toAndhra Pradesh, those fromthe Congress demanded a JointParliamentary Committee(JPC) probe into the Rafaledeal. As the ruckus continued,the House was adjourned forthe day. Earlier, the proceedingswere adjourned till noon fol-lowing protests.

When the House met forthe day, there were no protestsby Congress members whohad been persistently attackingthe Government on the Rafalejet deal and demanding a JPCprobe into the issue.

As soon as the House tookup question hour, AIADMKmembers rushed to the Wellholding placards and raisingslogans opposing constructionof a dam over Cauvery.

They were joined by mem-bers from the Telugu DesamParty who were demandingvarious sops for AndhraPradesh. Some of the AamAadmi Party members alsojoined AIADMK and TDP.They were holding placardsdenouncing sealing, apparent-ly in Delhi.

As Minister Sripad Naikwas answering a question on

the Ayush Ministry, somemembers in the Well hurledtorn pieces of paper on thetable where the Lok Sabha sec-retariat officials sit during pro-ceedings. At this, SpeakerMahajan adjourned proceed-ings till noon. But the Housewas adjourned for the daysoon after it reassembled again.

Similar scenes were wit-nessed in Rajya Sabha. TheRajya Sabha was initiallyadjourned till 2.30 pm as twoTamil parties — the AIADMKand DMK — continued theirprotest over the Cauvery issue,while the Opposition Congressand treasury benches sparredover the Rafale jet deal.

Soon after listed papersand reports were tabled,AIADMK and DMK mem-bers trooped into the well of theHouse. Members of AAP werealso seen in the well carryingplacards, demanding an end tothe sealing drive in the nation-al capital. Meanwhile, Naiduasked senior Congress leaderAnand Sharma to put forwardhis views. Sharma also said thathis party was ready to discussthe issue of purchase of Rafalejets from French companyDassault but the Governmentshould agree for a probe intothe deal by a JPC.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Vijay Goel said thegovernment is ready to discussall issues including Rafale butthe “Opposition is runningaway”. The Chairman lateradjourned the House till 2.30pm. When the House recon-vened, Leader of theOpposition Ghulam Nabi Azadraised the issue of President’sRule in Jammu and Kashmirand Government’s move toallow 10 agencies to interceptinformation on computers.Not happy with Government’sresponse on snooping issue,opposition shouted slogans,leading to the adjournment ofthe house for the day.

Meanwhile, the Speakeron Friday said self-discipline isexpected from representativesof people and asserted it isresponsibility of all to ensurethat the House functions.Mahajan chaired the LokSabha’s Rules Committee whichdeliberated upon smooth func-tioning of the House.

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Much to the delight ofmusic lovers, over 30 dis-

ciples of Sarod Maestro UstadAmjad Ali Khan have cometogether to perform at a three-day musical extravaganzawhich kicked off on Friday atthe Indira Gandhi NationalCentre for Arts (IGNCA) here.

The musical event is part ofthe series of Deeksha: GuruShishya Parampara, kicked offby the IGNCA in associationwith Sarod Ghar, where the dis-ciple of Padma VibhushanAmjad Ali Khan are perform-ing to enthral the audience byplaying their musical compo-sitions on different musicalinstruments like the Sarod,Sitar, Guitar and Violin. Theevent is the first of its kindbeing held in the country,

bringing together the maestroand their disciples.

On the first day, artistsGurudev Singh Namdhari(Sarod), Srinjoy Mukherjee(Sarod), Sunando Mukherjeeand Pratap Kumar (Sarodduet), Sachin Patvardhan(Guitar) and Bishwajit RoyChaudhary (Sarod) left theaudience, who braved the chillyweather, mesmerised.

On the last day of theevent, Ustad Amjad Ali Khanalong with his disciples will beplaying Sarod. SachchidanandJoshi, Member Secretary,IGNCA said, “We will be orga-nizing such theme based pro-gramms at regular intervalswhich will be based on greatartistes like the renownedSarod Maestro Ustad AmjadAli Khan.”

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The Public AccountsCommittee of Rajya Sabha

has come down hard on theTourism Ministry for its over-seas offices saying they havebeen involved in malpractices.

It pointed out that theIndian Tourism Office (ITO)Beijing procured goods andservices worth �7.17 cr ingross violation of generalfinancial rules while ITOLondon failed to follow trans-parent procurement processresulting in award of contractand payments to the tune of

�97.44 lakh for the same tonon-existent firms.

Similarly, it pointed outanomalies in the tourism officesin Tokyo where lack of moni-toring led to losses of at least�62.18 lakh and a loss of �62.18lakh at the ITO in South Koreafor procedural lapses.

“The scale of malpracticesin the ITOs indicates con-nivance of the officials ofMinistry and, therefore, desirethat the independent inquiryinto the same may be con-ducted and those responsiblebe brought to book,” the com-mittee led by Mallikarjun

Kharge said.It further said the ministry

of tourism had failed to mon-itor the ITOs adequately andsuggested that a robust mech-anism for the same be devel-oped to keep a check on suchanomalies.

“Regular monitoringincluding periodical inspec-tions by the Ministry will actas a deterrent for unscrupulouselements,” it said.

India has several tourismoffices abroad which are pri-marily responsible for pro-moting the country abroad asa tourist destination.

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The number of days whenpollution level in the city

was in the ‘poor’, ‘very poor’ or‘severe’ category is down to 191this year from 199 last year, theLok Sabha was told on Friday.

Minister of State for theEnvironment Ministry MaheshSharma, in a written reply, saidthat the number of days whenpollution level was ‘good’, ‘sat-isfactory’ or ‘moderate’ in thecity this year — up toDecember 16 — was 159 as

compared to 151 last year dur-ing the corresponding period.

He further said that themeasures taken or being takenby the government to controlthe increasing pollution leveland improve the air qualityinter alia include notificationof the Graded Response ActionPlan for different levels of airpollution in Delhi and NCR.

The notification ofNational Ambient Air QualityStandards, setting up of mon-itoring network for assessmentof ambient air quality, intro-

duction of cleaner and alternatefuels like gaseous — CNG,LPG, among others — ethanolblending and launching ofNational Air Quality indexwere also among measuresimplemented or in the processof getting implemented.

The Government has alsonotified a ComprehensiveAction Plan (CAP) identifyingtimelines and implementingagency for actions identifiedfor prevention, control andmitigation of air pollution inDelhi and NCR, he said.

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Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC)

Sunil Arora has batted forequal constitutional protectionto all members of the ElectionCommission with regard totheir removal. The CEC said he“fully endorses” a recommen-dation of the Law Commissionto extend constitutional pro-tection, on the line of ChiefElection Commissioner. In itsreport on electoral reformssubmitted in March, 2015, theLaw Commission had pro-posed extending constitution-al protection to the two ECs.

“I endorse it. I fully endorseit,” Arora told PTI in responseto a question. He said it was upto the Government to decideon the issue.

The President appoints theChief Election Commissionerand Election Commissionersafter the Law Ministry initiatesthe file for their appointment.

A Chief ElectionCommissioner can be removedfrom the office only throughimpeachment by Parliament.The President can remove theECs based on the recommen-dation of the CEC.

The EC had been pushingto extend constitutional pro-tection to the election com-

missioners. The Law Ministry has

maintained that the grantingequal protection to the two ECsneeded amendment toConstitution for which politi-cal unanimity was required.

The EC is a permanentConstitutional body which wasestablished in accordance withthe Constitution on January 25,1950. Originally, the EC hadonly a Chief ElectionCommissioner. It currentlyconsists of Chief ElectionCommissioner and twoElection Commissioners.

For the first time, twoadditional Commissionerswere appointed on October16, 1989 but they had a veryshort tenure, till January 1,1990.

Later, on October 1, 1993two additional ElectionCommissioners were appoint-ed. The concept of multi-mem-ber Commission has been inoperation since then, with deci-sion-making power by major-ity vote.

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In yet another steptowards improving ties,

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and herChinese counterpart WangYi on Friday held extensivetalks under a newly estab-lished framework andagreed on “ten pillars” ofcooperation to enhancecultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Wang, who arrivedhere early on Friday morn-ing, said he had a “verysuccessful” meeting withSushma under the ‘HighLevel Mechanism on Culturaland People-to-PeopleExchanges’ that was decidedupon during the Wuhan sum-mit between Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and PresidentXi Jinping.

“India-China relationshave reached a new historicalstage,” he said at the inaugural

session of 3rd India-ChinaHigh Level Media Forum.

Sushma, in her remarks,said she was satisfied with theoutcome of her two-hour dia-logue with Wang during whichthey discussed ways to expandcultural and people-to-peopleties. She said India and Chinahave agreed on ‘10 pillars’ of

cooperation to enhancecultural and people-to-people exchanges.

The 10 pillars arecultural exchange, coop-eration in films and tele-vision, cooperation inmuseum administration,cooperation sports,exchanges betweenyouths, cooperation ontourism, exchangesbetween states and cities,cooperation in tradition-al medicine, cooperationin yoga and cooperationin education.

Bilateral cooperationhas improved signifi-

cantly after the WuhanSummit, Swaraj said, notingthat the militaries of two coun-tries were also enhancing coop-eration.

Wang described the newmechanism for cultural andpeople-to-people exchanges asa “major initiative” in the his-tory of India-China ties.

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The Ministry of Agricultureon Friday claimed that

wheat has been planted in253.52 lakh hectare so far in theongoing rabi season, slightlylower than the previous year.Besides wheat, sowing of otherrabi crops such as rice, pulses,coarse cereals and oilseeds alsolagged.

Rabi crops’ sowing beginsfrom October and harvestingfrom March. Wheat is themain crop of this season.

According to the latestsowing data released by theministry, wheat acreage wasmarginally lower at 253.52 lakhhectare so far in the rabi sea-son of 2018-19 crop year (July-June), compared with 257.47lakh hectare in the same peri-od last season.

Wheat was sown in 84.08lakh hectare in Uttar Pradesh,47.94 lakh hectare in MadhyaPradesh, 34.69 lakh hectare in

Punjab, 24.04 lakh hectare inHaryana and 24.61 lakh hectarein Rajasthan so far this rabi sea-son.

Pulses such as gram andgreen gram (moong) was alsosown in lesser area at 136.25lakh hectare so far in the rabiseason, compared with 143.40lakh hectare in the year-ago.

Oilseeds area remained flatat 72.53 lakh hectare as against72.94 lakh hectare, while that of coarsecereals area was down at 40.26lakh hectare as compared with48.72 lakh hectare in the saidperiod.

Rice area remained lowerat 9.98 lakh hectare so far thisrabi season, from 14.58 lakhhectare in the same period cor-responding year.

Total area sown under allrabi crops remained lower at512.53 lakh hectare so far asagainst 537.12 lakh hectare inthe year-ago, the ministry datashowed.

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In a move to protect cable TVconsumers’ interest, the

Telecom Regulatory Authorityof India (TRAI) has capped�500 as installation and acti-vation charges for cable andDTH services.

The amount of �350 will becharged as an installationcharge while �150 as an acti-vation charge under the newtariff regime beginning fromDecember 29.

The authority also direct-ed local cable operators andMultiple System Operators(MSOs) not to compel anysubscriber to buy or take onrent the Set Top Box (STB)from him alone.

“If a consumer manages tofind a set-top-box or equip-ment that works with a partic-ular cable or Direct To Home(DTH) service, then he or sheshould be allowed to use the

same by the DTH or cableoperator”, TRAI said in itsorder.

At present, DTH operatorscharge around �1,200 per con-nection while cable TV net-work charge between �800 and

�900 per connection, which isconsidered non-refundable.

The equipment costincurred by a DTH operator fora new connection is around�2,200 for a standard-definitionsubscriber and around �2,500

for a high-definition subscriber.In the case of cable TV STB, thecost of new connection isbetween �900 and �1100 perconnection depending on thearea.

Under the new tariff rules,

cable TV consumers will haveto shell out more fromDecember 29. According tocable operators, a consumerwill have to pay to chooseindividual channels, which theywant to watch. Consumer willneed to pay individually foreach channel. Under the newtariff regime, a cable TV con-sumer’s monthly bill will go upto �400 or �450 per month. Ifhe or she is opting for premi-um bouquets, the bill will beover �600-700 per month.

Presently, there are 30 crorehouseholds in the country.Nearly 19 crore householdshave TV connections. It isestimated that at least 10 crorehave connections providedthrough cable TV network.

Currently, consumers paya monthly bill of �250-350 fora cable TV connection, whichincludes sports and regionalchannels depending on thelocalities.

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Union HRD MinisterPrakash Javadekar on

Friday ruled out replacing cut-offs with an entrance exami-nation for admission to DelhiUniversity undergraduatecourses.

The DU admission com-mittee was working out ondetails of the entrance basedsystem and the issue was to bediscussed in the next meetingof the panel which has educa-tion experts, college principalsand faculty as members. Theissue was deliberated upon lastyear as well by the panel but aconsensus could not bereached.

“For 2019-20 there will beno entrance test in DU andadmissions will be conductedon basis of class 12 marks,”Javadekar told reporters.

DU currently conductscomputer based entrance testfor nine undergraduate andpostgraduate programmeswhile admissions to a majori-ty of undergraduate courses aredetermined through the aspi-rant’s scores in class 12 exams.

DU’s first attempt atswitching to an entrance-basedadmission system in 2017 hadhit a roadblock after objectionfrom different student groups.

Page 6: ˇ˘ˆ - dailypioneer.com · Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’s Qaumi Awaz commenced pub-lication in 2016-17. The week- ly newspaper National Herald resumed publication on September

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The debate on the caste ofLord Hanuman continued

with the latest entrant in therow being Religious AffairsMinister Chaudhary LaxmiNarain, who termed the PawanPutra as a Jat.

Earlier, Lord Hanumanwas dubbed as a Dalit by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath at anelection rally in Rajasthanwhile BJP MLC Bukkal Nawabhad added some extra spice bysaying that Bajrangbali was aMuslim.

“There is no iota of doubtthat Lord Hanuman was a Jatbecause Jats are descendants ofthe Ape God,” Chaudhary tolda select group of reporters inLucknow on Friday.

The Minister’s argumentwas vague but interesting.Chaudhary said that Jats hada penchant to interfere inany issue.

“If injustice is being done to

any person, a Jat will definitelyintervene, irrespective of hisbeing acquainted with the victim.This happened in Ramayana.Ravana kidnapped Sita and Ramkilled Ravana. Hanuman did notknow Ram and Ravan but heburnt Lanka because injusticewas done to Mata Sita,” he said.

“We Jats are powerful asLord Hanuman and revereHim as our Lord. So, I can saywith certainty that Hanumanwas a Jat,” he said.

Incidentally, a day earlierBJP lawmaker Bukkal Nawabhad claimed that Hanuman wasa Muslim. He had said thatMuslims had names likeRehman, Ramzan, Farman,Zishan, Qurban and in this wayphonetically Hanuman soundsmore Muslim than Hindu.

The controversy waskicked off by CMYogi, who, inan election rally in Alwar(Rajasthan), said thatHanuman was a forest dweller,deprived and a Dalit.

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Culling of birds has beenordered in four villages in

Munger district as outbreak ofbird flu has been confirmed inthose areas, a senior StateGovernment official said onFriday.

Divisional Commissioner,Munger, Pankaj Kumar Palsaid though bird flu has beenconfirmed in some areas ofMunger district but so far therewere no case of avian influen-

za afflicting any human being.Following reports of birds

dying in some villages underGhoraho Panchayat, sampleswere sent to a medical lab inKolkata for tests whereinstrains of the H5N1 virus wereconfirmed, he said.

“Culling of birds has, there-fore, been ordered in four vil-lages falling under the pan-chayat Chakhand, Amaiya,Belsira and Aphroj. A Centralteam has reached the villageswith the necessary parapher-nalia. Besides, those in thepoultry business are beingcompensated,” Pal said.

“Although no humans haveso far been found to be afflict-ed by the virus, antiviral drugTamiflu is being made availablein the affected region as a pre-cautionary measure. An advi-sory has also been issued ask-ing the people to avoid cominginto contact with any migra-tory wild birds or consumptionof their meat,” theCommissioner added.

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Two Junior CommissionedOfficers (JCOs) were killed

in a suspected sniper rifleattack from Pakistani troopsalong the Line of Control innorth Kashmir’s Kupwara dis-trict on Friday. The Armybegan a massive combing oper-ation in the area suspecting theattack was a cover to facilitateinfiltration in the restive region.

Sources said that one offi-cer died in a military hospitalin Kupwara while his colleaguewas airlifted to Srinagar’s92Base Hospital where he suc-cumbed to injuries.

Officials confirmed thatceasefire violation by Pakistani

troops was observed inJamgund area in Kupwara dis-trict after 11 am on Friday. Twojunior officers of the 2/8 GRRegiment were guarding theLoC when they came underfire. They were immediatelyevacuated to Drugmulla hos-pital where one of them suc-cumbed. They said the attackmight have been carried withsnipe rifles. This year Pakistanitroops inflicted heavy casual-ties on the Indian Army alongthe vast stretch of LoC inJammu & Kashmir.

The slain JCOs were iden-tified as Subidar GamarThapa (42) and SubidarRaman Thapa.

Senior Superintendent of

Police (SSP), KupwaraAmbarkar Shriram Dinkar alsoconfirmed the deaths.

Sources said that the Armylaunched an operation in thearea to track down suspectedinfiltrators. They said thePakistan army might have pro-vided covering fire to infiltratorsthat resulted in the casualties.

Usually the infiltrationcomes to a halt during peakwinter months due to block-age of mountain passes afterheavy snowfall. However,despite a cold wave in theregion at the beginning ofChillai Kalan, 40-day spell ofharshest winter in the region,less snowfall has not depletedchances of infiltration.

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The Central Government’sdecision to put on surveil-

lance and intercept “any infor-mation” on computers, receivedflak from Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee whoon Friday came down heavilyon the BJP Government for“demolishing all the democra-tic institutions one by one.”

Attacking the Centre forauthoritising ten Central agen-cies to put about 20 institutionsand organsations under sur-veillance, Mamata said, “suchkind of situation can be under-stood when there is an emer-gency like situation. But how isit that the Government will

interfere in every matter.”This order of “blanket sur-

veillance must at once be with-drawn or we will continue toagitate against it,” Mamata saidadding the order is likely totake the revered pillars of theIndian democracy like the judi-ciary and the media under its

wing “which means that they(BJP) want to hit at the veryfoundation of democracy inIndia.”

She said, “If it is for nation-al security, then only for thatpurpose Central Governmentalready has the machinery.But, why all commoners will beaffected?”

Attacking the Governmentfor not concentrating on thereal issues like farmers’ suicide,unemployment, inflation cor-ruption, Mamata said, “Insteadof tackling the real issues theyare trying to throttle the peo-ple’s voices. Today they are issu-ing these surveillance orders.

Tomorrow they will usethese orders to keep a tab on

the church, the media,Ramakrishna Mission, judi-ciary and what not. In fact, theywill try to control the life ofevery individual. Our data willbe out in public domainthrough this order. This cannotbe tolerated.”

Attacking the Governmentfor its faulty economic policies,she said, “GST and demoneti-sation had rendered thousandsof people jobless and ruined theIndian economy. Wonderingwhy the Government was nottrying to correct its mistakesand attacking the people whowere raising questions, she saidthe people were watching everymove of this Government.

“They are always after thepeople who are questioningthem. They are threatening

these people with Central agen-cies. But this will not be allowed

to continue for long. The peo-ple are watching everything

and they will give them a befit-ting reply.”

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Senior Congress leaderAbhishek Manu Singhvi on

Friday condemned the Centre’smove to authorise 10 Centralagencies to intercept “any infor-mation” on computers and indi-cated that the party may movecourt against the MHA order.

This is a direct attack onprivacy of the people, he saidadding that since indepen-dence, the country has never

seen such an attempt to infil-trate into people’s privacy.

“We condemn this move tosnoop on people of this coun-try. We will oppose it and ifneeded we will fight it in the

court also,” Singhvi told a pressconference here.

“The BJP Government isconverting India into a sur-veillance state through theorder. It is the ultimate assaulton fundamental rights and theright to privacy,” he said.

The order authorises 10Central agencies such as theIntelligence Bureau, the CBIand the EnforcementDirectorate to intercept, mon-itor, and decrypt “any infor-

mation generated, transmit-ted, received or stored in anycomputer”.

Singhvi, while speaking onthe Rafale fight jet issue, saidthe BJP has misled the SupremeCourt and only a JointParliamentary Committee(JPC) can expose the web of liesof the BJP.

“Why is the BJP afraid toconduct a JPC into the issue?Are they afraid that they mightbe caught?,” he asked.

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Just after Congress leaderVeerappa Moily called Air

chief a liar, another seniorCongress leader and formerFinance Minister PChidambaram in a damagecontrol mode asked the forcesto stay away from the contro-versial Rafale deal. In a Pressconference on Friday inBengaluru, he requested theIndian Army and Air Force torefrain from indulging in theongoing debate over the Rafalefighter jet deal.

He said, “We are not ques-tioning the Air Force chief, weare humbly requesting theArmy and Air Force to stay outRafale debate. If Air chief real-ly wants to comment, then heshould ask the Governmentwhy it is only buying 36 aircraftwhen there is a requirement of126 aircraft.”

Chidambaram attackedBJP for not agreeing for a JPCprobe. “Rafale deal is alreadybeing discussed in theParliament and we weren’t sat-

isfied with the Governmentresponse and asked for JPC.Now, why is the BJP fightingshy of a JPC if everything isabove board?” he said.

He said, “Rafale willremain our issue in the forth-coming Lok Sabha elections asdefence deal worth �60,000crore that will leave the coun-

try with only 36 aircraft asagainst 126 contracted forunder the UPA cannot gounchallenged.”

Continuing his tiradeagainst the Centre for enteringinto an entirely new deal withFrance, the Congress leaderasked why a deal, that was 95per cent finalised, had to be

scrapped rather than beingsealed by the NDAGovernment. “From 95 percent, the Government shouldhave taken it to 100 per cent.Instead of that why did theycancel an old deal and enteredinto a new agreement theneven if they signed a newagreement then why buyingonly 36,” he asked.

“The only pending issuebetween HAL and Dassaultwas that who will guarantee theperformance of the aircraftthat were supposed to be builtin Bengaluru. Dassault’s posi-tion was we can only guaran-tee the 36 aircraft, not theremaining 108 that are to bebuilt in Bengaluru. However,HAL was of the view that if it'syour technology and our fac-tory then we should guaranteeit together. I think it was a fairdemand,” he added.

On the apex court’s decisionon Rafale deal he said nobodyfrom the Congress party wentto the Supreme Court as wehave said that it is not for thecourt to decide. For every mat-

ter, apex court is not a solution.Chidambaram also

slammed Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman for stat-ing that the Rafale deal wasretained at 20 per cent lowerprices. “If prices were loweraccording to you (DefenceMinister) then buy theremaining 90, why are you notcontracting for 126? Let it bemanufactured either in Parisor wherever because you can-not put the country’s securi-ty at stake.”

On December 14, theSupreme Court had dismissedpetitions seeking a probe intothe deal, saying it did not findany substantial material onrecord to show that this is acase of commercial favouritismto any party by theGovernment of India.

Later, the Centre soughturgent correction in the word-ing of a particular paragraph inthe order “in the interests ofjustice and in the facts and cir-cumstances of the case”, whilenoting that “the observations inthe judgment have resulted in

a controversy”.On the other hand, while

addressing the media onThursday Air Chief Marshal BSDhanoa said, “The SupremeCourt has given a very finejudgment and I am not goingto comment on it. It has alsosaid that this plane is badlyneeded. Rafale is always a needfor the Air Force. It (fighterjets) took a long time to come.Others have upgraded theirsquadron. Also, very fine com-ments are given by the FinanceMinister (Arun Jaitley) andour Defence Minister (NirmalaSitharaman).”

Chidambaram’s commentscome after Air Chief MarshalBS Dhanoa recent commentswhere he said Rafale jets werea necessity, adding that all ofIndia’s adversaries had alreadyupgraded their systems.

“Rafale is always a need forthe Air Force. It (fighter jets)took a long time to come.Others have upgraded theirsquadron,” he had said onWednesday. French companyDassault.

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Senior Congress leader MVeerappa Moily on Friday

said if his party was voted topower in the next Lok Sabhapolls, Hindustan AeronauticsLimited would be accommo-dated as an offset partner andAnil Ambani’s Reliance Defenceeased out of the Rafale deal.

Moily, who ruled outscrapping the Rafale deal if hisparty was voted to power, toldreporters, “When ourGovernment comes, we will goback to the HAL as an offsetpartner...definitely we are com-mitted to it”.

“We believe in Rafale jet...itis good...it cannot be can-celled...it is our own baby, weonly had finalised it with theHAL,” he said.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here on his party’s standon the defence deal, the formerUnion Minister said his partywas only opposed to “unlawfulgains” by somebody under theguise of the defence deal andnot the fighter jet.

Asked if Reliance would beout of the ambit of the Rafaleframework as an offset partner,he shot back, “how that com-pany can be in..?”

To a question on approach-ing the Supreme Court sincethe Congress has alleged thatthe court was fed “false infor-mation” by the Government,Moily said constituting a JointParliamentary Committee(JPC) was their demand.

“The Congress is very clearthat only a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee will be competent togo into the Rafale deal...we arenot going to Supreme Court...wedid not petition the court in thepast too,” he said, adding onlyParliament would be the appro-

priate forum for the scrutiny.Recalling the Congress-

led Governments constitutingand facing JPCs in the past,Moily said the BJPGovernment wanted to hidethe truth.

“They know that they haveeverything to hide and nothingto disclose,” he alleged.

On Prime MinisterNarendra Modi accusing theCongress of threatening everyinstitution in India, Moily saidit was a “big joke”.

It is only the BJP-ledGovernment that hasdestroyed the institutions, beit the CBI or the planningcommission, he said.

On the BJP’s demand for adebate in Parliament whichthey said was more powerfulthan a JPC probe, the Congressleader said the saffron party didnot know the basic features ofparliamentary procedures.

“A JPC can investigate thematter. The discussions hadalready been done on the deal.What more discussion wouldthey like?” he said.

����� 7���8

Senior Congress leader andformer Union Minister

Jaipal Reddy has accusedManohar Parrikar of trying to“blackmail” Prime MinisterNarendra Modi through theRafale deal to retain his chairas the Goa Chief Minister.

Reddy was addressing theparty’s concluding function of‘Jan Akrosh’ Rally at Margaotown Thursday.

The Congress has beenholding ‘Jan Akrosh’ ralliesacross Goa demanding“resumption” of governance inthe State, claiming Parrikar’shealth has affected the func-tioning of the administration.

Reacting to Reddy’s state-ment, the BJP said theCongress was trying in vain toraise the Rafale issue despite itbeing cleared by the SupremeCourt.

The Supreme Court onDecember 14 gave theNarendra Modi Government a

clean chit on the procurementof 36 Rafale fighter jets fromFrance and dismissed all peti-tions seeking a direction to theCentral Bureau of Investigationto register an FIR for allegedirregularities in the deal.

The apex court had said

there was no occasion to doubtthe decision-making processin the multi-billion dollarRafale deal.

The former Informationand Broadcasting ministerdemanded Parrikar’s resigna-tion and said he was “sticking”to the Chief Minister’s chair“like a leech”.

“He talks of morality, whatmorality is there of ManoharParrikar sticking to the chairlike a leech,” Reddy said in thepresence of Congress leaders,including State chief GirishChodankar, former Goa chiefministers Digambar Kamat,Ravi Naik, Francisco Sardinha,and others.

“I know he is in a positionto blackmail PM NarendraModi... Is he blackmailing PMto keep him in the chair asChief Minister? We need tothink about it,” he added.

Before assuming charge asGoa Chief Minister, Parrikarwas Defence Minister in theModi Cabinet.

����� �6�5.���

Congress leader SharmisthaMukherjee on Friday said

the BJP started a campaign tomislead the people by wrong-ly interpreting the SupremeCourt verdict on Rafale deal.

The Congress is contem-plating to lodge complaintagainst the CentralGovernment for allegedly mis-leading and misinforming theapex court, on the basis ofwhich judgment was formed,Mukherjee said here.

“The Rafale deal probedoesn’t come under thepurview of the Supreme Court.Only a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee can summon thePrime Minister and others toquestion about Rafale deal. So,a JPC must be formed,” she tolda news conference.

Mukherjee, also daughterof former President PranabMukherjee, said the Congressalso started a counter campaignto contest the claim of the BJP

that the Supreme Court gavethem clean chit on the issue.

The Congress leader saidthe court in its verdict cited areport submitted by theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) to the PublicAccounts Committee (PAC),but no such report was given tothe panel headed by Congressleader Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Central Governmenthas filed an affidavit with theSupreme Court saying theCAG report’s mention was a“typographical error”,Mukherjee said.

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The run-up to the Lok Sabhaelections in 2019 has begun. Aquestion that is being increas-ingly asked at this stage is:What will be the electoral

impact of a ramping up of the Ram tem-ple issue? The answer is that it will havesome impact — mainly in the form of ral-lying the faithful — but not a determin-ing one. More, its impact is likely to declineprogressively with time.

India is now in the grip of a marketeconomy and a consumer culture spreadby advertising. Asked what they want themost, an overwhelming majority ofrespondents would mention a consumeritem they had been lusting after, a goodmeal at a classy restaurant, a vacation inan enchanting place or something elserelated to consumption. A very small num-ber of people — if any at all — is likely tosay spontaneously that it is the Rammandir at Ayodhya. This does not meanthat they have stopped venerating Ram ordo not want a temple for his worship inAyodhya but that it is not at the top of theirpriorities. It is fine if the temple is built,but quotidian life would hardly be derailedif it is not.

This is nothing surprising. Generallyspeaking, the rise of capitalism — and theconsequent emphasis on economic activ-ity and individual consumption — leadsto a waning of the authority of religion.British history provides an example. RHTawney writes in Religion and the Rise ofCapitalism which remains the definingwork in the subject despite the decades:“When the age of reformation begins [inthe 16th century], economics is still abranch of ethics, and ethics of theology;all human activities are treated as fallingwithin a single scheme, whose characteris determined by the spiritual destiny ofmankind; the appeal of theorists is to nat-ural law, not to utility; the legitimacy ofeconomic transaction is tried by reference,less to the movements of the market, thanto the moral standards derived from thetraditional teachings of the ChristianChurch; the Church itself is a societywielding theoretical, and, sometimes prac-tical, authority in social affairs.”

All this had changed dramatically bythe middle of the 17th century, thanks tothe reformation which split Christendombetween the Roman Catholic and the var-ious denominations of the Protestantfaith, and undermined the Church’sauthority. It led to the secularisation of theState and the attribution of the latter’s legit-imacy to social contract and not the divineright of kings. According to Tawney, theconflict between the new social and eco-nomic forces demanding the recognitionof their legitimacy and the traditional doc-trines of the Church, was suspended by atruce. Under the latter, politics, business

and spiritual exercises, eachassumed a “separate and inde-pendent vitality” and obeyedits own laws. The social func-tions matured within theChurch and long identifiedwith it, were “transferred to theState”, which in turn was“idolised as the dispenser ofprosperity and the guardian ofcivilisation.” Religion took “asits province the individualsoul”, while economic ambi-tions claimed the domain “ofthe intercourse of man with hisfellows in the activities of busi-ness and affairs of society.”Peace was assured providedeach kept to its territory.

While the intervention ofhuman will set limits to theworking of historical deter-minism, economic develop-ment does have its owndynamics that produces socialand cultural consequences.Hence, it is legitimate to drawa parallel, albeit in very broadstrokes, between the conse-quences of the rise of capital-ism in the West and of thesame process in India, where itis causing a decline in religios-ity and an increase in secular-isation.

One can contend that theappeal of neither the Ramtemple nor militant Hindutvahas declined. Witness the hugenumber of people that thetemple movement attracts. Theargument does not hold.According to Erich Fromm inFear of Freedom, the search forsecurity is the most powerfulfactor drawing people to mil-

itant mass movements. Anincreasing feeling of insecuri-ty haunts one as one grows upfrom infancy and becomes anindividual, increasingly awareof the myriad dangers anduncertainties that life holds.

The ideal way of overcom-ing this is by relating sponta-neously with the world“through love and work, in thegenuine expression of one’semotional, sensuous and intel-lectual capacities.” Most peo-ple are unable to do this. Theyovercome their feeling of inse-curity through a masochisticsurrender to a superior entity— for example, an individualor an organisation — andderiving a sense of securityfrom the process. One can alsodo so by resorting to sadism,the essence of which lies inobtaining a feeling of powerand security by exercisingtotal control over the mind orbody of another individual, orthe destiny of an organisation,completely subordinatinghis/her or it to one’s will.

Fromm writes, “Both ten-dencies are the outcomes ofone basic need, springingfrom the inability to bear theisolation and weakness ofone’s self .” In The TrueBeliever: Thoughts on theNature of Mass Movements,Eric Hoffer identifies animpulse similar to masochis-tic submission when he says,“A rising mass movementattracts and holds a followingnot by its doctrine andpromises but from the refuge

it offers from the anxieties,barrenness and meaningless-ness of an individual exis-tence. It cures the poignantlyfrustrated not by conferringon them an absolute truth orby remedying the difficultiesand abuses which made theirlives miserable but by freeingthem from their ineffectualselves — and it does so byenfolding and absorbing theminto a close-knit and exultantcorporate whole.”

Hinduism may well be acommon bond among thosewanting a Ram temple inAyodhya but does not by itselfexplain why multitudes jointhe movement for its con-struction. Besides, a vast mul-titude of Hindus is indifferentto it; some are opposedbecause they feel it may leadto communal tension andignite violence, the fear ofwhich has been aggravated bythe emergence of murderouslynch mobs. While they aretargeting Muslims, manyHindus fear that they them-selves may be set upon in thefuture by such mobs ongrounds of caste, region orlanguage.

If the temple issue attracts,it also repels. It polarises anddivides. By no means neitherdid the issue determine theoutcome of the recentAssembly elections, nor will itbe so in the Lok Sabha elec-tions.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “A demon called waiver”(December 21). After the newlyinstalled Congress Governmentsin Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh waived farm loans,it is amusing to find the BJPGovernment in Gujaratannouncing a �650 crore waiv-er of power tariff for householdsin rural areas. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, too, rushed toannounce that his Governmentis working on bringing 99 percent of items in the sub-18 percent GST slab, something thatthe Opposition, particularly theCongress, had been insistingall along.

We can expect many suchsops from the BJP before the2019 general election. However,the poor farmers are well awareof how the Modi Governmentignored them. They cannot becarried away or hoodwinked bysuch gimmicks at the tail end ofthe BJP regime. With all deter-mination, they are waiting toteach the ruling dispensation alesson with their ballot power.

Shalini GeraldChennai

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Sir — It was shocking to learn thatthe Centre is yet to release TamilNadu’s due share of �1,000 crorefrom the State Disaster ReliefFund to carry out relief andrestoration work after cycloneGaja ravaged the coastal districtsof the State. The cyclone result-ed in extensively damaging the

State’s fertile delta region. The Centre’s denial of funds

shows its priority towards the suf-ferings of the people who are yetto even get proper accommoda-tion for their survival.

Most families lost their bread-winners in the cyclone. TheGovernment should consider thatthe people of the State, particu-larly in the coastal areas, are in

desperate situation. It must pro-vide them the financial support.

Mohd UsmaniMumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “A demon called waiver”(December 21). India is sleep-

walking through the farmer’sdistress by being oblivious totheir issues and leveraging farmloan waivers that are ‘poisonedchalice’ for them. Loan waiversare pernicious for the economyand will make farmers lethargic.

The Government mustinvest in harnessing cutting edgetechnology like big data, geospa-tial analytics, data analytics andmachine learning so that thefarmers can enhance agricultur-al productivity.

Gourang NaryaniUjjain

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “A demon called waiver”(December 21). The agenda ofloan waivers in no way bodeswell for the economy. More loanwaivers will only add to the fis-cal burden of the economy andslow down growth in the longrun. In the pursuit of power, thecountry’s economic develop-ment should not be sacrificed.

ShivanshVia email

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Greater financial inclusiveness is agateway for balanced developmentand a cohesive society. With billionsof people already using mobilephones, the means to introduce

them to formal financial services already exists.The mobile telephony system has enabled con-tact with villages that remained far away frombanks and unreachable by road. It has also trans-formed businesses and family life besides bring-ing more people into the financial mainstream.

In India, an expansive network of mom-and-pop stores, tailors, pharmacies and telco boothshas been extending customers similar servicesas that of banks. This includes paying the util-ity bills electronically, sending money backhome, mobile phone top-ups, paying televisionand Wi-Fi bills and purchasing travel tickets —all of this is done without the hassle of open-ing a bank account.

In most villages, shopkeepers help customerstransact these services using their mobilephones. This has made these services accessi-ble to low-income families, who have to strug-gle with technology. Money can now be trans-ferred quickly, efficiently and securely with afraction of cost incurred with other channels.People in far-flung villages are now able toreceive social benefits, buy ration and make pay-ments using their Aadhaar card. This hashelped save the recipients several hours of com-mute and wait time.

As a platform, the mobile has a unique setof capabilities that can overcome the challengesposed by the payments landscape. Mobile plat-form combines digital identity, value andauthentication to create low-cost access tofinancial services. Take for instance, OTP-basedauthentication for Aadhaar-linked accountsand biometric authentication for processingtransactions. Mobile finance offers at least threemajor advantages over traditional financial mod-els. First, digital transactions are essentially free.In-person services and cash transactions accountfor a majority of routine banking expenses. Butmobile finance clients keep their money in dig-ital form. This is why they can send and receivemoney often, even with distant counter parties,without incurring transaction costs from theirbanks or mobile service providers.

Second, mobile communication generatescopious amounts of data which banks and otherproviders can use to develop more profitableservices. It even acts as a substitute for tradi-tional credit scores (which can be hard for thosewithout formal records or financial histories toobtain).

Third, mobile platforms link banks to theirclients in real time. This means that banks caninstantly re-lay account information or sendreminders; and clients can quickly sign up forservices on their own.

Mobile operators know how much consumersare spending on air time and are also able to inferother relevant information. If the customer is aregular user of a mobile money transfer service,the operators may also be able to assess his/herdisposable income. They team up with banks,financial tech (fintech) companies and data ana-lytics specialists to use this data to build finan-

cial profiles and offer credit to thosewho otherwise lack proof to re-payloan. On-time payment of bills canattest the financial discipline of the con-sumer.

For the micro-finance industry,such systems represent an importantopportunity as they enable borrowersto apply for, receive and re-pay loanson their mobile phones using a net-work of local agents. But this doesn’tmean mobile is a magic device thatcan provide algorithms for all credit-related issues. A majority of the population still doesn’t use smart-phones and there are many who useit very frugally.

The proportion of the Indianpopulation that has access to financialinstitution accounts via mobile phonesor the internet to transact digital pay-ments still remains significantly loweras compared with other developingeconomies, particularly sub-SaharanAfrica. In Kenya, 79.0 per cent ofadults made digital payments in 2017,and in South Africa 60.1 per cent,compared to 28.7 per cent in India(World Bank 2018).

While digital technology is open-ing new channels for delivering finan-cial services, other challenges also per-sist. Sparse population, inconsistentnetwork coverage, lack of trust orinsufficient capital for building newbusiness models can stand in the wayof success, particularly in connectingremote or undeserved communities.The aversion of the ‘other India’ to dig-

ital finance has more to do with theirdisinclination to everything that hasmore to do with technology. Thisstems from a lack of trust in and com-fort to use technology. Women oftenface additional barriers: Limited accessto mobile phones, low literacy level,less confidence in using technologyand restrictions on travel or socialinteraction.

For India to attain mobile money,as has been the case in Kenya,providers will need a more liberalstance from the Central Bank (ReserveBank of India) whose stiff legal andregulatory framework has constrainedthe expansion of mobile money. It isunderstandable that in a vast countrylike India with such a diverse andremotely dispersed population, mostof which is poor and illiterate, the cen-tral banker has to tread the terraincautiously.

Security of consumers must be thetopmost priority and concern.Although we must continue to makethe case for responsible digital financebeing good business, we know that isn’tenough. Independent and well-resourced regulators, consumer groups,and other organisations are critical toensure that the consumer protectionsafforded by the law and regulator areactually followed and enforced. Thenew customer base build-up by the JanDhan Yojana has its own peculiarfragilities and vulnerabilities.Regulators must live up to trust.

We must remember that the ‘tech-

nological’ layer is another tool — ameans to an end — and not a solutionin itself. In certain conditions, it hap-pens to be the most powerful tool andcertainly enables services to be deliv-ered efficiently at a scale with greatbenefits. But it has to do with how weare using it and how we are definingthe outcomes.

The unfulfilled promise of pasttechnologies rarely piques the mostoptimist advocates of cutting edge,who believe that their favourite newtool is genuinely different from oth-ers that came before. We must not for-get that we are working with a con-stituency which is both politically andsocially mute. Building inclusive dig-ital economies requires the collectiveaction of Governments, industry,financiers and civil society. Beforespeeding ahead, we need to buildinfrastructure, align policies and cre-ate the tools that can enable the poorto comfortably board the digital train.

As Ghanaian diplomat KofiAnnan had said: “In managing, pro-moting and protecting the Internet’spresence in our lives, we need to beno less creative than those who invent-ed it. Clearly, there is a need for gov-ernance but that does not necessari-ly mean that it has to be done in thetraditional way, for something that isso very different.”

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

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In the last decade or so, many coun-tries in Europe, South America,Canada and various states in the US

have either legalised or decriminalisedmarijuana/cannabis. The degrees ofdecriminalisation and legalisation inthese countries vary but recent lawspassed in these regions have receiveda lot of media attention. In some ofthese countries, the legalisation and/ordecriminalisation process began by firstallowing the drug to be used for med-icinal purposes — especially after var-ious recent studies concluded thatcannabis was helpful in the treatmentof epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. DrTori Rodriguez, in her essay, NeurologyAdvisor, cited at least eight such stud-ies in the US alone.

However, the recent decriminali-sation/legalisation process is largely

believed to be influenced by one of theearliest legislative experiments in thiscontext in the Netherlands. In 1972, theDutch Government divided contra-band drugs into two categories: Theharmful and the less harmful. Cannabiswas slotted in the ‘less harmful’ cate-gory and its recreational use wasdecriminalised. In 1975, ‘licensed cof-fee shops’ were allowed to sell it.

A July 2013 report by the GlobalDrug Policy Programme states that thepolicy aided the Dutch Government toutilise funds in curbing sale and usageof more harmful drugs like heroin. Thisled to fewer people using needles and,therefore, contracting deadly diseasessuch as HIV/AIDS. The Netherlandsnow has one of the lowest numbers ofdrug-related offenders. Almost threedecades after the Dutch experiment,cannabis has either been legalised,decriminalised or allowed for medic-inal use in over 30 countries. At themoment, Portugal has the most liber-al laws in this context. According to aDecember 5, 2017, article in TheGuardian, the Portuguese policy hadyielded some of the best results in the

continent. The old fear that liberal leg-islation towards intoxicants, especial-ly cannabis, would see societies plungeinto drug-crazed anarchy have with-ered away.

Even though there are more coun-tries where recreational cannabis usageis decriminalised, rather than outrightlegalised, many believe the next step islegalisation — something which, invarying degrees, is already a reality insome countries. Those who are predict-ing the drug’s gradual legalisationsuggest that Governments, which areslowly moving towards this, are alsoeyeing the potential of gaining hugerevenues through taxation.

Interestingly, this model of legal-ising the once-banned intoxicants togain a windfall of tax revenues is overa 100 years old. The model is about lim-iting the large amount of manpowerand funds that the state has to gener-ate to maintain bans on intoxicants, andinstead legalise their sale and usage sothat they could be formally taxed andbetter monitored and controlled.

In an essay in Psychology Today, DrJann Gumbiner wrote that when the

British completely took over India, theyfound that millions of Indians of allfaiths used cannabis as a recreationaldrug. After failing to curb its usage, theBritish commissioned a large-scalestudy on the effects of the drug on theusers’ mind and body. This producedthe 1894 Indian Hemp DrugsCommission Report.

The findings of the report influ-enced the legalisation of cannabis inBritish India. The drug’s productionand sales were heavily taxed and theusers could only buy it from licensedshops, thus eliminating undocument-ed middlemen. The British did thesame with alcohol. They were not onlyable to generate huge revenues throughtaxation of both the intoxicants, but alsomonitor their usage more closely andkeep their use ‘to acceptable levels’.

When the British left the regionafter the creation of India and Pakistanin August 1947, the two new countriesadopted the British laws related tointoxicants. Almost 29 years before theNetherlands’ initial foray into allowingthe sale of cannabis at coffee shops, and70 years before the drug’s legalisation

in Canada and Paraguay, it was alreadylegal in India and Pakistan.

In the late 1970s, American cultur-al anthropologist, Richard Kurin, vis-ited Pakistan and conducted a study ofvillage life in the country’s PunjabProvince. This resulted in his essay, ‘Aview from the Countryside’ (AsianSurvey, August 1985). In it, Kurin men-tioned ‘licensed hashish shops’ whichwere allowed to sell a certain amountof cannabis to the villagers. These shopsseemed to be located only in villagesand towns and not in major cities. Legalcannabis outlets could also be found invarious towns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand interior Sindh.

Across the border in India,cannabis remained legal till 1985(before being criminalised through thatyear’s Narcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances Act). According to a 2018report published by Seedo’s CannabisPrice Index, both India and Pakistanfeature in the top 10 list of countrieswhere cannabis usage is the highest.

Recently with the possibility of a‘sin tax’ on cigarettes and a strugglingeconomy, some experts have advised

that Pakistan’s laws, banning the sale ofalcoholic beverages to Muslims andcannabis, should be altered so that rev-enues can be generated by ‘sin taxing’them as well. They believe that the bansfailed to work and have, in fact,encouraged the creation of mafia,consumption of tainted intoxicants andcorruption. The Sindh Governmentreceived over three billion rupees in2015 in duties from ‘licensed wineshops’ which, according to a 1979Ordinance, are allowed to sell liquor tonon-Muslims. Before a ban wasimposed on the sale of alcoholic bev-erages in April 1977, the federalGovernment was earning huge rev-enues by taxing alcohol and cannabis.

Those advocating a modificationof laws against alcohol and cannabisclaim that altering such laws will helpthe Government in generating largesums of taxation money. They say thiswill also help in putting additional effortand funds in curbing more harmfuldrugs such as heroin and neutralisecorruption and mafia related to boot-legging and drug peddling.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Page 10: ˇ˘ˆ - dailypioneer.com · Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’s Qaumi Awaz commenced pub-lication in 2016-17. The week- ly newspaper National Herald resumed publication on September

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An uppercap on air-

fares in eachsector is theneed of thehour to dis-courage preda-tory pricingways of air-lines, aParliamentarypanel said on Friday.

The Department-relatedParliamentary StandingCommittee on Transport,Tourism and Culture askedthe Civil Aviation Ministry tomake concerted efforts consis-tently to “prevail upon differ-ent airlines not only to makeavailable more and more low-fare bucket seats, but also tokeep the airfares at minimumaffordable level for the benefitof common man”.

There have been concerns invarious quarters about high air-fares even as the ministry hasbeen maintaining that air ticketprices are neither controlled norapproved by the Government.

“The committee stronglyfeels that an upper cap of air-fare in each sector is the needof the hour to discourage theairlines from predatory pricingof air tickets,” the panel said inits report tabled in Parliament.

According to the commit-tee, the ministry has takenrefuge in global practices in fix-

ing the luggage charges anduncontrolled airfares, whichis a faulty premise.

“... The Indian conditionsand need of the people shouldbe given due considerationwhile regulating the airfaresand luggage charges.

“The committee recom-mends that the Ministry ofCivil Aviation and DGCAshould come forward to regu-late baggage charges and air-fares in such a way to facilitateand benefit the air passen-gers,” the report said.

Further, the panel reiterat-ed its earlier recommendationthat the airlines must berestricted to charging not morethat 50 per cent of the base fareas cancellation charges.

Regarding instances of dis-courteous and aggressivebehaviour of airlines staff, thecommittee said it “desires thatthe ministry shall ensure thatstrictest possible action is takenagainst unruly staff and heavypenalties imposed on them”.

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Giving a further fillip toIndia’s energy conserva-

tion efforts, Ministry of Powerhas launched the ECO NiwasSamhita 2018, an EnergyConservation Building Codefor Residential Buildings(ECBC-R). TheCode waslaunched on the occasion ofNational Energy ConservationDay 2018 in the presence ofChief Guest Sumitra Mahajan,Speaker, Lok Sabha and RKSingh, Minister of State (IC) forPower and New & RenewableEnergy.

The implementation ofthis Codeis willgive a fillip toenergy efficiency in residentialsector. It aims to benefit theoccupants and the environ-ment by promoting energyefficiency in design and con-struction of homes, apart-ments and townships.

This Code has been pre-pared after extensive consul-tations with all stakeholders,consisting of architects &experts including buildingmaterial suppliers and devel-opers.

The parameters listed inthe Code have been devel-oped based on large numberof parameters using climateand energy related data.Init ia l ly, Par t-I of theCodehas been launchedwhich prescribes minimumstandards for building enve-lope designswith the pur-pose of designing energyef f ic ient res identia l buildings.

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Mother Dairy Fruit &Vegetable Pvt. Ltd., on

Friday launched its Organicrange of fresh fruits and veg-etables and other kitchen ingre-dients under its horticulturebrand Safal. The new range ofproducts — labelled as ’SafalOrganic’ — would be madeavailable in select 100 Safalbooths across Delhi NCR,alongwith Safal’s existing rangeof edibles.

’Safal Organic’ will offerfresh fruit and vegetables suchas apple, pomegranate,mausambi, lemon, potato,tomato, onion, ginger, garlicetc. The fresh organic pro-duce is being sourced fromfarmers with certified organicfarms across the states ofMaharashtra, HimachalPradesh, Sikkim, Madhya

Pradesh and Uttarakhand.Apart from the fresh F&V,Safal is also introducing a widerange of organic kitchen ingre-dients namely pulses, rice,spices, millets, dry fruits, wheatflour, besan, sugar, salt and flat-tened rice flakes (poha), in bio-degradable and recyclablepackaging options.

Safal’s newly establishedorganic supply has been set upas per the mandate of NationalProgramme for OrganicProduction (NPOP),Government of India and italso conforms to the ’JaivikBharat’ initiative of FSSAI. For’Safal Organic’ farms withNPOP certification are select-ed and duly audited by MotherDairy experts. The harvestedproduce is also subjected tostringent testing for 127 pesti-cidal residues by accreditedlabs.

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Ten days after being sealedby the Delhi Government,

steel pickling units haveresumed normal operationsin Wazirpur industrial area,blatantly violating the orders ofNational Green Tribunal(NGT) and Supreme Court ofIndia. The team from All IndiaLokadhikar Sangathan, which

inspected the Wazirpur indus-trial area in the night thisweek, found many steel pick-ling units operational.Moreover, most of the unitshave illegally restored elec-tricity and water lines whichwere disconnected during thesealing drive by DelhiGovernment authorities. Thisamounts to theft of water andelectricity.

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Japanese prosecutors re-arrested former Nissan boss

Carlos Ghosn over fresh alle-gations on Friday, apparentlydashing his hopes of beinghome for Christmas in the lat-est twist to a rollercoaster saga.

The case of the once-revered 64-year-old tycoon hasgripped Japan and the businessworld since he was arrested ashe stepped off his private jet atTokyo’s Haneda Airport onNovember 19.

He had appeared set forrelease Friday after a court sur-prisingly rejected the prosecu-tors’ demand to extend his deten-tion for further questioning.

But instead of being freedon bail, Ghosn was arrestedFriday over separate allega-tions of financial wrongdoing.

“The accused was respon-sible for managing Nissan’s over-all operations and for dutifullyfulfilling his role as CEO not tocause damage to Nissan and itssubsidiaries... But he took actionthat betrayed his role and causedfinancial damage to Nissan,”prosecutors alleged.

They alleged he transferredpersonal losses worth some1.85 billion yen ($16.6 million)sustained in the 2008 financialcrisis to Nissan.

He also stands accused ofwiring some $14.7 millionfrom Nissan funds to anothercompany for his own benefit.

According to public broad-caster NHK, Ghosn denies thislatest set of allegations.

The Franco-Brazilian-Lebanese businessman hasalready been formally chargedwith under-reporting hisincome by tens of millions ofdollars over several years andfaces a second batch of allega-tions that this continued forthree further years.

On Thursday a courtrefused to extend his detentionover the second set of allega-tions, reportedly because theywere too similar to the first set.

But this fresh arrest givesprosecutors 48 hours to questionhim on the new matter. UnderJapanese law, they can thenapply for a fresh extension of 10days, plus a further 10 days, toinvestigate the new claims.

His right-hand man, GregKelly, who faces the same ini-tial charge, was not rearrestedon Friday and his lawyer hasrequested bail, according to acourt statement.

Since his stunning arrestlast month, the once jet-settingexecutive has languished in atiny cell in a detention centrein northern Tokyo, where hehas complained about the coldand the rice-based menu.

His lengthy detention — inJapan, suspects can be “re-arrested” several times over dif-ferent allegations — hassparked criticism, especiallyfrom abroad.

“The Japanese penal sys-tem has been revealed to thewider world. It is not neces-sarily Japan’s best side and thisis not good for business,” Tokyolawyer Lionel Vincent told

AFP.Ghosn has an unusually

high profile for a foreign exec-utive in Japan and was credit-ed with turning around thestruggling car giant Nissanand forging a three-wayalliance with French manufac-turer Renault and fellowJapanese firm MitsubishiMotors.

He was seen as the glueholding together the fractiousalliance and his arrest hasexposed major rifts betweenNissan — which makes themost money — and Renault,the dominant shareholder.

Both Nissan andMitsubishi Motors promptlysacked Ghosn as chairman fol-lowing his arrest, on the basisof a months-long internalNissan investigation.

Renault has been muchmore cautious, keeping him onas chairman and CEO andappointing Thierry Bollore asinterim boss.

According to a source closeto the investigation, Nissanwould seek to bar Ghosn fromtheir premises if he were to bereleased.

In addition to chargesagainst Ghosn and Kelly, pros-ecutors have also indictedNissan, as the company sub-mitted the official documentsthat allegedly under-reportedhis income.

The firm declined to com-ment on the latest twist butadded: “Nissan’s own investi-gation is ongoing, and its scopecontinues to broaden.”

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The corporate affairs min-istry on Thursday moved

the National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) seeking toreopen the books of IL&FSGroup and its subsidiaries forthe past five years underSection 130 of the CompaniesAct, to ascertain financial mis-management.

This is the first time thatGovernment has invoked thepowers under Section 130 0fthe new Companies Act of2013 to reopen ledgers of acompany.

The Government wants tocheck the balance-sheets ofcrippled group and the two list-ed subsidiaries — ITNL andIL&FS Financial Services forthe past years and the movecomes after the Serious FraudInvestigation Office (SFIO) hasfound shocking details of cor-ruption, personal enrichmentand other non-transparentdeals.

The court, however,refused to pass an immediateorder saying it has to seek theviews of the relevant statutorybodies and regulators such asthe Reserve Bank, the marketswatchdog Sebi and the IncomeTax Department, before takinga call on the petition.

The two-member benchof judges VP Singh andRavikumar Duraisamy said

they will issue the notices todayand will hear the matter whenthe court reopens on January 1,2019.

The ministry also submit-ted a report on the views of theInstitute of CharteredAccountants on the IL&FSGroup’s accounts, which wereaudited by Deloitte, EY affili-ate SRBC and KPMG affiliateBSR.

The move comes after anSFIO probe has found seriousmismanagement of accountsand fraudulent transactionsacross the group by the pastmanagement.

The SFIO probe hasuncovered serious wrongdoingby the past management of theembattled group, with instancesof income misreporting, dubi-ous transactions, conflicts ofinterest deals, ever-greeningof loans and personal enrich-ment by some key employees.

The ministry had submit-ted the SFIO interim report tothe NCLT on December 3.

The Government plea alsowants NCLT to appoint anindependent chartered accoun-tant to restate the accounts andrevise the balance-sheets ofIL&FS, IL&FS FinancialServices and IL&FSTransportation Network andwants three months to do thejob. The group owes over�94,000 crore to lenders, most-ly banks.

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Sebi has slapped a total fineof �15 lakh on five compa-

nies for non-submission ofaudit reports regarding divi-dend payments and transfer oftheir securities by ShareproServices.

The companies also failedto change Sharepro Services astheir Registrar and TransferAgent (RTA) as was directed bythe regulator.

Sharepro Services operat-ed as RTA for the five compa-nies — Naisargik Agritech,Platinum Corporation, SheetalBio-Agro Tech, Anand Credit

and Well Pack Papers.In March 2016, Sebi direct-

ed the firms to conduct a thor-ough audit of Sharepro regard-ing dividends paid and trans-fer of securities.

Besides, the companieswere directed to switch overtheir activities related to a RTA“either in-house or throughanother RTA registered withthe markets regulator”.

After finding that the com-panies have not complied withthe directions, Sebi has finedthem �3 lakh each.

In five separate but sim-ilarly-worded orders, Sebisaid the companies failed tocomply with the directionsby not submitting auditreports in respect of therecords and systems ofSharepro apart from notshifting the operations relat-ed to RTA.

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Page 11: ˇ˘ˆ - dailypioneer.com · Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’s Qaumi Awaz commenced pub-lication in 2016-17. The week- ly newspaper National Herald resumed publication on September

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New Delhi: The new draft e-commerce policy would focus on sever-al areas including promotion of transparency in pricing and discounts, andprotection of interests of both retailers as well as consumers, Commerce andIndustry Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Friday. He said the Department ofIndustrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is working on the new draft poli-cy and it will be put in public domain in the next 2-3 weeks for stakehold-ers’ views. “The key component of the policy is to increase the ease of doingbusiness in e-commerce. It should benefit both retailers and consumers. Thereshould be a complete transparency in the e-commerce businesses in termsof pricing and discounts,” the minister told PTI. Prabhu said it would alsoinclude provisions “for all wrongdoers” as there should be some sort of reg-ulatory framework for consumer protection. “We are not saying whether it(discounts by online retailers) should be given or not but there should betransparency,” he added. The minister said the new draft would be finalisedtaking into account the suggestions made by the earlier draft prepared bythe Department of Commerce. The exercise started after some concerns wereraised on certain proposals of the first draft e-commerce policy, which wasprepared by a task force. The first draft suggested several steps to promotethe growth of the sector. It also stated that online retail firms may have tostore user data exclusively in India in view of security and privacy concerns.It further stated that any group company of an online retailer or marketplacemay not be allowed to directly or indirectly influence the price or sale of prod-ucts and services on its platform, a move that could completely restrict e-tailers from giving deep discounts. The earlier draft also suggested to intro-duce a pre-set time frame for offering differential pricing or deep discountsby e-commerce players to customers. The Confederation of All India Traders(CAIT) has time and again raised concerns over heavy discounts being pro-vided by certain online retailers. Framing of a new policy also assumes sig-nificance as rich member nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)are pushing to frame global norms for e-commerce.

�(�����,����� ��-**<��( ��&�����%���New Delhi: Media firm NDTV group’s digital arm NDTV Convergence

Friday said it has signed a five-year deal worth over �300 crore with con-tent recommendations engine Taboola. “The five-year deal ties NDTVConvergence exclusively to Taboola and involves a minimum guarantee ofmore than �300 crore for NDTV Convergence, making it one of the largestdeals, not just for digital content, but for the media space in its entirety,” NDTVsaid in a BSE filing. In September 2015, NDTV Convergence had first signedaround �100-crore deal with Taboola for three years. NDTV said this is thelargest deal that Taboola has ever signed in the Asia Pacific (APAC)region.”"Taboola uses its presence on sites like NDTV to recommend con-tent from across the internet to the audience and to offer highly-personalisednative advertising,” the company added.

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Benchmark equity indiceswitnessed heavy selloff

Friday after investors bookedprofits in realty, banking, ITand auto bluechips amid weaksignals from global markets.

The BSE Sensex plunged689.60 points, or 1.89 per cent,to 35,742.07, while the NSENifty slipped 197.70 points, or1.81 per cent, to 10,754.

The 30-share index endedthe week 527.93 points lower,and the broader Nifty lost 134points.

The equity market wit-nessed selling ahead of theweekend, mainly due to fears oflower global economic growthin the coming year, said JosephThomas, Head Research-Emkay Wealth Management.

Concerns over the rupeealso loomed over IT and tech

stocks, analysts said.The biggest losers of the

session include Reliance,Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank,HDFC twins, ITC, Maruti,L&T, HUL, Axis Bank, Wiproand IndusInd Bank, crackingup to 4 per cent.

On the other hand, NTPC,PowerGrid and Coal Indiawere the only gainers onSensex, rising up to 1 per cent.

BSE Midcap and Smallcapindices too witnessed heavyselling, falling 1.79 per cent and1 per cent, respectively.

Investors also took cuesfrom world markets, whichtumbled on fears of a potentialUS government shutdown andrising tension between the USand China.

On a net basis, foreignportfolio investors (FPIs) soldshares worth Rs 386.44 croreThursday, and domestic insti-

tutional investors (DIIs) werenet buyers to the tune of Rs87.96 crore, provisional dataavailable with BSE showed.

The rupee, meanwhile, fell52 paise to 70.22 against the USdollar.

The rupee gave up somegains due to volatility in bondyield. However, fall in oil pricesis expected to provide strengthto rupee in the near term.Investors are using this oppor-tunity to book profit after therecent rally, the market direc-tion will turn positive asdomestic economic indicatorsremain healthy, the analystssaid.

Brent crude, the interna-tional benchmark, was trading0.96 per cent lower at 53.83 perbarrel in futures trade.

Elsewhere in Asia, Korea'sKospi ended 0.06 per centhigher, Hong Kong's Hang

Seng rose 0.51 per cent; while,Japan's Nikkei plunged 1.11 percent and Shanghai CompositeIndex slipped 0.79 per cent.

In Europe, Frankfurt’sDAX fell 0.62 per cent andParis’ CAC 40 shed 0.97 percent in their early deals.London’s FTSE too slipped0.31 per cent.

Market will closely trackGST Council meet dueSaturday, which is expectedannounce reduction of taxslabs for several items, saidHemang Jani, Head - Advisory,Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

“Global markets will bracemore volatility from the ongo-ing trade tensions and slow-down in economies. Backhome movement in crude oilprices, currency, corporateearnings due next month arelikely to drive market in nearterm,” he added.

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Around 3.20 lakh officers from various state-run banks have called for a one-day strike on

Friday to protest against pending wage revisionand proposed merger of Bank of Baroda, VijayaBank and Dena Bank.

They are demanding that the wage revision,which is pending since November 1, 2017,should be for employees from scale 1-7. Currently,banks have given mandate to the Indian BankAssociation (IBA) to negotiate for bank employ-ees from scale 1-3.

“IBA is also not coming forward to structurethe 11th Bipartite Negotiations based on our char-ter of demands by agreeing to discuss the wagerevision of officers from scale I to scale VII andalso based on the concept of minimum wages asenvisaged in the seventh Central Pay Commission(CPC),” All India Bank Officers’ Confederation(AIBOC) general secretary Soumya Datta said.

He said after 13 months of negotiationbetween bank unions and IBA, the latter hasoffered a wage revision of 8 per cent.

In the last wage settlement, which was for theperiod November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2017,IBA had give a wage hike of 15 per cent.

IBA has also offered a variable pay for bankemployees, which will be based on the operatingprofit and return of assets (RoA) of a bank.

“Most of the banks are in losses due to largeNPAs for which a bank employee can't be heldresponsible,” he said.

The union is also opposing the governmentproposal to merge Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bankand Dena Bank, claiming this step will not helpthe merged entity to tackle any of its problems,including the NPA menace. Meanwhile, theUnited Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) havecalled for a one-day strike on December 26 toprotest against the proposed merger to BoB, VijayaBank and Dena Bank.

���"&����*"��"�)���!3�+�*"!��%(�.%&�,��5�3"&+"&New Delhi: Public sector

lender Bank of Baroda Fridaysaid the ‘AlternativeMechanism’ of the financeministry has accorded in-prin-ciple approval for its mergerwith Dena and Vijaya Bank.

“Ministry of Finance,Department of FinancialServices on 20th December2018 has advised that theAlternative Mechanism (AM)has accorded its in-principle

approval to the proposed amal-gamation of Bank of Baroda,Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank,”it said in a regulatory filing.

Bank of Baroda is thetransferee bank, while VijayaBank and Dena Bank are thetransferor banks in the amal-gamation process, it added.

The ‘AlternativeMechanism’ (AM) headed byFinance Minister Arun Jaitleyhad decided to merge three

banks with a view to createglobal size lender, which will bestronger and sustainable.

Following which, the boardof directors of Bank of Barodahad given an in-principleapproval for the proposedmerger of the three state-owned lenders on September29.

Both the other banks havealso approved the merger pro-posal at their respective board

levels.The new entity to be

formed with the merger ofBank of Baroda, Vijaya Bankand Dena Bank is expected tobe operational in the beginningof the next financial year.

The merged entity willhave a combined business of Rs14.82 lakh crore, making it thethird largest bank after SBI andICICI Bank. It will have betterfinancial strength. PTI

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 14.50 14.68 14.05 14.19JPASSOCIAT 7.56 8.02 7.56 7.75YESBANK 187.15 188.00 180.95 182.90BEML 913.00 945.95 881.10 888.25IBULHSGFIN 855.50 865.00 808.00 816.75SUZLON 5.53 5.65 5.45 5.51DHFL 239.95 245.70 232.50 240.40INFY 660.70 660.70 643.80 645.75BEL 91.50 95.00 88.05 88.65TATAMOTORS 177.30 180.45 175.10 175.90MARUTI 7810.00 7845.15 7512.50 7536.75RELIANCE 1128.30 1131.40 1095.00 1098.35JETAIRWAYS 253.80 258.90 250.00 252.45SBIN 294.00 296.45 290.05 291.65SPICEJET 85.70 86.50 83.55 84.05HINDPETRO 245.50 251.75 242.70 250.00IOC 141.60 142.90 139.20 139.70ICICIBANK 362.85 363.50 351.30 353.35M&M 795.35 814.00 756.00 780.35UJJIVAN 276.00 286.45 271.80 275.95PNB 77.95 78.85 75.80 76.45INFIBEAM 50.00 51.40 48.25 49.15TCS 1949.90 1950.00 1890.00 1897.25CGPOWER 42.70 43.75 39.80 43.35LT 1451.10 1459.10 1415.85 1420.40BAJFINANCE 2614.40 2667.40 2534.05 2601.35SUNPHARMA 430.30 433.00 423.25 424.75BHARTIARTL 319.90 324.60 305.55 307.50PCJEWELLER 84.40 85.50 81.80 82.40TATASTEEL 523.80 532.00 518.40 520.10JINDALSTEL 168.00 172.75 163.65 164.80VEDL 204.65 204.65 199.35 200.15AXISBANK 633.00 637.80 617.15 621.10KOTAKBANK 1237.15 1246.05 1222.80 1227.40IBREALEST 94.40 95.50 90.55 91.40NAVKARCORP 59.50 64.25 58.25 61.95BANDHANBNK 540.90 553.00 524.45 528.70BHEL 71.95 71.95 69.45 69.80RELINFRA 304.00 308.75 298.20 306.65RELCAPITAL 220.80 222.25 216.65 219.30GRAPHITE 828.75 829.70 791.10 795.30PEL 2309.00 2366.65 2274.00 2289.90BOMDYEING 113.80 118.85 112.60 114.20L&TFH 158.45 159.20 150.10 151.25ASHOKLEY 106.50 107.00 103.55 105.15TATAGLOBAL 211.15 221.00 211.10 215.60STRTECH 299.95 299.95 285.10 286.50HDFCBANK 2134.00 2149.00 2108.00 2111.50BANKINDIA 98.90 99.20 95.45 97.85ADANIPORTS 374.90 379.30 349.50 361.00NCC 89.70 89.70 83.95 85.10DMART 1640.00 1653.00 1604.00 1635.90SRTRANSFIN 1263.80 1270.00 1194.90 1202.70HEG 3960.00 3960.00 3880.00 3889.00IDFCBANK 44.10 44.55 42.85 43.05ZEEL 459.20 465.30 444.70 447.30SCI 44.50 48.40 44.50 47.10WIPRO 339.00 339.00 308.90 319.45RAYMOND 860.60 884.85 853.55 859.80HCLTECH 960.00 994.90 946.90 957.75EQUITAS 124.80 127.20 121.15 121.80ASIANPAINT 1444.00 1444.00 1382.40 1387.80COALINDIA 251.50 252.50 247.30 251.70ITC 282.35 284.00 275.60 276.50PIDILITIND 1185.95 1187.65 1137.35 1140.95BANKBARODA 114.50 116.40 114.35 115.00GRUH 319.95 334.65 318.80 329.50TATAPOWER 80.50 80.50 76.10 76.50BPCL 374.50 376.60 368.20 372.00BIOCON 639.00 642.40 618.50 621.20HDFC 1976.25 1978.40 1930.85 1946.00TITAN 926.00 926.75 897.00 901.75MOTHERSUMI 172.00 175.00 168.00 168.75VOLTAS 579.00 579.65 566.90 570.70HINDUNILVR 1834.00 1840.05 1796.75 1803.60BATAINDIA 1106.00 1135.25 1100.00 1116.15AVANTI 409.40 412.95 389.45 390.90ESCORTS 697.45 701.80 677.00 683.00NILKAMAL 1599.00 1654.80 1515.00 1548.40DLF 190.55 191.90 185.40 186.90PFC 99.45 99.95 97.50 98.20UPL 773.70 774.25 734.50 736.70REPCOHOME 384.00 403.00 380.00 386.65DABUR 444.20 448.40 434.20 438.25BHARATFORG 522.20 525.80 500.30 502.10ONGC 149.65 149.65 147.70 148.55EDELWEISS 201.90 201.90 187.85 191.35IDEA 38.05 38.80 37.50 38.20JSWSTEEL 310.05 312.60 305.15 306.40GRASIM 831.90 834.05 814.20 817.75CANBK 272.00 272.30 263.00 265.20JUBLFOOD 1348.00 1375.60 1308.00 1314.75RECLTD 110.70 111.00 107.80 109.35JAICORPLTD 113.50 114.45 108.10 108.65INFRATEL 262.70 263.40 247.95 261.40BAJAJ-AUTO 2899.85 2900.00 2804.25 2811.55NTPC 149.10 151.30 148.70 150.70BAJAJFINSV 6404.65 6540.55 6297.95 6343.35AUROPHARMA 728.50 732.35 715.50 720.50INDIACEM 97.05 98.00 94.85 96.15FEDERALBNK 95.45 96.00 91.80 92.40DELTACORP 256.70 257.75 247.80 249.65ADANIPOWER 52.10 52.45 50.10 50.40PTC 90.00 91.40 87.00 87.95SPARC 209.00 215.20 204.30 208.70NATIONALUM 62.65 63.15 61.85 62.10IBVENTURES 399.00 407.00 392.50 394.35

NBCC 58.00 59.00 55.70 55.95FORCEMOT 1639.90 1665.00 1621.10 1626.35UNIONBANK 82.80 84.00 81.30 82.40CANFINHOME 291.70 296.00 276.50 278.85WOCKPHARMA 517.00 523.50 500.00 504.65BALRAMCHIN 105.10 106.75 100.10 100.65DRREDDY 2613.95 2615.00 2579.00 2600.00MCX 731.00 734.50 711.25 719.00PVR 1584.00 1632.70 1533.15 1562.40SAIL 53.40 54.55 52.55 52.85HAVELLS 700.85 716.90 689.15 691.858KMILES 155.20 162.80 151.90 155.60LUPIN 859.70 867.55 853.40 857.35ORIENTBANK 93.85 95.60 92.75 93.15TATAMTRDVR 96.45 98.60 95.45 96.10GNFC 363.00 363.00 349.00 350.40BHARATFIN 1026.90 1029.70 995.75 999.00INDUSINDBK 1614.55 1623.95 1572.00 1576.60HINDALCO 223.50 227.00 222.10 223.60RCF 67.00 67.30 65.00 65.20JKTYRE 109.70 109.70 105.75 106.80M&MFIN 474.95 481.00 460.35 462.70CAPF 604.30 612.70 590.20 593.30VGUARD 225.70 228.00 222.05 225.80DEEPAKNI 224.85 226.35 218.00 219.50COLPAL 1328.00 1339.05 1321.75 1327.35TIMETECHNO 105.05 110.00 104.00 105.20ACC 1536.00 1538.50 1482.45 1490.60LICHSGFIN 487.95 495.90 470.00 472.00VIPIND 519.50 533.15 517.60 521.00HDIL 25.30 25.45 23.95 24.50BALKRISIND 944.40 957.00 926.00 928.50ICICIPRULI 325.30 329.25 319.35 326.75TECHM 709.95 713.25 693.05 695.75HEROMOTOCO 3363.25 3366.50 3310.65 3333.10NMDC 97.40 97.85 94.45 94.75IGL 260.10 268.60 259.80 260.80ICICIGI 868.10 874.00 843.25 859.35SREINFRA 36.00 36.95 34.20 34.60INDIGO 1160.00 1167.35 1140.55 1149.85IDFC 44.90 44.90 42.50 42.90

IRB 167.00 169.20 162.80 168.05TEXRAIL 60.00 60.45 58.20 58.55JISLJALEQS 69.45 69.60 67.05 68.80HFCL 21.60 21.65 20.65 20.85CUMMINSIND 836.00 836.00 785.10 791.30ABCAPITAL 100.90 100.90 98.00 98.10HDFCLIFE 389.00 389.00 381.35 384.70ITI 93.95 95.25 92.25 92.55MINDTREE 850.00 866.00 840.55 846.75APOLLOTYRE 240.70 242.80 232.55 233.30CEATLTD 1350.05 1362.50 1309.00 1319.35FRETAIL 550.00 565.50 537.60 559.85CIPLA 521.00 523.95 515.15 516.80GAIL 353.50 354.65 344.30 345.50ALBK 47.60 47.75 46.30 46.65TORNTPHARM 1812.15 1832.90 1770.45 1779.65GLENMARK 690.00 694.50 668.00 668.25UBL 1387.80 1387.80 1341.30 1348.70INDHOTEL 147.10 149.50 145.60 146.95TORNTPOWER 268.80 268.80 255.20 256.30CENTURYTEX 939.45 951.65 904.85 913.50BRITANNIA 3225.00 3225.00 3115.10 3126.15TVSMOTOR 577.10 585.50 570.20 572.65INDIANB 245.85 249.20 238.00 239.55DIVISLAB 1511.05 1518.00 1468.95 1473.55JUSTDIAL 493.60 495.70 477.50 482.00MANAPPURAM 91.95 92.30 88.10 88.45VIJAYABANK 48.35 49.50 47.70 49.00BBTC 1341.50 1354.00 1301.30 1307.85HEXAWARE 323.00 324.80 312.25 313.50RBLBANK 579.00 582.20 562.75 564.35DHANUKA 465.15 486.00 458.00 459.05IFCI 14.70 14.72 14.16 14.43MARICO 381.90 385.60 375.20 377.55LTTS 1642.05 1659.00 1616.80 1645.00SYNDIBANK 39.00 39.00 37.00 37.40BAJAJHLDNG 2966.25 2974.95 2925.00 2974.95FCONSUMER 47.60 48.80 45.85 47.85TATAELXSI 1013.30 1017.20 992.80 999.05SUNTECK 365.00 365.00 355.00 358.60GODREJCP 825.90 828.15 800.65 805.35RPOWER 28.40 28.40 27.70 28.05JUBILANT 711.90 715.80 694.50 699.50EXIDEIND 269.85 270.70 262.80 264.40PHILIPCARB 206.40 207.25 202.50 202.85RADICO 415.00 419.20 398.15 401.20

DBL 435.05 444.80 419.20 424.20ULTRACEMCO 4045.05 4075.00 3960.00 3989.35TAKE 148.20 155.00 146.15 150.50KAJARIACER 485.00 495.00 484.70 488.25ABFRL 203.70 207.45 201.30 206.20CHENNPETRO 290.00 294.75 278.70 279.10MUTHOOTFIN 500.10 505.60 485.35 486.90KPIT 233.00 233.00 221.05 222.50RALLIS 180.00 181.55 174.65 175.35JINDALSAW 86.05 86.75 83.40 83.60CUB 185.90 194.95 185.90 192.20EICHERMOT 24201.00 24349.55 23475.00 23500.00SOUTHBANK 15.80 15.90 15.40 15.45OIL 180.40 180.90 176.70 177.30GODREJIND 539.25 546.00 520.70 523.85APOLLOHOSP 1268.95 1282.55 1246.00 1258.80GODFRYPHLP 899.15 906.85 843.00 851.00LTI 1700.00 1724.95 1671.15 1677.00KSCL 593.25 600.30 578.25 578.25DCBBANK 169.05 169.40 162.75 164.65CENTRALBK 35.10 36.00 34.60 35.55SIEMENS 999.00 1014.00 981.65 991.80MANPASAND 86.30 89.20 85.00 85.90FSL 49.90 50.00 49.20 49.30SBILIFE 590.35 603.75 580.00 594.85ENGINERSIN 124.45 125.50 122.05 123.60FORTIS 135.00 138.60 134.00 134.85HINDCOPPER 51.00 51.75 49.85 50.55CADILAHC 344.00 348.00 340.80 342.05UFLEX 287.00 289.00 278.10 279.45GSFC 112.90 113.85 110.20 110.50SUNTV 597.65 606.00 585.70 591.00RAIN 140.00 141.80 136.70 137.15PAGEIND 24814.05 25199.10 24128.00 24187.40KTKBANK 111.40 111.70 107.80 108.00ADVENZYMES 175.35 186.95 175.35 184.70MPHASIS 982.35 988.60 962.20 966.75ABB 1320.00 1325.15 1296.00 1325.00VENKYS 2481.00 2500.00 2404.00 2417.35BERGEPAINT 342.00 342.00 328.60 330.25IPCALAB 790.20 809.90 785.10 802.40MRPL 77.80 78.15 74.40 74.70BLISSGVS 146.85 151.45 142.75 145.55INTELLECT 242.85 242.85 230.00 232.10CARERATING 970.05 983.20 965.00 966.00TATACHEM 722.00 725.00 700.20 704.60NIITTECH 1134.90 1134.90 1105.15 1106.20PETRONET 222.05 224.50 220.85 221.40SUPREMEIND 1118.65 1133.55 1081.70 1091.50SHANKARA 565.10 574.60 545.00 548.80BAJAJELEC 523.50 525.40 502.05 505.65TATACOFFEE 94.95 96.30 93.50 94.45KANSAINER 486.30 487.60 473.30 482.05OMAXE 215.10 215.50 213.35 213.85CHOLAFIN 1265.00 1274.70 1219.00 1222.40AMBUJACEM 224.40 225.85 219.00 220.75GODREJPROP 693.50 699.50 664.45 675.65AJANTPHARM 1160.00 1162.55 1126.00 1130.00NOCIL 169.80 170.50 164.85 165.35SRF 2249.60 2268.25 2142.00 2147.00GMRINFRA 16.45 16.60 15.90 15.95SWANENERGY 103.30 103.70 100.30 101.75HCC 11.99 12.16 11.55 11.60CASTROLIND 155.35 156.50 152.30 152.90NAVINFLUOR 750.00 754.90 707.40 725.35CYIENT 620.30 624.60 612.90 614.40IDBI 61.70 62.10 61.15 61.85POWERGRID 198.60 199.00 195.40 196.90HUDCO 44.55 45.40 43.85 44.10RNAVAL 14.50 15.19 14.11 14.20MAHABANK 15.10 15.24 14.58 14.65AUBANK 639.00 643.65 610.00 628.20MMTC 30.00 30.45 29.25 29.30CONCOR 673.70 673.70 652.00 656.10HSIL 234.50 238.85 229.40 232.00SHOPERSTOP 504.15 514.80 497.90 510.00KWALITY 8.40 8.69 8.36 8.45UCOBANK 20.55 22.00 20.15 20.50TATACOMM 547.80 554.85 516.00 521.20GREAVESCOT 121.20 123.80 118.60 120.35WHIRLPOOL 1370.10 1381.75 1336.90 1342.00IL&FSTRANS 13.30 13.30 12.85 13.30MRF 69269.00 69597.20 66750.00 66966.20JAMNAAUTO 66.90 66.90 64.50 64.80MOTILALOFS 650.00 650.00 622.25 642.45MFSL 442.75 449.50 435.75 440.00MAXINDIA 87.00 87.35 83.50 84.45HSCL 133.85 135.50 131.15 131.95ZENSARTECH 236.10 236.10 226.10 229.80HIMATSEIDE 206.60 223.90 205.50 218.00SUVEN 228.05 231.00 223.40 224.85WELSPUNIND 60.45 61.30 59.30 59.50OBEROIRLTY 473.70 474.00 453.00 455.25WABAG 279.75 279.75 268.45 271.90DEEPAKFERT 153.55 156.20 149.55 150.45JSLHISAR 89.40 89.60 85.90 87.15MGL 889.65 898.00 878.00 879.70IEX 169.05 171.00 165.55 169.50GRANULES 91.10 91.45 88.10 89.70NESTLEIND 11288.00 11312.30 10956.05 11070.00EMAMILTD 430.05 431.00 410.00 411.90CROMPTON 223.80 228.30 217.45 225.75JSL 33.00 33.45 32.45 32.55TV18BRDCST 36.55 37.10 36.25 36.55OFSS 3700.80 3718.75 3619.85 3663.00PRSMJOHNSN 90.95 91.65 88.60 90.75HINDZINC 277.95 280.35 273.15 274.25SONATSOFTW 307.00 308.45 301.50 302.20

QUESS 680.20 680.20 645.00 651.00KEC 304.65 311.25 300.05 300.65DISHTV 39.00 39.85 38.40 38.60JMFINANCIL 93.00 93.45 89.65 91.40RAMCOCEM 653.00 661.00 620.00 634.30DENABANK 17.00 17.25 16.95 17.05TRIDENT 66.00 67.00 64.75 65.10GODREJAGRO 511.95 512.65 506.00 509.85MOIL 176.95 179.05 173.00 175.20GICRE 276.05 277.05 266.45 269.45SOBHA 473.00 480.00 456.00 480.00NAUKRI 1564.20 1598.00 1555.00 1574.70JSWENERGY 71.15 71.45 70.20 70.70PNBHOUSING 972.95 982.00 955.25 970.00MINDACORP 141.95 142.75 136.25 140.25ISEC 270.85 273.00 268.55 273.00NIACL 190.80 192.50 186.45 187.20MEGH 62.35 63.20 60.60 60.75GSPL 177.70 179.50 175.85 177.45AMARAJABAT 742.50 750.00 737.75 741.35MINDAIND 328.95 329.65 320.45 323.00PARAGMILK 253.45 254.65 249.05 253.85CORPBANK 29.70 30.50 29.10 29.40GICHSGFIN 261.95 261.95 255.10 260.10PFS 17.25 17.65 16.70 17.35NHPC 26.00 26.15 25.85 25.95SYNGENE 568.05 570.00 554.95 566.00INOXLEISUR 237.20 247.35 233.70 238.45BOSCHLTD 19600.00 19968.55 19527.45 19741.10PHOENIXLTD 594.70 597.90 576.10 586.00JKIL 137.00 138.50 132.60 136.25SYMPHONY 1207.00 1219.30 1143.55 1164.00DCMSHRIRAM 353.50 354.00 330.70 338.75CARBORUNIV 355.80 359.00 350.50 357.75J&KBANK 37.10 37.90 36.65 36.95ATUL 3478.85 3500.00 3400.00 3472.00KALPATPOWR 383.25 387.10 370.00 370.00THOMASCOOK 240.00 242.25 236.35 241.95FINCABLES 456.00 456.00 448.00 452.00MAHINDCIE 248.30 252.40 245.60 250.00NATCOPHARM* 690.00 693.60 681.00 683.70GUJGAS 688.00 692.60 652.50 662.60CENTURYPLY 183.00 183.90 177.45 178.75TATAMETALI 656.00 657.75 640.00 643.40VINATIORGA 1649.95 1666.35 1621.00 1626.00KEI 379.40 379.40 374.45 376.45CHAMBLFERT 147.95 148.40 143.00 144.90COCHINSHIP 390.10 390.10 382.10 383.15GLAXO 1460.00 1463.00 1401.00 1449.95BALMLAWRIE 203.05 209.00 199.00 200.05AIAENG 1640.00 1644.50 1608.85 1618.00EIDPARRY 209.00 213.50 206.50 207.00THERMAX 1109.65 1116.55 1099.45 1112.25UNICHEMLAB 190.85 194.90 189.70 192.10SUDARSCHEM 355.75 356.90 337.75 339.00SHARDACROP 315.60 329.90 310.55 322.30ADANITRANS 217.00 217.20 207.55 209.90AARTIIND 1453.35 1460.90 1438.45 1443.75TATAINVEST 886.00 887.90 876.00 877.30GHCL 243.70 249.00 242.70 245.00FDC 179.10 180.70 176.05 176.50MHRIL 201.00 204.75 196.35 198.00ANDHRABANK 30.35 30.35 29.10 29.15NLCINDIA 68.70 69.00 67.80 68.00APLLTD 592.55 595.90 576.50 579.80GREENPLY 137.95 140.85 134.50 139.00HEIDELBERG 159.00 159.65 153.80 155.00WELCORP 152.00 152.90 146.50 147.10PRESTIGE 208.75 213.70 205.00 206.70DBCORP 178.95 179.95 172.10 173.00VBL 728.00 740.00 717.35 736.50MAGMA 111.05 112.80 109.20 112.70TRENT 347.65 356.90 339.00 351.35RAJESHEXPO 570.50 579.40 562.10 571.20NETWORK18 39.50 39.80 38.35 39.05VTL 1070.35 1075.00 1020.00 1030.00PFIZER 2872.55 2885.10 2834.60 2855.60GDL 136.00 136.25 133.60 134.00EIHOTEL 194.95 195.50 190.20 191.00SHREECEM 17767.35 17767.35 17000.00 17020.00ASHOKA 131.80 131.80 125.30 126.60CENTRUM 39.35 39.40 36.50 37.45SOMANYCERA 326.85 338.20 320.10 322.00SJVN 25.30 25.60 25.15 25.25ELGIEQUIP 268.70 272.10 258.20 268.25TEJASNET 216.00 218.05 206.20 208.00BAJAJCORP 379.95 380.05 360.10 360.10PERSISTENT 615.00 615.00 608.00 608.00HAL 786.25 793.75 775.30 781.80GUJALKALI 542.55 552.25 536.25 536.50AEGISLOG 188.00 192.50 185.00 186.35

ALLCARGO 113.40 114.50 110.30 112.10ZYDUSWELL 1381.95 1393.10 1355.50 1358.70GMDCLTD 90.60 91.25 88.80 89.70GSKCONS 7826.25 7826.30 7625.00 7625.00IOB 15.00 15.26 14.82 15.00ITDCEM 113.65 117.95 112.00 113.40LINDEINDIA 674.00 688.00 670.50 684.40RNAM 169.30 169.30 160.00 164.95JAGRAN 120.80 120.80 117.00 118.05REDINGTON 87.40 88.00 85.75 86.50KPRMILL 578.50 578.50 560.00 563.00COROMANDEL 445.90 448.00 443.50 448.00JKLAKSHMI 287.35 287.45 281.20 285.00KRBL 292.00 292.00 284.00 287.45VMART 2680.00 2684.25 2559.40 2609.20GESHIP 335.80 336.75 326.65 330.05ESSELPRO 107.75 107.75 105.00 106.00SUNDRMFAST 528.20 528.90 518.00 527.95TIMKEN 581.00 581.15 562.60 568.00SCHAEFFLER 5504.05 5685.00 5503.95 5585.00JYOTHYLAB 199.35 202.85 198.30 198.90PGHH 9890.00 9969.75 9682.70 9855.00PNCINFRA 137.70 138.00 133.35 136.00ABBOTINDIA 7423.70 7484.60 7389.00 7389.00CAPPL 385.60 388.00 371.00 382.85SUPRAJIT 225.95 225.95 215.00 225.00SKFINDIA 1889.05 1919.50 1889.05 1904.00ERIS 684.50 684.50 665.10 665.10ICIL 56.95 58.60 56.55 57.20BASF 1594.30 1596.90 1563.00 1591.00ALKEM 1860.00 1870.95 1845.00 1845.40ASTRAL 1090.00 1094.95 1077.00 1090.90TEAMLEASE 2880.00 2894.45 2850.00 2890.00SADBHAV 208.25 209.75 202.60 203.40ASTERDM 151.10 151.15 147.00 147.20GPPL 102.75 104.35 100.25 104.00BLUESTARCO 646.80 646.90 625.00 626.15ECLERX 1110.75 1118.00 1060.15 1060.15KNRCON 202.00 203.25 193.10 198.05PIIND 836.95 841.95 832.60 841.90LAURUSLABS 385.00 393.05 382.95 390.00LALPATHLAB 945.00 967.00 945.00 959.00AKZOINDIA 1614.50 1645.00 1600.00 1635.65TTKPRESTIG 7530.00 7530.00 7318.05 7370.05RELAXO 729.00 730.95 717.65 720.00JBCHEPHARM 300.30 303.10 297.10 297.80INOXWIND 77.50 78.30 76.75 77.753MINDIA 22491.00 22500.40 22000.00 22075.00SHK 173.90 178.80 171.75 173.15BAYERCROP 4187.90 4288.00 4180.00 4288.00LAKSHVILAS 87.00 88.60 87.00 88.00LAXMIMACH* 5765.00 5800.00 5750.05 5764.20TIFHL 504.70 504.70 485.95 500.40THYROCARE 553.35 559.90 550.00 550.05GET&D 259.95 264.50 256.00 260.25JKCEMENT 750.00 761.70 744.60 748.25SOLARINDS 1024.65 1055.00 1018.85 1050.00COFFEEDAY 278.00 279.60 271.20 273.10GRINDWELL 553.70 557.75 542.55 545.00SCHNEIDER 103.80 103.95 101.20 101.45TRITURBINE 122.00 123.45 120.70 122.90FORBESCO 2460.00 2498.90 2420.00 2475.00HERITGFOOD 525.15 528.10 512.80 516.55EVEREADY 191.15 192.00 188.85 189.30GEPIL 813.15 825.15 802.10 825.00HONAUT 22650.00 22986.00 22050.00 22050.00SANOFI 6150.00 6150.00 6012.90 6100.00NBVENTURES 120.50 120.95 118.15 120.30RATNAMANI 929.85 929.85 912.00 920.00GUJFLUORO 906.00 907.55 895.80 896.25TVSSRICHAK 2609.00 2609.00 2580.00 2593.05ORIENTCEM 85.60 86.95 82.00 82.95ENDURANCE 1166.95 1185.00 1155.75 1178.00ITDC 308.90 315.00 300.25 301.05ISGEC 5141.00 5149.80 5060.00 5070.00APLAPOLLO 1171.80 1196.00 1160.80 1171.50SUNCLAYLTD 3679.95 3679.95 3437.00 3550.00BIRLACORPN 625.75 625.75 611.80 616.40SHILPAMED 400.00 400.00 380.00 380.95WABCOINDIA 6867.05 6867.05 6734.35 6841.60CRISIL 1630.80 1630.80 1595.40 1608.00FINOLEXIND 540.00 540.00 528.95 537.85GULFOILLUB 824.00 824.25 815.00 820.20ASAHIINDIA 257.20 257.85 251.45 253.70MONSANTO 2643.00 2675.00 2619.90 2670.00TVTODAY 372.50 372.50 365.55 367.90LAOPALA 220.20 223.25 220.10 223.25NAVNETEDUL 109.40 109.40 107.60 107.90MAHLIFE 387.10 394.15 385.60 390.45FLFL 404.75 406.80 401.15 401.85HATSUN 620.00 621.00 614.00 614.05CERA 2430.00 2435.00 2400.00 2407.40LUXIND 1454.85 1455.00 1436.00 1446.65IFBIND 857.75 858.05 837.15 838.05APARINDS 646.55 646.55 635.10 642.90STARCEMENT 104.70 104.95 101.05 103.20SIS 759.35 764.10 758.95 758.95ENIL 615.50 625.00 603.50 625.00BLUEDART 3114.50 3164.00 3105.00 3140.00SUPPETRO 212.35 212.40 209.40 209.40SHRIRAMCIT 1590.40 1649.90 1567.20 1649.90TNPL 256.85 259.00 254.70 259.00GILLETTE 6474.10 6490.00 6457.45 6475.00NH 204.25 205.00 199.70 202.80KIOCL 154.70 154.70 146.50 146.50CCL 273.85 273.85 270.05 270.05JCHAC 1777.00 1820.00 1773.00 1793.95SFL 1455.00 1455.00 1440.00 1443.50

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10944.25 10963.65 10738.65 10754.00 -197.70HINDPETRO 246.10 252.05 242.50 250.10 5.65BPCL 374.70 376.10 368.10 374.35 3.25COALINDIA 250.90 253.35 247.15 252.20 1.65NTPC 149.50 151.40 148.25 149.95 0.65POWERGRID 198.00 199.10 195.65 198.45 0.50HINDALCO 224.25 227.45 221.80 223.75 -0.15ONGC 149.00 149.30 147.60 148.40 -0.20BAJFINANCE 2615.00 2623.90 2532.70 2587.00 -4.40INFRATEL 263.80 265.00 247.45 261.30 -0.70JSWSTEEL 309.00 312.70 305.85 307.30 -1.40TATAMOTORS 177.00 180.50 175.15 175.50 -0.90TATASTEEL 524.15 532.00 518.30 520.20 -3.15CIPLA 521.00 523.95 514.30 517.00 -3.25KOTAKBANK 1240.00 1242.90 1223.65 1228.00 -8.30SBIN 293.65 296.50 290.80 292.00 -2.05BAJAJFINSV 6447.00 6500.00 6296.10 6355.90 -49.05HEROMOTOCO 3361.35 3369.00 3311.50 3335.25 -26.10SUNPHARMA 429.50 433.00 423.00 425.30 -3.75DRREDDY 2609.40 2616.30 2578.10 2602.95 -25.50HCLTECH 957.05 964.00 945.00 948.00 -11.50HDFCBANK 2134.00 2149.10 2109.05 2111.15 -26.30ULTRACEMCO 4030.00 4080.00 3955.50 3987.00 -53.35HINDUNILVR 1833.00 1842.60 1800.00 1810.00 -24.25VEDL 204.50 204.55 199.15 199.85 -2.90GRASIM 831.00 834.80 813.10 816.00 -12.50TECHM 710.00 713.50 693.00 696.70 -11.05HDFC 1974.80 1979.60 1930.00 1943.45 -31.25AXISBANK 633.30 637.85 616.65 621.65 -11.30YESBANK 188.00 188.45 180.85 183.15 -3.60ICICIBANK 361.00 363.50 352.00 355.05 -7.10LT 1450.80 1459.70 1415.20 1422.00 -28.80ITC 283.00 284.00 276.05 276.60 -6.05INDUSINDBK 1612.85 1625.95 1572.20 1577.95 -34.90M&M 795.00 814.00 777.70 778.20 -17.25GAIL 353.00 354.20 344.10 345.50 -7.65TCS 1948.00 1950.00 1886.55 1905.00 -49.05ASIANPAINT 1433.90 1433.90 1382.30 1389.70 -36.10EICHERMOT 24146.00 24190.00 23411.10 23479.95 -612.05RELIANCE 1125.00 1131.25 1096.00 1098.00 -30.45BAJAJ-AUTO 2897.00 2905.00 2801.00 2807.00 -80.20BHARTIARTL 320.00 324.75 305.60 307.50 -9.05TITAN 927.85 927.85 897.25 899.75 -27.00WIPRO 333.20 334.80 320.75 323.15 -10.10INFY 659.50 659.50 643.45 646.55 -20.50IBULHSGFIN 854.00 864.90 807.60 818.15 -27.90MARUTI 7830.00 7835.00 7515.00 7539.00 -268.05ZEEL 463.00 465.50 444.30 446.05 -15.90ADANIPORTS 374.30 379.50 359.15 361.25 -13.90UPL 771.05 773.90 733.05 735.00 -35.00IOC 141.80 142.80 139.10 139.80 -8.05

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28479.15 28559.65 27955.00 28017.35 -388.15BOSCHLTD 19690.00 19990.00 19483.20 19799.65 192.60ICICIPRULI 324.45 329.40 319.05 325.90 2.65LUPIN 855.15 868.70 853.05 859.70 4.65BANKBARODA 115.00 116.40 114.25 115.05 0.15PETRONET 223.55 224.95 220.70 221.40 0.05PEL 2288.00 2365.00 2272.10 2289.90 -0.20INDIGO 1159.80 1168.20 1139.05 1151.25 -0.80COLPAL 1320.10 1339.80 1320.10 1327.00 -1.20IDEA 38.50 38.85 37.50 38.15 -0.05SIEMENS 1000.00 1014.95 982.05 994.00 -2.65OFSS 3700.00 3745.00 3615.00 3666.70 -14.65ICICIGI 872.00 876.80 842.55 862.00 -3.75ABB 1315.00 1325.00 1295.00 1308.00 -6.15HDFCLIFE 388.00 388.00 381.20 385.20 -2.00HINDZINC 280.00 280.50 273.25 275.75 -2.15NHPC 26.10 26.15 25.85 25.90 -0.20MARICO 380.00 385.85 374.75 377.45 -3.05CADILAHC 345.15 347.85 340.20 341.40 -2.85ASHOKLEY 106.45 107.00 103.55 105.25 -0.90SUNTV 599.00 606.75 585.50 591.70 -5.15AUROPHARMA 726.00 732.50 714.15 719.00 -6.60MOTHERSUMI 172.00 175.00 168.10 168.75 -1.75OIL 180.35 180.90 176.55 177.15 -1.90ABCAPITAL 99.40 99.65 97.80 98.40 -1.10BHEL 71.80 71.90 69.40 69.75 -0.80DABUR 445.00 448.50 434.20 438.80 -5.25SAIL 53.25 54.60 52.50 52.75 -0.65BANDHANBNK 540.00 553.00 521.00 531.00 -6.60DLF 190.00 191.80 185.15 187.10 -2.75PGHH 9962.00 9989.75 9651.10 9800.00 -162.65BRITANNIA 3199.00 3200.00 3107.10 3118.10 -52.75CONCOR 670.00 670.00 653.35 655.00 -11.50NIACL 190.50 192.90 185.00 186.50 -3.45HAVELLS 704.95 716.50 689.40 690.70 -14.00SHREECEM 17521.50 17521.50 17074.65 17137.20 -360.60DMART 1645.00 1656.75 1600.00 1612.25 -33.85AMBUJACEM 225.25 226.20 219.30 220.35 -4.75BEL 91.15 94.80 88.00 88.10 -2.20SBILIFE 593.15 605.55 577.30 578.00 -14.45BIOCON 639.00 643.00 617.70 621.90 -15.70MCDOWELL-N 639.95 642.60 617.80 621.00 -16.55GODREJCP 827.70 827.70 798.50 804.00 -22.00GICRE 275.80 276.60 265.50 268.40 -7.40MRF 69049.70 69561.00 66700.00 67140.00 -1909.70ACC 1534.90 1539.00 1481.00 1490.00 -47.25NMDC 97.35 97.75 94.20 94.40 -3.35LICHSGFIN 488.95 496.20 469.00 469.55 -19.50L&TFH 157.90 159.25 150.50 150.90 -6.45PIDILITIND 1193.00 1193.00 1137.20 1139.00 -53.65SRTRANSFIN 1268.10 1273.15 1192.50 1200.30 -66.80

Page 12: ˇ˘ˆ - dailypioneer.com · Hindi’s Navjivan and Urdu’s Qaumi Awaz commenced pub-lication in 2016-17. The week- ly newspaper National Herald resumed publication on September

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President Donald Trump’sdemand for border wall

funds hurled the federalGovernment closer to a shut-down as House Republicansapproved a package with his$5.7 billion request that isalmost certain to be rejected bythe Senate.

The White House saidTrump will not travel to Floridaon Friday for the Christmasholiday if the government isshutting down. More than800,000 federal workers will befacing furloughs or forced towork without pay if a resolutionis not reached before fundingexpires at midnight Friday.

The shutdown crisis couldbe one of the final acts of theHouse GOP majority beforerelinquishing control toDemocrats in January.Congress had been on track tofund the government butlurched Thursday whenTrump, after a rare lashingfrom conservative supporters,

declared he would not sign abill without the funding.Conservatives want to keepfighting. They warn that “cav-ing” on Trump’s repeated wallpromises could hurt his 2020re-election chances, and otherRepublicans’ as well.

The House voted largelyalong party lines, 217-185,after GOP leaders framed thevote as a slap-back to NancyPelosi, who is poised to becomeHouse speaker on Jan. 3 andwho had warned Trump in atelevised Oval Office meetinglast week that he wouldn’t havethe votes for the wall.

“Now we find compro-mise,” House Majority LeaderKevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said.“We have time right now to getit done.” The government fund-ing package, which includesnearly USD 8 billion in disas-ter aid for coastal hurricanesand California wildfires, nowgoes to the Senate, where itsprospects are grim amid strongopposition from Democrats.Sixty votes are needed to

approve the bill there.Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,warned senators they may needto return to Washington for anoontime vote Friday.

Many senators already lefttown for the holidays. TheSenate approved a bipartisanbill late Wednesday to keep thegovernment temporarily fund-ed, with border security moneyat current levels, USD 1.3 bil-lion, and no money for the wall.The House had been expectedto vote on it Thursday.

The most likely possibilityFriday is that the Senate stripsthe border wall out of the billbut keeps the disaster fundsand sends it back to the House.House lawmakers said theywere being told to stay in townfor more possible votes.

With Pelosi’s backing, theSenate-passed bill likely hasenough support for Houseapproval with votes mostlyfrom Democratic lawmakers,who are still the minority, andsome Republicans.

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US President Donald Trumphas decided to pull a sig-

nificant number of troops fromAfghanistan, a US official toldAFP on Thursday, with theAfghan presidency brushing offconcerns the drawdown wouldaffect security.

Reports suggested as manyas half of the 14,000 troops inthe war-torn country could beleaving.

The surprise move stunnedand dismayed foreign diplo-mats and officials in Kabul whoare involved in an intensifyingpush to end the 17-year conflictwith the Taliban, which alreadycontrols vast amounts of terri-tory and is causing “unsus-tainable” Afghan troop casual-ties.

“If you’re the Taliban,Christmas has come early,” asenior foreign official in theAfghan capital told AFP on thecondition of anonymity.

“Would you be thinking ofa ceasefire if your main oppo-

nent has just withdrawn halftheir troops?”

Taliban spokesmanZabiullah Mujahid would notcomment about the troopwithdrawal when contacted byAFP. But a senior Taliban com-mander welcomed the deci-sion.

“Frankly speaking weweren’t expecting that immediate US response,” theofficial told AFP from anunknown location in northwestPakistan.

“We are more than happy,they realised the truth. We areexpecting more good news.”

It is not clear if US peaceenvoy Zalmay Khalilzad or theAfghan government had beenwarned of Trump’s plans inadvance.

But a spokesman forAfghan President Ashraf Ghanidownplayed the effect of anypullout.

“If they withdraw fromAfghanistan it will not have asecurity impact because in thelast four and half years the

Afghans have been in full con-trol,” presidential spokesmanHaroon Chakhansuri said viasocial media.

US-led NATO combattroops withdrew fromAfghanistan at the end of 2014,handing responsibility forsecuring the country to localforces. Trump’s decision appar-ently came Tuesday asKhalilzad met with the Talibanin Abu Dhabi, part of efforts tobring the militants to the nego-tiating table with the Afghangovernment.

They discussed issues ranging from the group’s longstanding demand for apullout of foreign troops, therelease of prisoners includingAnas Haqqani, son of theHaqqani network’s founder,and a ceasefire, Khalilzad toldAfghan media in Kabul onThursday.

“That decision has beenmade. There will be a signifi-cant withdrawal,” the Americanofficial told AFP on conditionof anonymity.

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The US has told all itsregional partners, including

Pakistan, that state support forterrorist proxies will not be tol-erated, the Pentagon has said,expressing concern over thefree movement of some mili-tant groups in Pakistan that arepresenting security challengesfor Afghanistan.

The Pentagon, in its semi-annual Afghan report tothe US Congress that covers theperiod of June to November 2018, said onThursday that Taliban and the Haqqani Network retainfreedom of movement inPakistan.

The Pentagon’s remarks came amidst reports that President Donald Trump is planning towithdraw US troops fromAfghanistan.

In the report, the Pentagonsaid that Afghanistan faces acontinuing threat from an

externally supported insur-gency and the highest region-al concentration of terroristgroups in the world.

“In this reporting period,the US continued to call onregional partners to reinforce our messages thatstate support for terrorist prox-ies will not be tolerated, thatcross-border cooperationbetween Afghanistan andPakistan is essential, and thatthe Taliban cannot achieve itsobjectives through continuedmilitary conflict,” the Pentagonsaid.

“Although Pakistani mili-tary operations have disruptedsome militant sanctuaries, cer-tain groups — such as theTaliban and the HaqqaniNetwork — retain freedom ofmovement in Pakistan.

The United States contin-ues to convey to all levels ofPakistani leadership the impor-tance of taking action againstall terrorist and militantgroups,” it said.

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Thirteen miners died and 10were injured after a fire

caused by burning methaneerupted in a black coal mine inthe east of the Czech Republic,a spokesman said on Friday.

“In total we have 13 deadminers, 11 Polish and twoCzech,” Ivo Celechovsky,spokesman for the OKD min-ing company, told AFP.

The accident occurred at adepth of 880 metres (yards) atthe CSM mine in the city ofKarvina, about 300 kilometres(200 miles) east of Prague, onThursday afternoon.

Rescuers found five deadminers on Thursday andreported eight missing.

All of them were alsofound dead.

Celechovsky said the firewas still burning, with rescuers

building barriers to stop itfrom spreading.

He added they would workthere at least until Sunday.

Nada Chattova, a spokes-woman for the hospital in thenearby city of Ostrava, said twomen had been treated at itsburn centre.

“One was brought in by ahelicopter, he is still in a critical condition. The otherone is in a stable condition andhis life is not in danger,” shetold AFP.

One miner with a lighterinjury was taken to a hospitalin Karvina and seven weretreated on the spot, also withlighter injuries, Czech media

said.“The blast at the CSM

mine is a huge tragedy,” tweet-ed Czech Prime MinisterAndrej Babis, who will travel tothe site on Friday morningalong with his Polish counter-part Mateusz Morawiecki.

The prime ministers talkedon the phone after the accident,Morawiecki said in a tweet,adding that Polish rescuershad also been sent to the mine.

Celechovsky said onThursday the dead Polish min-ers were from the Poland-based Alpex mining company.

“We’re one big family, it’s aterrible tragedy,” a Czech minertold the local Polar TV.

“I was supposed to bethere, I work with these teamsevery day. They sent me towork somewhere else today,”said a Polish miner.

“I feel like crying,” he toldPolar TV.

OKD, which runs themine, is controlled by theCzech state and expects toextract about five milliontonnes of coal this year.

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The Trump administration’sspecial envoy for North

Korea on Friday expressedoptimism about the diplomat-ic push to resolve the nuclearcrisis, a day after the Northissued a surprisingly bluntstatement saying it will neverdisarm unless the US removeswhat it calls a nuclear threat.Stephen Biegun said ahead ofa meeting with South Koreanofficials that the allies are com-mitted to ending seven decadesof hostility and creating a “new,brighter future for all of theKorean people.”

He did not directly addressthe North Korean statement,which jarred with Seoul’s rosierpresentation of the NorthKorean position and couldpotentially rattle the fragilediplomacy betweenWashington, Seoul andPyongyang to defuse a nuclearcrisis that last year had manyfearing war.

Biegun’s comments echoedthose of US Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo, who told aKansas radio station thatWashington and Pyongyangwere still working through theexecution of North Koreanleader Kim Jong Un’s “com-mitment to denuclearise.”

“We are hopeful that in thenew year President Trump andChairman Kim will get togeth-er not too long after the first ofthe year and make even furtherprogress on taking this threatto the United States away fromus,” Pompeo said.

Upon his arrival in SouthKorean on Wednesday, Biegunsaid Washington was reviewingeasing travel restrictions onNorth Korea to facilitatehumanitarian shipments tohelp resolve the impasse innuclear negotiations.

The North has yet to respond to Biegun’s com-ments.

Thursday’s statement wasthe North’s latest display of dis-pleasure over a deepeningimpasse in negotiations withthe United States as they strug-gle over the sequencing of thedenuclearisation thatWashington wants and theremoval of international sanc-tions desired by Pyongyang.

It also raises credibilityproblems for the liberal SouthKorean government, which hasclaimed that Kim is genuinelyinterested in negotiating awayhis nuclear weapons.

The comments may also beseen as proof of what outsideskeptics have long said: thatKim will never voluntarily

relinquish an arsenal he sees asa stronger guarantee of survivalthan whatever security assur-ances the United States mightprovide.

The statement suggestsNorth Korea will eventuallydemand the United States with-draw or significantly reduce the28,500 American troops sta-tioned in South Korea, a majorsticking point in any disarma-ment deal.

Kim and Trump met June12 in Singapore where theyagreed on a vague goal for the“complete denuclearisation” ofthe Korean Peninsula withoutdescribing when and how itwould occur.

The leaders are trying toarrange another meeting forearly next year.

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Ahint of traditional Baulmusic, originally per-formed by the mysticsfrom West Bengal andBangladesh is com-

bined with a bit of contemporaryAustralian Jazz, Rock and Westernproduction aesthetics. The resul-tant fusion sometimes has a whole-ness that’s difficult to believe. Andthat is what makes The Three Seasstand out.

Often we hear of people com-ing together from various parts ofone country to form a collabora-tion but this band has stretchedfurther and features people fromdifferent countries and origins tocreate one spectacle. The band,currently on its six-city India tour,is a book of many stories andformed by numerous cultures.

It’s artistic director MattKeegan’s sixth visit to India the firstbeing in 2009 when he found thecountry’s culture to be full ofcolours and variations. He was par-ticularly attracted to the music that“revives traditions in every man-ner.” He narrates, “The mother ofone of my friends in schoolbelonged to Kolkata, West Bengal.She invited me to India and I vis-ited the countryside ofSantiniketan where I met themusicians that today are a part ofthis team.” When he met them herealised that this could be thebeginning of a band that couldcombine various traditions andarts creating some really good and

soulful music.There is singer Raju Baul who

brings in the nomadic tribal cul-ture of Bauls and is known for hismastery of khamak and itsrhythms. Darjeeling-born singer ofNepalese origin, Deo AshishMothey can produce intricate riffsin Himalayan style through instru-ments like the dotora and the esraj.Gaurab Chatterjee, the fourthband member is a drummer fromKolkata and Matt describes him asthe “crazy one” as he creates allsorts of “Bengali percussion beatsand amusement on the stage”through dubki (hand drum). Thefifth is Australian double-bassistSteve Elphick, the master of jazzand fusion, who is responsible for“uplifting the musical alchemy” ofThe Three Seas.

While the saxophonist Mattintroduces all the four members ofthe band, we wonder, how do suchdiverse musicians and their instru-ments make one music together?He answers that we really have tounderstand our differences andcombine them into one. “There arethree things. Even if we are differ-ent, there is something that isalways similar. The first thing thatwe need to do is find that one sim-ilar thing and start from there.Second, lies in the intention of themusician. Each musician has to feelit and say that he wants to workand make it happen. Third of all,to fall in love with the idea. Weneed to find what works and spot

differences among us. If Jazz is alittle improvised, Baul is more tra-ditional. Then there is Nepalimusic which is also different fromBengali. But its idea is new and rev-olutionary, but hard. We just needto flow in and strategise. Everyoneshould be open to the process,” hesays.

So how has the band evolvedover the course of 10 years now?

Matt believes that it has comea long way after overcoming manychallenges. He says, “It has devel-oped in many ways and hasmatured. When we first met, wedidn’t know how to do it. We triedand even though all the things did-n’t work out, some of them did. Butnot everything can go in placewhen you have just begun, right?”

It was only when they startedrealising that in order to combinesuch diversities it was essential tounderstand that they are diverse,that the music fell in place. “Thisband is a result of the spirit of indi-vidual musicians working as ateam and it has taken a longtime.”

He says that one of the majorchallenges was communicationbecause of language barriers.Initially, they usually never under-stood each others’ concepts andperspectives. “We are also fromvery different parts of the worldand speak different languages. Wehad to work on what the other per-son is saying. We have to get anunderstanding of how we function

at individual levels. Now that weare more like friends, we laugh atthe times when we struggled tounderstand each other.” He saysthat it was really “tricky” as it cre-ated confusion because “you thinkthat he is talking about somethingbut the other person is thinkingabout something else. However,differences could be confusingbut also funny and interesting. Itgets boring otherwise.”

He recalls his first albumHaveli that was shot in Rajasthan,India, that marked their first bond-ing.

Matt says that music hasbecome much more accessiblethan it ever was. It is easier to gethold of favourite tracks and musi-cians. And with the growing acces-sibility, there are also many moreopportunities for musicians. “Youcan always showcase it on a plat-form where people can easilyaccess it. There are more ways tofind music and connect with a larg-er audience. This is one way inwhich music industry has reallyevolved. It has made things easierto some extent. It’s still hardthough because now there is a lotto explore.”

The world has become flatter,thanks to social media. And asmore and more people find onlineplatforms, we question, was iteasier for people earlier to show-case their talents when there wereno such platforms and a lesser levelof competition? “In some ways, it

is easier for the talented people tocome up but it also enables the lesstalented ones,” Matt points out andadds, “The flowers still bloom buttake a lot of time and now theproblem is that they can also givepeople false hopes.”

He believes that people todaytry to imitate established artists butthat doesn’t always work. “Theythink that maybe ‘I can do it too,’but maybe they cannot because it’sreally hard to get noticed for yourwork when everyone is coming upwith similar elements. But all youneed is persistence because the tra-ditional pathways have changed.”

The band has already madeKochi, Delhi and Mumbai grooveto its tunes and they tell us thateven though they keep the same setand sequence of the music to bepresented, they find different con-nections everywhere. The reasonis regional influence. He believesthat this always draws one in. It’sdifferent at different places becauseof their vibe and it’s not as they tryto make it different but it justcomes naturally.

“We play the same set, differ-ent jokes though,” laughs Matt.

He says that they try to find acommonality by making the audi-ence laugh about cricket matchesbetween Australia and Indiabecause “we need to make someconnections outside of music tooright?”

(They will be performing inKolkata, Kalimpong and Siliguri now.)

Do you think the comman-der feels a sense of remorsefor the decisions he makes

as a powerful man in Gilead? Yes, in a certain way... his posi-

tion is very fundamentalist positionat that, is to redress the moral decayin the world as he sees it...it’s aboutresetting that compass and in doingso he is very much aware there canbe painful sacrifices.

I think what's interesting is thatthe Commander, albeit fleetingly, ishighly aware and conscious of themoral implications connected to thedecisions he makes for the good ofGilead. He understands the dilem-ma and that there is collateraldamage. That's what makes him awonderful human but, he doesn'tspend too much time dwelling onthat because the bigger picture is themoral decay that needs to beaddressed. And that's what I loveabout him...that he's dark, creepyand complicated, but in his worldand in his mind, it's all about thebetterment of mankind. Also, he’slanded in a position and placethat’s impossible to back of.

Did you know The Handmaid’sTale book before and did youthink that the show could be a suc-cess like this?

I knew that I would be in a verytalented company coupled withthe brilliant narrative of the book,but I wasn’t prepared for the incred-ible response.

I knew of Margaret Atwood'swork, and the book, but I had notread it until after speaking to BruceMiller. After I read it, I thought itmay be tough to adapt to televisionas the book is told in the first per-son, and it would be interesting tosee how a show could connect an

audience to Offered in the way thebook does. In the book, there's wonderfulmoments of what's all very muchinner thoughts. There’s a jugglingact with all of those thoughts, someof those thoughts carry over two orthree pages, and it’s so deliciouslybalanced that I thought, “Well,how do you do that in film or tele-vision, with the editing, and the cut-ting, how do you succeed?” That’sthe genius of Bruce and his fellowwriters and Lizzie Moss. They suc-ceeded in really connecting theaudience to that first-person voice,through voice-over, the cinematog-raphy and of course from an aston-ishing performance by Lizzie.

Did you ever think the showwould become something that iswatched as a comment on the realworld? Did you ever feel the showhad that kind of power? I think the show always had thatpower since it was written over 30years ago. This extraordinary pieceof feminist literature had its fan basethen, but TV has given it an enor-mous reach. We got pretty lucky onconverging with the current polit-ical climate, which has shown a lotof parallels with the show, and it’srelevance has been very powerful.

You have to do some horriblethings in the show. How do youget into the mindset of theCommander? I am genuinely affected by some ofthe things we have to do while act-ing, primarily the ceremony scene.It’s abhorrent and brutal... but it’sin the book and what’s in the bookare the keys to the Commander’smindset. I feel he’s genuinely con-flicted, but power has a way of cor-rupting. Its turned the commanderinto a patriarchal predator.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a showwith a lot of high-poweredfemales involved in the cre-ation and production. Also, ingeneral, women are getting alot more roles and positionsin film and television. As amale actor, how do you feelabout this? Well, I love it. I have two sis-ters that are directors, one’s indocumentary, one’s in film.My mother was a writer anda painter, so I've been sur-rounded by dynamic womensince childhood and femalevoices in arts. I have my wife,my two children, the threemost important females(and people) in my life. So I

think it's just and right. It is soimportant that we are finally hav-ing this conversation about theimbalance. But we've still got a longway to go. I've worked with numer-ous female directors andwriters...not enough...and I've beenthe second lead to many femaleleads. I feel like I've participated inmy short journey, in my career,with a good balance in that regard.But it's a long, long way to go, forsure.

Your character has changed interms of age from the bookto the show. Do you thinkthat adds an extra layer tothe character? Yes, definitely. Seasontwo is about birth and somuch is about fertility inGilead. TheCommander wouldenjoy a job promotionshould they have achild, as well as bask-ing in the social glory.Gilead stands andsurvives on collect-ing fertile women.And so the idea thattwo prime membersand architects of

Gilead in their prime

could be barren is powerful. To beof a fertile age and be unable tohave children adds a layer of com-plexity.

I always seem to be surprisedwhen I see moments that theCommander shows affection andlove for Serena. What are yourthoughts on that? I like that you’re surprised and lovethe idea that Fred still shows loveand affection for Serena andalthough that love has diminishedthere is still moments of reflectionand tenderness towards her. Itmakes for a more complex rela-tionship. He invariably showsaffection after being brutal orneeding her help. In season two,their union becomes quite strongagain.

Do you think Serena’s giving uppower for affection? Or do youthink the Commander’s takingher power because he’s not thatoriginal or not that visionary, andshe’s really the one with all thevisions? Gilead (and what it stands for) hastaken her power and voice, andFred stood by while it happened.I think it’s right to say that Fred issomewhat insecure about Serena

being a true visionary, but it wasthis visionary he fell in love with.I think it’s more to do with her hav-ing a voice at a time where he’s nowbeen given a new position. He isnow the Commander. Adding tothat, I think Gilead in giving greatpower to Fred, has produced inhim a sense of almost patriarchalinvincibility that he’s not preparedto relinquish in any way to Serena.

It’s really easy to connect with thefemale characters in the showbecause we want better for them,with the Commander being theantagonist, is there any possibleconnection the viewer can havewith your character? It’s much the same in the series too,l ike in the book for Fred.Connecting to him without gleam-ing his back story or inner worldis tough, he’s also the face of theregime, the face of what there is toresist and fight against, so havingtoo much connection with himisn’t going to help the journey ofthe protagonists. But having saidthat my job is to find that connec-tion for an audience through mak-ing him human. Making him fal-lible and aware of those fallibilities,making him cognizant to the fall-out on people from the decisionshe makes for the good of Gilead.So that, I hope, makes him human.And in that regard, you can feelthere's some connection.

Is it a fun set to work on? It is very concentrated, but it is fun.We all get along and have fun offcamera or you'd never make itthrough a season.

(The Handmaid’s Tale season2 airs every Monday at 10 pm onAXN.)

Indian singer Shaan, whose forthcom-ing music video is titled It’s Natural,says one needs to be original — as also

adapt to change — to make a mark in theindustry.

“My forthcoming video, It’s Natural,coming out during Christmas. The wayI look at it, singers need to be original tobe able to make a mark in the industry,”Shantanu Mukherjee aka Shaan said.

The Woh Pehli Baar singer, who hasbeen judging reality shows, mentionedthat singers like Jonita Gandhi andArmaan Mallik are doing really very well.

He also spoke about YouTube talenthunt ARRived which he is co-judgingwith A.R. Rahman. The show is all aboutfinding original voices and the finaleaired yesterday.

Shaan, who has been singing andcomposing for a long time, appreciatedthe digital platform as one can reach outto a larger audience. He has his ownYouTube channel and Surilee was his firstsingle on it.

“Yes it has been a very long time andchange is inevitable. I am happy to be apart of all the changes,” the passionatecomposer, who may not have manyBollywood releases but is quite activewith his singles, said.

He has lent his voice to all the bigstars of Bollywood like Shahrukh Khan,Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, AbhishekBacchan and many more.

Talking about competition in today,he jokingly said that the songs are goodbut it is just that he is not singing those.It would have been great had he donethem, he added.

Shaan’s grandfather Jahar Mukherjeewas a lyricist and his father ManasMukherjee a music director.

“My father was a composer, mygrandfather was a prolific classical singer.Hopefully, my children will be singing,then it will be this four generationof singers,” the soulful singer said.

However, he won’t encouragehis son Shubh Mukherjee totake to singing as a profession atthe moment.

“When inspiration comesin and I know that my boyscould contribute in the best oftheir capacity to a song, thenI’ll definitely want to workwith them. At the moment,they are still in school and Iwant them to focus on learningmusic and, at the same time,building their personalities andbalancing that between studies andsports as well,” said the fitness enthu-siast.

“I don’t want them to get stuck in theprofession of singing or working. Iwouldn’t want them (to get) into profes-sional singing too early. I'd like them togrow as individuals and then enter thefield,” added he, who had sung a song inAjay Devgn-starrer Himmatwala with hissons apart from other projects.

“I started singing almost at the ageof four but won’t encourage my son tosing professionally at the moment. He isin his teens. His voice is changing, so heis learning classical music,” the dotingfather said.

Shubh Mukherjee has lent his voiceto a song in the YRF web series Sex Chatwith Pappu and Papa and also to theHindi version of the title track of Disney’sDuck Tales.

His elder son Sohum Mukherjee isgood with music production and ismore into electronic music thanBollywood music, Shaan revealed.

Soaking in the city’s hockey frenzy,the singer revealed, “I have a hockey con-nection too. The school that I had stud-ied in, St. Stanislaus High School, hasproduced many hockey players likeViren Rasquinha, among others.”

During his gig, he also attempted theJai Hind, Hind India hockey anthemcomposed by A.R. Rahman, along withhis other hits like Tanha dil, Mai aisa

kyun hu and All is well.The audience was

also treated by his hitOdiya song Seiborosa sei raate monepore (Do youremember that rainynight), that he sangaround 15 years ago.

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Christian Bale had a choice tomake. He’d been hemmingand hawing about Adam

McKay’s very unconventionalproposition that he play DickCheney in a biopic about the formervice president of the United States,and his deadline to decide was com-ing up.

“I thought it was going to beimpossible. I also didn’t want to dothat much work,” Bale said recent-ly in Beverly Hills. “I just thought,‘this is going to be a lot of work!’Like, ‘Do you realise how difficultthis is going to be? I don’t really wantto do that.’”

But he started researchingCheney and doing some early make-up tests and realised he’d becomeobsessed. Suddenly seeing his namenext to Cheney’s didn’t seem “socompletely crazy.” He had to say yes.

Besides, he laughed, “There’salways attraction, I feel like, inending a career in one go.”

So Bale and, eventually, his fre-quent co-star Amy Adams, decidedto do the impossible and become theenigmatic Dick and Lynne Cheneyfor McKay’s Vice. The chargedpolemic, which arrives in theatersChristmas day, follows the Cheneysfrom their inauspicious origins toWashington D.C., where DickCheney would become one of themost powerful and influential fig-ures in the country.

To Bale, Cheney was someonewho thrived on serving someone, beit Donald Rumsfeld or George W.Bush, but that his first loyalty wasto his wife. The film posits aShakespearean power dynamicwhere Lynne is pulling stringsbehind the scenes.

“Lynne was the ambition and

the driving force,” Bale said. “Timesbeing as they were Lynne was notable to achieve all these goals thatshe wished she could achieve her-self. She needed a man to do thatand so Dick became that vesselthrough which she achieved herown ambitions.”

Adams became fascinated byher character’s intelligence andrealised she needed to stop think-ing of her as merely “Dick’s wife.”

“My daughter asked me what Iwas going to play, and I told her. Shesaid, ‘Why are you always playing awife and a girlfriend?’ And I realisedthat even I had assigned her a posi-tion in relationship to Dick Cheneyand it changed the way that I viewher,” Adams said. “I felt, ‘I’m play-ing Lynne Cheney. She’s married toDick, but has her own identity.’”

Neither met their real-life sub-ject, who they would be portrayingover the course of four decades. Balewanted to but was “warned awayfrom trying to do that. It’s one ofthose deals where they say if youbump into somebody, well good,chat all you want, but if you reachout to somebody, it’s a different legalthing that happens with that,” hesaid.

But they had a lot of resourcesto help, including first-handaccounts from people who knewthem, and the internet. Bale’s phoneis still full of videos and photos ofCheney, right alongside those of hiswife and kids.

“I haven’t been able to get rid ofit yet,” said Bale, laughing that he’sbecome fond of the memories.

Of course, learning about Dickand Lynne Cheney is one thing, butBale and Adams would also have tolook like them as well for Vice towork. For Bale, that meant yetanother significant physical trans-formation that involved wearingfake teeth, gaining some 40 pounds,adding “a couple of inches” to hisneck and spending about four hoursin the make-up chair every day.

“It helps me get into character,but it doesn’t help me live a long life.Really. I’ve really got to stop doingit at some point,” Bale said.

He used to laugh at people whowould just opt for an easy fat suit,instead of doing the work, until herealised that Gary Oldman haddone just that for his Oscar-winningWinston Churchill transformationfor Darkest Hour. But at that pointhe had already gained 25 poundsand decided he might as well justkeep going. Adams, too, had gainedsome weight.

“I found it helpful for just thegravitas that Lynne had,” Adamssaid. “She felt very earthy to me.”

One thing Adams struggledwith was the long hours in themake-up chair. “One day I was sotired I felt like I was on a boat. I wassitting there, we were working lateinto the night and I said, ‘I don’tknow how you do it, Christian. Ireally have so much admiration for

you,’ and he said, ‘I don’t think aboutit,’” she said. “It’s exactly what I need-ed to hear in that moment.”

Although the film itself may bepolitical, both Bale and Adamswould rather stay out of comment-ing on or making judgments abouttheir characters and their politics.

“I didn’t approach this with myown opinions. I don’t typically headinto any character I approach byjudging them,” Adams said. “Thatkind of shuts me down in creatingthe character.” Bale added, “If you’rewatching us on the screen and youknow Amy’s political stance onwhat Lynne was saying and howmuch I disagree or agree with... itreally ruins the whole point.”

And perhaps the story is morecomplicated than party lines. Balesaid, when you remove the “enor-mously horrific things,” like the IraqWar and enhanced interrogation,you are, “Kind of left with a lovestory.”

“You get this incredibly devot-ed man who recognizes that hewould not have been the person hebecame were it not for his wife. Youget a man who contrary to the timesand what was popular with his party,without any hesitation, embracedhis daughter Mary when she cameout. He didn’t give a damn what any-body else thought. But I think alsothat is largely a part of what makesthis story, and any story interesting,”Bale said. “There is this desire sooften to make everyone into super-heroes, to be all villain or all heroand nobody is ... So it’s trying to findthat balance but hopefully notputting anything of myself into it.”

“Does that make sense?” Baleadded, “Or does it sound really pre-tentious?” H��

Actress Ratna PathakShah, who plays aschool principal in theforthcoming Netflixoriginal Selection Day,

has looked at the education systemcritically and says it has been usedto maintain the power equation insociety.

“Education is a very potentforce that gives you power. In ourcountry, for centuries we believedthat education should be kept forthe personal purview of a few. Theshastra attitude, where we havetreated education as a sign ofpower, knowledge as a sign ofpower that we all want to hold onto... and that is how the caste sys-tem in our country has survived forages. Education has been used tomaintain the power equation insociety,” said Ratna.

She added, “We have someoneto clean our lavatory, otherwise wehave to do it by ourselves. So wehave controlled and kept a groupof people away from education...but this is practiced in many coun-tries. We are not the first ones, andwe won’t be the last either.”

The acclaimed theatre andfilm veteran said it is important toraise questions on the value of edu-cation.

“Is the system actually provid-ing education to make a goodhuman being out of a child, orpreparing them to become just anemployee? In the show, (my char-acter) Neli Weinberg is question-ing that.”

The story of Selection Dayrevolves around two young boyswho are forced to become crick-eters to fulfill the dream of their

father, who is obsessed with thegame.

Ratna’s character runs a schoolthat is trying to balance children todream and not get forced to get intoa system.

“A lot of young talent of ourcountry, who do not get a chanceto grow up like normal humanbeings, think about SachinTendulkar, who had to grow upfaster when he played internation-al cricket as young as 17 years old.This school of Neli is trying tomake these two budding cricketsgrounded for their holistic devel-opment,” she said.

The mother of two sons —Vivaan Shah and Imaad Shah —said parents being less involved inthe upbringing of children is alsoa negative thing.

She said, “Due to the commer-cialisation of education, parents(have) washed their hands offfrom children, they send them toschool and for various courses forthem to become someone. Kids arelosing their individuality that way.Parents also believe that childrenare living in a state of idiocy andthey should be told how to live life.”

Ratna’s last presence on thedigital platform was in the Netflixoriginal film Love Per Square Foot.She had earlier also talked abouthow digital platform is openingnew gates to better stories as peo-ple are running out of new ideas inmainstream cinema and television.She also expressed her objectionagainst the term ‘OTT,’ abbrevia-tion for ‘Over The Top.’

She said, “It is not an over thetop medium, really. Hopefully,this medium will talk about things

around us, sometimes in an over-the-top manner and sometimes ina realistic manner. It is a mediumthat is offering great possibilities atthe moment to the (entertain-ment) scenario in India. I think wehave run out of story ideas in films,really. Nobody wants to put moneyin experimental stories. Even if theywant, which is very few in number,they play it safe. They want a star,established names, one or twosongs that will help them to pro-mote the content.” She added,“Netflix or platforms of this natureare actually producing a story andputting up a show for what it is.They are telling the story for whatit is, so the audience gets a chanceto see new ideas.”

Ratna is known for her skilledacting on stage and in films likeJaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Kapoor &Sons, Khoobsurat, Mirch Masala,Lipstick Under my Burkha.

So, what kind of scripts is shelooking forward to these days?

The 55-year-old actress said,“Something that is different fromwhat I have done before. It’s sim-ple. I want to work on content thatreflects contemporary India. Ithink that the time has come to tellour stories with honesty and with-out hiding or pretending and glo-rying over that more than often theHindi cinema and television tendto do.”

Based on Aravind Adiga’s 2016novel, eponymously-named andproduced by Anil Kapoor, SelectionDay also features actors RajeshTailang, Mahesh Manjrekar andShiv Pandit. It will stream onNetflix on December 28.

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It’s the season to be jolly andperhaps also to be married orat least attend one of the many

big fat Indian weddings, gildedwith glitter and set to bhangra,disco and garba tunes to ensureguests dance the night away.

As the string of celebrity wed-dings — Ranveer Singh-DeepikaPadukone, Priyanka Chopra-NickJonas, Isha Ambani-AnandPiramal — grab the headlines, thenot so fancy ones clog up cityroads with elaborate processionsstarring grooms on mares,ensconced inside luxury cars orriding a chariot. And if there’s abaraat, the band and the baajacan’t be too far behind.

“Wedding bands have evolveddramatically. It is no more aPunjabi dhol, two three instru-ments and one or two songs. Nowwe have themes,” said VirenderChawla, managing director of theChawla Band.

“For example, my band com-pany offers 25 themes to cus-tomers to choose from Marwari,Punjabi, Rajasthani, Western...You name it and we will give youthe package accordingly,” saidChawla.

Founded in 1973, ChawlaBand, which claims to haveworked in over 11 lakh weddingsso far, has three branches in thecapital to cater to the baraat, thegroom’s procession which is apart of many north Indian wed-dings.

The Chawla Band has featuredin several Bollywood movies,including Special 26 and therecently released Netflix filmRajma Chawal, and has also beenan official sponsors of the IPLteam Delhi Capitals.

The company also co-spon-sored Veere Di Wedding.According to industry insiders, thestarting price for bands is any-where around �20,000-40,000.The starting package includes aghodi (mare), dhol, lighting and astandard squad of about five bandmembers.

Titarpur in west Delhi, well-known for its Ravana effigies dur-ing Dusshera, is one place to shopfor wedding bands. Both sides ofthe road in the locality, a super-market of sorts wedding bands,glow with colourful fancy hoard-ings of professional bands on hire,all claiming to be more famousthan the next in line.

One such company advertisingits wares is the Sindhi Hira NandGohri Wala, which was estab-lished in 1950 and is famous for its‘white’ and ‘spotless’ mare. Itcharges �25,000 for its basic pack-age but there is no upper limit, saidPankaj Sindhi from the company.

“Now, customers want 100people for the band, a vintagebuggy decked with flowers, fire-crackers, fancy lighting, mashaalsand a hundred other things fordecoration in the baraat. Ofcourse, this all costs more. Theprice is based on customer require-ment,” Sindhi said.

In these days of ostentation

and bling, where weddings areimportant statements of statusand wealth, the cost can hit stratos-pheric heights, the industry insid-ers said.

Chawla Band, which charges�40,000 as its starting package,recently billed a client �11 lakh.

“Money was just not the crite-rion for them. They wanted every-thing to be best in the wedding oftheir only son and we were happyto provide the same,” said PrateekChawla from Chawla Band.

Prateek, the son of MDVirender Chawla, showed videos

from his iPad to show glimpses ofthe lavish procession.

“This could have been done in�6-7 lakh also, but then it was aday when there were many wed-dings. So the cost went up,” Prateeksaid.

With the money going up,band companies, who employ upto 700 people, have had to step uptheir operations.

Both, Pankaj and Prateek, mil-lennials who joined the familybusiness, said being “presentable”is the most important thing in thebusiness these days.

“People now expect bandmembers to be well-dressed withgloves and perfectly polished shoes.Earlier, everything was chalta hai,

but that is just not the case now,”he said, pointing to mannequins inhis showroom wearing tradition-al and fancy dresses.

With teams of 500-700 people(permanent and temporary) this isnot easy, they said.

But the trouble seems to beclearly worth it.

According to Pankaj, peopleare also very choosy about thesongs to played in their wedding.

While tried and tested songslike Mere yaar ki shaadi hai andGhodi pe hoke sawar are never outof demand, new additions have tobe made to the playlist every wed-ding season. So, newer songs likeDil diyan gallan, Bol halke halkeand Rashke qamar are much indemand this year as well.

“We do rehearsals regularlyand try to improve with each andevery song. But then the truth isthat not all the songs can be playedon the band,” he added.

Companies also have to caterto quirky, out-of-the-box demandsfrom clients hoping their baraatsstand out.

“Recently there was this wed-ding where the groom said hedoesn’t want a horse, chariot or avintage car for his baraat. Youknow for what did he settle at last?An auto. So we did decorate oneand he did made it to the weddingvenue on an auto,” Prateek recount-ed.

That said, the fear that thismuch celebrated band, baaja andbaraat culture might not hold thesame relevance in the future is evi-dent.

While Prateek said that therewas no way one can get “rid of itcompletely” with bands synony-mous with weddings in manyparts of the country, Pankaj admit-ted that business could go south.

“I guess the younger genera-tion, people who are more literateand have studied abroad, thinkbaraats are only about showing offand are not so interested any moreunlike before.”

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Embattled Roma travel to Turin onSaturday desperate to bring some

Christmas cheer back to their belea-guered fans in the capital by pulling offan upset against Cristiano Ronaldo'sJuventus.

Unbeaten Italian championsJuventus have had a record-breakingstart to the season since their blockbustersigning of Ronaldo in the close-seasonfor 100 million euros ($117 million).

The 33-year-old has started everyone of Juventus' 16 league games, scor-ing 11 goals, being substituted justonce, in the final ten minutes againstFiorentina this month after he scored thethird goal from the spot.

Massimiliano Allegri's side havedropped just two points at home againstGenoa, and are on course for an eighthconsecutive Scudetto — eight pointsclear of second-placed Napoli, withInter Milan a further six points adrift inthird.

By contrast Roma, after finishingthird last season, are in the doldrums

after the departureof key playersincluding goalkeep-er Alisson and mid-fielders RadjaNainggolan and KevinStrootman.

They are seventh,with just six wins,including last weekend's3-2 success over Genoa,but are 22 points behindJuventus.

A defeat on Saturday would seethem slip 25 points behind before theyhost Sassuolo on December 26 and trav-el to promoted Parma to round off theyear.

Juve travel to Atalanta and hostSampdoria in their final two matchesbefore the three-week winter break.

"It's always a war against Roma,"conceded Brazilian international defend-er Alex Sandro.

"We are prepared and know thatthey are prepared too, so I expect it tobe a great game for players and fans."Juventus clinched their seventh straight

league title last May with a 0-0 drawagainst Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.

Ronaldo will play his first matchagainst Roma for Juventus but the for-mer Manchester United and RealMadrid striker knows the club well.

He has faced them six times — win-ning five — including a memorable

Champions League quarter-final returnleg at Old Trafford in 2007.

United lost at the Stadio Olimpico2-1, but thrashed Roma 7-1 at home.

"When it was 6-0, an opponentbegged me to stop dribbling. Othersthreatened to hurt me," recalled Ronaldo,who scored a double on the night, and

has claimed five goals in five ChampionsLeague games against the Romans.

@��( ��������9�Roma captain Daniele De Rossi

pulled a goal back that night for his sidein Manchester, but the 35-year-old iscurrently one of a number of key play-ers out injured.

Roma's record in Turin is poor, how-ever, having never won in seven previ-ous trips to the Allianz Stadium.

Behind the champions, Napoli willbe pushing to keep pace as they hostSPAL, who are four points clear of therelegation zone, before a tricky trip toInter Milan on Wednesday.

Inter also have a chance to close thegap against bottom club Chievo beforelocking horns with Carlo Ancelotti'ssoutherners.

Fourth-placed AC Milan hostFiorentina after being held to a goallessdraw against Bologna this week, to dropfive points behind their city rivals.

Lazio, in fifth, host Cagliari after los-ing to Atalanta last time out, to stretchtheir winless run to five league games.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told his first official press con-ference as Manchester United's caretaker manag-

er on Friday that he would relish the opportunity to bethe permanent boss.

The 45-year-old Norwegian, said he would be inter-ested in taking the job permanently should the oppor-tunity arise.

"When you get a job like this and they ask you tosign for six months, you say 'yeah'," he said.

"I'm happy to help out and my job now for the nextsix months is to do as well as I can and move the clubforward as well as I can.

"I understand there are so many managers whowould love to be manager of Manchester United and Iam one of them. But it is not something we've talkedabout, they'll do a process now for the next sixmonths."

���� (�� ��Solskjaer, renowned for his threat off the bench and

still revered by United supporters for scoring the win-ning goal in the 1999 Champions League final, faces adaunting challenge as he replaces Mourinho.

"My job is to help the players, make them grasp theopportunity now because they all want to be part of ManUnited," said Solskjaer.

"I'm going to be here to help them, help the team,that is down to man management. I had the best man-ager as a player and coach to learn how he dealt withplayers and it's about communication. I'll sit down andspeak to the ones not playing, tell them what I expectof them.

"When you're at Man United there are a set ofdemands and one is to be a team player and I don't thinkanyone has been on the bench more than me. That'salways my comeback to players, you might come on andmake an impact."

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An array of top stars, includingOlympic and World Champion

Carolina Marin of Spain, and India's RioOlympics Silver medalist P V Sindhu areall set to slug it out in season 4 of thePremier Badminton League that beginshere on Saturday.

The other top international stars,who will be seen in action in the nine-team PBL featuring 90 players from 17countries in all, which is set to concludein Bengaluru on January 13, are DaneViktor Axelsen, Lee Yong Dae of Koreaand Indians K Srikanth, H S Pranoy andSaina Nehwal.

Pune 7 Aces, spearheaded by Marin,is the new franchise team in the leaguethat will see eight Olympic medalists inaction in five cities, including Pune andAhmedabad, which will be hostingmatches for the first time.

The nine teams Delhi Dashers,Ahmedabad Smash Masters, AwadheWarriors, Bengaluru Raptors, MumbaiRockets, Hyderabad Hunters, ChennaiSmashes, North Eastern Warriors anddebutantes

Pune 7 Aces would be slugging it outfor a total prize fund of �6 crore.

The winners will take home �3 crore,the runners-up �1.5 crore and the 3rd

and 4th pacers �75 lakh each.The inaugural round is being held

here at the NSCI indoor stadi-um in Worli up to December 24while the semi finals and finalwould be held in Bengaluru.

"I will be playing forHyderabad Hunters in PBL4 and I hopeI do well as well as the team," said Sindhu,who bagged her first major women's sin-gles title in the year-ending BWF World

Tour finals earlier this month, on Friday."PBL having the top players in all sea-

sons is not a joke. It's verygood for Indian badminton.This time I am with the (NorthEastern) Warriors. I hope wego all out (for the title)," said

Saina at the pre season media conferencehere.

Marin's clash with Sindhu herewould set the tone for the league.

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Bengal Warriors started their home legwith a bang as they beat Tamil

Thalaivas 27-24 in Vivo Pro KabaddiSeason 6. Incidentally, this was the 500thmatch in the history of Pro KabaddiLeague. Jang Kun Lee was the star of theshow for Bengal Warriors and top scoredwith 12 points. Ran Singh marshaled thedefence for the Warriors and scored 4tackle points. Sukesh Hegde top scored forthe Thalaivas with 9 points and was ablysupported by Ajay Thakur. In the absenceof Manjeet Chhillar, BengalWarriors' defence couldn't con-tain Bengal raiders and scoredjust six tackle points.

Maninder Singh got BengalWarriors to a good start with atwo-point raid in the first minute. ForThalaivas, Sukesh Hegde produced asuper raid in the third minute as they led6-4. Jang Kun Lee also scored with a superraid as Bengal Warriors leveled the matchat 7-7. It was a closely fought first half withboth teams' raiders getting points. For thedefenders, it was a low-scoring affair asonly five tackle points were scored.

Jang Kun Lee scored seven raid

points in the first half for Bengal Warriorswhile Sukesh Hegde got the same forTamil Thalaivas. Bengal Warriors endedthe first half with a super tackle as the

scored was 15-15 at the break.Bengal Warriors defence

got their act together at thestart of the second half andforced a super tackle to avertan all out in the 23rd minute.

Tamil Thalaivas wasted a couple ofopportunities to inflict an all out in thesecond half. Jang Kun Lee completed hissuper 10 in the first half.

With less than five minutes to go,Bengal Warriors held a slender two-pointlead with the score 23-21 in their favour.Bengal Warriors maintained their calmand composure in the final few minutesand won the match 27-24.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's firsttest as Manchester United'scaretaker manager will

come in familiar surroundings asthe Norwegian returns to CardiffCity on Saturday, hoping to farebetter than he did during an ill-fated nine-month spell with theWelsh side in 2014.

Solskjaer's appointment wasdescribed as designed to put asmile back on the face of everyoneat the club after the confronta-tional end to Jose Mourinho's two-and-a-half years in charge.

The new man's first act on hisreturn to the club's Carringtontraining ground was reportedly togift a bar of Norwegian chocolateto the club's long-serving recep-tionist -- a gesture of the humanqualities United know they aregetting.

"The smiling assassin sumshim up," former United midfield-er Darren Fletcher, who playedwith Solskjaer, told the BBC.

"He's a lovely fella but Ole will

let people know if he's nothappy with them."

The best way for himto lighten to mood quick-ly will be with results onthe pitch.

A 3-1 defeat byLiverpool last weekendleft United 19 points off theleague leaders and even 11 pointsadrift of the top four, but Solskjaercan look forward to a relativelyforgiving fixture list over the fes-tive period.

After visiting the Cardiff CityStadium, the Red Devils hostHuddersfield and Bournemouthbefore travelling to Newcastle onJanuary 2.

Solskjaer's presence rekindlesmemories of United's golden age,but also serves as a stark reminderof how far the club has fallen sincethe retirement of Alex Ferguson in2013.

In 11 seasons under Fergusonas a predatory striker, Solskjaerscored 126 goals, including theone that famously won theChampions League final in 1999

as part of a treble of majortrophies.

Yet, doubts remain overwhether Solskjaer's appoint-ment as caretaker boss untilthe end of the season isbased too strongly on sen-timentality than someone

with the right mix of motivation-al and tactical prowess to getUnited not only competing againin the Premier League, but whocan push Paris Saint-Germain ina challenging Champions Leaguelast-16 tie.

His time at Cardiff that result-ed in just three wins in 18 PremierLeague games, relegation andbeing sacked early the next seasonafter a poor start in theChampionship does not offermuch cause for optimism.

But two spells in charge ofMolde in his homeland have beenfar more successful and Solskjaeralso started his managerial careerworking as United's reserve coach,where he oversaw Paul Pogbaamong others.

The French World Cup win-

ner's frosty relationship withMourinho was a major factor inthe Portuguese's failure to build onwinning the League Cup andEuropa League in his first seasonat Old Trafford.

Pogba has started United's lastthree Premier League games onthe bench, but is expected toreturn to the starting XI afterSolskjaer claimed earlier this yearhe would "build the team aroundhim".

Solskjaer must also find theright defence to offer David deGea more protection. TheSpaniard has conceded more goalsin the Premier League this season(29) in 17 games than the wholeof the previous campaign asMourinho persistently changedhis backline to no effect.

In attacking areas, Mourinho'sdismissal could also provide afresh start for Juan Mata andAnthony Martial, while 50 millionsummer recruit Fred, who didn'teven make the bench at Anfieldlast weekend, may now be giventhe chance to flourish.

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Former Australia batsman MichaelHussey on Friday said that con-ditions for the third Test in

Melbourne will be a lot differentfrom those in Perth and India shouldconsider drafting in all-rounderHardik Pandya to bring balance totheir attack.

The third Test begins inMelbourne on December 26 and theMCG pitch has come under sharpfocus after it hosted a drab drawagainst England during last year'sAshes and the ground received awarning from the ICC.

"Conditions in Perth were quiteunique and in Melbourne conditionswill be totally different. I thought theIndian fast bowling unit has bowledbeautifully in this series. They bowleda lot of overs in Adelaide and Perth inhot conditions, but had to work hard(for Australian wickets).

"He (Pandya) is a bit like MitchellMarsh, when he is in form. You get anextra bowling option that can take alittle load away from the pacers par-ticularly as the four-match serieswears on. So this (bowling all-rounder) is something for both sidesto look at," Hussey said.

Hussey said bowlers of both sideshave really worked hard so far in thisseries and a lot will depend on how thetwo attacks recover.

India used a four-bowler attack inboth the Adelaide and Perth Tests.While they won the first Test by 31runs with a well-balanced bowlingunit, including a spinner, the four-pacer plan backfired in Perth asAustralia levelled the series with a 146-run win.

Hussey said that India missedRavichandran Ashwin in Perth whileNathan Lyon bowled his side to vic-tory, but also added that the four-pacerstrategy was not totally wrong giventhe state of the pitch pre-match.Instead, he credited Australia for

making good use of bestbatting conditions on dayone.

"Looking at the con-ditions, you cannot real-ly say anything against it(four pacers). At the start,you just thought therewas plenty in it for thepacers and there werelots of cracks. I just thinkit was a good toss to winand in the first innings,on day one, the pitchplayed at its best andenabled Australia to get adecent first innings score. Then, wesaw that the score came down as thematch went on.

"So it was not necessarily what

India did wrong. It wasjust good quality Testcricket in difficult con-ditions. India certainlymissed Ashwin (as thegame went on) and thisis something for them tolook into. Lyon is a qual-ity bowler and hebowled from one end,allowing Tim Paine torotate his pacers fromthe other end. Indiacould have done that aswell," Hussey said.

The 43-year-oldHussey, who played 79 Tests between2005 and 2013 with 6235 runs to hiskitty, also said that Indian batting isimbalanced with too many tail-enders,

and the poor form of their openers isstarting to show in contrast withwhat the Australian openers were ableto achieve.

He said if the if poor starts of theopeners continue, then CheteshwarPujara and Ajinkya Rahane need totake on more responsibility to balancethe reliance on Virat Kohli.

"Day one was the easiest time tobat but the Australian openers did agreat job. And they were under pres-sure as well. Certainly with AaronFinch, there was a lot of talk whetherhe should be opening and I thoughthe played brilliantly. Australia gettingoff to that 100-run opening partner-ship certainly did put them in the boxseat and a strong position to win thegame.

"Both the Indian openers are fineplayers, but they are obviously not get-ting going. Sometimes it happensand things are not just going yourway," he said.

Asked if India were relying toomuch on the performance of Kohli,Hussey said, "Kohli is the best playerin the world, so India do rely on himand that is not wrong. For Australia,when Steve Smith and David Warnerwere playing, there was a heavyreliance (on them).

"For India, Pujara was outstand-ing in Adelaide, and Rahane is look-ing good in patches. You always relyon your best batsmen, but in this sec-ond Test, with that extra fast bowlerthe Indian tail was too long and itupset the batting balance," he said.

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Former Australia captain Steve Smithon Friday said he is desperate to

recover lost ground ahead of nextyear's World Cup by competing in theIPL after being left so deflated by theball-tampering scandal that gettingout of bed became a struggle.

Smith and former vice-captainDavid Warner were handed year-longinternational bans for their role in theball-tampering scandal in South Africain March which forced a review ofAustralia's cricket culture.

"Now the way the One Day gameis played it's almost like an extendedT20. So I think T20 cricket is a goodway to prepare and the IPL is one of thebest tournaments around the world,"Smith said in his first press conferenceafter the tearful breakdown followingthe return from South Africa.

While serving his ban, Smith hasparticipated in several T20 competi-tions, including in Canada and theCaribbean, in a bid to get play time. TheIPL is scheduled to be held in April-Mayfollowed by the World Cup in Englandstarting May 30.

The 29-year-old plays for RajasthanRoyals in the IPL. Although Smithstepped down from captaincy in thewake of the ball-tampering scandal, he

continues to be a part of the franchise."I was playing in the Bangladesh

League, but I don't know what is hap-pening there at the moment. After thatI have the Pakistan League and then theIPL, which I think is adequate prepa-ration for the World Cup, if I'm select-ed," Smith said.

Asked about the nine months sincethe scandal, Smith said it was a difficultperiod but he has learnt to deal with it.

"I've had my ups and downs. Therehave been some dark days where Ihaven't wanted to get out of bed andthings like that. But I've had a closegroup of people around me to help meknow that it's OK," Smith said.

"These ninth months have been abig learning curve for me, having a yearout of the game has given me a time tomentally refresh and get myself in agood headspace to go again," he added.

On what transpired in the dressingroom during the infamous NewlandsTest, Smith said it was a failure of lead-ership on his part.

"In the room I walked past some-thing and had the opportunity to stopit and I didn't do it. It went out and hap-pened on the field," he recalled.

"I had the opportunity to stop itrather than say I didn't want to knowanything about it. That was my failureof leadership for that and I have takenresponsibility for that," he said.

Smith was also asked about histhoughts on the ongoing India-Australia series. The batsman said ithasn't been easy to watch from the side-lines.

"...Particularly when the boyshaven't played their best in a couple ofgames. It's been hard watching andknowing that I can't go out and helpthem. But I was really proud of the waythe boys played last week in Perth," hesaid referring to the second Test whichAustralia won by 146 runs to draw levelin the four-match series.

"...I think Tim Paine's leadershiphas been exceptional since taking overas captain. He has obviously beenfaced with difficult circumstances tobegin with but he has done a terrificjob," he added.

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Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur were onFriday retained as captains for the Indian

women's ODI and T20 team respectively whileout-of-form Veda Krishnamurthy was droppedfrom both the squads picked for the NewZealand tour beginning next month.

India will play three ODIs in New Zealandbeginning January 24 as part of the ICCWomen's Championship before playing threeT20 Internationals.

The New Zealand tour will be the team's firstassignment after the controversial exit from theWorld T20 last month when they lost toEngland in the semi-finals. The 15-membersquad for ODIs and T20s was announced a dayafter WV Raman was appointed as the headcoach.

Gary Kirsten was ahead of Raman in thepecking order but the former India men's coachwas not ready to give up on his role with RoyalChallengers Bangalore in the IPL.

The BCCI had invited fresh applicationsafter Ramesh Powar's term ended on November30, following the World T20 loss in which he andHarmanpreet had collectively decided to dropsenior player Mithali for the all-important semi-final, triggering a massive controversy.

The women's team stood divided withHarmanpreet and her T20 deputy SmritiMandhana backing Powar for an extension whileMithali was against such a move. However, bothHarmanpreet and Mithali had agreed on sort-ing out their differences going forward.

While Mithali turned up for the selectioncommittee meeting here on Friday,Harmanpreet, who is playing the Women's BigBash in Australia, joined via Skype. Selectionpanel chief Hemlata Kala announced the squadsin the presence of BCCI CEO Rahul Johri andacting secretary Amitabh Choudhary.

Veda was dropped from both the teams fol-lowing her lean run, Hemlata said. MonaMeshram replaced Veda in the ODI squad whiletwo changes were made in the squad that wentto the West Indies for the World T20.

Shikha Pandey replaced injured pacer PoojaVastrakar in the T20 squad while uncapped PriyaPunia was picked in place of Veda.ODI Squad: Mithali Raj (captain), Poonam Raut,Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues,Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, TanyaBhatia, Mona Meshram, Ekta Bist, Mansi Joshi,Dayalan Hemlatha, Poonam Yadav, RajeshwariGayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey.T20 Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain),Smriti Mandhana (vc), Mithali Raj, DeeptiSharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil,Dayalan Hemlatha, Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey,Tanya Bhatia , Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bist, RadhaYadav, Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia.

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Viv Richards is happy that the current Indian team has comea long way in terms of aggressive attitude from the teams

that he played against and credit should go to skipper Virat Kohlifor infusing positive attitude.

"India were not like this years back (70's, 80's and 90's). Butit's nice to have someone like Virat. I love it (aggression), whynot? They now love to give it back. That's what cricket is all about.I love Virat's captaincy," Richards said during a promotional event.

While there has been criticism for Kohli's aggressive brandof captaincy, Richards finds nothing wrong.

"He competes hard. He expects results. A lot of people havesaid he's too aggressive... I don't think so. When you have a guywho can lead from the front, it can only rub off on the individ-uals who are following him. As you can see, the Indian team todayis the team to beat in world cricket."

Shifting focus to the ongoing India's Test series Down Under,Richards agreed to the euphoria that Kohli's men have the bestchance to beat Australia for the first time.

"It's going to be a great series in Australia. Aussies have foughtback well after India won the opening Test in Adelaide. Eventhough this Indian team is the number one, you should neverunderestimate Australia. They are fighters.

"With the series one-all now, it would be a very good one.But I would say India have the perfect chance to win a series inAustralia under the aggressive captaincy of Kohli."

Asked about the plus point of India team, he said: "I remem-ber the days when we came here for the first time in 1970s, theyhad the best spinners in the world. And now they have a greatpace attack as well. I think that's the plus point."

For Richards, Sunil Gavaskar is the 'Godfather' of Indian bat-ting. The bulk of Gavaskar's 34 Test hundreds have come againstthe fearsome West Indies pace attack of 70's and early 80's.

"I would say this for sure that he's the godfather of Indianbatsmanship. He is not playing anymore. He's still in my opin-ion what he would have achieved in the past would have passeddown the mantle to Sachin and now we see Virat. India shouldbe very proud to have so many talented people, who are up therein world cricket."

Delving on the plight of West Indies cricket, Richards hopedthey were half as good as Indians. "We have gone through a badphase, but in sport you should say never say never. So long webelieve that we are going to turn it around at some phase, it'sjust a matter of time. It may be taking longer than normal. Butat some point, we will be back at our best again," he concluded.

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The momentum is definitely onAustralia's side after the series-lev-

elling win in the second Test in Perth,but former captain Sourav Ganguly onFriday said India can still win the four-match rubber.

India suffered a 146-run drubbingat the hands of Australia in the sec-ond Test. The four-match series is nowlevel at 1-1 ahead of the Boxing DayTest in Melbourne.

"India can still win, it depends onhow they play. All in the playing elevenhave to take up responsibility.Everybody has to play well," Gangulysaid during a promotional programmeat a school.

India's batting, except for theduo of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar

Pujara, have come a cropper andGanguly urged the middle-order totake up more responsibility.

While interacting with the stu-dents, Ganguly was asked what wasthe difference between now and hischildhood days and the cricketer-turned-administrator said: "When Iwas a child, my father used to earn, Iwould spend a good time. Now I've toearn."