ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. the department has introduced...

16
F or many, many people in the State, “0001” is a magic number for registration of their vehicles. There are even those who are ready to spend more than 1 lakh to get the number. The registration number ‘OD02 BD 0001’ collected 1.11 lakh for the RTO-1, Bhubaneswar while another car owner paid 1.04 lakh to get the ‘OD02 AT 0001’ num- ber, a Transport Department official has revealed. Gone are those days when Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system since June 2016. Anyone intending to par- ticipate in the online auction has to register his/her name and select the number during the bid registration period from the 1st to the 7th of each month. The online bidding is open from the 8th to the 15th of the month and the highest bidder is allotted the number, the official said. Online auction is now available for 61 notified num- bers in four categories. The owners can book their choice apart from the fancy numbers in advance throughout the month on a first-come-first- serve basis for 5,000 for two- wheelers and 10,000 for vehi- cles other than two-wheelers. This craze for the fancy numbers has filled the State cof- fers as over 5 crore was earned from the online auctions of such numbers and advance registration number booking of vehicles in the first six months of this fiscal (2019-20). The auction of fancy num- bers fetched 1.07 crore from 338 vehicle owners while advance booking of vehicle registration numbers garnered 4.38 crore from 5,389 people, the official said. V ice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, hoping that in future more and more vernac- ular language newspapers would come up in the country, on Sunday said he would not call them as regional newspa- pers and, instead, would prefer to call them real national news- papers as they feed the people with news and views in the national languages. Speaking at the centenary celebrations of premier Odia newspaper The Samaja here, he said the vernacular newspapers not only reflect local aspirations, they are also very close to the public. “I am confident that The Samaja is an asset to Odisha and it will attain even greater heights in the time to come.” Naidu also used the oppor- tunity to clear the air on the recent debates in the country over the language issue and said all efforts must be made to pro- mote all the Indian languages. “We must all respect our moth- er tongues; and after promot- ing our mother tongues, we can learn any other language,” he said, emphasising that all schools must promote mother tongues at least up to the pri- mary level. “Mother tongue is like your eyesight and other languages are like your spectacles. If you have a good eyesight then only the spectacles will give you a better vision,” Naidu said, urg- ing the people of Odisha to first practise and perfect the use of Odia language and then pick up any other language. The Vice-President began his address in Odia and spoke in it for nearly two min- utes amidst loud cheers from the audience. Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also spoke on the occasion. All of them referred to the contribu- tions made by The Samaja for the development of the State. They also recalled how the hundred-year-old institution, launched by leg- endary Utkalamani Pandit Gopabandhu Das in 1919, has so far helped strengthen nationalism in Odisha. A fter 62 days of “house arrest” National Conference president and sit- ting parliamentarian from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah for the first time met a 15-member delegation of Jammu-based party leaders at his “fortified” Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar on Sunday. In another significant development, the State admin- istration has also given per- mission to a 17-member PDP delegation to meet party chief Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar on Monday. Ever since these leaders were detained, they were not allowed to meet political dele- gations. Only their family members were permitted to meet them. The State administration had earlier given permission to the delegation led by former MLA and Jammu provincial president of the National Conference Devender Singh Rana to meet detained leaders. Before meeting Abdullah, National Conference leaders from Jammu also called on for- mer Chief Minister and party vice-president Omar Abdullah at Hari Niwas guest house. The delegation discussed developments in the State and upcoming local body polls during the separate meetings with the two leaders. Though images of Abdullah, flashing victory sign, standing in the company of his wife Molly Abdullah and two senior Parliamentarians from Kashmir Valley hogged lime- light throughout the day, Omar Abdullah, sporting a beard, was seen clicking a selfie with party leaders. After meeting the party president and the vice-presi- dent, NC leader Devender Singh Rana told reporters, “Let them be released, then the working committee of the party will meet and discuss and then we will formulate a strategy for the future.” He, however, remained non-committal on participat- ing in the BDC polls at this juncture. In response to a ques- tion whether NC is going to participate in the BDC polls, Rana said, “If the political process has to start then these members have to be released.” On his return, Rana once again told reporters in Jammu, “The party leadership in Kashmir Valley is behind bars. Even if the mandate has to be signed it will be signed by the party president and proposed by the general secretary”. He said, at present, both of them are under detention. Therefore for the political process to start it is imperative that all the mainstream politi- cal leaders, who are under detention, are released and a conducive atmosphere is cre- ated, he said. Referring to their meeting with Farooq and Omar, Rana told reporters, “We are very happy, both the leaders are well and in good spirits. Of course, they are pained and anguished about developments, particu- larly lockdown of the people.” He said the party, which has a legacy, history and a che- quered track record, was of unanimous view that it would continue to strive for the wel- fare of the people and shall con- tinue to work for communal harmony, brotherhood, togeth- erness and keep the secular fab- ric of the State shining. A s the felling of trees in Aarey Colony in Mumbai continued amid prohibitory orders for the second day on Sunday to make way for a Metro car shed, the Supreme Court on Sunday constituted a special Bench for an urgent hearing against the cutting of the trees on Monday. The SC set up a special Bench on the basis of a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India by one Rishav Ranjan against the cutting of the trees. The top court decided to reg- ister the letter as a public inter- est litigation. Meanwhile, Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar was detained when he tried to enter Aarey Colony where heavy security has been deployed at its five entry points, including the key connecting road near the Western Express Highway, to prevent people from going towards the area and to avoid any untoward incident. The police official said the situation was expected to become normal soon. Patrolling was stepped up in the tribal hamlets located in Aarey area and those found assembling there were being taken into cus- tody, but later let off after prop- er verification, he said. On Saturday, clashes broke out between the police and green activists who tried to stop tree cutting by Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) in Aarey Colony, leading to arrest of at least 29 people. The MMRCL started hack- ing trees from Friday night to make way for the car shed, hours after the Bombay High Court dismissed four petitions challenging the decision to allow felling of nearly 2,700 trees in the prime green lung of the city. I n a move to reduce cost by 25 to 40 per cent compared to the existing Metro system, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is planning to introduce metrolite system for the remaining three corridors of Delhi Metro Phase-IV project. Top sources said a high- level meeting was held at the Ministry on September 26 to discuss the adoption of metro- lite standards for remaining three corridors of Delhi Metro Phase-IV project, which include Inderlok to Indraprastha, Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block and Rithala- Bawana-Narela covering 42.28 km. Senior officials of Delhi Metro, DDA and National Highways Authority of India attended the meeting. Delhi Metro asked DDA to provide population details along the Rithala-Narela cor- ridor and also the estimated population increase in the next 30 years for assessing the traf- fic projection of the corridor. Also, the DDA was asked to fund the project. “The maximum opera- tional speed of the Metrolite is 60 km per hour... In any case, even with failure of on-board sig- nalling, the speed is restricted to 25 km per hour. The train is to acco- modate around 300 passengers,” sources said. The Ministry has recently issued standard specifica- tions of the metrolite system which will be developed on surface and elevated stretches with stainless steel or alumini- um bogey. With three non-sep- arable coaches and low floor height of about 300-350 mm, the train’s unit length should be of minimum 33 m. The Ministry said the metrolite with a dedicated path will also act as feeder system to high capacity Metro. If the road width in the cities does not permit to have both lines, one line can be pro- vided on a particular road and the other line on a parallel road, said sources, adding that as an alternative, the entire road can be closed for road transport and only train can be operat- ed with pedestrian plazas, as per proposals made by the Central Government. The metrolite system will have shelter platforms but won’t have AFC gates, platform screen doors, X-ray and bag- gage scanner. “Ticket validators could be installed inside the metro- lite train and shelter with NCMC/other ticketing sys- tems,” it said.

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Page 1: Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system

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

������������������������������������������� !� ������������ �!��������� ������������������"��������#�!�$�%���������������&��������������������������#�������������� ����'����������� ��� ���������!�������� ������

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For many, many people in theState, “0001” is a magic

number for registration of theirvehicles. There are even thosewho are ready to spend morethan �1 lakh to get the number.

The registration number‘OD02 BD 0001’ collected �1.11 lakh for the RTO-1,Bhubaneswar while anothercar owner paid �1.04 lakh toget the ‘OD02 AT 0001’ num-ber, a Transport Departmentofficial has revealed.

Gone are those days whenMinisters were allotting fancynumbers according to theirfree will. The department hasintroduced online auction ofsuch numbers and an advanceregistration number bookingsystem since June 2016.

Anyone intending to par-ticipate in the online auctionhas to register his/her nameand select the number duringthe bid registration periodfrom the 1st to the 7th of eachmonth. The online bidding isopen from the 8th to the 15thof the month and the highestbidder is allotted the number,the official said.

Online auction is now

available for 61 notified num-bers in four categories.

The owners can book theirchoice apart from the fancynumbers in advance throughoutthe month on a first-come-first-serve basis for �5,000 for two-wheelers and �10,000 for vehi-cles other than two-wheelers.

This craze for the fancynumbers has filled the State cof-fers as over �5 crore was earned

from the online auctions ofsuch numbers and advanceregistration number booking ofvehicles in the first six monthsof this fiscal (2019-20).

The auction of fancy num-bers fetched �1.07 crore from338 vehicle owners whileadvance booking of vehicleregistration numbers garnered�4.38 crore from 5,389 people,the official said.

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

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Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu, hoping that in

future more and more vernac-ular language newspaperswould come up in the country,on Sunday said he would notcall them as regional newspa-pers and, instead, would preferto call them real national news-papers as they feed the peoplewith news and views in thenational languages.

Speaking at the centenarycelebrations of premier Odianewspaper The Samaja here, hesaid the vernacular newspapersnot only reflect local aspirations,they are also very close to thepublic. “I am confident that TheSamaja is an asset to Odisha andit will attain even greater heightsin the time to come.”

Naidu also used the oppor-tunity to clear the air on therecent debates in the countryover the language issue and saidall efforts must be made to pro-

mote all the Indian languages.“We must all respect our moth-er tongues; and after promot-ing our mother tongues, we canlearn any other language,” hesaid, emphasising that allschools must promote mothertongues at least up to the pri-mary level.

“Mother tongue is like youreyesight and other languagesare like your spectacles. If youhave a good eyesight then only

the spectacles will give you abetter vision,” Naidu said, urg-ing the people of Odisha to firstpractise and perfect the use ofOdia language and then pickup any other language.

The Vice-President beganhis address in Odia and spoke in it for nearly two min-utes amidst loud cheers fromthe audience.

Governor Prof GaneshiLal, Chief Minister Naveen

Patnaik and Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan alsospoke on the occasion. All ofthem referred to the contribu-tions made by The Samaja forthe development of the State.

They also recalled how the hundred-year-oldinstitution, launched by leg-endary Utkalamani PanditGopabandhu Das in 1919, hasso far helped strengthennationalism in Odisha.

"��#�$%������!�!�&��&������#�'(��)�)��&��"�#*�!� � ��������������������01�23����22245��� �������4�44 ������������ �164��������������� ����������������������4�27� ���������������01�23�*��22245��������������������������������� �������'�� ��

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After 62 days of “housearrest” National

Conference president and sit-ting parliamentarian fromSrinagar Farooq Abdullah forthe first time met a 15-memberdelegation of Jammu-basedparty leaders at his “fortified”Gupkar Road residence inSrinagar on Sunday.

In another significantdevelopment, the State admin-istration has also given per-mission to a 17-member PDPdelegation to meet party chiefMehbooba Mufti in Srinagaron Monday.

Ever since these leaderswere detained, they were notallowed to meet political dele-gations. Only their familymembers were permitted tomeet them.

The State administrationhad earlier given permission tothe delegation led by formerMLA and Jammu provincialpresident of the NationalConference Devender SinghRana to meet detained leaders.

Before meeting Abdullah,National Conference leadersfrom Jammu also called on for-mer Chief Minister and partyvice-president Omar Abdullahat Hari Niwas guest house.

The delegation discusseddevelopments in the State andupcoming local body pollsduring the separate meetingswith the two leaders.

Though images ofAbdullah, flashing victory sign,standing in the company of his

wife Molly Abdullah and twosenior Parliamentarians fromKashmir Valley hogged lime-light throughout the day, OmarAbdullah, sporting a beard,was seen clicking a selfie withparty leaders.

After meeting the partypresident and the vice-presi-

dent, NC leader DevenderSingh Rana told reporters, “Letthem be released, then theworking committee of the partywill meet and discuss and thenwe will formulate a strategy forthe future.”

He, however, remainednon-committal on participat-

ing in the BDC polls at thisjuncture. In response to a ques-tion whether NC is going toparticipate in the BDC polls,Rana said, “If the politicalprocess has to start then thesemembers have to be released.”

On his return, Rana onceagain told reporters in Jammu,

“The party leadership inKashmir Valley is behind bars.Even if the mandate has to besigned it will be signed by theparty president and proposedby the general secretary”.

He said, at present, both ofthem are under detention.Therefore for the political

process to start it is imperativethat all the mainstream politi-cal leaders, who are underdetention, are released and aconducive atmosphere is cre-ated, he said.

Referring to their meetingwith Farooq and Omar, Ranatold reporters, “We are veryhappy, both the leaders are welland in good spirits. Of course,they are pained and anguishedabout developments, particu-larly lockdown of the people.”

He said the party, whichhas a legacy, history and a che-quered track record, was ofunanimous view that it wouldcontinue to strive for the wel-fare of the people and shall con-tinue to work for communalharmony, brotherhood, togeth-erness and keep the secular fab-ric of the State shining.

��+���� +,-��,?(@A�)��*@

As the felling of trees inAarey Colony in Mumbai

continued amid prohibitoryorders for the second day onSunday to make way for aMetro car shed, the SupremeCourt on Sunday constituted aspecial Bench for an urgenthearing against the cutting ofthe trees on Monday.

The SC set up a specialBench on the basis of a letteraddressed to the Chief Justiceof India by one Rishav Ranjanagainst the cutting of the trees.The top court decided to reg-ister the letter as a public inter-est litigation.

Meanwhile, Dalit leaderPrakash Ambedkar wasdetained when he tried to enterAarey Colony where heavysecurity has been deployed atits five entry points, includingthe key connecting road nearthe Western Express Highway,to prevent people from goingtowards the area and to avoidany untoward incident.

The police official said thesituation was expected to

become normal soon. Patrollingwas stepped up in the tribalhamlets located in Aarey areaand those found assemblingthere were being taken into cus-tody, but later let off after prop-er verification, he said.

On Saturday, clashes brokeout between the police andgreen activists who tried to stoptree cutting by Mumbai MetroRail Corporation Ltd(MMRCL) in Aarey Colony,leading to arrest of at least 29people.

The MMRCL started hack-ing trees from Friday night tomake way for the car shed,hours after the Bombay HighCourt dismissed four petitionschallenging the decision toallow felling of nearly 2,700trees in the prime green lung ofthe city.

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In a move to reduce cost by 25to 40 per cent compared to

the existing Metro system, theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs is planning to introducemetrolite system for theremaining three corridors ofDelhi Metro Phase-IV project.

Top sources said a high-level meeting was held at theMinistry on September 26 todiscuss the adoption of metro-

lite standards for remainingthree corridors of Delhi MetroPhase-IV project, whichinclude Inderlok toIndraprastha, Lajpat Nagar toSaket G Block and Rithala-Bawana-Narela covering 42.28km. Senior officials of DelhiMetro, DDA and NationalHighways Authority of Indiaattended the meeting.

Delhi Metro asked DDA toprovide population detailsalong the Rithala-Narela cor-ridor and also the estimatedpopulation increase in the next30 years for assessing the traf-fic projection of the corridor.Also, the DDA was asked tofund the project.

“The maximum opera-tional speed of the Metrolite is60 km per hour... In any case,

even with failure ofon-board sig-nalling, the speedis restricted to 25km per hour. Thetrain is to acco-modate around300 passengers,”sources said.

The Ministryhas recently issuedstandard specifica-

tions of the metrolite systemwhich will be developed onsurface and elevated stretcheswith stainless steel or alumini-um bogey. With three non-sep-arable coaches and low floorheight of about 300-350 mm,the train’s unit length should beof minimum 33 m.

The Ministry said themetrolite with a dedicated pathwill also act as feeder system tohigh capacity Metro.

If the road width in thecities does not permit to haveboth lines, one line can be pro-vided on a particular road andthe other line on a parallel road,said sources, adding that as analternative, the entire road canbe closed for road transportand only train can be operat-ed with pedestrian plazas, asper proposals made by theCentral Government.

The metrolite system willhave shelter platforms but won’thave AFC gates, platformscreen doors, X-ray and bag-gage scanner.

“Ticket validators couldbe installed inside the metro-lite train and shelter withNCMC/other ticketing sys-tems,” it said.

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Page 2: Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system

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Gone are the days of gettingmarried to an opposite

sex partner or a friend andleading a family life. The so-called highly-educated youthsprefer staying alone and lead-ing a life, which is mostly self-centered, career-oriented. Timewould tell whether this ‘single’concept in the long run wouldbring an epidemic of psychi-atric illness or better life.

Let’s analyse this new con-cept of loneliness and self-centered life. Money and com-fort have become the bottomline of modern life.

1) Staying single leaves moretime to focus on oneself.

The ‘USA Today’ spoke toDarcy Sterling, PhD, a licensed

clinical social worker andTinder’s relationship expert,about the trend. She explained,“Millennials invest more time incareers, social lives and personaltime when single.” They appre-ciate that periods without a part-ner give them more time to cul-tivate other arenas of their lives.

2) Being uncoupled can makeyou more open to new expe-riences, and more fun.

When you aren’t comfort-ably deep in a routine with apartner, you can find yourselfmore open to new experiences,experiencing more fun andgenerally enjoying your timewith others. As the ‘USAToday’ reported, “These singlemillennials find their time withothers more enjoyable. Morethan half said other young sin-

gle people were more open tonew experiences and that theyview themselves as more fundue to their single status.”

3) Being single can make youfeel more independent andempowered.

“For many young women,single can mean feelings ofindependence and empower-ment,” the analysis revealed.According to Sterling, this is “apositive for society” -- millen-nial women are placing a highvalue on their social lives, per-sonal growth and careers, andit’s making them feel strong.

Many of the young peopleare leading a single life or stay-ing together with a partner ofsame sex or opposite sex. Thesocial system is slowly chang-ing for better or worse we do

not know; time would tell. Weanalysed why they prefer not toget into a family bond and leada family life.

1. Those that can’t controltheir impulse prefer ‘single’

life. Full of tantrum, the mar-riage lasts only if the male part-ner is cool and least botheredabout the partner’s lifestyle.

2. They do not have the capac-ity to solve problems,

hence take to drugs or commitsuicide.

3. They are fickle-minded and change or buy new gadgets for satisfying theirgratification.

4. The word ‘negotiation’ is notthere in their dictionary.

5. They are poor communica-tors.

6. They do not know what’sappropriate or expected in agiven situation

7. They are self-centered.

8. They like to remain isolatedfrom seniors.

9. They are not interested toknow about their parents orgrandparents.

10. They think their parentsspent money on them for theirold age problems.

11. Worst part is their “know-

all attitudes”, which makesthem arrogant.

Unfortunately, Indian soci-ety, which had the best ofsocial and family bondage, hasfast disintegrated and a major-ity lives in apartments single.Dr Rajendra Prasad Das haswritten a very nice article in anOdia newspaper about single life. Time would tellabout this disintegrated socialsystem of leading a lonely lifestaying away from relativesand children.

The worst part is theyouths of today run after amirage; and by the time theyrealise it, it’s too late.

(The writer is a doctor and a former Joint Director,SAIL)

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Despite theban on

taking mobilephones into the JagannathTemple here, aphoto showingthe presence ofan Ollywoodactress and herrelatives andfriends at theAnandabazar ofthe temple hasgone viral.

In a selfie, which is doingthe rounds on social mediaplatforms, actress Divya and five others are seen havingMahaprasad at theAnandabazar.

Though the date on whichthe photo was taken is stillunknown, the photo shot has

once again raised serious con-cerns over the securityarrangements at the shrine.

Similar incidences hadcome to the fore in the past assome temple servitors andtourists clicked photos in thetemple premises and posted theimages on social media ondifferent occasions.

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Activists Dr BiswajitMohanty, Anil Dhir and

Sukhvinder Kaur have saidthat the report of the AmicusCuriae (AC) appointed by theSupreme Court ignores theview of a majority of stake-holders affected by the demo-lition exercise in Puri.

They said the AC hadmeetings with the Gajapati,the Sankaracharya and thetemple administrators, whilethe opinion and concerns of theMahants were avoided. Even,the concerns of theSankaracharya were not stud-ied by court.

The AC report reveals thatduring the process of demoli-tion and clearance, it was dis-covered that there was a tem-ple located inside a buildingwhich had been sealed andwhich was opened up to be pre-served. But Mohanty, Dhir andKaur wondered on what basisthis observation was madesince site inspections do notreveal any such temple.

Referring to the mention inthe AC report that several ofmutts of ancient origin hadnow become antisocial, theyquestioned on what basis werethe mutts termed as “antisocial”.

“Is it acceptable to demol-ish a heritage building on theostensible ground that anti-socials are using it instead ofremoving the anti socials andcurbing the so called illegalactivities,” they asked.

The AC report states thatthe Managing Committee wasnot against the Government’sdecision of going in for demo-litions. However, they said theManaging Committee is neverexpected to go against theGovernment ‘s decision as it isa Government controlled body.Hence, this approval is mean-ingless and lacks justification,they said, adding that thesweeping statement by theGajapati that nobody is oppos-ing the so called “reforms” is atravesty of truth.

The AC report said theGajapati did take one instanceof the Raghunandan Library

which was of great vintageand value and that theGovernment had agreed to re-establish the same as a researchcentre. However, Mohanty,Dhir and Kaur said theRaghunandan Library was onthe third floor of the EmarMutt. In fact it was a viewingplatform for the non Hinduswho were not allowed to enterthe temple. During the RathYatra, it was a vantage point forDoordarshan for the live tele-cast. The Gajapati hasexpressed his distress in thedestruction of the Librarywhich was perched on the

third floor of the mutt withoutgiving any thought to the mainbuilding which was broughtdown. “Re-establish theLibrary at which location ?Where and how will theseancient origin mutts be revivedafter they were razed to theground? Can the originalglory of these Mutts berestored?” They asked.

The AC mentioned in hisreport that many suggestionswith reference to the func-tioning of the temple weremade by the Gajapati in a let-ter to the CM on August 28.Did the Gajapati also endorseor suggest the demolitions ofthe heritage mutts? There is noclear answer in the AC’s report,said Mohanty, Dhir and Kaur.

The Sankaracharya hadcategorically stated to the Pressafter the AC’s visit that therewas a conspiracy behind theGovernment’s demolition exer-cise and that the intent was tak-ing over the mutts’ lands andproperties. The report of theSankaracharya has not yet beenstudied by the court, they said.

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After Supreme Court’s (SC)direction to the State

Government to refrain fromdemolition of mutts and religiousstructures near the JagannathTemple, the district administra-tion appears to be in a fix.

The administration is facingquestions from residents andmanagements of mutts locatedin 75-metre radius of the tem-ple. Residents opposing acqui-sition of houses have got a pleaagainst the administration.

Though they have gainedlittle solace after the verdict, buta fear of displacement still per-sists looking at strategic moveof the Government for theheritage city project.

As many as 200 privatehouses and 18 mutts exiting in75 metre radius are in acquisi-tion list for which surveys have

already begun in many streetssurrounding the temple.Officials are now busy mobi-lizing the residents visitingdoor to door.

In the first phase, theGovernment has sanctionedRs 40 crore towards compen-sation and rehabilitation ofland losers. The administrationwill pay 10 per cent extra tothose who will agree on theirown and leave their houses.

The administration had toface protests while acting onMangu Mutt of Sikhs aftersuccessfully demolishing Emar

Mutt, Naga Mutt andBadaakhada Mutt. A tweetfrom Punjab CM CaptainAmerinder Singh for CMNaveen Patnaik opposing evic-tion of their structure put a stopon the drive. Now, the admin-istration has diverted its offi-cials in mapping of residencesand lodgings in security zoneand zeroed in on consultationswith the landlords.

The administration alsosucceeded to make some resi-dents agree in pen and paper.But still a majority of residentsare opposed to acquisition oftheir houses.

“Some staffs from theCollector’s office came to myhouse for survey. I straightwaydisagreed with them saying Iwill not leave my paternalhouse. Without argument, theysimply returned,” said a servi-tor of Manikarnika Sahi.

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Even though CCTV camerasand police personnel are

deployed at the puja mandapsin the city, a miscreant looteda gold chain from a woman atthe Nayapalli Durga Puja pan-dal on Sunday. The victim wasidentified as Anjulata Ray ofBehera Sahi in Nayapalli..

According to the com-plaint of Ray, her gold chainwas looted by an unidentifiedmiscreant when she had goneto Nayapalli Durga pandal forDurga Ashtami puja.

She realised that her chainwas stolen only after she cameout of the crowd at the pandal.

The gold chain weighed around15 gms. “The incident took ataround 9:30 pm on Sundaymorning when I was in a queueat the Nayapalli Durga PujaPandal. After some time Irealised that my golden chainwas missing. I complained tothe Puja committee andrequested them to check theCCTV footage. But no one inthe committee listened to me.I have lodged a complaint withthe Nayapalli police,” Ray said.

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Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu on Sunday said

poetry can serve as a powerfulcatalyst to hasten the process ofsocial transformation.

Addressing the valedictorysession of the 39th WorldCongress of Poets (WCP) here,Naidu said that poets have thecapability to be influencersand opinion-makers and urgedthem to use their unique abil-ity to shape people’s thoughts,feelings and attitudes to builda better world. Poets from var-

ious nations participated inthe conference.

Congratulating the KalingaInstitute of IndustrialTechnology (KIIT) and

The Kalinga Institute ofSocial Sciences (KISS) fororganising a confluence of tal-ented poets, the Vice-Presidentsaid that he was deeply touched by the theme of the poetry conference–“Compassion through Poetry”.

Observing that compas-sion was innate to all of us, hesaid “We must realise this andpractice it consciously till it

becomes our habit and all ouractions, subconsciously, exhibit compassion, kindnessandpositivity.”

The Vice-President laudedthe institution for its abidingcommitment to excellence andappreciated its founderAchyuta Samanta for his relentless endeavourstowards reforming and trans-forming lives of millions ofAdivasi people.

Naidu said poetry was oneof the finest expressions ofhuman emotions and conveysthe deepest insights, a widerange of emotions and elevateshuman experience to highestlevels of consciousness.

“Poetry has a great impacton the inner chemistry ofhuman emotions. How we per-ceive, how we respond and how

we behave — all this is shapedby literature and fine arts to alarge extent,” he added.

He said India’s tryst withpoetry was as old as its civili-sation. He spoke of the great

Indian epics, the Ramayanaand the Mahabharata and saidthat they were among the finestspecimens of poetry ever writ-ten, celebrated world over forthe grandeur of their themes,

their extraordinary literaryheights and the depth of mes-sages they convey.

Emphasising that it wascrucial to promote arts and cul-ture to build an enlightenedand healthy society, he said,“Arts nurture creativity in thesociety. Without a creativevoice, a society will becomestagnant. Artists enliven lives.They transform our lives andchange our perception.”

He urged schools to makepoetry reading and apprecia-tion a compulsory part of thecurriculum. He also asked uni-versities to encourage literature,arts and humanities educa-tion. “We need poets and writ-ers and artists and singers asmuch as we need doctors,engineers and scientists,” heunderscored.

Suggesting that promotionof literature was also an impact-ful method to preserve andpromote languages, the Vice-President said that the best wayto preserve or promote any lan-guage was to use it extensivelyin everyday life.

He opined that more andmore people should be encour-aged to write poetry, stories,novels and dramas in theirnative languages and calledfor dedicated measures to pre-serve, protect and promotemother tongues.

“I also commend DrAchyuta Samanta for envi-sioning poetry as the bestmedium to promote brother-hood and peace,” said Naidu.

In his address, GovernorProf Ganeshi Lal said, “Odishais a divine land, where Lord

Jagannath is also a poet.”Union Minister Pratap

Chandra Sarangi said, “Theearliest poetry of the worldbelonged to Valmiki when hesaw the agony of the world.”

WCP president Dr MaurusYoung said, “Odisha is a landof poetry. I found many tal-ented young poets here.”

KIIT and KISS founderand 39 th WPC president DrAchyuta Samanta delivered thewelcome address. The highesthonour of WCP, ‘Golden Gabel’was conferred on Dr Samantaby the Vice-President.

While ‘Prodigy Author’award was given to AnantineeMishra, author of ‘Treasure ofShort Stories’, Most PromisingWriter award was conferred onAtmika Patnaik, author of ‘TheJourney of a Thousand Miles’.

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After receiving GeographicalIndication (GI) tag for

Odisha Rasagola andKandhamal Haladi, the StateGovernments has initiatedefforts to earn the recognitionfor two more items like ChhenaPoda and filigree.

The Odisha SmallIndustries Corporation Limited(OSIC) has begun the processfor getting GI tag for the sweetdessert and craft work by dis-cussing with members of UtkalMistanna Byabasayee Sangh,Mahaveer South Indian ofNayagarh and Jewelers’Association of Cuttack.

Worth mentioning,Nayagarh and Cuttack arefamous for sweet dessert,Chhena Poda, and silver filigreework respectively. Chhena Poda

is a delicious cheese dessertmade of well-kneaded home-made fresh cottage cheese(Chhena). Similarly, filigreework is one of the mostenchanting forms created bycraftsmen since ages. Hundredsof households depend on the500-year-old handicraft forlivelihood in silver city, Cuttack.

Sources said that the ini-tiative has been taken to pro-mote State ‘s own products andhandicrafts on the global stage.

The move came afterCuttack MLA MohammedMoquim had raised a questionon Government ‘s initiative to

get GI tag for filigree work.According to reports, the

OSIC has held a discussionwith Metals and MineralsTrading Corporation of India(MMTC) in this regard fol-lowing which the authoritieshave begun collecting the nec-essary documents.

Sources said that theMMTC authorities have givenconsent to provide quality rawmaterials for filigree work.mMeanwhile, steps have alreadybeen taken by the authoritiesfor expediting process to haveits claim over another dessertChhena Jhili of Nimapara.

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Page 3: Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system

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Adispute between twogroups took a violent turn

when a youth was brutallyhacked to death in front of hisfather at Alasahi village underthe Astarang police station inPuri district on Saturday night.

The deceased was identi-fied as Dillip Swain.

Reports said Dilip’s familyhad a long standing disputewith some persons in the vil-lage. The incident occurred

when Dilip, his father andassociate, who had gone toresolve the dispute, wereallegedly attacked by their rivalgroup.

Following the incident, allthe three were rushed to a pri-vate hospital in Bhubaneswarwhere Dilip was declaredbrought dead by doctors. Thecondition of deceased Dilip’sfather and associate is stated tobe critical. The Astarangapolice are investigating into thematter while a car and knifewas seized from the spot.

Demanding immediatearrest of the miscreantsinvolved in the murder, localson Sunday staged a demon-stration by burning tyres.

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The birds locally called Kankor “open billed stork” have

been thronging Sirabahal vil-lage in Deogaon block, around15km from here, since lastdecade, much to the joy of birdwatchers.

As one enters Sirabahal,besides the school buildingroof, one would find largenumbers of Kank, moving inthe sky and making noises.

Sirabahal is a small obscurevillage in Deogaon block.Thanks to safe habitat, foodand water and protection fromvillagers, they prefer to throngthe village in June or justbefore the festival Sitalsashti bythe end of May.

"We do not know wherethese birds come from and

where do they go back but theystay here till Kartik Purnima,"said a villager.

After staying here for fourmonths, these birds leave. Butthose who give birth to chiks,they remain longer, saidBasudev Sandh, a villager.

"Initially, to kill the migrat-ed bird, people came here butwe drove them away and sincethen no such incident hastaken place. We believe thesebirds are the harbinger of mon-soon as after their arrival,monsoon arrives. Around1,000 birds are staying in dif-ferent trees of our village nearthe pond and mango trees,"Basudev added.

These birds eat snail, craband even small snakes found in

paddy fields and in villages.When these birds stay atopmango and tamarind trees, thetrees are damaged within threeto four years due to the excre-ta of birds as the droppings arehighly acidic. But the banayan,pipal and semel trees suffer lessdamage, pointed out anothervillager, adding that a lot ofmango trees have been dam-aged in last few years as thesebirds make their nest there.

However, this year many ayoung /small bird died due toheavy and continuous rain andmany small birds fell downfrom the trees. The bird excre-ta often fall on pond water. Thisis a worrying point , said a vil-lager while stressing the needfor their conservation.

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The Bargarh district isknown for its large area

under paddy cultivation andmaximum paddy production. Itis popularly known as ricebowl of Odisha.

However, in a new devel-opment, mandia (finger millet)cultivation is catching up thefancy of farmers of Gaisilletarea in Padampur Subdivisionof Bargarh district,under theMillet Mission programme.

According to reports man-dia (Finger Millet ) cultivationhas been taken up by 238

farmers in 27 villages in 108hectares of land in GaisilletBlock. It requires less amountof water to grow mandia crop.Besides, it is resilient to climatechange.

"We hope to get a produc-tion of around 350 quintals thisyear," said Kanhu CharanMajhi of Debadutta Club ofGaisillet.

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Unidentified miscreantsallegedly vandalised as

many as 11 trucks and lootedcash from the drivers of thevehicles near Nimeisapur petrolpump in the Tangi area ofCuttack district on Saturdaynight.

Reports said the truckswere parked near the petrolpump when the miscreantsthreatened the drivers by bran-dishing sharp weapons andlooted Rs 5 lakh from them.

Some drivers were criticallyinjured in the attack. The inci-dent is said to be fallout of adispute between some localvillagers and truck owners over

parking of the trucks on themain road.

Later, the truck ownersalong with the drivers lodgeda complaint with police afterthe loot incident.

“The driver called mearound 2.30 am and informedme about the loot. When Ireached the spot, the miscre-ants had absconded after van-dalising eleven trucks,” a truckowner said.

“We had informed thepolice about the illegal p0ark-ing near the petrol pump aswell as from Manguli toPasupati Gada. The matter wasalso raised in a ‘Mo Sarkar’meeting, but no action wastaken by the administration,” alocal said.

After receiving informa-tion, the Tangi police reachedthe spot and started investi-gating into the matter.

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The district BJD unit organ-ised Jana Sachetanata

Padayatra at Jagatsinghpurheadquarters here under lead-ership of district presidentAmarendra Das.

Water Resources and I andPR Minister RaghunandanDas, MP Rajashree Mallick,Paradip MLA Sambit Routray,presidents of different blocks,ZP members and hundreds ofparty supporters were present.

Speaking on the occasion,

Minister Das discussed sever-al pro -people schemes anddevelopmental works under-taken by the BJD Governmentin past two decades underleadership of CM NaveenPatnaik.

District BJD president Dasemphasized on strengtheningthe party in grossroots level andwarned against intra partyactivity.

However, JagatsinghpurMLA Prasanta Muduli andTirtol MLA Bishnu Dasskipped the meeting.

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Ayouth, who had been res-cued on Saturday night in

a critical condition from aschool premises in the districtwith severe burn injuries, diedon Sunday. The deceased,whose identity was yet to beascertained, succumbed to theinjuries at the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH).

Reports said the youth wasfound in a half-charred statewith his hands tied behind theback in a primary school atDaagaon village under theBalikuda police station in thedistrict at late night. The vil-lagers, who rushed to the

school after hearing screams,asked him about his identity, hesaid Khordha. When askedabout who was behind theincident, he could not say any-thing. He was rushed to theDHH by police. The reasonbehind the burn injuries whichled to the death is yet to beascertained. Police have seizeda knife and an empty bottlefrom the spot. Investigationinto the matter is underway.

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In view of its target to supplypiped water to all the house-

holds by 2024, the StateGovernment is planning toensure ISO certification forwater supplied by Governmentagencies.

The NITI Aayog hasadvised the State Governmentsto go for such an initiative toprovide safe drinking water.

Official sources said thatthe Ministry of ConsumerAffairs has asked the StateGovernment to chalk out plansfor such an initiative as watersupplied to households fordrinking purpose is needed to

be safe and hygienic.The Bureau of Indian

Standard (BIS) is the NationalStandard Organization whichhas been assigned the job forstandardisation of variousproducts and, that way, IS10500 has been specified fordrinking water.

Under the IS 10500 speci-fication, required tests wouldbe conducted for availing ISOcertification for quality water.

The IS 10500 complianceensures that water supplied byurban local bodies and rurallocal bodies are safe andhygienic.

The Urban DevelopmentDepartment and thePanchayati Raj and DrinkingWater Department will be tak-ing up IS 10500 initiative as itis mandatory.

Sources said that severalState Governments have start-ed IS 10500 Certification fordrinking water suppliedthrough Government Agencies.

The TelanganaGovernment has taken the leadin this regard and gone aheadfor IS 10500 Certification fordrinking water supplied inULBs.

However, monitoringwater has not yet receivedproper attention of the StateGovernment, said sources.

As per the UniformDrinking Water QualityMonitoring Protocol issued bythe Union Ministry ofDrinking Water and Sanitation,at least 3,000 samples of waterwould be tested for qualitymonitoring every year for eachdistrict and subdivision-level.

Considering the workloadspecified in the protocol,Odisha requires more than350 laboratories for 9.5 lakhwater sources. Accordingly,infrastructure is needed to bein place.

He State Governmentwould prepare an action planfor the purpose, said an official.

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In an unusual scene, a retiredpolice officer was seen pol-

ishing shoes in the Collectoratepremises here on Thursday.

Ujjal Kumar Bramha , a1975 batch police officer (SI)who retired from service inFebruary 2010 after serving incapacity of Superintendent ofPolice (Vigilance)Bhubaneswar division, wasseen polishing shoes.

Brahma’s colleagues whoserved with him or know himhave mixed reaction towardshis mission. Some while appre-ciated, others downplayed it.Brahma said his mission is toawaken and enhance aware-ness among the Governmentservants as well public repre-sentatives who are resorting tocorrupt means against the

oath they have taken beforeassuming duty or office.

“There is a huge moraldegradation in each sphere ofGovernment service. Be itpolice, doctor, teacher or leader,one would find the waning of

ethical values. It is a cause ofconcern . A common man isdeprived of justice. He or sheis running from pillar to postto get justice. Police officers aresitting in the AC rooms notgoing to fields. Gone are thedays when one officer-in-charge has to report to policestation by 7 am by all meanswhether he/she performed dutythroughout on previous nightor not. Now there is no prop-er investigation of cases. So isthe case in other service sectorstoo,” Bramha rued.

“Now we are aggressivelypursuing Swachh Bharat forcleanliness of our environmentbut my message is to bringswachheta within all publicservants. Let there are be trans-parency and accountability inall departments, be it tehsiloffice, sub registrar office, block,police station , hospital or

school,” he remarked.Bramha undertook the

mission of this campaign fromOctober 2 . On the first day hesat in front of theSahadevkhunta Model policestation. He said he would con-tinue to do the same in frontof other offices and establish-ments too to carry forward hismission.

Bramha, a native ofBaleswar, has two daughterswhom he has married off andhe is drawing pension too.

“I have no job left now.Thought to spread messageacross India whenever I get anopportunity," said Bramha.Bramha began his career aspolice sub-inspector from theBirmitrapur police station; andduring his service career, hewas posted in several police sta-tions and served in differentcapacities.

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The Radhakrishna Instituteof Technology and

Engineering (RITE) here hasbeen designated as nodal cen-tre for virtual labs by IITKharagpur under the NationalMission on Education throughICT.

A workshop on virtual labswas conducted recently by ProfAlok Kanti Deb and his teamof IIT Kharagpur. Theadvanced IT Lab at RITE hasnow got elevated to newheights after being declared asa nodal centre. The declaration

is going to benefit not just thestudents of Computer Scienceand Engineering, Mechanicaland Electrical branches of thecollege but also, many otherstudents of the State, studyingin various institutions.

Virtual lab enables stu-dents to carry out laboratoryexperiments without physical-ly visiting lab premises.

On this occasion, theDirector of RITE, GroupCaptain KN Venkates andPrincipal Dr Sasanka SekharKanungo felicitated Prof Deband his team of virtual lab pro-fessionals.

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Defying restrictionsimposed by the local

administration, devotees sac-rificed hundreds of animalsduring the Chhatar Yatra ofGoddess Manikeswari here inKalahandi district on Sunday.

The ceremonial Chhatar ofGoddess Manikeswari wastaken out to the Jena Khala onthe outskirts of the town fromManikeswari temple this morn-ing. After performance ofsecret rituals, the Chhatar wastaken out in a procession. Thereturn journey of the Chhatar

to the temple is known asChhatar Yatra.

During the ceremony,thousands of devotees resort toanimal sacrifice every yearwith a belief of fulfilment oftheir wishes. As per rituals, the‘Mundabasa’ ritual of GoddessManikeswari is performed atthe temple here on Ashtamitithi in Shukla Paksha in theHindu month of Ashwina.

The district administra-tion made elaborate securityarrangements for smooth con-duct of Chhatar Yatra, forwhich ten platoons of policeforce were deployed.

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The Bharatiya BikashParishad has urged the

Project Director, Odisha SchoolEducation ProgrammeAuthority (OSEPA) to appro-priately act on its demand ofcancellation of the districtCollector’s order for shifting theDEO office from Brahmapur toChhatrapur within twomonths, or else it would beforced to file a case in theOrissa High Court against him.

The Parishad made thedemand after submitting copiesof its writ petition and a HCorder to the OSEPA PD on theday. Earlier, disposing of a

petition filed by Parishad pres-ident Surendra Panigrahi, theHC had issued an order askingthe OSEPA PD to dispose ofthe representation of theParishad on DEO office shift-ing by passing a reasoned orderwithin two months’ time fromthe receipt of the copies.

“Despite our repeatedrequests and justifiable argu-ments, concerned higher offi-cers of the State Governmentdidn’t pay any heed to ourdemand of cancelling of theCollector’s recommendationfor shifting of the DistrictEducation Officer’s Office from

Brahmapur to Chhatrapur. Asper the HC advice, we havesubmitted copies of the writpetition and HC order to theOSEPA PD,” informedPanigrahi. Addressing a Pressmeet, Panigrai said he wouldfile a case against the OSEPAPD if he doesn’t take appro-priate action on their demandwithin two months’s time as perthe HC order.

Notably, the Parishad hasbeen demanding that DEOoffice should not be shifted toChhatrapur, the district head-quartes town of Ganjam dis-trict, as recommended by theCollector.

Teachers and students ofthe district would face prob-lems getting their variousworks done if the DEO officeis shifted to Chhatrapur, arguedPanigrahi.

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Page 4: Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system

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Two per-s o n s

were killedand twoo t h e r sinjured inlightning strikes in Padmapurvillage under the Anandpurpolice station in the district onSunday. The deceased wereidentified as Dusashana Naikand Bhagabat Naik ofBaunshagada village. Lightningstruck both of them while theywere working at their farmland,reports said. Both of themwere immediately rushed to theAnandapur Sub Divisional hos-pital where both of them weredeclared brought dead.

In another incident, LipunSahu and Sarat Nahaka ofPadmapur village were injuredin the lightning strike. Both ofthem were admitted to the Anandpur hos-pital.

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A48-year-old cracker maker,Ramakanta Sahoo, was

killed and five of his familymembers sustained seriousinjuries in an explosion in anillegal cracker manufacturingunit on Saturday night atPashimabachalo village underthe Binjharpur police station ofJajpur district The injured per-sons were identified asRamakanta’s son SobhagyaSahoo (23), mother Rukmani(78) and sister Santilata Sahoo(50) and one Sudhanshu Das(23). They were first admittedin the Primary Health Centreat Binjharapur. Later, theywere shifted to the SCB

Medical College Hospital inCuttack as their conditionsdeteriorated. Ramakanta Sahoosuccumbed to his serious burninjuries at the SCB Hospital.

“Police have filed a caseunder Sections 3 and 5 of theIndian Explosive SubstancesAct and Sections 323, (volun-tarily causing hurt), 324 (vol-untarily causing hurt by dan-gerous weapons), 304 (culpablehomicide not amounting tomurder) 34 (common inten-tion) and 308 (attempt to com-mit culpable homicide) and 304of Indian Penal Code (IPC)against the injured personsand are investigating the case,”said Binjharapur police stationIIC Shiba Charan Behera.

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Abook entitled “JaanalaTota”, written by BJP leader

Kalandi Samal, was released byVice-President M VenkaiahNaidu at the Raj Bhavan hereon Sunday.

Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal,Union Minister Dharmendra

Pradhan and BJP leader Samir

Mohanty, among others, werepresent.

The novel depicts howcommon people have workedtogether and brought develop-ment in a remote village. Thebook would certainly beaccepted by readers, saidDharmendra Pradhan. Twosisters are the main charactersof the novel.

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Police arrested three persons fromBhubaneswar in a cheating case

and brought them here on Saturday.The police had earlier arrested

three persons including a woman inthe same case for impersonating asagents of the National Human Rights

Commission (NHRC) and cheatingyouths by promising them of jobs inGovernment sector.

In a Press release, the police saidSujogya Kumar Guru of Gajapati dis-trict is the kingpin of the offence andother duo are Sunil Kumar Roy ofPipili and Sagar Kumar Jena ofJagatsinghpur. The scam is widely

spread over several districts ofOdisha. More links have been ascer-tained in the scam and misappro-priation of money is more than Rs 5crore.

Later, in the evening they wereproduced in the court of the JMFC,where their bail application wasrejected.

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This school would usher ina new beginning in quali-

ty education in the area andchildren from the nearby vil-lages would get education atpar with urban areas, saidDhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo,inaugurating an AdarshaVidyalaya at Rajmohanpur ofHindol in the district onSaturday.

Spread across a 25,000-sqfeet area, the Model School hasbeen built by the Tata Steel at

a cost of nearly �4.5 crore withmodern amenities.

This is the second of thethree Adarsh Vidyalayas con-structed by the company in thedistrict. While the one atKamakhyanagar has alreadybeen handed over to theGovernment, another one isbeing constructed in Odapadablock. Hindol MLA SeemaraniNayak, Dhenkanal CollectorBhumesh Chandra Behera andTata Steel corporate services VPChanakya Chaudhary were,among others, present.

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The National Alliance of People’sMovements (NAPC) on

Sunday severely criticised theUnion Government for not allow-ing its members to enter Jammu &Kashmir to make a study on the sit-uation there in the aftermath of theabrogation of Articles 370 and 35(A) of the Constitution.

In protest against stopping theNAPM delegation at Srinagar, var-ious organisatonns held a rally hereon Sunday.

The delegation comprisingPrafulla Samantara of the LokShakti Abhiyan, Faisal Khan andMohammad Javed Malik of theKhudai Khidmatgar, Delhi,Sandeep Pandey of the SocialistParty (India) and MusthafaMohamed of the KhudaiKhidmatgar, Kerala was detained atthe Srinagar airport on Friday andsent back to Delhi, informedSamantara.

Notices issued in the names of

Samantara, Khan and Pandey bythe Badgam district administrationsaid that there was an apprehensionthat these activists would organisea protest in Srinagar on the issueof abrogation of Article 370 whichcould pose a threat to law and orderand hence their entry into Jammu& Kashmir was being restricted tillfurther order.

The NAPM delegation wasplanning to visit Jammu & Kashmirfor two days and wasn’t planningto organise any protests or hold anymeetings, said Samantara.

“The Prime Minister’s claimthat everything is alright in Indiais not true. Why the Governmentstill maintains clampdown thereeven two months after abrogationof Articles 370 and 35A,” he want-ed to know.

He said the Government isdesperately trying to open theschools in Kashmir Division butparents find it difficult to send chil-dren because of uncertainty relat-ed to transportation.

Some schools are being used ascamps for para-military forces.Most markets are still closed. Petrol pumps open for a few hoursevery day.

The fruit growers are finding itdifficult to sell their produce.People are not free to move

about freely.The Central Government has

to trust the people of Jammu &Kashmir. All communicationsrestrictions have to be lifted.

The people of the regionshould be freed from a caged life,demanded Samantara.

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As many as six minor girlswere swept away in the

Mahanadi near Badabazar inthe district on Sunday whilethey were taking bath in theriver.

While five girls were res-cued by locals and Fire Servicepersonnel, the sixth one, iden-tified as Pinki Biswakarma,was still missing.

The girls had gone to theriver at around 11 am forbathing, during which one ofthem got swept away by strongwater current.

Other girls also met thesame fate as they tried to res-cue her.

On being informed bylocals, Fire Service personnelreached the spot and launcheda rescue operation. Efforts wereon to trace the missing girl.

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Squatters continue to keepallottees (newly elected

Members of Parliament) awayfrom houses on lame excuses inLutyens’ Delhi. Despite repeat-ed reminders, as many as 50former MPs have not vacatedtheir Government accommo-dations even five months afterthe dissolution of the previousLok Sabha.

In some cases, the care-takers/servants have gone miss-ing with the keys to the bun-galows or flats. In one case, asenior bureaucrat has beenfound residing in an MP bun-galow, while in another case, aformer MP is residing in anMP’s flat as a guest.

In yet another case, anewly-elected MP has soughtthe allotment of the bungalowthat earlier housed his spouse,who failed to retain her seat.

Sources in the Ministry

said over four dozen newlyelected MPs have been waitingfor official accommodationsand staying at temporary hous-es. “Notices have been sent tothese former MPs, asking themto vacate their bungalowswhich had been allotted tothem in 2014.

The list of MPs who havenot vacated their bungalowsand flats include Pappu Yadav,Ranjeeta Ranjan, DependerSingh Hooda, HD Deve Gowda

and Meghalaya Chief MinisterConard K Sangma. FormerBJP MP Shahnawaz Hussain isalso residing at Pant Margbungalow. Shahnawaz had lostLok Sabha polls in 2014 and hewas not given ticket in 2019.

The interesting case is thatof BJP MP from LadakhJamyang Tsering Namgyal,who was allotted flat no 16-18at South Avenue. The said flatwas occupied by AsarafulHaque, an MP from Bihar,

who died last year. After hisdeath, the caretaker/servant ofthe flat refused to vacate it cit-ing emotional attachment.“Whenever the estate depart-ment team visited the flat, itwas found locked and the ser-vant gone missing with the key.A showcause notice was issuedon September 6. After that,showcause notice was dulyaffixed at the outer door onSeptember 17. Finally the offi-cials managed to vacate the flatfrom the servant. Now it isbeing handed over toNamgyal,” said the sources.

Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla had asked the Lok SabhaHousing Committee to allocateresidential accommodation toNamgyal. Namgyal came intolimelight during his speech inthe Lok Sabha on the abroga-tion of Article 370.

Sources said that it was alsofound that a senior bureaucratis residing at bungalow number

23 in South Avenue. The bun-galow was allotted to MIShahnawaz, who died last year.

Sources said former MPKameshwar Singh was foundresiding at South Avenue bun-galow no 77. The said accom-modation was allotted to anMP in 2014 who allowed Singhto stay as a guest. Now Singhwants to stay in this bungalowciting his poor health. Singhhad won the LS polls in 1967.

In another case, Conard KSangma, who is now the ChiefMinister of Meghalaya, is seek-ing to retain a type VIII bun-galow under the StateGovernment quota, allotted tohis father late PA Sangma.

After PA Sangma’s death,the Ministry had been askinghim to vacate the bungalowsince 2016.

In another case, one of theMPs has asked the Ministry toallot her Pandara Roadaccommodation to his husband

who is also an MP. According to rules, former

MPs have to vacate theirrespective bungalows withinone month of dissolution of theprevious Lok Sabha. PresidentRam Nath Kovind had on May25 dissolved the 16th LokSabha with immediate effect onthe recommendation of theUnion Cabinet after the ModiGovernment was formed for asecond term.

On August 19, the LokSabha Housing Committeeheaded by CR Patil had orderedaround 200 ex-MPs, who didnot vacate their bungalows, togive up the facility within aweek and disconnected theirpower, water and cooking gasconnections within three days.

Since the committee’sorder, most of the ex-MPs havevacated their official bunga-lows. But, 50 former MPs are,however, yet to vacate theirbungalows.

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APhD student in Delhi hasalleged her husband had

impersonated an ISRO scientistto marry her and she foundabout his lies after tracing hislocation to Gurugram throughtheir shared Netflix account,police said on Sunday.

She also found that theman was already married toanother woman, they said. Theman and his family have beenabsconding after his lies werebusted. In her police com-plaint on October 1, thewoman alleged Jitender posedas an ISRO scientist before herfamily and married her.

He claimed he had anMTech degree from IIT-Kharagpur and showed thembogus documents to prove he

had worked in DRDO as a sci-entist, before joining ISRO, apolice official said.

The woman’s family hadvisited Jitender and his familyin Rewari before the marriage,he said. After the wedding inMay, Jitender claimed he wasgoing to join American spaceagency NASA to train as anastronaut. The woman’s fatherdropped him at the airport, andafter “returning” from the US,he told the woman he wasgoing to Bangalore for work.But his wife found that he wasusing Netflix from a location inGurugram, the officer said.

When confronted, Jitenderdisclosed he was unemployedand was already married. Hedid not visit the US orBangalore and was inGurugram the whole time.

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New trends may haveemerged in the recent

times of adoring the goddessDurga, but this temple inHaridwar continues its old tra-ditional custom of decoratingthe goddess with vegetables anddry fruits giving her the title ofShakumbhari. Built in southIndian style, the temple con-tinues its tradition of makingrosaries of vegetables for theAshtami Pooja. One famoustemple of Shakumbhari Devi isin Saharanpur but the templein Haridwar has special décoron the eighth day of Navratri.

All over the country, thetemples of the goddess arewearing a festive look thisNavratri which will be con-cluding on Monday. The tem-ples devoted to goddess arebedecked with red colour pre-dominant in all decorations buthere close to the AlaknandaGhat on Laltarao bridge, thegoddess Makarvahini has cho-

sen colour of multi-colouredvegetables for her attire. On thebanks of the Ganga, this tem-ple was established byShankaracharya of Kanchip-uram a few decades ago.

Enter the temple and onthe gate and corridor, one can’tmiss the makhanas (lotusseeds) and coconuts hanging instring from the ceiling of thetemple where the goddess’ idolstands.

A devotee, Shishu Pal fromKolkata who came to this tem-ple stood seeing the attire of theGoddess. “In West Bengal wehad one devotee offer a sareemade of pure gold to theGoddess, but here Ma Durgahas chosen the cheapest mode

of dress.” Drenched in the devo-tion of the Mother, BhawaniPrasad said, “She alone knowshow to run this world show. Atplaces she is bedecked withgold, at others she is just happywith vegetables “

On the evening ofDurgashtami, the goddess isbedecked with ornamentsmade of fresh vegetables andgarlands of ladyfinger, brinjal,lauki (bottle gourd), peas,radish and celery. “We startdecorating the deity in theafternoon and after 6 pm thetemple is open for darshan forthe devotees till midnight,”tells the head priest GopalKrishna in his typical southIndian accent.

A visit to the temple givesan impression of a vegetablemarket with all kinds of veg-etables lying in a long corridorwhere few devotees are busythreading and roping vegeta-bles with needle and thread. Itis the ‘devi’s shringar’, beamsone of the priests making gar-land. One after the other,banana bunches, jackfruit, bot-tle gourd get sewed by theseskilled hands.

According to belief, inTreta Yug there was a famineand people prayed to the holytrinity Brahma, Vishnu andMahesh. Pleased with theirprayers, the goddess appearedbefore them in the form ofShakumbhari( deity of vegeta-bles) and produced variety ofvegetables from different partsof her body.

Since then people startedworshipping the goddess in theform of Shakumbhari and dec-orate her with vegetables onAshtami (eighth day ofNavratri).

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The fifth editionof International

Film Festival ofShimla concluded atGaiety Theatre here.

The festival concluded withscreening of 20 national, inter-national and regional filmsand music videos. ChiefSecretary Dr Shrikant Baldipresided over the concludingfunction. At the festival, doc-umentaries including, “GlideBir Billing” by Novita Singhfrom Bir, Himachal Pradesh,“The Hope of Tomorrow” byGul Reyaz from J&K, “TheBirth of a Life” by BizoyMahmud from Bangladesh,“The Divine Get-Together” byGitesh Gupta from Shimla,“Budhi Diwali” by Mela RamSharma from Shimla and“Alone in The Combat Zone”

by MonjulBaruah fromAssam werescreened.

Speaking onthe occasion, the

Chief Secretary said that thestate has been bestowed withnatural beauty, panoramicviews, snow-clad mountainsand beautiful locations whichwere filmed in many movies.

Shimla is the cultural cap-ital for the tourists. This kindof events should be organizedmore often to promote films inthe state, he added.

A total of 20 films werescreened during the third dayof the film festival includinganimated films, short films,documentaries, music videosand international films fromcountries like Poland, Australia,United Kingdom, France, Iran,Bangladesh, Cyprus and Israel.

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Six architectural firms havesubmitted in bids to become

consultants for the architecturaland engineering planning forthe Centre's ambitious plan toredevelop the Central Vistaand Parliament, and develop acommon Central Secretariatfor ministries. No foreign firmhas submitted consultancy bidin the project.

According to the sources inthe Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Ministry, six Indianarchitectural firms have sub-mitted bids for the project. "Wewere also expecting foreignarchitectural firms to submitbids as it is a very big projectof the central Government.However, no international firmhas submitted bids for it," thesources said.

On September 2, theMinistry had invited requestfor proposal (RFP) fromnational and internationaldesign and planning firms forthe ambitious project of theModi Government. The lastdate of submitting bids wasSeptember 30.

The Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD) hasinvited Indian and interna-tional firms to bid for the pro-ject, which paves the way forthe redevelopment of the exist-ing Parliament building orconstruction of a brand new,potential demolition of Centralgovernment offices to makeway for a common Secretariatfor all ministries and therevamp of the 3-km CentralVista that stretches fromRashtrapati Bhavan till IndiaGate. While the Governmenthad not spelt out which build-ings would be demolished andwhich would be refurbished,

Housing and Urban AffairsMinister Hardeep Puri hadsaid Parliament and North andSouth Blocks would not be torndown, but could be renovatedand/or used for other purpos-es, like to house museums.

The sources, however, saidthat in the RFP, there is alsoa provision according towhich selected architecturalfirms can associate sub-con-sultant, including foreign firm,which has domain specificspecialisation during the exe-cution of the ambitious pro-ject. There was no immediatereaction available from theCentral Public WorksDepartment.

Among six Indian archi-tecture firms, HafeezContractor is learnt to havesubmitted bids for the ambi-tious project.

A committee of expertswill now evaluate the technicalproposals submitted by firms.Financial proposals of onlythose bidders qualifying in thetechnical proposal will be opened.

The Government has so farnot publicly shared the esti-mated cost of its project.

According to the plan, thegovernment would redevelopthe 3 km-stretch of the CentralVista spanning fromRashtrapati Bhavan to IndiaGate. The Ministry said the

entire project will be complet-ed by 2024.

Terming it a "dream pro-ject" of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinister Hardeep Singh Purihad recently said that redevel-opment or development ofParliament would be done by2022.

For the redevelopment ofCentral Vista and develop-ment of Common CentralSecretariat for variousMinistries, several buildingslike hastri Bhawan, TransportBhawan, Udyog Bhawan,Nirman Bhawan and KrishiBhawan may be razed.

However, the Governmentwill take a final decision on itonly after designs to be sub-mitted by architectural firmsare selected.

On September 18, Purihad said buildings that hadbeen built in 1960s and 70sshould have been torn downmany years ago. "Somethingwent wrong there," Puri hadsaid. Using cricket terms to takea dig at earlier Governments,the minister had said, "Eitherwe (CPWD under previousgovernments) lowered the stan-dard or we took eyes off theball. We wanted to spin the ballbut something else happenedand in the process it was a hit-wicket."

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The New Education Policy(NEP) has come under the

scrutiny of the stakeholdersincluding States who have crit-icised it for ambiguity in finan-cial management. The issuecame during the meeting of theof the HRD Ministry's CentralAdvisory Board of Education(CABE). Education Ministersand representatives of statesattended the meeting.

According to the minutesof the meeting, the States likeDelhi, Bihar, Andhra Pradeshand Karnataka flagged thefunding issues in proposedNEP by the HRD Ministry, say-ing the draft has some goodproposals but no "financialplan of action for implemen-tation."

The panel led by formerIndian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) Chief KKasturirangan had submittedthe draft of the new NEP toHRD Minister RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank'. The draftwas then put in public domainto seek feedback from variousstakeholders and over two lakhsuggestions were received bythe HRD Ministry about thesame. Draft NEP has sinceseen three HRD Ministers-Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekarand the incumbent RameshPokhriya Nishank.

"Finance is very impor-

tant to implement this policyand the draft policy has notspoken much about the finan-cial plan of action for imple-mentation. The extension ofRight to Education (RTE) actwill further burden states interms of funds and the centreshould bear the brunt for it,"KN Prasad Verma, Bihar'sEducation Minister, recordedin the meeting.

While Karnataka'sEducation Minister C NAshwath Narayan, said "financeis important in proper imple-mentation of schemes and pro-grammes but most of the rev-enue goes into the recurringgrants", Delhi's Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodiarecorded that the policy is a"wishful" draft and has nomention of how it will beimplemented and what needsto be done in the run up to theimplementation.

"The Indian education sys-

tem is highly regulated butpoorly funded," sources saidquoting Sisodia in the CABEmeeting. Arun Kumar Sahoo,Odisha's Education Minister,pointed out that, "more fundsare required for the implemen-tation of the policy in the statesso a proper financial plan shouldbe prepared for the implemen-tation of the policy," said.

Sahoo suggested a "Giveback to roots" programme andways to involve alumni in gen-erating more funding. AndhraPradesh's Education MinisterAudimulapu Suresh alsostressed on the need of bud-getary provisions.

"More funds are requiredand a proper allocation is nec-essary to implement the poli-cy. Some of the initiatives likepre-primary education andabout anganwadi workers aregood but it is not possible forStates to do it alone and Centreshould provide funding,"

Minister of State for School andMass Education Odisha SamirRanjan Das.

Prabhuram Chaudhury,Madhya Pradesh's EducationMinister demanded extra fundsfrom the state and suggestedthat centralisation should beavoided. Lal Chanda Ralte,Minister of State for SchoolEducation in Mizoram, said.There are limited resourcesavailable to his state and inter-est of every stakeholder mustbe ensured in the NEP.

The existing NEP wasframed in 1986 and revised in1992. A new education policywas part of the Bharatiya JanataParty's manifesto ahead of the2014 general election. Thedrafting experts also took intoaccount the report of a panelheaded by former cabinet sec-retary T S R Subramanian andformed by the HRD Ministrywhen it was being headed bySmriti Irani.

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As Haryana is ready to pollson October 21, the

Association for DemocraticReforms (ADR) has analyzedthe performance of MLAs ofthe 13th Legislative Assembly,found that out of 91 MLAsanalysed, only 75 MLAs haveasked questions in the 13thLegislative Assembly ofHaryana.

If asking questions is theparameter of performance,Congress MLA from Toshamconstituency Kiran Choudhryhas fared on top with 225starred questions. She is close-ly followed by Indian NationalLok Dal's Naina SinghChautala from the Dabwaliconstituency. In fact in the topten performer, in terms of ask-ing questions, there's only oneMLA from the ruling BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) - Prem Lata.

There are 16 MLAs whohaven't bothered to ask even asingle question, be it about thestate or raising issues pertaining to their respective constituencies. Congress'national face Randeep SinghSurjewala and BJP spokesper-son Captain Abhimanyu areamong them.

"I don't know why they arenot keen to ask questions... Infact, bills are passed withoutmuch discussions. It's not ahappy state (of affairs)," saidMaj. Gen. Anil Verma (retd.),who heads the ADR.

According to ADR,though, of 174 bills, 170 werepassed, which is an impressive98 per cent, it also highlightsthe brute majority of the BJP inthe house, and a scattered

opposition. While overall, thereis not much mismatch betweenthe number of sittings of thehouse planned and held, thereare MLAs who did not farewell.

But what's surprising isinformation on HaryanaMLAs' attendance were refusedwhen sought by the poll watch-dog. Verma laments: "I don'tknow what's so secret aboutthat?"

The ADR report also saidthat 75 out of the 90 sittingMLAs in Haryana possessassets worth more than onecrore rupees.

According to the ADRreport, the average of assets persitting MLA in Haryana was�12.97 crore.

Party-wise, the averageassets per MLA for 48 BJPMLAs analysed was Rs 10.34crore, while for 18 MLAs of theIndian National Lok Dal(INLD), the average assetsstood at �13.63 crore.

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Union Home Ministry hasasked the BSF to identify

anti-drone technologies includ-ing offensive drones with fea-tures like "fire and forget" tech-nology to counter threats ema-nating from Pakistan that issuspected to have recentlydropped arms and ammunitionvia drones in Punjab.

The Indian army alreadypossesses such technologies.The BSF guards the Indo-Pakand Indo-Bangladesh borders.The Government has also theBSF to send a proposal in atime-bound after identifyingsuitable anti-drone technolo-gies for further action.

The directive to the BSFcomes in the backdrop of armsdropping incident in Punjabthrough a heavy-duty drone,suspected to be the handiworkof Pakistan Army-ISI com-bine.

The Government has askedthe BSF to look for all techno-logical capabilities to counterthreats from drones of theadversaries.

The instruction was issuedduring the meeting with thechiefs of the border guardingforces during a security reviewmeeting, chaired by UnionHome Minister Amit Shah.Other border guarding forceshave also been asked to iden-tify gaps in securing the bor-

ders in their respective juris-diction and flag technologicalsolutions, sources said.

Besides the directive fortechnological solutions to plugthe gaps in border gaurding,

the chiefs of the border guard-ing forces have been asked tospend more time with regularvisits to the field units ratherthan remaining ensconced inthe headquarters based in thenational capital, the sourcesfurther said.

The Director Generals(DGs) of Border SecurityForce( BSF), Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP), SashastraSeema Bal (SSB) and AssamRifles have been given a time-frame to come out with a planto acquire the desired techno-logical solutions to preventany arms dropping incidentlike Punjab.

As part of fortification ofthe border defences, the forceswill also need to identify vul-nerable points, both geo-graphically and in terms of pre-sent capabilities. The forceswill need to strengthen thedefences in a phased mannerand make the internationalborders full proof from thesecurity standpoint.

The chiefs of the forces,who attended the review meet-ing at the North Block, weretold that the Minister wouldagain review the progress madeon the directives issued duringthe recent meet, officialsadded.

New Delhi: More political par-ties and film bodies on Sundaydemanded the withdrawal ofthe controversial sedition casefiled against 49 celebrities afterthey had expressed concernover rising incidents of mob lynching in an open letter to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

The CPI(M) and the KeralaState Chalachitra Academyjoined the DMK, the Congressand others in condemning thefiling of the case against celebri-ties like Aparna Sen, AdoorGopalakrishnan, RamchandraGuha, Mani Ratnam, AnuragKashyap and Revathi.

The Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) said this reflectsthe "growing authoritarianism"in the country. "This is tanta-mount to punishing all thosewho have a dissenting opinionon the policies of the presentGovernment. This is a com-plete negation of democraticrights and reflects the growingauthoritarianism in the coun-try," the Left party said.

The Kerala StateChalachitra Academy called ita "blatant violation" of the free-dom of expression guaranteedunder the Constitution.

The case was registeredafter a chief judicial magistratein Bihar's Muzaffarpur passedan order on a plea by a lawyeralleging that the celebrities hadtarnished the image of thecountry through their open let-ter.

Asked about the case,Union minister PrakashJavadekar Saturday said theGovernment has nothing to dowith it. "An individual went tothe court which has passed anorder."But Gopalakrishnan,

one of the writers of the letter,has said the registration of asedition case is a "matter ofgreat concern".

The filmmaker cited anincident where, he said, awoman and her followers werefound shooting at MahatmaGandhi's effigy on January 30."None of them have beenlabelled as anti-nationals, witheven some of them managingto become MPs."

On Saturday, DMK chief MK Stalin, Congress leaderDigvijay Singh, RJD nationalvice-president ShivanandTiwary and the CPI haddemanded that the seditioncase be withdrawn.

A day before, the Congressparty had urged "all right-thinking progressive" partiesto collectively "fight this grow-ing spectre of authoritarian-ism".

"Where is this countryheaded? People of India needto seriously think, need toseriously apply their minds towhat is happening to this coun-try in the past 120-odd daysever since the NDA-BJPGovernment assumed office,"Congress spokesperson ManishTewari said.

Stalin said labelling celebri-ties anti-national for expressingtheir concern was unaccept-

able. "How can seeking touphold the basic tenets of theConstitution like tolerance andcommunal harmony be con-strued as anti-nationalism," heasked in a statement.

The CPI said it firmlystood for independent judicia-ry but cases like this werebound to strengthen the appre-hension that judicial systemsare used to harass and intimatethe critics of the presentGovernment.

"Adoor Gopalakrishnan issomeone who has alwaysupheld human values throughhis movies. The act of regis-tering a case against those whohad expressed concern over thegrowing action against human-ity does not go well along witha civilised democratic society,"the Kerala ChalachitraAcademy said.

RJD's Tiwary, who wasformerly with the JD(U) head-ed by Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar, said in a state-ment that historian Guha hadraved about Kumar as a leaderfit to become the prime min-ister.

"It is ironical that Guhafinds himself booked for sedi-tion in the very State ruled byKumar. I would urge Kumar toseek legal opinion and get thecase annulled," he said. PTI

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With World Mental HealthDay round the corner, to

be precise on October 10, theWorld Health Organisation(WHO) is all set to launch "40seconds of action" campaign toraise awareness of the scale ofsuicide around the globe andthe role that each of us can playto help prevent it. The cam-paign is based on the observa-tion that every 40 seconds,someone loses their life to sui-cide.

Globally, close to 800 000people die by suicide everyyear. Furthermore, for eachsuicide, there are more than 20suicide attempts. Suicides andsuicide attempts have a rippleeffect that impacts on families,friends, colleagues, commu-nities and societies, as per theWHO statement issued recent-ly.Stating that suicides are pre-ventable, the WHO notes thatmuch can be done to preventsuicide at individual, commu-nity and national levels.

"Much can be done to pre-vent suicide," said an official

from the WHO. The global health agency

has recommended four keyinterventions which haveproven to be effective. These arerestricting access to means,helping young people developskills to cope with life's pres-sures, early identification andmanagement of people who arethinking about suicide or whohave made a suicide attempt,keeping follow-up contact in

the short and longer-term.The WHO is also working

with the media to ensureresponsible reporting of suicide.

Collectively, WHO'sapproach to suicide preventionis known as LIVE LIFE (lead-ership, interventions, visionand evaluation). This approachis the basis on which compre-hensive national suicide pre-vention strategies should bedeveloped, said the official.

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New Delhi: The monsoon islikely to begin its retreat fromOctober 10, a delay of morethan a month, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said on Sunday.

This is the longest delayedwithdrawal of monsoonrecorded by the IMD.

The monsoon was 'abovenormal' this year with the IMDrecording precipitation of 110per cent of the Long PeriodAverage (LPA). The LPAbetween 1961 to 2010 is 88 cen-timetres.

"Due to likely formation ofan anti-cyclonic circulation

over Rajasthan at 1.5 kilometresabove mean sea level aroundOctober 6, the withdrawal ofsouthwest monsoon is likely tocommence from northwestIndia around October 10," theIMD said in its forecast.

Rains are likely to stop innorthwest India after October7 and conditions are ripe forwithdrawal of monsoon,Mahesh Palawat, VicePresident (Meteorology andClimate Change) of SkymetWeather said. Normally, mon-soon starts withdrawing fromwest Rajasthan from September1. PTI

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Page 6: Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system

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Bengaluru: Factionalism inthe Karnataka unit of theCongress came to the fore onSunday with a meeting con-vened by senior party leaderMadhusudan Mistry to decidethe Leader of the Oppositionseeing many contenders stak-ing claim for the post.

The meeting in a privatehotel to decide on who would bethe Leader of the Oppositionsaw many contenders stakingclaim for the coveted post,Congress sources told PTI.

With just four days left forthe three-day assembly sessionstarting from October 10,

Congress, the principal opposi-tion party has not yet decided itsleader in the Assembly to takeon the ruling BJP.

Besides former ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah, whowas the Congress LegislativeParty leader during the tenure ofthe erstwhile Congress-JD(S)coalition Government, formerminister H K Patil and formerdeputy Chief Minister Dr GParameshwara were amongthose who laid claim for the post,the sources said.

While some legislatorsbacked Siddaramaiah as theopposition leader, others object-

ed to it, especially former LokSabha member K H Muniyappa.

After the meeting Patiltold reporters that Mistry hada discussion with the leaders onselecting the Congress leader inthe Assembly as well asstrengthening the organisationand internal democracy.

“He (Mistry) sought theopinions of all the individualsseparately. Mistry was the incharge of the KarnatakaCongress. He understands theprevailing situation in the state.He will submit a report to ourparty president Sonia Gandhi,”Patil said. PTI

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With ‘Vanda Bharat’Express having a smooth

run between New Delhi toKarta in Jammu region, theIndian Railways has set itseyes on completing all its pending projects by 2022, the75th year of Independence.Vande Bharat express that waslaunched by the HomeMinister Amit Shah onThursday (October 3, 2019), isthe second such super fast andmodern train to run on the railtracks, the first one being theNew Delhi to Varanasi route,launched some eight monthsago by the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Success of Vande Bharatcoupled with people’s enthusi-asm towards modern equippedtrains with less travelling time,has also provided option for the

Indian Railways to start run-ning privately operated Tejasexpress trains. According to theRailways, 40 new Vande Bharattrains will start running todifferent places. This is a pri-ority area and different aspectsof these new trains and routesare being worked out.

Minster of Railways SureshC Angadi who travelled all theway from New Delhi said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modihas directed the IndianRailways to complete all itspending projects and works by2022, the year in which Indiawould be celebrating 75 year ofIndependence. All our energiesare focused on speeding upwork on the ongoing projectsand also review projects thathave not met the deadline. Weare modernizing passenger ser-vices along with introducingstate of the art trains such asVande Bharat and Tejas.

Electrification, installation ofCCTV cameras, advanced sig-naling system and augmentingthe capacity of railway tracks”,adding that new projects will becommissioned only after thepending projects are complet-ed.

Construction of DedicatedFreight Corridor, electrificationof railway tracks, doubling oftracks are some of the majorprojects that have been runningbehind the schedule. “We havereviewed the progress of theseambitious projects and aredetermined to complete it by2020”, Angadi said.

Talking to The Pioneer,the minister said, “While fasttracking railway projects, thesafety of the passengers will beaccorded topmost priority. Wewant to provide world class,safe and less time consumingrail services to the passengers”.

“Earlier, there were only

two news channels, that toogovernment channels. But laterprivate channels were alsoallowed to operate”, Angadisaid adding that private oper-ators and Indian Rail CateringTourism Corporation (IRCTC)are the new channels that havebeen brought into to makemore competitive and also run advanced trains suc-cessfully.

Ministry of Railways hasproposed to allow private oper-

ators to operate trains on longdistance or overnight journeytrains on Delhi-Mumbai,Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Jammu/Katra, Delhi-Howrah,Secunderabad-Hyderabad,Secunderabad-Delhi, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Chennai,Howrah-Chennai andHowrah-Mumbai routes, hesaid.

When asked aboutadvancement made by Chinaand Japan in running bullet

trains that touch the speed of400 kms an hour, the ministersaid that Railways are aware ofthis fact and are making sincereefforts and effecting suitablechanges to run high speedtrains. “Trains in our countryare not running even at 160kmph and a lot of work needsto be done before high speedtrains could be launched”, headded.

‘Modernization of thecountrywide rail network is achallenging task and it requiresa large scale investment. We areopen to private operators andagencies interested in investingin developing rail infrastructureand running high tech trains”,the minister said.

“Lucknow-New Delhi andMumbai-Ahmadabad that wit-ness heavy traffic have beenawarded to the IRCTC foroperations while Railways hasinitiated the process to award

new train routes to the privateoperators on inter-city serviceson 14 routes. Apart from these,there are 10 overnight andlong distance services and foursuburban services that will seeprivate operators entering intothe fray”, said a senior officialof the Indian Railways.

There is another significantplan by the Railways to corpo-ratize the Rae Bareli ModernRail Coach Factory (RCF) inUttar Pradesh. It will be fol-lowed by the corporatization ofother RCF units at Kapurthalaand Chennai.

“Plan is afoot to create aPublic Sector Unit (PSU) asthat would invite investmentfrom the public and businesshouses as well. This is still ininitial stages but will be setrolling once the concept noteprepared by the Railways in thisregard, gets the Union Cabinet’snod”, said the official.

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Leader of Opposition inBihar Assembly, Tejashwi

Prasad Yadav, has attackedBihar Chief Minister NitishKumar for the recent water-logging in the city, saying it notonly exposed the failure of thedrainage system but also thecorruption involved in it. Yadavalso termed as ‘shameful’Kumar’s blaming of ‘nature’sfury’ and “Hathiya Nakshatra”(constellation) for the deluge.

“The entire city has beeninundated with rainwater. It isa complete failure of thedrainage system and tells aboutthe huge scam (involved in it),”Yadav, the former chief minis-ter, told reporters here onSaturday. Many parts of theBihar capital were inundated

following downpour for threeconsecutive days fromSeptember 27 onwards.

“Now, Nitish Kumar is say-ing that the inundation hap-pened because of nature’s furyand hathiya nakshatra...It is ashameful statement,” he said.

Officers responsible for thedeluge have suddenly disap-peared, the RJD leader said,adding they are either abroador have taken “sanyas” (renun-ciation).

The former deputy chiefminister termed the ongoingwar of words between the BJPand the JD(U) as “a fightbetween animals”.

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The water level of Punpunand Ganga rivers in Bihar

continued to recede on Sunday,even as the death toll rose to 97from 73 in 15 flood-affecteddistricts of the State, officialssaid.

Other rivers including theBurhi Gandak, Kamala Balan,Baghmati, Mahananda arealso showing a declining trendin water level, they said.

Punpun river’s water levelis receding at the rate of 3 cm

per hour at Sripalpur, PatnaDistrict Magistrate Kumar Ravisaid. It has seen a fall of 90 cmsince Saturday, he added.

Meanwhile, the death tollincreased to 97 from 73 in thepast 24 hours, as people losttheir lives in the affected dis-tricts due to incidents ofdrowning, electrocution, housecollapse and falling of trees, adisaster management depart-ment release said. The numberof dengue cases, too, have seena sharp rise post the heavydownpour in the state capital,

a release issued by the healthdepartment said.

A total of 409 cases of thevector-borne disease werereported in Patna betweenJanuary to September 27, it said,adding the number jumped to640 till October 5. In order tocheck the spread of dengue andother mosquito-borne diseases,sprinkling of larvicidetemephos and fogging of insec-ticide malathionare underway in the worst-

affected districts, the releasesaid.

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A17-year-old girl wasallegedly raped by

two youths in a sugarcanefield at Kawal village inthe district, police said onSunday.

The incident alleged-ly happened on Saturdaywhen the girl went to dis-pose of rubbish near her housein the area falling under theJansath police station limits,Station House Officer YogeshSharma said. According to acomplaint lodged by the vic-tim’s father, Bijender andRabbal raped his daughter and

threatened her not tell anybodyabout the incident.

Rabbal was arrested andefforts were on to nab theother accused, the SHO said.

The girl had been sent fora medical examination, headded.

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Four-time MP fromAzamgarh Ramakant Yadav

joined the Samajwadi Party onSunday, days after he wasexpelled from the Congress for“anti-party” activities.

The 62-year-old leader,who joined the SP in presenceof party chief Akhilesh Yadav,said “this is my home comingafter 15 years”.

Welcoming him to the partyfold, Akhilesh Yadav said hispresence will strengthen the SP.

“People are joining the partyand we will ensure that ourSamajwadi Party grows anduproots the BJP Governmentfrom power in 2022,” Akhilesh

Yadav said.Rukmini Devi Nishad, sister

of slain party MP Phoolan Devi,and a number of BSP leaders alsojoined the Samajwadi Party onSunday. The Congress expelledRamakant Yadav last week overnews reports that he would be

joining the SP.Ramakant Yadav fought

the 2014 Lok Sabha electionfrom Azamgarh on a BJP tick-et, but lost the seat to SPfounder Mulayam SinghYadav.

He quit the BJP, which hejoined in 2008, and switchedto the Congress earlier thisyear. He had left the SP in 2004to join the Bahujan SamajParty.Ramakant Yadav made his

debut in the Lok Sabha fromAzamgarh seat in 1996 on a SPticket and again won the con-stituency in 1999. He won the2004 parliamentary elections tothe seat on a BSP ticket and laterin 2009 for the BJP.

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Nearly three months after 10Congress MLAs joined the

ruling BJP in Goa, ChiefMinister Pramod Sawant hasnot ruled out the possibility ofmore Opposition leaders following suit.

While attending the 50thbirthday celebration ofCongress MLA AleixoReginaldo Lourenco here onSaturday, Sawant said “any-thing is possible in politics”.

During the birthday celebration, Goa Ports MinisterMichael Lobo claimed thatLourenco” may become thestate’s deputy Chief Minister innear future”, but did not elaborate any further.

Later talking to reporters,Sawant did not deny the pos-sibility of Lourenco joiningthe BJP in near future.

“Lourenco is doing a goodjob in the opposition. He ishelping us in good governanceas a good opposition is required(in democratic functioning),”he said.

Asked about Lobo’s claimthat Lourenco may becomethe deputy Chief Minister,Sawant said, “Anything is pos-sible in politics. You neverknow. I said anything is possi-ble.” However, Lourenco, theMLA from Curtorim who onmany occasions earlier criti-cised the BJP-led Governmentin Goa Assembly, ruled out anymove to join the ruling party.

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Governor Kalraj Mishra onSunday administered the

oath of office to newly appointed Rajasthan HighCourt Chief Justice IndrajitMohanty.

Singh, who is now the 37thChief Justice of the RajasthanHigh Court, took the oath inEnglish.

Chief Secretary D B Guptaread out the appointment war-rant issued by PresidentRamnath Kovind.

Chief Minister AshokGehlot, Assembly Speaker C PJoshi, members of the state cab-inet and Government officialswere present on the occasion.

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Former Uttar PradeshChief Minister and

Samajwadi Party presi-dent Akhilesh Yadav saidon Sunday that he is con-fident of forming theGovernment in the Statein 2022.

“The SP family hasgrown and we will surely form theGovernment in the State in 2022,” he saidand added that more leaders from other par-ties were keen to join the SP.

“People have seen though the BJP’s gameof making false promises. The BJP has beenfooling people but has not delivered. Thereis anarchy all over. The economy is goinglower and the youth are unemployed,” hesaid. Assembly elections in UP are now duein 2022. Akhilesh Yadav also criticized the

State Government for‘eating up’ one crore jobsby putting restrictions onthe work of DJs in theState.

He also said that theland for All India Instituteof Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Rae Bareliand Gorakhpur was allot-ted under his govern-

ment during 2012-2017.He said that the BJP wanted to adopt

Swadeshi and now they are engaged indepriving the backward people of theirrights. He said that the decision of theBhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to privatize thedairy industry is wrong.

Akhilesh Yadav went on to say that theBJP could not fight the election on its ownin Maharashtra and is, therefore, engaged indivisive politics there.

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Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Sunday

said providing good gover-nance to the people is the toppriority of the StateGovernment and asserted thattransparency and accountabil-ity is being ensured at everylevel.

Gehlot was addressing thepeople at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for DigambarJain Girls Hostel in Dungarpurdistrict’s Sagwara.

He appreciated the efforttowards promoting education

for girls. The Chief Minister said the

State Government is promotinghigher education for girls. Inthis budget, the Governmenthas announced to open 50 col-leges, including those forwomen.

Gehlot said all-round

development is possible onlywith social harmony and byfollowing the ideals and prin-ciples of Mahatma Gandhi.He said the Government iscommitted to the upliftment ofevery class and public welfaredecisions are being taken.

He said in his last tenure,the ‘Chief Minister’s FreeMedicine and ScreeningScheme’ was started, whichwas a “huge success”. Now,the Government will open aNandishala in every PanchayatSamiti for the conservationand promotion of cow proge-ny, Gehlot added.

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Athree-member committeehas been formed by the

Kerala Government to probethe incident wherein a studentsuffered a serious head injuryafter being accidentally hit during a ham-mer throw at a juniorathletics meet in Kottayam. “Former physicaleducation director of KeralaUniversity KK Venu, formerathletics coach of Sports

Authority of India MBSathyanandan and Arjuna awardee V Diju are themembers of the panel,” a Pressrelease from the Minister forSports and Youth Affairs saidon Saturday.

Apheel Johnson, who wasa volunteer, was struck whenone of the competitors threwthe hammer, a heavyiron ball, while he was report-edly removing a javelin fromone side of the stadium onFriday.

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Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish

Kumar performedpuja at various tem-ples in the city on theoccasion of ‘Maha Ashtami’ onSunday and prayed for peace,prosperity and progress of theState and its people.

Kumar performed puja atSheetala Mata, Badi Patandeviand Chhoti Patandevi templesin the Bihar capital, an officialrelease said.

He also paid obeisance toGoddess Durga at Shri BadiDeviji and Shri Shri Dalhatta

Deviji temples atMaroofganj areain the city, it said.

Kumar wasaccompanied bystate RoadC o n s t r u c t i o n

Minister Nand Kishore Yadav,MLCs Ranvir Nandan, LalanSarraf and Patna MunicipalCorporation Mayor Sita Sahu.

Bihar State DisasterManagement Authority mem-ber Udaykant Mishra and thechief minister’s SecretariesManish Kumar Verma andAnupam Kumar were amongofficials who accompanied theChief Minister.

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Atotal of 1,905 nominationshave been filed across 46

Assembly constituencies ineight districts of theMarathwada region for theOctober 21 Maharashtra elec-tions.

As per the data made avail-able by the ElectionCommission on Saturday, thehighest number of nominationswere filed in Nanded district(492), which comprises nineconstituencies, while the low-est number of nominations(83) were filed across threeassembly segments in Hingolidistrict.

Besides Nanded andHingoli, Aurangabad, Beed,Jalna, Parbhani, Latur and

Osmanabad districts are part ofthe Marathwada region.

Constituency-wise, thehighest and the lowest numberof nomination papers in theregion were filed in two assem-bly segments in Nanded dis-trict.

The highest number of147 nominations were filed inBhokar constituency, whereformer Chief Minister AshokChavan is contesting as aCongress candidate, whileMukhed constituency in thesame district received only 15nomination papers.

As per the EC data, asmany as 1,309 nominationswere filed on the last day of fil-ing of forms on October 4. Thelast date of withdrawal of nom-inations is October 7.

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Parties in poll-boundMaharashtra are busy try-

ing to convince rebels to with-draw nominations, the lastdate of which is Monday, asfailure to do so could cause asplit in committed votes andpossible loss.

The ruling BJP is the worsthit with 114 of its leadersthrowing their hats in the pollring against official candidatesin 27 constituencies.

The BJP’s efforts to rein inthe rebels are being led by ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavisand State ministerChandrakant Patil.

Similar efforts are alsobeing made by the Shiv Sena,

part of the ruling alliance, andthe opposition Congress andNCP.

In Pandharpur Assemblysegment, local Congress leaderShivajirao Kalunge has filed hisnomination as an Independentthough sitting Congress MLABharat Bhalke, who joined the

NCP, is the official candidate ofthe opposition combine.

The seat was won by theCongress in 2014 but washanded over to the NCP as partof the seat-sharing dealbetween the two parties for the2019 polls, a leader said.

In Shirol, where Congress-NCP is officially supportingAnil Madnaik, senior NCPleader Rajendra Patil Yadravkarhas rebelled and filed his nom-ination, with leaders claimingefforts to get the latter to with-draw from the fray were under-way.

After scrutiny on Saturday,the nominations of 4,739 can-didates were found valid.

Nominations can be with-drawn till 3pm on Monday.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will address nine pub-

lic rallies, while BKP nationalpresident Amit Shah will hold18 rallies during the 15-daylong campaign for theMaharashtra Assembly pollsscheduled for October 21.

Announcing this onSunday, Maharashtra BJP pres-ident Chandrakant Patil said:“Since the Prime Minister willalso be addressing rallies inAssembly poll-bound Haryanaas well, he has agreed to addressnine public rallies during thecampaign period inMaharashtra”.

Of the total rallies, Modiwill address two elections inSatara and Pune on October 17.“We are looking for a venue forthe Prime Minister’s rally inPune,” Patil said.

At Satara, Modi willaddress the public rally for

Udayanraje Bhosale, 13thdirect descendant ofChhatrapati Shivaji, who quitthe NCP and joined the BJP onSeptember 14, and other partycandidates in the district. InPune, he will campaign forState BJP presidentChandrakant Patil, who is con-testing from the Brahmin-dominated Kothurd con-stituency, and other party can-didates.

Patil said that the BJP hadnot finalised dates and venuesfor Shah’s election rallies inMaharashtra. “He will in alladdress 18 public rallies in thestate. We would like him toaddress rallies in all the regionsof the state,” the State BJPchief said.

The BJP is miles ahead ofthe Opposition parties in itscampaign. On his part, chiefminister Devendra Fadnavis –who is leading the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance into the

Assembly polls –has criss-crossed the State as part of his4000 km-long campaign tour‘Mahajanadesh Yatra’.

Besides Modi and Shah,Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath, party’s work-ing president J P Nadda,Defence Minister RajnathSingh, Union Ministers likeNitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal,Prakash Javadekar, SmrutiIrani, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,Purushottam K. Rupala,Raosaheb Patil-Danve and G.Kisan Reddy will be amongother key campaigners for theBJP in the State Assembly polls

Gujarat Chief MinisterVijay Rupani, Karnataka’sdeputy Chief Minister LaxmanSavadi, his counterpart fromUttar Pradesh KeshavprasadMaurya, BJP’s Vice-PresidentVasundhara Raje Scindia, keyfunctionaries like V Satish,Saroj Pandey, Bhupendra Yadavwill be other key campaigners.

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AJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terroristwas arrested in Baramulla district of

north Kashmir on Sunday, a policespokesperson said.

Mohsin Manzoor Salhea, a resident ofArampora-Azadgunj area, was arrested ona credible input during an anti-militantoperation in Baramulla town, he said.

According to the spokesperson, Salheawas affiliated with proscribed terror outfit JeM and was wanted in two cases registered at the Baramulla police stationthis year.

Salhea was part of a group involved inplanning and executing terror attacks in thearea, he said.

Incriminating material, including armsand ammunition, were recovered from hispossession, the spokesperson said.

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People thronged the weekly flea marketin Jammu and Kashmir’s summer cap-

ital on Sunday even as some shops in thecity opened in the morning hours, officialssaid.

However, main markets acrossKashmir were shut and most of the pub-lic transport was off the roads as normallife remained affected in the valley for the63rd consecutive day, they said.

The weekly flea market, locally knownas Sunday market, was open as severaldozen vendors had put up stalls on theTRC Chowk-Lal Chowk road, the officialssaid.

They said the market witnessed hugerush of customers as people thronged itto buy clothes and other items in view ofthe approaching winter.

The officials said other markets andother business establishments in Kashmirremained shut, even as some shops in thecity here were open till 11 am, but downed

their shutters afterwards.They said auto-rickshaws and few

inter-district cabs were seen plying here,but other modes of public transport wereoff the roads.

The movement of private cars was less-er on Sunday as compared to Saturday,they added.

Mobile services remained suspendedin Kashmir except in Handwara andKupwara areas in the north, while Internetservices -- across all platforms – contin-ued to be snapped in the valley since thenight of August 4, the officials said.

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Edappadi Palaniswamy, ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu,

who recently created a sensa-tion with his fortnight long tourto UK, USA and West Asiancountries to woo investors tothe State has been thrown asporting challenge by a seniorCongress leader.

The latter has asked theChief Minister to come out withdetails of the AIADMKGovernment’s achievementsover the last eight years inopening industries and creatingjobs.

The Chief Minister signed41 Memorandums of

Understanding with variousindustrial groups and entre-preneurs during his visit to theabove mentioned countries.The AIADMK Governmentheld two Global Investors Meets(GIM) at Chennai in 2015 and2017 which it had claimed aspath breaking initiatives.

M K Stalin, leader of theopposition, who also is thehead of the DMK, has beendemanding a White Paper onthe Chief Minister’s foreigntour and has been terming thewhole exercise a waste. “TheState is undergoing unprece-dented unemployment and clo-sure of industrial units as a fallout of the wrong economicpolicies followed by the Centre,”

the DMK chief had charged.But C D Meyyappan, senior

Congress leader went one stepahead and asked the AIADMKGovernment to furnish theentire details like number ofindustries set up house in theState as well as the detailsregarding the numbeer ofemployees hired by them

“Let the Chief Ministercome out with details of thecompanies/ventures whichwere set up in the State as partof the GIMs. We would also liketo know the number of personsemployed in these companiesand the districts from wherethey have been hired,” saidMeyyappan, former presidentof the Youth Congress who

himself is an industrialist.Meyyappan said the first

GIM was held in 2015 and it isalmost four years since theMOUs were signed between theState and the participants. “TheAIADMK Government hadclaimed that all applications forsetting up industries in theState would be cleared througha single window system andentrepreneurs would get allapprovals and licenses withinweeks. Now is the time for theAIADMK Government to tellthe world about the number ofindustries set up in the State byindustrial groups which par-ticipated in the 2015 GIM,” saidMeyyapan.

The first ever GIM held in

2015 under the patronage of thethen Chief Minister JJayalalithaa was described as aresounding success byJayalalithaa herself. She haddeclared on the concluding dayof the event that the totalinvestment of �2,42,160 crorerealized in the GIM surpassedthe cumulative investmentmade in Tamil Nadu during thetwo decades from 1991 to 2011.

“Out of the total investmentrealized in the GIM, �1,0,4286crore is in the manufacturingsector. More than 50 per cent ofthis is being invested in thesouthern districts which areeconomically as well as indus-trially backward,” Jayalalithaahad said.

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Hyderabad:Two traineepilots werekilled whena trainer air-c r a f tcrashed inVikarabaddistrict nearHyderabadon Sunday,police said.

The accident occurred inthe afternoon when aircraftcrashed during a training sor-tie in the cotton fields atSultanpur village, abont 100 kmfrom Hyderabad.

Both trainee pilots includ-ing a woman were killed. Oneof them was identified asPrakash Vishal.

B o t hwere studentsof RajivG a n d h iA v i a t i o nA c a d e m y.The aircrafthad taken offf r o mB e g u m p e tAirport inHyderabad

and was on a training sortie.The pilot apparently lost

control of the aircraft as it top-pled in the air several timesbefore crashing into the fields.

Police rushed to the sceneand cordoned off the area.Officials of the AviationAcademy also rushed to theaccident site. IANS

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The Border Security Force(BSF) and its Bangladesh

counterpart BGB on Sundayagreed to further enhance shar-ing of information and cooper-ation to ensure effective bordermanagement system.

The two forces also decid-ed to pursue the construction ofdevelopmental projects in therespective border areas at thefour-day-long IG level talksbetween them. The conferencebetween inspectors general ofBSF and region commanders ofBorder Guards Bangladesh(BGB) began on October 3 in

the city.Both the forces guarding

border decided to furtherenhance sharing of informationand cooperation in all fields tobring an effective border man-agement system to fight themenace of transborder crimes,smuggling of drugs etc, said apress statement from BSF.

“While appreciating effortsmade by either border guardingforce that resulted into declinein transborder crime, both sidesagreed to pursue the construc-tion of developmental projectsin the respective border areas.Both the border guarding forcesagreed that the confidence build-

ing measures have improved theunderstanding between boththe forces,” the statement said.

According to BSF sources,the issue of local intelligenceexchange to thwart attempts bycriminals and terrorists to crossover to either side and the needto increase patrolling in theriverine border areas ofSunderbans were also discussedduring the meeting which con-cluded on Sunday.

BSF South Bengal FrontierInspector General Y B Khuraniahad said the interactionsbetween company commandersof the two forces would beincreased.

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DMK Chief M K Stalin onSunday urged the Tamil

Nadu gGovernment to takesteps on ‘war-footing’ to checkthe spread of dengue fever inthe state.

After visiting patients suf-fering from the fever at theRajiv Gandhi GovernmentHospital here, Stalin appealed to the state gov-ernment to take steps to con-trol the spread of the virus and ensure

that those affected with itreceived ‘appropriate treatment’.

“Thirty one people hailingfrom Chennai, Kancheepuramand Tiruvallur districts are get-ting treatment here. There arereports of thousands of peoplebeing affected by the fever(across Tamil Nadu).” heclaimed.

Recently, Health MinisterC Vijayabhaskar had reportedlyinstructed health departmentofficials to provide proper med-ical care to dengue-affectedpatients.

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In a move that would furtherdecline the already receding

water level in NationalChambal Sanctuary and threat-en the survival of the endan-gered species like crocodile,gharial and turtles, the MadhyaPradesh Government ismulling to construct an intakewell near the banks of riverChambal to meet water needsof the people in the Sheopurdistrict.

In its pursuit to constructthe structure, it has chosen toignore the concerns raised bythe State Chief Wildlife Wardenand Wildlife Institute of India(WII) that such a structure willnot only adversely impact thehabitat, nesting and basking siteof the aquatic species locatedon both sides of the river bankbut also affect the fragileecosystem.

In fact, the region is the lastabode of gharial, Batagur tur-tle, Indian skimmer and alsohave significant population ofnational acquatic animalGangetic dolphin, state fishGolden Mahasheer, most ofthese being critically endan-gered schedule I species.

The MP State WildlifeBoard last year gave green sig-nal to the ‘Water SupplyScheme for Sheopur town’ pro-posal and forwarded it to theStanding committee of theNational Board of Wildlife(NBWL) of the UnionEnvironment Ministry for itsapproval.

According to sources in theMinistry, the proposal per-tains to carving out of 1.267hectares of land including .635hectares of protected area fromthe Sanctuary for construc-tion of the intake well fromwhere water will be suppliedthrough a pipeline to meetwater needs of the Sheopur dis-trict.

“The water shall be carriedthrough approach bridge andfurther through pipeline alongthe alignment of the road with-in the width of existing roadshoulder,” said the MPGovernment.

During discussion, themembers of the NBWL’sStanding Committee in itsrecent meeting noted that StateChief Wildlife Warden hadnot recommended the pro-posal on the ground that it wasin the close proximity of thehabitat of crocodile, gharial,Indian skimmers, turtle anddolphin and that it will adverse-ly affect natural habitat, nestingand basking sites of the aquat-ic species.

A report prepared by ateam led by the Superintendent,National Chambal Sanctuary,Sheopur which inspected thesite on 4 July, 2019 (a copy is

with The Pioneer) too has redflagged the project. It pointedout that the construction mightaffect the nesting sites of ghar-ial, turtle and mugger which arealmost 800 to 1000 metersupstream from the proposedlocation of the intake well.

Intriguingly, this report isyet to be submitted to theNBWL.

The team also noted thatthe site is routinely visited bymany birds. “After lifting thewater with this project, themigration of aquatic speciesmay stop due to the low flow ofwater in summer season. Thiswill affect the breeding, spawn-ing and migration of prey base,thus feeding of the endan-gered species.”

The report further readsthat the “current flow of thesanctuary is already below theminimum required ecologicalflow... Any further disturbancein the minimum ecologicalflow, all these endangeredaquatic animals will be affect-ed adversely.”

In fact, the WII in its studyconducted in 2011, had saidthat the minimum flowrequired to sustain the idealhabitat for gharial in Chambalriver is 151-165 m3/ sec and forthe dolphin the minimum flowrequired to sustain the idealhabitat is 266.42 - 289.67 m3 /sec.

In December 2017, whenWII again monitored the dis-charge of the Chambal river, itfound that the flow hasdeclined to 67 m3/sec.

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Senior Congress leader andAIICC general secretary in-

charge of MaharashtraMallikarjuna Kharge said hereon Sunday that his party wouldcorner the ruling BJP-ShivSena alliance on issues theState Government’s failure totackle drought, floods, contin-ued farmer suicides, unem-ployment and economic reces-sion, during its campaign for the StateAssembly polls.

Talking to media personsafter inaugurating theCongress’ war room for theState Assembly polls at theparty headquarters “TilakBhavan”, Kharge said:“Maharashtra has denigratedmarkedly during the BJP-ShivSena alliance’s five-year rule inthe State. During our campaignfor the State Assembly polls, wewill corner the BJP-led saffronalliance over its failure to tack-

le drought, continued farmersuicides, unemployment andeconomic recession”.

Kharge came down heavi-ly on the Devendra Fadnavisgovernment for using policeforce and mid-night cover tofell trees at Aarey colony innorth Mumbai to pave way forthe construction of a Metro carshed. “Mumbaikars, students

and environmentalists whoopposed the cutting of treeswere arrested and thrownbehind the bars. Modi had nar-rated one incident in televisionprogramme `Man vs Wild’ toreveal his sensitivity towardsNature, the same PrimeMinister should tell hisfavourite chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis to release

the youngsters arrested for resisting the large-scale tree felling at AareyColony.

When his attention wasdrawn to the statementCongress’ former Mumbai unitpresident Sanjay Nirupam whoamong things said that hewould not campaign for theparty, the party would lose allbut three to four seats inMumbai and spoke about aconspiracy within the Congressto throw out people close toRahul Gandhi, Kharge said:“We would action after thereceipt of a report from theMaharashtra Congress com-mittee”.

Asked as to why the namesof Sanjay Nirupam and MilindDeora did not figure in the listof the party’s star campaigners,Kharge said: “We have notremoved any name from thelist of star campaigners. The listhas been prepared by the stateCongress committee”.

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Acouple of decades ago, during aninternational conference on edu-cation and teachers’ develop-ment, a much-admired andsought-after speaker summarised

learning, its transfer, acquisition of knowledgeand its utilisation in four simple queries: Whoto teach; whom to teach; what to teach andhow to teach. As a new entrant in the area ofteaching, switching over from research toteaching Physics, I was listening with raptattention to every word uttered by the speak-er. I recalled how all those, who wereattempting to extend and expand educationto one and all in the early 50s and 60s, hadto regularly respond to a serious question:Why should I teach my children? The mostserious question, however, was: What purposewill it serve if we send our girls to schools?The toughest poser from several communi-ties before educators in the mid-20th centu-ry was: Why educate? Recalling such expe-riences, I asked the speaker whether his artic-ulation would appear more comprehensive if“why to teach” could also be included. To mysurprise, the speaker and others agreed withme and included it. Most participants fromdeveloping nations had similar experiencesthat a large number of people were reluctantto send their wards to schools. Human traitsof curiosity, exploration and creativity havesuffered invasions of ignorance but have con-tinuously scaled greater heights in exploringthe secrets of nature.

Education is a process that organises, syn-thesises and harmonises such human endeav-ours and infuses the requite dynamism toenhance the process of civilisational advance-ment. Knowledge quest remains an eternalhuman pursuit. As human beings advanceahead in their comprehension of the secretsof nature, new avenues and challengesemerge before them and that requires reshap-ing of education policies. India is already inthe process of doing so. But education poli-cies must be based on sound epistemologi-cal base and articulated in the idiom of theday. The deliberations of the conference men-tioned above were attempting the same: Knowthe learner, study, analyse and envisionneeds; evolve the right and appropriate ped-agogy; practice the transaction strategies andprepare the learner to face life and above all,add to the acquired knowledge and put it tothe right use. Teachers, researchers and allthose engaged in the process of transfer andcreation of new knowledge and skills are cat-egorised as knowledge workers in current par-lance. This tells us that we all are living in a“knowledge society that concentrates onknowledge economy.” Policies must remainconscious of this responsibility to prepareknowledge workers.

We acquire and continue to receive moreknowledge; we transmit it to the new gener-ation and expect them to excel us; we expectthe younger lot to contribute to knowledgecreation and its utilisation. There are two basicpremises that characterise the Indian tradi-

tion of knowledge quest:Yavadjeevait adhiyate viprah —the wise continue to learnthroughout life — and sarvabhuta hite ratah — strive for thewelfare of one and all. The Qurandirects to acquire knowledgeeven if one has to travel to China— face arduous roughness andtoughness. Ilm (knowledge), I amtold, is the second most usedterm in the holy book after the“Lord.” Indian civilisation hasgiven the highest respect to gyan(knowledge) and the guru, thegiver of gyan who leads an indi-vidual learner and takes him/herinto the realm of the unknown tounravel secrets of the universeand beyond — from the darknessof ignorance to the light ofknowledge.

Nothing, it is said, is accept-ed by a thinking, analytical andcritical mind without adequatescrutiny; posing queries; andsearching for answers. It appliesto knowledge, too. Here, I amreminded of a quote by BertrandRussell: “Man has no chance ofsurvival if knowledge remainsonly knowledge. But if we couldtransform knowledge into wis-dom, one would not only survivebut would be able to ascend togreater and greater heights ofachievements.” In fact, Russell ismaking the distinction betweengyan and vivek (discretion). Heemphasised on the power ofideas and imagination when he

said: “The reasonable manexpects to conform to society.The unreasonable man expectssociety to conform to him.Therefore, all progress dependson the unreasonable man.”

To illustrate why Russell iscorrect, I will cite an example.Think of Hiroshima andNagasaki and what happenedthere. Modern scientific knowl-edge was at its highest peak —human beings could prepare anatom bomb, a great scientific andtechnological achievement.Those involved were the mostbrilliant of minds on earth,admired for their unparalleleddedication and devotion to theirprofession. They were distin-guished scientists, academics,scholars, explorers and innova-tors. There was no suffocatinghierarchy between them, theyrespected each other and mindpower ruled there, in LosAlamos. They were linked totheir peers elsewhere, with riders,of course. They were, however,expected to hurry up as theenemy elsewhere was also keento reach the same destination —both wanted an atom bombbefore the other. Scientists wereassigned to prepare the bomb butits use and misuse wrested withpolitical power wielders.Knowledge was there, its possi-ble usage in human welfare wasclear before scientists. Even thegeneral public was aware of it.

Decision-makers did not usewisdom — buddhi (wisdom)and vivek — and shamedhumanity by bombingHiroshima and Nagasaki.

Clearly, education does notjust mean textbooks, transactionand evaluation but much more.It has to achieve an attitudinaltransformation, needed to ensurethe very survival of humanity.When Swami Vivekananda saidthat education without characterbuilding is meaningless, he wasonly expressing how it is imper-ative on part of education systemsand policies to ensure “man-making education.” This is whatIndia’s new education policymust aim at. It must attempt toarticulate how to move aheadtowards that goal.

Education is very rightlytermed as “a necessary utopia.”There can be no limit to expec-tations from education, educa-tional systems and educatedhuman beings. At the currentjuncture of human civilisation,characterised by the “pace ofchange”, the guiding factor mustbe nurturing and nourishingintellectual vitality. Educationalinstitutions, right from initialstages, must realise their respon-sibility to offer free passage tocuriosity, creativity, natural flightof ideas and imagination.

Unfortunately, our systemshave become so prescriptive andrestrictive that all these four fac-

tors are impeded at every stage,rather everyday. Our system ischaracterised by debilitatingschool bags, innumerable text-books and a series of weekly tests,board examinations with totalfocus on marks. Policy-makersusually work around theseaspects, suggest some half-heart-ed changes and are often boggeddown by the system to suggestonly such changes that they con-sider pragmatic and practical. Insuch a process, there is little scopeto encourage, inspire and nurturethe faculties of imagining, think-ing, reasoning, expressing, creat-ing, inventing and postulating.We all know how these are sys-tematically impeded, oftenbeyond repairs. A nation active-ly engaged in inclusive growthand development cannot allowthe erosion of its cognitive capi-tal. The visionary in Vivekanandahad exhorted us to realise that“education is a manifestation ofperfection already in man”, whichclearly indicated that every indi-vidual could be nurtured to dis-cover the “treasure within” andunearth as much as possible outof inexhaustible treasure. Hisprescription was: “The brainand muscles must develop simul-taneously. Iron nerves and intel-ligent brain — and the wholeworld is at your feet.”

Over the last seven decades,we have moved ahead only in bitsand pieces in bringing qualityeducational reforms. Now thatelementary education has prac-tically been universalised, at leastin enrollment and participation,we must focus on transformingevery learner “from a person toa personality.” That could also becomprehended in terms of thefamous Gandhian articulation of“bringing the best out of body,mind and spirit.” Once all thethree get the proper environmentto flourish and the interest of thechild watched precisely, the rightdirection could be delineated onthe path of vitality, including self-assurance and confidence.

Yes, teachers would have toaccept what Sri Aurobindo hadtaught us: That nothing can betaught and that mind must beconsulted in its development.Once education puts the learn-er on the path of his/her own lik-ing and special interest, it wouldbe possible to expect, in thewords of Vivekananda: “Thewhole gist of this teaching is thatyou should work like a masterand not like a slave; work inces-santly but do not do a slave’swork...work through freedom;work through love. That is whateducation must achieve: Everylearner internalises the values oftruth, peace, non-violence, right-eous conduct and love.

(The writer is the IndianRepresentative on the ExecutiveBoard of UNESCO)

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Sir — The Vice President ofIndia, M Venkaiah Naidu, recent-ly underlined the importance ofpreserving local languages. He isreported to have said that whena language dies, culture, traditionsand customs associated with it arealso lost. His statement is impor-tant, especially since it comes ata time when the present rulingdispensation seems to be keen onpushing the case to declare Hindias the official language of thecountry.

Language truly is the lifelineof culture, tradition and cus-toms of people living in a partic-ular region and the best way topreserve or promote any languageis to use it extensively. Naiduexhorted people to start usingtheir native languages at homeand in the community. In myopinion, the promotion of themother tongue should begin atthe primary school level. But therecent comments of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah have stokedtension. “One nation, one lan-guage” would slowly kill India’sregional languages.

While preserving local lan-guages is important, it must also

be acknowledged that a linguafranca is needed to ensure thesmooth flow of informationacross the country. English wouldbe the best choice since it can helpa person interact on an interna-tional platform as well

TK NandananChennai

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Sir — Five Supreme Court judges,including the Chief Justice ofIndia, have recused themselvesfrom hearing activist GautamNavlakha’s plea for quashing of anFIR lodged against him in the

Koregaon-Bhima case till datewithout providing any explanation.

Judges recusing themselvesfrom hearing a case is not some-thing new. Such recusals lead tothe formation of new benches,which results in unnecessarydelay in hearing of the cases.While the judges may be right to

avoid hearing of a case in case ofconflict of interest, what they for-get is that this gives rise to doubtsabout the judiciary itself. That thejudges have not given any reason,makes it appear that they fearbacklash. It should be compulso-ry for judges to record their rea-sons with complete details to seekrecusal. In fact, they must dis-charge their duties to the best oftheir abilities.

Madhu AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — The Reserve Bank of India’s(RBI) Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) has slashedrepo rate for the fifth consecutivetime and slashed growth projec-tions for this year from 6.9 percent earlier to 6.1 per cent now.The problem faced by the econ-omy is not of liquidity crunch.Unless there is a revival plan,companies will invest in expand-ing capacity. Fresh resources needto be made available.

Srishti MathurUjjain

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One of the most dispiriting features of themodern development agenda is the strongand pervasive influence of elitism in poli-

cy circles. There is a mountain of scholarships anda huge circuit of academics and researcherswracking their brains and pontificating. Despiteall this, the results are far from impressive.

It is now being universally acknowledged thatif we want to move the needle on tough problems,reusing the same old frameworks is not goodenough. One must understand that it is an ardu-ous task to discover and practice true development,one that can be transformative for people.

There is common strand in the conventionaladvancement paradigm: That the system is riggedagainst people whose condition it promises totransform. Perhaps this is the reason why we seeconstant resentment among commoners against“the system” because people expect it to be a har-binger of societal progress. Instead, it has beenorganised to siphon off the gains of developmentto the elite. There is firm opinion on both sides ofthe ideological divide that the system is broken andit needs to radically change. The people who aremost likely to lose from genuine social change —the elite — have placed themselves in charge of thischange, often with the passive assent of those mostin need of it. They have devised myriad subterfugesto show they are changing things on the surfacewhile at the same time ensuring that in reality, noth-ing changes and the status quo is very cleverlyachieved. The culture of the rich is inward-look-ing and defensive. The whole apparatus that it haserected isolates it from the majority.

The development community: Most advance-ment academics and professionals are researcherswith little real-world experience. The underdevel-oped and marginalised communities are highlystratified, with each one different from the otherand need experts who understand the subtlenuances of the dynamics at play in these commu-nities. Intellectual sophistry cannot become a sub-stitute for local-level social engineering.

They stress world goals over the autonomy ofsocieties to choose their own path, implying there-by that there is only one correct answer. They donot tolerate dissent and also don’t want to grantfreedom to individuals and societies to choose theirdestinies. They see poverty as a purely technolog-ical problem, to be solved by engineering and thenatural sciences, to the exclusion of social sciencessuch as economics, politics and sociology.

In a system of multiple elites, no major partyhas a strong incentive for ensuring that growth isinclusive. Those left behind by the progress trainare now seeking alternatives. There is a tribe ofdevelopment professionals — mostly locally bredintellectual activists — who question the relevanceof Euro-US advancement policies. They’re not justtalking about individual, misguided projects butthe entire model. They believe that aid merelyexports those countries’ notions of poverty, con-sumerism and wealth to traditional communities,creating an unhealthy dependency. They argue thatsuch aid does more to boost the donors’ economiesthan to improve the lives of the people it is assumedto help. This development fraternity, which rep-resents an alternative ideology, feels that in orderto check inequality’s current trajectory, ordinarypeople need to take control, as opposed to beingon the receiving end of economics. The elite com-

munity seems constantly and restlesslyin search of a singular approach. The flawin this system is that each new approachfails to break out of the underlying tech-nocratic and specialised paradigm. Thecontrast between India’s economic mightand the reality of its crumbling better-ment sectors — with India rankedamong the lowest in the HumanDevelopment Index — points to what iswrong with our paradigm.

What are the ends of development?To grow what is called the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) or to enhancepeople’s capabilities and widen theirchoices and freedom? It is now beingincreasingly recognised that growth is,in fact, rather weakly correlated withindicators of broader social inclusion,such as employment and inequality.History proves how much good cancome from individuals who both bear thecosts and reap the benefits of their ownchoices when they are free to make them.A committed practitioner must usehis/her own natural instincts to bringtogether authentic rural voices in unfa-miliar milieus.

The truth of a marginalised commu-nity can come out only with time. It takestime for trust to build between them andthe outsider, so the latter can peel awaythe layers and approach the truth. Eventhough the poor constitute a vast major-ity of Indian voters, they have been shutout of public discourse by being trappedin a system that is rigged against them.

We must understand that there is noprecooked blueprint ready to be replicat-ed. Individuals can make a difference infighting poverty when ways are found toinstitutionalise creative ideas. But alonga factory model, the replication of suc-cessful models continues to be the guid-ing mantra of development programmes.

We must also recognise, when exam-ining specific experiences with replica-tion in mind, that the personal charis-ma and passion of inspirational leaders

cannot be transfused. The imposition ofunwilling leaders has been the bane ofmost developmental programmes.

Role of professionals: Povertyreduction is not a discipline. You can’t justget somebody from a university who hasdone a PhD in poverty reduction. Noris there a talisman for eradicating it.Leadership in rural development pro-grammes is a clinical art and people needthe experience to learn it.

From their own experience, veteranscan spell out the ingredients one mayneed to be successful. But the practition-ers will still have to work out their ownrecipes for blending these ingredients inthe right proportions. There is so muchcultural diversity even in neighbouringvillages that a blueprint for one villagemay need a drastic change for the next.

Often professionals show disdain forpeople living in low-income communi-ties or show pity for their misery butthere’s rarely a sense of equality or con-nectedness with them. It is only throughengagement with these communities thata development professional may gain acorrect perspective. This will alsoimprove the outcome of our actions withthese communities.

It will deepen our understanding ofhuman nature, social structures andchange and help us to engage better withthem. People gather courage by comingtogether. Collective risk is both possibleand incredibly powerful because nobodyis fighting alone. Individuals alone can-not make a difference but together, theycan. It is time we place human agency atcentre stage and stress the complemen-tary roles of different institutions (eco-nomic, social and political) in enhanc-ing effective freedoms.

Consultants have for long been thekey people in policy mechanics and thereare many instances of glaring overdepen-dence on them. But it is necessary tomoderate the reports and prescriptionsof consultants with the realities on the

ground. For some, the old adage aboutteachers applies: “Those who can, do.Those who cannot, consult.”

Elitism has given rise also to smugtechno-utopians, who see potentially rev-olutionary possibilities in the prolifera-tion of cell phones and other shiny gad-gets that appear and vanish with therapidity of fashion. The promises are veryseductive. Why is the internationaldevelopment community having a loveaffair these days with the mobile phoneand other new technological apps? Thereality is much harder than we imagine.It is easier to spread technology than tobring about extensive change in socialattitudes and human capacity. It is easi-er to purchase a thousand computersthan to provide real education for a thou-sand children. It is much less agonisingto run a text-messaging health hotline,than to convince people to boil waterbefore drinking it. The “technologicallayer” is only another tool — the meansto an end — and not a solution in andof itself.

We must not forget that we are work-ing with a constituency which is bothpolitically and socially mute. At any rate,we cannot hear it. The poor are rarely vis-ible because the well-off urban develop-ers have little interest in their lives. In acountry with more poor people than the25 poorest African countries combined,this apathy is a failure not merely of intel-lectual curiosity but of moral values.

In the new development agenda,decision-making cannot be played out inthe same way that boardroom econo-mists have perceived the poor: As des-perate citizens who need to be rescuedby the rich. Boardroom elitism will haveto understand what people are doing toimprove their human conditions ratherthan hastily proposing templates thatserve the interests of the privileged.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’sNational Committee on Financial Literacyand Inclusion for Women)

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On September 20 this year,environmental activists andsympathisers in over a hun-

dred countries participated in aninternational “climate strike.”Protesters — including in Pakistan— demanded urgent action tostem the tide of climate change,which according to environmental-ists, is being caused by human neg-ligence and by various economicand developmental policies beingimplemented by Governments andbusiness enterprises across theglobe.

There is now sufficient scien-tific data to prove that indeed, theaverage temperatures of the plan-et have been rising, causing dras-

tic climatic changes, namely glob-al warming and its cascadingeffects. This has aided environmen-talism as an idea to enter interna-tional political and economic dis-courses.

As a concept (and a globalmovement) environmentalism putsthe blame of global warming on thereckless exploitation of the Earth’snatural resources by Governmentsand business ventures. This claimoften draws a sharp reaction fromthose who believe that climatechange is a natural occurrence.

However, due to the noticeableimpact of the current bout of cli-mate change, more people are nowresponding to the concerns raisedby environmentalists than everbefore.

To me, perhaps the mostalarming aspect of climate changeis the one that many environmen-talists have not yet delved deeperinto, that is how it might actuallybe causing civil strife within coun-tries. The June 2019 edition of theacademic journal, Nature, pub-lished a study that demonstrated

how droughts, floods,natural disasters andother climatic shiftshave inf luencedapproximately 20 percent of armed con-flicts over the last cen-tury.

The study con-cluded that in thecoming years, one infour armed conflictsaround the world willbe caused by globalwarming. It gave theexamples of civil warsin Syria and in variousAfrican countries, thusreinforcing the findings of a March2015 study conducted by America’sNational Academy of Sciences.Both the studies noted that increas-ing temperatures trigger unpre-dictable climatic shifts, which resultin failed crops. This forces farmersto migrate to urban centres. Citiesthat have already been experienc-ing rising populations and aresource crunch do not react kind-ly to such migrations. This causes

political/religious/ethnic/tribal ten-sions, whereas catastrophes such asdroughts and flooding in the ruralareas are exploited by warlords toassume power. Such a situation canexplode and has exploded intofull blown civil wars. But there isstill more to this phenomenonthan just rural-to-urban migration.And the impacts in this context arenot always immediate. Take forexample, the case of the Kajaki

Dam in the Helmandprovince ofAfghanistan. Its con-struction and thedevastation that itcaused is discussed insome detail in BBC’s2015 documentary,Bitter Lake, made bythe brilliant Britishdocumentary film-maker Adam Curtis;and in the 2010 book,E n v i r o n m e n t a lHistories of the ColdWar.

In the 1950s,King Zahir Shah of

Afghanistan initiated a develop-mental programme in his countryto modernise its agriculture andeconomy. This also included theconstruction of dams. On theadvice of American experts, onesuch dam was to be built in thecountry’s Helmand province.

American engineers and geol-ogists arrived and began to con-struct the dam — the Kajaki Dam.Construction work displaced hun-

dreds of peasants and herdsmen. In1953, as the dam neared comple-tion, some observers warned thatit may cause waterlogging andsalinity in the surrounding areas,sullying the fertile soil of the area.But the warnings were not heededand the problem not addressed.According to Curtis, the thenPrime Minister, Daoud Khan,encouraged the expansion of thedam because being a staunchPashtun nationalist, he wantedmore Pashtun families to settle inHelmand that borders a Pashtunmajority area of Pakistan’sBalochistan province.

By the time Daoud toppledKing Zahir in 1973, the salinisationproblem caused by the dam hadcompounded. Despite the availabil-ity of irrigated water, the soilbecame problematic to harvestcash crops such as cotton.

Instead, it became perfect togrow another cash crop poppy. Theeconomy of the area thus began torevolve around poppy, which isused to prepare the highly-addic-tive narcotic heroin. For this very

purpose, Helmand becameextremely important to warlordsfighting Soviet forces in the 1980sand then against the fanaticalTaliban regime.

Curtis describes Helmand asone of Afghanistan’s most violentand corrupt regions, mainly due tothe poppy that is grown there inabundance.

Ironically, despite the fact thatthe Taliban regime attempted toeradicate poppy farms in the coun-try, after the regime was removedin 2002, Taliban insurgents regular-ly interact with Helmand’s poppygrowers and corrupt Afghan offi-cials to sustain the area’s poppyfarms (irrigated by the dam). Thepoppy crop sustains the growers,enriches the officials and helpsfinance the Taliban’s insurgencyagainst US forces.

The dam thus became a man-made environmental disaster thatinstead of enhancing a country’sagricultural fortunes, became theharbinger of corruption, violenceand war.

(Courtesy: The Dawn)

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Ahead of a proposed move tofully privatise State-owned

fuel retailer Bharat PetroleumCorp Ltd (BPCL), theGovernment had quietlyrepealed the legislation that hadnationalised the company, doingaway with the need to seekParliament nod before selling itoff to private and foreign firms.

The Repealing andAmending Act of 2016 hadannulled “187 obsolete andredundant laws lying unneces-sarily on the Statue-Book”including the Act of 1976 thathad nationalised erstwhileBurmah Shell. “The Act hasbeen repealed and there is noneed for a Parliament approvalfor strategic sale of BPCL,” asenior official said.

Keen to get multi-nationals

in domestic fuel retailing toboost competition, theGovernment is mulling sellingmost of its 53.3 per cent stake inBPCL to a strategic partner.

Privatisation of BPCL willnot just shake up the fuel retail-ing sector long dominated byState-owned firms but also helpmeet at least a third of the

Government’s �1.05 lakh croredisinvestment target.

BPCL at the close of marketon October 4 had a market cap-italisation of about �1.11 lakhcrore and a government stakesale could get upwards of�60,000 crore including a con-trol-and-fuel-market-entry pre-mium, officials said.

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In the first lot of big-ticket dis-invetsments, the Government

is aiming the stake sales ofPSUs, including BPCL, SCIand Concor, among others,which have recently beencleared by the Amit Shah-ledpanel, at the earliest and theycould be placed for Cabinetapproval by November-end.

Sources said that out ofthe three, BPCL holds thekey as the government withjust �12,357 crore sell-off pro-ceeds so far is far away fromthe ambitious target of �1.05lakh crore.

Then there is the strategicsale of Air India which is alsoon the agenda, but the possi-bility of it reaching the cabi-net is not so early.

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Sagging auto sector salesshowed signs of revival in

September on account ofdepreciation benefits and heavydiscounts.

“Depreciation benefits anddiscounts have helped a little bitin increasing sales inSeptember in comparison toAugust,” said Sridhar V,Partner, Grant Thornton IndiaLLP.

“New introductions havealso been instrumental in theslight recovery in passenger car and two-wheeler sales in September 19 over August19, while the YoY numbersindicate the extremely coldnature of the market. The mar-ket is yet to see the recoverymode set in.”

Additionally, the immedi-ate price reduction due to low-ering of effective corporate taxrate to 25.17 per cent (inclusiveof all cess and surcharges)from 30 per cent for all domes-tic companies has helped todeepen discounts and drive-in

some extra sales numbers.In August, Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced several measures toboost the sector, including lift-ing a ban on purchase of vehi-cles by government depart-ments, and allowing addition-al 15 per cent depreciation onvehicles bought till March 2020among others. The decisionsare likely to sustain the trendfor a few more months.

According to Fitch RatingsAssociate Director SnehdeepBohra, the recent interest ratecut and lower base effect willhelp stabilise the YoY autosales in October.

"What is really important isto pass on the interest rate cutto the customers. New launch-es ahead of the festival season,including BS6 compliant ver-sions, are also going to supportthe sales momentum," saidBohra.

However, some industryinsiders contend that mitigat-ed decline in sales on a MoMbasis has been caused due towholesale adjustment, since

dealerships were over-stockedfor the last couple of months.Effectively meaning that thedealers stopped buying fromOEMs to reduce the stock pile-up.

The auto industry is facinga severe demand slowdownon account of high GST rates,farm distress, stagnant wagesand liquidity constraints.

The sales and productionhave plunged dramatically,leading to job losses. In August,all major Original EquipmentManufacturers (OEMs) comprising passenger, com-mercial, two and three-wheel-er manufacturers reportedmassive decline in domesticsales.

As per the Society ofIndian AutomobileManufacturers' (SIAM) Augustsales figures, the overall sectoralofftake in the domestic marketplunged 23.55 per cent to1,821,490 units, from 2,382,436units sold during the corre-sponding month of the previ-ous year. September salesresults are awaited.

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Seven of the 10 most valueddomestic companies suffered

a combined erosion of �1 lakhcrore in their market valuationlast week with HDFC Banktaking the biggest hit by losingover �30,000 crore.

Besides HDFC Bank, theother losers included RelianceIndustries (RIL), HindustanUnilever (HUL), HDFC, KotakMahindra Bank, ICICI Bankand Bajaj Finance.

On the other hand, TataConsultancy Services (TCS),Infosys and ITC are among thetop 10 firms that saw rise in theirmarket valuation for the weekended Friday. Market capitali-sation (m-cap) of HDFC Bankdropped the most by �30,198.62crore to �6,50,446.47 crore.

ICICI Bank's market valueslid by �22,866.93 crore to�2,67,265.32 crore and KotakMahindra Bank tumbled by

�15,624.6 crore to �2,98,413.27crore. Similarly, market valua-tion of HUL tanked by�14,287.76 crore to �4,20,774.52crore, while HDFC lost�10,178.84 crore from its m-cap,standing at �3,41,349.33 crore.

Besides, Bajaj Financedropped by �9,437.91 crore to�2,26,309.37 crore and the val-uation of RIL stood at�8,28,808.67 crore, a loss of�824.08 crore. In contrast, val-uation of TCS jumped �8,236.49crore to �7,79,989.45 crore andthat of Infosys rose �4,681.59crore to �3,40,704.24 crore.

The m-cap of ITC advanced�5,344.62 crore to �3,16,069.96 crore. In terms ofranking of top-10 firms, RILretained its top position, fol-lowed by TCS, HDFC Bank,HUL, HDFC, Infosys, ITC,Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICIBank and Bajaj Finance, whichpipped State Bank of India toacquire the tenth position.

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The RBI is likely to cap itsrecord interest rate cutting

sphere with another 0.25 per-centage points reduction inDecember before hitting apause button, according tobrokerages.

The RBI Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) reducedrepo rate by 25 basis points onFriday to 5.15 per cent anddecided to maintain the accom-modative stance "as long as itis necessary to revive growth,while ensuring that inflationremains within the target".

"We see a high probabilityfor the RBI MPC to deliver afinal 25 basis points cut to bringthe repo rate to 4.9 per cent inDecember. It would be consis-tent with our forecasts of an

additional rate cut by the (US)Fed in October," GoldmanSachs said in a report postFriday's decision.

It expected the easing cycleto pause after the Decembermeeting due to expectation ofheadline consumer price infla-tion to stand at close to 4 percent diminishing a case of fur-ther rate cut, and the MPC maywait to see the monetary eas-ing cycle, as well as the seriesof announcements by the gov-ernment, filter through theeconomy.

"What would it take for theRBI to pause or end the easingcycle before the Decembermeeting? We suspect it wouldrequire better high frequencydata on economic activity, anda significant improvement inthe global environment.

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The Finance Ministry willkick-start the exercise to

prepare annual Budget for 2020-21 from October 14 . Which,among other thing, will have toaddress critical issues pertainingto slowdown in growth and sub-dued revenue collection.

It will be the second Budgetof both the Modi 2.0Government and FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman.

"The pre-Budget/RE(Revised Estimate) meetingswill begin on the October 14,2019. All financial advisersshould ensure that the necessarydetails related to these meetingscontained in the RE module ofthe UBIS (Union BudgetInformation System)," accord-ing to a Budget Circular (2020-21) of the budget division of thefinance ministry's Department

of Economic Affairs.The Budget Estimates for

2020-21 will be provisionallyfinalised after the expendituresecretary completes discussionswith other secretaries and finan-cial advisers. Pre-Budget meet-ings will begin from October 14and continue till the first weekof November, it said.

"Some of the new inclusionsin the Circular relate to instruc-tions regarding filling up ofscheduled caste sub plan andtribal sub plan, gender, childbudget statements, etc.," it said.The Budget 2019-20 is likely tobe presented on February 1.

Prime Minister NarendraModi-led government scrappeda colonial-era tradition of pre-senting the Budget at the end ofFebruary. Then FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley had for thefirst time presented the annualaccounts on February 1, 2017.

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Digital payment has beenone of the key features of

the Government's 'DigitalIndia' initiative and online pay-ment platforms and serviceshave indeed spread themselvesin the country. However, itspenetration and acceptance inthe tier-II and tier-III cities stillface some obstacles, marketplayers said.

According to Credit Suissereport, India's mobile pay-ments market is likely to touch$1 trillion by 2022.

Post the demonetisation,whereby Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on November8, 2016 declared that Rs 500and Rs 1,000 denominationnotes would become invalid,

digital transactions shot uptremendously. The UnifiedPayment Interface (UPI) alsohas been accepted well.

Despite the rise in thenumber of platforms thatenable businesses to offeronline payment experience totheir customers regardless oflocation, instrument or mode,still there is a long way aheadas the penetration has mostlybeen in tier I cities.

RBI expects the countrywill have five million activepoint of sale (PoS) machines bythe end of 2021. However, toachieve it, there are several hur-dles to be crossed.

"Although the awarenessand adoption of digital pay-ments is increasing, the digitalinfrastructure needs to be

strengthened further to ensureconsistent reach and penetra-tion across the Tier II and TierIII cities along with rural areas,"says, Sunil Khosla, Head DigitalBusiness, India TransactService Limited.

According to Manish Patel,Founder and CEO of Mswipethere is a need for easy andcost-effective payment accep-tance tools for small and medi-um enterprises, micro-mer-chants, especially in tier-IIIand III cities as a segment, isstill under-penetrated.

"They need acceptance toolsthat are cost-effective and easyto enable. In many cases, it iscumbersome for a micro-mer-chant to keep tabs of differentmeans like wallets, UPI andbank apps," Patel said.

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Yes Bank on Sunday said it haslodged a complaint with

Mumbai Police and Cyber Cellagainst some fake news andrumours about the bank's finan-cial health on social media.

The complaint has comeagainst the backdrop of pro-moters cutting their stake, sharesof the company witnessing heavybeating at stock exchanges dur-ing the last few days. "Yes Bankhas lodged a complaint withMumbai Police, Cyber Cellagainst the dissemination offake news and spread of rumoursabout the bank's financial healthon WhatsApp and other socialmedia platforms," the bank saidin a regulatory filing.

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Page 11: Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system

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Washington: US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo has saidthat the Department of Statewill follow the law in theimpeachment inquiry againstPresident Donald Trump anddefended his boss' attempts topush Ukraine to investigateformer vice president JoeBiden.

Pompeo's remarks cameafter the State Departmentmissed a Friday deadline tocomply with a subpoena issuedby House Democrats to handover documents related to thedepartment's dealings withUkraine and Trump attorneyRudy Giuliani.

Democrats in the USHouse of Representatives areexamining whether there aregrounds to impeach Trump, aRepublican, based on awhistleblower's account thatsaid he asked UkrainianPresident Volodymyr Zelenskiyin a July 25 phone call to helpinvestigate Democratic politi-cal rival Biden.

Pompeo, who is travellingto Greece, told reporters thatthe department had sent a let-ter to Congress, "which is ourinitial response to the docu-ment request."

"We'll obviously do all thethings we're required to do by

law," Pompeo said in responseto a question. "I was a memberof Congress once; Article I hasa certain set of powers, andArticle II has an obligation tomake sure that we protect offi-cials at the State Department,"he added.

"And sadly, there havebeen congressional inquiriesthat have harassed and abusedState Department employeesby contacting them directlyand seeking to have them pro-vide documents – documentsthat belong to the StateDepartment, that are officialUS Government records – andask them to do so without –saying, hey, don't bother call-ing the State Department

lawyers; just talk to us direct-ly," he said.

"That's harassment, andI'll never let that happen to myteam," he asserted.

Pompeo alleged that theprevious Obama administrationwas not responsive to the doc-uments being sought by the USCongress and its committees.

"I remember once when Iwas on that side and we werelooking for documents, Iremember precisely how longit took for those documents tocome across. We're going tobeat that. We're going to bemore responsive than theObama administration was inthe years preceded this partic-ular congress,” he said.Responding to a question onappropriateness of the investi-gation against Trump, Pompeoalleged that "there's clearlypolitics involved" in it.

Pompeo supported theadministration's demand thatUkraine open inquiries intoalleged corruption that couldtarget Biden's son and allegedinterference in the 2016 USpresidential election

The Trump administra-tion, he said, was incrediblyfocused on making sure thatthey worked with Ukraine in away that was appropriate. PTI

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Washington: A Washingtonlawyer said on Sunday his firmis representing "multiple"whistleblowers related to anoriginal abuse of power accu-sation that triggered theimpeachment investigation ofPresident Donald Trump.

The lawyer, Andrew Bakaj,represents the anonymous intel-ligence official who accusedTrump of using the powers of

his office to pressure Ukraine'snew president to investigatepolitical rival Joe Biden and hisson Hunter.

"I can confirm that my firmand my team represent multiplewhistleblowers in connection tothe underlying August 12, 2019,disclosure to the IntelligenceCommunity Inspector General.No further comment at thistime," Bakaj said on Twitter. AFP

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Hong Kong: Hong Kong wasrocked by fresh violence onSunday as tens of thousands hitthe streets to defy a ban on facemasks, sparking clashes withpolice, street fights and vandal-ism across the strife-torn city.

Large crowds marchedthrough torrential rain inpeaceful but unsanctioned ral-lies on both sides of VictoriaHarbour, condemning the gov-ernment for deploying emer-gency powers to ban face masksat public gatherings.

But violence erupted aspolice dispersed crowds withtear gas, and then battled hard-core protesters in multiple loca-tions -- plunging the financehub into chaos once more.

In one incident, a taxi dri-ver was beaten bloody in thedistrict of Sham Shui Po afterhe drove into a crowd that hadsurrounded his car.

"Two girls were hit by thecar and one girl was trappedbetween the car and a shop," awitness, who gave his surnameas Wong, told AFP, adding thecrowd managed to push the caroff the wounded woman.

An AFP photographer sawvolunteer medics treating boththe driver and the injuredwomen before paramedics andpolice arrived. Protesterssmashed up the taxi.

Earlier, a crowd ransackednearby government offices,while multiple Chinese banksand subway stations were van-dalised across the city.

Activists have staged threestraight days of flashmob ral-lies and sprees of vandalismafter Hong Kong's leader CarrieLam outlawed face coveringsby protesters, invoking colo-nial-era emergency powers notused for half a century.

Pro-democracy lawmak-ers went to the High CourtSunday morning seeking aninjunction against the ban,arguing the emergency powersbypassed the legislature andcontravened the city's mini-constitution.

But a senior judge dis-

missed their case.The law allows Lam —

who has record-low approvalratings — to make "any regu-lations whatsoever" during atime of public danger.

She warned she would usethe powers to introduce newregulations if the unrest didnot abate.

The ban was welcomed byGovernment supporters andBeijing, but opponents andprotesters saw it as the start ofa slippery slope, tipping theinternational finance hub intoauthoritarianism. AFP

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Hong Kong: Video of aChinese office worker beingpunched by a Hong Kongdemocracy supporter as acrowd chanted "go home" hascaused outrage on the main-land, highlighting wideningpolarisation in the financialhub.

Footage shot by bothreporters and protestersshowed a white-shirted manbeing punched repeatedly out-side the entrance to JPMorganby a single masked protesteron the sidelines of a rally inHong Kong's commercial dis-trict on Friday.

Bloomberg News report-ed that the man worked for the

American bank, which said itwas boosting security outsideits offices in an internal memosent to staff.

It is not clear how thealtercation started.

Footage begins with theman, who speaks Mandarin,surrounded by media pho-tographers as an angry crowdchants "go back to the main-land".

He makes his way throughthe press scrum to the door ofhis office building before turn-ing to the crowd and shouting"We are all Chinese".

Shortly after a masked manpunches him multiple times,knocking off his glasses. AFP

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Dubai: Saudi Arabia has liftedsome restrictions on womentraveling in the ultraconservativeMuslim kingdom, its tourismauthority said on Sunday, withnew guidelines allowing womento rent hotel rooms without amale guardian's presence, andforeign men and women toshare a room without proof ofmarriage.

The easing of stringent reg-ulations governing social inter-actions comes after Riyadhlaunched its first tourist visascheme, as part of efforts to openup the country to foreign visitorsand diversify its oil-reliant econ-omy.

The Saudi Commission forTourism & National Heritageposted the new requirements onTwitter Sunday, confirming aFriday report by the Saudi daily

Okaz. The commission saidwomen will be allowed to renthotel rooms with proof of iden-tity — an ID card for Saudiwomen, residency card for for-eign residents living in the king-dom or passport for tourists.

The same would be requiredof foreign couples, without theneed for them to present a mar-riage certificate. Previouslywomen needed permission froma male guardian to rent a hotelroom.

Women will also be allowedto rent hotel rooms without anyform of identification if theyhave a male guardian presentwho does have proof of identi-ty, it said.

The move comes amid deepreforms over the past year byCrown Prince Mohammed binSalman which has lifted a ban on

movie theaters in the kingdomand the world's only ban onwomen driving.

Critics note there are limitsto the reforms, and point to lastyear's killing of Saudi writerJamal Khashoggi in the Saudiconsulate in Istanbul and thereported torture of severaldetained women's rightsactivists.

Saudi announced the newtourist visa scheme last week,saying it was aiming to increasetourism to contribute up to 10per cent of gross domestic prod-uct compared to 3 per cent cur-rently. For the launch of its newvisa, the country was highlight-ing five UNESCO WorldHeritage sites, contemporaryart sites and natural sites includ-ing the Red Sea, desert andmountains. AP

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London: Britain hinted onSunday that it could be open tochanges to its latest Brexit pro-posals for Northern Ireland, asEuropean leaders piled pressureon Prime Minister BorisJohnson to revise the plans.

Brexit Secretary StephenBarclay reiterated that the ideasformally submitted to Brusselsthis week were "a broad land-ing zone" to be discussed dur-ing "intense negotiations in thecoming days".

He urged the bloc to show"creativity and flexibility" tosecure a deal ahead of October31 -- when Johnson has vowedBritain will end its 46 years ofEU membership with or with-out an agreement.

"We've set out very seriousproposals including compro-mise on our side," Barclay toldthe BBC.

"We do need to get into theintensive negotiations on thetext to clarify what the deal is."

Barclay added the govern-ment was considering holdinga parliamentary vote ahead ofa make-or-break EU summit onOctober 17-18 to show blocleaders that Johnson's planshave MPs' support.

But European leaders, whohave reacted tepidly to thepropositions and urged Londonto offer a revised, viable wayforward, are yet to agree evento ramp up negotiations.

Brussels reportedly balkedat Britain's request to keep ini-tial discussions on the pro-posals going through the week-end, and they will resumeMonday.

The EU instead wantreworked plans submitted by theend of the week, with time run-ning out ahead of the summit.

"If the offer from the UKturns out to be a take-it-or-leave-it, it's going to be very dif-ficult," Latvian Prime MinisterKrisjanis Karins told the BBCon Sunday.

"It's fully dependent on thewill of Mr Johnson becausefrom the European side, we'realways open and lookingtowards a deal."

Johnson began phoningEuropean leaders this weekendto sell his proposals, but has sofar received scant encourage-ment for a deal based aroundthem.

Dutch Premier Mark Ruttetweeted he had told Johnson"important questions remainabout the British proposals" and"there is a lot of work to be doneahead" of the summit.

Meanwhile the EU's topnegotiator Michel Barnier toldan event Saturday organised byFrench newspaper Le Mondethat while an agreement wasstill possible it "will be very dif-ficult to reach".

The British leader is hopingthe threat of a messy no-dealdeparture in less than threeweeks could force the EU tocompromise.

That comes despite BritishMPs passing a law last monththat requires him to seek anoth-er Brexit delay if he fails tosecure an agreement by the endof the summit.

Barclay reiterated Sundaythat the government wouldcomply with the legislation.

But in identical articles fortwo Brexit-backing Britishtabloids, Johnson insisted thecountry will leave the bloc laterthis month.

"They should be under noillusions or misapprehensions,"he wrote in the Sunday Express.

"There will be no moredither or delay. On October 31we are going to get Brexitdone."

The British proposals sub-mitted to Brussels onWednesday centre on how tomanage the post-Brexit borderbetween British provinceNorthern Ireland and EUmember Ireland. AFP

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Baghdad: The IraqiGovernment announced aseries of reforms early Sundayafter an "extraordinary" sessionovernight in response to sweep-ing anti-government ralliesthat have left nearly 100 deadin less than a week.

The United Nations onSaturday urged an end to vio-lence in Iraq, after five days ofprotests calling for theGovernment to resign.

Confronted by its biggestchallenge since coming topower just under a year ago,Prime Minister Adel AbdelMahdi's cabinet issued a decreeincluding 17 planned reforms,

such as land distributions andincreased welfare stipends forneedy families.

The decree ordered construction of 100,000 new housing units. InSeptember, local authoritieslaunched demolitions of hous-es in informal settlements,home to three million Iraqisacross the country.

In response to staggeringyouth unemployment, whichhas reached around 25 percent according to the WorldBank, the Government said itwould create large market com-plexes and boost benefits forthose without work. AFP

Pristina: Kosovo went to thepolls on Sunday in an electionthat could usher in new lead-ership at a time when stalledtalks with former war foeSerbia are a source of instabil-ity in Europe.

Whoever takes the reinswill be under heavy pressurefrom the West to renew dia-logue with Belgrade, whichstill rejects the independence itsformer province declared in2008.

However, for many ofKosovo's 1.8 million citizens,high unemployment, wide-spread corruption and poorhealthcare are more pressingconcerns than the talks. "Weneed freedom, a state gov-

erned by the rule of law, pros-perity, economic development,"voter Mentor Nimani, 47, toldAFP in the capital Pristinashortly after polling began at0500 GMT.

For the past decade Kosovohas been dominated by mem-bers of the guerrilla forceswho waged an insurgencyagainst Serbian repression inthe late 1990s -- a war that cost13,000 lives, mostly KosovoAlbanians.

Sunday's snap poll wascalled after then prime minis-ter Ramush Haradinaj resignedin July to face questioning by aspecial court in The Hagueinvestigating war crimes fromthat era. AFP

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Seoul: North Korea said onSunday it has "no intention" tocontinue nuclear talks unlessthe United States takes steps toend hostilities, a day afternegotiations in Sweden brokedown.

The discussions in Swedenfollowed months of stalematefollowing a February meetingbetween the North's leaderKim Jong Un and PresidentDonald Trump, and came afterPyongyang's defiant test of asea-launched ballistic missileon Wednesday.

The North walked awayfrom the Sweden talks saying itwas disappointed at the lack of"new and creative" solutionsoffered by Washington,although the US insisted itwas willing to meet again intwo weeks.

But a spokesman at theNorth's foreign ministry saidWashington's claims aboutanother meeting was"ungrounded".

"We have no intention tohold such sickening negotia-tions as what happened thistime before the US takes a sub-stantial step to make completeand irreversible withdrawal ofthe hostile policy toward theDPRK," he said using theacronyms of the North's officialname.

In a statement carried bythe North's Korean CentralNews Agency, the spokesmanwarned that their "dealings"may immediately end if the USsticks to its old playbook.

"The fate of the futureDPRK-US dialogue dependson the US attitude, and the endof this year is its deadline," he

added.In Stockholm, the nuclear-

armed North's leading nego-tiator, Kim Myong Gil, blamedthe US for not giving up their"old attitude" which led totalks ending "without any out-come".

But Washington called thetalks "good discussions", sayingthe comments by North Koreadid not reflect the content orthe spirit their eight-and-a-half-hour discussion.

The United States accept-ed host Sweden's invitation toresume talks in two weeks'time, State Department spokes-woman Morgan Ortagus said.

Ortagus added in a state-ment that the US "previewed anumber of new initiatives" thatwould allow progress on thestatement reached in Singaporeat the first Trump-Kim summitlast year.

The two leaders adopted avaguely worded document onthe "complete denuclearisation

of the Korean peninsula" attheir first summit in June lastyear, but little progress hassince been made.

On Wednesday, NorthKorea claimed to have entereda new phase in its defence capa-bility with Wednesday's test ofa submarine-launched ballisticmissile -- the most provocativesince Pyongyang began dia-logue with Washington in 2018.

Trump has said he sees noproblem with a string of short-range missile tests conductedpreviously by North Korea,while insisting his personalties with the North's leaderremain good.

North Korea is bannedfrom ballistic missile launchesby the United Nations SecurityCouncil resolutions.

The Security Council isexpected to hold closed-doortalks early next week on the lat-est test at the request of Britain,France and Germany, diplo-mats said. AFP

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Kansas City (US): Two menopened fire inside a bar inKansas City, Kansas, earlySunday, killing four people andwounding five others in ashooting believed to havestemmed from an earlier dis-pute, police said.

Authorities were searchingSunday for the two gunmen,said Officer Thomas Tomasic,a police spokesman.

He said the two men hadapparently gotten into somesort of disagreement with peo-ple inside Tequila KC Bar, left,then returned with handguns.

"We think there was some-thing that happened in the barearlier probably," Tomasic said.

"Unfortunately, they leftand decided to take it toanother level, came back andstarted shooting."

Around 40 people wereinside the small bar when

gunfire erupted around 1.30am, Tomasic said.

The gunfire sent peoplerunning for the exits, with theinjured leaving trails of bloodas they fled.

One of the injured wastrying to get a ride to the hos-pital when ambulancesarrived.

"It's a pretty small bar, soif you have two guys come inand start shooting, people arejust running, running any-where they can," Tomasic said.

All four men who werekilled were Hispanic, butTomasic said authorities donot believe the shooting wasracially motivated.

The shooting happenedin a neighbourhood with alarge Hispanic population.

Tomasic cautioned thatpolice were still investigatingexactly what happened. AP

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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump on Saturdaycalled for the impeachment ofhis bitter critic and prominentRepublican Senator MittRomney, using a hashtag onTwitter in all capital letters.

"I'm hearing that the GreatPeople of Utah are consider-ing their vote for theirPompous Senator, MittRomney, to be a big mistake.

I agree! He is a fool who isplaying right into the hands ofthe Do Nothing Democrats!#IMPEACHMITTROMNEY,"Trump tweeted.

Trump's tweet came a dayafter Senator Romney, whoduring the 2016 presidentialelections had called the pres-ident a "con artist", criticisedhim for his handling of theUkrainian issue. PTI

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',+,%.�44,�#� �!)"('7�Burned out on life, Miles

undergoes a strange procedure at astrip mall spa and wakes to find he'sbeen replaced by a better version ofhimself. Created by TimothyGreenberg and starring Paul Rudd,Aisling Bea and Desmin Borges, theseries will release on October 18 onNetflix.

4�!%2"When a New Orleans bartender

picks up a cell phone dropped in abrawl, he begins to receive ominousmessages and finds his sanity slowlyunraveling. Starring Armie Hammer,Dakota Johnson, Zazie Beetz, the filmreleases on October 18 on Netflix.

!0"��)�"�Hoping to do good while making

millions, three college graduates create astartup. But as business begins to flour-ish, their own bond starts to fray. StarringPriyanshu Painyuli, Chandrachoor Raiand Shadab Kamal, the film releases onOctober 18 on Netflix.

Employee activism and outside pressurehave pushed big tech companies like

Amazon, Microsoft and Google intopromising to slash their carbon emissions.But there’s another thing these tech giantsaren’t cutting: Their growing business tiesto the oil and gas industry.

When Microsoft held an all-staffmeeting in September, an employee askedCEO Satya Nadella if it was ethical for thecompany to be selling its cloud comput-ing services to fossil fuel companies,according to two other Microsoft employ-ees who described the exchange on con-dition they not be named. Such partner-ships, the worker told Nadella, wereaccelerating the oil companies’ greenhousegas emissions.

Microsoft and other tech giants havebeen competing with one another to strikelucrative partnerships with ExxonMobil,Chevron, Shell, BP and other energy firms,in many cases supplying them not justwith remote data storage but also artifi-cial intelligence tools for pinpointingbetter drilling spots or speeding up refin-ery production. The oil and gas industryis spending roughly $20 billion each yearon cloud services, which accounts forabout 10 per cent of the total cloud mar-ket, according to Vivek Chidambaram, amanaging director of Accenture’s energyconsultancy. It’s not yet clear whether theextraction industry is getting its money’sworth, although experts remain bullishabout the application of advanced tech-nology to oil and gas exploration.

Nadella sought to assuage employeeconcerns at the September 12 meeting,first by reiterating Microsoft’s internalefforts on environmental sustainability,according to the workers, who asked foranonymity because they feared retaliationfor speaking about an internal meeting.The employees said Nadella also defend-ed Microsoft’s energy partners, pointingout their investments in researching anddeveloping more sustainable energy pro-duction methods. “There’s no fossil fuelCEO who sits there and says, ‘You know,I’m just going to deny climate change,’”Nadella said, according to the employees’transcript of his remarks. “If anything,they’re all saying, ‘Let us have, in fact, theregulation, the pricing mechanisms thatget us to this future.’”

Microsoft said in an emailed state-ment that it is “focussed on helping com-panies of all kinds become more efficient,including energy companies.” It declinedto comment on Nadella’s remarks, whichwere part of a regularly scheduled “all-hands” gathering in which the CEO wel-

comes questions on a range of topics.Less than a week after that exchange

and days before a planned worldwideprotest over climate change, Microsoftannounced yet another major deal for itsAzure cloud computing platform — thistime with Chevron and oilfield servicesgiant Schlumberger. The timing of theannouncement ahead of the climateprotest and United Nations climate actionmeetings angered some environmental-ly-minded Microsoft workers and caughtthe attention of outsiders.

“It is unconscionable that amid glob-al climate protests, tech giants likeMicrosoft are announcing major partner-ships with Big Oil,” said Democratic pres-idential candidate and Vermont Sen.Bernie Sanders, in a tweet that coincidedwith the September 20 global climatestrike. “We must hold them accountable,demand they break ties with the fossil fuelindustry, and move rapidly to sustainableenergy.”

Echoing that message was a smallgroup of Microsoft employees who car-ried cardboard signs to a lunchtimeprotest that day outside of Microsoft’sheadquarters in Redmond, Washington.“No Azure For Oil,” said one of the signs.

After months of employee activism,Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said he was push-ing his company to the forefront on sus-tainability, committing it to have 100 percent of its energy use come from solar pan-els and other renewable energy by 2030.

But he also defended Amazon’s work withthe oil and gas industry, arguing that “weneed to help them instead of vilify them.”Some experts say AI and cloud servicescould actually play a role in curbing emis-sions. Denying cloud computing servicesto the oil and gas industry would do lit-tle to address the bigger problem of theworld’s ongoing dependence on fossil fuels,said Aseem Prakash, director of theCenter for Environmental Politics at theUniversity of Washington.

“We would not want to collapse thefossil fuel industry,” Prakash said. “Wewould want a soft landing.” If anything,he said, an oil company’s shift to anoth-er company’s cloud platform may havesome environmental benefits because it ismore efficient than running its digitaloperations on its own servers. Drivingdown costs could also help open the doorto investments in other, less pollutingmethods for generating energy.

It’s less clear whether AI is mitigatingpollution or worsening it. In their pitch-es to work with oil and gas companies,cloud providers such as Amazon andMicrosoft have boasted of advancedmachine-learning tools that can siftthrough huge troves of geologic and seis-mic data to help make decisions aboutwhere to extract resources. IDC oil ana-lyst Gaurav Verma said AI is a critical tech-nology for oil and gas companies that wantto learn from that data to study oil reser-voirs or predict when maintenance is

needed on a pipeline.Earlier this year, ExxonMobil struck

a deal to tap into Microsoft’s technologyto capitalise on the shale oil boom in Texasand New Mexico. Microsoft has said thatreal-time data collected from a regionspanning hundreds of miles would enableExxonMobil “to make faster and betterdecisions” on drilling and well completionand support production growth by asmuch as 50,000 oil-equivalent barrels perday by 2025. An unsigned statement fromMicrosoft’s protesting workers said they’vebeen “made complicit” by the company’srole in warming the planet. “Microsoftmakes millions of dollars in profits byhelping fossil fuel companies extractmore oil,” the statement said. But it’s notclear if tech giants are actually helping thatmuch — in part because they may be over-stating their own role in transforming BigOil with AI.

“The sundae they’re selling is thecloud,” said Chidambaram, the Accentureanalyst. “The cherries they’re putting onit is the analytics.” Chidambaram said that’sbecause oil industries are still cageyabout sharing what they know aboutunderground reserves and don’t wantthird parties analysing that data.

Chidambaram said in the long run,however, AI could actually help meet cli-mate goals. “Data can be used in manyways,” he said. “It’s about how it’s beingused.”

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Lying in various colours —pink, green, orange and sil-ver with paper-mache and

stout bamboo frames — are theheads of Ravana in Titarpur,Dwarka and Tagore Garden. It’sthat time of the year again, whenpeople mark the victory of LordRama over the ten-headed demonby burning his effigies. Whilesome associate Dussehra withthe battle in Ramayana, others doso to commemorate goddessDurga’s victory over Mahishasura.One can witness grand celebra-tions taking place in every streetand people huddling together toenjoy the day with much colourand splendour. Well, the traditionof burning his effigies has stayedfor years and continues to excitepeople — not just the viewers butthe creators as well.

Explaining the process ofbuilding an effigy, Dhyanand,who hails from Dwarka ShreeRamlila Society, says that theheight of an effigy might vary,depending upon the customer’sdemands. “The framework isbuilt with bamboo sticks, whichare bound using steel wires. Thisis followed by wrapping the framewith old cloths on the main partsto give it a support and later withkhaki paper. Coloured papers arethen pasted through glue or oftenpainted and decorated once itdries,” he tells us.

Dussehra is surely a sight, butamid all the gala, the environmentand people’s health is left behind.And with the growing debatesaround sustainability, many voic-es have been raised to abolish thepractice of burning Ravana’s effi-gy as part of the festival. Thoughnow, the usage of toxic chemicaland unnatural paints have beenwitnessing a decline with the

growing awareness as some effi-gy makers are doing their bits forthe environment. An effigy makerfrom Titarpur, who has beencreating these idols over the past20 years, says that previously, themakers used to put any kind ofwaste material like crushed news-papers, torn clothes or even usedplastic to fill up the idol. He says,“However, now, we make sure that

such toxic waste is not used any-more and disposed off carefully.”

Dheeraj Tanwar from TagoreGarden says that he avoids the useof crackers while making theRavana effigies, which are usual-ly filled with fireworks and areburnt down with flaming arrows.However, he says, “If peopledemand, we use green crackers,which do not contain harmful

chemicals as compared to otherconventional firecrackers.”

Ask him why? He refers tothe tragedy in Amritsar, Punjab,in 2018, when around 60 peoplewere mowed down by a trainafter a crowd of Dussehra rev-ellers had spilled onto railwaytracks as it offered them a high-er vantage point while watchingthe Ravana effigy getting burned.They were so busy recording theeffigy go up in flames with theirmobile phone cameras that amidthe noise of the crackers andcheers from the crowd, theycouldn’t notice the Jalandhar-Amritsar DMU speedingtowards them.

Well, celebrations and festi-

vals cannot be stopped, but nec-essary steps can be taken tominimise the pollution caused.Over the years, many parts of thecountry have resorted to cele-brating the festival in a greenerway. Here is an example to sus-tain the nature’s health duringfestivities: A laser light show thatdepicts an animated story ofRavana dahan, in which thelaser can replace the traditionalbow and arrow to burn the effi-gies, thus minimising the pollu-tion and maximising the fun.This could also be educative forkids, informing them of theimportance of preserving naturewhen abiding by the nation’s cul-ture and traditions.

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Dussehra, also known as Vijayadashami, is one ofthe most important Hindu festivals celebratedin various forms across the world. It has a deep

spiritual significance as it marks the victory ofGoddess Durga over the demon Mahishasur. On thisday, people also burn effigies of Ravana, who, accord-ing to Hindu mythology, was the demon king of Lanka.The myth goes that Ravana had abducted Sita, the con-sort of Lord Rama. Supported by an army of monkeys,Rama defeated Ravana and rescued Sita. The killing ofRavana by Rama is hence celebrated.

Dussehra stands for dus (ten) + hara (conquer).Ravana is known to be a demon with ten heads to sym-bolise the conquest of ten vices, of which five are inmen and five in women. The five vices are — lust, anger,greed, attachment and ego. And the word Vijayadashmimeans the tenth (dashmi) day of victory (vijaya) ofRama over Ravana, which is symbolic of the victoryof virtue over vices by men and women who follow thepath of self-purification to attain spiritual perfection.

It is celebrated on the tenth day of the month ofAshwin according to the Hindu lunisolar calendarwhich corresponds to September or October of theGregorian calendar. The first nine days are celebratedas Maha Navratri or Sharada Navratri and culminateson the tenth day as Dussehra.

Ravana repre-sents all that is eviland Rama symbol-ises ever ythingthat is good.Usually, peopleburn the effigy of aperson whoseactions they dis-like. The fact thatevery year peopleburn larger andlarger effigies ofRavana points tothe subtle truththat he is still aliveand the evil con-tinues to grow inthe present times.

Today, manypeople celebratethis festival with-out knowing itstrue significance.With the increasing stress in our society, festivals havebecome an escape route for people to forget their wor-ries and dance for 10 days without paying attention toits importance.

So how does one celebrate this festival in its truespirit? One must understand that we would be able tocelebrate it only when all the human beings becomepure, that is, when the vices of lust, anger and greedare completely eliminated from human minds so thatRavana, symbolic of evil, is defeated forever. Until andunless we don’t understand this, it would be just a 10-day merry-making carnival without any effective pur-pose.

True knowledge imparted by almighty dispels allspiritual ignorance. He says that like Sita, all humansouls have been enslaved by Ravana, that is, by the fivevices today. Therefore, this world is like a kingdom ofRavana where evil activities prevail despite the religiousteachings. But in the present times, there is Rama toowho rescues the souls from the clutches of vices andgives spiritual wisdom and power. He guides them tobecome pure and defeat the vices.

So, we must make efforts to burn the Ravana that’slurking deep inside our minds and conscience. The eas-iest way to do it is through Rajyoga. It connects us withthe Supreme and help us to regain self sovereignty, thatis, control over our mind and senses and thus, conquerthe Ravana within.

So, this year, burn the Ravana within you so thatthe evil can never raise its head again. It is yet anoth-er chance to uproot the devil for good.

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It is ironical that the society reveresand worships goddesses, and at thesame time, subjects women to all

forms of oppression. They have beenlooked at as the weaker section.However, women like Rani LaxmiBai, Razia Sultana, Aruna Asif Ali,Kiran Bedi, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil,and thousands of other women areexamples that women are not meant tobe incarcerated behind the walls oftheir homes as they have the samecourage as men. If they can be lovingand compassionate, they could befierce and protective too.

One such example has been set byNaseema, a resident of Akbarpur vil-lage in Rohtas district of Bihar, who hasnot only faced the sting of being mar-ried and widowed at an early age, buthas also educated her daughters, leav-ing behind the orthodox views of thesociety she lives in. All women whoconsider their life as a failure, can learnfrom her struggles.

Being the only sister among sevenbrothers and belonging to a poorfamily, Naseema was 12 when her fam-ily married her to a man twice her age.She did not have the slightest inklingabout her marriage then. Her illiterateparents had clinged on to old customsand traditions. She says, “I was veryhappy when I became a bride becauseI did not know what marriage was. Ijust knew I was getting a lot of newclothes and jewellery as wedding pre-sents. When my in-laws arrived, I saw

a dark middle-aged man in the room.I got very scared. I was not aware aboutmarital relationships.”

A few months after the marriage,Naseema got pregnant. She came to hermother’s home during delivery time,and refused to go back to her husband’shouse. Soon after she gave birth to adaughter, her husband passed away ina railway accident. Prior to his death,she had been preparing herself men-tally to go back to her in-laws.

By the time she turned 18, herfamily married her off to MohammedAbdul from Palamu, Jharkhand. Shewould look after the family with theincome generated from her sewingand embroidery work. As Naseemagrew older, she became a more sensi-ble individual. Life was good with herdaughter and husband at her newhome. She gave birth to two moredaughters. But fate had a differentplan. Her husband’s health began to

deteriorate, and the responsibility ofthe family fell upon her shouldersbecause he couldn’t work. Soon, shegave birth to her fourth daughter, eventhough the family expected a son.Gradually, her husband’s health wors-ened, and in a few years, she was wid-owed once again.

Naseema returned to her parents’home with her daughters. Peoplemade jokes about her fate. Her parentsalso died in quick succession, but shedid not give up on life. She startedsewing clothes in order to nurture herfour young daughters. “Being widowedtwice and with the death of my par-ents, I was devastated. But I was deter-mined to give my daughters a brightfuture,” says Naseema. Though, shewas illiterate, she always knew theimportance of education. She took itupon herself to educate all her daugh-ters under any circumstances.

A few years later, when all her

brothers got married, it became diffi-cult for Naseema and her daughters tocontinue living with them because oflack of space in the house. She start-ed living in a hut outside a relative’shouse. She somehow eked out a livingfor herself and her daughters bystitching people’s clothes. Naseema waselated and relieved when a socialworker and a local teacher of the vil-lage, Zarina Khatoon, helped her geta cook’s job in a government school.The teacher also arranged for herdaughter’s education and their uni-forms. Her employment at the schoolnot only enabled her to generatemore income for her family, but it alsohelped her take care of her daughters’education.

Today, Naseema’s daughters arewell-educated and hence, receivinggood marriage proposals. The daugh-ters are proud of their mother who hasnever let them feel the absence of their

father. “Due to lack of education, I hadto face many adversities in life. But Iwas determined to give them educa-tion first before giving their hands formarriage. Zarina madam was quiteinstrumental in fulfilling these wish-es of mine,” she says.

For a woman, living alone insociety has never been easy. Naseemahad to endure physical and mental tor-ture at every step of her life. But shefought against all odds and inspiredher daughters to live with self-respect.She, who has steadfastly stood upagainst such hardships, has become aninspiration for other women in her vil-lage today. Despite being illiterate, shehas proved that by fighting against thestereotypical thoughts and restric-tions that the society imposes onwomen, they can still move ahead inlife by fighting against the strugglesand emerge victorious.

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While your local poundworks to find forever

homes for many cats, dogs andother animals, volunteering is aneasy way to improve their liveswhile they wait.

Becoming a volunteer gen-erally starts with an application.You can choose the kinds ofactivities that interests you,whether that’s walking dogs,cleaning kennels, reading tocats or creating social-mediaposts, to name some of theoptions. There might be a shortinformational session or, forspecific skills, some hours of on-site training.

Many shelters ask volunteersto commit a certain number ofhours per month, but even thesmallest act is appreciated. “Asuccessful volunteer is someonewho loves animals and appreci-ates the fact that no matterwhat they do, how small theirrole might seem, it has a hugeimpact on the pets here at theshelter. Someone who is justreally open to not being intim-idated by a pet that doesn’timmediately warm up to them,but who is willing to give it timeand a little bit of love. And thatkind of friendship and trust canroll over into that pet beingadopted and having a betterrelationship with its new own-ers,” says Callista Pearson, mar-keting and development manag-er for Salt Lake County AnimalServices in Utah. Here are fiveways to volunteer:

��������Shelters are boring for ani-

mals. There’s lots of noise but lit-

tle to do. Enrichment activitiesto keep them occupied includemaking and delivering food-puzzle toys, reading to them, sit-ting and petting them, or takingthem on walks.

Volunteer dog walkers willprobably be trained in leashingdogs, getting them in and out oftheir kennels, and managing

them around other dogs. AtMaricopa County Animal Carein Phoenix, volunteers with thePetite Pet Project simply sit in aroom with dogs and give themsmall treats and toys, letting thedogs socialise at their own pace.“I love seeing them learn, it’sokay to come out. The sociali-sation of the dogs, getting them

used to touch is like a dog ther-apy. You’re committed to helpthe dogs find their best self,” saysvolunteer Julie Jo Hughes.

Cats might need help get-ting acclimated to a shelter sothey won’t be nervous whenpotential adopters come by. Justby checking in on and pettingcats, volunteers can help them

learn to be calm during interac-tion with humans.

“The more comfortable a catis with a person approaching thecage and putting their hand inthere, the more likely they are toget adopted,” says Katy Hansenwith the Animal Care Centers ofNew York City.

�����Fostering an animal can be

great for someone who loveshaving a pet in the house butcan’t guarantee a forever home.Fostering programmes vary, butusually start with a conversationwith the coordinator about thelevel of involvement and com-mitment they’re willing to make.Fosters can take a dog for theafternoon, the weekend, or untilthey are adopted.

Pearson says the sheltershomes admit around 9,000 ani-mals a year, and the constantnoise and activity can be stress-ful for dogs. Having a quiethome to escape for the day canhelp the dogs to relax.

Shelters also use fosters tohouse animals recovering fromsurgery or illness. “They’llrecover faster in that home thanin the kennel,” Pearson says.

She adds that fostering kit-tens or puppies, while time-intensive, makes it more likelythat those animals will be adopt-ed quickly “because they’ve beennow handled by people,” and“socialising pets is a huge thing.”

�������An important part of mak-

ing shelter animals happy andhealthy is keeping kennels clean.

“We all have to be willing todo some dirty work, because withover 700 dogs in our care on adaily basis, there is a lot ofcleaning to do,” says SamanthaWessel, volunteer engagementcoordinator. A clean blanket foreach animal means a lot of laun-dry.

Terri Sharp, a retiree who hasvolunteered at the Phoenix shel-ter for more than two years, startsher day checking on all thelinens in the kennels.

She says, “We also mop andclean as we go. It helps themthrive. We want to give themevery opportunity to succeed.”

���������Shelters always need dona-

tions, so consider setting up acollection box or fundraiser formuch-needed goods. Considerbringing in a box to work orschool and collecting toys, blan-kets and other items.

“They can be new or usedand washed,” says Hansen. “Theonly thing we can’t take is openor expired food or treats.” Lots ofshelters have online wish lists too.

�����������Another way to help from

home is by joining a shelter’ssocial media team, sharing orhelping to run social mediapages. “Answering questions peo-ple post, writing bios is very help-ful,” says Hansen. Volunteerscan design flyers, create templatesand share ideas. “Good flyers canget shelter pets adopted quickly,”says Karen Hirsch of LifelineAnimal Project in Atlanta.

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Mohammed Shami’s lethal spell offast bowling was beautifullycomplemented by Ravindra

Jadeja’s guile as India recorded aresounding 203-run victory over SouthAfrica in the opening encounter of thethree-Test series here on Sunday.

The victory consolidated India’sposition in the ongoing World TestChampionship with another valuable 40points added to their kitty. India main-tain their lead with 160 points.

Chasing an improbable 395-runtarget, South Africa were expected to putup a fight like they did in the first

innings but Shami’s (5/35 in 10.5 overs)fifth five-for topped up by Jadeja’s four-wicket burst saw South Africa dis-missed for 191 in 63.5 overs.

Debutant Senuran Muthusamy (49not out) and Dane Piedt (56 off 107)delayed the inevitable with a fighting 91-run stand for ninth wicket after SouthAfrica collapsed to 70 for eight in themorning.

The pitch, which had played fairlyfor the first four days with the odd ballsurprising the batsman, turned tricky onday five.

The spinners got the ball to turnsharply and the variable bounce alsohelped the pacers.

The collapse began in the secondover of the day when RavichandranAshwin castled Theunis de Bruyn (10)with one that turned back sharply fromwide outside of the off-stump.

After Ashwin provided the earlybreakthrough, Shami castled TembaBavuma (0), Faf du Plessis (13) and firstinnings centurion Quinton de Kock (0)in two short bursts to break the back-bone of South African batting.

Bavuma stayed back to a deliverythat kept low while jagging back in whileDu Plessis offered a leave to another onewhich also cut back in, only to see hisstumps rattled. Shami got rid of De Kockwith a delivery that held its line after

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An emotional Naomi Osakasaid that she had atoned for

the disappointment of the USOpen after beating world num-ber one Ashleigh Barty in theChina Open final on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Osaka hashad a turbulent year, winningthe Australian Open but thensuffering a dip in form whichincluded exiting FlushingMeadows in the last 16.

But the two-time GrandSlam champion from Japansurged back to win her homePan Pacific Open last monthand made it back-to-back titleswith victory in Beijing.

Osaka defeated teenageUS Open champion BiancaAndreescu and then FrenchOpen winner Barty on theway to the fifth crown of heryoung career.

Winning in Japan andChina had been her aim afterthe US Open letdown, whereshe was the defending champi-on and top seed.

“I don’t want to say Iplanned (it), but I really med-itated on it. It just feels like Iaccomplished what I set out todo,” she said.

“I didn’t play those twotournaments for myself, I kindof played them for my teambecause the US Open wasn’tthat great and I felt very apolo-getic.”

But Osaka admitted thatshe had been driven to tearsafter going down in the first setto Australia’s Barty, before pow-ering back to win the final 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

“In the first set all I couldthink about was how much Iwanted to win and I was pret-ty emotional,” said the formernumber one, now rankedfourth.

The Austrian Thiemdefeated third seed Tsitsipas 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 for the men’s crown.

The 26-year-old beat for-mer world number one Andy

Murray on the way to the titleand had also booked his spotin the prestigious season-end-ing ATP Finals.

Thiem strolled to thecrown in the deciding setagainst Tsitsipas, who at 21 isa rising star of men’s tennis.

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Mohammad Shami’s mastery overreverse swing has been one of the

big plus points for the Indian teamwhile playing on slow unresponsivepitches, feels India opener RohitSharma.

“We have seen him (Shami) inthese conditions not just today but ear-lier also. I still remember our debuttogether in Kolkata (2013), where thepitch was not exactly like this but on dayfour and five, it was slightly lower andslower,” Rohit said.

“He knows how to bowl on thesepitches, gets reverse swing straightinto play once he knows there is somehelp on offer,” said Rohit.

Executing reverse swing is easiersaid than done, feels the stylishMumbaikar.

“It is not easy to bowl when thereverse is happening. You need to pitchin the right areas, need to make sure theball is just around the off-stump and itcomes and hits the middle-stump. Hehas mastered that art now, bowling withthe old ball and getting it to reverse.”

The conditions in Visakhapatnamwere ideal for him as the Bengal speed-ster got the ball to reverse both ways.

“Yes these type of conditions arepretty ideal for him. He makes themplay all the balls and it is tough for thebatsmen on a pitch like this, where theball was doing something from thecracks. It keeps you in the game.

“Batsmen doesn’t know which wayit will reverse swing. I would say he hasmastered how to bowl with the old ball,”he added.

Rohit made a dream start as a Testopener and shattered multiple records.However, he is not getting ahead of timeand said it is still early days for him.

“That communication (on open-ing) between management and myselfhappened long time ago that I mighthave to do past at some stage. So for thepast two or three years I was preparedfor it mentally.

“Whenever I was not playing a Testmatch, in the nets I was batting with thenew ball trying to be ready if the oppor-tunity come. It’s a great start and I havelong way to go. It’s not the end, it’s thestart. Good things are about to follow,”said Rohit.

“All those things are nice to happenalong the way but have said many timesI am not here for records. I just wantto enjoy the game. I know it might beboring but that is what it is.”

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India’s premier off-spinnerRavichandran Ashwin on Sunday

became the joint fastest to take 350wickets, matching Sri Lankan greatMuttiah Muralitharan’s feat in his66th Test.

Ashwin, who had taken his 27thfive-wicket haul in the first innings,castled Theunis de Bruyn with onethat turned back sharply from wideoutside the off stump for his mile-stone wicket on day five here.

“Obviously, this things happenover a period of time, we can’t plan forany of these things. I am very luckyin terms of where I got in my career,in terms of racing up in all theserecords. But it is important to stick tothe process and basics, keep it as sim-ple as possible,” Ashwin told BCCI.Tv.

Talking about his preparation,Ashwin said: “I want to keep it asstraight forward and simple as pos-sible. I want to be as prepared as pos-sible, trying to tick all the boxesahead of a game, trying to be in thebest possible mental and physicalspace getting into a match.

“All these are things that I playinside my head and be as preparedas possible getting into a game,”added the wily off-spinner, who hasanswered his critics with a stellarshow in the first Test of the homeseason.

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pitching.It became 70 for six in the 27th

over when opener Aiden Markram(39) did not get the required ele-vation and Jadeja took a brilliantone-handed reflex catch off hisown bowling.

In the same over, he trappedVernon Philander and KeshavMaharaj in front of the stumps offsuccessive balls to make it 70 foreight.

Piedt and Muthusamy frus-trated India with their nothing tolose approach. The off-spinnerplayed well to complete his maid-en half-cemtury in his eighthTest.

It seemed the game would getover well before lunch but Piedtand Muthusamy took South Africato 117 for eight at the break. Theywent on to bat for one hour afterlunch with India unable to find tobreak their stand.

Shami, who provided threequick wickets in the morning, wasbrought back into the attacknoticeably late into the second ses-sion and struck on the very firstball with Piedt playing on to thisstumps. It was a loosener butpotent enough to break the off-stump.

The opening game betweenIndia and South Africa broke the

world record for the most number of sixes ina Test match on Sunday.

A total of 37 sixes were hit in the match withSouth Africa’s Dane Piedt registering therecord-breaking 36th hit over the fence in the35th over on the fifth day.

The earlier record for the most sixes was setduring the 2014 New Zealand versus PakistanTest played in Sharjah. That match saw a totalof 35 sixes being scored.

On Saturday, Rohit Sharma broke therecord for most sixes in a Test with 13 hits overthe fence, surpassing Pakistan great WasimAkram who smashed 12 in a game againstZimbabwe in 1996.

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Two late goals from Wolves’Adama Traore inflicted a stun-

ning 2-0 defeat on ManchesterCity to leave the Premier Leaguechampions trailing leadersLiverpool by eight points.

It was a thoroughly deservedvictory for Nuno Espirito Santo’smen, who enjoyed the betterchances and became the firstteam to stop City scoring at theEtihad Stadium for 34 matches.

Even with only eight gamesplayed, Liverpool now have agolden chance to win their firstleague title for 30 years afterstarting the campaign with eightstraight wins.

And as time ticked on, theurgency of the situation for PepGuardiola’s side was apparent asthey have already dropped morepoints at home than in the wholeof last season.

“It was not our best day. Welet them run twice, got nervous alittle bit and our process to createchances was not good,” Guardiolasaid.

“We were not organised andlost balls in positions we could notlose them in. We had problems onthe counter-attack in the endand it was a bad day.”

City were again made to payfor a serious of key defensiveinjuries and badly missed the cre-ativity of Kevin De Bruyne inmidfield.

Wolves had two days less restand a trip back from Istanbul tocope with after winning atBesiktas in the Europa League onThursday night.

However they never tiredand finally took their chancesthrough Traore in the final 10minutes.

The breakthrough they so

badly wanted almost camewhen David Silva was broughtdown just outside the areabefore picking himself up tocurl the free-kick against thecrossbar.

But with 10 minutesremaining, the decisive blowwas delivered by Traore as hecoolly slotted past Edersonafter Jimenez had skipped awayfrom Nicolas Otamendi for hisfirst goal since August 2018.

And in the final minute ofinjury time with City pushingmen forward, Traore repeatedthe trick when he was put clearwith an almost identical goal ashe beat Ederson again.

Page 16: Ministers were allotting fancy numbers according to their free will. The department has introduced online auction of such numbers and an advance registration number booking system

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World number one NovakDjokovic clinched the

Japan Open on Sunday, dis-pelling concerns about theshoulder injury that forced himout of the US Open.

The Serbian star crushedAustralian qualifier JohnMillman 6-3, 6-2 to mark his10th win in a tournament maindraw debut.

Djokovic, playing in hisfirst Japanese competition, dom-inated throughout the week,never losing a single set toclaim the trophy at the AriakeColosseum.

Beaming Djokovic, the win-ner of 16 Grand Slams, now goesto the Shanghai Masters, wherehe is the top seed.

“I didn’t drop a set, so Iplayed a fantastic tournament.Everything is positive in myexperience on and off the court,the way I feel and motivated for

Shanghai, going there with greatconfidence,” he said.

“I am hoping I can finish theseason in this style,” addedDjokovic, who was competingfor the first time since pullingout of the US Open.

The triumph in Tokyo hasboosted his confidence goinginto the Olympics too.

"Considering that Olympic

Games are high always on mylist of goals and priorities andwishes, I wanted to feel the sur-face and see and experience howit feels playing on this court,"Djokovic said.

"I am very glad now, seeingand experiencing how I play (inAriake) because I feel comfort-able. It feels great playing on thiscourt... I am hoping that can also

be the case in the Olympics."Djokovic started the Japan

Open by taking part in a dou-bles game and switched to high-er gears as the week progressed,never allowing his opponents,including world number 15David Goffin, to pose a seriousthreat.

In the final, Djokovicgrabbed an early break in thefirst set to take a 3-1 lead witha series of sizzling serves andprecision returns that hadMillman scrambling across thebaseline.

The Serb kept sendingsharp returns to deep corners,mixing them with elegant dropshots.

Djokovic fired six aces,never committed a double fault,and scored points on 26 of his30 successful first serves.

He never faced a breakpoint, while Millman managedto survive only one of fourbreak points during the match.

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Naomi Osaka won a secondtournament on the spin as

she fought back from a set downto defeat world number oneAshleigh Barty in the ChinaOpen final on Sunday.

The Japanese two-timeGrand Slam champion emergedvictorious after 110 minutes inchilly Beijing, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

On Saturday, after defeatingholder Caroline Wozniacki inthe semi-finals, the 21-year-oldcalled her own serve "confus-ing".

And so it was in the sixthgame when Osaka conjured upa double fault, then an ace, thenanother double fault againstAustralia's Barty.

The world number four,victorious in her home PanPacific Open last month, wasbroken when she planted aforehand into the net.

The former number oneappeared mildly uncomfort-able with her shoulder, touch-ing it and rotating it betweenpoints.

Barty, 23, who had strap-ping down her left calf, wrappedup the first set in 34 minutesand frustration was creeping infor the Australian Open cham-pion Osaka.

But much of the crowd inBeijing was pro-Osaka and theywere cheering when she brokeBarty to move 4-2 up on theway to winning the second set.

"Basically I was tellingmyself to keep fighting eventhough my attitude was reallytrash. This is a final, I'm reallyprivileged to be here in the firstplace, so keep fighting."

Osaka was in control nowand broke Barty — who fiveyears ago took a rest from ten-nis and played cricket — in thefirst game of the deciding set onthe way to victory.

This was a third title of2019 for Osaka and fifth in hershort career.