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16
T he BJP made a slew of poll promises for the people of the State at its ‘Pratishruti Samabesh’ (convention of promis- es) held here on Saturday. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced the party will provide permanent land records (pattas), jobs to youths and pucca houses to all needy people if the BJP is voted to power in the State in the com- ing elections. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot of things for the poor in the country in the past 5 years. BJP will pro- vide necessary facilities includ- ing pattas, pucca houses, drink- ing water, toilets, electricity and LPG connections to peo- ple in Odisha,” said Pradhan. Pradhan said as many as 30 lakh people are still residing in kuchha houses across the State. He alleged that the State Government has failed to pro- vide basic amenities to the people during the last 19 years. Former Minister Bishwabhushan Harichandan alleged that the Naveen Patnaik Government has betrayed peo- ple. The BJP will form Government in Odisha in 2019 and provide all basic amenities to all people in nooks and cor- ners of the State. Former administrator Aparajita Sarangi said the BJP is the only political party which translates promises into reali- ty. “Ahead of elections, schemes are being created every day but benefits are not reaching peo- ple. But we will keep our promises,” she said. BJP Yuva Morcha State president Tankadhar Tripathy slammed the State Government saying that it provided jobs to only 26,450 youths while as many as 22.57 lakh unem- ployed educated boys and girls had registered names in the Employment exchanges during the last 19 years. U nidentified miscreants looted 6 lakh from a businessman at the Baramunda bus-stand under the Khandagiri police station in the State capital on Saturday evening. Sources said the Begunia businessman Krushna Chandra Sahoo was travelling to Cuttack in the evening. The bus was about to leave for Cuttack after a short halt at the Baramunda bus-stand. However, the motorbike- borne miscreants, who were following Sahoo, snatched away his bag containing the money and fled from the spot. Sahoo filed a complaint with the Khandagiri police, basing on which police launched a probe into the matter. T he Mahanadi Tribunal on Saturday directed the Odisha and Chhattisgarh Governments to sort out their water sharing dispute amicably and posted the final verdict pronouncement on March 9. The three-Judge tribunal bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar directed both the States to submit all the requi- site data and information with proof within two weeks. The tribunal completed its hearing on the interim appli- cation, in which Odisha had pleaded for 1.74 million acre- foot water during the non- monsoon months. The tribunal, in its ruling, said that the final verdict would be delivered on March 9 if the two States fail to arrive at a solution to the water sharing dispute amicably. On December 15, the Tribunal had asked Odisha Government to submit an affi- davit citing detailed informa- tion on the rainwater flow in Mahanadi over the last 20 years. In compliance with the direction, Odisha Government submitted an additional affi- davit on January 11 highlight- ing the impact in the State dur- ing monsoon and non-mon- soon period due to the con- struction of barrages on the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi by Chhattisgarh. R egular flight service at the Veer Surendra Sai Airport here would resume from March 31, informed airport director SK Chouhan on Saturday. The low-cost carrier SpiceJet would start flights at the airport to Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. For this, an eight-member team of the SpiceJet today conducted an inspection of the security and infrastructure facilities at the airport on the day. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has called for a fresh bidding for four routes in Odisha under the third phase of the UDAN scheme. The routes are Jharsuguda-Ranchi, Bhubaneswar-Utkela, Utkela-Raipur and Jeypore-Bhubaneswar. Notably, flight operations at the Jharsuguda airport were stopped around 15 days after its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 22 last year as the Air Odisha airline suspended its services. The Air Odisha had bagged the permission to operate flights from Jharsuguda to Bhubaneswar, Ranchi and Raipur under the UDAN scheme. T he State Government on Saturday carried out a reshuffle in IAS cadre and transferred as many as eight officers. The Government appointed Samarth Verma as Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner. Prior to this, Verma was the Sambalpur district Collector. Subham Saxena replaced Verma. A General Administration Department notification said Angul district Collector Anil Kumar Samal was appointed as RDC (Central Division). Similarly, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) Secretary Manoj Kumar Mohanty was posted as Angul Collector in place of Samal. Jharsuguda district Collector Bibhuti Bhusan Patnaik was appointed as Tourism (Director) replacing Archana Patnaik. Jagatsinghpur district Collector Yamini Sarangi was appointed as Health and Family Welfare Department Joint Secretary. Similarly, Rayagada Collector Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar was appointed as the Jagatsinghpur Collector. Health and Family Welfare Additional Secretary Bibhuti Bhusan Das was appointed as Jharsuguda Collector. Works, Steel and Mines Minister’s Private Secretary Pramod Kumar Behera was posted as Rayagada Collector, the notification stated. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday assured the people of Assam and the Northeast that the citizenship bill will in no way cause harm to their interests. Addressing a public rally in Assam, Modi said the NDA Government is com- mitted to protecting the lan- guage, culture, resources, hopes and aspirations of the people of Assam and the Northeast. “It is a national commit- ment to the people of the Northeast that they will not be harmed in any way and citi- zenship will be only granted after due investigation and rec- ommendation of the State Governments,” Modi said. It must be understood that there is a difference between those who forcefully entered the country and those who were “forced to flee their homes to save their lives due to their faith. Both are not the same”, he asserted. “We have committed to provide shelter to those who are minorities in neighbouring countries and had to leave everything due to the atrocities inflicted on them. They have come to our country and embraced the idea and ethos of Mother India,” said Modi at a rally in Changsari in Assam where he laid the foundation stone of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The Prime Minister also said the BJP is committed to implementing the 36-year-old Assam Accord and a commit- tee set up on the implementa- tion of its Clause 6 is a step in that direction. Modi also lashed out at the Opposition, saying the main job of the ‘mahamilawatwalas’ is to deride him and it seems they were all competing in an Olympics of hurling abuses at him. Calling the Opposition a ‘mahamilawat’ (great adulter- ation) again, he said its leaders are only involved in “holding each other’s hands in meetings in Delhi and Kolkata for pho- tographs”. “The job of the ‘mahamilawatwalas’ is only to heap abuses and more abuses on Modi. It is as if an Olympics is on to deride Modi,” said the Prime Minister at a public rally in Agartala in Tripura. “The results of the coming Lok Sabha elections will show what it takes to lie to the peo- ple,” Modi said commenting on the allegations leveled by Congress on certain issues including the Rafale fighter jet deal. A s farmers in northern States — Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — brace for another round of rainfall and hailstorm next week, experts said frequent showers with hailstorm and thunder- storm in the past two week have damaged potatoes, mus- tard, green pea, onion, orchard and rice of the rabi season. A clearer picture will emerge over the next few days as reports start pouring in. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has fore- cast a fresh western disturbance that will affect western Himalayan region and plains of the north-west region from February 13. The IMD predicted that another western disturbance may affect western Himalayan region from February 10, but the rainfall belt has further shifted eastwards now and thunderstorms, hailstorms at isolated places are likely over east and north-east India, including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura on February 10-11. Himachal Pradesh’s popular tourist des- tinations Kufri and Dalhousie received more snowfall on Saturday leading to a drop in temperatures by several notches. As per preliminary reports, potatoes crop in northern States have been damaged due to untimely and frequent rain- fall and hailstorm this year. P rime Minister Narendra Modi’s second day in Assam saw nude protests, a bandh, raising of black flags and burn- ing of effigies by agitators over the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Six Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) activists were taken into police custody on Saturday when they stripped naked in front of Janata Bhawan — the State secretariat here. The KMSS activists had arrived in cars and stripped naked before holding the protests. The Tai Ahom Yuba Parishad had called a 12- hour bandh in the State to protest against the PM’s visit to the State. T witter CEO and top officials have declined to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on IT that had summoned them over the issue of safeguarding citizens’ rights on social media platforms, sources in the panel said on Saturday. The Parliamentary Committee, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, had asked Twitter to appear before the panel and an official letter in this regard was sent to Twitter on February 1. The BJP on Saturday warned Twitter of “repercus- sions” after the social net- work company’s CEO and top officials declined to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on information technology, saying no agency has the right to disrespect institutions of the country. “In any country, no agency has the right to disrespect the institutions of that country. In this situation, if Twitter is dis- respecting the established insti- tution of Parliament, then there are repercussions,” BJP spokesperson and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi said. “There are repercussions because in any democratic country, institutions need to be respected by the world powers. If there is any violation of any sort, then there are repercus- sions to those violations...The institutions need to be respect- ed,” she said. The Parliamentary Committee meeting was scheduled for February 7, but was later postponed to February 11 to allow the Twitter CEO and senior offi- cials more time to make them- selves available. Twitter cited “short notice of the hearing” as the reason, despite being given 10 days to travel, the sources said.

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Page 1: ˇ ) ˜ ’˝& + ˙ ˝ˇ˛ ˝˜# ˘ ˇ #ˇ ˝#, 0 $ ˇ...Regular flight service at the Veer Surendra Sai Airport here would resume from March 31, informed airport director SK Chouhan

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The BJP made a slewof poll promises for

the people of the State atits ‘Pratishruti Samabesh’(convention of promis-es) held here onSaturday.

Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhanannounced the partywill provide permanent landrecords (pattas), jobs to youthsand pucca houses to all needypeople if the BJP is voted topower in the State in the com-ing elections.

“Prime Minister NarendraModi has done a lot of thingsfor the poor in the country inthe past 5 years. BJP will pro-vide necessary facilities includ-ing pattas, pucca houses, drink-ing water, toilets, electricityand LPG connections to peo-ple in Odisha,” said Pradhan.

Pradhan said as many as 30lakh people are still residing inkuchha houses across the State.He alleged that the StateGovernment has failed to pro-vide basic amenities to thepeople during the last 19 years.

Former MinisterBishwabhushan Harichandanalleged that the Naveen Patnaik

Government has betrayed peo-ple. The BJP will formGovernment in Odisha in 2019and provide all basic amenitiesto all people in nooks and cor-ners of the State.

Former administratorAparajita Sarangi said the BJPis the only political party whichtranslates promises into reali-ty. “Ahead of elections, schemesare being created every day butbenefits are not reaching peo-ple. But we will keep ourpromises,” she said.

BJP Yuva Morcha Statepresident Tankadhar Tripathyslammed the State Governmentsaying that it provided jobs toonly 26,450 youths while asmany as 22.57 lakh unem-ployed educated boys and girlshad registered names in theEmployment exchanges duringthe last 19 years.

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Unidentified miscreantslooted �6 lakh from a

businessman at the Baramundabus-stand under theKhandagiri police station in the State capital on Saturdayevening.

Sources said the Beguniabusinessman Krushna ChandraSahoo was travelling to Cuttackin the evening. The bus wasabout to leave for Cuttack aftera short halt at the Baramundabus-stand.

However, the motorbike-borne miscreants, who werefollowing Sahoo, snatched awayhis bag containing the moneyand fled from the spot.

Sahoo filed a complaintwith the Khandagiri police,basing on which policelaunched a probe into the matter.

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The Mahanadi Tribunal onSaturday directed the

Odisha and ChhattisgarhGovernments to sort out theirwater sharing dispute amicablyand posted the final verdictpronouncement on March 9.

The three-Judge tribunalbench headed by Justice AMKhanwilkar directed both theStates to submit all the requi-site data and information withproof within two weeks.

The tribunal completed itshearing on the interim appli-cation, in which Odisha hadpleaded for 1.74 million acre-

foot water during the non-monsoon months.

The tribunal, in its ruling,said that the final verdict wouldbe delivered on March 9 if thetwo States fail to arrive at asolution to the water sharingdispute amicably.

On December 15, theTribunal had asked OdishaGovernment to submit an affi-davit citing detailed informa-tion on the rainwater flow inMahanadi over the last 20years. In compliance with thedirection, Odisha Governmentsubmitted an additional affi-davit on January 11 highlight-ing the impact in the State dur-ing monsoon and non-mon-soon period due to the con-struction of barrages on theupper catchment areas of theMahanadi by Chhattisgarh.

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Regular flight service at the Veer SurendraSai Airport here would resume from

March 31, informed airport director SKChouhan on Saturday.

The low-cost carrier SpiceJet would startflights at the airport to Delhi, Kolkata andHyderabad. For this, an eight-member team ofthe SpiceJet today conducted an inspection ofthe security and infrastructure facilities at theairport on the day.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviationhas called for a fresh bidding for four routesin Odisha under the third phase of the UDANscheme. The routes are Jharsuguda-Ranchi,Bhubaneswar-Utkela, Utkela-Raipur andJeypore-Bhubaneswar.

Notably, flight operations at the Jharsugudaairport were stopped around 15 days after itsinauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modion September 22 last year as the Air Odishaairline suspended its services. The Air Odishahad bagged the permission to operate flightsfrom Jharsuguda to Bhubaneswar, Ranchiand Raipur under the UDAN scheme.

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The State Government on Saturdaycarried out a reshuffle in IAS cadre

and transferred as many as eight officers.The Government appointed SamarthVerma as Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) Commissioner.

Prior to this, Verma was theSambalpur district Collector. SubhamSaxena replaced Verma.

A General AdministrationDepartment notification said Anguldistrict Collector Anil Kumar Samal wasappointed as RDC (Central Division).

Similarly, BhubaneswarDevelopment Authority (BDA)Secretary Manoj Kumar Mohanty was posted as Angul Collector in placeof Samal.

Jharsuguda district CollectorBibhuti Bhusan Patnaik was appointed

as Tourism (Director) replacing Archana Patnaik.

Jagatsinghpur district CollectorYamini Sarangi was appointed as Healthand Family Welfare Department JointSecretary. Similarly, Rayagada CollectorGuha Poonam Tapas Kumar wasappointed as the JagatsinghpurCollector.

Health and Family WelfareAdditional Secretary Bibhuti BhusanDas was appointed as JharsugudaCollector. Works, Steel and MinesMinister’s Private Secretary PramodKumar Behera was posted as RayagadaCollector, the notification stated.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday assured

the people of Assam and theNortheast that the citizenshipbill will in no way cause harmto their interests. Addressing apublic rally in Assam, Modi saidthe NDA Government is com-mitted to protecting the lan-guage, culture, resources, hopesand aspirations of the people ofAssam and the Northeast.

“It is a national commit-ment to the people of theNortheast that they will not beharmed in any way and citi-zenship will be only grantedafter due investigation and rec-ommendation of the StateGovernments,” Modi said.

It must be understood thatthere is a difference betweenthose who forcefully enteredthe country and those whowere “forced to flee their homesto save their lives due to theirfaith. Both are not the same”, heasserted. “We have committedto provide shelter to those whoare minorities in neighbouringcountries and had to leaveeverything due to the atrocitiesinflicted on them. They havecome to our country andembraced the idea and ethos ofMother India,” said Modi at a

rally in Changsari in Assamwhere he laid the foundationstone of the All India Instituteof Medical Sciences (AIIMS).The Prime Minister also saidthe BJP is committed toimplementing the 36-year-oldAssam Accord and a commit-tee set up on the implementa-tion of its Clause 6 is a step inthat direction.

Modi also lashed out at theOpposition, saying the mainjob of the ‘mahamilawatwalas’is to deride him and it seemsthey were all competing in anOlympics of hurling abuses athim. Calling the Opposition a‘mahamilawat’ (great adulter-ation) again, he said its leadersare only involved in “holdingeach other’s hands in meetingsin Delhi and Kolkata for pho-tographs”. “The job of the‘mahamilawatwalas’ is only toheap abuses and more abuseson Modi. It is as if an Olympics is on to deride Modi,”said the Prime Minister at apublic rally in Agartala inTripura.

“The results of the comingLok Sabha elections will showwhat it takes to lie to the peo-ple,” Modi said commenting onthe allegations leveled byCongress on certain issuesincluding the Rafale fighter jetdeal.

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As farmers in northernStates — Punjab, Haryana,

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh — bracefor another round of rainfalland hailstorm next week,experts said frequent showerswith hailstorm and thunder-storm in the past two weekhave damaged potatoes, mus-tard, green pea, onion, orchardand rice of the rabi season. Aclearer picture will emergeover the next few days asreports start pouring in.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has fore-cast a fresh western disturbancethat will affect westernHimalayan region and plains ofthe north-west region fromFebruary 13.

The IMD predicted thatanother western disturbancemay affect western Himalayanregion from February 10, but

the rainfall belt has furthershifted eastwards now andthunderstorms, hailstorms atisolated places are likely overeast and north-east India,including Assam, ArunachalPradesh, Mizoram and Tripuraon February 10-11. HimachalPradesh’s popular tourist des-tinations Kufri and Dalhousiereceived more snowfall onSaturday leading to a drop intemperatures by several notches.

As per preliminary reports,potatoes crop in northernStates have been damaged dueto untimely and frequent rain-fall and hailstorm this year.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi’s second day in Assam

saw nude protests, a bandh,raising of black flags and burn-ing of effigies by agitators overthe contentious Citizenship(Amendment) Bill.

Six Krishak Mukti SangramSamiti (KMSS) activists weretaken into police custody on

Saturday when they strippednaked in front of Janata Bhawan— the State secretariat here.

The KMSS activists hadarrived in cars and strippednaked before holding theprotests.

The Tai Ahom YubaParishad had called a 12-hour bandh in the State toprotest against the PM’s visitto the State.

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Twitter CEO and top officialshave declined to appear

before the ParliamentaryCommittee on IT that hadsummoned them over the issueof safeguarding citizens’ rightson social media platforms,sources in the panel said onSaturday. The ParliamentaryCommittee, headed by BJPMP Anurag Thakur, had askedTwitter to appear before thepanel and an official letter inthis regard was sent to Twitteron February 1.

The BJP on Saturdaywarned Twitter of “repercus-sions” after the social net-work company’s CEO and topofficials declined to appearbefore the ParliamentaryCommittee on informationtechnology, saying no agencyhas the right to disrespectinstitutions of the country.

“In any country, no agencyhas the right to disrespect theinstitutions of that country. Inthis situation, if Twitter is dis-respecting the established insti-tution of Parliament, then thereare repercussions,” BJPspokesperson and New DelhiMP Meenakshi Lekhi said.

“There are repercussionsbecause in any democraticcountry, institutions need to berespected by the world powers.If there is any violation of anysort, then there are repercus-sions to those violations...Theinstitutions need to be respect-ed,” she said.

The ParliamentaryCommittee meeting wasscheduled for February 7, butwas later postponed toFebruary 11 to allow theTwitter CEO and senior offi-cials more time to make them-selves available.

Twitter cited “short noticeof the hearing” as the reason,despite being given 10 days totravel, the sources said.

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Page 2: ˇ ) ˜ ’˝& + ˙ ˝ˇ˛ ˝˜# ˘ ˇ #ˇ ˝#, 0 $ ˇ...Regular flight service at the Veer Surendra Sai Airport here would resume from March 31, informed airport director SK Chouhan

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Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Alita:Battle Angel, is set in a post-apocalyptic society in which cyborgs

walk the Earth. Interestingly, there isnothing cold or mechanical about this filmwhich is based on a book by Yukito Kushiro.The films keeps you engaged withrelationships and emotions that one canidentify with.

One can’t also not fall in love with thosebig eyes. The actors should be given theirdue as they breathe life in this film.

While the movie may be about a cyborgthat has been brought back to life in thelaboratory, but it’s also about self-discovery,loneliness, the desire for a better life and thelove. The central character, Alita, opens hereyes to find herself in a time and placeovertaken by darkness, her approach is allabout hope and enthusiasm of a teenager.This makes you empathise with her eventhough she is a killing machine — a hunterwarrior — the bounty hunters that are theonly form of law enforcement in Iron City.

The good part is that Rodriguez haskept the best part of the film to a cliffhangerending.

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Liam Neeson may have not had a greatweek what with his remarks made duringthe promotion campaign for Cold Pursuit

— recalling wanting to “unleash physicalviolence” against a random African-Americanman. But director of the film, Hans PetterMoland has come out and spoken in favour ofthe actor saying: “I know Liam is not a racist.”

His film, Cold Pursuit, is perhaps Neeson’sbest revenge movies in a long time andremains unaffected due to backlash. While theactor is angry and as violent as he can be inthe film, the twist that makes this one betterthat his film is that it comes wrapped withhumour albeit dark. Take this for example: Hisidea of parenting is to give his son, played byNicholas Holmes, is a copy of The Lord of theFlies and tell him the answer to all life’sproblems are found there.

In this film, his son gets kidnapped. Soundfamiliar? Well, yes. But this is all that issimilar. He goes after one bad guy to the nextwith plenty of jokes thrown in. Though theactor has said that this is his last action-thriller, his fans can’t get enough of this latestaction-thriller with interesting twists that takeyou through the snows of the Rockies.

Overall, a great movie.

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Actress Shrenu Parikh of IssPyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon?...Ek Baar Phir fame

will play a quintessential daughter-in-law in producer Dipti Kalwani’syet-to-be titled show.

“I’m looking forward to thisassociation with Dipti Kalwani,the maker of Badho Bahu. Just likeher previous progressive show,this one is an unusual and anunconventional family drama. Iam playing a quintessential bahu(daughter-in-law), Shrenu said

in a statement.“We’ve just started shooting and

it's an extremely interesting storybased on a Marwari family andtheir journey along with their upsand downs. Jhanvi, my character, isthat binding thread, the one thatholds her family together andsomeone who can do anything forher loved ones,” she added. Actorslike Zain Imam, Ayub Khan, TanviDogra and Parikshit Sahani are alsoexpected to be part of this upcomingshow.

Time-shift television, atechnology allows peopleto watch shows they

missed without presettingdevices to record content, maynot reduce the amount of timepeople spend watching liveTV and the advertisementson the shows, suggests newresearch.

The findings, published inthe journal ManagementScience, showed that peoplewith time-shift TV watchedslightly more TV overall thanthey did before having thetechnology; they did not watchless live TV, and they did notwatch fewer advertisements.

“Advertisers have beenconcerned that using time-shift TV would decrease theamount of time people spendwatching live TV, which wouldreduce their exposure to ads,”said study co-author PedroFerreira, Associate Professor atCarnegie Mellon University inthe US. “Our findings shouldinterest advertisers as well ascable companies and producersof TV content,” Ferreira added.

For the study, theresearchers used a randomisedcontrol trial that involved cablecustomers from more than50,000 households.

Some of the householdswere given premium TVchannels, which includedpopular movies and showswithout commercial breaks,for six weeks. In some ofthose households, consumerswere also given access to time-shift TV, which allowed theresearchers to observe theeffect of the technology onconsumers’ consumption ofTV.

The study found that onaverage, having access to thepremium channels with time-

shift TV increased households’total consumption of TVthrough viewership of bothlive and previously airedprogrammes. Having time-shift technology did notchange the amount of timeconsumers viewed live TVbut boosted theconcentration of total TVviewership because viewersused the technologydisproportionately moreto watch popularprogrammes.

The study also foundthat time-shift TV wasused more frequently forwatching TVprogrammes and movies,and not as frequently forwatching sports and news.

The technology did notchange the consumers'behaviour towards watchingadvertisements when theywatched the original TVchannels live, suggesting thatconsumers did not use thetechnology to strategicallyavoid advertisements, theresults showed.

Sushant Singh, actor and General Secretary of the Cine AndTV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) said that the actors’community lacks unity and this needs to change for everyone

to get equal rights. he was speaking at a Press Conference forActFest, an actors only festival being organised by CINTAAand 48 Hour Film Project.

Asked about lack of unity among actors in the fraternity,Sushant said: “Yes, we do need unity here because of variousreasons. I mean it is also required all over the world. This isa freelance field... anyone takes your job easily. You are nota permanent employee with anyone, so if you don’t agree withemployers’ conditions, there is someone else ready to take yourjob. So there is a love-hate relationship among us. We doappreciate each others' performances but we are fearful as well.So yes, there is lack of unity and we are trying to unify theactors so that everyone gets equal rights.”

ActFest will feature international delegates, industrystalwarts, and more than a thousand artists and aspiring actors.Sushant said the event will also honour senior actors, whoaren't necessarily deemed stars or superstars. “CINTAA would

like to establish Guild Awards dedicatedsolely to our community. To actors fromtelevision, web, mini-series, films, theatre.We’re hoping that within a year or so, we willbe able to move in that direction.”

They will also present a Hall of FameAward. “We do have numerous senior actors

here whose contribution is unparalleledtowards the industry — in cinema,

television, and theatre, but theyhaven't been deemed as so-called stars or superstars. Theseactors have done hundreds off i lms but never beenhonoured or given anylifet ime achievementrecognition anywhere. Wewill honour 15 seniorveteran actors this year andwe are so proud of it.”

The event will also have apanel discussion and speeches

that wi l l feature eminentBollywood personalities such as

Bobby Deol, Manoj Bajpayee, RasikaDugal, Swara Bhaskar, Gajraj Rao,Raveena Tandon, Kubbra Sait,Shikha Talsania, MakarandDeshpande, Dilip Joshi, KamyaPunjabi, Manoj Joshi, RenukaShahane, Sachin Khedekar, SatishKaushik, Sumeet Vyas, NeenaGupta and Jimmy Shergill.

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Veer Surendra Sai Institute ofMedical Sciences and

Research (VIMSAR) DirectorDr Aswini Kumar Pujahari,who landed in controversy inDecember last year for hisalleged unproven clinical prac-tices, resigned from his post on Saturday.

He sent his resignation toGovernor Ganeshi Lal, hisappointing authority.

Dr Pujahari in his resigna-tion letter said he had tried hisbest to improve the functioning

of the VIMSAR. Although hehad given his reply to theGovernment to the show-causenotice served on him on time,he did not receive any reply. Hehad also sent a reminder to theGovernment; but even afterwaiting for about two months,there was no communication.He said he became enemy ofthe doctors, staffs and officialsas be became strict on thework culture and directed themto provide service on time.

It may be recalled that avideo showing Dr Pujahariusing edible salt on a cancerpatient during a surgery hadgone viral on social media.Taking its cognisance, the StateGovernment served him ashow-cause notice onDecember 8 asking him toreply on the allegation againsthim within three days. He wasalso asked to go on leave till fur-ther order. The move had comeafter a probe committee reject-ed Dr Pujahari’s alleged illegalexperiment for treating cancer.

Earlier, Dr Pujahari hadwithdrawn himself from surgi-cal practice at the medical col-lege. In a letter to the SurgeryHoD of VIMSAR, he stated thathe would not be able to carryout his responsibility.

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Two working women’s hos-tels are currently operating

in Bhubaneswar and steps areafoot for construction of eightmore such hostels at differentplaces with the State’s ownfunds under the Social WelfareBoard.

Women and ChildDevelopment Minister PrafullaSamal informed this in theState Assembly in respone to a

question of Independent MLASanatan Mahakud on Friday.

While two hostels operat-ing in the city has a total of 139beds, only 94 inmates are stay-ing now.

Out of the eight proposedhostels, construction workshave already started for fourhostels and tender has beenfinalized for one. While foun-dation work is in progress forhostels at Rourkela, Dhenkanaland Jajpur, plinth level workcompleted for a hostel atJharsuguda. The tender processhas been completed for a hos-tel to come up at Sambalpur.

The rest three hostelswould be established atBrahmpur, Rayagada andGanganagar in Bhubaneswar.

Each hostel would have 100beds. The State Governmenthas allocated a total of Rs 8.35crore for construction of eighthostels and the Idco and R andD Division-II have beenentrusted the constructionworks.

In a related question ofBJD MLA Bhagirathi Badajena,the Minister informed that thetwo existing Bhubaneswar hos-tels have been provided 24-hoursecurity system. Besides, tele-phone and CCTV cameras havebeen installed for their securi-ty. Fire extinguishers have beenput up in kitchen rooms to con-tain any possible fire mishap.Boundary walls have been con-structed around the two hostels,informed the Minister.

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Biju Patnaik’s Dakota, amongother vintage aircrafts, will

be included in the Aero India2019 in Bengaluru. The bian-nual air show is scheduledfrom February 20 to 24.

Around 47 aircraft will beon show this year. Among theaircrafts, HAL’s Light CombatAircraft (LCA) Tejas, Frenchaerospace major DassaultAviation’s Rafale, Light UtilityHelicopter (LUH), multi-rolefighter jet Sukhoi Su-30MKIand National AeronauticsLaboratories’ (NAL) SarasPT1N will be flying during theevent.

Late Biju Patnaik’s Dakota,which was part of the IAF, hadremained abandoned for years.The aircraft was flown byPatnaik to rescue Indonesianfreedom fighters.

Patnaik had formed theKalinga Airline in 1947 and theairline had 15 Dakotas parked

in its headquarters Kolkata.The aircrafts were chiefly usedby the Army for transport ofjawans deployed in Kashmir.The Kalinga Airline’s DC-3swere also used to drop suppliesat the north-eastern area of thecountry and providing servicesto the army personnel in thenorth-east area of the country.

Patnaik came to limelightafter he rescued former

Indonesian Vice-PresidentMuhammad Hatta and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrirfrom their enemies on July 22,1947. He made the landing at Srinagar on October 27 in the year.

Later, the IndonesiaGovernment acknowledgedPatnaik’s contribution by hon-ouring him with ‘Bhumi Putra’title for his chivalry.

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The Central Board ofSecondary Education

(CBSE) has urged the StateGovernment to impose Section144 of CrPC around examina-tion centres, where Classes-Xand XII final examinationswill be held from February 15to April 4.

The CBSE authorities havemade such a move for the firsttime in the State in view ofquestion paper leakage report-

ed in 2018.CBSE Chairperson Anita

Karwal has requested the StateGovernment to extend securi-ty support for the examinationcenters located in Odisha.

While there are 459 schoolsaffiliated to the CBSE, exami-nations will be held in 124schools fixed as examinationcenters in the State.

Adequate police personnelneed to be deployed nearexamination centers in all 30districts, said Karwal.

While examination will beheld from 10 am to 1.30 pm,there should be uninterruptedpower supply during the exam-ination.

According to information,over 33 lakh students wouldappear for the two final exam-inations across the country.

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The Sivananda CentenaryBoys’ High School at

Khandagiri here aims atimparting education with spir-itual, moral and ethical foun-dation in its academic cur-riculum laying importance oncharacter building of students,said school managing com-mittee president SwamiNirliptananda Saraswati at aPress meet on Saturday.

He said character buildingand excellence in studies are thetwo objectives of the schoolwhich make students success-ful in their life.

Stressing on value-basededucation, Swami said prayer,meditation, yoga, pranayamand other spiritual activistswhich is practised regularly by

the students would enable themto enhance their concentrationin studies, mould their char-acter and make them idealhuman beings. Individual careof all students and special carefor slow-performing studentsare also taken, he added.

The school, which has beenawarded as the best by the StateGovernment in recognition ofits educational excellence,would open Classes-XI andXII under the CBSE curricu-lum in Science and Commercestreams from the 2020-21 aca-demic year.

Among others, school sec-retary Swami SivachidanandaSaraswati, joint secretarySwami JagannathanandaSaraswati, committee mem-bers SN Tripathy and RajibSekhar Sahu were present.

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BJP State general secretary Bhrugu Baxipatra failed toappear before the Ganjam police on Saturday in con-

nection with the murder of Chhatrapur NAC BJDCouncillor Laxmidutta Pradhan.

Sources said Baxipatra sought one month’s time todepose before the Chhatrapur police citing healthgrounds. His lawyer on the day filed a plea at theChhatrapur police station urging the Investigating Officerfor extension of time for Baxipatra’s appearance.

Prior to this on February 7, BJP spokesperson GolakMohapatra, another accused in the murder case, had alsofailed to turn up before the Chhatrapur police citing thesame health ground.

On January 29, Mohapatra and Baxipatra had beensummoned to appear before the police on February 7 and9, respectively, for questioning.

On the other hand, the two BJP leaders have movedthe Orissa High Court seeking anticipatory bail in con-nection with the case.

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Yet again, a Class-IX girl stu-dent of a residential school

under the Udala police stationin Mayurbhanj district wasfound pregnant on Saturday.

The matter came to lightafter the headmaster of theschool filed a written complaintat the Udala police station.

“Usually I don’t visit thehostel as I am not in-charge ofit. I had asked an ANM to visitthe hostel. The minor girl’spregnancy was detected afterthe ANM examined her,” saidthe headmaster.

Based on the complaint,police have registered a caseand initiated a probe into thematter.

Sources said medicalexamination of the girl was car-ried out at the RagunathMurmu Medical CollegeHospital here. However, it isstill uncertain how and underwhat circumstances the girl wasimpregnated.

“The headmaster of theschool has filed a complaint inconnection with the pregnan-cy of the minor girl. A case hasbeen registered and probe isunderway,” said a police official.

A couple of days ago, aClass-VI girl of a residentialschool in Mayurbhanj wasfound pregnant after she wasadmitted to a hospital. Policehad detained one of her boy classmates on the charge ofraping her.

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The Delhi Commission forWomen (DCW) has lashed

out at the Odisha police over itsalleged failure and negligence torescue a minor girl traffickedfrom Rourkela to Rajasthan.

DCW Chairperson SwatiMaliwal questioned the effi-ciency of Odisha police eventhough an FIR lodged by thevictim’s father.

“A 16-year-old girl, whowas missing from 2017 fromRourkela in Odisha, was res-cued by the DCW on Feb 5from Jhunjhunu district of

Rajasthan. She was sold for Rs4 lakh by her sister and broth-er-in-law. When the DCW canrescue the girl in a day, whatOdisha police was doing for oneand a half year. The girl wasrepeatedly raped by a 40-year-old man and she is nine-monthpregnant now,” said Maliwal ina Press conference at NewDelhi on Friday.

She alleged that Odishapolice are involved in the racket.

“The Odisha police com-pletely involved in the entireprocess and racket. The fatherof the victim had been request-ing the police and differentauthorities in Odisha over ayear. Even the victim was res-cued by the Odisha police andthe Child Welfare Committeehad ordered to hand over thegirl to her parents. However, thepolice again sent the girl to

Jhunjhunu district inRajasthan,” she added.

“Even as the DCW has nojurisdiction to initiate steps torescue the girl, we took up thecase on humanitarian ground tohelp the victim’s father.Immediately, a team of DCWrushed to Jhunjhunu and res-cued the minor girl,” the DCWchairperson said.

She urged Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik forstern action against the erringpolice personnel allegedlyinvolved in women trafficking.

“She urged the OdishaGovernment to provide com-pensation to the victim and takeinitiative for her rehabilitation.

The girl is currently incustody of DCW. However,Maliwal refused to send thevictim to Odisha till she getscomplete assurance of safety ofthe girl.

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Ameeting of the SystematicVoters' Education and

Electoral Participation (SVEEP)Committee held here on Fridayunder the chairmanship ofChief Electoral Officer (CEO)Surendra Kumar decided vari-ous steps to create awareness foradequate voters’ participation in

the upcoming elections.Accordingly, ‘Voters

Awareness Forums’ will be setup in all Government, non-Government and corporateestablishments to make theemployees aware about thehandling of EVM with VVPATswith a view to augmenting thepercentage of votes.

Kumar elaborated aboutthe role of SVEEP with seniorofficers of various Governmentdepartments and corporateestablishments like Nalco, SAIL,OMC, IOCL, MCL and StateBank of India.

To create wide-spreadawareness, Kumar underlinedthe choice of instruments like

video spots in cinema halls,radio jingles, video ads on theuse of EVMs with VVPATS andbanners along with posters inrailway stations, setting up ofhoardings by the Informationand Public RelationsDepartment in crowded placesand putting awareness messageson buses, telephone bills, milkpackets etc.

Additional CEO AbhayKumar Nayak, Information andPublic Relations DirectorLaxmidhar Mohanty,Additional Director NiranjanSethi and senior officers fromvarious departments and cor-porate sector were present,among others.

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Former presi-dent of the

Utkal Chamberof Commerceand Industry(UCCI) NiranjanMohanty passedaway in theK o k i l a b e nHospital inMumbai onSaturday.

In a condo-lence message, UCCI presidentRamesh Mahapatra said Mohantyhad been a pillar of strength to theUCCI in its growth during his tenureas an office-bearer in several capac-ities. Mohanty was a leading indus-trialist as Magnum Apparel Pvt Ltddirector. UCCI members pray for hisnoble soul to rest in peace and mayGod give strength to his bereavedfamily to overcome this irreparableloss.

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Afresh document on thecontroversial Rafale deal

has surfaced which establishesthe direct involvement of thePMO in the scam, alleged PCCpresident Niranjan Patnaik.

He told that Congress pres-

ident Rahul Gandhi haddemanded an inquiry in theRafale scam after a mediahouse published a document inwhich an official in the DefenceMinistry is seen objecting to

the PMO’s interference in thedeal.

Defence Minister NirmalaSitaraman reacted to thisdemand in the Lower House ofthe Parliament and said, the“Congress party is beating adead horse.” Sitharaman shouldtell the people who killed thathorse, said Patnaik.

In today’s scenario, the BJPitself is like the owner of a deadhorse which has only jumlasand false promises to offer tothe people of the country, headded.

“The Prime Minister andother BJP leaders are onlybeating around the bush on theRafale issue. They should tell uswhy they tried to mislead theSupreme Court and if they havedone nothing wrong why theyare not agreeing to a free andfair JPC probe. Are they scaredof truth?” asked Patnaik. Healso slammed Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik for being in acovert alliance with BJP as hehas not spoken a single wordon the biggest defence deal inthe country.

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The city police have busteda gang of dacoits involved

in two loot incidents on theNational Highway and cityoutskirts here during the last 10days.

The police arrested threepersons and seized �6,000, agold chain, a gold ring, mobilephones, a wrist watch, a swordand a motorbike without reg-istration number from them.

Addressing a Press meet atthe BN Pur police station, ASPSantanu Kumar Das said thepolice on Friday nabbed threeyouths for looting people ofvaluables showing swords onthe National Highway.

The arrestees were identi-fied as P Siba Dash (22) ofLanjipalli Brahman street,Tinku Dash (21) of KhodaSingh New Bauri Sahi andKoka Dash of BhabinipurBadasahi.

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Page 4: ˇ ) ˜ ’˝& + ˙ ˝ˇ˛ ˝˜# ˘ ˇ #ˇ ˝#, 0 $ ˇ...Regular flight service at the Veer Surendra Sai Airport here would resume from March 31, informed airport director SK Chouhan

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Gram Rakshis under thebanner of the Nikhil Utkal

Grama Rakshi Mahasanghacalled off their demonstration,which they staged in front ofthe State Assembly for threedays, on Friday and announcedto boycott the coming electionsand oppose the BJD as theGovernment didn’t pay anyheed to their five legitimatedemands.

The members alleged theState Government is not regu-larising them despite repeated

requests. “We have been work-ing for decades. It has been verydifficult to manage families atmonthly allowance of Rs 1800only. Injustice is being done tous,” alleged Gram Rakshis.

Mentioning that the GramRakhis in Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand and West Bengalhave been enrolled as grade-IVemployees and are given otherallowances, they demandedthat the State Government reg-ularise them soon in Grade-IVposts soon.

Mahasangha presidentAmareshwar Mallick urgedGram Rakshis to boycott theupcoming elections and opposethe BJD.

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Police on Friday busted acyber-fraud gang by arrest-

ing six persons, including fivewomen, who had duped peo-ple of lakhs of rupees online.

The arrestees were identi-fied as Asish Padhi, DamayantiMartha, Madhusmita Das,Debasmita Das, BishnupriyaSatpathy and Sarojini Swain.

According to sources, oneDeepak Panda of Brahmapurhad lodged a complaint alleg-ing that he was duped of near-ly �1 lakh on the promise of alucrative return of �5 lakh.

Acting on the complaint,a special team of theBrahmapur Cyber policelaunched a probe and arrest-ed three accused from

Kendrapada and one eachfrom Sambalpur and Puri.

After detailed interroga-tion, the police have uneartheda massive cyber fraud racket.The cops said not only Deepak

but around 2,000 people acrossthe State have been duped inthe online fraud.

Police said that the girlsused to lure prospective clientsby speaking to them on phone

and, after winning their confi-dence tactfully; they seekqueries on certification andclearance of their organisationand later ask them to depositmoney.

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The Institute of CostAccountants of India (ICAI),Bhubaneswar Chapter organ-ised an IEPF-Investor aware-ness programme on the topic“Investment Opportunities andRisk Management” with refer-ence to the notification ofUnion Ministry of CorporateAffairs here on Friday.

OPTCL Senior GM(Finance), Funds NiranjanSahoo and IRCONInternational Ltd, Mumbai

Additional General Manager(Finance) Rabindra KumarMohapatra attended as guestsand made a critical analysisabout the advantages and safeinvestment of the surplus.

Chapter ChairmanDamodar Mishra, Vice-Chairman Saktidhar Singh andProfessional DevelopmentCommittee Chairman MukeshChaubey also spoke in theprogramme attended by morethan 150 CMAs, academicians,industry persons, executivesfrom banks and companies.

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The Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT),

Bhubaneswar would hold an‘Open Day’ to showcase scienceand technology initiatives inthe campus on the occasion ofits 11th foundation day onFebruary 12.

The foundation day pro-gramme would be inaugurated

by Governor Prof Ganeshi Lalin presence of IIT BBS DirectorProf RV Raja Kumar and for-mer Defense Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) Chairman Dr SChristopher.

Kumar said that the institute is keen on doing itsbest in inspiring the schoolchildren and university stu-dents in the region as a part of

its ambitious outreach pro-gramme and continuing thetradition of conducting the‘Open Day’ on the foundationday.

Students of all schools ofthe IIT BBS would take partand more than 205 live exhibitsand experiments would be pre-sented, to inspire students ofuniversities, engineering col-leges and schools.

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ABJP meeting was held atDeobahal village of

Khariar block on Saturday inthe presence of Union TribalAffairs Minister Jual Oramand party State presidentBasant Panda.

"The objective of this meet-

ing is to discuss about theincapable Government ofNaveen Patnaik. The CongressGovernment ruled the State for40 years, followed by the BJDGovernment, but the condi-tions of people have not

changed" said Panda, "We haveimplemented the SwaminathanCommittee report to give rightprices of agricultural productsto the farmers," he said. Headded that the Narendra ModiGovernment at the Centre has

given jobs to 12 crore people.Oram criticised the BJD

Governmet for not allowing thepeople of the State to get thebenefits of Central scheme ofhealth insurance. He also saidthe Modi Government hasplanned to transfer �6,000 eachto people of Odisha directly totheir accounts. "The NaveenGovernment has exceeded theCongress Government inallowing Goondaism. BJDmembers are ruling the roost inGovernment offices to take allthe benefits of government

programmes and public moneyfor themselves," said Oram.

Oram and Panda encour-aged party members to worktirelessly to bring the BJP backto power at the Center as wellas in the State.

Other party leaders in thedais were Sanjay Tiwari,District President of BJPKrushak Morcha, JadumaniPanigrahi, party State executivemember, Atindra Mallik,Sibaprashad Mund, KhamsingMajhi, Jemamani Dharua andGitanjali Majhi.

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Serious crime like murder iscommitted in Keonjhar over

sorcery, quarrel over petty mat-ters and theft. In all thesecases, the accused are no pro-fessional criminals or habitualculprits.

Recently, the Sadar policearrested three brothers in con-nection with murdering a cou-ple in Khuntakata village inBanpal block.

The reason behind themurder was over stealing 12 kg

rice and some cash. Fakir Sethy,Uma Setty, Akshaya Setty hadstolen the rice and �1,200 froma crusher camp. But Nilu Naik (55) and his wife KasturiNaik working as night watch-man saw them while commit-ting the theft.

Fearing to be caught bypolice, they killed the couplewith an axe and threw them inan isolated well. After investi-gations, the police recoveredthe bodies after 20 days of theincident.

In another case, SurendraNath Behera(28), a resident ofBirabarpur village under TownPS, burnt his fatherRabindranath alive just for thereason that he refused to givehim �100 for buying liquor.The police arrested the accused.

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The National AluminiumCompany Limited (Nalco) has

declared its financial results for the3rd quarter ended December 2018and up to end 3rd quarter 2018-19.

The reviewed financial resultsfor the 3rd quarter of 2018-19taken on record by the its Boardmeeting at New Delhi on Fridayshow the company has posted ahigher-than-expected operatingprofit of �589 crore registering a80%-growth over the same periodof last year. The net profit for the

3rd quarter is �302 crore and thenet profit for the period from Aprilto December 2018 has grown to Rs1,499 crore against �1,085 crore ofsame period last year, i.e.. a 38%-growth.

The net sales for the ninemonths of the fiscal are �8,644crore, i.e., a 32%-growth over thesame period of last year. Thecompany has also achieved recordgrowths in production in all fronts.It had a production of 55.39 lakhtonnes of bauxite and 15.92 lakhtonnes of alumina hydrate.

Metal production was 3.29lakh tones. The net power gener-ated during the period was 4,580million units. The company gen-erated 310 million units of windpower during the first nine monthsof this fiscal.

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Atwo-day national conference on liver anddigestive diseases was launched by the

Department of Gastroenterology andHepatology of the Kalinga Institute ofMedical Sciences (KIMS) here on Saturday.

The conference was inaugurated byKIIT and KISS founder Dr Achyuta Samantain the presence of KIMS CEO Dr BPanigrahi, Principal Major General Dr PKPatnaik, Dr AC Anand and Dr MihirMohapatra. The conference will have 11interactive sessions where the recentadvances during last six to 12 months in thefield of Gastroenterology such as luminal

(gastro-intestinal tract), pancreas, biliarytract and liver will be discussed.

This conference will enable the partici-pants to interact with leaders in the field ofGastroenterology such as Dr JB Dilawari, DrManu Tandan and Dr MK Goenka.

This conference is a result of sincereefforts of Prof Subrat Kumar Acharya andProf Yogesh Kumar Chawla. A book titled“Progress in Gastroenterology andHepatology 2019” edited by Dr Naresh Bhattof Bangalore and Prof A C Anand fromKIMS was released on the occasion.

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Aspecial investigation team[SIT] has been constituted

by the Madhya Pradesh policeheaded by an AdditionalSuperintendent of Police toprobe the death of the JabalpurGun Carriage Factory [GCF]Odia officer Sarada CharanKhatua. The deceased hailedfrom Kokilapur village underPiteipur Panchayat ofJagatsinghpur block.

His younger brother RanjanKhatua informed that his wid-owed sister in law MausumiKhatua and brother in lawManas Behera along with twokids have moved to Delhi onWednesday to apprise the CBIhigher ups on the murder.

Moreover, Mausumi main-

tained that several documentswhich Khatua was carrying tomeet a lawyer in Jabalpur havebeen missing from his vehicleand text messages from mobilephone were deleted and tem-pered with.

Reports said Khatua wentmissing on January 17 exactly aweek after he was questioned bythe CBI. A missing case hadbeen registered by the Jabalpurpolice following information.Surprisingly, Khatua’s body wasfound on Tuesday in a rockyarea in Sector 2, adjacent to GCFcompound in Jabalpur alongwith his car.

Police found multiple headinjuries with wounds as deep asthree inches. The doctor con-cluded in reports that thedeceased was hacked to death asagainst police claim that hecommitted suicide.

Meanwhile, Manas who wasin Delhi informed that Saradafell victim to a conspiracy andwas murdered because he was inpossession of some important

information related to CBIinvestigation on restrictedChinese parts in Bofors guns. Healso blamed GCF managerPrashant Prasanna who wasmastermind in the conspiracy.

Moreover, Manas addedthat a senior GCF officer hadcalled Khatua’s wife asking fordeceased’s email ID and pass-word.

Reports said that in theyear June 2017, the CBI hadlodged an FIR against a Delhibased company and a few offi-cers of GCF Jabalpur followinga tip-off that China made partswere masked as made- in-Germany and supplied to theGCF for Bofors guns.

As policy of theGovernment of India, Chineseproducts are not used in Indiandefence products. The Delhibased supplier connived GCFofficials of Jabalpur to supplyduplicate spare parts used in themanufacture of 155mmDhanush guns, indigenised ver-sion of Bofors.

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Acting on a tipoff, a team of forest officials ledby Balangir DFO Sameer Satpathy seized a truck

laden with manganese at Bhaludungri nearBanchhorpali village in the Loisingha Forest Rangeon Friday night.

The officials estimated value of the manganeseat around Rs five lakh.

Two years ago, forest official had also seized atruck laden with manganese from a reserve forestarea of the Loisingha range.

According to sources, smuggling of manganesefrom the Loisingha range goes at frequent intervalsand it comes to notice when caught by officials.Besides, the cutting of trees from forest is a regularpractice thanks to the apathy of forest officials. Thesmugglers find it easy to take the mineral to Raipurvia Padampur, where there is lack of monitoring orchecking by officials.

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Chief Minister Trivendra SinghRawat has announced �2lakh

compensation to each family ofpersons killed after consumingspurious liquor in Haridwar districtand ��50,000 financial assistance tothose ailing after consuming thespurious hooch. Further, a jointcommittee will be formed withneighbouring Uttar Pradesh toascertain actual details of the inci-dent. On the other hand, theCongress has decided to burn theState Government in effigy in alldistrict headquarters on Sunday toprotest against governmental fail-ure and the rising influence of theliquor mafia in the State.

On Friday, the death of 13 peo-ple and more than a dozen fallingsick in Haridwar district followingconsumption of spurious liquorhad caused uproar in the State,especially among the political cir-cles. On Saturday, Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat announcedthat dependents of those who had

died would receive �2 lakh com-pensation while those in a seriouscondition would receive �50,000financial assistance. Earlier, onreceiving information about theincident, Rawat had directed theofficials concerned to ensure prop-er medical treatment of those ail-ing after consumption of the spu-rious liquor. As people had alsodied in neighbouring Uttar Pradeshdue to the same cause, Rawat alsotalked to his Uttar Pradesh coun-terpart Yogi Adityanath. It wasdecided that a joint committee willbe formed to ascertain the facts ofthe incident.

Stating that strict action will betaken against the guilty, Rawatsaid that officials have been alert-ed to prevent repeat of such inci-dents. Following this incident, 17employees including personnel ofExcise department and police havebeen suspended. An inquiry com-mittee has also been formed underthe Haridwar additional districtmagistrate. Rawat has also warnedthat strict action will be taken

against the officials concerned incase any incident related to illegalliquor sale comes to light.

However, the Congress is all setto raise this issue. Pradesh CongressCommittee spokesperson GarimaMehra Dasauni said that the partywill raise this issue both inside andoutside the Vidhan Sabha. Overpricing of liquor in licensed shopsand other anomalies in the liquortrade have exposed the rising influ-ence of liquor mafia in the state, shesaid. Further, on the directions ofthe PCC chief Pritam Singh, theCongress will burn the StateGovernment in effigy at all districtheadquarters on Sunday. PCCspokesman, RP Raturi, said that thelatest incident is a result of the StateGovernment working together withthe liquor mafia to spread con-sumption of liquor in the State. Hefurther alleged that the excise pol-icy of the State is fully in favour ofthe liquor mafia while encouragingthe smuggling of liquor and con-solidating the supply of alcoholeven in villages.

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Dehradun: It is illegal to dis-criminate against transgenderpersons. In an official release onSaturday, the State administra-tion informed that like othercitizens, transgender personsalso have the rights to a life withdignity and personal libertyunder article 21 of the IndianConstitution. Discriminationagainst transgender persons inthe spheres of education,employment and health ser-vices is prohibited. It is a crimeto prevent the transgendersfrom using public facilities,mentally or physically exploit-ing them and socially stigma-tising them. Under the law, anyGovernment or private institu-tion cannot discriminate againsttransgenders in matters relatedto employment. PNS

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Bhopal/Khandwa: A CongressMLA has written to MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister KamalNath demanding the setting upof an SIT and transfer of theKhandwa district collector forinvoking National Security Act(NSA) on three persons accusedof cow slaughter.

Bhopal Central MLA ArifMasood, in his letter sent onFriday, termed the NSA move as"one-sided", adding that the kin

of the three accused had methim and had alleged that the col-lector had not heard their side.

He said cow slaughter was"shameful" but reiterated that thecollector's move to invoke thestringent NSA was unjustified.

He demanded constitutionof a special investigation team(SIT) to probe the case and thecollector's transfer in order tohave a "fair" probe. Talking toPTI Saturday, Masood said, "I

have written to the ChiefMinister and urged him tointervene in the matter. Theaction taken by police and dis-trict officials was on the basis ofinformation given by aninformer. The side of theaccused should have been heardbefore invoking NSA." Masoodclaimed minority communityleaders from different parts ofthe country have also spoken toCongress chief Rahul Gandhi in

this regard. Earlier last week,authorities had slapped NSA onthree accused, identified asShakeel, Nadeem and Azam, forallegedly killing a cow atKhandwa, and jailed. Justifyingthe action, KhandwaSuperintendent of PoliceSiddharth Bahuguna had saidNadeem, alias Raju, was a habit-ual offender and had been heldearlier in a cow slaughter case aswell as other criminal cases. PTI

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India on Saturday saidPakistani Prime Minister

Imran Khan's recent remarks onthe treatment of minorities inIndia were an "egregious insult"to all Indians and asked theneighbouring country to focuson its domestic challenges,rather than diverting attention.

Khan was quoted by thePakistani media as saying at anevent in Pakistan's Punjabprovince that his governmentwould not allow minorities to be

treated like "second class citi-zens" as is done in India.

Responding to queries onKhan's reported comments,Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) spokesperson RaveeshKumar said his remarks were an"egregious insult to all citizens ofIndia". Pakistan's Prime Ministerhas yet again demonstrated hislack of understanding aboutIndia's secular polity and ethos,he said.

The Pakistani premier over-looks the obvious fact that adher-ents of all faiths choose to liveunder the democratic polity andthe progressive Constitution ofIndia, Kumar said.

"India has eminent leadersof all faiths who occupy itshighest constitutional and offi-cial positions. In contrast,Pakistani citizens of non-Islamicfaith are barred from occupyinghigh constitutional offices," he

said. The minorities in Pakistanare often turned away fromgovernment bodies such as theEconomic Advisory Council ofthe Prime Minister, even in'naya Pakistan', the spokespersonsaid in an apparent reference tothe removal of a minorityAhmadi Muslim from a recent-ly set up economic councilunder Khan's government.

"Pakistan would do well tofocus on its domestic challengesand improve conditions of its cit-izens rather than try and divertattention," Kumar said.

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Union Minister Arun Jaitleyon Saturday returned from

the United States, where he wasundergoing medical treatment.“Delighted to be back home,”he tweeted. Jaitley was theFinance Minister before a med-ical procedure led to the chargebeing temporarily taken awayfrom him. He missed present-ing the sixth and final Budgetof the Narendra ModiGovernment before the gener-al elections. In his absence, thecharge of the Ministry wasgiven to Railways MinisterPiyush Goyal who presentedthe Budget last week.

Jaitley has been active onsocial media tweeting and writ-ing Facebook posts and hadalso met reporters through avideo call from New York andfielded questions on the

Budget. He also gave interviewson the subject.

In an interview to a newsagency in New York after theBudget presentation, Jaitley saidhe was on recovery course andreturn to India in time to replyto the Budget debate inParliament will depend on whenhis doctors allow him to leave.

“It depends on my treat-ment here, which is all over. Iam on the recovery course. It’swhen my doctors allow me togo back. As of present, as Iunderstand, Piyush Goyal willbe replying (to the Budgetdebate in Parliament),” he said.

Budget Session of Parliamentends on February 13, anddebate on Interim Budget hasbeen taken up in the Lok Sabha.

Jaitley, 66, had last monthflown to New York for thetreatment after being report-edly diagnosed with soft tissuecancer which required surgery.This was his first overseas visitafter he underwent renal trans-plant surgery on May 14, 2018,at AIIMS.

He had stopped attendingoffice at the beginning of Aprillast year due to his kidney ail-ment and was back in NorthBlock — the seat of FinanceMinistry — on August 23,2018. Even then, Goyal hadheaded the Ministry for about100 days. Jaitley in September2014 underwent bariatricsurgery to treat weight gain thathe suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition.

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Robert Vadra, Congress chiefRahul Gandhi’s brother-

in-law, on Saturday appearedbefore the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) for the thirdtime in connection with aprobe into allegations of money laundering in purchaseof assets abroad.

Vadra arrived at the centralprobe agency’s office atJamnagar House in centralDelhi around 10.45 am in hisprivate vehicle.

Officials said the investigating officer (IO) ofthe case required Vadra toanswer more questions in con-nection with the case andhence was asked to depose onSaturday, after his two ses-sions of questioning onFebruary 6 and 7.

He is being questioned ontransactions, purchase and pos-session of certain immovableassets in London. While Vadrawas grilled for the first time forabout five-and-a-half hours,he was questioned the secondtime for about nine hours.

It is understood that thelast time Vadra was “confront-ed with” documents that the

agency had obtained or seizedas part of its probe in the case,including those linked toabsconding defence dealerSanjay Bhandari.

Vadra has also shared doc-uments with the investigatingofficer of the case and hasassured some more will beprovided as and when he getsthem, official sources had said.He was directed by a Delhicourt on February 2, to coop-erate with the probe being car-ried out by ED after heknocked at its door seekinganticipatory bail in the moneylaundering case.

The ED case against Vadrarelates to allegations of moneylaundering in the purchase ofa London-based propertylocated at 12, Bryanston Squareworth 1.9 million GBP (Britishpounds), which is allegedlyowned by him.

The agency has told a Delhicourt that it has received infor-mation about various newproperties in London whichbelong to Vadra.

These include two houses,one worth 5 million GBP andthe other valued at 4 millionGBP, six other flats and moreproperties. Vadra has denied

the allegations of possessingillegal foreign assets andtermed them a political witchhunt against him. He said hewas being “hounded andharassed” to subserve politicalends.

Sources said Vadra’s state-ment is being recorded underSection 50 (powers of author-ities regarding summons, pro-duction of documents and togive evidence) of thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act, as was donethe last two times.

His appearance before theED acquired political over-tones after his wife PriyankaGandhi, recently appointedCongress general secretary in-charge of eastern UttarPradesh, accompanied him tothe investigating agency’s officeon Wednesday while shepicked him up after question-ing on Thursday.

Vadra is also expected todepose before the ED onFebruary 12 in Jaipur in ananother money-launderingcase related to a land scam inBikaner. The Rajasthan HighCourt has directed him tocooperate with the agency inthe case.

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The Government onSaturday dismissed China’s

objection to the visit of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toArunachal Pradesh, saying theNortheastern State is an integraland inalienable part of India.Responding to China’s objec-tion to Modi’s visit, the Ministryof External Affairs (MEA) saidthe State is “an integral andinalienable part of India.”

Modi’s visit was part of aseries of public meetings in the region aimed at garner-ing support for the BJP aheadof elections that are due to beheld by May.

“Arunachal Pradesh is anintegral and inalienable part ofIndia. Indian leaders visitArunachal Pradesh from timeto time, as they visit other partsof India,” the MEA said.

“This consistent positionhas been conveyed to theChinese side on several occa-sions,” the Ministry’s statementadded. Earlier, China’s ForeignMinistry objected to PM

Modi’s Arunachal visit saying“resolutely opposes” activitiesof Indian leaders in the region.

Modi on Saturday inaugu-rated several developmentalprojects during his one-dayvisit to Arunachal Pradesh,which China claims as its own

and dubs South Tibet.However, China reacting to

Modi’s visit, asserted that it hasnever recognised the sensitiveborder State and India shouldrefrain from any action thatmay “complicate the boundaryquestion”and such actions

would “escalate” and “compli-cate” border dispute.

China repeatedly objects tovisits by Indian leaders and for-eign dignitaries to the State,which it claims as part of SouthTibet and its own. “China’s posi-tion on the Sino-Indian borderissue is consistent and clear.

The Chinese Governmenthas never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh andresolutely opposes the activitiesof Indian leaders to the easternsection of the Sino-Indian bor-der,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson HuaChunying said.

Beijing said such actionswill hurt the progress made byboth sides, especially after thepathbreaking meet betweenModi and Chinese President XiJinping in Wuhan last year.

“China urges the Indianside to bear in mind the com-mon interests of the two coun-tries, respect the interests andconcerns of the Chinese side,cherish the momentum ofimprovement in bilateral rela-tions and refrain from any

action that may lead to theescalation of disputes or com-plicate the boundary question,”she added.

India and China have so farheld 21 rounds of talks toresolve the border dispute overArunachal Pradesh.

The India-China borderdispute covers 3,488-km-longLine of Actual Control (LAC).China routinely objects toIndian leaders visitingArunachal Pradesh to highlightits stand.

In 2017, Tibetan spiritualleader Dalai Lama’s visit toArunachal Pradesh infuriatedChina, prompting it to rename some towns in theIndian State. The two sidesalmost came to blows in 2017over building of a road by theChinese at Doklam, an areaclaimed by Bhutan and close toan arterial Indian highway.

However, New Delhi andBeijing have tried to repair thedamage and the ties have been on the upswing afterModi and Xi had an icebreak-ing meet last year.

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The Central leadership of theCongress on Saturday set a

time frame of ten days for theState leaders to decide upon thealliances if any or their plans togo solo in their respectiveStates in the forthcoming gen-eral elections. Congress chiefRahul Gandhi in a meetingwith State Congress Chiefs andthe Congress Legislative Partyleaders also asked the leadersconcerned to finalise the list ofcandidates for the forthcomingAssembly and Lok Sabha pollsby the end of February.

Besides, the meeting alsochalked out detailed strategyfor the newly appointedCongress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar PradeshPriyanka Gandhi Vadra’s fourday visit to State from Mondayonwards. The party in UP isseeing the visit as the virtuallaunch of the Congress cam-paign in the State, ahead of thecoming Lok Sabha elections.

Presiding over the meetingat the Congress War Room atRakab Ganj Road in nationalCapital, Rahul asked the partyleaders to give priority onbooth management. TheCongress chief had also con-ducted a meeting of theGeneral Secretaries onThursday aimed at focusing on

Lok Sabha poll strategy whichwas also attended by Priyanka.

A PCC leader said theCongress president under-scored the need for betterbooth management. He alsospoke about proper publicity ofthe candidates contesting theelections in their area anddesired to know from the partyleaders about the State-wiseassessment for Assembly andLok Sabha polls at earliest.

Regarding the candidateselection and finalisation,Rahul guided the leaders totake broader steps to makethem more inclusive and to

ensure the participation ofmaximum party stakeholdersand workers. He also instruct-ed to complete the candidateselection process as soon aspossible.

The Congress chief alsoinstructed the PCC presidentsand CLP leaders to exposeanti-farmers, anti-youth, anti-women and anti-people poli-cies of the Modi Government.

He stressed on highlightingin the public campaign of theparty the burning issues ofunemployment, farmers dis-tress, sabotage of constitution-al bodies, misuse of the insti-

tutions and investigative agen-cies, in the mass campaignand social media.

He also opined that the dic-tatorship style of Governance ofModi Government should behighlighted in the campaign.Furthermore, the Congresschief emphasised that the pro-people policies proposed byCongress like the MinimumIncome Guarantee programmeshould be taken to the peopleacross the country.

“All State PCC Presidentsand CLP leaders were asked tofocus on State oriented majorissues and to suggest them to

the AICC Manifesto commit-tee,” said an AICC source.

Further preparations under-way to accord a grand welcometo Rahul and Priyanka inLucknow on Monday was alsoreviewed. They will be wel-comed by party workers andleaders at nearly 37 points on the10 km-route from the airport tothe Nehru Bhawan UttarPradesh Congress Committee(UPCC) headquarters.

This will Priyanka’s maid-en visit to Uttar Pradesh aftershe formally entered politicslast month and she will bejoined by another general sec-retary in-charge for westernUttar Pradesh JyotiradityaScindia. Priyanka has respon-sibilities of 42 of the 80 LokSabha constituencies in thecrucial State while remaining inbags of Scindia.

Priyanka is scheduled tomeet senior leaders and officebearers of the party con-stituency-wise during her visittill February 14. Lists of lead-ers, including former MPs,MLAs and other people’s rep-resentatives, have been soughtfrom the district unit presi-dents. Each constituency isbeing allotted a different timeto meet the senior leadership,during which all issues relatedto their areas will be discussedin detail.

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The Congress on Saturdayalleged that top central BJP

leaders were behind the moveto topple the KarnatakaGovernment and said it wouldrake up the issue in Parliamentduring the remaining days ofWinter Session.

Against the backdrop of anaudio tape in which State BJPleader and former KarnatakaChief Minister BS Yeddyurappais purportedly trying to lure aJD(S) MLA with an offer of �10 crore, the Congress alsourged Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to take suo motucognisance of claims that top BJP leaders can “manage”judiciary.

Addressing a Press confer-ence in the national Capital,Congress General SecretaryKC Venugopal alleged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP chief Amit Shah wereinvolved in attempts to topple the JD(S)-CongressGovernment in Karnataka.

“The State Government isbeing destabilised by thenational Government,”Venugopal alleged joined byCongress chief spokesmanRandeep Surjewala.

“Since Yeddyurappa isheard saying that Amit Shahwill manage judges, the CJIshould take suo motu cogni-sance of attempts to defame thejudiciary,” Surjewala said.

He said the party will rake up the issue in Parliamenton Monday. The BudgetSession is presently on and would conclude onFebruary 13.

The purported audio tapewas made public by KarnatakaChief Minister HDKumaraswamy on Friday.Surjewala said the prime min-

ister needs to reply as to howthe BJP managed Rs 450 croreto “buy” 20 MLAs and allegedly “feed” the assemblyspeaker.

“Did the money comefrom the BJP, the PMO or else-where ... Which deal did itcome from,” he asked in anapparent reference to the Rafalejet deal. He asked whetheranti-corruption laws would beapplied on those behind allegedattempts to topple theGovernment in Karnataka.

Will the CBI and the ED raid Yeddyurappa? If not then it will become clearthat Narendra Modi and AmitShah are behind (the allegedtopple move) it,” said Surjewala.

Congress also it will not“unwarrantedly interfere” inthe functioning of the MadhyaPradesh Government on theissue of imposition of the strin-gent NSA against five people oncharges of cow slaughter andillegal transportation of cattle.The party said law and order isthe domain of the ChiefMinister and police.

“Kamal Nathji (ChiefMinister of MP) has categori-cally said the law will take itsown course. Nobody who isinnocent will be persecuted orpunished in any manner andnobody who is guilty will bespared,” Surjewala said.

On Friday, authorities inAgar Malwa district of Madhya Pradesh booked twomen under the NationalSecurity Act (NSA) for alleged illegal transportation ofcattle and disruption of public peace.

The Kamal Nath-ledGovernment in MadhyaPradesh had earlier slapped theNSA against three men accusedof killing a cow at Khandwadistrict.

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In one of the rare investiga-tions, the Enforcement

Directorate (ED) has regis-tered a money laundering caseagainst Pakistan-based outfitFalah-e-Insaniyat (FIF), a frontfor banned terror groupLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT).

FIF is a Lahore-basedorganisation established by theJamaat-ud-Dawa and acts as afront for the LeT. It was found-ed in 1990 by HafizMohammad Saeed, the mas-termind of the 2008 Mumbaiterror attack. Its headquartersis in Pakistan.

The ED said a criminalcase under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) has been filed by thecentral probe agency for theoutfit’s “involvement in moneylaundering through varioushawala channels.

The agency said it tookcognisance of a National

Investigation Agency (NIA)FIR, filed under the UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act(UAPA) last year in September,to file its own case against theFalah-e-Insaniyat.. “Thesefunds were utilised to carry outterrorist activities and createunrest in India,” the ED said ina statement.

The development comeswithin a week of India’s NoteVerbale to Pakistan, raising astrong protest Saeed’s recentparticipation at ‘KashmirSolidarity Day’ rally in Lahore.The Note Verbale read, “Theministry registers its strongprotest at the continued use ofPakistan controlled territory byextremist and terrorist ele-ments to freely propagate andpromote violence and terroragainst India.”

Note verbale is a form ofprotest a country gives toanother country when itannoyed by something or someissue that undermines it in the

country concerned.According to reports, the

69-year-old — an internation-ally designated terrorist with aUS bounty of $10 million onhis head — was showered withrose petals during the rally pro-ceeding.

Saeed’s oganisation FIF isalso no longer in the list ofPakistan’s banned organisa-tions. Following internationalpressure and USA act of freez-ing military and economic aidsto Pakistan in early 2018, for-

mer president MamnoonHussain had signed an ordi-nance amending the country’sAnti-Terrorism Act to includeentities banned by the UNSecurity Council, includingterror organisations such asJuD, FIF, Lashkar-e-Toiba, al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

However, in October 2018,the Islamabad High Court(IHC) was informed that thepresidential ordinance had

lapsed and it had never beenextended or tabled inParliament to be convertedinto an act.

Several top Pakistani politi-cians and senior officials havebeen seen sharing the daiswith him, making anti-Indiastatements.

According to ED, the NIAhas carried out searches inthis case in the past and hasseized over four dozen SIM cards, phones and �1.56crore (suspected) cash, Nepali currency worth worth�43,000, 14 mobiles phones,five pen drives, nine pass-ports,two kg gold jewelleryapart from other incriminat-ing documents. Four personshave been arrested till now inthe case.

The ED said one of thearrested accused in the case,Delhi-based MohammedSalman, was in “regular touchwith a Dubai-based Pakistannational, who in turn was con-

nected with the deputy chief ofFIF.”

Salman is alleged to havereceived funds from FIF oper-ators through hawala and heand other persons were report-ed to have received moneyillegally from various personsof Pakistan and UAE amongothers, the agency said.

Besides Salman, the NIAhas also arrested FIF hawalaconduit Mohammad Salim akaMama, a resident of centralDelhi’s Daryaganj, andSrinagar-based hawala courierSajjad Abdul Wani.

The US also designatedFIF as a terrorist entity in 2010.It is a front-end organisation ofLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrororganisation proscribed underthe Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The ED said its probe will“establish money trail and iden-tify proceeds of crime that aresuspected to be generated outof the criminal activities.

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All implantable medical devices,CT scan, MRI equipment, defib-

rillators, dialysis machine, PETequipment, X-ray machine and bonemarrow cell separator have beennotified as drugs with effect fromApril 1, 2020, as per a recent notifi-cation by the Union Health Ministry.This aims to regulate medical anddiagnostics devices in the country.

Giving this information here,officials said these eight medicalequipments have been notified as‘drugs’ under Section 3 of the Drugsand Cosmetics Act. “In pursuant ofsub-clause (IV) of clause (b) of sec-tion 3 of the Drugs and CosmeticsAct of 1940, the central governmentafter consultation with the drugstechnical advisory board herebyspecifies the following devicesintended for use in human beings asdrugs with effect from the first day

of April 2020 namely — allimplantable medical devices, CTscan equipment, MRI equipment,defibrillators, dialysis machine, PETequipment, xray machine and bonemarrow cell separator,” a notificationissued on Friday by the Ministry said.

A majority of medical devices areunregulated in India. This move isimportant for patient’s safety as withthis notification, all implantable anddiagnostic devices will come under theregulatory framework, said the official.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that theCentral Drugs Standard ControlOrganization (CDSCO), the nation-al medical device regulator, is alsoworking to chart out a road map forregulating the sale and use of med-

ical devices.It recently held a meeting where,

a consensus was reached to roll outmedical devices regulations in aphased manner and constitution ofmedical devices - expert advisorygroup (MD-EAG) to aid HealthMinistry in this regard.

These include separate and clearlaw for regulation of all medicaldevices in the country; separatemedical devices authority (orrevamping of CDSCO) in duecourse; no compromise on quality &safety of medical devices, imple-mentation of defined transition time& competency building measuresincluding infrastructure and trainingfor regulators and industry.

The consensus was also built intoregistration of all manufacturersand importers of all non notifiedmedical devices at earliest; devices’labels to carry registration numberand address to enable traceability.

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PC Mohanan, who resignedfrom the National Statistical

Commission (NSC) last monthover the Government “with-holding” the report showinghigh unemployment rate dur-ing 2017-18, has said the com-mission is the final authority onthe NSSO report and the NITIAayog should not have gotinvolved.

The former head of theNSC, also dismissed the NITIAayog’s claim that it was a draftreport and was not ready forrelease as the “Governmenthad not approved it”. He saidthat the NITI Aayog’s argumentwas “unacceptable”.

“Once the report isapproved by the commission, itis known as the final report.You cannot say it has to beapproved by the government.You accept it or reject it. But thegovernment cannot approvethe statistics. It raises certainquestions of credibility,” hetold NDTV.

“The Commission is thefinal authority on the NSSOreport. After that, the NITIAyog getting involved is not avery desirable thing. Previouschairmen of the commissionhave also said that the NITIAayog cannot be in the pictureof releasing the official statis-tics.

They are the users of thedata and cannot get involved.”

He said it was importantfor the commission that itsautonomy was maintained.

Mohanan also said thatthe government’s unwilling-ness to release the report was“the last straw”, forcing him tostep down.

“Over the years, we have

seen recommendations of thecommission are not taken seri-ously. In the 2017-18 report, weclearly mentioned that we arepained that the government isnot taking seriously the rec-ommendations of the com-mission.”

Mohanan also made it clearhis resignation was not due topersonal reasons as stated byNITI Aayog Vice-ChairmanRajiv Kumar.

“In my letter, I made it veryclear I have specific instancesand we thought our continuingin the commission was notserving any purpose becausethe commission was not veryeffective and there’s nothingpersonal in that.

The Government shouldtake note of the issues andimprove the system. And (JV)Meenakshi, who resigned alongwith me, also said the samething,” Mohanan said. He saidhe had flagged the delay in thereport’s release, but got noresponse from theGovernment.

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Aday after accusing L&Tand Edelweiss entities of

causing huge market value ero-sion by “illegal and motivated”sale of their pledged shares,Anil Ambani-led RelianceGroup on Saturday said boardsof its three listed firms have rec-ommended “all appropriatelegal steps” to protect share-holders’ value.

In separate regulatory fil-ings, Reliance Capital, RelianceInfrastructure and ReliancePower said their respectiveboards met on Saturday toreview the events of last week,leading to a sharp fall in theirmarket capitalisation anddestruction of wealth.

L&T Finance andEdelweiss Group have refutedthe allegations and havecounter-alleged RelianceGroup of failing to make time-ly payments, which they saidnecessitated sale of pledgedshares.

In its filing, RelianceCapital said its over 7 lakhshareholders have been impact-ed by what it termed as “illegal,motivated and unwarranted

actions of L&T Finance”.The financial services arm

of Reliance Group said itsboard has recommended andapproved that the companytake all appropriate legal stepsto protect and enhance thevalue of all its stakeholders,especially its over 7 lakh retailshareholders.

Reliance Power separatelysaid its board also reviewed theevents leading to a sharp fall inmarket capitalization anddestruction of wealth due to“illegal, motivated and unwar-ranted actions of L&T FinanceLimited and Edelweiss Groupimpacting its over 3.1.75 lakhshareholders”.

Its board also recom-mended and approved “allappropriate legal steps to pro-tect and enhance the value ofall its stakeholders, especiallythe over 31 .75 lakh retailshareholders of the company”.

Reliance Infrastructureblamed L&T Finance Limitedfor market value erosion, say-ing it has impacted its over 8lakh shareholders and said itsboard has therefore recom-mended and approved allappropriate legal steps.

In its statement on Friday,Reliance Group had allegedthat some NBFCs, “substan-tially L&T Finance and certainentities of Edelweiss Group,have invoked pledge of listedshares of Reliance Group andmade open market sales of thevalue of approximately Rs 400crore from February 4-7”.

“The illegal, motivated andwholly unjustified action by theabove two groups has precipi-tated a fall of Rs 13,000 crore,an unprecedented nearly 55 percent, in market capitalisation ofReliance Group over just thesefour short days,” it had said.

The group said the actionshave caused substantial lossesto 72 lakh institutional andretail shareholders, and harm-

ing the interests of all stake-holders.

Further, the group saidthat Reliance Capital, RelianceInfrastructure and ReliancePower as well as their varioussubsidiaries are performingsatisfactorily on all operatingparameters, and there is nochange whatsoever on anyaspect as compared to theposition prevailing prior tothese sales.

Refuting the allegations,L&T Finance said it had grant-ed loans against pledge ofshares to Reliance ADAGGroup companies.

“As per loan and pledgeagreements, borrower did notcure various events of defaultsincluding providing marginfor shortfall in the stipulatedsecurity cover.

“Despite various noticesin the past few months, eventsof defaults continued.Consequently, L&T Financeenforced its rights of invocationand sold pledged shares to theextent of its outstanding duesby following the due process ofcontract and law,” it said in astatement.

While noting that the alle-

gations as “unfounded, baselessand false”, Edelweiss Groupsaid it had granted credit facil-ities against pledge of shares toReliance ADAG Group.

Edelweiss Group said ithas reached out numeroustimes to Reliance ADAGGroup to address concerns onshortfall in margins and resul-tant fall in collateral valuation.

“Despite our best efforts,not only did Reliance ADAGGroup fail to address any of theconcerns raised by EdelweissGroup, but also continued tobreach contractual obligations,”it said in a separate statement.

On February 4, there wasa sharp drop in the prices ofReliance ADAG group shares,which led to further erosion inthe collateral value, Edelweisssaid, adding that it also gavedue opportunity for remedia-tion.

“Since there was noresponse from Reliance ADAGGroup, it necessitated liquida-tion of the collateral as per theagreed contractual terms.Throughout this process,Edelweiss has acted in a lawfuland responsible manner,” itadded.

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Stringent penalties like jailterm for adulteration and

endorsing false and misleadingadvertisements by celebritiesmay still remain a distant pos-sibility as the much-awaitedConsumer Protection Bill hasfallen off the priority list of thelawmakers as the lastParliament session for the BJP-led government in its currenttenure comes to an end.

If the Bill is not passed inthis session of the Rajya Sabha,then it will be for a future gov-ernment that comes after theelections to pursue it.

The proposed Bill, which isto overhaul the three-decade-old Consumer Protection Act1986, was passed in the LokSabha in December last yearafter it was introduced in 2015.

It was decided in a meetingof leaders of various parties inthe Rajya Sabha held last weekthat only non-contentious billswould be taken up for discus-sion.

CPI leader D. Raja, who isa member of the Upper House,said “We agreed only to passageof non-contentious bills such asthe one relating to ScheduledTribes.”

Speaking about the

Consumer Protection Bill, hesaid, “I do not think so. Sincethere is no consensus, we saidthe government should notbring those bills on whichthere is no consensus.”

According to officials inthe Consumer Affairs Ministry,the major opposition to the Billis from the medical fraternityand e-commerce portals.

During the winter sessionof Parliament, TrinamoolCongress Rajya Sabha memberDr. Santanu Sen had raisedobjections to the Bill saying theentire medical profession andthe small traders will be affect-ed by it.

He had said there was noprovision for penalty againstfalse complaints which mayencourage people to launchfalse complaints just for gettingmoney and sought furtheramendments.

A senior ministry officialtold IANS, “We are taking ourbest efforts to ensure the Bill ispassed. However, we cannotdecide whether it comes up fordiscussion.”

Sachin Taparia, Chairmanof LocalCircles, a social engage-ment platform, said theConsumer Protection Bill is thebiggest consumer reform inthree decades.

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Public debt has rapidlyincreased in many Arab

countries since the 2008 glob-al financial crisis, due to per-sistently high budget deficits,the International MonetaryFund warned Saturday.

“Unfortunately, the regionhas yet to fully recover from theglobal financial crisis and otherbig economic dislocations overthe past decade,” IMFManaging Director ChristineLagarde said.

“Among oil importers,(economic) growth has pickedup, but it is still below pre-cri-sis levels,” she told the Arab

Fiscal Forum in Dubai.Lagarde said public debt

among Arab oil importingnations had increased from 64percent to 85 percent of GrossDomestic Product in thedecade since 2008.

Nearly half of these coun-tries now have public debt ofover 90 percent of GDP, shesaid. Public debt among oilexporters — including the six-nation Gulf CooperationCouncil — rose from 13 per-cent of GDP to 33 percent ofGDP, accelerated by the crashin oil prices around five yearsago, Lagarde said. “The oilexporters have not fully recov-ered from the dramatic oil

price shock of 2014,” she said.“Modest growth contin-

ues, but the outlook is highlyuncertain.” Lagarde said oilproducing countries shouldlook to renewable energy in thecoming decades, in line withthe Paris Agreement on climatechange, which stipulates areduction in greenhouse emis-sions.

The IMF last month low-ered its economic growth fore-casts for Saudi Arabia — theworld’s top crude exporter —and the wider Middle Eastand North Africa region due toa renewed fall in oil prices, lowoutput and geopolitical ten-sions.

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New Delhi: External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj onSaturday assured the TextilesMinistry to provide all supportfor promoting silk in globalmarkets.

Sushma said that silk is astrong commodity and there ishuge demand for it in theinternational markets.

“I assure you that the min-istry of external affairs willbecome a facilitating Ministry”to take silk to global markets,she said here at a textile min-istry function — Surging Silk.

“You increase production,market is there,” she added.

Talking about the popu-larity of India made silk saree,Swaraj said her counterpartsduring the United NationsGeneral Assembly meetings,often ask about the wide vari-ety of colour, pattern and dif-ferent designs of these fabrics.

The Textiles Ministry dis-tributed machines to weavers inorder to eradicate thigh reelingpractice in tasar silk sector andto ensure rightful earning to therural and tribal women reelers.

On the target of eradicat-ing thigh reeling and replace itwith ‘Buniyaad’ reelingmachine by end of March 2020,Swaraj said the ministry shouldstrive for eliminating this prac-tice this year only by distrib-uting these equipment. PTI

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Commerce and IndustryMinister Suresh Prabhu on

Saturday said there is a need tocreate a conducive environ-ment and bring changes in oldregulations to promote bud-ding entrepreneurs.

“Had a fireside chat withthe startups from Maharashtraand regulators on one platform.As entrepreneurship blooms,we need to create a conduciveenvironment for our youngentrepreneurs and bringchanges in old regulations tocatch up with technologicalchanges,” he said in a tweet.

The statement assumes sig-nificance as the government isworking on support measuresfor startups that are raising con-cerns over angel tax issues.

The Govt is contemplatinghike in the investment limit foravailing income tax conces-sions by startups and providea more clear definition.

Giving relief to buddingentrepreneurs last year, theGovernment allowed startupsto avail tax concession only iftotal investment, includingfunding from angel investors,does not exceed �10 crore.

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Page 7: ˇ ) ˜ ’˝& + ˙ ˝ˇ˛ ˝˜# ˘ ˇ #ˇ ˝#, 0 $ ˇ...Regular flight service at the Veer Surendra Sai Airport here would resume from March 31, informed airport director SK Chouhan

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Beijing: Blizzards in Tibetanareas of western China have leftthousands of head of livestockdead and roads covered in upto 45 centimetres (18 inches) ofsnow, State media reported onSaturday.

Local authorities had sentveterinarians, medicine andanimal feed to the hard-hitareas in Qinghai Province'sYushu Tibetan AutonomousPrefecture, the Xinhua NewsAgency reported.

Villages in the area areabove 5,000 metres (16,400feet) and workers were seekingto clear roads to ensure thedelivery of supplies, a taskmade more difficult by highwinds and drifting snow.

Mainly ethnic Tibetan vil-lagers in the area depend heav-ily on livestock, mainly Yaks,goats and sheep, for their liveli-

hoods and to feed their families.Harsh winters are routine

in the Himalayan region thatlong fell within Tibet's tradi-tional borders.

Snow was also expected inother parts of northern andcentral China over comingdays, leading to some travel dis-ruptions as millions of Chinese

returned home after the pastweek's Lunar New Year holiday.

In the capital Beijing, onlylight snow fell although tem-peratures dipped below freezing.Falling rocks killed one personand injured 12 others at an icelantern show at Longqing Gorgeon Beijing's outskirts, the localGovernment reported. AP

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and four children seriously injured inseparate incidents of lightning strikesin the western part of Nepal, police said.

A 20-year-old girl, identified asSaraswoti Nath, was killed after beingstruck by lightning at Bhageshworarea in Dadeldhura district on Friday,they said.

Her two brothers, aged 15 and 8,and as many sisters, aged 14 and 12,sustained serious injuries in the inci-dent.

They have been admitted at sub-regional hospital in Dadeldhura, policeadded.

In a separate incident at Amargadhiarea in the same district, a 48-year-oldman, identified as Gogan Daulyal,died after being hit by lightening onFriday, they said.

In Nepal, lightning is considered asone of the major causes of naturalcalamities deaths.

Parts of Nepal have been witness-ing heavy rains and snowfall from thepast few days. PTI

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Washington: President DonaldTrump is "in very good health"and is expected to remainhealthy for “the duration of hispresidency and beyond,” hisdoctor declared on Friday fol-lowing an annual medical check-up. Trump underwent a nearlyfour-hour annual physical teston Friday — his second periodicexamination after becoming theUS President in January 2017.

"While the reports and rec-ommendations are beingfinalised, I am happy toannounce the President of theUnited States is in very goodhealth and I anticipate willremain so for the duration of hisPresidency and beyond," Sean PConley, a Navy officer who isthe president's physician and thecurrent director of the WhiteHouse medical unit, said in astatement. AFP

Bangkok: A new Thai politicalparty vowed on Saturday toobey a command from theking blocking the candidacy ofa princess for prime minister ina dramatic reversal thatappeared to boost the junta'schances ahead of March elec-tions.

The announcement effec-tively blocks PrincessUbolratana's unprecedentedbid for the premiership andcomes after an extraordinaryrebuke of the candidacy by heryounger brother, King MahaVajiralongkorn.

The Thai Raksa Chartparty, affiliated with the pow-erful Shinawatra political clan,announced the princess as theircandidate on Friday morning.

The move looked to rattlethe status quo and threaten theambitions of the junta that hasruled Thailand since it toppledthe administration of YingluckShinawatra in a 2014 coup.

But the Thai king torpe-doed the bid in a sharply word-ed statement the same daythat said bringing senior royalfamily members into politics isagainst tradition, national cul-ture and "highly inappropriate."Thai Raksa Chart respondedswiftly, cancelling a campaignevent on Saturday and issuinga statement saying it wouldrespect "tradition and royal

customs"."Thai Raksa Chart party

complies with the royal com-mand", it said. Thailand hassome of the most severe lesemajeste laws in the world andthe king's word is consideredfinal.

Royalist Thais andcelebrities praised the inter-vention on social media afterthe order, writing "long livethe king".

Analysts believe theevents that unfolded over thepast day will help the juntaconsolidate power and tilt theodds in favour of coup leaderPrayut Chan-O-Cha.

Prayut is standing as pre-mier for the PhalangPracharat party, a groupaligned with the regime.

The military has "gainedthe upper hand", said profes-sor Anusorn Unno fromThammasat University,adding that it is poised to per-form well in the upcomingvote. The election on March24 is the first since the 2014coup.

Even before Thai RaksaChart's reversal, manywarned the palace statementhad scuttled the princess'chances.

"The palace disapprovalinvalidates her candidacy,"said Puangthong Pawakapan,

professor of political science atChulalongkorn University.

Thailand is a constitution-al monarchy and has not had aroyal run for frontline officesince 1932.

Nuremberg: Five paintings attributed toAdolf Hitler will be auctioned off onSaturday in the German city of Nuremberg,sparking anger that the Nazi memorabil-ia market is alive and well.

Nuremberg's mayor Ulrich Maly hascondemned the upcoming sale as being "inbad taste," speaking to SueddeutscheZeitung newspaper.

Among the items to go under the ham-mer are a mountain lake view with a start-ing price of 45,000 euros ($51,000) and awicker armchair with a swastika symbolpresumed to have belonged to the late Nazidictator.

The Weidler auction house is holdingthe "special sale" in Nuremberg, the city inwhich Nazi war criminals were tried in1945.

The auction made headlines days before its start after several artworkswere withdrawn Thursday on suspicionthey were fakes and prosecutors steppedin.

Sales of alleged artworks by Hitler —who for a time tried to make a living as anartist in his native Austria — regularlyspark outrage that collectors are willing topay high prices for art linked to the coun-try's Nazi past.

"There's a long tradition of this tradein devotional objects linked to Nazism,"Stephan Klingen of the Central Institute forArt History in Munich told AFP. AFP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump and NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Unwill meet for a second much-anticipated summit in Hanoi,as preparations kick intohigh gear for the peace talks.

Trump announced theexact location on Twitter —only the country, Vietnam,was previously known — forthe follow-on to the leaders'summit in Singapore lastyear as he hailed "very pro-ductive" preparatory talksbetween diplomats from thetwo countries.

"My representatives havejust left North Korea after avery productive meeting andan agreed upon time and datefor the second Summit withKim Jong Un," Trump said.

"It will take place inHanoi, Vietnam, on February27 & 28. I look forward toseeing Chairman Kim &

advancing the cause ofpeace!" The US StateDepartment said the specialUS envoy for North Koreawill meet again withPyongyang officials aheadof the Trump-Kim talks —hours after he returned toSeoul from talks in the Northon the summit's agenda.

In a statement, the StateDepartment said talks duringStephen Biegun's three-daytrip explored Trump andKim's "commitments of com-plete denuclearization, trans-forming US-DPRK relationsand building a lasting peace onthe Korean Peninsula." Biegunlanded at Osan US Air Baselate Friday, foreign ministryspokesman Noh Kyu-duk toldAFP. The State Departmentconfirmed Biegun agreed tomeet his North Korean coun-terpart Kim Hyok Chol againbefore the leaders' talks.

North Korea has yet toprovide any official confir-mation of the summit andKim Jong Un appeared tomake no mention of it dur-ing a meeting earlier with thetop brass of the KoreanPeople's Army. As reportedby state media, the meetingfocused on the need to mod-ernize the military whilemaintaining party disciplinein the ranks.

Biegun is expected toshare details of hisPyongyang meetings withhis South Korean counter-part Lee Do-hoon andForeign Minister KangKyung-wha on Saturday.

Attention will focus onwhether the US team haveoffered to lift some eco-nomic sanctions in returnfor Pyongyang taking con-crete steps toward denu-clearisation. AFP

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Washington: The United Statesis seeking a peace agreementand not an agreement to with-draw its troops from war-rav-aged Afghanistan, the TrumpAdministration has said.

Weeks after initiating directtalks with the Taliban, whereinthe two agreed on a frameworkof peace agreement, TrumpAdministration's point personon Friday told a Washingtonaudience that these were just afew steps in the direction ofpeaceful resolution of the con-flict in Afghanistan and thatthey have a long way to go.

And this cannot beachieved without the help ofregional players, in particularPakistan, Special USRepresentative ZalmayKhalilzad said in his maidenpublic appearance before aWashington audience some sixmonths after he was entrusted

with this task by the Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo.

"My overall goal is, at thedirection of the president of thesecretary of state, not to seek outwithdrawal agreement, but thepeace agreement. Because peaceagreement can allow with-drawal. It is not just the with-drawal agreement that we areseeking," Khalilzad said.

The veteran Americandiplomat in his appearancebefore the US Institute of Peace(USIP) said that to achieve apeace agreement, quite a num-ber of issues have to be dealtwith.

"We have tried to develop along agenda of issues that mustbe addressed. Initially, we havefocused on two issues, one onthe issue of counter terrorismand the other the issue of usforced withdrawal," he said.

"After many conversations,

we have reached an agreementin principle with the Taliban ona framework that would provideguarantees, and enforcementmechanism that no terroristgroup, international terroristgroup or individuals would beable to use Afghanistan, theareas that they control andshould they be part of a futuregovernment; against the UnitedStates as allies and others,"Khalilzad said.

"We will engage withTaliban further to flush outthese commitments that they'vemade," said the Afghan-bornUS diplomat who was the high-est ranking Muslim Americanin the Bush Administration inhis capacity as the USAmbassador to the UnitedNations.

He also served as the USAmbassadors to Afghanistanand Iraq during the Bush

Administration."Our hope is, our expecta-

tion is that once interact can dia-logue begins, which is our keyobjective, that these paralleldiscussions will be broughttogether," he said.

"Even if we achieve successon these two issues, we makefurther progress, a peace agree-ment would not be, immediatelyor shortly are achieved in theforeseeable future without acomprehensive agreement onother issues," he added.

Nothing is agreed to untileverything has been agreed toand the other issues that mustbe dealt with are issues of aroadmap for Afghanistan polit-ical future to end Afghan war.

The Afghans, he asserted,must sit across the table witheach other and come to anagreement about their future oftheir country. PTI

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Kiev: Ukraine's president saysthe nation needs to join theEuropean Union and NATO toprotect itself from Russia'sexpansionist actions.

President PetroPoroshenko, who is seeking asecond five-year term in theMarch 31 vote, accused Russiaon Saturday of planning tomeddle in the election. Hedescribed the election as a "gen-eral battle for Ukraine." Opinionpolls show Poroshenko trailingbehind comedian VolodymyrZelenskiy and former PrimeMinister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Ukraine has struggled witheconomic woes following

Russia's 2014 annexation ofCrimea and its support for sep-aratists in eastern Ukraine, lead-ing to a sharp decline in livingstandards. The government'sfailure to combat corruption hasalso fueled public dismay.

Poroshenko has sought toshore up his sagging support byspearheading the creation of anew Ukrainian OrthodoxChurch independent fromMoscow Patriarchy. AP

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Vatican City: Pope Franciswill meet with migrants inMorocco and visit a traininginstitute for imams that seeksto be a bulwark against Islamicextremism during his March30-31 visit to the North Africancountry.

The Vatican on Saturdayreleased the schedule for thepope's trip to Rabat.

It comes on the heels ofFrancis' recent visit to theUnited Arab Emirates, wherehe signed a landmark "frater-nity" document with a leadingSunni imam and sought toencourage moderate Islam andinterfaith ties.

Francis will also meet with

Morocco's king, the country'spriests and religious sistersand celebrate Mass for theCatholic community.

Morocco has long consid-ered itself a key ally in the fightagainst Islamic extremism, andKing Mohammed VI routine-ly criticizes jihadism and thediscourses of radical Islam. AP

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�!� �;����D������%� %����� #������� (�������%Beijing: China insists that peaceful dialogue and polit-

ical means are the "only way" toward enduring peace inVenezuela, the Foreign Ministry said, adding that it backsmultinational efforts to reach such an outcome.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying's statementcame in response to a question about a meetingThursday of an "International Contact Group" led byUruguayan President Tabare Vazquez and attended byleaders of 14 countries, including Spain, Italy, Portugaland Sweden.

China is a close ally of Venezuelan President NicolasMaduro, to whom it has lent billions to help shore uphis embattled regime.

Hua said China "believes that Venezuela's affairsshould be resolved by the Venezuelan people under theframework of its constitution and laws and throughpeaceful dialogue and political means.

This is the only way toward enduring peace in thecountry."

However, she added that "China supports the effortsby the international community to this end and hopesthat all sides will continue to play a constructive role inthe peaceful resolution of the Venezuela issue."

Late last month, the Ministry issued a statement inHua's name saying China "opposes external interventionin Venezuela," in a rebuke to calls in the US for militaryaction to remove Maduro.

Over the last decade, China has given Venezuela $65billion in loans, cash and investment.

Venezuela owes more than $20 billion.China's only hope of being repaid appears to lie in

Venezuela ramping up oil production, although lowpetroleum prices and the country's crashing economybode poorly for such a possibility.

Two dozen nations, including the US and some ofLatin America's biggest countries, have recognised oppo-sition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president,while China and Russia are backing Maduro. AP

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Washington: In a dangerous sign that Pakistan-basedLashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has expanded its tentacles in the UnitedStates, federal prosecutors on Friday announced to have arrest-ed a New Yorker who was about to catch a flight to Pakistanto join the terror group.

While in Texas, the FBI charged a teenager with usingsocial media to recruit people on behalf of the LeT.

Jesus Wilfredo Encarnacion (29), was arrested Thursdaynight at John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport)as he was about to board an international flight with Pakistanbeing his final destination.

"Encarnacion allegedly attempted to travel to Pakistan tojoin a foreign terrorist organization and conspired with anoth-er individual to provide that organization with material sup-port," said Assistant Attorney General John Demers.

Encarnacion, a.K.A. "Jihadistsoldgier", "Jihadinhear","Jihadinheart" and "Lionofthegood," plotted to travel toPakistan to join and train with LeT, which is infamous aroundthe world for perpetrating the lethal 2008 Mumbai terrorattacks and other atrocities, said US Attorney Geoffrey Berman.

A Manhattan resident, Encarnacion not only express adesire to "execute and behead people," he scheduled travel andalmost boarded a plane so he could go learn how to becomea terrorist, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William SweeneyJr.

In the southern state of Texas, Michael Kyle Sewell, 18,was charged by the FBI with using social media to recruit peo-ple on behalf of LeT and send them to Pakistan for terroristtraining.

The arrest of the New Yorker and the charges against theTexas teenager — who do not appear to be of South Asianorigin as has been the case in previous such arrests – has setthe alarm bells ringing among the law enforcement agenciesin the US. The arrests have thrown the spotlight on issues ofhomegrown terrorism and radicalisation of American youths,a situation that authorities have dreaded post Mumbai-ter-rorist attack. PTI

London: The British and Irishleaders are meeting to discussthe Irish border — and mendfences — amid a tense UK-EUstandoff over Brexit.

UK Prime Minister TheresaMay will dine with Irish premierLeo Varadkar in Dublin to pressher case for changes to Britain'sdivorce deal with the EU.

Britain's Parliament reject-ed the agreement last month,largely over concerns about aprovision designed to ensure anopen border between the UK'sNorthern Ireland and EU mem-ber Ireland.

Britain is due to leave thebloc on March 29.

The bid for last-minutechanges has exasperated EUleaders. AP

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Tokyo: Occasional fasting maynot only help people lose weightbut also boost their metabolicactivity, generate antioxidants,and reverse some effects ofageing, a study claims.

Scientists at the OkinawaInstitute of Science andTechnology (OIST) and KyotoUniversity in Japan identified 30previously-unreported sub-stances whose quantity increas-es during fasting and indicate avariety of health benefits.

"We have been researchingageing and metabolism formany years and decided tosearch for unknown healtheffects in human fasting," saidTakayuki Teruya, first author ofthe paper published in thejournal Scientific Reports.

"Contrary to the original

expectation, it turned out thatfasting induced metabolic acti-vation rather actively," saidTeruya.

The study presents ananalysis of whole human blood,plasma, and red blood cellsdrawn from four fasting indi-viduals. The researchers mon-itored changing levels ofmetabolites — substancesformed during the chemicalprocesses that grant organismsenergy and allow them to grow.

The results revealed 44metabolites, including 30 thatwere previously unrecognised,that increased universallyamong subjects between 1.5- to60-fold within just 58 hours offasting.

In previous research,researchers identified various

metabolites whose quantitiesdecline with age, includingthree known as leucine,isoleucine, and ophthalmic acid.

In fasting individuals, thesemetabolites increase in level,suggesting a mechanism bywhich fasting could helpincrease longevity.

"These are very importantmetabolites for maintenanceof muscle and antioxidant activ-ity, respectively," said Teruya.

"This result suggests thepossibility of a rejuvenatingeffect by fasting, which was notknown until now," he said.

The human body tends toutilise carbohydrates for quickenergy — when they are avail-able. When starved of carbs, thebody begins looting its alternateenergy stores. PTI

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Kano: Three soldiers were killed when BokoHaram jihadists raided a military base in north-east Nigeria, security sources said on Saturday.

The attack happened at the ForwardOperation Base in Ngwom village, some 14 kilo-metres (nearly nine miles) north of the Borno statecapital, Maiduguri.

"Boko Haram infiltrated our base in Ngwomyesterday (Friday) at around 6:50 pm (1750 GMT)in which we lost three soldiers," a military officerin Maiduguri told AFP. A second military sourcesaid the Islamist militants left with two army vehi-cles and "demobilised" a mine-resistant armouredvehicle. "The terrorists also burnt two houses anda car belonging to our members in the village,"added a civilian militia leader in Maiduguri.

It was not immediately clear which of the twoBoko Haram factions was behind the attack.

Most of the attacks on troops in Borno andneighbouring Yobe state since mid-2018 have beenclaimed by, or blamed on, the self-styled IslamicState West Africa Province. AFP

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In a season of manyfirsts for the Indian cricketteam, Rohit Sharma's men

will be aiming to become firstamong the equals to win a T20International series in NewZealand when the two sides clashin the final match on Sunday.

The past three months havemade for a memorable phase forthe Indian cricket team, whichwon its first Test and bilateral ODIseries in Australia followed by thebiggest one-day series win inNew Zealand.

A first T20 series victory inNew Zealand will be the icing onthe cake for the Men in Blue, whohave far exceeded expectationsduring their three-month sojournin this part of the world.

With the series locked at 1-1,there is everything to play for inthe decider which promises to bea cracker of a contest on a SuperSunday with a spicy Seddon Parkpitch in the offing.

India will do well toremember the nightmare thatthey endured during the fourthODI at this venue where they wereshot out for 92 in the wake ofsome quality swing bowling fromTrent Boult.

However, Sunday will be adifferent day and there can't be abigger motivation than winningyet another series in challengingoverseas conditions.

"We have played in Hamiltonand there won't be any surpriseelement as far as the pitch isconcerned. Also having won thesecond game gives us confidencegoing into the final match," left-

arm speedster Khaleel Ahmedhad said after series levellingsecond T20I, when asked aboutthe Hamilton game.

"We have rectified some ofour mistakes from the first gameand hopefully a few which arethere will also be corrected,"Khaleel added.

India played the same XI inthe first two games and in alllikelihood, will maintaincontinuity unless there are someniggles.

In case the team management

gives change a thought, it could bea like for like replacement withKuldeep Yadav coming in place ofYuzvendra Chahal as the wristspinner.

However, a look at India's T20playing XIs will indicate thatChahal has been their preferredshortest format bowler on mostoccasions.

The Indian bowling unit willlook to replicate their good showfrom the last match where theyfound their rhythm after a pastingin the opener from Tim Seifert.

Krunal Pandya has once againpunched above his weight withsome gritty performances in thetwo games.

Not considered the mosttalented player in the set-up,Krunal makes up his with hardwork and discipline. His accuracyis one of the biggest positivesgoing into Sunday's match alongwith the intelligence of seniorseamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Khaleel also stuck to his briefin the last game where skipperRohit Sharma had instructed himto bowl back of the length to avoidbeing hit for boundaries. Therewill be a similar plan in place onSunday also.

The stand-in captain, who isnow the world's top run-getter inT20 Internationals, will like tobetter the 29-ball-50 of theprevious match, which can well

spell doom for the Black Caps.With Shikhar Dhawan for

company, a good opening willsolve half the problems for thevisitors as it has been the caseduring the last four years.

The middle-order has alsoshown solidity with theexperience of Mahendra SinghDhoni and the exuberance ofRishabh Pant combining well aswas evident in Auckland.

For New Zealand, a betterbatting effort in the middle oversis what they would be looking for.

Skipper Kane Williamson hasendured a quiet limited oversseries by his standards and seniorbatsman Ross Taylor has alsoblown hot and cold during the lastthree weeks.

Among bowlers, Tim Southeewas impressive in the first gameand pretty ordinary in the secondalong with Scott Kuggeleijn, whoalso went for a fair amount ofruns.

�5/���India: Rohit Sharma(c), ShikharDhawan, Rishabh Pant, DineshKarthik, Kedar Jadhav, MSDhoni, Krunal Pandya, KuldeepYadav, Yuzvendra Chahal,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, SiddarthKaul, Khaleel Ahmed, ShubmanGill, Vijay Shankar, HardikPandya, Mohammad Siraj.New Zealand: KaneWilliamson(c), Doug Bracewell,Colin de Grandhomme, LockieFerguson, Scott Kuggeleijn,Colin Munro, Daryl Mitchell,Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert,Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, RossTaylor, Blair Tickner, JamesNeesham.

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An improved batting performancewill be foremost on skipper

Harmanpreet Kaur's mind, when Indianwomen eyeing a consolation victory,take on New Zealand in the third andfinal T20 International at Seddon Parkon Sunday.

After winning the ODI series 2-1,

Indian women lost momentum andsubsequently the T20 series.

With an aim to build a squad forICC World T20 in 2020, the Indian teammanagement decided to drop team'ssenior batswoman Mithali Raj, who is

no longer considered a force to reckonwith in the shortest format.

Only time will tell whether thisinspired call pays dividends in the longrun but the results have been far fromencouraging in the first two matches

which India lost by 23 runs and fourwickets respectively.

In both games whether chasing orbatting first, India are stuck in the lessthan 140-run mark, which is below-paragainst a top team like New Zealand.

The biggest problem has been thelack of fight from the middle-order saveSmriti Mandhana and JemimahRodrigues, who were top scorersrespectively in the first two games.

Debutant Priya Punia's lack ofexperience has been evident butprobably what hurt Women in Blue mostis skipper Harmanpreet Kaur'sindifferent form.

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“People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim.”— Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged

Afarewell Budget that lays outa 10-year roadmap and apot of gold $10 trillionstrong at 13 years from now,is unusual to say the least. If

you think of 2032, when most of our 65per cent of the population — that isunder 35 — will be around, remember$10 trillion puts you in the top threeeconomies of the world in nominalterms, and probably at the very top inPPP terms. This is due to India’s 7-8 percent GDP growth per annum, year onyear compounding away, and expectedto power on for the next 30 years. Noother major economy can hope for asmuch with the near certainty that wecan. Of course, it presupposes that thegreat Indian electorate does not plungethis country into chaos by throwing aspanner in the works.

Narendra Modi’s audacity is in hisassumption of continuity. He is bank-ing on the good sense of the electorateto see him through. And very deftly,he has moved the time dial for himselfforward. In 2014, he used to speak ofthe need for 10 years to get manythings done. At the end of the firstfive, he wants, health and God willing,a further 13 years — some two-and-a-half terms to retirement or worthyLotus branded successor.

There is no pleading or grandstand-ing Congress-style, of “if we are votedback to power”. And this, weeks beforethe declaration of dates for the GeneralElections 2019. And in the face of ahowling cacophony of an Oppositioncontemplating a life of irrelevance andpowerlessness. The whole country reg-istered the point that Modi thinks hehas done well because he has not hesi-tated to list his Government’s achieve-ments so far. But he also needs moretime to see his vision through to its log-ical conclusion. Given that the otherside had nearly six decades, most ofthem mired in low growth, scarcity, andpoverty, it seems like a very reasonableimplied request indeed. The foreignmedia was quick to join a chorus ofdomestic observers that called it a“campaign Budget” because it tried toinclude over 70 per cent or more of theelectorate in its reach. It was campaignpromise, yes, but also an Americanstyle “state of the Union” address, and avision statement, besides being at itsminimum the usual set of proposalstowards the annual accounting exercise.

The new NSSO data on jobs onwhich the Opposition has jumped withall the vigour of a pack of ravenoushyenas, is clearly spurious, resignationof its authors notwithstanding. Thistalk of a 45-year high in unemploy-ment is absurd, because 45 years ago,this country, in the sadistic grip of theLicence-Permit Raj and minus growthrates, was barely allowed to manufac-ture a sling shot. It, therefore, reads likean old Soviet crop report in its exag-geration and inaccuracy. The half-baked NSSO report was leaked justbefore the tabling of the InterimBudget on February 1, despite beingdisallowed by the Government.

It has clearly done no more than ashoddy job of surveying the formaleconomy. That the private sector in it,mostly benefited by the Congress and

its payola systems, and in a sulk eversince it was booted out, along with amostly unproductive public sector, isnot the whole truth, is obvious. Theformal private sector, deprived of loansthey understood they were not requiredto pay back, leading to a massive baddebt problems at all the public sectorand some private sector banks, hasindeed not grown much.

The informal economy, however,which is at 80-90 per cent of the whole,and fuels the robust GDP growth too, isignored by the lazy babus at the NSSO,who can’t be bothered to survey andenumerate it. But this cannot beignored with impunity. Certainly notwithout serious distortions of data.Because, it, the domestic service, theself-employed small entrepreneur, thestreet vendor, the drivers, helpers,cooks, guards, construction site work-ers, chowkidars even — is growingmuch faster than the formal economy!

Along with it are the poorly docu-mented small and medium enterpris-es, estimated to employ some 200million people at least. In this Budget,this MSME sector has been given aninterest subvention of 2 per cent forloans up to �1 crore.

The broad informal sector has beenoffered a small monthly pension of�3,000 per month after the age of 60. Itis a benefit that will accrue to millions

of people. This comes on top of otherinsurance schemes for the poor,announced earlier, including those formedical insurance, life, and accidentinsurance. In addition to bankaccounts, Aadhaar-based identityauthentication, and a massive thrusttowards digitisation, the insurancevehicles are definitely a Modi favourite.

The larger benefit for the countryis the inclusion of the same millionswho work in these sectors, on the sta-tistical rolls. We will know who thesepeople are, where they work, as thepension scheme identifies millions ofworkers for eligibility. They can qualifyfor the scheme only by making amonthly contribution of between �55-100, depending on age. It will be,therefore, to an extent, self-supporting,like most insurance schemes are.

In this Interim Budget as a whole,there was the careful balancing act ofdistributing sops, incentives, andlargesse, without impacting theadmirable fiscal deficit number as itstands. Certainly not by more than 0.1per cent, even projected into next year.This was made possible by a doublingof direct tax collections for the veryfirst time. It was a Budget that wasresponsive to the needs of various sec-tions of the population, and thankedthe taxpayer — a first for any IndianGovernment — for enabling the devel-

opment programmes of this adminis-tration to go forward.

The Modi Government presented,via a stand-in Finance Minister, who isalso the Railway Minister, what mighthave been a vote-on-account. That is ifit was an administration with less self-confidence and more reverence for con-vention. Minister Piyush Goyal —young, fit, fluently bilingual in Hindiand English — presented a substantialBudget through a long speech.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wasthere, thumping the table along with hiscolleagues on the Treasury Benches, inrepeated approval of many of theannouncements that were made.

The media and the middle classessaw to it that the best receivedannouncement bar none was the onethat exempted up to �5 lakh in taxableincome from Income Tax. It will benefitan estimated three crore people. Andthere were hints that people in highertax brackets might also see some reliefwhen the Budget proposals are con-firmed after the elections. This even asa small payment of �6,000 per annumto farmers who own less than five acresof land, has nevertheless rememberedanother 12 crore people.

This too, like the pension schemefor the informal sector will help identi-fy by name, Aadhaar Card and bankaccount some 12 crore people who

qualify, and will also improve our sta-tistical abilities. States will need tocooperate by supplying much of theinformation from their land records.But the uses of this captured informa-tion will be handy for other benefitstoo, as they roll out in future.

The Congress was quick to mock atthis one, announced early in the Budgetspeech, seeing their plank of being thefarmers’ champion melting away. Atjust �17 a day, Rahul Gandhi called itan “insult” to the “Indian farmer”.Internet wags promptly mocked him onsocial media, calling it 0.02 paise persecond. This, even as the BJP said theStates, particularly the Congress-ruledones, were at liberty to enhance theamounts to the extent that their purseand conscience could afford. This wasprobably in oblique reference to thealready floundering farm loan waiverschemes announced by the Congress inthe three Hindi heartland States theyhave recently won as well as inKarnataka. This token amount, ofcourse, comes on top of other benefits,such as minimum price guarantees forproduce, subsidised fertiliser and low-cost loans and interest waivers — alsoextended by this Budget to those infisheries, poultry, and dairy industries.

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The moribund real estate sec-tor that accounts for at least10 per cent of the GDP,

ignored for the entirety of theModi Government so far, despitebeing a significant employer, hasat last been given some benefits.Perhaps the Government saw itsrelentless emphasis on infrastruc-ture development in preparationfor facilitating a $10-trillion econ-omy, as attention enough.

However, the housing, office,retail shopping centres and soon, are definitely a distinct,largely urban area category, anddeserve encouragement. Havingseen the light on this at last, thepresent Budget moves on reliefin notional rents from secondhomes. It also includes long-term capital gains from propertyconcessions. This permits buyingtwo homes after the sale of oneto a capital gains value of �2crore, without attracting any tax,but only once in a lifetime.

There were a number of effi-ciency-oriented announcements,including income tax assess-ments and refunds within a day,digitised and anonymous scruti-ny, single-window clearances for

domestic filmmakers, and amassive push for furthering thedigital in general as a tool tocurb corruption and increaseefficiency. Bank fixed depositsmight experience a revivalbecause the TDS threshold hasbeen raised from applicability atjust �10,000 earned to �40,000.

The Opposition was visiblyupset at a near-full Budget insteadof a mere vote-on-account, andwhined about this for a day ortwo after the one-hour-45-minutepresentation by Goyal. It was nev-ertheless called a good Budget byexperts, the captains of businessand industry, the ordinary people,the stock market, and the media.

Various Congress Partygrandees, including the Gandhis,sat on in Parliament throughGoyal’s cheerful speech, makingfaces as if they were suffering thefull rigours of purgatory.Undaunted, the Budget laid out a10-point vision statement. Itwants to build physical infrastruc-ture fit for a $10-trillion economy.This cannot be faulted, becauseinfrastructure bottlenecks havehampered our progress fordecades and stigmatised India as a

third world country. Modi alsowants a fully digital economy by2030, probably in line with all ofthe developed world. Electricvehicles will become de rigeur, aswill renewable energy to curb badair, ground, and water pollution.

Rural industrialisation is aninevitable priority, as more andmore people migrate to the citiesas a corollary to developmentseen all over the world. So therewill be mechanisation, productiv-ity enhancement, village industryand so on, to transform the coun-tryside. Clean rivers are startingto become a reality for the firsttime with sewage and chemicalsbeing processed instead of beingallowed to pollute the rivers. Thistrend will be strengthened goingforward even as Ganga water hasshown improvement for the veryfirst time. Let us remember thatthere were no fish in the Thamesbecause it was so polluted beforeconservation measures were putin place. There will be a scalingup of the Blue Water Economyusing the flagship Sagarmala andother projects. The SpaceProgramme will send an Indianto space by 2022 and India will

become the world’s go-to placefor the launch of satellites.

Food self-sufficiency, alreadya thing achieved, must be main-tained using sustainable farmingpractices. Comprehensive educa-tion and healthcare for all is onits way to becoming a reality, but

is also a basic requirement for adeveloped economy. ImprovedGovernment efficiency as a goalis probably the hardest toachieve, but can come about ifpermanent tenure is removed.

The biggest defence Budgetever at �3 lakh plus crore, howev-

er, is grossly inadequate, consider-ing the backlog of work towardsmodernisation of the equipmentfor the armed forces. This willhave to be reinforced liberally offBudget. The Budget for theIndian Railways towards mod-ernisation, greater connectivity,and growth, has been enhanced,as it is on its way to revival andprofitability once again. It isindeed a proud achievement thatall unmanned level crossings onthe broad gauge network havenow been eliminated. Peopleneed not die at them anymore.Civil aviation is growing by leapsand bounds as over a millionpeople use it daily to travel to andfrom 100 airports domestically.

There are many other aspectsof this Budget, both in the head-lines and the fine print. But suf-fice is to say that it plans toincrease expenditure significantlywithout wrecking the fiscaldeficit. Let us hope theGovernment’s substantial divest-ment PSU programme, which hasnot gone particularly well, doesnot queer the pitch. The lendingand rating agencies will be watch-ing for fiscal slippage.

Is this Budget, responsive as itis, too little too late in the day toseriously influence the comingelections? This depends on whatone thinks of both public memo-ry and attention span. Modiclearly thinks that it is best to dowelcome things as close to theGeneral Elections as possible.The coherence and signature rep-resented by the six Modi Budgetsis in the emphasis given to long-term nation building and mod-ernisation over populist sops. It isthis that has given us the goodmacroeconomic profile and theinternational recognition of aneconomy on the move.

Of course, at the grassrootslevel, this Budget acknowledgesthat there is much that remains tobe done. But the Oppositionseems to be considerably behindthe curve on this, because it reliesheavily, as always, on the gullibili-ty of the voter and its response tothe promise of immediate benefit,however fraudulent. It has evenworked for them to an extentelectorally very recently. Will it dothe trick in a couple of months?My guess is that it is advantageNarendra Modi all the way.

There have been some pleasantdevelopments with regards toIndian Railways (IR) in therecent times. While mam-moth projects like the bullet

train, Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)and first train to Andaman Islands havecaught the attention of many; India’s firstengineless train, named the ‘Train 18’deserves special attention. An idealinfrastructure project is one with a shortgestation period, reasonable cost, uncom-promised quality and that which can beeasily made operational. All these aspectsin perfect placement, will have the effectof creating a positive impact on thelifestyle of the people. Train 18 (T18)looks very promising in this context atleast at the outset. Still, in the best inter-ests of the future of IR, it is pertinent toanalyse this project on these aspects.

T18 has been designed and built bythe Integral Coach Factory (ICF)Chennai over a span of 18 months. It hasacquired its name because of this feat.It was in 2016 that the ICF approachedthe ministry with the idea and theapproval came in April 2017. From thenon till today, ICF has attempted some-thing that the Indian Railways hasnever done before and it has been aremarkable achievement.

Each coach costs �6 crore, whichis about 40 per cent cheaper than aEuropean coach of similar design. T18

is driven by a self propulsion modulewithout a locomotive and is capable ofrunning at a speed of up to 160 kmph.It has technical features for enhancedand quick acceleration and is expect-ed to significantly cut travel timecompared to Shatabdi trains.

It boasts of aerodynamicallydesigned driver cabins at both ends forquicker turnaround at destinations andhas an advanced regenerative brakingsystem that saves power. There would bea saving of 20 per cent in terms of lifecycle cost when compared to ShatabdiExpress as T18 would require less main-tenance due to its three phase propulsionsystem and new generation bogies.

The project also had to overcomemany obstacles as IR did not have thereadymade technology for 160 kmphmotorised bogies. There was a lot ofplanning and coordination to be donewith third party equipment providers.ICF did not have the required expertisein Interior Design and consultants hadto be arranged from Poland and France.In spite of all these, ICF ensured that theownership of technology is well withthem. Roughly 80 per cent of the man-ufacturing is indigenous with only 20 percent relying on imports. This project hasalso paved the way for ICF to enter intothe export market in a big way consid-ering the state of the art design featuresand facilities that it has developed.

The IR is taking this initiative fur-ther and is now looking forward to man-ufacture its first aluminum shell coach-es that will possibly attain speeds of 250kmph through a project called Train 20which is stated to come up by 2020. Aproposal to make 500 aluminum coach-es at Modern Coach Factory in RaeBareli is awaiting approval. Thus IR isnow gradually planning to shift to alu-minum which is used as a standardmaterial for coaches worldwide from itspresent use of stainless steel LHB coach-es; reducing risk of corrosion andmaintenance costs.

India is also aspiring for BulletTrains with the first such train betweenMumbai and Ahmedabad coming up ina few years time. While in no way deny-ing the entry of bullet train, it also needsto be noted that bullet trains are projectsthat take a lot of time to realise besideshuge costs. There are also other alliedissues of land acquisition and viabilityentangled with it. Hence, projects likeT18 can act as a transition before tak-ing the giant leap towards bullet trains.

The real issue with T18 is thenationwide operational aspect. An inter-nal report of the IR claims that only 0.3per cent of the existing track length is fitfor trains to be operated at speeds of 130-160 kmph and only 5 per cent of exist-ing track length is fit to carry trains atspeeds of 130 kmph. It also needs to be

understood that Indian tracks areoverused and is one of the main reasonsfor train derailment. This has beenstressed adequately in the safety reportsof Anil Kakodkar and Sam Pitroda ledcommittees. In this backdrop India hasto be careful in operating T18 trains atsuch high speeds. We cannot afford tocompromise safety for the sake of speed.The Chief Commissioner of RailwaySafety (CCRS) has given clearance withthe caveat that there needs to be a stur-dy fencing all along the track for speedsoperating beyond 130 kmph up to 160kmph. So, to start with T18 will only berunning at a maximum speed of130kmph wherever possible and forspeeds up to 160kmph, we need to wait.

To solve this issue, the IR has priori-tised six corridors which carry 58 percent of freight and 52 per cent of passen-gers, but that constitutes only 18 per centof rail network. This itself is a time tak-ing exercise but a modest beginning. TheT18 Project definitely deserves applauseas far as the rapid pace of manufactureof its first prototype is considered. TheICF has done a commendable job con-sidering its limitations with respect todesign. But to realise the full potential ofT18, it is definitely going to take sometime. But nevertheless, it is an achieve-ment that we all need to be proud of.&���"�������������� ��'�����������>�*���!������ ����������/��"��-������������� ���

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Valentine’s Day is nearly here, with heart-adorned cards, bumper boxes of chocolate,bouquets of red roses and teddy bears wear-

ing T-shirts emblazoned with cutesy messages start-ing to appear in shops across the country. Nowheavily commercialised and laden with expecta-tion, the annual event was once a day where peo-ple earnestly showed their love and affection foranother person. The oldest surviving Valentine’spoem was written by a prison-entrapped, pininglover: Charles, Duke of Orleans wrote it for his wifein 1415, confined in the Tower of London afterbeing captured at the Battle of Agincourt. HoweverValentine’s Day was celebrated for centuries beforethat. The event falls on the same day each year,February 14 — which this year is a Thursday.

�����������Cupid is the god of desire, erotic love, attractionand affection. He is often portrayed as the son ofthe love goddess Venus and the war god Mars.

Cupid is also known in Latin as Amor(“Love”). His Greek counterpart is Eros and he isjust one of the ancient symbols associated with StValentine’s Day, along with the shape of a heart,doves, and the colours red and pink.

He is usually portrayed as a small winged fig-ure with a bow and arrow which he uses to strikethe hearts of people. People who fall in love are saidto be ‘struck by Cupid’s arrow’.

�� ��������������� ����The heart was once associated with knowledge aswell as feelings: Egyptians believed that the heartwas the source of our memories, as well as ouremotions. They placed so much value on theorgan that they left it in people’s bodies duringmummification, while throwing all other organs,including the brain, away. And they weren’t theonly ones — Aristotle also believed that the heartwas an organ of intellect.

This idea was widely accepted until Galen,a Roman physician, said the heart was more like-ly to be responsible for emotions than reason —apart from love, which was found in the liver. Asthe influence of Christianity grew in the MiddleAges, so did the religion’s pairing of the heart withlove. ‘Courtly love’, where knights wooed women,became popular in the eleventh century and wastied to spiritual attainment. It became popularisedin lyric poems written by troubadours, such asWilliam of Aquitaine, one of the first troubadourpoets. Some say he was likely influenced by sim-ilar views on love in the Islamic world, which hecame into contact with during the First Crusade.In 1184, poet Andreas Capallenus referred to theorgan as one of affection, writing ‘the pure lovewhich binds together the hearts of two lovers withevery feeling of delight’.

Around the same time, members of Europeanfamilies began to insist their hearts were buried sep-arately from the rest of their bodies, in places thatwere special to them. In 1199, King Richard I ofEngland had his heart buried in Rouen inNormandy and his body in Anjou, where his fatherwas buried. Over the centuries, the idea that theheart is linked to emotion has persisted and thetwo are now intrinsically linked.

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One of the offshoots ofglobalisation has beenthe massive growth

registered by the literatureindustry. Since 1991 the coun-try has seen an unprecedentedincrease in the number ofnovelists, short story writers,poets and historians comingout with their works accom-panied by a kind of advertis-ing blitzkrieg. The countrywhich, till then, had witnessedvery few Indian writers inEnglish publishing their worksonce in a blue moon beganexperiencing a plethora ofwriters flooding the marketswith all kinds of literaryworks. Every third person youmet in the book houses andlibraries even in small townsturned out to be writers —internationally acclaimedwriters if the blurbs on theirworks are to be believed.

Mulk Raj Anand, RajaRao, RK Narayan ended up as‘pass’ for the new breed ofwriters. For the first time inmy life, I heard the new gencritics scoffing Ramayana andMahabharata as pulp. For theGenNext writers, the greatIndian epics were exaggeratedaccounts of events whichoccurred in the reactionaryminds of some monks orsanyasins. They ignored thefact that the works featuredplaces, people, environment,ecology and universal lawsabout love, kindness, truthand humanity. Hence, westarted getting exposed topoetry, stories and short sto-ries that lacked a sense of nat-ural flow. Writers confined totheir royally furnished studiosand study rooms started writ-ing about poverty, droughtand of course universal broth-erhood and civil rights. Theproblem was that they mould-ed stories out of the lives ofpoor farmers, labourers and

craftsmen about whom theyhad only read news reports.

This was in stark contrastto what the great novelistsand short story writers ofyore years stood for. “Do youwant to write novels or shortstories? Learn life first.Experience the hardships ofreality. Never go by theaccounts by a third person.You travel, watch places andpeople, speak to them, livewith them and then you willget first-hand information ofwhat is life,” said P Kesavadev,the eternal rebel ofMalayalam literature whowrote path-breaking bookslike Ayalkkar (TheNeighbours), Odayil Ninnu(From a Drainage; 1942),Adhikaram (1968) etc. OdayilNinnu is the first ever novel

in South India which told thestory of the downtroddenand that too in their style. Nowonder, more than sevendecades after its publication,it continues to be the mostsought novel in Malayalamand has been shot into filmsin three or four languages.

Dev’s words still echo allover the literary world. Thosewho followed his style andway of thinking ended upwriting some of the all-timebests among novels and sto-ries. The names of R KNarayan, Raja Rao, Mulk RajAnand and Sarat ChandraChatterjee became synony-mous with the best of novels.Devdas, a character createdby Chatterjee is a universalicon because the readerscould identify themselves

with him. They could also eas-ily identify with RK Narayan’sfictitious small town ofMalgudi and its residentsbecause it was just like thetowns in which they grew upand all the characters in itwere just like their ownfriends and acquaintances.

There were several novelswritten by Indians writing inEnglish but most of them didnot have the kind of qualityand stickability that one wouldhave liked for them to have.They did not stand the test oftime. Readers were oftendrawn to them more becauseof scarcity of better optionsthan anything else.

Well, a major source ofrelief for such readers hasbeen offered by Adithi Rao,through her pioneering workLeft From The Nameless Shop.Her book is a collection of sto-ries (of course inter-connect-ed) centred aroundRudrapura, a small time townin Karnataka. Rao has createdRudrapura and its local resi-dents in the style of Malgudi.But the similarity ends there.Each character is differentfrom the ones created byNarayan though there is anintangible link which bringsthem together. While thepainter Devendrappa paintsthe images of reel-life charac-ters on his canvass to beinstalled as a hoarding on thefirst floor balcony of the man-sion in the own, Rao has pic-turised the life of Rudrapuracommunity on her canvas andthat too with élan.

Left From The NamelessShop relates stories of the localpopulation of Rudrapura.What makes the book a mem-orable one is the honesty withwhich the author has por-trayed them. Narayan couldwrite about Malgudi’s happi-ness, sorrow and disappoint-

ments because he was the resi-dent of such an unnamedtown and had gained first-hand knowledge about thepeople living there. Adithi,too, seems to have experiencedthe same and it has helped herin portraying characters likeDevendrappa, Narayanamma,Basavaraj, Raghuvir Dixit andothers. These seem like realpeople to the readers. They donot come across as strangersbecause their dreams and dis-appointments are very lifelike.

Adithi Rao has been suc-cessful in delving into theirlives and bringing out thegoodness in their hearts. Thedisappointment Devendrappafaces when he loses his job as apainter in the cinema talkieshas been written in a way thatis bound to get the reader tofeel sad for the character justlike one would feel for a friendor relative. Narayanamma’sanxiety and stress as he strug-gles to emerge as a supplier ofice cream to a city-based shopis palpable even through justwords. The author brings outthe unquenchable thirst inDixit’s heart for the love of awoman. There’s no judgment orbias against him based on thefact that he is not quite interest-ed in getting married. Shemakes the character human,fallible, and adorable. And, shedoes it with ease and poise.

What makes Rao stand outin a crowd of younger writersis her capability to tell the stories in an inimitable styledear to serious readers. It isimpressive because it remindsreaders of writers of the cali-bre of RK Narayan and MulkRaj Anand. Rao introducesherself as a writer of storiesand spinner of yarns, but thisyoung author is a mastercraftswoman. Her portrayal ofemotions and events is bothengaging and enlightening.

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The 2017 World Cup, andIndia playing in the finals,was the moment when IndianWomen’s Cricket finallyarrived. That it was mostly a

gender stereotype that kept this sportfrom being taken seriously as somethingwomen could excel in is a sad thing.India has been gradually led, by theexample of other cricketing nations, tooffer it patronage and facilities.

Similarly, other sports such asWrestling, Shooting, Boxing, Kabaddi,Fencing, Tennis, Badminton, evenAthletics and Gymnastics, in whichIndians are making their mark consis-tently now, are also joining in on thebenefits and national prominence atlast. India did not win Gold at the2017 tourney, missing it narrowly, as itwent to England, but they did winSilver, at the semi-finals, beating theAustralian Women’s Team. India hadalso managed to reach this high oncebefore, in 2005, losing the final, as ithappened, to Australia that time.

Subsequently, officialdom seems tohave made up its mind. The BCCI,that has been sponsoring internationaltours since 2006, got to work to turn

the women’s team into more than theforever “feisty underdog”. Thewomen’s annual retainer was tripled to�50 lakh a year for the top players. TVrights for both men’s and women’scricket, a lucrative game changer sincethe eighties and nineties, were sold forthousands of crores for a five yearcontract starting in 2018. India, saidan ICC survey, wanted to also seetheir women cricketers playing.Coaches and other support staff weregiven two-year contracts.

In the 12 months after July 23,2017, the Indian Women’s Team playednine ODIs with four wins and five loss-es. In T20, India won eight of 15 inter-national matches played. But it lost theAsia Cup for the first time since 2004,to a resurgent Bangladesh.

There are shortcomings. India isstill struggling to unearth new powerhitters even as star player Mithali Raj isthe most-capped player and most-capped captain in ODIs in 2018. Thereare other champions like HarmanpreetKaur, who was the the first to sign upwith an overseas T20 League (SydneyThunder for the Women’s Big BashLeague) in 2016. And Jhulan Goswami,

who has captured 300 internationalwickets through her career so far.

Team culture and cohesion tooneeds to be worked on. But how long,in the era of the fitness and coordina-tion of a Virat Kohli led men’s team,will it take before the women’s team toobecome world-beaters?

It stands to reason that Women’sCricket should forge ahead to becomeworld champions as training, skill, tal-ent, new bench strength and fitness arebeing emphasised like never before.

Meanwhile, Indian men’s crickethas become the biggest sports money-spinner in the world next to interna-tional soccer. This is primarily due tothe size of Indian audiences both atthe stadium and on TV, and, ofcourse, the associated advertising rev-enues. That the male players are nowpaid small fortunes for ODI, T20 andTest Cricket with grueling and busycalendars, and earn much bigger sumsvia multiple endorsement dealsorganised by sport star managementfirms, puts them on par with the bigstars of the silver screen.

The authors of this book KarunyaKeshav, a former Wisden and ICC

reporter, and Sidhanta Patnaik, alsoan ICC reporter, have set out a chron-icle of the long struggle to establishWomen’s Cricket in India from the1970s onwards. It describes manymemorable games and their high-lights over the years, the early starsand their considerable grit.

The first Women’s Cricket Clubswere set up in Mumbai, Pune, andChennai in 1971, when all three placeshad different names and women’s crick-et had to fight in the face of low admin-istrative support and funds crunches.The Indian Railways, with their multi-ple railway colonies that spawned tal-ent, were early sponsors of Women’sCricket teams. Early pioneers of thesport included names like DianaEduljee who still plays an administra-tive part via the BCCI, and ShanthaRangaswamy, India’s first Captain.

The Fire Burns Blue reads for themost part like a cricket commentary inthe classic mould from the radio daysof the fifties and sixties, even thoughWomen’s Cricket commenced only inthe seventies. Here is a description forthe cricket fan from the last day of thesecond Test against England at

Jamshedpur in 1995 — “ India neededsomeone to play a few bold strokes atthe top before the ball got older andstarted to grip the surface”.

And another excerpt, from March2018, by which time Women’s Cricketwas a recognisable force that putsthings in perspective — “In a roomfull of people that matter, Diana, inher typical dark trousers, flats, andloose, printed shirt, is the only woman.Three members of the Indian team,Mithali, Jhulan and Harmanpreet, whohave been playing a T20I tri-series inthe city, walk in eventually. They’rehere to receive honorary Cricket Clubof India (CCI) life memberships fol-lowing India’s run in the World Cup —it’s a privilege few can afford or are eli-gible for and the CCI makes sure theyrealise it. The three, still in their Indiajerseys after a long hot afternoon oftraining, drag Diana into the com-memorative photograph with them.They know they wouldn’t be here,playing cricket, earning accolades, if ithadn’t been for their senior. Fourdecades before, she was tonking ballsand stereotypes on this very ground.Their honour was hers as well.”

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0�%��������� � ����� !��� A*5The three days visit of Pope

Francis to the UAE has attract-ed tremendous global attention, thekind of which has hardly beennoticed in recent history. The eventhas been dominantly framed as abold attempt to overcome the mod-ern, binary framework of Islam/Arabvs Christian/West and therefore awelcoming step for contributing tothe regional and global peace andstability. Though the narratives werebuilt in the context of the fifthmeeting of the Pope, the head ofUniversal Catholic community withGrand Imam of Al Azhar, SheikhAhmad al Tayyib, the oldest Sunnitheological seminary; the latter is notequivalent of the Pope, either in rankand authority or in exercising sig-nificant influence on the SunniMuslim world. Hence the breakingof Islam vs West binary through thismeeting does not hold much ground.

Rather there are four importantreasons that underlie warm globalreception to the Pope’s visit to theUAE. First, the visit came amid therising authoritarian, nationalisticregimes and xenophobic voices, ter-rorism, sectarianism, religious-sec-ular-ethnic divide across major partsof the world, particularly in the“matured” land of democracy. Inshort, the Pope’s visit kept the hopeof togetherness, civility of life, ofhumanity as abiding values at a timewhen the world looks dangerousenough to slide into chaos andbreakdown, particularly in the con-text of volatile Middle Eastern pol-

itics, including US-Israeli-Iran con-frontation, UAE-Saudi Arabia vsIran in Yemen and the possibility ofregrouping of ISIS and other Islamicterrorist forces in view of Trump’sdeclaration of the withdrawal ofAmerican troops from Syria andAfghanistan.

Second, this was the Pope’s firstvisit to the land of Arabia. It is theArabian Peninsula that continues torepresent the cradle of Islam.However the visit is not without acontext. The UAE being a close allyof Saudi Arabia, the visit has theblessing of Saudi Arabia and tookplace in the context of growingIsraeli-Saudi bonhomie in view ofcheckmating the Iranian threat orkeeping the USA remained in Gulfthrough Jewish lobby, visit of IsraeliPrime Minister Netanyahu to Omanand gradual opening of Saudi Arabiato the idea of pluralism.

The Pope’s symbolic embrace ofArabia — its land, people, culture,civilisation, religion, language — isindeed momentous considering thefact that Europe’s Orientalism thrivedand continue to thrive among somepockets of European citizenry on theconstruction of “Islamic MiddleEast” as “Other” of ChristianisedWest. On the other hand, it also pro-vided a good opportunity to the rulerof the UAE to showcase to theworld of its experiment with relativeopenness and pluralism. The stand-ing invitation of the UAE throughMuslim Council of Elders headed bythe Grand Imam of Al-Azhar,

Ahmed el-Tayyib to celebrate UAE’sdeclaration of 2019 as “Year ofTolerance” signalled the Arabia’sreadiness to embrace other and towelcome all those who had left theArabia due to persecution or hard-ship. The unity of the Pope and theGrand Imam of Al Azhar mediatedthrough the UAE gave voice to thelargest section of humanity repre-sented by two great monotheist tra-ditions — Islam and Christianity —in isolating and delegitimising thevoices of terror and extremism with-in the Christian Right and theIslamic Right.

Third, Pope Francis, raised as theson of an Italian migrant inArgentina, preferred to identify andspeak on rights, duties and dignityof immigrant, emigrants and

migrants, refugees, which is increas-ingly emerging as the vast pool ofhumanity in the age of globalisation.It is mostly people from this segmentof population across the globe thathas attracted toward the discourse ofterror and terrorism.

In accepting the invitation of theUAE — a country of 9 million out ofwhich 8 million is immigrant belong-ing to more than 200 nationalities —the Pope seemed to be guided bythree objectives for the visit: (a) toidentify with pathetic plight of mil-lions of immigrants — legal, illegal,semi-legal all across the globe — tobe treated with rights and dignity asthey are emerging an importantstakeholders in the development,security and stability of the globe. (b)Highlighting the “UAE model of

governance” incorporating the prin-ciple of tolerance, moderation andreligious freedom and its Islamichumane approach towards immi-grant community, which insulatedboth its citizenry and immigrantpopulation from falling into trap ofradicalisation and terrorism. It maybe noted here that the vision of fed-eral, plural and multicultural UAE isthe legacy of its founder, late HisHighness Zayed bin Sultan AlNahyan; as a result of which todaythe UAE boasts of having more than70 places of worship for differentfaith communities, including morethan 50 Christian Churches of var-ious denominations with establish-ment of earliest church dated back to1965 and a grand Hindu temple atAbhu Dhabi under construction.

Fourth, the Pope through theUAE assured his global Christiancommunity that Islam represents atradition of peace, compassion, dia-logue, service, cooperation, togeth-erness, friendship, love, and thus animportant partner in the addressingthe challenges of global common.

While in the UAE, the Pope con-ducted an International InterfaithMeeting on Human Fraternity, anda Catholic Mass of more than 1.3million Catholic Christians, mostlyfrom India and Philippines andsigned “Document on HumanFraternity for World Peace and LivingTogether” with the Grand Imam ofAl-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyib. TheDocument is indeed valuable for fos-tering human fraternity as it recog-

nised the modern principle ofhuman rights, equality, freedom,dialogue, pluralism, diversity, andmutual cooperation. It decisivelyrejects political manipulation of reli-gion as anything to do with religionas well as of an understanding thatterrorism and violence has no rootsin religion.

Whether Document on HumanFraternity for World Peace and LivingTogether will become a living reali-ty in most parts of Muslim world innear future is questionable proposi-tion, considering the fact that mostof Muslim states are basically “roguestates”, what is important to under-score here is that the Pope’s visit has,by implication, recognised the grow-ing stature of the UAE as “the lead-ing moderate Islamic nation” in theMuslim world, a recognition that tillrecently was applied to Turkey. It iswidely believed that Saudi CrownPrince MBS’ penchant for reformingthe Saudi’s Islamic orthodoxy comesfrom the UAE model. Further, thePope implicitly throws his weightbehind the UAE and other emergingmoderate Islamic voices such asSaudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrainagainst the political Islamist regimesof Iran, Turkey and Qatar in theemerging fault lines of Middle Eastand Gulf. This partly explains thenear knee-jerk responses from thesecountries to such a momentousevent.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Policy Perspectives Foundation, Delhi)

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Today, the US and China are on thecusp of a New Cold War (NCW). The

NCW is strongly characterised by sus-tained clashes either on the military or onthe political front between the two oppos-ing geopolitical power blocs. Unlike thephases of the Cold War I, wherein two dis-tinct ideological camps were led by the USand the former USSR, the NCW hasmoved beyond the point of traditionalbipolarity.

And, the current conflict has seen theinvolvement of more than two ideology-driven actors. Now, the new lines of ten-sions are generated around flashpointsengaging multiple nations and groupssuch as America, Russia, China, theEuropean Union (EU) and the NorthAtlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Inrecent years, the US has been embroiledin a potentially debilitating course of col-lision with China irrespective of whetherthere is a Republican or a DemocraticPresident. With Donald Trump’s vitriolicand boastful pronouncements, at timessharply aggressive, bilateral relationshipwith China has badly dived down despitehaving regular diplomatic forays andministerial level engagements. It is a factthat there is a genuine schism between thetwo superpowers. Certainly, the newvariants of conflicts would be fought inthe realm of technology. Further, it wouldbe lawfare than warfare.

Trump’s “Make America Great Again”and Xi’s “China Dream” of course do notmatch. But then, there has been a phalanxof issues, charges and counter-charges thatfinally have descended upon bothWashington and Beijing probably to takea parallel, but rivalrous route as of today.

Both are at each other’s throats onmultiple fronts wherein their vested inter-ests lie and underneath are the race for theglobal leadership. They are workingtowards mutually incompatible goals inthe international trading system. Today,China does not buy the thesis thatAmerica wants it to realise its full poten-tial without tweaking the status quo of theglobal political order. Worryingly, Trumpwants to roll back the global supply chainsystem and signals going towards the ageof mercantilist approaches for economicdevelopment. With this, an alarming

rise of nationalist trends in both the coun-tries simply add to a bleak future in glob-al business. Further, in the past, the USadministration is accusing China of steal-ing massive resources in the field ofIntellectual Property (IP), adopting preda-tory approaches to foreign investment andfinally, making its market inaccessible toglobal players. Trump has already chargeda tariff of $234 billion of goods Chinaexports to the US. Simultaneously, Chinahas initiated the legal process at the WTOto hear the charges imposed by theTrump Administration. But what theTrump Administration has done to Chinahas received considerable support amongthe business tycoons in the US.

Beyond the economic front, some keydevelopments in China have also embold-ened Xi to move on a confrontation coursewith the US. By abolishing the term lim-its on Chinese presidency last year, Xi hasclearly signaled that he would do anythingto make China a global power, even if itrisks irking the US global interests.Interestingly, even before making formalannouncements for casting aside presi-dential term limits, Xi had ordered theChinese armed forces to counter thePentagon with fast modernisation drivesin air, sea, space and in cyber world.However, this was followed partly inresponse to Trump’s announcement forrevitalising American nuclear forces.Mostly beyond the economic interests,what is causing irritation in bilateral rela-tions is the completion between the USand China for a dominant role in the Asia-Pacific region. With Xi becoming life-President, his intention to carry forwardthe grand “Dream” might indicate build-ing an “Asian Order” under his leadership.Thus, the US has to either sacrifice its vitalinterests in the Asia-Pacific, meaning notinsisting on a dominant role in the regionfor ever or it has to re-adjust its powersharing dynamics with China.

But then some analysts argue that theNCW is full of political gimmicks and newtactics to manoeuver benefits of globalbusiness and trade on one’s own advan-tage. It is all about media glaze and showof strength. It’s a virtual war. They say thatcontemporary politics full of false analo-gies. The Cold War of the yesteryears isunimaginable and even if it takes place atall between China and the US, it wouldnever last the way it did between the USand the USSR.

What are the chances of convergenceand collaboration between the US andChina? Nearly 1,000 meetings, startingfrom the summit level talks to mid-rank-ing bilateral official exchanges take placebetween Washington and Beijing eachyear. It is widely believed that economicinterdependence is what is putting brakeon the outbreak of an immediate confla-gration. Unlike the Cold War days when

the bellicosity was driven both by ideo-logical supremacy and a consistent armsrace between the USSR and the US, todayit is spearheaded by an ever growing tradewar accompanied by tech war.

Is there a link between the latestepisode of Huawei and the game planorchestrated by a US-led group of nationsto counter a resurgent China? Currently,the US Attorney General has chargedHuawei with 23 crimes ranging from sanc-tions-busting, stealing corporate secretsand IPRs, obstructing justice, etc. And atthe centre of the controversy is MengWanzhou, the company’s CFO and daugh-ter of its founder, who is accused of mis-leading banks about the company’s busi-ness and violating US sanctions.

She is under arrest in Canada and theUS authorities are awaiting an extraditionof Wanzhou from that country. The USofficials view Huawei as a threat to itsnational security. They say that its 5G net-work which is spread across 170 nationstoday may be used by China for spying orin times of war for sabotage. However, tilldate there is no public evidence to whatthe US is saying.

But on the other hand, there are goodreasons to be wary. The way Huawei oper-ates is full of obfuscation and opacity. Its5G networks dispersed designs make ittruly difficult to monitor. Therefore, theChina Inc should demonstrate well beforethe world that it can be trusted. At its coreit should build up a transparent corporategovernance system open to the interna-tional community. If charges againstHuawei are proved, it would set a dan-gerous trend for Chinese IT firms andwould invite counter charges on top UStech giants. Hence, it is time to reorgan-ise serious talks between the US andChina to clear the massive mistrust. Thiscan gradually help alleviating the shadowof the NCW.

The real determinants and the con-ducting of a Cold War in a truly globalisedworld is a utopia only. Undeniably, thereis a streak of squeamishness among theTrump team and his confidants in regardto what has been unfolding between thetwo nations. On the rise is the death of theUS-sponsored liberal order that has sweptthe world in the last two decades. Theirony is that at the moment both the spon-sor and the mentor (i.e. the US) are shy-ing away from shouldering the responsi-bility of leading the international com-munity to the next century. At the core ofthis paradox what irks the current USestablishment is the shifting (preferablyfast) balance of power in the world. TheTrump administration’s strategy to engagein spasmodic to consistent fighting withChina can nowhere contribute to thegrowth of a world system that can heraldpeace and stability. It is harmful for theUS and China.

Today the US is as vigilant on Chinaand the rest of its potential threat points.There is nothing new in this. Trump is notthe only US President who has targetedChina. It is a long drawn game plan forglobal supremacy and leadership. Equally,China’s growing global presence is offer-ing its leadership and massive spying net-work a golden opportunity to peep into theifs and buts of the so-called liberal order.

Thus the battle spreads across thefields of global terrorism, trade war, techwar, and finally to lawfare. In reality, noone wins in all these master games, sim-ply because of ever increasing economicinterdependence on one another andaccessibility to advance technology andinformation. Henceforth, the state ofintransigence between the US and Chinagoes on. Specially for Trump, when anelection is looming large over his unpop-ular presidency both at home and abroadaccompanied by a cantankerous Congress,he should have been extremely careful, asthe way warned by legendary Greekstatesman Pericles some centuries back:“What I fear more than the strategies ofmy enemies is our own mistakes.”Whereas for Xi, it is his own fiefdom, heis nowhere going to be answerable to hisvoters. He rules China as long as theCommunist Party desires. After all he iswidely designated as the reincarnation ofMao Zedong.

Therefore, when the stand-off comesinto place between the global giants, itmust be viewed from what sort of polit-ical system each rules over. Accordingly,they are pressed over to perform and bringhome back a sense of security, pride andleadership. Arguably, with an increasingtrend of populist politics around, arenewed vibe of nationalism backed bylocalism has grown louder. And, never-theless, both Trump and Xi are largelyinfluenced by such ethnocentric narra-tives. This trade and tech war is deeplyenmeshed in a new trend for nations setforth by a post-globalist era wherein weall witness a sharp transition beginningfrom bipolarity to uni-polarity and to awell-contested multi-polarity. But it isinteresting to see “sed quis custodiet ipsoscustodes” (but who watches the watchers).Only time will tell us. Let’s permit histo-ry to display its inevitable tendencies asit used to. Winston Churchill once madeplea in the British House of Commons,“Democracies are quite strong enough tonegotiate, and would only weaken itselfby waiting.”. Though the context and pos-sible consequences are entirely different,it’s all about “containment” of an offspringof socialism only, so America must reflectback whether to negotiate or to summarilylose the game to China.

(The writer is an expert on interna-tional affairs)

A great person is one who affects the mind ofnew generation — Benjamin Disraeli

Prime Minister Modi’s motivational “Parikshape Charcha” is highly appreciable at a time

when students are encountering challenges in thetransition phase, mainly value systems across theglobe. In this context, the PM’s direct talk to stu-dents is a kind gesture to exorcise the loomingspectre of board examination-related quandary.

This process of acquisition of information isnot yielding positive results and slowly turning ahighly pious institution like education into a busi-ness venture, wherein success is measured by thematerial possession alone. As “perform or perish”is still deeply inscribed in the Indian social psy-che, the student community is undergoingtremendous pressure from family, peers and soci-ety to obtain “good marks”. This marks morasssometimes goads those behind the curve intocommitting suicide. Therefore, the advice to parents against forcing their ambitionson the children illustrates Modi’s concern about the marks penchant.

Students’ success lies in contemplation about the possibility of timeless and end-less hope in his/her capabilities. The Indian education system is known for embrac-ing values and approaches that shape the creative urge of the student community.However, we all acknowledge the challenges that are posed by the increasing tenta-cles of the transitional phase. Although one cannot but admire ingenious display ofrich contents by our traditional education set-up, the inexorable demands of com-petition is compelling the students to focus on contents.

At the higher education platform, a departure from the methodologies of manyearlier existing education parameters, we need to provide a cutting edge and trans-disciplinary overview of the most crucial issues. Our education system always rep-resented unique path of making each discipline one of the most exciting areas of con-temporary life. Not every innovative attempt starts out with serious analytical inter-pretation of contemporary issues, therefore, unconventional attempts ought to be triedto put forward myriad exploration of ideas and topics in which each pupil can par-ticipate and display talent.

New education policy needs to provide insights on important issues concerningour society and its concerns. Sometimes, conceptual and scholastic argumentationsand discussions result in the creation of exquisite ideas. Proper attention is requiredto be paid to judge the empirical and normative understanding of many variationsthat were found in constellations of various education reforms recommended by var-ious commissions.

These constellations, to a great extent, reflect the real concern of our new gen-eration. The past two decades have been marked by a period of substantial changein the contents and relevance of many disciplines. The purpose of education is toimprove reasoning, observation and experimentation skill. The topics should be inter-esting, thought provoking and oriented towards reasoning, analysis and proper appli-cation. Recent developments have established new basis for understanding the chang-ing nature of polity and community. The ongoing debates in contemporary politicshave been dominated by the relationship between global, national and identity andpolitics. The purpose of the change in the policy is to provide a comprehensive viewof politics and emphasise on the following main areas to make the subject more rel-evant: 1) To link theory to contemporary issues; 2) To link old issues to topical and-

practical concern; 3) To develop a new analysis of various areas of concerns;4) To demonstrate how market forces accept these issues; 5) To demonstratehow new models can be used in real-life experiments with democracy, envi-ronment, globalisation and governance; 6) To show how policies drive change;7) To show the importance of applied research; 8) To demonstrate how we canmake use of theoretical knowledge.

Therefore, the aim is to stimulate and disseminate the latest research and hap-penings at national and international arenas in different disciplines. Thus, issues suchas diaspora, science, technology, engineering, fine arts, music, politics, global, local,civil society, organisations, problems of governance, alternative economic and polit-ical systems will be essential resources of comprehending and assessing various dis-ciplines for all students. The catch is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary frame-work of knowledge to be the best in the world.

Although PM’s recent advice to students may appear to many seeing it throughthe political prism to be a construction of a social narrative, the apolitical real aim isto de-stress students and instill in the harbinger of new India a new urge to developself-confidence.

(Author is with University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab UniversityChandigarh. She is Branch Convener of Training and Placement Cell and E CellRepresentative of her College at IIT Mumbai )

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Donald Trump has declaredbeing president one of the“great losers of all time”

financially as he lambasted sug-gestions he was making moneyout of the office. The US presi-dent also indicated he is prepar-ing to declare a national emer-gency in order to build a wall onthe Mexico border, calling ongo-ing negotiations with Democratsin Congress a “waste of time”.

Trump also said he has beeninformed he is not personally a“target” in special counsel RobertMueller’s investigation intowhether his campaign colludedwith Russia in 2016.

His comments came on a daywhen it emerged the US economyadded 3,04,000 jobs in January,almost twice what economistshad forecast. Trump tweeted:“JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!”. The presi-dent has been accused by criticsof violating the “emolumentsclause” in the US Constitution,which bars gifts from foreignstates, due to diplomats and otherofficials staying at his hotel inWashington, a few blocks fromthe White House.

But in an interview with theNew York Times, Trump said hehad actually lost out on businessopportunities because he waspresident. He said: “I lost massiveamounts of money doing this job.This is not the money. You know,fortunately, I don’t need money.This is one of the great [finan-cial] losers of all time. But they’llsay that somebody from somecountry stayed at a hotel. And I’llsay, ‘Yeah. But I lose’. I mean, thenumbers are incredible.”

Trump criticised NancyPelosi, the Democrat speaker ofthe House of Representatives,who has refused to agree to any

of the $5.7 billion funding he hasrequested for the border wall. Ifagreement is not reached by Feb15 the US Government may shutdown. A previous 35-day shut-down, caused by the same fund-ing impasse over the wall, endedlast month.

Trump indicated there wouldprobably be no second shutdownbecause he will declare a nationalemergency, allowing him to usemilitary funding for the wall. “Ithink Nancy Pelosi is hurting ourcountry very badly,” Trump toldthe New York Times. “I’ve set thetable. I’ve set the stage for doingwhat I’m going to do.”

The president also said hispersonal lawyers had beenassured he was not being targetedby Mueller. He said that assur-ance came from Rod Rosenstein,the deputy attorney general, whois overseeing the special counsel.Trump said: “He [Rosenstein]told the attorneys that I’m not asubject, I’m not a target.”

The president said he hadnever spoken with Roger Stone,his longtime political ally, aboutWikileaks and Russian-hackedDemocratic Party emails madepublic in 2016. He said: “No, I didn’t. I neverdid.” Stone pleaded not guilty thisweek to charges including lyingto Congress, and obstruction,stemming from the investigation.Trump also denied that he hadever directed anyone to make contact withWikileaks. “Never did,” he told the New York Times.

The president said he did notbelieve he would face aRepublican challenger for hisparty’s nomination ahead of the2020 election. And he praisedKamala Harris as having had thebest campaign launch of hispotential Democrat rivals.Hesaid: “I would say the best open-

ing so far would be KamalaHarris. Some of the others werevery flat.”

In 2016, Kamala Harris was afresh-faced senator still findingher way around Washington. Ayear later, her role on the SenateIntelligence Committee, whichwas investigating Russian inter-

ference in the 2016 election,earned her the kind of nationalspotlight almost unheard of for afledgling senator.

One of her most notableappearances on the committeewas in June 2017, when her feistyexchange with Jeff Sessions,Trump’s attorney general at the

time, won her plaudits fromDemocrats. It was back in June,2017 that Jeff Sessions had beenaccused of “evasiveness” and“obstruction” by Democratic sen-ators, questioning the US attor-ney general before a Senate com-mittee. The former Alabama sen-ator had shown a rare flash ofanger when Ron Wyden, aDemocrat from Oregon, refer-enced media reports aboutSessions’ contact with Russians.“This is secret innuendo beingleaked out about me and I don’tappreciate it,” Sessions had said,his voice raising.

He was further rattled byMartin Heinrich, a Democratfrom New Mexico, who wasangered by Sessions saying hecould not answer his question,because it related to a privateconversation with PresidentDonald Trump. “My judgement isthat it would be inappropriate forme to reveal private conversa-tions with the president,” he hadsaid.

Heinrich had pressed him onthe legal basis for his answer,given that Trump has notinvoked executive privilege andprevented Sessions from testify-ing. He had accused Sessions of“evasiveness,” and had said hewas “obstructing” their investiga-tion. When the attorney generalhad said he had spoken tolawyers from the department ofjustice who advised him on whathe could and couldn’t say,Heinrich had replied archly: “Ibet you did.”

“Your silence speaks volumes,”he had said. Angus King, an inde-pendent senator for Maine, hadtaken the baton. “What is thebasis of your refusal to answerthese questions?” he had askedSessions, noting that Trump hadnot invoked executive privilege.Sessions again dodged, statingthat he could not answer. Twitterhad gone wild with King’s facialexpressions, with memes of hisexasperated look proliferating.Kamala Harris, then theDemocrat for California, hadasked Sessions to show what lawprevented him answering theirquestions.

He had referred vaguely to “along-standing principle”. OnTwitter Mike Huckabee, the for-mer governor of Arkansas, hadcome to Sessions’ rescue. “Demsact like they never heard of attor-ney/client privilege,” he had said.“Attorney-general is top attorneyin the executive branch. Heserves the president and is not astooge of Congress.” He wasrapidly corrected by social media,pointing out that his role is touphold the constitution and notsimply do the president’s — orCongress’s — bidding.

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December 20, 1942, was a Sunday. Onthat day, Calcutta’s ‘OldestNationalist Daily’ (according to themasthead), the Amrita BazarPatrika, reported that in Burma

there was a possibility of ‘the end of defensivewarfare on this frontier [by the Allies] and thebeginning of a war of attack.’ Meanwhile, in theDon-Volga area, ‘the Soviet ring is drawingtighter around the enemy.’ Despite this opti-mistic note, the paper reflected evidence ofwartime stringencies. The Imperial TobaccoCompany appealed to its customers to acceptcigarettes without packets in order to alleviatethe paper shortage. The Government denied ashortage of rice. Women were told that theywere ‘the Inner Wall of Defence’ and as suchthey should join the Women’s Auxiliary Corps(India). Indian political problems were also evi-dent in the shape of the continuing Quit Indiacampaign. An attack on a police station, bombsin Baroda and acid attacks on the police werereported.

The Calcutta races, however, went ahead asnormal and were graced by the presence of theMarchioness of Linlithgow, His Excellency theGovernor of Bengal, and Lady Mary Herbert.There was cricket on Saturday and Sunday and atennis carnival to look forward to on Thursday.Cinemas catering to English speakers were fea-turing Chaplin in Goldrush, Robert Taylor inHer Cardboard Lover, and Abbott and Costelloin Pardon My Sarong. The paper reported anincrease in the production of Indian films for‘the surging crowds during yuletide hungry forentertainment.’

That night Calcutta was bombed by theJapanese air force. The structural damage wasminimal, but the panic that ensued was wide-spread. Large numbers of Calcutta residentsfled. Fear was exacerbated by indications thatneither the Government of India nor theGovernment of Bengal nor the Calcutta munici-pality were prepared for the defence of the city.

The air raid took place in a context of over-whelming Japanese military success and territor-ial expansion. The British — the assumeddefenders of India — had been pushed out ofMalaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and Burma. Inlate 1942, it was widely expected, in India andbeyond, that a Japanese move into northernIndia was inevitable, imminent—and perhapsunstoppable.

Calcutta served as an industrial centre, aport and a transit point for troops moving up tofight the Japanese in Malaya and then in Burma.It was a city of considerable strategic importanceto the Allies. Once Burma fell, Calcutta was themainstay of the Allies’ Asian front.Consequently, it was a Japanese target. AsPrasad points out, ‘Their air force was also wellpoised…to inflict continuous and heavy raids onCalcutta and the industrial area in the easternregions. The official reaction to these first raidson the city was very much along the ‘we cantake it’ and ‘business as usual’ line, modelled nodoubt on the (officially) stoic British reaction tothe Blitz. The Governor of Bengal, Sir John

Herbert, telegrammed the Viceroy after the firstraid that despite two deaths and fourteeninjuries, there had been ‘Nonoticeable effect on morale.’Later the Chief Secretary relat-ed that ‘ARP Services are ingeneral reported to have doneexcellent work,’ demonstratedby the fact that ‘defections werevery few.’ The Viceroy wasmoved to tell Calcutta’s citizens:

Yours is the first capital cityin India to suffer in this war abaptism of fire and her citizens

have provided an admirableexample of steadiness and

fortitude. Well done Calcutta.The English press was, if

anything, even more relaxed.The European-owned Statesman declared thatthe first raid was ‘a small affair and, if the cityhas to be raided, it can be described as a verysuitable introduction.’ Even the Amrita Bazar

Patrika reported that ‘Little damage was doneand no nervousness was shown by the towns-

people.’Down amongst the townspeople,

however, things were not quite so san-guine. After the first raid, ‘nervous-ness’ broke out on a wide scale.According to Joydeep Sircar, the raidwas a ‘devastating blow to the moraleof the inhabitants.’ Sircar suggests that‘one and-a-half million people’ fled,causing a breakdown in ‘the civil ser-vices.’ There was a widespread feelingthat ‘The Government had not pre-pared for the eventuality and seemedoverwhelmed by developments inSoutheast Asia.’

In the ensuing days and weeks,some signs of defence began to

appear: A number of Hurricane aircraft weremoved to Calcutta; emergency airfields wereconstructed, including one in the centre of thecity between Chowringhee and the Maidan; slit

trenches were dug in the same area. But follow-ing the December 1942 raids, many of Calcutta’scitizens were not concerned with defence. Theywere more interested in flight.

On December 23, Governor Herbert report-ed to the Viceroy that there had been a ‘consid-erable exodus of people from Calcutta thoughnot yet amounting to a panic rush.’ Workers had‘wholly disappeared from the dock area’ andmorale was deteriorating — though ‘nothing likea landslide’. The post-bombing exodus took upthe full capacity of the railways. Special trainswere laid on to cope with the numbers attempt-ing to leave the city. On December 27, ‘measureswere taken to clear crowds of refugees collectedat railway stations along the evacuation routes.’The British authorities estimated that some2,50,000 people left the city by road and another1,00,000 by rail. Katyun Randhawa, a Calcuttaschoolgirl, remembered the exodus and the rail-way stations ‘packed with people trying to getout’—some permanently. ‘Some of our streethawkers also disappeared,’ she relates, ‘—we

never saw our bread delivery man again.’ Not unnaturally, those who felt the most

vulnerable —from working-class suburbs, indus-trial establishments and around the docks —were those most inclined to leave. The BengalGovernment Labour Commissioner put a braveface on the situation on the Monday morningafter the first raid: ‘There was full attendancethis morning in mills and in engineering firms.In fact, some engineering firms reported betterattendance than on normal Monday mornings.’The docks presented a different picture. TheChief Secretary reported that boatmen, portemployees and contract labour (including coalcoolies) all evacuated. Workers from outsideCalcutta ‘left in large numbers on foot both byway of the Grand Trunk Road and the OrissaTrunk Road.’ He estimated their number at2–3,00,000. Severe labour shortages ensued. Theworkers that remained took the opportunity ofpressing their demands on the employers. Therewas an increase in strikes in Calcutta after theraids. The Australian war correspondent,Wilfred Burchett, was present in the CalcuttaPort Commissioner’s office after one of theDecember raids, when the latter was confrontedby a deputation of wharf labourers. They toldhim:

We don’t mind staying and working, even ifthey do bomb us, but we want food in our belliesand decent shelters. At present we’ve got neither.

The Scavengers’ Union demanded wageincreases and free accommodation as ‘a largenumber of sweepers had already left the city andmany would go away in the near future.’ Thewharf labourers’ demand for shelters reflected,again, the feeling in the city and in theprovince—and perhaps across India as awhole—that the Government had not preparedwell enough for the possibility of war and wasnot doing enough about it now that it hadarrived. In the aftermath of the raids, SudataDebchaudhury argues, ‘[t]he Government hadpractically collapsed.’ This may be overstatingthe case, but at the time the Amrita BazarPatrika was complaining that the Governmentof Bengal had done nothing to organise anorderly evacuation, or to provide the evacueeswith alternative means of livelihood, shelter andconveyance. Confidence in the authorities couldnot have been strengthened by the fact that dur-ing the December raids about 10 per cent of ‘thelower ranks of the Calcutta Police’ themselvesabandoned their posts and fled.

Widespread fear of air raids and even inva-sion had taken hold in India well beforeDecember 1942, and this laid the basis for thecivilian exodus from Calcutta. In the early partof the year, the example of Burma was there forall to contemplate. The Government should haveknown what to expect. On the basis of Burma’sexperience of attack from the air, theGovernment of India’s Civil DefenceDepartment sent out a circular, Lessons learnedduring air raids, to all Provincial Governmentsin August 1942.

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Too bad pop star Ariana Grandeis vegan — she just tattooed anaccidental homage to a

Japanese barbecue grill on her palm.The US singer’s attempt to ink an odeto her hit single 7 Rings backfiredrecently after social media quicklychimed in to tell her the charactersactually translated to “shichirin”: Asmall charcoal grill.

Grande, 25, had posted a now-deleted photo of the new body art onInstagram before her fans pointed outthe spelling error. In widely sharedscreenshots of now-deleted tweets,Grande acknowledged she had forgot-ten a symbol but noted that thedesign would not last, as skin on thepalm regrows faster than that on therest of the body and tattoos thereusually fade. “It hurt and still lookstight. I wouldn’t have lasted one moresymbol lmao,” she tweeted. “But thisspot also peels a ton and won’t last soif I miss it enough I’ll suffer thru thewhole thing next time.”

She later wrote: “Pls leave me andmy tambourine grill alone. thank u.”Her apparent nonchalance didn’t stopTwitter from skewering her withmemes and mockery. Some wereironically sympathetic: “Met with allthe Asians, and our official ruling isthat the Ariana Grande tattoo isgood,” wrote Twitter user KevinNguyen. The video for 7 Rings boastsmore than 100m views on YouTubeand debuted at the top of theBillboard Hot 100 chart.

AVery English Scandal, theGolden Globe-winning BBCdrama about the Jeremy

Thorpe affair, will return for a secondseries by looking at a very differentscandal: The notorious divorce case ofMargaret Campbell, Duchess ofArgyll, known by some back in 1963as the “Dirty Duchess”.

“We’re going to focus on the verypublic divorce from her second hus-band. He went through her privatedesk and found a list of all the menshe’d slept with,” producer DominicTreadwell-Collins told the RadioTimes. He also found compromisingPolaroids of her wearing nothing butpearls with a man whose face wasnot in the pictures.

Treadwell-Collins added, “At thetime, the news was in all the papers:People thought it could have been amember of the royal family or theGovernment or a Hollywood actor.No one still knows who it was.”

The original series of A VeryEnglish Scandal, written by Russell TDavies, starred Hugh Grant as the dis-graced Liberal leader Thorpe who wasscrambling to cover up his affair withNorman Josiffe (AKA Scott), playedby Ben Whishaw. The Guardian’s TVcritic Lucy Mangan described it as“brutally funny, endlessly clever” andan immaculate show that “entwinestwo decades of salient political historywith a finely worked portrait of theEnglish establishment”.

New research has found thatmore than two-thirds of youngpeople are active musicians.

The study by music charity YouthMusic, in tandem with Ipsos Mori,polled more than 1,000 British childrenaged seven to 17 about their musichabits. Unsurprisingly, 97 per cent ofthem had listened to music in the pre-vious week — but 67 per cent had alsoengaged in “some form of music-mak-ing activity”. It’s a huge rise from 39 percent in 2006, when Youth Music con-ducted their previous survey.

Among those who said they mademusic, singing was the most popularmeans, with 44 per cent saying theydid so compared with 17 per cent in2006. Thirty per cent of surveyedchildren played an instrument — 39per cent of whom are somewhat self-taught — with the piano provingmost popular. Eleven per cent mademusic on a computer — rising to onein five young men — while fewerthan 10 per cent rapped or DJ’d.

Music-making tends to fall off as chil-dren get older — 79 per cent of chil-dren aged seven to 10 made musicversus 53 per cent of those aged 16and 17. Income affected the findings:76 per cent of children entitled to freeschool meals described themselves asmusical, versus 60 per cent of thosenot entitled. Activities including rap-ping, DJing, writing music and mak-ing music digitally were all markedlyhigher among children from lower-income backgrounds.

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At the start of this year, Iappeared as a guest on apodcast called TheFoodTalk Show. Asked formy predictions for 2019, I

hoped that this would be the year that“Me Too” reached restaurant kitchens.The movement until then had seenwomen speak out about sexual abuseand harassment in a number of indus-tries already. But, to this point, not inmine. Which was not to say it didn’texist. I am founder and head chef atDarjeeling Express in Soho in London,where I run an all-female kitchen withwomen who cook the way I do. I’dheard so many horror stories fromwomen in some of the best kitchens inthe country, but in the podcast onJanuary 3, I observed that they neverspoke out. “You need one person tobreak the silence, and I hope this yearwill be that year,” I said then.

Well, it seems that I’ve been provedcorrect. Recently, it was reported thatDan Doherty, a celebrity chef, and ajudge on the BBC One show Britain’sBest Home Cook with Mary Berry, hadleft his gastropub, The Royal Oak inMarylebone, London, for a month inNovember after allegations he’d sexuallyharassed a female staff member. He wasalso alleged to have told workers hewanted to see them “without theirkitchen whites on”.

In a statement responding to theclaims, Doherty has said he “wouldnever intentionally make offensivecomments to anyone I work with,female or male. I have apologised to thewhole team for any offence I may haveinadvertently caused. It would never bemy intention” and announced onTwitter that he had “decided to stepaway” from the second series of theBBC show. A statement released by TheRoyal Oak confirmed that the chef,who was the subject of an externalcompany investigation, was no longerworking with them, “with immediateeffect”. It has also been confirmed thatDoherty’s partners in a New York Cityrestaurant opening have “severed ties”with the chef.

The fresh-faced 33-year-old, a for-mer head chef at Duck and Waffle inLondon, has always been seen as oneof the good guys. He’s been a support-er and ambassador for the ActionAgainst Hunger charity, and has writ-

ten about the “mutual support” that hesays exists within the industry. But theexplosive nature of the claims in thisstory do not surprise me one bit. I’velong been aware of the exploitation,violence and abuse that goes onbehind the scenes of so many toprestaurants, and the tales I’ve been toldby other women in the trade would domore than put you off your food.

I know of one woman who workedin a top fine dining establishment in anupmarket neighbourhood of London.Each day when she arrived at herworkplace, the morning ritual to whichshe was subjected was a huge, hard slapon the back from the head chef. It wasobvious the violence, not to mentionthe power imbalance, gave him plea-sure. Another chef told me she’d beensent inappropriate and suggestive textmessages by a celebrity chef whom sheworked for. But she was too scared tobreathe a word of it, fearing she’d neverget a reference. Instead she sat it outfor a year until she found a better placeto move on to. It’s not only physicaland sexual abuse, but sometimes alsoracial. One female chef from SouthAfrica was called a “black b----” whenshe first came to work in a restaurantkitchen in London. Her colleagues whoheard this just laughed.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine willregularly walk into the kitchen sheworks in, where the chefs will pick herup, put her in the walk-in fridge andtouch her up. There’s something like awolf pack mentality at times, with themen ganging up to undermine the sta-tus of the (very few) women they workwith. A lot of women keep quiet andaccept this, out of fear they’ll besacked, or from shame.

I know of one very young andinnocent woman who complained tothe female owner of a top restaurantabout bullying from the male chefs. Itwas the victim who was sacked fromher job. Another female chef sufferedsevere burns to her hands when amale chef threw a boiling piece ofmeat across the kitchen at her face. Inshielding her face, it was her handsthat got seared. So how, you mightwonder, have these men got away withit so long? Some people point to thehigh pressure working conditions, thelong hours and the stressful environ-ment, that make many top kitchens

hellholes of abuse. To me these excus-es are pathetic. The pressure in akitchen is intense, that’s for sure. Butif abusing someone else is your reac-tion, you ought to be in therapy andnot working there at all. There stillexists a culture of heavy drinking anddrug-taking, but again it can’t explainaway the problem — although it’sarguably yet another symptom.

What lies behind this phenomenonis a culture where the head chef is kingand operates within a network that’s aboys’ club in essence. For so many ofthe men in these roles, their workbecomes one enormous ego trip, andthey believe themselves to be unassail-able. The celebrity chefs aren’t immune— quite the contrary — because thegreater their profile, the less likely arevictims to complain. If the culprit wasa nobody, you would slap them andleave. But if you slap a famous chef,you might never work again. And we’retalking about well-respected nameshere: Men who, out of sight of the pub-lic, will aggressively pursue youngerfemale colleagues, or send sexual pic-tures of themselves. Some female chefshave confessed to me they areeven too ashamed to tell theirparents or partners thatthey’re having a hardtime in their workplace.They fear being

ostracised, losing their jobs, or failingto progress in their careers.

It’s notable that for women to dothe latter, they tend to need to have a“patron saint”, who comes in the formof a male chef. Indeed, many of thehighly regarded female chefs in theindustry today worked closely withmale chefs before making it on theirown. It’s rare to see a woman succeed-ing on her own in the restaurant busi-ness. This could be another factor,perhaps, that makes newcomers feelthey must take the abuse and hang onin there until they’ve learned enoughto leave that kitchen and move on to abetter environment.

I came up through a differentroute myself, starting out with a sup-per club, which evolved into a restau-rant, and the money behind it wasmy own. I don’t owe anyone for any-thing, but this is an unusual way into the trade (not least because I’d firstdone a law degree). For those withmore typical career paths, it’s differ-ent, and bullies and abusers can hidein plain sight. They’re looked up toand celebrated, revered. It takes abrave soul to object, especially whenthe owners of the restaurants arearguably complicit themselves.

There’s been something of a deaf-ening silence following the claimsagainst Doherty. Where are the mes-sages of support or condemnationfrom all the other members of ourindustry? I can only assume they’retoo scared. Or perhaps we are seeingthem close ranks. Some female chefsvisiting my restaurant break down intears of disbelief: “My God, there’s noshouting here,” they say. Yes, the work-ing conditions in some restaurants canbe brutal — but they don’t have to be.Restaurants usually need more womenworking there, in part because there’ssafety in numbers. When surroundedby a gang of male chefs, a woman caneasily grow isolated.

You need other people to stand byyou, and what we need is a union offemale chefs. To get our voices heard,we must all come together and let

everybody know this: You touchone of us and you deal with

us all. Together we canstamp out the abuse.

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Aclassic scene from adecade-old episode of The

Office helped anArizona mechanicsave an unconsciouswoman’s life. TheArizona Daily Starreports that 21-year-old Cross Scottfound a womanlocked in her car thismonth and broke in, findingshe wasn’t breathing.

He doesn’t have any emer-gency training but thought ofthe show where Steve Carell’scharacter does CPR to the tuneof the Bee Gees’ song Stayin’Alive. The song has the correcttempo for chest compressions.Within a minute, the woman wasbreathing, and she was taken to ahospital and later released. Scott, whoshares the last name of Carell’s char-acter Michael Scott, had help fromtwo women who also stopped whenthey saw the car and called 911.

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APennsylvania man says hisemotional support alliga-

tor helps him deal with hisdepression. Joie Henney, 65,

said his registered emo-tional support animalnamed Wally likes tosnuggle and give hugs,despite being a 5-foot-

long alligator. The York Havenman said he received approvalfrom his doctor to use Wally ashis emotional support animalafter not wanting to go onmedication for depression, he

told Philly.com. “I had Wally, andwhen I came home and was around

him, it was all OK,” he said. “Mydoctor knew about Wally and fig-ured it works, so why not?” Wallywas rescued from outside Orlando at14 months old and is still growing;Henney said Wally could be 16 feetlong one day. Henney says Wally eatschicken wings and shares an indoor

plastic pond with a smaller rescue alli-gator named Scrappy.

Wally, who turns four this year, is a

big teddy bear, inHenney’s words.The cold-bloodedreptile likes to rest his snouton Henney’s, and “he likes to givehugs,” he said. The alligator has neverbitten anyone and is even afraid of cats,according to Henney.

Henney acknowledged that Wally isstill a dangerous wild animal and couldprobably tear his arm off, but says he’snever been afraid of him. Henney’s back-ground also indicates a comfort withcreatures like Wally. He hosted a showcalled Joie Henney’s Outdoors on ESPNOutdoors from 1989 to 2000, accordingto the York Daily Record. Henney fre-quently takes Wally out for meet-and-greets at places like senior centers andminor-league baseball games. “He’s justlike a dog,” Henney told a woman at arecent outing to a senior centre. “Hewants to be loved and petted.”

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An Indonesian variety of the durian— a pungent, spiky fruit considered

a delicacy across many parts of Asia —

has been sold in a storeon the island of Java for

a hefty $1,000 per fruit.The “J-Queen” durian was

selected by a panel of farmers in aregion of central Java because it wasdeemed to have a special taste and tex-ture, said Sudarno, a farmer who grewthe fruit. Two of the rare durians, whichwere displayed in a perspex case in astore in Tasikmalaya in the neighboringprovince, were sold for 14 million rupi-ah ($1,002) each, said Sudarno, whouses one name like many Indonesians.

Asked why anyone would pay sucha high price, he said the harvest fromthis particular tree had failed in pastseasons, but a new fertiliser helped toproduce fruit this year. “It’s sweet..fluffyand delicious,” Sudarno said by phone,describing the texture as creamy likebutter. Durian are often grown in familyorchards or small-scale farms and arehugely popular in many parts of Asia.

Sometimes described as smellinglike an open sewer or turpentine whenripe, durian are banned in some air-ports, public transport and hotels inSoutheast Asia. Sudarno said most ofthe 20 durians produced by his tree

were premature, but four were offeredfor sale. Two were sold and theothers pulled from display aftertheir quality faded. He did notknow who bought the fruit.

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Police in Massachusetts arelooking for a woman they

say intended to rob a bank butgot cold feet and left withouta penny. Fall River police tellthe Herald News the womanwalked into the Fall RiverMunicipal Credit Union onMonday afternoon and approacheda teller. Police say the woman hesi-tated, told the teller “give me aminute,” and went to a counter andwrote on a piece of paper. But sheripped up the note, dropped thepieces in the trash and walked out.Bank employees pieced the notetogether and it said: “Give me themoney.” Anyone who recognises thewoman in surveillance images isasked to contact Fall River police.

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Police dispatchers aretrained to deal with a

number of situations,and a dispatcher inIndiana had to knowher numbers when aboy called 911 seekinghelp with his home-

work. Lafayette Police dispatcherAntonia Bundy answered the callfrom the boy, who said he had “abad day at school.” It seemedthe boy had “tons of home-work” before the dispatchernarrowed down that he washaving trouble with fractions.

An audio recording of thecall posted on Twitter shows

how the dispatcher helped thechild solve the equation: Three-fourths plus one-fourth. She hadhim take out a piece of paper tofigure out the answer: One. Theboy thanked the dispatcher and

apologised for calling 911. Policesay they don’t recommend calling911 for homework help.

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The Gita informs us that this planetearth is an impermanent place ofmiseries, but we don’t have to be

miserable. The Gita also informs that onecan experience eternal bliss. So it is possi-ble to not be miserable but be very peace-ful and happy. How does one make such atransformation? One has to take God’sassistance. See for yourself from thisexample. As we get older, the physicalprowess goes down. How does one replen-ish it? Link with God — the omnipotent.Enjoying life through sense objects alsobecomes increasingly difficult. Then weneed to find shelter elsewhere. God is theperfect shelter. What is true for older folksis also true for all ages in various ways.God can help one and all.

Who doesn’t need guidance? Is any-one omniscient like God? That false feel-ing of “what I know is enough” gets us introuble because our knowledge can atbest be very limited only. God is avail-able to provide such guidance; we don’thave to remain confused or deluded. Justpray sincerely. Similarly, God can helplike no one else can. Again, seek His helphumbly. Association of God fulfils ourneeds. Rather one can get opulence, suc-cess, wealth and moral principles fromGod. Who does not need protection?God promises to provide this to Hisdevotees. And we learn from the Gitathat peace and happiness can only come

by becoming God conscious.With all these benefits available

from God, why don’t we turn to Him?Everyone should ponder over this. Ihave compiled a few such reasons. The

first one has to be general ignorance inspite of scriptures being readily availablein practically all households. Not manyread them. Lack of faith is another bigreason. This has to be developed by con-

sciously looking for what will enhanceit. For example, shouldn’t one wonderhow an expert astrologer can foretellwhat will transpire decades later whenthings will be so much different? Yes,some initial faith is essential. Thiscomes from what sanskars we bringfrom our previous lives and what we getfrom our parents, etc. Then, ego is a bigenemy if not the biggest: “I am the doer;I am superior.” One is foolishly proudbeing a small soul. One is also too lazynot to follow God’s instructions in thisregard. Don’t we give many excuses toavoid what all human beings must do, ielink with God? If others are not follow-ing the right path, can we take thisexcuse? This is like being a goat follow-ing other goats into a well. Such obstina-cy hurts very badly. Not only do we notget all the benefits on offer but alsomake a mess of our lives.

Those who have treaded this blessedpath can tell you how supportive God is.He is not at all restrictive. God is notagainst enjoyments, which are not against

dharma. Rather the Lord advocatespeaceful enjoyment by making proper useof sense objects by disciplined senses.Our scriptures advocate earning accord-ing to dharma. The same can be enjoyedaccording to dharma. Though we aresmall souls, we have been give free will todesire whatever we fancy and decide theway we deem fit. God only wishes that wedesire sensibly and decide according todharma. He is not holding us captive,rather God encourages us to be suitablyactive. Not only with Him, God wants usto interact with others as well. He encour-ages us to cooperate with others, makesacrifices for them and love whoever wechoose to get close to. And if we are notsatisfied on the earth, God offers us aplace in Vaikuntha — the spiritual planet.Of course, we have to qualify for it. Inconclusion, I can state that though oddsare stacked against us, we can overcomethem by taking shelter of God. Millionshave done so earlier and we can too.

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The leadership question has always been debated.More so in present times as means and mediumsof discussion have grown manifold. From village

gossip to print media to electronic media to the nowall-pervasive social media, leadership seems to be oneof the most talked about subjects in society. But stillthere is little clarity as to what is true leadership. Thereis often the issue of strong versus weak leadership thatoccupies centrestage. However, what is a strong leader,who is a weak leader, and which is better are all ques-tions that still do not get best answers. The simple rea-son is the definition and the related attributes.However, a recent book, The Myth of the Strong Leaderby Archie Brown offers valuable clues to this riddle ofstrong versus weak leader. A comprehensive book,rather voluminous, has largely taken into considerationpolitical leadership, but can be a useful reference forleadership per se, across the board. The greatest myththat the author has shattered is the widespread beliefthat ‘strong leaders’, dominant individual wielders ofpower, are the most successful and admirable. Thebasis of this analysis has been a careful examination oftop leaders of the world, ranging from Roosevelt, toGorbachev to Deng Xiaoping, to Thatcher amongmany. The book overturns the popular notion ofstrong leader and forces readers to rethink preconcep-tions about what it means to lead. The author himselfclaims that he wishes to expose the notion that strongleaders — in the conventional sense of the term, that isthose who push their way, dominate their colleagues,and concentrate decision making in their hands — aremost successful and admirable. The basic assumptionbehind this premise is that huge power usurped by theindividual leader paves way for errors in judgementand may also lead to disaster and bloodshed at times.He seems to be correct when we consider leaders likeHitler and Mussolini and what they did. Though theterm ‘strong leader’ can have different connotations, itgenerally means one who has a tendency to concen-trate too much or rather all power in his hands. It isthis power that then creates the illusion of invincibilityand the leader thus emboldened acquires the demonictendencies of egotism, which promotes cravings, andarbitrariness becomes the norm. But gradually thisarbitrariness degenerates into a totalitarian regimewhich the people start detesting. The same people whowere nursing the illusion of equating the strong leaderas a messiah. The biggest difficulty is in the thin linethat creates the strong-weak dichotomy. Strong doesnot denote exploitative autocrat and weak is not aboutlaissez-faire. Leadership is best that respects the sys-tem and its institutions that keep the system running.Thus, this whole idea of strong and weak leadership isillusory. Rather it should be about righteousness andduty consciousness. The nature of true leadership isnot about the ability to concentrate all power in one’shand but to let the system function smoothly.Humility should not be construed as weakness andarrogance as strength. It is this arrogance that ulti-mately leads to ruins. Interestingly for those whonurse the illusion of invulnerable status, the followingwords from Yoga Vashistha may do some mellowing:“I am time; and I have destroyed countless beings,even the Gods who preside over this universe. I amthe consumer and you are our food. This relationshipis not based on mutual likes or dislikes.”

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Lord Krishna, in His supremeabode of Gokula, has noth-ing to do with creation ofmaterial existences; it isthrough His various expan-

sions and incarnations that all thiswork of His is done. The original per-sonality of Godhead is Rasabihari. Heonly has one business — to engage inloving pastimes with His devotees.But we should know that all devoteesof Krishna are all expansions ofHimself. There is the Vishnu tattva.Those expansions which are directlyand personally Krishna Himself, whoassumes various forms in variousplaces. For instance, Narayan and allof the various avatars, the lila avatars,they are Krishna who have expandedas the same person revealing variousattributes and opulences of thesupreme personality.

And then there is shakti-tattva.Srimati Radharani, in the world ofVraj bhumi, she is not different thanKrishna. There is no differencebetween Radha and Krishna the onepersonality has expanded into twoforms for the sake of intimate lovingexchanges. She is the supreme enjoy-er just like Sri Krishna who is alsothe supreme enjoyer. But how canyou enjoy if you have nothing toenjoy? So, Srimati Radhika is thesupreme absolute truth who hasappeared to fulfill His every desire inthe form of His pleasure potency.And there is also the tatastha shaktior jiva tatva, the infinite part andparcels of Krishna who are eternallysubordinate to Krishna and have freechoice, independence to either sur-render in love to Krishna or to rebelagainst Krishna. Now this jiva tattvais always subordinate.

But we have the choice of beingsubordinate to either Krishna’s superi-or spiritual energy or His inferiormaterial energy which is conducted bythe three modes of material nature.We are all servants of Krishna. If weserve Him directly, then we canachieve eternal bliss, eternal knowl-

edge and awareness of our eternalexistence. But if we serve Him indi-rectly by serving His maya shakti, Hisexternal energy then we become cov-ered of our true identity and we haveto suffer the three fold miseries ofmaterial existence, miseries caused byone’s own body and mind, miseriescaused by other living beings and mis-eries caused by natural disturbances,higher powers. And we are subjectedto the repetition of birth and deathand all of the sorrows that pertain tothat. So, for the jiva (soul) as well asfor liberated soul who are eternallyanxious to engage in the Lord’s ser-vice, the Lord manifests through ener-gy, through a principle by which Heengages all living beings in His lovingservice and this is called guru tattva.

It is been explained by greatAcharyas that the conditioned jivas inthis world that point Krishna in thespiritual world embraces the jiva ofthis world, that is called guru tattva.That is guru. Guru is that place of ourmeeting with Krishna. And that guruTattva is categorised by previousAcharyas as either Vishnu tattva or jivatattva. It is in its own unique category.A jiva soul who is an inspired devoteesurrendering his life to the previousacharyas, that soul by the arrangementof previous acharyas may be endowedwith guru tattva, which is actuallyKrishna Himself, spreading His mercyand reveling Himself.

Krishna’s original expansion isLord Balaram and He is the guru tatt-va because in the spiritual world Heis making all arrangements for all ofthe eternal souls to engage in the lov-ing service of Lord. The abode ofVrindavan is the expansion ofBalaram and everything in Vrindavanis ultimately working under Hisinstruction. So, therefore, all the lib-erated eternal associates of the Lordin the spiritual world can onlyapproach Krishna through the graceof Balaram or Srimati Radharani,depending on the particular rasa, andtheir associates. So it is Balaram, who

in the spiritual world, is facilitatingdevotion for all beings to Radha andKrishna. That is guru-tattva. And inthis material world it is Lord BalaramHimself in this form of guru tattvathat empowers the spiritual master toengage us in the loving service toGod and to reveal Krishna to us.

Sometimes we hear that there isonly one guru, jagad guru or Krishna,specifically revealing Himself throughBalaram and in this way all gurus...truegurus, bonafide gurus... are simplyempowered representatives of that tatt-va, the original guru.

Balaram appeared in Ram’s lila asLakshman and in GaurangaMahaprabhu’s lila as NityanandaPrabhu, the original Guru. It is widelybelieved those who are associatedwith the Guru or represent the Guru,they are Guru’s Guru and they mustbe offered the same kind of respectthat is generally given to the Guru.However, if you offend the represen-tative of Guru, then you offend theGuru himself. Also, if you offend theGuru, you eventually offend ShriBalaram and Shri Krishna.

As Kaviraj Gosvami explained“You cannot have faith in LordChaitanya without Nityananda. Youcannot approach Mahaprabhu withoutGuru and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhuhas personally proclaimed this.” In theChaitanya Bhagvat, He explains that“anyone who offends Lord Nityanandais condemned by me.” Mahaprabhusaid “without approachingNityananda, without approachingguru tattva, His representatives, noone can approach me.”

We should know that if we arestrongly connected with faith anddevotion to Balaram with guru tattvathrough our spiritual master then all ofthe powers of Maya and all of thedemoniac influences can pound uponus, but we will remain unshaken. Afterall, in His mere expansion as anantashesha, He is holding all the universeslike little jewels on His hood.

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Taking off from the previous issue,it comes out that mind is the carri-er of Karmic imprints from one

life to the other. They find reflection inour usual run of life as and when conge-nial ground is available. If, however,mind maintains its sense of order, whenall its functional tools — buddhi,ahamkara, and manasa work in coordi-nation with each other as a unifiedorganism, it could very well modify thekarmic track. Mind could reflect uponitself, identify and acknowledge itsinherent trends, and employing buddhi,make necessary amends if any desired.

The paradox, however, is that mindusually remains flirting with huge vol-ume of randomly generated thoughts.Such a scattered mind loses its sense oforder. Consequently, in the first place, itfails to maintain the sense of alert neces-sary to invoke its own empowermenttool — buddhi for due diligence.Second, it doesn’t allow the focus neces-sary to mindfully frame one’s prioritiesin life. Third, it doesn’t leave scope toput in one’s whole towards the tasks inhand, and with obvious consequences.

What’s the way out? Applying sim-ple meditative technique, one could letthe mind settle down. Once, Gautam

Buddha was going somewhere. On theway he felt thirsty. He then asked one ofhis disciples to get water from the near-by stream. As the disciple approachedthe water stream, a stray animal hadjust crossed it, making the watermuddy. The disciple could not servedirty water to his Guru, and so hereturned back empty handed. After awhile Buddha asked his disciple: “Whydid you not get me water?” “Sir, waterwas muddy.” Responded the disciple.“Go again. By this time, muck musthave settled down,” directed Buddha.Thereafter when the discipleapproached the water stream, most ofthe muck had already settled down. Hestill waited for a while till all the mucksettled to fetch clean water.

Remember, just like a water stream,mind remains engaged in uninterruptedflow of randomly generated thoughts. Itis something like a wild monkeyunmindfully jumping from one branchof a tree to the other. Such a scatteredmonkey mind becomes totally disorient-ed. On the way, often, negative andunpleasant thoughts and feelings, real orimaginary, intrude mind-space to makeit even more restive, which further com-pounds the problem. It is said that

human mind deals with somewherebetween 60 to 70 thousand thoughtsevery 24 hours. Lot of them are inconse-quential, some of them even negative.Caught up in its melee, mind loses thesense of alert necessary to optimally useits own empowerment tool. Not to sayanything about coordinated working ofthe functional tools of mind.

If, however, we let the thoughts nat-urally flow in and flow out for a while,without paying any attention to thenature of thoughts, mind will come torest, as muck settled down in the waterstream. Once mind gains restful state, itssense of orderliness begins to gainground. Having acquired this status,when you turn your attention inwards,you may be able to figure out the truenature of your individualistic mind, withall its positive and negative tendencies.Pursuing the meditative process furtherin right earnest, you may be able to puri-fy your mind of all its negative karmicimprints, which otherwise disorient yourthought process and thereby, your con-duct. Following purification of mind, itsfull landscape with its wholesome pow-ers shall become accessible.

You may then begin to look at theissues in hand holistically and with anopen mind, free from any precondition-

ing whatsoever. Having attained this sta-tus, wherever you pay attention, you willbe able to visualise things in the rightperspective, and therefore, shall be ableto pick up most appropriate lead. Thatby itself would be enough to set thecourse of life better.

Becoming equipped thus, you mayno longer remain slave to your mentaltendencies. You rather become the mas-ter of your mind and begin to use itrightfully as you will apply proper fore-thought before getting into an act. Youmay then consciously deny grounds con-genial to fruition of negative karmicimprints if any in store. For, you will beable to discriminate between “what youwant” and “what is right” and according-ly make choices. Also reframe the defin-ing principles of mind in such a way thatbuddhi remains in active mode all thetime. Evidently then, nothing will movewithout due diligence. To sum up, youare the architect of your own destiny.The issue continues…

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